by Anselme Toto Volahy, Francisco (Coco) Rakotombololona & Lance Woolaver(Durrell Madagascar)

In Madagascar working with local communities is key to protecting biodiversity. In the Menabe region of Western Madagascar, we have spent many years studying and setting up protection for many endemic species such as the giant jumping rat, narrow-striped mongoose and flat-tailed tortoise. But a large part of the work being carried out by our team concerns community awareness and support for local capacity development. Why do we do this though and what are real outcomes for people and conservation?

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I don’t know how but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) figured out that it is my birthday today (17th June) and I suspect thats why they decided to make the solenodon the “Species of the day” today. Its all part of the IUCN involvement with the “International Year of Biodiversity” so please do check out and download the information which is available from here or If your reading this after the 17th of June then go here. The whole of the last survivor’s team feel extremely privileged to have one of our species honoured in this way.

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We were not expecting to write another blog until mid June but there is lots of exciting news that we want to share with you and so it warrants this special edition blog. Cristina Fernandez Secades, a student from Imperial College, has joined the project. She has hit the ground running and has already had a very productive time interviewing people in villages located near one of the national parks. The Masters project she is carrying out has two main objectives: 1) to establish the level of predation that solenodon and hutia are suffering because of wild and domestic dogs 2) finding out the tolerance of people to damage of crops/livestock from both endemic and introduced species before a response is triggered, in addition to assessing the type of response created (e.g. poison, traps, hunting, etc).

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To celebrate the International Day of Biodiversity, I want to highlight some of the many species that Durrell and our partners have supported over the years; either through the actions of our breeding programmes at the wildlife park in Jersey or through the field programmes and training around the world. All these species are either part of existing field projects, breeding programmes or important projects that we assist. There are many more and within this you will find some of the great success stories of conservation.
 

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by Pedro Martinez and Jose Nunez-Mino

Back in the UK you have been experiencing the arrival of spring, here on the Island of Hispaniola we are still waiting for our next season to start in earnest – namely the rainy season. The island is currently experiencing a bit of a drought and although this is not a good thing in general, it has meant that we have managed to avoid any major soakings since our last update. That’s not to say that no rain has fallen, it just means we have not been caught out in the field when it has. However, instead we have had to cope with searing hot temperatures in order to look for solenodon and hutia in remote sites which can only be accessed via very long treks through areas of dry forest with little or no shade. Its been tough going!!

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By Nik Cole, Durrell Mauritius Programme

March 2010 has been a busy month for the staff of the reptile team in Mauritius, translocating 550 endangered reptiles from Round Island to the nature reserve island Ile aux Aigrettes. This translocation forms part of our ongoing work to rebuild the lost endemic reptile communities of Mauritius with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the National Parks and Conservation Service.

If you have seen some of the earlier blogs on Mauritius you‘ll know that Ile aux Aigrettes is an important site for the restoration and preservation of one of the last remnants of dry Mauritian coastal forest. Over the past 20 years nearly all invasive plants and numerous exotic animals, such as cats and rats have been removed. The restoration process has led to the re-introduction of endangered plant and animal species. Last year rats were again detected on the island and after a really intensive effort, it seems that we have been able to eradicate them. This opens the way to bring more Telfair’s skinks and Guenther’s geckos back onto the island.

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By Sarah Louise Smith

Since the last blog post volunteers on the Mountain Chicken project here in Montserrat have come and gone as we have seen Andres Fernandez return to Spain and have been delighted with the presence of the Linn Lagerstrom from Parken Zoo in Sweden for the month of the December. However, the future of the Mountain Chicken frog has been a rocky rollercoaster. Firstly, the rains ceased as during December and January the whole of the Caribbean entered into a drought. This was good news for us as it meant our visits into the forest were not interrupted by torrential storms. However, this also meant that thick layers of ash were accumulating in the forest (and on the frogs) as the volcano continued to be extremely active giving us a grey Christmas.

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Last week saw us organise the second workshop for the Mountain chicken restoration programme. Those of you following the blog will know about the plight of the mountain chicken frog. Reduced to existing on the two Caribbean islands of Montserrat and Dominica by the introduction of predators such as mongoose and rats, the species has now been hit by chytrid on both islands. Coupled with this, the last remaining wild population of any size then got covered in volcanic ash by a partial dome collapse in the Soufriere volcano in Montserrat in February (sound familiar??)

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Matt Goetz, Durrell and Fred Burton, Blue Iguana Recovery Programme

Last December saw the sixth annual release of young Blue Iguanas (Cyclura lewisi) into Grand Cayman’s Salina Nature Reserve brought the total number of iguanas released back into the wild on Grand Cayman to over 300. It was now time to take a detailed look at how all those iguanas were doing. We knew they started breeding in the wild in 2006, but how successful had this natural breeding been in raising the total wild population even further?

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The Natural History Museum has always been one of my favourite places in London. As an institution, it has been intertwined with the development of our understanding of the natural world for the last three hundred years. The very building itself is a monument to the discovery and reverence of nature. Also although it has some great displays, it’s what goes on behind the scenes that is most fascinating and so I was very excited to see a new series begin on BBC2 about the Museum and the people who work there (Museum of Life, BBC 2, Thursday 8pm).
 

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