I asked specifically about Gra.s.shopper. I was told that he, together with his brother Ant, were among the eight males who moved beyond the range of the telemetry equipment, which covers three-quarters of a mile. Eventually they were both located-just a few hundred yards from the field station where Len was staying. They had somehow made it across three and a half miles of inhospitable and sometimes rocky terrain. Knowing that they would not be able to last very long, Len captured both Gra.s.shopper and Ant, and they were returned to captivity.
"Throughout the whole reintroduction program, everyone was pretty discouraged," Rod told me, "but then something amazing happened that restored a little bit of hope." One day when Len was keeping watch, a pygmy rabbit kit suddenly popped out of one of the artificial burrows they had installed. It sat there looking at him and he was able to get close-up photos. "We saw the kit periodically throughout the remainder of the summer," said Len, "and it became famous in a photo widely published in a news release."
The photo proved that captive-bred pygmy rabbits would breed in the wild in their first breeding season-if they could escape predators long enough and readapt to the arid sagebrush habitat. "By the end of summer," Len said, "the remaining two released rabbits were taken by predators, and we terminated the field study for 2007. Everyone had hoped for greater success, but at least they have learned a lot that will help them plan better in the future."
Rod and Len, I hear, have completed population modeling studies and concluded that the captive breeding population needs to be at least doubled so that more can be released to the wild. Since the first litters of the year usually die, perhaps because of cold wet soil, research a.s.sociate Becky Elias is setting up breeding pens in a greenhouse. They are building much larger, more natural pens so that the rabbits will be better adapted to a natural environment. There are plans to release the next batch of young rabbits into a temporary enclosure at the release site to protect them from predators while they adjust to living in the wild. Sadly, I heard, both Gra.s.shopper and Ant died before they could be released again, with a better chance of making it-but a new batch of young kits has been produced in captivity for future reintroductions.
Rod Sayler summed it all up: "We"re definitely not over the hump in terms of restoring this endangered species back on the landscape-there are big challenges ahead for this little rabbit. But we still have hope! We learned a lot from last year"s release, and we"re not giving up."
My best wishes are with you all, the humans involved and all of the enchanting little rabbits.
Att.w.a.ter"s Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido att.w.a.teri)
The Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken, like the less rare greater prairie chicken, is a lekking species. That is, the males gather together on a carefully selected patch of short gra.s.s, or bare ground. On either side of their necks are bright orange air sacs that, when inflated, enable the males to utter booming sounds as they challenge one another. Females, attracted by the sound, gather at the lek to choose a mate.
The prairie chickens are grouse, ground-nesting birds about seventeen to eighteen inches long and weighing about one and a half to two pounds. The Att.w.a.ter"s plumage is striped with narrow vertical bars of dark brown and buff white, and the male has elongated feathers (called pinnae) on his head that stand up like little ears. They are smaller and lack the feathering extending to the feet that characterizes the greater prairie chicken. The Att.w.a.ter"s is also a bit darker in color-tawnier on the top, with a p.r.o.nounced chestnut-toned neck.
I have never seen an Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken, let alone seen a mating display. But I have watched greater prairie chickens during the mating season in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Tom Mangelsen and I arrived before first light, hoping we would see the spectacular (but also comic) display of the male.
The first prairie chickens appeared when it was not light enough to make out their colors, but soon the rising sun lit the brown-barred body feathers, the black short-tail feathers, and the brilliant orange-red of the air sac and eye combs. We had the most amazing show as more and more c.o.c.ks gathered on the lek. The individual closest to us seemed to be the dominant one. Every so often, he started his display-booming, lowered half-stretched wings, raised tail, and inflated air sacs. This was accompanied by very rapid stamping of the feet. Once in a while, one c.o.c.k would start running toward another with fast little steps, head lowered, and wings stretched out. When he got close, he stopped and the two stared at each other before leaping up and down and hitting out at each other with their feet. After they had repeated this challenge several times, one would run off, presumably defeated.
A male Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken challenging other males during the breeding season. (Grady Allen) (Grady Allen) Eventually a hen appeared-which caused an intensification of the displays and skirmishes. The small female seemed totally indifferent to all this activity as she moved about in the lek. (We were told that this was not the peak of the breeding season-otherwise more hens would have arrived and things would have heated up.) The show lasted about two hours, and then the birds wandered off into the vegetation. What an enchanting morning. I decided that G.o.d must have created the prairie chicken so He could have a good laugh anytime He wanted during the three-month season of the lek! It is said that some of the dances of the North American Plains Indians, particularly the Lakota, are based on this display-I would certainly love to see one!
At one time the Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken was found throughout some six million acres of the tallgra.s.s prairie ecosystem, from the Gulf Coast of Texas north to Louisiana and inland for about seventy-five miles. The windswept prairies were rich in biodiversity then, with many varieties of gra.s.ses. But in a sequence of events we are all too familiar with, more and more of this pristine land was taken over by human development and farming, and bush invaded the gra.s.sland when fires were suppressed. Year by year, the prairie chickens vanished: By 1919 they had gone from Louisiana, and by 1937 fewer than nine thousand remained in Texas. In 1967, Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken was listed as endangered, and six years later the Endangered Species Act of 1973 gave added protection.
Today less than 1 percent of the original prairie once occupied by Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chickens remains, much of it so fragmented that remnant pockets are too small to sustain viable breeding populations. Fortunately a refuge was established in the mid-1960s when WWF bought an area of about thirty-five hundred acres. In 1972, it was transferred to the USFWS, and today the Att.w.a.ter"s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, sixty miles west of Houston, is more than three times its original size and comprises one of the largest remnants of coastal prairie habitat in southeast Texas. The only groups of Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chickens in the wild today, other than those in the refuge, live on a tiny piece of land near Texas City.
The recovery plan for these birds calls for the establishment of three geographically separate viable populations-a total of about five thousand individual birds. To reach this goal, the USFWS first developed an active public outreach and education program to garner support for the birds; second, it is continuing active research; and third, it"s cooperating with government agencies and private landowners to manage prairie chicken habitat. A captive breeding program with the goal of reintroducing the prairie chickens into the wild was started in the early 1990s.
The first chicks were hatched at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Texas, in 1992; other organizations, such as Texas A&M University and several zoos, are taking part. Once captive-raised chicks become capable of independent survival, they are sent to a planned release site where their health is checked and they are fitted with radio transmitters. For two weeks, they are cared for in acclimation pens; then they are released into their natural environment. It seems that they are genetically programmed to adapt almost immediately to life in the tallgra.s.s prairie. In other words, once free, they behave to the manor born.
Locals Offering Safe Harbor In 2007, a new safe harbor agreement between the Coastal Prairie Coalition of the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative and the USFWS was finalized to help private landowners to be part of the conservation effort to restore and maintain coastal prairie habitat. In August, thirty captive-bred juveniles from various facilities were released onto private ranchland in Goliad County, Texas, a stretch of prairie that has been kept intact by the same family since the mid-1800s. It was a milestone event, the first-ever release onto private land, and other chicks will be released there throughout 2008 and 2009. It is hoped that many more landowners will partic.i.p.ate. Other captive-bred birds have been released on Texas Nature Conservancy property near Texas City and the Att.w.a.ter Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge near Eagle Lake, Texas, where Terry Rossignol is refuge manager.
Throughout 2007, staff at the refuge worked hard to increase numbers of chicks hatched in the wild. Out of a total of eighteen nests (two of which were destroyed, but remade), twelve were successful, and seventy-seven chicks made it to two weeks of age. During these first weeks, they are very vulnerable-to predation, flooding, and starvation. It is, therefore, desperately necessary to keep as many as possible alive during this time. It was decided to ask for help from volunteers. Forty-three individuals stepped forward-Fish and Wildlife employees from across the region, a school group, a master naturalist group, and various others. Their job was to a.s.sist in collecting insects for the chicks and their mothers.
Each volunteer, armed with a large canvas net and some plastic bags, was sent out into the tallgra.s.s on the refuge. The task was to sweep the net quickly back and forth through the gra.s.ses to capture as many insects of as many species as possible. These had to be transferred for safekeeping into gallon-size bags. Every day, collections were made from nine or ten in the morning until about four in the afternoon. One mother and her ten to twelve chicks can eat about twelve bags of insects per day for the first few weeks of the chicks" lives. That is about one hundred insects each per day!
One Chick, One Victory at a Time When I talked with Terry on the phone, he told me that, after all that hard work, only eighteen chicks survived. In fact, he said, they had thought the number was even lower, but then, in September, "four unbanded, un-radio-collared birds were seen." Obviously they, too, were survivors of the breeding season. It still seems a low survival rate-but it is eighteen more birds to boost the breeding colony.
I asked him what keeps him going, how he gets over the disappointments and setbacks they face in this quest to save the Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken. "Some days are more difficult than others," he said. And at those low moments, he thinks back on the "little victories" that they have experienced and so is able to regain his positive att.i.tude. He praised the many volunteers who work so hard on behalf of this colorful and comical prairie grouse. "There is hope," he said, "so long as people are willing to help."
In Terry, the Att.w.a.ter"s prairie chicken has a powerful advocate. He has been directly involved with the birds since February 1993 and has no intention of giving up. His reasons for persisting? "I have always been drawn to the underdog," Terry told me, "and I like challenges. The Att.w.a.ter"s offers me both. And deep down, I want the Att.w.a.ter"s to still be around so my grandkids can enjoy them as much as I do."
Satiated vultures rest after feeding at the edge of Nepal"s "Vulture Restaurant"-a place where vultures are given safe food, free of diclofenac. (Manoj Gautan) (Manoj Gautan)
Asian Vultures Oriental White-Backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) (Gyps bengalensis) Long-Billed Vulture (G. indicus) (G. indicus) Slender-Billed Vulture (G. tenuirostris) (G. tenuirostris) I have great respect for vultures. They fascinate me. I have not watched them in Asia, but I spent hours observing them on the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania. Their powerful flight is beautiful, their eyesight phenomenal, and their social behavior complex. The bare skin on the neck and head, which some people find repellent, is absolutely necessary-imagine getting blood and entrails clogging your feathers! And in some species, that bare skin acts as an indicator of mood. When an individual gets angry during compet.i.tion at a carca.s.s, or mating is involved, the neck may become bright pink! They are amazingly patient birds, too. Sometimes, having flown in from far away, they must watch while the bigger predators eat their fill-lions and then hyenas. Finally it is the turn of the vultures, which compete-often successfully-with the jackals. have great respect for vultures. They fascinate me. I have not watched them in Asia, but I spent hours observing them on the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania. Their powerful flight is beautiful, their eyesight phenomenal, and their social behavior complex. The bare skin on the neck and head, which some people find repellent, is absolutely necessary-imagine getting blood and entrails clogging your feathers! And in some species, that bare skin acts as an indicator of mood. When an individual gets angry during compet.i.tion at a carca.s.s, or mating is involved, the neck may become bright pink! They are amazingly patient birds, too. Sometimes, having flown in from far away, they must watch while the bigger predators eat their fill-lions and then hyenas. Finally it is the turn of the vultures, which compete-often successfully-with the jackals.
Disaster Strikes in India During the mid-1990s, Dr. Vibhu Prakash of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) was one of the heroes who first alerted the scientific community to the fact that vultures in India were dying-mysteriously and in large numbers. Indeed, by the late 1990s, the three Gyps Gyps species-the long-billed or Indian vulture, the Oriental white-rumped or white-backed vulture, and the slender-billed vulture-were all listed as critically endangered. It was estimated that their populations had fallen by more than 97 percent in less than a decade-"one of the steepest declines experienced by any bird species," said Dr. Debbie Pain of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). They were being found, dead and dying, in Nepal, in Pakistan, and throughout India. In some places, they had disappeared altogether. species-the long-billed or Indian vulture, the Oriental white-rumped or white-backed vulture, and the slender-billed vulture-were all listed as critically endangered. It was estimated that their populations had fallen by more than 97 percent in less than a decade-"one of the steepest declines experienced by any bird species," said Dr. Debbie Pain of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). They were being found, dead and dying, in Nepal, in Pakistan, and throughout India. In some places, they had disappeared altogether.
Learning of the disaster, the Peregrine Fund sent scientists to monitor breeding populations of Oriental white-rumped vultures in Pakistan"s Punjab Province. In 2000, they found twenty-four hundred occupied nests in thirteen breeding colonies. Returning to the same sites each breeding season, they recorded decreasing numbers occupying nest sites each year-and they were collecting dead vultures daily. By 2006, there were only twenty-seven breeding pairs. The report concluded: "This study has doc.u.mented possibly the most disastrous population crash of any raptor species."
In 2007, when I was in India, I met Mike Pandey, a successful wildlife filmmaker and conservationist, and we talked about the vulture situation. He told me that when he first realized how endangered the Asian vultures had become, he decided to visit the carca.s.s dump in Rajasthan where he had filmed vultures years before. Back then, he said, he had been literally engulfed by thousands of vultures, squabbling over the carca.s.ses, cleaning the environment. But when he returned it was very different.
"I walked over the carca.s.ses of thousands of vultures," he said. "I walked on the broken wings of the powerful birds." He was shocked. A pack of feral dogs that was feeding and breeding in the carca.s.s grounds attacked him, but he managed to jump up onto the roof of his jeep, escaping with only a few scratches.
The Important Role of Scavengers At one time, Mike told me, the Indian subcontinent had the highest density of vultures anywhere-close to eighty-seven million, he reckoned. At the same time, there were some nine hundred million cattle in India, the highest number in the world. Vultures used to clean up the carca.s.ses of those that died in cities, villages, and the countryside-an estimated ten million a year. With fewer vultures, millions of cattle carca.s.ses-and those of wild animals, too-now lie putrefying, creating a major health hazard for humans as well as livestock. The feral dogs and rats who took over the job of scavenging took much longer to strip a carca.s.s.
Mike later sent me an e-mail noting that outbreaks of anthrax have recently been reported in four places across India. "Hot summer thermal currents could easily carry anthrax spores or pathogens from the decomposing carca.s.ses into the stratosphere and carry it around the world," he wrote. Mike is genuinely fearful of what could happen if we lose the Asian vultures. "Our unthinking actions have knocked the master decomposer out of the skies," he told me. Without the vultures, "the putrefying carca.s.ses are sp.a.w.ning grounds for hundreds of lethal mutating pathogens more dangerous than the bird flu or anything known to man."
Six months after my visit to India, I met with Jemima Parry-Jones, director of the International Centre for Birds of Prey in the UK. She commented that at the height of the vulture"s decline in 1997, the World Health Organization estimated that thirty thousand people died of rabies in India-more than in any other country. And that, she said, could be attributable to the huge increase in rats and dogs, both rabies carriers. "It just goes to show that we have no idea how human-caused species declines will later impact humans."
One other service that vultures have traditionally performed in Asia involves their role in the funeral rites of some communities, including the Pa.r.s.ee of India. Jemima described an extraordinary meeting she had with a group of Pa.r.s.ees, including a high priest, in a rather noisy cafe in the UK. The Pa.r.s.ees explained how the decline in the vulture population posed a very real problem for their communities, as the vultures were relied upon to devour the bodies of their dead that, traditionally, are laid out in a circular raised structure known as the Tower of Silence. Gradually the chatter from the surrounding tables died away into a somewhat startled silence!
Why Were They Dying?
No wonder so many people were concerned about the possible extinction of the vultures in Asia-quite apart from their intrinsic value as a marvelously designed avian species. Initially it was thought that some disease was responsible, but postmortem examinations of dead birds failed to reveal any viral or bacterial infection. Affected vultures hunched their backs, their heads and necks drooped, and it was found that their internal organs were much inflamed, their livers covered with whitish crystals. It was a.s.sumed that the crystals were uric acid, and that the condition was similar to gout in humans. But what was causing it?
In May 2003, at a meeting of raptor biologists, a scientist working with the Peregrine Fund presented information that seemed to confirm a growing suspicion that the vulture deaths were linked to the anti-inflammatory painkilling drug diclofenac. Vultures that had died of gout had high levels of diclofenac in their kidneys. This medication, for veterinary use, had not been introduced to the Indian subcontinent until the early 1990s, but it had rapidly become very popular because it was cheap-less than a dollar for a course of treatment.
In January 2004, the results of a joint study conducted by the Peregrine Fund and the Ornithological Society of Pakistan confirmed that diclofenac was indeed the primary reason for vulture deaths. That was an important study that eventually resulted in a ban on the manufacturing of veterinary diclofenac by the Drug Controller General of India. This ban was soon introduced also in both Nepal and Pakistan.
Unfortunately, this is not enough: Not only are there major problems with enforcing the ban, but it is still legal to import, sell, and use diclofenac. Moreover, the diclofenac legally manufactured for human use has started to infiltrate the veterinary market. Until diclofenac has been completely removed from the environment in India, Pakistan, and Nepal, there is no safe future for the Asian vultures.
Nevertheless, the fact that the Indian government banned the manufacture of the drug, in such a relatively short time, was a historic triumph. In part, this can be attributed to the release, in March 2006, of a film made by Mike Pandey. Called Broken Wings, Broken Wings, it resulted from his shocking visit to the carca.s.s dumps. It is a powerful doc.u.mentary that explains not only the reason for the vulture deaths but also the major role that these birds play in maintaining the health of the ecosystems of South Asia. It was shown, translated into five languages, on all the national TV channels. The radio carried the story as well. it resulted from his shocking visit to the carca.s.s dumps. It is a powerful doc.u.mentary that explains not only the reason for the vulture deaths but also the major role that these birds play in maintaining the health of the ecosystems of South Asia. It was shown, translated into five languages, on all the national TV channels. The radio carried the story as well.
At the same time there was personal outreach to the local people since, in the long term, they have the most influence over the vultures" fate. Mike told me that the Earth Matters Foundation created life-size vulture puppets and took them on road shows to rural communities, so that farmers and locals could see the magnificence of the birds and become sensitized to their plight. In parallel, the Peregrine Fund, the RSPB, and the BNHS produced and distributed more than ten thousand educational leaflets and flyers in Urdu and Hindi in villages closest to the remaining vulture colonies in Pakistan and India.
A Vulture Restaurant Another initiative of the Peregrine Fund was to establish, in 2003, a "Vulture Restaurant" near a breeding site in Pakistan, where uncontaminated food was set out for the vultures. But although this reduced mortality in the peak breeding season, it made no difference once the young had fledged, and so it was closed. However, a similar vulture feeding station is still operated in Nepal by a dedicated group of Roots & Shoots members under the leadership of Manoj Gautam. The group is made up of local youth from Nawalparasi, a town about 150 miles west of Kathmandu. They gather animal carca.s.ses (usually cows and buffalo) that are free of diclofenac and take them to their Vulture Restaurant to provide a supply of safe food for the birds. The work is hard-transporting the carca.s.ses takes a lot of time, energy, and money.
Roots & Shoots is also working to raise awareness of the problem in local communities. As a result, Manoj told me, the people have become interested in helping to save the vultures. On one occasion in 2007, for example, some local youths reported to the Roots & Shoots group that they had found vultures eating an unidentified carca.s.s. Manoj and his team immediately went to the spot and saw that more than half of the carca.s.s was already eaten. Fearing that it might be diclofenac-infected, they buried what was left of it. Two days later they got the news that some vultures were sick and seemed to be dying. Again, the Roots & Shoots team rushed to the scene.
"We saw three vultures that were agonizing and flapping their wings on the ground and could not fly," Manoj said. One bird managed to fly away, but its wing beats were weak. The other two died. Diclofenac poisoning was confirmed when Manoj dissected the birds and found the telltale signs-uric acid in the liver and kidneys.
"With heavy hearts, seven of us buried the vultures in two pits dug by Roots & Shoots members in a nearby riverbank," Manoj told me. Fortunately, though, those deaths did not diminish, but rather strengthened, their determination. "We made a joint commitment," Manoj said, "that we will not let such destruction happen again." One major problem is that diclofenac is often smuggled across the border from India. And so, Manoj told me, the R&S members even patrol the local veterinary shops for diclofenac, doing their best to make sure no one is selling the drug.
The Threat of the Kite Festival There is one other significant threat to the vultures-a very unexpected one. Once a year, throughout Asia, a series of incredibly popular kite festivals are held-a custom brought vividly to the Western world in Khaled Hosseini"s powerful best seller, now a film, The Kite Runner The Kite Runner. These festivals are held in late winter to celebrate the harvest season. Kite-flying compet.i.tions are an old custom, but in recent times the traditional cotton thread has been replaced by strings coated with sharp powdered gla.s.s. Tens of thousands of kites darken the sky every day during the festival season. The kites compete, each trying to dislodge the other from the sky using the razor-sharp string to slice off opponents" kites ... all in good fun.
Unfortunately, though, thousands of birds are hit and injured by the new kite strings, including many vultures. Mike Pandey told me the string called "Maajah" is the most dangerous-it sometimes shears off a bird"s wing completely. He said that in just one day during the 2008 kite festival, more than eight thousand injured birds, including four badly injured vultures, were brought in by the local NGOs and volunteer groups in the city of Ahmedabad alone.
Even more tragic, Mike told me that these events take place at the very peak of the breeding season. "There is an urgent need to revert to the old cotton thread and also to ensure that no strings are left entangled in trees and bushes," he said. Fortunately, there is a ray of hope in this situation. Earth Matters Foundation, along with other concerned individuals and organizations, is fighting to get the gla.s.s-coated string banned all over the country. Also, Mike made a news feature about the vultures that was telecast on India"s national network in spring 2008, appealing to people to stop using the Maajah string.
Captive Breeding: Is It the Solution?
During an international vulture conference in India in early 2004, a resolution was taken to start captive breeding programs for all three Asian species in order to save them from extinction. This was later ratified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
When I met Jemima, she told me that "in India we now have three facilities, one-the oldest-at Pinjore, outside Kalka in Haryana State; one in West Bengal; and one in a.s.sam. The one in a.s.sam will concentrate mainly on the slender-billed vulture as that is its natural range and it is the rarest of the three critically endangered species."
As with many birds of prey, obtaining eggs or chicks for breeding is seldom easy. "I will never forget when we were collecting chicks for the captive breeding program," Jemima told us. "We drove for miles down one of the scariest roads I have seen in a long time, and once we got to the nest one of the Indian villagers just took off his shoes, grabbed a hemp rope, and climbed an enormous tree to collect a vulture chick to be raised with one other chick in the program. I thought of my friends from the US who would want expensive ropes and carabiners to climb that tree."
In January 2007, the first white-rumped vulture chick hatched in Pinjore, but unfortunately it did not survive. When I spoke to Jemima in January 2008, she told me that more pairs of white-backed vultures were nesting in the facility, sitting on eggs. "These should be hatching soon," she said, "but it must be remembered that it takes time for the staff to gain the experience to get it all right."
There are currently 170 birds in the breeding program in India-about 40 in West Bengal, 4 in the new facility in a.s.sam, and the rest in Pinjore. "We are aiming," Jemima told me, "to have seventy-five pairs-twenty-five of each species-in each of the facilities before we do any releasing, and of course the environment has to be 100 percent safe for them." Many of the birds are individuals that have been injured-especially during the kite festivals-and cannot be released again anyway.
Nepal is planning its own breeding facility, but not everyone is supportive. The pros and cons of captive breeding for ultimate release into the wild are, as we have seen, hotly debated in almost every case when a species faces extinction. Manoj is very excited by the recent attention and funding that have gone into protecting the Asian vultures, but believes that captive breeding should be a last resort, when there is only a small hope of saving a species in its natural habitat. And he believes the situation in Nepal is not so desperate that captive breeding is mandated. "We have recently observed positive signs about the vulture"s situation," he wrote.
His main concern is that to start the breeding center, they plan to capture many birds; he is afraid that this would have a negative impact on the four hundred or so breeding pairs in Nepal. He is also skeptical as to whether captive-bred vultures will ever be able to learn the unique social and scavenging skills they will need in order to survive in the wild. "We need to conserve vultures as efficient scavengers, not as b.a.l.l.s of flesh and bones covered in feathers that know nothing about scavenging," he told me. "They need to learn about their way of life, which is only possible if they are raised in the wild."
And so Manoj, and others who are against captive breeding in Nepal, would rather see conservation resources go into better protection of the breeding population in the wild, continuous monitoring of their nests, vigilance in detecting the sale of imported diclofenac, and fighting for legislation against the Maajah string in the kite festivals. All of this his Roots & Shoots team, a.s.sisted by other NGOs and increasingly concerned citizens, is already doing.
"Only When We Understand Will We Care"
If there is one strategy that almost all conservationists agree on, it is the role of education. Once people fully understand the vultures, realize the role they play in our lives, become sensitive to the glory of their flight, or simply fall in love with the charm of an individual, they are more likely to make real efforts to try to protect them. To this end, Manoj and the Roots & Shoots team are organizing the first "Vulture Watch Tour" in Nepal, from Kathmandu to the Vulture Restaurant in the Nawalparasi district. They hope this tour will raise funds for vulture conservation, and at the same time teach tourists about the bird"s magnificence and the unique contribution it makes to maintaining ecological balance.
Mike Pandey, while making the film Broken Wings, Broken Wings, learned to respect vultures as resilient and powerful scavengers and the supreme masters of the skies, and he, too, is dedicated to helping people understand these birds. "It is only when we understand something that we begin to respect it," he said. "And what we respect, we love ... and what we love we protect and conserve." Education, he believes, is the key. People must understand "the dynamic law of nature and the fragile web that holds us all together in an interdependent cycle of life." He observed how, "when the people saw the link between their lives and the vulture, it changed them ... reverence grew in the hearts of many, and they fell in love with a creature that was designed to keep the earth free from contamination, and free from disease." learned to respect vultures as resilient and powerful scavengers and the supreme masters of the skies, and he, too, is dedicated to helping people understand these birds. "It is only when we understand something that we begin to respect it," he said. "And what we respect, we love ... and what we love we protect and conserve." Education, he believes, is the key. People must understand "the dynamic law of nature and the fragile web that holds us all together in an interdependent cycle of life." He observed how, "when the people saw the link between their lives and the vulture, it changed them ... reverence grew in the hearts of many, and they fell in love with a creature that was designed to keep the earth free from contamination, and free from disease."
Indeed, the vultures have eloquent and pa.s.sionate amba.s.sadors. It gives me hope that through captive breeding, better protection in the wild, and the increased vigilance and concern of the people, the Asian vultures will recover and once again, circling the air in their thousands, perform their ancient and crucial role in the great scheme of things.
Hawaiian Goose or Nene (Branta sandvicensis)
The Hawaiian goose, or nene to give it its local name, is Hawaii"s state bird. It got its name from the ne ne ne ne sound of its soft call. Scientists believe that it was once almost identical to the Canada goose, but after years of evolution the two species have diverged. The nene, with its long neck and black-and-cream markings, rarely swims. Its feet are only half webbed but have long toes suitable for climbing on the rocky lava flows of Hawaii. And since the nene evolved on a tropical island, with no need to escape either cold temperatures or predators, flying was less important for it than for the Canada goose-thus its wings are much weaker. sound of its soft call. Scientists believe that it was once almost identical to the Canada goose, but after years of evolution the two species have diverged. The nene, with its long neck and black-and-cream markings, rarely swims. Its feet are only half webbed but have long toes suitable for climbing on the rocky lava flows of Hawaii. And since the nene evolved on a tropical island, with no need to escape either cold temperatures or predators, flying was less important for it than for the Canada goose-thus its wings are much weaker.
Prior to the "discovery" of the Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook, there were probably some twenty-five thousand or more nene. But during the 1940s, the species was almost completely wiped out by hunters, because there were no laws to prevent shooting the birds during the winter breeding season. In addition the usual invasive species, in the form of pigs, cats, mongooses, rats, and dogs, wreaked havoc as they preyed on eggs and young birds. The cats even killed adult geese. It is the same story for many large birds of the islands-without the ability to fly fast or far, they were easy prey for invaders.
By 1949, only thirty individuals remained in the wild. There were, however, other nene in captivity-some at the state endangered species facility at Pohakuloa, Hawaii, and some that had been sent to Slimbridge in the UK. Captive breeding began in these two sites for eventual return to the wild.
Recently I had a long talk with Kathleen Misajon, who has been working with the nene since 1995. After finishing her degree, she applied for a three-month internship in Hawaii to continue working with the nene-and she is still there! Breeding the nene is not difficult, she told me, and since 1960 more than twenty-seven hundred have been raised and released. The problem-as for the giant panda, and many other species-has been trying to create a sufficient suitable and safe environment for their survival when returned to the wild.
Park employee Kathleen Misajon with long-term (over twenty years) volunteer Lloyd Yoshina banding a wild nene at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, 2006.(Ron McDow) Much of Hawaii"s low-lying coastal areas have been developed, and that which remains is under continuous threat from further disturbances by humans and by invasive non-indigenous plants. But, says Kathleen, "Perhaps a bigger problem is that so much habitat was destroyed so long ago that no one really knows the exact components of ideal nene habitat." Maybe before all the human-caused disturbance to that unknown ideal habitat, the geese were better able to withstand periods of drought or heavy rainfall that are detrimental to them today, particularly during the breeding season.
The nene face many other threats, too. In addition to the ongoing problem of the introduced predators, increasing numbers of nene are being hit by cars. Unfortunately a major state highway cuts right through the park, and it separates an important nene breeding and roosting area from their feeding grounds. Normally the adults fly across, but when they have goslings they must walk, exposing themselves and their young to danger. It is the same when they are attracted to the gra.s.sy shoulders of roads after they have been mown. And those that venture onto the golf courses may even be killed by golf b.a.l.l.s.
Kathleen told me she thinks the nene may never be 100 percent self-sustaining-the threats are too great. "However," she said, "the overall population is on the rise, and with proper management we can help sustain the wild populations."
Protection from Predators: "We Can"t Just Abandon Them to Their Fate"
In the 1970s, a reintroduction program began in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The areas selected for release were low-lying sites thought to be historical nene habitat. It was a very simple program: Several breeding pairs were kept in captivity, and when their young had fledged they were simply allowed to go free. Then, in the 1980s, additional young birds were released from the state breeding program into the park. During this twenty-year period, however, things did not go well for the youngsters when they were let out into the big wide world. This was not surprising, for the park attempted predator control only in the area immediately surrounding the release pens.
Thus the birds released into the wild saw high mortality and low breeding success. Clearly it did not make sense to go on breeding more and more young birds and abandoning them to their fate. A new strategy was developed that called for intensified predator control over a much larger area around selected breeding grounds. The next step was to erect fencing around one large nesting area and a suitable pasture to keep out the feral pigs that were suspected of killing many young birds as well as taking eggs, since the goslings were disappearing even when supplementary food was offered. Once four hundred acres was completely surrounded by a pig-proof fence, things improved, and during subsequent breeding seasons most goslings fledged.
Since the early 1990s, the population has grown to about two thousand individuals living in the wild, with the number rising each breeding season. They are living on four islands-Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii. The nene is doing best on Kauai where there is no established mongoose population and gra.s.sy, lowland habitat is more available. Although small-scale captive releases still occur on Maui and Molokai, the current strategy focuses on minimizing the threats to the wild populations.
Now, Kathleen told me, they are experimenting with ways to keep out cats and mongooses using new fencing techniques. The design comes from Australia where so much work has been done on controlling predators of all kinds. The two-yard-high fence is constructed so that when a cat or mongoose climbs up from the outside, the wire curves outward and downward, leaving the marauder virtually upside down clinging to floppy wire netting.
Kathleen gave me an example of the danger posed by cats. It took place the day after Christmas 2001. She noticed a goose flying over an open lava field toward some vegetation where she felt she might be able to find its nest. As they are often remote and therefore not easy to find, she was excited as she trekked across the bare lava. Presently she came upon the gander, guarding his nest site. She moved on-and there she found the partially eaten female beside her eggs, now cold. The cat was still there, lying beside the carca.s.s, glutted on goose meat. That was not the only proof she had of the hunting success of cats.
Nevertheless, the scientists and volunteers do not plan to give up. A few days after talking with Kathleen, I spoke with Darcy Hu, who has been working with nene in and around Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for more than fifteen years. I wanted a story with a happy ending-and she came up with one. It began on the day when she and her volunteer crew got a thirdhand report of a dog attack at Devastation, an area on the summit of Kilauea. They knew there were several nene there, including at least one banded pair with three partly grown goslings. The report merely indicated that the attack had involved at least one adult and one youngster.
Quickly they drove to the scene, but at first found no sign of bird or dog. Then they spotted and caught two goslings, too young to fly. At the same time, the call of an adult sounded deep in the forest. Not liking to abandon the two goslings-even if the calls were from a parent, there was no a.s.surance the family would meet up, and the youngsters surely could not have survived on their own-they waited awhile. Soon the calls stopped. Although they searched for a while, they found no nene, and heard no more calls.
Still hoping the parents might show up, Darcy rigged a wire-mesh pen close to where the goslings had been found and left them there for several days, spying from a distance in case the parents returned. But there was no sign of any adult, and because the goslings were getting thin, they were moved to a captive facility. There, fortunately, an older nene couple was persuaded to adopt them. "Nene don"t need help feeding themselves," wrote Darcy, "but they do have an almost physical need to be with other nene-you rarely see even unpaired individuals alone, and pairs and families almost always travel as a unit."
A few months after capturing the two young goslings, Darcy and her team spotted a pair of adult nene and a gosling about a mile from Devastation. Quickly they caught and banded the gosling and, as the parents stayed nearby, they were able to read their bands. "It was the missing parents and the third sibling of our two orphans!" wrote Darcy delightedly. The wild youngster was smaller and not as developed-food had surely been more plentiful and nutritious in captivity. But all the family had survived the dog attack. "We counted ourselves very lucky," Darcy wrote, "to have been able to conclude this particular story with a happy ending."
THANE"S FIELD NOTES
Cotton-Top Tamarin (Saguinus oedipus)
Cotton-tops, at one pound, are among the smallest monkeys in the world. The first time I saw one was at the University of WisconsinMadison while visiting Dr. Charles Snowdon"s cotton-top tamarin laboratory. I met a young grad student there named Anne Savage, who would eventually become the world"s leading authority on this little monkey.
Nowadays, Anne often refers to cotton-top tamarins as little monkeys "with punk rock hairstyles." Working with them in captivity on a daily basis at the University of Wisconsin, she got to know them intimately and individually. Eventually she went to northwest Colombia to study their behavior in the wild for her PhD thesis research.
But of course, a squirrel-size monkey is hard to study from afar. And much like the squirrels in your backyard, they are extremely difficult to tell apart. So some of Anne"s early research involved dyeing the white hair on the tops of the tamarins" heads so she could distinguish among them. This didn"t hurt the monkeys; in fact, she used the same hair products used by people, just in much smaller quant.i.ties. And it is through these observations, as well as the use of innovative teeny little backpack radio transmitters, that Anne and her team unlock the behavioral biology of this endangered primate.
When asked what some of her favorite memories of her two decades observing cotton-tops have been, she chuckled and said, "Nothing is cuter than looking up in the trees after the babies are born. Cotton-tops almost always give birth to twins, and they are about the size of your pinkie finger with a long tail when they are born."
And Anne added that it"s fun to watch them develop. Cotton-tops go through many of the same growth sequences that other primates, including people, go through. In fact, she said, "Babies go through a babbling time where they are practicing vocalizations all day long that eventually come to sound more like their parents". They learn to use certain chirps or calls in the appropriate circ.u.mstances."
Today Anne and her team are trying to a.s.sess the population of cotton-top tamarins in Colombia. However, since they are still hunted for the pet trade, the monkeys run away from people, which means researchers can"t simply walk through a forest and count the number of tamarins. So they use a trick learned from bird researchers and play vocalizations of other cotton-tops to draw them in. Unfortunately, the team has discovered that there are fewer tamarins than they had previously estimated. Anne told me that when they complete the forest surveys, it looks like there will be fewer than ten thousand tamarins remaining in the wild.
One of the reasons it"s so important to protect the cotton-tops who still live in the wild is that they don"t fare well in captive breeding programs. For some reason, they often develop colon cancer in captivity. Scientists are studying this and are still not sure why it occurs. It could be the stress of captivity or something missing from their diet that would ordinarily be found in the forest.
The good news is that when cotton-tops are given enough suitable habitats, they breed well on their own and can maintain a healthy population. "As a species, they don"t tend to suffer high infant mortality," Anne told me. "So the secret is really in building on the reasons for local people to get involved in protecting the forest."
Which is why Anne founded Proyecto t.i.ti, a remarkable group in northwest Colombia that works with the local community to protect the endangered cotton-top tamarin. The name comes from the Colombian word for "monkey," t.i.ti, t.i.ti, and today the program involves dozens of Colombian biologists and students, as well as educators and community development efforts throughout the region. and today the program involves dozens of Colombian biologists and students, as well as educators and community development efforts throughout the region.
TROUBLE WITH P PLASTIC G GROCERY B BAGS.
Early on in her fieldwork, Anne realized that the Colombian forests were shrinking due to a number of factors, including human encroachment. As communities move closer to the forests, they need to cut down more and more trees just to build their houses or have firewood for cooking their food. So one of the things that Proyecto t.i.ti has done is come up with cheap and effective ways to help protect the forests, while also benefiting local people.
First, Anne and her team looked at how people used wood in their cooking. In most rural communities in Colombia, as around the world, they cook over an open fire. A family of five uses about fifteen logs every day to cook their meals. The Proyecto t.i.ti team came up with a very simple cookstove called a binde, which is made out of clay. Instead of burning fifteen logs a day, they just need five logs to cook the same amount of food.