Source: Vicipaedia
Ita fit, ut ratio nova Richard Branson; salvum facere anulum herbae lemuri (Lemuri catta) per invecta ad privatam Britanniae Virginem Insulam. Articulus ostendit quomodo opera Branson annos consumpsit millions of libras et vertere in insula “maxime amica insulae in orbem terrarum creatively”. Sed videtur Mr Branson scientiam conservationem dimittendam esse et eam rescribere in via magis amicabili PR. In lemurs veniunt non obstante cautiones oeconomicorum propriae aestimationee quia vult “…ut in altera insula habitat et condiciones Moskito perfectae sunt.” Fortasse Branson glossarium mundi bizarro habet ubi definitio verbi perfecti est “quid omnino dissimile originali”.
OK fideles, prima idea sonat denique unum – lemurs periclitantur, quin iterum feras dare conantur? Euge, Dr James Lazell of the Conservation Agency has had 31 years experience in the Virgin Islands and has pointed out that “Lemurs are agile, dexterous, aggressive, omnivorous animals that could have a detrimental effect on these simple island ecologies. They eat absolutely everything – lizards, fruit, roots, insectorum, birds’ eggs.” Oh but don’t worry, nothing bad can happen when you introduce primates to an island (introduced primates devastate Florida Key). Branson knows that the lemurs will only “take the odd gecko” (like the rare endemic dwarf-gecko Sphaerodactylus parthenopion), not to mention they probably won’t spread to other islands since they “hate swimming” (ring tailed lemur swimming).
So why then the ring-tailed? Not because it is the most endangered (sunt lots of other more endangered lemurs), but because it is the most iconic. That is what really drives me up the wall about this ridiculous idea. Not only is he naively introducing a possibly invasive species into a sensitive island habitat – but because he is spreading a false message of conservation. Like a slow child Branson has rushed to the ring-tailed to save it while completely missing the entire idea behind conservation. The ring-tailed is a flagship species, one that draws attention to the devastation that is occurring in Madagascar. One cute cuddly animal to represent the staggeringly unique and diverse habitats of its homeland. But not if Richard Branson has anything to say about it. Why bother protect Madagascar when you can swoop in and create a new home for a primate everyone loves? Phew, crisis averted. Richard fiddles while Madagascar burns.
I suspect this freakish island zoo is simply masquerading as conservation and the real incentive behind it is commercial. Over the next few years there will be a handful of “luxury, carbon-neutral homes built on the island”. A pretty brilliant scheme to incentivize the purchase of homes that undoubtedly will cost tens of millions of dollars each – and you can pretend to feel good about protecting the world while you do it. After all the Virgin Islands lack any charismatic wildlife; nature sure does a terrible job of creating a billionaires wonderland. What comes next to the island?
Maybe… just maybe… Branson has Dr. Moreau moving in first.
I have heard similar ideas uttered as potentially good conservation efforts by professional primatologists, in full seriousness. Do you think there is a (negative) correlation between understanding of the environment and the charisma of one’s study organisms?
Not at all. There are lots of fantastic scientists who work on very charismatic species. The only downside is you get people who know nothing about them messing things up (like butterflies!). I think Branson is misguided here – he is going against the scientific advice in this particular instance. It just rings more of media stunt than honest conservation effort (they are even neutering all of the lemurs!)
Personally I don’t see the point of conserving a species if the native habitat is gone. If we can’t restore the habitat in the first place then why screw up another habitat just to protect the first species? Thats what zoos are for…
gravissime? Quomodo est aliquis valor conservationis si omnes exsecti erunt?? Sonat sicut vult solum proprium lemur insulae. Et putavi John Varty ridiculum esse quod incolas bengal tigris in Africa Australi constituere conatur. Saltem consilium illud deficere probabile est ac perditio pecuniae potius quam fortasse species introducere quae difficultates oecologicas drasticas causaret.… Sigh
Cum aliquo exerces qui in agro valido realitatis corruptelae operatur. Hic est homo qui ingentes vires et facultates consumit ut mansionem in insula ecosystematis scindat, quem privatum volat visitare, omnes cum vocantem illum “amica fringilla.” scilicet, scientia et logica non conveniunt domino Ricardo.
Non tam mala opinio est, sed quomodo? (sed quaenam eius consilia ipsa sint, nemo certo certius videtur, et in veritate, probabiliter morph in cottidie hoc “praeeminentiae” punctum). Puto eius ideam initialem esse emissurum illum 3 species lemurs: ringtails (quae sunt lenta, ac fere duri, et manducare pulchra nimis quicquam, non tam facile quam aliae species male habent); rufus lemurs (finicky, et sic feci in captivitate, et in quibusdam locis praemature mortui sunt; et sifakas (quae sunt durissima in captivitate administrandi, fragilia sunt et facile in captivitate moriuntur — sifakas certe magna idea). Propositum suum consilium fuit eas in insulis dimittere et in insulis liberum imperium habere. Omnia bene et bene illis est (aut non, fretus), but what about the endemic biota? There are several species of endangered lizards and geckos on the island, and the ringtails will eat those up, for sure. True, lots of people have lemurs as pets (now that’s a really terrible idea, for many reasons), and in some ways this is no different than that.
But we are talking about letting a whole bunch of these “pets” run free all over one or two islands. True, lemurs cannot swim (the photos of a ringtail swimming show him right next to land) so they won’t be going over to other islands; that’s almost certainly not an issue. But Branson has a responsibility to take extremely good care of these animals, especially if they are left to run free all over the island (which everyone who knows these animals thinks is a very bad plan.) They need to have a crew of vets on site 24/7 to monitor the animals and make sure they are well cared for, not sick, getting enough to eat, etc.. Maybe even have a research team of people who are working on PhDs in primatology to follow the groups of lemurs and report on them. If poorly executed, Branson’s plan could doom many of the lemurs to deaths that could have been prevented. There is no data to show whether or not there are new pathogens that they will be exposed to that will be harmful for them — or the possibiity they may bring other pathogens into the islands. If Branson is dead-set on the plan, the best way would be to build large enclosures for the animals, and provide adequate (and costly vet care), and make all the colony or colonies are well-monitored.
Omnes et singuli locutus sum (in bene connexis retis lemur elit & conservationists) dixit, in effectum, “quare in terra non utitur suis billions ad auxilium seni Madagascar ut lemurs morari possit.?” Quod valde bona est quaestio. Forsitan aliquis ex ambobus faceret — Lemuribus aliquot in hac insula providere et subsidia in Madagascar, ubi lemurs ignis subsunt. Multis modis hoc facere potuit, et Madagascar certus indiget auxilio.
Non audieram quod lemurs sunt neuter in quaestionem … qui non facit sensum aliquem ad me, ut videtur puncTum hoc habere fetum, sustineri coloniam. At vero eos, maybe ille tantum vult neutrum primum batch, et quomodo “ad experimentum” operatur durioribus adultis (no infants.)
Dear Moth,
Could you disagree with someone and not call him an idiot? No doubt Richard has his commercial reasons for being philantrophical but you really dont need to drag yourself into the mud for doubting his sincerity? Why dont you save the lemurs instead? And then not choose to spend your pocket money for global advertising in a hypocritical way?
Thank you for reading this since your time is so precious.
Harry.
Of course, I can respectfully disagree with you. You might be correct, I could be wrong in doubting his sincerity. And if anything that makes him less of an idiot for knowing how to spin the PR on his island zoo of neutered lemurs. But if he is sincere, I suggest that he sticks to the industry he better understands.
And that would be commercial space travel from a poor county in New Mexico.