Madagascar's Unique Wildlife Populations

NBCNews Science:

The mysteriously rich diversity of life on the isle of Madagascar might have arrived there in part on "floating islands" carried by ocean currents, researchers now say.

Madagascar, the world's fourth-largest island, is the sole home to a wide variety of animal species, most of which are thought to have reached Madagascar after plate tectonics separated it from Africa and other continents.

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But not all scientists have been convinced by this theory.

"There has been a great debate about rafting over at least the past 50 years," Samonds said. "While many authors have argued that dispersal events by terrestrial, land-dwelling animals across great distances of water are virtually impossible, others have argued that even unlikely events are certain to occur if the time elapsed is long enough, and that prevailing ocean currents could have aided these journeys."

Help Save Nicaragua’s Last Jaguars

Jaguars are among the most charismatic and important large carnivores in Latin America. However, they have lost much of their range to human activities like logging and ranching, which destroy their habitat and reduce their populations. Additionally, they are subject to hunting and persecution by people trying to protect their cattle and domestic animals.

Jaguars once roamed throughout the forests of Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast; however, due to deforestation, the only remaining population of jaguars in this region is found in the Paso del Istmo biological corridor. We have found evidence of jaguars, but to protect this last remaining population, we need to find out how many there are, where they roam, and what the most immediate threats to their survival are.

Since 2005, Paso Pacífico has been working to establish the “Paso del Istmo” biological corridor in southwestern Nicaragua, to support conservation of a variety of flora and fauna in this highly fragmented and deforested landscape. Despite the lack of habitat protection, the Paso del Istmo retains the last populations of jaguars, monkeys, parrots, and other wildlife remaining in western Nicaragua. Due to deforestation further north, for many tropical animals the Paso del Istmo represents their northernmost extent in western Central America. By helping us to conserve jaguars and other wildlife in this region, you are contributing to saving and restoring one of the last footholds that many endangered animals have in western Nicaragua.

Research questions being asked:

• Where do populations of jaguars persist in southwestern Nicaragua?
• How do they manage to survive in a heavily populated landscape dominated by ranching?
• What role does western Nicaragua’s jaguar population play in the conservation of this species?
• How can we protect this vulnerable population of jaguars?

Visit Petridish to help fund our project.

Lessons from Canada: Community Involvement in Coastal Restoration

The climate and ecology of Canada's Maritimes and coastal Nicaragua are very different, but just like in New Brunswick, Nicaragua's "coastal areas support economic, cultural, and recreational activities, as well as a diversity of flora and fauna." For these reasons, and more, the findings in this paper from CAKE (Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange) are relevant to us:

Examining Community Adaptive Capacity to Address Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Salt Marsh Restoration in Maritime Canada

Like the authors of this study, we are interested in exploring "the potential for humans to adapt and use technology to overcome economic [and environmental] damage" in the face of climate change. Also like the authors, we think that important steps in any restoration project include local data collection, risk assessment, interviewing for stakeholder opinions, mapping physical characteristics, local training, and conducting community workshops.

Our Coastal-Marine Research Project includes many of the same strategies and methods as this study, and we are pleased to be able to compare notes with and learn lessons from our fellow conservation scientists in Canada. Our experience lends support to the authors' conclusion that successful adaptation to climate change is a holistic approach based on the relative strength of social and economic systems, the health of the local environment, and the reach of a local information network.

He Really Bought A Zoo

The Telegraph interviews the man behind the movie: 'There were lots of times when I thought, “What have I done?”’ Mee says now. 'But when the jaguar escaped it was the first time I realised there were lives at stake.’

Ground-truthing the Nicaraguan Jaguar

Panthera's February Newsletter is out, with some exciting news for them. They're reporting the first Panthera camera trap photo of a jaguar taken in Nicaragua. You can see their photo here. Ground-truthing is providing verification of the existence of a species whose populations have not been carefully observed and studied. Camera traps are extremely helpful to conservation science.

After decades of decline and without a documented sighting for over 15 years, it was thought that jaguars were extinct in western Nicaragua. Thanks to the camera traps set up by Paso Pacifico intern Robert Alexander Euwe, a graduate student in wildlife management, the male jaguar pictured below busted that myth in 2010.

In August of 2010, our intern, Robert Alexander Euwe, caught this jaguar in a camera trap in the Paso del Istmo, where we work on the Pacifico slop of Nicaragua. Not only do camera traps provide undeniable evidence of jaguars' presence in western Nicaragua, establishing the importance of Paso del Istmo as a migratory corridor, their unique pelt markings allow biologists to identify individual members of the species.

You can learn more about our jaguar conservation program here. Or read our other blog posts on jaguars here.

Congratulations to Panthera!

Iniciativa Carey del Pacífico Oriental (ICAPO)

Until recently, the hawksbill sea turtle was thought to be extinct in the eastern Pacific, but thanks to discoveries made by the Iniciativa Carey del Pacífico Oriental (ICAPO), we know now that, with concentrated conservation efforts, it's not too late to bring the Hawskbill Sea Turtle back from the brink of extinction.

This great comic is designed to remind people of just that:

Juntos podemos traer de vuelta a la tortuga carey del Pacífico Oriental del borde de la extinción.

You can learn more at the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO) website.

ICAPO is also on Facebook.

Meet Miguel Ordenana!

Miguel Ordeñana, the wildlife biologist leading our jaguar conservation efforts, has begun blogging at Urban Carnivores, where he'll be reporting on big cats in LA's Griffith Park, and in the Paso del Istmo.

Be sure to tune in as he discusses wildlife corridors, big cats and their prey, camera traps, and more.