Natural Environment Blog

A Rhino Rat Snake hatches from an egg at a London zoo. Photo: Ferry van Stralen.

Eight Rhino Rat Snakes have hatched in a London zoo, making it the first time a Rhino Rat Snake has bred in a European Zoo.

The snakes, which were born in the Zoological Society of London’s Reptile House, were captured on camera as they hatched. 

Three of the eight snakes have already been moved to other zoos in Europe as part of an exchange program to increase the captive population in Europe.

Appearance

Although the snakes are brownish gray in color, as they mature, they will turn into a steel gray and later into bluish green. Once they have fully matured (after about 2 years), they will turn green. There have been known cases where a specimen has remained at the subadult color (steel gray), but this is very rare.

Hatchlings start at between 300 to 350 mm in total length. Rhino Rat Snakes typically grow to between 100-120 cm in total size but sometimes up to 150 cm.

Distribution In The Wild

In the wild, the Rhino Rat Snake, is found in Northern Vietnam and southern China. The snake lives in subtropical rainforests between 300 and 1100 m elevation and has often been seen in stream valleys.

Common Names

The scientific name for the Rhino Rat Snake is Rhynchophis boulengeri. It is also commonly known as Rhinoceros Snake, Rhinoceros Snake, and Vietnamese Longnose Snake.

More than 7,000 live monitor lizards were seized during recent raids in southern Malaysia. In this photo, Wildlife and National Parks department personnel Othman Mohammad Yatim and deputy director Celescoriano Razond (right) hold up the seized monitor lizards, while the frozen parts are in the plastic bags. Photo: The Star Online.

More than 8,000 animals have been seized by authorities after a raid on two houses in the southern Malaysian state of Johar. 

The raids, which were carried out by eight members of Malaysia’s Wildlife and National Parks Department (commonly known as PERHILITAN), resulted in both live and dead animals being found. 

Animals Found

Between the two raids, the Wildlife Crime Unit seized the following animals. 

First Raid
During the first raid in Muar on November 4, the Wildlife Crime Unit seized 13 species of protected wildlife. The dead animals were found in freezers, the live animals were found in the back yard.

The seizure included the following:

• Barred eagle owl
• Spotted wood owl
• Buffy fish owl
• Crested serpent eagle
• Reticulated python
• Greater mousedeer
• Malayan porcupine
• Pangolin 
• Wild boar meat
• Bones
• Scales

Second Raid
The second raid took place three days after the first raid. The officials raided another location, this time in Segamat, where they found 7,093 clouded monitor lizards - mostly alive. The total weight of the lizards came to 35 tonnes.

Mr Rashid said that the live monitor lizards would be released into the wild.

Protected Species Destined For Restaurants

Illegal wildlife trade has been keeping authorities busy. A recent survey of restaurants and markets in southern China revealed that wildlife consumption is on the rise.

Wildlife typically fetches high prices at restaurants and markets in Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. 

“Most of these animals are sold to restaurants serving exotic animals as delicacies and some are also used for making traditional medicines,” said Mr Rashid.

One Man Arrested

Following the seizures, a 49-year-old man was charged in a magistrate’s court in Tangkak on Nov 7. The man, who is a repeat offender, is currently out on RM19,000 bail.

Datuk Abd Rasid Samsudin, PERHILITAN director general said this is the second time the man had been detained. In 2004, he was fined RM7,500 for having 182 pangolins and 1.3kg of pangolin scales.

The court hearing is due for February 20 next year.

Caspian Seal numbers have plummeted 90% over the last 100 years. The species is now officially classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Caspian Seal was recently reclassified from “Vulnerable” to “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The reclassification occurred after scientists found that the Caspian Seal population had dropped 90 percent in the past 100 years. 

The scientists, from the University of Leeds, worked together with international partners to discover that the seal’s population has plummeted from 1 million at the start of the 20th century, to approximately 100,000 today.  

The Main Causes

The main causes of the Caspian Seal population decline is:

• Commercial hunting
• Habitat degradation
• Disease
• Pollution
• Drowning in fishing nets

Low Breeding Cycle 

Seals are known for their long breeding cycle, which will not help with reviving the population of the species.

“Each female has just one pup a year, so with numbers at such a low levels, every fertile female that dies is a nail in the coffin of the species,” said Dr Simon Goodman of Leeds’ Faculty of Biological Sciences.

He added, “We’re hoping that the seal’s change in Red List status will help raise awareness about their plight, and the many important conservation issues facing the whole Caspian ecosystem.”

Furthermore, results of 2005 and 2006 surveys published recently in the scientific journal Ambio, reveal that there are only 17,000 breeding females. Given the low survival rate of pups, this is barely enough to keep the Caspian Seal population alive.  

Also, more recent surveys in 2007 and 2008 show that since 2005, the number of pups being born has dropped 60 percent to between 6,000 or 7,000. And as if that isn’t bad enough, the surveys found that there were 30 percent less adults on the breeding ground than in 2005.

Commercial Hunters Killing Pups

Caspian Seal Pup. Commercial hunters continue to slaughter pups like this evey year. Photo: Caspian Seal Conservation Network.

The team say that commercial hunters from Dagestan in the Russian Federation are responsible for the killing of 8,000 Caspian Seal pups in recent years.

“Without a suite of conservation measures there is a very high risk the species will become extinct, and possibly within our lifetime,” says Dr Goodman.

The team is developing a conservation action plan, which will prioritise a ban on hunting the seal and establish protected areas with the countries bordering the Caspian Sea.

TripAdvisor has announced the results of the $1 million dollar giveaway to charity that I mentioned a few weeks ago. 

As you might recall, the travel company was getting its website visitors to vote how the $1 million was going to be split between five charity organizations.

Now, voting has closed, the results have been released, and TripAdvisor say that they received more than 1 million votes!

Result

Here’s the result: 

• Doctors Without Borders: $392,000
• Save the Children: $347,000
• The Nature Conservancy: $137,000
• Conservation International: $70,000
• National Geographic Society: $54,000

It’s great to see companies spending their advertising dollars in these kinds of promotions rather than traditional advertising. Hotels Combined is another company donating to charity based on its website visitors’ votes.

Source: TripAdvisor ‘Causes’ page

Consumption of wildlife in China is on the increase according to a new report released by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. 

It is also revealed that many of the wildlife species being consumed are threatened species. 

The report, entitled State of Wildlife Trade in China 2007, is the second in an annual series produced by TRAFFIC on emerging trends in China’s wildlife trade. TRAFFIC works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.

Although wildlife consumption dropped following the SARS virus scare in 2003, it has since picked up again.

Wildlife For Sale

Dried plants and animals used for traditional Chinese medicine. Included are dried lingzhi, snake, turtle plastron, Luo han fruit, and ginseng.

TRAFFIC surveyed markets and restaurants in five cities in southern China. The survey revealed that 52 percent of markets and 40 percent of restaurants had wild animals for sale. 

A total of 56 species were found and, of these, eight are protected under Chinese law and 17 are protected under CITES, which prohibits or strictly controls international trade.

Wildlife found at the markets and restaurants included giant lizards, snakes, freshwater turtles, hawks, geckos, pangolin, bear paw. 

The wildlife consisted of:

• 39 reptiles (accounting for 70%)
• 4 mammals (7%) 
• 10 birds (18%) 
• 2 amphibians (4%)
• 1 fish (2%)

Most Popular Animals

The majority of illegal wild animal trade was in freshwater turtles and snakes. In particular, the report mentions the following:

• 600 freshwater turtles were found on sale at Qingping market (excluding those in warehouses) in Guangzhou, including the Malayan Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis), Elongated Tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) and Black Marsh Turtle (Siebenrockiella crassicollis)
• Almost 3,000 snakes were recorded in the survey, including the Taiwan beauty snake (Elaphe taeniura), Rat snake (Ptyas korros) and Tri-rope beauty snake (Elaphe radiata). The snake market was concentrated in Dongwang Frozen Product market (also known as the Chatou Wild Animal market) in Guangzhou.

Breakdown By City

The following table shows how many markets and restaurants were surveyed, along with the number of wild animals traded.

As mentioned previously, 52 percent of markets had wildlife for sale, as did 40 percent of restaurants surveyed.

Traditional Medicines

Although wildlife is often eaten from a dinner plate, it is also used in traditional medicines. 

The international trade in Chinese traditional medicine is growing at any annual rate of 10%. This, together with habitat loss, has impacted medicinal plant and animal populations, which have shrunk rapidly, with 15% to 20% of medicinal plants and animals now considered endangered.

Increasing Demand, Dimishing Supply

WWF, the global conservation organization, are calling on the Chinese to step up their efforts against illegal wildlife trade.

Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme says ”The trends seen in this report that show increasing demand in wildlife products and diminishing supply should be a wake up call for law enforcement, policy makers and consumers,”

She added, “We call upon Chinese authorities to enhance enforcement and public education efforts, to stop illegal trade and reduce consumption of threatened species from around the world.”

Illegal Ivory Trade

The survey, which also looked at the Chinese ivory trade, found that the illegal ivory trade is actually declining.  

While this is good news, TRAFFIC does point out that, due to increased enforecement, the illegal ivory trade is being pushed underground. Illegal ivory trade is more likely to take place in a hotel or via an online or offline auction.   

“The reduction in the illegal ivory trade is very welcome, but we urge the authorities to remain vigilant, particularly to ensure there is no laundering of illegal ivory,” said Professor Xu Hongfa, co-ordinator of TRAFFIC’s China Programme.

The World’s Second Largest Wood Importer

The report also looked into supply of wood, with China being the world’s second largest wood importer.

While Russia China’s largest wood supplier, are growing percentage of the nation’s wood comes from Africa. This increased demand is stimulting illegal timber trade in Africa.

“Chinese companies buying African timber must ensure the benefits of the timber trade are equitably shared, right down to the African rural communities on whose land the trees are growing,” said Professor Xu.

The Report

• View the TRAFFIC press release regarding the report (Word 332 KB)
• View the full report (PDF 2,311 KB)

Rabies threatens the Ethiopian Wolf with extinction. Photo Source: EWCP.

A rabies outbreak could fast track the extinction of the Ethiopian Wolf - the world’s rarest wolf.

With only 500 remaining, the Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis) was already threatened with extinction. But now, there’s a real danger that extinction could come faster than previously thought. 

The rabies threat comes from the dogs the Oromo people use to herd livestock. In the Bale Mountains National Park, the Ethipian Wolves live in close contact with these people and their dogs, and the virus has emerged once again. 

Rabies is the major killer of Ethiopian wolves in Bale.

In 1990 and 1991, it killed off whole wolf packs and accounted for a population decline of up to 75%. Again in 2003-04 the virus spread across this same local population, leading to a 76% decline.

“These preciously rare wolves can ill-afford it another massive die-off.” said Dr Claudio Sillero of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU).

Vaccinating the Wolves and Dogs

The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP) has been protecting the wolves in the Bale Mountains for 20 years. Unfortunately, despite efforts to vaccinate the wolves and dogs, the rabies virus continues to emerge every so often.

“Despite the efforts of our veterinary team, who vaccinate thousands of dogs in Bale’s villages every year, the virus has raised its ugly head again and jumped into the wolf population,” said Dr Claudio, who is also Director of EWCP.

“Fifteen wolves have died to date, and laboratory tests have confirmed our worst fears that we are facing another potentially devastating outbreak. If left unchecked, rabies is likely to kill over two-thirds of all wolves in Bale’s Web Valley, and spread further, with wolves dying horrible deaths and numbers dwindling to perilously low levels.” he continued.

Vaccination - A Difficult Task

An Ethiopian Wolf being released following vaccination. Photo Source: EWCP.

Vaccinating the Ethiopian Wolf is a difficult task, according to Dr Sillero.

“Tracking and vaccinating these animals is a far from easy task,” he said. 

“Our veterinary team are travelling on horse-back and camping out in remote mountains above 12,000 feet with temperatures falling as low as -15°C. But the first three weeks of the intervention have gone well with the team vaccinating to date forty-eight wolves in eleven vital packs that connect the Web Valley population with other wolves in Bale. The objective is to secure a ‘cordon sanitaire‘ of safely vaccinated wolf packs which will prevent the virus reaching other packs living further afield in the Bale Mountains” he continued.

Threats to the Ethiopian Wolf

Rabies is just one of the many threats to the Ethiopian Wolf. According to EWCP, the major threats to the wolf are:

• Loss and fragmentation of the Afroalpine habitat: High-altitude subsistence agriculture and overgrazing; road construction and sheep farming
• Diseases: Particularly rabies, transmitted by domestic dogs
• Conflicts with humans: Poisoning and persecution in reprisal for livestock losses; road kills
• Hybridisation with domestic dogs

The Ethiopian Wolf (scientific name: Canis simensis) is also known as Abyssinian wolf, red jackal, red fox, Simien fox or Simien jackal, due to the previous uncertainty about its taxonomic position. It is currently thought that the species belongs to the genus Canis, even though it looks superficially like a fox.

Do you remember my post about the website that enables you to donate to charity for free - simply by clicking your mouse?

Or maybe you remember that Tripadvisor was running a million dollar promotion allowing visitors to choose which charities would receive the most money. 

The great thing about these promotions is that it’s so easy for you to have your say. You could help your preferred charity within minutes, and without having to save up and spend your own money to do it.

Hotels Combined is another company wanting to donate money to charity. And similar to the aforementioned promotions, it’s totally free - you choose the charity, they donate the money!

In order to spread the word about the company, Hotels Combined are currently donating money to one of three charities when you mention them on your blog or become a fan on Facebook.

How You Can Help

So, here’s how you can help charity of your choice.

Mention them on your blog and Hotels Combined will donate $20 USD to your chosen charity (just email them with the URL and your chosen charity)

OR

Become a fan on Facebook and Hotels Combined will donate $5 USD to your chosen charity (simply sign into Facebook, become a fan, then post a comment on their Facebook profile indicating your choice)

Donating to charity couldn’t get much simpler (or cheaper) than that!

The Charities

Hotels Combined are currently donating to the following worthwhile charities:

• WWF - the global conservation charity dedicated to stopping the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and building a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.
• World Vision - Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice 
• Make a Wish Foundation - Granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

About Hotels Combined

Hotels Combined is a search engine that searches over 900,000 hotel deals worldwide for the best price possible.

The hotel deals are retrieved from multiple hotel reservation websites around the world, enabling you to compare prices and availability across all major acommodation providers on a single screen.

This company says that they are always looking for ethical and environmentally friendly ways of doing business. 

The aim of this promotion is to help spread the word about the company in an ethical and environmentally friendly way.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has published a letter to president-elect Obama, providing advice on tackling environmental issues.

The letter, which was written by Mark Tercek TNC’s president and CEO, urges the new president to provide strong leadership in dealing with this matter. 

Tercek says to Obama,

The degradation of our environment is by no means inevitable. With your leadership, the United States can build on its rich conservation tradition to create a framework of healthy air, land and water that will protect natural systems, and around which the next generations of Americans can build secure and rewarding lives.

Priority Items

The letter also outlines TNCs current highest priority action items which are:

• Stabilizing Earth’s climate through the passage of greenhouse gas cap-and-trade legislation, investments in energy conservation and cleaner energy technology, and the design and siting of energy facilities to minimize environmental impacts
• Conserving the most environmentally important natural resource lands
• Connecting and caring for our heritage of Federal lands
• Ensuring the health of water resources 
• Working cooperatively with other countries to negotiate a new global climate treaty

Tercek says that all of these recommendations are achievable politically and practically. He adds that much is already underway, and even more can be done with innovation and new ideas. 

Tereck asks the President to play a central role in convincing the public and private sectors, urban and rural interests that they all share and must take responsibility for our one connected environment.

Funding

On the subject of funding, TNC suggests:

• the leasing of federally-owned energy resources
• the conversion to a lower-carbon economy
• offsets to unavoidable environmental damage from energy and infrastructure projects

Our experience tells us that expenditures on the environment are not costs but investments in the future. 

About The Nature Conservancy

TNC is a conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.

The organization threats to conservation involving climate change, fire, fresh water, forests, invasive species, and marine ecosystems.

TNC’s mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.

Since its inception in 1951, TNC has protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide. TNC currently operates in 30 countries around the world and has more than a million members. more than 100 marine projects around the world.

A million tonnes of fish and other marine life caught in the North Sea is thrown overboard every year, according to a new study by WWF-Germany.

The resulting report, entitled “Sea Creatures Are Not Rubbish”, says that one-third of all North Sea catch ends up back in the sea. In other words, for every tonne that ends up at the fishmonger, two tonnes were thrown back into the ocean. 

The discarded creatures are usually referred to as “bycatch”. Bycatch is any species caught in a fishery that wasn’t supposed to be - often because it’s the wrong species or it’s too small. 

The main problem with bycatch is that, most creatures are dead or close to death by the time they’re thrown back into the ocean. This represents a huge threat to marine life all over the world. Each year, millions of turtles, whales, dolphins, sharks, and seabirds, right through to juvenile fish, corals, crabs and starfish etc are killed and tossed back into the ocean.

And it’s not just a conservation problem. It’s also a problem for the fishers themselves.

“Bycatch costs fishers time and money,” says Amanda Nickson, Head of WWF’s Bycatch Initiative. “It contributes to the already critical problem of over-fishing, it jeopardizes future revenue, jobs and long-term food security.”

“It is also a major killer of marine wildlife. How many more reasons do you need to change the way we fish?” she adds.

Different target species result in different degrees of bycatch. For example, the report says that for every kilogram of Dover sole (Solea solea) that found its way to the fishmonger, six kilograms of bycatch had been thrown overboard. The study also found that every kilogram of Norwegian lobster or scampi results in five kilograms of bycatch.

WWF says that every year several million sharks and up to 250,000 sea turtles are killed in fishing operations designed to catch other species.

“Bycatch is an incredible waste and one of the largest threats to many sea creatures,” said Karoline Schacht, Fisheries Policy Officer, WWF-Germany. “The drama happens far away at sea but this unseen wastefulness must come to an end.”

WWF has been working on the bycatch issue arround the world, and currently has 70 bycatch projects in over 40 countries.

Here’s the full report (written in German): Sea Creatures Are Not Rubbish [PDF, 1.03 MB]

Tasmanian Devil could be extinct within 10 to 20 years. Photo Menna Jones.

Australian scientists have joined forces in an attempt to save the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) - a carnivorous marsupial -  from extinction.   

Previous research has found that the Tasmanian Devil is likely to be extinct within 10 to 20 years due to an infectious facial cancer.

Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) is a parasitic cancer that appears to be affecting the majority of Tasmanian Devils, was first discovered in 1995. Since then, over 60% of the Tasmanian Devil population has been wiped out. In some areas, DFTD killed as much as 90% of the Tasmanian Devil population within 10 years.

The project, led by University of Adelaide zoologist Jeremy Austin, will spend the next three years developing a conservation program to save the Tasmanian Devil the deadly disease.

“We have lost over half our devils in the past 10 years, with an estimated population of 20,000 to 50,000 mature devils left. Extinction within the next 20 years is a real possibility unless we find a vaccine, eradicate the disease and establish captive colonies,” Dr Austin said.

This Tasmanian Devil has Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), a disease that threatens to wipe out the Tasmanian Devil population within 20 years. Photo: Wayne McLean.

Dr Austin’s team will analyse genetic material from devil populations to understand the origin, spread and impact of the facial cancer.

“We will be looking to develop rapid genetic testing techniques to pick devils that are resistant to the disease and can be used for breeding in captivity,” he said.

Dr Austin said that Tasmanian Devils are more prone to the infectious cancer because they have low levels of genetic diversity and a chromosomal mutation unique among carnivorous mammals.

“We need to establish whether the low levels of genetic diversity are due to recent human impacts or a long-term historical pattern. We also need to look at how the cancer is affecting surviving populations and identify individuals that may be resistant to the disease,” he said.

About the Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivorous marsupial endemic to Australia. It has been extinct from the mainland for over 400 years, and is now only found in the state of Tasmania - an island 240 kilometers off the south eastern side of the mainland.

In the 1990s, the Tasmanian Devil population stood at between 130,000 and 150,000. Now, current estimates place the population at between 20,000 and 50,000 (including 10,000-25,000 mature individuals).

Given the recent mortality rate, this figure is likely to decline substantially over the coming years, until the disease is eradicated or a vacinne is developed.

The Tasmanian Devil is currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Endangered.