prices of wild beasts and other generalities, suggestion that you repair to this gentleman’s repository
Category: General | Date: Nov 28 2008 | By: Seamus
I’m looking into methods for determining the financial value of lions. I came across this in the New York times. It was published in the NY times in 1872 I gather.
Technorati : circuses, lion value, lions, wildlife economics
A lunchbox, my kingom for a lunchbox: hacks for bushwiring
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 23 2008 | By: Seamus
Duct tape and a decent sized panga (machete) are my friends. I never leave home without them. When I’m at home however I have access to more creative solutions. Recently I needed to lay some wiring to Bill’s shack. It had no floor to speak of at the time, nor any place inside that one might refer to as weatherproof. A bit of high temp silicon that was destined for some critical automotive purpose, a lunchbox and the best breaker switch I could find in Nairobi come together for this hack: a water, dust and rodent resistant subterranean cutoff switch for Bill. the lid fits snugly on top.
And in case you weren’t reading when I mentioned where our power comes from, here’s a reminder of what our solar panels looks like. Our office is in the background.
Technorati : DIY electrical stuff, darwin award nominees, lions, research, solar power
more marketing jargon for conservation (or) What to do in Austin, Texas if you’re a bored marine biologist on a Friday night.
Category: General | Date: Nov 22 2008 | By: Seamus
Its a Saturday morning. I have friends who will be asleep for many hours to come. In departure from my usual themes of african conservation, development, perceptions of wildlife etc. I thought today I would mention the last frontier of environmentalism (ok, well, one of them): nightclubbing.
check out the concept of“sustainable nightclubbing” as written about in an enviromagazine.
And then have a look at a nightclub in Texas.
and, completely unrelated to anything I do, or anything of value, I was trying to find out if Texans really eat Armadillos. Didn’t find my answer, but I did find a recipe for Armadillo meatballs.
Technorati : conservation, consumerism, environmentalism, industrialised nation eco-guilt, recycling
Aliteration and the cuddly plush toy carnivore
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 19 2008 | By: Seamus
While I spend most of my waking hours on lion-related matters, I do have contact with people working in other conservation fields and on other species. Today I was forwarded an email that indicates you can receive a cuddly plush snow leopard toy if you donate. And according to the website you can “shop to save Snow Leopards”. The marketing of wildlife conservation and funding for research is an interesting beast indeed.
Technorati : conservation, lions, research, snow leopards, wildlife
leopards and corporate sponsorship
Category: General | Date: Nov 15 2008 | By: Seamus
The quality of writing in this article is not great, as it obscures a few important details. I have a feeling there is at least one mis-quote as well.
Nevertheless the gist of it illustrates three features of conservation that make this an interesting example of an african conservation projects: corporate involvement from within the country, in research and conservation; science-based management; and the idea of paying a conservation premium for a product that is “conservation friendly” (for more on this look up “predator-friendly beef” as pioneered by the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia).
Technorati : conservation, predator conservation, research
Rabid Friday
Category: General, Lion-watching | Date: Nov 14 2008 | By: Seamus
ABSTRACT
In rabies endemic countries, funds and infrastructure are often insufficient to employ the approved gold standard for the definitive diagnosis of rabies: the direct fluorescent test. In the present study, two types (type 1 and 2) of an ICT kit were evaluated for detection of rabies. These were developed using monoclonal antibodies which recognize epitope II and III of the nucleoprotein of rabies virus. Both kits specifically detected all rabies virus strains and there was no cross reactivity with Lyssaviruses (Lagos, Mokola and Duvenhage), Rhabdovirus (VSV and Oita 296/1972) and other common canine-pathogenic viruses. In type 1, a single type of monoclonal antibody was used. It was capable of detecting recombinant nucleoprotein and showed sensitivity of 95.5% (42/44) and specificity of 88.9% (32/36) using brain samples from rabid dogs. In contrast, type 2 which was made of two different monoclonal antibodies had a lower sensitivity of 93.2% (41/44) and higher specificity of 100% (36/36). These ICT kits provide a simple and rapid method for rabies detection. They need neither cold chain for transportation nor complicated training for personnel. This diagnostic test is suitable for rabies screening, particularly in areas with a high prevalence of rabies and where the fluorescent antibody test is not available.
Technorati : Rabies, pathology, veterinary science, wildlife medicine
Lions that lick their lips
Category: Lion-watching | Date: Nov 12 2008 | By: Seamus
I’m busy working on a talk, and decided to use this picture, which I took of a lion in Amboseli NP:
I have no particular reason for posting this image, I just like it. I was going to discuss some lion behavior, but thought better of it.
Wim, thank you for the donation. If you would like a full-size / higher res copy of this image or others like it let me know in the comment section and I’ll email it to you.
Technorati : lion behaviour, lion conservation, lions
disease and wild carnivores
Category: General | Date: Nov 11 2008 | By: Seamus
Some colleagues of mine are trying to deal with a rabies outbreak in Ethiopia. They’re specifically concerned about the Ethiopian Wolf population. This is a good example of how livestock conflict (and resultant intolerance) is not always the primary threat to large carnivores.
Read the story here if you’re interested.
Technorati : conservation, ethiopian wolves, lion conservation, research
A lion in time saves nine…
Category: foolishness | Date: Nov 09 2008 | By: Seamus
Its silly Sunday. Here’s a cartoon for you. Its from questionable content.
Technorati : conservation, lion research, lions, silly cartoons
Bookish
Category: General | Date: Nov 06 2008 | By: Seamus
There are plenty of resources for dealing with friction between people and wildlife. One really good site is the P&W site. Here’s an interesting manual from Botswana I whose link I found on the P&W site, freely available for download (click on the book).
Technorati : conservation, human-wildlife conflict, lion conservation, research
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