Listen :
Availability:
Available to listen.
Last broadcast on Thu, 12 May 2011, 21:00 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Saving Species has sent its reporters around the UK to report how wildlife is reacting to this years most unusual spring - high seasonal temperatures, very low rainfall and habitat fires.
Also in the programme - latest reports suggest that the population of Mountain Gorillas in forested central Africa is picking up - but what about the sub-species, Eastern Lowland Gorilla? The Mountain Gorilla became emblematic of the plight of species being shot for body parts - this species was poached for hands and heads, the young orphans sold to the pet trade - And they remain vulnerable to being killed for bush meat. Ian Redmond, one of the pioneering Mountain Gorilla scientists who brought this issue to the world media, returns regularly to the area and says "the conservation effort is meeting the threat" - In the national parks conservation is working. Ian has returned with saving Species recording equipment to report on the plight of Lowland Gorillas whose fortunes are very different. We get the latest.
Also in the programme - the translocation of Desert Tortoises in the Mojave desert. We sent Howard Stableford into the deserts near Las Vagas to report on the re-introductions: 30 year old tortoises liberated into the desert bristling with technology to help both the US Fish & wildlife Service and San Diego Zoo monitor the success of the conservation programme.
Presenter: Brett Westwood
Producer: Mary Colwell
Editor: Julian Hector.
The Open University – iSpot
Do you know what life there is in your garden? Share your nature observations with others on iSpot.
The Open University - “Museum of the Dead”
Visit a potential future with species that slipped into the Museum of the Dead.
The Open University - Conservation Stories
The Open University - Academic Insight
San Diego Zoo tortoise translocation project
A Mojave Desert Tortoise being relocated by the San Diego Zoo tortoise translocation project.
Image by Howard Stableford
Field work in action
FWS Biologist Kimberley Field and reporter Howard Stableford at the translocation site.
Image by Howard Stableford.
Bluebells and Garlic
2011 – A magnificent spring for bluebells and wild garlic in North Somerset.
Image by Curlew Media
Chimanuka, silverback Eastern Lowland Gorilla, eating vine-peel.
YouTube Clip by Ian Redmond (YoGAmbassador) on 5 May 2011
Chimanuka, a successful silverback Eastern Lowland Gorilla and father of a record-breaking FOUR sets of twins in a large family group, strips edible peel from Urera vine in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, D.R. Congo.
Broadcasts
-
Tue 10 May 201111:00
-
Thu 12 May 201121:00
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~46~RS~){kind=small}