Half of Africa's Lions May Go Extinct in 40 Years

By Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – 43 mins ago

Nearly half of all of Africa's lion populations could face extinction in the next 40 years if conservation measures aren't changed, according to a new study.

The study, published today (March 6) in the journal Ecology Letters, found that lion populations that were fenced into conservation areas rebounded in recent years, whereas lions in open preserves were challenged by prey loss and predation by human neighbors.

"Lions in fenced reserves tend to do much better, they're achieving much better populations," said Luke Hunter, a conservation biologist with Panthera, an organization that works to protectendangered big cats. "It's also cheaper to achieve those outcomes."

Big cats

Lion populations have been shrinking across Africa as they rub up against growing human populations. Herding cultures, such as the Maasai or the Zulu, may convert wild habitat to grazing land, thereby reducing the population of natural prey for the majestic cats. So instead of going after a zebra, lions will hunt people's livestock (and occasionally kill people).

"More and more people live in fairly rural areas where there is wildlife, but those people rely on livestock, so they're really coming into conflict often with lions," Hunter told LiveScience. "They just see them as a really dangerous enemy." 

To understand what strategies might best protect lions, Hunter and a few dozen colleagues analyzed lion population data from 42 sites across Africa. Some parks reported 46 years of data, whereas others had only three years of data.

They then compared the population trajectories with fencing, the money allocated to conservationand nearby human population density.

Continued:  http://news.yahoo.com/half-africas-lions-may-extinct-40-years-160131003.html;_ylt=AtQcgMVRwT_dgkrDnon2YhF2hMgF;_ylu=X3oDMTQ2NTlpbWNtBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIFNlY3Rpb24gU2NpZW5jZQRwa2cDMzc1OWRlZDItMjUwMS0zZDZlLWFlYzQtM2ZiYWZhZTk5YjgyBHBvcwM0BHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnlfY29rZQR2ZXIDNTEyYjVjZDEtODY3OC0xMWUyLWI2ODQtNzVkZGEwN2ZkZmI0;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2YTNmZG9qBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYWU0ZjdlNjQtMjUxNi0zYWQ2LThjYWMtOGJmNjI3NTMwNDQxBHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlfHBldHMEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdl;_ylv=3

Audubon Institute, San Diego Zoo Global join forces to create Algiers preserve for endangered animals

Audubon and San Diego Zoo Global are announcing a partnership to replenish animal populations that face possible extinction. The Alliance for Sustainable Wildlife will devise strategies to ensure sustainable populations of unique and endangered zoo animals.

The common eland at the Freeport McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center gallery (5 photos)

Audubon Nature Institute and San Diego Zoo Global, who individually have garnered acclaim for their work in the preservation of endangered species, are joining forces in an attempt to restore populations of threatened animals by creating a massive preserve in lower coast Algiers. The two entities will announce a groundbreaking partnership, called the Alliance for Sustainable Wildlife, Tuesday at the Audubon Center for the Research of Endangered Species or ACRES.

The center will be transformed into a 1,000-acre refuge, allowing the alliance to tap into the reproductive and behavioral sciences that they specialize in to rebuild vulnerable species and create sustainable populations for the future.

Steve Feldman, senior vice president of the nonprofit Association of Zoos & Aquariums, said San Diego and Audubon are two of the leading organizations in conservation.

"This unique, innovative partnership is a big deal for us,'' Feldman said. "We have a common mission to make sure these animals don't go extinct. It's really going to make a new and meaningful difference in our work.''

Continued:  http://www.nola.com/pets/index.ssf/2013/01/audubon_institute_san_diego_zo.html

South Sudan's elephants face extinction: experts

Elephant, giraffe and zebra in the world's newest nation South Sudan could soon be extinct due to rampant poaching and trafficking, conservation experts warned Tuesday.

Ironically, animals in South Sudan's vast wildernesses had been largely protected by almost five decades of civil war, despite poaching by rebels.

The war stifled development and preserved the largest intact savannah in East Africa, according to the United States-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

But war also left the fledgling nation awash with guns, and in the years since a 2005 peace deal, increasingly organised armed groups are trafficking ivory and killing animals for food.

The elephant population, estimated at 130,000 in 1986, has crashed to 5,000 if South Sudan is "lucky", WCS director in South Sudan Paul Elkan told reporters.

"Within the next five years, they could completely be gone with the current rates of poaching," Elkan said, adding that even security forces are "involved in trafficking."

South Sudan's animal migration is one of the largest in Africa, potentially topping in size even the world famous Maasai Mara and Serengeti migrations between Tanzania and Kenya, WCS said.

But the wildlife faces major challenges.

"Other species such as the zebra may already be gone, the rhino is probably already gone, giraffes are on the way out, so commercial bush meat also needs to be brought under control", Elkan added.

But a lack of laws and weak institutions prevent poachers and traffickers who are caught from being brought to book.

"We have apprehended so many poachers, caught red handed ... but because of this legal vacuum it is very difficult to prosecute them", said Gabriel Changson Chang, the country's wildlife, conservation and tourism minister.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/south-sudans-elephants-face-extinction-experts-180935660.html

Borneo will probably lose 50% of its orang-utans

According to new research led by a Liverpool John Moores University conservation scientist, one of our closest cousins, the Bornean orang-utan, is facing extinction.

November 2012. Sharing 97% of human DNA, orang-utans are close to humans in evolutionary terms but scientist Professor Serge Wich and others have found that only 22% of the already endangered species are actually living in protected areas.

Logging, oil palm plantation and tree plantation land
The research also shows that the rest of the orang-utans are inhabiting areas used for logging (29%), oil palm plantations (19%), industrial tree plantations (6%) or are in land that is not allocated for any specific use (24%).

Recent studies show that orang-utans could possibly survive in well-managed logging areas so a very optimistic outcome would be that half of the current population could continue to exist. Unfortunately, it is more likely that far less than half of the population will survive as not all protected areas and logging areas will continue to be well-managed. Improving such management is therefore a high priority.

Commenting about the research, Professor Wich said: "This research paints a bleak future for the Bornean orang-utan. To avoid this potential decline, plantation development in orang-utan habitats must be halted because it infringes national laws on orang-utan protection.

Further growth of the oil palm plantation sector should be achieved through increasing the productivity of trees in existing plantations and expansion of new plantations into areas that have already been deforested.

Island-wide land-use masterplan
"To reach this goal a large scale, island-wide land-use masterplan is needed that clarifies which possible land uses and management systems are compatible with orang-utan conservation. Such a plan should make much better use of values of ecosystem services of forests such as water provision, flood control, carbon sequestration, and sources of livelihood for rural communities.

"Presently land use planning is more driven by vested interests and direct and immediate economic gains, rather than by approaches that take into consideration social equity and environmental sustainability."

The research appears in the scientific journal 'PLOS ONE'.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orangutan-borneo012.html