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Snow Leopards of Northern Pakistan

Snow Leopards have been declining in numbers in Northern Pakistan, one of the reasons behind this is because people living in villages in the mountains have historically had to resort to killing and trapping snow leopards to protect their livestock and livelihoods.

In response to a growing conflict, The Baltistan Wildlife Conservation and Development Organization (BWCDO) have been working to help resolve the issue and in 1999 Dr. Shafqat Hussain (then professor of anthropology at Trinity College in the United States) introduced an insurance program to protect both snow leopards and rural communities in Northern Pakistan. The loss of even a single animal creates great financial hardship to herder families and research shows that livestock account for 25% of the snow leopards diet.

Now, due to the insurance scheme, if a family lose livestock to snow leopards, they can submit a claim and receive reimbursement for the loss. The insurance fund, as well as the reimbursement process, is managed by the local community. In order to participate each herder must sign a conservation agreement in which they pledge to protect the snow leopards and wild prey species in their area from poaching. As part of the insurance program, communities also agree to leave more food for the snow leopard’s wild prey by setting aside graze-free areas. In 2017 Hussain stated that there were 15 insurance schemes running in 26 villages across three valleys in Baltistan, Northern Pakistan. The project has insured over 18,000 animals and has paid out approximately US$35,000 in compensations for 220 animals killed by snow leopards and results of BWCDO’s genetic studies over the last ten years show that this snow leopard population is stable.

BWCDO’s has not only saved the lives of snow leopards, but also reduced economic losses to farmers. In addition to this, they run an educational program to raise awareness and provides opportunities for girls, proactively engaging youth in conservation and development!

You can purchase Dr Shafqat Hussain’s book, The Snow Leopard and The Goat, if you’re interested in learning more!

Lesser Long Nosed Bat

The lesser long-nosed bat has faced many challenges over the years. These bats migrate between the US and Mexico and only 30 years ago there were just 1000 remaining in the wild. They’ve faced habitat loss due to caves being used for human and drug trafficking and many lesser long nosed bats have been accidentally killed in attempts to control rabies carried by vampire bats. Large scale intensive farming of tequila has also proved challenging for the bats who usually feed on nectar from the plants when they flower. 

Due to an amazing collaborative bi-national conservation effort from individuals and organisations in Mexico and the US, there are now 200 000 wild lesser long nosed bats across the two countries. 

One action which which has helped revive the species has been the addition of ‘bat gates’ that have been installed around caves and mines to protect bat roosts. Rodrigo Medellín (founder of the Program for Conservation of Bats of Mexico and the founding director of Latin American Network for Bat Conservation) recognised that many tequila farmers were not allowing any plants to go to flower (understandable as farmers want the sugars to remain in the piña of the plant which is required for tequila production, there is no commercial reason for farmers to let the plants go to flower). Bats are the natural primary pollinator of tequila and the lesser long nosed bat relies on nectar for food. Medellín devised and implemented a scheme to start certifying tequila producers as ‘bat friendly’ if they allowed some of their plants to flower, which provides food that the bats require. Producers that are ‘bat certified’ can charge a premium for their tequila in return for their efforts. 

You can follow Rodrigo Medellín on Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date with his amazing work!

Cabo Pulmo National Park 

The treasure that is the Cabo Pulmo reef is situated on the East coast of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, it’s a very old reef (20 000 years old) and has a small village situated on it’s shore. 

In the early 1990’s, the reef was dying, coral was bleaching and fish were leaving and perishing due to overfishing and pollution. The residents of the nearby village realised what was happening, and decided to make a change.

The Castro Family were one of the five families who lived in the village, all relying on the ocean for food and jobs. Three generations of Castro’s gave up fishing to focus on restoration the reef. The people from the village, including the Castro family, lobbied the government until the reef was classified as protected in 1995 and declared a national park. By 2009, every group of fish had returned to the reef in the largest increase in biomass observed by scientists in any protected area! In 2005, the national park was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. The residents continue to enforce park regulations, beach cleans and strive to protect the marine life around them. 

Restoring the reef not only provided benefits for ocean life, it also meant that fishing just outside the national park became better than before! The abundance of life at the National Park has lead to tourism too - in 2006, $538 000 was generated from tourism, this has meant the income rate for people living in the close by village is higher than the national average as many jobs have been created. 

Whooping Cranes

Whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America! They live in tight-knit family groups and survive on a diet of shellfish, insects, fish and plants. 

The current population of wild whooping cranes is just 4% of the historic size. The decrease in numbers has been slow and steady, European settlers in the late 1800’s began hunting the birds, something which has continued into modern day with unregulated hunting for feathers and meat contributing to the decrease in numbers. Habitat loss and hurricanes have meant the number of whooping cranes continued to decrease. In 1942, less than 20 individuals remained, representing an extreme genetic and demographic bottleneck that few species survive.

Thanks to a successful breeding programme, there are now 600 birds, 400 are members of a wild flock. Biologists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center began what is now the largest Whooping Crane captive breeding program from 12 eggs collected from the wild in 1967. The Patuxent flock now has over 60 adult Whooping Cranes, including 29 pairs, who collectively lay an average of 40 eggs each breeding season. Patuxent biological technicians raise over 30 chicks each year, the majority of the chicks are released in Louisiana to join a non-migratory flock of Whooping Cranes. The remaining chicks are trained to follow an ultra-light aircraft on migration from Wisconsin down to Florida and become part of the migratory flock of Whooping Cranes.

The dedication of Biologists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre has meant that whooping cranes, although still classified as endangered, are growing in numbers with hope for recovery as a species in the future. 

Sehuencas Water Frog 

In an astonishing turn of events, ‘Romeo’, thought to be the last Sehuencas Water Frog alive, has become a powerful flagship for conservation. The Sehuencas Water Frog  is endemic to Bolivia, once abundant in small stream and ponds in the cloud forest, these frogs have faced massive declines in numbers. Climate change and a chytrid fungus are two of the main factors that have caused the near extinction of this species, along with habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species. 

Romeo the Sehuencas Water Frog was found 10 years ago by Sophia Barrón Lavayen (head of breeding at the K’ayra Centre, Museum of Natural History in Cochabamba) and thought to be the last of his kind. He was living alone for ten years. Sofia was convinced that there must be more of his species in the wild and came up with an innovative way to raise funds for an expedition. In 2018, she teamed up with Global Wildlife Conservation and the dating service Match.com and ran a campaign to raise money to find Romeo ‘the worlds loneliest frog’ a mate. The campaign was successful and received donations from individuals across 32 countries.

In January 2019 a team of four; Sofia, Teresa Camacho Badani (chief of herpetology at the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide d’Orbigny), veterinarian Ricardo Zurita Urgarte, and a researcher, Stephane Knoll, set out to find more Sehuencas Water Frogs. It wasn’t looking promising but with a lot of perseverance, the team found 5 frogs of the species in the Cloud Forest thanks to the help of locals! Romeo was introduced to one of the newly found female frogs ‘Juliet’ soon after. They are getting on well and the first mating call for this species has been recorded. Nothing at all was previously know about the mating behaviour of this species so the scientists are excited to understand the frogs in greater depth! Juliet now lives with Romeo in an aquarium at the museum’s K’ayra Center, the celebrity couple and the other individual Sehuencas Frogs are the founders of a conservation breeding program to conserve the species. The scientists hope to be able to return Romeo and Juliet’s progeny to the wild one day. 

You can watch Romeo and Juliets first meet here!

Large Blue Butterfly 

The Large Blue Butterfly is a beautiful species that has always been rare in Britain with an interesting lifecycle. Adults lay eggs on thyme or marjoram, once caterpillars hatch, they use scent, song and appearance to mimic Myrmica red ants. Worker ant then carry the caterpillars into their underground nests where they are placed with ant grubs. The caterpillars spend 10 months feeling on the ant grubs before forming a chrysalis and emerging as adult butterflies. Due to their uniquely specific life cycle, these butterflies have faced a massive decrease in numbers. As they have such a reliant relationship with ants, a decrease in ants has had a knock on effect on butterflies. Habitat destruction, a change in farming techniques and myxomatosis in rabbits has lead to destruction of the ants optimal habitat of a south facing, sloped, warm microclimate with short grass which meant that in 1979, the large blue butterfly was declared extinct in the UK. 

The species has been reintroduced to the UK from continental Europe as part of a long-term and highly successful conservation project which has meant that the UK now has the largest concentration of large blue butterflies in the world! You may have spotted one of these butterflies in Devon, Somerset or Gloucestershire. Swedish butterflies were introduced into the UK after being declared extinct, these butterflies and their descendants look slightly different to the butterflies that died out so it is easy to identify illegally caught specimens being sold as decorative items online. 

Red Kite 

Formerly widespread in Britain (although considered vermin in the 1800’s), the population of the Red Kite was reduced to just 10 pairs in Wales by the 1930’s. The near-complete demise fo the species was down to a couple of factors, with egg collectors and hunters robbing 1/4 of nests per year, habitat loss and poisoning from rodenticides all contributing. Secondary poisoning from rodenticides is still a massive issue for the species in Northern Scotland. 

Efforts to conserve the species were started by landowners and passionate enthusiasts who were ultimately the pioneers who prevented the extinction of Red Kites in the UK. Despite their efforts, by mid 1980 there were still less than 100 pairs in Wales. A reintroduction programme in England and Scotland in 1989, where Swedish and German Red Kites were released in the UK meant that since 2006, 500+ breeding pairs can be found across several locations in the UK! 

You can join the Red Kite Sightings UK group of Facebook to record your sightings and learn more!

Greater Bermuda Land Snail 

The greater Bermuda land snail, measuring just 2cm is endemic to Bermuda. The snail decreased in numbers dramatically in the 20th century due to the presence of a carnivorous introduced species of snail and flatworms. 

The species was thought to be completely extinct for 40 years until a man found an empty shell in Hamilton (the capital city) on the way to his office in 2014. On further investigation of the surrounding area, a small clutch of snails were found living among rubbish behind a restaurant. These few individuals sparked a worldwide conservation project to save the species.  Some of these snails were sent to Chester Zoo (UK) as part of a global breeding programme. Now there are 13000 snails and in June 2019, zookeeper Heather Prince, joined by snail specialist Dr Kristiina Ovaska and the Bermudian government’s Dr Mark Outerbridge, released 4000 snails back into the wild! 

In order to track the snails and chart their progress, a select number have been fitted with individual fluorescent tags – a unique observation technique trialled by Dr Ovaska and the team from Chester Zoo. The tags will enable conservationists to monitor their dispersal, growth rates, activity patterns, population size and, ultimately, the overall success of the reintroduction. 

Blue Iguana

The Blue Iguana is endemic to the Grand Cayman island where it historically thrived as it is well adapted to the tropical environment. 

Due to the development of houses leading to habitat loss and the proliferation of introduced predators with the arrival of rats and feral cats, the Blue Iguana was on the brink of extinction by 1990 and was declared functionally extinct by 2005. 

The Blue Iguana Conservation programme aimed to restore a wild population of 1,000 Blue Iguanas in order to encourage a viable population in the long-term. Due to the efforts of the programme, the Blue Iguanas were downgraded from the IUCN’s “red list” to endangered in 2012.

By 2018, they released their 1,000th Blue Iguana, celebrating an important milestone for the programme. From 2019, the programme has been working towards sustainably conserving the species in their natural habitat.