Bolivia - conservation success for jaguars

Jaguar cubs photo shows conservation success in Bolivia

1,000 jaguars live in the vast bi-national Gran Chaco Jaguar Conservation Unit spanning southern Bolivia and northern Paraguay


December 2011. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has released a dramatic photo of a female jaguar and her two cubs taken near the Isoso Station of the Santa Cruz-Puerto Suarez Gas Pipeline in Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia. The adult jaguar, nicknamed Kaaiyana, has been seen with her cubs in the area over the last month, and WCS conservationists have confirmed she has been a resident in the vicinity for at least six years.

"Kaaiyana's tolerance of observers is a testimony to the absence of hunters in this area, and her success as a mother means there is plenty of food for her and her cubs to eat," said Dr. John Polisar, Coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Jaguar Conservation Program.

Kaa Iya National Park
At more than 13,200 square miles (34,400 square kilometers), Kaa Iya National Park is the largest protected area in Bolivia and safeguards the most expansive and best-conserved dry forest in the world. It is found in a transition zone between Chacoan and Chiquitano dry forest ecosystems and includes unique vegetation and rare wildlife such as giant armadillos, Chacoan titi monkeys, and Chacoan peccaries. The creation of Kaa Iya in 1995 marked the first time in South America that a protected area was established through the initiative of an indigenous group, the Guaraní-Isoceño people.

Gran Chaco Jaguar Conservation Unit
WCS has conducted extensive research in the area and estimates that at least 1,000 jaguars live in the Gran Chaco Jaguar Conservation Unit, a 47,000 square-mile (124,000 square kilometer) area spanning southern Bolivia and northern Paraguay. With support from the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, WCS is promoting conservation action across the Gran Chaco.

The construction of the 1,900-mile (3,100 kilometer) Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline that cuts across Kaa Iya National Park and the Isoso indigenous land required developing institutional alliances to minimize environmental impacts. With the participation of private energy companies, which make up Gas TransBoliviano (GTB), as well as the Isoso indigenous organization, and an independent member, the Kaa Iya Foundation was created in 2003 as a mechanism to deliver a match with WCS funds to conduct wildlife research and environmental education in the park, which is funded and managed by the Bolivian government.

Jaguar surveys
Among the research efforts first supported by the foundation were jaguar surveys. Kaayiana was first detected by WCS researcher Dr. Andrew Noss at the Isoso site in 2005 with male jaguars, and again in 2006 with a cub. The Kaa Iya park guards work with GTB personnel to prevent illegal hunting and settlements along the right-of-way to the gas pipeline and ensure the protection of wildlife, including jaguar prey, in the park.

"The photographic histories of jaguars in the area by WCS and the reproductive success of this female are testimony that conservation efforts have been effective," said Julie Kunen, WCS Director of Latin America and Caribbean Programs.

The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. They do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth.

Jaguars
The jaguar is considered near threatened by the IUCN and numbers are declining, mostly due to habitat loss and fragmentation. Despite protection, jaguars are often killed by humans, particularly in conflicts with ranchers and farmers.

Jaguars traditionally ranged from the southern USA to southern Argentina, but their range has been much reduced, and there are few left in Mexico, and at the most 1-2 in USA.

Steppes Discovery run tours to see jaguars in Brazil and other places.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/jaguar-cubs.html

Teenager 'dies jumping into piranha-infested river'

A teenage boy was eaten alive by piranhas after leaping into a river infested with the flesh-eating fish in northeastern Bolivia, authorities have said.


The 18-year-old man was drunk when he jumped out of a canoe in the Bolivian town of Rosario del Yata, 400 miles (640 kilometres) north of the capital of La Paz, police official Daniel Cayaya said.


The man bled to death after the attack, which occurred last Thursday, Mr Cayaya said. First word of the incident emerged on Tuesday, when it was reported by the local Erbol radio station.

Police suspect that the man had committed suicide because he was a fisherman in the region who knew the Yata river well.

Despite their fearsome reputation, fatal attacks by piranhas on humans are rare

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/bolivia/8939656/Teenager-dies-jumping-into-piranha-infested-river.html

Note from Richard Freeman:  If this is true then it is the only known case of a human being killed by piranhas

Bolivia's Jaguars Set a Record

ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2011) — In a new camera trap survey in the world's most biologically diverse landscape, researchers for the Wildlife Conservation Society have identified more individual jaguars than ever before.

Using technology first adapted to identify tigers by stripe patterns, WCS conservationists have identified 19 individual jaguars by spot patterns in the rainforests of Bolivia, a record number for a single camera trap survey in the country. The animals were identified from a total of 975 photographs, a record number of images due to the use of digital cameras as opposed to camera traps that use film.
The images come from the Alto Madidi and Alto Heath, a region at the headwaters of the Madidi and Heath Rivers inside Bolivia's outstanding Madidi National Park. The survey also included Ixiamas Municipal Reserve, created following a previous WCS survey in 2004 along the Madidi River, which revealed a high abundance of jaguars and other species such as white-lipped peccaries, spider monkeys, and giant otters.

"We're excited about the prospect of using these images to find out more about this elusive cat and its ecological needs," said WCS Conservationist Dr. Robert Wallace. "The data gleaned from these images provide insights into the lives of individual jaguars and will help us generate a density estimate for the area."

The study is noteworthy in its use of digital camera traps replacing the traditional film units used in the past. The cameras are strategically placed along pathways in the forest and especially the beaches of rivers and streams for weeks at a time, snapping pictures of animals that cross an infrared beam. Now, researchers returning to the traps can download the images in seconds, rather than waiting days for film to develop. Before embarking on second field trip to the even more remote Heath River, Bolivian jaguar field biologist Guido Ayala noted that "series of digital images also capture more data than traditional film."

"The preliminary results of this new expedition underscore the importance of the Madidi landscape to jaguars and other charismatic rainforest species," said Dr. Julie Kunen, Director of WCS's Latin America and Caribbean Program. "Understanding the densities and ranging habits of jaguars is an important step in formulating effective management plans for what is arguably the most biodiverse landscape on the planet."

Madidi National Park is one of the top tourist attractions in Bolivia and is the centerpiece of a continuous chain of six national protected areas in northwestern Bolivia and southeastern Peru, one of the largest such complexes in the world.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111019171128.htm

New Bolivian bird species on the edge

Protecting a subspecies before it becomes an extinct species: The Palkachupa Cotinga in Bolivia September 2011. The Bolivian subspecies of the Swallow-tailed Cotinga Phibalura flavirostris merits recognition as a species, says Bennett Hennessey, Executive Director of BirdLife's Bolivian Partner Asociación Armonía, in a paper just published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

Fewer than 600 birds
Now reduced to fewer than 600 individuals in a few fragments of forest within an area of just over 1,000 km2, the "Palkachupa Cotinga" will be a candidate for a high threat category in the 2012 Red List update by BirdLife International.

Rediscovered in 2000
Unrecorded for 98 years, P. f. boliviana was rediscovered at the edge of a small (2-4 km2) forest fragment near Pata, north-west of the municipality of Apolo in Bolivia's Madidi National Park, in September 2000.

Bennett Hennessey rediscovered the bird, and is now leading Armonía's efforts to conserve it. It is still relatively common in patches of good habitat, but with so little good habitat remaining the population is very low. A stronghold of the population has been found at the original collection site, near the village of Aten.

"Without more support, we have another dry season on the horizon, during which more of Palkachupa's habitat will be cut and burnt for pasture land," says Bennett Hennessey. Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga (see end of story for details on how you can help).

59 hectares published
In June 2010, Armonía achieved the first step toward the creation of a Palkachupa Nature Reserve with the purchase of 59 ha near Aten. Negotiations with landowners continue, and they hope to purchase additional land. "The area requires complete boundary fencing to prevent further cattle grazing, and to allow reforestation. Restoration of savannah breeding habitat is needed, and for this we will first need to work with neighbouring landowners on fire management. Isolated trees will be planted to improve nesting habitat" said Bennet Hennessey.

"We will initiate a programme of protecting Palkachupa Cotinga nesting trees in the Aten area by purchasing the protection rights of important trees. These trees will be fenced off, and signs will be placed declaring these small areas as sanctuaries for nesting Palkachupa."

It would not be possible to protect the Palkachupa's habitat without the support and cooperation of the people of Aten. Armonía is working with a former Madidi park guard and Aten native, William Ferufino, to coordinate research and outreach activities with the local communities.

Local people have responded enthusiastically, and images of Palkachupa play a prominent role in annual Independence Day celebrations. Four high school students are working with William Ferufino as volunteer field assistants. In recognition of this important support, and to build greater local participation, Armonía provided assistance for improvements to the Aten school, including construction of three additional classrooms.

Swallow-tailed Cotinga
The Near Threatened Swallow-tailed Cotinga has traditionally been considered to consist of two subspecies with disjunct ranges. The nominate race is found in south-eastern Brazil, and also perhaps in northeast Argentina and east Paraguay, though with no records from these countries since 1977. 2,500 km separate the nearest known population of the nominate race from the area in central-western Bolivia where three specimens of the taxon known as P. f. boliviana were collected in 1845 and 1902.

Evidence presented by Hennessey in The Wilson Journal (123(3):454-458, 2011) indicated that the Bolivian population should be treated as a separate species, Phibalura boliviana. The plumage is distinctly different: boliviana males have longer tails than flavirostris, and their body plumage is significantly less sexually dimorphic. The iris of boliviana is mustard yellow, distinct from the blood red iris of flavirostris, andboliviana has orange-yellow feet while those of flavirostris are pink. Only one vocalisation type is recorded for flavirostris, whereas at least five calls and a song are known for boliviana, which vocalises significantly more often. The Brazilian flavirostris has strong seasonal movements, whereas boliviana is sedentary.

The proposed common name proposed for the species comes from the indigenous Quechua language: "palka" meaning fork and "chupa" meaning tail.

"On first speaking with the people of Aten, their comment was that they did not know Palkachupa was so rare" says Bennett Hennessey. "Being so common in their village they assumed it was found everywhere."

Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga. Please contact abhennessey@armonia-bo.org if you wish to help efforts to save the species from extinction.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/Palkachupa-Cotinga.html

Fossils of Forest Rodents Found in Highland Desert

ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2011) — Two new rodent fossils were discovered in the arid highlands of southern Bolivia by researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Universidad Autónoma Tomás Frías.

The larger of the two rodents, named Mesoprocta hypsodus, probably looked something like a guinea pig on stilts, said Darin Croft, an anatomy professor at Case Western Reserve. The smaller, Quebradahondomys potosiensis, was a spiny rat.


An online article in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution describes the new species, a possible third, and two known species that are new inhabitants to that location.

"The two new species are pretty rare," said Croft. Various teams have been working the Bolivian site, called Quebrada Honda, on and off since the late 1970s. Croft's team has been working there for the past five years and has identified only one fossilized piece of jawbone from each animal.

Croft has been working this remote area, about 12,000 feet above sea level, as well as largely understudied areas in the mountains of northern and central Chile, for 14 years. The research sites are among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

He and his colleagues have found and documented remains of more than two-dozen new species of mammals, ranging from mouse-sized marsupials to giant armadillos and hoofed, sheep-sized grazers in that time.

Prior research using radiometric and paleomagnetic dating techniques puts the age of the fossils at Quebrada Honda in the range of 12.5 to 13 million years ago.

Though the finds were limited to one fossil each, the teeth provide the telltale features needed to determine their kin and identify them as unique.

Mesoprocta hypsodus is related to agoutis and acouchis, two types of current and common rodents found from Costa Rica to Brazil. Tall, complex teeth are typical of these rodents, which are known for their flatish face, long legs and quickness.

Based on the dimensions of the jawbone and teeth, Croft estimates the extinct rodent was about 18 to 20 inches long, 8 inches to a foot at the shoulder and weighed 8 to 10 pounds.

Croft said that although it probably ate fruits and nuts and spent much of its time foraging among the trees, like its modern relatives, its durable teeth indicate that it may also have ventured into more open areas. Forested habitats no longer exist in the Quebrada Honda area.

Quebradahondomys potosiensis is a rat-sized relative of extant spiny rats, which are mostly tree-dwelling relatives of guinea pigs and chinchillas that have spiny coats and tails that easily break off to help them escape from predators. Currently, spiny rats are found throughout Central America and most of South America.

The molar teeth, which are shaped like a "3" or an "E," are typical of a particular subgroup of spiny rats and indicate the extinct rodent fed on a leafy diet. The researchers say it was at least partially arboreal and may have been living in the same trees among which Mesoprocta hypsodus foraged on the ground.

In addition to the two new species above, Croft's group found a number of fossils from the genus Acarechimys.

The remains indicate the animal was about hamster-sized, lived in rocky or bushy environs and fed on leaves and seeds.

Fossils from the genus have been found from Colombia to the southern tip of Argentina, but close analysis is needed to break them down into species. The researchers hope to work with others to define species found.

The most common fossils at the site are from relatives of chinchillas, all of the genus Prolagostomus. They were found in such high numbers that the researchers believe the animals were highly social and, like some of their current relatives, lived in communities much as prairie dogs do today.

Again, closer analysis of known fossils from here and other locations is needed to determine species. Studies of variation in modern relatives will also aid these studies.

Lastly, the investigators found fossils of Guiomys unica, a relative of the guinea pig. The species, estimated to be about the size of a large rabbit but proportioned like a cat, was previously found only in the Patagonia region of Argentina, well over 1,000 miles away.

The animal was likely a grass and leaf eater that frequented both open and more sheltered habitats, the researchers said.

The group is continuing to analyze other fossils it has found in this and other Bolivian sites. They plan to return to the field next year to continue searching for fossils and a clearer picture of the past.

"We're a step closer to pulling the whole fauna together," Croft said. "I fully expect we'll get some more new stuff in the next few years."

The research is funded by the National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110804105854.htm

Dinosaur tracking in Bolivia

I'm staring at what was, until very recently, the largest set of dinosaur footprints on earth – 581 metres of vicious slashes gouged by a carnivore's razor-sharp claws. But now, a third of the way into the run, as the predator salivated at the prospect of supper, the spoor suddenly vanishes, replaced by a slab of fresh, smooth rock.

It reappears 10 metres further on. The hunt has recommenced. But it's too late. A landslide has left a savage rip across the rock face, interrupting the trail laid down 65m years ago in Bolivia's central highlands. To palaeontologists it's almost iconoclasm, like a theologian finding a page torn from the Gutenberg Bible.

The lost footsteps of "Johnny Walker", as the dinosaur is known, are the latest tweak to the prehistoric landscape outside the elegant city of Sucre. Cal Orko is a constantly evolving record of life in the Cretaceous era – an epic canvas that due to erosion and local mining will always be a work in progress.

"It's just amazing," says chief guide Maria Teresa Gamón as we inspect the damage. "We see fresh footprints and fossils all the time. We lose some, we find some. It's always changing."

Whatever the latest tally, the vast wall of sedimentary rock still bears the largest, most diverse collection of dinosaur tracks on the planet. Across a limestone slab 1.2km long and 80m high, Cal Orko sports more than 5,000 footsteps, with 462 individual trails.

My own trail is slightly longer. Sedate Sucre breaks up the schlep from tropical Santa Cruz to the altiplano mining town of Potosí. With a student population served by great bars and cafes it's the perfect place to kick back for a few days, particularly in the dreamy Parador Santa María la Real, where colonial-era rooms surround light-filled courtyards.

But Spain's conquistadors are a pinprick in history compared with the dinosaurs. The Bolivian prints belong to eight main species, including the unpleasant carnotaurus with its terrible dentistry and laughably tiny upper limbs, and the herbivorous ankylosaurus – a sort of heavyweight armadillo. But they and their footsteps are dwarfed by those of the clumsy plant-guzzling titanosaur, weighing up to 100 tonnes.

Cal Orko lies three miles from downtown Sucre, where red, brown and ochre folds of earth smudge into the Andean foothills. I know it's inside a quarry – miners spotted many footprints after the first discoveries in 1985 – but it's still shocking to find heavy industry cheek by jowl with a fragile landscape of world significance. The extraction company's work covers everything – trees, buildings, men – in a fine fuzz of dust. Its vast lorries, titanosaurs of earth moving, are a surreal juxtaposition with the palaeontologists' delicate work.

The Parque Cretácico, opened in 2006, lies further up the hill, with a museum, vast models of dinosaurs and B-movie roars piped through loudspeakers. So far so Spielberg. It's only when I reach the viewing platform, 150 metres from the rock face, that it starts to become marvellously real – a widescreen view of prehistory. My eyes need to adjust. Cal Orko is a vast optical puzzle requiring time to decipher. Those dots, dashes and holes like super-sized horse hoofprints aren't random designs – they're rock-solid semaphore explaining Cretaceous life.

Visitors aren't normally allowed up to the wall, but with mining temporarily suspended, I'm granted rare access. The immense vertiginous rock face is slightly overwhelming, in the dust and searing heat. Maria, the palaeontologistss assistant, uses a mirror to transform the sun's rays into a spotlight, picking out specific tracks.

Her enthusiasm is infectious. "Look! Six footprints going up. Ankylosaurus. And over there! Those are about 80cm in diameter. It's a titanosaur coming down the wall for about 25m. See where they stop? That soft outer rock will soon crumble and you'll follow them right to the ground."

Maria uses the footprints to explain how meat-eaters walked with straight feet "while herbivores were pigeon-toed like Charlie Chaplin – apart from the long-necked ones, who had the same hips as carnivores".

The spoors reveal mundane details of daily Cretaceous life. It's CSI: Sucre. "That ankylosaur was running. It sank its four toes into the ground, rather than its heel." There's even a large carnivore that, like any true gentleman, preferred the female to stay on its left side.

Most fun of all is gauging the beasts' size from their tracks. For two-legged dinosaurs you multiply the length of the footprint four times to discover leg-to-hip length. Once you've got the legs, you know if it was Joe Average or Godzilla. A large titanosaur had 6m pins – without stilettos.

By the time we're placing our hands next to the tracks – a quick way to feel extremely insignificant – I've mutated into teacher's pet. I fear I'm raising my hand to ask questions.

"What's that?" demands Maria, pointing to a splatter of prints.

"Two round toes. A hoof. Waddling like Chaplin. A herbivore," I snap back. "Possibly an iguanodont."

"Very good, Ian" I feel stupidly proud.

But Cal Orko is about geology as well as palaeontology. Unless dinosaurs wore crampons, and size 72 ones at that, how the hell did they leave tracks up a vertical rock face? It's all very complicated, so pay attention at the back.

The Cretaceous era, starting 145m years ago and ending with mass extinction 80m years later, saw South America drift away from Africa and and join with North America, sparking wildlife migrations. Cal Orko, kissing a huge lake and boasting the continent's first flowers, attracted herbivores and subsequently carnivores.

But it was unique climate fluctuations that made the region a palaeontological honey pot. The creatures' feet sank into the soft shoreline in warm damp weather, leaving marks that were solidified by later periods of drought. Wet weather then returned, sealing the prints below mud and sediment. The wet-dry pattern was repeated seven times, preserving multiple layers of prints. The cherry on the cake was added when tectonic activity pushed the flat ground up to a brilliant viewing angle – as if nature was aware of its tourism potential.

Not surprisingly, Cal Orko has applied for Unesco listing, but the fate of Johnny Walker's steps underlines the vulnerability of this place.

Far from preserving the site, man is adding to the ravages of time. As I leave, a low explosion thumps across the quarry's fragile earth and reverberates through my chest. More tracks will disappear, more emerge – the endless dance of conservation and industrial progress.

Ian Belcher
guardian.co.uk

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jul/15/dinosaur-tracking-bolivia-cal-orko