Cattle ranching for beef is slowly spreading in the Amazonian flood-plains and could lead to a serious loss of wildlife habitats. The author suggests that the indigenous capybara could be a satisfactory alternative for ranching, and one that would not require swamps or areas that are flooded seasonally to be drained.

Three small elephant populations have survived in South Africa despite near extermination in the recent past. In Tongaland a group of fewer than 30 bulls survives by keeping contact with the population in a nearby reserve; in the Knysna, where there were 13 in 1920, there are now 12; and in the Addo Bush 11 survivors in 1931 had increased to only 18 in 1953, but to 102 in 1979. The author tells the story of each group, discusses the reasons for the different status of each, and describes what is being done to conserve them.

In 1976 one of the authors saw a pet turtle which he recognised to be Phrynops hogei. This was remarkable because hitherto the type specimen, first described in 1967, was the only one known to scientists. However, since 1976 three other live animals have been seen, and also eight museum specimens. From the new information the authors conclude that the range of the species is small, and also that the type locality was wrongly given. They think the turtle may well be endangered, and suggest a captive breeding programme for its conservation.

Arabian tahr are confined to Oman, with a population of under 2000. Unlike other tahr species, which depend on grass, Arabian tahr require also fruits, seeds and young shoots. The areas where these can be found in this arid country are on certain north-facing mountain slopes with a higher rainfall, and it is there that reserves to protect this tahr must be made. The author spent two years in Oman studying the tahr.

Pampas deer, which are on the verge of extinction in Argentina, have declined in Uruguay to an estimated 1000 animals. Mostly they occur in small scattered herds, which have survived because of their remoteness and the absence of sheep, and because a small number of landowners have protected them. Sheep, however, are likely to spread because rising oil prices have made synthetic fibres more expensive and wool more competitive. The authors recommend the measures that should be taken quickly, including action against poaching, a study to find out the deer's needs, and steps to set up both reserves and captive breeding units.

Carved ivory objects are widely sold in India, and up to 90 per cent to foreigners, either in exports or tourists’ accompanied luggage, which is a loophole in the government's otherwise complete ban on exports made from Indian ivory. Partly because of this ban, which has probably reduced elephant poaching in India, the ivory trade depends on imported African ivory, and the rise in price in recent years has been so steep that most carvers cannot affort to buy it. As a result the larger traders are turning to other crafts, and carvers are being re-trained to work in wood. This sad decline of an ancient skilled craft may, however, ease some of the pressure on both Indian and African elephants.

Indonesia, a land of forests, is still rich in wildlife, with tigers, rhinos, orang-utans and even elephants still surviving despite the enormous pressures of human population. But saving the wildlife means preserving large areas of forest, and timber is Indonesia's second largest export. However, the Government has now committed itself to a conservation programme that includes the promise of 100,000 sq km of nature reserves by 1984. Since 1974 John Blower has been in charge of a UNDP/FAO Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management Project, selecting areas for conservation in national parks and other reserves, and drafting legislation and management plans. WWF has promised $1 million to support the schemes. The author has high hopes that Indonesia/s foresters are coming to realise that conservation and sustained-yield timber production can be combined to the benefit of both.

Are we too careless about the dangers of accidental introductions? Were the first Colorado beetles taken seriously? What about insect introductions in the waterweeds that come with tropical fish?

In the early 1970s the huge lechwe herds gave the Kafue Flats in Zambia one of the highest carrying capacities in the world – an estimated 11,000kg per sq km. But these highly specialised antelopes depend on the annual floods of the Kafue river, to which particularly they have adapted their breeding behaviour and the leks in which they mate. Since the completion of two huge dams on the Kafue these floods are now controlled in the interests of making electricity, and not of the lechwe. The author, who studied the lechwe's social organisation and behaviour in the Lochinvar National Park, first describes the lechwe's remarkable lek system, how they are adapted to the floods to the point of being able to graze in water up to their shoulders, and the remarkable way in which they maximise the resources of the Flats. In the second part (page 481) he shows how the new flood control can disrupt their breeding behaviour and social organisation, which might lead to the extinction of the Kafue lechwe.

Counts of the two endemic bats in the Seychelles in 1977 suggested that the fruit bat Pteropus seychellensis occurred in large numbers on Praslin and La Digue. But the author suggests that the number taken for food, especially for the tourist restaurants on Mahé, is excessive and should be curbed; tree-felling in suitable roosting areas should also be discouraged. The other bat, the small insectivorous Coleura seychellensis, is clearly endangered — only six were found despite an extensive search — and complete protection is called for.

Thirteen forest bird species are seriously threatened in East Africa – one, a bush shrike, may already be extinct. But the very small surviving area of forest is being rapidly destroyed, and soil eroded. If the tree-felling can be stopped it could both save the rare birds and stop the erosion. The author's study of these forest birds was aided by the FPS Oryx 100% Fund.

The wildlife of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia is a remarkable mixture of Asian and Australasian forms, with many endemic species. But it is being rapidly destroyed as a result of timber logging, hunting and agriculture. However, Dr MacKinnon, who is manager for two World Wildlife Fund projects in North Sulawesi, believes that action now could save most of the larger animals. With Indonesia's new interest in conservation he is optimistic that this will be achieved.

Every year the killing of harp and hooded seals off Newfoundland and in the St Lawrence Gulf raises a public outcry, especially over the clubbing of the whitecoat pups. In 1979 IUCN scientists suggested to the Canadian Government that the quotas were too high and could be imperilling the stocks. Little was known about the trade in seal products that resulted from the hunts, and in 1978 FPS commissioned Jon Barzdo to make a study of this aspect. This article is a summary of his report, a 30,000-word document with detailed figures, obtainable from the FPS office for £3, including p&p.

The Tanzania-Zambia railway now bisects the Magombera Forest Reserve in Tanzania, and as a result the most viable surviving population of the rare endemic Iringa red colobus is seriously threatened. The railway has facilitated tree-felling, settlement and cultivation, and the colobus habitat is already seriously damaged. The authors conducted a survey of the forest in 1979, and recommended that the southern part, which has a viable colobus population, be included in the neighbouring Selous Game Reserve, thus giving that part the stronger protection of a game reserve, and that the local people be compensated by the release to them of a small area of the Selous.

Between 1969 and 1976 the price of rhino horn in Kenya rose 446 per cent — from K£8.24 per kilogram to K–44.6. Between 1972 and 1976 the average amount exported each year represented the product of 1197 rhinos. Most of it went to Hong Kong, but demand was rising in southern Arabia, especially North Yemen. In March 1979 rhino horn imports were totally banned in Hong Kong, but the authors believe that the price in North Yemen will continue to rise, and with it the demand for rhino horn.

The state of Borno, in Nigeria, is trying to increase its dwindling crocodile populations. In 1976 the State wildlife authorities confiscated fifteen crocodiles that were being illegally kept, and used them to augment a low population in a game reserve. This proved successful, and in 1979 they followed it with another successful translocation, this time of 20 crocodiles born and bred in Kyarimi Park Zoo of which the author was Curator. The latest news is that a third translocation is planned from a record batch of 112 bred in the Kyarimi Park Zoo.

The author, who has studied and advised on wildlife management and park problems in Africa, describes some of the differences he noted in India. He looks at the effects of management in Kanha National Park, where the bans on stock grazing and tree felling and the removal of villages have benefited two endangered species—tiger and barasingha—and shows the need for more study and understanding of the large herbivores in order to manage the park successfully.

Siberut, the largest of the Mentawai Islands, has a remarkable fauna with at least ten endemic mammal species — which include four primates — one endemic bird, thirteen endemic bird subspecies, and probably endemic insects, reptiles and amphibians still to be discovered. Until the 20th century the Siberut people lived in harmony with their environment, but modern practices are changing their ways, destroying their culture, and threatening the wildlife. The author describes the wildlife, the people, and the programme planned to help both in this difficult transition.

How to protect 950 bat species worldwide is the problem of the Chiroptera Specialist Group of the IUCN's Survival Service Commission (SSC), which was set up in 1976. The Group's Chairman, Dr R.E. Stebbings, has highlighted the sort of problems they face by three examples: the endemic fruit bat Pteropus rodricencis on Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean; the small insectivorous grey bat Myotis grisescens in the USA, and the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus of Latin America.

Russian settlement of the Far East inevitably reduced numbers of Siberian tigers and leopards, whose magnificent skins were a major lure for the settlers. But in the 1880s tigers were numerous, and tracks often seen in the streets of Vladivostok; many were shot. Today there may be 200 or so, which is probably as many as at any time since 1914. Now fully protected, they appear to have adjusted to the timber mills and the secondary forest, and are often seen on roads and near gardens. Their main strongholds are two reserves, both likely to be enlarged. The leopard, however, is seriously endangered, and depends for survival on two reserves in the Ussuri region which are being combined to create one huge reserve 200 miles long.