TENDUA

Madagascar or the Art of “mora mora”

Myriam Dupuis — 2026-08-18T11:28:34Z

Far from a world ruled by pettiness and overwhelmed by blind devotion to efficiency, productivity, and the excesses of speed—known as malakilaky or “in a hurry” in Malagasy—there lies an island both shielded from the world and vulnerable in its coveted natural treasures: Madagascar.

Encircled by the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel, the Great Island possesses a quiet strength. It seems to point toward another path, a rhythm better aligned with nature's own. Here, people say “mora mora” (pronounced “mura mura”) to mean “gently,” “slowly,” or “take your time.” And it is this very nature that awakens in the traveler an even deeper desire to safeguard its abundant riches. It also offers us a chance to dream of how we might care for this invaluable land.

Male Panther Chameleon

@Myriam Dupuis

It was with this longing to rediscover a different pace that my son Alexei and I set off for three weeks. A shared dream, imagined since his childhood: to see its lemurs, its baobabs, its unique plants, and its splendid landscapes. Madagascar is so vast! And its roads make it difficult to traverse. With only three weeks, we had to choose: first, the Indian Ocean and the humid forests, all the way to the islands of Akany Nofy, with the hope of catching a glimpse—however fleeting—of an Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Then, after a week, we headed toward the Mozambique Channel and the baobabs.
The Aye-aye had been the subject of one of my very first engravings, over thirty years ago. This journey almost felt like a pilgrimage.

The Smiles of Madagascar

I quickly realized that the Great Island—seen by some as more of a continent than an island—wasn't just a story of plants and animals, but also of people, and at times, it felt like a world primarily of children.
They are everywhere: along the roadsides, in the deepest corners of the country. Malagasy people often have open, sincere faces with expressive, wide eyes. When you look at them closely, a smile appears so naturally, whether on adults or children, as if by magic—because we're not all so used to that. A joyful surprise, every time.

In Antananarivo, we had braced ourselves for an overwhelming city. There was no disappointment—only delightful surprises. Our hotel faced a bustling street market, and we were quickly initiated into the Malagasy rhythm by the sounds and smells of passing trucks!
A city pulsing with life.
The jacarandas were in full bloom around the lake. High above, the Queen's Palace loomed. Bright red flamboyant trees and poinsettias—those same plants we call Christmas stars and use to decorate our homes in December—dotted the views below.
The narrow streets climbing the hill felt like Montmartre: you'd think you were in a village. Chickens and chicks wandered freely, as did the dogs, and smiles were everywhere. And down below, the grand markets thrived.

A scholl, some reptiles, then the road

Our first encounter with Malagasy life was at a private school where we had to bring two suitcases of clothes sent from France by the association Delfina, in France.
Our taxi was stuck in a traffic jam when it broke down. That is how, in a certain very Malagasy disorder, we arrived at our first encounter with island life: a small school on the outskirts of Antananarivo.
The director, Arry, a small visionary woman and former judge, carefully runs the small establishment. The school is a jewel, with its colorful and round windows at the top, overlooking the fields of culture, houses and zebus, despite the noise of the city. We were greeted with traditional dances, a panoply of smiles and handmade gifts.

Two children with disabilities had made phenomenal progress there. Arry, who did not know Maria Montessori but shared some of her intuitions, advocates love for her children, “a care more than a care.” She gives everyone red rice from Madagascar and notices a difference in their notebooks when they are fed this way.

Then the 4x4 trip began.

Geckos with leaf tail or Uroplatus

@Myriam Dupuis

On the road to the East, with our guide Tony, we stopped in a small park to see reptiles: lizards, amazing geckos with leaf tails (Uroplatus sikaore), capable of blending into the foamy bark of trees, brightly colored frogs, chameleons. Only jewels! We thought then that this might be our only opportunity to see these beauties.
Fortunately not!

Where the trees sing

Car journeys are laborious towards the east, as everywhere on the island. Trucks follow one another on their way to the ports of Tamatave. But there is a huge compensation: the landscapes change all the time. It's continually a feast for the eyes. The valleys of rice fields. The silhouettes of the traveler's tree, an endemic species (Ravenala madagascariensis) at the top of the hills, which remind me of the great wheels in fairs. The small doves with iron masks (Masked Turtledove, Oena capensis) who come to look for small stones on the roads to better digest their meal.

Traveler's tree or Ravenale, symbol of Madagascar

@Myriam Dupuis

Then the forest.
In the reserve of Vakona, we discover our first lemurs. We will see several species: sifakas, brown lemurs, makis, bamboo lemurs.
The sifakas were kept on a small island, separated from other lemurs they could have attacked. Brown lemurs, on the other hand, seemed to rule their territory. I particularly liked bamboo lemurs, with their small round heads.

But the real meeting was that of the Analamazaotra reserve, adjacent to the Andasibe-Mantadia national park.
In the evening, in this forest, under the rain and with our flashlights, we discover the first mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus), small beings with irresistible charm and large curious eyes. Geckos, lizards, stick-shaped insects and some chameleons appear in turn.
But I was mostly looking forward to the next day.
We were going to enter the primary forest of Analamazaotra Park by day, supported by the local association Mintsinjo..

We wanted to see the trees: ebony, rosewood, triangular ficus.
There were ascents and descents, shimmering sunlight on the still wet leaves, tree ferns. Here is the forest at the height of its beauty.

Here, the Malagasy say “hazo mihiry”: the trees are singing.
A colony of Indris (Indri indri) already brought some surprising melodies. We saw them at a certain distance and listened to their deep cries that mark their territory.

The Aye-aye: thirty years of waiting

Engraving made from a sketch on the life of an Aye-aye

@Anna Jérétic

Our guide had warned us: during the seventeen years he had worked in the park, he had seen a aye-aye only once. To see them, you would need three very experienced trackers. And even then, nothing would be guaranteed.
For some inhabitants, the Aye-aye is considered evil. If we see one, it would be better to kill it so as not to suffer a spell...
But for me, the Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) was something other than an animal to observe, or a spell to conjure!
We had to try to go to meet him.

We continued towards the Pangalanes Canal, this trickle of water parallel to the Indian Ocean for some 700 kilometers. Then the Palmarium. We had to wait for the night. And we went to see the Aye-ayes. I was moved and counting the minutes.
When we got into the boat, the others had in mind a little walk on the lake to go see another rare animal. They chatted freely with each other. As for me, I was rather mute.
Visiting the island was sacred to me. I had waited more than thirty years to finally take that step. Then it appeared.
That evening, it wasn't raining. And there, an Aye-aye goes down to taste the bait, a coconut placed in the tree, which he takes a long time to eat: enough time to make sketches and photos.

The experience was spectacular.
He was quite tall, with a tail much longer than I had imagined. He was both ugly and cute, frightening and fragile. Like a cat or an owl, he had something enigmatic, a kind of psychological depth. I was wondering if, by confronting these creatures that scare us, we could also learn to overcome some of our own fears.
When you draw an aye-aye, you don't always have time to do your whole body before it moves or looks at you again. On the leaf only two enormous eyes remain, possibly the contours of two enormous and round ears.
After thirty years, it was already a lot.

Towards the West: the colors change

Landscape sketch

@Anna Jeretic

After returning to Tana, we head back west. As we go forward, the landscapes become drier and drier, without getting uglier.
Always this very rich mix of greens: the neon green of the first rice shoots, the denser greens of the foliage, then the earth of Siena, red, yellow and ochre.
These complementary colors create an unparalleled harmony. And we are not even in such a hurry to reach our destination.
Then our 4x4 breaks down at the exit of a village.

Around us, rose quartz is scattered on the ground, half covered with orange earth. Next to it grows a badamier tree (Terminalia mantaly), with its small round light green leaves. Its branches form a large V, as if it joyfully opened its arms towards the sky, with an always bright green despite the aridity of the earth.
Fortunately, another 4x4 arrives with young Spaniards.
I ask, “Is there room for us?” One of them replies immediately: “There will always be space for you in our car!” I'm not ready to forget this kindness.
But we must say goodbye to Tony, our driver, guide and protector.

The pink and light blue river

After ever more difficult roads, we arrive in Mandrivazo. The landscapes are now almost pastel. At sunset, the city appears below in the valley, bathed by the dim light of twilight.
You have to stop to better absorb the view. Then comes the Tsiribihina.
Our departure is eventful. The 4x4 plunges into the sand and it takes the entire village to get it back on track.

On arrival at the river, we meet our two dugout canoes: one large and very beautiful, the other smaller, with a poet's gaze. Then we leave on the pink and light blue river.
At first, everything is calm. Pastel colors, balls in the water formed by orange earth, plants that are starting to grow. Then we enter the wild parts of the stream. We move slowly, at the rhythm of the water.
The birds appear: dwarf herons, wild ducks, teals, Madagascar bee-eaters, ibis, egrets, Malagasy gray parrots, kites, drongos, coucals with long tails and foudis that become bright red in this season. We travel to another world.

The children and the drawing book

Childre, Anna and the sketchbook

@Alexei Jeretic

For lunch, we stop under a mango tree.
Children are waiting for us. They put their fingers in front of their mouths to discreetly ask for a little bit to eat. The canoe drivers don't want us to share our meal: “There are too many!” It almost seems criminal to me to eat in front of them the beautiful meal they have prepared for us...
After the meal, I draw the mango: the mangoes still green in the shape of an embryo, the leaves in the shape of a heart.
The children are getting closer. They all want to draw. They participate in drawing with beautiful, well-chosen shapes on paper. And, of course, they all want to keep the pencil.
The drawing creates an immediate relationship, without the need for translation.

The baobabs in the burnt lands

The next day, the forests along the river become increasingly dense despite the burned trees. And here are the first baobabs: the Za (Adansonia za).
Madagascar has seven species of baobabs, six of which are exclusively present on the island. The big ones have survived repeated fires; the small ones do not always survive.
Around the baobabs, there are still burned trees, bushes, and young trees.
But the baobabs preside.
We are moving forward under a very hot sun, with our Chinese umbrellas. Malagasy are aware of their growing dependence on objects from China and speak about it with a certain irony. Moreover, a large part of the trucks transport huge quantities of colored plastic.

In the evening, we camp in the sand. Opposite, a very high wall pierced with holes shelters birds, like troglodytes, including two owls.
The villagers offer us a concert and a dance around the fire.
Very few means: a stick, an aluminum barrel, a few very simple movements. And yet, with so little, the human can achieve a high aesthetic quality of trance.

Tsingy: a stone cathedral

In Belopaka, before the Tsingy, our bungalow already welcomes frogs and lizards in the bathroom, a huge chameleon on the way, a white snake.
Then the Tsingy.
A visual pleasure. An almost surreal landscape of limestone rocks, narrow passages, ropes, caves and cliffs. Rocks are also a good sport: ropes, ramps, vertiginous passages. Alexei would obviously like to get off the marked path to see all the possible views. Having vertigo, I rather appreciate some of these constraints.

We stop for a picnic at the bottom of a cave that looks like a cathedral.
A little blue bird stays next to me all the time, without being afraid. I won't forget it. A little companion.
In the park and the wild forest around, we find lemurs and endemic trees.
With Titi, our guide, we have a requirement: every time we show a tree or hear a bird, it must give us three names: French, Latin and Malagasy.
If we take out our sketchbook, it becomes exasperated. But that is how we learn.

A stealthy fossa, and the alley of the Baobabs

Engraving of a baobab[en]Baobab engraving

@Anna Jeretic

In Kirindy, we always hope for the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox). Everyone comes here for him. Some visitors stay for a week with cameras equipped with oversized lenses, and leave without having seen it.
Alexei goes to do his own walk around the bungalows. The guides become alarmed. I reassure them. And Alexei saw it: a fossa crossing the road, dragging its long tail. Chance again.

Nasolo then tells us a story from his childhood: a fossa crossed a river with its young. Its long tail formed a spiral floating on the surface of the water. The little ones, who did not yet know how to swim, could use it as a boat.
Then comes Morondava. And the Baobab Alley.

Baobabs are everywhere: the Fony, the bottle Fony, the Haroufis with all green bark. Some are hugged, others reach down with their branches, a bit like saying hello to us. Some have humorous forms, others are covered with decorative lichens.
At sunset, the trees become almost unreal. The sunsets in Madagascar are, for me, among the most spectacular: red, very red, and very brief.
This alley is inexplicable, like a beautiful painting or a melody.
There is something in their alignment that pulls on the internal ropes.

The sea, finally

After the roads, forests, baobabs and Tsingy, we arrive at Belo sur Mer, where we find the ocean. After the roads, fires, forests and baobabs, we go by boat to the reefs. Sailboats are handcrafted in the workshops. We go by boat to the reefs.

The island is white and almost bald. At first, there aren't many fish. We refuse to be disappointed. Then Nestor takes us further offshore.
We put on our masks, fins, and snorkel for the second time. And there, revelation. The fantastic world of fish of all bright colors, appears to have barely arrived under the surface. A large orange starfish comes to crown the moment.
And suddenly, we find this sensation that had accompanied us from the beginning: that of a world of which we are not the owners, but simply the visitors.

What this trip teaches us

The return journey is long. Thirteen hours of taxi-brousse, music playing, Alexei folded like a piece of paper at the bottom of the vehicle.
I watch the children going to school with their schoolbags, zebus, rickshaw, stray dogs.
Then the landscapes come back: Mandrivazo, the rice fields at the edge of the red valleys, the mango trees, the juju bushes. Never a moment of visual boredom.
Many have been burned. But as if all was not lost, the black palm trees have small light green leaves that are born in their hollows. The jube trees don't die. Neither do the great baobabs. Here is hope.
And here is why the Malagasy can perhaps afford to be fatalistic: life always comes back, whether after fires or cyclones. And those who die still live.

Mora mora

I think back to Madagascar. It seems to me that travel is used, among other things, to keep our desire to help the most disadvantaged alive. That's already a good feeling. Because when the opportunity arises, we may be a little more ready.
In any case, these Malagasy may be more equipped than us. When asked if they suffer from poverty, we sometimes hear: “Maybe, but we are free.”
Free from the additional burdens that we impose on ourselves, which our European world succeeds in forcing us to bear.
While traveling home, I felt the same freedom. With the heat of the day, the beauty of the landscapes, the simplicity of the accommodations.
And this rhythm. “Mora mora.” Gently. Like nature. And like the blackened trees that start, almost quietly, to turn green again. Life always comes back.

Finally, why “malagasy” rather than “malgache”?

Malagasy is the official and authentic term, derived from the national language of Madagascar, recognized by the State in its documents. The Malagasy language, of Austronesian origin, is spoken by nearly 25 million people and embodies the identity of the island, with a great dialectal diversity.
Despite the French colonial heritage (19^th century), it has resisted thanks to oral traditions, daily life, family and the arts. Since independence (1960), it has been rehabilitated and officially coexists with the French language.
For the Malagasy, the word “Malagasy” refers to their people, language and culture: an affirmation of identity, pride and self-determination.

Who is Anna Jeretic?

Anna is a painter, etcher, sculptor, and installation artist. For over more than 30 years, in her art, teaching, and writing, she has been primarily concerned about how art can ease the environmental crisis. For the last 15 years, Anna is an active member of TENDUA.
http://www.annajeretic.com/recent-w...

Naturalist walk in the park with François Moutou

Myriam Dupuis — 2022-05-15T09:13:58Z

It is not always necessary to go very far to enjoy spring. On April 18, 2022, we are two from the Tendua association to «explore» the Edmond de Rothschild park, equipped with binoculars and loaded with cameras, ready for a naturalist safari in the city!

Property of the Rothschild family

Edmond de Rothschild's Park in Boulogne, France

©Myriam Dupuis

This park corresponds to the extension of the Bois de Boulogne, in the neighbouring town of Boulogne-Billancourt. It is separated from the Bois by the Boulevard Anatole France to the north and surrounded by the Normandy motorway to the south, the Seine to the west and the city to the east. With a surface area of 15ha, it is the largest park in Boulogne.
The land became the property of the Rothschild family around 1850. A large Louis XIV-style house was built in 1856 and the park was enlarged to 30 ha. The connection of the A13 motorway to the ring road meant that it lost half of its surface area. The large historic family house is now sadly in ruins.
The singularity of the park is due to its aspects: a landscaped park created around 1860, according to a Paxton project redesigned by M. Loyr; a Japanese garden created by a gardener named Hatta between 1900 and 1930, of which only remain, since its conception, the trees, originally nanified then having resumed their normal growth; the routin: a part of rockeries and basins created by M. Gaucher in 1924 and which shelters the river, called “blue”.
With its artificial basin, false waterfalls, false rocks, false streams and a small Japanese bridge, the park nevertheless offers some real possibilities for naturalistic observations. Spring makes a mockery of gardeners and landscapers.

Year-round residents: Canada Geese and Mallards

Canada Geese's family (Branta canadensis)

©François Moutou

On the water, Canada geese have been established for a few years. They live with mallards and barred-headed geese, at least one couple of coots and one hen, residents. They are also visited by different birds of passage, depending on the season, such as large cormorants, black-headed gulls and one or two grey herons. There are fish in this pond; the big carps are active on sunny days.

Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos)

©François Moutou

Everything seems calm because there are nests on the islet. As soon as one stops at the water's edge, some geese and mallards approach gently, questioning. Clearly some biped visitors bring them food and it is known. We have nothing, they do not insist.

The calm is suddenly broken by a real spat between two pairs of geese. The argument escapes us but one of the jars was no longer laughing at all. Apparently the other birds and other species do not seem concerned or pretend not to look.

Trachemys turtle

©Myriam Dupuis

Turtles, coots and others

Last year, a tree fell into the water and was left there. It is the delight of turtles (Trachemys, the so-called Florida aquatic turtle), which are introduced and become arboreal for the occasion. The trunks and branches now horizontal, close to the surface, make very good resting places to allow them to enjoy the spring sun in peace. The small branches of the houppier are also of interest to the world. At the beginning of spring a couple of Castaneous Grebes revolved around this tangle of plants on the water and I thought I saw them nesting.

Eurasian coot's chicks at nest (Fulica atra)

©François Moutou

Mid-April it is a coot's nest that sits in the emerged branches and I no longer see grebes. The first coot chick is spotted on May 7 in the nest under an adult. What a funny head!

long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

©François Moutou

Long-tailed tit

We are not there yet and on April 18 we are also looking for small passerines. In March, a pair of long-tailed tits built their nest in the dense crown of a shrub. In April, both parents feed. The nest is well hidden, there is no question of disturbing it. Watching adults back and forth from a discreet place is a beautiful sight. And we enjoy it. You can stand a few meters away and admire the birds at work.
I came back several times. A few days later I see the adults who also see me and seem a bit surprised. After feeding the chicks well away from the twigs, they both came, right next to me “talking”. I don't know what they were saying or who they were saying it to, but I really felt that they were talking to me, or talking about my presence. It was only then that they went to get the next meal that I saw them report, from a more direct flight than the previous one. Then I left them alone. The fledgling young quickly followed a few days later and the shrub was deserted.

Short-toed Treecreeper with a caterpillar (Certhia brachydactyla)

©François Moutou

Short-toed Treecreeper

At the end of the park there is an equestrian club with a few horses, boxes and a large outdoor carousel. An abandoned two-storey building is right next to the boxes. The windows are condemned and wooden panels have been installed next to the shutters. When we get close, we notice an activity in Avienne: a couple of Short-toed Treecreepers have set up their nest behind one of these wooden panels and the feeding of the young is going well.
The birds are really small but their passages are predictable, which allows to observe them in good conditions and without disturbing them. At each passage, the adult enters with a well-stocked beak from which legs and antennae protrude, and comes out with a small whitish bag in the beak. The chicks fed swallow on one side and relieve on the other, which allows the parents to clean remove the droppings, naturally packed, and throw them out.

Other inhabitants of the undergrowth

European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

©François Moutou

European Robins are quite numerous and their songs resound everywhere. Some singers agree to let themselves be photographed. When you look for them, you always tend to look too high in the trees. They are often perched quite low, not necessarily hidden but as soon as the leaves have arrived, finding them becomes more complicated. It's a busy time.

Swinging caterpillars

Some caterpillar species swing, allowing them to spread more quickly than walking on the tree where they were born

©François Moutou

During the visits in April and early May, it is easy to observe many small caterpillars suspended in the air by a long wire that descends them from the trees. Up to the ground? It could be the caterpillar of the box borer, harmless but severe for boxwood. There are also some cocoons of pine processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) mothes in some large conifers. Some trunks are surrounded by a trap bag to recover the caterpillars thanks to chemical molecules.

We didn't see the kingfisher on April 18, but I saw him again at the end of the month and again at the beginning of May. On May 1^st, the bird swallows a fish almost as long as it, it is quite spectacular. On that day, two cormorants and a kingfisher were actively fishing in the same small portion of the water and appeared to be enjoying it.

Wren with a caterpillar

©François Moutou

Coming down from the point of view (the Common Moorhen's nest is still there and the parent at the nest is being fed by the other adult : well done!), I had to pass very close to a Wren's nest that started to alarm. I did not search for the nest, too risky and I followed the adult. He found a caterpillar and went to feed its chicks : they should not be very big!

Remarkable plants and trees

Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta et H. hispanica)

©Myriam Dupuis

And there are still all the plants, from the smallest to the large trees planted more than a century ago. Carpets of hyacinths and daisies are spectacular in April. To the colors are added the scents and it is very pleasant.

Daisies' carpet and Canada Geese (Branta canadensis)

©François Moutou

In April, we saw flowers of love-in-a-mist and Blue bugle, the Bear's garlic in bloom, several species of small wild hyacinths: violets, roses, white. Depending on the season, flowers change, colors and perfumes too.

The park also has 16 trees classified as “remarkable” and many others that are also remarkable for all the work of absorbing our CO₂ emissions that we emit without worrying about the consequences.

California incense-cedar

©Myriam Dupuis

There is also the magnificent white cedar of California or California incense-cedar at the entrance of the park, whose colours are incredible at the beginning of spring.

California incense-cedar's leaves (Calocedrus decurrens)

©Myriam Dupuis

There is also this Weeping Beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Pendula') with a particularly gnarled trunk.
Insect observations are not lacking either: bedbugs, sylphs, unidentified caterpillars. Grey snails have not yet arrived, probably on their way...

During this walk in April, we counted no less than fifteen animal species observed. And many buds on the trees and small flowers announcing the renewal of spring. It is a shame to see the gardening company, in charge of the maintenance of the park, cut down a dozen trees, some quite large, at the end of April, at the time of the rise of sap, flowering and nesting. Why not let spring live? Protecting nature, even in a park, often starts with not destroying it.

Bird's-eye speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys L.)

©Myriam Dupuis

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)

©Myriam Dupuis

Blue bugle (Ajuga reptans)

©Myriam Dupuis

Bear's garlic (Allium ursinum)

©Myriam Dupuis

Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

©Myriam Dupuis

Bird's-eye speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys L.)

©Myriam Dupuis

The Upside-down Tree (Fagus salvatica ssp.pendula)

©Myriam Dupuis

“The end of the Devil”, travel story by François Moutou

Myriam Dupuis — 2019-08-18T08:02:58Z

The Thylacine and the Tasmanian Devil, victims of Europeans and dingoes

Benjamin, the last Thylacine photographed by Dr. David Fleay in it's tiny pen at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Dec. 19^th 1933

DR - internet- Dr. David Fleay

The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) and the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) were still living all over Australia a few thousand years ago. They both survived after the arrival of humans 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, contrairy to the Australian Megafauna which strangely disappeared soon after this “arrival”. But, when the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) reached the Australian continent 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, firstly as a domestic dog - but some of them going back to the wild -, it was a fatal turn for this marsupial everywhere except in Tasmania where the Dingo was not introduced. Much more recently, the Europeans' arrival and settlement lead to the extinction of the Thylacine at the beginning of the XX^th century. Also, we cannot ignore the plight of the Australia's aboriginal inhabitants of this Southern island, voluntarily exterminated during the XIX^th century. The degree of similarity between the destinies of these marsupials and aboriginals is rather disturbing.

The Australian's largest carnivorous marsupial is an ENdangered species

Actually, the Devil is Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial, even though if he is not a big animal, weighing around 10 kilos. A strange little predator, clumsy in his way of walking, the Devil is able to hunt but he is also a scavenger that feeds on dead animals along the roadsides. The Devil can smell you from kilometres away thanks to his keen sense of smell. His screech is extremely loud and disturbing, particularly if you don't see him around, but you will hear him ! Despite the uncertainty related to population estimations, his population might have grown from a few thousand individuals to more than one hundred thousand during the XX^th century, without any clear explanations of such a population growth.

Tasmanian Devil

François Moutou

Nevertheless, since 1996 when the facial cancer called DFTD standing for “Devil Facial Tumor Disease” was dicovered - the disease is transmetted by allograft when an animal bites another -, all the indicators of the population status are in decline and the current population could already be only at 10 to 20% of the previous level. Some pestimistic predictions consider that the devil's extinction could occur within the 2 to 3 coming decades ; others say that there are still Devils while most of the previous simulations predicted his extinction before 2015.
Locally, a true mobilisation took place with the establishments of captive breeding units away from risks areas (infected by the DFTD), i.e. about 600 individuals in different places, but also with the introduction of safe animals on small islands off Tasmania's coasts and more fundamental research into the disease itself, the ways of its transmission and the immune system of the Devils. It was also necessary to admit that the biology and ecology of the species itself were in fact still not well known. We begin to work on it while the situation is far from flourishing. All this is complex, requires substantial means: the tests to decide whether an individual is healthy or not are not perfect, and medical research has, in part, diversed into applications in human cancer, certainly interesting, but not directly dedicated to the Devil. In fact, there is little public money to study and fight the DFTD tumor.
To learn more, you can read about « Save the Tasmanian Devil program » at the website: www.tassiedevil.com.au.

“The Devil is more interesting dead than alive”

Tasmanian Devil

François Moutou

Perhaps most surprising is the statement by a former Environment Minister in the state of Tasmania who allegedly said, to justify the absence or modesty of public funds intended to fight the Devil's disease : “The Devil is more interesting dead than alive”. The fact is that when travelling in Tasmania today you have a curious impression by seeing everywhere the use of the Thylacine, officially extinct for about 80 years. The Thylacine is everywhere : on beer cans, on murals, on the logo of a hotel chain, on tourist signs in the city to point out discovery walks… The Thylacine has become a trademark, a well-known and recognised Tasmanian identity, which may make the happy owners profit, without any of the disadvantages associated with the animal.
It's too late for the Thylacine, but maybe not for the Devil : we would have to protect spaces for him to live in peace, there would be constraints to local economic development, we would declare damage in farms, farmers and hunters would complain, local elected officials would support them, conservation associations would step up to the plate, etc...

Same fight as the Bear and the Wolf in France?

Replacing the Thylacine and the Devil with the Wolf and the Bear, no matter what the order is, is quite reminiscent of what is happening in France, and unfortunately of what is more and more evident behind the official speeches. “We” don't want them. “Progress” is seen as contradictory to a return of these species, eliminated or almost extinct, after centuries of campaigns of destruction and having the gall to point out the tip of their muzzle again. Regardless of the ecological, biological, economic or even social data, it is cultural.
They must disappear. In France the lieutenants of louveterie survive the Wolf's extinction. With the Wolf's return in 1992, there has been no question of removing this organisation, despite the more recent structures set up like the ONCFS for example. It is not just the electoral mandates that are accumulated in France, or perhaps this cumulation should be considered in a very broad sense.

Everyone loves the Wolf in Perrault's tales, it is easy to use the Bear's image to sell Pyrenean cheeses in the Paris area, but Wolves and Bears are not welcome here, that is to say “at home”. There is one outstanding question. In Tasmania, since we're also talking about the Thylacine and the Devil, it seems difficult to isolate their fate from what happened to the Aboriginals. What would be the most relevant analogy in France?

Some extraordinary creatures from Tasmania

Common Wombat

François Moutou

The Wombat

Vombatus ursinus can reach up to 1,30 meters in length and weigh 40 kilos. There are tree species : the common Wombat, the Northern hairy-nosed Wombat or yaminon (Lasiorhinus krefftii) and the Southern hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons). The Wonbat has some particularities : at the bottom of his back, he has a hard bone. If he is attacked by a dog or other predator, he will huddle head forward and let only his posterior appear. His predator will break his teeth on this bone! But he also knows how to flee and can run up to 40 km/h. He spends most of his days in a cold burrow, which he dug and in which he sleeps up to 16 hours a day. In captivity, we will often see him on his back, with his legs in the air! In the evening, he wakes up and goes feeding on grass. The Dingo preys on Wombats. Men also hunt them because, they say, the burrows they dig and the grass they eat harm “their” land. He is threatened with extinction although protected; but he is a regular victim of vehicles and diseases (scabies).

Wombat poo

François Moutou

He can spend up to 6 hours grazing before returning to his burrow that he finds thanks to his feces! Besides, his poop is ... cubic! In November 2018 in Atlanta, an international team led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, presented its work on the unique form of wombat droppings, during the 71^rst Congress of the American Physics Society. It is the variations in the elasticity of the intestinal walls of this Australian marsupial that allow the formation of the only known cubic droppings of the animal kingdom. « Humans have « only two methods to make cubes – we grind or cut them – », and the wombat casings contain a third way of manufacturing, that will inspire production processes. The wombat uses its droppings to mark its territory. Would cubic droppings be more resistant to the wind?

Spotted-tail quoll

François Moutou

The Tiger Quoll

The Tiger Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), also known as the Ancient Skeleton, the Dusty Grandpa, the I'm So Old or the Mungo Librarian, is a carnivorous marsupial, native to Australia, and of the Tasmania's Devil and Thylacine's family. He has a thick reddish-brown fur with white spots all over his body. He is about 35 to 75 cm long, without counting a tail that can reach 50 cm. Females are smaller and lighter than males.
The Tiger Quoll made his come-back to Australia in February 2016. This small carnivorous was extinct for more than 50 years. The 14 animals that were reintroduced are native to Tasmania where the species survives in the wild, thanks to the absence of predators like Foxes or Cats, and Buffalo-Goats, an invasive species whose venon is lethal for the Tiger Quoll that eat it. The loss of their natural habitat also contributed significantly to the decline of the species, as well as hunting and Dingoes. The problem should no longer arise as the release took place in the heart of the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary, a nature reserve where a eucalyptus forest close to Australia's original ecosystem is being restored.

Spotted-tail quoll

François Moutou

The reintroduction is an important step for Professor Adrian Manning of the Australian National University in charge of the operation. “Our goal is not only to restore a healthy and diverse population, but also to undertake a study to determine the best way to import other species in order to improve the chances of future reintroductions in the main Australian territory”, he said to the Guardian. To this end, the released animals were all equipped with GPS collars so that they could follow their progress. In 2018, an additional 17 Tiger Quolls were released in Booderee National Park, located in southeastern Australia. The two NGOs (Aussie Ark and Global Wildlife Conservation) have just released 20 Tiger Quolls at the end of May. They plan to reintroduce 52 more during the year, this time in Barrington Tops National Park.

Eastern barred bandicoot

François Moutou

The Eastern barred Bandicoot

Perameles gunnii, threatened with extinction, is a small marsupial native to Tasmania and Victoria. He has a silky fur and long ears. He is about 25 to 40 cm long, with a 10cm long tail. He weights about 1-2kg : the Tasmanian Bandicoot is a little bit larger than his Australian cousin. He has a slender, elongated snout with moustaches. His coat, brown grey, bears on the back half of the pale bands that gave it his name. Belly, feet and tail are white. He feeds on earthworms that he spots with his developed sense of smell and unearths with his powerful paws, other invertebrates, fungi and roots. The male occupies a rather large area, in comparison with that of the females. A solitary animal, he “frequents” the females during the breeding season. The species is essentially nocturnal. The Bandicoot emerges from his nest at dusk to look for his food. He uses his long nose to dig deep into the ground and digs when he finds food. In the state of Victoria in Southern Australia, it is estimated that there remains a small population of about 150 individuals. Conservation efforts are implemented by associations. The technique involves putting up barriers to protect these small groups from introduced predatory species such as Red Foxes and Herring Cats. The benefit of these barriers is also to limit the spread of infectious diseases. In Tasmania, his population is classified as vulnerable by IUCN, but he occupies larger territories, not threatened by his main predator, the Fox, which does not inhabit the island.

Monotremes: Echidnean and Platypus

They are mammals that have hair, lay eggs and then breastfeed their young. There are only 5 species of monotreme in the world: four species of Echidnas and one of Platypus.

Short-beaked echidna

François Moutou

The short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglosus aculeatus) is covered with a thicker fur under his spines than his Australian cousins. With a length of 45cm and a weight of 4.5kg, his burrowing legs are at the front armed with powerful claws made for digging. He has a small mouth, with a thin jaw, without teeth but provided with a long sticky tongue with which he catches insects and arthropods. Echidnas live throughout Australia (depending on the region, he is more or less “blond”) and in Tasmania. During the mating season, in winter, they sometimes travel in convoy: a female followed by several males eager to court her! When the rainy season arrives, the Echidnea falls into lethargy and can remain without eating for more than 2 months. Did you know the he can live about 50 years?

Duck-billed platypus

François Moutou

The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semiaquatic egg-laying mammal : he looks like an otter with a duck beak! The improbable biology of this ancient creature was so unexpected that, when he was discovered by the early settlers, the scientists of the time all thought it was a bad joke. He is one of the rare poisonous mammals: the male carries on his hind legs a sting that can release venom capable of paralyzing a human leg or even killing a dog. The Platypus inhabits the waterways of Eastern Australia and Tasmania, and his presence is a sign of good river health. A male can thus possess up to 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) of river banks that he shares with 3 to 4 females. But to see him, you will have to be patient : the Platypus comes out mainly at dawn and dusk, and his discretion pushes him to flee to hide at the slightest alert. You can see him from quite a distance and the water reflections make them a little hard to see without binoculars. He spends an average of one minute underwater and ten seconds on the surface sorting, chewing and swallowing what he has harvested underwater. Tasmanian Platypus are estimated to weigh up to 3 kg compared to about 1 kg for those (Northern) of mainland Australia and have been separated for a long time. Maybe one day science will classify them as two species!?

In the bed of the Huab River, travel story in Namibia - Nov. 2018

Myriam Dupuis — 2019-05-13T04:34:56Z

Some deserts are even more desert than others. Driving from Walvis Bay to Sandwich Harbour between sea and sand, or around Sossusvlei at the foot of the red dunes in Namib National Park – Naukluft is a great experience. This desert that gives Namibia its name would be one of the oldest in the world.

From here, going up a little to the north and sinking into the land, beyond the granitic and rounded summit of Brandberg, we arrive in an environment, certainly arid, but apparently less empty than Namib. Some trees and scattered bushes on the ground “dress” the landscape. Yet, locally, the wildlife that can be encountered is described as “desert”. Arriving at Camp Kipwe, still a little north of the Brandberg massif and not far from famous petroglyph stations, we are only an hour's drive from the nearest «desert elephants». Then we meet them.

Encounter with the desert elephants

The trail crosses the sandy bed covered with bushes of a first dry river and regularly runs alongside small cliffs decorated with long white vertical trails. We don't see anybody, but these white marks could have been left either by raptors' colonies and nests or by damans, these small, round mammals, looking like rabbits with short ears and, curiously, distant cousins of elephants that are living in rocky shelters. It's early afternoon and it's still hot. They've all had to put themselves in the shade.

The driver leaves the main track and sinks into a small gorge that must lead to the bed of the Huab River, our goal. The landscape is getting closer. A beautiful male Oryx, disturbed, leaves on the rocky slope in front of us, not without turning several times to look well who came to disturb him during his meridian nap in the shade of a small acacia.

Two more turns and we arrive in the main bed of the river. If the banks are indeed a little steep and sometimes rocky, the bottom of the river, sandy, of easy circulation, is rather well wooded with trees and bushes. The elephants are coming in quietly from the upstream almost at the same time as we are. We haven't had time to look for them; they're there. They appear wet. They come from the water point located a little higher in the river. The groundwater, which explains the vegetation, is not so far under the sand. The guide explains to us that in order to avoid conflicts with humans, they have created permanent water points for them. This prevents elephants from drinking from the same “taps” as humans and reduces the sources of conflict. Moreover, since the local villages practice only the rearing of small ruminants, sheep and goats, and no cultivation, no fields or gardens, the risks of confrontations are reduced.

The trails in the area regularly display “Beware of Elephant” signs, but it is especially during night traffic that you have to pay attention. During the day, however, they should see themselves in open and rather clear landscapes. The amount of dung crossed by place, like those seen on the way to Palmwag the next day, suggests that elephants also use these tracks. Here we are on their way into the dried-up bed of the Huab River.

Desert elephants, Namibia

François Moutou

The Seven of the Huab River

In this small group they are seven: two adult suited females, one young male- still teenager - and two juveniles. The vehicle's stopped, the engine's shut down, and the animals are coming at us. There has been wind recently and the river acacias have lost many pods. These pods, rich in protein, are not lost to everyone. Elephants pick them up one by one with a beautiful dexterity. Locally this tree is called «ana tree». This is the species Faidherbia albida, formerly Acacia albida, also known to the Sahel on the other side of the equator where its vernacular names are during «balanzan», «Kadd» and «Gao». Watching the animals' trunks searching for and “picking” on the ground the pods that are slightly curled up on themselves, is quite fascinating, especially when it's two metres from your vehicle. The animals are not just indifferent to our presence, they especially seem to feel no discomfort, no fear. Their serenity is amazing. We have never seen elephants in such good conditions. The driver moves the car several times to stay in contact with them because they walk while feeding or rather feed while walking a good step towards the downstream.

Baby elephant, Namibia

François Moutou

When we see the two females stop to feed their respective pups right in front of the vehicle, we think we are very lucky. You can't imagine worried animals abandoning themselves like that. Elephants may not be weaned for 4 or 5 years. One of the two young must approach this age, two small white points already protruding from his mouth, on each side of the trunk. Like all baby elephants, he puts it down on his head to suck, but he must lower his mouth rather than raise it to reach his mother's left breast. A little further, the second, younger, with the same trunk movement folded on the forehead, must raise his head to arrive at the same result. Meanwhile, the young male approached the car and leaned for a moment on the back. No one moves, no one talks.

At this distance we look at the animals as well as we can. They are so extraordinary and it is so obvious ! Their eyes bordered by long lashes, their trunk with all its suppleness, virtuosity, softness and certainly also its strength, this incredible skin, but of which sensitivity cannot be doubted, these ears, behind which one sees very well the blood vessels that allow them to evacuate too much heat, these two pectoral nipples so close to those of the great primates.

Desert elephant's eye, Namibia

François Moutou

Gaze and purring

We're looking to exchange gazes with them, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Their gazes seem internalized, as if they were thinking, thinking about something else. How to imagine their representation of the world, olfactory and probably sound too? We are only visual and seem a little lost or disappointed without a wink or a collusion look. This must mean nothing to them. That's when we realize that these elephants are “purring”. It is difficult to find another word to describe this deep, powerful sound that we hear and feel. It is known in this species and it is the term used to describe it. We will hear it again the next few days as we watch families of elephants come to drink at the water points of the great national park of Etosha, even a little further North. This afternoon, the seven animals that wander through the dried-up bed of the Huab River share with us the sound expression of a certain well-being. It has to be contagious.

Our total excursion lasts from 2.30pm to 5.45pm, about an hour, from 3.30pm to 4.40pm, in the bed of the river. We are alone with the seven elephants, there is no other vehicle and even if this time shared is very short it really exists. The driver explains to us that a group of about thirty is more downstream and that the local population is a few hundred, 400 to 500 if I understand correctly.

Desert elephants, mum & baby, Namibia

françois Moutou

These animals are free of movement and are not in an enclosed space. In southern Africa this is not so common. For example, Etosha National Park, already mentioned, is closed and it is not the only one. Here the desert is open. Animal densities are low and human activities are spread over large areas. These elephants benefit and the local village communities benefit. The money raised during the visit of the river and the elephants is shared among the various actors, including the villages that live with these great neighbours.

On the way back, we cross Gangas, calaos, some Springboks grazing in the great dry stretches crossed. Everything seems calm and serene between the Huab River and Camp Kipwe. No one knows how long this situation can last, but it is certainly not immutable. The risk would be that the desert would become really desert, what has already happened.

author : François Moutou, Veterinarian, epidemiologist and member of the French Society for the Study and Protection of Mammals (SFEPM)

With love, from the Amur tiger

Myriam Dupuis — 2013-11-26T12:15:26Z

Russia – Primorye – Ussurisk

The Habitat of the Amur Tiger

Sunday, May 15, 2011, 11am. Landing at the Artiom airport, North of Vladivostok, after an overnight flight. Outside the airport, there are large-format advertisements telling to visitors that we are on the land of the Tiger. All consumer brands seem claiming this iconic animal for one quality or another of the product that they are promoting.
The distance from Moscow is 6850 km (4256 miles), and another 2700km or more, between France and Russia. That means a total just a little bit less than 10000km ... Then two more hours driving North. This time, I won't see the Amur River, which lies further south to the Chinese border.

Entrance to the wilderness area,Russia

M. Dupuis

The weather is grey, cold and wet with a constant drizzle. It is not long time before there is no more mobile phone coverage.

The National Integral Reserve of Ussurisk named after V.L. Komarov was created in 1934 as a botanical reserve.

From our camp site, Russia

Myriam Dupuis

This reserve has more than fifty different tree species with two trees endemic to the region: the Japanese Poplar (Populus maximowiczii) and the Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila). This is also the territory of wild Ginseng, the root of which is known for its therapeutic and poached excessively, and the “limonnik” or Chinese magnolia, the bay with five flavors (Scisendra chinensis), popular with the locals for its energizing and regulatory virtues.

Populus maximowiczii on the river, Russia

M. Dupuis

We are not really in the taiga but this is the vegetation type called “Manchu” : it is comparable to the jungle where tigers live in tropical areas, but in a colder latitude.

The reserve has one peculiarity: it is cut in two by a road. The southern part, where the base camp of the scientific team is located, has had no forest tree felling since the 1970's. The northern part has not suffered tree felling since the 1930's.

It is here, in the Primorye region that a few Siberian tigers are still living, also called Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica). It is useful to note that it appears there has never been “resident populations” of tigers in Siberia, except a few individuals that have ventured into the region. Given the scarcity of prey and extreme conditions, this is not really surprising. The Primorye region is the only place, known in Russia, where tigers are still living; but who knows for how long?

The research program

The research project on the Amur tiger began in 2008, when the “Permanent Mission of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution near the Academy of Sciences of Russia,” was created at the request the Russian government. It is a scientific program, but not a conservation program. The distinction is subtle for most of us, but it should be noted that if the study of a species can lead to recommendations for its protection, their conservation does not depend on the scientists...

Setting of traps

At the beginning of this program, scientists admitted they did not know how to set traps designed to capture wild tigers, so that they were immobilised, be able to take samples, then, attach a satellite collar to be able to study their movements. They turned to their American colleagues who had 17 years experience in this field, and in this area, and were able to equip approximately one hundred wild tigers with radio collars so far.
I will not go into great details of the traps that are used. Suffice to say, they use a noose principle. When the animal places a paw inside the loop (normally concealed under foliage), the loop automatically tightens around the paw and immobilizes the animal without damaging it (does it really mean that it does not hurt the tiger at all...?)

Traps require a lot of work

M. Dupuis

If the ground is not too rocky or covered in roots to dig around, then each trap requires about one hour to install. It is buried on the side of the track. This is convenient for the scientists and the tigers seem to prefer walking on trails and roads when they can, rather than forests or the dense undergrowth of shrubs. A second trap is installed in “vis-a-vis”. A branch is then placed to bar the track: theoretically, it forces the animal to pass on the side where the trap is hidden - It also helps men to remember where the traps are buried ... Several traps are installed near marking trees. Marking trees are often inclined trees such as linden, which stand out for their size and shape, and that tigers chose to “mark” their territory with their claws or by urinating.

During the winter months, from November to April, rangers are looking for passages frequented by tigers which are easily spotted by their traces left in the snow. Besides these observation, carried out over several months, laying the traps therefore requires a lot of work to prepare the field each season, twice a year, in spring and autumn. Besides administrative work, prior approvals are required and shall be renewed before each expedition, which itself lasts around 8 weeks.

At the end of each expedition, for a whole day or sometimes more, the scientists unearth all of their 36 traps. This year, the season ends on May 30^th. I will be attending the operation.
There is no question of leaving a trap behind because a trapped animal would be doomed. A tiger may be able to survive a little while keeping the noose around his paw, but in winter, his paw could freeze. Then, he could no longer hunt, feed or defend himself, not to mention the suffering that would occur.

Fifteen tigers identified between 2008 and 2011

In 3 years, fifteen tigers have been equipped with a satellite collar by the two teams of Russian scientists.

On the territory of the Ussurisk reserve, there are no resident tiger. The first tigress that was trapped in November 2008 was called “Serga.” This female became famous in Russia since Vladimir Putin was photographed at her side ! Her nickname came from the syringe that she received in her ear: she turned her head unexpectedly while the scientist was shooting at her, leaving the pink feather float of the syringe like a “ear-ring” (the translation of “Serga”).
Then, “Boxer” (named because of his swollen paw) was caught; the DNA analyses has concluded that he was the son of Serga. Once again Serga was trapped and her collar was replaced, as it was not working well. In spring 2010, May 2, the team caught “Professor,” named after his excellent skill in triggering remote traps and up until then had avoided capture. Then, it was the turn of another male, “Luke”, and another one “Patchy” (the name of a Japanese comedian). Finally in May 2011, “Princess Infinity” (because of a mark on her side, showing the infinity symbol) was trapped on May, 6^th, and Banzai, (“My Tiger”), May 21^st: he owes its nickname to the Japanese team that was present when in 2010 he appeared for the first time on trapping photographs.

In the Lazarovsky reserve further south, the population is estimated between 27 and 35 tigers and some are probably permanent residents. In spring 2010, 150 km south of Ussurisk, the second scientific team has captured a female named “SK”, referring to the diminutive of the female character from a very popular Russian series on the 2^nd World War “17 moments of the spring”. The heroine of the series had the nickname “Sviasistkaya Kat” because she looked after “communications”; and the tigress had eaten several cables ... Then “Vorovka” which means “Thief”: the female ate a wild boar trapped but she was trapped the next day! In May 2011, “Gryaznoulia”, a male covered in mud (hence its name) and a female “Elduga” (in honor of a nearby river) were also equipped with a collar.

The two reserves are equipped with camera traps. Some tigers have been trapped “photographically” one or more times, but never captured. It is possible to identify individuals as a result of their pattern of stripes, which is unique to each animal, a sort of “ID card” or “fingerprint”. Scientists have added these tigers to the database as well : “Khramonojka” (“the Lame”), “Soboliok”, “Turk” and “Greek” and “Maslionok.” Some of these tigers were probably just crossing the reserve territory.

In 2009, the Special Inspection for the Tiger, which is also working in the Primorye region, took care of the first young orphan tiger named “Oleg”, and in 2010, they took care of three additional orphans from the same litter: Tatiana, Volodya, Lazurina. Each of them has been fitted with a collar. Unfortunately, Lazurina was found dead, not long after having been released, probably because she was unable to find food.
This raises the current figure to 20 tigers identified by the research program of the Institute. We would like to believe that there might be some others...

The scientific “routine”

Every morning, each of us, at his own turn, supports the preparation of breakfast, the waking up of the rest of the team, and the meal preparation, dishwashing and cleaning for the day. Our camp, a small house built some 30-40 years ago, called “Kordon”, is located in the Eastern part of the reserve. There is no running water: you have to go land collect this, some 50 meters down to the river. For electricity, the generator is switched on only in the evening. At mid-May, the outside temperature is +1°C in the morning. To get warm, you have to put some wood in the common room stove ...

Then it is time to check each trap of the three itinerates. A part of the team goes to the first circuit in the 4x4. It is not long before we leave the car as it is not possible to verify the presence of a trapped animal other than by foot due to the density of the undergrowth and mud ... Of course, an armed ranger accompanies us during this verification process. Some tigers have been already trapped, as have other animals such as boar, red deer, sika deer, bear and so on ... Back on the track, we continue checking further, and we cross a new river. This time, we proceed to the verification of 13 sites in a vehicle: 4x4 or quad, depending on the weather. Meanwhile, the rest of the team goes to the Western part of the reserve to check the other traps.
Other scientists regularly stay at “Kordon”. I met an ornithologist and an entomologist, each of them working on their thesis.

If no animal has been trapped, activities of the day depend on the weather.
If it is a good weather we can go walking on an adventure in the surrounding forest, provided we are at least two people. Potentially dangerous animal prefer to escape when it hears a group of people coming. The cold and rain limit the sense of adventure, but a walk around the house remains a feasible option. Oddly, the days pass and soon we do not know if we are in a week day or if it's the weekend...

Pitviper (Gloydius ussuriensis) in the sun

M. Dupuis

A ray of sunshine creates an unexpected opportunity: a “chitomordnik” has slipped off the reserve where the gasoline and the generator are stored. Quickly, we take the cameras to try to take the best portrait of this beautiful snake: an Ussurisk viper...

I spent my free time trying to photograph the river, trees, and the resident wildlife. Unfortunately, red deer and sika deer spotted in the woods were not very cooperative, and raccoon dogs and badgers have barely left traces of their passage.

Bombina bombini

M. Dupuis

I was luckier with a small green toad with a red and black belly that lives in mud puddles near the camp: an Oriental fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombini). I was also happy to meet a tiny frog...

That is the way Saturday, May 21, 2011 began. I went with Sergey to check traps on “our” side of the reserve. We are sad to find a female deer in a trap. She broke her leg. A forced immobilization condemns the ungulates. We return to the camp looking for a ranger

Our young watchdog

M. Dupuis

. After a brief confab, the decision to kill the deer is taken. We all experience a sort of silent sadness at the situation. These hoofed animals are collateral victims of all the research programs on tigers. Sergey goes back to the deer with Sasha, our ranger. I did not want to attend the scene. I have no reason to go there. I remain alone in the camp, with our guard dogs.

A very special encounter

About 10 minutes after they leave, a car comes rocketing in and the deputy director of the reserve, who was going to join us for the weekend, leaps out of the car and asks me, quite agitated, where is the rest of the team. I thought to myself: is the river burning??

A TIGER is caught in a trap on the other side of the road, in the Western part of the reserve, probably since the morning. We need to get everyone quickly, so I explain where the team has gone.

The team in approach

M. Dupuis

They return a quarter of an hour later. Then a kind of “branle-bas de combat”, everyone moves in all directions! A collective excitement seems to fall on the camp.
It took us 20 or 25 minutes to get ready: drugs to sedate the animal, several syringes in case it does not work the first time, the air rifle, all flasks, bags, pairs of gloves, electronic scale, scissors, collars of different size, video camera, tripod...

Finally, we leave tha camp at 12:10. We reach the place 10 minutes later. Among the trees, a lying body, hardly recognisable...

a lying body at a lime tree, Russia

Myriam Dupuis

The tiger is trapped close to an inclined lime tree, a marking tree. Tigers use such trees to mark their territories, to signal their presence. They urinate and make claws on the trees.
According to the deputy director, the animal should weight about 150kg, probably a young individual.
Our 4X4 vehicle stops shortly before arriving at the site to prepare the air rifle and the syringe that will be used to sedate the animal, and to prepare the camera. I am sitting where I have been told to sit, next to the driver, while the rest of the team settled on the rear platform of the vehicle. We approach the place. I see from afar, on the left, beyond the small bridge we are going to cross and on a little height, an orange shape.

It's HIM!

Myriam Dupuis

That's it, this is HIM! He seems much larger than what we've been told. A first passing and a few pictures taken from the car, engine running. I already feel his power. He is beautiful. What a pity ... to see him trapped, and yet it is the only way for me to see him ... and not only for me, indeed. The expedition leader shoots but misses his first attempt. The tiger roars. It's so impressive...

Standing, ready to jump

Myriam Dupuis

This time, the car goes a little further to turn back. Sergey tries a second shot. He gets out of the car. The rest of the team, still on board, becomes really nervous. Sacha-the-ranger has his gun loaded and ready to shoot. Swear words are falling like rain...

A growl reflecting his power

Myriam Dupuis

The tiger roars again and tries to attack, a movement that is both powerful and extremely fast, but he is hampered by his paw caught in the trap attached to the tree.
Sergey comes back to the car. We move away from the place quite quickly, going to our first arrival point. The shooting shall be in the shoulder or the thigh, but in any case, not into the stomach.The second shot has reached its goal, so we need to wait for the anaesthetics to make effect. Coming back to the tiger, we see only his white belly with black stripes: the animal is lying on his back.

Everyone makes their own comment. I feel the nervousness and excitement of the group. All these men express maybe a sort of unconscious fear facing a top predator, something from our distant past and rooted in our reptilian brain perhaps? I'm not feeling the same way; maybe because it's the first time? I feel sorry for the tiger, trapped by men, in order to be studied. In the name of what? Science? At the same time, I feel happy because I see and I am going to approach a wild tiger, maybe even to caress him... Paradox of human status...

Measures, levies and laying the collar
it is time now to go back to the tiger to verify if he is sedated. Serguey, who is the leader of the expedition, (that is the reason why he has to shoot and why a ranger does not do it) is out of the car. He takes some little pebbles in his hand in order to check if the tiger is really asleep. Closer to the tiger he takes a tree branch to touch the lying body.
Serguey gives the signal: we all get out of the car.

Everything is moving quickly: I don't even have time to take a picture of his face because the first thing to be done with wild animals, and particularly with big cats, is to mask their eyes. It is very important to avoid any external stimulation that can wake the animal from his sleep.

A heart rate monitor allows to monitor his status

Myriam Dupuis

A heart rate monitor is clipped on his tongue to measure his heart rate (92 beats) and oxygen levels in the blood (78%), he will keep it throughout the procedure. It also allows monitoring the anaesthesia.

Then, everyone takes their place and begins working. One removes the cable trap encircling the tiger's paw that has swollen - it's impressive. It is supposed not to have hurt him, but I doubt it. I remember the unpleasant feeling I've had when I felt asleep on my arm, involuntarily, so that it has cut the blood supply, a cold and heavy arm, like it is “dead”...not a good memory...

I approach his side and then I touch his tail, surprisingly soft and heavy, and I venture on his thigh: I feel the power of the muscles under the skin, soft fur and the warmth of the sleeping body. Big cats have a temperature slightly above that of humans: 39° C. What a gorgeous animal! We stood in awe and it took a whole team to reduce him to a huge sleeping cat ...
As I first touched him, I had a sensation that I won't forget anytime soon. No fear, but admiration and a deep respect, and also compassion and a kind of communion with this power and the beauty of nature.
Anyway, I am overwhelmed with conflicting emotions: I fully understand the chance that is mine, while regretting that it was necessary to sedate this animal whose the future, and that of his species, is seriously threatened by our always growing human presence...

Measuring the hindpaw

Myriam Dupuis

Meanwhile, Sergey and Sasha started to work in silence:

length of hind foot: 39 cm,
tail length: 103 cm,
body length (without the tail): 183 cm
shoulder height: 104 cm,
ear length (from trough to peak): 10.5 cm
canine tooth length: 5.6 cm
width of the front leg: 11.5 cm
Each testicle was also measured... a measure of fertility.

Then they start taking blood for analyses. The blood will be tested to determine the general condition of the animal, and also possible diseases (ten diseases are tested for), the level of hormones. FYI, the big cats also have some different blood groups.
Fur is collected on his thigh, for the DNA research and the scientific records of the Institute.

One scientist shows me a few ticks and then removes them, turning each of them in the clockwise direction. This tiger hasn't many ticks and its fur is rather clean, which is far from being the case in general: sometimes, trapped tigers have rolled in the mud...
I begin to massage the sore paw. One of the scientists reminds me that I need to take pictures... I take my cameras.

I look at his claws: not easy to make them out. Two other rangers joined us and one of them, next to me, shows me the claws. They are all damaged, but it is prior to him getting trapped. Life in the wild is not easy... However, it seems that the claws grow back, just like our finger nails ....

a right size satellite collar

Myriam Dupuis

The satellite collar specialist is quite busy, measuring the neck of the tiger. What will be the best size for the collar? Finally, after having measuring his neck (67 cm), he chooses the smallest collar of the two that he brought. He shows us that his fist can pass between the collar and the neck of the animal : it is the right size.
The other collar, which is bigger, would have hindered him during his hunting. The collar, which is made in Canada, will detach in 95 weeks, just less than 2 years. The satellite transmitter should transmit data during one year, every 4 hours. Then, the VHF radio antenna will take over until the end. This is assuming that everything goes right...

How to weight a tiger
After all these measurements and the collar's choice and its installation, it is time now to weigh the tiger. A tarpaulin is deployed next to the tiger, in order to roll him in it. The six men are needed. The tarp closes over the tiger. It is tied with different strings. Men are lifting the tiger up to the tree, where the electronic scale is hanging from a tree branch.

6 men are needed to weight the 213kg tiger

Myriam Dupuis

The branch initially chosen is a little too low, so we need to find another branch, higher, preferably on the same tree. The scale indicates 213 kg that gives a net weight of 207 kg if you remove the weight of the tarp, strings and the collar.

The tarp is taken off from the tiger at the same place where the animal has been weighted. The analyses continue: some samples of excrement are taken in order to analyse potential parasites (he has worms), but also to give to the cynologic identification team (identification lap dog) the unique smell of the animal.
This method uses dogs trained to identify the trapped animal, on the basis of the collected faeces or urine. The dog can remember the smell of the animal for 10 years. It's cheaper than a DNA analysis that should be done each time, and that takes time. The DNA analysis is done once (on samples of less than 3 days), and then, the dog is trained with the new smell and when there are faeces, regardless of their freshness, the dog will be able to recognise the tiger (subject to having initially been identified). The analysis of the excrement also helps to establish the diet of the tiger.

The final analysis is conducted, and it is not the most pleasant, although the animal is unconscious, a priori, and should not remember this episode: electrical stimulation is used through the anus to cause ejaculation. The semen is collected and studied to determine the fertility of the animal.

The anaesthesia can be done in two ways: either the animal is immobilised but still conscious, he can not move but realises what is happening, which inevitably generates some stress, or the animal is put to sleep and he is no longer conscious. The scientist uses a cocktail of two drugs: the animal is unconscious and cannot move. In the United States, it seems that for the Polar bear, they use the first version, and the animal remains conscious of handling it undergoes.
The anesthetics that are used are Zoletil (from the French laboratory Virbac) to sedate the animal, plus a muscle-relaxant (such as Meditomedine or Dormitor) to prevent animal's movements. When a helicopter is used to sedate an animal (for example, a Polar bear), it is usual to use more muscle-relaxant to prevent his movements; if you want to sedate an animal longer, then you use more Zoletil. It takes 3 days to evacuate the body anaesthesia. There is not a lot of supervision, except what that the satellite collar wants to transmit ...

Last caresses and good bye

Canines are more than 5 cm length : a healthy tiger!...

Myriam Dupuis

All these operations come to an end, we must leave “our” tiger called Banzai. There is time for one last group photo session around him.

Last good bye...

Myriam Dupuis

I want to stay until he wakes up, to make sure that everything goes well: some misplaced guilt? or a desire to prolong these moments that I know are unique?
Let's be clear: in what my presence would help the animal ? It is wiser to let him wake as quietly as possible, after having placed a very thin birch bark over his eyes, instead of the mask. And thanks to the collar, we will know soon when he has recovered his senses...

This fantastic encounter ends at 14:45. It has helped to rub out the roe deer trapped this morning. The ranger, remained at the camp, has carved up the deer for food. We have cooked its liver for lunch ...

We drank; we had to christen this encounter. Was it to appease the ancestral fears awakened during this encounter with real wildlife? Or, for the satisfaction of a job well-done? Or peirhaps because of some personal discomfort?
I'm probably the only one concerned with this last point: we always take, as a mobile, the need to know more to protect species, but without jeopardizing the integrity of those who work in this knowledge's acquisition, is it the only way to preserve nature on which we so depend? Can't we just preserve nature for its diversity, its beauty, its richness, its mystery, without any “material” reason?
Nature does not need us. Each time we venture into nature, we have some affect on it...

A picture of Banzaï, 10 months after...

Severtsov

Photo traps have completed their mission and we have heard from Banzai, 10 months after our encounter, in 2012, March and again in July...

The next program of the reserve

The project involves the building of two opencast aviaries in order to reintroduce the Amur leopard. A few young Amur leopards will be reintroduced and the acclimatisation phase should happen here.

Amur leopards like escarpments

M. Dupuis

The environment lends itself well to reintroduction: there are rocky hills: appropriate for leopards.

The rangers are happy to work for this program.

Nothing has been decided yet (or at least they did not tell me): either the Amur leopards will be collected from the wild (not easy since they are about only thirty individuals remaining in the wild ...), either they will be reintroduced through animals coming from zoos.

An Amur leopard called Slavyanka photographed by a trap

©Severtsov

So much for what proved to be an obstacle to this program until recently: Amur leopards in captivity have a common ancestor which happened to be a ...Chinese leopard! The discovery is quite recent, thanks to DNA analysis of Amur leopards staying in captivity. In other words, the future of the Amur leopard seems doomed...

Note :

In Russia there are three types of natural areas managed by the state: the zapovedniki or wilderness areas [1], national parks and natural reserves of federal importance. There are also regional nature reserves. In total, these areas represent about 4% of the territory of the country (17 million km ²), i.e. 680000km2, and thus placed Russia N°1 by the size of its area devoted to nature.

There are therefore 56 zapoveniki in Russia, that is to say areas completely closed to tourism and the use of natural resources (timber, minerals, etc...). To these are added 34 national parks, open to tourism and to the use of natural resources, and seven natural reserves of federal importance. Reserves operate within an axis of protection, for example, a reserve for migratory birds (заказник для перелётных птиц): it is prohibited to touch the protected species, but other species that coexist in the same territory are not affected by the ban, and the reserve is open to visitors without restriction.

Zapovedniki, national parks and reserves work under the Ministry of Natural Resources. However, three zapovedniki have a special status because they depend on the Academy of Sciences of Russia: that of Ussuriisk, that of Dalnovostochnoye Morie, and that of the Urals. The fourth has been given back to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Those that depend on the Academy of Sciences of Russia, work as research institutes, on budget of the Academy of Sciences.

Zapovednik of Ussuriisk has 39 employees, including the director, his two deputies (one for research, one for safety) and up to the rangers: 2 teams of 6, each run by a manager who himself depends on the Deputy Director for Security, plus 7 scientists: an ornithologist, an entomologist, a forest specialist, a bear specialist, an specialist of ungulates (especially sika deer) and a botanist, all of them depending on the Far East department of the Academy of Sciences of Russia and therefore paid by the zapovednik. The rest of the staff is administrative.

All my gratitude to the management of the Institute and to the team of scientists who have allowed me to live this adventure with them, as well as to all the staff of the Ussuriisk zapovednik.
Myriam Dupuis - May 2011

[1] On integral reserve human intervention is kept to a minimum (scientific inventories and monitoring of population) to let nature evolve in conditions assumed to be close to what they would be in the absence of anthropogenic impacts.

One year in the life of a pack of Wolves

Myriam Dupuis — 2012-09-15T15:19:00Z

Russia – Kaluga Region

Wolf female from national Park “Kaloujskie Zaceki”, Russia

The wolf is a carnivorous mammal whose sociability is well established, characterized by constant interaction with other individuals of its species. In the wild, wolves live in family groups, each family group consisting of an adult couple, young born in the year and young born the previous year, for a time, continue to live with their parents in the territory of the latter.
The need to communicate with their peers is one of the strongest motivations in wolf behavior and plays a crucial role in the behavior and ecology of this species.

Springtime : choosing the dan

The most important part of the habitat of a wolf family is its center, the “key parcel” of the family space. The newly formed breeding pair chooses it and will transmit it to his descendants from generation to generation almost without change. It is here that we find the den, furnished by the female wolf to give birth to their young. Usually, the female wolf is preparing several dens she digs herself or badgers' burrows she accomodates the way she wants. The choice to build dens or to use badger's burrows depends on the experience of the female wolf and also on the specific weather conditions of spring. At the beginning of an early and warm spring, the female wolf prefers a den located on shaded slopes facing north with water sources at less than 50 m.

Wolf's habitat, National Park “Kaloujskie Zaceki”, Russia

M. Dupuis

When the spring is cold and late, the female wolf prefer a dry and warm den, with a sunny platform at its entrance. A more experienced and mature female usually prefers comfort and chooses the den according to “microclimatic parameters,” while relying on her instincts to ensure the safety of the den. A younger female wolf, less experienced, however, will focus on safety and keep her cubs in the most remote and inconvenient as possible, but safe and inaccessible place.

As the cubs grow, their mother moves from one den to another one two or three times. She carries in her mouth a cub at a time, sometimes over a distance of several kilometers. Larger cubs spend their day outside, in remote areas of dead wood, at the edge of an abatis, in the rubble of stones, where they can take shelter, approach water, and where the playgrounds are in the sun.

Summer: Wolf cubs' Education and Learning to hunt

Adult wolf's tagging, National Park “Kaloujskie Zaceki”, Russia

J-A. Hernandez-Blanco

The male adult, first, is responsible for ensuring food by hunting around the den on the main hunting grounds of the family group. This part of the family plot is a vital space for young offspring and it is mainly used by the breeding pair. During this period, the female wolf controls the behavior of the male who tries all sorts of ways to please her, bringing her and cubs some food such as young boars, beavers, hares, deers. Lactating female usually does not leave her cubs very long, and does not depart from her offspring more than four kilometers. During the years when rodents are numerous, the female wolf hunts voles which constitute a significant addition to the diet of cubs. As they grow, the female wolf goes farther and farther away from her cubs, and she finally also gets to hunt prey for them.

One or two young of the previous year may participate in the hunt with the dominant male, but, usually, the female wolf does not allow their presence near the den until the cubs become stronger, i.e. until the end of the second and third months of life.
In spring and summer, the young of the previous year occupy the periphery of the family plot, providing the maintenance of the integrity of its borders. In spring and early summer, “teenagers” really want to go back to the den, as if they knew a rebirth, rediscovering the nature's stimuli that they experienced the previous year, while they themselves were growing-up cubs. The desire to return to the den to the Alpha pair that their parents are, in many respects guarantees the integrity of the family unit throughout the year.

Autumn and winter: gathering and “know-how” transmission

In late summer the entire family begins to gather. The “last-borns” are going to reach about 5 months now and begin to move in the family plot, with adults and their older brothers. This is one of the most important periods in the life of young wolves. They leave the center of the family territory and they follow adults from a successfull hunting place to another one, gradually becoming familiar with all the hunting grounds of the group. With winter approaching, the wolves gather together in a single and consistent group. While participating in hunting with the adults and their older brothers, cubs are introduced to hunting habits of the pack and they receive a vital experience for food. In turn, the adult and experienced wolves, able to successfully hunt large herbivores, provide food to the young generation in harsh conditions of snowy winter.

Bison skeleton found out at springtime by Dr Litvinova

M. Dupuis

For travel related to hunting, wolves can travel 12 to 40 km per day, covering with their movements all the territory of the family. The surface of the territory occupied by a pack of wolves living in a forest area varies from 150 to 500 km2, depending on the density of their main preys such as ungulates. Wolves are well aware of ungulate species living on this or that part of their territory, of their physical conditions and they try only to hunt animals, whose capture is guaranteed with a minimum of effort.

The Ungulates in good physical shape are not of great interest to the wolves. Wolves are constantly monitoring their potential preys. They “verify” their preys' status and their speed of reaction. When the strong and healthy animals notice the presence of the predators, they develop a sufficient escape velocity, and they are not pursued by wolves, that choose a weakened prey, that is lacking of insurance.

And again the spring: birth and separation

In spring, when the breeding pair is moving away from the pack towards the center of the family territory, and when the youngest remain at its periphery, an another very important social process then takes place in the group of wolves. It is the separation. Sometimes alone, sometimes in small groups, some subadult wolves leave the parental territory and they go in search of new spaces unoccupied by other families of wolves. Separation of young wolves is a key factor in maintaining the integrity of the wolf population in a large area. It is this separation of young people with the family group which allows the genetic diversity of wolves at a level sufficient for their survival, avoiding the “genetic drift”.

Different factors influence the decision “to leave the family” or “to stay”, such as social environment, personal relationships within the group, gender. Some wolves remain in the family throughout their lives, but others leave the pack at the age of 2-3 years. It is primarily young wolves that leave the family, unable to resist the pressure of competition and the dominant female, their mother. Initially, the candidates are psychologically weak animals who are not able to maintain an adequate level of social contacts, as well as small cohesive groups of young wolves, not communicating between them and having almost no contact with other members of the pack. In general, larger is the family, the more likely it is the pack is divided into small groups, and young wolves quickly leave the family. In European forests in Russia, the number of wolves in a family group can reach 15-18 individuals, but more commonly a pack does not exceed 10 to 11 wolves.

Dr Hernandez-Blanco working on the field

M. Dupuis

Why are there young wolves in a pack?
What are the advantages accruing to adult wolves for the presence of young wolves ?
Among specialists, biologists and ethologists, these issues are regularly discussed, but so far there is no single answer.
One of the most important functions performed by the young wolves is that they ensure the maintenance of outer frontiers of the pack's territory in the spring and summer, while adult wolves take care of pups. Another advantage of the presence of subadult wolves is to help adults during collective hunts, during which the young wolves act as “beaters”, until the prey is caught by an adult wolf. In addition, during the period when adults are occupied by the new scope, the young wolves are trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to hunt large prey to the periphery of the territory of the family and by their actions, they causes spatial redistribution of ungulates. In an effort to escape the constant pressure of young wolves, the ungulates move from the periphery of the territory to the center, towards the favorite hunting grounds of the dominant couple. Thus, young wolves, unknowingly, provide the influx of potential preys to feed the cubs.

However, if you try to play the life of a wolf pack throughout a year, then it is a complex system which appears to the observer, governed by many internal mechanisms, social interactions and biological processes that fits perfectly into the community represented by this pack. And understanding these subtleties and self-configuration of the system can not fail to arouse our admiration!

Original written by Dr J.A.Hernandez-Blanco and by E. Litvinova from the Russian Academy of Sciences

The Kenyan Savannah : the silent drama of the Massaï Mara

Myriam Dupuis — 2012-07-04T19:38:38Z

Kenya - Maasaï Mara

Africa means adventure…

All nature lovers that know Africa will tell you: nothing beats an African safari to discover the “big game” that has excited us since our childhood. To fill closer to wildlife, to believe we are adventurers - just for one day, this is what the most sincere of us can pretend to. Leave to the tourists a more “consumer” approach to the African wilderness and their exclamation after three days of game sight-seeing and accommodation in a luxury lodges: ”Yes, I know Africa, I have been there…I've done that”.
As for those who really know Africa, they never cease to marvel at this wilderness. But they are worried. And, unfortunately, they are right, as there is definitely something to be worried about...

Sunset in Maasaï Mara

M. Dupuis

Africa captures your “heart”. So far, nothing new: many others have said and probably have felt it before I did. So much the better, or perhaps not, considering what this land has become: you can still feel its power, despite the fury that takes men of all colours to enslave to its depths to extract gold, uranium, diamonds, or oil, or to build large greenhouses where to grow green beans recommended in each Western diet and cut flowers that will die in a vase on a table somewhere. Men are so ungrateful of this surrounding beauty: like everywhere on the planet, they assume the right to dispose of everything, regardless the consequences that will inevitably occur. The world will be less beautiful when there will be no more trees, or fish or birds, or the big cats.

This “earthy” something, with no frills, is a kind of timeless primary energy that overwhelms us when we agree to open up to what is surrounding us. And it is especially true in the Kenyan savannah. I yielded willingly to the magic of the Maasaï Mara. And that is why I want to sound the alarm for it. By discovering this region in which the delicate balance is threatened, I tried to understand what might be done to preserve this land.
The only threat is from man. The only solution will be led by man.

The Maasaï Mara at the centre of many interests…

Musiara gate, Maasaï Mara

M. Dupuis

After a few hours' drive from Nairobi (300 km of sometimes “unusual” roads) you arrive in the famous Maasaï Mara at an altitude of 1500m, passing one of the six gates: the Oloololo Gate on the north and the Musiara Gate on the north-east, the Talek Gate and the Sekenani Gate at the east, the Ololaimutia Gate and the Sand River Gate in the south.
Since 1974, there are some 1510km² in the South-Western Kenya that extend naturally to the South, towards the Serengeti in Tanzania, that have the national reserve status. The reserve is named after the Mara River that crosses its territory from North to South, while the Talek and Sand rivers run through it from West to East.

Maasaï Mara map

internet

The National Reserve status of allows the Maasai people to continue to live on ancestral land and to graze their herds, unlike the National Parks, which are void of human activities other than tourism and scientific study. These activities are managed by the Kenya governmental agency KWS (Kenyan Wildlife Service) [1]that is responsible for wildlife in the country on three main areas including: research, injured animals, and animal census. Some famous Kenyan parks managed by KWS are Meru NP, Tsavo NP, Samburu NP, Nakuru NP.
Two regional Maasaï communities manage the Maasai Mara reserve: the Narok County Council for two-thirds of the area and the County Council of Trans-Mara for the remaining third. Representatives of the County Council are elected for five years. For the tourist, there is no discernible difference. And yet...

Some figures on tourism Safari

Revenues generated from tourism in the Maasai Mara are significant. But who benefits this tourism windfall and is it sustainable?
The Maasai Mara became a world famous destination for nature lovers because of the richness of its fauna, with, among other species, the famous “big five” (elephant, black rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard). Touristic development had begun.

Land Rovers' ballet

M. Dupuis

Today there are about 3000 tourist beds in the Maasai Mara reserve side, on an area of approximately 1000km², divided into an ever increasing number of lodges and camps. During the tourist season, from June to September/October, and even out of the season now, traditional land-rovers are supplanted by more and more numerous cars and even white minibus, that drive the tourists willing to take as many pictures as possible in a few hours' game drive.
On the other side, that of the Mara Conservancy that manages the “Mara Triangle” that goes along the Oloololo escarpment till the Ollololo Gate, and then goes down to the Mara river till the Tanzanian border, there are to now some 400 beds for a 500km² territory. But beyond these figures, it is mainly a question of two different approaches to nature and to tourist management.

The Narok County Council earns around $20 million through tourism. But who benefits from this money? Few funds seem attributable to the trail maintenance of the reserve and to the work of rangers, nothing or little for animals themselves, and probably little to Maasai families living there. No real figures are available.

Sunrise at Transamara Concervancy

M. Dupuis

Regarding the Mara Conservancy, the County Council of Trans-Mara mandates the Mara Conservancy to undertake all aspects of protected area management including: revenue collection and distribution, security, tourism development and management, infrastructure maintenance and development (all new projects require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and approval by a joint committee comprising members of the Conservancy and County Council). Revenues are more modest but the figures are clear: about $3.5M to $4M per year, that are managed by Bryan Heat, who has been the director for past ten years. About 65% of this amount goes to the County Council of Trans-Mara and the local population, while 36% of the budget, i.e. between $1.2M and $1.5 M (2011) are allocated to management of the reserve: salaries and training of rangers, anti-poaching measures with trained dogs and excellent knowledge of the animals of the reserve, monitoring and security of tourists.

Behind the scenes: the disappearance of flora and fauna

As always, there are multiple causes for the disappearance of fauna, and as it is almost always the case, it is linked to human activity. The sequence of a certain number of events and their consequences, and the combination of these factors destroy the natural balance and contribute to the disappearance of the flora and fauna.
First, it should be recalled that Kenya's population has multiplied by seven in less than 50 years. It rose from 6 million in 1963 to 43 million in the 2010 census. And the Maasai people represent about 10% of the population. Their political clout is all but negligible. Is this not a human pressure sufficient to promote a growing fragmentation of wildlife habitat?...

Trees are dying in Musiara, Maasaï Mara

M. Dupuis

Considering the ecosystem from the perspective of the food chain, you only need to look at the plants and trees. Old trees are obviously disappearing in the Maasai Mara. As they fall down, there are no young trees growing up to replace them.
Some attribute their disappearance to the elephants. However, remember that in a not so distant past, elephants were able to move freely accross the country, leaving the vegetation enough time to grow back.

Elephants back to Musiara late evening, Maasaï Mara

M. Dupuis

But today there are no corridors for them and therefore they are forced to remain on a territory that is reducing in size as quickly as the cities are expanding. Vegetation cannot grow back after their passage and elephants no longer have anywhere to go ... On the issue of regeneration of trees, some studies are conducted in recent years by the Mara Conservancy. Nets and cages against insects and herbivores have protected some young trees. No tangible explanation has yet been published. As for the Maasai Mara, near Musiara in particular, it is likely that the problem is directly related to the level of the water table: increasingly numerous lodges pumping water from the Mara to the tourists' convenience, but also, all the year round, the corn farms upstream of the Mara river which are also responsible for the decline of the river level. Once more, it is not with no impact on the environment.

Parthenium hysterophorus

DR-Internet

A study was also undertaken on the invasive plant Parthenium hysterophorus [2] that develops at high speed into the Maasai Mara. The implications for the Maasai Mara wildlife are potentially serious. Thousands of animals searching for grazing, means that the grasslands are highly disturbed, making it easier for Parthenium to invade.

Invasive Parthenium hysterophorus

DR-Internet

“Unless action is taken immediately to eradicate known infestations in the Maasai Mara it is not unrealistic to expect a drastic reduction in wildlife population in the long term as the Parthenium population rapidly expands as an invading species,” says Geoffrey Howard, the IUCN's global invasive species programme coordinator.

Landata camara, in a hedgerow at Eldoret, Kenya

Michael J. Plagens

Another invasive weed, the Lantana, is threatening the ecosystem by its rapid spreading in the plains of Maasai Mara. It also replaces native plants and animals do not eat it. Less food for wildlife...

Hippo in the Mara river

M. Dupuis

Pollution associated with pesticide use on large farms around Kenya's Maasai Mara Reserve is probably responsible for the disappearance of part of the flora, but also the disappearance of insects, the next link of the trophic chain. Consequently, some flocks of common birds have disappeared, as other insectivorous animals have, and the whole balance of the ecosystem is threatened. Some people have reported a kind of skin discoloration among hippos in rivers where the current is low: would there be a greater concentration of toxics in these stagnant waters? It would be interesting to study it.

Disease has not spared the Maasai Mara. In 2008, the wildebeests were victims of dengue, carried by mosquitoes. The dengue fever generates serious skin problems in animals. Some cheetahs, whose population is critically endangered, have eaten weakened wildebeests, and consequently, died by the dengue transmission.
The resident wildebeests are a key-element of the Maasai Mara ecosystem. In 2009 KWS began a census. The KWS does not publish its figures, but since 2008 some articles have already mentioned the wildlife population decline in the Maasai Mara.

The Maasai cows: a political issue

This could make you smile, but the herds are a real problem in the Maasai Mara. The Maasai raise cattle neither for meat nor for milk, but because to have many cows is a sign of wealth. This tradition continues today: Olé Timama, the Maasaï great current leader himself has more than 9,000 heads of cattle while living in Nairobi. Thus, the richer the Maasaï become, the more the cattle is increasing.

Maasaï cows grazing on the Maasaï Mara reserve

M. Dupuis

Previously, the herds were not allowed to enter on the reserve territory.
But in 2009, a severe drought has killed up to 60-70% of the livestock. As a result of this drought the Narok County Council has now authorised the entry of cattle into the reserve, first around the Talek River and at Musiara. Since then, this concession has become law and herds now invade the landscape. At night the lights of cowherders multiply like wisps browsing the savannah, and during the day, the children who lead their herds out of bomas (enclosure surrounding the Maasai villages) are no longer hiding from the tourists.

Why these cows are they a problem for wildlife?

Cows are selective: they know what to choose to feed and they leave the non-edible grasses. Consequently there is less food for wild herbivores, whose populations are declining. It has been shown that when the territories of food must be shared, a stress is generated in wild animals. This stress can lead to self-limiting births among the wild animals, who are an important link in the food chain of the Maasai Mara.
In addition, trampling by cattle changes the structure of the soil and prevents regrowth of certain plants; areas of pasture are quite visible from planes.
However, there is a secondary benefit for wild herbivores by living among the cattle: protection against predators such as lions or leopards. The presence of the cowherders keeps them away from a potential prey. Historically and culturally, the Maasai and the lions have cohabitated together.

Yawning Lion, Maasaï Mara

M. Dupuis

The lions have learned to be wary of these men in red and prefer to avoid them. This hatred of lions has not stopped: some lions are pushed out of the reserves and are still very often poisoned with chemicals inoculated into dead goat carcasses ...

To be “politically correct”, the Narok County Council has hired rangers to monitor the reserve. But, often, rangers are themselves Maasai cows' owners. If rangers are monitoring lodges cars to prevent them from going off-track, they do not intervene on the herds or on their owners. Between family ties and economic links between rangers and owners, the herds have not finished blooming on the Maasai Mara Reserve.

However, the Mara Conservancy has taken strong measures: the cattle are not allowed. If the rangers arrest a cowherder, they transfer him to the police. If a grazing herd is caught on the reserve territory and its cowherder has “disappeared”, the most beautiful cows are then slaughtered by the rangers and served for diner to the reserve staff. Some episodes were enough for cattle owners to respect the ban.

Poaching: bush meat and trophy hunting

Rangers from Mara Conservancy with their dogs

M. Dupuis

The figures reported are those of the Mara Conservancy that cooperates with the Serengeti Park in Tanzania to fight against poaching. Thus in 2010, on the 1540 poachers that were arrested by the Mara Conservancy, 95% came from Tanzania. Some poachers were arrested several times, one of them up to 5 times in the year! And figures concern only those who were arrested... They are then presented to a judge and sentenced to a 2 to 4-week imprisonment, before being released ... and again. They mainly poach with snares, cost of which is 50 schillings unity (0.50 € or 5 matchboxes at local price...). The snares do not make any distinction: victims are herbivores such as zebras, topis, and wildebeests. During the wildebeest' migration, from July to October, some hippos and warthogs are trapped too. Some Thomson's gazelles are hunted at night with torches and dogs. The big cats are also taken by snares. In 2010 a lion died trapped by a snare, a leopard and a cheetah were also found dead, but there are probably more snared cats that are just not found. Elephants can also be victims of snares that shear their trunk, making it impossible for them to eat, without mentioning the suffering because of mutilation, gangrene.
All this poaching is due to the strong demand for “bush meat” from the small villages, often some distance from the reserves. During the single month of January 2011, the Mara Conservancy arrested 22 poachers including 15 on the reserve territory. 57 snares were collected…

Poaching for trophys is more rare here. However, in December 2010, a poacher near the Mara, bordering Tanzania, killed four elephants and a rhino. Some years ago, a lion had been valued at $250 000 on the Mara. And the last big tusker, a male elephant that some still remember, was pushed from the Amboseli NP to Tanzania where he was shot by “sports” hunters with complete impunity ...

The figures for poaching provided by the Mara Conservancy can be extrapolated to the Maasai Mara reserve with an area two times larger and more importantly much less supervised. Nothing visible is undertaken in fighting against poaching and no figures are available.

Awareness and political will

The safari tourism represents a very large source of revenue for the country, and finds itself at the centre of policy issues that go far beyond what one can imagine. Some Kenyans have tried to change things but they sometimes paid with their lives. A few years ago, one of the former directors of the KWS was paralyzed in both legs and an arm after his plane was sabotaged, soon after having talked about reforms; the saboteurs were never arrested. As the director of KWS, he has hindered the established ivory traffic at the time: the biggest sponsor was very close to the first government of Kenya. But we must also remember that in 1989, Daniel Arap Moi, Kenya's second president, had burned 12 tons of elephant tusks to mark the will of Kenya to end the poaching for ivory. The following year, a total ban on international ivory trade took effect.
Unfortunately, according to the KWS, the country lost 278 elephants in 2011, against 177 in 2010. Indeed, elephant poaching is experiencing a marked increase in Kenya and in other countries range in Africa.

Ivory burned during the day for law enforcement on the African elephant July 20, 2011 at the KWS Manyani's training center

DR-IFAW/S. Njumbi

Kenya was still burning five tons of ivory July 20, 2011 ... in spite of the legal market for ivory opening again. In April 2012 the Kenyan government launched a strategy for managing elephants and reaffirmed the country's commitment to protect its elephants in the long run.
However, recently the Kenyan government authorized the construction of a 70-80 km road between Emali and Loliondo through Chinese financing. This is an old trail with little traffic but with easy access to Amboseli, Tsavo and Chyutu Hills NP. There is apparently no economic reason, unless there is mineral ore or poaching? ...

How to preserve this precious wildlife?

The KWS has been co-operating for several years with IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) and other international institutions and NGOs to enforce Kenyan law on fight against poaching and to tune the conflicts between humans and animals.

Thus, the elephant management strategy jointly conducted by the IFAW and KWS and the newly set up to five years after Amboseli, Tsavo, relies on a set of objectives, which focus on:

Protect elephants from poachers,
Increase the size and number of protected areas,
Reduce conflicts between humans and wild animals,
Promote research and rely on advanced monitoring systems to improve the management of elephants. This strategy involves a significant fieldwork, resources and cooperation of local communities in order to complete it.

But these are national parks managed by KWS. How can we preserve the Maasai Mara? What seems the most accessible is at first educating the tourists. Develop their environmental awareness: Some tourists litter the park with their cigarette butts, their plastic bottles, toilet paper, despite the recommendations of their drivers. Do not hesitate to correct these “poorly educated”!

Cheetah playing with a plastic bottle in the savannah, Masaï Mara

M. Dupuis

Collect, while you are here, waste dotting the savannah, without taking the risk to remove a plastic bottle from the jaws of a cheetah of course!
Helping local people as the Mara Conservancy does, which seeks to expand the area of nature conservation: outside areas of the reserve, some Maasai have agreed to limit their livestock for compensation, a form of rent, which ensures an income. Each plot is approximately 40 hectares and it is a very long fieldwork...

Finally, the only remaining hope is awareness of local, regional, governmental, and - why not? - international authorities, to allow a long-term political vision that prohibits new constructions in the Maasai Mara and limits their environmental impact and on the surrounding lands.
If the wildlife disappears, tourism revenues are going to disappear: a real economic problem for the Kenya. We would prefer to ask the question in the exactly opposite way: besides the loss of revenue from safaris, can we take the risk of loss of wildlife and flora of the Maasai Mara savannah?
“Hope is what dies last”, a proverb says…

[1] The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) conserves and manages Kenya's wildlife all over Kenya. It is a state corporation established by an Act of Parliament Cap 376 with the mandate to conserve and manage wildlife in Kenya, and to enforce related laws and regulations.

[2] The Parthenium hysterophorus, a poisonous plant native to the American tropics, invades empty lots, the roadsides, the riversides, preferring abandoned areas. This is an invasive species that rapidly colonizes any space, at the expense of long established desirable vegetation. Before long, it can reduce a pasture to almost nothing, leaving no vegetation to the herds. It threatens the crops. In humans, its pollen is causing breathing problems, allergies, sinusitis, asthma, skin diseases and eye problems. In animals, it reduces milk production and makes them lose weight. The Parthenium has been found in parts of the Mara River, and along some trails that crisscross the park. Carried by the wind, vehicles, movement of machinery, or water, the species could extend them without restraint. The ecological conditions are favourable. And loss of pastures grazed by animals, could pave the way.

The Common Grey Wolf in France

Fabrice Borgese — 2009-05-28T13:48:00Z

Wolf Portrait

“We had for them no hatred. They made their wolves' business as we made our men's business. They were God's creatures. As we were. They had been born predatory. As the man. But they had remained predatory, while the man had become destructive.” By Paul-Emile Victor

M. Dupuis

“Wolf, are you there? Can you hear me? What are you doing?”

France – Parc du Mercantour

The Wolf has returned to France

While counting chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) in the Mercantour National Park (Alpes de Haute-Provence) in November 1992, the return of two common grey wolves (Canis lupus italicus) was officially recorded in France, confirmed by the presence of their preys' carcasses and wolves faeces. These wolves most likely arrived from Italy, where a protected population has been living since 1973. Since 1993 a protocol for following the population has been set up in Mercantour, and with the geographical expansion of the wolves' presence, this protocol has been extended to different departments of the French alpine region.

This follow-up, coordinated by the ‘Big Carnivorous Network, Wolf-Lynx-Bear' [réseau grands carnivores loup-lynx-ours] (ONCFS), is based on recording evidence of the presence of wolves. The microscopic analysis of animal remains (bones, hair, fur, feathers, plants etc.), which have not been digested but found in feaces, allows us to determine the wolf's diet and to evaluate its impact equally on the wild fauna as well as the domestic livestock populations. Only genetic typing allows identification with certainty the wolf's faeces from that of a fox, dog, lynx or other animal faeces.

From 1996 to 2008 the growth of wolves' population has been around 15% [1], which is considered quite low for a population that is theoretically free to expand. A more optomistic rate would have been around 20-30%, which would have led to a total population of around 250-500 wolves in 2008, considering a population of 60 individuals in 2000.

Today, it is considered that the primary cause of wolves' over-mortality in France is linked to poaching, by shooting or poisoning. At least a hundred Wolves have been illegaly killed since 2000, which equates to around 10 per year, but in reality reaches a few dozen in certain years. Since 2001, more than 100 wolves have been killed by motor vehicles.

A social species

M. Dupuis

Evolution and Facts

The European grey wolf weights around 25 to 50 kg. He is a good swimmer and even a better runner. He can reach a top speed of 45-50 km/h and is able to cover more than 60km per night. His bite has a force of 150kg/cm², twice that of a domestic dog.
His vision angle is 250° (compared to 180° for humans). At night, the wolf's eyes seem to glow, as they are covered by a layer of cells which allow him to see equally well during the day and night.
He is able to hear sounds up to 40 kHz (only 20 kHz for humans), and can hear other wolves roaring from a distance of 6 to 10 km.

The pack, a social structure for the Wolf

The packs of wolves vary of the simple couple to the dozen individuals

M. Dupuis

Wolves are extremely social animals. They exist in a social unit called a pack. The core of a pack, the basic unit of wolf social life, is a mated pair of wolves - an adult alpha male and alpha female that have bred and produced young. Within each pack is an elaborate hierarchy. It may consist of a single breeding pair, a lower group consisting of non-breeding adults, each with its own ranking, a group of outcasts, and a group of immature wolves, from pups to two or three-years-olds. Some of the younger wolves of the pack may leave to find vacant territory (i.e. where prey is abundant) and also mate. The pack is made up of animals related to each other by blood and family ties of affection and mutual assistance.

Dominance: erect and forward pointing ears and erect tail

M. Dupuis

The alpha male and female are the oldest members of the pack and the ones with the most experience in hunting, defending territory, and other important activities. They also feed themselves first. The other pack members respect their positions and follow their leadership in almost all things, The alpha wolves are usually the ones to make decisions for the pack, when the group should go out to hunt or move from one place to another.
Importantly, the alpha male is the only one who breeds with the alpha female when she is on heat. There are however some exceptions: when the alpha male is too old, one of the submissive males can fight for the top position and will take it if he is able to dominate the alpha male.

In Europe, pack sizes vary from a couple up to a dozen wolves, although some may include as many as 40-50 wolves as can be seen in Northern America. The pack size depends on many variables including the size of the territory, which in turn depends on the abundance of available food.
The pack size varies also with the seasons. The main factors for this variance are mortality and dispersion. Some wolves will leave the pack or could be banished after losing a conflict. Sometimes, tensions rise for number of reasons: at the end of the winter, when food is rare, during mating season when males want to breed (end of February/ March) or just to dominate the other wolves. For social animals like wolves, life within a pack has many advantages;

Hunting is more efficient: the pack can hunt prey bigger than themselves for example elks (Cervus elaphus), moose (Alces alces), buffalo (Bison bison) or arctic muskoxes (Ovibos moschatus),
Protection of their young, their education and initiation to the basics of hunting through play – the pack is like a nursery where each member takes care of the youngest,
The fact that just the alpha couple breeds, prevents the proliferation of wolves in a territory, in addition, if food is scarce, wolves will not breed each year.

Reproduction

The male reaches his sexual maturity at the age of three and the female at two years old. The mating season takes place, depending on the region of the world, from January to March. Other females are subjected to a psychological castration from the alpha female whose behaviour is very aggressive during this period of the year. The alpha male is less aggressive towards his submissive, but sometimes there can be violent fights. Usually only the alpha male breeds with the alpha female, but some of the other males of the pack may also breed with the alpha female. Then there is a spermatic competition and the cubs from the same litter can have different fathers. After 61-63 days gestation, the female gives birth to cubs between March and June. A litter can be from 3 to 8 cubs each weighing between 300 and 500 grams. They are blind and deaf during their first two weeks of their life. During the third week they can go out of the den to explore the world around them. After being suckled by the mother, they progressively eat more solid food, pre-digested and regurgitated by the adults.

After 6 weeks, the young wolves begin to play. During their play and other activities, they are constantly testing their mother to find out who will eventually be the “top wolf” in their age group. Within the pack's hierarchy, they occupy the lowest position and they approach the older wolves in submissive positions: bent legs, head down, eyes lowered, flat ears and mouth closed. When they reach 6-months old, they learn how to hunt. Nearly half of the pups die during their first year due to fighting, a hunting accident, inexperience, diseases or victims of predators (bears and lynx). The juveniles and pups under two years old do not occupy permanent positions within the pack hierarchy. They all take orders from their parents and older brothers and sisters, but their relationships with each other change frequently.

Wolf communication

Intimidation and aggressiveness: ears back and bared teeth

M. Dupuis

The methods that wolves use to communicate with fellow pack members are quite elaborate. Wolves use body language, facial expressions and sounds (vocalisation) to communicate with each other, to let the others know their mood and intentions.

Attitudes and body positions

Submission: ears back and down and tail between bent legs

M. Dupuis

Wolves adopt positions and “Facial expressions” which express their feelings. A few examples:

normal state	erect ears and downcast tail
submission, fear	ears back and down and tail between bent legs
aggressiveness	ears back and bared teeth
dominance	erect and forward pointing ears and erect tail

Attention and fear: ears pricked up and tail down

M. Dupuis

Various facial muscles, eyes, ears and the nose are extremely important when wolves are expressing their feelings. Bared teeth, an open mouth, ears erect and forward pointing indicate a threat by a dominant wolf. Dominant wolves will freely look other animals directly in the eye, this declares and reinforces their superior rank.
A subordinate wolf will cringe towards the leader with tail low and bent legs, ears back and down, in a submissive nature. At other times, active submission involves a group of subordinate wolves surrounding the dominant wolf with their noses up against him. Sometimes the pack will howl.

Vocalisation

Scientists can distinguish 5 kinds of sound vibrations, each of which corresponds to a social function. There is growling (when there is a threat), barking (to signal a danger), yaps and moans (to play and show affection), and, of course the roaring. The roaring consists of low frequency sounds, which propagate well in the air and can be heard for a distance of a few kilometres. Roaring is very important for the pack. Roaring could help wolves to localise other members of the pack, to defend their territory by warning off neighbouring packs, to join the pack, to greet, to maintain cohesion within the group or rally the pack before hunting.

Moaning warns other wolves living nearby of the presence of the pack to prevent intrusions. Moaning and roaring are made up of different harmonics which give the impression that the pack who is roaring is much more numerous that it really is. Sometimes a lonely wolf roars to draw attention of a potential mate. Each wolf has his own distinct call.

Exchanging scents

Wolf in full olfactive marking with its facial glands

M. Dupuis

Wolves use their sense of smell as an external communication tool due to their facial, precaudal, perineal and anal glands and those under the small cushions under their feet.
These glands secrete particular scents, which express the emotional state of the animal (fear, agression for example).
Wolves are also very territorial animals and do not readily share territory with wolves who are not members of their pack.

Dominating wolf marking its food

M. Dupuis

They communicate and mark their territories by scent. They often do this by urinating near the edges of their territory, and on stumps, rocks and logs that are within their territory. The dominant wolves do most of this, usually the alpha male. They also leave scents with their faeces or secretion of their anal glands dedicated to this function. These secretions are identifiable by each fellow pack member. Wolves rub on each other, and scents insure the pack's cohesion and ward off non-pack members. These brandings help to deliniate territories and give information on the wolves' state (period of reproduction, pup-feeding and so on). In addition, their olfactory capacities allow them to recognise the smell of their fellow pack members and to detect an animal at a distance of 270 m in the wind. Wolves can smell a human at a distance of 2km, depending on climatic conditions.

Predation

The wolf is at the top of the food chain. As a result, he can not increase his population as it is still highly correlated the abundance of prey: too many wolves would decimate the game population on which he depends on his existence. This gives the top predator the role of a cleaner and a regulator of natures balance, because he attacks diseased animals (containment of epidemics), malformed young (natural selection) or reckless, or older animals. He contributes to the development of healthy animal populations. The hunt takes place exclusively within the territory of the pack. Scientists have observed wolves stop hunting an animal that enters the territory of another pack.
The wolf's diet varies both according to different regions of the world he inhabits, but also according to the presence of food resources that vary during the year. In summer, the game is sufficiently abundant to the wolf it is less dependent on the presence of large mammals. He may then only hunt smaller prey and has a more varied diet: hares, rabbits, rats, frogs, fish and even fruit. However, in winter prey becomes scarce. Also the presence of large wild ungulates (bighorn sheep, chamois, roe deer, deer, ibex, wild boar, and cervidae for European countries) is necessary for the survival of the pack. Against prey of this size, they hunt in packs and at night, which increases their chances of success.

In the Mercantour, bighorn sheep (Ovis musimon) were introduced in the 1950s to provide game for hunters. Bighorn sheep in the Mercantour are therefore a relocated species. In 1990, shortly before confirmation of the wolf's return to France, two valleys in the Mercantour had a population of around 360 bighorn sheep in herds of up to 50 individuals. These animals were not particularly timid, but they were not well adapted to the snowy winter environment. The sheep did not live above an altitude of 1500m, while the resident chamois would climb much higher, up to 3000m (there are about 12,000 chamois in the 60000ha Mercantour National Park). These bighorn sheep have been ‘super-hunted' by the wolf. In 2008, there was an estimated stable population of about 80 bighorn sheep: those who survive have now actually adapted well to this environment and predation from wolves. The sheep represent 94% of the diet of wolves in the region, including the Meulière pack of 6 wolves that move over an area estimated at 65 sq km.

To satisfy their physiological needs, the wolf must eat between 2 and 3 kg of meat daily. But a wolf is able to swallow up to 8 kg of food at once, to offset periods when food is not available (the wolves are able to fast for several weeks).

Just to end with the Big Bad Wolf...

“Wolves are afraid of the man for evident reasons, the man, him, is afraid of the wolf by misunderstanding.”. John Theberge

M. Dupuis

In Europe every means was used to eradicate the wolf: hunting, rounding up, trapping, poisoning, and slaughtering of wolf cubs in their dens...

In France in 813, Charlemagne created the “Compagnie de la Louveterie” with the objective to eradicate ‘vermin' including boars, foxes, badgers, otters and wolves.
At the end of the XVIIIth century, the French wolf population was around 10 to 20 thousand individuals.
At the beginning of the XIXth century, 5 to 7 thousand wolves were still present in nearly 90% of the French departments. At that time, around 1400 wolves were still being exterminated each year.
In 1882, the premiums paid for wolves were greatly increased. This finally sounded the death knell for the wolf in France. Within a few decades, the wolf was no longer reported in half the French departments. In addition to the poison, guns and premiums, deforestation was a major cause of eradication of wolves in France, with the disappearance of their natural prey. At that time, rural populations were steadily increasing and clearing of the land decreased the wolves' territory including that of their prey, as well as removing the natural corridors between these areas.
Despite the reprieve granted by the wars of 1870 and 1914-1918, the wolf was almost extinct in the early XXth century. It appears that the last two wolves were killed in France in 1942.

Curious or Frightened?

M. Dupuis

Since the return of the wolf in France, fears have been reignited. Our Western civilisation, which depicts wolves as representing the enemy of the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God, has justified the massacres in which the wolf has been the victim. Other civilisations like Native American or Siberian shamanism recognise the great virtues of the wolf. In America, Wolves served as models for hunting and played a significant role in the religious lives of the plains tribes and other groups of North American Indians. For the American Indians, it is a great privilege to have a brother wolf and be protected by his spirit. Powerful and courageous wolves were seen as representatives of important natural forces or spirits. Images of wolves often appeared in religious ceremonies and Indian healers included wolf skins in their medicine bundles, the collections of sacred materials that they used for curing illness.
The Yakut of Eastern Siberia advises to take the wolf as a friend, because when you are lost, the wolf is the only one who knows his way through the forest Native Education explains that the wolf is very aware to the slightest changes in his environment and he teaches us to do the same and to rely on our instincts, thus they become our guardian guides.

Some scientists believe that the social structure of the Wolf pack is closer to that of humans than that of the apes. Wolves spend a lot of time in play and they constantly communicate. Observing their behaviour can raise the highest values found in the hearts of men. They remind us of the love to which we aspire, loyalty we would like to be surrounded by and curiosity that makes us progress. The wolf is, after all of this, and despite everything that man has done to him, the symbol of freedom, perhaps the highest aspiration that humans can have and who are intolerant of what they cannot dominate.

Myriam Dupuis - Mai 2009

Press release dated July 2, 2015 by the associations of CAP LOUP

The Minister of Ecology (S. Royal) has published two decrees laying down the conditions of shooting and the number of wolves that can be killed for the period 2015-2016. These decisions endorse a policy of destruction supported by the hunting and agricultural lobbies in defiance of the demand of citizens and the obligations of our country. The associations of CAP LOUP are calling for the withdrawal of those measures and complain against France.
These measures were taken while they were overwhelmingly rejected by citizens during the public consultation, and while the French are opposed to the destruction of wolves (IFOP survey 2013). The State obeys to the agricultural unions and the world of hunting, by measures contrary to any notion of coexistence between wolves and livestock.

Wolves can now be slaughtered even if the livestock was not attacked, even if it is not protected, and up to six months after it is back to the barn. The shots are possible even in the heart of national parks. Breeders continue to be subsidized and compensated without consideration or incentive to protect their flock.

The number of wolves that can be killed in 2015-2016 increases by 24 to 36, while the wolf population is decreasing according to the official monitoring (ONCFS: estimated 301 wolves in 2014, 282 wolves in 2015). Slaughters (19 “legal” slaughters in 2014-2015) have shown their ineffectiveness for years as they do not prevent the attacks which continue on inadequately protected herds that concentrate most of the predation.

For a year now we ask to meet Segolene Royal to express our proposals for a better coexistence between wolves and pastoralism. The Minister of Ecology refuses to receive environmental groups while she receives anti-wolf unions and addresses their grievances.

By organizing a wolf hunt that threatens the return of the species at the national level and without trying to promote coexistence with agricultural activities, the state puts France in breach of the Berne Convention and Directive Fauna-Flora-Habitats. Our associations therefore complain against France before the European Commission.

CAP Loup's Founding Associations & Members

[1] The growth rate is actually less than 15% if we don't take into account the period from 2000-2008 (source V. Fignon for FERUS, April 2009).

Unforgettable encounters...

Fabrice Borgese — 2009-03-27T23:32:00Z

France - Vercors

What if this year we changed our plans?
Instead of going to track Lynx in the Jura Mountains, why not try to find traces of evidence of Wolves in the Vercors?
A few months earlier, an interesting discussion at the festival of photography in Montier-en-Der had prompted me to try, with my friends Anne and Bruno, something different from other Spring-time quests...

So, then I left at the end of March 2009 for a four-day adventure in the Vercors, an area I had not visited before, with my friends joining me for the last two days of my stay.

Arriving at the Auberge du Pionnier, owned by Rémy Pozzi (naturalist guide and photographer), I was immediately charmed by the wilderness of this place, at the edge of a forest and steep cliff, miles away from any other houses.

Upon arrival, the conditions promised to be ideal. A layer of recent snow would favour tracking, there were many deer in the meadows and the snow was melting. It was reported that a deer had been killed 15 days earlier, most probably by a group of several wolves...

I spent the two first days alone, exploring different areas, trying to find interesting clues and hiding out at the edge of the forest. The results were already promising, since prints of a large lone canid were spotted on a snowy track and numerous observations and photos taken of local wildlife (red deer, roe deer, foxes and so on).

On March 19...

On the third day, my friends joined me and we then continued the search together. We explored a very isolated area where we found, in the slush, tracks in a straight line of a large canid, and a few meters away, faeces with containing a lot of hair. The probability of being in the presence of a wolf seemed to us to be very high...

“A red deer carcass, freshly killed…”

O. Güder

After a few minutes of hesitation, we decided to seize this exceptional opportunity and install a lookout in case...
We looked for an alignment in the trees, which would allow us to observe the deer's carcass some 80 metres away, with the wind in our face. We quickly gathered a lot of dead branches, so as to conceal ourselves the best way we could.
But with such bitter cold temperatures, it is essential that we equipped ourselves with enough protection if we are to remain immobile for several hours in the snow...

Fortunately, we made the discovery at the beginning of the afternoon, so we had time to go quickly back to the hostel to equip ourselves to be as warm as possible (I put on six layers...!).
Then two hours later, we returned to the hide out, not without having largely bypassed the deer to ensure we left no smell near it.

Just before 18:00, the long wait begins...
After 40 minutes, a fox comes by. He waits a long time before approaching the deer, probably worried about the smell left by the wolves, and finally enjoys the fresh meat for about fifteen minutes. Then he departs, and the wait continues...

Soon we reach the end on the day, and daylight gradually diminishes. Fortunately the sky was clear, and the snow allows some visibility to be maintained in the undergrowth.
It is almost 20:00, and we begin to wonder after waiting already for two hours, visibility is limited, and despite our equipment the cold is beginning to bite us...

Suddenly a movement ... In our binoculars appeared one, then two, then three large figures from amongst the trees, standing out clearly against the snow ... Wolves! They are here!

We see their silhouettes turning towards the deer, moving with stealth through the trees and gradually approaching their meal. That's it, they are at the carcass! Quickly enough they take the deer a few feet away and put it out of our sight, but we hear distinctly in the night the unceremoniously shredding of bones.

They are there for about fifteen minutes, but now it is completely dark and we cannot see them anymore. We continue to listen and hear the sound of their feast...
We decide then to leave as discreetly as possible, making a wide detour through the forest to try and not disturb them.

We remain silent during our walk until we arrive at the track again several hundred meters away, and then, being sure we are far enough away we finally express our emotions in hushed voices... What incredible luck we have had, to observe wild wolves in France!
For me, who has often read the fascinating stories of Robert Hainard, I would have thought that I was in one of his stories, when suddenly after hours or days of waiting...

We reach the inn, where we discreetly mention our fantastic encounter. We decide with Remy to keep our observations confidential, especially concerning the location, because unfortunately the wolf has not only friends...
Then, we decide to return there the next day at dawn...

On March 20 at dawn..

Long before sunrise, we are equipped and have left the Hostel again. By the time we get there, the first light of the day is upon us, and we slowly approach the fateful place. Upon arriving, we see a fox nearby the prey. If the fox is there, the wolves are no longer around! But soon the fox goes away...
Unable to return discreetly to yesterdays hide, as the frozen snow crunches under our feet, we decide to crouch behind the fir trees near the forest track, and to wait a while, just in case....

I watch the track, and my friends are watching the remains of the deer which are about sixty metres away. The sun is rising, and I prepared my camera with a monopod firmly fixed on the roots of the tree. We do not believe we have much chance today, but after all, what do we risk?

“Straight away a wolf appears…”

O. Güder

After 10 minutes, a movement on the edge of the track at about 70 metres away attracted my attention ... Immediately a wolf appears, and slowly crosses the trail, sniffing for scents... I manage to take 3 or 4 photos during this brief passage. The cameras' noise alerts Anne and Bruno who did not see anything and look at me, questioning. I whisper to them, with great excitement - a wolf...!!

“He stops on the edge of the track…”

O. Güder

Meanwhile, the wolf goes down into a small hollow in which he can be seen in the distance, sneaking through the trees, heading toward the remains of the deer. I reinstall my camera at a different angle behind my tree, to find an alignment that allows me to see some of the prey, convinced that the wolf is going directly there.
But he hesitates and turns, and finally heads back to the edge of the track a little closer to us ... I have to change position as gently as possible and redirect my camera. The wolf is going to appear, I know he is coming, and then, there he is, he stops at the edge of the track, perfectly clear, 50 metres from us!

“He goes running and disappears…”

O. Güder

At that moment, my monopod, which I moved, is suddenly sinking in the snow ... Disaster, no more support! The wolf is there, visible, immobile and curious...
Finally I manage to find support and trigger 3 times. The wolf is alerted, and after a few seconds he turns around and runs away.
I am preparing to see him back across the track, which he did almost immediately, and I manage to photograph him again when he runs and disappears into the snowy forest...

Once again, we do not believe in the luck we have had..! To observe at dawn a wolf for a few minutes, and finish with this face-to-face meeting, which probably lasted about twenty seconds...
What an emotion, what an encounter, what an observation, that added to those of the night before!
With the pictures as a bonus, even if they are not of the highest quality, they will leave a beautiful testimony of these exceptional and unforgettable encounters!

Oliver Güder

In the eye of the Whale

Fabrice Borgese — 2008-11-15T20:49:00Z

Polynesia – Austral islands - Rurutu

At the other end of the world

Submarines

On the horizon, the breath of a whale, a little geyser above its head

M. Dupuis

I have dreamt about this trip to the end of the Earth for a long time: Rurutu at latitude 22°26' South and at 151°21' longitude west, a ‘nearly-lost' island in the Austral's Archipelago of French Polynesia. With one purpose: to snorkel with humpback whales - also called “Megaptera novaeangliae”, these mysterious and magnificent creatures of the Southern hemisphere.

September 9^th, Sunday

Breath of the whale

Rurutu's shallow waters are free of deep-sea predators, and in case of a storm there are calm lagoons on both sides

M. Dupuis

I finally land at Rurutu after a 22-hour flight trip from Paris to Papeete through Los Angeles, with a 4-hour stop-over in Tahiti then I left for the Australs Islands: Tubuai, then Rurutu (1h30 flight). If you want to snorkel with humpback whales, you have to deserve it... The welcome is friendly, made by the Rurutu Lodge team: Bertrand and Yves. Straightaway, we speak about the humpback whales: a few mothers had their calves during summer and they are taking care of their babies before departing for the South Pole. One of the mothers lets the snorkelers swim around. Arriving late in the afternoon there is no chance to go swimming today; we have to wait until the next morning. Not exactly in fact: from the Rurutu Lodge beach I can see it on the horizon, the breath of a whale, a little geyser above its head! I didn't think it would be so visible from such a distance. I make a wish that they will be there tomorrow and we will be able to get close to them.

September 10^th, Monday

Whale calf and his mother

Humpback whales inhabit all the oceans of the world. It was soon discovered that Rurutu was a place for pregnant females to give birth, feed their young and let them gain enough weight and strength for the long journey home around October/November.

M. Dupuis

No problem to wake-up early. I am so excited! I crossed half of the planet for the coming encounter and I have +12 ours of jetlag. Everyone is ready on time (8:00) with their fins, breathing tube and diving masks. There is no scuba diving with whales as they swim away from bubbles and noise. Eric is in charge of the morning picking-up with the Land Rover from the Raie Manta Club for the boat excursion. We stop at different “pensions” to pick-up those, like me, who wish to materialise their “whale snorkeling dream”.

This morning there are 2 boats leaving from Moeraï. These boats are Polynesian 8m fishing boats, called “poti marara” which means “flying boat”. The 3 captains, Dominique, Pierre and Adrian, are going to ensure our boat excursions twice a day.

Today is quite windy: we are going to have swell, but the weather is sunny if not very warm. We are equipped with a 5mm diving suit, and if you get cold easily, you can also wear a yellow fisherman's oilskin. Our guides and captains are in discussion: the whales have been seen early this morning not far away from the Belvedere, near Moreaï. Let's climb in the boat, a maximum of 6 on board, with either Eric or Yves and let's go!
Yves sits near Pierre and each of us is trying to find the most comfortable position to scrutinise the horizon looking for a whale's spout.

Just slip into the water to avoid disturbing animals

Calf resting on the nose of his mother

These magnificent creatures grow to an average of 16m in length and weigh approximately 40 tonns. It is not uncommon to witness a mother tenderly playing with her young calf

M. Dupuis

The orders given by Yves are quite simple: wait for the signal to avoid any danger, don't jump into water but with the least noise you can, let yourself glide into water. Don't snorkel or swim around the whale's caudal fin, which is very dangerous as it can deploy as much energy as a 500 horsepower engine, moreover the animal can consider it a threat. Each group will go into the water in turn in order not to disturb the animals. But first, we have to find them...

Rurutu does not have a fringing reef, and the waters are very shallow and crystal clear. Nevertheless, sea sprays do not help us and clouds over our heads let us think that we are probably somewhere in Brittany and not under the tropical sun! One hour has already passed; some of us turned pale because of swell, everybody is wet...and suddenly “WHALE on the port side!” “- Where? Where?!” and Yves translates in English, then in Japonese for the couple who are with us. We've got it, we can see it now: the mother and, just near, her calf. Boats come as close as possible very cautiously. We hope that the whale won't dive deeper, but no, she is there on surface, even placid, around 30m from the boat. Everybody is taking pictures of the mother and her calf that, from our position, are looking like two submarines... No time to waste, put your fins on and glide into the water.

Back Motu

Her dorsal fin (that allows along with the caudal fin, identification on cetaceans) has been bitten or cut

M. Dupuis

The mother is huge 17m in length, and her calf is 3 weeks old approximately: 5m length and 1.5 tons weight. She arrived in the waters of Rurutu to give birth a few weeks earlier. Her weight is probably around 20 tons now. Before migration she was 40 tons but she will lost up to a third of her weight during the migration from Antarctica to warmer waters of Polynesia and back to South Pole. As a matter of fact, every year at the South Pole, as the austral winter settles in and ice forms, krill (the small shrimp whales feed upon) becomes scarcer, triggering the whales' great departure. This migration to warmer waters will last a month for an estimated 5000 to 6000 km. The humpback whales will spend 3 to 4 months there, during which time the males will search for mates and gestating females will give birth. The calm waters of Rurutu appeal to certain whales in search of a tranquil environment. The mothers may stay there several weeks with their newborns before resuming their travel back to Antarctica where they will again feed on krill.

A magic encounter

In the eye of the Whale...

M. Dupuis

Here comes the time for me: I stride across the bulwark and glide myself into the 22°C water asking to Pierre to give me the housing of my camera. I have finally the opportunity to train myself in making underwater pictures with a wonderful model but how do I do it?? I am less than 1,60m and she is 10 times longer than I am! I can hear Yves giving me advise to swim to the whale's head but I am just a beginner in the art of swimming with whales. She is a merveillous ambassadress of the Magapteres' world. My first shots are quite shy and respect a distance, which is the sum of safety and a certain worry about this giant of the sea. Then I feel more confident and I am getting closer, my diving mask scotched to the camera housing; only 5 meters between her and me. Her calf seems to rest on her head. This is the way this attentive mother helps her baby to breathe: soon it will be able to hold its breath for few minutes and dive deeper, but for the moment mum is there. It seems to me that I feel all the tenderness she has for her calf that is totally dependent on her. From the tip of her nose – if we can call it a nose...- she is pushing it regularly up to the surface and going down with it under water. The pectoral fins of the baby measure already about 1 meter. Obviously it is not able yet to use them and they are dangling of each side of its body.

Whales and Bubbles

Humpback whales sing the most complex songs in the animal kingdom, consisting of many themes sung in a specific order. A song can last half an hour, then the whale begins the same song again, repeating it for hours, even days. This vocal display is probably related to breeding, attracting females or announcing territory, to maintain spacing between adjacent males or to advertise the fitness of the singer. Sound travels better and faster in water than in air, so the sea is a perfect place for acoustic advertising

M. Dupuis

This moment is magic. She knows that we are here, but she seems not to worry about it. How old is she? How many times has she already come to Rurutu for giving birth to the next generation? Marks on her body, similar to holes are due to bites from cookie-cutter sharks (Isistius brasiliensis) that are coming from the depth of the sea and attack the whales bitting out a piece of skin, leaving these ugly and probably painful scars.

We are lucky to snorkel around them for more than an hour. It creates links and it is with regret that we have to leave, but some of us are getting cold and it is time to go back. On our way back everybody is expressing their wonder and excitment is sparkling in everyone's eyes: some felt afraid, others tried to get closer, leaving it to the whale to care for avoiding them... I observed the following scene: a foolhardy (or careless?) snorkeller swam close to her 3m-long pectoral fin. The whale kept clear of this unskilful snorkeller swimming so close.
Deep inside I feel a profound joy after this moment shared with one of the largest mammals on Earth.

Tree whale

The blooming whale tree announces the arrival of humpback whales to Rurutu and it blooms until their departure in October / November

M. Dupuis

Joy, but also wonder facing the meekness, the tenderness and the harmony that emanate from her. How can people and governments still kill whales nowadays? I wish only one thing: to go back to her as soon as I can.
The lunch break is quite short and we leave at 13:45 for the second excursion of the day.
Those who were participating this morning are already telling the newcomers the unforgettable experience they had earlier in the day. Everyone hopes to see the same whale and her calf again in the afternoon. She even gets a surname: Motu because her dorsal fin (that allows along with the caudal fin, identification on cetaceans) has been bitten or cut. This afternoon, the weather is cool, the sea is calm and we straight away find Motu and her calf at the same place where we had left them. Again we glide into the water in turn, group after group, but there are 3 boats this time.

Eye-to-eye

Taro fields

Taro can be grown in paddy fields where water is abundant or in upland situations where watering is supplied by rainfall or by supplemental irrigation

M. Dupuis

I feel more comfortable than in the morning. I have something in mind. I don't know if I will be able to do it or not, but it is now or never: to take a picture of Motu's eye. Motu is kind enough not to move. I am swimming closer; Motu's head is growing bigger in my viewfinder. I am about 2 meters from her. Her eye is in the middle of my viewfinder now. Very slowly, Motu opens her eye. I didn't think that whales had blinking eyelids... This time again a feeling of communion with her overcomes me and I find myself talking to her, as if we were old friends. How does she see me? Maybe I am just a little animal with a unique big eye: the porthole of the camera housing?
It is common to say that one's glance reflects one's soul. It seems to me that gazing into Motu's eye, I saw the Whale Soul...
This magical afternoon is ending after three turns into the water for each group. We are all flying with angels and nobody is tired. Roll on tomorrow!

When males begin singing

Taro in a box

M. Dupuis

The weather was good enough to go out on sea excursions nearly every day, either from Moeraï or Avera. I saw how our calf learnt how to use his fins and how he became more independent from his mother. All the excursions were wonderful, each of them with its particularities and its set of adventures, some more physical than others, especially because of meteorological conditions: rain, wind, swell, waves at 3 meters high... but all the encounters with whales were honoured. During my last excursion, they offered me an unforgettable farewell gift: two males paying court to a female by emiting enormous bubbles (no comparison to be made with those from a scuba regulator...). Soon one of the males is standing verticaly over his ladylove, his head down, about 20 meters under the surface and then he begins singing... and it just sounded hauntingly beautiful and overpowering.

My stay in Rurutu lasted 12 days. I discovered other attractions of the island such as caves with stalactites and stalagmites created by water drops over millions of years. This is why it is sometimes called the “Troglodyte Island”.
The island itself is very pretty and lush, with a small local population - 2,015 inhabitants - very attached to its culture and traditions. The nature is hardy but generous. Everything is growing: coffee, mango trees, pineapples, taro (Polynesian tubercule), litchees, papayas, lemons, grapefruits, oranges, peppers, flowers... There are some pleasant walks that you can end by car thanks to Rurutu people who stop for hitch-hikkers, as the island is bigger than it seems. I hope that winds will push me there again, where I realised my “whale's dream”: to dive close enough to cast my eyes into her eye...

Myriam Dupuis - 15/11/2008

At present, commercial whaling is prohibitied. Several countries,
including Norway, Iceland and Japan, would nevertheless like to resume it.

TENDUA

Madagascar or the Art of “mora mora”

The Smiles of Madagascar

A scholl, some reptiles, then the road

Where the trees sing

The Aye-aye: thirty years of waiting

Towards the West: the colors change

The pink and light blue river

The children and the drawing book

The baobabs in the burnt lands

Tsingy: a stone cathedral

A stealthy fossa, and the alley of the Baobabs

The sea, finally

What this trip teaches us

Mora mora

Finally, why “malagasy” rather than “malgache”?

Who is Anna Jeretic?

Naturalist walk in the park with François Moutou

Property of the Rothschild family

Year-round residents: Canada Geese and Mallards

Turtles, coots and others

Long-tailed tit

Short-toed Treecreeper

Other inhabitants of the undergrowth

Remarkable plants and trees

“The end of the Devil”, travel story by François Moutou

The Thylacine and the Tasmanian Devil, victims of Europeans and dingoes

The Australian's largest carnivorous marsupial is an ENdangered species

“The Devil is more interesting dead than alive”

Same fight as the Bear and the Wolf in France?

Some extraordinary creatures from Tasmania

In the bed of the Huab River, travel story in Namibia - Nov. 2018

Encounter with the desert elephants

The Seven of the Huab River

Gaze and purring

With love, from the Amur tiger

The Habitat of the Amur Tiger

The research program

Fifteen tigers identified between 2008 and 2011

The scientific “routine”

A very special encounter

The next program of the reserve

One year in the life of a pack of Wolves

Springtime : choosing the dan

Summer: Wolf cubs' Education and Learning to hunt

Autumn and winter: gathering and “know-how” transmission

And again the spring: birth and separation

The Kenyan Savannah : the silent drama of the Massaï Mara

Africa means adventure…

The Maasaï Mara at the centre of many interests…

Some figures on tourism Safari

Behind the scenes: the disappearance of flora and fauna

The Maasai cows: a political issue

Why these cows are they a problem for wildlife?

Poaching: bush meat and trophy hunting

Awareness and political will

How to preserve this precious wildlife?

The Common Grey Wolf in France

“Wolf, are you there? Can you hear me? What are you doing?”

The Wolf has returned to France

Evolution and Facts

The pack, a social structure for the Wolf

Reproduction

Wolf communication

Attitudes and body positions

Vocalisation

Exchanging scents

Predation

Just to end with the Big Bad Wolf...

Unforgettable encounters...

On March 19...

On March 20 at dawn..

In the eye of the Whale

At the other end of the world

September 9th, Sunday

September 10th, Monday

Just slip into the water to avoid disturbing animals

A magic encounter

Eye-to-eye

When males begin singing

September 9^th, Sunday

September 10^th, Monday