Vol. 15 - Deutsches Primatenzentrum

Lemur News Vol. 15, 2010 Page 11
conservation NGOs.While other potential P.simus sites still
need to be explored, results from the most recent surveys
suggest the total estimated size of the known population is
between 221-346 individuals. Another 20 individuals are
housed in one Malagasy (Parc Ivoloina Zoo) and several European
zoos and and managed under the umbrella of an EEP.
The following recommendations for the conservation of P.
simus came out of the meeting:
We need to achieve official/formal protection for all currently
known P. simus habitat (using whatever status is appropriate
to the site);
Animals of the northern and southern populations (wild
or captive) should not be mixed until the taxonomic situation
is clarified;
Faecal samples should be collected from all sites using a
standard protocol (meeting participants agree to collaborate
to achieve this);
When animals are caught/immobilised the opportunity
should be used to maximise the collection of samples;
Bamboo plot data should be collected from all sites using
a standard protocol (meeting participants agree to collaborate
to achieve this);
A health screening protocol should be applied whenever
the opportunity arises;
Sites in the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor (CAZ) recently
shown to harbour P. simus should be evaluated by
2011 at the latest to assess population size;
Maromiza and Lakato need to be evaluated for the presence
of P. simus, and protected to ensure connectivity;
We agree that assuring connectivity between Torotorofotsy
and CAZ is a high priority,and that the area needs an
integrated conservation plan involving all stakeholders –
CI to drive the process under supervision of the Alaotra-
Mangoro Forestry Commission;
It is important to make P. simus a priority (conservation
target) for the CAZ;
Improved communication using a mailing list will be established,
the "Prolemur Conservation Working Group";
There are other sites that need to be surveyed for P.simus
(a list of sites has already been identified);
Maximising connectivity between P. simus sites is important;
Local communities should be directly involved in P. simus
conservation wherever possible;
In case of a crisis scenario involving potential translocation,
a technical strategy is needed consistent with IUCN
guidelines;
The EEP-Ivoloina exchange of P. simus is important to
strengthen the global captive population;
For the time being,it is not recommended that additional
wild P. simus be added to the global captive programme,
except in emergency;
In the case of emergency, we recommend that animals go
to PBZT if upgraded facilities have been installed; if not
then they should go to Ivoloina;
Based on the development of the global captive programme,
integrated (metapopulation) management of P. simus
should be considered;
Another technical meeting should be held in January
2011.
The workshop was financially and technically supported by
the Madagascar Fauna Group with additional contributions
from Conservation International Madagascar.
Lemur presentations at the 23rd Congress
of the International Primatological
Society, Kyoto, Japan
Jonah Ratsimbazafy
GERP, 34, Cité des Professeurs, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar,
gerp@wanadoo.mg
The 23rd Congress of the International Primatological Society
(IPS) was held in Kyoto (Yoshida Main Campus),Japan on
12th-18th September, 2010. This congress brought together
more than 1,000 delegates from 56 countries. Twenty-eight
talks and three posters were presented on lemur studies
during that congress.
I am also pleased to share with you the good news that the
winner of the 2010 IPS Lifetime Award is Professor Alison
Jolly who is an active member of GERP (Groupe d’Etude et
de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar). The lemur
lady,Prof.Jolly,has devoted her life to the conservation of the
world’s primates. Education is one of the main activities that
she never stops to discuss,as she found that the only chance
to save the endangered lemurs of Madagascar is to provide
the Malagasy children with tools enabling them to learn and
love the creatures that exist in their backyards.
I hope that even more lemur researchers will present the
results of their work at the 24th IPS Congress in Mexico.
Short Communications
Preliminary conservation status assessment
for the Data Deficient northern
giant mouse lemur Mirza zaza
Eva Johanna Rode 1,2, K. Anne-Isola Nekaris 2, Christoph
Schwitzer 1*
1Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation, c/o Bristol
Zoo Gardens, Clifton, Bristol BS8 3HA, UK
2Nocturnal Primate Research Group, School of Social Sciences
and Law, Oxford Brookes University, OX3 0BP, UK
*Corresponding author: cschwitzer@bcsf.org.uk
Madagascar is one of the world’s most important biodiversity
hotspots, underpinned by its large proportion of endemic
species and high rates of deforestation.During the last
decade, species diversity of Madagascar’s endemic lemurs
has increased dramatically due to new discoveries and taxonomic
revisions. This has resulted in the unusual situation of
45 % of all Malagasy primate species being Red-Listed as Data
Deficient (DD) by the IUCN. This is by far the highest such
figure for any primate habitat country (by comparison, 13 %
of all primates and 15 % of all mammals are Red-Listed as
DD).The lack of species-specific knowledge makes it impossible
to design effective conservation measures targeting
these taxa. To help assign a conservation status to the DD
northern giant mouse lemur Mirza zaza, described in 2005
due to distinctive features in morphology, behaviour and
genetics (Kappeler et al., 2005; Primate Report, 71, 3-26), we
examined space requirements and group size of this small
nocturnal lemur species during a three-month study (May-
July 2010) and extrapolated our results to the taxon’s area of