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 [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] -----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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- SRI LANKA WILDLIFE NEWS is a monthly e-mail of birding and wildlife events, sightings and short notes of interest to birders, photographers, conservationists etc. To receive a copy, please e-mail gehan@jetwing.lk with "Subscribe Wildlife News" in the subject header. SLWN values your privacy, to be removed, e-mail with ^ÓUnsubscribe Wildlife News^Ô in the header. Please e-mail your sightings, events etc to gehan@jetwing.lk. The media are welcome to extract details, but please attribute the source. Past issues are on www.jetwingeco.com