From spiderhunters@yahoo.com Mon Jun  2 16:10:24 2003
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 09:36:05 -0700
From: spiderhunters@yahoo.com
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: FW: (long) SLWN: Whale and Bio-diversity lectures, Menik Ganga,
     Wilpattu

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-----Original Message-----
From: gehan [mailto:gehan@jetwing.lk]
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 4:41 AM
Subject: SLWN: Whale and Bio-diversity lectures, Menik Ganga, Wilpattu

Dear All, Fell free to circulate. To contribute or un-subscribe, please see
below. Regards Gehan

SRI LANKA WILDLIFE NEWS (April 2003)
- a monthly compilation by Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne (29/05/2003)

HIGHLIGHTS

[*] John Tornvall on Birding Highlights from a 12 Day Birding Tour in Sri
Lanka  and Lyn & Peter Eastcliff report on climbing Adam's Peak (See Trip
Reports)
 [*] Manori Gunwardana lobbies to save the Menik Ganga from being damned and
Asoka Yapa writes on the Sri Lanka Leopard (See Shortpapers/Articles)
[*] Nature Photographer 2003 launched with top prize of Rs 100,000 (circa
USD 1,000) See Press Releases
[*] Lectures on Whales (5 June) and Bio-diversity Exploration (6 June)

EVENTS SUMMARY

Thu 5 June 2003 Whales and Voyage of Odyssey by Chris Johnson and Geneviev
Johnson (Ocean Alliance, USA). 6.00 pm. Sri Lanka Association for the
Advancement of Science, Vidya Mawatha, off Wijerama Mawatha. Colombo 7. WNPS
Public Lecture Series.

Friday 6 June 2002 Bio-diversity Exploration in Sri Lanka by Dinarzarde
Raheem. 7.00 pm. The illustrated lecture will use the work funded by the
Darwin Research Initiative as an example of current work being undertaken in
Sri Lanka, in the exploration of bio-diversity. The lecture is similar in
content to the one given a short while ago in the WNPS lecture series.
Barefoot-Jetwing Lecture series. Barefoot Gallery, 704 Galle Road, Colombo
6.


19 - 21 September 2003  The International Symposium on Human Elephant
Relationships and Conflicts.  Hotel Lanka Oberoi (in September the Oberoi
will be known as the Colombo Plaza Hotel). Abstracts of papers should be
sent to Jayantha Jayawardana (romalijj@eureka.lk ) by 30th June for review
by a committee.

There is a competition for the best video produced on elephant related,
topics. Please see the symposium website www.slwcs.org/sherc. for more,
details. Also an art competetion will be held for school children i schools,
covered by the Biodiversity & Elephant Conservation Trust's Schools,
Awareness Program.

ART EVENTS
May 14 - June 1 2003, An exhibition of paintings by Druvinka. The Barefoot
Gallery, 704 Galle Road, Colombo 3.

Druvinka is one of Sri-Lanka's brilliant artists, she  is absolutely
passionate about her art. A graduate of Shanthineketan, she has held many
exhibitions here and abroad, and is probably one of Sri Lanka's most
successful commercial artists. See also www.barefootgallery.com

BIRDING & WILDLIFE NEWS

Malaka Rodrigo sends in some owling news (22 May. "I have observed five
Collared Scops Owls on the 14th April 2003 at my garden at Kaudana,
Dehiwala. The Scops Owl was not a regular visitor to my garden, however one
owl appeared more frequently before the family seen on 14 April. As Amila
reported to SLWN on a previous occasion, they made 'insect' like sounds.
They visit our garden regularly between 19.15 and 20.30. The owls are still
at my garden & I have spotted three owls last night (22/05/03)".

Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, Sanjiva and Aruni Gautamadasa (21 May) were
enjoying cup of tea at the Refresh Restaurant in Hikaduwa when a
White-tailed Tropicbird swooped by. Racing out, they were able to observe 3-
4 birds which were flying in and out to sea. Some of the birds were in
juvenile plumage.

Newton Jayawardane reports  "During the Vesak season I was at Randenigala.
We observed a huge elephant around 8.00 pm on 15 th May night close to the
TREE center on the main road. Later we observed the same elephant on the
road close to the Randenigala Dam. On the second time I had to wait almost
45 minutes until he left the road. On the same day, during day time we
spotted Deer crossing the road. The electric engineer told me he spotted a
leopard inside the CEB complex!

 Devaka Seneviratne (YATV) visited Wilpattu during the Sinhala Tamil New
Year (13 & 14 April) period and sends in some useful tips on booking jeep
safaris. he says "There are now two jeep operators at Wilpattu National
Park. Preshamel Safari Hotel and Flamingo Safari. The costs at Preshamel
were Rs 3,000 full day hire, Rs 1,750 half day. I don't know the costs at
Flamingo".

Wilpattu was beautiful after the rain, but that also meant that not many
animals were out and aboutt. Lots of birdlife in the villus including ibis,
painted stork, egrets and waders. There was also a flock of Pompadour Green
Pigeons - i think - feeding in a tight bunch on the ground. They made a very
pretty sight against the brown grass"

Lal Anthonis (2 May) also has comment on Wilpattu. "At Kurutupandi Villu - a
single Bar tailed Godwit in full summer plumage - very pretty. Large
crocodiles in Thimbiri Villu and Borupan Villu. The Park was very muddy
after the rains.

Sandy Dias (5 May) says "I came across in our garden in Borella (Colombo) a
frog & managed to capture it on my Digicam. After referring to books, I
believe it is Kaloula taprobanica.

Sharni Jayawardana (YATV), Cecilia McGuire (Daily Mirror), Farah Macan
Markar (Sunday Observer) and Harris Gunaratna (Island) visited Yala National
Park with Chandrika Maelge, Wicky Wickremesekera and Gehan de Silva
Wijeyeratne. They send in this following report of a Leopard encounter.

On the morning of Saturday 3rd May, near the entrance to the Gonalabble Meda
Para, Rukshan Jayawardana had encountered a young male walking along the
road, ten minutes before we came along. We stopped by a bend and waited for
it. We drove off after about ten minutes. Ruan Wickramasingha who came
behind us saw the leopard get back onto the road and walk behind us for  100
feet or so. Hearing of this, we turned back and headed to the 'Pethi Thora
Pittaniya" lest the young male headed in that direction. When we arrived we
found three jeeps observing a young leopard which looked around 3 years of
age. Another larger leopard approached from behind the scrub and we wondered
whether it was the mother approaching her cub. The smaller leopard started
walking, swaying from side to side and lifted its tail and wrapped it around
the larger leopard. It was immediately obvious the smaller leopard was a
receptive female and she was initiating courtship. It was not a mother and
cub situation. The male, looked about twice the size of the female. In
Leopards, the female initiates the courtship. The male responded immediately
and they went behind some bushes and began mating. We speculated that the
earlier male was also heading towards the receptive female having picked up
her scent marking.

As the large male approached the female, he weaved in and out of the
thicket. Wicky Wickremesekera who was with us, wondered whether we had seen
two males approaching the female. As the male had moved in and out of sight,
at times moving away from the female, we could not be sure. Interestingly,
the previous day, Rajiv and Needra Hevawitharne had videoed two mature males
side by side engaged in good companionship. They had even licked each other.
This is unusual behaviour as mature males do not usually tolerate each
other. Rukshan Jayawardana who had seen the video footage commented to us
that our understanding of leopard behaviour which is influenced by work in
Africa, may have to re-written for Sri Lankan leopards.

In the evening, we completed the Gonalabbe Meda Para circuit and approached
Diganwala where we found Ajith Fernando and another party parked beside the
road. A pair of Leopards had been encountered beside the road and had
retreated beside into the scrub. We pulled back about 100 feet to see if
they would cross a game trail. The other vehicles followed suit. Using the
space created, the male followed by the female, crossed the main road over
to Gonalabbe Plain. This pair was different to the pair we had seen earlier
as the female was only a few inches smaller at the shoulder. On the plain,
they mated, the female characteristically shrugging the male off, at the end
of the mating.

On Sunday 4 May morning, we did the Ginalabbe Meda Para circuit once again.
Ruan Wikremasingha has seen a Leopard at Meynert Wewa, Another group had a
leopard cross the road on Thalgasmanka. We headed to Koma Wewa and waited
and picked up alarm calls. Returning to the Pethi Thora Pittaniya, we heard
from Rukshan Jayawardana that he and a few other groups had observed a young
male. Rukshan believed it was GMC 5, who had been a star performer in 2002.

During this weekend, everybody who was in the park for a few days seemed to
manage at least one leopard sighting. One group managed three in a morning
session, and narrowly missed having 5 Leopards. Spotted Deer herds seem to
be at some of their best in numbers I have seen. The unusually late rains
which have topped up the water holes should result in good prey survival
rates into the 2003 breeding season. Which would result in good leopard
numbers in 2003/4.

Yala National Park has always been good for leopard and it looks like it is
going to get better. Butterflies observed included Orange Tip, Large Orange
Tip, Crimson Tip, Common Crow etc.

Victoria Gilroy, Tony Hook, Prasanjith Perera, Prashanth, Amila Salgado and
Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne were in Yala National Park between 25-28 April.
On 27 April they drove to Koma Wewa hearing of a kill. As they approached
Spotted Deer alarmed, signalling that a Leopard was on the move. They
stopped and waited and as different groups of Deer picked up the alarm it
was clear that the Leopard had moved away. They visited the kill site and
found a dead buffalo calf. Driving around they heard the bellowing of a
distressed female buffalo. The female was showing a mixture of anger and
bereavement. She was a large animal equipped with a lethal pair of horns. No
Leopard would risk an encounter with the mother. During the day the group
visited the kill site on and off and found the female close by keeping the
Leopard away from her dead calf. In one touching scene, the entire herd of
buffalo numbering about seven, walked up to the dead calf and sniffed it as
if to pay their final respects. When they returned the next morning, the
dead calf had been partially eaten.

Eight year old Amrit Alles reports " Last Saturday (19 April) my father took
me to the Sinharaja Rainforest. It was so so exciting because I saw the Sri
Lanka Blue Magpie. I was longing to see it for so long. I saw it three times
and once it was on the ground. I read that it is normally a very shy bird
and is always on trees but this time I saw it on the ground ".  Amrit also
reports on another visit. "My parents took me to Mutturajawela and we did
the boat ride. We saw  Little Cormorant, Indian Cormarant, Yellow Bittern,
Cattle Egret, Little Heron, Indian Pond Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret,
Purple Heron, Lesser Whistling-duck, Brahaminy Kite, Purple Coot,
White-breasted Waterhen, Common Moorhen, Whiskered Tern, Alexandarine
Parakeet, Greater Coucal, Stork-billed kingfisher, Common Kingfisher,
White-breasted kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher and a baby Crocodile.


Amila Salgado leading a Sinharaja Rainforest (16-18 April) tour for VSO
representatives in Sri Lanka reports excellent scope views of Crested
Goshawk near the 'Leopard rock' (on the way to research camp). A pair of Sri
Lanka Blue Magpies were bringing fresh nesting material to a previously
abandoned nest, closer to the research camp. A pair of juveniles were also
seen at this location.  Amila reports another pair of juveniles closer to
Martin's with a pair of adults. Non birding highlights include the handsome
snake Green Keelback (Macropisthodon plumbicolor) on the way to the Giant
Nawada Tree.

Priya Edirisinghe (4th April) says "Around 8.30 a.m. on Uraniya at Yala
National Park, we saw a herd of 8 elephants with two young. One was around a
month old and for the first time we say a baby elephant eating elephant
dung. We got photos and also recorded it on video.

SHORT PAPERS/ARTICLES

The Menik Ganga is damned

Manori Gunawardana

The Menik Ganga is damned. A representative for the Irrigation Department
feels that ^Óchange is inevitable.^Ô This ^Ñchange^Ò comes in the form of a
grand plan to develop the water resources of the Menik Ganga basin, a part
of the major river basin development proposal. The Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) for Kuda Gal Amuna, the initial stage, is now complete and
open for public comment. Two other development schemes (World Bank is
funding the EIA for total river basin) Veheragala stage I and stage II for
which the EIA is underway, proposes to create a reservoir and other
irrigation structures, canals etc. on the Menik Ganga in Yala Block V.

Although the EIA process allows public involvement in the TOR stage, it did
not happen in this project/EIA. The Project proponent is the Irrigation
Department, and Project Approving Agency (PAA) is the Central Environmental
Authority (CEA) and Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC). Fancy
acronyms aside, what does this imply?

To the dealmakers, 77 million rupees for the initial Gal Amuna stage to
cultivate 500 acres of paddy land. To the cultivators, the promise of water
that the Lungamvehera project failed to deliver. To the national park and
the river, disaster to the natural habitats it supports. The access roads,
feeder canals will increase the poaching, illegal cutting of timber,
encroachment of the park lands and visiting along the footpaths and tank
bunds which lies within the park will increase the damage to the park.
Already people in Lunugamwehera are engaged in an illegal canal construction
from Demodara to Lungamvehera.

In this situation with the proposed project,
· Construction is an illegal activity according to the Fauna and Flora
Protection Ordinance
· Will have irreparable damage to the Yala National Park and the habitats
· Will hinder the damage control of the existing Lungamvehera project
· Is not economically viable when including the environmental cost
· Will increase the man made negative impacts to the National park.
· EIA is on adequate and has not explored environmentally sound alternatives

Therefore, the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the CEA should not
give approval to this EIA. Leaving all the legal rigmarole aside, the
compelling reality is just let the river flow free. My grandfather wanted
his ashes to flow down the Kirindi Oya at Thanamalvila; he knew the river
when it was free. Not the dammed, controlled, tamed trickle that barely
makes it out to the sea. As fate would have it his ashes have been laid to
rest in the silt of the Lungamvehera Reservior.

It irks me that this is what the future holds for the Menik Ganga. The
planners, the ^Óbeavers^Ô are at it again. For those of us that have a love
affair of sorts with Yala, the Menik Ganga is very much a part of it. What
is envisioned for the greater common good contravenes all conventions of
conservation and stewardship of natural resources.

Thoreau said, ^Ó I went to the woods because I wished to life deliberately,
to front all the essential facts of life, to front only the essential facts
of life, and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not, when
I came to die, discover that I had not lived.^Ô For what ever the reasons we
seek the wilderness, there are so few wild places left for to retreat to.
Thoreau also said, ^Ónow or never.^Ô

I urge you to lodge a protest to the Menik Ganga Water Resources Development
Project with the Director General of Central Environmental Authority and
Director of Wildlife Conservation.

Manori D. Gunawardena, Elephant Ecology & Behaviour Research, 29 Magama Rd,
Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka. Phone 047-39079


The Sri Lanka Leopard

Asoka Yapa, Ontario Canada


The Sri Lanka Wildlife News monthly encompasses a variety of topics but it
seems to me that coverage of Yala^Òs leopard population is by far the most
popular. The international community is beginning to notice Sri Lanka^Òs
leopards, too; ^ÑThe Leopards of Yala^Ò was broadcast over North America on
April 20th on the U.S. PBS network. It was a wonderful program which gave
the viewer the sense of excitement of seeing the animals in Yala^Òs dry
forest. Sure there was the slightly corny tale of the leopard triplets woven
into the story and the presenter was a bit ^Ñin your face^Ò --- but what
fantastic views of the jungle, the tanks, and the granite outcrops and the
amazing first-time-ever infrared shots of leopards at night encountering
crocodiles and a sloth bear. That bear! Its guttural barks, so full of
mystery and menace in that night, made my blood run cold. The program was
truly a visual delight to savour by those who love Sri Lanka.

Such a magnificent creature is the leopard! Last July, my party came across
a male at Yala in repose beneath a leafy thorn bush. The coat of the leopard
is so cryptic that, despite being only 10 metres distant in front and being
pointed to furiously by our eagle-eyed tracker, it took me a couple of
minutes to see it. The leopard watched us as we watched it, eyes straining,
DV-cams whirring, the vehicle engine switched off. It appeared to be a young
male. We spent 15 minutes like this, spellbound. Then, with a flick of the
tail the leopard got up, looked at us with a dismissive stare, and vanished
into the grey-brown underbrush. What eyes it had! They reached back into
time.

The earliest cats date from around 30 million years ago, soon after they
split from their closest relatives, the hyaena-like mammals. (You^Òd think,
looking at their faces, that hyaenas were more closely related to dog-like
mammals, wouldn^Òt you?). A fascinating fact is that the Nimravidae, a family
that split off from cat ancestors nearly 60 million years ago --- way before
the hyaenids did --- appeared, through a process of convergent evolution,
physically almost identical to cats even to the extent of developing massive
sabre teeth. The nimravids died out about 2 million years ago.
Palaeontologists say that the leopard family has been around for at least
3.5 million years, based on their earliest remains found in Laetoli in
Tanzania. By about a million years ago, leopards had migrated to Europe;
they probably spread to Asia around the same time. European leopards
persisted to within historical times. Unlike lions and (to a much lesser
extent) tigers, leopards never reached North America.

The histories of the leopard, the lion, the tiger, the puma, the jaguar, the
clouded leopard, the cheetah, and the snow leopard --- the world^Òs extant
big cats --- are superbly told in understandable language in ^ÑThe Big Cats
and their Fossil Relatives^Ò by Alan Turner (1997, Columbia University Press,
234 pp.) available online from Amazon.com for US$11.87 (a steal!) and highly
recommended. Aside from fascinating palaeontological facts, the book has
dozens of remarkable, anatomically accurate, drawings of early big cats by
artist Mauricio Anton. A couple that strike me are one of a leopard dragging
one of our hominid ancestors to a cache site and another of a leopard up a
tree with its hominid prey. Yes, abundant spotted deer and wild boar help
support a healthy leopard population in Yala today but, once upon a time,
our ancestors would have been hunted down and eaten by leopards. At one time
or the other there were at least 28 species of big cats roaming our planet,
some of them pretty formidable customers. It would have been a fascinating
world to observe, but the way we looked at these animals in those days would
no doubt have been quite different!

TRIP REPORTS

Birding Highlights -from a 12 day Birding Tour in Sri Lanka (13 - 25 April)

- John Tornvall

Kitulgala  April 13-15; Black Eagle 1, Rufous-bellied Eagle 1, Sri Lanka
Blue Magpie 1, Black-throated Munia 2, Large-billed Leaf Warbler and Forest
Wagtail still present.

Victoria Park  April 14 (afternoon): Pied Thrush 1 male, Booted Warbler 1,
Forest Wagtail 1

Sinharaja April 16: We had one mixed feeding flock half way to the research
station containing 18 species., Among the species: 2 Red-faced Malkoha, 1
Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, 10 White-faced Starling, 10 Ashy-headed
Laughingthrush,  1 Malabar Trogon, 2 Racket-tailed Drongo, 1 Lesser
Yellownape. Other species seen includes 1 Brown-capped Babbler, 5
Spot-winged Thrush and 4 Scaly Thrush. Sri Lanka Spurfowl and
Chestnut-backed Owlet only heard.

Tissamaharama (Debaraweva Tank) April 17: Yellow Bittern 2, Black Bittern 1,
Cotton Pygmy-goose 1 female, Little Grebe 1000 + (Pannegamuwa Tank)

Yala April 17-18:, Black-necked Stork 1, Pacific Golden Plover 15, Grey
Plover 4, Little Ringed Plover 1, Black-tailed Godwit 3, Bar-tailed Godwit
10, Wood Sandpiper 1, Ruff 4, Small Pratincole 20, Eurasian Hoopoe 1, Indian
Pitta 2

Horton Plains (Arrenga Pool) April 19: Sri Lanka Whistling Thrush 2 heard
and 1 female seen., Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon 5, Sri Lanka Bush-warbler 5,
Booted Warbler 1

Sigiriya April 24-25:, Indian Pitta 1, Peregrine Falcon (Shaheen) 1

Adams Peak

- Lynn & Peter Eastcliff

When it was first suggested that climb Adams Peak a great many questions,
sprang to mind, not the least of which was "would we be able to make".,
Although we do a lot of walking which does include hills at times, we, had
never tackled a long continuous climb., We spoke to many people and everyone
told us something different; there, was so much conflicting information. It
was decided that we would climb, it with our daughter and son-in-law (his
idea anyway), as there was, spare seats in the vehicle we could also take
five members of the hotel, staff.

When the time came, we decided to drive there in the evening, stopping, for
dinner on the way, then start to climb when we got there. The idea, was to
have a nap en route but we were all too excited to sleep. The, hotel staff
kept us well-entertained with traditional Sri Lankan songs, on the way.

After an excellent dinner at Breeta's Garden, a long winding journey up, the
hills brought us within sight of the peak and we could see the, lights which
we were told lined the path to the summit.

Once in the car park at Nallthanniya, we prepared for the upward, journey.
Our Sri Lankan friends felt the cold and donned sweaters and, caps but we
just felt a bit cool at this stage so Maddy and I put on, long sleeved tops
while Peter and Phill remained in short sleeved, shirts. At this point
everyone was given a "glo-light" to hang round, their neck - these proved
very useful during the night to spot members, of the party.

We all started off together at 1.45 am but gradually became separated, into
two groups. At first the slope upwards was quite gradual and the, path quite
smooth and well maintained, but as we went further the path, narrowed, the
steps became more rugged and our legs started to tire., , Although there
were plenty of places to stop for refreshments, we tried, to stop only when
necessary to get one's breath back or take a short, drink.,
As we climbed Phill was measuring the change of altitude on his GPS and
the nearer we got to the top the faster the changes.

At 4.00 am I felt very tired and my legs were aching from the effort of,
climbing the steep steps. I could have easily given up at that point, as, I
thought there was still another 2 hours to go, but Peter just held on, to me
and I struggled on. Within 30 minutes I saw the sign about, removing
footwear and was amazed and delighted to know we had reached, the summit.

Everyone had warned us about how cold it was at the top but we did not,
realize how cold it would be. An icy wind blew across the top and we, were
soon shivering along with everyone else. At this point we decided, to go
back down to the last "hotel" and stay there until nearer sunrise.

We started back up about 6.20 and it only took about 5 minutes, so we, had
plenty of time to find a good place to watch the sunrise. It was,
SPECTACULAR to say the least and those with cameras among the throng, were
busy taking pictures as the sun slowly came into view. Once it was, fully
above the horizon, we went and saw the mountain's shadow in the, clouds
below. We also visited the shrine of the "footprint" hoping that, we had not
interrupted those still at prayer.

We found the journey down more difficult than expected. The climb up had,
taken it's toll on our knee joints, so it was a slow and painful, process.
On the way down more pictures were taken of us on the steps, plus the
magnificent views that you only get from on high. We finally, reached the
car park and saw Emil's (our driver) welcoming face. The, journey back to
Breeta's Garden for breakfast was filled with more, wonderful views for
those who could keep their eyes open. How we tucked, in to that wonderful
Sri Lankan breakfast on the terrace - it was hard, to believe that 12 hours
before we had eaten our dinner before the great, adventure.

Most of the return sights were lost on us as we tried to catch up on our,
lost nights sleep and we were very pleased to get back to our hotel for, a
shower, good dinner and a very good nights sleep.

A wonderful experience but as we have been told - you are a fool to, never
have climbed Adams Peak and you are also a fool to climb it more, than once!
I wonder!


PRESS RELEASES

NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER 2003 LAUNCHED WITH RS. 100,000 TOP PRIZE

2001 saw an abstract image of a Corrugated Frog by Thushara Weerakoddy
winning the first prize. In 2002 a quiet, thoughtful repose of a leopard
took the overall prize. The image captured by P A Kirtisinghe was simple and
uncluttered, drawing the viewer^Òs eyes to the leopard^Òs facial expression.

April 2003 sees the competition launched for the third successive year
sponsored once again by Fujifilm, HSBC and Jetwing Hotels. This year YATV
and CLASSIC FM and YESFM will be coming in as electronic media partners to
complement the printed media partners  Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa.

A full set of rules and application forms will be available at Fujifilm
outlets, HSBC branches and Jetwing hotels. From April application forms will
also be available in coupons in the Daily Mirror on Thursdays and the
Lankadeepa on Mondays. The competition will close on 15th July 2003 and the
exhibition is expected to be held in December 2003.

According to Namal Kamalgoda the Secretary of the Competition, the format
will be similar to last year with five subject categories for Mammals,
Birds, Other Wildlife, Wild Landscapes and Plant Life. In addition,
participants under the age of 21 on 15th July 2003 will automatically be
considered for the Young Nature Photographer award with a prize of Rs
20,000. Category winners will win Rs 10,000 and the overall winner selected
from the category winners will take the top prize of Rs. 100,000.

^ÓThe panel of judges will be looking for visual impact, lighting, subject
and composition^Ô says Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, of Jetwing Hotels who is
the Chairman of the competition. The winning and commended entries of last
years competition is published in a 32 page full colour portfolio available
from Lake House Publications, Hyde Park Corner, Colombo 2 and Fujifilm Image
Service at Union Place, Colombo 2. Applicants are encouraged to see which
images caught the attention of the judges. Going by the variety of entries
for 2002, it is very obvious that there is a huge pool of photographic
talent available in the country.

Commenting on HSBC^Òs role as co-sponsor the Bank^Òs Deputy Chief Executive
Officer Mr. Sarath Piyaratne said ^Ó We are happy to sponsor Nature
Photographer 2003 for the third year as it encourages people to enjoy the
beauty of nature without spoiling it. Protecting the environment is one of
HSBC^Òs two main corporate social responsibility initiatives  the other being
the welfare of underprivileged children. HSBC has been the pioneer corporate
institution to take an interest and make a difference at Horton Plains.
Since 2000, HSBC has been working with the Department of Wildlife
Conservation to ensure that Horton Plains remains free of garbage and that
visitors are educated on the damage caused by careless garbage disposal at
this nature reserve^Ô.

Entry is not restricted to Sri Lankans or images taken in Sri Lanka. Jude
Silva, Head  Photo Imaging, Hayleys Consumer Products Ltd says ^ÓFujifilm^Òs
commitment to conservation of nature is evident by the continuous
sponsorship of the Nature Photographer Competition and the Exhibition^Ô.

The event has been very well received by the printed media. Newspapers and
magazines have covered  the competition and the exhibition. Once again, the
stories and images of the event will be available to the media to promote
and publicise the event allowing all sections of the media to benefit from
stories which would appeal to their audiences both for its subject matter as
well as its strong visual impact.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Sri Lankan Chelonians
Anselm de Silva (kalds@sltnet.lk) states "In December I am organizing a work
shop on chelonians of Sri Lanka - probably at Rajarata University. Can you
please send me your observations of Geochelon elegans (Star Tortoise) and
other terrapin of Sri Lanka - localities where you have them, any run-over
by vehicles, feeding on flesh, smuggling.

I am also conducting a survey on captive Geochelon elegans (Star Tortoise)
kept as pets along with my herpetology students. Of course any information
on this would be highly confidential - we will NOT divulge the identity of
the owners.  I would appreciate hearing from people who wish to participate.


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