Taming of the Shrew
Category: Coastal Forest, Elephant Shrew, Shimoni Forest, Shrews, Small mammals | Date: Nov 17 2009 | By: gvikenya
For about a year now we’ve been experimenting with a method of trapping the elusive and shy Zanj elephant shrew. This particular shrew is technically a sengi, and is a species that is not only endemic to the east African coast, but is also listed as ‘rare’ and ‘data deficient’ by the IUCN.
Shimoni forest boasts a significant population of this small mammal, and sightings of it by our forest teams are fairly regular (especially at this time of year when visibility is good). So we did some research and decided to procure ourselves a 50m long, very finely threaded fishing net with which to catch them with!
One of the cleared patches that mark the habitual pathway
We set the net up in a large semi circle, and either ‘beat the bush’ towards the net hoping to drive a shrew into it, or we sit nice and quietly and wait for one to wander in. This method works because the Zanj elephant shrew uses habitual pathways, which it will travel along each day clearing them of obstacles. So if one was to encounter the net, it would most likely attempt to get through or over the net, causing it to get entangled. Once caught we would take its measurements, weight, and then clip a small patch of fur on a designated spot on its body for mark-recapture purposes.
Some zanj elephant shrew droppings that are found around the paths
Unfortunately we haven’t caught one yet, but I do not doubt the method itself. Due to the amount of time needed to complete all of our regular surveys, we only get a chance to do this survey perhaps once or twice every three months. This is obviously not even remotely enough to stand a chance of catching a shrew. Especially because until recently we did not know what their trails looked like and therefore could not strategically place our net.
But a couple of weeks ago we saw one of the little chaps running away from us, and so we had a closer look at the exact route it took through the undergrowth. To our surprise, the path was quite obviously marked. Approximately every 30cm, there is a cleared area of dirt. A patch where all the leaf litter and twigs and other debris is cleared, leaving a bare area of dirt approximately 10cm long. And these cleared patches headed off into the undergrowth!
Several of the patches leading off into the undergrowth
Now we know what to look for, we have been spotting the shrew trails all over the forest! This has given us motivation to get back into shrew netting, and allowed us to strategically place our net across these trails, greatly increasing our chance of catching one!
We’ll keep you posted!
Tags: , beat the bush, data deficient, debris, droppings, East African Coast, elusive, endemic, entangled, fishing net, good visibility, habitual pathways, IUCN, leaf litter, mark-recapture, measurments, method of trapping, obstacles, rare, regular surveys, research, sengi, Shimoni Forest, shrew netting, shy, significant population, small mammal, strategically, trails, twigs, undergrowth, weight, zanj elephant shrew
The Road To Destruction
Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Nov 16 2009 | By: gvikenya
Today saw our forest teams heading back into the forest after a nice weekend off, and heading down to transect 2 and 4. However the optimism of the start of a new week was dampened somewhat by the devastating progress being made by the private developers who have their hands on the coastal plots that run along the southern and eastern edge of Shimoni east forest.
It was almost 9 months ago now when we first saw the plots being fenced off and cleared, and the appearance of several large roads that connected all of the plots. Since then all of the plots are getting destroyed slowly but surely, and one of the sites that was mere foundations a few months ago is almost a fully fledged hotel that can be seen by our marine teams out on the boat when they head north up to Funzi Bay.
One of the most shocking things our team noticed today though, was the progress that has been made on the roads. The original ones have become larger, wider and more cleared, and more such roads have sprung up forming large intersections and leading to new locations. If this continues at this rate then fairly soon the whole area near the coast will be flattened. And our surveys have shown that this area is widely used by colobus monkeys, yellow baboons, suni’s, Harvey’s duikers, Zanj elephant shrews and countless other species.
A section of the new road. In the distance you can see the smoke from the burning of cut vegetation
It is so sad that the people doing this cannot see what irreversible damage they are doing. I cannot believe that one can use ignorance as an excuse, as my 4 year old nephew could guess that what they are doing is ruthlessly destructive. We are going to attempt to get in contact with the owners of these plots as soon as possible. We are not going to lecture them or demand that they stop – it is their land after all. We will try and meet with them with our close partners Friends of Shimoni Forest, who can ask on behalf of the community that they at least try and do things more eco-friendly and try to minimise their impact.
There are simple measures they can take to reduce their impact, such as leaving some of the large trees standing so as to allow a consistent canopy or “corridors” of canopy over the plots. This will allow primate species to get across from one side of the plot to the other without having to go onto the ground.
We’ll let you know how it goes!
Tags: , cleared, coastal plots, colobus monkey, community, consistent canopy, corridors, eastern edge, eco-friendly, excuse, fenced off, foundations, Friends of Shimoni Forest, funzi bay, harvey's duiker, hotel, ignorance, irreversible damage, large intersections, large roads, large trees, lecture, Marine team, minimise impact, nephew, new locations, north, other species, owners, primate species, private developers, ruthlessly destructive, Shimoni east forest, southern edge, Suni, transect, yellow baboon, zanj elephant shrew
Colobus Census of Shimoni Forest
Category: African Fish Eagle, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Primate Research, Primate census, Shimoni Forest | Date: Aug 04 2009 | By: gvikenya
Today will be the first of a two part update on some exciting research going on in Shimoni Forest. We are attempting to build on work previously done in 2001 by Julie Anderson and then in 2007 by GVI. We are doing a colobus census of the whole forest!
Marta is a volunteer here with us for three months and is currently working towards her masters in environmental modeling, monitoring and reconstruction. She contacted us asking if she could use her time here to do the field-work for her project in the forest, consisting mainly of a colobus census – we welcomed her with open arms!
Preparing to synchronise watches
We timed the census for when we had the most number of people on the mainland, and managed to get a keen group of 15 people fired up and ready. To do the census we require groups to conduct what is essentially a primate community survey along all of our regular transects, plus groups moving through the forest in between the transects following compass bearings, so a group every 100 metres. Unfortunately our GPS’s do not work in the forest due to poor satellite coverage, so we had to devise a cunning system of counting paces and regular check points coordinated using mobile phones (on silent of course!), to ensure we were all moving through the forest at a similar pace.
The team heading in
In an ideal world, you would have enough people to do the entire forest in a single day, leaving you with a ‘snapshot’ population count. We don’t have enough people so are having to do it over two days. For those groups traveling between our regular marked and cut transects, it was pretty rough going – there was plenty of crawling through thickets and fighting through thorns. However our sense of adventure and the belief in the value of the work prevailed, and lots of smiling faces headed back to base.
Getting through one of the many thickets!
During the day five groups of colobus, ten groups of sykes and one group of yellow baboon were sighted. Some of the other casual observations included a pair of zanj elephant shrews, hornbills, African fish eagles and lots of red bellied coastal squirrels!
One of the sighted colobus
We’re all tired, but looking forward a second day out in the forest. We really can’t wait to see the results and compare them with the previous years. I’ll hopefully get a post out letting you all know how it went!
Tags: African Fish Eagle, colobus monkey, hornbill, Primate census, Primate Research, sykes monkey, yellow baboon, zanj elephant shrew
Shimoni Forest Burns
Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Elephant Shrew, Forest fire, Kenya Wildlife Service, Logging, Shimoni Forest | Date: Apr 09 2009 | By: gvikenya
Hello again all,
This blog is not a happy one I’m afraid, as I bring you all news of an enormous fire in Shimoni East Forest. About three weeks ago, we were on Wasini Island - the location of our base - and we noticed an ominous orange glow on the horizon. It was in the direction of the forest, but we saw no signs of a fire in the subsequent weeks as we were conducting our surveys on the southern most transects, the ones nearest the coast.
Today however, we headed up to transect 6 (our northern most transect) for the first time in at least a month and a half. What we found was crushing, to say the least.
Some of the fire damage
A massive area just south of transect 6 had been burned, with most of the damage at the base of large trees. This is a method used to weaken the base of the tree and make it easier to fell. By our estimations, that area stretched for at least 150 X 150 metres. This was shocking enough, but the worst was yet to come.
The damage done to the ground
We managed to find the start of our transect (the north/south spine we use for access was obliterated by the fire), and headed east conducting a primate community survey. Around section 3 (150 metres from the start) we started seeing more evidence of fire damage. The further down the transect we went, the worse it got. Everywhere, there were big trees burnt at the base, and the entire ground was scorched black. Nothing on the ground seemed to have been spared; all the leaf litter, ground shrubs and saplings were gone, and any dead wood or old logs were piles of ash. The fire damage stretched up to section 17, which is 850 metres from where we started.
We don’t know how far the damage stretches in the other direction, but for a forest that has an area no more than 3 square kilometres, it is a scary size. We spent most of the day in stunned silence, not quite believing what we were seeing.
What we must be grateful for however, is that it was only a ground level fire that must have moved fairly quickly, the dry leaf litter being the fuel. The majority of the trees and the larger bushes, thickets and scrubs survived.
We’re not sure to what extent the fire stretched north or south, as we were walking east only. When we start surveying on transect 5, which is 200 metres south of where we were, we will see how far it stretches. All we can hope for is that it is a thin strip, and that other areas of the forest were spared.
Standing speechless…
One can only guess as to what happened, but my hunch is that people conducting illegal logging in the forest, set fires to weaken the trees. Then either the fires got out of control or were just left to burn away.
Our spirits were lifted throughout the day though, as we sighted three troops of Colobus monkeys, a zanj elephant shrew and a harvey’s duiker. There were also plenty of the usual butterflies, insects and spiders around, so it appears the damage was not as catastrophic as it could have been.
We contacted the assistant warden of the Kenya Wildlife Service and the members of the community policing unit and informed them of what has happened. Let us hope that this filters through to the community, and helps to highlight the fragility and vulnerability of this small, but ecologically critical coastal forest habitat.
Tags: , Forest fire, harvey's duiker, illegal logging, slash and burn, zanj elephant shrew
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