Hey there Frank,

It appears the link is broken or not working for the article regarding the "Round Island Boa back in Wild after 150 Years." Strangely, I was able to access it yesterday... but today it leads to an error or page not found.

Anywho - I was able to skim through the article yesterday and it looked promising. The removal of invasive species from the island and introduction (and establishment) of the skink species as its main food resource should prove highly beneficial to this species re-establishment on the island. Islands are pretty unique habitats and often have very intricate and delicate ecosystems that have evolved together in isolation... unfortunately I think success of this species will be dicated almost entirely but human activity. I have a few questions that I'm not necessarily looking for an answer to, but come to mind when I think of these projects:

1) How much area in Mauritius is dedicated to conservation? Are there any protected areas that exist in Casarea dussumieri's realized niche? What is the layout like?

2) What is the political system like in Mauritius? Africa is notorious for corruption and political unrest that can be detrimental to concersvation efforts.

3) What is the population of indigenous people? How is the land used by them? Bushmeat hunting, fuelwood, agriculture and mining have ridiculous impacts on the Congo and Madacasgar in Africa that have made conservation efforts suffer in part.

4) What is the local appreciation for the protected species? Indigenous tribes in Africa and in the neotropics have been known to develop unique rituals that involve some species. The "Aye Aye" for example is killed for superstitious reasons in Madagascar purely because the people believe it is associated with death. Without local support, conservation efforts are futile in my opinion.

If people can appreciate the area and leave it relatively intact, I think this effort is certainly worthwhile. If the skinks were able to become re-established, I'd wager this leaves relatively low interspecific competition for food resources by the snake that will aid its fitness. The elimination of some invasive species certainly helps against unnatural predation and competition as well... but I fear primarily for two things: A) Humans. B) Genetic isolation. With this species having been virtually extinct in nature, I cannot help but imagine that captive breeding efforts have only been done with a few individuals to save the species as a whole. This genetic isolation may or may not prove harmful - but in the event that some disease pops up or some genetic flaw, these guys may be in trouble. Regardless, as far as I'm concerned we probably did all that we could to save them and its certainly a very positive thing that we are able to even attempt to re-introduce them back to the island.

Very good read Frank - I look forward to reading more into again when I have the time and when the link gets fixed = )