Search

An interview with zoologist Jane Goodall is presented. When asked if natural aggression among animals explains or excuses human aggression, Ms. Goodall responds that animal aggression is much like gang warfare, it is territorial, but human aggression has become economic. They are not the same. She comments on African aid programs and why they aren't as successful as some would hope. She also speaks of her own aid program, TACARE (Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education).

This article discusses the African wildebeest, also known as Gnus, that take part in the largest mammal migration on the Serengeti plains in Tanzania, Africa. This migration is what led the British government to create the Serengeti National Park in 1951. Ecologist at the University of Columbia at Vancouver Tony Sinclair describes wildebeest as playing a crucial role in the survival of life in the Serengeti. The article also discusses the threat that wildebeest face as 20,000 of them are killed each year by poachers.

The article discusses the wolf population of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian wolf is the only species of wolf found in Africa, and is highly endangered. Most of the remaining wolves live in the Bale Mountains National Park. Though they hunt alone, Ethiopian wolves live in packs to ensure they maintain an area large enough to maintain good hunting.

Focuses on the Blue Nile, one of Africa's great rivers, and its impact on the Ethiopians, who refer to the river as Abay Wenz, meaning 'great river.' Expedition to travel the entire length of the river; How the river inspires both reverence and fear among the people who live along its banks; Stories of the Gihon, another name for the Blue Nile; History of the Nile; People met on the journey.

Covers the dwindling population of African elephants due to poaching for high-priced tusk ivory. Efforts of Richard Leakey, Director of Kenya's Wildlife Department, and others to save the beleaguered elephants; Changing attitudes; Worldwide attention to problem. INSET: Tracing the plight of Africa's elephant..

Focuses on primatologist, Jane Goodall's effort to improve the living conditions of chimpanzees in Africa. Background on the illegal capture of chimpanzee orphans in Africa; Establishment of sanctuaries in the region; Criticism over the cost of the Jane Goodall Institute's (JGI) operation; Efforts to integrated female chimpanzees into wild groups to pass on their genes and resume living freely. INSETS: Habitat report.;Sanctuary status..

Presents the short story "Africa, We Took It and Liked It," by Robert Wallace.

The article reports on a study on the genetic diversity of forest and savanna elephants in Africa conducted by an international team of scientists. They assert that African elephant conservation will benefit from dividing the elephants into two species. The study involved large amounts of nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences from one individual of each of the three existing groups. Conservation geneticist Alfred Roca notes that the genetic differences reflect the social behaviors of the animals.

The article reports on the tracing of elephant poaching hot spots in Africa. It notes that the team of Samuel Wasser, a conservation geneticist at the University of Washington, Seattle, is using confiscated ivory from an illegal shipment in Singapore coming from Malawi via Mozambique and South Africa. Through their DNA analysis, it was found out that the said shipment came from the elephants in Zambia.

The article reports that African forests elephants at the Congo Basin Region in Africa are in danger. According to a team of researchers that aims to assess the animal's population, poachers benefit from logging roads which make it easier for them to access sanctuaries of elephants. They found that elephant carcasses without tusks were found mostly near logging roads. Conservation biologist Sam Wasser asserted that the closer elephants are to roads, the more mortality they will suffer.