Happy Returns
Last night I arrived in Libreville, Gabon after 4 days of travel from Angola. To get here I spent 2 nights in Luanda, the capital of Angola, followed by 2 nights in Johannesburg, S. Africa. It always takes awhile to get anywhere in Africa. Luanda was very loud because their elections are coming up, so people drive endlessly through the streets waving flags and honking horns; there was also a DJ across the street from the hotel blasting music at obnoxious levels 24 hours a day. Joburg was cold (it's winter south of the equator now) but I stayed at a nice game lodge, saw a few interesting birds and had time to catch up on work on my computer.
I've come to Gabon to participate in strategy and planning meetings hosted by WCS for coastal ecosystems here. Hopefully these meetings will produce a unified strategy for research, training and fundraising so that researchers and managers can all work more effectively and cooperatively together. That's not to say that folks here aren't working effectively now, just that now that the national parks are 6 years old, it's time to assess how things are going and see what can be done to improve. For example, up to now fundraising for each national park has been done independently and much research done independently as well... I'm hopeful that collaborations can be strengthened to fundraise together and build upon the fieldwork collaboration for multiple species and their habitat.
The meetings will be held in Mayumba, a beautiful national park on the southern border of Gabon. This is the first place I surveyed for manatees in 2006 and I'm looking forward to getting back there.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Angola Trip #2 Wrap-up
Yesterday I left Soyo and flew to Luanda, Angola’s capital. Tomorrow I’ll fly to Gabon via Johannesburg, S. Africa (there are no direct connections between Angola & Gabon, so it’ll take a few days to get there, par for the course in Africa). Tim & Sal are in Soyo for a few more days to deploy 2 more MARUs.
Although we didn’t sight any manatees this trip, I continue to get valuable information from interviews at villages, and as I return to the same villages each time, people remember me and have information on new sightings. I also meet new people every time depending upon who is at the village rather than out fishing when I show up, which increases my pool of responses.
Collecting 101 manatee bones was definitely the work highlight of this trip for me. Joao will contact one of the deceased manatee hunter’s sons to see if we can acquire the harpoons for a cultural display at an Angolan museum. I’m thrilled that the sons are not interested in manatee hunting as a career, but I’m also worried that if the harpoons stay at N’Tutu, someone else will decide to take up the hunt. Manatee meat fetches a much higher price at market than fish. Because Mr. Domingos was the only hunter for such a large area, it would have a big impact on manatee conservation here to get these harpoons “off the street” and into a museum, where they belong.
Manatee harpoons at rest in N'Tutu... hopefully for good.
One last pic: I love this photo because it sums up my joy at finding so many manatee bones at N'Tutu (with Tim & Warren's help of course!). The man on the left was the only person around when we arrived at the village, so he showed us around and was amused at our interest in old trash bones.
I’ll probably be back to Soyo in November…
Yesterday I left Soyo and flew to Luanda, Angola’s capital. Tomorrow I’ll fly to Gabon via Johannesburg, S. Africa (there are no direct connections between Angola & Gabon, so it’ll take a few days to get there, par for the course in Africa). Tim & Sal are in Soyo for a few more days to deploy 2 more MARUs.
Although we didn’t sight any manatees this trip, I continue to get valuable information from interviews at villages, and as I return to the same villages each time, people remember me and have information on new sightings. I also meet new people every time depending upon who is at the village rather than out fishing when I show up, which increases my pool of responses.
Collecting 101 manatee bones was definitely the work highlight of this trip for me. Joao will contact one of the deceased manatee hunter’s sons to see if we can acquire the harpoons for a cultural display at an Angolan museum. I’m thrilled that the sons are not interested in manatee hunting as a career, but I’m also worried that if the harpoons stay at N’Tutu, someone else will decide to take up the hunt. Manatee meat fetches a much higher price at market than fish. Because Mr. Domingos was the only hunter for such a large area, it would have a big impact on manatee conservation here to get these harpoons “off the street” and into a museum, where they belong.
Manatee harpoons at rest in N'Tutu... hopefully for good.
One last pic: I love this photo because it sums up my joy at finding so many manatee bones at N'Tutu (with Tim & Warren's help of course!). The man on the left was the only person around when we arrived at the village, so he showed us around and was amused at our interest in old trash bones.I’ll probably be back to Soyo in November…
Outrageous Whale Day!
Another component of the whale work here is the deployment and recovery of acoustic recording devices (called Marine Autonomous Recording Units or MARUs, developed by Cornell University Ornithology Lab, Bioacoustics Research Program) to record whale song. Actually they continuously record everything 24/7 while they’re deployed, but the goal is to record whales. The devices are really cool (I wrote about the same devices being used for elephants in Gabon, see my posting from 11/2/07) but very expensive ($20,000 each, which makes $6000 manatee GPS tags seem cheap by comparison!), so Sal is understandably always a bit nervous about getting the deployments and recoveries to go off smoothly. I think this trip is the third recovery/re-deployment for this project, but it’s the first time I’ve been here to see it.
While Warren and I were busy sampling manatee bones on 8/20, Sal and Tim recovered 3 MARUs offshore where they had been deployed in the submarine canyon at the Congo River mouth. On 8/21 they spent the day downloading data that was recorded over the past couple months, then refurbishing them with new batteries and other parts to be re-deployed on 8/22.
On the morning of 8/22 we headed back offshore for the re-deployment. The ocean was almost as calm as a lake which made for a perfect day (those of you who know my susceptibility to seasickness will understand why a calm day is critical for my ability to function at sea!). Two MARUs were deployed without a hitch, and then we used the rest of our time to look for whales.
Sal can also communicate with the MARUs by sending a specific series of acoustic signals sent out from an underwater speaker he brings onboard the ship.
We hit the jackpot when we saw a humpback repeatedly breaching a couple kilometers away. Shortly after we boated near to it, it was joined by a second whale and for the next couple hours they put on a display that was the cetacean equivalent of the finale of Fourth of July fireworks! Time after time they breached, barrel-rolled and tail-slapped right in front of the boat. There was also some mating activity, but this happens mostly underwater, so we didn’t witness any whale porn. Needless to say, between Tim, Sal and I, we have well over 1000 photos. Here’s a sampling of a couple of my favs:
This whale must've tail-slapped at least 20 times in a row, while the other one barrel-rolled next to it.
This is what it looks like when 40 tons of whale goes airborne...
And this is what it looks like when that same 40 tons hits the deck!
What a great way to spend my last day at Kwanda base!
Another component of the whale work here is the deployment and recovery of acoustic recording devices (called Marine Autonomous Recording Units or MARUs, developed by Cornell University Ornithology Lab, Bioacoustics Research Program) to record whale song. Actually they continuously record everything 24/7 while they’re deployed, but the goal is to record whales. The devices are really cool (I wrote about the same devices being used for elephants in Gabon, see my posting from 11/2/07) but very expensive ($20,000 each, which makes $6000 manatee GPS tags seem cheap by comparison!), so Sal is understandably always a bit nervous about getting the deployments and recoveries to go off smoothly. I think this trip is the third recovery/re-deployment for this project, but it’s the first time I’ve been here to see it.
While Warren and I were busy sampling manatee bones on 8/20, Sal and Tim recovered 3 MARUs offshore where they had been deployed in the submarine canyon at the Congo River mouth. On 8/21 they spent the day downloading data that was recorded over the past couple months, then refurbishing them with new batteries and other parts to be re-deployed on 8/22.
Here's Sal working on one of the MARUs. The equipment is housed in a very thick glass sphere to withstand pressure at over 100m depth. When deployed, the entire unit is also covered with a heavy yellow plastic housing.
On the morning of 8/22 we headed back offshore for the re-deployment. The ocean was almost as calm as a lake which made for a perfect day (those of you who know my susceptibility to seasickness will understand why a calm day is critical for my ability to function at sea!). Two MARUs were deployed without a hitch, and then we used the rest of our time to look for whales.Tim and Warren get ready to help deploy. Each MARU is tethered to an anchor which keeps it on the sea floor for the duration of the deployment. The tether contains a burn cable and the unit is programmed to burn through the cable at a pre-determined time, so the MARU can pop back up to the surface for data recovery.
We hit the jackpot when we saw a humpback repeatedly breaching a couple kilometers away. Shortly after we boated near to it, it was joined by a second whale and for the next couple hours they put on a display that was the cetacean equivalent of the finale of Fourth of July fireworks! Time after time they breached, barrel-rolled and tail-slapped right in front of the boat. There was also some mating activity, but this happens mostly underwater, so we didn’t witness any whale porn. Needless to say, between Tim, Sal and I, we have well over 1000 photos. Here’s a sampling of a couple of my favs:Rocketing skyward out of the water
This is what it looks like when 40 tons of whale goes airborne...And this is what it looks like when that same 40 tons hits the deck!What a great way to spend my last day at Kwanda base!
Last Peninsula trip, for now
On Thursday afternoon Joao and I boated back over to the Sereia peninsula to do a few more interviews at villages. We took along Mendez and Gisela, the Angolan students, and showed them the habitat around Pululu Channel (which is more like a small lagoon than a channel) and another gorgeous channel where there are enormous mangrove trees. Mendez told me there are 3 species of mangrove in Angola, 2 that are saltwater and one that can live in freshwater. We interviewed the soba (chief) at Pululu village who gave us another report of seeing manatees in the area as frequently as several times a month, but he said there were more in the area in a long time ago.
This man collecting firewood and his canoe gives some perspective to show just how gigantic the mangroves are.
We also saw a group of Moustached Guenons as we toured the mangroves. They were pretty curious and this one came down to eye level to check us out. A few minutes later they evaporated into the forest. 
We also stopped at a village called Moita Seca II at the end of a large channel (I hadn’t been there yet) and spoke to a man who said manatees rarely come there now, but he had seen one this past June and he pointed out a small river nearby where they were sighted more frequently. The river has a lot of fallen logs, so only non-motorized boats can navigate it. He also proudly told us that the manatee hunter had come by there a few years ago, and their village told him to go away because they didn’t want him to kill their manatees. This was not altruism towards the manatees, but rather the village felt the manatees were theirs and if anyone was going to kill them, it should be them. However, they didn’t hunt manatees, so it was actually a form of protection. The man also told us they knew manatees only had one calf every year or two. When I asked him how he knew this, he said that many years ago a pregnant female had been killed at Pululu (several villages away) and they had seen that it had only one large fetus. They assumed that like other large animals they know (hippos, etc.) manatees must reproduce slowly.
A Fiddler Crab waving his claw
A Common Whimbrel enjoys solitude on a mudflat in Pululu Channel
On Thursday afternoon Joao and I boated back over to the Sereia peninsula to do a few more interviews at villages. We took along Mendez and Gisela, the Angolan students, and showed them the habitat around Pululu Channel (which is more like a small lagoon than a channel) and another gorgeous channel where there are enormous mangrove trees. Mendez told me there are 3 species of mangrove in Angola, 2 that are saltwater and one that can live in freshwater. We interviewed the soba (chief) at Pululu village who gave us another report of seeing manatees in the area as frequently as several times a month, but he said there were more in the area in a long time ago.
Gisela and Mendez as we head out on the Pululu Channel.
This man collecting firewood and his canoe gives some perspective to show just how gigantic the mangroves are. We also saw a group of Moustached Guenons as we toured the mangroves. They were pretty curious and this one came down to eye level to check us out. A few minutes later they evaporated into the forest. This tiny nest (about the size of the palm of my hand) hangs out over the water and is made by a flycatcher (sorry bird friends, I still need to figure out the species). We peeked inside and saw 2 tiny eggs about as big as the tip of my pinky finger.
We also stopped at a village called Moita Seca II at the end of a large channel (I hadn’t been there yet) and spoke to a man who said manatees rarely come there now, but he had seen one this past June and he pointed out a small river nearby where they were sighted more frequently. The river has a lot of fallen logs, so only non-motorized boats can navigate it. He also proudly told us that the manatee hunter had come by there a few years ago, and their village told him to go away because they didn’t want him to kill their manatees. This was not altruism towards the manatees, but rather the village felt the manatees were theirs and if anyone was going to kill them, it should be them. However, they didn’t hunt manatees, so it was actually a form of protection. The man also told us they knew manatees only had one calf every year or two. When I asked him how he knew this, he said that many years ago a pregnant female had been killed at Pululu (several villages away) and they had seen that it had only one large fetus. They assumed that like other large animals they know (hippos, etc.) manatees must reproduce slowly.A Fiddler Crab waving his claw
A Common Whimbrel enjoys solitude on a mudflat in Pululu Channel
The Bone Collectors
The day after our incredible find and collection of manatee bones at N’Tutu, Warren and I documented and sampled each one back at base. We were assisted by Gisela, an Angolan biology student who, along with a recent graduate named Mendez, came to Soyo as part of an agreement with the Angolan government to see our marine mammal research here firsthand. It was a great opportunity to share what we are doing with Angolans and also to learn from them about Angola.
Each bone was labeled with a unique ID number, photographed with a measuring tape to document its size, and entered into a database that describes basic information such as the type of bone (rib, sternum, etc.). Warren got a hacksaw and a vice, and we went to work cutting samples from each bone, recording its ID and individually packaging each one. Between each sample the hacksaw blade was washed with bleach to avoid contaminating different samples. Huge thanks to Bob Bonde and Ginger of UF, who emailed me fantastic advice about where to sample each type of bone in order to have the best possibility of getting good DNA for genetics. Some bones were pretty deteriorated from being partially buried in the mangroves or just old and weathered, but hopefully most will yield useable DNA. Warren deserves a very special gold star for cutting the vast majority of bones- I really appreciated the help and enthusiasm. The process took us all day, 2 hacksaw blades and a lot of plastic cling wrap. Now the samples are stored at Soyo until we can get an export permit to ship them to the USA for analysis at UF (this will be part of my PhD research).
Hacksawing through a jawbone. We tried to keep the best-preserved bones as intact as possible.
Warren saws as Gisela and I package and label cut samples.
Warren shows off the days work... a bag full of individual samples and some of the original bones.
The day after our incredible find and collection of manatee bones at N’Tutu, Warren and I documented and sampled each one back at base. We were assisted by Gisela, an Angolan biology student who, along with a recent graduate named Mendez, came to Soyo as part of an agreement with the Angolan government to see our marine mammal research here firsthand. It was a great opportunity to share what we are doing with Angolans and also to learn from them about Angola.
Each bone was labeled with a unique ID number, photographed with a measuring tape to document its size, and entered into a database that describes basic information such as the type of bone (rib, sternum, etc.). Warren got a hacksaw and a vice, and we went to work cutting samples from each bone, recording its ID and individually packaging each one. Between each sample the hacksaw blade was washed with bleach to avoid contaminating different samples. Huge thanks to Bob Bonde and Ginger of UF, who emailed me fantastic advice about where to sample each type of bone in order to have the best possibility of getting good DNA for genetics. Some bones were pretty deteriorated from being partially buried in the mangroves or just old and weathered, but hopefully most will yield useable DNA. Warren deserves a very special gold star for cutting the vast majority of bones- I really appreciated the help and enthusiasm. The process took us all day, 2 hacksaw blades and a lot of plastic cling wrap. Now the samples are stored at Soyo until we can get an export permit to ship them to the USA for analysis at UF (this will be part of my PhD research).
Hacksawing through a jawbone. We tried to keep the best-preserved bones as intact as possible.
Warren saws as Gisela and I package and label cut samples. Warren shows off the days work... a bag full of individual samples and some of the original bones.
Whale Days
Manatee work in Angola is part of a larger project here that also includes cetacean and sea turtle research. On this trip Tim and our other collaborator Sal (who arrived last Tuesday) are doing cetacean work, and since most of my background with whales and dolphins has been stranding work (dead and injured), it’s been nice to have some opportunities to see happy, healthy whales that are not in distress. (How do I know the whales are happy? Most of what we see here is mating activity, so I’m assuming this makes them happy!)
Going out in the ocean also gives me the opportunity to see the nearshore and offshore habitat. It’s unknown how frequently African manatees go out into the sea; clearly they did at some point in order to disperse along most of the west coast of Africa, but other than reports of manatees seen traveling offshore in Ghana (Buddy Powell, personal communication) and in the Bijalos Archipelago off Guinea-Bissau, there seem to be no other reports of manatees sighted in the ocean (if anyone knows of any others, I’d be very interested to hear about them). I’d expect them to stay close to shore since there’s very little seagrass (and none where there’s rough surf) so they would primarily use the ocean to travel from one river or lagoon system to another. In both Angola and Gabon the surf is almost always intense, so even if they’re there they may not be seen. Fishermen in Angola laugh when asked if they ever see manatees in the ocean- they assume I’m making a joke.
Last week Tim and I went out to do a dolphin survey just off the Sereia peninsula. We started transects down the peninsula, but after we rounded a point on the coast the swell became too strong, so the chance of being able to sight dolphins was severely reduced and we had to stop the survey. Luckily we then spotted some humpback whales close to shore and were able to document them. Tim IDs these whales primarily through photos of markings on dorsal fins and flukes, and it’ll be very cool if he can match any sighted here to animals recorded in other parts of the Gulf of Guinea. Or if there’s no previous record, he’ll be able to create a new one, which also gives great information about whales here, where almost no one has studied marine mammals before.
Manatee work in Angola is part of a larger project here that also includes cetacean and sea turtle research. On this trip Tim and our other collaborator Sal (who arrived last Tuesday) are doing cetacean work, and since most of my background with whales and dolphins has been stranding work (dead and injured), it’s been nice to have some opportunities to see happy, healthy whales that are not in distress. (How do I know the whales are happy? Most of what we see here is mating activity, so I’m assuming this makes them happy!)
Going out in the ocean also gives me the opportunity to see the nearshore and offshore habitat. It’s unknown how frequently African manatees go out into the sea; clearly they did at some point in order to disperse along most of the west coast of Africa, but other than reports of manatees seen traveling offshore in Ghana (Buddy Powell, personal communication) and in the Bijalos Archipelago off Guinea-Bissau, there seem to be no other reports of manatees sighted in the ocean (if anyone knows of any others, I’d be very interested to hear about them). I’d expect them to stay close to shore since there’s very little seagrass (and none where there’s rough surf) so they would primarily use the ocean to travel from one river or lagoon system to another. In both Angola and Gabon the surf is almost always intense, so even if they’re there they may not be seen. Fishermen in Angola laugh when asked if they ever see manatees in the ocean- they assume I’m making a joke.
A view of the shore from the boat. I thought the symmetry of the wave and the treeline was cool.
Fishermen off the Sereia Lighthouse
Last week Tim and I went out to do a dolphin survey just off the Sereia peninsula. We started transects down the peninsula, but after we rounded a point on the coast the swell became too strong, so the chance of being able to sight dolphins was severely reduced and we had to stop the survey. Luckily we then spotted some humpback whales close to shore and were able to document them. Tim IDs these whales primarily through photos of markings on dorsal fins and flukes, and it’ll be very cool if he can match any sighted here to animals recorded in other parts of the Gulf of Guinea. Or if there’s no previous record, he’ll be able to create a new one, which also gives great information about whales here, where almost no one has studied marine mammals before.We saw about 10 dolphins following a humpback whale. They came by the boat quickly and kept going, so we only got a brief look at them, but they were likely Bottlenose.
Two humpbacks we were able to photograph for about an hour.
You can see how close we were to the peninsula in this shot.
Two humpbacks we were able to photograph for about an hour. You can see how close we were to the peninsula in this shot.Thursday, August 21, 2008
More images from Congo River surveys
Mudskipper, a fish that comes up on mud banks to search for food. The way this guy walked around on his fins reminded me of a Dr. Seuss character!
A spectacular lavender-pink ground orchid. We saw them growing wild in several places and the flower stalk was as tall as I am.
I'm holding a Spotted (or Variable) Bush Snake. It was found on the base where we stay and Warren was relocating it to better habitat so he let it go after we took a few photos. It was a gorgeous little snake with bright blue turquiose flecks and it's one of the few here that isn't venomous. 
Clam divers at Nzadi Caca. These guys free dive 10m deep, bring up armfuls of clams and dump them in their pieroges until the boats are full. They have seen manatees eating clams, but only small or rotten ones.
Catch of the day at Kibaka. We see a huge variety of fish species in villages here.
Tim took this photo with my camera. Children here always love to have their picture taken, but I think this shot is especially beautiful.
At first we couldn't figure out why all the mangroves along the edge of this channel were dead. Then we saw the man with the canoe collecting wood to make charcoal and realized he had girdled the trees to kill them so the wood would dry out before he collected it.
Home-made sailboats heading up the Congo River in the late afternoon sun. 
While waiting quietly for manatees or stopping in at villages to talk to people about them, we have plenty of time to see lots of other interesting things on the river...
Broad-billed Roller
Mudskipper, a fish that comes up on mud banks to search for food. The way this guy walked around on his fins reminded me of a Dr. Seuss character! A spectacular lavender-pink ground orchid. We saw them growing wild in several places and the flower stalk was as tall as I am.I'm holding a Spotted (or Variable) Bush Snake. It was found on the base where we stay and Warren was relocating it to better habitat so he let it go after we took a few photos. It was a gorgeous little snake with bright blue turquiose flecks and it's one of the few here that isn't venomous. Clam divers at Nzadi Caca. These guys free dive 10m deep, bring up armfuls of clams and dump them in their pieroges until the boats are full. They have seen manatees eating clams, but only small or rotten ones. Catch of the day at Kibaka. We see a huge variety of fish species in villages here. Tim took this photo with my camera. Children here always love to have their picture taken, but I think this shot is especially beautiful. At first we couldn't figure out why all the mangroves along the edge of this channel were dead. Then we saw the man with the canoe collecting wood to make charcoal and realized he had girdled the trees to kill them so the wood would dry out before he collected it. Home-made sailboats heading up the Congo River in the late afternoon sun.
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