Calm in the Congo

According to the New York Times, calm has erupted in the Congo with no known rebels threatening the Mountain Gorillas. The article also features a short video report.

Government wildlife rangers, like Mr. Serundori, are firmly in control — for the moment. And Kabirizi, a 500-pound silverback gorilla with a head as big as an engine block, seems to be flourishing in his kingdom of leaves.

"Haa mmm," Mr. Serundori says, emitting a special gruntlike gorilla greeting that miraculously stops Kabirizi in midcharge. “Haa mmm.”

If the endangered mountain gorillas are any sign, things may finally be looking up in eastern Congo.

Thanks to Gwen for this story.

Video: Nature's Greatest Moments - Komodo Dragon

FINAL REMINDER: 7th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture - Benedict Allen

**FINAL REMINDER REPOST**

In aid of Save The Rhino, the Seventh Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture will take place on March 11, 2009. The speaker this year will be explorer and broadcaster Benedict Allen.

I first became aware of Benedict when he presented his inspiring 1997 "video diary" style documentary series "The Skeleton Coast" in which he trekked through the Namib desert with three grouchy camels. He followed that trip with a 3000 mile trek across the Mongolian Gobi desert in "The Edge of Blue Heaven".

Benedict is a sometime guest, and sometime presenter on BBC Radio 4's "Excess Baggage". Here he is in an appearance from 2006: The Adventurer's Spirit in the Face of Adversity.

These days, Benedict is known for his Channel Five TV series Unbreakable...

in which eight athletes are pushed to their mental and physical limits, explorer Benedict Allen takes a look at what helps keep any of us going in the face of disaster.

As to the lecture itself...

It’s an exciting and often humorous talk which draws on his vast experience of survival in jungles and deserts and the Arctic, by himself and others who live at the extremes.

Please e-mail fiona@savetherhino.org for tickets, which cost £15.

Video: National Geographic's Gorillas on the Edge

Courtesy of Joost.com, here is the National Geographic documentary, "Gorillas on the Edge". Running time is approximately 30 minutes. Enjoy. Apologies for the preceding commercial.

Six Kakapo Chicks So Far...

There's another couple of Ranger Diary updates over at the Kakapo Recovery Programme website with news of 63 eggs laid so far, and a good 75% fertility rate. They have six chicks already hatched, four in nests, and two being hand-reared. This brings the total number of Kakapo up to 97. This really is going to be a bumper season, and everyone is working so hard down there. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed, as we could be well on the way to 120 or 130 Kakapo by the end of the season!

Feb 28 diary Chris

Jason Malham, one of the kakapo rangers on Whenua Hou, fitted a pedometer to his hip last week to try to gauge just how many miles he was covering each day. A huge 29km in 36 hours was the answer! Considering the two directions one can travel on Whenua Hou are up and down, this is even more impressive!

Egg and chick checks

Our gracious nest controller (currently the lovely Sharon Trainor from our office in Invercargill) stays up all night fielding radio and telephone calls from all of the nests to let us know what each kakapo mum is up to so that we can monitor their performance as mums and make amendments as required. This could be the most exhausting job on the island perhaps, we have 26 nests so that means at least 52 calls to answer and that's assuming everything goes according to plan! Suffice to stay she sleeps a fair portion of the day away when her night job is over.

Komodo Dragon Mauls Ranger

A Komodo Dragon ranger by the name of Main has been mauled when one of the lizards climbed up a ladder into his hut. Metro.co.uk has the brief story.

He screamed for help clutching the neck of the still-snapping reptile, said Daniel Ngongo, a Komodo National Park official.
[...]
Colleagues ran to his aid and used wooden sticks to force the dragon out of the hut on the island of Rinca.

Elsewhere on the web, here's a nice article by Benito Lopulalan on his visit to Flores, and the story of the dragons in general.

From the moment I arrived in Flores and told people I wanted to see the famous lizards, I began hearing stories.
[...]
It is impossible to know which, if any, of the stories are true. Still, they instilled in me a curiosity and respect for the creatures that continued to build as my boat from Flores landed on Rinca Island just as the sun was about to rise. Rinca is southwest of the more popular Komodo Island, but still inside the national park, and within 20 minutes a friend and I had our first encounter with a komodo dragon.

Hatchings Boost Kakapo Population to 93

The Southland Times reports that the first of the many Kakapo chicks expected for 2009 have hatched, and has a picture of one of them. Yay!

One of the world's most endangered bird populations is on its way to reaching triple figures after the successful hatching of two chicks this week.

The latest additions born on the pest-free reserve Whenua Hou (Codfish Island) near Stewart Island bring the small population of kakapo to 93 and climbing.

More are expected to hatch in the coming weeks.

Roll on 100!