Canga, or ironstone, ecosystems are hotspots of old-growth plant diversity and highly specialized cave invertebrates. These ancient metalliferous habitats are amongst the most threatened ecosystems because of the destruction caused by large-scale iron ore mining. International debate on biodiversity offsets is increasing because these mechanisms are seen as tools for potentially balancing economic development with conservation biodiversity. Leading mining companies worldwide, including some of the largest iron ore producers in Brazil, are signatories to offset principles and best practices that aim to achieve no net loss of habitats, species or ecosystem functions. We aimed to analyse whether Brazilian legal requirements for biodiversity offsets result in the achievement of conservation outcomes or in elevated threat of extinction in canga ecosystems. We evaluated technical reports that support decision-making related to environmental licensing for iron ore mining and specific offset proposals linked to the Atlantic Forest Act. We found a relevant net loss in canga ecosystems and observed shortcomings related to the equivalency and transparency of offset principles. These deficiencies are mainly related to lax norms and regulations and the absence of an integrated database for accessing information on environmental licensing processes. We argue that both policy flaws and low engagement by the Brazilian mining industry in implementing offset principles have increased the threat of extinction in canga ecosystems.

Available habitat and hence the global population of the Endangered giant nuthatch Sitta magna, restricted to lower montane habitats of south-western China, eastern Myanmar and northern Thailand, remains poorly quantified. Thailand is the only portion of the species’ range for which there is a population estimate. To obtain a more precise estimate of the Thai population and clarify the extent and characteristics of suitable habitat remaining, we conducted 335 point-count surveys at 67 points across eight localities during November 2019–February 2020. We estimated abundance and identified preferred habitat characteristics using N-mixture models, and created suitable habitat maps based on data from surveys and remote sensing. Our estimate for Thailand was 578 (95% CI 391–854) individuals based on a density of 3.7 (95% CI 2.5–5.5) individuals/km2 in 156 km2 of suitable habitat. The giant nuthatch prefers dry forest with a large amount of mature native or planted pine Pinus kesiya and with a large tree basal area and an open canopy. Our estimate of suitable habitat remaining was less than previously reported and thus the population has probably decreased, although most of this habitat is within protected areas. Habitats for the species in Thailand have a stronger level of protection than in Myanmar and China, although habitat in China remains unquantified. We recommend further research in Myanmar and China, which may hold the majority of available habitat for the giant nuthatch. For long-term management, detailed study of the association of the giant nuthatch with pine plantations is required.

Large carnivores such as the jaguar Panthera onca are particularly susceptible to population decline and local extinction as a result of habitat loss. Here we report on the long-term monitoring of a local jaguar population in a mixed land-use area in the eastern lowlands of Bolivia from March 2017 to December 2019. We recorded 15 jaguar individuals and four reproduction events (five offspring from three females), suggesting that our study area harbours a resident breeding population. Seven iterations of spatially explicit capture–recapture models provided density estimates of 1.32–3.57 jaguars per 100 km2. Jaguar capture rates were highest in forested areas, with few to no jaguar captures in pastures used for livestock. Massive deforestation after the survey period reduced the proportion of dense forest cover by 33%, shrinking the availability of suitable jaguar habitat and placing the resident jaguar population at risk. We use the jaguar as an indicator species to highlight the threat of habitat destruction in the Chiquitano region and we emphasize the importance of intact forest patches for jaguar conservation.

The wetlands inhabited by the southern river otter Lontra provocax in Chile are subject to anthropogenic disturbances. As a result of the modification and destruction of its habitat, caused by loss of riparian vegetation, and other threats, the species is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. We monitored the river otter and its diet during September 2020–January 2021 in a swamp forest fragment in southern Chile. We obtained evidence of river otter presence from the upper part of the wetland to the confluence with the Bueno River, suggesting inter-population connectivity of the species in an extensive hydrographic basin. Faeces and food remains showed a predominance of native macrocrustaceans, with introduced fish present at lower levels. The detection of the southern river otter in a fragment of threatened swamp forest suggests a low abundance in environmentally degraded freshwater environments. The identification of subpopulations such as the one reported here provides valuable data to support the conservation of the species in threatened wetlands.

This is an old topic and a battle in which our Society has been fighting for the past thirty-five years on behalf of wild life. Here is some new scientific light upon it.

Sierra Leone has no national parks or equivalent reserves. Dr Wilkinson is a geologist who worked first in the north and north-east, the Koinadugu District, where the forest destruction and hunting pressure on the larger mammals combined to endorse the gloomy picture painted by Dr Lowes in Oryx, September 1970, page 309. Later, working further to the east, he found the situation rather better and was able to tot up a list of twenty-nine mammals seen. He suggests, now that diamonds, Sierra Leone's staple earner of foreign exchange, are rapidly giving out, that the tourist industry is bound to burgeon and game parks will be needed. He writes:

In the summer of 1980 four members of the University of London Natural History Society went to Lake Alyki in Macedonia to study a population of tortoises Testudo hermanni. Such studies are urgently needed because very little is known about the ecology of Mediterranean tortoises, which are declining seriously, due mainly to habitat loss and collecting for the pet trade. The expedition chose Alyki after an expedition by the same society in 1979 had reported an exceptionally rich wildlife there including a large tortoise population. A new holiday village nearby did not appear to threaten the main wildlife areas, and a commercial salt works only operated at the north end of the lake from which access to the heath was not easy. However, unknown to the four members, the 1980 expedition had walked into an explosive situation. The following account is quoted from their report.

Dr Glover is a zoologist who has devoted the greater part of his scientific life to work on tsetse problems throughout Africa. He has been particularly concerned with the study and application of fly-control methods in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and his knowledge of the tsetse situation in these parts is probably unrivalled. This scholarly, well-balanced review, presented at the First International Congress of Parasitology held in Rome in 1964, and now published by the FPS for IUCN, is the work of a scientist of wide experience, and fairly presents all the known facts. It leads one to the inevitable conclusion that there is no valid justification for using game-destruction as a practical or lasting means of tsetse control.

The grey gentle lemur Hapalemur griseus is currently divided into three subspecies. Of these, very little is known about the western gentle lemur H. g. occidentalis and survey work to assess its distribution and numbers is urgently needed. The sighting of this species approximately 200 km to the south and 200 km to the north of the previously recorded populations further highlights this need. The Tsiombikibo Forest, where Hapalemur was sighted, may harbour further surprises and should be investigated more extensively in order to assess habitat condition and the species present.

Two endangered monkeys, the Tana crested mangabey and the Tana red colobus, survive only in a small area of the Tana river in northern Kenya. The Government has now created a small reserve to protect them on land given up voluntarily by the local people. But the threat of a large irrigation project upstream could still jeopardise their survival. Mr Mkunga is Warden of the new reserve.

In Oryx, September 1972, Zafar Futehally described how, when it was found that the number of tigers in India had dropped to below 2000, Project Tiger was launched, with a Task Force appointed by Mrs Gandhi, and chaired by Dr Karan Singh, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation and of the Indian Wildlife Board; the World Wildlife Fund promised a million dollars if the Indian Government would take the necessary conservation measures, and the President, HRH Prince Bernhard, has launched an international campaign to raise the money. Tiger hunting had already been banned throughout India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, and the US and Britain have banned the import of tiger skins—tigers are one of the five endangered cats covered by the fur trade's voluntary ban agreed in 1970. Last summer the Indian Government produced a very valuable 100-page report on the tiger situation, supported by detailed surveys and proposing the creation of eight tiger reserves based on existing sanctuaries. In this article Guy Mountfort who is a WWF Trustee, and has made a special study of the Indian wildlife situation, describes the proposed reserves and continues the story of what he calls ‘the biggest and most important advance in the conservation of Asiatic wildlife’.

The idea of national parks in Argentina started in 1903 with the gift of 7,500 hectares to the Argentine nation by Francisco P. Moreno, one of the earliest Argentine naturalists. But even this area, since greatly enlarged, did not receive legislative guarantee until 1934, after the late Dr. Hugo Salomon had repeatedly insisted that the integrity of national parks and reserves could only be assured by legal enactment. Fourteen areas, including three still only projected, are set aside as national parks or other forms of nature reserves in Argentina. Of the six northerly reserves all but Iguazú and Finca El Rey belong to the Chaco formation. All the southern reserves lie in the Cordillera of the Andes, except for Laguna Blanca in the Precordillera and the national monument Los Bosques Petri-ficados in the Patagonian plateau. Los Alerces, Nahuel Huapi, Lanin and Iguazú conform more or less to the requirements of national parks laid down by the Convention on Nature Protection and Wild Life Preservation in the Western Hemisphere 1940; this the Argentine Government has signed.