Cuba is making a big effort to protect endangered vertebrate species. By Resolution No. 21–79, the Government has forbidden all hunting throughout the year in certain areas that are important for wildlife; outside these areas hunting of the commonest species is permitted from July to February. Time will show whether the law can be enforced.

The authors describe the conservation plan they prepared at WWF's request while they were engaged on a two-year study of the Indonesian island of Siberut in 1976–78. Their plan is designed to conserve as much as possible of both the remarkable wildlife, which includes many endemic species, and the people's traditional way of life. Edited and coordinated by Jeff McNeely, whose article describing Siberut is on page 159, this plan is now being considered by the Indonesian Government.

Early in 1971 the pygmy hog, widely believed by scientists to be extinct (though many people in the Himalayan foothills must have known otherwise) was ‘re-discovered’ in the Manas Sanctuary in north-west Assam (Oryx September 1971). Since then attempts to breed the species in captivity have been largely unsuccessful, and nothing has been done to protect them in the wild.

Appalled by the continuing decline of manatees everywhere and the hunting and killing that is the chief cause, the author started an investigation of his own on an inland lake in Guatemala where he believed he had a good chance of observing them. He hoped to build up a case for their protection that the authorities would listen to and act on. He found that the manatees were so scared of man that when they had to surface to breathe they came up in the surface vegetation, hoping to escape notice. But the high point of his watching was the day when two manatees allowed him to swim with them in the lagoon.

A large river turtle Dermatemys mawei, found only in the coastal lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico, is becoming rare throughout most of its restricted range. It is found from central Veracruz, Mexico, eastward through Guatemala and Belize, but not in the Yucatan Peninsula, and it is heavily hunted for its meat. The only living representative of the Dermatemydidae, a turtle family known from as early as the Cretaceous, its closest living relatives are the mud turtles (Kinosternidae), and it is not as closely related to the snapping turtles (Chelydridae) as previously thought.4,5,9,20 In the latest classification of turtles the Dermatemydidae are placed in the Superfamily Trionychoidea of the Infraorder Cryptodira.

During a field expedition in eastern Brazil the authors found a new population of the endangered buffy-headed marmoset Callithrix flaviceps in the state of Tinas Gerais where it was not previously known. This was in a privately protected forest that also has an important population of the endangered woolly spider monkey Brachyteles arachnoides and other monkeys.

One of the few conservation success stories in West Africa is Yankari Game Reserve in Nigeria, where, thanks to effective management, animal populations have increased to a level at which environmental factors (not human ones) have started to control numbers. Yankari offers the rare spectacle of an effective and efficiently managed reserve with an abundance of animals, which attracts increasing interest from Nigerians.

Are the seabird colonies in the Galapagos Islands harmed by the ever increasing numbers of tourists? So far the National Park authorities have been able to safeguard the main nesting grounds from trampling by keeping visitors to prescribed paths, but the birds could be harmed in other ways and these need to be investigated. The author describes the research he is doing to find out the facts. This work has been aided by a grant from the Oryx 100% Fund.

Few marine fishes are endangered. But exotic introductions can be a serious threat to native species, especially around isolated islands such as the Hawaii group, where 30 per cent of the world's reef and shore fishes are endemic. Overfishing, pollution, destruction such as dynamiting coral reefs, and collecting for the enormous and expanding trade in aquarium fishes are the other factors. Marine sanctuaries, says the author, who is Chairman of the SSC Marine Fishes Group, are vitally important as both refuges and breeding grounds.

Hunting in modern vehicles has seriously reduced the Libyan gazelle populations. The author, who has been studying them, believes that the future for the three species is gravely threatened unless the Government takes strong measures to enforce the protection laws.

After spending five months in Peru on the first field study of this rare monkey, which until 1974 was thought to be extinct (Oryx 13,1), the author believes that habitat destruction is the greatest threat to its survival, and that action to protect it now and provide refuges is urgent.

In 1965 the author, a resident of the Falkland Islands, made an aerial survey of seal populations, concentrating mainly on sealions, because numbers appeared to be declining. His results showed a drastic decline in sealion numbers, and he believes that they are still a fair indication of the situation today. In this article he surveys the history of sealing in the islands, describes his census, discusses results and the possible causes for the decline, and urges the need for a full official census.

Little is known about the wildlife of the People's Republic of the Congo – Congo Brazzaville. Because the land was once entirely forest almost the only large mammals are those of forest habitat. The author, who went on a two-week mission for FAO/UNDP in 1978, describes the few protected areas, which include one national park, and also the area proposed for a new national park where manatees are thought to be ‘not uncommon’.