#reaseheath college

Had a great turnout for the Salamander Chytrid talk held by Liam Fitzpatrick from ZSL last night. He talked about the effects of chytrid fungus both in frogs and toads and the newly discovered fungus in salamanders. It was a very interesting talk and thanks to everyone who came along.

Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick - Daphne Sheldrick has successfully rasied and rehabilitated many wild species alonside her late husband David. Her involvement with wildlife has spanned a lifetime. She is a recognised International authority on the rearing of wild animals and is the first person to have perfected the milk formula and necessary husbandry for infant, milk-dependent elephants and rhinos. She lived in the Nairobi National Park, where they set up the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and it Orphans Project. Daphne has in-deth knowledge of animal psychology and behavioural characteristics of different species. She has published four books, numerous articles and made many television appearances. SHe has promoted wildlife conservation worldwide. The BBC depicted her work with orphaned elephants in the documnetry "Elephant Diaries". In the 2005 November issue of the Smithsonian Magazine, Daphne was named as one of 35 people, globally who have made a difference in terms of animal husbandry and wildlife conservation. For more information visit https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/html/about_daphne_sheldrick.html

Wangari Maathai - Wangari Maathai was born in April 1940 in Nyeri, Kenya. She was the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1977 she started a grass-roots movement which aimed at countering the deforestation that threatened the agricultural population. The campaign encouraged women to plant trees which their local communities. The campaign spread to other African countries and resulted in over thirty million tress being planted. She also encouraged women to sustain natural resources. She has won many awards over the years and unfortunately in 2011, Wangari passed away. However her work will forever remain and continue thanks the Green Belt Movement, who's work encourages the planting of trees. For more information about Wangari visithttp://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-facts.html For more information about the Green Belt Movement visit http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/

Dr. Dame Jane Goodall - Jane Goodall was born in London, on April 3rd 1934. She travelled to Kenya in 1957 and there she meets Dr Louis S.B. Leakey, a famous anthropologist and palaeontologist. Her knowledge of Africa and its wildlife leads to him hiring her as his assistant. In 1960, Jane arrives on the shores of the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in western Tanzania. At first the animals fled from her in fear but with patience and regular searches of the forest, and not getting too close too soon, the chimpanzees gradually accepted her presence. In October, 1961, she observes meat eating in chimps for the first time. At a later date, she sees them hunt for meat, which disproved that chimps are vegetarian. She also gets to see them making tools our of branches, such as using braches to push into termite mounds. This was one of the greatest discoveries for Jane as up until that time, it was believed that only humans were capable of creating tools. In 1962 she was accepted into Cambridge University as a PhD candidate. In August 1963 she published her first article, "My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees" in National Geographic. Jane earns her PhD in ethology in 1965 and in 1977, Jane founds the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation. In 1988 the Jane Goodall Institute UK is founded as a charity. Jane has produced lots of scientific research over the years which has helped define what we know about chimpanzees. Her list of publications include "Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink" and "The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behaviour". Today she spends her time peaking at venues around the world about eh threats facing chimpanzees and other environmental crises. For more information see http://www.janegoodall.org.uk/jane-goodall/biography

Dian Fossey - Dian Fossey made her first trip to Africa in 1963 and in 1967 she established the Karisoke Research Centre between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Visoke. Her main objective was to study gorilla ecology, demography and social organisation. In order to do this she had to be able to identify individuals so she spent lots of time around the group, allowing them to habituate. In order to get a better understanding of them, she began to imitate their vocalisations and behaviours, the end result being one fo the male gorillas reaching out to touch her hand. In 1977, Digit, one of her favourite gorillas was killed by poachers, which led to her establishing the Digit Fund to raise money to help protect gorillas. It was later renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. In 1983, her book Gorillas in the Mist was published and in 1988 it went on to be made into a film. However on December 26th 1985, Dr. Dian Fossey was murdered in her own cabin in Karisoke. She is an iconic conservationalist because of what she did for gorillas. She took on poachers head on by destroying traps, confronting them face to face and she even hired anti-poachers and guards which she funded with her own money. She severely opposed the poaching of gorillas and the black market that sold gorilla skins, hands and head. Her organisation provides protection for mountain gorillas. She was convinced that without immediate and long term conservation goals, there would be nothing left to save. For more information see http://gorillafund.org/about_dian_fossey

Today is International Women's Day. So here at the society we are celebrating all the women conservationalists out there. It's a day to celebrate achievements made by women and also to demostrate the efforts of some fantastic and iconic women. When it comes to African conservation, four women spring to mind, Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, Wangari Maathai and Daphne Sheldrick. The following images are of these iconic women and what they have done for conservation. 

This week we got involved with small mammal trapping on the grounds of Reaseheath College. The type of traps used were Longworth small mammal traps which are live traps comprising of two compartments; a tunnel and chamber. The trap works by a wire and door connection, so as the animal enters the tunnel and into the chamber it makes contact with the wire in which triggers the door to close. We provided plenty of bedding for warmth and food for the animals to use whilst in the trap, as they would be in there for a few hours before being checked on. We used hay and cotton wool for bedding and for food we provided apple chunks, seeds and maggot pupae. For each animal captured we recorded the species, weight, gender, sexual maturity, weather condition and location of fur clipping (used as individual identification). Species we captured were bank voles and wood mice. All animals were released after data collection. More photos can be found on our Facebook page.