Archive for February 2010

Feb
28

Rwanda: Alternative Fuel Sources

Posted by Peter in Africa,Endangered Species,Gorilla,What You Can Do

Hey – he’s just stealing other peoples blogs! Don’t re-create the blog I always say and I am fairly confident you are just not going to stumble across this by yourself.

How do you heat your home or cook on a stove when you do not have electricity? You cut down your forest trees and turn them into charcoal. The illegal charcoal trade is a serious issue in many Central and West African nations. One project we are familiar with is the Kibale Fuel Wood Project managed by the New Nature Foundation.

Back to the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and some blog thievery on my part. In January, the Agriculture Project Coordinator for the MGVP One Health program helped introduce fuel briquette technology to the community, reducing their need for charcoal and turning it into a business opportuntiy. Click on the link for the full blog.

So – no direct plagiarism on my part and I am standing here in Rwanda staring at a fuel briquette which gives me at least some rights to steal their blog.

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Feb
26

Rwanda: Gorilla Doctors

Posted by Peter in Africa,Endangered Species,Featured,Field Research,Gorilla

mtngorilla ectourThese are not your ordinary veterinarians, and they do make house calls – even if it takes trekking 6 hours up a mountian to get there…

Gorilla Doctors work for the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP, Inc.)–one of few conservation programs in the world to provide health care for an endangered species in its natural habitat. MGVP’s mission is to improve the sustainability of Mountain Gorilla populations using an integrated, or “one-health,” approach that combines health care, research, capacity building, information sharing, and strategic partnerships.

Follow their blog here. The stories are inspirational, amazing and sometimes heartbreaking. The note that the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project dedicate every minute of the day to our amazing patients: the gentle giants of the forest, the critically endangered Gorillas.

I am lucky enough to know some of the Gorilla Doctors and they truly are 100% dedicated to the wildlife and communities they serve. Even today – in a worldm ired in technology, there are people who still do inspire others.

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Feb
24

Rwanda

Posted by Peter in Africa,Endangered Species,Gorilla

I am off to Rwanda to visit the town of Musanze at the base of the Volcanoes National Park, home to half of the worlds remaining 700+ Mountain Gorillas. This trip unfortunately will not bring me to the gorillas, but I will be spending time with our friends at Art of Conservation.

art_for_gorillas_logoArt of Conservation works in poor rural communities surrounding Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, teaching schoolchildren about the importance of maintaining a healthy environment for both people and animals and instilling them with an understanding and respect for themselves, their peers, and the natural world.

The Houston Zoo believes that the health of wildlife is directly linked to the health of the people with whom they share their habitat, as well as the health of the people living in the communities surrounding those habitats. Education and community health initiatives are equally important as wildlife research efforts. For a program to be successful, the three pieces cannot be separated from one another.

Long term education programs have to be put in place with the aim of changing the attitudes of local people to the value of wildlife. If we want to ensure the survival of wildlife and wild-places in the future we also have to address our conservation effort to the future generation – the children. At the same time, we have to help these communities find sustainable resources and economic solutions for those resources.

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Feb
22

Spain has Picasso. France has Monet. The Houston Zoo has Cheyenne

Posted by Peter in Endangered Species,Uncategorized,What You Can Do,orangutan

Cheyenne's Electric Passion, 2008

Cheyenne's Electric Passion, 2008

Artists come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and skill levels, and now – in all species. Cheyenne, a 36-year-old orangutan, is our local art scholar. She is known for having a multi-faceted personality, which is reflected in the wide-range of art she has produced.

Whether she is being silly, serious, or serene, Cheyenne’s art is widely considered to be the most beautiful and impressive at the Zoo. So much so that one of her paintings was once featured on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Cheyenne’s limited edition artwork will be part of our next Pongos Helping Pongos Art Event and Auction to raise funds for Orangutan and Elephant conservation programs in Borneo. Visit Cheyenne’s webpage at https://www.houstonzoo.org/meet-cheyenne/

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Feb
20

Red List of Threatened Species

Posted by Peter in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species

We use the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to determine the conservation status of a species. IUCN is the International Union for the Conservation of Species and the IUCN has for more than four decades been assessing the conservation status of species, subspecies, varieties, and even selected subpopulations on a global scale in order to highlight taxa threatened with extinction, and therefore promote their conservation.

Red List LOGOFor example, they list over 35,000 species by taxonomic group in their database. From crustaceans to arthropods, birds and frogs to mammals and plants, the IUCN evaluates every species they possibly can to help define its conservation need.

Pop on over to their website www.redlist.org  type in the name of an animal and you will be taken to its designation along with maps, natural history and notes on the species conservation need.

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Feb
18

Clouded Leopards and wild cats of Borneo

Posted by Peter in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species,What You Can Do

The Houston Zoo is involved in a number of efforts in Borneo focusing on elephants and orangutans and help out where we can in other areas. One of those areas is the Conservation of Carnivores in Sabah managed by our friends from Leibniz Institute for Wildlife Research and The Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC). The two primary investigators have recently shared some amazing footage with us from the project which can be seen here on the BBC Earth News Website.

The website notes: The film, the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public, has been released by scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia. The Sundaland clouded leopard, only discovered to be a distinct species three years ago, is one of the least known and elusive of all cat species. Two more rare cats, the flat-headed cat and bay cat, were also photographed.

There are 5  species of cats in Borneo and all five can be found at the research site which is pretty unique in itself. That the project has turned up a species known as the (Borneo) bay cat is newsworthy as the cat is little known and rarely seen, and even more rarely photographed. Other cats on the island include the Marbled cat and the Leopard cat.

We need to take this opportunity to thank our supporters in “Wildcat” conservation – the students of Velasquez Elementary in Richmond, Texas who for the second time in three years, have held a fundraiser to support wildcat (which is the school mascot) conservation in Borneo.

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Feb
17

Primates of Vietnam: Part 2

Posted by Peter in Endangered Species

Environmental Training in Kon Ka Kinh National Park:

Green Forest Magazine focusing on primates - 2008

Green Forest Magazine focusing on primates - 2008

As part of Education for Nature Vietnam’s National Mobile Wildlife Trade Education Progra, ENV conducted a short five day training program for participants from Kon Ka Kinh National Park and neighboring Kon Chu Rang Nature Reserve focusing on raising awareness about the protection of the critically endangered grey-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus cinerea). The grey-shanked langur is a native of both aeas and endemic to the provinces in central vietnam and is threatened locally by hunting and the wildlife trade.

This training was aimed at preparing ENV’s local partners at both protected areas to integrate a primate lesson plan specfically focused on the grey-shanked douc langur’s  protection. ENV has carried out similiar training focused on some of Vietnam’s critically endangered primates at Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Nature Reserve with Delacour’s Langurs and Pu Huong Nature Reserve in Nghe An Province focused on White-cheeked gibbons.

This project was supported by the Houston Zoo and the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation.

 

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Feb
16

Prairie Chicken #1: Natural History of Attwater’s Prairie Chicken

Posted by Peter in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Featured,Texas

Welcome to a 5 part series focusing on the world’s of the Attwater’s Prairie chicken – one of the world’s most endangered birds. Follow us through our egg incubation in April and see what it takes to try and recover a species.

"Booming" male Attwater's Prairie Chicken

"Booming" male Attwater's Prairie Chicken

The Attwater’s Prairie Chicken is a native Texas bird that is brown with strong black bars and a short, round black tail.  They are sexually dimorphic, meaning that males and females have a different appearance.  The males have elongated feathers called pinnae at the back of their head and large orange air sacs on their neck that are inflated during their mating display, called  “booming”.  The tail of a male Attwater’s Prairie Chicken is solid black, while the tail of a female is black with brown bars.  On average, they are about 17 inches long and weigh between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds.  In the wild, adult Attwater’s Prairie Chickens live approximately two to three years, in captivity they can live to about seven years old.  Their diet consists mostly of insects early on; as they get older they begin to eat prairie grasses, seed, and plants as well. 

Attwater’s Prairie Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) are members of the order Galliformes, family Phasianidae, subfamily Tetraoninae (grouse and relatives), and genus Tympanuchus (prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse). The Attwater’s prairie chicken is considered to be one of three subspecies of the Greater Prairie Chicken which also includes the extinct Heath Hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido) and the Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus).

The Attwater’s historic range includes millions of acres of the coastal prairies of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.  As a result of habitat loss due to farming, industrialization, and pollution, they are currently restricted to two small prairie reserves, The Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge (APCNWR) and The Nature Conservancy’s Texas Prairie Preserve (TNC) and one area of private land near Goliad, Texas.

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Feb
15

Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Weekend

Posted by Peter in Diamondback Terrapins,Texas,What You Can Do

kid and mom with trapTexas Parks and Wildlife Department officials announced drop-off sites for the 8th Texas Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program, scheduled this year from Feb. 19 to 28.

During this 10-day period, all Texas bays will be closed to crabbing with crab traps, and any traps left in the bay will be presumed to be abandoned and considered litter under state law, thus allowing volunteers to legally remove any crab traps they find.

Volunteers are needed to assist in the coast-wide effort to remove the numerous wire mesh traps that have been lost or abandoned since last year’s cleanup.

To facilitate volunteer trap removal efforts this year, TPWD will provide facilitated trap drop-off sites at several locations along the coast Saturday, Feb. 20, from 8 a.m. to noon, weather permitting. Additionally, at all sites, dumpsters marked with banners will be available to receive traps for the duration of the closure.

Volunteers can work at their own pace during the closure as time and weather permit, but traps cannot be removed prior to Feb. 19 or after Feb 28. Last year, volunteers, with the aid of numerous sponsors, removed more than 1,900 traps bring the total removed since the program began to 25,974.

Thanks to the donations of the Coastal Conservation Association, Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, and others,  volunteers can arrange to pick-up free tarps, gloves, trap hooks and additional information at their local TPWD Coastal Fisheries Field Stations. TPWD requests that volunteers record and submit information about the number of traps that they collect as well as any sightings of diamondback terrapins.

For more information about the Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program and how you can volunteer, please contact your local TPWD Coastal Fisheries Office or Art Morris at the Corpus Christi Field Station: (361) 825-3356, art.morris@tpwd.state.tx.us; or Tonya Wiley at the Dickinson Marine Lab: (281) 534-0131, tonya.wiley@tpwd.state.tx.us.

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Feb
14

Primates of Vietnam: Part 1

Posted by Peter in Endangered Species,Featured

Van Long Nature Reserve. Home to the endangered Delacour's Langur

Van Long Nature Reserve. Home to the endangered Delacour's Langur

Vietnam is home to 25 primate species of primates and is considered one of the world’s highest priorities for primate conservation.  Five species – Delacour’s langur (Trachypithecus delacouri), Cat Ba langur (Trachypithecus p. poliocephalus), grey-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix cinerea), Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus), and Hainan gibbon (Nomascus nasutus) – are listed among the top 25 most endangered primate species in the world. 

in 2009, The Houston Zoo partnered with Education for Nature Vietnam to secure funding for a National Mobile Wildife Trade Education Program in Vietnam focused on primate species. The Houston Zoo and Education for Nature Vietnam received a matching grant from the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation to carry out this project

Education for Nature – Vietnam was established in 2000 as Vietnam’s first non-governmental organization focused on environmental education.  Its mission is to foster a greater public understanding of local, national and international environmental issues including wildlife protection, biological diversity and climate change. There is also an emphasis on increasing public participation in strategic initiatives.  The organization specializes in the following five program areas: Training Environmental Educators, Developing Community Awareness, Combating Illegal Wildlife Trade, Technical Assistance to Field Programs and production of the children’s magazine Green Forest.

Check back in a few days for an update on the project.

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