The island of Mauritius may be tiny, but it is filled with rare, endemic species of animal and plant life. Yet the country’s source of pride is also a cause for concern. “We’ve lost a good proportion of our biodiversity and now our work is to save what is left,” Dr Vikash Tatayah says. He’s the conservation director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, the only non-governmental organisation of its kind to preserve, protect, and restore the indigenous fauna and flora of the land. The foundation provides employment for local community members and hosts outreach programmes for the youth. “Conservation doesn’t need to be rocket science,” Tatayah says. Working with locals, they have saved birds such as the echo parakeet and the Mauritius kestrel, as well as the bois papaye plant from the brink of extinction.
Up Next in Season 1
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Roger Holzberg
The dolphin you’re about to see isn’t real, but the plight of these mammals is. There are thousands of cetaceans living in captivity. In confined spaces, they experience stress, anxiety, and depression, which can lead to self-harming behaviour and death. Though their distress has been widely publ...
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David Ramsden
David Ramsden had always been interested in flight. As a child, he’d gaze up at the clouds, marvel at flying creatures, and keep an eye out for airplanes overhead. That interest developed into a passion for birds, barn owls in particular. Today, Ramsden is the head of conservation for The Barn Ow...
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Gautam Shah
Can digital gaming reset the devastation we’ve inflicted on the natural world? Gautam Shah believes so. He’s a game developer creating virtual experiences for people to protect the Earth and learn about real-life conservation stories. “It’s important for people to see conservation as accessible i...
