Two mountain gorillas in Rwanda have died in the wild from a human virus, raising fears that eco-tourism is harming their environment.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/859458-rare-mountain-gorillas-died-from-human-virus

29/03/2011
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How do you count orangutans when they are difficult to spot in the wild given that they are shy, arboreal, and few and far between? To find a solution, biologists have turned to estimating orangutan populations by counting their nests, which the great apes make anew every night. In order to make the most accurate count possible, researchers have studied the different factors that could impact the success, or lack thereof, of nest-counters in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science. 

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0328-hance_tcs_orang_nests.html

28/03/2011
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OVER 348 pieces of smoked bush meat worth about sh4m have been impounded by Uganda Wildlife Authority officials under the Bush meat Free East African Network (BEAN).

28/03/2011
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By Tom Levitt

The sudden upsurge in land deals by palm oil companies in Africa could lead to large-scale deforestation and loss of farmland by local communities, NGOs and environmental groups in Africa have told the Ecologist.

The world's largest palm oil producer Indonesia is due to implement a two-year ban on granting new concessions of land to plantation companies in forest areas. There are also restrictions on the availability of land in Malaysia. This has led companies like Sime Darby, which has more than half a million hectares of palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia, to look elsewhere.

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/823928/palm_oil_giants_target_africa_in_land_grab_following_indonesia_deforestation_ban.html

25/03/2011
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QUESTION: How big is the problem of bush meat hunting in the Uzungwa forests, and the whole of Tanzania?
ANSWER: Well, as we indicated in our report, currently, and perhaps aside from fire (which is also used for hunting), bush meat hunting is an immediate threat to wildlife populations and a major conservation problem for Uzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve (USFR), even though we cannot ignore the impact of human disturbances, such as pole cutting and illegal logging. But hunting is widespread and has considerable impact on larger species with relatively low population size due to their specific life history.

19/03/2011
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The Center for Orangutan Protection called on the government on Monday to repatriate 12 primates smuggled into Thailand a few years ago, citing concerns about their living conditions.

Hardi Baktiantoro, principal of the COP, said he was concerned about reports that the orangutans, smuggled out of Kalimantan between 2008 and 2009, were set to be moved to a zoo that he claimed had a questionable animal welfare record.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/bring-back-smuggled-orangutans-activist/428985

15/03/2011
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