News updates on the endangered animals visited by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine for their book and radio series "Last Chance To See". With updates on the TV series featuring Stephen Fry.
I've just been clearing out my inbox and came across this story about the Boto, a South American River Dolphin with some "interesting" courtship techniques. BBC News has the tale.
A South American river dolphin uses branches, weeds and lumps of clay to woo the opposite sex and frighten off rivals, scientists have discovered.
Researchers observed adult male botos carrying these objects while surrounded by females, and thrashing them on the water surface aggressively.
However, just like other river dolphins such as the Baiji, the prospects for the Boto are not great, despite its apparent decent population of "tens of thousands".
Projeto Boto scientists are regularly finding dead dolphins, either harpooned or entangled in ropes.
"We lost half of the animals from our study area in just five years," said Tony Martin. [Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University]
"They may be fairly numerous now, but they're going downhill fast and we can't see any end to it."
Check out this news page on MarkCarwardine.com which pictures Mark and Stephen Fry down in the Amazon, most likely before Stephen broke his arm in such spectacular fashion.
Mark has joined forces with Stephen Fry to present a new television series about endangered species – as inspired by Mark's travels to almost every country on Earth studying, protecting and photographing wildlife at risk.
The series will include some of the old stars from the best-selling book, Last Chance to See (which he wrote with the late Douglas Adams 20 years ago), and it will introduce us to many new ones that have inevitably joined the ever-expanding cast of endangered species.
Last Chance To See, the TV series (or will it get another name before transmission?), is a BBC Wales and West Park Pictures co-venture, due to be transmitted on BBC2 in 2009.
In a story getting a lot over coverage around the web, researchers reported today that an estimate 125,000 Western Lowland Gorillas have been found living in a swamp in northern Republic of Congo. Truly, the Lost World of gorillas, and its an astonishing boost for their numbers, as it effectively doubles their known population worldwide. CNN and MSNBC are just two of the news outlets with coverage.
"It's pretty astonishing," Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN Tuesday. [...] Acting on a tip from hunters who indicated the presence of gorillas, Rainey said that the researchers trekked on foot through mud for three days to the outskirts of Lac Tele, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the nearest road.
"When we went there, we found an astonishing amount of gorillas," said Rainey, speaking from the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Another year has slipped by, and this site celebrates its fourth birthday today. Has it really been that long? There's now over 1000 posts on the blog.
I know I don't post as often as I used to, but I still try to keep up with the big news, and there's been plenty of that this year.
Stephen Fry has already done some filming for the TV series of Last Chance To See, and unfortunately came off second best with a boat-dock and broke his arm. His Stephen Fry podgram tells the grim tale. Good luck to Stephen and the rest of the team as they continue their adventures. Be safe!
The Northern White Rhino has not fared quite so well, and there has been no sign of any remaining animals in DR Congo. It looks very much like the magnificent Northern White Rhino is now extinct in the wild.
Last year's fundraiser "720 Dollars for 720 Mountain Gorillas" raised $96, so a huge thanks to everyone who contributed. Thanks to George for pointing out in the comments that FirstGiving has expired my fundraiser so I'll need to come up with something new soon.
Here's to the fifth year of Another Chance To See. Thanks for visiting.
Check out your local USA cinema on the following link to see if it is playing the special edition movie of "Long Way Down" on Thursday July 31st. This is a special one-night event from Fathom Events, screening just a few days before the TV series begins on August 2nd on the Fox Reality Channel.
Fathom and Wasserman Media Group are proud to present the Elixir Films and Big Earth production of Long Way Down – the ultimate motorcycle adventure - on the big screen. This unique event will be shown in select local movie theatres for one night only, on Thursday, July 31st at 7:30pm! This is your only chance to see a Fathom exclusive cut of Long Way Down – Ewan McGregor (Star Wars, Moulin Rouge!, Trainspotting) and Charley Boorman’s (Actor and Motorcycle Fanatic) 15,000 mile motorcycle journey from Scotland to South Africa on the big screen. Join McGregor and Boorman as they face many challenges from the unknown and unforgiving terrain that test their endurance, driving skills and push their friendship to the limit.
I've already seen the TV series on DVD but it will nice to see a version of it on the big screen. I've got my ticket and I'm sure it will something of a unique movie experience.
I don't know if the Mountain Gorilla scene will make it into the movie or not, but it was so nice to see Ewan and Charley being so moved in the presence of these magnificent creatures. You can see a short clip of it in this video trailer. Finally, I've been thoroughly enjoying the book version of Long Way Down on my Sony Reader, but its also available as a hardback edition of course.
The six kakapo chicks hatched out this year have returned to Codfish Island following their hand rearing in Nelson. The Department of Conservation says that next year's breeding season promises to be very good indeed. Stuff.co.nz has the story.
The Department said next years breeding season was looking positive, with the possibility of up to 40 chicks being produced.
"We could have nearly a 50 per cent increase in the world population of kakapo in one year which would be a huge step in the recovery of the species," [Technical Support Officer, Deidre Vercoe] said.
The One has very promising news for the upcoming Kakapo Breeding season, and it's all based on the anticipated big crop of Rimu tree fruit. The Rimu seems to be the best aphrodisiac for Kakapo, because last time the levels were at this level was 2002, when 24 Kakapo hatched.
Dacrydium cupressinum is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It was formerly known as "red pine", although this name is misleading since it is not a true pine but a member of the southern conifer group the podocarps. Red pine has fallen out of common use and the Māori name rimu is now used.
but it will nice to see a version of it on the big screen. I've got my ticket and I'm sure it will something of a unique movie experience.
of course.