Mammal-Watching Tourism: More Than Just the Big Five
- Mammal-watching tourism has traditionally focused on large, charismatic species, such as the African ‘big five’ (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and African buffalo) or humpback whales in California and New England.
- But this is changing in recent years as some big cat species once considered impossible to see in the wild — like jaguars — have become major tourist draws, contributing to their conservation. “It comes as little surprise that people will pay to see big cats, but will they pay to see smaller, less well-known mammal species? Yes, it turns out.”
- As interest in mammal-watching grows, can any of the 6,500 other less iconic global mammal species also benefit? The authors of a new op-ed think so, especially when the tourism benefits are captured by local communities and private land-owners, providing direct incentives for them to conserve mammals, big and small, on their lands.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Gather ’round, folks! Today we’re swapping our safari hats for a different kind of exploration—one that’ll have you treating your eyes to an array of mammals that would make a kindergarten full of children green with envy! Mammal-watching used to be an affair strictly reserved for the majestic and the well-known. The “big five” stole the limelight, like a rockstar at a small-town talent show. But, oh, how the times are changing!
Meet the Jaguars and Friends
Not so long ago, spotting a jaguar in the wild was akin to winning the lottery—challenging and slightly improbable. It’s like searching Tinder for someone who actually likes your profile pic. But now, thanks to the booming tourism industry, those elusive jaguars have set up meet-and-greets in the Pantanal, and trust me, they’re not shy anymore! The shift is not just beneficial for our furry friends; it’s turning into a source of income for local communities. Just think of it—cattle ranchers now lead cat-watching tours instead of reaching for their shotguns. Who saw that coming? It’s like turning a professional boxer into a dance instructor—now THAT’S a plot twist!
The Rise of the Underdog
Now, here comes the real twist: what about the smaller, less famous mammals? Yes, they’re finally getting their time in the spotlight! Who knew that the western long-beaked echidna could become a celebrity overnight? As it turns out, tourists are willing to pay to catch a glimpse of more unique species! While seeing a lion may be akin to being front row at a Beyoncé concert, catching a glimpse of our spiny friend, the echidna, offers a unique allure—much like a secret gig at a dive bar where the artist is half-hidden in the shadows.
Community Spirit: A Win-Win for Conservation
And that’s not all, my friends! The tourism dollar doesn’t just disappear into a money pit. It brings along strong incentives for communities to conserve these critters. Imagine a small village coming together and saying, “Hey, let’s protect these echidnas!” It’s like watching a group of friends decide to start a rock band—everyone has their role, and suddenly they’re performing at Coachella, minus the pyrotechnics and the sometimes questionable fashion choices.
In places where your average Joe farmer would previously have seen that echidna as the main course, they’re now seeing gold! One community in West Papua, after hosting mammal watchers, transformed their land’s purpose. Instead of snares, they’ve set up lodges and chicken farms—it’s a thriving community with its own kind of blockbuster starring—guess who? The echidna! Now, if they could just figure out a way to make it an Olympic sport…
Taking it Further: The Tiny Heroes
The tour guide’s not done yet, folks! Wait till you hear about the crested rat, a posh little rodent with a penchant for anointing its fur with poison. Yes, poison! Think of it as an A-lister in the rodent world. This furry fellow even has a more glamorous life than some of us—earning tourism dollars while also putting local guides in charge of their very own “rat-watching” excursions. It’s a rat’s world, and we’re just living in it!
Final Thoughts: The Power of Remembering the Small Things
So, while the big cats sip cocktails at the fancy end of the wildlife bar, don’t forget to raise your glass to the little guys—the crested rats, the long-beaked echidnas, and the white-thighed colobus monkeys, keeping things fresh and vibrant in the eco-tourism scene. Forget the big stages; these mammals are rocking out in their own little niches and inviting us to join in on the fun, providing us all a chance to declutter our wallets for an experience that just keeps giving back.
So next time you’re planning a getaway, remember: the best things often come in small packages. Every creature, big or small, deserves a chance in the spotlight. And if that means buying a T-shirt with an echidna on it, who am I to say no! After all, saving the wildlife while looking fabulous? That’s a double win!
Charles Foley is Senior Conservation Scientist at Lincoln Park Zoo. Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005.
This commentary tackles the article with a sharp, observational tone, imbued with a cheeky sense of humor that could be reminiscent of a night spent laughing at a comedy show. It explores the transformation of mammal-watching tourism while engaging readers with relatable analogies and witty humor!
- Mammal-watching tourism has historically concentrated on prominent, large species known for their charisma, such as Africa’s renowned ‘big five’ (the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and African buffalo) as well as humpback whales off the coasts of California and New England.
- However, this long-standing trend is witnessing a transformation. In recent years, elusive big cat species that were once considered too rare to see in the wild, like jaguars, have emerged as significant attractions for wildlife tourism, bolstering their conservation efforts. It was expected that people would pay a premium to encounter magnificent big cats, yet surprisingly, they are also willing to spend for sightings of smaller, lesser-known mammal species.
- With the increasing passion for mammal-watching, there is hope that the world’s approximately 6,500 other less celebrated mammal species could also reap the benefits of tourism. Authors of a new op-ed argue that this would be especially beneficial if local communities and private landowners capture the economic return from tourism, thereby incentivizing the preservation of both large and small mammals inhabiting their territories.
- This article is a commentary. The perspectives shared reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily align with Mongabay’s views.
At the dawn of the 21st century, spotting a wild jaguar was a rare occurrence, especially within the Jaguar Ecological Reserve in Brazil’s Pantanal. Tourists would fleetingly catch sight of one crossing the road, but capturing a photograph of these magnificent felines in their natural habitat was nearly impossible. The same held true for other iconic big cats, such as snow leopards and pumas; however, fast forward 20 years, and all three species have become comparatively easier to observe in certain areas within just a few days.
The driving force behind this change? Tourism.
Wildlife-driven tourism has consistently been a crucial source of income for various governments, exemplified by Africa’s booming safari industry focused on observing its legendary large mammals or eco-tourism trips to Borneo for orangutan sightings, and even lemur-watching in Madagascar, which is integral to the impoverished nation’s tourism portfolio. Interestingly, similar opportunities are now beginning to materialize in many other regions featuring diverse mammals.
To illustrate this, consider the popularity of big cats. As more individuals are willing to invest thousands of dollars to see not only lions and tigers but also pumas, jaguars, and snow leopards, local entrepreneurs have emerged, skilled at identifying the ideal locations and methods for tracking these elusive creatures. This resulted in a positive feedback loop where increased visitor numbers enhance the animals’ comfort around humans, making them easier to observe.
Significantly, as local businesses, landowners, and governments benefit financially from tourism, the incentive to protect these species has surged. Traditional practices that involved ranchers shooting jaguars and pumas to defend their livestock have seen a notable decline in tourist areas as economic motives, alongside evolving legal and societal pressures, influence both landowners and communities alike. In the Brazilian Pantanal, cattle ranchers have pivoted to offering cat-watching tours, significantly augmenting their revenue streams. The value of these majestic animals has shifted; they are now deemed far more valuable alive than dead.
While the willingness of individuals to pay for a chance to see mighty felines is no surprise, a compelling question arises: are people equally interested in observing smaller, underappreciated mammals? The answer appears to be affirmative. Despite a naturally occurring link between an animal’s charisma and the eagerness of people to encounter it, an unexpectedly diverse list of ‘desirable mammals’ has emerged.
Take the western long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijnii), for example. This obscure, egg-laying mammal is critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List and had not been sighted by scientists since the 1980s due to its status as a sought-after bushmeat.
In June 2023, we joined a dedicated group of mammal watchers, led by Carlos Bocos, an experienced wildlife guide from West Papua, on a quest to locate this remarkable species along the Vogelkop Peninsula. Villagers in a small community of Klalik shared sightings of echidnas and welcomed us as their very first foreign guests.
Within merely four hours of navigating the forest, we stumbled upon the astonishing echidna. The power of social media coupled with reports circulated on our platform, mammalwatching.com, enabled swift dissemination of our adventure. One year later, Klalik village welcomed over 100 tourists seeking echidna sightings, with most participants achieving success!
The community benefited financially from each visitor, and they utilized the funds to construct tourist accommodations, develop a small chicken farm, and even planned a future fish farm. More importantly, they collectively agreed to ban snares from their lands to prevent accidental catches of echidnas.
In just one year, the echidna has transformed from a local delicacy to a substantial economic asset for the village. Visitors to Klalik, including the recent German Ambassador to Indonesia, can even purchase echidna-themed merchandise, highlighting the lucrative potential of these unique creatures.
Could this successful model extend to even lesser-known species, possibly even a rodent? The answer is encouraging — a prime example being the crested rat (Lophiomys imhausi). This large and colorful rodent has a distinctive method of self-defense: it applies poison from tree bark to its fur to ward off predators. Surprisingly, a recent sighting at a lodge near Mount Kenya, promoted through social media, has led to a steady influx of visitors. The lodge was even prompted to employ a staff member dedicated to monitoring and showcasing the crested rats to guests.
The surge in interest surrounding rare and charismatic mammals can be largely attributed to the wealth of information available today. In the pre-internet era, locating mammal species in the wild was a daunting challenge.
Now, information is relatively easy to access. Detailed trip reports on specialized websites such as mammalwatching.com guide enthusiasts on where to observe various mammals worldwide. A increasingly diverse array of regions has joined the mammal-watching circuit, with an expanding number of ecotourism outfits organizing trips specifically focused on these lesser-known species.
Traditionally, wildlife observation has centered on government-designated protected areas, such as national parks. Yet recently — and significantly — more benefits are flowing to communities or private landowners engaged in tourism. This shift is partly due to tourists seeking alternatives to frequented protected zones and a growing interest in observing a wider variety of mammal species, as seen with locales such as Marrick Farm in South Africa for aardvarks and aardwolves, Villavicencio in Colombia for ornate titi monkeys and Brumback’s night monkeys, or Parque Tepuheuico and Monito del Monte in Chile for Darwin’s fox, all capitalizing on the booming interest in diverse mammal watching experiences.
In many cases, tourism is explicitly utilized as the primary revenue stream, mirroring efforts by local farmers in parts of Ecuador who discovered that designating their land for birdwatching yields higher profits than traditional agriculture. Other ventures, like Jaguarland in Bolivia and Hato La Aurora in Colombia, blend working soybean operations and cattle ranches with jaguar-centric tourism.
In these successful models, a significant portion of tourism revenue benefits local communities and landowners directly. This approach circumvents the need for establishing extensive new parks or protected regions. Instead, it champions a mosaic of smaller areas capable of safeguarding wild mammals even within regions of intense human activity, a necessity given the existence of over 6,500 mammal species inhabiting diverse global environments.
Even minor income streams can significantly impact cash-strapped rural communities, which often have limited avenues for economic growth, especially when such ventures do not compromise established livelihoods. Wildlife conservation enthusiast and Re:Wild’s CEO, Russell Mittermeier, emphasizes that communities might not always need large tourist numbers to inspire wildlife protection; simply possessing a unique species endemic to their land can be a powerful motivator.
Establishing a new national park is a monumental undertaking, while it is often comparatively simple for a village or a private landowner to dedicate a small area to protect a unique species. The pressing questions arise: can informal conservation areas truly affect the survival of a species? Or does wildlife tourism merely condition animals to be more visible without positively impacting their overall populations?
Reliable data on the effectiveness of local communities in safeguarding mammal populations can be elusive, although emerging success stories are increasingly frequent. For instance, the critically endangered white-thighed colobus monkey population in Ghana has increased from an estimated 850–1,150 individuals in 2007 to 580 individuals today, thanks to concerted conservation efforts within the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary. This sanctuary, originally established for cultural purposes, has blossomed into a thriving ecotourism project engaging nine communities.
Similar conservation efforts have been observed with ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar, where substantial populations flourish within community or privately owned reserves. The Anja Community Reserve, representing two villages and receiving around 12,000 visitors annually, maintains an estimated population of 210 lemurs, while Berenty Private Reserve boasts around 280. In fact, only one other designated protected area contains more than 200 individuals within its boundaries. These instances highlight how localized conservation approaches can deliver significant benefits for species survival.
While many recognize the potential advantages of wildlife tourism, it is crucial to acknowledge that it is not an all-encompassing solution. Wildlife tourism brings both benefits and challenges, with outcomes heavily influenced by management methods. However, with mounting threats from habitat destruction and human exploitation leading to a growing number of endangered mammal species, even modest gains via tourism may become a critical component of the conservation strategy aimed at protecting vulnerable species.
Charles Foley is a Senior Conservation Scientist at Lincoln Park Zoo, while Jon Hall established mammalwatching.com in 2005.
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The text discusses the intersection of wildlife conservation and tourism, emphasizing how local initiatives around unique species can generate revenue and foster community engagement. By allowing activities like ecotourism, local communities can profit from conservation efforts that also protect wildlife.
Key examples include:
1. **Crested Rat and Mt. Kenya**: The attraction of tourists drawn by recent sightings of the crested rat has spurred tourism initiatives in the region, benefiting local economies.
2. **Birdwatching in Ecuador**: Some farmers have found that dedicating land for birdwatching can yield higher profits than traditional agriculture.
3. **Jaguarland and Hato La Aurora**: These regions successfully combine agricultural practices with wildlife tourism, showcasing how human land use can coexist with conservation efforts.
4. **Local Enlightenment**: Russell Mittermeier notes that even unique endemic species can motivate communities to protect them, suggesting that large tourist numbers aren’t always necessary for conservation success.
5. **Challenges of Formal Conservation**: Establishing national parks is a significant challenge, but smaller informal conservation areas can be easier to manage and still effective in protecting specific species.
Success stories, such as the white-thighed colobus in Ghana and ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar, demonstrate how localized conservation efforts can lead to population increases. Nonetheless, the text cautions that while wildlife tourism can support conservation, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution and must be carefully managed to avoid negative impacts.
the article highlights a growing trend where integrating tourism with conservation strategies can help preserve endangered species while also benefiting local communities, but it acknowledges the need for a nuanced approach to avoid potential pitfalls.
