GUEST BLOG

NOTES by Brian Gaisford

Introductory comment by Howard Teich

Brian is the owner of Hemingway African Galleries in New York City, a leading advocate for actions to insure the survival of the African lion, elephant and Hippopotamus, and safari guide in Southern Africa.  Not only have I purchased several amazing stone sculptures from him, I have been absorbed by his profound commitment to the survival of wildlife in Southern Africa, and so I share these notes he gave me to read after his most recent visit to Southern Africa on the status of the Hippopotamus.  Their website is:  www.hemingwayafricangallery.com 

Subject: Rhino War

I am just back from S. Africa and Mozambique . We were taking a close look into who and why our rhinos are being slaughtered. We interviewed farmers, officials, hunters, veterinarians, police, army units, trackers, guides  and dedicated rhino security units in the field, Walked miles in the parks and along the Mozambique border. People across the world are calling the most recent rhino slaughter the Rhino War. Here I will outline the reasons why the rhinos are currently losing this war and why there is little hope in sight.

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Meriania aurata, a tree species we discovered in what is now EcoMinga’s Rio Zunac Reserve. Flower is large, about 7 cm across. Photo: Lou Jost/EcoMinga

I’m compiling a list of all the plant and animal species discovered by our reserve manager Juan Pablo Reyes, our director Javier Robayo, myself, and our students and co-investigators in and around our EcoMinga reserves near Banos, Ecuador. In this first installment, I’ll deal with the plants. (I’ll be saving some major as-yet-unpublished plant discoveries for a later post.) Nearly all of these species are still known only from our immediate area and nowhere else in the world. Adding these new discoveries to the previously-known locally endemic plants of the area, there are now more plant species unique to this area (the upper Rio Pastaza watershed) than there are in the world-famous Galapagos Islands! This is one reason why we are so committed to its conservation.

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