Madonna’s Baby Mystery

Over a month passed since Madonna’s supposed delivery of cubs on Oct 9^th and we still had no idea of how many cubs she gave birth to and what gender they were. One thing we were certain was that she gave birth. I was asked by countless people as to why I was certain. Yes, I am certain, I'd say. Because I have experienced seven previous births and this is the eighth and by now I am pretty certain of their behaviour. However, at the back of my mind, I worried!

What if a predatory bird or reptile has also taken a cub or two? This happened to 327’s first cub born by Cathay.  These new cubs were also born in complete nature and have been growing up in a huge area with a little stream going through it lined with dense trees, far removed from human access. I was too worried that the cubs, if cornered in our effort to count them, may dash into the river and drown. We have neither heard a cry nor witnessed a shadow of these new-borns, also sired by 327 and they carry with them precious genetic materials left by their dad who got killed in September. I was worried sick: what if the cubs accidently fell into the river and drowned? We couldn’t possibly know as they are completely in the hands of nature. But I also had complete faith in Madonna. I knew she was looking after them. I could tell from her continuous mysterious ways of emerging and disappearing back into the dense covers.  

We were monitoring Huwaa and King Henry this afternoon. He has been so gentle and kind with little Huwaa, putting up with her antics and answering her constant and energetic tease with such grace, even though he knows she is too young to be his girlfriend. But when it comes to food, he was not so generous and even steal hers when he still has his. Otherwise he has been a good mentor.  Having been fed with a warthog this morning, I was wondering where KH was hiding himself and his prize, and if he had shared any with Huwaa when I heard his loud roars coming from the other side of the stream which also flows through the neighbouring camp that Madonna currently resides.

I was asking myself why he roared, and decided that it must be him calling for females to mate as he had also demonstrated sextual maturity a few months ago when he was seen mounting his sister Princess when suddenly loud cries of baby tigers came from Madonna’s camp! Looking across the fence, I saw, in a little open area on the river bank, one tiny little tiger crying his heart out!  Although the cries sounded as if they were caused by two sources, I could however only find one cub through my binoculars. But there got to be another as the mouth of this one in my viewfinder was not open when the cry still continued.  Failing to find mom Madonna, this cub decided to return to the dense vegetation in the stream and I followed it through my viewfinder. Soon my eyes encountered a second cub behind the tree branches. TWO CUBS INDEED! So we were right not only about the birth of these cubs but also their number! 

The cubs must have thought it was Mom Madonna  roaring so they came out from their hideout to answer her calls...

Seeing them healthy, round and mobile though still a bit wobbly truly made my day! ! The next challenge would be to find out their gender..We would have to do that when we microchip them, as is required by law...

Nov 30^th 2011

Huwaa Meet Her Baby Brothers

A cold front came in last night, but Cathay and her babies stayed outside the breeding centre, which we allowed for the first time. This morning I saw the babies well sheltered from the hauling wind between the tree trunk and the wooden shed, huddled around each other.

Huwaa, who had been waken up by our morning call, was trying her best to get us pay attention to her. The baby tigers saw that and walked wobbly out of their hidden spot towards her but stopped midway. Seeing that, Cathay went over and gently lifted each one up in her well-controlled mouth and moved the babies close to the fence where Huwaa was getting excited on the other side of the fence. She was so thrilled to see her baby brothers for the first time and she tried to reach out to them through the fence to play with them. Fortunately the metal mesh stopped her paws from getting through, as being still a child herself, she would have no idea how fragile her baby brothers are and how they could simply be played to death by her.

Cathay retreated into the wooden shelter and simply kept a watchful eye, secure in the knowledge that her little daughter could not accidentally hurt her babies due to the fence between them even though Huwaa has no idea how deadly her paws and teeth could actually be. The little cubs seemed to know the creature on the other side was their elder sister and tried to reach out to her. They stood up on their not-yet-so strong little legs in that attempt to get closer to Huwaa. Thus they played and played..

Cathay certainly couldn’t have found a better baby sitter than Huwaa who kept her increasingly feisty cubs entertained. I feel greatly relieved as well, as I have plans to put Huwaa back with both her mom and her baby brothers together a few months down the road so they can all learn hunting from mom Cathay at the same time.

After a while, Cathay decided that they had enough excitement and proceeded to gently gently carry the first baby back to the hiding spot. Except that the little cub wanted more of his elder sister and walked wobbly back to Huwaa while Cathay was carrying the second cub back to their shielded spot. But on hearing the cry of his little twin brother, the wandering cub went back into the comfort of his mom’s care and his brother’s embrace, where they dreamed their day dreams through the cold windy grey day...

The reason that Cathay and her two cubs were kept in the breeding center/quarantine camp during the first month of their births was to shield them from potential predators that could take their lives, as happened to another of Cathay’s cubs in Dec 2009. Now that they can walk, a bit wobbly albeit pretty speedy, I decided to let them move into Ripples camp where they can grow up in a natural environment.

Mr. And Mrs. Tompkins: From Patagonia to Patagonia

Cat in Buenos Aires Street


Where working girl used to live in Colonia


Fishi driving in Colonia, Uruguay


Cat in our restaurant in Colonia, Uruguay


Tigerli & Evangelical Church in Uruguay


Evangelical Church in Colonia del Sacramento of Uruguay


Nice horse


Viscachio


Ant house's ventilation


Abundant Bird life


with team of Conservation Land Trust


Latin Ostrich


March deer at Ibera


with Kris& Doug Tompkins


Anteater to be reintroduced at Ibera


Dog Walking Buenos Aires


Buenos Aires Garbage


"Not many foreign tourists go to Mercedes", said the receptionist at my hotel in Buenos Aires. Indeed, its a long bus ride of about 10 hours away from BA, and this was not even the end of my journey- two more hours of car ride was needed to my final destination - Esteros del Iberá.

Why were we making such an effort to reach this remote area of Argentina? We were not only visiting this great freshwater wetland of Argentina, which generates a huge diversity of landscapes through its presence or absence, but also meet Kris and Douglas Tompkins, who were responsible for creating Estancia Rincón de Socorro- a private reserve measuring 130000 Ha, which eventually led to the government declaring a total of 1.3 million hectares
of natural habitat as protected areas surrounding this ranch. We ourselves
have been doing something similar in South Africa, albeit much later and on a smaller scale.

Ibera joins up very diverse environments, offering habitats to more than 4000 species of terrestrial and aquatic biota, among which at least eight are endemic species, found only in this corner of the globe. Iberá is one of the warm-climate wetlands with more species diversity in the world.

Rain and cold also followed me to this remote corner of Argentina (not far from Brazil), just like many other trips I have had in the last year. After the night bus, we were met by a biologist from Conservation Land Trust, Yamil, who drove us on a mostly muddy road to Rincón de Socorro. Rincón means "Corner", and what a beautiful corner it is (!) - full of capibarras, caimens and etc, including recent reintroduced ant-eaters.

We spent the day with Kris and Douglas, who are well known in nature conservation. Doug was co-founder of the fashion brand Esprit and North Face and Kris is former CEO of Patagonia. They have already helped create two National Parks in Chile and Argentina by buying up large chunks of land and donating to these countries, and are now onto their third one-creating a NP in the very place from where the clothing label Patagonia took its name.

It was enlightening to meet this famed couple and further, comforting to discover that we share similar views on many issues facing the planet, for example, overpopulation coupled with consumerism is depleting biodiversity by driving many species to extinction in unprecedented speed. Further, we share the same appreciation in beauty and therefore the appreciation of the wild and nature. I wonder if this has something to do with both of us working in the fashion business in the past, or rather it is this sensitivity that led both of us into the same industry initially, and now similar efforts to preserve nature's wonders. We also exchanged our respective funny stories. Like some of the bizaar attacks we have faced (eg, I was accused of selling the tiger Hope to my enemies- the Varty brothers who stole money from us), the Tompkins were accused of stealing water from the marsh and selling it to China on the internet! What a fanciful world some people live in their crazy brains indeed.

The next morning, we went on a boat trip to the mash, which is not unlike the Pantanal in terms of scenery and animal life. We had the pleasure of seeing the unique Marsh Deer though. At one point, we saw a screamer (a big bird)spread its wings and just when I thought it was drying its wings in the sun after two rainy days, the Screamer suddenly flapped its left wing and gave the nearby caiman a big slap on its head, frightening the caiman into fleeing into the safety of the lagoon water.

The weather cleared up only a brief moment before cloud took over again, making it hard for our afternoon flight over the reserve to have a bird's view of this vast place. We eventually did take off and despite the overcast, the beauty of this wetland area is evident to all. We managed to also see a few Marsh deer grazing underneath. On the drive back to the hotel at dusk, we saw dozens of Viscachos (a chinchila-like creature), and a fox to add to my repertoire of wildlife sightings.

Further discussions with the managers/scientists of CLT Sophia, Ignacio and Yamil on our respective anteater and tiger reintroduction projects further revealed similar experiences and challenges, which are likely scenarios in any new and ground-breaking initiatives - we will just have to take this as a given and put them behind us.

We also share similar organisational structures-very flat and very little overhead. We focus on actions, not just promises of actions. I understand this is not possible with the big NGOs which have huge admin structures and expensive staff members to support. Nevertheless, I wonder if any of the Heads of these big NGOs would ever take a overnight bus of 10 hours between their reserve and Buenos Aires like the Tomkpins. Stories abound in conservation world on how huge amount of donor funding is spent on stylish travels by these big NGOs.

We left Ibera even more impressed and also encouraged by the Tompkins and their effort with the Conservation Land Trust. If more people and organisations just get on doing something similar, the speed of biodiversity loss may be slowed down, and the health of the planet may one day be on the rebound?

Postscript: May 22nd is a World Biodiversity Day. Suddenly, the UN is acknowledging that biodiversity loss is a bigger issue than climate change and world governments have failed to deliver their on their promises that 190 countries committed in 2002 to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The goal of restoring the South China Tiger to its natural habitat is actually to restore such biodiversity. For years we have been striving for this goal and its comforting to know that UN is finally recognizing that biodiversity loss is by far the most urgent issue concerning health of the planet.

-Li Quan, Buenos Aires