Conservation Chronicles

Kihansi Spray Toad

In the second episode of our Endangered Species series, Jonah tells us the story of the Kihansi spray toad, from its discovery in 1996 to its extinction from the wild only 13 years later. Learn how an animal with one of the smallest known ranges in the world collapsed so dramatically under the pressure of human forces.

Sources & Links:
Read today’s featured article on thresher shark tagging and why it’s important: https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/tails-unexpected-historic-first-thresher-shark-tag-team?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=news&fbclid=IwAR3Eg1Iv0Maxx1zulCTRzGnIwi1LZS8Eq2jrulUYqfiY_f0xffjk79Zjn38

And for further reading on the one-of-a-kind Kihansi spray toad:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/once-extinct-kihansi-spray-toad-returns/
https://www.iucn.org/es/node/12892

Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles. Our email address is conservationchronicles@gmail.com, and our show’s webpage can be found at conservationchronicles.podbean.com.

Theme Song: Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com

Mariana Goes to Germany

Mariana returns from traveling in Germany, and we recover from our hiatus by discussing her trip and laughing at how little wildlife she saw.

Sources & Links:

See & read the articles featured in Jonah’s news update:
http://wildlife.org/oversized-house-mice-shrink-albatross-populations/
http://wildlife.org/in-warming-puerto-rico-insects-plummet-impacting-food-web/
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/thousands-of-radiated-tortoises-seized-from-traffickers-in-madagascar/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-rhino-horn-tiger-bone-ban-animal-medical-wildlife-conservation-wwf-a8608181.html

For the curious, Berchtesgaden is spelled like so.

Learn more about the legendary wolpertinger, possibly the funniest (and creepiest) cryptid in all of folklore:
https://www.paranormalpapers.com/cryptozoology/wolpertinger/

The Aldo Leopold quote we couldn’t quite remember was “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”

Lastly, find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles, and visit the show’s webpage at conservationchronicles.podbean.com

Theme Song: Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com

Poaching, Part 3

In this special extended episode, we close out our series on poaching with a look at the complicated world of smuggling and trafficking. We discuss the many demands driving the trafficking of wild animals and parts, and explore some solutions to this dreadful problem on the legislative, judicial, and personal levels.

Sources & Links:
Read Jonah’s news article featuring tiger populations in Nepal: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/new-survey-results-show-nepal-is-on-track-to-double-its-tiger-population-by-2022/

And read more about anti-trafficking task forces in the United States:
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/03/268182.htm

Learn more about the USFWS Forensics Lab in Ashland, Oregon:
https://www.fws.gov/lab/

Take action on the Wildlife Trafficking Enforcement Act bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/27?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22wildlife+trafficking+enforcement+act%22%5D%7D

Read about trafficking in Ancient Rome:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/exotic-animals-ancient-rome/475704/

Explore all that CITES is about and all the information they have to offer:
https://www.cites.org/

Fall in love with the pangolin:
https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/pangolin

See what TRAFFIC does and why they’re an authority on the wildlife trade:
https://www.traffic.org/

Learn more about the Lacey Act – we know you want to:
https://www.fws.gov/international/laws-treaties-agreements/us-conservation-laws/lacey-act.html

Lastly, find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles, and visit the show’s webpage at conservationchronicles.podbean.com. And thank you for listening!

Theme Song: Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com 

Poaching, Part 2

We continue our series on poaching in this second part, where we provide some staggering statistics, and discuss supply and demand, the market structure behind this lucrative industry, and the myriad issues and solutions behind anti-poaching law enforcement.

Sources & Links
Read Jonah’s featured article on the incredible numbers of migrating birds over North America: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/4-billion-birds-will-fly-through-american-airspace-this-fall/

Visit and contribute to Jonah’s GoFundMe campaign:
https://www.gofundme.com/wetland-conservation-in-africa

Get a head-start education on the 2014 London Declaration, which we’ll be talking about next episode:
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/illegal-wildlife-trade-2014

Read about the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime: https://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/International-Consortium-on-Combating-Wildlife-Crime

Learn more about Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs):
https://cites.org/eng/prog/iccwc.php/Action/report_second_global_meeting_WENs

And about Conservation South Luangwa and community-based law enforcement:
https://cslzambia.org/

And finally, learn more about the awesome all-female anti-poaching Akashinga unit in Zimbabwe:
https://www.iapf.org/akashinga/

Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles
*As we will be continuing this series for the next couple of episodes, you have a chance to let us know what you think! Post your comments on Facebook or Instagram!

Visit the show’s website at www.conservationchronicles.podbean.com

Theme Song: Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com

Poaching, Part 1

In this first episode of a short series, we explore the origins of poaching and the wildlife trade, and discuss the social and economic environments this illicit industry thrives in.

We also introduce a new segment in which Jonah shares a tip on sustainable living! The P word makes an inevitable cameo…plastic…the P word is plastic.

Sources & Links:

To read the article we featured on nighthawk migration:
http://wildlife.org/where-do-nighthawks-spend-the-winter/

To read the article we featured on elephant poaching in Botswana:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-10/botswana-investigates-reports-of-elephant-poaching-near-okavango

To read more about the history of poaching:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/elephant/conservation/conservhistory.html

And to learn more about CITES:
https://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.php

Lastly, to see pictures we post for each episode, find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles
*As we will be continuing this series for the next couple of episodes, you have a chance to let us know what you think! Post your comments on Facebook!

Visit the show’s website at conservationchronicles.podbean.com

Theme Song: Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com

Chytrid

We’re back to delving into the heavy topics, with an episode covering the devastating fungal infections Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans - collectively known as chytrid. Culpable for contributing to the extinction and imperiling of many amphibian species worldwide, chytrid has been called “the worst pathogen in the history of the world” for biodiversity.

Sources & Links:

To read some recent articles on chytrid and those studying it:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/amphibians-decline-frogs-chytrid-fungi-bd-animals-science/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/some-frogs-may-be-bouncing-back-after-killer-chytrid-fungus
https://www.wired.com/story/some-frogs-may-be-developing-a-resistance-to-the-disastrous-chytrid-fungus/

And to learn more about chytrid and threatened amphibians:
http://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/chytrid-fungus/
https://amphibiaweb.org/chytrid/chytridiomycosis.html

Visit the show’s website at conservationchronicles.podbean.com to learn more
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles

Theme Song: Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com

Lifelong Learning

We're returning from a short hiatus to share some stories from the field and laugh a little over what we’ve learned from our misadventures. Mud pits, questionable plants, and poetry are involved.

Sources & Links:

See what a rufous-capped warbler looks like:
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/rufous-capped-warbler

Decide for yourself if you’d put a jack-in-the-pulpit in your mouth (don’t do it):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arisaema_triphyllum

And learn more about the incomparable Neil Rettig:
http://www.neilrettigproductions.com/

~
Leonard by Jonah Gula
My world is large.
I cross continents and waters,
By land and by sky.
I see mountains and forests,
The rivers, the seas.
Yet I know not these lands.
For they are deep,
Deeper than a thousand years can reveal.

And there is Leonard,
Just a blip on a map.
His twitches and brooks,
The ponds, the stands.
His corners are mapped
In my mind, so I think.
But he is deep,
Deeper than a thousand years can reveal.

Then I zoom.
Zoom to the flow
Where beavers keep work.
The engineer and his home,
His pond, his dam.
But it is deep,
Deeper than a thousand years can reveal.

Who inhabits the flow?
More than I see
Make their home up the dam.
There are otters and turtles,
The dragons, the trout.
And that is deep,
Deep as I’ll go in a thousand years.

On the shores of the pond
Are the softwoods inmixed.
Riches and wonders
I supposedly see.
The moose and the bear,
No midges, no ants.
I feel the depth,
And for a thousand years search.

Wait! So easy to miss
Are Leonard’s ditches and pools.
My wheel will destroy
What I’m too blind to see.
Here live leopards and snappers,
The pupa, the swallowtails.
There seems no depth,
So a thousand years, wasted.

Leonard’s a friend,
I believe when I leave.
But a friend with great secrets,
Is hardly a friend.
For what of his ponds and shores,
The ditches, the pools
Can I ever know in a thousand years?
~

Visit the show’s website at conservationchronicles.podbean.com to learn more
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles

Our theme song is Epic Cinematic by Scott Holmes / https://scottholmesmusic.com

Hawaiian Monk Seal

In the first of our Endangered Species episodes, we cover everything about the Hawaiian monk seal, one of two living tropical earless seals.


Sources & Links:

Read all the details you need to know about Hawaiian monk seal life history and population recovery:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/recovery-plan-hawaiian-monk-seal 


Read the full report on the study of monk seal movement using visual sightings:
https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/library/pubs/tech/NOAA_Tech_Memo_PIFSC_44.pdf 


Read about National Geographic's Crittercams, an important technology for studying monk seals:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130819-hawaiian-monk-seal-crittercam-conservation-ocean-science/ 


Read a summary of monk seal translocation efforts:
http://www.academia.edu/25373031/Translocation_as_a_tool_for_conservation_of_the_Hawaiian_monk_seal 


Read about toxoplasmosis, the disease spread through cat feces that is killing monk seals:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/07/seals-endangered-species-health-disease-oceans/ 

Check out this helpful information about monk seal critical habitat:
http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/PRD/Hawaiian%20monk%20seal/HMS_CH_FAQ_Tabloid_FNL.pdf 


Read about the human-monk seal interface and how it is impacting population recovery in the main islands of Hawaii:
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/magazine/who-would-kill-a-monk-seal.html?pagewanted=all 

 

Visit the show’s website at www.conservationchronicles.podbean.com to learn more
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles 

Technology & Conservation

In our third episode, we explore the simplicity and complexity of technology in the hands of researchers and conservationists, and how tech “amplifies” our work.

Sources & Links:

Read more about the WWF’s Wildlife Crime Technology Project:
https://www.worldwildlife.org/projects/wildlife-crime-technology-project

Read more about the Carnegie Airborne Observatory:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2015/11/pulse-of-the-planet/

https://cao.carnegiescience.edu/

See the Submersible Pressure Chamber in action:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/twilight-zone-fish-pressure-chamber-innovation-science/

Read more about the Zoological Society of London’s Conservation Tech program:
https://www.zsl.org/conservation/conservation-initiatives/conservation-technology

Tech for Wildlife “we amplify conservation impact”:
https://www.techforwildlife.com/

Visit the show’s website at www.conservationchronicles.podbean.com to learn more
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles

Plastic Planet

In our second episode we dive into one of the most critical issues for the environment today (and the last few decades): plastic pollution. We explore how the problem came to be, where we are now, and what you can do in your everyday life to be part of the solution.

Sources & Links:

One of many articles on the Thailand whale:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/06/04/whale-died-of-starvation-after-eating-80-plastic-bags-off-thailands-coast/#7b6df3116c31

McDonald’s rejects plastic proposal:
http://fortune.com/2018/05/24/mcdonalds-shareholders-vote-keep-plastic-straws/

Read more about the Global Programme of Action and the Clean Seas Agreement:
https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/addressing-land-based-pollution

http://cleanseas.org/

The National Geographic Planet or Plastic Campaign:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/planetorplastic/

The sea turtle and the plastic straw (Viewer Discretion Advised):
https://youtu.be/4wH878t78bw

The stork in the plastic bag, and other photos:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-animals-wildlife-impact-waste-pollution/

TIME magazine – Throwaway Living:
http://time.com/3879873/throwaway-living-when-tossing-it-all-was-all-the-rage/

The Malaysia Airlines plastic cameo:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140404-garbage-patch-indian-ocean-debris-malaysian-plane/

The EU and UK race to reduce:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/28/eu-challenges-uk-to-race-to-the-top-on-plastics-reduction

Visit the show’s website at www.conservationchronicles.podbean.com to learn more
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Conservation Chronicles