As a result of a count of elephant, giraffe, zebra and ostrich in the Kidepo Valley National Park, made in February 1975, the author, who is Director of the Uganda Institute of Ecology, concludes that, despite some fluctuations, especially among giraffes, the numbers were fairly typical for the dry season.

The guanaco, a wild South American camel, like the vicuña, is not on the IUCN endangered list, but numbers have decreased steadily, and it is on Peru's list of endangered species. The author, who describes a brief study of the largest population in Peru, suggests that protective measures are needed.

The Italian grey partridge Perdix p. italica is in danger of extinction. It has been overhunted and stocks have been polluted by the importing and release of other subspecies. The author urges that the few small flocks of the pure native bird known to survive should be located and given strict protection.

After a preliminary survey in 1974 the author suggests that the outlook for the radiated tortoise in southern Madagascar is not entirely gloomy, thanks to traditional taboos on eating its flesh, improved government controls on exports, and import restrictions in other countries. Its future depends on the survival of some natural habitat; at the same time, he suggests, modern agricultural developments may be indirectly beneficial.

Zaïre is one of the foremost African countries in thefieldof wildlife conservation, with large areas of wild country still almost untouched, a magnificent range of wildlife, large well managed national parks, and the will and intention to conserve and extend these, as President Mobutu Sese Seko has made clear. This year conservationists from all over the world will be able to see a little of how this vast country is conserving its wildlife when they meet there for the IUCN General Assembly. In this article the former Director General of Zaïre's Institut National pour la Conservation de la Nature, who has worked there as a biologist since 1948, surveys the main wildlife areas. A second article, in the next Oryx, will describe the status of the major mammals.

Trade in the highly endangered orang utan still goes on despite total protection in its entire range – Indonesia and East Malaysia. The authors spent three years studying orang utans in North Sumatra, trying to get the protection law enforced, and running a rehabilitation station for confiscated animals. The aim was to return the animals to the wild, but the station's real importance was that it made the confiscation of illegally held animals possible, and was thus some deterrent to hunters and traders. Much more damaging than the orang utan trade, however, is the forest destruction that is going on, and it is vital to ensure that large areas of lowland primary forest are preserved from the huge timberlogging operations that are fast destroying the orang utan's habitat.

The natterjack toad is decreasing rapidly in Britain. This is particularly true of its largest population on the dunes of south-west Lancashire, where developments in the form of houses, roads and a holiday camp have deprived it of habitat. Even more serious, say the authors, who have made a survey of this toad in Britain for WWF, is the drying out of the dune slacks, the freshwater pools where the natterjacks breed, as a result of the lowering of the water table by drainage and abstraction. The artificial substitutes provided so far are not adqeuate and the authors urge the need to create large and suitable breeding pools for the toads.