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Quarterly
Report from the Field: Betampona Reserve
January through March 2003
Charlie Welch,
Betampona Project Director, prepared this section in English,
to summarize the highlights of the January to March 2003 trimester
report written in French by Bernard
Iambana and the agents.
I.1
Released Varecia variegata variegata
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We are pleased to report that Hale's infants are still thriving
and are nearly adult size at this writing. The wild male is still
present and the group generally stays together in the area where
Hale gave birth.
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Kintana still has not been located despite extensive searches.
Tany, Masoandro, and the wild Rahona are still together and remain
to the north of Hale and family. The radio collars of Tany and
Masoandro no longer emit signals (batteries are dead) making it
hard for the agents to find them at times.
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Fara, the male infant of Zuben Ubi and Praesepe, is now staying
in the northwestern part of the reserve and has been sighted with
four wild Varecia - two males and two females. Thanks to the capable
darting of Ed Louis's research team, we were able to replace Fara's
nonfunctioning radio collar. So now the agents can much more easily
keep track of this important individual - the release project's
first successful birth.
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Sarph remains with the same wild female in the north of the reserve,
with their single infant that is also about adult size now. Although
the research team usually succeeds in finding Sarph on a weekly
basis, his radio collar no longer functions. We hope to replace
it when Ed's team next visits. An unidentified wild female with
two infants has been recently sighted with Sarph and family.
I.2
Wild Varecia variegata variegata
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Wild female Ando is doing well along with her two infants. She
remains south of Sarph's territory.
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Soa has been finally sighted, and has an infant. She is staying
in the south of the Sahabefoza region, with Laurent.
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The Sahabefoza group has now divided into three subgroups.
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Lucky, Mirana, and Mamy were not observed this quarter.
II.1
Indri indri
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The infant born to the female in the southern group has disappeared
and the adult male of that group has moved to the west where he
has now been sighted with a different, uncollared female. A strange
development indeed.
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The groups at Sahabefoza north and Sahakoho are doing well.
II.2
Other Lemurs
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At the end of March a late-born infant was observed clinging to
a female Eulemur fulvus albifrons.
II.3
Other Mammals
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No sightings of Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) this quarter.
II.4
Amphibians
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Mantidactylus luteus, Mantidactylus cf. boulengeri, and Mantidactylus
malagasius, often observed on leaves and heard calling at night.
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In the mornings various frog species are sighted along the rails
and eggs and tadpoles found in tree holes. In January and February
many frogs sighted in runoff streams along the crest trails.
II.5
Reptiles
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Brookesia superciliaris observed sleeping on the leaves of small
plants during the night.
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An unusual observation of a Phelsuma lineata was made in primary
forest.
II.6
Birds
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The Lesser Cuckoo, Cuculus rochii, and Broad-billed Rollers were
no longer observed at the end of March. Both species are known
to migrate to east Africa during the austral winter.
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Possible observation of a Bernier's Vanga, Oriolia bernieri. This
would be a first-time sighting at Betampona.
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Another interesting observation was made of a Coua which resembled
Coquerel's Coua, Coua coquereli. It was larger than a Red-fronted
Coua, Coua reyaudii, and had a different color from other couas.
III.
Plant Phenology
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Monitoring of plant phenology and forest regeneration site continues.
IV.
Meteorology data
- The heavy rainfall amounts that occurred last year are continuing
through the first three months of this year. Already just less
than 2 meters of rainfall has been measured at Rendrirendry! The
truly astounding aspect of these rains is that none were cyclone-borne.
V.
Students
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At present the MFG is sponsoring another student from the University
of Madagascar Department of Plant Ecology to work at Betampona.
Funding for student support is provided in the National Geographic
Conservation Trust grant awarded for Project Betampona in January
03 ($17,655 total grant award).
- Lalatahiana Davy Randriatavy ("Lala") is a botany
student working on his DEA (masters equivalent). His research
project is an extension of Bernard's forest phenology research.
Lala is studying forest regeneration with relation to certain
species of trees that are important both as Varecia food resources
and also used by the human population living around Betampona.
An objective of his work is to determine the optimal techniques
for growing these species ex-situ, in a tree nursery situation,
so that these species can be made available to local villages
for planting. If the nursery techniques are successful, a result
could be a decrease in human pressure on key Varecia food trees.
Lala has proven himself a very hard worker and is nearing the
end of his field period. We look forward to seeing his finished
report (and diploma in hand). It is expected that Lala will defend
his thesis in November 2003.
VI. Personnel
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As I reported in the last quarterly report, Bernard completed
a two-month training period in St Louis. His time was split between
the St. Louis Zoo and the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
At the zoo Bernard worked in all animal areas gaining experience
with birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other mammals in addition
to lemurs. At the University, under the direction of Dr. Patty
Parker, Bernard worked on inventory data already collected at
Betampona. He worked on ways of improving data collection methodology
so that data can be more usefully exploited. All of this is extremely
helpful to the research objectives of the Betampona project.
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Before Bernard's departure for the US, we had already made a decision
concerning personnel re-organization within the MFG-Madagascar
team. Having recognized Bernard's abilities after he assumed Adam's
responsibilities at Betampona, Andrea and I (with steering committee
approval) decided that he would be the perfect person to fill
the long vacant Parc Manager post at Ivoloina. So before his departure
for the US we discussed the idea with Bernard, and he enthusiastically
accepted. Although Bernard will be missed full time at Betampona,
he will continue to have responsibilities there. He will spend
one week each month at Betampona overseeing the research program
and assuring the production of the quarterly reports. Celestin,
who was Bernard's second, has assumed Chef duties at Betampona,
and Jean-Noel is now Celestin's second. So far all is functioning
well under the reorganization. We are optimistic about the future
of both projects from a personnel point of view, and feel like
the changes will continue to assure the success at both Ivoloina
and Betampona.
The
above is an English summary of Bernard
Iambana's full report in French by Charlie
Welch.
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