The Walrus is confined to the northern circumpolar regions, its range northward apparently extending to the limit of perpetual ice. Now rare in Iceland, Odobenus rosmarus is stated to be still not unfamiliar in Hudson Bay, Davis Strait, and Baffin Bay north to Ellesmere Land, the coasts of Greenland, Spitsbergen, Novaia Zemlia, and the western part of the north coast of Siberia; in all of which regions, however, persecution has greatly diminished its numbers. The species does not extend along the far eastern part of the north Siberian coast, and Walrus are not met with again until the north-eastern extremity of Siberia is reached. Here the Pacific Walrus, which differs somewhat from that of the Atlantic side and is regarded as a distinct species, Odobenus obesus, is reported from Cape Chelagskai, in longitude 170° E., along the Siberian coast as far as northern Kamschatka south to latitude 60°, also on some of the islands in the Bering Sea, and on the opposite coast of Alaska south to about latitude 55° and eastward to Point Barrow. Here again a long gap along the Arctic coast of North America, from Point Barrow in longitude 158° W. to the western shore of Hudson Bay in longitude 97° W., separates the Pacific from the Atlantic Walrus.

By a Proclamation dated 20th April, 1950, the Governor of Northern Rhodesia has established a National Park, to be known as the Kafue National Park.

This new park covers some 8,650 square miles roughly in the central Kafue basin, between latitudes 14° and 16° 40′ S. It contains a wide range of country from the comparatively dry sandy lands of the south to the big rivers, swamps, and heavy timber of the northern section. The magnificent Kafue River dominates the whole central portion, adding scenic beauty to the attraction of wild life.

Even in this age of atomic energy and jet propulsion, the market for elephants is still strong. Their value as a means of extracting timber in thick forests, as a mode of transport in otherwise inaccessible tracts of country and for ceremonial uses has not in the least declined.

There are those who, misled by the elephants' huge size, overestimate their strength, and work them till they break down. Then they decry them as weak and delicate animals. Admittedly elephants are, size for size, about a quarter less strong than a horse and slightly weaker even than man. But with the necessary knowledge of their habits in their wild state, and with proper care and attention, these sagacious and docile creatures will perform a great variety of tasks and get through an enormous amount of heavy work, resulting in an appreciable saving of man-power and complicated mechanical devices.

It is, I think, common knowledge that in the course of the war the defences of Gibraltar were strengthened, the garrison reinforced, and the civilian population largely evacuated. But there was another notable measure taken which, so far as I know, has escaped publicity. It is not easy to come by information on the affairs of Gibraltar, but the local belief is that during a brief official visit to the Rock, Mr. Churchill became aware that the famous Apes had so decreased in numbers as to make their continued existence precarious. Conscious, no doubt, of our Society's good purpose, and aware, perhaps, of the age-long belief that if ever the Apes should come to an end a like fate would befall our possession of Gibraltar, the Prime Minister gave an urgent order that the Apes should be increased by such a number as would ensure their preservation. This was done by an importation of monkeys of the same species (Macaca, sylvana) from Barbary, across the Straits, and these are now, to all appearance, well established in their new home. Their location is about half-way up the Rock, and accessible by road. A soldier of the garrison has charge of them and notice boards here and there request visitors “not to touch or feed the roaming Apes”, but in practice no objection is made if anyone wishes to give them fruit. Judging by the number of young ones, the Apes have multiplied since their arrival and the total colony appears to amount now to about twenty.

That the Government of Tanganyika is taking seriously its obligations under the 1933 International Convention for the Protection of African Fauna and Flora, is shown by the draft of the new Game Bill. The explanatory note particularly reflects an appreciation of the value of wild life and a realization that the world to-day is watching with growing concern the depreciation of the fauna of Africa. It will hardly be disputed that the new Bill exceeds in courage and imagination any game preservation legislation previously attempted in the country, and it will be the earnest hope of lovers of nature everywhere, particularly of the members of the Fauna Preservation Society, that the effort meets the success which it deserves.

The object of these notes is to give a record of the wild life living in the Lower Juba area of Somalia, and to assist visitors to Jubaland in finding the haunts of the various animals described. The writers do not presume to lay down the methods of identifying these animals because more knowledgeable authors have already done this elsewhere.

The Lower Juba is that area which was the Administrative District of Kismayu under the recent British occupation. It extends from Ghesgud to Dujuma on the left bank of the Juba River, and contains all the land between the right bank of the river and the Kenya border from Ras Ciamboni to Dif, lying south of a line Dif-Dujuma (see map).

The Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire is taking stock of the faunal conditions of Africa in the light of recent developments, with special reference to investigations that have taken place and are in progress, of the incidence of flyborne diseases and of methods of control of such diseases by direct attack on the fly through the use of insecticides and otherwise, and by treatment of cattle with prophylactics such as antryeide. We have been encouraged to hope that Governments in British territories, including Southern Rhodesia, where controlled killing had been undertaken with a view to eradicating tsetse fly were now disposed to suspend this method of attack for a period pending examination of the results of experiments in progress.

If you have never seen the African animals except in zoos, and have always longed to see them wild, the Nairobi National Park is a sort of paradise. At first it is hard to believe that you are not in the middle of a wonderful dream, though as with many such dreams, there is grimness lurking in the background in the form of Vultures, Hyænas, and, of course, Lions.

Though the Park is quite small, only about 40 square miles, the number and variety of animals is amazing, especially considering that during the war it was an army training ground, so hardly a peaceful place for them. But now, driving slowly along, you find hundreds of beautiful and fantastic beasts strolling unconcernedly around you, for they have found that they are safe from men in cars, if not from Lions.

Captain Keith Caldwell, in his admirable report of a faunal survey in Eastern and Central Africa conducted in 1947, says: “… Were one of the old hunters who operated fifty years ago to visit Eastern Africa to-day, he would find vast districts in which he used to shoot completely denuded of game; in fact, it is probable that the game areas have been reduced by half, and the game within many of those left by 75 per cent.”

That, I think, is a fair estimate: a reduction of the fauna of Eastern and Central Africa to between a half and one-quarter of what it was half a century ago. The same applies more or less, but mostly more, to the whole of Africa south of the Sahara. The question before us now is what will be the state of this unique assemblage of fauna, including many species found nowhere else in the world, at the end of the next half-century?