Endangered animals news for Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry

As we celebrate the 2nd birthday of this site I have established an "Another Chance To See Fundraiser" page through the Justgiving/Firstgiving network. Please help us towards our target with any amount you can spare. Anyone can donate, from anywhere in the world, and you can contribute as much or as little as you can afford. This year, in memory of Douglas Adams, we will attempt to raise £500.00 for Save The Rhino International. Douglas Adams was a great supporter and patron of the charity. Many thanks in advance for your anticipated generosity!

Labels: Fundraising

To help you better visualize where in the world Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine went on their travels for Last Chance To See, I have prepared a small Google Earth file that you can download below. As you'll see, Douglas and Mark visited endangered animals all over the world and must have racked up some serious Air Miles. If you don't already have the application installed, you can download if from here: Google Earth, and if you can, pick up "3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator", the 3D navigation device that makes flying round the Earth an absolute breeze!

Once Google Earth is installed, download the Another Chance To See KMZ (Version 1) which should open naturally in the application. Once there, click the PLAY button to "Play Tour". This will send Google Earth on a trip around the world from South America, Africa, through Asia, New Zealand, and back across the Pacific. NOTE: Click the PLAY button in the PLACES section rather than the SEARCH section, otherwise it will report an error.

You can preview a slightly abbreviated Google Maps version of our Another Chance To See file in your browser.

In both Google Earth and Google Maps I would draw your particular attention to Selkirk Island in the South Pacific. If you zoom in really close, the level of detail is tremendous. You can almost see the Juan Fernandez Fur Seals frolicking in the surf. Selkirk Island is named after Alexander Selkirk of course, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe".

The small Madagascar island of Nosy Mangabe (where many of the Aye-Aye Lemurs live) is also available in pretty good definition. Note the ship on the western side of the island. I wonder if this is a wreck?

Technorati Tags: Google Earth Google Maps

Labels: Google, Top10

Here's a home-video of an encounter with a wild mountain gorilla which comes a little too close for absolute comfort. Hairy indeed (no pun intended), but a memorable encounter for all involved I'm sure.

First gorilla siting of the day in Parc National Des Volcans, Rwanda: a young male spends some time ignoring us and finally pushes our guide out of his way.

Labels: Mountain Gorillas, Video

A BBC News report on the DR Congo elections mentions that Congolese Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa says that there are only TWO Northern White Rhino left in the country.

Michael Allison, from Preston in the UK, who asked our panel of Lubumbashi voters whether the environment had been mentioned in the election campaign, will be pleased to know that Mr Ruberwa did indeed cite the virtual extinction of the white rhino - he said there were just two left - as one of the many examples of how Congo has been misgoverned since independence.

This news comes less than a month since we reported that there were only FOUR Northern White Rhinos left.

Labels: Northern White Rhinos, Top10

Another reporter records his visit with the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda, this one being Sagal Ali for the TorontoSun.

The youngest male gorilla gets a running start as he tackles his sister. Their mother, not bothered by her children's antics, slowly eats the leaves from a nearby tree as she watches her offspring play. When the match becomes too rough, she intervenes and pulls the two toddlers apart. Their father, the largest silverback gorilla in the country, lazily leans against another tree and grunts.

Watching the Sabyinyo family of mountain gorillas interact in their natural habitat has easily been the highlight of my trip to this country.

Apparently Bill Gates and Bill Clinton both visited the gorillas earlier this month.

Labels: Mountain Gorillas

Laura Campbell appeared as a contestant on the BBC's "Mastermind" quiz show recently. Her chosen Specialist Subject was "The Life and Works of Douglas Adams". There's a couple of Last Chance To See related questions in there. Can you beat Laura's score?

Labels: Douglas Adams, Video

The Kansas City Star has word that the movie "Flock Of Dodos", a hit at this year's Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, is coming to movie theatres later this year. A DVD release is expected in early 2007.

"Flock Of Dodos" is a tongue-in-cheek documentary about the evolution-vs.-intelligent-design fight in Kansas schools.
[...]
It will also be the closing-night movie (on Sept. 21) for this year’s Kansas International Film Festival at the Glenwood Arts Theatre.

Labels: Dodos

New Zealand's STUFF reports that the Department of Conservation is taking a bit of heat over its decision to fell a 300-year-old Rimu tree, to make way for a hut to house Kakapo researchers. Rimu fruits are Kakapos favourite foodstuff of course, and are essential to get them breeding.

The tree was cut down on Anchor Island in Dusky Sound, part of Fiordland National Park.
[...]
Department spokesman Martin Rodd said the rimu was in poor condition. "An assessment of the tree found it to be rotting in places and it was considered to be a safety hazard."

It was also on the best site for a hut that was needed to house staff taking care of 30 recently released kakapo.

Labels: Kakapo Parrots

Jess "Darth Tigger" Bennett is taking part in the London Great Gorilla Run on 24th September 2006 dressed up in a big Gorilla suit! She's looking for sponsors, I'm about to contribute myself, and I hope some of you will be able to do likewise. Let's see if we can rush her up towards her target of £400.00. Hopefully we can blow the top off it like the Blue Peter Totalizer always did!

On 24th September this year I will be taking part in The Great Gorilla Run. Yes, I will be heading to London to run 7km dressed as a gorilla. If anyone would like to join me on the day, either to run as well or to stand and cheer me on, that would be fantastic. It would be even more fantastic if you could also sponsor me.

I should be getting my gorilla suit in a week or two, at which point I will of course be posting photos. I even plan to do some of my training wearing the suit, which may well come as a shock to the gym where I work. I'll keep everyone updated as to how it's going!

I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures Jess! Very best of luck from Another Chance To See.

Jess also links to page at LeonardoDicaprio.org which has a video of Douglas Adams talking about the Mountain Gorillas and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. There is also a video from Dr Richard Dawkins. I hadn't seen these before, so thanks to Jess for uncovering them for us!

Labels: Mountain Gorillas, Video

A press release has news of the discovery of rare photographs of Coco and Pucker, two of Dian Fossey's orphan gorillas, in captivity at Cologne zoo in Germany. The photos can be viewed here at The Legacy Of Dian Fossey.

Made famous when they appeared with the celebrated "Gorillas in the Mist" author and primatologist on the cover of National Geographic magazine in January, 1970, the young gorillas were rescued and nursed back to health by Dr. Fossey. Coco and Pucker had been captured in Rwanda by poachers who slaughtered ten adult gorillas in order to snatch the two babies to fill an order for the Cologne Zoo.

Labels: Mountain Gorillas

New Zealand's STUFF reports that officials are still working with the New Zealand Department of Conservation to decide which native birds should be vaccinated if there happens to be an outbreak of bird flu on the islands.

"Vaccination may be used in certain species or situations as a short-term measure when there is a significant and immediate threat," said biosecurity official Ron Thornton.

"Emergency vaccination may be used in New Zealand to avoid local spread, or to protect socially or culturally valuable collections or in threatened indigenous birds".
[...]
Because flightless birds such as ostriches and emus have shown susceptibility overseas to bird flu strains, kiwi are likely to be front-runners for vaccination, as are the highly inbred black robin and kakapo species.

Labels: Kakapo Parrots

The BBC has news of China's new, five year environmental protection plan in which they intend to spend 1.4 trillion yuan ($175bn) to improve air and water quality, and reduce pollution.

China has some of the world's most polluted cities and waterways.

Beijing has often overlooked protecting the environment in the rush to develop its economy - but now it is paying the price, a BBC correspondent says.

A chemical spill in a river near the city of Harbin last year drew international attention, as water supplies to almost four million people had to be suspended for nearly a week.

The BBC News site has a report from Richard Black, Environment correspondent entitled World 'needs new wildlife body'.

The world needs a new global organisation dedicated to stemming the loss of plant and animal species.

That is the argument put forward by a group of eminent academics in this week's edition of the journal Nature.

They call for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity (IPB) to parallel the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Full story at BBC News site.

The July 15th episode of BBC Radio 4's always interesting Excess Baggage travel show (presented by Sandi Toksvig) was about Travelling for Voluntary Work in Madagascar. The full show is available as streaming audio from the Excess Baggage site, along with a huge library of past shows.

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, just over 580 thousand square kilometres (approximately 227 thousand square miles). It lies in the Indian Ocean, just east of Africa and is a living laboratory of evolution. Isolated from the rest of the world for over 60 million years, about 75% of its animals live nowhere else on the planet, including the endangered Angonoka tortoise and the rare aye-aye.

Sandi Toksvig is joined by novelist and Guardian travel writer Nick Maes who has just returned from the island and Richard Nimmo who runs a marine conservation and research organisation.

Here's a couple of previous posts, with links to other Last Chance To See related episodes of Excess Baggage...
Tour Guides (with Mark Carwardine)
Branding and Tourism

Labels: Audio

BBC science correspondent David Shukman is investigating climate change and logging in the Amazon Rainforest and recording his progress in a series of written and video reports - Diary: The Amazon rainforest

Few places present as many challenges to travellers as the Amazon.

Follow my progress as I investigate how climate change and logging are affecting a region that has more than half the planet's remaining rainforests.

Labels: Video

A few interesting items of Gorilla related news that we've not covered recently.

From LiveScience.com - Why Do Gorillas Eat Rotting Wood?

Gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda will suck on wood chips for several minutes before spitting them. Sometimes they chew on them until their gums bleed. They have also been seen licking the bases of tree stumps and the insides of decayed logs, and breaking off pieces of wood to munch on later. Gorillas will return daily to the same stump and take turns feeding.

Also from LiveScience.com - Do Gorillas Go Through Menopause Too?

"Do they have hot flashes? Do they get grouchy? We haven't been able to measure those things yet, but give us time,'' said study co-author Sue Margolis, a former Brookfield Zoo researcher and now curator of primates at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

From SFGate.com - Village has a gorilla economy

Jenina Tukahirwa's arts and crafts shop is about 20 yards from the entrance to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
[...]
It is here where increasing numbers of tourists are tracking what park wardens say is a growing population of its endangered mountain gorilla.

"Our people are benefiting," Tukahirwa said while sitting in her shop, surrounded by carved figures of gorillas, woven baskets and other locally made crafts.

Labels: Mountain Gorillas

Visit the Save The Rhino Shop for all your Rhino needs... Whether it be shirts, books, CDs, poster or plush toys, you can be sure that part of your purchase price will go towards saving rhinos around the world.

Also, the Victor Stationery company has announced a major new initiative in support of Save the Rhino International.

Their flagship brand, RHINO, will lead the way in a major awareness and fundraising campaign across the UK.

Victor Stationery is a long-established manufacturer and leading supplier of quality paper stationery and exercise books to the education, commercial and retail stationery markets. There’s something for everyone from student refill pads and office essentials, to the "play and learn" range Rhino Kids.

To celebrate the partnership, Victor Stationery has developed two new and exciting "Save the Rhino" ranges. A contemporary recycled range with a natural feel will be next season’s must-have stationery item, while the strikingly cheeky "Horn Star" range will appeal to those of you with a wicked sense of humour!

Labels: Northern White Rhinos

I received news of a very interesting Kakapo Encounter event being organized by the Kakapo Recovery Programme on Stewart Island and the Ulva Island Trust.

Sirocco the Kakapo will be on view for visitors to Ulva Island from 13 August to 23 October 2006, cost NZ$80 adult, NZ$40 child.

The Ulva Island Trust is thrilled to be able to offer a unique opportunity to view one of the world's rarest birds. Between late August and the end of September this year (06) we will be hosting 'Sirocco', (a hand-reared male not involved in the breeding programme), on the rat-free sanctuary of Ulva Island, situated in Patersons Inlet, Rakiura/Stewart Island. We will be taking bookings for this event on a 'first come, first served' basis.

If anyone makes it to this, we'd be very interested in pictures of course, but the website does stress NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!

**UPDATE**
The Kakapo Encounter webpage has been updated with more details of this exciting event.

Labels: Kakapo Parrots

The Independent Online has an article today reporting on a new warning from Matthew Woods of the UN-run Great Apes Survival Project.

The gorilla is threatened with extinction by the mid-21st century if poaching and destruction of its habitat continue at the current rate, the United Nations has warned.

Within a decade, three of the four sub-species of the great ape could be wiped out, it says. "Many populations are faced with imminent extinction," said Woods.

[The Mountain Gorilla is] susceptible to a number of threats, from uncontrolled hunting and war to disease, destruction of forest habitat and capture for the illegal pet trade. Considered critically endangered.

How many left: A little over 700.

Read on for full story.

And here's the link to GRASP, The Great Apes Survival Project.

Labels: Mountain Gorillas

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's Field News has an article this month on the anti-poaching patrols which found and destroyed over 1000 animal snares last year. Not necessarily intented for Gorillas, these vile traps are really aimed at catching other animals such as antelope to be consumed as "bush meat". The potential consequences of a gorilla being caught in one of these is all too obvious.

2-year-old Tayna was also found in a snare, but this time still hanging in it by her left hand. Her entire group was gathered around and silverback Titus was making attempts to free her. Unfortunately, due to the way the snares work, his efforts only succeed in making the noose tighter!

Full story at the DFGFI site.

Labels: Mountain Gorillas

Interesting article over at Newsweek that touches on many areas of personal conservation that could have a major impact on the world if only everyone would/could do it. Wind & solar-powered homes and more fuel-efficient cars are all slowly becoming more viable options for everyone. Recycling efforts are also getting better.

In the face of the coming onslaught of pollutants from a rapidly urbanizing China and India, the task of avoiding ecological disaster may seem hopeless, and some environmental scientists have, quietly, concluded that it is.

Urban planners are also thinking actively about obesity fighting "pedestrian-friendly" communities, something sadly lacking in the US where the automobile is king. And it's not just in America. Last I heard (correct me if I'm wrong), new home construction in Spain requires the mandatory inclusion of solar-panels on the roof.

Steven F. Hayward, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "There's no problem environmentalists can't turn into an apocalyptic crisis," says Hayward.
[...]
Yet of all things, this hardheaded acolyte of the free market worries most about species extinction, among the most rarefied of ecological concerns. But, you see, Hayward has a young daughter. And she wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up.

Full article at Newsweek - Going Green In America.

As a side-note, let me complain bitterly about over-zealous city rules that prevent people doing what they want with their own home. A colleague of mine wanted desperately to join the growing number of people who are raising "pet" chickens to get their own fresh eggs. Yet a city ordinance denies her the opportunity.

She has ample backyard to accommodate the stylish, award-winning Omlet.com Eglu she wanted to get, but the city says no. What a shame. A couple of chickens pecking away harmlessly in a short chicken run seems far less offensive and dangerous to me than a great big Rottweiler dog, but I'm sure she could have one of those. It's not fair is it?

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International website has an interview with Sigourney Weaver in which she talks about her return trip to Rwanda to film "Gorillas Revisited". The documentary aired on Animal Planet recently, some 18 years since Sigourney portrayed Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist".

Labels: Mountain Gorillas

Here's a video clip / slideshow of Faust the Komodo Dragon at The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Labels: Komodo Dragons, Video

An interesting story from the Independent Online about the "Ninki-Nanka", a mythical, 30 foot giant reptile that is supposed to dwell in the mangrove swamps of the Gambian jungle.

Once, the komodo dragon was thought to exist only in folklore. What other mythical beasts might we find if we look hard enough? Helen Brown meets the man on the trail of the ninki-nanka...
[...]
The "dragon" is rumoured to look rather like a game of zoological "consequences", possessing the body of a crocodile, the neck of a giraffe and the head of a horse with three horns. Less fantastically, the team's leader, Richard Freeman of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, suspects the ninki-nanka of being a species of colossal monitor lizard. "Whatever the truth," he says, "this is the first dedicated expedition to search for this animal."

Full story at the Independent Online.

Labels: Komodo Dragons