It's been a busy day so I'm a bit late getting to #WildlifeWins this #Sunday but here it is...

This week's good #news comes from #Bangladesh were there's been a record breaking year for the Ridley #Turtle.

After extensive conservation efforts, NACOM have found over 7500 eggs across 58 locations on three different islands. This represents a 30% increase on those found in 2022.

The Ridley Turtle is considered vulnerable on the IUCN Red List so such conservation efforts are extremely important.

More information on the conservation efforts and challenges can be read here: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/record-year-for-olive-ridley-turtles-in-bangladesh-as-conservation-work-pays-off/ but what a wonderful news story this is to end the week with!

Happy Sunday all!

#Turtles #Conservation #news #goodnews #happy #happynews #positivity #hope

Happy #WildlifeWins Day aka #Sunday!!

I’m sharing a bouncing story today from #Australia where a reintroduction programme has successfully seen the return of the #Bettong - a marsupial that resembles a mini #kangaroo.

With numbers reaching the millions prior to European colonisation, there’s now only roughly 12000-18000 bettong left in Australia - limited to islands and protected enclosures.

The good news is that in the last few years, 120 bettongs have been released into the wild in South Australia and indicators so far suggest it’s been successful.

The small creatures are very important for ecosystems as they dig tonnes of soil which helps create smaller environments for other species to thrive. Let’s hope the positive start continues!!

#conservation #conversationnews #goodnews #sundayfunday #animals #news

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-mini-kangaroos-south-australia.html

The next round of #WildlifeWins features something that we can often overlook - the humble #snail 🐌

In this particular case, it’s the Partula snail, which was once extinct-in-the-wild because the giant African land snail and rosy wolf snail ate it out of existence after being introduced by humans to the French Polynesian islands around 30 years ago.

However since then, conservationists from the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and Saint Louis Zoo, US have been slowly reintroducing them into the wild.

In April, this included the largest ever release of extinct-in-the-wild species where 5522 Partula #snails were released in #Moorea and #Tahiti.

The snails are important culturally and ecologically and have a significant role in maintaining the health of the #forest.

This is yet another inspiring story that shows that however bleak things may be (extinct-in-the-wild in this case) there is always #hope for things improving!

#conservation #wildlife #nature #news #environment

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/extinct-snails-return-to-tahiti-in-largest-wildlife-reintroduction-ever/

For this week’s #WildlifeWins series we are heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo where camera trap images have captured photos of two mother-infant pairs of eastern lowland gorillas.

The eastern lowland #gorilla is critically endangered, with estimates putting their population at only 6,800. This is predominantly due to hunting, habitat loss through deforestation, and ongoing civil unrest that has led to illegal mining activities.

The inspiring images were captured at the Tanya Nature Reserve - a community-managed reserve where the local community are integral in all monitoring efforts, alongside the NGO: Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) who operate the world’s only sanctuary for rescued eastern lowland gorillas.

I hope the images bring you as much joy as they did to me!! Well done to all of those involved 🙌

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/camera-trap-photos-of-rare-gorillas-with-infants-bring-hope-in-the-drc/

#nature #conservation #Sunday #GoodNews #Africa #DRC #Wildlife

Good afternoon everyone 😊 As well as sharing my #wildlife photos on this account I wanted to also share wildlife success stories each week. They may be related to conservation or rewilding or simply a positive nature story but the aim is to share stories that highlight something hopeful from the world of #nature each week.

My plan is to do this every Sunday under the hashtag #WildlifeWins.

To get things started, I’m sharing a wonderful #conservation story from the UK about the endangered Bittern - a member of the Heron family and Britain’s loudest bird. Bitterns were once found all over the UK and are known for their booming bird call but became locally extinct in the 1870s. In 1900, they returned from Europe but habitat degradation meant that by 1997 there were only 11 males left.

Since then a dedicated effort to restore the Bittern’s natural habitats - wetlands - has occurred. This included rejuvenating existing wetland sites and creating new ones that are now thriving. In total, nearly 3000 hectares of habitat has been created.

This hard work has paid off with 228 males being counted for in the last breeding season! It’s an exceptional turn around and one that will also benefit other species who rely on wetlands for their survival.

More information can be found here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/bitterns-are-booming-back-up-north/

#birds #birding #news