I know I havent been updating the site lately since I moved but I’m back.

I just headed over to Roy Dennis’ site and found out that one of the golden eagles named Alma is confirmed dead due to poisoning . Real blow to conservation efforts.

How many known species of scorpions exist?

There are currently between 1,500 and 2,000 known scorpions species. I cannot give an approximate number because new species are being discovered and described all the time.

What is a bigger threat to scorpions; human exploitation or habitat fragmentation?

Both issues are equally significant. All animals have adaptations and survival strategies to help them endure the natural threats that they encounter (predators, environmental conditions, etc). Any additional threats that species are not prepared to face can quickly cause serious population declines. Having their habitats fragmented, compounded with the numerous ways that they are exploited, is certainly causing unnatural declines in scorpion populations.

Are any scorpion species critically endangered?

Presently there are no scorpion species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, that is not to say that scorpions are not at risk of becoming endangered. Unfortunately there is not enough information available on scorpion populations, or how human actions negatively affect them. Few, if any, conservation organizations focus on arachnids and other invertebrates.

How many scorpions are usually born in a litter?

This depends on the species, with an average of about 25. Typically larger scorpions have litters of between 5-15 young, while smaller scorpions can have litters of up to 100 young. The young are born live and crawl into the mothers back.

Explain in brief about your Creatures 101 scheme.

Creatures 101 is an organization that specializes in giving both educational and informative presentations on animal conservation. The focus is however on the more misunderstood creatures of the world (scorpions, snakes, etc.).

Head over to Matt’s Site for more info.

PN -

BPCT - We have undertaken a pilot study of the behaviour and biochemistry of scent marking by AWD that was spearheaded by a student, now Doctoral Candidate, at UMontana, Missoula named Megan Parker. This work began in 1999. More recently we experimented with management of a free ranging and essentially unfenced pack of wild dogs within the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Eastern Botswana. Our BioBoundary experiment consisted of collecting, cataloging and translocating hundreds of scent marks from a free ranging pack of wild dogs in Moremi Game Reserve here in northern Botswana and redistributing them to provide ‘virtual neighbours’ to the released pack in the NTGR. These dogs have been ‘contained’ within the prescribed area of the NTGR since their release in April 2008. Also, importantly, they have not been involved with any domestic livestock conflict since their release.

PN -Will this idea be applied in the long term to ensure AWD populations by limiting them biologically to their own territories, so as to steer cleer of not only human conflict but also with other carnivores like lions and hyenas?

BPCT -Yes but not exactly. Wild dogs, lions, and hyenas all overlap entirely in the natural world. These we consider to be the natural and correct limitors/ factors of an intact and functioning ecosystem. Rather what we are interested in using the Bioboundary concept for is to manage and limit the extent to which wild dogs cross the interface between wildlife areas (such as National Parks and Game Reserves) and human/domestic livestock grazing areas where they can become a problem with livestock and where the wild dogs typically get killed by intolerant farmers. Providing residents at the edge of the wildlife areas with ‘virtual neighbours’ using synthetic scent marks should reduce the likelihood that they will range into the areas where they are unwanted and generally not tolerated.

PN - Is the project using AWD being the only subject for this testing for now?
BPCT -Yes. At the moment we are focussing only on wild dog territorial scent chemistry. We anticipate investigating other large carnivores and possibly other highly territorial and scent marking species such as White and Black rhinos in the future.

Special thanks to Tico.

For more information

www.wildentrust.org

www.bpctrust.org

Zoo New England, which operates the Franklin Park Zoo and the Stone Zoo in Stoneham.

Gov. Deval Patrick cut state funding for the zoos from $6.5 million to $2.5 million.

On Monday House Speaker Robert DeLeo said that given the amount of calls he’s received from the membership, this would be one of those items that will be overridden.

Last Friday, operators of the Franklin Park Zoo, warned that some animals might have to be destroyed if state lawmakers didn’t restore the $4 million in lost funding.

A day later the zoo revised its statement, saying it meant the state would be forced to either care for the animals or euthanize them.

Zoo operators predicted as many as 200 animals might have to be destroyed because it would likely be impossible to find new homes for all of them.

On Monday, Gov. Patrick lashed out at zoo officials for suggesting that the facilities may have to close and that some animals may have to be euthanized if state cuts were not restored.

The Ospreys article was avery good read I must say. Head over to Roy Dennis’ site for more details and to be on the lookout for this month’s migration season.

http://www.roydennis.org/osprey/index.asp

The July issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine has a cover story on African Wild Dogs and their place on the predatory pedestal. The biggest most obvious threat comes in feline form; the Lion. The AWDs is without a doubt and in the words of David Attenbourough ” The continent’s most efficient predators”.

I have always been fascinated by the AWDs but quite unknowingly. I grew up calling these creatures Cape Dogs and it turns out they are the same thing. Anyway here’s some amazing facts about them;

• They are also known as Painted Hunting Dog, African Hunting Dog, the Spotted Dog, or the Painted Wolf .
• The most striking aspect of wild dog society is the amity that exists between members. Even when the whole pack is crowded around a kill there is little overt strife.
• Once pups accompany the adults on the hunt,… they take almost complete precedence at a kill. Adults may grab a bite at the time the prey has been caught, but as soon as the pups arrive the adults step back and permit them to monopolize the carcass
• Food is shared, even by individuals that do not participate in the kill. In competition for a bone or in other situations in which a fight could erupt, both animals tend to assume the appeasement posture, thereby terminating the interaction
• A pack has a home base only once a year, to bear young. The pack occupies a den, usually an abandoned aardvark hole, for 2 – 3 months. When pups are present, pack members do not wander very far from the den.
• Almost 90% of all hunts are successful.

The below map shows whats left of the habitats of the AWD(African Mammals Databank 2004)