Western Ghats Herpetological Experience : June 12 - 22, 2011

Western Ghats Herpetological Experience - June 12 - 22, 2011

Large Game Workshop - 18 to 20 March 2011

The Lower Nilgiris

Since the latter part of the 18^th century the Nilgiris have been described in colonial journals and accounts as a place teeming with game and wildfowl. Endowed with altitudes touching 2600mts  ASL and healthy rainfall, the Nilgiris is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.

Unfortunately, like most of our wild lands, these ranges are also facing tremendous pressures from human development and exploitation. There have been massive declines in faunal populations over the last century and the total forested area has also dropped significantly.

 

However, about two decades ago, a few individuals and families started homestays and small resorts in the area. This wildlife tourism slowly began to boom and today there are numerous such places around the region. In the last decade or so, it does seem like some species are making a comeback here. Large cats, for example, are being spotted a lot more frequently and since the conversion from agriculture to tourism has been quite expansive, there seems to be a decline in conflict.

Jungle Retreat, a family run resort on the periphery of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve has been doing its bit for conservation work in the lower Nilgiris for more than a decade. The land was initially barren and stark and was used in agriculture- primarily rice, finger millet and potatoes. Farmers used to poison wild animals that strayed into the property and use electric fences tapped directly into the main grid, killing animals regualrly. Today, Jungle Retreat covers over thirty five acres of land that has been returned to the forest. Animals and birds are welcomed and watched and everything that you find in the forest can be found on the property. This is truly an example of a simbiotic improvement.

This March the Gerry Martin Project is running a large game workshop in this jungle paradise with the objective of inculcating field skills in tracking and spotting, understanding the behaviour of these animals, and looking at the relationship between man and animal in this fragile eco-system.

Activities

·         Hikes into the forest

·         Interpreting Tracks and signs

·         Birdwatching

·         Camping out for a night

·         A Game drive

·         Setting up camera-traps and hides

·         Night Surveys

Workshop Dates:

The workshop will start at 11 am on Friday, the 18^th of March and end around 1:30 pm on Sunday the 20^th of March, 2011.

Accommodation and Logistics:

We will be staying in gender specific dormitories at Jungle Retreat which is in Bokkapuram near Masinagudi, on the Mysore-Ooty road. There is a common dining area and there are attached bathrooms and toilets which are permanent structures and are fully functional.

The drive to Jungle retreat is about 5 1/2 hrs from Bangalore. Make sure you are there early so as not to miss out on any activity.

For further details or to register, please get in touch with Conan Dumenil. +91-9972068300/ conan@gerrymartin.in.


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Young Naturalist Workshops

Summer, 2011

Young Naturalists’ Workshops

What’s this all about?

With an exponential rise in the number of children inclined towards Nature, it is only logical that there exist more avenues for Children to learn about, interact with and experience the Natural World. Unfortunately, this isn’t true for most city dwelling children. Children seem to possess more information today than ever before but are unable to test their knowledge or hypotheses through experience. Consequently, they don’t actually learn much.

If experience and life are our best teachers, then it is only fair that we offer children the chance to learn about what they are passionate about through experiences that we bring to them.

This summer, The Gerry Martin Project (TGMP) will be running six ‘Young Naturalists’ Workshops’ at different locations, focusing on separate learning objectives from Rainforest Ecology to Large Game tracking.

1. Reptile Biology at The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT)

We will be working on reptile biology here, focusing on management of reptiles in captive conditions. There is also a very interesting field component to this program. We will be camping out at Romulus Whitaker’s farm and learning field techniques in reptile biology and we will also be heading out one morning with the legendary Irula Snake Catchers.

Children will get hands on experience by working with the staff and specialists at the Croc Bank as well as shadowing the Irulas during their snake hunt. Some of the topics addressed are Reptile Captive Management, Safety Protocols, Small Wildlife Tracking, Reptile Veterinary Care, Survey Techniques, Field Techniques in Crocodile Research, Snakebite First Aid Protocol, etc.

Dates- 18^th to 22^nd April 2011. Age bracket: 12 to 19 yrs.  

2. Rainforest Exploration at the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station

Known primarily for its heavy Monsoon, Agumbe is a unique example of lowland rainforest. ARRS was set up in 2005 by Romulus Whitaker to study and conserve king cobras in the region. Today, it has evolved into a full-fledged research station, focusing on multiple aspects of research, conservation and education.

On this workshop, children will gain field skills as young naturalists and experience the reality of research and conservation. 

They will develop skills in Canopy Access, Radio Telemetry, Game Tracking, Outdoor Survival, Camera Trapping, Survey Techniques Stream exploration and a lot more.

Dates- 11^th to 15^th April 2011. Age bracket: 10 to 16 yrs.

3. Nature Skills at Hunsur

In a world where children rarely get a chance to interact with the Natural World, it is no surprise that they find it hard to develop their Nature skills. This workshop will address this lack of exposure and give children a structured learning experience that will allow them to build their own context and skills. It will run at Ossie Martin’s farm on the banks of the Devikere lake in Rathnapuri village about ten kilometers from Hunsur.

Here, we will learn how to build hides, machaans, approach animals with stealth and efficiency, observe aquatic life, some basics in Nature photography, outdoor survival, tree climbing and a lot more. Kids will also learn basics in wilderness first aid including snakebite protocol, small game tracking and a lot more. This will be an intensive young Naturalists’ workshop that will be a perfect stepping stone for aspiring naturalists, biologists and conservationists. Gerry Martin and Conan Dumenil will run this workshop along with at least two support faculty members.

Dates- 4th to 8th April. Age Bracket- 9- 16 yrs.

 

4. Naturalist Skills at Romulus Whitaker’s

Rom Whitaker is a pioneer in reptile conservation and has been at the forefront of the field for around four decades. He founded the first snake park in India, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team, Irula Snake Catchers’ Co-operative Society among many other achievements and endeavours.

Rom now lives on the edge of a reserve forest about an hour away from Chennai. He has set up a small campsite to allow enthusiasts to experience Nature and also build skills in field biology.

Gerry Martin will be taking a group of 18 kids over to Rom’s campsite to run them through the basics in field biology. They will learn outdoor skills, camera trapping, bio-statistics, reptile biology, bird watching and a lot more.

Dates- 11^th to 15^th April. Age bracket: 10 to 16 yrs.

5. Large Game and Bird Ecology at Jungle Retreat

Jungle Retreat is a resort, located on over thirty-five acres of reforested farmland adjoining the Mudumalai National Park. It is the perfect setting to help children learn the basics in wildlife tracking, birdwatching, outdoor survival and the like. There will also be activities like camera trapping, pug mark identification, wildlife safari, visit to the elephant camp, etc. It is a perfect workshop for children who are interested in nature and would like to experience real wilderness and wildlife of all kinds.

The program will be led by Conan Dumenil, who has had over three years of experience working as a naturalist in Corbett National Park.

Dates- 11^th to 15^th April. Age bracket: 10 to 16 yrs. 

6.The Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET) field station.

Here, we will be running our Island Ecology Workshop. There will be a lot of exploration,
skill building and courses. Children will learn basics in Canopy Access, Snorkelling, Scuba Diving, Outdoor Survival, Nature Photography, etc. This is also a good time to encounter a lot of reptile species because of the intermittent pre-monsoon showers. Children will get a chance to understand and experience various species of reptiles, birds and small mammals in their habitats. There will also be a significant marine exploration aspect to the workshop where children will learn snorkeling and scuba diving under professional instructors.

Dates- 18th to 23rd April 2011. Age bracket: 12 to 19 yrs.

Faculty:

Each of the workshops will be led by a person with relevant skill and experience. There will be also be support faculty who will help children during the activities and see to their general wellbeing and safety. We will maintain an adult to child ratio of at least 1:5 where we will only count actual faculty on the program and not include other adults who work at the locations. All our faculty will be screened and have prior experience with children. 

 

Safety:

We completely understand your trepidation about sending your children off on experiences like this. When it comes to safety, we keep a constant vigil on children to ensure that they don’t get hurt, physically or emotionally. The ratio of adults to children that we maintain ensures that children are never alone and unwatched. We also keep a keen eye out for interpersonal dynamics and will step in if any children are being bullied or put down.

Our equipment is all tested and cleared. Wherever necessary, we have certified and experienced instructors.

To register or to get more details, please get in touch with Conan on 9972068300 or email at conan@gerrymartin.in.

 

 

Family Nature Camp

With the pace of life, unbearable traffic and simply insufficient avenues to experience Nature, families in our big cities often resort to television, malls and other truly urban forms of recreation. The spin off from these activities is that our children are getting more disconnected from Nature with each passing year. Their immunity drops, minds remain less challenged and there’s enough research to show that even their self-esteem takes a significant knock!

Many parents strive to find avenues by which their children can experience Nature and animals/ wildlife. What The Gerry Martin Project is proposing is for any interested parents to share this experience with their children.

We will leave Bangalore in the morning of the 14^th of January and drive four hours to Hunsur where we will camp at Ossie Martin’s farm. The farm is located on the banks of a lovely lake and is basically a fruit orchard with a little agriculture and some livestock. Here, we will experience Nature through various activities that will be designed for parents to do with their children. There will be a lot of small wildlife that can also be experienced and of course, the lake that can be used to the fullest. We will paddle over in our coracles, swim in the shallows and even fish if we choose.

We’ll also build hides to watch the numerous bird species on and around the lake and get a chance to understand how wildlife and Nature photographers work. Nagarahole National Park is not far and we’ll take a drive through, looking for larger game ranging from Elephant and Gaur (Indian Bison) to deer and mongoose. We’ll also visit Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary and go on a boat ride to look at marsh crocodiles and a host of wading birds that nest on the river.

We’ll be staying in raised coconut shacks or camping tents. The bathrooms are permanent structures with running water.

This camp is an ideal way to get in touch with Nature, capitalize on some quality time with the family and deflate for a while.

For more details or to register, please get in touch with Conan on conan@gerrymartin.in or call Gerry on 9845779666.

Rainforest Ecology Experience - Agumbe 3/5 Dec 2010

 Cobras, Canals and Carabineers

A Rainforest Ecology Experience

Unfairly called the Cherrapunji of the South, Agumbe possesses a lot of its own unique charm and enigmas. Known primarily for the almost unfathomable rain and the clichéd and touristy ‘Sunset Point’, this sleepy town of Malgudi Days fame remains a tiny dot on the highway between Shimoga and Mangalore.

Geographically, the area is a small and low basket in the Western Ghats and consists of very unique flora and fauna. One of the few lowland evergreen forests in the Western Ghats, Agumbe is a naturalist’s dream, offering excitement and discovery at every corner.

This December, Gerry Martin will be taking a group of enthusiasts over to the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station to provide them with a learning experience by getting involved with the various projects that the Research Station is conducting. There will also be skill-building sessions where individuals can learn various techniques in wildlife field biology. 

Activities:

• Stream Exploration
• Radio Tracking
• Canopy Access
• Survey Techniques
• Night Surveys
• Camping Out
• Waterfall Hike
• Plenty of Photo Ops
• Various learning presentations

Topics will include:

Reptile taxonomy, rainforest ecosystems, snakebite first aid, radio telemetry, king cobra breeding biology, etc.

Who can attend this workshop?

Anyone who is 12 years and above and interested in Nature can attend this workshop. It is open to children and adults. The age range on our workshops has been as large as between 12 and 60 years old! All levels of dialogue, interest and skills are addressed and accommodated.

Accommodation and Logistics:

The group will travel via overnight bus to Agumbe on the 2^nd of December. The bus departs from the Majestic Bus Stand in Bangalore at 10 PM. We will be staying in tents at the field station. There is a common dining area and the bathrooms and toilets are permanent structures with hot and cold running water.

We will return early in the morning (usually around 5 AM) on the 6^th of December. 

For further details or to register, please get in touch with Conan Dumenil. 9449010673/ conan@gerrymartin.in.

Island Ecology Workshop 22/27 Nov 2010

 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands!

The Andaman Islands are an almost fabled archipelago with clichéd sun-kissed beaches, blue waters and incredible coral reefs. However, there is a lot more that is spectacular on these islands! There are mangrove forests, intertidal zones and rainforests as well and all these habitats are dependent on each other, as are the flora and fauna that live within them.

We will explore four separate habitats, better understanding the dynamics at play within them and how they affect each other. Along the way, we will build skills in surveying techniques, canopy access, snorkeling and scuba diving.

We’ll be staying at the premier conservation and research body on the islands- The Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team’s field station and get involved with their experiences, work and endeavors. The field station is located with mangrove forests and inter-tidal zones adjoining it and the five-acre campus is a well-preserved rainforest!

The workshop will encompass a lot of learning skills, experiencing new ecosystems and getting numerous photo opportunities. We’ll see many species that are unique to the islands and some that are adapted specifically to life in island habitats.


One day will be dedicated to snorkeling and another will be spent scuba diving to better experience the coral reefs and also build skills.



ACTIVITIES:

• Understanding Island Ecologies
• Mangrove walks- Searching for specialized animals
• Intertidal Zone- Understanding this unique niche
• Visits to the reef
• Looking for crocodiles
• Herpetofaunal surveys
• Photography sessions
• Ecology presentations
• Canopy access
• Snorkeling for marine life
• Scuba Diving
• Loads of hands on experience
• Night surveys

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Environmental Team (ANET)
The Andaman and Nicobar islands are a chain of some 300 little known archipelagic islands situated on the eastern rim of the Bay of Bengal. Closely guarded by the Indian Government, they remain a pristine tropical island paradise, complete with stunning coral reefs, crystal blue waters and unspoiled equatorial rainforest. Most extraordinary, many of the islands are a bastion for some of the last remaining aboriginal tribes on earth that continue to shun all contact with the outside world. The Andamanese, as these tribes are collectively known as, inhabit a significant percentage of the islands in fully protected areas that remain completely off limits to the general public.

Shortly after setting up the Croc Bank in the 1970s, the Whitakers realize there were needs for basic herpetological and other ecological work in the then much neglected islands. Over the next several years Rom, together with Satish Bhaskar and Alok Mallick, set about crafting a strategy to effectively address these issues. The Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET) was conceived in 1989 and shortly thereafter five acres of land was purchase and a base station constructed in Wandoor, on the southern tip of South Andaman island.
ANET has since carried out extensive work on marine turtles, herpetofaunal biogeography and a host of other biological studies. In addition, ANET has been actively involved in the broader ecological and social spheres including work on natural resource utilization, socioeconomics and the management of protected areas.

As one of the most capable NGOs in the region, ANET  played a pivotal humanitarian and disaster relief role in the Nicobar Islands after the infamous 2004 tsunami devastated the region. Today, although still very active in the reptile arena (with a recently described genus of Agamid named at the base to prove it!) ANET has a very broad curriculum of environmental development work, including marine and terrestrial components. ANET is the only environmental research base in the islands and remains one of the Croc Banks most exotic and luxurious projects – our very own Treasure Island!


Program Dates- 22nd to 27th November, 2010.


For further details or to register please get in touch with Conan on 9449010673 (conan@gerrymartin.in)

Worse than pollution?!

On a dark night last week a group of animal rights activists in Donegal made their own special contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity. They cut their way into a fur farm and released 5,000 mink . This, within their circles, was considered a clever thing to do. A spokesperson for the Alliance for Animal Rights said: "I commend whoever risked their freedom to do this." The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade announced that "we fully support what has happened".

Had these people tipped a tanker load of bleach into the headwaters of the river Finn, they would have done less damage. The effects would be horrible for a while, but the ecosystem could then begin to recover. The mink, by contrast, will remain at large for years, perhaps millennia. Like many introduced species, American mink can slash their way through the ecosystem, as they have no native predators, and their prey species haven't evolved to avoid them. Is there anything the animal lovers in Donegal could have done that would have harmed more animals?

But there's a second question raised by this act of preternatural imbecility: what were the mink doing there anyway? In other respects the Irish Republic appears to be a civilised country, in this case it looks barbaric. While the United Kingdom banned fur-farming in 2000, Irish governments have resisted prohibition, to protect a tiny but wildly destructive industry. The republic's five remaining fur farms are the sole source of continuing releases of mink, either through raids or accidents. They are also places of astonishing cruelty, in which intelligent carnivores are confined to cages the size of a few shoeboxes. The Irish government is considering phasing out fur farming in 2012. Until then, its citizens will continue to pay more to eradicate mink than they make from breeding them.

But Ireland is a small player. Two-thirds of the world's mink farming and 70% of its fox farming takes place in other EU countries. Denmark alone produces 40% of the global supply of mink pelts. Feral American mink on the continent are even more damaging than they are here, as they drive out the endangered European mink . The EU's 6,000 fur farms are an affront to the values it proclaims.

This month governments meet at Nagoya, in Japan, to review the Convention on Biological Diversity . It has, so far, been a dismal failure. Perhaps the starkest botch has been their inability or unwillingness to control the spread of invasive species. The stories I am about to tell read like a gothic novel.

Consider, for example, the walking catfish , which is now colonising China, Thailand and the US, after escaping from fish farms and ornamental ponds. It can move across land at night, reaching water no other fish species has colonised. It slips into fish farms and quietly works through the stock. It can burrow into the mud when times are hard and lie without food for months, before exploding back into the ecosystem when conditions improve. It eats almost anything that moves.

Its terrestrial equivalent is the cane toad, widely introduced in the tropics to control crop pests. It's omnivorous and just about indestructible: one specimen was seen happily consuming a lit cigarette butt. Nothing which tries to eat it survives: it's as dangerous to predators as it is to prey. Unlike other amphibians, it can breed in salty water: it's as if it had waddled out of the pages of Karel Capek's novel War With the Newts .

The world's most important seabird colony – Gough Island in the South Atlantic – is now being threatened by an unlikely predator: the common house mouse. After escaping from whaling boats 150 years ago, it quickly evolved to triple in size, and switched from herbivory to eating flesh. The seabirds there have no defences against predation, so the mouse simply walks into their nests and starts eating the chicks alive . Among their prey are albatross fledglings, which weigh some 300 times as much as the mice. A biologist who has witnessed this carnage observed that "it is like a tabby cat attacking a hippopotamus".

On Christmas Island the yellow crazy ant does something similar: it eats alive any animal it finds in its path. It is also wiping out the rainforest, by farming the scale insects that feed on tree-sap. Similar horror stories are unfolding almost everywhere. The species we introduce, unlike the pollution we produce, don't stop when we do. A single careless act (think of the introduction of the rabbit or the lantana plant to Australia) can transform the ecology of a continent.

According to a government report, invasive species cost Britain several billion pounds a year. The global damage they cause, it says, amounts to almost 5% of the world economy. A single introduced species – a speargrass called Imperata – keeps 2 million square kilometres in the tropics out of agricultural production, equivalent to the arable area of the US, while ensuring that the native ecosystem can't regenerate.

In most cases there's a brief period in which an invasive species can be stopped. So you would expect governments to mobilise as soon as the threat appears. But in many parts of the world the policy appears to consist of staring dumbly at the problem while something can be done, then panicking when it's too late. When museum weed (Caulerpa taxifolia) escaped into the Mediterranean from the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, the authorities responded by bickering over whose fault it was. In 1984, when the invasion was first documented, the weed occupied one square metre of seabed. It could have been eradicated in half an hour. Now it has spread across 13,000 hectares and appears to be uncontrollable.

Australia, the continent that has been hit hardest by introductions, still seems incapable of regulating the trade in dangerous species. As the Guardian's new Biodiversity100 campaign shows, 90 potentially invasive plant species are being sold in nurseries there, while 210 species of aquarium fish can be imported without a licence. The UK has some good policies at home. It spent £10,000 in 2006, for example, on a strategy (successful so far) for excluding the South American water primrose, whose control now costs France several million euros a year. But in its overseas territories – of which Gough island is one – it reacts slowly, if at all.

The mink, the walking catfish, the cane toad, the mutant house mouse, these are potent symbols of humanity's strangely lopsided power. We can sow chaos with a keystroke in an investment bank, one signal to a Predator drone, a seed dislodged from the sole of a boot, a fish tank emptied into a canal. But when asked to repair the mess we've made, we proclaim our impotence. Our challenge this century is to meet our capacity for harm with an equal power for good. We are not, so far, doing very well.

• A fully referenced version of this article can be found at www.monbiot.com