The Last Survivors

I am convinced that time is speeding up; the last few weeks have absolutely flown by. Our main focus since our last blog has been field work. The whole team has been working flat out. Pedro Martinez and the rest of the “Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola” (SOH; Hispaniolan Ornithological Society) team have completed surveys across two National Parks (“Loma Quita Espuela” and “Guaconejo”) in the northern part of the country – all thanks to the funding provided by the BBC Wildlife Fund. The end is in sight with the last few surveys in “Los Haitises” National Park which is proving to be really hard going – see the photos on our facebook group for evidence of this. The team in the north is about to be joined by a local MSc student (Claudia Llibre) who will be carrying out social surveys along with the SOH team to establish peoples perception of both species so that this can shape and direct our educational campaign in the area.

Jose Ramon Espinal giving a village talk at Nalga de Maco (Photo: Joe Nunez)

My role, along with Jose Ramon Espinal (SOH), has been to travel the length and breadth of the Dominican Republic to see if the distribution maps we have developed actually reflect what we are finding on the ground. We can report that although we have uncovered populations of solenodon and hutia in some places, it has not been everywhere – our maps on the whole appear to be quite reliable although we still need to continue working on this. Sadly, some places are still being deforested but on a happier note, there are some remaining large areas of forest where solenodon and hutia are holding out. Let’s hope we can encourage more people to value and preserve these magnificent forests for the sake of solenodon and hutia as well as all the other species that depend on them.

Forest next to agriculture (left) and slash & burn (right) (Photo: Joe Nunez) CLICK TO ENLARGE

Ros Kennerley and the SOH team based in the west have finished the radio tracking of solenodons and the first ever GPS tracking of a hutia (which happened to be an albino individual). These initial results have provided us with a very powerful visual tool for demonstrating the hutias utter dependence on forested areas. The 3D image shows you the daily movements (different colours) of the white hutia in a forest fragment with a village in the far background.

White hutia and its nightly travels within a forest fragment (Photo: Ros Kennerley) CLICK TO ENLARGE

Ros will be moving to a new field site over the next couple of weeks to see if solenodon in other kind of forests are using the same size of areas and carrying out similar nightly journeys to the ones in the area where she has been. Ros and the rest of the SOH field team really are unravelling the secret lives of these unique species.

Pedro is leaving us for three months as he is attending the “Durrell Endangered Species Management Graduate Certificate” at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey. He will be sorely missed. We plan to continue with the field work and we will be increasing our efforts on the educational and awareness raising front in addition to training more individuals on how to find the signs that solenodon and hutia leave. Ultimately we need to continue to engage and encourage as many people and organisations on the island as possible to contribute towards the conservation of these truly remarkable species in order to design an effective species conservation action plan.

I think we will have even more exciting news and developments in February and you can get more regular updates about these from our Twitter feed or just keep watching this space.

As we approach the end of 2011 its time to once again reflect on the year and look forward to the year ahead. This year really has really been quite amazingly productive despite some of challenges that we have faced. Our success has primarily come about through the increasing number of individuals that have been involved in the project at different stages throughout the year. We have had a large team involved in the field work: Pedro Martinez, Ros Kennerley, Nicolas Corona, Jose Ramon “Moncho” Espinal, Sarah Hoy, Rocio Pozo, “Yeyo” Dionis Espinal, Yimel Corona, Anderson Jean, Enold Louis Jean, Timoteo Bueno and Jose Rafael de la Cruz. Huge thanks has got to go out to all of them, they have all contributed to our increasing knowledge of solenodon and hutia on the island of Hispaniola. The management team Dr Richard Young (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), Jorge Brocca (Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola), Dr Sam Turvey (Zoological Society of London/EDGE) and Dr Patricia Toribio (Dominican Republic National Zoo) also deserve special thanks for their leadership of the project. Several other organisations have also provided us with a lot of help throughout the year (see supporting organisations) but particular thanks has got to go to the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation and to the BBC Wildlife Fund whose backing this year has been absolutely crucial to the successes we have had.

Part of the field team photographed earlier this year (Photo: Rocio Pozo)

As I type this (19th of December), the field work has not yet ended. A team from the Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola (SOH) led by Pedro Martinez is still out in the field surveying areas in the national park “Loma Quita Espuela” and I have recently returned from carrying out surveys with more of the SOH team both within and outside National Parks in the north of the Dominican Republic. Our teams are becoming increasingly independent not just in terms of planning and carrying out scientific surveys but also in terms of educating the general public and making more people aware of the importance of conserving these two unique mammal species. I am particularly proud of this achievement and we will be able to build on this by increasing the use we make of the infomercial films created in conjunction with Funk Productions for the project. One of the infomercials has already proven to be quite a hit on YouTube with more than 1400 views since it was posted at the beginning of September.

Jose Ramon "Moncho" Espinal carrying out educational work with community members (Photo: Joe Nunez)

The year ahead is sure to be full of many new challenges as we strive to secure the project for the long term by sharing what we have learnt here as widely as possible. The conservation of solenodon and hutia both in Hispaniola and across the Caribbean will undoubtedly rely on furthering broadscale cooperation and collaborations. We will continue to rely on the assistance of all the people and organisations who have supported and collaborated with our work so far, which includes you of course.

Seasons greetings from the last survivors team

It just remains for me to wish you all a very happy holiday season and all the best for 2012. With your continued support and encouragement I am sure we can continue to improve the chances of maintaining the last survivor mammal species of the Caribbean.

Where have the last two months gone? They seem to have flown past and the lead up to Christmas is upon us. We have, as always, been very busy on all fronts over the last couple of months.

On the educational front we have had the first showings of the project infomercials (kids version in Spanish and full version in Spanish) at two very different schools – over 700 students in all have now seen them. The first showing was as at a remote rural school in Los Limones village near Los Haitises National Park. This did not simply serve to educate and inform local students about solenodon and hutia but was also an opportunity to train and empower Timoteo and Rafael (our two research assistants sponsored by the BBC Wildlife Fund) on their presentation skills. The aim is that they will take on educational campaigns of their own in the very near future. The village kids loved the infomercials and enjoyed finding out about solenodon and hutia – unfortunately many saw these species as damaging to crops but hopefully we have managed to change that perception.

Students at Los Limones School watching the project Infomercial (Photo: Pedro Martinez)

Pedro Martinez (SOH) introducing students to the endemic solenodon (Photo: Joe Nunez)

We were very honoured to be invited back to the Punta Cana International School where we gave presentations last year and where we gave our second showing of the project infomercials (Spanish version and English version). Many, although not all, of the students there were already aware of the species we work on as well as our work trying to study and conserve them so the focus was more on updating them on our findings. We were bombarded with questions which was a great reflection on the level of interest that students had. Amity Beane, a teacher at the school, arranged for feedback from the students and my favourite answer to the question “What was the most interesting part about yesterday’s presentation?” was “What we liked the most was that many people don’t even know that they existed and how they studied them”. As we step up our educational campaign and distribute the infomercial films more widely we want more people to know about these unique species as well as how we study them.

Punta Cana International School students (Photo: Amity Beane)

On the research front, we were very happy to welcome back Ros Kennerley who has been working really hard to get more data on solenodon night time travels although she has been hampered by loads of rain. Things should speed up now that the dry season is here. We have also continued our work in Los Haitises National Park where Pedro Martinez has been leading the “Sociedad de la Hispaniola” team. We have carried out several expeditions to survey remote bits of this amazing park. During these expeditions we do searches for signs of solenodon and hutia but also carry out interviews with community members to assess people’s knowledge and perception of the species too. Although we have found evidence of solenodon and hutia in some places in Los Haitises, we have also, sadly, found lots of areas that are being deforested, very often by burning. On the brighter side and thanks to camera traps purchased with funds from the BBC Wildlife Fund, we now have the first video footage of hutia from Los Haitises. You can see the footage on our twitter feed or facebook page.

Pedro, Rafael and Timoteo (SOH) carrying out community interviews in Los Haitises (Photo: Joe Nunez)

Burnt down forest in Los Haitises National Park (Photo: Joe Nunez)

Over the coming months we will be using all the information that we have gathered to make sure that future conservation plans will be as well informed as possible about what we need to do to ensure the survival of solenodon and hutia well into the future. This means that we will have to use some of our efforts to analyse all the data but this will not put a stop to the work in the field since all our team members are now increasingly independent.

The next phase will be absolutely critical to the success of the project in the long term. We need to build on the collaborations we have formed already and form some new ones in order to ensure that the future of solenodon and hutia is secured. Luckily, there are many people who have expressed a willingness to help and contribute in this cause which is very encouraging. I hope I never have to read a headline about the Hispaniolan solenodon or hutia like I did about the Little Earth Hutia (from Cuba) which was declared extinct in a Cuban press article recently. With all our combined efforts I am confident that we can ensure that these unique mammals and their habitats will be around long into the future.

So much has happened since our last posting that I have no idea if I’ll be able to cram it all into a reasonable length blog. Those of you who have been following us on facebook and twitter will know what I mean! One of the main highlights of this period has to be the ISLA (Island Species-Led Action) course which we ran at the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation from the 19^th to the 27^th of September. This course brought together 18 conservationists which were mainly from Dominican Republic although we also had representatives from Haiti, the Island of Montserrat and Puerto Rico. Participants were both from government and non-government organisations, bringing them all together was in itself a massive opportunity to share experiences and knowledge whilst creating an atmosphere of mutual support and future collaborations. The course provided an opportunity to think and discuss some of the most important challenges faced by island conservationists as well as looking at the methods and options available to overcome these. The course should provide a launch pad for future efforts to continue to conserve the unique and threatened species of the Caribbean. It was, in my opinion, a massive success thanks to all the last survivor project partners and all the participants. Particular thanks has to go to: Island Conservation (Dr. Kirsty Swinnerton and Jose Luis Herrera), Punta Cana Ecological Foundation (Jake Kheel and Ben Hulefeld), Dr. Jose Ottenwalder (Vice-president of Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola), Dr. Yolanda Leon (INTEC/Grupo Jaragua) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (vice-minister of environmental education, Amarilis Polonia, who launched the event).

ISLA-Hispaniola 2011 group photo (Photo: Jorge Brocca)

Our work in the northern part of the Dominican Republic (National Parks: Guaconejo, Los Haitises and Loma Quita Espuela) is continuing at a good pace although we were affected by some of the awful weather that swept through the region, namely Tropical Storm Emily and Hurricane Irene. Our two new research assistants, Jose Rafael de la Cruz and Timoteo Bueno, who are funded by the BBC Wildlife Fund have continued to develop their field research skills with the help of Moncho who is our star research assistant.

Rafael and Moncho trecking through lower deforested slopes of Loma Quita Espuela National Park (Photo: Joe Nunez)

Rafael and Timoteo are not only learning how to find areas where solenodon and hutia are present but are also learning interview skills so they can find out how people perceive solenodon and hutia. Sadly, in the interviews we have done around Los Haitises, we are finding that many people appear to identify Solenodon as a pest species and believe that they are damaging their crops. During the next phase of our work in the area we will continue to search for signs of solenodon and hutia (we have already confirmed their presence in some areas in two of the national parks) but will also be helping Rafael and Timoteo to mount an effective education campaign – hopefully this will mean that more people will have a positive perception of these their unique mammal species.

Carrying out a community interview with Timoteo (Photo: Amber Tallon)

At the beginning of September we received several reports of a solenodon which was captured and being maltreated in Samana (northern Dominican Republic). Luckily, Pedro Martinez (Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola) from the Last Survivors project was working nearby so he joined forces with Kim Baddall (Whale Samana), Noelia Jerez (CEBSE) and Dr. Adrell Nunez (Dominican Republic National Zoo) to make sure the solenodon was taken into safety. The solenodon was in a very bad way when it was rescued but is now making a good recovery at the National Zoo. We are hoping that this individual can be released back into the wild once it has made a full recovery. Pedro has already been back along with Kim to establish the area where the animal was captured. A collaborative education campaign is much needed and is on the cards in the next period of the project.

Rescued solenodon being helped by Kim Baddall (Photo: Pedro Martinez)

Rocio and Sarah (who were with us over the summer) have both finished writing up their MSc thesis (Imperial College) and they have some interesting findings which we hope to fully share with you very soon. The bottom line of their work suggests that although solenodons appear to live in some agricultural areas they are still highly dependant on the remaining forest for their survival. Ros Kennerley has also got some ground breaking results from her solenodon radio telemetry work and we are all looking forward to welcoming her back in mid October when she will be continuing this important research as part of The Last Survivors project.

Our final (English version) infomercial was launched on line on the 4^th of September and nearly 1000 people have watched it on YouTube already (click the image to have a look)! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the production of all four videos and particularly thanks to Funk Productions. We will begin distributing and using the Spanish version videos over the coming months as a tool to make more people aware of the amazing last survivor species and the project.

Our YouTube infomercial approaching the 1000 mark

As the project approaches its second anniversary in just a few days time, it’s amazing to think how much we have achieved but there is definitely a lot more for us to do. We have our work cut out for us as we continue our programme in the north of the island and then extend into new areas where we have not worked before. The number of people that support our work continues to grow and we count you amongst those that are helping to spread the word of the importance of saving the solenodon and hutia.

After visiting friends and family back in the United Kingdom I am now back in the sunny Caribbean. Actually it’s not been that sunny since we are at the start of the rainy season and tropical storm Emily has been sweeping past us over the last few days. I was itching to get out into the field shortly after arriving but the storm has delayed that departure by dumping lots of rain on us, here in the capital (Santo Domingo) we have had 24 hours of continuous rain so far.

While I was in the UK I was able to meet up with a lot of the other Durrell overseas team in Jersey. This was an incredibly positive experience for me since not only did I get to share and exchange experiences with them but I also got to make a whole lot of new friends. Regardless of which part of the world we are working in, we all seem to share many of the same challenges. It is also great to know that we also share many of the passions that drive us to dedicate our lives to conservation.

Durrell Overseas Team meeting at Jersey (Photo: Luis Ortiz Catedral)

Pedro Martinez (Field Project Manager, Hispaniolan Ornithological Society) has been busy while I have been away. He has been exploring the north part of the island and after meeting and interviewing a range of candidates has selected the team he will be working with. He has also started some initial training with them in our field methods with the assistance of our very experienced research assistants – Moncho, Yeyo and Nicolas. This part of our work is thanks to the BBC Wildlife Fund…you may not know this but the BBC has announced the closure of this fund which is incredibly sad news since it was a vital lifeline for not just this but many other conservation projects too. If you want to help us in the campaign to save the fund please sign the on line petition HERE.

One bit of sad news while I was away is that a large area of forest was burnt down in one of our main study sites. In fact this site is where three post graduate students had been carrying out a lot of research over the previous few months. We know that a substantial population of solenodon lived in this area, hopefully they managed to survive the destruction.

Burnt out forest in Mencia area (Photo: Pedro Martinez)

Ros, Rocio and Sarah, the three postgraduate students mentioned earlier, are now back in the United Kingdom analysing and writing up their data. We will let you know what their findings are soon. While I was in the UK they presented me with a photo of the three of them holding cuddly solenodons (if your interested in buying a cuddly solenodon please let us know). This pose came about after a phone meeting between us which reminded us all of the classic scene from Charlie’s angels – aptly renamed Joe’s angels

Solenodon's Angels - Sarah, Ros & Rocio (Photo: Rocio Pozo)

The next month is going to be tremendously busy primarily on two fronts. We will be pushing on with our work in the north of the country as well as organising an ISLA (Island Species-Led Action) course for September at Punta Cana Ecological Foundation. After that we will be entering the crucial final year of the project where we use the information that we have gathered to implement effective management and monitoring plans with the help of a broad collaboration of organisations and individuals across the island. Our aim, is to leave a project that will be self sustaining and long lasting.

The final English infomercial will also be finished over the next few weeks if you have not seen the previous ones, in Spanish, check them out here: Video 1, Video 2 & Video 3.

Remember that as always you can keep an eye on what we are doing by following us on facebook or twitter. Hopefully the storm will pass soon so we can get out into the forest!

Since I am leaving on holiday tomorrow and will not be back for a while I thought it best to give you a quick update on what’s been happening over the last few weeks. As always there is a lot to tell you about although I am going to be quick since I should really start organizing and packing my stuff quite soon! We have had a second spell of exploring the northern part of the Dominican Republic with a visit to Las Terrenas where we had the opportunity to both give a talk at the local town hall and also explore a small area of private forest. This was all thanks to Colmar Andreas Serra from Ecotopia who both invited us and organized the whole visit. It was great to share our work with an eager audience who had lots of questions for us. Unfortunately our search of Ecotopia did not show up any signs of solenodon or hutia but our visit was brief and we hope to return to explore more widely. Sticking to the north, we have also had initial meetings with Fundacion Loma Quita Espuela who we hope to collaborate with in our work in the area where they are based. This is all thanks to the funds from the BBC wildlife fund – you can find out about it here.

The majority of the scientific work that has been going on since our last update is down to our intrepid postgraduate students (Ros Kennerley, Sarah Hoy and Rocio Pozo) who have been working really hard along with the research assistants. Their work is winding down now and will be completed in the next week or so – expect a full report on results very soon.

We had the real honor of inviting two biologists (Anderson and Enold) from the Audubon Society of Haiti (SAH) to the same village where this work has been going on (Mencia) in order to get firsthand experience and training on all aspects of our work. This type of collaboration between the two Darwin projects and between organizations in the DR (Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola – SOH) and Haiti (SAH) is absolutely essential in order to create effective and sustainable conservation action on an island wide scale. During Enold and Andersons visit the local kids were very curious about what we are doing so I decided to give an impromptu talk in the front yard of our HQ there – I have never had such captivated crowd!

Moncho showing Anderson and Enold how to use a camera trap (Photo: Ros Kennerley)

Village kids in Mencia listening to talk (Photo: Rocio Pozo)

Further to our previous blog, we have great news on the cuddly solenodon front! A young (18 years old) entrepreneur from the local community has taken it on himself to create cuddly solenodons so we will have these available for sale (or should I say find new homes?) very soon. I will be taking two exclusive knitted solenodons with me to the UK. These solenodons are based on Alan Darts’s designs and were created by Kate Wallace (TodyTours and SOH). They really are the cutest and each one is unique just like the real life solenodon – I’m thinking of putting them on eBay but it feels slightly wrong.

Newest Batch of cuddly solenodon & knitted solenodon (Photo: Kate Wallace)

Jorge Brocca and Pedro Martinez from SOH will continue manning the ship as always but I’m off to have some catch up time with my friends and family for a few weeks.

We are just recently back from our first expedition into Haiti where we were invited to join forces with the Darwin initiative project that is based out there. Our hosts, the Audubon Society of Haiti were amazingly welcoming and managed to get us to one of the most remote and beautiful corners of Haiti which is Massif de la Hotte in the south west. There are still some good (i.e. relatively untouched) areas of forest in this area although even in the brief time we were there we were witness to its destruction and removal. On one day we counted over 300 bags of charcoal and watched some of it being carried along the same treacherous routes we were using to get to the forest. The good news is that we did manage to see evidence of both solenodon and hutia in one valley we explored. There is undoubtedly a lot of work that can and should be done in Haiti. If we work together I’m sure we will be able to make a difference.

Cloud forest in Massif de la Hotte (Haiti) (Photo: Joe Nunez)

Trees turned into charcoal stacks (Photo: Joe Nunez)

Our team has expanded once again since my last blog, albeit temporarily, with two masters students from Imperial college joining the project. They are currently collecting data that will be useful both for their individual research and for the last survivors project. Sarah Hoy is looking at how both species use different types of habitat in an area where we know they both exist. Rocío Pozo is looking at the type of habitats where solenodons have their dens and is building on the data that has already been collected by Ros Kennerley and the rest of the team. Ros has been kept incredibly busy radiotracking five solenodons – not easy work but she has done a fantastic job. The data she is collecting will give us an idea of the sort of area that they use and the distances they travel. In doing this work she has managed to identify more than 15 warrens where solenodons sleep during the day. Ros and the research assistants are also responsible for collecting some incredible night video footage of solenodon which we will share with you soon. Our research assistants have been learning a lot from Ros and are now also assisting the two masters students carry our their work.

Students learning about GPS use in the field (Photo: Pedro Martinez)

We are now planning and actively seeking to expand into new areas where we have not worked before including the northern part of the Dominican Republic – we should have updates on this very soon.

Los Haitises waiting to be explored (Photo: Joe Nunez)

Our knitted solenodons (mentioned in our previous blog) are proving very popular (there is an adoption waiting list) but we are yet to find a local community group that can create these. If anyone has any ideas on how you can help do let us know – basically we need to find someone who can train a group to produce the solenodons.

Our followers on twitter continue to grow and we now have over 100 people following our regular updates. There is also an increasing demand for us to give presentations about our work across the Dominican Republic: two booked in the next two weeks, one in Las Terrenas and one at the International Ecological Fair. Once we have our project infomercial on DVD (currently available on YouTube) we should be able to distribute this to people we can’t visit personally. The website is also proving very popular with, on average, over 1000 hits a month from across 58 countries. This success is no small part due to all your continued support – Thank you!

The last couple of months have been very challenging for the project on all sorts of fronts but thankfully we have simultaneously been making good progress with all of our work. I guess one of the most exciting bits of news that I have to share with you is that thanks to the BBC Wildlife Fund we will be able to start working in the northern part of the Dominican Republic while simultaneously continuing our work in the areas where we are already having a positive impact. In fact, this work has already started since we have just got back from our first reconnaissance trip to Los Haitises National Park where we were hosted by the eco-tourism project Paraiso Cano Hondo. As always, it’s very encouraging to have so many individuals and organisations support our efforts – but more on that later. The part of Los Haitises that we explored was in quite a sad state with the vast majority of the areas we got to having been heavily impacted on by subsistence agriculture and livestock farming. Having said that, we did manage to confirm the presence of a hutia population in some of the forest fragments that are still left. We are looking forward to keeping you updated with our progress in this part of the country.

Cattle roaming in Los Haitises

In March, we received a massive voluntary contribution from Nadine Trahan of Gaiaspatial (in construction) in the form of her time, skills and knowledge which have helped us to build our first distribution model for solenodon and hutia with the data we have collected so far. Nadine ran a GIS (geographical Information Systems) course for 10 days for a small group thanks to the supports of the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation . We will continue to work with Nadine and Dr Mark O’Connell from Ecological research and training in order to further develop our models which will help us decide on the best future course of conservation actions. We were able to present our very preliminary maps at a talk given at the Dominican Republic National Academy of Sciences on invitation by the Dominican Geology Society. Keep an eye on this space for updates on how our distribution maps develop.

GIS Course in Punta Cana

Apart from our first expedition into Los Haitises we have continued to work in the magnificent forests in Sierra de Bahoruco. It’s an amazing large protected area where, in just a short distance, you can go from open pine forest through to dense cloud forests that reminds you of something out of Lord of the Rings. Sadly we also witnessed some areas of deforestation deep in this national park too although once again we managed to find evidence of both species in places.

Pine Forest - Sierra de Bahoruco

Ros Kennerley has continued to make some amazing progress in radiotracking solenodon across Sierra de Bahoruco. Her work will undoubtedly produce some incredibly interesting and useful results about how, when and where solenodons move around the agricultural landscape where she is working.

Funk productions have edited and produced the first of the infomercials (in Spanish) for the project. There is a long (10 minute) and short (4 minute) version which can now be viewed on line at: http://vimeo.com/18604440 and http://vimeo.com/20015567 Have a look and let us know what you think? We will be using these infomercials to reach out to as wide an audience as possible.

We had a particularly sad 24 hour period at the end of March where 4 hutia deaths were reported to us. One was killed by dogs in the north, one by a child in the south west and for the other two the cause of death is still unknown. We obviously have a lot more work to do and our holistic approach takes us down some seemingly odd avenues. Kate Wallace of Tody Tours has been knitting solenodon furiously, yes I did say knitting! Its partly thanks to Alan Dart who donated his solenodon knitting pattern so we can raise funds for our conservation project. We are now trying to find a local community group to knit these solenodons for us since they are proving very popular and Kate alone cannot keep up with the huge demand. Ideally this would raise money for the project, awareness of the species and provide some rural communities with an alternative income.

Knitted solenodons by Kate Wallace (Photo credit: Kate Wallace)

Over the next few weeks we will once again be very busy as two masters students arrive on site to carry out their projects with us and we make our first trip into Haiti. We have also started to think/plan beyond the end of our Darwin Initiative funding which ends in October 2012. We want all that we have learnt and done so far to serve as a very solid foundation for all that is still left to be done – exciting times lie ahead. Remember that you can keep up to date with our work more regularly by following us on facebook and twitter.

It’s been far too long since our last blog but then we have been incredibly busy on all fronts.

The team attended the VII Congress of Caribbean Biodiversity which was held at the “Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)” at the start of February. It offered us the opportunity to present and share our work with the wider scientific and conservation community from the Caribbean region. It was great to get to hear about other projects working in this part of the world and it was particularly exciting to see so many young people in attendance at the congress. It is the younger generation that we need to empower in order to continue all the ongoing conservation efforts that are going on.

VII International Congress of Caribbean Biodiversity

As part of this empowering process we were very privileged to be invited to the Punta Cana International School where we gave talks to over 150 students ranging very widely in age (from 7 through to 16). A small group of older students came out into the forest to get first hand experience of the work we do including the setting and collecting of our camera traps. Unfortunately they also experienced the frustration of not being successful in capturing any images of solenodon or hutia but then that is the nature of working with these elusive, shy and nocturnal creatures. None the less, there was great feedback from the students most of which had not even heard of these two special mammals.

Collecting cameras in the field and checking them at the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation (Photos: Lucy Emery)

Further talks have also been done at a village around Bahoruco National Park although some were rather impromptu. A video produced by a Brazilian TV crew was shown at the same village and proved very popular with the local community.

DVD audience and impromptu chat with the village children (Photos: Lucy Emery)

Our own infomercial films are coming along and we hope they will be ready for public viewing very shortly indeed. Making them has proven to be quite a challenge for all of us and Daniela Rusowsky, along with the rest of the team, have put a lot of work in to creating them.

Our field surveys have made great progress since our last blog particularly thanks to our new energetic research assistant “Moncho” who is increasingly working independent and leading his own teams into the field. We have now completed our first round of surveys at random points throughout Jaragua National Park and “del Este” National Park and just have a handful of random points in Bahoruco National park which we hope to complete over the coming two months.

The two months that lie ahead mark a very exciting phase of the project since we will be creating our first distribution models as well as starting the work on radio tracking solenodon and hutia which is being led by our new team member Ros Kennerley (see previous blogs) who has been in the Dominican Republic since the beginning of February.

More news this month… the Spanish version of the website www.losultimossobrevivientes.org has now been launched thanks to the really hard work put in by a team of volunteers: Alejandra Oliver, Leah Berry and Desy Guerrero. We really can’t thank them enough for the incredibly hard work they have done.

There is a lot more exciting news that I could share with you but I can’t until it’s absolutely confirmed. Hopefully that will tantalise you enough to return in the coming back and checking for our next blog update. Remember that you can also follow us on facebook and/or twitter

As 2011 lies ahead of us I feel like its time to reflect on our work over the last twelve months. 2010 has without a doubt been an extremely productive and I would say successful year and it has laid a solid foundation for the work that lies ahead. Some of our achievements would not have been possible without the help of the people that joined the last survivors team at different stages throughout 2010, particular thank you goes to Rebecca Morelle and Simon Hancock from the BBC, Cristina Secades from Imperial college and Rebecca Coe from London Zoo. All helped with different aspects of the project, namely raising public awareness, carrying out a social study and educational work respectively. Other people have also helped us tremendously throughout the year including Jose Rafael Paula Rosa (Journalist), Santiago Munoz (Servicio Geologico Nacional), Jake Kheel (Punta Cana Foundation) and Ivelisse Diaz Sosa (Head of the educational department at the national zoo). Also have a look at the “supporting organisations” part of the website to get an idea of the wide cross section of organisations that have engaged with the project. Not everyone who has helped is listed as yet and it’s worth highlighting the help we have received from the British Embassy in the Dominican Republic, particularly the ambassador Steve Fisher, Denise Ruiz and Scott Melling.

Part of the team back in May

On the scientific survey front we have covered an incredible amount of ground thanks to the hard work of the whole team. I have no idea of how many kilometres we have trekked over the last year but it must be well over 1000. In December alone we walked over 90Km in Jaragua National Park (something those of you following us on facebook and/or twitter will know all about).

Parque Jaragua Forest

We have carried out standardised surveys in 181 randomly selected sites whilst along the way we have seen signs of solenodon and/or hutia in 358 different places across three national parks (have a look at the maps). It’s sad to think that Nicolas and Lleyo who helped us so much with our achievements have decided to move on, both for very different reasons. Nicolas because there was an increasing demand by photographers to help with their work and because of his responsibilities in caring for his families agricultural land. Lleyo on the other hand left because he found the on going field work quite physically demanding which it undoubtedly is. I have no doubt that he will be working with us when we need him in the future. Nicolas and Lleyos gift to the project was to train Ramon Espinal (“Moncho”) in their skills. Moncho has picked up the necessary skills very quickly and is already building on his knowledge. He is proving to be quite an amazing all rounder which means that with his energy and enthusiasm we should make just as much or more progress over the next 12 months.

Moncho pointing out a nose poke (left) and working out a route through the forest

Ros Kennerly (Reading University) will be joining us in the Dominican Republic in February to start her PhD research looking at how our two species use both natural and human altered landscapes. We will undoubtedly have many other visitors contributing to our work and we are looking forward to working with them all. We will be launching the infomercials produced by Daniela Rusowsky (Funk Productions) and the Spanish version of the website sometime in early 2011 we hope. The website is being translated thanks to the incredible hard work of our team of volunteer translators: Alejandra Oliver, Leah Berry and Desy Guerrero.

Seasonal greetings to all our supporters

Lastly it just remains for me to thank you all for your continued support. Stick with us and watch as we progress with the plight of the Hispaniolan solenodon and hutia. Best wishes to you all for 2011.