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Rainforests are incredible places, with a huge amount of wildlife and plants all living closely together and fighting for survival.
Now the problem in many parts of the world, rainforests are being cut down for space to be given over to all sorts of other land uses. I have no problem with some of the rainforests being cut down for other land uses. Unfortunately though in the Amazon, there is a significant issue.
The big 5 is a tool that safari operators continue to use. It does not make much sense as this term is a hunting term. The big 5 are the five most dangerous animals to hunt on foot.It is not impossible to encounter the big 5 on a single drive in the bush. I have done this on a few occasions. However, when you are in the bush it is worth taking your time.
Given the big 5 is to do with hunting on foot, I have been more interested in encounters on foot. Before my recent trip, I had encountered Rhino Buffalo and Lion on foot (I do not consider it as an encounter unless I am within about 10m of the animal).
The cheetah have arrived in India, and have been introduced into enclosures within the Kuno national park. At the current time, the enclosures are just 15x30m so a similar size to a large zoo enclosure. They will stay in this enclosure for a month in order for the team to be sure that their health is good.
After this, they will be shifted into a 1 kilometre square enclosure for up to another 4 months before being released fully into the Kuno national park.
A further 12 cheetah will be transferred next month with roughly 50 agreed to be transferred over the next few years.
The simple question, though, is that cheetah do not do well in small reserves in Africa, as they cannot compete with large cats like lions or leopards (or in India, Tigers). With far less space, and a much greater density of people in India, is there going to be space for the returning cheetah? Furthermore, this situation is not likely to improve in the near future: predictions are that, without a significant break on fertility rates, India’s population could exceed 2 billion by the end of the century. In this senario, it is hard to see how there is space for much wildlife at all.
Rainforests are essential for many different things. At the moment, we (as the human race) are concerned about rainforests for their capacity to store carbon – thereby reducing the amount in the atmosphere and therefore the threat of carbon dioxide causing the greenhouse effect.
The problem is, that even without cutting any more rainforests down, we have already changed the weather dramatically. If rainforests are cut down there may then not be enough rain to sustain regrowth. One example is the Amazon, where it is predicted that half its rainfall is caused by the forest itself.
In the Amazon, Congo and even south-east Asia, there are already worrying signs in particularly highly deforested areas, that the rainforest weather is drying, turning the forest into a more savannah like area.
What is clear, is that a fragmented rainforest is deeply threatened. We need large blocks of unbroken rainforest if the planet is to survive in a form that we will continue be good for the human race to continue to thrive within. Of course, this is also essential for the many planet services that the human race requires to keep going.
Of course, this is not a reason to be allowed to cut down the fragments, it is a reason to not create the fragments in the first place. What is important to realize, is that many of the activities that the rainforest is being cut down for, will not work without the rain that the forest creates.
Just food for thought
Argued back and forth for decades (since their local extinction in 1952), the idea of reintroducing cheetah has never gone away for India. For the government, it is clearly at least partly a matter of pride – as the only home of the Asiatic lion, claiming over 50% of remaining wild tigers living within its borders, more than 10,000 wild leopards and even 4-500 wild snow leopards, cheetah was the only big cat to be allowed to go missing.
Even Cheetah is derived from the Hindi word Chita which means spotted one.
Continue reading “Namibian cheetah on the way to India for reintroduction!”Today is red panda awareness day. Many people are not particularly sure what a red panda is. Indeed, when I volunteered in a local zoo, I often found myself standing by the red pandas as so many visitors walk past without giving this little animal a proper look.
Although now considered the lesser panda, the Red panda was the original – indeed the giant panda was discovered later, and named because of similarities that they share. Panda is thought to come from the Nepalese words: “nigalya ponya” , which means bamboo eater.
Continue reading “Red panda awareness day”When we trained in the Kruger, there were about 70 cheetah and about 350 wild dog. 15 years later there were over 400 cheetah, and nearer 500 wild dog.
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What happened?
Well wild dog and cheetah are the most successful hunters, but they are also smaller than lion leopard or hyena.
Another change is far more hyena with a Kruger population of about 5000 up from around 2500 when we were here last time. There seems to be a similar number of Lion.
It would be a fascinating problem to try to create a computer model for a savannah population, while including Cheetah and Wild dog.
We are hoping to put some videos together over the next few weeks. Do like and subscribe to our youtube channel as well (seeanimalswild) though any new videos are likely to be copied here.
There have been many big announcements about bringing back recently lost animals. In theory I applaud the effort.
Places like the Russian steppe would be much more healthy with thousands of mammoths roaming around. They would likely make the great Russian Taiga forests more productive, and it is thought that they would greatly increase these forests ability to absorb carbon – something the planet needs in the face of global warming.
However, I believe that at the current time, with so many species close to extinction, we need to concentrate on protecting what is left, and only when there are excess habitats should we consider bringing back recently (or long) dead species.
Animals such as the Mammoth would make a huge difference in Russia and north America. However, another serious problem is the fact that the animals that would have to play surrogate for the Mammoths to be born are also endangered.
Whatever science can do, it is wrong to bring species back just for human entertainment. As a result, if any species is to be resurrected, it must be good for the world and the ecosystem – indeed it must have a good ecosystem into which it can be reintroduced.
What do you think?
In the run-up to the Brazilian election, we will be looking at what is happening in this country. While only the people of Brazil have a say, what they decide is likely to have a big effect on the rest of the world:
Re-election of Bolsonaro will likely mean the end of the Amazon functioning properly or they can go with a former politician – both have issues, but Lulu appears on the cusp of taking over, and if this happens it is predicted to have a fantastic impact on deforestation (though it would be hard for any change to not be dramatic).
Given the huge impact this election could have on the rest of the world, there seems to be little coverage, maybe this will change as the time draws near.
Beavers have returned to the UK in the last couple of decades. Becoming extinct in the 16th century, Beavers were an important part of the UK ecosystem.
Beavers are incredible engineers. They build large pools, held back by dams, as well as canals running in many directions. One of the biggest bonuses of this behaviour, is to slow the speed that water has as it runs back into rivers and eventually the sea. This means that in areas where beavers exist, there remains plenty of water even in times during the year when there is little rain. The beaver pools are also fantastic for wildlife, from fish fry, to vast quantities of insects – which can increase farmers yields by pollinating the crops.
So what is the problem? Well, in many places in the country, farmers are now farming on low grade land, and some of this will be lost.
Given that beavers have only been in the UK for about 15 years, and the population only numbers a few thousand at most (while some populations like in Devon numbering in the hundreds or even approaching one thousand), in most of the country they are incredibly rare. Lethal methods of control should very rarely be required. In the vast majority of cases, the beavers should be worked around as the benefits they bring even to the farm are usually greater than the problems they cause. In the rare occasion where the beaver needs to be removed, then it is not necessary to kill it, with the numbers of beavers still so far below the carrying capacity of the UK, it would be relatively simple to catch it and to move it to a river which does not yet have enough.
While it may be cheaper in the short term, for both the farmer and the government, shooting the beaver is unlikely to deal with the problem. In many instances, it will not be long before another beaver takes up the area, which means that the problem is likely to occur again, furthermore, apart from the benefits for the local farm, the beavers behaviour has wider positive impacts.
If the government was to fund nature trusts in each county to help in this work, the price could be kept incredibly low, and the countries environment would benefit greatly