Page 30 - April 2017 Life In Naplles Magazine

The Naples Zoo
has been a long
term partner of the
Giant Armadillo

Conservation
shockingly deadly threat
of roadkill: Anteaters & Project for many
Highways.
years from
HELPING GIANTS providing funding

ON THE MOVE for harnesses

While listed by the to monitor
IUCN as Vulnerable
to extinction across its giant anteaters
range, the giant anteater is to setting up
already extinct in several
former range countries and managing
a website to
and some Brazilian states.
During a preliminary study
by the team, over 1000 promote our work.
km (621 miles) of paved
highway in the Brazilian
state of Mato Grosso do Sul were monitored twice a month
for a year. The results were shocking with 136 giant anteaters
found among the carcasses. The tight focus of the Anteaters &
Highways project is to reduce this deadly threat.
GPS harnesses placed on giant anteaters in the Pantanal
by the team have already revealed the challenge will be
substantial as preliminary analysis indicate their home ranges
are larger than what is currently published. Their new four-
year study aims to address the threat by collecting data on why,
when, and how anteaters interact with roadways in the more
developed Cerrado ecoregion. Research results will provide
insight into movement patterns to inform road management
strategies and help save this iconic species.
ZOO SUPPORT

The core costs of Anteaters & Highways are covered by a
multi-year grant from Fondation Segré. Additional support
comes from zoos across North America and Europe that
can be seen on the project’s website. “Few people realize
how engaged zoos are in species conservation throughout
the world,” explains Deszbiez, who is himself employed by
the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. “Whether it is to
Head Veterinarian Danilo Kluyber monioring a giant anteater during a medical exam. This giant anteater
and others will be part of a new four-year study called Anteaters & Highways. The goal is to help save review an anesthetic protocol, discuss a particular behavior,
this species from dying on the roads. review a paper we wrote, give advice on equipment or even
Photo Credit: © Fergus Gill/Maramedia

30 Life in Naples | April 2017