Posted by Peter in Endangered Species,South America,Travel,What You Can Do,community-based conservation
Photo Patricia Medici
The four living species of tapirs occur in the tropics of Central America (Baird’s tapir), South America (lowland tapir, and mountain tapir), and Southeast Asia (Malayan tapir). The lowland tapir has the broadest range of the four living species extending from north-central Colombia and east of the Andes throughout most of tropical South America down to north eastern Argentina and Paraguay at elevations up to 2,000 masl. The species occurs in 11 different countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
The Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative
The Atlantic Forest Tapir Program has demonstrated that tapirs are a keystone species that play a critical role in shaping and maintaining biological diversity and forest structure, and are essential for key ecological processes such as seed dispersal and predation. In order to advance scientific knowledge and promote the conservation of this widely spread but seriously imperiled large mammal, Patrícia Medici has now launched a country-wide Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative that will establish tapir research and conservation programs in other key biomes of Brazil. The first of these is a new Tapir Research and Conservation Program in the Brazilian Pantanal, where no tapir research has ever been conducted. The Pantanal is increasingly threatened. Deforestation is now widespread throughout the region, threatening tapirs and other wildlife with local extinction.
The Pantanal Tapir Program was established in 2008. The study areas of the Pantanal Tapir Program are the Hotel Fazenda Baía das Pedras in the Nhecolândia sub-region of the Pantanal, and the Pousada Xaraés and Fazenda Nossa Senhora do Carmo in the Abobral sub-region. The main goals of this new long-term program are to collect ecological, demographic, epidemiological and genetic data to assess the conservation status and viability of tapir populations in the Brazilian Pantanal.
Link here for more on Tapir Conservation on the Blog da Anta website
You can travel to the Pantanal with the Houston Zoo and visit with the Pantanal Tapir Program in August 2011. Just link here for an itinerary.
Giant Anteater-Pantanal Tour 2009
Posted by Peter in Elephant,Endangered Species,Travel,What You Can Do
Reservation for our Borneo’s Elephants and Orangutans Tour will be closing soon with limited spaces available. The Houston Zoo is offering a one-of-a-kind experience on the island of Borneo. An encounter with elephants and orangutans in the wild along the Kinabatangan River May 13-24, 2010.
The Kinabatangan River is 560km long and the Lower Kinabatangan region is estimated to have the largest concentration of wildlife in all of Malaysia. The area is renowned for its tropical birds including all 8 species of Hornbill found in Borneo. Crocodiles, monitor lizards, wild pigs, otters, civets, 10 species of primates including the island’s own proboscis monkey and Bornean Orang-utan , and of course, Borneo’s elephants.
Posted by Peter in Africa,Endangered Species,Gorilla,What You Can Do
Gorilla in Gabon. Paul Swen Photography
#1: You have seen it on the blog everyday, come on out to the zoo on September 10th and hear firsthand from a wildlife veterinarian who spends a good portion of his time treating injured Mountain Gorilla’s in Rwanda . The Houston Zoo is hosting Dr. Michael Cranfield, Executive Director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project as part of our Call of the Wild Lecture Series September 10th, 20009. Please go to http://www.houstonzoo.org/lectureseries/
#2: Back in May, we hosted a very special art gallery event called Images of Africa with local Houston photographer Paul Swen. Here is an opportunity to not only support wildlife conservation, but get a very special signed and limited edition photograph of some of the most unique views of Africa you will ever see. To view the photographs available for sale ttp://www.houstonzoo.org/imagesofafrica/.
Gorilla Orphan at Evengue Rescue Center, Gabon. Paul Swen Photography
#3: Recycle your unwanted electronic goods. That includes cell phones, laptops, pagers and other electronic devices. We mentioned last week Coltan ore also called Columbite-tantalite. This is a dull metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern areas of the African Congo. It is used in cell phones, laptops, pagers and other electronic devices. When refined, coltan becomes metallic tantalum, a heat resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. Some types of Coltan mining may occur illegally in protected lands all across the Congo which in turn put wildlife such as Elephants and Gorillas of the Congo region at risk. Eighty percent of the world’s known coltan supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, it is mined by hand by groups of men digging basins in streams, scraping away dirt to get to the muddy coltan underneath. Recycling unused cell phones can help protect the wildlife, since reuse of the phones results in the need for fewer new ones, which reduces the need for coltan mining. The Houston Zoo accepts cell phones for recycling by mail or at our gift shop http://www.houstonzoo.org/Recycling/
#4 Want to step out on a limb? Our travel partner Terra Incognita Ecotours leads trips to Rwanda to see Mountain Gorillas in Volcanoes National Park a number of times a year. Actually, we are there right now (yes – I pre-scehduled this blog). Experiencing nature inspires us to protect it so take a look at our travel program http://www.houstonzoo.org/safari or Terra Incognita at http://www.ecotours.com/dest_rwanda.html
Silverback-Gabon. Paul Swen Photography
#5) Library, Bookstore, DVD, Online??? Take a few minutes and watch or read: Mountain Gorillas: Biology, Conservation and Coexistence, Gorillas in the Mist, Goodnight, Gorilla or even Gorilla Gorilla, In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land, Saving a Species: Gorilla on the Brink (DVD), No One Loved Gorillas More: Dian Fossey-Letters from the Mist, The Year of the Gorilla, Mountain Gorillas: Three Decades of Research at Karisoke. You get the point…
Tomorrow’s Blog: The Bushmeat Trade