Five bouncing baby gorillas

May's edition of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund newsletter has the exciting news that they're celebrating the birth of five new babies.

The year has started very well in terms of mountain gorilla births, with five newborns in the gorilla groups monitored by the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda. Not only that, but three of the newborns were born to first-time mothers.

In scientific terms, we use the word “nulliparous” to denote females 8 years of age or older who have never given birth. After they have given birth, they are called “multiparous” females.

Kakapo Cottage

Kakapo Cottage left a comment on our post "Kakapo Encounter 2008 is coming which I thought was worth promoting a bit more. They say...

Looking for accommodation for the 2008 Kakapo Encounter, Ulva Island at Stewart Island, New Zealand? Check out our holiday home at Stewart Island - www.kakapocottage.co.nz. We are donating 10% of the value of Kakapo Encounter accommodation bookings to the Ulva Island Trust.

It looks like a beautiful place to stay and if I ever get the chance to visit that part of the world again, I'll be sure to check it out.

Missing divers found alive

The five divers who went missing in Indonesian waters in Komodo National Park have been found alive on a remote beach. Excellent news! BBC News with the story once again.

Britons Kathleen Mitchinson, Charlotte Allin and James Manning and their two European counterparts had been diving in waters off the Komodo National Park.

Charlotte's father Dave Allin said his daughter had called to say she was dehydrated and exhausted, and had only cuts and bruises.

Police say the divers were found on Saturday morning on the southern coast of Rinca island, about 20 miles south of their dive site.

Powerful currents had swept them away as they waited for their dive boat.

British scuba divers missing after Komodo National Park dive

Five scuba-divers are currently missing after a dive in the waters of the Komodo National Park. Three of them are British and have been named as Kathleen Mitchinson, Charlotte Allin and James Manning. Our prayers are with them and their families during this time. BBC News has the full story.

They are believed to have been swept way by the current more than 24 hours ago. There has been no sign of them despite an intensive search.

Ms Mitchinson and her husband Ernest run a dive company in Bali called Reefseekers, and she is described on diving websites as experienced and knowledgeable.
[...]
Ernest Lewandowski told the AFP news agency the pair had been leading two separate groups of tourists on the dive.

He noticed his wife's group was missing when his group surfaced an hour after they entered the water.
[...]
He said the search was being hampered by a lack of fuel for aircraft.

Yangtze finless porpoise population is tumbling

Reports in a new study from China are that the planet's last river-dwelling finless porpoises are dying from exposure to insecticides and mercury. Kazinform has the news.

The mammals had already been declining as their natural habitat in and around the Yangtze River deteriorated.

In the new research, scientists also found high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other pollutants in the organs of porpoises found in central China's Dongting Hu Lake, which is connected to the Yangtze.

"In recent decades the [Yangtze finless porpoise] population decreased sharply each year by approximately 7.3 percent because of human activities on the river, including fishing, pollution, transportation, and dam construction," said lead study author Wang Ding of China's Institute of Hydrobiology.

Kakapo Chick Has Died

A couple of recent posts over at the Kakapo Recovery Programme website have the sad news that one of 2008's chicks "Mokopuna" has died, and that all efforts continue on rearing the remaining 6 chicks. By my calculations that puts us down to 91 kakapo.

Mokopuna dies

Firstly her weight started to plateau, and then she became lethargic and resistant to feeding. The attention of vets and experts, and loads of time and energy from the team tending to her and administering medication didn't prevent her death. It would appear that she died from an infection in her lung - something that would have killed her much sooner in the wild.

Watching the changes

After the loss of "Mokopuna" attention has been fully focused on the remaining six chicks, and the ups and downs have continued. Raising chicks in captivity means trying to replicate what would happen in the wild as closely as possible, in order to fledge a healthy chick.
Unfortunately, us humans are never gonna be as good at it as mum kakapo so we always run into problems, and inevitably each season different health issues arise. At present there are three birds in the sick bay recovering from minor unexplained ailments. We've had constant advice from our vets at Auckland Zoo

White Rhino Birth Video

The Telegraph happily reports the birth of a baby southern white rhino which was captured live by the South Lakes Wild Animal Park's webcam. The video footage of the birth is pretty amaing to see, and here's the live webcam link to see how mother and baby are getting on.

Ntombi gave birth to 70kg Nyala at South Lakes Wild Animal Park near Barrow after a 16 month pregnancy.

The labour itself lasted just 15 minutes and the baby rhino's arrival and first tentative steps were all caught on camera.

"[...] when her labour started it was perfect for the camera. People all over the world saw the baby being born.

Here's the charming view from the webcam that I got as I was writing this post...