After unsuccessful introductions of reindeer into Canada during the early decades of this century, a herd brought from Alaska in 1935 was maintained successfully under government management (latterly under the Canadian Wildlife Service) for almost 40 years in the Mackenzie Delta region, Northwest Territories. Sold in 1974 into private ownership, the herd has since increased substantially in size; new management techniques have been developed to herd, handle and slaughter the animals. Meat, antlers in velvet and skins are the main products of a small but profitable local industry under native ownership. Currently numbering some 16 000 animals, the herd now justifies new management decisions affecting its future size and the scope of the enterprise.

The United Nations as a body has hitherto shown little interest or involvement in Antarctica. A recently developed campaign, led by several of the developing nations, now aims to involve the international community more closely in the management of the continent and its resources. Argument that Antarctica should be regarded as part of the common heritage of mankind finds little support among Antarctic Treaty nations, who favour continuing management under the treaty system. A nine-hour discussion in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly during November 1983 resulted in a resolution on ‘the question of Antarctica’ which the General Assembly adopted unanimously on 15 December; the Secretary-General has been asked to report on ‘all aspects of Antarctica’ in time for further discussion in September 1984.

There was no animal on South Georgia that we took into our hearts so much as these comical ‘Johnnies’, as the whalers call them. Not one of us, I am convinced, will recall our isolated existence in later years without simultaneously thinking with inner pleasure of these wonderful creatures. In their droll caricaturing of human gait and movements they provided an inexhautible source of humorous observations; further, in that their eggs allowed our chef to rise to unexpected achievements, they provided an equally pleasant resource.

Southernmost of the Falkland Islands, Beauchêne Island (52° 54' S, 59° 09' W, area 3 km2) is a wildlife reserve with large colonies of Black-browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins. Discovered and named in 1701 by the French explorer Jacques Gouin de Beauchesne, it was noted by many early navigators and visited frequently by fur sealers in the 19th century. This article draws attention to early reports and outlines what is known of its history.

Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen, who died just over 50 years ago on 21 December 1933, is known both for his Arctic exploration and for his interest in Eskimos, especially Greenlanders and their way of life.

His parents, Sofie Louise Susanne Fleischer (1842–1917) and Christian Vilhelm Rasmussen (1846–1918), married in 1875 in the small West Greenland town of Ilulissat (Jacobshavn), where Christian was a missionary and head of the local teachers' training college. Sofie's family had settled in Greenland more than a hundred years earlier, and several of her kin gained high positions in the administrative service. Knud, who was born on 7 June 1879, was the first of three children. His Eskimo heritage came from his great-grandmother, who was a native of West Greenland, and an early taste of Eskimo culture passed to him from his maternal grandmother, Iteraluk (1816–99). Knud's Eskimo name was Kunnnguaq. As a boy in Greenland he grew up with his own sled and dog team, learning to drive well. Though he attended school in Denmark from the age of 12, he remembered his Eskimo training; travels with dog sleds were to become an important feature of his expeditions in later years.