Showing papers in "Oryx in 1971"
TL;DR: The orang-utan is the most lovable and fascinating of all the apes as discussed by the authors, and their sad expressions and reserved ways give them a depth of character rare outside our own species.
Abstract: Anyone who has ever kept orang-utans would agree that they are the most lovable and fascinating of animals. Their sad expressions and reserved ways give them a depth of character rare outside our own species. Man's interest in them has been great for hundreds of years and cave deposits from Sarawak show that our ancestors of thirty thousand years ago shared this interest. Yet the orang-utan or ‘man of the woods’ has now become the rarest, most threatened and least understood of all the apes.
117 citations
TL;DR: The Curator of Birds at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, who first gave us a fine guide to the 1556 birds of Colombia, has now used the same plan to cover the avifauna of the whole continent, all 2926 of them, in a titanic effort covering 470 pages.
Abstract: The Curator of Birds at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, who first gave us a fine guide to the 1556 birds of Colombia, has now used the same plan to cover the avifauna of the whole continent, all 2926 of them. This titanic effort, covering 470 pages, results in a book too heavy to take comfortably into the field, but which is nevertheless a 'must' for all resident or visiting ornithologists in any part of the continent. When I first went to Argentina in 1965 there was no available book in English, and I had to make copious notes on every bird I saw. This one will be particularly welcome to the participants in the Oryx tours to Argentina and Brazil scheduled for the next two winters. The author only has room for brief details of description and range, but this is far more than we have had before for the birds of the whole continent within one pair of covers — his Species of Birds of South America had only names and distribution, like Peters. Each family has a useful key prefixed to it. Some 676 species are illustrated, mostly in colour and many for the first time, by John B. Quinn and Earl L. Poole, both admirably professional artists. The birds look alive, which is more than can be said for some field-guide illustrations. RICHARD FITTER
25 citations
TL;DR: In an eight-month field study of the pygmy hippopotamus, an endangered Red Book species, the author was able to make some assessment of the status of other animals in Liberia and Sierra Leone and shows how the danger is increasing for most of them.
Abstract: In an eight-month field study of the pygmy hippopotamus, an endangered Red Book species, the author was able to make some assessment of the status of other animals in Liberia and Sierra Leone and shows how the danger is increasing for most of them. Chimpanzees in particular are exported in large numbers, and in order to catch the young animals whole family groups may be eliminated.
18 citations
TL;DR: There is now a weekly air service to Easter Island, and Dr Harrisson, who spent eight days there early this year, urges the need for careful study of conservation problems and support for the Chilean government.
Abstract: Man is the only land vertebrate to have successfully colonised the remote Easter Island, and his domestic animals graze almost the whole island. Three, perhaps four species of sea turtle occur, and of fourteen species of seabird, eight breed, some in very large numbers. Five bird species have been introduced with unhappy results. There is now a weekly air service to Easter Island, and Dr. Harrisson, who spent eight days there early this year, urges the need for careful study of conservation problems and support for the Chilean government.
11 citations
TL;DR: The authors of the paper disagree with the policy of culling animals within the game reserves, and consider that the Control of fire should be a primary aim in management.
Abstract: A paper in Oryx , May 1970, Elephants or Fire – Which to Blame ?, by R.M. Lawton and Mary Gough, may have given a wrong impression of the ecological work being carried out by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and National Parks in the Luangwa Valley game reserves. The authors of the paper disagree with the policy of culling animals within the game reserves, and consider that the Control of fire should be a primary aim in management.
9 citations
TL;DR: Like other wallabies they had been shot and poisoned in considerable numbers because of the damage they do to tree seedlings and agricultural land, but the authors are hopeful that management plans now in hand will ensure their survival unmolested.
Abstract: Until 1966 the parma or white-throated wallaby Macropus parma was believed to have been extinct in Australia for over thirty years. But in that year the authors discovered a considerable number on the New Zealand island of Kawau, where they had been introduced a century ago, as described in Oryx December 1969. Like other wallabies they had been shot and poisoned in considerable numbers because of the damage they do to tree seedlings and agricultural land, but the authors are hopeful that management plans now in hand will ensure their survival unmolested.
7 citations
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TL;DR: In the December 1970 Oryx we published an article by Dr Laws on his elephant research in the Tsavo National Park as discussed by the authors, which summarises the findings of later research, both by him and by other research workers, which support its conclusions.
Abstract: In the December 1970 Oryx we published an article by Dr Laws on his elephant research in the Tsavo National Park. This was written in 1968, and in this additional note he summarises the findings of later research, both by him and by other research workers, which support its conclusions, and also comments on the article by Dr P. E. Glover, Botanist Warden of the Tsavo Research Project, published in the September 1970 Oryx .
6 citations
4 citations
TL;DR: The author is chairman of the committee that is running a captive breeding project using animals already in American zoos, and appeals for European and other zoos to take part.
Abstract: The lion-tailed macaque of southern India is in danger; even in 1963 there were probably fewer than a thousand in the wild. But zoos have found them easy to obtain, and a survey this year showed 79 in US zoos. The author, who is Associate Curator of Mammals at San Diego Zoo, having visited India and seen how precarious was the monkey's situation in the wild, proposed that AAZPA (American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums) should consider starting a captive breeding project using animals already in American zoos. In September 1970 AAZPA agreed to do this and also placed restrictions on imports of the macaque by its members. The author is chairman of the committee that is running the project, and appeals for European and other zoos to take part.
3 citations
TL;DR: The Bokharan deer or hangu1 is a red deer subspecies confined to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan frontier region, and closely akin to the Kashmir hangul described in Oryx, December 1970 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: With a total population estimated at under 500, mostly living in forests that are constantly under threat of felling, the Bokharan deer or hangu1 is in serious danger of extinction. This is a red deer subspecies confined to the Turkmenistan —Afghanistan frontier region, and closely akin to the Kashmir hangul described in Oryx , December 1970. In this survey Professor Bannikov and Dr Zhirnov summarise what is known about it and its present status, and point to the rgent need for active protection measures.
TL;DR: The Gorongoza Game Reserve in Northern Mozambique is among the finest in the world, combining the beauty of terrain with large numbers of birds and mammals in astonishing variety.
Abstract: The Gorongoza Game Reserve in Northern Mozambique is among the finest in the world, combining beauty of terrain with large numbers of birds and mammals in astonishing variety. About two miles from the camp is a flat treeless plain, some three miles across, flooded in the rainy season by the sluggish Pungwe river. Here some months ago I estimated well over 1000 animals of twelve species, with elephant, buffalo and wildebeest predominating, but strangely mixed.
TL;DR: Two members of the Rhodesia National Parks Department make a preliminary reassessment of the status of the black rhinoceros Diceros bicomis in Rhodesia, and examine the techniques for estimating numbers used by Dr H. H. Roth in his paper in ORYX, December 1967, which they believe led him to overestimate the situation.
Abstract: Two members of the Rhodesia National Parks Department make a preliminary reassessment of the status of the black rhinoceros Diceros bicomis in Rhodesia, and examine the techniques for estimating numbers used by Dr. H. H. Roth in his paper on White and Black Rhinoceros in Rhodesia, in ORYX, December 1967 and which, they believe, led him to overestimate the situation. They call the black rhino the hook-lipped rhino, but the more usual name has been retained in the title as being more widely understood.