Tales from the field Archives | Page 11 of 17

FOUND: Iridescent blind mole with super-hearing powers rediscovered ‘swimming’ through sand dunes of South Africa

e-DNA helped confirm De Winton’s golden mole still lives on beaches in Port Nolloth

A blind mole with an iridescent coat sheen that ‘swims’ through sand and has been lost to science since 1936 is lost no longer, thanks to a team of conservationists and geneticists from the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the University of Pretoria. The rediscovered De Winton’s golden mole–which is from South Africa–is the 11th of the world’s most wanted lost species to be rediscovered since the Search for Lost Species launched in 2017. A research paper, “Environmental DNA from soil reveals the presence of a ‘lost’ Afrotherian species,” published Nov. 24, in the scientific journal Biodiversity and Conservation, describes the incredible lengths the team went to in order to rediscover the species.

“It was a very exciting project with many challenges,” said Esther Matthew, senior field officer with Endangered Wildlife Trust. “Luckily we had a fantastic team full of enthusiasm and innovative ideas. Which is exactly what you need when you have to survey up to 18 kilometers [11.2 miles] of dune habitat in a day.”

The EWT-led team used a burgeoning technique never used before to detect golden moles: environmental DNA (eDNA), which is the DNA that animals shed as they move through the environment, typically in the form of skin cells, hair and bodily excretions. In addition to living in largely inaccessible burrows, golden moles have extremely sensitive hearing and can detect vibrations from movement above ground, which helps them avoid being seen from the surface. They also rarely leave tunnels behind that are visible from the surface as they move under the sand.

“Extracting DNA from soil is not without its challenges, but we have been honing our skills and refining our techniques—even before this project—and we were fairly confident that if De Winton’s golden mole was in the environment, we would be able to detect it by finding and sequencing its DNA,” said Samantha Mynhardt, conservation geneticist with the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Stellenbosch University.

After collecting more than 100 soil samples in June 2021 from beaches and dunes on the northwest coast of South Africa—including Port Nolloth beach, the only place where De Winton’s golden mole had ever been found—and conducting a complex and comprehensive genetic analysis of each sample, the team determined that there were several species of golden mole living in the sand along the stretch of coast.

Two more common species—Cape golden mole and Grant’s golden mole—were found, as well as a third species, Van Zyl’s golden mole, which is endangered and rare. The fourth species the team found was De Winton’s golden mole, but it took almost another year to definitively prove that. Since De Winton’s golden mole is genetically very similar to Van Zyl’s golden mole, the team needed more genetic information about De Winton’s golden mole to confidently identify it using eDNA.

At the time, there was only one De Winton’s golden mole reference DNA sequence available. That DNA sequence represents a nuclear gene that has limited variation between De Winton’s and Van Zyl’s golden mole, meaning the team couldn’t confidently assign the fourth species to De Winton’s at that time.

Nearly a year later, the search team found exactly the information they needed to finally solve the case. A second gene sequence for a De Winton’s golden mole specimen (now housed at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town) became publicly available in January 2022. It was a mitochondrial gene—from a much more variable part of the genome that has much higher levels of variation between De Winton’s and Van Zyl’s. When the team compared their eDNA sequences from Port Nolloth beach to the new reference sequence, it was a clear match to De Winton’s golden mole.

“Though many people doubted that De Winton’s golden mole was still out there, I had good faith that the species had not yet gone extinct,” said Cobus Theron, senior conservation manager for EWT and a member of the search team. “I was convinced it would just take the right detection method, the proper timing, and a team passionate about finding it. Now not only have we solved the riddle, but we have tapped into this eDNA frontier where there is a huge amount of opportunity not only for moles, but for other lost or imperiled species.” [Read more about the exciting rediscovery of De Winton’s Golden Mole.]

The Endangered Wildlife Trust has been working to rediscover De Winton’s golden mole for more than two years. They began by identifying areas in South Africa where it was possible the species was living undetected and by interviewing people from local communities.

At each search site they used several different tools to locate golden moles and traces of them. A scent-detection border collie specially trained to sniff out golden moles, accompanied the team and helped lead them to trails left behind by the animals.

When the team arrived on the beach in Port Nolloth there were fresh golden mole trails in the sand, made more visible by recent rain. However, it can be very difficult to identify a species of golden mole from its physical characteristics alone, so despite seeing golden moles, they also collected soil samples for eDNA analysis to accurately determine the species that left the trails.

Since the expedition in 2021, EWT has identified four additional De Winton’s golden mole populations. They are working to protect the moles and learn more about the species with the support of the National Research Foundation’s Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP) in South Africa, Rainforest Trust, and Prince Bernhard Nature Fund.

In addition to the De Winton’s golden mole, Re:wild, working with partners across the globe, has confirmed the rediscovery of Jackson’s climbing salamander in Guatemala, both Wallace’s giant bee and the velvet pitcher plant in Indonesia, the silver-backed chevrotain in Vietnam, the Somali sengi in Djibouti, the Voeltzkow’s chameleon in Madagascar, Fernandina giant tortoise in the Galápagos, Sierra Leone crab in Sierra Leone, the Pernambuco holly tree in Brazil and Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna in Indonesia.

Christina Biggs, manager for the Search for Lost Species, Re:wild
“The search for De Winton’s golden mole was not easy by any means, and it really speaks to how persistent, thorough and resourceful the EWT team was in the field. They left no sandhill unturned and now it’s possible to protect the areas where these threatened and rare moles live. The successful use of the eDNA technique is now a case study on how such forward-thinking technologies can be utilized to find other lost species.”

Closing the Loop: Transforming textile waste into opportunities for people with disabilities and support for Early Childhood Development

Did you know that it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce a single cotton tee shirt?[i]

And that the fast fashion is one of the highest polluting industries globally, contributing 2 – 8% (about 1,2 billion tons) of greenhouse gases annually – higher than international flight and maritime shipping emissions combined[ii].

In addition to the widespread loss of biodiversity and habitats during the production of raw materials, the industry:

Produces about 20% of the world’s wastewater[iii],
24% of the insecticides and 11% of pesticides that are used globally[iv],
And is a major contributor to plastic pollution in oceans[v].

At the same time, the average number of times clothes are worn before being thrown away has dropped by 36% over the past 15 years in the United States, China, and other relatively affluent countries. Only 13% of these largely under-utilised clothes are recycled globally leading to an estimated 21 billion tonnes of textiles being sent to landfill each year[vi].

The fast fashion industry is booming and is likely to treble in size by 2050. Clearly, we need to rethink the largely “take – make – and waste” linear business model that is currently typical of this and many other industries. One way to do this is to start supporting the circular economy.

What are we doing?

The Endangered Wildlife Trust implements a range of innovative projects to reduce human impacts on biodiversity and habitats, whilst also benefitting the people who live in areas of high conservation value. As part of our 50^th celebration, we teamed up with a partner NPO, Clothes to Good, to contribute to the reduction of textile waste generated while empowering people with disabilities and supporting Early Childhood Development (ECD) in Kutama, Limpopo Province. The EWT works extensively with people in this area as they live adjacent to our Medike Nature Reserve in the Western Soutpansberg.

This integrated project incorporates three legs, each of which addresses a key need in rural and peri-urban areas across South Africa, with textile waste being the common thread linking the different activities. Firstly, we aimed to build the capacity of the staff of a centre that provides daycare for children and young people with disabilities called Muthu Ndi Nnyi through training and an opportunity to supplement their financial resources through the sale of high-quality second-hand clothes. Secondly, we provided ECD training and a toy making workshop for staff from ten creches and Muthu Ndi Nnyi. The third leg of the project is to contribute to a reduction of textile waste and encourage upcycling and recycling of these and other materials, both in Kutama and further afield.

Muthu Ndi Nnyi Centre for People with Disabilities

As with many schools and facilities catering for the needs of people with disabilities across South Africa, Muthu Ndi Nnyi lacks many basic resources and regularly experiences financial shortfalls. Many parents cannot afford fees or transport to enable their children to attend the Centre. Food inflation and other costs regularly lead to financial shortfalls, which the staff make up from their own small stipends.

From 28 September – 3 October 2023, Clothes to Good led training and introductory workshops that were attended by 6 – 8 Muthu Ndi Nnyi staff and over 25 teachers and caregivers from creches. Jesse Naidoo from Clothes To Good provided Muthu Ndi Nnyi with basic training in the marketing and sales of clothes which, combined with the bales that were donated, will enable them to test the market and the potential viability of a micro-enterprise in this sector.

To improve the well-being and quality of lives of the young people with disabilities, Tammy Greyling, an occupational therapist from Clothes To Good, met with staff and parents to draw up personal plans for each person in their care to improve their quality of life through improved communication, physical exercise, and specific activities tailored to each of their needs and abilities.

Through this,

A wheelchair-bound young man with limited mobility in only one arm and a severe speech and learning disability was able to let his caregivers know that he was hot and needed his jersey removed through a simple gesture. If he is encouraged to continue this and learn additional simple signs, his ability to communicate with others could be vastly improved.

It was discovered that a second young man with a severe speech impairment and learning disability was able to understand English. His caregivers previously thought he could only understand Tshivenda and were unaware of his self-taught proficiency in English which he gained through watching television and interacting with others.

Early childhood development

The first three years are one of the most important developmental phases of a child’s life. In South Africa, there are still wide disparities in the quality of pre-school education provided to young children across socio-economic classes, exacerbating the learning difficulties that children face when they reach school going age.

As part of this project, we held a two-day workshop for over 30 participants from Muthu Ndi Nnyi, ten local creches, and a centre providing after-school care for vulnerable children. On the first day, Tammy Greyling, Clothes To Good’s occupational therapist, introduced an ECD kit comprising over 50 activities designed to stimulate fine and gross motor skills, perceptual skills, numeracy, and literacy. Each creche and centre received one of these demonstration kits and a training manual which will enable them to reproduce the activities for the 100 – 150 children in each of their care.

On the second day, we held a toy-making workshop to demonstrate making educational toys from recycled materials such as plastic bottle caps, cardboard, old bottles and other containers, old clothes, and other materials. The nursery schools were urged to ‘play-it-forward’ by inviting parents to toy making workshops and ensuring that their colleagues also receive training in the activity kits and toy making.

Where to from here?

This project is an exciting start to a collaborative recycling and environmental awareness outreach initiative in Kutama, building on our existing projects to develop relationships and contribute to environmental and human health beyond the borders of protected areas.

In addition to potentially improving the lives of people with disabilities and those who care for them people from Kutama will benefit through access to high quality clothing at affordable prices, as well as innovative ECD strategies that build the capacity of teachers while preparing young children for school. We are already implementing our innovative, curriculum-aligned Education for Sustainable Development project, the Guardians of the Future, in seven schools in Kutama. Through this, we are working with educators to develop curriculum-aligned interactive teaching aids and resources to stimulate a love of learning and improved understandings of topics that young learners often struggle to understand through textbook-teaching alone. Contributing to literacy, numeracy, and other ECD skills will is a valuable contribution to their future schooling and potential growth.

What can you do?

Choose fashion items that will last and ensure that good quality clothes are not thrown away.
Care for your clothes so that they last longer.
Support fashion brands that are reducing harmful environmental and social impacts.

Support fashion brands that are reducing harmful environmental and social impacts.

Patagonia, for example, recently took an almost unprecedented step by committing to channel all its excess profits into a trust dedicated to the protection of the environment and support for communities[vii].

In addition, 200 brands have signed the Fashion Pact, which commits to restoring biodiversity loss, reducing global emissions, and safeguarding oceans[viii].

Drop off clothes you no longer wear at H&M, who are supporting Clothes To Good collect clothes to support the above project as well as numerous others.

[i] By the Numbers: The Economic, Social and Environmental Impacts of “Fast Fashion” | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

[ii] Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (2017)

[iii] UNECE 2018

[iv] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-alliance-sustainable-fashion-addresses-damage-fast-fashion

[v] Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (2017)

[vi] Silvestrii 2021

[vii] https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/

[viii] https://www.cbd.int/article/sustainability-always-in-style#:~:text=End%20of%20life%3A%20Disposal%20of,pollutants%20into%20the%20surrounding%20landscape.

Tales from the Field: Clothes to Good

Clothes to Good

Dr Jennifer Botha, the EWT’s People In Conservation

Through this project, educators from ten creches and a facility catering for vulnerable children will have the opportunity to promote Early Childhood Development through a series of fun, interactive activities.

Tammy Greyling from ClothesToGood demonstrates a game to promote literacy.

Each group received an Early Childhood Development kit consisting of over 50 activities to stimulate Early Childhood Development

Did you know it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce a single cotton tee-shirt?[i]And that the fast fashion most of us depend on is one of the highest polluting industries globally, contributing 2 – 8% (about 1,2 billion tons) of greenhouse gases annually – higher than international flight and maritime shipping emissions combined[ii].
In addition to the widespread loss of biodiversity and habitats during production of raw materials, the industry:
- Produces about 20% of the world’s wastewater[iii],
- And 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally[iv],
- Is a major contributor to plastic pollution in oceans[v]
At the same time, the average number of times clothes are worn before being thrown away has fallen by 36% over the past 15 years in the United States, China, and other more affluent countries – and only 13% of these largely under-utilised clothes are recycled globally. It has been estimated that 21 billion tonnes of textiles are sent to landfill each year, the bulk of which are under-utilised [vi].

The fast fashion industry is booming and set to treble in size by 2050. Clearly, we need to rethink the largely “take – make – and waste” linear business model that is currently typical of this and many other industries.

What are we doing?

As part of its 50^th celebration, the Endangered Wildlife Trust is implementing a series of innovative projects to reduce human impacts on biodiversity and habitats, whilst benefitting people.

In our most recent endeavour, we teamed up with Clothes to Good to support the circular economy of the fashion industry while contributing to the well-being and development of people with disabilities and young children in Kutama, Limpopo Province. The EWT works extensively with people from Kutama as they live adjacent to the Medike Mountain Reserve, one of our flagship projects in the Western Soutpansberg.

Through this integrated project, we aim to empower the Muthu Ndi Nyi Centre for people with disabilities by creating an opportunity for staff and parents to raise funds for the centre through the sale of high-quality second-hand clothing. The project also includes a health and well-being component through the provision of training and occupational health support to children and young people with disabilities from the centre and ECD training for ten creches and a facility that provides after-school care for vulnerable children.

Jesse Naidoo provided business training to enable staff and parents from Muthu Ndi Nnyi to maximise the financial and social returns through the sale of clothes. In addition, Tammy Greyling, an occupational therapist from ClothesToGood met with staff and parents to work with each of them to draw up a personal development plan for each of nine children and young adults who have disabilities to improve the quality of their lives and stimulate their personal development through improved communication, physical exercise, and specific activities tailored to each of their needs and abilities.

Early childhood development

The first three years are one of the most important developmental periods of a child’s life. In South Africa, there are still wide disparities in the quality of pre-school education provided to young children across socio-economic classes, exacerbating the learning difficulties that children face when they reach school going age.

As part of this project, we held a two-day workshop for over 30 participants from Muthu Ndi Nnyi, ten local creches, and a centre providing after-school care for vulnerable children. On the first day, Tammy Greyling, ClothesToGood’s occupational therapist, introduced an ECD kit comprising over 50 activities designed to stimulate fine and gross motor skills, perceptual skills, numeracy, and literacy. Each creche and centre received one of these demonstration kits and a training manual which will enable them to reproduce the activities for the 100 – 150 children in each of their care.

On the second day, we held a toy-making workshop to demonstrate making educational toys from recycled materials such as plastic bottle caps, cardboard, old bottles and other containers, old clothes, and other materials. The nursery schools were urged to ‘play-it-forward’ by inviting parents to toy making workshops and ensuring that their colleagues also receive training in the activity kits and toy making.

What can you do?

Choose fashion items that will last and ensure that good quality clothes are not thrown away.
Care for your clothes so that they last longer.
Support fashion brands that are reducing their environmental and social impacts.

For example, Patagonia recently took an almost unprecedented step by committing to channel all its excess profits into a trust dedicated to the protection of the environment and support for communities[vii].

In addition, 200 brands have signed the Fashion Pact, which commits to restoring biodiversity loss, reducing global emissions, and safeguarding oceans[viii].

Drop off clothes you no longer wear at H&M, who are supporting ClothesToGood collect clothes to support the above project as well as numerous others.

This project is an exciting start to a creative recycling and environmental awareness initiative in Kutama but also has the potential to contribute to substantially reducing textile waste over time. In addition, people from Kutama will benefit through access to high quality, affordable clothing as well as innovative and affordable ECD strategies that build the capacity of teachers while preparing young children for school.

[i] By the Numbers: The Economic, Social and Environmental Impacts of “Fast Fashion” | World Resources Institute (wri.org)
[ii] Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (2017)
[iii] UNECE 2018
[iv] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-alliance-sustainable-fashion-addresses-damage-fast-fashion
[v] Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (2017)
[vi] Silvestrii 2021
[vii https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/
[viii] https://www.cbd.int/article/sustainability-always-in-style#:~:text=End%20of%20life%3A%20Disposal%20of,pollutants%20into%20the%20surrounding%20landscape.

Making a snake puppet from old bottle lids.

Hand glove puppets easily made from old socks can bring the magic into story telling.

Teddy bears are expensive if you buy them but can be easily made from old fabric and fillers.

Few of the creches had skipping ropes – each group made a demonstration rope from fabric that they will be able to replicate for the children in the care and demonstrate to the parents of the school.

Tales from the Field: Dropping in on the eastern Riverine Rabbit population

Dropping in on the Eastern Riverine Rabbit population

Dr Samantha Mynhardt and Esther Matthew, the EWT’s DRYLANDS CONSERVATION PROGRAMME

The Critically Endangered Riverine Rabbit is regarded as one of Africa’s most endangered mammals, threatened predominantly by habitat transformation across the Karoo, resulting in a limited geographical distribution and seemingly small population size. The species is known from two populations: one in the Nama Karoo, where it was first discovered near Richmond in 1902, and one near Touwsriver in the Succulent Karoo, where the second population was discovered in 2003 (Figure 1). However, more recently in 2018, yet another, third population of these rabbits was discovered (through the correct identification of a roadkill specimen) just west of the Baviaanskloof, approximately 250 kilometres east of the known distribution. Research on the first two populations has been ongoing, however little to nothing is known about the third, most recently discovered population.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Drylands Conservation Programme has been working on Riverine Rabbit conservation for over 20 years and has initiated a concerted effort to better understand this newly discovered population. Our aim is to investigate the geographic distribution of the species and any possible geographic links to the other two populations, and to gather genetic material to investigate genetic connectivity between the populations.

Earlier this month, three members of our team embarked on a field trip to collect Riverine Rabbit samples for this purpose. Dr Samantha Mynhardt is sampling rabbit scat (droppings) from all three populations for DNA sequence analysis, in order to map distributions and understand genetic connectivity, while Esther Matthew and her trained scent-detection dog, Delta, are assisting with establishing connections with farmers in the area, accessing properties, and locating (sniffing out) scat in the field. Delta, a two year old Border collie, is being trained to help us distinguish between the scat of different lagomorph species (hares and rabbits) in the field, to help increase efficiency.

Figure 1: Map illustrating the known extent of the three Riverine Rabbit populations occurring in three biomes across two provinces.

The Eastern population is located roughly between Uniondale and Willowmore, west of the Baviaanskloof. The species was described in 1902 from Nama Karoo specimens (northern population). The southern population was discovered in 2003 and the eastern population in 2018.

We surveyed four properties where our camera traps have detected Riverine Rabbits over the past couple of years, as well as an additional site, where the team spotted a live rabbit in the road. Rabbit scat was found at all the sites, in varying levels of abundance, and a total of 41 samples was collected from the five properties (eight distinct geographic sites). Samantha will extract DNA from a selected subset of these samples for genetic analysis. The DNA sequences will allow us to identify species, i.e. verify that the droppings are those of Riverine Rabbits, map geographic distributions, and investigate genetic connectivity between these samples and those of the other two populations.

Ultimately, the insights we gain from the population genetic analyses of these samples, regarding genetic connectivity of subpopulations, genetic diversity of the population as a whole, and of the subpopulations, and potentially also population size estimation, will help to inform and guide conservation management of the species. Perhaps the genetics will also unlock some of the secrets of the past distribution and origins of the populations.

This project is supported by our longest standing funder for Riverine Rabbit conservation work, the Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations (Zoologische Gesellschaft für Arten- und Populationsschutz – ZGAP). The team’s transport to sites is made possible by Ford Wildlife Foundation.

Conscious Conservation

Conscious Conservation: why knowing where species are is crucial for protecting them

Oliver Cowan, the EWT’s Conservation Planning and Science Unit

How can we protect what we do not fully understand?

That is the key question driving our work on ‘uplisting’ species considered Data Deficient according to the IUCN Red List Assessment Criteria (See Box 1). The Conservation Planning and Science Unit has been working with experts across different taxonomic groups (Amphibians, Reptiles, and Mammals) to identify Data Deficient species most likely to need protection and enhanced conservation efforts (See Box 2). If a species is ‘uplisted’ to a threat category, then it is afforded some form of protection by law, and its presence must be taken into account during the Environmental Impact Assessment process (See Box 3).

One species identified early on as requiring urgent work was the Orange Sandveld Lizard (Nucras aurantiaca). Sometimes referred to as Lambert’s Bay Sandveld Lizard, the species had only been captured once when farm workers caught two individuals from a location just outside of Lambert’s Bay on the West Coast of South Africa in 2005. Having never seen an animal like it, the farmer sent the specimens to the provincial conservation body, whereafter they arrived at Stellenbosch University, after which it was formally described. Since then, it has only been recorded once – by a camera trap set up by researchers looking for something else entirely – in 2011 on a farm 20 km northeast of the original locality.

Its apparent scarcity has made it an almost revered species among the Southern African herpetological community. However, the need for more records has more important implications than merely ticking it off one’s ‘lifer’ list. The habitat in which the species is known to occur has undergone substantial historical transformations, much due to agriculture, and in more recent years, a slew of mining developments have occurred along the West Coast. Indeed, in 2022, a right to prospect for phosphate ore was granted that encompassed both known localities. The need to gather the data to uplist the species is thus crucial to ensure it is safeguarded against irresponsible development.

With this in mind, a team of some of the country’s top herpetologists from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and Bayworld Museum joined the EWT for two weeks of intensive surveys in November 2022. Braving the summer heat, storms, and deep sand roads, they employed a combination of pitfall traps, drift fences and active searching to find additional records and information that may shed light on the lizard’s ecology, habitat requirements, and population dynamics. Their hard work was rewarded with three more occurrence records, all from a single site adjacent to the camera trap site where the species was recorded. The data gathered from this survey will be used to conduct an updated Red List assessment later this year, with the likely outcome that the species will be placed in the Vulnerable or Endangered category. Once the assessment has been reviewed, the species will be incorporated into the Environmental Screening Tool and accounted for during subsequent development proposals.

In total, 37 amphibian and reptile species were recorded on this highly successful trip, including species of conservation concern such as the Endangered Kasner’s Dwarf Burrowing Skink (Scelotes kasneri) and the Near Threatened Armadillo Girdled Lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus), as well as a potential range expansion for the Cape Long-tailed Seps (Tetradactylus tetradactylus).

Box 1 IUCN Threat Categories

The different Red List categories as defined by the IUCN

Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal and plant species. Species experts assess species according to set criteria considering population dynamics, ecological and habitat requirements, and past, current and future threats to ultimately assign a species into an extinction risk category.

Box 2: Data Deficient Animals in South Africa

The Data Deficient Orange Sandveld Lizard (Nucras aurantiaca) – photo credit: Chad Keates

“Data Deficient” is an IUCN Red List Category assigned to species where there is not enough information to conduct an extinction risk assessment. Listing of species in this category indicates that more information is required and acknowledges the possibility that future research will show that threatened classification is appropriate. In South Africa, there are currently seven Mammal, five Amphibian, seven Reptile, and one Butterfly species listed as Data Deficient.

Box 3: Environmental Screening Tool

An example of a species distribution model – Brown Hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) – which informs the Environmental Screening Tool Animal Layer

The National Environmental Screening Tool is an online tool which contains, amongst other things, spatial information on the distribution of plant and animal species of conservation concern, that is regionally listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered according to the IUCN criteria. By law, the tool must be used in the screening process for any proposed development in the scoping phase of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. The EWT collaborated with SANBI and Birdlife South Africa to create and collate the animal and plant layers used in the tool.

Armadillo Girdled Lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus) – photo credit: Chad Keates
Kasner’s Dwarf Burrowing Skink (Scelotes kasneri) – photo credit: Chad Keates
Cape Long-tailed Seps (Tetradactylus tetradactylus) – photo credit: Chad Keates

The EWT would like to thank the Anglo-American Foundation for funding this project, our expert collaborators (particularly Dr Krystal Tolley at SANBI and Werner Conradie from Bayworld Museum), and of course, the landowners for kindly allowing access to their properties, supporting our work, and being at the forefront of protecting the biodiversity of the region.

Poisoned vultures take to the sky

Emily Taylor, the EWT’s Communications Manager

While we endeavour to bring our audiences positive conservation news, it is important that we also bring attention to conservation challenges and grave news. As the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Communications Manager, I hear the good and the bad, and it’s my job to pass on the information to our supporters and to ensure that we increase awareness around the challenges our threatened species face and how we can all overcome them. The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Support Service staff don’t get to go out into the field as often as we would like, but this time, my colleagues Sizie Modise (Head of Marketing) and Lesego Moloko (Governance Manager) and I did, and I could write the story first-hand. While I was not present at the events leading up to the moments I witnessed, they were devastating and in need of urgent attention, so I will give some background before I tell my tale.

Background

It can be bad out there, and our field officers are on the frontline of a critical battle we are fighting against the indiscriminate poisoning of our wildlife. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTCA), which includes the Kruger National Park and surrounding reserves, is a landscape rich in biodiversity, and vultures play an integral role in the functioning of its ecosystems. It is also a high-risk area for wildlife poisoning, with at least 796 vultures across five threatened species killed in the area since January 2019. In the GLTFCA, vultures are often poisoned and harvested for their body parts for use in traditional medicine. They also regularly fall as the unintended victims for poisons left out for other wildlife such as lions, hyaenas and leopards, which are also targeted and slaughtered for their body parts, or because they threaten local livestock.

At 14:50, on Youth Day (16 June), the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) Birds of Prey Programme Lowveld team, John Davies and Dr Lindy Thomson, responded to a call regarding a wildlife poisoning incident on a reserve in the Greater Kruger area. They were on the road in ten minutes and arrived just before sunset at a dismal scene with one dead and two live White-backed Vultures in grave condition. The team loaded the two surviving birds into crates in the EWT’s custom-made Vulture Ambulance and rushed them to Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre near Hoedspruit – arriving at 11 pm.

The rescue

Determined that there were more lives to save, John and Lindy returned with the ambulance at 4 am the following day and, joined by SANParks rangers, Honorary Rangers, and Dr Joel Alves and Isabella Grünberger from WildScapes Veterinary and Conservation Services, they scoured the area for six hours, discovering and bringing more survivors back to the ambulance for treatment as they were found.

The main poisoning scene was deep in the bush, and after the vet, Dr Joel Alves and the EWT’s John Davies treated each bird on site, a team member then carried the birds 3 km to where the Vulture Ambulance was parked. Another six vultures (one Hooded, one Lappet-faced, and four White-backed vultures) were critical but still alive. Sadly 45 vultures, a Bateleur Eagle, a lion, and three lion cubs did not survive the poisoning. The surviving birds were safely delivered to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre for treatment and rehabilitation in the capable hands of Dr Jess Briner and the Moholoholo Clinic team.

The release

The eight rescued vultures that survived a mass poisoning incident in June, including six White-backed Vultures, one Lappet-faced Vulture, and one Hooded Vulture, were released back into the wild on 1 July 2023 after being successfully treated and rehabilitated over two weeks. I was honoured to be at the release of these rehabilitated birds in person on Saturday, 1 July 2023. It is humbling to see not only the resilience and grace of these magnificent birds but also the passion, determination, and care the EWT and the Moholoholo Clinic team show while saving their lives. We got there at around 10 am and were shown to the clinic where the vultures were being prepared for their return to the skies. We all got stuck in – immersing ourselves in as much of the process as possible to truly understand and appreciate it. It’s not easy work, and we got to see the easiest part.

One after the other, the birds were brought through to the clinic, fitted with leg rings for identification purposes and their tracking devices – lightweight, solar-powered devices that have been custom-made for the EWT to ensure they are long-lasting, do not cause the birds any discomfort, and are able to transmit accurate location and flight path data of the birds post-release. This data will allow the EWT to monitor their movements and safety once they are released.

EWT staff assisting to fit the tracking collars
The EWT's Lesego Moloko, Emily Taylor, Sizie Modise, and Lindy Thompson
Sizie holding on to the vulture's feet so that Lindy is able to fit leg rings on the bird
A peek at one of the vultures in the clinic

When all of the birds were prepared and loaded into the vulture ambulance, we headed to the Moholoholo Vulture Restaurant nearby, where we would send the birds on their way. These events are important opportunities for education and awareness raising, and so there were invited guests to witness the release. John Davies from the EWT’s Birds of Prey Programme gave a talk on the essential role vultures play in ecosystems, the threats they face, and the necessary role of organisations like the EWT and Moholoholo Wildlife Rehab Centre in the long-term survival of our wildlife.

We then put meat out nearby to attract wild birds before unloading the crates and lining them up in sight of the food. One by one, we opened the crates, and in the blink of an eye, they were out. I opened one of the crates, and I could feel the wind from their powerful wings as they took to the sky.

I think that it must be quite stressful being in a cage for a few weeks when you’ve been a wild bird all your life. So I think they do get a little bit stressed, but with this release, what we did today at the Moholoholo Vulture Restaurant, we put food down and waited for the wild birds to come down and then opened the crates so that the released birds can see their buddies flying in the sky dropping down towards the food, and they join them.

Dr Lindy Thompson, the EWT Birds of Prey Programme

It is not only the release of the vultures that is critical. It is also important to monitor their movements using their tracking devices. The GPS data allows us to see where the birds are travelling and respond to any indication of unusual behaviours, such as immobility, for longer than normal periods, particularly in areas we know are at high risk for wildlife poisoning.

We have to evolve with the threats to vultures and with the situation around us, and technology and innovation are absolutely critical to this. From tracking birds across vast expanses using GPS telemetry to ensuring more poisoned birds make it to the rehabilitation centre in time using the vulture ambulance, which in the past has just not been available to people in severe situations dealing with many birds.

John Davies, the EWT Birds of Prey Programme

John Davies talking about the threats to vultures, such as poisoning, and how we address these threats. Photo credit Sarah Goodman
John showing an example of the collars we use to track the released birds. Photo credit Sarah Goodman
The EWT Vulture Ambulance. Photo credit Sarah Goodman
Crates lined up for vultures to be released together. Photo credit Sarah Goodman
The first vulture takes tentative steps to freedom. Photo credit Sarah Goodman
The first bird takes flight. Photo credit Sarah Goodman
And they're off! Photo credit Sarah Goodman
The released birds join the others at the meat laid out for them. Photo credit Emily Taylor

The tracking devices fitted to these vultures started transmitting immediately, and when we downloaded the data just a few days after the birds were released, we were astounded. It’s incredible to see the distance the vultures can travel in such a short time, especially when these birds were gravely ill from poisoning just three weeks ago! You can see a video showing these movements here.

From seeing the passion and dedication on the faces of our colleagues to feeling the wind from their wings as birds take flight – these experiences are what inspire us, give us hope, and keep us going in the fight against threats to our wildlife.