Briefly 647 AMERICAS


For the climate’s sake, listen to urban Amazonians The Amazon region is renowned for its biodi- verse rainforest, which absorbs more carbon than any other land region in the world. However, national governments and inter- national leaders often forget about the urban communities that also exist within the Amazon. From Manaus and Bélem in Brazil to Leticia in Colombia or Iquitos in Peru, there are millions of Amazonian city dwellers. Across Amazon cities, there are diverse civil society movements mobilizing to stop defor- estation and secure inclusive social and eco- nomic policies. They urge national govern- ments and international actors to recognize that the clearance of rainforests to experience economic growth is unacceptable, and that the rainforestcannolongerbeseenasapristine environment mostly devoid of people. New waysofdevelopment areneededfor the region, promoting climate and social justice, and scal- ing green jobs and the so-called bio-economy. Unless these concerns areaddressed, economic stability and climate justice for the people of the Amazonremainout of reach. Source: Open Society Foundations (2021) opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/for- the-climate-s-sake-listen-to-urban- amazonians


New tool to help maritime industry avoid ship collisions with whales A new toolkit for mariners navigating the Northwest Atlantic has been developed in a collaborative effort, to help them avoid strik- ing whaleswith their ships. The shipping in- dustry poses amajor threat to the recovery of several whale species in the region, such as theNorth Atlantic rightwhale Eubalena gla- cialis, bluewhale Balaenopteramusculus and the St Lawrence Estuary population of the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas, because of the risk of collisions, acoustic distur- bance, and pollution. The online platform Navigating Whale Habitat was created by the MarineMammal Observation Network, WWF Canada, and the St Lawrence Global Observatory, working together with govern- ment partners and the maritime industry to guide best practices, improve data collection, identify high risk areas, and improve whale protection and navigation safety. To do so, the platformincludes training inwhale iden- tification and data collection, as well as pro- tocols, and data entry and visualization tools for use on board ships operating in the area. Source: WWF (2021) wwf.ca/media- releases/navigating-whale-habitat-a-new- tool-kit-for-the-maritime-industry


Study confirms origin of vervet monkeys living near an urban airport Robust data and genetic analyses are provid- ing important evidence on a colony of wild African vervetmonkeysChlorocebus sabaeus that landed in Dania Beach more than 70 years ago and settled in a thick mangrove forest in South Florida,USA. The non-native vervet monkey population is relatively un- known to primatologists. Despite wide pub- lic interest, there has been only one scientific study, in the early 1990s, suggesting that the monkeys escaped from a failed roadside zoo in the 1950sand 1970s. A team of scien- tists combined multiple methodological ap- proaches to determine the species of Chloro- cebus monkey in Dania Beach, where they came from, and their pathway of introduc- tion. Through interviews, historical archives and popular media, the scientists traced the monkeys to an escape from the Dania Chimpanzee Farm in 1948.The


facility


acted as a zoo and also provided primates imported fromAfrica as subjects in the devel- opment of the polio vaccine and other med- ical research. Historical archives suggest that the monkeys were originally caught in Sierra Leone. Sources: Primates (2021) doi.org/10.1007/ s10329-021-00890-1 & Phys.org (2021) phys. org/news/2021-05-vervet-monkeys-urban- airport-decades.html


Drone crash causes tern colony to abandon eggs Thousands of elegant tern Thalasseus elegans eggs were left abandoned at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve near Los Angeles, USA, in May 2021 after a drone crashed into the breeding colony. The terns, which nest in dense colonies with nests just 20–30 cm apart, were disturbed by the drone, fearing they were under attack by a predator on 13 May, ultimately leading to thousands of adult terns deserting an estimated 1,500– 2,000 eggs. Instead of being a noisy tern col- ony with hatching chicks, the beach was sub- sequently empty, occupied only by thousands of egg shells. Another drone that crashed in theReserve in thesamemonth landed in a colony of least terns Sternula antillarum. Fortunately, these small birds proved more resilient than their larger cousins: although the drone temporarily displaced the birds from the colony, they quickly returned to their nests. Although prohibited, drone use in the Reserve’s airspace is on the increase, along with other forms of disturbance asso- ciated with a rising volume of visitors, such as off-lead dogs and cyclists riding off paths. Source: Bird Guides (2021) birdguides.com/ news/drone-crash-causes-tern-colony-to- abandon-3-000-eggs


Copiapoacacti confiscated in 2020 returned to their native Chile The 1,035 cacti from the genera Copiapoa and Eriosyce confiscated in Italy during two seizures in February and November 2020 were repatriated to Chile in April 2021.The repatriation process was led by a working group coordinated by Associazione per la Biodiversitá e la sua Conservazione (Italy), Universidad de Concepción (Chile) and the IUCN SSC Cactus and Succulent Plants Specialist Group. Of the seized plants, 107 perished, 844 were repatriated and 84 plants stayed at the Città Studi Botanical Garden in Milan, Italy, to be studied. The plants, tem- porarily housed in Milan, were shipped to Santiago de Chile, where they were quaran- tined to prevent the introduction of possible disease vectors. The shipment was funded by contributions from SSC Internal Grants, Città Studi Botanical Garden of Milan and B.Willow. The cacti were removed from the wild in 2013–2019 and had a market value of c. EUR 1 million. Sources: IUCN (2020) iucn.org/news/ species-survival-commission/202012/ operacion-atacama-recovery-trafficked- threatened-cacti & IUCN (2021) iucn.org/ news/species-survival-commission/202104/ over-a-thousand-illegally-poached- copiapoa-estimated-market-value-one- million-euro-return-their-native-chile


Chile proposes high seas marine protected area off South America At a virtual climate summit in April 2021, President Sebastián Piñera of Chile proposed the creation of a high seas marine protected area(MPA) thatwould extend far beyondthe exclusive economic zones of SouthAmerican countries. The proposed MPA would span the Salas and Gomez and Nazca ridges, two underwater mountain chains stretching 2,900km across the south-eastern Pacific. The site of over 110 seamounts, and isolated by the Humboldt Current and Atacama Trench, the area is home to an incredible array of biodiversity, half of which is en- demic, and has been identified as a prime candidate for conservation by numerous international organizations. Effective protec- tion of these waters would help safeguard biodiversity beyond national waters and pro- vide refuge tomigratory species that frequent the area to breed.The bold proposal has been welcomed by conservationists, although ob- servers have commented that the unilateral nature of the proposal means the creation of this MPA may require intense diplomatic work with neighbouring countries. Source: The Maritime Executive (2021) maritime-executive.com/editorials/chile- proposes-high-seas-marine-protected- area-off-south-america


Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 643–648 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000958


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164