You do not grow bananas in the north of Scotland or raspberries in the Serengeti. Similarly temperate-zone cattle are not suited to Africa's semi-arid lands but giraffe and eland thrive. So these and other wild species, says the author, should be domesticated for such lands—40 per cent of Africa south of the Sahara is semi-arid—with cattle farming restricted to the highlands. In addition, research on new systems of management should aim to make use of the wild animals’ preferences for different grasses, bush and browse—from the tree-top using giraffe to the root-digging warthog.

The author has been studying the evidence for both the yeti, the ‘abominable snowman’ of the Himalayas, and the sasquatch of British Columbia for many years and has written two books on the subject. Are they fact or myth? She suggests that the evidence so far collected, including Russian references hitherto little known in the west, justifies further research to find out.

Brazil is the largest country in South America in both population and area, and ranks fifth largest in the world at 8,511,965 km2. Lying mainly in the tropics, its immense variety of habitat types ranges from the vast, luxuriant Amazon rain forests in the north to the Atlantic coastal forests in the east, the savannas of the central plateau and the Brazilian pine forests and flat, almost treeless pampas of the south; its great diversity of animal species includes some found nowhere else in the world.

On 3rd March 1973 the British Government signed in Washington the ‘Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora’. This, when it is ratified, will govern the trade in hundreds of kinds of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and other animals, besides many plants. Its implementation will set Great Britain and the other signatories an onerous task.

Dr Karl B. Koford spent seven months last year studying the status and distribution of the spotted cats, especially jaguar and ocelot, in tropical America from Mexico south to Brazil and Argentina. This project, to which FPS contributed through the Oryx 100% Fund, is mainly funded by the International Fur Trade Federation (as part of the agreement in December 1970 that introduced a voluntary ban on the use of five endangered fur species, including leopards and the cheetah), the Frankfurt Zoological Society and WWF. The following is taken from Dr Koford's ‘interim conservation review’—his final report will come later this year—together with some points from his separate reports on ten Latin American countries.

Until the middle of the present century Mongolia was little affected by man, in the sense of interference with and distortion of the natural environment. In 1918 the population of this 600,000-square-mile country was only 640,000, with 9.6 million domestic animals. (The comparable figures today are 1,300,000 and 23.4 million). Thanks to this lack of interference and the protective measures of the Mongolian People's Republic, Mongolia still has some of the rarest of the world's mammals, notably wild horse and camel, Gobi bear and Asian wild ass. The most threatened of them is the Przewalski horse, which some scientists think is extinct. But the two authors believe that it survives in small numbers. They urge the need for large reserved areas where livestock, which compete for the horses' grazing and water, can be eliminated.

The largest concentration of Swayne's hartebeest, a race found only in Ethiopia, of which not more than 1000 animals are believed to survive, is threatened by spreading cultivation and the introduction of mechanised farming. The Wildlife Conservation Organisation of Ethiopia decided to translocate as many as possible to safer areas, and this year succeeded in taking 203 to the Awash National Park and to Nachisar where a park is projected. In this article the Deputy Chief Game Warden describes the operation.

‘Seriously depleted throughout most of its range; needs to be brought under protective management’, is the Red Data Book's verdict on the West African manatee Trichechus senegalensis. In Nigeria the author, who has worked there for many years, has only managed to see a few with great difficulty. She suggests the ‘mermaid’ is ideal for ‘aquatic ranching’, for the meat is so good—hence the species's depletion—that it is in great demand. The first need is to find out how many are left and where they are. But the manatee has none of the glamour of a tiger or a rhino; who, the author asks, would want to pay for the conservation of this unattractive but harmless and useful grazer of aquatic plants?

Leopards still occur in considerable numbers in Ethiopia, but cheetahs, though widespread, are not numerous and are still declining, according to this report of the author's survey of their status, made in January–February 1973 for IUCN. And the pressures on both species are too great to allow even present numbers to be maintained. The trade in skins flourishes, despite protection, and villagers and city merchants alike boast of their ability to supply skins at any time, often in considerable quantities. More leopard skins are being sold in 1973 than ever before, and the supply cannot keep up with the demand—despite the moratorium recommended by the International Fur Trade Federation.

In 1965 there were eleven populations of the already declining northern race of the swamp deer in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India; by 1972 eight of these had disappeared, either through habitat destruction, such as the planting of eucalyptus and cultivation, crop-protection shooting or poaching. Probably only the fact that the meat is tough and the skin poor have saved the deer from disappearing completely in the state. The author describes a brief survey he made in the summer of 1972, estimates numbers and status, describes the threats, and lists the immediate needs for a conservation programme. The author is Staff Ecologist with IUCN.

For many seriously endangered animals captive breeding seems to be the last hope of saving them. Many zoos are trying to do this, but, with some exceptions, without great success so far. The author of this article suggests that conservationists are not making use of the highly skilled animal technicians in laboratories and research stations who could certainly achieve good breeding success with many species at comparatively small cost.

The numbers of both these highly endangered monkeys, found only on the Tana River in north-east Kenya, are down to about 2000, possibly fewer. The authors of this status and habitat survey describe the continuing threats to both animals and make proposals for a reserve to protect them.

The Bamu Protected Region, created in 1963, is primarily a restricted hunting area and game reserve of 47,400 hectares. It is not generally open to the public, though special permission to visit it can be obtained from the Department for Environmental Conservation.

John MacKinnon, author of the article on Orang-utans in Sumatra, in Oryx, October, 1973, asks us to correct mistakes in Table 1, Page 235.

Elephants still occur in the large Indonesian island of Sumatra, but mostly in small groups of up to seven animals. In the northern province of Aceh the author, after a two-year study, estimates that numbers are now less than a third of what they were 35 years ago. He sees the best hope for their future in scientific management geared to culling the wild populations for working animals, as is done in India.

The Sudan today has three National Parks and fifteen game reserves. In addition there are sanctuaries and forest reserves where hunting is forbidden.

Dinder National Park covers 7120 sq. km (2750 sq. miles) and lies 406 km (315 miles) south-east from Khartoum, near the Ethiopian border in Blue Nile Province. Its fine assemblage of game includes elephant (during the rains), hippopotamus, giraffe, buffalo, roan antelope, waterbuck, tiang, greater kudu, red-fronted and Soemmering's gazelle, reedbuck, bushbuck, oribi, duiker, Salt's dikdik, warthog, bush pig, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyaena, wild dog, grivet and red hussar monkeys, and baboon. According to Dr William Dasmann (in litt. August 1972) the status of tora and lelwel hartebeest is uncertain. It has been decided not to reintroduce hippopotamus as poachers would be the only gainers.

The author's 1972 census, following one the previous year, of the mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes, which straddle the Zaire–Rwanda–Uganda borders, shows a small but still declining population. All the signs, including the behaviour of the gorillas, one of which fled screaming at the sight of one of the observers, suggests that the decline is due largely to human interference. As the entire area has national park or game reserve status the urgent need is to enforce the law.