We recently happened upon this family of bush hyraxes living in a massive fig tree in Tarangire. Hyraxes are distantly related to elephants, and have been described by Richard Estes as "the smallest ungulate-type mammals." Yet they have no hooves: their feet are rubbery soles kept moist by sweat glands, making them agile climbers in steep terrain. They are poor thermoregulators, so they sunbathe to warm up in the morning, escape midday heat in the shade, and find shelter from cold at night in holes, cracks, and crannies.
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Water is essential for life, and this is abundantly clear during the dry season in the African savanna. We recently completed another round of dry-season surveys for giraffe and other ungulates in the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem of Tanzania. The rains will be coming soon, but for now the huge herds of migratory wildebeests, zebras, and elands - as well as resident animals like giraffes and waterbucks - quench their thirst in the Tarangire River and nearby waterholes. These are the good times for predators like lions, who hunt larger-sized ungulates on their daily commute to the water. We usually see lions nearly every day during this season in Tarangire National Park. With our Masai Giraffe Conservation Demography and TUNGO projects, as well as our Northern Plains Campaign, the Wild Nature Institute is working to conserve ungulate populations and ensure the future these magnificent animals and the lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, and other predators that depend upon them.
By MONICA BOND Special to the Sacramento Bee September 26, 2015 End destructive practice of logging forests after wildfires
When it comes to wildfire, the U.S. Forest Service has it all wrong. In its just-released plan to chop down trees in nearly 17,000 acres hit by last year’s King fire in the Eldorado National Forest – including logging in 28 occupied spotted owl territories – the agency trots out the same tired falsehoods. First, the Forest Service claims burned areas must be logged and replanted to “restore” the forest. In truth, wildfire is natural and necessary in the Sierra Nevada, even fires that burn very hot over huge areas, and human interference after fires is harmful rather than helpful. For thousands of years, big fires have burned in the Sierra Nevada and are as ecologically critical for native plants and animals as rain and snow. And the trees have always grown back on their own. But before the trees grow back, the burned forests erupt with life. Black-backed woodpeckers thrive in the most charred forests, feasting on the superabundance of insects and creating nesting holes in the freshly dead trees. After the woodpeckers, mountain bluebirds and house wrens use the abandoned cavities to raise their own chicks. Deer mice and gophers eat fire-exposed seeds and newly sprouting vegetation. These rodents are food for imperiled California spotted owls, who have been documented hunting in charcoal forests, using dead trees to perch upon and listen for their prey rustling below. Which brings us to falsehood No. 2: that logging will help, not harm, the spotted owl. This has never been true. Heavily burned forests are great hunting grounds for the owl, but studies have proven that post-fire logging causes owls to abandon their territories. This comes as no surprise, since wildfire is natural but people chopping down trees is not. Logging is the real threat to owls. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees – recently the agency decided to consider listing the California spotted owl as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, citing thinning and post-fire logging as primary threats to declining populations. Falsehood No. 3: Current fires burn more acres than ever before, so fire suppression and logging after a fire are necessary. In fact, the number of acres burned by wildfires in recent years is not at all unprecedented in ancient or modern history. Studies of charcoal in sediments dating back 8,000 years show vast areas burned in hot fires during droughts, the same as today. According to the National Interagency Coordination Center, 8.2 million acres have burned in U.S. wildfires as of Sept. 1. Yet during the 10-year hot and dry period from the late 1920s to the late 1930s, an average of 30 million acres burned every year. Special interests do not want this information widely publicized. Under the George W. Bush administration, the Forest Service and federal government purged all wildfire-acre-burned statistics from before 1960. These charcoal forests are magical places, thriving with life. It is time to end the destructive practice of logging our precious forests after fire, and celebrate wildfire as natural and renewing. Monica Bond, a wildlife biologist with the Wildlife Nature Institute, is a nationally known scientific expert on spotted owls and fire ecology.
We were extremely fortunate during our giraffe survey this past week to see a small pack of African wild dogs (also known as painted dogs) in Tarangire National Park. These stunning animals have boldly blotched white, black, and tan fur, with each individual having its own unique pattern. African wild dogs are highly social and live in packs, sometimes with dozens of animals, but generally only one dominant male and female will breed and all pack members help to raise the pups. Interestingly, males remain in the packs into which they were born, while females disperse. In 5 years of working in and around Tarangire National Park, this is only our second sighting of these beautiful canids. Our joy at seeing them was tempered by the fact that they are highly endangered. Threats include disease and habitat loss and fragmentation as well as persecution after livestock kills, vehicle strikes, and accidental capture in poachers’ snares. According to A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania, in 2007 only about 1,800 wild dogs could be found in Tanzania. This was 20% of the global population, making Tanzania extremely important for the conservation of the species. They feed primarily upon medium-sized ungulates like gazelles and impalas, so Wild Nature Institute’s work to study and conserve ungulates is directly benefiting wild dogs and other predators.
Yesterday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed with the Wild Nature Institute and John Muir Project that sufficient information existed to consider listing the California Spotted Owl as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Last December we submitted a petition to list the subspecies because the science clearly shows owl populations are declining on public and private lands where logging is allowed, but stable in national parks where logging is prohibited. This is just a step in the process: after a public comment period and further investigation, the Fish and Wildlife Service should make a final determination about listing the owl within a year. The recognition that fire-related logging such as thinning and post-fire tree-cutting is harming owls is significant, and we applaud the Service for this decision. Los Angeles Times: Wildlife Groups Seek Federal Protection for the California Spotted Owl
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-california-spotted-owl-20150918-story.html By Louis Sahagun
In the latest round in a 15-year legal battle to keep the California spotted owl safe from U.S. Forest Service logging policies, federal wildlife authorities have agreed to reconsider an earlier decision to deny the timid raptor protection under the Endangered Species Act. In 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined there was inconclusive evidence that spotted owl populations in the Sierra Nevada range and the mountains of Southern California were in decline or threatened by logging operations. New research, however, indicates that thinning and post-fire salvage logging are "the main threat to the spotted owls' survival," according to a petition for listing filed late last year by the Wild Nature Institute and the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute. On Friday, Fish and Wildlife agreed that listing may be warranted for the owl, known by scientists as Strix occidentalis occidentalis. The agency said that is because the owl population of about 1,200 pairs – most of them on Forest Service lands subject to extensive logging -- is so small it has "an impoverished gene pool." Officials also agreed that owl habitat loss and fragmentation from logging may exacerbate threats posed by climate change, invasive species and development. "I’m very encouraged by the agency’s decision," said Chad Hanson, an ecologist and spokesman for the John Muir Project. "It means that we have greater potential to protect the owl and its habitat from logging on public lands than ever before." Stanton Florea, a spokesman for the Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region, declined to comment except to say that "we'll be providing the Fish and Wildlife Service any information they request as part of the process." Mike Albrecht, a registered professional forester and president of Sierra Resource Management, a timber harvesting business in Sonora, Calif., said, "The main danger to the spotted owl is wildfire in forests that are overgrown. "Salvage logging of a burned forest does nothing to endanger the owl," he added. "Keeping our forests healthy, thinned and green is good for the owl and all wildlife." The medium-sized, mottled chocolate brown owls are nocturnal, considered monogamous and largely remain in their home ranges year-round. The species had been solely associated with dense, old-growth forests and thickly wooded canyons, a notion that made it a lightning rod for blame in the timber and logging industry. The overwhelming view of conservationists now is that the species is well adapted to low- and moderate-severity wildfires, and appears to prefer high-severity burned areas within their territory for foraging. "The Forest Service claims thinning, timber harvesting and salvage logging are needed to reduce the threat of fire and improve habitat for owls," Hanson said. "We now know that the owls forage among charred logs and snags because they are great habitat for small mammals such as pocket gophers -- a delicacy for them." The Department of the Interior is expected to make a final decision on the status of the California spotted owl next year. Anyone watching hoofed mammals in the African savanna also has a good chance of spotting one of two species of oxpecker, a fascinating bird that lives much of its life clinging to ungulates and eating such delicacies as ticks, blood, dandruff, mucous, and earwax! Red-billed (Buphagus erythrorynchus) and Yellow-billed Oxpeckers (B. africanus) have short, sharp claws that facilitate clinging to animals, long stiff tails that hold them upright whilst clinging, and flattened beaks with a sharp cutting edge for handling ticks. They are also both highly social cooperative breeders that nest in tree cavities during the rainy season. The relationship between oxpeckers and ungulates has been traditionally considered mutualistic, as the oxpeckers obtain food from blood in ticks while at the same time the ungulates benefits from tick removal. Some scientists have questioned whether the relationship might be more parasitic, as oxpeckers also feed upon wounds, often causing the wounds to remain open. However, ungulates appear to benefit when oxpeckers help to lower their tick burden. The question remains open for further study.
This weekend the Oakland Zoo hosted Wild Nature Institute scientists Dr. Derek Lee and Monica Bond. We presented our Masai Giraffe Project to docents, veterinarians, zookeepers, and other zoo staff, and had a chance to feed the zoo's giraffes and zebras! We look forward to partnering with the Oakland Zoo to support research and conservation of giraffe. Special thanks to Amy Phelps for setting this up.
We presented our giraffe research and conservation work at the Sacramento Zoo yesterday. The Sacramento Zoo is a longtime supporter of our Masai giraffe project in Tanzania, providing conservation grants for the past 4 years and including us in their "Quarters for Conservation" program last year. We are deeply grateful to the Sacramento Zoo for their generous long-term support. Enjoy some photos from our last survey in June. The long rainy season ends in May and the vegetation was still green and lush. The Wild Nature Institute contributed to a significant new book entitled Ecological Importance of Mixed-Severity Fires: Nature's Phoenix. The book, just published by Elsevier Press, presents meticulously gathered scientific information on the paradigm shift that is changing the way people think about wildfire and ecosystems, including how high-severity fires are natural and necessary to create and renew critical habitat for many kinds of plants and animals that thrive in burned areas. Monica Bond wrote a chapter about mammals and high-severity fire, and contributed to a chapter about birds. This is the first-ever academic book to address the importance of high-severity fire with regards to the maintenance of native biodiversity and fire-dependent ecosystems and species.
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