Outamba Kilimi National Park is Sierra Leone’s first national park, and in located in the far north of the country along the Guinean border. The national park is comprised of two non-contiguous areas, Outamba (183,100 acres) and Kilimi (90,900 acres). These protected areas lie at an important transition zone in Sierra Leone’s landscape, where the Upper Guinean Rainforest Ecosystem begins to transition into savanna and open woodland. Continue reading National Parks and Civil Wars
Tag Archives: science
New species of orangutan found (and there’s a super volcano involved)
Today marks the first time in almost two decades that new species of great ape was discovered. Scientists have found an isolated population of orangutans in Sumatra, Indonesia, and studies show that it is a new species, and that it has been separated from the other population of Sumatran orangutans for over a million years.
Continue reading New species of orangutan found (and there’s a super volcano involved)
Political Change & Climate Change
2015 was the year that over 150 Heads of State and Government, like Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, attended the Paris Climate Summit where negotiations were held and a Climate Change Accord was signed by representatives of 185 nations. Continue reading Political Change & Climate Change
Into the Amazon
Last month I was fortunate enough to be able to have the trip of a life time that started in the Peruvian Amazon and ended high in the Andes exploring Machu Picchu. Less fortunately I was struck quite ill from the experience. That, on top of general life things and a cross country road trip I’ve been less than active on Endangered Living. Continue reading Into the Amazon
The History of Women in Natural History
Today I wandered into a used bookstore and came out with several exciting finds. However, I’m only going to be talking about one: “The Great Naturalists” by Thames and Hudson which features predominantly male naturalists, as most accounts of any science pre-20th century tend to do. But hidden in the mini-biographies were two fantastic women: Maria Sibylla Merian and Mary Anning.
Guest Post: Tom in the Jungle
While I faced visa problem after visa problem I found comfort in knowing that one of my cohort, and a great friend, Tom was out in the jungles of Borneo living the dream. Somewhere between May and July of 2015 I asked him to write a guest post, and being the person that I am, I am only getting around to posting it now. Sorry, Tom! But it was worth the wait, he really brings the jungle to life:
In this summer of 2015 I had the good fortune to find myself in a Bornean rainforest conducting fieldwork for my MSc. The Sabangau peat-swamp forest in Central Kalimantan was my home for two months. As I write these words my time here is drawing to a close. Read on, if you will, and I will tell you about the remarkable place where I lived and the strange and wonderful things that I saw in my short time living in the jungle. Continue reading Guest Post: Tom in the Jungle
Did St. Patrick rid Ireland of serpents?
So Saint Patrick was not always a red-bearded man in a bright green top hat who drank loads and loads of green beer in March, despite what much of the world(or maybe it’s just America?) may think. The real Saint Patrick was a Christian missionary sent to Ireland in the 5th century A.D. and as rumor has it, he drove all of the snakes off of the island of Ireland. But is Saint Patrick the real reason there are no snakes on the Emerald Isle? Continue reading Did St. Patrick rid Ireland of serpents?
The Drongo who cried wolf
Did you know that the Drongo, a small bird that lives in the Kalahari desert has been observed crying wolf? That’s right. The Drongo actually calls out false alarm calls to drive away competition. Sounds that are usually reserved for seeing predators are being used to scare off other birds and cause them to drop whatever juicy insect they’ve got their claws on!
Education is key to conservation
Education is key to conservation. I think that this is an incredible message worth sharing. It is what I aim to do every time I post on endangeredliving.com, our FB page or my twitter. I want to educate people and teach them about species they may never have heard of, so that they can care. You have to know something exists and that it is in trouble to be able to want it to help it. It is such a basic idea that can get over looked.
So I encourage you to share this photo, to remind people how important it is to learn every day. Keep an open mind and it can lead to a great idea that might just change the world.
Masoala National Park
A little while back I posted about the Aceh Protected Forest, a national park in peril and some ways that it might be improved. But there are still a lot of parks in peril out there, one that especially comes to mind is Masoala National Park in Madagascar. Madagascar has lost 85% of it’s forest to slash and burn farming, but it’s also one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet. How can we keep the lemurs leaping through the quickly falling forests of Madagascar? Well I guess you’ll just have to keep reading…
Endangered Living 