Despite formidable challenges and few successes in reintroducing large cats from captivity to the wild, the release of captives has widespread support from the general public and local governments, and continues to occur ad hoc. Commercial so-called lion Panthera leo encounter operations in Africa exemplify the issue, in which the captive breeding of the lion is linked to claims of reintroduction and broader conservation outcomes. In this article we assess the capacity of such programmes to contribute to in situ lion conservation. By highlighting the availability of wild founders, the unsuitability of captive lions for release and the evidence-based success of wild–wild lion translocations, we show that captive-origin lions have no role in species restoration. We also argue that approaches to reintroduction exemplified by the lion encounter industry do not address the reasons for the decline of lions in situ, nor do they represent a model that can be widely applied to restoration of threatened felids elsewhere.

The effects of management on ecosystem diversity, structure and function must be understood for the sustainable integration of conservation and development. A potential source of experimentation and learning in ecosystem management is the array of private protected areas worldwide. Autonomous management systems can be seen as natural experiments, presenting an opportunity to explore the consequences of manipulating ecosystem properties. By quantifying management diversity and developing an index of management intensity we assessed the ecological correlates of private protected area management within the savannah biome in South Africa. Management intensity is positively correlated with herbivore density, predator density and ecotourism lodge density and negatively with herbivore community heterogeneity, reintroduction success and primary productivity at the local protected area scale. However, these trade-offs are tantamount to functional diversity as different management systems play unique roles in the regional socio-ecological and socio-economic systems, which range from animal production centres high in commercial value to low density areas that may sustain landscape processes. Furthermore, fenced private protected areas are necessary to safeguard rare species that cannot sustain viable populations in altered ecosystems. Thus, when considered at the regional scale, a private protected area network that constitutes a patchwork of management systems will create a coincident conservation and production landscape. We suggest that maintaining management heterogeneity will provide net benefits to biodiversity and potentially galvanize locally sustainable, wildlife-based economies.

Legislative changes during the 1960s–1970s granted user rights over wildlife to landowners in southern Africa, resulting in a shift from livestock farming to wildlife-based land uses. Few comprehensive assessments of such land uses on private land in southern Africa have been conducted and the associated benefits are not always acknowledged by politicians. Nonetheless, wildlife-based land uses are growing in prevalence on private land. In Namibia wildlife-based land use occurs over c. 287,000 km2. Employment is positively related to income from ecotourism and negatively related to income from livestock. While 87% of meat from livestock is exported ≥ 95% of venison from wildlife-based land uses remains within the country, contributing to food security. Wildlife populations are increasing with expansion of wildlife-based land uses, and private farms contain 21–33 times more wildlife than in protected areas. Because of the popularity of wildlife-based land uses among younger farmers, increasing tourist arrivals and projected impacts of climate change on livestock production, the economic output of wildlife-based land uses will probably soon exceed that of livestock. However, existing policies favour livestock production and are prejudiced against wildlife-based land uses by prohibiting reintroductions of buffalo Syncerus caffer, a key species for tourism and safari hunting, and through subsidies that artificially inflate the profitability of livestock production. Returns from wildlife-based land uses are also limited by the failure to reintroduce other charismatic species, failure to develop fully-integrated conservancies and to integrate black farmers sufficiently.

Cordeauxia edulis (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae), commonly called yeheb, is a small tree/shrub species endemic to Ethiopia and Somalia. The tree produces nuts that are consumed as a staple food by pastoralists and are sold in local markets. Recent reports indicate that C. edulis has vanished from many locations where it was noted by earlier travellers and, as a result, it is currently categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. To assess the current status of the species we studied it around 10 villages in Boh district in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia, where the only known remnant stands of C. edulis in Ethiopia are found. The results show that these populations of C. edulis are declining and natural regeneration is negligible. We recommend that yeheb should be categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, based on criteria A1d, because we estimate that there has been at least a 70% reduction in population size from overexploitation. The major constraints to natural regeneration and imbalance in the population structure are over-harvesting of immature nuts, excessive browsing of shoots and leaves by livestock and excessive cutting of wood for fuel and construction. We recommend that conservation measures for the species focus on sustainable harvesting of mature nuts, raising awareness among local people, preservation and monitoring of remnant populations and introduction of the species in ecologically suitable sites.

Populations of many frogs have declined alarmingly in recent years, placing nearly one third of the > 6,000 species under threat of extinction. Declines have been attributed largely to habitat loss, environmental degradation and/or infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis. Many frogs undergo dramatic natural population fluctuations such that long-term data are required to determine population trends without undue influence of stochastic factors. We present long-term quantitative data (individuals encountered per person hour of searching) for four monotypic frog genera endemic to an Afromontane region of exceptional importance but growing conservation concern: one endemic to the Ethiopian highlands (Spinophrynoides osgoodi) and three endemic to the Bale Mountains (Altiphrynoides malcolmi, Balebreviceps hillmani, Ericabatrachus baleensis), collected during 15 field trips to the Bale Mountains between 1971 and 2009. Only a single confirmed sighting of S. osgoodi has been made since 1995. The other three species have also declined, at least locally. E. baleensis appears to have been extirpated at its type locality and at the same site B. hillmani has declined. These declines are in association with substantial habitat degradation caused by a growing human population. Chytrid fungus has been found on several frog species in Bale, although no dead or moribund frogs have been encountered. These results expose an urgent need for more amphibian surveys in the Bale Mountains. Additionally, we argue that detrimental human exploitation must be halted immediately in at least some parts of the Harenna Forest if a conservation crisis is to be averted.

Populations of the common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius in Mozambique were surveyed in 2010 during a national survey of the crocodile Crocodylus niloticus. Numbers of hippos seen during aerial counts along major rivers and lake shores were corrected to allow for undercounting of groups and these data were supplemented with the results of other recent surveys. There are now estimated to be c. 3,000 hippos in Mozambique and c. 50% of these live in Lake Cabora Bassa or the Zambezi River. The national total is much lower than the figure of 16,000–20,500 hippos estimated in 1986, used for the latest (v. 2012.1) IUCN Red List. The 1986 total included an estimated 10,000–12,000 in Marromeu Complex, an area that includes the southern Zambezi delta. We review the results of past surveys and find that the number of hippos in Marromeu Complex in 1986 was probably three times fewer than estimated. Although the number of hippos in this area declined markedly during the 1980s we believe that the 1986 overestimate of hippos in Marromeu Complex is an error that has been perpetuated for 25 years. Particular care should be taken when Red List assessments roll-over old and unsupported estimates of numbers. Even if an old estimate was accurate there comes a time when it should not simply be rolled-over. The 2007 IUCN Species Survival Commission's African Elephant Status Report provides a model for future assessments of the status of the common hippopotamus, categorizing the numbers of a species according to the type of survey, its reliability, and how long ago it was conducted.

Cape Verde has a higher number of reptile taxa and endemics than any of the five archipelagos in the Macaronesian region. Mapping the precise distributions and assessing the conservation status of reptiles is the first step towards effective conservation. Presence/absence and abundance data were gathered from extensive fieldwork and post-1980 literature. Evaluation of conservation status was considered at specific and subspecific levels, following IUCN Red List criteria and using RAMAS. Fieldwork confirmed the occurrence of 34 of 37 previously recorded taxa (31 native, three exotic). One taxon continues to be considered Extinct. Three broad distribution and rarity patterns were identified: widespread and abundant taxa occurring on ≥ 2 islands/islets, widespread or abundant taxa restricted to one island, and rare or limited range taxa occurring on small areas of islands or islets. More than a third of taxa have areas of occupancy < 20 km2 and extents of occurrence < 100 km2. Geckos are rarer than skinks because of their high habitat specialization, with 58% occurring on only one island/islet. About half of all taxa are potentially threatened, twice the proportion of those in the Canary Islands, a difference that could be explained by the smaller area and greater aridity of the Cape Verde islands. The criterion used for most threat categorizations is geographical range, and the most pervasive threats are natural disasters, intrinsic factors of the species and introduced species. The importance of applying conservation status at the subspecific level to island endemics is emphasized. Several conservation measures are proposed, including optimized design of protected areas.

The Goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara has been protected in the USA since 1990. In Florida commercial and recreational fishers consider the species a top predator of fish and lobster and advocate culling the grouper population as a solution to recover declining stocks. I examined the scientific evidence for and against culling the Goliath grouper, using commercial landing data from the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (1950–2010), fisheries-independent diver-based surveys from the REEF Environmental Education Foundation (1993–2007), and published dietary and morphological studies. An analysis of the commercial extinction of the Goliath grouper in Florida indicates that its recovering population is not the cause of declining fish and lobster stocks. The recovering Goliath grouper population could provide ecological and socio-economic benefits: as top-down control on other lobster predators, in ecotourism, and as potential biocontrol of the invasive Indo-Pacific red lionfish Pterois volitans on Atlantic reefs.