Conservation biologist

A blog about everything related to conservation biology, wildlife management and wild animals. I post things I like from the news, interesting videos, research, wildlife photography and personal things. x Ayla PS. Always be yourself. Unless you can be a Unicorn. Then always be a Unicorn!

[conservationbiologist]

Last weekend we had our biggest rescue so far, 115 pangolins were confiscated south of Hanoi. On our Facebook page is a live video of this rescue and you can also watch this video about a baby pangolin that was born during the rescue.

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Not sure if anyone is still following my blog, but I figured it was about time to give an update. So about 3 months ago, I started working for Save Vietnam's Wildlife, a Vietnamese NGO based in Cuc Phuong national park. This footage is made during my first week. We released common palm civits and masked palm civits back in the wild ❤

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Spread the word!

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A well-known story is that the indri’s name derives from the Malagasy word indry, meaning “there”, or “there it is”.  Supposedly the French naturalist who first identified the indri heard his native guide say the word on pointing out the animal and assumed that to be its name.  This is likely incorrect; it is more probable that the word derives from an actual native Malagasy word for the indri, which is endrina.  

Another Malagasy name for the indri is babakoto, which can be translated to mean “ancestor” or “father”, but the actual meaning is likely more complex.  In Malagasy, baba means “father” and koto means “little boy”, so a more accurate translation of the word might be “father of a little boy”.  

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A gorgeous male Sumatran rhino bull in the forests of Borneo…there are less than 60 of the rhinos remaining.

So close to losing them forever!

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Great Barrier Reef takes a gut punch with mass bleaching

Large sections of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are dead or dying, while other parts are severely damaged, and climate change is to blame.

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Hope and Horror in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park

Rare wildlife — and the poachers who target it — caught on camera.  By Greg McCann

Virachey National Park’s location is both a blessing and a curse. Carved out of a chunk of mountains that demarcates the Cambodian, Lao, and Vietnamese borders and terminating in a wisp of terrain known as the “Dragon’s Tail,” the wildlife of this beleaguered and beautiful park has managed to cling to existence thanks almost exclusively to its rugged terrain. Many Cambodian protected areas lay on relatively flat land that makes it all too easy for poachers and loggers to get around in, but that ease of navigation ends at Virachey, which is actually the southern flank of a westward-stretching arm of the Annamite Cordillera. On the Vietnamese and Lao sides of the borders with Virachey the mountains and jungles spread onward, echoing the morning cry of gibbons and the call of the hornbills that always impress visitors to Virachey. This intriguing topography is also a problem because Lao and Vietnamese poachers find it all too easy to sneak across the wild border areas to set snares and shoot rare species like douc langurs out of the trees.

Indeed, Vietnamese and Lao poaching inside Virachey appears to be on the increase, as Habitat ID’s camera traps are now showing. While locals also poach, they do not, according to our camera trap records, seem to be as well-armed, determined, and well-organized as the Vietnamese, who have long made illegal border crossings into Cambodia via Laos and Vietnam to hunt out the last of the tigers and elephants. Local people are allowed to enter the park to collect Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and to fish and even hunt non-threatened species such as wild pig and barking deer. In fact, the locals caught on our film appear positively benevolent compared to the eerily determined Vietnamese poachers stalking the remote Virachey mountains in the dark of night.

Read more on The Diplomat

An elusive Binturong with two cubs ambles by a camera trap near the Lao border. This species is not often recorded in Cambodia, but it can still be found in Virachey.

This hardcore poacher has been photographed on two separate cameras one month apart. He lives in the forest days away from the nearest village, determined to find his quarry, whatever that may be. Poachers are serious criminals and should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent by law.

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I took my students to the zoo yesterday. The lemurs enjoyed the spring sun, while the keeper told us about lemurs in the wild, Madagascar and ex-situ conservation of lemurs.

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This Massive Tunnel in South America Was Dug by Ancient Mega-Sloths

By BEC CREW

Researchers have found several colossal burrows in South America that are so huge and neatly constructed, you'd be forgiven for thinking humans dug them as a passageway through the forest.

Turns out, they're far more ancient than they look, estimated to be at least 8,000 to 10,000 years old, and no known geologic process can explain them. But then there's the massive claw marks that line the walls and ceilings - it's now thought that an extinct species of giant ground sloth is behind at least some of these so-called palaeoburrows.

Read more on Science Alert

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I’m reading papers while I wait for my flight home and this one actually cited Winnie the Pooh.

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Love this!

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Almost Human: Orangutans in Indonesia

Life in the Orangutan Conservation Center in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.  By Adzwari Ridzki 

The iconic orangutan prints on the green 500 rupiah bills in Indonesia are forever etched in my memory. During my childhood, we used the bills to joke with friends, comparing them with the picture of the primate. It was only later that I came to see the great apes as something more — symbols of the urgent need to preserve both the orangutan species and the forests where they live; natural shelters of biodiversity.

This photo essay aims to display daily life inside the Orangutan Conservation Center. Here, the relationship between orangutans and the keepers varies. At times, it is much akin to surrogacy; at other times, it is more like the bond between sheep and shepherds. Consisting mostly of young enthusiasts, the keepers venture deep into the forest every day. This is the “forest school,” where they prepare the big bipedal red-furred primates for their release into a natural habitat. The keepers follow the orangutans, monitoring and checking on them.

The keepers know full well that this job is not risk-free. Dealing with orangutans being prepared for the wildlife requires alertness and knowledge. What they do is both an adventure and a rare life experience.

Read more on The Diplomat

General check-ups for orangutans are performed periodically at the rehabilitation center to measure the primates' health and growth.

Mardiyanto, 23, carrying an orphaned orangutan to the forest school.

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On friday, I went to the 10th Future for Nature Awards show. It is held in Burgers Zoo, Arnhem in the Netherlands. Every year three promising young people who receive the Future For Nature Award and 50,000 euros each to spend on their conservation projects. You can read more on http://futurefornature.org/future-for-nature-award-2017/ 

This was the fourth time I went and I had a great time talking to many inspiring people^^

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It has been a while..

I think it is almost 3 years ago since I last posted something on tumblr, I can’t even remember. I hardy spoke or wrote anything in English for all this time, so please bear with me and laugh a little! 

So a short personal update: I guess ‘real life’ happend, I got a great full-time job as a Eco and wildlife studies teacher in the Netherlands (which takes up almost all of my time), moved houses a few times, went on many trips to different places over the world (Spain, Finland, Israel, Cabo Verde, South Africa, Vietnam, damn it really has been a long time!), broke up with my boyfriend after almost 10 years, build a house next to my parents (very cheap living), and now I’m thinking about making a career change!! I’ve been asked to work at a rehabilitation centre in the north of the Netherlands, but also to come to Vietnam to help save endangered animals. In June I will be making the decision about what I’m going to do next. In the mean time, I’m continuing with posting about wildlife conservation. During the last few years my personal interest changed into many subjects related to human-wildlife conflicts, human-animal relationships, environmental education, ex-situ conservation and illegal trade. So this blog will focus on this subjects in the future and I’m going to included more personal stuff related to wildlife conservation. I hope you can appreciatie this change. 

If you like, you can also follow me on Instagram (and see pictures of my trips the last years)!

With love,  Ayla 

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Cute and easy DIY bird feeder

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Happy International Sloth Day