In Sarawak a comparatively new development is that orang-utans are being hunted for food, often with great cruelty. The Government is aware of the threat to the population, and special reserves are being considered. Lord Medway points out that only a change in local sentiment will save the orang-utans even in sanctuaries – they already have full legal protection – and suggests an appeal must be made to people to return to traditional ways.

In the 1920s elephants roamed nearly three-quarters of Uganda; by 1960 the area open to them was less than one-fifth. The survivors concentrated in national parks and reserves where they were protected, and where they were soon destroying the habitat. So two thousand were shot. But numbers remained high – until 1973. Counts in 1974 showed a dramatic reduction, and rotting carcases pointed to poaching as the cause. The destruction continued in 1975, and the authors believe that the outlook for Uganda's elephants is grim.

This account of the national parks, reserves and other places worthy of protection in Mozambique gives some idea of the wealth of wildlife in this newly independent country. One special reserve has 25,000 buffaloes—the largest concentration in the world.

The author spent eleven months between 1970 and 1975 studying the wildlife of the high mountains in northern Pakistan, especially the large mammals that are endangered in Pakistan. He describes the status of nine, of which the brown bear is on the verge of extinction there (although commonly seen in the form of performing bears in city streets), while the Kashmir markhor, snow leopard and Marco Polo sheep are in serious danger. Despite the protection laws and new reserves, including a new national park, the rule is still too often ‘if it moves shoot it, if it doesn't chop it down’.

In Uganda chimpanzees and gorillas, two of the most spectacular living beings on earth, still survive in their natural state in some forests. Neither species can adapt for long to man-made changes in their environment; they will only survive if they are actively protected in untouched wilderness areas. In 1971–72, with the approval of the Uganda National Research Council, I made surveys in the Budongo and Bwindi forests to estimate chimpanzee numbers, and suggested two such areas, one of which, in the north-east Budongo forest, has since been created a nature reserve.

In Brazil the trade in spotted cat skins – mainly jaguar and ocelot – built up in the early 1960s and provoked the Government in 1967 to outlaw all commercial exploitation of wildlife. The author estimates that this cut the annual kill from 15,000 jaguars and 80,000 ocelots to about half, which he thinks both populations can stand without becoming endangered. Moreover, the programme of massive development and settlement on the forest margins along the new Transamazon highway has run into difficulties, and forest destruction has so far been much less than was expected.

The author spent six weeks in Zaire early in 1975 to get first-hand experience both of mountain gorillas, in the Kahuzi Biega and Virunga national parks, and of bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) in forests south of the Zaire river. As a result he believes that, Tor the mountain gorillas, the enlargement, already planned, of the Kahuzi Biega park is important to ensure that population's viability, and also that thought should be given to introducing new blood into the Virunga population, which may already be suifering from inbreeding. For the bonobos he suggests that, if investigation confirms the view that the Salonga National Park is not a good area for them, the Lomako-Bolombo region should be considered for a bonobo reserve. Dr MacKinnon is a member of the IUCN Survival Service Commission's Primate Group and has made major studies of the orang-utan.

This report of the author's six-week study of the European black vulture in Mallorca suggests that this endangered species has declined still further in the island and now numbers about 40. He believes that disturbance and direct persecution could be having a serious effect on such a small population, but food may be a factor and needs closer study. The FPS aided this study with an Oryx 100% Fund grant.