on the on the edge edge Mending a megabat P8 Amphibian alarm P16 Spring / Summer 2014 2 3 Greetings from the CEO Contents I recently had the pleasure of visiting In complete contrast, we have been 4 Durrell Times our projects in St Lucia, Antigua and doing our best to kill as many of another 8 Mending a megabat Montserrat, where frogs and rats seemed vertebrate as we can. Rats, again usually to be the order of the day. spread by humans, are very successful 12 Breeding aye-ayes invaders, breeding quickly and eating 14 The aye-aye and its parts Despite its name the mountain chicken everything. They can destroy native 16 Amphibian alarm is a large frog and we are trying to avoid animals and vegetation quickly. Durrell 20 Amphibian husbandry this phrase changing to 'was a large has developed an expertise in islands frog'. However the real story for me (very appropriate considering our base in 22 Big news for a little bird quickly became about a fungus. The the Channel Islands) and has become a 24 A flying visitor... appalling fungal disease known as chytrid leader in restoring the diversity of some 25 Your legacy means the world has decimated the frog's population in very barren ones; we start by poisoning the Montserrat, as it has done to many other rat invaders. We visited Bird Island, off the 26 To your health! amphibians elsewhere. It is the worst coast of Antigua; lush, green, with groups 28 Fond farewells disease ever seen amongst invertebrates; of birds a little irritated with our presence, 30 Recollections of Alison Jolly it has or will affect most of the 6,000 and searched for the reintroduced racer amphibian species; it can kill almost all of snakes. Rat traps should prevent the 31 The parting shot a population in weeks. We believe it killed problem arising again - serviced by local 95% of mountain chickens in less than boatmen and hopefully even paid for by the a year. Some species are resistant, but tourist operators that occasionally use the this just means that it can be spread very beaches. Sustainable restoration in action. effectively, since they still carry it. I hope you enjoy reading the rest of It is very widespread and as yet there is On the Edge. no cure. Durrell, with other conservation organisations and universities, is working to find a solution; we have been breeding the frogs successfully in Jersey, and have reintroduced some to learn more. It is the worst disease ever seen It is thought that the disease initially spread amongst invertebrates; it has through the global trade in live frogs, some or will affect most of the 6,000 of which were resistant carriers. amphibian species. Photo and drawing credits Estate of Gerald Durrell,Tim Flach, JEP, Gregory Guida, Phillip Coffey, Daniel Drakes, Matt Morton, Dan Lay, Rick Jones, James Underwood, Colm Farrington, Paignton Zoo, Colin Stevenson, Fi Marchant, James Morgan, Oliver Johnson, Lesley Lawrence, Linda Scott, Will Bertram, Chief Executive Natalie Mayer, F Cunninghame CDF, Julio Avila CDF, Beate Wedelin CDF, Golden mantella frogs, Oliver, left, with Matt Morton, and Sue Maturín CDF. Regional Manager Caribbean Madagascar Cover shot: Mossy frog, Dan Lay. DURRELL TIMES DURRELL TIMES The 30th Anniversary Spring / Summer 2014 of the first wild release The pink pigeon stands as one of the great This, the birds themselves and the fact that 30 success stories of the conservation movement. years on, Carl Jones – a crucial member of the In 1984, when Gerald penned the text below team from the very beginning – is in the running for this very magazine, there were just 13 to 15 for one of the greatest accolades in conservation Six heroes... one prize birds in the wild – up from the ‘barely double- (see previous page), are things we are enormously digits’ number of 10, found when the project to proud of. save them began. By 2011 the official IUCN* population figures stood at a much safer We hope you, our members and supporters, share 446 birds. this sense of pride with us. Without you 30 years of saving the most endangered animals could For the team at Durrell, however, the 30 year never have happened. If, wherever you are, you’d anniversary of this release has even greater like to raise a glass to celebrate this milestone, significance, as these beautiful birds were the first thank you for being part of the journey so far. species we ever bred in captivity and released into the wild – the realisation of Gerry’s main vision for his then 21-year-old Trust. *IUCN = International Union for Conservation of Nature The Indianapolis Prize has been described as In January we learned that our own Professor the Nobel Prize of conservation and is widely Carl Jones has made the final six nominees for considered the highest accolade available for the 2014 awards and deservedly so. There can’t those who spend their lifetime saving be many people who can claim bringing six endangered species. species back from fewer than 12 individuals It was, without a doubt, one of to viable populations. the most important days in my life when just recently Lee, John Hartley and I went to the island of Mauritius and, with Carl Durrell’s ‘miracle Jones, responsible for the Black River breeding centre, released baby’ in UK two captive bred Pink Pigeons into the wild. living rooms Gerald Durrell, On the Edge, Spring/Summer 1984 The result of a collaboration between Durrell and The documentary aired on both BBC Four and BBC Jersey, 'Refugees of the Lost Rainforest' is a BBC Two last December, and over one million powerful half-hour documentary that highlights viewers watched the film, which featured the how Jersey is connected to Sumatra, Indonesia birth of ‘miracle baby’ Kea at Durrell Wildlife thanks to our orangutans and their carers past Park. Watch the film at: 1984 Spring/Summer and present. www.durrell.org/refugees On the Edge Pink pigeon DURRELL TIMES DURRELL TIMES Going to great Commendation for lengths for wildlife... ‘I’m a Conservationist’ ... ...has always been a hallmark of what makes ...and from none other than the British and Irish The combination of modern, real time the Durrell team special. So when our Head of Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA). communications between youngsters and the Mammals Dom Wormell and former Senior people on the cutting edge of conservation Ape Keeper Rupert Beck decided to help raise Durrell’s Department of Education and impressed BIAZA – no small feat when you funds for rescued Sumatran orangutans, they Interpretation took four intrepid field scientists consider that one of the association’s fortes is did just that. and connected them via social media to Jersey engaging everyday people with the work of schoolchildren, who in turn took a ‘reality TV’ Britain’s zoological experts. The pair cycled from Land’s End to John style vote to deciding which project would get O’Groats – the entire length of Britain – in the £500 prize, kindly donated by Natwest. one week. Combining online sponsorship and a ton of effort, the pair raised £2,502 for The Orangutan Land Trust. This will go towards building new Durrell style islands, to replace barred cages at the SOCP Rescue Centre, in Jantho, Sumatra. Bear pair right Rupert Beck and Dominic Wormell at home here Three-year-old Andean bears Bahia (female) and Quechua (male) are two of the newest additions Official notice to Durrell’s animal family, taking pride of place Annual General Meeting in the ‘First Impressions’ section of the Wildlife Park. Dear Member Bahia was first to join us and initially seemed a Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust will be holding its little overwhelmed, having been separated from Annual General Meeting (AGM) at: her family for the first time. However, when Les Augrès Manor, Trinity, Jersey JE3 5BP big boy Quechua came along, it was as if the two had known each other forever – the two On Wednesday 23rd July at 5.30pm spending their first days together wrestling and sleeping on top of one another. Please note this date and time. May I remind you that under Rule 8 (3) any matters that you would like included in the agenda A few months in, and our keepers – more used must be lodged with me 60 days before the AGM, which is 19th May. to the much-missed elderly pair, Barbara and Wolfgang – have been kept rather busy, as the Yours faithfully youngsters fully test all the possible escape routes, and playfully destroy their enclosure in ways that only a bear can! Tim Ringsdore Honorary Secretary www.durrell.org/bear 8 9 Mending a Megabat If you or I were to break a finger, it would very careful about avoiding collisions – an be painful and no doubt inconvenient, but it essential part of living in large colonies and wouldn’t stop us getting around. For ‘flying amongst trees. foxes’ (otherwise known as megabats) such as our Livingstone’s fruit bats, however, So when Claudia a Livingstone’s fruit bat at breaking a finger literally means all you get to the Island Bat Roost suffered a compound do is hang around... potentially fatal as this fracture last year, Durrell’s Vets decided makes feeding impossible. to try their own hand at a very intricate ‘digital repair’ to allow her to take to Bats wings are actually specialised hands. the air once again. The scientific name for bats is Chiroptera, literally “hand-wing”. The bones are long This X-ray clearly shows the 'hand' and and light for flight, and bats are generally also this bat's identifying microchip.