The sand lizard in Britain is well on the way to extinction, thanks to the destruction of its favoured habitats – sand dunes and dry heath. The author, who has been engaged in full-time research on the surviving populations, has started breeding sand lizards in captivity, using animals taken from sites that are being destroyed, and hopes to reintroduce them in protected areas.

Following its policy of helping small countries, which have special difficulties in protecting their wildlife, the FPS Council asked Sir Landsborough Thomson, one of our Vice-Presidents, to investigate the proposed Abuko nature reserve in The Gambia, for which we had received an appeal for help. This is the first and only reserve in this small independent state (200 miles long by less than 20 wide). On the basis of his favourable report the FPS advanced £3000 from the FPS'WWF Revolving Fund to pay for the necessary fencing. In an interview with the Prime Minister, Sir Landsborough learned of the other proposed conservation measures likely to be promulgated in this forward-looking country in the near future.

The last ten years have seen immense advances in the conservation field in the United States. Thanks to the hard spadework of the conservation bodies, the general attitude towards wildlife has changed from ignorant and unregarding exploitation to demands for wise use on a sustained yield basis; people's interest in and knowledge about conservation has made possible a long and varied list of legislation. More than any other one person the man responsible for this is Stewart Udall, for the past eight years Secretary of the Interior with charge of all conservation matters. On his retirement in January this year Mr Udall kindly accepted our invitation to sum up this remarkable ‘new look’ in the USA.

Madagascar has one of the most interesting and scientifically valuable faunas in the world, with many endemic species, notably the lemurs. But forest destruction here as elsewhere threatens its survival. In October 1970 IUCN held a conference in Tananarive to highlight the island's importance and to interest both government and people in conserving this unique wildlife. FPS was represented by the Hon. Secretary, who here describes the situation and reports several hopeful and encouraging aspects.

Eighteen million hunters are the backbone of the wildlife conservation movement in the USA. Wildlife is for use, for sport and for food, and they demand that it be conserved. As a result many species which, sixty years ago, were on the verge of extinction are once again numerous in the wild. One state alone estimates its deer population at 2¾ million. Under harvesting is often the problem now, and a new attitude to predators is emerging. The author is a member of the Office of Endangered Species/International Activities in the US Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.

Scientists and conservationists in five circumpolar countries are collaborating in a programme of research on the polar bear so that management plans can be evolved to ensure the survival of this endangered ‘Red Book’ animal. The author, who is an ecologist in the Institutt for Matin Biologi in Oslo University, describes the work he has been doing on Svalbard (Spitsbergen).

Last year the FPS together with the Council for Nature asked the Mammal Society to investigate the status of the otter in Britain in view of the widespread belief that numbers had declined seriously, especially in the south. This interim report from the Mammal Society, published here in full, confirms these fears, suggests causes, and what action should be taken.

Giraffes eat gall-bearing acacias which domestic animals never do; elephants will eat some shrubs which, in the same conditions, even goats will not touch. In Africa wildlife is an efficient user of the poorer land, whereas nearly all grazing land is badly managed by man. It does not benefit man to destroy the wildlife in order to spread his inefficient methods over yet more land. The author–agriculturist and well-known naturalist and conservationist–pleads for sound land management based upon research which would allow a place for the wildlife as an efficient user of certain land and a valuable resource.

The Nakuru hartebeest is virtually extinct. Only one male survives thanks to thoughtless slaughter. This article consists of extracts from a report to the Kenya Game Department by the author, then at University College, Nairobi, ending with a note by him on the scientific reason for conserving subspecies such as this hartebeest.

The object of Dr Holloway's two visits to Kashmir was to draw up a management plan for the Dachigam Sanctuary, the main habitat of the highly endangered hangul, or Kashmir stag. This includes a plan of work for the next five years, and also provision for anti-poaching patrols, the prevention of illegal grazing, wood-cutting and fires, staff training and a research programme. Dr Holloway is staff ecologist with IUCN.

Each of the larger islands of the Galapagos has (or had) its own subspecies of giant tortoise. Today ten are known to survive, but two are in serious danger, one of them, on Isla Pinzon (Duncan), because introduced black rats eat the young. To save them the Charles Darwin Research Station has successfully reared young tortoises in the station and will this year return 29 four-year-olds (which are large enough to cope with the rats) to their native island. A new tortoise-breeding centre was built last year, and the work is being extended. This article, which describes the rearing programme and comments on the general tortoise situation in the Galapagos, is based on information supplied by Roger Perry, the retiring Director, who has been largely responsible for this successful breeding programme. An article on the Galapagos tortoises by Dr David Snow, a former Director of the CDRS, was published in ORYX, December 1964.