In the News - February 2012

In the News - February 2012

Good News
WOW! There has been a Giraffe baby boom in February! As I mentioned in my last news edition (January 2012), Giraffe populations have dropped massively in the wild. So, this is really great news for the Giraffes and the people who care about them :)

So here is a list of Giraffe babies of February!

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's Female Giraffe calf. Source: zooborns.com

• January 31st (I know): Female Rothschild’s giraffe born at Marwelle Wildlife in the UK! Her names Ruby. Read more about her here!
• February 2nd: Female Reticulated Giraffe's grand debut at Oakland Zoo.
• February 3rd: Female Reticulated Giraffe revealed to the public at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
• February 9th: Twin Rothschild Baby giraffes were born today at Prague zoo!
• And on Valentine's day, a little male Rothschild Giraffe was born at UK's Paignton Zoo.

In other baby news....

zooborns.com

Here is a photo of Dexter, the male Brazilian Tapir born at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, at just two hours old. Yep, two hours old. Dexter looks quite different to his parents because baby tapirs have striped and spotted coats. This provides them with camouflage as in the wild they live in wet forests and grassland, but they lose their patterns as they grow older. Unfortunately, the wild population of Brazilian or lowland tapirs are threatened due to habit destruction and hunting.

Juvenile Brookesia micra, one of the new species of Chameleon found. Source: nationalgeographic

 Of the four new species of chameleon discovered on Madagascar, this one is the smallest. The average adult length of this chameleon (pictured above) is just over an inch or 2.9 cm from snout to tail! This makes B.micra one of the tiniest reptiles in the world.

 Bad News

Even with all the happy baby news, there will always be the bad news.

Orangutan captured by workers at a palm oil plantation in Indonesia. Source: thejakartaglobe.com

Everyday, Orangutans become more and more under threat of becoming extinct. Workers at palm oil plantations kill these poor creatures as "pests".

There have been many campaigns against the use of Palm oil. For those of you who are unaware, Palm oil is a type of vegatable oil which comes fromthe palm fruit, which grows on African oil palm tree. Although these trees originate from Africa, they can thrive wherever heat and rainfall are abundant. Today, almost all palm oil is produced in/exported from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thousands of kilometres of pristine rainforest has to be chopped down and burnt in order to make room for these plantations. This leads to devastating consequences for the Orangutans and many other animals who find their homes in the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.
This includes:

• Proboscis Monkey
• Pygmy Elephant
• Asian Rhinoceres
• Sumatran Tiger
• Sunbear
• Gibbon
• Rhinocers Hornbill
• Clouded Leopard
• Fishing cat
• Lar Gibbon
• Dhole
• Malayan Tapir
• Refflesia flower
• Titan Arum flower

And that's just naming the species you may know of or have seen in a zoo!
This mass loss of habit can very easily kill off an entire population of any species living in that area.

Fortunately, there is something you can do. Please read more info here at www.saynotopalmoil.com.
Here they show you how you can identify palm oil in products and how to avoid using it. It also includes images and more information about the species that are suffering from this booming industry.

And if you still haven't received the message, read the titles of these newspaper articles and maybe even take a read.

Orangutans Struggle To Survive As Palm Oil Booms.

Orangutan Genocide Is An Organised Crime.

Palm Oil Plantations Orphan Baby Orangutans & Leave Them Nowhere To Call Home.

Bleak Forecast For The Future Of East Kalimantan Orangutans.