Archive for the ‘Endangered Species’ Category

Mar
31

Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration (HWCC)

Posted by in Africa,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Painted Dog

Last year, I had the opportunity to participate in a Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration (HWCC) course.  It was an intense four day training that packed a punch!  It provided essential tools enabling me to handle conflict in any setting, but specifically focus around human-wildlife conflict.  The term ”human-wildlife conflict” is a bit misleading. You may be picturing students in a room with a wild tiger, being told to “work things out”, but let me be clear: people have conflicts with other people about wildlife.

Participants hailed from all over the US.  Many of them were from organizations having the same goal of conserving wolves, but not having a history of working well together.  The dissonance between the group was so palpable, that at first we were asked not to reveal where we worked.  By the end of the training, all of the organizations were working together in harmony and happily revealed who they were during the last case study.  It was a testament to the HWCC course itself to see these groups working together and watch a history of conflicts resolved by the end of the training.
The course focused on providing tools to maintain peace for continued progress in wildlife conservation efforts. It prepares participants to recognize the potential signs of conflict and handle them in the earliest stages. In the world of conservation, time is of the essence. Endangered species often don’t have time for humans to fight amongst themselves. Conflict can bring species protection efforts to a complete halt, which is why this training is so valuable in wildlife conservation.

We are always looking for practical ways to assist our wildlife conservation partners in the field.  HWCC held a training last week in Kenya, and we were able to fund a park guard from the Niassa lion preserve in Mozambique, the lead conservation biologist of the Niassa Lion project in Mozambique, the lead education officer of Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe, and a researcher from the Senegal chimp project.

Niassa Lion Project in Mazambique, Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe and Senegal chimps representitives sent to HWCC training in Kenya

These are a few of the responses we received from the participants after the training:

“Today we finished the training on Human Wildlife Conflict Collaboration at Ol Pejeta in Kenya. I would like to express my gratitude to you for every thing you have done to give to me the opportunity to participate in this training.
I will take this course seriously. I have learned as much I could to improve my contribution for conservation in Niassa National Reserve inMozambique. This course exceeded my expectation and I’m very happy to have this opportunity.”
Mbumba, Niassa National Reserve

“Well, I can honestly say that was the best and most useful workshop I have ever attended. Thank you and the Houston Zoo so much for not only introducing us to HWCC but also for sponsoring Mbumba and I and paying for the travel costs. We very much appreciate it. Both of us walked away  with lots of new ideas and tools to help us deal with conflicts and also make sure that we don’t inadvertently create more conflict  as we move forward. My head is buzzing!  The timing was perfect as NLP moves into engaging community guardians, finding solutions to bush meat snaring  and developing  the Environmental and Skills training centre. It was an amazing group of people that attended from Kenya, Uganda,Tanzania mainly with Kelly from Senegal and a few others from other projects. Peter from the Grevy’s Zebra Trust was there and it was good to see him again and speak about their Guardian programs, and I had a long talk to Wilton from PDC about the bush school program which he runs. So it was so productive on all fronts.
So thank you, it made a big difference. Already I am thinking of other people I need to encourage to do the course as I think it should be essential for anyone working in conservation.  
Kind regards, and many thanks again.”
Colleen Begg
Niassa Lion Conservation

We are very excited to announce that we are hosting the HWCC training at the Houston Zoo in November for our local partners.  Conflict has collapsed conservation efforts in the past, but this training is equipping armies of conservationists with the tools to advance in the battle to save wildlife.

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,
Mar
30

Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL)

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research

Co-founder of EWCL, Jeff Flocken teaching about the importance of networking

Last week, I got to attend and assist with a unique training course called Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders.  The course was developed to provide support and inspiration to conservation professionals around the world.   There were participants from Ethiopia, Mongolia, Brazil, Europe and the US.  In this two year long program, participants come together for one week each year for workshops, training, and mentoring. The rest of the time is spent focusing on assigned conservation projects that they receive at the beginning of the course.  Participants put themselves into groups and are assigned to a species(one they don’t already work with) conservation effort.  The group then creates, implements and evaluates projects designed to enhance existing wildlife conservation efforts.

One group this year worked with a lion program in Africa.  The EWCL team found funding to purchase devices that park staff could carry to enable them to identify and mark individual lion’s locations while they are out on game drives with tourists.  They also designed a program to allow tourists to log onto a website to identify the lions they photographed while on safari.  The team had posters made for all of the safari lodges to advertise this ID program. This sustainable project benefits both the researchers and lions tremendously.  More eyes on the lions improves the ability to monitor the populations, and engaging the tourists fosters an ownership in the battle to save the species.

Bradford works to protect the St. Vincent's parrot.

The support this program offers to its participants is tangible.  Many of them are transitioning in their own careers and the network this program provides ensures these eager and skilled conservationists don’t slip though the cracks.  Some of the participants were a girl working in Snow Leopard conservation in Mongolia, a man working with St Vincent parrots on St Vincent island, a man working with bats and wind turbines in the US, and a girl lobbying for endangered species in the White house.  This is a dream team of conservationists training for the race to save endangered species!

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,
Mar
23

International Veterinary Students

Posted by in Africa,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Featured,Gorilla

The Houston Zoo welcomed a friend from Rwanda his week as part of our Veterinary Externship. Methode Bahizi recently completed his studies in veterinary medicine in Rwanda where he designed and implemented a project for our partners at the  Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project to investigate the presence of disease vectors and the potential for disease transmission between livestock and wildlife.

In the summer of 2009, he led a University study team through countless rural communities in Rwanda working with 40 different sector veterinarians to visit over 450 families in Rwanda. The families that were visited had received cows from the Rwandan government in an effort to combat childhood malnutrition. In the “One Cow Per Poor Family” program, the cow is to provide milk and fertilizer in an attempt to increase the overall plane of nutrition for rural poor families in Rwanda. The concern is that the families were not experienced with animal husbandry and the project was designed identify areas of education that would help the families to better care for their livestock. The project was successful and Methode was recognized for his achievements.

Methode’s trip to the US is sponsored by Step One Foundation from Houston whose goal is to develop models for technology on farms that will improve animal welfare, farm productivity, and address environmental issues. This is Methode’s first trip to the US.

Tags: ,
Mar
22

The Pollinator: A Superhero of Superheroes

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Bats,Birds,Bumblebees,Conservation,Endangered Species,Featured,Going Green

Dressed in a multitude of colors, this superhero fights crime like no other – the potential of declining food production due to lack of pollination. They leap (flitter above actually) tall buildings, see through walls (sniff through backyard fences), and have super strength (you try flying around all day).

He/She is The Pollinator! Really, right there in the photo below. Yes that green cocoony thing with the three gold dots and as you can see he or she is amassing his or her forces of pollinator buddies in my backyard. 33 of them to be exact as of today.

Monarch Butterfly chrysalids hanging out on a fence post after a feast of Milkweed plants (Asclepia species)

Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within flowers or carried from flower to flower by pollinating animals such as birds, bees, bats, butterflies, moths, beetles, or other animals, or by the wind. In our case above, a Monarch Butterfly. The transfer of pollen in and between flowers of the same species leads to fertilization, and successful seed and fruit production for plants.  Pollination ensures that a plant will produce full-bodied fruit and a full set of viable seeds.

Here is why it is important according to our friends at the Pollinator Partnership:

  • Worldwide, roughly 1,000 plants grown for food, beverages, fibers, spices, and medicines need to be pollinated by animals in order to produce the goods on which we depend.
  • Foods and beverages produced with the help of pollinators include: apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes, pumpkins, vanilla, almonds, and tequila.
  • In the United States, pollination by honey bees, native bees, and other insects produces $40 billion worth of products annually.

    Monarch Buttrefly Caterpillar finishing breakfast before metamorphosis into chrysalid

It is simple to help pollinators – just plant a small garden – apartment dwellers can also place pollinator plants in pots out on balconies and porches – and before you know it (and I am not sure exactly how they find me, but they do) butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and more will be at your door wearing their little Superhero capes and saving the world through pollination. Get the BEE SMART Pollinator APP for planting tips here.

Tags: , ,
Mar
21

Houston Aeros Cell Phone Drive

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Central America,Chimpanzee,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Gorilla,What You Can Do

Spring Break is probably the busiest week of the year for many of us. The zoo is full of visiting guests, families are traveling and the Houston Aeros Hockey Team played 6 home games in 8 nights.

Not only did the Houston Aeros win 5 of those 6 home games, they also assisted the Houston Zoo in our most successful recycled cell phone collection drive ever! Just for general reference, the zoo collected nearly 1,200 phones in 2011. During the week of March 10-18 of this year – the Houston Aeros collected 758 phones before their games at the Toyota Center!

Looks like someone just recycled Edward from Twilight. Score one for Team Jacob

Help Wildlife in the Congo:

Why recycle your cell phone? First, it can help the environment by recycling hazardous waste but it also may help animals in the wild. Columbite-tantalite, or Coltan for short, 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.
 
Donate your cell phone to the Houston Zoo and the Zoo will have it recycled ensuring that most of these cell phones and their accessories will be reused or properly disposed of.
 
A big thank you to the Houston Aeros and Aeros staff for all their help and support for the Houston Zoo. There are 7 more home games before the season ends on April 15th and the Houston Aeros start their playoff run to the Calder Cup Trophy. Check out their schedule and support Aeros hockey.

Tags: , , , ,
Mar
19

The African Vulture Crisis

Posted by in Africa,Endangered Species

Here is another great video in the series about the decline of vulture populations in the Masai Mara of east Africa. Over the last thirty years, vulture numbers in East Africa have been dropping rapidly largely due to poisoning. Pastoralists lace livestock carcasses with pesticides to kill lions and hyenas that have attacked domestic animals. One poisoned cow carcass can kill over 150 vultures. We are in the midst of a crisis for African vultures that will be difficult to reverse if poisoning continues.

This video was created by the nonprofit organization Wild Lens Inc. Wild Lens works alongside other non-profit and governmental organizations to document and communicate to the public the various risks to habitat and wildlife species, particularly in understudied populations. Goals for scientific research projects go beyond publishing in scientific journals with documentary storytelling used to explain the issues behind the research being conducted.

For more information about vultures and vulture conservation, visit the blog VulturesRock.com.

 

Tags:
Mar
09

Wildlife Conservationist Corinne Kendall and the Houston Zoo

Posted by in Africa,Endangered Species,Zoo Crew

Corinne Kendall(image courtesy of The Peregrine Fund)

Written by Houston Zoo Director Rick Barongi.

In a few months, Corinne Kendall should be getting her PhD. from the department of conservation and evolutionary biology at Princeton University.  Then this very gifted and dedicated individual will devote the rest of her career to wildlife conservation.

Why she chose this career path is probably due to a variety of early life experiences with animals and nature.  If you ask her which of these experiences had the most impact, she would rank her early zoo visits and subsequent volunteer work at the Houston Zoo at or near the top.

In Corinne’s case she was also blessed with parents that recognized and encouraged her passion for working with wildlife.  Our zoo provided the perfect opportunity for young people to engage with wildlife, and Corinne took full advantage.  As soon as she was old enough she became a teen Zoo Crew member and then went on to a volunteer keeper position followed by a seasonal internship during her summer vacations from Cornell University, where she was a straight A student.

Corinne went on to Columbia University to get her Master’s in Conservation Biology before settling on Princeton for her PhD. work studying vultures in East Africa.

While no one can scientifically prove that visiting and volunteering at a good zoo can change people’s lives,  there is no denying that good zoos can connect people with animal in ways that no computer, video or HD documentary can duplicate.  Corinne Kendall is living proof of the power that good zoos can have on young minds and hearts.

The Houston Zoo is more than a fun place to see animals. It is a living classroom that inspires and connects us to the natural world.  It is also a training ground for future Conservation Heroes like Corinne.

Watch and enjoy this fascinating short video of Corinne Kendall’s field work with vultures in the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya, East Africa.

 

Tags: , ,
Mar
08

Conservation Night with the Houston Aeros March 18!

Posted by in Conservation,Elephant,Endangered Species,Gorilla,Uncategorized,What You Can Do

 

Cell phones have become a permanent fixture in our everyday lives. It’s one of the first things you look at in the morning, and the last thing you look at before sleeping. They keep us connected and help us in almost everything we do, but have you ever wondered about their impact on the environment?  

 Columbite-tantalite, or Coltan for short, is an essential element in the production of cell  phones,laptops, and many other electrical devices. This element is mined in the Congo, rapidly depleting the habitat of endangered gorillas and elephants.

In fact, eighty percent of the world’s known Coltan supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But fear not! There is something you can do to help. With technology constantly evolving, it is estimated that there may be around 500 million unused cell phones floating around the United States alone, with as many as 100 million added each year. Bring those outdated cellular devices to the Aeros game on Sunday, March 18 for Conservation Night and participate in our Cell Phone Recycling Program! Find the Houston Zoo table, turn in your old cell phone, and you will receive four tickets to the Aeros game on Sunday, April 15 and a kid’s pass to the Zoo!

Parts of your old devices can be reused to reduce the amount of Coltan that is mined in the Congo, preserving what is left of the depleted habitat of these amazing animals as well as reducing waste that ends up in landfills. You can also recycle old cell phones year-round by dropping them in our Cell Phone Recycling Bins at the front entrance of the Zoo! Not only will you be relieving yourself of some extra clutter, but the proceeds from all devices collected benefit the Houston Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Fund. So come out and see us at the Aeros game on Sunday, March 18! We’ll see you there!

 

Mar
06

Bastrop State Park Volunteer Work Parties to Save the Houston Toad, By Dale Martin

Posted by in amphibians,Conservation,Endangered Species,Texas

As most people in Texas know, early September 2011 brought a devastating wildfire to the Bastrop state Park.  A few park structures built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930′s were damaged, thousands of trees burned along with acres and acres of underbrush. An endangered species resident of the Park became even more endangered: The Houston Toad. 

From December 2011 thru February 2012, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department led six volunteer work parties to restore the banks around the known Houston toad ponds in Bastrop State Park.  Though people were hoping the toads made it okay, surveys of the area have resulted in no Houston Toad calls being heard at some of the ponds. 

Friday, January 27, I drove up to Bastrop State Park from Houston and set up camp in the Deer Run campground for a two-night stay.  A few weeks prior, I had signed up for the January 28 volunteer work party.

Saturday morning, at 8:30am, I and 62 other volunteers gathered at The Refectory, checked in, received our hard hats and instructions from TPWD Park Interpreter/Volunteer Coordinator Katie Raney.  She, her team of TPWD staffers, and the 63 volunteers were going to caravan out to pond #2 to put down mulch along the pond and drainage banks. 

The ground cover had been burned off leaving nothing in the way of cover for any Houston Toads who may emerge from their underground burrows to call to females or hear and respond to male calls.  Providing 50% coverage of mulch provides some camouflage for the toads while they are on the surface and provides something they can hide under to avoid predators. The mulch is also important for promoting plant growth and helping to attract insects…just what the toads need.  

We arrived at and parked on the shoulder of the roadway near some big piles of mulch–about 10 or 20 cubic yards or more.  Katie walked us out to the pond about 200-300 yards from the road and showed us what she wanted in the way of mulch coverage.  Six of us stayed at the pond as the rest of the group strung themselves along the route back to the road. 

Volunteers began shoveling mulch into the tall, orange,  Home Depot buckets.  The buckets were passed from person to person down to the pond area where six of us took the incoming buckets as they arrived and shook out mulch between the high-water mark and the tree line. 

As we worked our way towards the road, the line got more compressed and became more like an actual bucket brigade where a bucket (or buckets) was passed hand-to-hand without any steps being taken by the passers. 

Once the mulch distributors reached the road, Katie declared it was time for a lunch break.  We had mulched the north side of the pond and the north bank of the pond drainage to the roadway. 

After lunch, as we again formed a bucket brigade line to feed the mulch distributors, I opted to be part of the line. 

Apparently, we were either so fired up from lunch or we had all gotten much better at passing buckets because we finished mulching the south side of the pond and its drainage banks in half the time it took us to do the north bank in the morning.  Once we put our equipment away–shovels, rakes, buckets, hard hats, etc–Katie thanked us and everyone left for home. 

Early Saturday morning, February 11, I drove up to Bastrop State Park to again participate in the last volunteer work party of the season–it is close to toad breeding season and Park staff don’t want to disrupt the toads’ activities.

This time, we went to toad pond #8, a pond which toad specialists had heard Houston toads calling earlier in the week.  Just like the work party a couple of weeks ago, we set up a bucket-brigade line between the mulch pile and the pond, and a mulch distribution team at the pond.  The first buckets started down the line about 10:00am.

Unknown to us down at the pond or along much of the bucket-brigade line, there was some unexpected excitement at the mulch pile: Someone uncovered a coral snake that had been hunkered down in the pile, likely staying warm during the 30-degree temperatures that night and morning. A TPWD staffer was posted to guard the snake from curious volunteers who wanted to look at it. 

By about noon, we finished putting down a 50%-coverage of mulch on the banks of the pond. Katie declared our work complete and led us through the Park back to our cars.

Dale Martin is a wonderful long time devoted volunteer at the Houston Zoo.  He assists our staff photographer and the web team.  

If you want to hear more about how the Houston Toads are doing after the Bastrop fires join us at the Zoo for our Wildlife Speaker Series  event on Friday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m.  Get up close and personal with a live Houston Toad and get an update on the wild Toads from our Amphibian Conservation Manager, Paul Crump.  Dr. Michael Lannoo of Indiana University School of Medicine will give a presentation titled: A Window into the Global Amphibian Crisis: Discovering the Biology of North America’s Most Secretive Frog, the Crawfish frog, as it Approaches Extinction.  Buy your tickets HERE.

Tags: , , , , ,
Mar
03

A Tribute to the Monkees from the Monkeys

Posted by in Endangered Species,Field Research,South America

When I arrive at the Zoo in the morning I am often serenaded by our gibbons at the Zoo.  Have you ever heard a gibbon sing?  They have amazing pitch and range!  This morning I could have sworn they incorporated notes from The Monkee’s song, I’m a believer.   I deduced that this was a tribute to Davy Jones, lead singer of ’60s pop band The Monkees, who sadly passed away recently.  Let me be clear, gibbons are apes not monkeys, but I think they too have a great appreciation for 60’s pop.

Being fellow monkeys, I am sure our troop of Cotton-top tamarins are mourning in there own special way.  Their voices are a bit higher so their tribute selection is more likely something like Daydream Believer, but make no mistake their chirps and tweets can invoke plenty of emotion.  A wonderful Cotton-top tamarin conservation project in Colombia called Proyecto Tití have done a lot of research on the Cotton-top tamarin’s vocalizations, they have found that this species uses 38 distinctly different sounds.

Knowing those Cotton-tops they have probably added a few jazzy dance steps as well.  They have such amazing 60’s pop hair!   Small monkey species can be very difficult to keep track of, so Proyecto Tití researchers have discovered that dying those flowing white locks on the tops of their head makes it exceedingly easier to identify wild individuals as they bounce around in the forest canopy.  This technique has enabled researchers to collect valuable data on this endangered little monkey.

In conclusion, I am quite sure that monkeys everywhere would agree that Davy Jones will live on through his Monkee music.

Tags: , , ,

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »