Gorillas: Eco-tourism in Gabon (with Audio)

A recent episode of BBC Radio's "Excess Baggage" featured an interview with Josh Ponte who worked in Gabon for several years with orphan Western Lowland Gorillas and helped establish a new colony there. Full story at the "Excess Baggage" website, along with the full streaming audio of the show.

Josh Ponte lived in Gabon from 2001 until November 2005. He first went to help re-introduce Western lowland gorillas into the wild and then worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society in the development of the national parks network created in 2002. Josh recently returned to Gabon.

Sifting Through The Embers

Nandini read the closing chapter of Last Chance To See when she was young. She confesses that she didn't understand it then, but does so now. Read her thoughts (and the chapter itself) at her blog Nandini's Niche.

There's a story I heard when I was young that bothered me because I couldn't understand it. It was many years before I discovered it to be the story of the Sybilline books. By that time all the details of the story had rewritten themselves in my mind, but the essentials were still the same. After a year of exploring some of the endangered environments of the world, I think I finally understand it.

Komodo Dragons: Death at Cincinnati Zoo

The Enquirer at Cincinnati.com reports that Cincinnati Zoo's biggest Komodo Dragon, a nine-foot male by the name of Naga, died Sunday of an abdominal infection. Naga was the father of at least 32 baby Komodo Dragons on display all over the USA.

Naga, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden’s 24-year-old Komodo dragon, died Sunday of an abdominal infection very much like peritonitis in humans. He was the oldest, largest (9 feet, 160 pounds at death; 200 pounds in his prime) and most prolific Komodo in the Western Hemisphere.

A resident of Cincinnati since 1990, Naga was a gift of the Indonesian government to the first President Bush, who donated him to Cincinnati where a custom-designed enclosure, complete with heated rocks for lizard lounging, was waiting. Cincinnati was the second U.S. zoo to exhibit a Komodo, and the second outside Indonesia to successfully breed them. (Washington’s National Zoo was first on both counts).

Komodo dragons, native to only six Indonesian islands, are an endangered species with 2,000 to 5,000 left in the wild. But they’re well-protected: The Indonesian government considers them a national treasure, and harming them in any way carries severe penalties.

Full story at Cincinnati.com.

Mark Carwardine: Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007

CameraTown.com recently had information on the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for 2007. Mark Carwardine will be judging again and offers some advice for the contestants...

Zoologist Mark Carwardine is an award-winning writer, columnist, widely published photographer, BBC Radio 4 presenter, consultant and lecturer. This year marks his third year as Chairman of the Judging Panel and his main tip for photographers is to focus on originality.

’There are no hard and fast rules to explain why one photograph wins a competition and another doesn’t, but there is one key ingredient - originality. The judges are looking for something that stops them in their tracks.

‘Imagine you are a judge looking at thousands upon thousands of photographs. Many of them are technically flawless - well exposed, perfectly sharp and pleasantly composed – and, after a while, you take these key ingredients for granted. You become desperate for something really creative, fresh and surprising to leap out from the screen. The pictures that do leap out are the ones that win.’

Full story at CameraTown.com, and you can enter the competition through Natural History Museum website at their Competition homepage. The competition runs through till 29 April 2007, so get snapping.

We posted about the 2006 winner back in October of last year.

Amazonian Manatees: Sani Lodge adventure vacation

If you'd like to get up close and personal with an Amazonian Manatee, why not explore vacation opportunities in the region. Sani Lodge in north-eastern Ecuador looks like a wonderful place to experience the wildlife of the rainforest.

Deep within the Ecuadorian Amazon you will find a mysterious lake called Challuacocha, where floating water hyacinths and grasses obscure the shores. And if you venture out on this lagoon in a dug out canoe early in the morning when it is quiet and the light is still low, you just might see, somewhere out there, lying hidden in the vegetation a rare and wild Manatee or Anaconda. Float here for a while, scanning the horizon and you would probably notice the yellow, banded chest of an Aracari or hear the hoarse whisper of the Hoatzin. Eventually, the day would pass and you could peer out across the shimmering, black water towards the setting sun, and almost certainly see the gleaming orange eyes of the Black Caiman. Come to Challuacocha and feel the mystery. Come to Challuacocha and experience the world of Sani Lodge.

To the north of Challua lies the massive Cuyobeno Reserve and along the southern border stretches the vast Yasuni National Park. In the corridor between, located on 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of untouched rainforest lies Sani Lodge, a unique Ecuador eco-lodge. Here, the biodiversity will amaze you! On your adventure, you will walk through a pristine rainforest gallery that is home to 1,500 species of trees, hundreds of climbing vines, and exotic flowers, as well as 550 species of tropical birds, 13 species of monkeys and 1,000 beautiful butterflies.

Sounds marvellous, and the all-inclusive rates are pretty good.

Mountain Gorillas: Congo Rebels Vow to End Gorilla Killings

Better news from the troubled DR Congo with this article at the Dispatch Online.

Rebels in eastern Congo have agreed to stop killing mountain gorillas and allow government rangers to restart patrols, conservationists said Wednesday. Earlier this month, rebels allegedly killed and ate two silverback mountain gorillas, according to field reports collected by London-based Africa Conservation Fund.

Only about 700 mountain gorillas are left in the world, 380 of them spread across a volcanic mountain range in Central Africa that crosses the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Silverbacks are the older adult males of the species.

Other Conservation: Baby Pandas Face a Hard Road Ahead

While we're on the subject of endangered animal babies, here's an interesting article at female oriented science site "Inkling Magazine" about the many recent panda births across the world's zoos - Baby Pandas Face a Hard Road Ahead

But are giant pandas really bounding their way back from the brink of extinction, or are we just losing our minds in the midst of so much prime-time cuteness? The facts hold both promise and cause for concern.

The article links to this cute video, which sadly fails to live up to its slippery potential...

Ah! Here we go.... Whhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!