Wild Nature Institute scientists published a new paper in the Journal of Mammalogy this week that refines methods for counting giraffe and monitoring their populations in Africa. The paper compares three different methods for surveying giraffe and makes recommendations for improving the precision of future estimates. Dr. Derek Lee, Principal Scientist at Wild Nature Institute and lead author of the study said: "Collecting reliable data is the critically important first step to making good decisions that conserve giraffe and other wildlife populations. This paper will inform giraffe research across the continent and will likely reveal some surprises about giraffe populations."
Precision, accuracy, and costs of survey methods for giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis Abstract:http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/gyw025? ijkey=pV4WJjMKMmAgF7z&keytype=ref PDF:http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/gyw025? ijkey=pV4WJjMKMmAgF7z&keytype=ref
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Thank you Tulsa Zoo for supporting Wild Nature Institute's Masai giraffe research and conservation with a generous donation. For all giraffe lovers in the Tulsa area, please visit your local zoo and thank them for their support of field conservation.
Wild Nature Institute's scientists Dr. Derek Lee and Monica Bond presented their Masai giraffe research and conservation work at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The zoo is a supporter of our work, and we were honored to meet their staff as well as their beautiful Masai giraffes. We look forward to partnering with the Santa Barbara Zoo and the Giraffe Conservation Alliance to protect wild giraffes in Tanzania.
To all the “cat people” out there: ever wonder about the evolutionary history of Mittens, Fluffy, and Socks? All domestic cats are thought to be descended from African wild cats, Felis silvestris lybica, with the first domesticated individuals appearing about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East.
African wild cats are common in the savanna, but are rarely seen because they are active mostly at night. We recently snapped this photo of a beautiful wild cat in the Serengeti. Wild Nature Institute received a donation from Steven Free / GIRAFA, a Bay-Area artist is known for his giraffe character and Long Neck 4 Life branding. After hearing the story of Omo, the leucistic giraffe in Tarangire National Park, he designed a "Rare White Giraffe Air Freshener" and donated a portion of his proceeds towards our giraffe conservation work. Thanks so much, Steven, for caring about giraffes and spreading the message "Stand Tall Live Long!" To purchase an air freshener, visit the Long Neck 4 Life website.
Last night we were honored to celebrate St. Valentine's Day at a special dinner with the singular and indefatigable Dr. Jane Goodall. Her passionate and tireless efforts to further our understanding of non-human animals and champion the preservation of wild nature make her one of the world's shining lights, and definitely one of our great heroes. Joining Dr. Goodall on the day of love, to share and spread the word of love for all living creatures, was a wonderful and inspiring experience. We presented Dr. Goodall with a signed copy of our multi-lingual children's book The Amazing Migration of Lucky the Wildebeest. We will be working with her "Roots and Shoots" program to use our series of wildlife-focused children's books to instill ecological values in the next generation of young Tanzanians.
This baby giraffe on Manyara Ranch was so freshly newborn it was still wobbly on its legs. Every giraffe in the herd was coming near it and sniffing it with interest, including this older calf.
We are happy to have another giraffe join our database of more than 2,100 individuals we are monitoring and conserving in the Tarangire Ecosystem of Tanzania. Our goal is to protect the wildebeest migration route from Tarangire National Park to the Northern Plains, where they give birth. Manyara Ranch is a critical piece to protect the Tarangire ecosystem from losing its migratory species and the wildlife tourism economy that depends upon them. We are using our research to create data-driven products like this map to inform conservation decisions in the region. We are advocating for speed bumps and Wildlife Crossing signs on the tarmac roads that slice across the migration route north and south of Manyara Ranch. Land use planning and law enforcement is also needed to maintain open rangelands between Tarangire National Park, Manyara Ranch, and the Northern Plains. We support community conservation in the area through education, land-use planning, Masai warrior anti-poaching patrols, and grassroots ecotourism. Last year we reported on our blog our sighting of a beautiful leucistic giraffe calf in Tarangire National Park. Her body surface cells are not capable of making pigment, but she is not an albino. We were lucky enough to resight her again this January, almost exactly one year later. We are thrilled that she is still alive and well. Below are photos of the leucistic giraffe calf, then and now. A local lodge guide christened her Omo, after a popular brand of detergent here. Alternative names are welcome, or vote for Omo as her moniker.
A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has determined that the area burned by wildfires is unaffected by recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks.
Contrary to the expectation that a mountain pine beetle outbreak increases fire risk, this study shows no effect of outbreaks on subsequent area burned across the West. This study expands upon our own work in southern California, and work by other scientists, that found pre-fire insect- and drought-caused tree mortality does not influence forest fire severity. These results refute the assumptions that increased bark beetle activity has increased area burned or fire severity. Therefore, policy actions should focus on societal adaptation to the effects of warmer temperatures and increased drought. Wild Nature Institute scientist Derek Lee, who was not part of the PNAS study said,"Logging will not change fire behavior, our forests are naturally resilient, if we would just have the courage to leave them alone, they will self-regulate." In the western United States, mountain pine beetles have killed pine trees across 71,000 square kilometers of forest since the mid-1990s, leading to widespread concern that abundant dead fuels may increase area burned and exacerbate forest fire behavior. The false assumption that outbreaks raise fire risk is driving far reaching policy decisions involving logging that costs U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Wild Nature Institute scientist Monica Bond, who was not part of the PNAS study said,"Far from being a threat, high-severity fire and insect outbreaks actually provide great benefits to forests and many wildlife species. Logging—including thinning in the name of fire reduction, and salvage logging of burned trees—is actually the greatest threat to our western US forest ecosystems." |
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