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Conservation Project News

Conservation projects news from the World Land Trust, an international wildlife conservation charity working to protect threatened wildlife habitats worldwide.

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Friday, 14 December 2007:

Please support Guyra Paraguay's community work in the Pantanal (Paraguay) 

Top: The Eco club on a visit to the Three Giants lodge, together with Guyra staff. Above: The radio station at Bahía Negra.

WLT's Web Information Manager, Helena Åkerlund, recently visited the reserves in Paraguay and came back with lots of praise for the work of Guyra Paraguay - as well as an appeal. "Guyra is seeking funding to help the local radio station in the Pantanal settlement of Bahía Negra and to build a small, simple lodge for staff to stay in whilst working in Bahía Negra and at the Chaco-Pantanal Reserve", Helena explains.

Radio Bahía Negra was started with a grant obtained by the local Eco Club - a group of enthusiastic teenagers who, with the help of Guyra Paraguay, are learning about conservation and reserve management. The radio station provides a vital service to the very isolated community at Bahía Negra, but is housed in a simple building without a proper floor, making the high-tech equipment vulnerable to rain water seeping in. A simple concrete floor would cost less than $100 and would make all the difference.

Guyra staff working at the reserve currently have to pay other organisations or individuals for overnight accommodation when they visit the area. "A small lodge, providing rustic accommodation, would make their lives a lot easier, and their visits more cost-effective", says Helena. The plan is to build the accommodation in the grounds of the radio station, where it is ideally located for Guyra Paraguay's work with the local community.

This type of funding falls outside WLT's land purchase remit, but we know our supporters are keen to get involved in the projects - and this gives you an opportunity to contribute directly to a local initiative in an extremely isolated part of Paraguay. To make a donation towards Guyra's community work in the Pantanal, please donate to the Chaco/Pantanal Project, Paraguay as normal, but indicate that you would like the money to go to Bahia Negra (in the "extra requirements" or "comments" box if donating online, or by mentioning it to WLT staff if donating by phone.)

Labels: Paraguay

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Hummingbird feeders attract nightly visitors (Ecuador) 

Bats taking advantage of nectar feeders put up in Ecuador to attract hummingbirds. (Photos © Gustavo Morejón.) Click on the images to see larger versions.

"There is activity at night!" So wrote Gustavo Morejón who is working on a World Land Trust project in the heart of the Buenaventura forest in Ecuador.

Over the past few months, Gustavo, an Ecuadorian biologist, has been working with WLT's Jack Astbury on a new project at Buenaventura, using nectar and fruit feeders to attract wildlife to the trial site. Initially these were set up to attract hummingbirds, but Gustavo was overjoyed to find bats visiting the feeders at night. Other visitors to the feeders so far have included toucans and coati (a small racoon-like mammal, referred to locally as cuchucho), all gathering to munch on bananas!

Hummingbirds are genetically programmed to seek out bright red objects since that is the colour of many nectar-rich flowers, so to maximise visits from these birds the feeders - large plastic trays - are red. They are filled with sugar-water to supplement their food source, although the birds prefer real nectar, so there is no risk of the flowers being left unpollinated.

Motion or heat sensitive cameras, so called "camera traps", are being used in other parts of the Ecuador reserves. The cameras are attached to trees and automatically take photos when an animal strolls past, triggered by their movement or body heat. This technique gives us the opportunity to see rare animals going about their business undisturbed. We are hoping to be able to use camera traps to capture footage of the many different types of animals living in this part of the reserve also.

Learn more about the Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador

Labels: Ecuador

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Re-released curassows may already be breeding (Brazil) 

We recently received this letter from Christine Steiner, who is working on a Red-billed Curassow project at REGUA, Brazil:

"Yesterday we saw two males and we heard both emitting their typical vocalization of reproduction (Wooooooooooooooop), a loud sound very similar to the sound of a 'bottle in the wind' (what a strange comparison..!)."

This is great news, and indicates that the area in the REGUA reserve, where the captive-bred currasows have been released, provides a good habitat for them. Christine and her project team hadn't expected the birds to begin reproducing until next autumn!

Christine continued: "We will keep our fingers crossed, and hope they find females (there are 2 in the vicinity)! It will be wonderful to find nests this breeding season!"

Learn more about the Red-billed Curassow »

Labels: Brazil

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A site visit to Tinunelli-Kudrakote Elephant Corridor, Kerala (India) 

Common Langur (Semnopithecus entellus)

Kirsty Burgess, WLT Conservation Programmes Manager, recently made a site visit to the Tirunelli-Kudrakote Elephant Corridor which is in the process of being bought by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). She was joined by Edwina Kinsella-Bevan, Projects Manager of Elephant Family (EF), a UK based charity which has raised £120,000 towards the corridor project.

Kirsty and Edwina visited five different settlements being bought in the corridor, and developments are positive: Trees and other vegetation is regenerating rapidly after just three months of protection and elephant activity is obvious throughout the corridor. During their visit they sighted a range of other animals as well, including Common Langur, Dhole (Wild Dog), Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Sambar, Bonnet Macaques, Wild Boar, Sloth Bear, and Gaur (Indian Bison).

The Siju-Rewak Corridor, the first Elephant Corridor, is now completed and the Rongjak Forest, a community owned forest neighbouring the corridor area, was officially declared as a wildlife sanctuary during Kirsty and Edwina's visit.

A visit was also made to the Mangrove project in Northern Kerala to see the newly purchased five acres. This area is of strategic importance and the mangroves are in good condition. Some planting has also taken place. WTI is planning a pilot project here, looking at the re-introduction of rare coral species through coral transplanting.

Labels: India

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New species of glassfrog discovered in Buenaventura Reserve (Ecuador) 

Cochranella buenaventura sp. nov. - a new species of glassfrog in Ecuador. (Photo by Mario Yánez of MECN.)

A new species of glassfrog has been discovered in Buenaventura, one of the reserves owned and managed by WLT's Ecuadorian partners Fundación Jocotoco. The frog, named Cochranella buenaventura sp. nov. was discovered in the southern foothills of the Cordillera Occidental, Andes of Ecuador, where it inhabits the Seasonal Foothill Evergreen forests of the province of El Oro. The new species differ from other glassfrogs in several ways, including its truncate snout, reduced webbing between fingers and bright yellow hands and feet discs.

The study, undertaken by the Museo Ecuatoriano Ciencias Naturales (MECN) in Quito, Ecuador, was funded by WLT Trustee Nigel Simpson (The Simpson Education and Conservation Trust) through Fundación Jocotoco.

You can read the abstract of this study online:
Cisneros-Heredia DF, Yánez-Muñoz MH (2007) A New Species of Glassfrog (Centrolenidae) from the Southern Andean Foothills on the West Ecuadorian Region. South American Journal of Herpetology: Vol. 2, No. 1 pp. 1?10

Labels: Ecuador

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Thursday, 13 December 2007:

WLT's Paraguayan partners celebrate their 10th Anniversary (Paraguay) 

On Wednesday, 21 November, Guyra Paraguay was Ten Years Old. During the year they have held various events to celebrate their ten years of conservation achievement and this photograph shows the three directors of Guyra Paraguay over the years. On the left is Alberto Madroño, in the centre Alberto Yanosky (current Director) and on the right Francis Fragano.

About the photo Alberto Yanosky commented that everyone knows that the the new Lodge on the Pantanal reserve, funded by WLT supporters, is called The Three Giants because of the three endangered 'giants' found in the reserve area: Giant Otter, Giant Anteater and Giant Armadillo, but at the party the three Directors were also given the name The Three Giants!

Guyra Paraguay is a wonderful partner organisation and everyone at WLT sends their very best wishes for the next Ten Years.

Labels: Paraguay

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