Conservation biologist

Rare wildlife — and the poachers who target it — caught on camera.  By Greg McCann

Virachey National Park’s location is both a blessing and a curse. Carved out of a chunk of mountains that demarcates the Cambodian, Lao, and Vietnamese borders and terminating in a wisp of terrain known as the “Dragon’s Tail,” the wildlife of this beleaguered and beautiful park has managed to cling to existence thanks almost exclusively to its rugged terrain. Many Cambodian protected areas lay on relatively flat land that makes it all too easy for poachers and loggers to get around in, but that ease of navigation ends at Virachey, which is actually the southern flank of a westward-stretching arm of the Annamite Cordillera. On the Vietnamese and Lao sides of the borders with Virachey the mountains and jungles spread onward, echoing the morning cry of gibbons and the call of the hornbills that always impress visitors to Virachey. This intriguing topography is also a problem because Lao and Vietnamese poachers find it all too easy to sneak across the wild border areas to set snares and shoot rare species like douc langurs out of the trees.

Indeed, Vietnamese and Lao poaching inside Virachey appears to be on the increase, as Habitat ID’s camera traps are now showing. While locals also poach, they do not, according to our camera trap records, seem to be as well-armed, determined, and well-organized as the Vietnamese, who have long made illegal border crossings into Cambodia via Laos and Vietnam to hunt out the last of the tigers and elephants. Local people are allowed to enter the park to collect Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and to fish and even hunt non-threatened species such as wild pig and barking deer. In fact, the locals caught on our film appear positively benevolent compared to the eerily determined Vietnamese poachers stalking the remote Virachey mountains in the dark of night.

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An elusive Binturong with two cubs ambles by a camera trap near the Lao border. This species is not often recorded in Cambodia, but it can still be found in Virachey.

By BEC CREW

Researchers have found several colossal burrows in South America that are so huge and neatly constructed, you'd be forgiven for thinking humans dug them as a passageway through the forest.

Turns out, they're far more ancient than they look, estimated to be at least 8,000 to 10,000 years old, and no known geologic process can explain them. But then there's the massive claw marks that line the walls and ceilings - it's now thought that an extinct species of giant ground sloth is behind at least some of these so-called palaeoburrows.

Life in the Orangutan Conservation Center in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.  By Adzwari Ridzki 

The iconic orangutan prints on the green 500 rupiah bills in Indonesia are forever etched in my memory. During my childhood, we used the bills to joke with friends, comparing them with the picture of the primate. It was only later that I came to see the great apes as something more — symbols of the urgent need to preserve both the orangutan species and the forests where they live; natural shelters of biodiversity.

This photo essay aims to display daily life inside the Orangutan Conservation Center. Here, the relationship between orangutans and the keepers varies. At times, it is much akin to surrogacy; at other times, it is more like the bond between sheep and shepherds. Consisting mostly of young enthusiasts, the keepers venture deep into the forest every day. This is the “forest school,” where they prepare the big bipedal red-furred primates for their release into a natural habitat. The keepers follow the orangutans, monitoring and checking on them.

The keepers know full well that this job is not risk-free. Dealing with orangutans being prepared for the wildlife requires alertness and knowledge. What they do is both an adventure and a rare life experience.

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General check-ups for orangutans are performed periodically at the rehabilitation center to measure the primates' health and growth.

I think it is almost 3 years ago since I last posted something on tumblr, I can’t even remember. I hardy spoke or wrote anything in English for all this time, so please bear with me and laugh a little! 

So a short personal update: I guess ‘real life’ happend, I got a great full-time job as a Eco and wildlife studies teacher in the Netherlands (which takes up almost all of my time), moved houses a few times, went on many trips to different places over the world (Spain, Finland, Israel, Cabo Verde, South Africa, Vietnam, damn it really has been a long time!), broke up with my boyfriend after almost 10 years, build a house next to my parents (very cheap living), and now I’m thinking about making a career change!! I’ve been asked to work at a rehabilitation centre in the north of the Netherlands, but also to come to Vietnam to help save endangered animals. In June I will be making the decision about what I’m going to do next. In the mean time, I’m continuing with posting about wildlife conservation. During the last few years my personal interest changed into many subjects related to human-wildlife conflicts, human-animal relationships, environmental education, ex-situ conservation and illegal trade. So this blog will focus on this subjects in the future and I’m going to included more personal stuff related to wildlife conservation. I hope you can appreciatie this change. 

If you like, you can also follow me on Instagram (and see pictures of my trips the last years)!

With love,  Ayla