Another not-to-be-missed #WingedWednesday webinar! Join Bismark Opoku on Wednesday 25 August at 15-16hrs (CET) to hear his talk on Bat Research and Conservation in Ghana to find out more about the work being carried out by Batlife in Ghana.
If you haven’t already registered for #WingedWednesday webinars, then it is easy to join up. Just go to www.batswithoutborders.org and pre-register by Tuesday. All their talks are taking place on Zoom and if you miss a talk then you can watch all of them again on their webinar page and on their YouTube channel.
Bat Fest – free online events
Also this week is International Bat Night and the 30th anniversary of the UK’s Bat Conservation Trust. They are celebrating in their free online Bat Fest Event which is starting with a ‘virtual bat walk’ taking place this Saturday, 28 August, on Facebook.
Join 60+ experts from 40 countries talking about their research work and presenting the bats they work with. There is a range of events and awards throughout next week, with children being welcome to join in, especially as they can find out how to draw bats!
No prior knowledge about bats is required and this is a unique opportunity for you and your family to learn all about bats and why they are so important to our worldwide biodiversity. Find out more at www.bats.org.uk/batfest and on their Facebook page
Have you signed The Kasanka Trust’s petition yet?
If not, there is still time to sign and comment on the petition to Save Kasanka National Park! The petition is urging the Zambian Government to immediately halt illegal activities undertaken by subsidiaries of the Lake Group in Kasanka National Park and its adjoining Kafinda Game Management Area and also to ensure that Zambia’s first wind energy plant is not an ecological disaster.
The Trust encourages the promotion of more inclusive and sustainable development that delivers food security, jobs and renewable energy to the Zambia people, but only in appropriate locations, and not in those which will not result in the destruction of the country’s natural resources, including its precious wildlife.
Please sign this petition which closes in just under a week, to urge our newly elected President Hakainde Hichilema to refuse developments that threatens Kasanka National Park, its wildlife and its local communities. You can find the petition at www.change.org and find out more about the threats that our National Park is facing on the Kasanka Trust’s Facebook Page.
With July being recorded as the hottest month on earth ever, and Europe recording record temperatures, with wild fires raging across Greece, Turkey and Italy, is this really due to climate change?
In July, a US federal scientific and regulatory agency reported that the combined land and ocean-surface temperature was 0.93C (1.68F), which is above the 20th century average of 15.8C (60.4F). This is the highest temperature since record-keeping began 142 years ago.
Why are some European countries being affected more than others?
These countries front the Mediterranean Sea and geographically they are situated on the subtropical ridge. Meteorologically, they have less cloud cover, having more sun exposure during the summer months. These subtropical areas are characterised by hot summers and mild winters.
Italy has just recorded the Mediterranean’s highest temperatures ever – 48.8C in Sicily. This was in the same week that the IPCC released its most recent study on climate change. It warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade.
The UN chief said that this report “is a code red for humanity”. Scientists say a worldwide catastrophe can be avoided if the world acts fast, with cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases being able to stabilise rising temperatures.
“If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today’s report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success.” UN Secretary General António Guterres
Why is our earth warming up?
Our earth is now in a period of rapid climate change, with global temperatures rising because of human activities, such as the burning of coal, oil and gas.
Scientists have found that since 1970, global surface temperatures have risen faster than in any other 50 year period over the past 2,000 years. This rapid warming is now affecting the weather and climate extremes we are seeing around the world – heatwaves in the Mediterranean and western North America and floods in Germany and China.
What is the impact of climate change?
Climate change will transform the way people live, causing water shortages and making it harder to produce food. Some regions could become dangerously hot and others uninhabitable because of rising sea levels.
There will be an increase in extreme weather events – heatwaves, downpours and storms – which will become more intense and frequent. People living in the world’s poorer countries will suffer the most as they are the least able to adapt.
Sea levels are rising due to fast melting Polar ice and glaciers. As permafrost (frozen ground) melts then the greenhouse gas, methane, is released into the atmosphere.
As habitats change, some species will be able to move and adapt to new locations, but as climate change is happening so rapidly many species which are unable to adapt are likely to become extinct.
We are already seeing the effects in Europe, but many African nations are also threatened as they are likely to suffer droughts and food shortages.
What can we do?
Many countries are adopting targets to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by about 2050. This means any emissions would be balanced out by absorbing an equivalent amount – such as by planting more trees.
We can reduce our reliance on cars, insulate our homes, eat less meat and dairy, stop using single use plastics, and use more sustainable energy sources for cooking and heating, which will halt deforestation.
Key points from the IPCC report
The global surface temperature was 1.09C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than between 1850-1900
The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850
Recent rises in sea level rates has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971
Human influence is thought to be 90% of the main driver of global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s, with a decrease in Arctic sea-ice
They are ‘virtually certain’ that hot extremes, including heatwaves, have become more intense and more frequent since the 1950s, whilst cold events have become less frequent and less severe
The report says that warming has made changes to many of our planetary support systems, which are irreversible on timescales of centuries to millennia. Our oceans will continue to warm and become more acidic. Mountain and polar glaciers will continue melting for decades or centuries. This is leading to a rise in sea levels, with flooding threatening millions of people living in coastal and low lying areas. Scientists suggest that a rise of around 2 metres by the end of this century cannot be ruled out.
A rise in the earth’s temperate could rise by 1.5C by 2040. If emissions aren’t dramatically reduced in the next few years, then this will happen even earlier. A previous report had predicted a rise of 1.5C by 2018, and their latest study has now confirmed this. A further rise means even more intense and more frequent heatwaves.
How rising temperatures can be halted
If we can cut global emissions in half by 2030, and reach net zero by the middle of this century, we can halt and possibly reverse these rise in temperatures. Reaching net zero involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions by using clean technologies, then burying any remaining releases using carbon capture and storage, or absorbing them, such as by planting more trees.
The IPCC Report
IPCC Press Conference on 9 August 2021
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group of scientists whose findings are endorsed by the world’s governments. Their report is the first major review of the science of climate change since 2013. The report comes less than three months before a key climate summit in Glasgow known as COP26 which begins on 31 October 2021. You can read the full IPCC report at www.ipcc.ch
As well as celebrating the majestic lion this week, we are also celebrating elephants! Today, 12th August, is World Elephant Day, which raises awareness and asks people to help protect elephants around the world.
History of World Elephant Day
On 12 August 2012, the inaugural World Elephant Day was launched to bring attention to the plight of both Asian and African elephants. The elephant is loved, revered and respected by people and cultures around the world, although they are now all on the IUCN’s Red List.
African Elephants
The elephant species we have in our protected areas in Zambia are the African Savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana), which are listed as Endangered. The more northerly African Forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is now listed as Critically Endangered.
Herd of Savannah elephants mud bathing at a waterhole.
Following new genetic evidence, it was found that they are two distinct species, with Forest elephants being smaller than their Savannah cousins. Their ears are also more oval in shape, and they have straighter, downward pointing tusks. The shape and size of their skulls are also different. Forest elephants are more commonly found in countries with relatively large blocks of densely wooded rainforest, such as Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cameroon and Central African Republic in central Africa and Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Ghana.
African savanna elephants weigh about 8,000 kg (9 tons) and are between 3 and 4 meters tall at the shoulder, with African forest elephants being slightly smaller.
Both African species are vulnerable to our modern world. Commercial development, such as mining, along with habitat loss through deforestation and large scale commercial farming, as well as climate change, means their numbers in the wild are declining. The trade in illegal ivory also plays its part in their falling population numbers.
Asian Elephants
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) are also on the Endangered ICUN Red List and their population numbers are also decreasing. They inhabit dry to wet forests and grassland habitats in 13 countries in South and Southeast Asia.
Asian elephants weigh about 5,500 kg (about 6 tons) and are no more than 3.5 meters tall at the shoulder
Asian elephants are smaller than their African cousins, having more rounded heads, much smaller ears and a humped back, with only some males having tusks. There are other differences, such as the texture of their skin, number of toenails and trunk characteristics. Both African elephant species’ trunk has two distinct ‘fingers’ which are used to manipulate and pick up objects. Asian elephants only have one ‘finger’ at the end of their trunk, and they compensate by holding objects against the underside of their trunk.
Living in forests, they prefer to forage for plants, but they have had to adapt to survive on resources that vary based on the areas that they now live. They are extremely sociable, forming small groups of six to seven related females, led by their matriarch. Like the African elephants, these groups occasionally join others to form larger herds, although these associations are relatively short-lived. Their herd sizes are significantly smaller than those of savannah elephants.
More than two-thirds of an Asian elephant’s day is spent feeding on grasses. They also eat large amounts of tree bark, roots, leaves and small stems although cultivated crops, such as bananas, rice, and sugarcane, are their favourites . This leads to human/wildlife encounters which, along with climate change, habitat loss due to commercial activities and the problems of invasive non-native flora species, all contribute to their population decline.
In Asia, over the centuries, elephants have become important cultural icons. In Hinduism, the elephant is a powerful deity – the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha is honoured before all sacred rituals, and is also called the Remover of Obstacles.
His name means both ‘Lord of the People’ and ‘Lord of the Ganas’ and he is the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors.
Find out more about this fascinating deity on Britannica
Did you know that one out of every three Asian elephants left in the world is a captive animal?
All three elephant species have similar behaviours
All three elephant species have similar social behaviours, with defined social structures. Herds are ruled by the oldest female, or matriarch, and consist of other female family members and their young. Young males leave their herd when teenagers and can live solitary lives or join up with other bachelor males to live in loose herds. Older males are often solitary.
How you can celebrate World Elephant Day
Why not look online to find out more about the differences between African Savannah, African Forest and Asian Elephants?
Get involved with others to help protect all our elephant species – you can find out more by visiting www.worldelephantday.org
Share your favourite photos, stories and elephant experiences with World Elephant Day on their Facebook Page
Go on safari and see elephants in the wild! All our major national parks are home to African Savannah elephants.
World Lion Day is celebrated on 10 August every year. It is a special day to celebrate and raise awareness about these majestic animals as well as to find sustainable solutions to protect and save global wild lion populations from extinction.
Lions are one of the big cat species in the Panthera genus and are a member of the Felidae family. They are the second largest living big cat, after the tiger. Wild Lions currently live in India and Sub-Saharan Africa.
History of World Lion Day
World Lion Day was created by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, Botswana, in 2013. They brought together both National Geographic and the Big Cat Initiative under a single banner to help protect the world’s remaining lions. They also wanted people to know that lion populations have dramatically declined in their natural habitats and are now a vulnerable species on the ICUN’s Red List.
Lions in Zambia
Most cat species live a solitary existence, but lions are an exception. They have a complex social system, based on closely related females using teamwork to survive. An average pride consists of about 15 individuals, including five to 10 females with their young and two or three territorial males, who are usually brothers or pride mates. They are the only cats to move around in family groups and normally occupy a well defined territory.
Lions are found in all our major National Parks. They normally sleep during the day and can stay in the more remote areas of the parks, so might be difficult to see. At night you can hear their distinctive calls and roars as males defend their territory by calling to each other.
How to celebrate World Lion Day
Why not spend a few minutes today finding out more about lions, how they live and how they are now threatened in the wild?
You can change the profile picture pictures on your social media to a lion and share photos with your friends – #WorldLionDay.
Check out your favourite conservation NGO’s Facebook page to see how they are celebrating World Lion Day today.
Visit one of our National Parks to see them in the wild! If you live in Lusaka then you can also see lions at Munda Wanga Environmental Park.
Wildlife Ranger teams are uniting for the 2021 Wildlife Ranger Challenge. This is a running race with one goal – to raise money to support the men and women who work in our protected areas across Africa who have seen drastic cuts in their resources to protect Africa’s iconic wildlife.
Due to the pandemic, Africa’s rangers have been stretched to capacity due to a cut in their resources from the lack of tourism, and in some countries, there has been an increase in poaching due to economic impacts. The severe cut in tourism revenue for conservation areas has resulted in more than 50% of rangers reporting that they had experienced budget cuts, and in some countries, over 30% of rangers reporting that colleagues had been laid off.
In 2020, the Wildlife Ranger Challenge was mobilised to tackle this economic crisis. US$10m was raised to support over 9,000 rangers who collectively work to protect more than 4,000,000 square kms of conservation areas across Africa. The money raised provided salaries, equipment and assisted with operating costs.
The 2021 Wildlife Ranger Challenge will see teams from 20 African countries participating in a series of mental and physical challenges, culminating in the Wildlife Ranger Challenge 21km half marathon on September 18th. These challenges allow rangers to showcase their important work, and provide a platform for their organisations to generate funding.
The three challenge components
Virtual Race: Teams of rangers from across the continent will simultaneously take part in a 21km half-marathon competition race in their own protected areas, across hot and challenging terrain on 18th September. They will be carrying their usual work kit and equipment – 22kg backpacks for men and 15kg backpacks for women. They hope to build comradery and raise awareness about the pressure on Africa’s protected areas.
Mental and Physical Challenges: rangers will test their physical and mental ability with a push-up and sit-up challenge and a wildlife knowledge ranger quiz. These challenges will run from 16th August to 3rd September.
Ranger Fund: the Scheinberg Relief Fund has generously committed $1.35m in matched funds in support of the rangers most in need. A global public fundraising and awareness campaign for the Wildlife Ranger Challenge seeks to raise a total of $5m for the Ranger Fund to support thousands of rangers in the field.
You can show your support by running or walking virtually with thousands of Wildlife Rangers – including teams from Lower Zambezi, South Luangwa, North Luangwa, Nsumbu, Kafue and Simoa Ngwezi National Parks. Find out more about all the teams competing from across Africa at Ranger Teams
Train like a ranger!
Through August the ranger teams will be uniting to compete in a series of mental and physical challenges, in preparation for their 21km running race on September 18th. You can find out how a ranger trains, and join in the push-up and sit-up challenges along with the ranger’s quiz throughout August and September and see if you have what it takes to be a Wildlife Ranger.
Run to join in the race for wildlife
On 18th September, why not join in by running or walking virtually alongside with rangers from 20 African countries?
You can easily register for the challenge at www , supporting the rangers with your donation. Then on 18th September run or walk the race and log your time. Each step taken, along with each dollar raised, is a huge leap forward to bring our rangers back to pre-pandemic capacity.
Show your support with a donation
There are two ways to make a donation. You can donate to the fund or donate directly to your favourite protected area. Your donation will be matched by the Scheinberg Relief Fund, doubling your impact to support thousands of frontline Wildlife Rangers.
About the Wildlife Ranger Challenge
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge is overseen by an independent steering committee made up of conservation organisations. It is coordinated by Tusk and Natural State in collaboration with ranger associations.
The Scheinberg Relief Fund, a philanthropic fund established by businessman and philanthropist Mark Scheinberg, and his family, is the founding donor of the Challenge and will be matching the donations raised.
