A better mouse trap?

Natural History, Feb, 2004

I was astounded to read in "Desert Dreams" [11/03] that the author, Michael A. Mares, used kill traps to find rare and elusive salt-pan mammals. He would do well to add his name to the list of reasons that these mammals may soon become extinct.

Cynthia Fleischer

Sonoma, California

Those of us searching for rare and elusive mammals in Africa in order to save them from extinction are facing the same problems Michael Mares describes. In 1890 locals in Togo brought two mice to one H. Buettner, a German colonial officer at Bismarkburg. Buettner sent the two mice, preserved in rum, to Berlin, where a specialist in African mammals, W. Peters, described them as a unique new genus and species--the Togo mouse (Leimacomys buettneri).

Since that time numerous teams have searched western Togo for more than a century for further examples of the mouse, but to no avail. Apparently, like the elusive African dormouse (Graphiurus) and the African fat mouse (Steatomys), the Togo mouse is trap shy, refusing to enter live traps, kill traps, or any other collecting equipment. So no one knows whether the Togo mouse is extinct or simply waiting for a Michael Mares to appear on the scene. When he or she does, I only hope an account of the search as interesting and entertaining as Mr. Mares's appears in your magazine.

Duane A. Schlitter

Texas A&M University

College Station, Texas

MICHAEL A. MARES REPLIES: Small mammals are hard to collect and even harder to identify without establishing voucher specimens that can be studied and compared with other specimens in a museum. Cynthia Fleischer raises a common concern, but species do not go extinct because of scientific collecting. They go extinct because of habitat destruction, uncontrolled hunting, and other massive assaults on their populations. By discovering that a new species exists, by defining its habitat, and by gauging its environmental threats, ecologists can develop better methods for its protection and conservation.

Duane A. Schlitter's letter underscores the fact that rare mammals are scattered throughout the world, many on the brink of extinction. Scientific collectors are often the last, best hope for a species' preservation. The scientific basis for collecting animals is detailed in my book A Desert Calling: Life in a Forbidding Landscape, and I would recommend the pertinent sections of the book to anyone concerned about the possible negative effects of these procedures. Alas, though, if such objections are made on moral grounds, scientific arguments will prove fruitless.