Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Saturday, February 17, 2018
The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
Photographing wildlife in Namibia isn’t easy. It’s fraught with challenges, hardships, setbacks and stress. But the southern African nation’s peaceful landscapes, majestic animals and kindhearted people always make it worth the trouble. A recent two-week trip to Namibia, my third, was plagued by an unending series of mishaps, but it left me with a mountain’s worth of memories and thousands of photographs. When things weren’t going well, I couldn’t help but think of how much easier life is back home in New York. Now that I’ve returned, I can’t help but think about the photographic opportunities that abound in the harsh but beautiful deserts of Namibia.
Among the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia is visited less often by Americans than countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Namibians are more accustomed to travelers from Germany, France, Britain or Belgium and were slightly surprised to learn I had come from the United States. But they always greeted me warmly.
The nation is bordered by Angola to the north, South Africa to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and Botswana to the east. A panhandle in the country’s northeastern corner, called the Caprivi Strip, stretches toward Zambia and Zimbabwe.
To read more on this story, click here: The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
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The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
Photographing wildlife in Namibia isn’t easy. It’s fraught with challenges, hardships, setbacks and stress. But the southern African nation’s peaceful landscapes, majestic animals and kindhearted people always make it worth the trouble. A recent two-week trip to Namibia, my third, was plagued by an unending series of mishaps, but it left me with a mountain’s worth of memories and thousands of photographs. When things weren’t going well, I couldn’t help but think of how much easier life is back home in New York. Now that I’ve returned, I can’t help but think about the photographic opportunities that abound in the harsh but beautiful deserts of Namibia.
Among the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia is visited less often by Americans than countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Namibians are more accustomed to travelers from Germany, France, Britain or Belgium and were slightly surprised to learn I had come from the United States. But they always greeted me warmly.
The nation is bordered by Angola to the north, South Africa to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and Botswana to the east. A panhandle in the country’s northeastern corner, called the Caprivi Strip, stretches toward Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Deserts of Namibia: Life and Photography on Nature's Terms
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Wednesday, November 15, 2017
The Hero Rats of Africa Sniff Out Land Mines — and TB Infections
MOROGORO, Tanzania — The grass is still damp with dew as the sun begins to glint over the Uluguru Mountains. It’s only 7 a.m. in Morogoro, Tanzania, but Oprah and Malala and Taylor Swift and the others are already hard at work. They are heroes in the region, literal saviors to thousands of Tanzanians and those in the international community as well. It is on this large swath of land that giant African pouched rats, often named by their handlers after celebrities or loved ones, are meticulously trained for nine months to sniff out land mines. Down the dusty red dirt road, you’ll find others just like them — but there the rats are training in a laboratory, learning how to detect tuberculosis amid thousands of samples.
It is here in the field that APOPO, a nonprofit organization that trains African giant pouched rats to undertake such endeavors, works its magic. The humans are patient, methodical, while the rats seem eager to learn — an interaction reminiscent of a new owner training a puppy. After each rat undergoes its daily weigh-in — they are generally between two and three pounds — it is put in a harness to walk one of the areas marked off on the field. It paces the ground, scratching feverishly when it detects a dismantled land mine beneath the surface. An APOPO worker uses a clicker to notify the rat that it is correct. The rat then scrambles to receive its treat of bananas or peanuts. After nine months of training, they are shipped out to APOPO’s partner organizations in various countries, where they will detect and help dismantle thousands of land mines that have been left over from decades of prior conflicts.
To read more on this story, click here: The Hero Rats of Africa Sniff Out Land Mines — and TB Infections
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Monday, October 31, 2016
The Promise This Photographer Made to Endangered Elephants Will Give You Chills
Even the biggest animal lovers are somewhat disconnected from the rampant abuse happening to animals around the world. Powerful images and videos allow us a glimpse into some of the heartbreaking situations animals have to deal with around the world, but activists, conservationists, photojournalists, and videographers get a first-hand look and have the chance to interact with those affected. These people are in sub-Saharan Africa witnessing poachers sneak onto parks to kill African lions. They are there to see baby orangutans stand on the ashes of their formerly lush forest home that has been cleared out for palm oil. And in Sumatra, they are watching elephants in the area dwindle as more and more of these animals are pushed off their lands, killed when they step back onto it, and kidnapped in the flurry of it all.
To read more on this story, click here: The Promise This Photographer Made to Endangered Elephants Will Give You Chills
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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Meet Ruger, The First Anti-Poaching Dog in Zambia, Where He is Now Responsible for Putting 150 Poachers Out of Business
Ruger, once considered a “bad” dog, is perfect for his
job. Because he had a very rough start
in life, he was aggressive and would snap at people, but part of his
personality has made him easily trained to become the first anti-poaching dog
in Zambia, where he is now responsible for putting 150 poachers out of
business.
“Bad dogs have an overwhelming desire to bring you things,”
Megan Parker told The Guardian. “Dogs love telling you what they know. They
have an inability to quit.
”Parker is the director of research at Working Dogs for
Conservation in Montana. She searches
shelters for difficult, “unadoptable” dogs who’d have no problem putting
poachers in their place.
Ruger was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in
Montana. When he was young, his owner
shot his littermates, but he was able to flee.
He wound up in a shelter, where he was noticed by a trainer who told
WD4C about him.
At first, Ruger was aggressive, and would bite people. Parker had a hard time getting him to the
vet, and he hated small spaces. But
there was something about him that encouraged her to keep working with him. However, there was something else that stood
in Ruger’s way of becoming an anti-poaching dog at all.
“Early on in his training, Meg was under pressure from her
colleagues to decide if Ruger would make the cut,” said Pete Coppolillo,
executive director at WD4C. “If a dog doesn’t work out, we make sure they have
a forever home. We all wondered if Meg should start finding a place for Ruger,
who was losing his sight.
”But she knew that Ruger had the drive necessary to make
the cut.
“These dogs have an unrelenting drive,” she said. “For a
dog that doesn’t stop, you can train that dog to bring you things.”
Parker was eventually able to match up Ruger with the Delta
Team scouts, a law enforcement unit operated by the South Luangwa Conservation
Society and the Zambia Wildlife Authority.
The scouts had little experience with dogs, and were leery of the idea
that a dog could help.
Ruger proved his worth at his first day on the job. Roadblocks were set up to search vehicles for
illegal paraphernalia.
“It takes humans an hour or more to search a car,” said
Coppolillo, “whereas it takes dogs three to four minutes.”
Ruger sat down and glared at one of the passing cars.
“That’s his alert [signal],” Coppolillo continued.
Several pieces of luggage were inside the vehicle, and the
scouts who searched them came up empty-handed.
But Ruger kept his eye on one bag, which contained a matchbox in a
plastic bag. Inside of it was a primer
cap, which ignites gunpowder in the illegal muzzle loaders that poachers rely
on.
“At that moment, everyone believed that Ruger knew what he
was doing,” said Coppolillo. “They learned to think of Ruger as a colleague.”
Now he’s been a valuable team member for a year and a half.
“He’s a hero who’s responsible for dozens of arrests and
has convinced many skeptics of his detection skills,” Coppolillo noted.
Some people likened his skills to witchcraft, but at a
courthouse demonstration, a scout hid a piece of ivory and Ruger found it in
only a couple minutes. And his
deteriorating vision hasn’t impaired him one bit.
“His skills have sharpened.
He’s working with a few younger dogs, who are somewhat goofy and get
distracted like most puppies do,” Coppolillo said. “Ruger remains focused
despite many distractions, such as having wild animals close by. Baboons are
the worst. His lack of eyesight works in his favor because he almost entirely
focuses on his sense of smell.
”Because the work is very dangerous, Ruger does not have to
work every day, and Godfrey, a scout, rewards him with games of tug-of-war when
he nabs someone.
“Poachers are well-armed and well-trained,” Coppolillo said.
“African elephants don’t live throughout the continent. Poachers kill elephants
where they reside and smuggle them to places where they don’t live to throw law
enforcement off their tracks.
”Though it is illegal to hunt within South Luangwa National
Park’s boundaries, poachers do it anyway, and over the years, many scouts have
colluded with them. Good scouts are hard
to come by, and in Africa, it’s even more difficult to find dogs like Ruger.
“Good dog selection is absolutely essential,” Coppolillo
said. “Village dogs simply don’t have the drive to do this kind of work. There
are only a handful of suitable and reputable kennels in Africa. Most are
focused on selling security and military dogs, so they’re not as well
socialized as a conservation dog needs to be. Plus, they generally sell those
dogs for much more than what it would cost us to source a dog in the US.
”Parker will continue her dedicated work of finding
suitable American shelter dogs to send to Africa to keep saving the lives of
countless elephants.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Watch: Hippo Charges at Boat Full of Tourists (Video)
The tourists definitely did not see that coming.
In a video posted to YouTube on Jan. 11, folks experience a hippo charging at a Pangolin Photo Safari boat in Kasana, Botswana.
The hippo dashed at the boat on the Chobe River, which runs along the northeast border of the Chobe National Park in Africa.
YouTube user David Jackson said in the comments section that the video was taken by his son Craig Clive Jackson while the pair were on a safari.
To read more on this story, click here: Watch: Hippo Charges at Boat Full of Tourists FOLLOW US!
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Bats Are the World's Worst Ebola Outbreak: Prime Suspects for Spreading the Deadly Virus to Humans
Bats are living up to their frightening reputation in the
world's worst Ebola outbreak as prime suspects for spreading the deadly virus
to humans, but scientists believe they may also shed valuable light on fighting
infection.
Bats can carry more than 100 different viruses, including
Ebola, rabies and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), without becoming
sick themselves.
While that makes them a fearsome reservoir of disease,
especially in the forests of Africa where they migrate vast distances, it also
opens the intriguing possibility that scientists might learn their trick in
keeping killers like Ebola at bay.
"If we can understand how they do it then that could
lead to better ways to treat infections that are highly lethal in people and
other mammals," said Olivier Restif, a researcher at the University of
Cambridge in Britain.
Clues are starting to emerge following gene analysis, which
suggest bats' capacity to evade Ebola could be linked with their other
stand-out ability -- the power of flight.
Flying requires the bat metabolism to run at a very high
rate, causing stress and potential cell damage, and experts think bats may have
developed a mechanism to limit this damage by having parts of their immune
system permanently switched on.
The threat to humans from bats comes en route to the dinner
plate. Bushmeat -- from bats to antelopes, squirrels, porcupines and monkeys --
has long held pride of place on menus in West and Central Africa. The danger of
contracting Ebola lies in exposure to infected blood in the killing and
preparation of animals.
NATURAL HOSTS
Scientists studying Ebola since its discovery in 1976 in
Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, have long suspected fruit bats as
being the natural hosts, though the link to humans is sometimes indirect as
fruit dropped by infected bats can easily be picked up by other species,
spreading the virus to animals such as monkeys.
This nexus of infection in wildlife leads to sporadic Ebola
outbreaks following human contact with blood or other infected animal fluids.
This no doubt happened in the current outbreak, although the
scale of the crisis now gripping Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which has
killed around 5,000 people, reflects subsequent public health failures.
"What is happening now is a public health disaster
rather than a problem of wildlife management," said Marcus Rowcliffe at
the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which runs London Zoo.
Bats' role in spreading Ebola is probably a function both of
their huge numbers, where they rank second only to rodents among mammals in the
world, as well as their unusual immune system, according to Michelle Baker of
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's
national science agency.
Baker, who is intrigued by bats' ability to live in
"equilibrium" with viruses, published a paper with colleagues in the
journal Nature last year looking at bat genomes. They found an unexpected
concentration of genes for repairing DNA damage, hinting at a link between
flying and immunity.
"(This) raises the interesting possibility that
flight-induced adaptations have had inadvertent effects on bat immune function
and possibly also life expectancy," they wrote.
UNDERSTANDING BATS
As well as tolerating viruses, bats are also amazingly
long-lived. The tiny Brandt's bat, a resident of Europe and Asia, has been
recorded living for more than 40 years, even though it is barely the size of a
mouse. Bats also rarely get cancer.
"We are just at the beginning," Baker said in a
telephone interview. "But if we can understand how bats are dealing with
these viruses and if we can redirect the immune system of other species to
react in the same way, then that could be a potential therapeutic
approach."
It won't be easy. Turning on components of the immune system
can bring its own health problems, but the idea -- which has yet to get beyond
the basic research stage -- is to turn up certain elements to achieve a better
balance.
One reason why Ebola is so deadly to people is that the
virus attacks the immune system and when the system finally comes back it goes
into over-drive, causing extra damage.
Ebola works in part by blocking interferon, an anti-virus
molecule, which Baker has found to be "up-regulated", meaning it is
found in higher levels, in bats.
VENISON, WITH WINGS
The bat immune system may or may not lead to new drugs one
day. Still, experts argue there are plenty of other reasons to cherish bats,
which also play a vital role in pollination and controlling insect pests.
They are also a traditional source of protein in West
Africa, often served in a spicy stew, and restrictions on bushmeat consumption
are now contributing to food shortages in parts of West Africa, according to the
International Food Policy Research Institute.
Hunting and butchering bats may be risky but cooking is
thought to make them safe. The World Health Organization advises animals should
be handled with "gloves and other appropriate protective clothing" and
meat should be "thoroughly cooked".
"In the long run it would be sensible to see people
moving away from hunting bats but in the short term they provide an important
source of food," said Rowcliffe of ZSL.
"Essentially, wild meat is a good, healthy product.
People in Britain eat venison and rabbit, and in many ways it's no different to
that."
FOLLOW US! Friday, October 17, 2014
Ebola: The Wildlife Connection
Ebola, stemming from the depths of West Africa, spanning the oceans, now creeping into the U.S. What does Ebola have to do with wildlife? Everything. 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are diseases of animal origin.
It is contracted through contact with infected wildlife, i.e. through handling of or ingesting of infected animals. Chimpanzees and bats are the animals most often cited as carriers, but they are not the only animals.
To read more on this story, click here: Ebola: The Wildlife Connection
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Monday, June 10, 2013
Police in Bangkok Arrest Thai Pet Shop Owner After Finding Hundreds of Protected Animals in a Warehouse
Bangkok - A pet shop owner was arrested after Thai police found hundreds of protected animals, including rare lions, in his warehouse near Bangkok, authorities said Monday.
Police Col. Ek Ekasart said police found 14 albino lions from Africa, hundreds of birds, meerkats, tortoises, peafowls, capuchin monkeys and other species from overseas and Thailand.
They said Montri Boonprom-on, 41, faces charges of possessing wildlife and carcasses and could face up to four years in jail and a fine of 40,000 baht ($1,300).
Ek said Montri owns an exotic pet shop at Bangkok's renowned Chatuchak weekend market and was previously convicted of wildlife trade.
Thailand is a hub of the international black market in protected animals. While the country is a member of a convention regulating international trade in endangered species, Thai law does not extend protection to many alien species.
Police also found a hornbill and a leopard, both protected by Thai law, which were packed in a box and were scheduled to be delivered to clients on Monday.
"We have been monitoring the location for a few days after the neighbors complained about the noise from the animals," Ek told reporters during the raid in a residential area of Bangkok's Klong Sam Wa district. "And if you looked through the gate, you could spot lions in the cage."
Montri told reporters the lions were shipped legally to Bangkok from Africa and were waiting to be moved to a zoo in Thailand's northeast. He did not explain why only 14 lions remained at his warehouse, while the documents showed he had imported 16.
The animals were confiscated and will be under the care of the Department of Natural Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
A Thai man spays water to clean the lion's enclosure after a raid at a zoo-like house on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand Monday, June 10, 2013. Thai police and forestry officials searched and seized a number of imported and endangered animals including 14 lions from Africa and arrested the house's owner. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
Lions rest inside an enclosure after a raid at a zoo-like house on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand Monday, June 10, 2013. Thai police and forestry officials searched and seized a number of imported and endangered animals including 14 lions from Africa and arrested the house's owner. (AP Photos/Apichart Weerawong)
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