Hope For Animals And Their World Part 3

Munkhtsog was part of the team of biologists who, in 1994, released the captive herd to their new home at Hustai National Park in central Mongolia. Keeping the tahki safe and thriving in the park remains an ongoing task-especially because they are now easy prey for wolves. (Captive-bred animals are naive about natural threats, and predation is one of the leading reasons reintroduction efforts fail.) Munkhtsog explained to me that up to 31 percent of the foals born each spring fall prey to wolves. Over time, in areas so vast, conservationists will be able to work to establish a healthy predatorprey balance again. In fact, the percentage of foal loss to wolf predation is steadily, if slowly, declining.

For Munkhtsog the return of the tahki (the animals' Mongolian name) clearly is not solely about science. "The tahki is a national symbol of great pride to the Mongolian people," he said to me. "We are a nation of hors.e.m.e.n, and now we have proven to the world how seriously we take our horses."

One morning, after a long journey in a battered truck, bouncing along rocky, dusty roads, I finally saw the elusive, almost mythical tahki in the Mongolian steppes. Munkhtsog was with me that morning, standing on the crest of a hill just after dawn.

He said that we should sit still on the gra.s.s so that we seemed less a threat to the mares with foals. And sure enough, after just an hour or so of watching, the herd of forty-three horses that had been feeding at least a kilometer away began to slowly move our way-until they were pa.s.sing quite close to us. What struck me most was the beauty of the mares and their apparent concern for their young. The foals appeared oblivious to any threats, but their mothers were wary about almost anything that moved. I noted that the younger the foal, the more it looked like a domestic horse-thin-bodied and long-limbed. But the adults, and particularly the stallions, grew to be thick-bodied with proportionately shorter legs.

As I marveled at the wild herd below, Munkhtsog slapped me on the back and said, "In the US, you have thoroughbreds for racing. But in Mongolia, we have true horses!"

PART 2

Saved at the Eleventh Hour

Introduction.

In this section, we find a fascinating array of different species with one thing in common-they were all brought to the very brink of extinction and have all been given a second chance. Unlike the animals discussed in part 1, none of these species were ever declared "extinct in the wild"-although all certainly would have been but for those who determined it should not be so. The restoration of these species involved taking some individuals from the remaining wild populations for captive breeding-and the critics of captive breeding were often vociferous, the proponents, as always, determined.

The story of the return of the peregrine falcon, for example, represents an extraordinary effort by literally hundreds of people across the United States. The peregrine itself was never reduced to the small numbers of the other species in this part, but it was totally extirpated from a huge part of its original range in the eastern United States. And the account of the battle to ban the use of DDT is chilling in its revelation of the determination of major corporations to trample over other life-forms in their quest for wealth. The winning of that battle was a triumph for the environmental movement, and helped to save countless other species in addition to the peregrine.

These are our first stories about those dedicated to protecting not just the charismatic animals, but fishes, reptiles, and insects. "Why on earth," people ask, "would anyone devote themselves to protecting a bug? The world would be better off without them." When I was a child, we had a painting on the wall showing a cute little girl cuddled up with a bulldog of somewhat scowling aspect. It was captioned, "Everyone is loved by someone." And the people whose stories we share here do care pa.s.sionately about the creatures they are trying to protect. But they know, too, that every species has its own unique niche in the ecosystem-that interconnected web of life-and as such is important. This is one reason why the costs, sometimes great, are truly worth it.

And it is important to recognize that the animal species with which we share the planet have value in their own right. We have messed things up for so many-it is up to us to put things right.

Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia)

The first time I met a golden lion tamarin face-to-face was at the National Zoo in Was.h.i.+ngton, DC, on a beautiful spring morning in 2007. I also met Dr. Devra Kleiman, who had kindly offered to share some of her vast knowledge of the species to which she has devoted much of her life.

In the early 1800s, golden lion tamarins were apparently common in the Atlantic Coastal Forest of eastern Brazil, but their number was drastically reduced throughout the second half of the twentieth century as they were captured for exotic pets and zoos, and their forest habitat was destroyed to give way to pasture for cattle, agriculture, and plantation forestry. Today less than 7 percent of the original Atlantic Forest remains, much of it fragmented.

Rescued by Brazil's Father of Primatology There are four species of lion tamarins: the black lion tamarin, Leontopithecus chrysopygus; Leontopithecus chrysopygus; the golden-headed lion tamarin, the golden-headed lion tamarin, L. chrysomelas; L. chrysomelas; the black-faced lion tamarin, the black-faced lion tamarin, L. caissara; L. caissara; and the golden lion tamarin, and the golden lion tamarin, L. rosalia. L. rosalia. The golden lion tamarins are among the most endangered of all New World primates. They might have vanished altogether but for the dedication, pa.s.sion, and persistence of Dr. Coimbra-Filho-often called the Father of Primatology in Brazil-and his colleague Alceo Magnanini. The golden lion tamarins are among the most endangered of all New World primates. They might have vanished altogether but for the dedication, pa.s.sion, and persistence of Dr. Coimbra-Filho-often called the Father of Primatology in Brazil-and his colleague Alceo Magnanini.

As early as 1962, these two scientists recognized the need for a breeding program for golden lion tamarins, with the goal of reintroducing them into protected forests. But they got little support, and the attempt to start the facility failed. However, they continued their work throughout the 1960s and 1970s and, mostly using their own money, traveled to many munic.i.p.alities in search of the tamarins, visiting villages and interviewing the local people, especially hunters. The work was hard and often depressing. They identified two areas that would have been ideal sites for reintroduction-but both had been destroyed, along with countless other tracts of forest, when they returned a year later.

Devra Kleiman at the small mammal house of the National Zoo, checking on this golden lion tamarin's climbing abilities before its release into the rain forest of Brazil. (Jessie Cohan, Smithsonian National Zoo) (Jessie Cohan, Smithsonian National Zoo) Difficult times indeed, yet extraordinarily valuable, for they gathered data confirming the desperate plight of the lion tamarins and their habitat, which was essential for their battle to save them. And they earmarked an area of forest that, due to the persistence of Dr. Coimbra-Filho, eventually became the Poco das Antas Biological Reserve, created for the purpose of protecting the golden lion tamarins. It was the first biological reserve in Brazil.

In 1972, a groundbreaking conference t.i.tled Saving the Lion Marmoset (as they were called in those days) brought together twenty-eight biologists from Europe, America, and Brazil. It focused international attention on the urgent need to prevent the golden lion tamarin from sliding into extinction. Plans were drawn up for conservation in the wild, support was obtained for Dr. Coimbra-Filho's breeding program in Brazil, and a strategy was created for a coordinated global captive breeding program in zoos. It was this conference that led to the Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program at the National Zoological Park in Was.h.i.+ngton, DC. And it was at this conference that Devra began her long involvement with the little primates.

Meeting a Golden Lion Tamarin Family My visit to the National Zoo took place thirty-five years after that conference. I had never met golden lion tamarins close up, and it was a real treat to go with Devra and their keeper, Eric Smith, into the newly constructed enclosure of a family group. There I met the adult pair, Eduardo and Laranja; two adolescent females, Samba and Gisella; and two youngsters, Mara and Mo. I was enchanted. They are like living jewels of the deep forest with s.h.i.+ning golden hair that cloaks their bodies and frames the face with a leonine mane. As I watched them, slightly apprehensive with so many strangers in their new home, I felt a surge of grat.i.tude for all the hard work and tears that had prevented their extinction.

Afterward a small group of us gathered to talk tamarin. I asked Devra how she got involved. She told us she grew up in suburbs of New York, with no nature and no pets, destined for medical school. Then as part of a college project, she observed a wolf pack in a zoo, became fascinated, and realized that she wanted to study animal behavior. Interestingly, she spent time at the London Zoo and worked with Desmond Morris-just as I had. She specialized in the comparative and social reproductive behavior of mammals and worked with many species-until she learned about the plight of the golden lion tamarin.

"I was determined to do my best for those enchanting little creatures," she told us. So she set to work to raise money, gather information, and start a coordinated breeding program. Many people believed such a scheme would never work. Smiling, she recalled the advice given her back then: "Don't get involved with tamarins. They are going extinct-it will be bad for your career.

"I am so glad I didn't follow that advice," she added. Indeed, it was fortunate for all of us, especially the golden lion tamarins!

Devra contacted all the zoos that kept golden lion tamarins and found that almost nothing was known about tamarin reproductive behavior. "No one even knew whether they should be kept in monogamous or polygamous breeding groups," she said. But eventually she came to believe that tamarin groups in the wild, containing two to eight individuals, might be composed of a mated pair and their offspring. So she recommended that the zoo keep adult pairs on their own, so that family groups could form naturally. This was the key to success. Over time, as more became known about the tamarins' natural diets and social system and was applied to their care, the situation improved. But even so, by the end of 1975, there were still only eighty-three golden lion tamarins spread through sixteen inst.i.tutions outside Brazil and another thirty-nine individuals at the facility in Brazil.

Return to the Wild Gradually, though, the captive population grew, and Devra began to concentrate on the next stage-returning the species to the wild. The first step, of course, was to find a safe environment for them. "I traveled to Brazil to visit the reserve where it was hoped the tamarins would be released," Devra recalled. "The Atlantic Coastal Forest there had been decimated, and even when we got to the reserve, there was still very little forest remaining. To my horror, the guard at the gate to the reserve had a pet tamarin on a leas.h.!.+ It seemed impossible that we could do a successful reintroduction there. But that was all that was left of their natural habitat. We would have to work with what was there."

The scientist and conservationist Dr. Benjamin Beck was selected to take charge of coordinating the release program. First the groundwork had to be laid. Devra and Ben made repeated trips to Brazil, developing close relations.h.i.+ps with their Brazilian colleagues. By 1984, all was ready: A release area had been secured, Brazilian partners and staff acquired. The first captive golden lion tamarins were released in the forest.

"We realized after that first release," Devra told us, "that the captive-born animals had problems moving about in the trees; they simply did not know how to navigate complex 3-D environments." But they managed somehow, and at the same time the team was learning a lot about their behavior. One day, Devra told me, she was following an adolescent female and her two young brothers, Ron and Mark, who had separated from the rest of the group. Farther and farther they wandered, exploring their new world, and as dusk fell Devra feared they might be lost. But suddenly the female gave a strange call and headed off with great purpose, calling as she went. Ron and Mark immediately followed-and Devra followed them. "I almost felt like part of the family," said Devra. "We all kept up, following the calls." And in less than thirty minutes, they were back at the nest box. Subsequently, the researchers learned that this call means "Let's go!" They named it the "vamonos call."

Adapting to the Forest Soon after this, Devra and Ben made a bold and innovative decision-they would allow some of the golden lion tamarin families to roam freely in a small patch of forest on the grounds of the National Zoo in DC. This would allow them to become familiar with treetop travel before being released in Brazil. The plan, under Ben's direction, was a success. "For one thing," said Devra, "once they were outside, they instinctively began giving the soft 'vamonos' calls that I had heard in the wild. It was wonderful!"

Not only did the tamarins learn climbing skills, but family groups established small territories-about a hundred square yards-just as they would in the wild. Devra and Ben felt, therefore, that it was unlikely any of them would leave the zoo grounds. To their great relief, they were proven right.

Ben told me that what interests him most about the release program in Brazil is that pre-release training (such as learning to poke food from crevices with their fingers or how to open fruits) does not make much difference to the golden lion tamarins' survival in the wild. What is important is the soft-release method. This means that they are provided with food and shelter when they start their life in the forest, but as they begin to eat natural foods, field researchers progressively feed and observe them less: from daily visits they cut down to three days per week, to once a week, then once a month. If an individual is hurt or gets lost, it is captured and treated before being returned. All groups have become independent after five years. The key for success, Ben explained, is for the females to live long enough to reproduce. Young tamarins, born in the wild, will do fine. "Because then," said Ben, "they are born with wild brains."

More Stories from the Wild I asked Ben for an anecdote he could share. He told me about Emily, who arrived with four of her family in 1988. They were taken into the forest and introduced to their nest box fixed up in a tree. On the second night, it was very cold and wet. Emily seemed confused. She climbed to the very end of a branch and there she sat, huddled in the rain. Ben and his colleague Andreia Martins also sat, huddled, watching her. Eventually, it began to get dark, and in the end they were forced to leave her, small and bedraggled on the end of her branch, with the rest of her family all cozy in the nest box.

It was a subdued group of humans that gathered for supper, cold and wet themselves. "None of us slept very much," said Ben. They went out very early the next morning. When they reached the tree, Emily was lying on the ground but still alive, though extremely cold. Andreia put Emily under her s.h.i.+rt and took her back to camp. Gradually, Emily warmed up, and by day's end she was dry and fluffed out. She not only survived but went on to have several babies. "She was a real sweetheart," said Ben.

One day, Emily and her son disappeared. Unfortunately, some people steal the tamarins to sell them (illegally) as pets-over the years, at least twenty-two have been stolen. Amazingly, they got Emily back when a veterinarian noticed her tattoo and realized she had been stolen. Emily soon settled down and had another family. Almost unbelievably, she was stolen again, and again they were able to get her back!

A Name or a Number?

Ben told me that they no longer give the tamarins names in the field, just numbers. This business of identifying individuals by name or number has had an interesting history in the tamarin project. "I began by giving the tamarins numbers, which seemed more scientific at the time," Devra recalled, "but to spite me, David Kessler [one of her colleagues] named a hand-reared tamarin Colonel Ezekiel Atlas Drummond-and it stuck. We have been using names ever since."

Although the captive breeding program still uses names, they switched to numbers in the field. Not because it is more scientific, but because such a relatively large percentage of the tamarins don't make it-about 80 percent are dead or have disappeared by the end of the second year in the wild. Those working with them find it less distressing if they are not known by name.

When the team finds an unmarked tamarin out in the forest, they know it marks a success story-an individual born in the wild who has sought out and established its own territory. Some have even made it across more than a mile of open agricultural land. The team no longer spends time observing the family units closely. Occasional monitoring of their health, reproduction, and survival rate is all that's required.

Meanwhile, as the introduced tamarins thrived, there were still some highly endangered groups of wild golden lion tamarins. An exhaustive survey in the early 1990s had revealed that there were sixty individuals in twelve groups, living in nine very small fragmented patches of forest that were destined to be cut down to build beach condominiums. And so, between 1994 and 1997, six of the groups (forty-three individuals) were translocated to what is now the Unio Biological Reserve.

Key to Long-Term Success: Handing Over to the Brazilians From the beginning, Devra knew that a key component for the success of the golden lion tamarin reintroduction program would be the att.i.tude of local farmers-those with remnant forest into which the growing numbers of family groups could be reintroduced. And so from the earliest days, the Brazilian team worked on forging relations.h.i.+ps with the local people. It was hard going at first, for many of the farmers were initially hostile, Devra told us. "But it was perhaps the most important aspect. I wanted to be able to retire and know that there was something in place that was lasting, and this could only be possible if it was in Brazilian hands."

To a very large extent, this has now happened. In 1992, the Golden Lion Tamarin a.s.sociation (or the a.s.sociaco Mico-Leo Dourado-AMLD) was formed in Brazil to integrate all conservation work relating to the golden lion tamarins and to educate local communities about the conservation program. The a.s.sociation, headed by a dynamic young Brazilian, Denise Rambaldi, monitors the tamarin populations, helps impoverished farmers develop agro-forestry techniques, and trains young Brazilians in conservation. The a.s.sociation also works closely with Brazilian government agencies to foster conservation in the entire region.

In 2003, the golden lion tamarin was downlisted from critically endangered to endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the only primate species to have been downlisted as a result of a conservation effort. This is certainly a milestone for the countless people and organizations who have dedicated themselves to the species' survival.

Of course, as with all conservation projects, those who care cannot sit back and relax. Habitat is still being destroyed, and the continuing fragmentation of existing forests remains the tamarins' greatest threat to survival. Thus it is very encouraging to learn that the AMLD is building forest corridors to link tamarin habitats, which will help prevent inbreeding within small isolated groups. The first of those corridors, which will be approximately twelve miles in length, is nearly complete. And more and more private ranchers are agreeing to accept tamarin groups on their land.

At the time of writing, there are golden lion tamarins living on twenty-one private ranches adjacent to the Poco das Antas Biological Reserve. When their currency was redesigned, the Brazilian people voted to portray the golden lion tamarin on twenty-dollar banknotes-the species is now an icon of conservation in Brazil.

"When I started working with the zoo population in 1972, there were about seventy golden lion tamarins in zoos," Devra said. By the late 1980s, that number had increased to almost five hundred, and it was decided to put some individuals on contraceptives and stabilize the captive population. Today there are about 470 in zoos and aquariums, and the groups are carefully managed. "In 1984, when I started reintroducing tamarins, there were fewer than five hundred in the wild," Devra told me. Thanks to the reintroduction efforts, about sixteen to seventeen hundred tamarins now live in the wild.

As I write this, in my home in faraway Bournemouth, I think back to that April day when Devra introduced me to Eduardo and Laranja and their family. I remember how the adult male approached Devra, who had been handed a piece of banana by the keeper. Gently, the small creature reached out to take the fruit. It was, for me, a magical moment, symbolizing the trust of a very small primate for the woman who has worked so pa.s.sionately to prevent this enchanting species from vanis.h.i.+ng forever from Planet Earth.

Joe Wasilewski, who is helping to ensure the future of the American crocodile, with three wild hatchlings at Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant, 2007.(Joseph A. Wasilewski)

American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)

For most people-including me-the thought of encountering a crocodile in the water is quite terrifying. I vividly remember empathizing with the elephant when my mother read me that most delightful of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories: Just So Stories: "How the Elephant Got His Trunk." The poor little elephant child wanders down to the "great grey-green greasy Limpopo River" to drink, only to have his short little nose seized by a crocodile. The crocodile pulls and pulls and the elephant pulls and pulls. Luckily all his uncles and aunts hurry to the rescue. They pull and pull, and the crocodile pulls and pulls, until by the time he is rescued, the nose of the elephant child has been elongated into a trunk. "How the Elephant Got His Trunk." The poor little elephant child wanders down to the "great grey-green greasy Limpopo River" to drink, only to have his short little nose seized by a crocodile. The crocodile pulls and pulls and the elephant pulls and pulls. Luckily all his uncles and aunts hurry to the rescue. They pull and pull, and the crocodile pulls and pulls, until by the time he is rescued, the nose of the elephant child has been elongated into a trunk.

In real life, there are fearsome accounts of large antelopes-even buffalo-being seized by crocodiles as they go to drink; struggling desperately, they are pulled under the water to their deaths. When first we arrived at Gombe, my mother and I were warned about two such crocodiles that frequented the lakesh.o.r.e near our camp. Nothing would have induced either of us to swim in the lake in those days. Indeed, one of those crocs almost grabbed the cook's wife. Later we were told they were the "familiars" (like the black cat of a witch) of old Iddi Matata who, although we had no idea at the time, was the most infamous witch doctor in the area. And it is true that when he moved away, those two crocodiles disappeared. Indeed, there are many stories about crocodiles in a.s.sociation with the powerful witch doctors of Tanzania.

A "Gentle" and "Timid" Crocodile But all of those stories are about African African or or Nile Nile crocodiles, who behave much like the American alligator. In this chapter, we shall hear about the crocodiles, who behave much like the American alligator. In this chapter, we shall hear about the American American crocodile. This is a very different kind of animal-much gentler and more timid, but unfortunately often feared and persecuted by those who mistake it for an alligator. Once you know the difference, though, it is easy to distinguish between the two. First, the crocodile is olive green to gray-brown, mottled with black, whereas the alligator is uniformly black. Second, the crocodile has a much narrower snout, and the fourth tooth on the bottom on each side of its mouth is clearly visible on the outside of the upper jaw. There has never been a doc.u.mented attack on humans by the crocodile in Florida, although we hear that there have been a few in Mexico and Costa Rica. crocodile. This is a very different kind of animal-much gentler and more timid, but unfortunately often feared and persecuted by those who mistake it for an alligator. Once you know the difference, though, it is easy to distinguish between the two. First, the crocodile is olive green to gray-brown, mottled with black, whereas the alligator is uniformly black. Second, the crocodile has a much narrower snout, and the fourth tooth on the bottom on each side of its mouth is clearly visible on the outside of the upper jaw. There has never been a doc.u.mented attack on humans by the crocodile in Florida, although we hear that there have been a few in Mexico and Costa Rica.

The American crocodile has a large range, including Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, the Caribbean coast from Venezuela to the Yucatan, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. The northern subspecies found in Florida has been isolated from its relatives for at least sixty thousand years (although recent but unpublished DNA studies show relatively recent mixing with the American crocodiles of Cuba). By the early 1970s, the Florida subspecies, like many other crocodilians around the world, had been driven toward extinction through hunting for its hide and relentless human development that had destroyed huge areas of wild habitat. In 1975, it was cla.s.sified as endangered: It was estimated that no more than two hundred to four hundred individuals survived.

In November 2006, I had a wonderful telephone conversation with Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife biologist who has been involved with crocodile research for almost thirty years. In 1977 Frank, then a graduate student, began a.s.sisting with fieldwork on the crocodile in Everglades National Park. No one knew much about it except that it appeared to be in dire straits. One of the questions the researchers were trying to answer was: How many of the young crocs were surviving, and what was killing them?

Frank occasionally saw blue crabs eating a young croc, but thought they had probably scavenged a dead individual. Then one memorable day he saw a reptilian tail thras.h.i.+ng in the water, grabbed it, and pulled out a young crocodile that was firmly in the grips of a blue crab, which had one claw around the middle of its prey and the other around its head. Frank managed to free the youngster, but it was no longer breathing. A short while previously, someone had pinned a silly cartoon from MAD MAD magazine to the wall in the ranger station. magazine to the wall in the ranger station.

"It showed a guy giving a lizard mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," said Frank. "The character just closed his lips around the lizard's neck and blew." So that is what he did to the crocodile! And after a few seconds it spat up water and, thoroughly revived, was soon ready to go. Surely, Frank is the only person in the world who has given the kiss of life to a crocodile!

A Love of the Wilderness at Night When he was a child, Frank read all the Tarzan books and other similar stories-just like me. But whereas I fell in love with Tarzan, he wanted to be be Tarzan. "Gradually," he said, "I realized that this would not happen to a five-foot-eight-inch adolescent!" But as a college student, he had the opportunity to help with some crocodile research. Since the animals are nocturnal, it meant being in the wilderness after dark-which he loved. At that time, they kept a few young crocs as part of the research program. "I did raise a couple until they were about six feet long, and got to know them pretty well until they had to be released." When he talks about them, he cannot keep the enthusiasm out of his voice. "They are the real sweethearts of the crocodilian world. The least defensive, and so the least aggressive. They are shy," he said. "And they are relatively gentle." At this point he laughed-we decided the crocodile might not seem so gentle from the vantage point of its prey! (It feeds on crabs, fish, snakes, turtles, birds, and small mammals, rarely anything larger than a racc.o.o.n or rabbit.) Tarzan. "Gradually," he said, "I realized that this would not happen to a five-foot-eight-inch adolescent!" But as a college student, he had the opportunity to help with some crocodile research. Since the animals are nocturnal, it meant being in the wilderness after dark-which he loved. At that time, they kept a few young crocs as part of the research program. "I did raise a couple until they were about six feet long, and got to know them pretty well until they had to be released." When he talks about them, he cannot keep the enthusiasm out of his voice. "They are the real sweethearts of the crocodilian world. The least defensive, and so the least aggressive. They are shy," he said. "And they are relatively gentle." At this point he laughed-we decided the crocodile might not seem so gentle from the vantage point of its prey! (It feeds on crabs, fish, snakes, turtles, birds, and small mammals, rarely anything larger than a racc.o.o.n or rabbit.) After completing his PhD, Frank conducted a survey of crocodile nests in Florida. First he pulled together all the information he could find, starting from 1930, as to where nests had been recorded. Then he visited each of the sites, and searched-in vain-for signs of crocodiles. Finally, in 1987, he found a nest at Club Key in Florida Bay, Everglades National Park. "The last one recorded there had been in 1953," he told me. It was nearly twenty years since he discovered that nest, but the excitement in his voice came down the phone line all the way from Florida to my home in Bournemouth!

Crocodile Mothering I was fascinated to learn that female crocodiles (just like chimpanzees!) do not become s.e.xually mature until they are eleven to thirteen years of age and (also like chimps) can live for about sixty years. After mating, which occurs in late winter and early spring, the female crocodile digs a nest hole on high ground such as a beach or streambank, lays twenty to fifty eggs, and carefully covers them with soil. She then leaves the nest, but after about eighty-five days she returns-for this is when the babies are due to hatch, and they will need her help to dig their way out. When she arrives at her nest, she puts her ear to the ground to listen for the chattering sounds the hatchlings make when breaking out of their eggs. Then she uncovers them and carries them to the water in her mouth. On their own, the nine-inch-long youngsters make their way into salt.w.a.ter estuaries. Frank told me his favorite memories are of this maternal behavior.

The survival rate of the young crocodiles for the first year ranges from 6 to 50 percent and depends, in part, on the amount of rainfall and natural water flow-they cannot tolerate high salinity. Historically, fresh water flowing through the Everglades lowered the water's salinity where it emptied into Florida Bay, producing the conditions young crocodiles need. The problem, of course, is that the natural water flow was disrupted long ago. For the past few decades, water has been "managed"-held in catchment areas outside the park for agricultural uses then, when it is no longer needed, suddenly released in large quant.i.ties. This has disrupted the slow, relatively constant flow of fresh water through the glades, affecting water levels in the wetlands and the salinity of Florida Bay, wreaking havoc on both flora and fauna.

How a Power Station Helped Save the American Crocodile Despite this, scientists estimate that there are about four times as many crocodiles in Florida today as there were in 1975. The extraordinary thing is that this population growth is in large part due to the operations of a power station! In the 1970s, Florida Power and Light, at Turkey Point, built 168 miles of ca.n.a.ls that allow the water coming from the plant to cool before reentering the bay. And this created ideal habitat for crocodiles, which dig their nests in the loose soil between the ca.n.a.ls. To its credit, when hatchlings were discovered there in 1978, the company showed great interest and hired a consulting firm to monitor the animals. Since then, the number of nesting crocodiles has steadily increased.

For information about the crocodile situation at Turkey Point, I turned to Joe Wasilewski, who started working there in 1996 and has been there ever since. Part of his job is to hunt for the crocodiles, following every print and "tail-drag" he sees in the warm, saline-rich ca.n.a.ls. Every crocodile he catches is tagged with a microchip.

"I've caught thousands of them," Joe said during a phone call in spring 2008. "They're not that aggressive. Once they know they've been had, they surrender. Whereas other species of crocs will fight till the bitter end."

The population of American crocodiles-excluding hatchlings-within and adjacent to the FPL Turkey Point cooling ca.n.a.l system has been surveyed, using the same methods, since 1985. The results show a dramatic increase. That first year there were just nineteen individuals, ten years later the number was forty, and by 2005 the population had increased to four hundred.

The crocodile also nests in the southern mainland area of Everglades National Park and in the sixty-six-hundred-acre Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Key Largo established in 1980. Thus 90 percent of its habitat is either in protected areas or on land owned by a very supportive company. And with added protection and growing numbers, the crocodiles have been showing up in populated areas-from inland waterways to golf course ponds. For this reason, as Frank said, it is very important to educate people about the American crocodile's pa.s.sive nature, and teach people how to distinguish it from the much more aggressive alligator.

The Usefulness of Crocodiles The crocodiles play an important and interesting role in the ecosystem. "For instance," said Joe, "we've had a horrible problem with invasive species here in Florida-exotic pets, such as green iguanas and pythons, get released into the wild. Fortunately, the crocodiles are an apex species-they eat anything smaller than themselves and so help to keep the invasive species under control!"

Ironically one of the signs of a healthy crocodile population is that they start preying on their own young. "As the numbers grow, they take on their own population control," Joe said. "We're seeing more and more crocodiles eating the hatchlings. Some just get a taste for it."

So far, the comeback of the American crocodile can be considered a success story. Its ultimate fate, however, depends-like that of so many other Florida flora and fauna-on the restoration of the Everglades. We have to hope that engineers, working with biologists, will succeed in ensuring a more natural water flow. The pa.s.sion and persistence of Frank Mazzotti and Joe Wasilewski-and the presence of the crocodile itself-may make all the difference.

Falconer Tom Cade, who led the ma.s.sive American efforts to restore the peregrine falcon to its original hunting grounds. (J. Sherwood Chalmers/The Peregrine Fund) (J. Sherwood Chalmers/The Peregrine Fund)

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

The first time I watched a peregrine falcon streak across the sky, then dive down after some small bird of prey, I experienced a similar tingling of wonder and magic as when I see a shooting star. All bird flight is awesome-no wonder we earthbound humans strove for so long to find ways to fly. No wonder that most of us, at one time or another, dream that we are flying. (Indeed my mother's dream was once so vivid that she rose and, still half asleep, launched herself from the end of her bed-waking the whole household with her inevitable heavy landing!) As a child, I read a story about a little boy and a falcon-I don't know what species. They loved each other so much that he never had to hood or shackle her. She hunted to get food for both of them when, for some long-forgotten reason, he was hiding in the moors. I have always been ambivalent about falconry-the taming and restriction of birds, symbols of freedom shackled. That is why caged birds, denied their birthright, make me sad, angry. But I am filled with admiration for the role falconers played in the restoration of the glorious peregrine falcon as described in this chapter. Indeed, Tom Cade, the man who initiated and led the effort, is a falconer himself, and he relied heavily on the knowledge and skills of his fellow enthusiasts.

The peregrine (along with the gyrfalcon) has long been considered the cla.s.sic bird of the ancient art of falconry. The American naturalist Roger Tory Peterson wrote, "Man emerged from the shadows of antiquity with a Peregrine on his wrist." Although peregrines were sometimes used simply to hunt for the pot, for the most part falconry has been a sport for n.o.bility. It did not start in North America until the 1900s, and the peregrine quickly became the favorite bird there also.

Much has been written about this falcon-its beauty, its speed, its deadly stoop as it dives upon its prey from above. However, one book, Return of the Peregrine: A North American Saga of Tenacity and Teamwork, Return of the Peregrine: A North American Saga of Tenacity and Teamwork, doc.u.ments its near extinction in America and the incredible story of its rescue and return to the wild. This book, along with personal information from Tom Cade, who led the restoration effort, has been our main source of information for this chapter. doc.u.ments its near extinction in America and the incredible story of its rescue and return to the wild. This book, along with personal information from Tom Cade, who led the restoration effort, has been our main source of information for this chapter.

Peregrines have been observed in almost all parts of the globe save Antarctica. They were always more abundant in Europe than in North America-indeed, during World War II, many peregrine falcons in the south of England were killed for the risk they posed to service carrier pigeons. But after the war, some ornithologists began to suspect that all was not well with Britain's peregrines. And in 1960, the Bird Trust for Ornithology (BTO) asked the late Derek Ratcliffe (the chief scientist for the British government's Nature Conservancy Council) to make a survey of nesting peregrine falcons throughout the UK. He found that numbers were indeed in serious decline in the south, reduced in the rest of England and Wales, and only normal in remote areas of Scotland.

The BTO suggested this was perhaps due to the very toxic organochlorine pesticides that had been introduced to British agriculture after World War II. There had been many reports, dating from the late 1940s, of seed-eating birds dying seemingly as a result of feeding on pesticide-treated fields. Corpses of raptors were also discovered, presumed poisoned from feeding on contaminated prey.

Ratcliffe's next survey, in 1963, showed a further dramatic drop in peregrine numbers, especially in the south, where only three pairs were found. Again, it was only in remote areas of Scotland that the birds were unaffected. Reports coming in from Europe doc.u.mented a similar decline in bird populations, including peregrines.

The Fight to Ban DDT As more people became aware of the death of so many birds, there was a great public outcry. The British government tasked scientists at Monks Wood research station with conducting studies on the adverse effects of pesticides. Meanwhile a series of "voluntary bans" were recommended, restricting the use of organochlorines and other toxic pesticides. Rat-cliffe had found that even occupied eyries (nests of eagles and falcons) often contained broken eggs. Suspecting that chemicals were affecting the thickness of the eggsh.e.l.l, he took an addled egg to Monks Wood for testing. It contained traces of DDE (the residual product of DDT) and other chemical pesticides.

Thus the British team had already been studying the effects of chemical pesticides when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring Silent Spring in 1962-the results of her own research into why thousands of birds and insects in the United States were also dying. And reports coming in from Europe doc.u.mented a similar decline in bird populations, including peregrines, also thought to be caused by pesticides. in 1962-the results of her own research into why thousands of birds and insects in the United States were also dying. And reports coming in from Europe doc.u.mented a similar decline in bird populations, including peregrines, also thought to be caused by pesticides.

In the United States, Joe Hickey, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, was one of a number of ornithologists and falconers concerned by a seeming decline in the peregrine populations. In 1939, he had made an extensive survey of active nest sites of the Appalachian peregrine east of the Mississippi. In 1963, he enlisted Daniel Berger (who had been making annual surveys of the peregrine population along the Mississippi for thirteen years) to undertake a survey of nest sites in the areas he (Hickey) had covered more than twenty years before. In 1964, Berger and his teammate traveled to fourteen US states and one Canadian province. They found no occupied eyries and saw not one peregrine for the whole three months. The crash of the Appalachian peregrine population in the eastern US was total.

Soon after learning this shocking news, Hickey heard about the pesticide situation in the UK from Ratcliffe. He at once set about organizing a gathering to which all interested parties were invited: falconers, scientists, government officials, even representatives of the agriculture and pharmaceutical companies. The Madison Conference, as it came to be known, took place in Wisconsin in mid-1965. There Ratcliffe explained to the a.s.sembled group what was going on in the UK. And he reported on a conference he had just attended involving seventy-one scientists from eleven countries in Europe, who had concluded that persistent pesticides in general, and the organochlorines in particular, posed a major threat to wildlife.

"Almost immediately after the conference people started looking at eggs and also tissues of Peregrines that had died-and they found both DDT and the residual product DDE," Tom Cade wrote. "From that point on, it was pretty clear that DDT was the main problem the Peregrines were facing." But more scientific "proof" was needed to convince governments to legislate against the use of these poisons given the determined opposition from the agrochemical and agricultural industries. These interests claimed that causal correlation between thinning of eggsh.e.l.ls and the use of some pesticides was circ.u.mstantial.

So Ratcliffe designed a way of calculating the thickness of an eggsh.e.l.l based on its weight, length, and breadth as measured with calipers and used it to examine eggs in collections throughout the UK. He found a marked decrease in thickness from 1947 onward. Meanwhile, at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, scientists were investigating the effects of DDT and DDE on different bird species, including kestrels. Their experiments showed that relatively small amounts of various chemicals could lead to eggsh.e.l.l thinning in kestrels, and that this correlated with the situation of wild kestrels contaminated with pesticide-affected prey.

"Restrictions on DDT Will Never Happen"

The scientific evidence was mounting, but opposition remained strong. Indeed, one of President Lyndon Johnson's scientific advisers at the Madison conference stated that "restrictions on the use of DDT will never happen."

"That statement," Tom told me, "served as a challenge for many of us."

Pesticide regulation was the responsibility of the newly formed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which, under a court order instigated by the Environmental Defense Fund, started hearings on DDT in mid-1971. They called 125 witnesses over eight months, after which William Ruckelshaus, appointed first EPA administrator by President Nixon, courageously banned DDT nationally, with the president's support.

The inevitable appeal was overturned by the US Supreme Court. The evidence given by so many scientists on the effects of the chemical on birds of prey, particularly the peregrine, bald eagle, osprey, and brown pelican, could not be refuted. It was a long, hard fight, but it resulted in a major victory for conservation, and set legal precedents in environmental law that have had far-reaching benefits for the environment.

In Canada, DDT had already been banned, and in several European countries conservationists had also been lobbying for legislation against the use of DDT and other harmful chemicals. In Britain, the government's voluntary bans on the most toxic chemicals used in pesticides, along with farmers' reductions in the amounts they used, meant that most had already been phased out by 1979, when the European Union finally banned their use.

Discovering the Nature of Peregrine Breeding In antic.i.p.ation of an eventual ban on the use of DDT, Tom Cade founded the Peregrine Fund in 1970 and began plans for a captive breeding program with the goal of reintroducing peregrines into the eastern United States. However, very little was known about breeding them in captivity, although a handful of falconers in the US and Europe had achieved some success. In the late 1950s, when some falconers had already noticed that peregrine populations seemed to be in trouble, they formed the North American Falconers a.s.sociation, and forty-five falconers from many states had attended the founding meeting in 1961 to discuss the situation. Some had suggested captive breeding.

Tom is a falconer himself, and again and again as he moved ahead with his ambitious plan, he sought advice and help from other falconers. It was thanks to them that he knew that young peregrines can learn to hunt without parental tutelage. And falconers had practiced "hacking" since the Elizabethan era: They would haul a hack-a kind of wagon-to the top of a hill and put falcon chicks on it just before they were able to fly. Food was delivered each day, and after fledging, the chicks could come and go at will. When they had developed muscle tone and could catch birds for themselves, they were recaptured for training. Clearly, hacking would be part of Tom's reintroduction plan. Most importantly, falconers knew that the nature of the peregrine was well suited for breeding in captivity. Tom wrote, "Although master of the sky and a denizen of wild and haunting landscapes, the Peregrine has also for centuries been ... a bird that because of its gentle and placid disposition comes readily to the hand to do man's bidding... ."

Because he taught at Cornell University and was a.s.sociated with its famous Laboratory of Ornithology, Tom was able to establish a breeding facility there, affectionately known as Peregrine Palace. For some of his first birds, he turned to Dr. Heinz Meng, a professor at the State University of New YorkNew Paltz. A keen falconer and a Cornell alumnus, Meng had set up his own small breeding program, and he lent his breeding pair, and their offspring, to Tom's program.