by Meg Sullivan, UCLA

Mother, daughter, offspring A baboon mother (left) and daughter sit together with their offspring In Botswana's Moremi Game Reserve, mother and daughter baboons have the strongest bonds. Their bonds are three times stronger than those between sisters and 10 times stronger than those between other females. The daughter is pictured on the right, and the mother on the left. (Photo credit: Joan Silk)

Baboons whose mothers have strong relationships with other females are much more likely to survive to adulthood than baboons reared by less social mothers, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions.

“If you’re a baboon, the strength of your mother’s relationship with other females is the best predictor of whether you’ll live to have children yourself,” said Joan Silk, the study’s lead author and a UCLA professor of anthropology. “The study adds to mounting evidence of the biological benefits of close relationships among females.”

The findings are significant because “survivorship to reproduction is the gold standard in evolutionary biology,” said co-author Dorothy Cheney, a professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania. “Females who raise offspring to a reproductive age are more likely see their genes pass along, so these findings demonstrate an evolutionary advantage to strong relationships with other females. In evolutionary terms, social moms are the fittest moms — at least when it comes to baboons.”

The study appears online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a peer-reviewed journal published by the national academy of science of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Silk, Cheney and seven other researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and the University of St. Andrews in Kenya analyzed 17 years worth of records on more than 66 adult female baboons in the Moremi Game Reserve, a 2,000-square-mile national park in Botswana that teems with wildlife.

Collected on the ground by primatologists who tracked the baboons six days a week, 12 months a year, the records reflected the sex and survival rates of baboon offspring, as well as telling details of the mothers’ social lives, including their ranking within the group, as measured by the direction of approach/retreat interactions, and the amount of social interactions they had with each of the group’s other females.

In addition to showing how often one animal approached another, the records of social interactions included details of grooming, which is known to be the primary form of social interaction in Old World monkeys. The researchers noted how much time — frequency and duration — the females spent grooming each other and how often they solicited grooming from other females.

Of all the factors studied, the strength of a mother’s social bonds with another female had the most significant effect on the survival rates of offspring. A mother’s dominance rank proved to have no effect on the survival rate of her offspring.

“We really expected dominance status to be more influential than it proved to be,” Silk said.

Offspring from the most social mothers turned out to be about one-and-a-half times more likely to survive to adulthood than offspring from the least social mothers.

Baboons grooming Female baboons groom one another. (Photo Credit: Joan Silk)

The strongest social bonds were measured between mothers and adult daughters, followed by sisters and all other potential relationships, including aunts, nieces, cousins and baboons with no familial ties. Bonds between mothers and adult daughters proved to be three times stronger than those between sisters and 10 times stronger than relationships with other females.

“What really matter to these girls are mother-daughter bonds,” Silk said. “They’re really strong, and they last forever. If your mom is alive, she’s one of your top partners, always. But more importantly, it’s the strength of these bonds, because females whose bonds with their mothers and daughters were strong had higher offspring survival than females whose bonds with these relatives were weak.”

Silk’s past research with Jeanne Altmann, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, and Susan C. Alberts, a professor of biology at Duke University, on baboons in the Amboseli Basin of Kenya had found a higher survival rate for baboons with social mothers, but the research only tracked offspring through the first year of life.

For the new study, researchers followed offspring from 1 year of age through sexual maturity — roughly 5 years of age. The new study also differs from past baboon research by focusing on the strength and duration of relationships between pairs of females rather than on the amount of social interactions in general.

“The benefit comes not from being wildly social — it’s about having close social bonds,” said Cheney, who runs the Moremi baboon-tracking project with University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Robert M. Seyfarth.

“These females form strong relationships with particular partners,” Silk said. “They don’t treat everyone the same. They spend a lot more time with — and a lot more time grooming — some females than others, and these relationships tend to be very long-lasting.”

Additional research is needed to determine how the female bonds improve infant survival, but it may have to do with such stress hormones as cortisol, Silk said. Research has shown that prolonged elevations of stress hormones in primates can lead to cardiovascular disease and other serious health problems. Research has also shown that grooming tends to lower these stress hormones in baboons.

“Our research suggests that somehow there is a link between the kind of social relationships you form and the natural, normal stresses that occur in everyday life, and that seems to have — at least in baboons — a long-term effect on reproductive success,” Silk said.

Said to share 92 percent of their DNA with humans, baboons are close relatives of humans. Baboons and humans last shared a common ancestor about 18 million years ago. The new findings on social interactions among mothers parallel recent research that has shown health benefits for humans who enjoy particularly close social networks.

“Our findings suggest benefits from forming close relationships are built into us from a long way back,” Silk said.

The research received funding from the National Geographic Foundation, the Research Foundation of the University of Pennsylvania, the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania, the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Two Finalist images by P. B. Eleazer

Beyond the Popularity Award, there will also be awards given by qualified judges.  We hope our images will be selected by the judges, but a good result in the popularity category can’t hurt.

by Paul Burwell

The other day I started to think about things people have innocently said to me about my photography that have annoyed me. Now, I know that most of the comments were meant without any malice and were well intentioned.  I get that.  But, that doesn’t stop them from bothering the heck out of me.  I’ve taken the liberty of compiling the top offending comments into a top ten list, presented in the traditional descending order for your reading pleasure.  I also decided to annotate each of the comments with my own thoughts which would not normally remain safely ensconced in my brain.

10. Will you photograph my wedding?

• Okay, I know that I should take this as a compliment.  But unless the bride and groom are going to wallow through a swamp on all fours, count me out.  Brides and their mothers scare me more than coming face-to-face with a mother bear and her cubs while hiking.
  • We, at ChobeSafari have done this.  It is not fun.  Next wedding I shoot must be in a hippo pool!

9. Why can’t I get pictures like that with my cell phone?

• Hmmmmmm.  Tough one.  Could it be that the miniscule image sensor and cheap piece of plastic they call a lens can’t quite compete with quality glass and the resolving power of the sensors in modern digital SLR cameras?

• • Actually, we at ChobeSafari have seen some great cell phone shots.  You may not be enlarging to 1 meter squared, but if you no composition, you can take decent shots with that cell phone.

8. Digital is okay I guess, but it’s too bad it doesn’t have the quality of film

• Hello?  1995 called and they want their camera back.  Seriously, the quality of digital cameras surpassed film several years ago.  Seriously.

7. That picture would be amazing as a painting.

• Why in the blue hell is photography held in such poor regard when compared to sketching, painting or sculpting?  I get that these days everybody has a camera of some sort and there are literally millions of images captured each day.  But, I’ll put a great image up against a great painting or sculpture any day in terms of “artistic” merit.

• We really need to change this perception.  This is tough art and worthy of wall hanging.  Value your work.

6. That image looks like it could stand a bit more sharpening.

• Probably the most common bit of “advice” you find on Internet forums when folks post their images.  This age of pixel peeping has lead to an increasing number of people wayyyyyy over sharpening their images.  In my humble opinion.

5. Did you Photoshop® that?

• Yeah I did.  So what?  Do you realize that folks used to “darkroom” their images, remove flaws, lighten areas, darken areas and even completely alter the image?  Manipulation of photographs goes back to the advent of photography.  A famous example from 1920 is when Stalin had Trotsky removed from an image.

Stalin and Nikolai Yezhov, before retouching.

Stalin and Nikolai Yezhov, after retouching.

4. You were so lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

• In the same sense that I was lucky to be up an hour before sunrise for a week to arrive at the location in time only to be disappointed 6 out of the 7 days, I guess I was lucky.

• We at ChobeSafari have family and friends that think we are the luckiest people on earth to have captured the images we have.  Luck happens more often when you get up before sunrise, learn composition and practice, practice, practice.

3. How many megapixels is your camera?

• 200 bazillion.  I know that the marketing folks at the various camera manufacturers have worked their butts off to convince folks that megapixels matter.  But, I’m here to tell you that you may be able to get away with bigger crops on a high megapixel camera, my “old” four, six and eight megapixel cameras still make great pictures

• I still think some of my best work came out of my original Digital Rebel … but if you pixel peep or crop a lot, a bazillion pixels is nice … which is one of the reasons why we now shoot the Canon 7D and not our old Rebel (along with superior high ISO and much better focusing capability).

2. That’s a really great snapshot.

• Maybe it’s just me, but I find the term snapshot pejorative in the extreme.  Call it a great picture, image or even capture, but not a snapshot.  Please and thanks.

• Sometimes it is only a snapshot, but it does irk us when we put effort into setting up a nice image and we here the ’snapshot’ comment.

1. Wow, you must have a really nice camera!

• Yeah, and that painter must have had a really great easel.  Seriously, a nice camera?  Are you referring to my new K-Tel Autocapture 3000 that not only takes care of all of those confusing exposure calculations, won’t let me make an image that isn’t optimally composed and automatically chooses the perfect instant to make a photograph?  Sure, quality tools will help produce a quality photograph.  But until the Autocapture 3000 actually ships, it is still the photographer who makes decisions on exposure, subject, setting, timing, and composition.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you heard some innocent comment or question about your photography that just bugged the heck out of you, take it in stride.

I hope some of these comments gave you a laugh!

• A last ChobeSafari comment: The other common comment, which this article doesn’t list is the old “I shot that same thing last year, look at my snapshot’ … and then they show you something that is out of focus, shot at mid-day, lacks composition and has not been post processed at all … and they think it is the same quality output.

You can find out more about Paul at his website and blog: Paul Burwell Photography

Check out Paul’s Wildlife Photography Academy Workshops here:  link

This article was originally found and published at Outdoor Photo Gear

Prince Harry has admitted his regular trips to Botswana leave in him hot water with his father, the Prince of Wales.

The 25-year-old royal said he regularly spends time in the nation, which is famed for its spectacular scenery, and confessed that his travels away from home leave Charles worried.

The Prince, who has spent the past month backpacking through some of the area’s national parks, joked about the Prince of Wales’s “worries” about his youngest son’s love affair with Africa as he addressed guests at a reception in Botswana.  Prince Harry is known to like the water safari options and has been seen several times on the riverboat, Kubu Queen.

Cruising in Botswana: Chelsy Davy on the top deck where she and Prince Harry sleep under the stars

Botswana’s trade minister, Dorcas Makgatho-Malesu, pulled the Prince’s leg about his passion for trekking through some of Botswana’s more remote parkland, saying: “I was wondering when he would come into town, because we often hear that he is somewhere in the bush, so today certainly is a good day for us.”

The princes’ busy schedule for the week includes visits to the Tusk Trust wildlife charity in Botswana, of which Prince William is patron, and to projects in Lesotho run by Sentebale, the charity Prince Harry helped found to educate and support children in one of southern Africa’s poorest countries.    Harry arrived in the African nation ahead of his brother Prince William for a six-day joint charitable tour that will also see them both visit Lesotho. The princes will then head to South Africa for England’s World Cup group match against Algeria.

Prince Harry, who is understood to have spent part of his backpacking holiday with his girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, has funded the cost of his stay himself, while Prince William’s travel costs are being largely funded by the Football Association, of which he is president.

• Video with Harry’s comments here.

• Read more on Harry’s prior trips here.

and

• at this link, Harry’s trips to Botswana in 2008

and

• here is link to Harry celebrating his 21st in Botswana

• Here is info on the Boat Harry has used, the Kubu Queen

By: Dr. Luke Hunter

Barely a month goes by without news of someone getting into a tussle with a ‘tame’ big cat. A recent case in point showed a young lion in a South African resort roughing up a British journalist who thought it would make good copy to go into the animal’s cage for a close encounter. It’s easy to dismiss the stunt as journalistic nonsense (which it is) but dozens of operations across Africa sell similarly close encounters with lions to the average tourist. For a fee, just about anyone can play with cubs, take a stroll with young lions or pose for photos to show the folks back home.

Inevitably, the marketing behind these outfits is heavy on the C-word — ‘conservation.’ Visitors are told relentlessly that, by handing over their cash to cozy up to tame lions, they are helping to save the species in the wild. There’s little doubt that lions are in dire need — they have been eradicated from over 80% of their range in Africa alone — but don’t believe their advertising. Churning out cubs for photo opportunities is a great revenue earner but none of those cubs are set free. They are too tame. If they were ever to wander into a village or farm looking for a belly rub or a feed, the surprised locals would, not unreasonably, reach for their rifles or spears. Even assuming there is someplace sufficiently wild and people-free, captive-raised lions simply don’t have the skills and experience to survive. Many of the tame lions released by Joy and George Adamson (of ‘Born Free’ and Christian the Lion fame) starved to death, were killed by people and wild lions or, in some cases, killed people themselves and were shot.

The more sophisticated operations counter this by declaring that tame, tourist-friendly lions are not intended for release: rather, only later generations of captive-bred lions, not exposed to people, will be set free. Even setting aside the formidable obstacles in ‘training’ captive-bred lions to be wild, there simply isn’t the need. In South Africa, there are now more than 500 reintroduced lions in 37 reserves — the key difference being that all of them are wild born and bred. Starting back in 1992, South African biologists pioneered the process of translocating wild lions from marginal areas and reintroducing them into areas where people had wiped them out. It takes money and has risks, but considerably less of both than using captive lions. Wild lions captured in one place are already much better equipped to survive as wild lions in another place. But, of course, using wild lions to re-establish the species rules out charging gullible tourists for an up-close experience. Cue cub cuddling.

If all of this fails to convince you to think twice about paying for an ‘encounter,’ ask the handlers point blank how many of their lions have gone back to the wild? If they furnish you a figure, they are probably lying. As I write this, I do not know of one example. In fact, most of them never actually attempt releases. Which begs another question — what really happens to their lions? When cubs grow up, they cost a lot to feed and maintain, and they need to pay their way somehow. No problem. There is a thriving market for lions, mainly in South Africa, among ‘lion farmers.’ They buy surplus cats, much as livestock producers buy new stock on auction, and they breed them. For hunting. As adults, the cubs that cavort with tourists often end up in the gun-sights of trophy hunters. It’s quite legal provided you have the permits. If you don’t believe me, have a look at this report from the excellent South African program Carte Blanche.

The bottom line is, the ‘lion encounter’ industry is only that — an industry. I’m the first to applaud businesses finding ways for wildlife to generate a profit when it actually helps protect that wildlife. The same tourists who spend $200 for an afternoon of walking with tame lions could instead visit nearby national parks and game reserves where the entry price and lodge fees truly do help to conserve wildlife. For my money, stick with the real thing: no matter what the glossy brochures and slick websites claim, it won’t ever involve tame lions.

Bio on Dr. Hunter: Dr. Luke Hunter is the Executive Director at Panthera, the leading global nonprofit organization devoted to saving the world’s wild cat species, from the diminutive black-footed cat of southern Africa to the massive tiger of Asia. Hunter has conducted fieldwork on large cats in Africa since 1992. His current projects include assessing the effects of sport hunting and illegal persecution on leopards outside protected areas, developing a conservation strategy for lions across their African range, and the first intensive study of Persian leopards and the
last surviving Asiatic cheetahs in Iran.

From the email, Mr. Gorshkov is no stranger to Botswana as he has visited 21 times and is planning another trip there next week.  Sergey stated that Botswana, in his opinion, is the best country in Africa.  He noted that his favorite African safari subject is the leopard.  Mr. Gorshkov has provied us with a stunning leopard series which we now present to you.  (As noted on the images, all copyrights are the property of Sergey Gorshkov)

Nikon D3 at 24mm, 1/10 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 400

Nikon D3, 42mm, 1/640 sec. @ f/7.1, ISO 400

Nikon D3 at 200mm, 1/1000 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO800

Nikon D300S at 650mm, 1/50 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 1000

Nikon D3 at 400mm, 1/4000 @ f4, ISO 1000

Nikon D3S at 38mm, 1/640 @ f/5.6, ISO 1600

Nikon D3s at 24mm, 1/3200 @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Nikon D3s at 24mm, 1/40 sec @ f/5.3, ISO 12,800

As we reviewed Sergey’s leopard images, two things really struck us.  First, Sergey is a master at creating a truly intimate portrait of his subject.  If one had never seen a leopard in the wild, this series of images would be a strong documentary of the life of a leopard … and if you read the biography below, you will see that is a major goal of Mr. Gorshkov’s photography.  The second thing we noticed is the Sergey has embraced the new camera technology and it’s ability to shoot at high ISO settings.  Many of these images would have been near impossible if Sergey would have limited himself to ISO 400 or less.  There is a lesson for us in this work.

Again, the editors of Chobe Safari would like to thank Sergey for providing these works for this article.

A Brief Biography of Sergey Gorshkov: For many years Sergey has taken pictures of wild nature . . . and every year his feeling of alarm grows. The world, which he photographs, is in danger now.

“I have begun shooting wild nature imperceptibly, taking pleasure which I can’t compare with anything. I want to photograph the native wildlife as it is, what it always was and what it should remain for our children” Sergey says about why he entered into photography. “My camera is a connecting link between me and wildlife. Through the lens of the camera I can see things, take pictures and try to reproduce beauty of the wild nature, a piece of what I have seen and I have felt being there, in their escaping world which  is disappearing little by little from the face of the earth”.

Kamchatka region of Russia

Kamchatka, Russia is Sergey’s favorite place of shooting. “Travel to the world of the wild nature of Kamchatka is so fascinating and amazing that many years of work have gone as one day. I am happy that I had an opportunity to observe beauty of fauna of this peninsula. Memoirs, which I have got here, remain with me all my life…” Sergey says.

He thinks that each photographer should have an individual project, which he should know and develop. Sergey’s photography is focused on the wild world of Kamchatka, to be exact the wild world of a bear.

View more of Sergey Gorshkov’s images at the following web sites:

• A Gallery of Images by Sergey Gorshkov

• Sergey Gorshkov’s Journal/Blog site

By Dan Vergano from USA Today

Worried your mate might be headed for greener pastures? A biology study suggests you could cry “wolf”, or rather “lion”, to keep them home on the range, at least as long as you are an antelope.

Male and Female Topi

A study in the forthcoming July edition of The American Naturalist journal by Jakob Bro-Jørgensen of the United Kingdom’s Liverpool University and Wiline Pangle of Michigan State University, finds false lion warnings are used to deter straying mates among topi antelope in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve. The study calls this a first documented case of such sexual deception by false alarms.

“Here, we report that false alarm snorts are used by male topi antelopes (Damaliscus lunatus) to tactically deceive receptive females who intend to leave a male’s territory into believing that they are headed toward a predator,” says the study. “Consequentially, the departure of the female is delayed, providing the male with additional mating opportunities.”

In the study, the researchers report that when ovulating female antelopes appear ready to leave, male antelopes make alarm cries identical to ones they make when lions are near. The males look in the direction the females appear headed as they make the cries, triggering them to falter and step back. The biologists watched 73 female antelope for 274 hours of observations from 2005 to 2009.

Male Topi standing guard for lions

“It’s like the folk tale, only the male topi cries ‘Lion!’ rather than ‘Wolf!’”, says Dr. Bro-Jørgensen, in a statement on the study. “In fact, males quite frequently pull the trick on females in heat and one may ask why females keep responding to alarms at all. The answer seems to be that females are better off erring on the side of caution, because failing to react to a true alarm could easily mean death in a place like the Masai Mara where it’s literally crawling with large predators.”

Acoustic analysis and playback of the calls showed no difference between the false alarms and real “lion” snort warnings. Although people indulge in all sorts of deceptions in their mating behavior, the researchers expressed some surprise to see animals indulge in the same sort of sneakiness.

“Although firm statements about intentions behind behaviors are notoriously difficult to make, our study does identify a parallel between animals and humans in their capability of using false signaling to deceive mates, a finding that hints that their communication may be less fundamentally different than widely assumed,” concludes the study.

LINK to USA Today Newspaper

By MICHAEL CASEY, WILLIAM FOREMAN and JASON STRAZIUSO

The Associated Press
Sunday, May 16, 2010; 12:00 AM

In this photo taken on March 4, 2010, Chinese women talk in front of shops selling hand-carved sculpture and furniture in Putian, China. Demand for ivory runs strong in the city, which sits directly across from Taiwan, its outskirts crowded with factories owned by Taiwanese businessmen. These businessmen have a reputation for collecting ivory, a sure way to seal a deal with an important client. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

PUTIAN, China — Carefully, the Chinese ivory dealer pulled out an elephant tusk cloaked in bubble wrap and hidden in a bag of flour. Its price: $17,000.

“Do you have any idea how many years I could get locked away in prison for having this?” said the dealer, a short man in his 40s, who gave his name as Chen.

A surge in demand for ivory in Asia is fuelling an illicit trade in elephant tusks, especially from Africa. Over the past eight years, the price of ivory has gone up from about $100 per kilogram ($100 per 2.2 pounds) to $1,800, creating a lucrative black market.

Experts warn that if the trade is not stopped, elephant populations could dramatically plummet. The elephants could be nearly extinct by 2020, some activists say. Sierra Leone lost its last elephants in December, and Senegal has fewer than 10 left.

“If we don’t get the illegal trade under control soon, elephants could be wiped out over much of Africa, making recovery next to impossible,” said Samuel K. Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. “The impact that loss of this keystone species would have on African ecosystems is difficult to even imagine.”

In this photo taken on March 4, 2010, a woman cleans a sculpture inside a shop selling hand-carved sculpture and furniture in Putian, China. The Chinese city of Putian in the east coast province of Fujian sits directly across from Taiwan. Many of the factories belong to Taiwanese businessmen, who have a reputation for collecting ivory, a sure way to seal a deal with an important client. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Wasser estimated that the illegal trade is about 100 times the legal trade, with a value of $264 million over the past decade.

Demand for ivory runs strong in the Chinese city of Putian, which sits directly across from Taiwan, its outskirts crowded with factories owned by Taiwanese businessmen. These businessmen have a reputation for collecting ivory, a sure way to seal a deal with an important client.

Chen buys his ivory from middlemen. He said he doesn’t know its source.

“You don’t ask these questions,” he said.

—–

Deep within the forests and parks of Africa, the source of ivory to China is clear.

In Kenya alone, poaching deaths spiked seven-fold in the last three years, culminating in 271 elephant killings last year. The Tsavo National Park area had 50,000 elephants in the 1960s; today, it has 11,000. And at least 10 Chinese nationals have been arrested at Kenya’s airport trying to transport ivory back to Asia since the beginning of last year.

The Kalashnikov assault rifles slung around the shoulders of Kenyan park rangers are not for animals, but for poachers. It is a dangerous game for both sides: A ranger was killed in a shootout on Christmas Day, and a poacher in a shootout in February.

In this Feb. 25, 2010 file photo, a pile of elephant tusks are placed on the ground at an immigration office during a news conference in Bangkok. Thailand has seized two tons of tusks from Africa, hidden in pallets labeled as mobile phone parts in the country's largest ivory seizure. (AP Photo, File)

Poachers use guns, rusty metal snares and poison arrows. It’s the poison arrows that worry the rangers because they belong to local Kenyan tribesmen. The pastoral tribes that once protected Kenya’s elephants are increasingly becoming their killers.

“Now the trend is different, because they know they can make quick money out of these trophies. They sell it to the poachers,” said Yussuf Adan, the senior warden in Tsavo East. Such a sale can net a tribesman hundreds or even thousands of dollars, a life-changing amount.

Last month, ranger Mohamed Kamanya had to cut the tusks out of an elephant killed by a poacher’s poisoned arrow. Kamanya says it’s like a human death.

“Economic interests have surpassed ecological interests,” he said. “I think we’re in for a serious problem.”

———-

The number of elephants in Africa has dropped by more than 600,000 in the last 40 years, mostly due to poaching.

A global ban on the ivory trade in 1989 briefly halted their demise. But the ban’s initial success has been undermined by a booming demand for ivory among Asian consumers, a decline in law enforcement budgets and a thriving black market that takes advantage of rampant corruption in many African countries.

Conservationists said poaching has steadily worsened since 2004 and now leads to the loss of as many as 60,000 elephants each year. Compounding the problem has been the hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers who have migrated to Africa. Some buy up ivory in largely unregulated shops and join the criminal syndicates that smuggle the tusks back to Asia.

“What we found is that the illicit trade in ivory continues to increase and that it is increasing at a much more rapid rate than previously was the case,” said Tom Milliken, regional director for Traffic East Southern Africa, which analyzes ivory seizures.

Hidden in containers of mundane consumer products like cell phone parts, ivory is transported through as many as a half dozen countries between Africa and Asia to avoid detection. Shipping documents are forged, and the Asian gangs who control the trade often bribe customs officials to smooth the journey.

this Nov. 30, 2009 file photo, Kenyan Wildlife wardens stand beside confiscated elephant tusks at the Kenyan wildlife offices in Nairobi, Kenya. Interpol says African wildlife authorities have seized nearly 3,800 pounds (1,700 kilograms) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. The Kenya Wildlife Service says it has arrested 65 people during the operation. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi, File)

The gangs’ deep pockets have allowed them to smuggle much bigger shipments – often several tons at a time worth millions of dollars, said Milliken.

Gangs are moving into the ivory trade because it is among the most lucrative enterprises, said Wasser.

“You can move huge amounts of contraband with low likelihood of getting caught,” said Wasser, noting that less than 1 percent of all containers are even searched. “The prosecutions are extremely low and fines even lower. That makes this high-profit, low-risk enterprise, which is conducive to the involvement of organized crime.”

Peter Younger, who manages a project that targets sub-Saharan Africa for the international law enforcement agency Interpol, said gangs also benefit from the fact that elephants are often living in countries like Somalia or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where law enforcement is nonexistent or preoccupied with keeping civil order.

“It’s easy to say to, for example, that Congo, you should do more to protect elephants, when they are doing everything to stop civil war,” he said.

The primary destinations for illegal ivory have traditionally been Thailand, Japan and China, which have thriving black markets and some of the world’s best ivory carvers. Thailand had three seizures last year and already had its biggest yet in February, when 2 tons of African tusks worth $3.6 million were found in containers bound for Laos.

But these countries are not alone. Over the past decade, half of the largest ivory seizures took place in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam, indicating they are also becoming key transit points, according to an October 2009 report by the Elephant Trade Information System.

—-

Thailand and China best illustrate the challenges of stamping out the problem.

In this photo taken on March 4, 2010, a Chinese woman eats a meal outside her shop selling hand-carved sculpture and furniture in Putian, China. Demand for ivory runs strong in the city, which sits directly across from Taiwan, its outskirts crowded with factories owned by Taiwanese businessmen. These businessmen have a reputation for collecting ivory, a sure way to seal a deal with an important client. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Thailand has been implicated in 59 seizures worldwide since 2007 as either a destination or transit point for ivory. A survey from TRAFFIC, a U.K.-based group that combats wildlife trafficking, last year found that hundreds of venues – from five-star hotels to the popular Chatuchak weekend market in the capital, Bangkok – were selling tens of thousands of items made from ivory, from pricey carvings of religious deities to cheaper bangles, belt buckles and knife handles.

Police and customs officials acknowledge ivory smuggling is on the rise in the country. And while the government insists it is cracking down on the trade, officials admit corruption is rife within their ranks.

Lt. Col. Adtapon Sudsai, who investigates the illegal trade, said it is not unusual to find ivory carvings in Buddhist temples or the homes of politicians or high-ranking police and military officers as a sign of power.

Investigations falter because local police are rarely trained to detect illegal ivory, Adtapon said. Prosecuting smugglers can also be difficult because traders often mix domestic ivory, which is legal, with the illegal African stocks.

Most shipping documents are forged or include a fake company or a nonexistent address. The person sent to pick up the shipment often knows nothing.

“We’re trying to get to those involved but we never have,” said Seree Thaijongrak, director of Investigation & Suppression Bureau in the Royal Customs Department.

Many countries, including Thailand, are now starting to track the ivory’s source through DNA testing. In making their first ivory arrests last year, Thai police used the testing to prove that ivory being sold by a Thai national to an American on e-Bay was in fact from Africa.

Zambia in 2002 claimed it had lost only 135 elephants over the past 10 years. But Wasser’s DNA testing showed it was closer to 6,000, which undercut the government’s argument that it should be allowed to sell its ivory stocks.

Wasser also said he used DNA testing to help determine where a shipment of 42,000 ivory signature seals confiscated in Singapore came from. The shipment had been tracked from Mozambique to South Africa, but DNA testing showed the ivory came from Zambia.

Such revelations helped kill a Zambian proposal at U.N. conservation meeting in March that would have allowed a one-off sale of its 48,000 pounds (21,700 kilograms) of ivory. A similar proposal by Tanzania was also defeated.

“The dealers were getting purchase orders – I need so many tusks by a certain date,” Wasser said. “They were hammering the same areas over and over again. Law enforcement had no idea this was happening until we had shown the source of the Singapore seizure.”

—–

Back in Putian, Chinese ivory dealer Chen shows how difficult it is to control the ivory trade.

Chinese police started cracking down on ivory theft in February. Since the raids, Chen said he has stopped selling the “xiang ya,” the Chinese word for ivory, which translates to “elephant tooth.”

But not for long.

“I don’t dare sell anything now because they’re cracking down,” he said, over the din of electric saws being used to carve wooden dragon statues. “Come back in early June and I should be able to sell.”

Associatd Press reporter Jason Straziuso reported from Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. Michael Casey reported from Bangkok, Thailand, and Bill Foreman reported from Putian, China.

Cover of SOTH AFRICA

As Chobe Safari has been noted before, Michael Poliza is one of our inspirational photographers.  His book AFRICA change how I tried to shoot animals on my last trip to Botswana.  I must confess I was only half satisfied with my results as the original always exceeds imitation.  So with that backdrop, I was extremely excited to hear last October that a new large format book by Mr. Poliza was planned.  Well, the time is here.  Michael’s new book “SOUTH AFRICA” should be available in May.  By the way, my understanding is that the cover shown on most book order web sites is not the cover planned.  The cover will actually be the one shown in this article.

Please view an Introduction Video by Michael Poliza from his Facebook page

Part of what made his book Africa so powerful was the size of the book.  I hope to buy this one in the large format also.  However, just to clarify, SOUTH AFRICA comes out in two different versions. The same size as AFRICA and EYES OVER AFRICA, but a little thinner and a bit less money, so only Euro 75,00.  And for the the more budget oriented, we now have a softcover version thats smaller and has a few less pics. The softcover goes for Euro 29,90 !

As to the cover, they both have the Elephant image on the cover. Unfortunetly AMAZON nor Barnes & Noble has not updated their database, so they are still showing an early version on the SOUTH AFRICA book. That should all clarify in the next few days…

Michael has provided a few images to the public as a sneak peak of the upcoming book.  From these, it’s obvious that Poliza will still thrill us with images of wildlife, but in this book, he is adding much more of the culture of South Africa as well as images from the amazing coastline.  We hope you enjoy these glimpses into the upcoming book, but from our experience with his prior books, know that these small, low resolution images will pale besides the larger scale and higher quality images you will be seeing in the actual book, so make sure you order a copy.

Male Cheetah at Sunset - copyright Michael Poliza

Zebras shot in the classic Poliza style - copyright Michael Poliza

A face from South African - copyright Michael Poliza

An Appropriate Image considering that the World Cup coming to South Africa in 2010 - copyright Michael Poliza

Bots wants the right to sell ivory if/when this animal dies of natural causes. On the surface, one would say '"why not?". The problem is that it perpetuates markets supplied by poachers

Botswana has threatened to pull out of the convention, and remove elephants from the list of species under protection following the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held in Qatar.  The issue is that Botswana wishes to sell that ivory which has been collected from ‘natural means’ such as dead animals.  Botswana feels that their elephant population is not endangered and sees the potential to make several million dollars from China and Japan.  While we at Chobe Safari understand the Botswana government’s desire to make easy cash, this activity perpetuates the existence of the Chinese and Japanese markets.  This, in turn, perpetuates supply of markets by poachers.  For this reason we are strongly opposed to approvals of these ‘legal sales’.

As expected, the elephants issue dominated this year’s CITES debate and further divided African countries. It has also emerged that Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries are unhappy with CITES. The convention banned the ivory trade.

Botswana, a country to love, but supports of a wildlife policy we cannot support

Pulling out, which is defined as reservation by species, has been mooted as a possibility, which will allow the countries to sell their ivory stockpiles.

SADC states, including Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, will meet on April 23 in Malawi to work out a strategy. The possibility to go into reservation follows on the proposal backed by 23 other elephant range nations that would have extended the trade moratorium on ivory trade to 20 years, from the current nine years.

Edmont Moabi, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, said the SADC countries which have over 400 000 elephants wanted to be allowed to sell legal ivory stocks of animals which had died of natural causes.

However, some countries like Kenya and Malawi wanted a ban on all ivory sales for 20 years. Botswana was last allowed to sell its stocks in 2008. Going into reservation means that the SADC countries will have to lobby China and Japan, the main markets, to join them, as they would still be governed by CITES statutes.

The nine-year period from the last sales in 2008 after approval at COP14 is to end in 2017. Botswana supported the proposal by Tanzania, saying the country has a robust, viable and healthy elephant population and no longer meets the criteria to be listed under CITES Appendix I. Appendix I species are those threatened with extinction, and are *or* may be affected by international trade, while Appendix II species are not necessarily threatened, but may become so unless international trade is subject to strict regulations. Botswana is classified under Appendix II.

According to Botswana and other southern African countries, the proposal by Tanzania and Zambia balances the objectives for sustainable conservation and sustainable community development for the benefit of the elephants and the rural communities who coexist with the elephants.

The ivory trade ban would directly affect all African elephant range states, whereas the proposals from Tanzania and Zambia are solely for their own elephant populations. According to the CITES provisions, the proponents of trade in ivory have to consult all African elephant range States about their proposal and would require a two-thirds majority to be approved at the CITES conference.

Botswana has over 150 000 elephants, said to be the largest population in Africa and therefore the country feels its elephants are in no way threatened. Moabi explained that they were totally opposed to Kenya’’s plans of a 20-year moratorium on ivory trading as they want to be allowed to sell in nine years as was agreed. “Botswana would want to sell off whatever legal ivory stock it has, and get revenue and use it for other conservation programmes. Our contention to be allowed to sell is because we have good controls in place and emphasised on security.”

Botswana has about 18 tonnes of legal ivory in its stocks and spends over P700 000 annually to secure the stock. At the last sale the country earned over US$7 million.

The decision by CITES to reject Zambia’s proposal has been described as “a ban on the use of African natural resources”. According to the IMWC World Conservation Trust, theses decisions mean that “significant ivory stocks will now be left in storage instead of generating revenue for use in elephant conservation. Africans are effectively being barred from utilising their own natural resources.”