The Mallorcan midwife toad was described, from subfossil remains, as recently as 1977, and it was not until 1980 that some living tadpoles were recognized as belonging to this new species. Once widespread in Mallorca, now perhaps only 1000–1500 adult toads remain, in secret and remote gorges in the mountains. In order to provide a safety net, should catastrophe strike at the fragile wild populations, the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust offered to set up a captive-breeding programme for the toad. In 1985 the author set out to collect eight toads, to be the founders of the captive colony. The FFPS contributed £85 from its Oryx 100% Fund towards the expedition.

Madagascar's conservation problems are many, but the Malagasy Government is working towards solutions, having recently passed into law a strategy that links development with the conservation of natural resources. The protection of the country's remaining forests is a key concern, both for the human population and for the non-human primates. The author is a primatologist and has a research background in behavioural ecology, reproduction and conservation, especially with prosimians. This article was first presented at the joint Primate Society of Great Britain/FFPS meeting on primate conservation in December 1985.

Much of Madagascar's wildlife is threatened and remains poorly known despite a long history of research and conservation, both by the country's governments and by foreign scientists and conservationists. The fast growing human population and fragmentation of the country's forests mean that there is an urgent need for research. Lee Durrell is Chairman of the International Advisory Group of Scientists set up in February 1983 to vet research projects in Madagascar proposed by foreign workers. In December 1984, at a London meeting held jointly by the FFPS and the British Ornithological Union, she presented a paper on recent research by foreigners; the following is an updated extract.

When the author visited ’Eua in the Tonga islands to study the red shining parrot, he took the opportunity to collect information on some other aspects of Tonga's wildlife. During his 18-month survey he also visited several other islands in the group. Here he discusses six rare and threatened animals—four birds and two reptiles.

The broad vision of the new environmentalist, who seeks to conserve the world's ecosystems for the sake of the human species as well as wildlife, has much to commend it. Beside it, the traditional conservationist's approach, aiming to conserve wildlife for its own sake, seems outmoded. The development of the concept of ecosystem management, however, has been accompanied by other shifts in emphasis. Among them is the idea of wildlife as an economic asset, paying for its own conservation by providing, for example, tourist revenue and pharmaceuticals. This development may seem to be the fulfilment of the dream of those who want to ‘sell’ conservation to those with power over the environment. The author, who has recently completed writing the ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book on African birds, offers a personal view of where the new trend may be leading many of the threatened species of the earth.

In October 1983 a rat was reported to have been seen on Gough Island, an outlier of the Tristan da Cunha Group in the South Atlantic. Gough Island has no permanently resident human inhabitants, but supports one of the largest and most diverse assemblages of breeding seabirds now remaining anywhere in the temperate zones. The author was a member of a small team of biologists that spent three weeks on Gough Island, in October-November 1984, to try to confirm whether there were any rats on the island, and if so to make recommendations for their control and extermination. The following proposals result from experience in carrying out this survey, and from writing World Conservation Strategy proposals for Oceanic Islands for the IUCN.

Conservationists in the West often assume that the people of the developing world are less concerned about wildlife than are people in the developed world. Recent surveys, in Tanzania, Brazil, Rwanda and the USA, have exploded this myth. The authors discuss the findings from these surveys and their implications for conservation. This paper was presented, in London in December 1985, at a symposium—Current Issues in Primate Conservation—organized jointly by the FFPS and the Primate Society of Great Britain.

The use of paints containing tributyltin (TBT) to keep boat hulls clean is threatening marine life in some coastal regions, especially where boating for pleasure is popular. Research so far has shown that very low concentrations of the chemical have lethal or mutagenic effects on some marine invertebrates and stop the growth of phytoplankton. Legislation is being drawn up by many countries to control the use of these paints, but the author fears that it may be too little and too late for some populations of organisms.

The Black River Lower Morass is Jamaica's largest wetland, and is a refuge for two endangered species—the American crocodile and the West Indian manatee—as well as for a host of other plants and animals. It is internationally important for many birds and a vital economic resource for 20,000 people. Proposals for peat mining and drainage for agriculture now threaten this valuable area. The author has a long-standing interest in the wetland, having studied the American crocodile there since 1975.

Giant river otters were once widespread in the rivers and creeks of the greater Amazon Basin. Hunting for their skins caused many local extinctions and only small scattered populations now remain, although total numbers are unknown. It is seriously endangered in Colombia, and one of the places where it still occurs in any numbers, El Tuparro National Park, is becoming increasingly accessible to people, while the otter populations in adjacent rivers outside the park are even more vulnerable to poaching.

Simple solutions to wildlife conservation in Africa and elsewhere are comfortable but deceptive. This article focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the six main methods used to conserve wildlife in Africa and argues that their effectiveness differs according to place and circumstances. The means by which we achieve conservation goals must be employed opportunistically because there is no single path to long-term wildlife conservation.