Hans's blog

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Model unlocks human impact on Africa's fire regimes

Fri, 2011-12-30 18:22 by Hans
Fire on African savannah (Image: Lynn TroIIope/savefireresearchcampaign)

Historically, fire has played an important role in shaping landscapes' flora and fauna

By Mark Kinwer – Environment reporter, BBC News

A model has helped shed light on how human-started fires shaped Africa's landscape, researchers report.

Read the complete article at BBC News

Before human activity became widespread, most fires were caused by lightning strikes during the continent's wet seasons, they said.

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I know something you don’t know – and I will tell you!

Thu, 2011-12-29 22:17 by Hans

Wild chimpanzees monitor the information available to other chimpanzees and inform their ignorant group members of danger

Read the complete article at AlphaGalileo Foundation

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NIH temporarily bans new chimpanzee research

Sat, 2011-12-17 10:13 by Hans
Linda Köbner/CHIMP HAVEN – Chimps Doll and Alvin have been used in biomedical research and are now free.

By Brian Vastagg

Read the complete article in The Washington Post

The National Institutes of Health has placed a temporary moratorium on new studies using chimpanzees, it announced Thursday in response to a report that marks nearly all medical research on the great apes as scientifically unjustified.

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Two rhino species 'extinct'

Thu, 2011-11-10 17:12 by Hans
A central African northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is listed as "possibly extinct in the wild" Photo: ALAMY

Zookeepers have been warned to increase security after a conservation group declared Africa’s Western Black Rhino extinct and two subspecies at high risk.

By Alice Klein, Nairobi

Read the complete article in The Telegraph

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Senegal curbs a bloody rite for girls and women

Sun, 2011-10-16 15:51 by Hans
Photo: Lynsey Adario for The New York Times – Sare Harouna, in southern Senegal, is one of more than 5,000 villages where female genital cutting has been abandoned.

Photo: Lynsey Adario for The New York Times – Sare Harouna, in southern Senegal, is one of more than 5,000 villages where female genital cutting has been abandoned.

By CELlA W. DUGGER

Read the complete article in the New York Times

SARE HAROUNA, Senegal — When Aissatou Kande was a little girl, her family followed a tradition considered essential to her suitability to marry. Her clitoris was sliced off with nothing to dull the pain.

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Leaders Debate Nairobi’s Course to Becoming a Smarter City

Fri, 2011-10-07 15:00 by Hans

IBM hosts roundtable discussion to address some of Nairobi’s biggest urban challenges

Read the complete article

NAIROBI, Kenya - 06 Oct 2011: Leaders from across public and private sector and civil society organizations came together in Nairobi today to discuss how advanced technologies can help the city to deal with some of the most pressing issues of urbanization – such as traffic congestion, parking, emergency response and the reliability of energy and water supplies.

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Wangari Muta Maathai, Nobel peace prize winner, dies at 71

Mon, 2011-09-26 16:04 by Hans
Wangari Maathai. Photo: REUTERS

Kenyan social activist and environmental crusader who founded the Green Belt Movement has died of cancer

Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 September 2011

Read the complete article at The Guardian

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel peace prize, died on Sunday night of cancer. She was 71.

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Want fatter cows? Bring in a zebra

Sat, 2011-09-24 14:22 by Hans
Dropping by. During rainy months in African savannas, zebra may benefit cattle by unearthing nutrient-rich grasses. Credit: Rob Pringle

by Daniel Strain on 22 September 2011, 2:01 PM

Read the complete article at Science

Climb to the top of a hill along one of the few remaining undisturbed grasslands in East Africa, pull out the binoculars, and you may spy a black-and-white zebra herd. You may also see a few gazelles, buffaloes, and elephants. "Natural selection has favored that mix," says Johan du Toit, an ecologist at Utah State University in Logan. Natural selection, maybe, but not people. Convinced that other grass-chomping animals will drive their herds to starvation, ranchers in Kenya and elsewhere tend to keep their cattle separate from wildlife. But a new study suggests that thinking may be wrong. Wildlife, particularly zebras, can actually help a ranch thrive.

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The Masai Mara's dwindling wildlife

Thu, 2011-06-09 22:10 by Hans

New study reveals that wildlife numbers in Kenya's world famous Masai Mara game reserve are falling drastically

Read the complete article

Wild animal numbers in Kenya’s world famous Masai Mara game reserve have declined massively over the last 30-years according to a study published in the Journal of Zoology.

The new research shows that numbers of many wild animals have dropped by as much as 70%.

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Animal GPS tracking

Wed, 2011-05-04 06:56 by Hans

I wonder if any of the devices described below could be used for research purposes in Africa.

A BBC photo essay on using GPS to track hedgehogs in New Zealand:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9469000/9469456.stm

This paper (not on hedgehog tracking) identifies the equipment maker as Sirtrack:

http://www.nzes.org.nz/nzje/new_issues/NZJEcol35_1_114.pdf

The GPS tracker in Image 6 on the BBC site appears to be the Sirtrack G1G 132A or 134A:

http://www.sirtrack.com/documents/suites/microGPS_G1G_&_G1H_Suitesheet.pdf