Commercial hunting, habitat destruction, poaching, competition with domestic livestock and infection by their diseases, especially foot-and-mouth, have all contributed to reduce the once extremely abundant venado to an estimated wild population today of about 80 animals. The author with other Argentinian scientists is making a study, financed by WWF, in preparation for management plans that it is hoped will save this endangered deer.

The two animals most seriously threatened by development in the Malay peninsula are the Sumatran rhinoceros and the seladang. The author, who has extensive knowledge of the peninsula, puts the rhinos at ten known individuals, with a probable total population of thirty, but many areas are still unexplored and information is far from complete. The seladang or Malayan gaur, the huge wild ox standing as high as six feet at the shoulder, is even more vulnerable than the rhino. Seladang unfortunately prefer habitats that are suitable for cultivation, and since the war some herds of thirty or more animals have completely disappeared. Two projected dams, which will destroy the greatest concentration of salt licks in Malaya, are a new and serious threat to the seladang.

Because of their coastal habits and lethargic nature, humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae have been among the species hardest hit by the whaling industry. Between 1904 and 1973 (when humpback catching finally ceased), 68,294 humpbacks were reported killed in Antarctic waters, more than 40 per cent of these in the first ten years. Humpbacks, which are relatively easy to identify at sea, have been reported from the Antarctic in recent years only rarely. However, it now seems that some recovery may be taking place.

Although commercial international trade in rhinoceros parts, products and derivatives has been prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora since 1977, trade within national boundaries cannot be regulated under the Convention. As a result illegal trade to supply domestic markets persists and rhinoceros populations continue to decline. Hong Kong was the first government in Asia to address this problem. Over a period of 13 years Hong Kong authorities introduced regulations progressively restricting the trade until in 1989 all aspects of the country's rhino trade became subject to legal prohibitions. Hong Kong's experience offers a valuable model for other Asian countries.

The Mountain Gorilla Project started with four main programmes for the conservation of the gorilla in Rwanda's Pare National des Volcans: the Training and Equipping of a Park Guard Force (AWLF/PTES responsibility); Conservation Education (FPS/PTES); Tourism Development (FPS/PTES); and a Building Programme of offices and housing for the park guards (AWLF/WWF). Thanks largely to Bill Weber and Amy Vedder of the University of Wisconsin, two of these, the Conservation Education and Tourism Development Programmes, have been as successful as we could ever have hoped. Progress on the others has been distressingly slow due to probably almost inevitable bureaucratic delays. Nevertheless, the training and equipping programme is now under way, and only the building project remains to be started.

Professor Bannikov describes how the USSR has created nature reserves to protect individual rare species so that today all endangered mammals are protected in reserves or sanctuaries; several rare species have been greatly increased in numbers and reintroduced in other areas. The article is the talk Professor Bannikov, who is a Vice-President of the FPS, gave at the Society's Annual General Meeting on July 5 in London.

Siberut, the largest of the Mentawai Islands, has a remarkable fauna with at least ten endemic mammal species — which include four primates — one endemic bird, thirteen endemic bird subspecies, and probably endemic insects, reptiles and amphibians still to be discovered. Until the 20th century the Siberut people lived in harmony with their environment, but modern practices are changing their ways, destroying their culture, and threatening the wildlife. The author describes the wildlife, the people, and the programme planned to help both in this difficult transition.

For more than four years the FFPS's Bat Project has received much publicity and acclaim, but more importantly it has resulted in a heightened awareness of the special problems that bats face. Here, the Bat Conservation Officer describes the history of the project and its activities.