- On this episode of Ecosense... SUSAN CAMPBELL: "It has nothing to do with age or sex, they're all extremely aggressive."

DR. GLADYS: "As the numbers of mountain gorillas are growing, which is wonderful because they're just so few, the space isn't enough for them.

-"Oh, Sh--!

Don't move, David!"

♪ ♪ JENNIE: As a young man, Charles Mayhew set out on a months-long exploration of Africa.

It was a journey that changed the course of his life and opened new pathways for conservation through Tusk Trust.

♪ ♪ JENNIE: When you were on this first journey, what did you see that pulled at your heartstrings and made this a lifelong journey for you?

CHARLIE: So, that expedition was in the mid-80's, and at that time across Africa, there was an appalling poaching epidemic that was decimating the rhino populations and elephant populations in particular.

And we were losing something like a hundred thousand elephants a year to the Ivory trade.

And my team took on various projects and one of those projects was to help the Kenyan Wildlife Service establish a new Rhino Sanctuary at a place called Lake Nakuru National Park.

JENNIE: Since its inception, tell me about where it was when it started and where you are today.

CHARLIE: Over the years, we have built up a portfolio of conservation partners and project partners that we support across the whole of Africa.

And I hasten to add that the charity is not just about supporting tusked animals.

The charity's always had a very broad interest in supporting landscapes and habitat.

And we've also always had a philosophy that the future of wildlife in Africa and its wild places is totally dependent on the communities that live alongside it.

So we've always had a very strong ethos of backing and investing in community-based conservation.

JENNIE: So tell me more about the Ranger program.

What are they like?

Their passion?

How do they connect with these animals and bond with them and want to put their life before these animals?

CHARLIE: Many of them put their lives on the line every single day, and they are remarkable men and women, incredibly brave, incredibly dedicated.

And to be a ranger isn't always about men with guns.

You know, some of them are guides, some of them are mentors and teachers.

They go into the communities to raise awareness for the environment and protecting the environment amongst those communities.

And of course, they are also rangers out on patrol, walking hundreds of kilometers a week, and living out in the bush in tents sleeping out.

It's a really tough, tough role to play.

They're not paid well and far too many of them lose their lives in the line of duty, whether they tragically get caught in a gun battle with heavily armed poachers.

You know, they get charged by an elephant or buffalo or something like that.

As a result of Covid in 2020, we saw how swiftly the revenue from tourism had fallen off a cliff and tourism underpins so much of conservation across Africa.

Rangers were losing their jobs.

So we established an initiative called the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, and ended up supporting just under 10,000 rangers across Africa, keeping them on the front line of conservation, keeping them in those protected areas.

It's been inspiring to see how the Rangers themselves have decided to come together to run in solidarity with each other in order to raise these funds.

And they've -- it's transformed their thinking, that wildlife is no longer a threat to them.

It's an asset, and it's an asset from which they can derive very significant benefits.

Conservation is ultimately about people.

We have a really dynamic environmental education program that is now reaching over a million kids across Africa.

Hoping to show them simple solutions to everyday problems in their lives, including how to tackle human-wildlife conflict, for instance, or soil erosion on their farms, or you know, how they can get clean water.

And so that's all wrapped up in what we call PACE, Pan-African Conservation Education Program.

And that's always remained a key pillar of what Tusk is about investing in education.

It took a while for us to build up momentum and support, but then we were incredibly lucky that in 2005, Prince William selected us as one of his first two charities to support and became our royal patron.

JENNIE: How involved is he?

CHARLIE: He's very involved actually.

And over the years he's been out to see projects in Africa.

He's passionate about Africa, its people and its environment, and he's incredibly knowledgeable.

As a result of his support, it has given us a global profile that you could only wish for.

JENNIE: Tell me a little bit about David Yarrow's involvement with Tusk.

CHARLIE: David Yarrow has been involved with Tusk as an ambassador and an incredibly generous supporter of our work for many, many years.

Through his photography he has raised and allowed us to raise through auctions - I've lost track of how much money, but he's passionate about Africa.

He spent a lot of time out there in different parts.

And so we are immensely fortunate to have someone of his profile and you know, supporting us as the way he does.

- "Oh sh--!

Don't move, David!"

JENNIE: So, when did you first have a passion for shooting wildlife in Africa?

DAVID YARROW: When I first watched the BBC natural history series, Life on Earth, I found it mesmerizing, it grabbed my attention and it held my attention.

I think it was also something that the British were very good at, both from a cinematography perspective and also from a narration perspective.

JENNIE: Do you remember the first animal that you photographed there?

DAVID YARROW: I think the first animals I photographed there very badly, by the way, were elephants and I had no idea what I was doing.

And the mistakes that I were making was that I would go and land in Kenya, for instance, in Nairobi or even Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and think, well, I'm just going to go and photograph animals, just see what's out there.

And of course, that's not a particularly scientific approach.

What you should do is say, I'm going to Kenya to photograph elephants.

I soon learned that there are places to go for giraffe, there are places to go for hippo, places to go for lion, like where I'm going tomorrow.

And there are places for elephants and they don't cross connect.

JENNIE: When you're out there, you have a certain style, how do you go about getting that shot?

DAVID: If I'm going to photograph you right now, I'm going to photograph you from two foot away.

It's immersive.

I can capture your personality much, if I'm close.

If you work from further away, obviously the magnification of a lens compresses distance, but it compresses emotion as well.

And our approach has always been to be immersive and to be close.

Saturday I'll work from cages.

So we've worked from cages an awful lot in Africa, and these cages are very, very heavy.

So the idea is that the hole in the cage that your camera lens can fit through is smaller than the head of the predator.

Hopefully.

We've only had one incident where a lion tried to get into the cage and it's always the lionesses.

It's always the girls, the ones that give you the trouble.

JENNIE: How did you get involved with Tusk?

DAVID: I like people that get their hands dirty and are good in the field.

And they've got an awful lot of common sense and some superb people there.

Habitat loss is the biggest issue for African wildlife.

It is not poaching.

Poaching makes the headlines, it's dreadful.

But the population of Kenya will grow by 1500 people today.

That is why the lion population is low.

And Tusk get that and their track record is extraordinary.

JENNIE: For people that can't go to Africa, do you feel like you have created a love and that people will make people want to protect these animals through your photography?

DAVID: I'm a romantic.

I want to tell good news stories.

And so, I always want to magnify the animals, make them look as magnificent as possible.

If I go photograph the gorillas in Rwanda, I'll tend to gravitate towards the silverback.

And I'm lucky that I've got a medium that I can do that with.

JENNIE: So looking back at all the work that you've done and a little bit into the future, what gives you hope about this?

CHARLIE: Every time I go to Africa and I see the work of our partners and what they're doing on the ground, and we provide a platform through which they can exchange ideas and share their problems and their solutions.

It's very exciting.

There's so much going on, and that gives me so much hope, actually.

♪ ♪ JENNIE: The population of gorillas in Uganda is starting to rebound, thanks to the vision of a remarkable woman who transformed the critical relationship between the gorillas and their human neighbors.

DR. GLADYS: I am Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health.

JENNIE: Tell me about your groundbreaking work with the mountain gorilla.

DR. GLADYS: I've been working with Mountain Gorillas for 27 years now, and I started out as a researcher and then I became Uganda's first wildlife vet setting up the veterinary unit in the government department that manages the wildlife, and that's when I started treating the gorillas and attending to their health.

And then later on when people made gorillas sick, we decided to set up a nonprofit in 2003 to address, to improve the health of the people so that the gorillas have less threats from human disease.

JENNIE: How did the gorillas become sick?

DR. GLADYS: We found out that the gorillas picked up scabies from the Bwindi local community when they went into their gardens to eat banana plants and they came across dirty clothing on scarecrows.

It made me realize that you can't keep the gorillas healthy without improving the health of their human neighbors.

And that's when we decided to set up the nonprofit.

JENNIE: What's the name of the nonprofit that you started?

DR. GLADYS: The nonprofit is called Conservation Through Public Health, and we promote biodiversity conservation by enabling people to coexist with gorillas and other wildlife through improving the health of the people, the health of the gorillas and the livelihoods of the local communities.

JENNIE: So, how have the human neighbors taken to becoming more healthy, and what do they have to do and are they accepting of this?

DR. GLADYS: Yes, the human neighbors are very accepting of becoming healthier because when we show them that we care about their health, we're addressing a basic human right.

And this makes them more willing to protect the wildlife, but also, they realize that if they're healthy, then the gorillas will be healthy.

And those who are already benefiting from tourism know that in order to have viable tourism, the gorillas need to keep healthy.

JENNIE: And how are the gorillas doing?

How are their populations today?

DR. GLADYS: The gorilla populations almost doubled since I first started working with them, so I'm very excited.

The mountain gorillas used to be about 650.

In 2018, when the last census was held, the total population was 1063, of which 459 were in Bwindi.

So it's very exciting that the numbers are really going up, and I think it's more gorillas are surviving because of veterinary care, better community engagement.

Money from tourism is shared with local community members, so they're less likely to poach, but also as a community members are getting healthier, the gorillas are falling sick less often, so there's lots of benefits that are coming about because of engaging communities and improving their health and wellbeing.

JENNIE: So what about the habitat destruction?

Do they have enough land to keep reproducing?

DR. GLADYS: As the numbers of mountain gorillas are growing, which is wonderful, because there's just so few, the space isn't enough for them.

And the more that they lose the fear of people through being habituated for tourism or research, they're more likely to leave the park boundary because they're going back to the places where they used to range before their habitat was cut.

And so it's a big issue.

We are trying to see how best we can expand the park, expand Bwindi Impenetrable National Park through getting people to sell their land so that there's more land for the gorillas.

And a lot of people are willing to do it because they can't do much on their land.

It's full of wild animals coming and eating their crops.

And actually, it's not only gorillas, but baboons and bush pigs and other animals.

So it's an ambitious project because it require a lot of fundraising to do that, but it's really needs to be done now before it's too late.

JENNIE: Are poachers going after gorillas today?

DR. GLADYS: Poachers rarely go after gorillas because in Uganda, people don't eat gorilla meat.

The Batwa who lived in the forest believed it was bad luck to look in the eyes of a gorilla.

Whereas in other countries, they believe if you eat a gorilla, you can become as strong as a gorilla.

It just depends on the culture of the area.

JENNIE: When did your relationship with Tusk start?

DR GLADYS: Our relationship with Tusk started in 2013 when Tusk started to fund our work.

That was when we were 10 years old as a nonprofit, and they really supported us in building a permanent center for our work.

And we call it the Gorilla Health and Community Conservation Center in Buhoma Bwindi's main tourist site.

We now have 26 gorillas, gorilla groups habituated for tourism.

So 60% of the gorillas of Bwindi, can be seen by people, and it's resulting in significant revenue for the National Park and some of the other parks that don't make enough money to raise operational costs.

We also host tourists there, so whenever people come to visit, they visit the center.

It's got the best view of Bwindi forest, right at the top of the forest.

It's a panoramic view.

So when you get there and it's just rained, you can see the mist rising and it's very, very beautiful and it's enabled us to raise funds to keep the work going.

JENNIE: We know conservation work can be challenging and you know, it sounds like a lot of positive things are happening, but what's your hope in the future for your area and the gorillas and everything that you're doing?

DR GLADYS: My hope for the future is that we can continue to help the people.

We've actually started a gorilla Conservation coffee, a social enterprise.

People would, as you're going to visit the gorillas, the farmers would see tourists walking up, through their gardens.

They would sometimes stop and tell a tourist, this is a coffee tree, Arabica tree, Robusta tree.

But they weren't getting any money and they weren't getting a fair market or a steady price for their coffee.

So they were still entering the forest to poach because it was easier to go in and kill an animal for meat rather than try and sell their coffee to buy meat.

So we called it Gorilla Conservation Coffee, and we're engaging 500 farmers, some -- many of whom are reformed poachers and reducing their need to enter the park to poach and collect firewood.

And we'd love to scale this up in other countries in Africa where gorillas are found and where some people may just never have tourism, some countries because it's not safe enough.

I believe enterprises like this that are eco-friendly and not destroying the forest can really make a big difference to conservation.

♪ ♪ JENNIE: Hummingbirds may be tiny, but their fierce determination and flashy colors bring joy to people across the world.

♪ ♪ SUSAN CAMPBELL: Ruby-throated hummingbirds do actually migrate thousands of miles both in the spring and in the fall.

And there's not a lot that we know about their migration, but we can definitely say that they take a different route in the spring than they do in the fall.

And this astounds me, the routes that they take are predetermined genetically.

So they will be taking the same route that their parents and their grandparents took.

- Welcome everybody.

We're at the mercy of the birds.

Karen is in the garden actively trapping right now.

Kyle is gonna band this bird, so the first thing we are going to do is get the bird out of the bag.

4.24 grams.

This bird weighs a penny and a half.

JULIA: We are checking for fat, at that point.

these birds put on fat under the skin and that's what powers their migration.

So a lot of these birds are going to head down towards the Gulf Coast and are going to head out over open water.

It's an 18 to 24 hour nonstop flight over open water to get to Mexico.

So the way they survive that, these birds weigh 2 1/2 to 3 grams, normally.

They'll weigh 5 and 6 grams when they leave.

So all that fat is what they survive on.

That's what powers this journey that they take.

There you go, I don't bite.

Now relax your hand... SUSAN: One thing that we do know about hummingbirds is they feed on insects, primarily insects.

As much as we see them visiting flowers and feeders, they really need a lot of protein.

There is a lot of mortality.

And we believe with young hummingbirds as much as 90% of the young that hatched this year will not make it to their first birthday.

Some of them may have trouble finding food where they are, or during migration.

They may encounter a spider web, get tangled and not be able to get out of spider webbing.

They also can get caught by bird hawks, things like sharp shinned hawks, which feed on birds.

They may also be grabbed by a snake that may be sitting and waiting on a tree limb.

Unfortunately, far too many of them hit windows.

We do have lots of documented evidence of, of them running into man-made objects.

LISA: I was doing my morning rounds and I went into the courtyard where we have these two huge giant French doors and I heard this little squeak and I looked down on the steps and there he was.

And so I'm like, oh God.

So I grabbed him and he was hopping around and it's this little wing that looks iffy.

NANCY: So the little bird is obviously injured, so I'd like to get some anti-inflammatory and pain med in him as soon as I can.

He's taking a few licks of the medicine, should be enough to help him out here in the next few minutes.

So I'm going to weigh him, 3.0.

That's a good weight.

They hit windows a lot.

They get in fights a lot.

There's nothing you can do about their territorial fights.

But people can treat their windows, especially problem windows with everything from a complete film that goes over it to pulling the curtains or hanging paper in front of it.

Stickers are okay, but they can go around the stickers.

It's better to complete the window from side to side and up and down.

Two of these guys were young hummingbirds that came in, possibly abandoned fledglings or somehow orphaned fledglings and they are flying, and -- weren't flying when they came in, possibly had spinal damage or something.

They have to move around and we watch how they perch, how they hover, and just make sure that they can sustain flight.

It usually doesn't take very long for these guys.

Everything happens faster in hummingbird time, we can release them just about anywhere since they're migratory, as long as it's a good habitat.

SUSAN: Banding hummingbirds is not much different than banding other birds, except that I'm operating at a much smaller scale.

To become a hummingbird bander, you have to have special training.

And there are not many of those people in the United States.

And for those of us that are hummingbird banders, it is a lifetime commitment because it's only over the long haul that we're really going to gather the information and get the data that we need to be able to start to answer questions.

One of the questions we've been able to answer here in North Carolina is the fact that Ruby-throated do have two broods in the course of the summer months.

Ruby-throated females can only raise two youngsters.

That's it, that's all that will fit in the nest.

They start out from eggs about the size of a black-eyed pea, and by the time they leave the nest, they're as big or maybe a little bigger than their mothers.

For the males, their role in breeding is simply to look handsome for the females.

They have to be colorful, they have to have that full red throat.

And they also have to be able to perform very specific displays.

So the male is trying to attract as many females as he can into his little territory and with his fancy flying.

They are very aggressive.

Even the young hummingbirds when they leave the nest are immediately aggressive when it comes to feeding.

So it has nothing to do with age or sex.

They're all extremely aggressive.

And ruby-throats for their body size are one of the most aggressive hummingbirds in North America.

Certainly when they're defending a territory, they are going to be using, body language in the form of threats, as well as some vocalizations to get their point across.

But they do occasionally engage in physical fighting.

And when that happens, it's usually an aerial pushing match where they'll fly into one another and push with their feet or with their chests to get their point across.

The most hummingbird rich country is Ecuador, and it's a small country, but it has an incredible array of habitats, where hummingbirds have evolved over the years.

We think there are some 360 species.

Here in the United States, we don't have that many.

Certainly, Arizona is the place to go if you want to see a lot of hummingbirds, in particular in the fall as they're migrating through.

Most of the hummingbird species in the world are not being studied very intensively.

We're finding new hummingbird species still in the tropics.

So there's a lot that we have to learn about these birds.

But I have to say that that is the benefit of my long-term research on ruby-throats is I know how things were when I started doing this work over 20 years ago.

And what I'm seeing now, and there definitely has been a change and I think it's been a change in the wrong direction unfortunately.

But I think that we can turn it around.

People really love these shining, fast moving feisty creatures.

Even if they don't care about the other birds in their yards, they love hummingbirds, they wanna know what they can do for them.

And I'll say, yes, you can hang more feeders, but that's not really what's important.

What's important is the vegetation being native vegetation that will support those insects so that the insects are there and not using sprays in your yard, using as little chemical as possible.

And I can't imagine a world without hummingbirds.

Yes, maybe life would go on, but I think our ecosystem would be different.

I think we would lose a lot if these birds were to disappear.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪