The James’s or lesser Andean flamingo Phoenicoparrus jamesi is undoubtedly the world’s rarest flamingo. Very little is known of its habits, status or distribution, mainly because of the extreme isolation of its usual haunts in the high semi-desert wilderness region of the southern Bolivian Andes. The birds have never been recorded below 9000 feet.

With 44,000 sq km of coral reef surrounding its many islands and an everincreasing population that depends heavily on fish for protein food, the damage being done to the Philippine reefs is of serious concern. Silting of the water (the result of erosion following forest clearing), modern fishing methods and the collecting mania all contribute to this. A long list of suitable areas for marine reserves has been compiled, and thanks to education programmes some communities are taking conservation measures for themselves.

Assessments of extinction risk are required to inform conservation action, but the usefulness of assessments is undermined if they are not current. Ameerega planipaleae, a poison frog endemic to the cloud forests of central Peru, was last assessed in 2004. We therefore sought to provide updated data to inform the reassessment of this species. Based on our findings, we recommend that this frog remain categorized as Critically Endangered, but under modified criteria, and that conservation actions are taken to reduce the pressures of local threats, especially the overuse of agrochemicals.

Appalled by the continuing decline of manatees everywhere and the hunting and killing that is the chief cause, the author started an investigation of his own on an inland lake in Guatemala where he believed he had a good chance of observing them. He hoped to build up a case for their protection that the authorities would listen to and act on. He found that the manatees were so scared of man that when they had to surface to breathe they came up in the surface vegetation, hoping to escape notice. But the high point of his watching was the day when two manatees allowed him to swim with them in the lagoon.

Turacos are birds used as status symbols in certain African cultures. Despite this cultural value, turacos are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and illegal hunting. We tested the hypothesis that the high cultural value associated with turacos means local people are willing to conserve them and their habitats. To this end, we examined the traditional uses of turacos and how their cultural value could facilitate conservation interventions. We administered an open-ended questionnaire to 180 households during January 2017–November 2019. We found the feathers of three species of turacos to be associated with qualities such as social esteem and power: Bannerman's turaco Tauraco bannermani (categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List), green turaco Tauraco persa (Least Concern) and great blue turaco Corythaeola cristata (Least Concern). People were generally supportive of efforts to protect turacos because of a strong connection between these birds and the local culture, supporting our hypothesis. This particularly applied to people of high social standing such as chiefs and village elders who use turaco feathers to gain public distinction. Feathers were also used by herbalists for traditional medicine, and hunters used the birds’ calls as a time indicator. Feathers are generally obtained through opportunistic collection and a sustainable, traditional hunting system, but we also found that some people hunt turacos to sell them as pets. We recommend that conservation interventions make use of the cultural values associated with these iconic species, together with implementing alternative sources of livelihoods, to promote behaviours that help achieve conservation objectives in the area.

The author's experience of the damage done by elephants to farms on the edge of a forest reserve in Western Ghana emphasises the point made by Dr. Kai Curry-Lindahl in his recent report to the Ghana government that human settlement should not be allowed close to forest reserves. But where such settlement exists there seems to be no alternative, Mrs Jeffrey suggests, to keeping elephant numbers down by culling.

The nduk or Vosseier's eagle owl Bubo vosseleri is known from only eight specimens in one area of Tanzania. No ornithologist has ever certainly seen this owl in the wild, and nothing is known about its status. But the author, who lived in the area for several years, fears that numbers must be small and are bound to be affected by the steady destruction of the forest that is going on.

A long required and most urgent need in the education of the “Children of the Country” is being made possible by the generosity and far-sightedness of the Ndola Lottery Board Committee. They have made a grant of £5,000 to our Game Preservation and Hunting Association for the construction of a permanent camp in the Kafue National Park.

The following observations on the Long-haired or Schweinfurth's Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, represent several brief but concerted efforts to locate wild chimpanzees in western Uganda in the months of October and November, 1957 and 1958. The authors’ appreciation is extended to Mrs. Belle J. Benchley and to Dr. Ernst Schwarz for reading the manuscript and providing helpful suggestions.

The rhinoceros area in Nepal covers approximately 1,250 square miles, comprising the valleys of the Rivers Narayani, Rapti, and Reu. Although it is dun country, it contains most of the sub-tropical vegetation usually associated with terai country, and can roughly be divided into (1) riverain, (2) grassland above flood level, and (3) sal forest. The hills are almost entirely under sal (Shorea robusta), a valuable hardwood.