Conservation Nation needs your help to support our current conservation priorities: ending the elephant poaching crisis in Myanmar, tracking giraffes in Kenya, restoring Central America's frog population, monitoring recently repatriated oryx in Chad, and saving the red siskin from certain extinction in Venezuela.
Myanmar is facing a new and rapidly expanding poaching crisis. Immediate action is needed to save the country's remaining wild Asian elephants. In April 2017 alone, 25 elephants were killed in the Ayerwady River Delta region—the overall losses across Myanmar are likely much higher. Conservation Nation is committed to helping scientists and researchers stop poaching through the funding of an anti-poaching awareness campaign in Myanmar. With funds raised this year, we can help increase and improve anti-poaching information networks, as well as anti-poaching enforcement responses.
You would think the world's tallest land mammal would be easy to study, but very little is known about Kenya's reticulated giraffe population. Scientists believe that habitat loss and increased human disturbance have sent the numbers of wild reticulated giraffes into sharp decline, but they do not have the data to prove it. To better study wild giraffes, scientists have designed a large-scale, innovative, solar-based GPS tracking system. This system will help gain critical information regarding giraffe behavior in the face of human activity, migration, habitat destruction, and ecology challenges. Conservation Nation is supporting this first-of-its-kind project by funding the purchase of these solar-based GPS giraffe trackers. With these innovative trackers—placed securely on the giraffe's ossicone, or horn—the team can collect data to help identify threats and ensure giraffe survival.
Central America's Harlequin frog population was pushed to the brink of extinction by the amphibian chytrid fungus disease. There is hope after the "soft release" of 400 frogs back into the wild, but the work to restore this vulnerable population isn't done. With the help of Conservation Nation funds, scientists working with the Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project can continue to conduct experimental releases of captive-bred Harlequin frogs in Panama. Even more exciting is that a subset of these frogs will wear radio trackers, so that scientists can estimate migration, habitat, and non-disease-related death. These data will support the long-term effort to fully restore Harlequin frog populations.
Since 1985 the scimitar-horned oryx has been extinct in the wild. In 2016, 23 oryx grazed on their native soil in the African country of Chad for the first time in 30 years because of Smithsonian science. Since the reintroduction, the oryx have had many successes—babies are even being born! But, our work is far from finished. To ensure that oryx thrive in the wild, scientists will need to closely monitor their habitat conditions and social dynamics. With monetary support from Conservation Nation, scientists will purchase and install GPS cameras on the previously placed oryx tracking collars to monitor the herd without human intrusion.
The red siskin is one of Venezuela's most iconic birds, but the illegal pet trade and habitat loss have nearly guaranteed its extinction. Several ways that scientists are working to save this endangered bird is by restoring sustainable populations through genetic monitoring, mitigating wildlife tracking, and protecting habitats. This is no easy task, but Conservation Nation is committed to funding the critical work to bring this beautiful bird back from the brink of extinction.