THE ARC NEWSLETTER OF THE AFRICAN-ARABIAN WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTRE (INCORPORATING: AFRICAN CARNIVORE RESEARCH)

Chris & Tilde Stuart PO Box 6 Loxton 6985 South Africa Tel:-27-20212-11 Fax:-27-20212-ask for 1

After our return from Arabia in May of 1996 we had planned to write at least one newsletter covering the activities of the African-Arabian Wildlife Research Centre every six months but as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men!

Having lacked the time at our home base in Loxton, I am now compiling the first part of this update for friends and colleagues at some 8000 metres over the miombo woodlands of central Tanzania. It was clear up to the Ruaha River but now the cloud carpet is settling in - a familiar scene from our recent month in Zanzibar. Further north it cleared and we had excellent views of the Ogaden and the tip of the Horn of Africa in Somaliland.

Zanzibar leopard- myth or reality?

Although not on our original work programme for 1997 we were asked by the CARE Zanzibar Programme, via Peter Jackson, Chairman of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, of which we are members, to investigate whether the Zanzibar race of the leopard (Panthera pardus adersi) still survives on the 1600 square kilometre island of Unguja. Unguja and Pemba islands are collectively called Zanzibar, and form part of the Republic of Tanzania. Helle Goldman, an anthropologist working on Unguja for the past year, had been investigating the relationship between man and leopards on the island. In brief summary her findings, and those of others, show that two "types" of leopard are recognised, namely wild individuals and "kept" individuals. The story goes that some villagers have power over certain leopards and can make them do their bidding. This "power" creates fear and respect of the so-called leopard "keepers"- a useful position for those with this supposed influence over these superb cats. After meeting several village and "national" hunters, and talking to forest and wildlife department staff, it became clear to us that we would have to separate definite leopard records from the theoretical "kept" animals. Many islanders cannot differentiate between the tracks of leopard and African civet (Viverra civetta), and many experienced difficulty in separating leopard, African civet and even genet from photographs that we showed to them. We encountered absolutely no sign of leopards during the survey and we believe that this cat is now extinct on the island, or at best present in such low numbers that there is little, or no, hope of doing anything to save it in the wild state.
Having arrived at the height of the annual long rains, there were benefits and down points. After rain it was relatively simple to see and identify tracks but on the down-side getting soaked in downpours for a couple of hours each day was not so pleasant! Most of our efforts were concentrated in the south-east of the island where the majority of recent leopard activity had been reported. The Chawka Bay- Jozani Conservation Area, consisting of the island’s last piece of relatively untouched forest, as well as extensive areas of mangrove, swamp forest, salt marsh and thicket, is the last real hope to conserve any of the island’s diverse biota. However, during our time there we encountered much poaching activity, firewood and pole- cutting, with substantial numbers of cattle grazing, particularly in the north. Located in this area are the island’s most important population of the endemic Zanzibar red colobus (Colobus kirkii), as well as the endangered Ader’s duiker (Cephalophus adersi), substantial numbers of the blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis), bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus), both endemic squirrel subspecies- the red-legged sun squirrel (Heliosciurus rufobrachium dolosus) and red bush squirrel (Paraxerus palliatus frerei). Amongst the most fascinating mammals on the island are the four-toed elephant shrew (Petrodromus tetradactylus zanzibaricus) and the true giant black and rufous elephant shrew (Rhynchocyon petersi adersi). The former is mainly nocturnal and most of our sightings were made at night in the headlight or torch beams but the giant was active during the daylight hours. Weighing more than 500g- almost ten times the weight of most elephant shrew species- with a dark, almost black body colour, reddish-chestnut coloured head and pale coloured tail, it is a striking animal indeed! Although we encountered them in the conservation area they seemed to be most abundant in the coral rag thicket on the south-eastern coast. There is an amazing diversity of reptiles and amphibians on the island , many of which we managed to photograph, including at least 23 snake species, 10 lizards and 19 frogs and toads. However, the fauna of the island has not been thoroughly surveyed and additional species are likely to be recorded. Although their presence was previously doubted, we confirmed the occurrence of Bell’s eastern hinged tortoise (Kinixys belliana) and the freshwater terrapin (Pelusios castaneus), previously only recorded on Pemba Island. As is common with oceanic islands, bird diversity is relatively small but nevertheless we did see some interesting species, such as crab plovers, the different morphs of the reef heron and little egret, the extremely rare Fischer’s turaco and a number of new species for us such as the Zanzibar sombre greenbul.

From the conservation point of view Unguja is a troubled island indeed and unless severe curbs are placed on human population growth and efforts made to reduce the exploitation of its rapidly diminishing natural resources, little will remain of its natural biota by the year 2000 AD. Although no time schedule has been set we would like to return, and include Pemba and Mafia islands, to undertake extensive zoological surveys, particularly in those areas experiencing the least human pressures.

ARABIA

This is our third visit to southern Arabia, and this time around we will be involved in the Sharjah desert park and breeding centre development, giving scientific input, advising on enclosure layout and animal acquisition. We will also be involved in various surveys, as well as taking photographs for the book, Field Guide to the Wildlife of Arabia, we are compiling together with Christian and Sina Gross. The project on the wadi fish (Garra sp.) continues in collaboration with Moaz Sawaf here in the United Arab Emirates and Jim Cambray of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, South Africa. There are plans to visit several areas of the Arabian Peninsula over the next eight months, with a working break in Europe and another brief spell at our home- base in South Africa. Hopefully, in the next newsletter we can give a summary of our latest activities in Arabia.

LOXTON PROJECTS

With the departure of Vincent Pereboom back to Switzerland, the projects on the red rock rabbit (Pronolagus rupestris) and the two local tortoise species (Psammobates tentorius and Homopus signatus) have been suspended until such time as a suitable candidate is found to revive this research. Ric Bernard of Rhodes University in Grahamstown plans to undertake a study of the aardvark (Orycteropus afer) in the Loxton area, which will include the fitting of radio transmitters for establishing home range size and movement of these poorly understood animals. Some progress has been made in raising funds for the two year survey and ecological study of the endangered riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) and it is now hoped that this important work will be initiated at the beginning of 1998. A candidate will be selected for this research before September of this year and we have already reached the short list stage. We plan no other “home-base” research programmes at this stage, simply because there is no time to undertake the lengthy planning and fund-raising processes.

BOOK NEWS

The Field guide to the larger mammals of Africa (Struik and New Holland publishers) appeared in the bookshops this month, and the new edition of the Guide to Southern African game and nature reserves (Struik) should be available by June of this year. Africa’s great game parks and wild places (Southern) is now in the hands of the editors and hopefully it will be in print before the end of the year.

WEBSITE and e-mail:

We can now be contacted on e- mail:
for pick-up just at our Loxton home-base-- aawrc@x400.telkom400.inca.za

for pick-up when we are travelling--- aawrc@ilink.nis.za

For setting up the webpage we would like to say a special thank you to Laura Johnson.

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