Magazine of the species survival Commission specialist Group - IUCN

specialist group exchange
Yacare Caiman (Caiman yacare). © Alba Imhof
Huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus). © J.A. Smith-Fleuck
four decades. This meeting was hosted
by Brazil, which was successful at
getting its Black Caiman (Melanosuchus
niger) population transferred from
Appendix I to Appendix II at CITES COP
14, and which is now experimenting with
sustainable use programmes to benefit
local people.
The working meeting was preceded
by the CSG Steering Committee
meeting, open to all members, which
addressed a wide range of current CSG
priorities, particularly in Brazil, Mexico,
Paraguay and Egypt. The development
of a crocodilian capacity building
manual, and broadening the CSG
membership were two priorities. The
effect of the global financial crisis on
crocodile conservation and
management was examined, as
regardless of whether programmes are
based on sustainable use or not,
government budgets for conservation
are being reduced. Lake Mesangat
wetlands in East Kalimantan, the last
remaining habitat for Siamese Crocodile
(Crocodylus siamensis) in Indonesia,
was discussed in depth. The spread of
oil palms into the immediate lake area is
a matter of great concern, and the CSG
would like to encourage Indonesia to list
this area as a RAMSAR site. The CSG
has completed a morphometric study of
caimans in Colombia, which provides
the quantitative tools for predicting the
size of caiman from which skins and
leather products have been derived. The
goal was to assist Colombia and the
Parties to CITES in their efforts to ensure
compliance with Colombia’s size limits.
An important key to the success of
the CSG is that its membership is drawn
from a great diversity of different
stakeholders: scientists, managers, zookeepers,
farmers, veterinarians, tanners,
etc. We can look at the same problem
through many different eyes. The
proceedings of the 20th Working
Meeting of the CSG will once again be a
unique compendium of current
information on problems, research and
new ideas about crocodilian
conservation, management and
sustainable use. It will serve as both a
source and reference book for members.
Grahame Webb
Chair, Crocodile Specialist Group
Deer SG
Linking research and management
South America has a high diversity of
deer species and represents the only
natural radiation of cervids into the
southern hemisphere. The 7th
International Deer Biology Congress
(IDBC) was held during the last week of
August 2010 in the Huilo-Huilo Reserve,
Chile, organized by Dr Werner Fleuck
and the IDBC Scientific Steering
Committee, chaired by Dr Jo Anne
Smith-Fleuck. Being the first time that
the IDBC has been convened in Latin
America, it provided a unique
opportunity to showcase deer
conservation in the region. The Huemul
received particular attention at the
congress, and new research findings
and strategies show that captive
breeding and relocation programmes
are important for recovering
Endangered deer populations. The
Chilean authorities used the congress to
highlight their conservation efforts with
the Huemul, as the Huilo-Huilo reserve
houses the only captive breeding facility.
The DSG also nominated the Huemul
for the Species of the Day initiative, and
it was profiled during the Congress. The
conference brought together a
multidisciplinary group of over 250
respected deer researchers, managers,
practitioners and students from 25
countries. The sessions included topics
related to management, neo-tropical
deer species conservation, nutrition,
diseases, ecology of invasive species,
antler biology, behaviour and physiology.
The DSG had an informative meeting
during the conference with 60 attendees
that included DSG membership and
participants who were interested in deer
conservation and wanted to be involved
in our network. In the meeting we
explained our organizational structure,
the main duties of members, and
discussed future directions.
We have also recently obtained
support from the Mohamed bin Zayed
Species Conservation Fund to support
deer field expeditions for six members
who are in-country researchers, and this
will help the DSG better understand the
distribution and status of deer species.
Surveys will involve the following species
and project leaders: Elds Deer – Myint
Aung; Water Deer – Min Chen; Taruka
– Nicolas Ferreira; Pudu – Eduardo
Silva; Huemul – Jo Anne Smith–Fleuck;
and Red Brocket Deer – Joaquín Bello
Gutierrez. We are excited that these
funds will support needed surveys, and
we are investigating other avenues to
support this type of activity.
Susana González and
William McShea
Co-Chairs, Deer Specialist Group
species 52 • 19