A peek at the secret life of pandas

Date:

March 27, 2015

Source:

Michigan State University

Summary:

The world is fascinated by the reclusive giant pandas, yet precious little is known about how they spend their time in the Chinese bamboo forests. Until now. A team of researchers who have been electronically stalking five pandas in the wild, courtesy of rare GPS collars, have finished crunching months of data and has published some panda surprises.

Continued ...

Radio collared wolves being killed in Spain by local authorities

Wolves targeted inside National Park

January 2013. The Picos de Europa in northern Spain are a wild and wonderful spectacle, and one of the few places in Europe that wolves and bears still roam. This may now be under threat from the very authorities whose job it is meant to be to protect the area.

The National Park administration has collared several wolves as part of a 300,000 Euro research programme - "Monitoring populations of canids in the Picos de Europa National Park". However local authorities have also paid local hunters to eliminate some of the wolves after pressure from local farmers, and at least two of the wolves being studied, that had been fitted with GPS collars, have been killed.

This medieval reaction ignores the importance of the wolf to local biodiversity, as well as its economic importance to the local tourism industry. Many companies run wolf watching tours in Northern Spain, especially in thge Sierra de la Culebra, providing a considerable boost to the economy.

Wolf population
According to the official management report, the wolf population has grown and now includes an estimated 3-6 wolf packs spread across the park and in neighbouring regions, totalling between 30 and 55 animals.  These wolf packs inhabit their traditional breeding areas in the park, and have repopulated the Dobres area where the pack had died out. Apparently, according to the Regional Minister "All the wolf packs have successfully bred this season".

Pressure from farmers has led to wolf persecution
Pressure from farmers in the Picos de Europa ranchers have driven politicians and local authorities to undertake an unprecedented massacre of wolves within the National Park, bypassing the ban on hunting in National Parks.

Despite protests from many groups, the killings continue, even after the courts have issued two orders in ordering the suspension of the wolf hunt.

Study wolves killed
As if the persecution wasn't bad enough, two wolves marked with GPS collars that were being studied by a project run by the local authorities (Together with two similar projects, the project receives some 300,000 euros from the administration itself). So, the local authorities are paying to study the wolves while also paying to have the same wolves shot. And this within a National Park where, in theory, the wolves are protected by law.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/picos-wolf.html

World's rarest antelope GPS collared for first time in Kenya

There are an estimated 400-500 hirola living today, but these animals continue to be severely threatened by some combination of drought, predation, poaching, and habitat loss.

Hirola can now be monitored in an attempt to save this critically endangered species.

January 2013. A first ever attempt to GPS collar wild hirola in their native range has been hailed a success by conservationists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Boni Forest and Tana River
A total of nine animals were identified by field-workers in Kenya who spent eighteen months monitoring their habitat. Seven herds of hirola were identified between Boni Forest and the Tana River in north-eastern Kenya. Adult hirola were carefully captured and GPS collars fitted before they were left to roam free once again.

90% decline in population
Cath Lawson, ZSL's EDGE Programme coordinator says: "Hirola is an EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) species - one of the most unique and threatened animals on the planet. Over the past thirty years numbers have plummeted by almost 90 percent, and they continue to decline.

"As the sole representative of its group, the loss of the hirola would be the first extinction of a mammalian genus on mainland Africa in more than 100 years," Cath added.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/hirola-kenya.html#cr

Secrets of Mali’s desert elephants revealed by GPS tracking

Africa's most northerly elephants in danger from poaching and human elephant conflict

December 2012. Satellite tracking of elephants living near Timbuktu has revealed the secret of their survival in the savage conditions of Mali's desert. The elephants of Africa's northernmost population use over 32,000 square kilometres of the Gourma region in their epic quest for food and water, the largest range ever recorded for the species.

Their circular migration route is also thought to be unique to this population. The findings, published this week in the journal Biological Conservation, have profound implications for efforts to ensure the continued existence of these elephants.

"It's incredible these elephants have survived. They have a truly stressful life with the lack of water and food, and their giant range reflects that," said Jake Wall of Save The Elephants, Kenya (also of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver), who led the study.

9 elephants tracked
Global Positioning System (GPS) collars were attached to nine elephants in March 2008. Over the next two years they were tracked moving in a large circular arc that extended into northern Burkina-Faso. Twice they had to cross a major highway.

Desert elephants coping with extreme conditions
The Gourma elephants are a desert-adapted species of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and frequently endure sand storms, water shortage, and temperatures over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Farenheit). A severe drought in 2009 dried out Lake Banzena completely, depriving the elephants of one of their key watering points.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/mali-elephants.html