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Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary
The Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary is an animal sanctuary founded in 1984, in Western Mauritius. It is an area closed off to the public, in the Black River Gorge region, which is densely forested, and is used for breeding rare, endemic Mauritian species. Among the endangered species in the sanctuary is the Mauritius kestrel, once the rarest bird in the world with only 4 members left. It has been successfully bred and the population has now reached the capacity of Mauritius. The sanctuary is named after naturalist Gerald Durrell, who was associated with Mauritius' conservation movement from its inception in the 1970s, and who adopted the extinct Mauritian dodo as the logo for his ''Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust'', now Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction. Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Agaléga and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Réunion (a French overseas department), are part of the Mascarene Islands. The main island of Mauritius, where most of the population is concentrated, hosts the capital and largest city, Port Louis. The country spans and has an exclusive economic zone covering . Arab sailors were the first to discover the uninhabited island, around 975, and they called it ''Dina Arobi''. The earliest discovery was in 1507 by Portuguese sailors, who otherwise took little interest in the islands. The Dutch took possession in 1598, establishing a succession of short-lived settlements over a peri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black River District, Mauritius
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus Age of Enlightenment, and night versus day. Since the Middle Ages, black has been the symbolic color of solemnity and authority, and for this reason it is still commonly worn by judges and magistrates. Black was one of the first colors used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings. It was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as the color of the underworld. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches, and magic. In the 14th century, it was worn by royalty, clergy, judges, and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamarel
Chamarel is a village in Mauritius located in Rivière Noire District, the eastern part of the village also lies in the Savanne District. The village is administered by the Chamarel Village Council under the aegis of the Rivière Noire District Council. Today it is primarily known for its scenic locations and nature attractions in its neighbourhood, among them are the Seven Coloured Earths, the Chamarel Falls, Ebony Forest Chamarel and the Black River Gorges National Park. The surrounding area is also known for its locally grown coffee. Chamerel's church Saint Anna was built is 1876 and is subject to a pilgrimage on the Assumption of Mary (August 15), during which the village hosts a fair associated with the pilgrimage as well.Wolfgang Därr: ''Mauritius''. DuMont Reiseverlag 2010, , p. 192 (German)Rosabelle Boswell: ''Challenges to identifying and managing intangible cultural heritage in Mauritius, Zanzibar and Seychelles''. African Book Collective 2008, , p. 45–4 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauritian Wildlife Foundation
The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit conservation agency working in Mauritius to save threatened endemic local flora and fauna. History The Mauritian Wildlife Appeal Fund was established in 1984 under the initiative of naturalist Gerald Durrell and the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust principally to raise funds for the conservation of endemic Mauritius wildlife. The conservation work in Mauritius began as a species orientated program concentrating on a few critically endangered species, including the Mauritius kestrel and the pink pigeon. The initiation of the conservation program in 1976 was popularized by Gerald Durrell in his book ''Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons''. In 1996, the organization expanded its operations to habitat restoration, including the management of native forests and small islands. The evolution of MWF from a funding and administration organization to that of a hands-on conservation agency was reflected i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Sanctuary
An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and to be protected for the rest of their lives. Pattrice Jones, co-founder of VINE Sanctuary defines an animal sanctuary as "a safe-enough place or relationship within the continuing hazards that menace everybody". In addition, sanctuaries are an experimental staging ground for transformative human–animal relations. There are five types of animal sanctuaries reflective of the species-belonging of the residents: 1) companion animal sanctuaries; 2) wildlife sanctuaries; 3) exotic animal sanctuaries; 4) farmed animal sanctuaries; and 5) cetacean sanctuaries. Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining each animal until their natural death (either from disease or from other animals in the sanctuary). However, they can offer rehoming services. In some cases, an establishment may have characteristics of both a sanctuary and a shelter; for instanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean Kestrels
Isolated on various islands around the Indian Ocean, kestrel populations evolved into different species, like Darwin's finches. Behaviour remains similar to other small species of ''Falco'' (such as the common kestrel, ''Falco tinnunculus'') except on (originally) forested Mauritius where kestrels hunt arboreally more like hawks. Due to the scarcity of mammals on oceanic islands, several species have adopted a diet containing many ''Phelsuma'' and other geckos. The species can be distinguished by coloration, but all except the banded kestrel share rich brown wings with black spotting. Sexes are alike in color except in the spotted kestrel, where differences are minor. As usual in birds of prey, females are larger than males; considerably so in some of these species as this assists resource partitioning. Species Two subspecies of Malagasy kestrel, ''F. newtoni'', are recognised, one on the main island of Madagascar and one on neighbouring Anjouan and Aldabra. It has adapted to hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Durrell
Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959. He wrote approximately forty books, mainly about his life as an animal collector and enthusiast, the most famous being '' My Family and Other Animals'' (1956). Those memoirs of his family's years living in Greece were adapted into two television series ('' My Family and Other Animals'', 1987, and '' The Durrells'', 2016–2019) and one television film ('' My Family and Other Animals'', 2005). He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell. Early life and education Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, British India, on 7 January 1925. He was the fifth and youngest child (an elder sister having died in infancy) of Louisa Florence Dixie and Lawrence Samuel Durrell, both of whom were born in India of English and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodo
The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. The two formed the subfamily Raphinae, a clade of extinct flightless birds that were a part of the family which includes pigeons and doves. The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon. A white dodo was once thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion, but it is now believed that this assumption was merely confusion based on the also-extinct Réunion ibis and paintings of white dodos. Subfossil remains show the dodo was about tall and may have weighed in the wild. The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century. Since these portraits vary considerably, and since only some of the illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction. Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in 1963 with the dodo as its symbol. The trust was renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in its founder's honor on 26 March 1999. Its patron is Princess Anne, the Princess Royal. Its headquarters are at Les Augrès Manor on the isle of Jersey in the English Channel. The grounds of Les Augrès Manor form the Durrell Wildlife Park, which was originally established by Gerald Durrell in 1959 as a sanctuary and breeding center for endangered species. The zoological park was known as the ''Jersey Zoo'' at that time. As of 2016, the zoo was home to more than one hundred species of reptiles, birds and mammals, many of which are designated as endangered in the wild. Despite strong resistance to his ideas from much of the zoological community, in 1959 Gerald Durrell succeede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildlife Sanctuaries Of Africa
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted for sport. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, plains, grasslands, woodlands, forests, and other areas, including the most developed urban areas, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by human activities. Some wildlife threaten human safety, health, property, and quality of life. However, many wild animals, even the dangerous ones, have value to human beings. This value might be economic, educational, or emotional in nature. Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways, including the legal, social, and moral senses. Some animals, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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