8 
Bulletin of the EANHS 28(3) 
1 800 
1 600 
1400 
V) 
E 
(0 
1 200 
tm 
05 
o 
1000 
«-» 
s 
800 
01 
05 
re 
600 
ai 
> 
re 
400 
200 
t — i — i — m — i — i — i — i 
* * & 
M ales (litters 
2,3) 
F em ales (litters 
3,4 ,5,6) 
month 
Figure 3. Gain in average weights of male and female offspring in several litters of captive 
southern tree hyrax. 
Discussion and Conclusions 
The most striking event here is the frequency of 
stillbirths and miscarriages There were ten live 
deliveries and one miscarriage of two 2.5 month old 
foetuses, as well as one dead foetus bom together with 
one live baby Another miscarriage was presumed on 
the basis of otherwise unexplained loss of weight. One 
dead embryo was the result of its large size preventing 
parturition (Table 2) 
These data arc re-enforced by information coining 
from the Seattle Zoological Gardens where offspring 
from this colony also exhibited a similar tendency to 
miscarriage. There it was observed when a second 
generation female at age 19 months had a stillbirth after 
a 7 month 2.5 week pregnancy 
Whether this tendency is an artifact of captivity is 
hard to say as we lack comparable information front a 
wild population of Dendrohyrax 
Another hazard to the reproductive success of D. 
arboreus is the frequency with which youngsters fall 
off tree branches, witnessed during this study and proven 
to occur in die wild, where, in suburban gardens, 
people's dogs often pick them up from die ground. 
The low reproductive rate of these animals combined 
with small litter size and the tendency to give birth on 
the ground (Rudnai, in prep ) exposing the young to 
great hazards from predation, all seem to conspire 
against the survival of this species of hyrax. However, 
survive they do, indicating that despite conjecture, 
predation must be low on these animals. 
Judith Rudnai 
c/o NatureKenya, Box 44486. Nairobi. Kenya 
References 
Mollaret, H.H. (1962). Naissance de Damans en 
captivite. Mammalia 26: 530-532. 
Murray. O N . ( 1942). The gestation period of Procavia 
capensis (Dassie). Journal of the South African 
Veterinary Medical Association 13: 27 28 
Roche, J.J. (1962) Nouvelles donnees sur la 
reproduction des Hyracoidcs. Mammalia, 26. 517- 
529. 
Rudnai, J. ( 1984a). Activity cycle and space utilisation 
in captive Dendrohyrax arboreus. South African 
Journal of Zoology 19: 121-123. 
Rudnai, J (1984b). Suckling behaviour in captive 
Dendrohyrax arboreus. South African Journal of 
Zoology 19: 121-123. 
Rudnai. J (in prep.) Parturition and related behaviour 
in a captive Dendrohyrax arboreus stuhlmanni 
(Matschie 1892). 
EARTHWATCH 
OLD WORLD SONGBIRDS PROJECT, OCSA- 
HUNGARY TEAM II AUGUST 2ND TO 14TH 
1998 
INTRODUCTION 
Ladies and gentlemen we are now approaching 
. ' my watch clicked 11 20 am. The white sheets of 
