Elephant population in Tanzania sanctuaries drops

(Reuters) - The number of elephants in two wildlife sanctuaries in Tanzania has fallen by nearly 42 percent in just three years, a census showed on Tuesday, as poachers increasingly killed the animals for their tusks.

The census at the Selous Game Reserve and Mikumi National Park revealed elephant numbers had plunged to 43,552 in 2009 from 74,900 in 2006.

It was carried out by the east African country's wildlife authority, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, as part of a government plan to conserve wildlife.

The rapid fall prompted President Jakaya Kikwete to order an investigation, his office said Tuesday.

Conservationists estimate Tanzania has a total elephant population of between 110,000 and 140,000, making it one of the largest sanctuaries in Africa.

But in recent years, Tanzania and neighboring Kenya have suffered a steep rise in poaching as criminals killed elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns for sale in Asia.

TRAFFIC, a conservation group that tracks trends in wildlife trading, said in a statement last week that 2011 had been a record year for ivory seizure. It pointed to a surge in elephant poaching in Africa to meet Asian demand for tusks for use in jewelry and ornaments.

Elephants, the world's largest land mammals, are also under pressure in many parts of the continent from loss of habitat to humans, pollution and climate change. Their number has fallen to 470,000-685,000 from millions just decades ago, conservationists say.

Kikwete also ordered the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute to investigate the disappearance of the rare Roosevelt's sable antelope from national parks, and to look for ways of re-introducing the animal in at least in one of the parks, the statement said.

The last Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2007 agreed to a nine-year moratorium on any further trade in ivory, after some 105 tonnes of elephant ivory had been sold from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to China and Japan.

(Reporting by Fumbuka Ngw'anakilala; Editing by Duncan Miriri and Alessandra Rizzo)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/03/us-tanzania-elephants-idUKTRE8020QD20120103

New large horned viper discovered, but biologists keep location quiet

In a remote forest fragment in Tanzania, scientists have made a remarkable discovery: a uniquely-colored horned viper extending over two feet long (643 millimeters) that evolved from its closest relative over two million years ago. Unfortunately, however, the new species—named Matilda's horned viper (Atheris matildae)—survives in a small degraded habitat and is believed to be Critically Endangered. Given its scarcity, its discoverers are working to preempt an insidious threat to the new species.

Scientists love nothing more than finding unknown animals, but the public announcement has sometimes been the beginning of the species' undoing, especially in the case of reptiles and amphibians. Hotly pursued by the black market pet trade, in the past new species have been helplessly decimated by collectors shortly after their scientific description is published. As such, Matilda's horned viper's discoverers are not only keeping the snake's location a closely-guarded secret, but have already set up an emergency conservation program. They won't let this species vanish without a fight.

"The global trade in wildlife is huge, and a very significant part of that is the illegal trade in wild-caught amphibians and reptiles, for the pet trade. Snakes are particularly popular and a new snake arouses considerable interest," Tim Davenport with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) explained to mongabay.com. "Our concern is that a sudden rush to collect this new snake from such a small forest would at best be unsustainable, and at worst have a major detrimental impact on the species' survival. Illegal collection for the pet trade is a huge problem in Tanzania due in part to the high number of attractive and endemic species."

To keep the new species safe, researchers collected eleven snakes for a captive breeding program: four males, five females, and two juveniles. The offspring of these snakes are meant to be an insurance against extinction. Along with keeping its exact location in the wild quiet, the conservationists are also going one step further to anticipate the illegal pet trade.

"We are planning to make available the first few dozen offspring from the captive population free of charge, in order to provide the market with captive-bred specimens of the new species. The aim is to avoid collection of wild caught specimens, lower the price of the animal and encourage responsible captive breeding by keepers in the most highly demanding countries," explains Davenport. "The ultimate goal is also to raise awareness and support for a community-based forest conservation program. Matilda’s horned viper will, it is hoped, be a flagship species for this initiative."

Their caution is not an overreaction. The researcher argue the species should be listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List given its tiny range: after extensive surveys the team believes the snake survives in an area smaller than 100 square kilometers.

"In addition, the habitat quality is in decline," Davenport adds.

Matilda's horned viper's closest relative is the forest horned viper (Atheris ceratophora), but Matilda's is larger, sports different coloration, and has a unique scale pattern on its head (see more photos below). Genetic testing shows the snakes to be separated by 2.2 million years.

"We would like this discovery to contribute to the conservation of the species and its habitat, not to a more rapid demise of the species in the wild," Davenport says. He and his colleagues also recommend other researchers follow similar paths in announcing new species.

"All three of us [Davenport, Michele Menegon, and Kim Howell] have described new species only to see these same species being illegally and unsustainably harvested just months later. We are not objecting to the pet trade, but we do believe that in most cases there is no justification at all for wild caught animals being collected. The problem is exacerbated by the huge numbers collected from the wild, only a small fraction of which live to reach their ultimate destination. There needs to be far tighter management of the pet trade or else many species will simply be extirpated in the wild by the trade."

Matilda's horned viper received its name from a five-year-old girl, Davenport's daughter.

"When we first discovered the snake, we kept one securely in a tank outside the office while we studied it. My daughter, then five years old, was fascinated and always insisted on helping us feed it and look after it. It became known as Matilda's viper and the name stuck. We simply added the 'horned' later. She is very pleased but of course her younger sister wants a species now too! We will see what we can do..."

CITATION: Michele Menegon, Tim Davenport, Kim Howell. Description of a new and critically endangered species of Atheris (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, with an overview of the country’s tree viper fauna. Zootaxa. 3120: 43–54 (2011).


http://news.mongabay.com/2011/1215-hance_matildasviper.html

Read more about viper here ...

Dog living on top of Mount Kilimanjaro

The rust-coloured animal was seen by a tourist at Uhuru peak, the mountain's highest summit between 5,730 and 5,895 metres above sea level where temperatures range from minus four to 15 degrees centigrade.

The sighting has baffled animal scientists who have questioned what motivated the dog to scale such heights and how he could have survived without a proper food source on the desert-like, stony plains of the volcanic Tanzanian mountain.

One veterinary expert suggested that the dog might be rabid – one explanation for his mountaineering inclination – are warned other climbers to keep a safe distance.

Antoine le Galloudec, a French tourist, was climbing the mountain with three colleagues and took a picture of the dog using his mobile phone.

In an email to Tanzania's Citizen newspaper, Mr Galloudec said he spotted the dog when he went to answer the call of nature.

"I saw the dog lying one metre away from where I stood on a rock," he said.

Abel Edward, from Ahsante Tours which hosted the group, told The Citizen that a dog was spotted at Baranco Camp (3,960 metres above sea level) on the mountain 10 years ago.

"When the tourists showed us the picture of this dog we could not believe our eyes," he said. "How it survived in such freezing conditions and what it ate during that time remains a mystery to us."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8733254/Dog-living-on-top-of-Mount-Kilimanjaro.html

They didn't croak after all! World's rarest toads found in area less than half the size of a football pitch

The world's rarest toad has been found by scientists living in an area of just 300 square metres in the wild.


Living in a section of a forest reserve less than half the size of a football pitch in Tanzania, East Africa, the discovery that the population of Wendy's forest toad is still in existence has delighted zoologists who thought the species was dying out.

The toads are thought to be hyper-endemic - found in one very small area and nowhere else in the world.

Scientists from a project run by the the Whiteley Wildlife Conservation Trust - based at Paignton Zoo, Devon - and the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group have been carrying out a rapid ecological assessment of key sites along the Uzungwa Scarp forest reserve - a biodiversity hotspot threatened by deforestation and climate change.


Hamidu Seki, the project's team leader, found several critically endangered Wendy's forest toads while walking throughout the area. The species is thought to live in a range no bigger than 300 square metres in the Uzungwa mountains.


Mike Bungard, Paignton Zoo's curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates, said: 'This project is already paying off. These species are thought to be hyper-endemic, which means they are found in one very small area and nowhere else in the world.


'Sadly, there is no sign of the Poynton's forest toad in the area where it was seen ten years ago, though we are still searching.

'Small populations in small areas are so vulnerable to disease or disaster.'

Mike and Andy Bowkett, overseas conservation officer for the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, spent a month working in Tanzania before Christmas.

Andy, who returns to Tanzania in June, said: 'There are species recorded in one spot in the world. 'That may be because no-one has bothered to look again, or they have become extinct.


'It is very strange for multiple species - our three target species - to be observed many times over the years in the same spot but never anywhere else.

'Having said that, we still need to find out for sure whether they are hyper-endemic, or whether they are found elsewhere.'

The target species are Nectophrynoides wendyae - Wendy's forest toad - and Nectophrynoides poyntoni - Poynton's forest toad (both listed as Critically Endangered) and Hyperolius kihangensis, the Kihanga reed frog, which is classed as Endangered.

Mike Bungard added: 'This project is already providing new information on which we can base our long-term conservation efforts.'



By Daily Mail Reporter

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1390244/Worlds-rarest-toad-area-half-size-football-pitch-Tanzania.html#ixzz1NYENyQFL

Tanzania Government ditches Serengeti Highway

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/serengeti-highway897.html#cr

Tanzania steps up for the Serengeti and says ‘no' to an asphalt roadJune 2011. The proposed asphalt road which would have bisected the Serengeti National Park, jeopardising the world's last great mammal migration, will not now be built, the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has announced at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting. Read on...

They didn't croak after all! World's rarest toads found in area less than half the size of a football pitch

Under threat: The toad's home is a biodiversity hotspot
threatened by deforestation and climate change

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:49 PM on 24th May 2011

The world's rarest toad has been found by scientists living in an area of just 300 square metres in the wild.

Living in a section of a forest reserve less than half the size of a football pitch in Tanzania, East Africa, the discovery that the population of Wendy's forest toad is still in existence has delighted zoologists who thought the species was dying out.

The toads are thought to be hyper-endemic - found in one very small area and nowhere else in the world.

Scientists from a project run by the the Whiteley Wildlife Conservation Trust - based at Paignton Zoo, Devon - and the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group have been carrying out a rapid ecological assessment of key sites along the Uzungwa Scarp forest reserve - a biodiversity hotspot threatened by deforestation and climate change.

Hamidu Seki, the project's team leader, found several critically endangered Wendy's forest toads while walking throughout the area. The species is thought to live in a range no bigger than 300 square metres in the Uzungwa mountains.

Mike Bungard, Paignton Zoo's curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates, said: 'This is not a newly-discovered population but it is fantastic to find evidence that they are still here.

'This project is already paying off. These species are thought to be hyper-endemic, which means they are found in one very small area and nowhere else in the world.

'Sadly, there is no sign of the Poynton's forest toad in the area where it was seen ten years ago, though we are still searching.

'Small populations in small areas are so vulnerable to disease or disaster.'

Mike and Andy Bowkett, overseas conservation officer for the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, spent a month working in Tanzania before Christmas.

Andy, who returns to Tanzania in June, said: 'There are species recorded in one spot in the world. 'That may be because no-one has bothered to look again, or they have become extinct.

'It is very strange for multiple species - our three target species - to be observed many times over the years in the same spot but never anywhere else.

'Having said that, we still need to find out for sure whether they are hyper-endemic, or whether they are found elsewhere.'

The target species are Nectophrynoides wendyae - Wendy's forest toad - and Nectophrynoides poyntoni - Poynton's forest toad (both listed as Critically Endangered) and Hyperolius kihangensis, the Kihanga reed frog, which is classed as Endangered.

Mike Bungard added: 'This project is already providing new information on which we can base our long-term conservation efforts.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1390244/Worlds-rarest-toad-area-half-size-football-pitch-Tanzania.html

Fossil of 'cat-like' crocodile found in Tanzania

Creature named Pakasuchus kapilimai lived 105m years ago and had agile body and teeth like those of a mammal. The fossilised remains of an ancient crocodile with cat-like features that feasted on insects and other small animals have been recovered from a riverbank in south-western Tanzania.

The short, agile creature lived 105m years ago, alongsidedinosaurs, on a landscape dominated by a large river system and vast floodplains rich with vegetation.

The animal had a small, broad skull, a robust lower jaw and bony protective plates on its back and tail. Unlike modern crocodiles it had fewer armoured plates on its body, making it more nimble.

Fossil hunters discovered a complete skeleton of the animal in red sandstone sediments while working along a riverbank in what is now the Rukwa Rift Basin in the Mbeya region of Tanzania.

Because the specimen was encased in rock with its jaws tightly clamped shut, the team used an x-ray scanner to reveal details of the skull and dentition.

The most curious feature of the animal was its teeth, which were more like those of a mammal than a reptile. While the teeth of modern crocodiles tend to be cone-shaped and pointed at the end to seize and tear prey, the ancient crocodile had a variety, including primitive canines, premolars and molars.

"Once we were able to get a close look at the teeth, we knew we had something new and very exciting," said Patrick O'Connor at Ohio University.

The new species has been named Pakasuchus kapilimai, where Paka means cat in Swahili, and suchus comes from the Greek for crocodile. The latter part of the name, kapilimai, honours a late researcher, Saidi Kapilimai at the University of Dar es Salaam, who led the project.

The animal lived at a time when the southern supercontinent of Gondwana was breaking up into Africa, India, Australia, Madagascar and Antarctica.

Relatively few mammals of a similar age have been uncovered from this part of the world, and it is possible that Pakasuchus occupied a mammalian niche in the Gondwana ecosystem during the period.

The creature is not a close relative of modern crocodiles, but belonged to a successful sidebranch of the lineage, according to details published in the journal Nature. Previous fossil finds show that ancient crocodiles were once more varied in shape and size than those alive today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/04/ancient-crocodile-fossil-found-tanzania

Eastern black rhinos are being reintroduced to Tanzania:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7756380/Black-rhinos-released-in-Tanzania-in-most-ambitious-relocation-of-mammals-ever.html

submitted by Chad Arment