Asian elephants

The Antiguan racer, Alsophis antiguae, is endemic to Antigua and Barbuda and was abundant until Asian mongooses, Herpestes javanicus, were introduced in the 19th century. The mongooses hunted many native birds, reptiles and amphibians to extinction and reduced the snake population to only 50 individuals on the 9.9-hectare Great Bird Island. The Antiguan racer had thus become the rarest snake in the world.
To save these harmless reptiles from extinction, the Antiguan Racer Conservation Project was formed by a partnership of organizations including Fauna & Flora International,

With only 10% of the population of their African cousins the Asian elephant is in trouble.

Poaching for ivory and conversion of critical forest habitat to agriculture is threatening the survival of the Asian elephant in the wild. Elephants need large forest landscapes in which to live and conduct their normal migratory and social behaviour. Fragmentation of these landscapes through roads and development is reducing the elephant’s chances of seeing out the 21st century.

We're conserving endangered sub-species in Sumatra (Indonesia) and Cambodia. Our efforts have mobilized field teams into the heart of the elephant ranges, capturing poachers, working with local communities and disseminating important messages on how to live side by side with the magnificent, yet troublesome elephant.

We conduct land use planning using the latest satellite technology, as well as tried and tested local land planning tools. We assist local people to use their land more productively, reducing encroachment into the forest estate whilst reducing poverty.

Our role in throughout the region is to bring together partners to be proactive and strategic in achieving conservation. Our critical role is to guide communities, government agencies, technical specialists and the corporate sector to be sensitive to elephant conservation issues and make decisions with their welfare in mind.

Only through this approach can we save the elephants in an era when land and forest are such valuable commodities. At Fauna & Flora International, we are working to ensure that the elephant’s stake is properly represented as part of the bigger environmental picture.

Latest elephant news in Cambodia

SI's Gary Van Sickle makes his Masters

Tiger Woods. He's your winner. For the 14th time in a major. I know, he's six shots back and that's a big hill to climb. There are two reasons for going out on this limb. One, he played superbly on Saturday. He was burning the edges, and if a few more putts dropped, he would have shot 66, 65 or maybe even 63. Second, the conditions may be difficult Sunday, lots of wind and not all that warm. Tough conditions favor the best ballstriker or, to be specific, the best shotmaker. To get the ball close, players will have to be able to hold the ball against the wind. Woods is the best shotmaker in the game, by far. And six shots can disappear in two holes at Augusta.

Woods has never won a major coming from behind on Sunday, but the players he is chasing have won a total of zero majors and have little or no experience playing in the final groups on Sunday at a major. That ought to be worth a couple of shots. Plus, the guys in front of him will surely have that extra little surge of worry when they see Tiger's name inching up the leaderboard. He isn't the guy to beat starting out, but he may be the man to catch by the time the leaders hit Amen Corner.

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi made a welcome return to the front row of the grid for the first time this year in Portugal this afternoon, qualifying third aboard his Fiat Yamaha M1. It was the first time the 29-year-old has qualified on the front row since making the switch to Bridgestone tyres and it puts him in a good position from which to attempt a repeat of his victory here five months ago.

Times tumbled in this morning’s free practice and Rossi continued to improve his race setting, finishing the morning’s work in fourth position. This afternoon he continued in the same fashion, topping the time sheets for the first half of the session. In the later battle for qualifying tyres Rossi set his best time of 1’36.199 with ten minutes still on the clock and, with his young team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on pole it looked like being a Fiat Yamaha one-two before the party was spoiled by Dani Pedrosa pipping Rossi to second in the closing minutes.