Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust ? Official Blog - Captive breeding

Local conservation: agile frog headstarting in 2009

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:38:00 +0100

Agile frogs (Rana dalmatina) are one of only three amphibian species native to Jersey, and Jersey is the only place in the British Isles where this frog species occurs. Unfortunately, its population on Jersey has been declining, and its range on the island decreasing, since the early 1900’s, largely due to pollution of breeding ponds and habitat loss. By the mid-1980’s there were only two populations remaining on the island (both in the south-western corner of the island), and one of these was lost in 1987 due to an agri-chemical spill. As part of efforts to conserve the species, individuals from the single remaining population have been translocated to this site in recent years, and breeding is again occurring at this site.

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In search of the Madagascar pochard: the world's rarest duck - Part 4

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:17:00 +0100

Day 7 - 26th July
Miraculously, Bruno and Iandry have fixed the 4WD, here in the middle of nowhere. It would have taken weeks and many hundreds of pounds to fix this back in “civilization”. We make it to the nearest small village of Bemenavika in 15 minutes, a journey that took 2 hours on the way up.

Even though it was such a short visit, every minute was intense and it feels very odd to be leaving the lake and Pochard behind. There is a sense of loss as we pull away, watching the “dots” down below on this beautiful lake ringed by forest.

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In search of the Madagascar pochard: the world's rarest duck - Part 3

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:33:00 +0100

Day 6 - 25th July

As soon as my head has hit the pillow (OK, so I don’t have a pillow just a rolled up t-shirt) the dawn chorus starts. After a quick cup of strong coffee, we all rather excitedly head down to the lake together. The exhaustion and sense of dread from the day before has been replaced by anticipation. As I climb up the rickety observation platform, the very first thing I see as I peek my head over is a perfect flyby of 3 Madagascar Pochards, only 40 feet in front of me! It is an exhilarating sight. They then circle around and fly back again, like synchronised fighter planes. Nigel, Peter, Felix, Glyn and I then spend the next several hours on the platform together, suspended over the edge of the lake, watching the Pochards and soaking in the experience.

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In search of the Madagascar pochard: the world's rarest duck - Part 1

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:19:00 +0100

by Lance Woolaver, Durrell Madagascar Programme

We’re in search of the world’s rarest duck. Actually we aren’t really, because thanks to the dedicated work of the The Peregrine Fund, we know where it is. But we also know that there is only a handful left. In fact until it was rediscovered by the TPF’s Lily Arison René de Roland in 2006, the duck was thought to have gone extinct.

Sitting on a couple of small lakes some 300 km north of Antananarivo sits fewer than 20 Madagascar pochard. Although once part of an extensive wetland system throughout the central plateau these are now the last remaining unmarred high elevation volcanic lakes of their kind.

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Mountain chicken update 3: where do we go from here?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:25:00 +0100

Now that we have animals in captive conditions for breeding, we must work with partners to develop a coherent strategic plan that will culminate in the reintroduction of frogs back to Montserrat. We are putting this together at the moment and will coordinate a meeting of all the partners as soon as possible.

In Montserrat we need to work with the Government of Montserrat to establish a regular monitoring programme for the key mountain chicken sites and initiate the field treatment experiments. We also need to start fairly soon scoping out potential reintroduction sites for the future.

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Success breeding the Lesser night gecko

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:48:00 +0100

In mid December 2008, 15 pairs of the Lesser night gecko, Nactus coindemierensis, on loan from the Mauritian Government, arrived at the Durrell Herpetological Dept. These tiny geckos, which grow to only 6cm in length and lay eggs weighing just 0.2g, are part of an ex-situ captive breeding and reintroduction project. This species is now only found on four small islets, where they would once have existed in dense populations throughout the Mascarene islands. Habitat destruction and invasive species are the main factors threatening the survival of this species.

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Mountain chicken update 2: Captive breeding

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:24:00 +0100

The shipment of 50 frogs to ZSL, Durrell and Parken Zoo was a major event, which required military style planning to get the frogs off Montserrat in a plane provided by the Montserrat government to Antigua and onto a BA flight to either London or Sweden. At which point they were picked up and transported to the relevant institution. You can imagine that speed is of the essence and there is little room for delays. Anyway both shipments went very smoothly; all the animals arrived safe and sound and were introduced into their new respective homes. We wanted to give you an update on how they settled in and how they have been faring since then.

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Mountain chicken update 1: What's happening in the field

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:22:00 +0100

We are now a couple of months clear of the initial rescue efforts for the mountain chicken and we have been able to take a breather, step back from the emergency and start putting together a real plan of action on how to respond to the situation. This does not mean that we have time on our hands, far from it; we are under immense pressure to act quickly on a number of fronts.

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 08/04/09

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:48:00 +0100

After the frenzied activity of yesterday, today was relatively quiet - we had a rare chance to catch up on emails and administration. Mid morning we received the good news (along with emailed photos) that ZSL have received all 12 frogs safely and they are having a refreshing shower before receiving their first antifungal treatment in London.Everybody in Montserrat was very pleased to hear the news and to know that their hard work and commitment has paid off.

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 07/04/09

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:35:00 +0100

Today is the big day! The frogs are due to leave Montserrat on a special charter plane at 4.30pm accompanied by Montserrat vet Nicholas and Forestry worker Scriber. They will take them as far as Antigua and see them safely onto the flight from there to London. Nicholas hates flying and Scriber prefers the calm of Montserrat to the intensity of the touristic Antigua, but both are willing to put these feelings aside for the welfare of their frogs.

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 06/04/09

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:04:00 +0100

Tomorrow is the big day – the frogs will be leaving Montserrat for their journey across the Atlantic to the UK and Jersey. Exporting animals is not as easy as just putting them in a box and boarding them on a plane – there is a huge amount of paperwork and with three flights involved getting them from Montserrat to Jersey and London, it is important that everything is exactly correct or there could be hold ups which could be very dangerous for the frogs.

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 05/04/09

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:04:00 +0100

Having 26 frogs in captivity adds an extra dimension to the work here but it is a great feeling to have them safely tucked away in our transit facility. We had left them overnight to settle in undisturbed and this morning we weighed them all and allocated them numbers according to the identification record of Gerardo’s photos taken in the field – these frogs all have distinct and unique markings and it was decided to rely on this method rather than microchipping at this stage so as to cause them as little stress as possible with a long journey ahead of them. From now on we will minimise contact with the frogs to limit disturbance and to prepare them for a peaceful transfer from Montserrat.

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 04/04/09

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:45:00 +0100

Another morning of computer work, discussions and planning and a visit from one of our guides, Mapai – a real character who is always ready for a beer or two never mind what time of day or what he has planned! Full of chat and jokes, he cares passionately about the wildlife of this island. He was happy to join us for lunch although as a hunter and big meat eater, he was a little suspicious of the vegetarian food in front of him!

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 03/04/09

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:52:00 +0100

This morning was devoted to meetings with the Montserrat stakeholders to finally agree the exact plan for taking the frogs from the wild tonight and their export to Durrell and our partners. The logistics are not easy to organise as of course first of all the frogs have to fly out to Antigua and then from there to London. We want to make their trip as smooth and safe as possible so we are using all the connections we have to ensure a swift transit through Antigua. See more photos of the capture here.

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Rescuing the mountain chicken: 02/04/09

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:26:00 +0100

Tomorrow is the big day – we are going to out Fairy Walk to catch frogs for transport back to Jersey. Scriber came over to the house to discuss the practicalities of getting the frogs out – catching the frogs is one thing but carrying them out safely and carefully without stressing them too much is another! These frogs can easily weigh 1/2 kg each and have very powerful legs and could easily injure themselves inside boxes or bags. So the frogs will receive very special treatment.

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