User talk:100.14.59.243

Giant otter
Hello - you are currently making a mess of this article. Please don't drop huge text passages into it; relevant additional material should be concise (I suggest one or two sentences, not half a page), NOT copied from any publication but summarized in your own words, and correctly formatted and cited. Re the latter, feel free to let me know and will sort that out. Cheers -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 12:10, 11 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hello, I been trying for many hours to make appropriate changes and corrections to the information which was excerpted from my own publication and cited in wiki (I am the author, (Sheila Sykes-Gatz) of the international giant otter husbandry and management information and guidelines 2005) and done so without presenting the major point of what is truly needed for successful cub-rearing (which is stated all through out my 276 page manual.), rather this wiki article incorrectly implies/states that human disturbances are responsible for majority giant otter cub deaths in zoos. This is a totally incorrect concept and harmful to the giant otters in zoos, to leave in wiki. I will try to shorten it but i also have tried to add newer publications (also authored by myself and my late husband) to reinforce and update the critical points.  I will try to shorten it, but i must take a break soon.. and come back to it. 100.14.59.243 (talk) 12:26, 11 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi Sheila, it would certainly be great to have an expert present this material. Thank you! I think the issues I have been seing with your additions are entirely solvable :)
 * Copying / formulating: please don't directly copy any text from these publications (if you did), even if you are the author. Copyright rules here are pretty strict, and anything that is pasted verbatim must have been legally released for that purpose (public domain, open access etc.) and even then it still must be attributed. It's usually much, much easier to just rephrase stuff so that it is not a direct copy. This feeds into
 * Brevity: we can't enormously swell the coverage of one particular minor fact of the article in comparison of other facets - that runs counter the concept of "due weight" that should be maintained within articles. Thus the aim here is to summarize content as briefly as possible, while providing the reader with a clear link to where they can find more or all of it if they are interested. Leading to
 * Referencing: that's just technical. These go into the text as anchors and are automatically collected into the bibliography at the end. Happy to do that.


 * Rather than working on the article itself, where things may quickly get reverted (after all that is what the world sees - we try to keep it tidy :), you might consider building the new text here on your talk page? Then we can fix it up before putting it into actual article space.
 * Last, consider signing up with a name. Otherwise if your IP address changes for some reason (I know my departmental IP flips every week or so) then this talk page will no longer be associated with you. Also, people have a lot lower threshold for reverting stuff by IP/unnamed editors, because that's where most of the vandalism comes from - might just as well dodge that bullet. Cheers -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 12:55, 11 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, thank you I hope everything is now brief enough and acceptable for Wiki as I just redid it. Please let me know. I really do appreciate if you could please add the 2 new citations and the original one , but in its corrected form.. Everything is in my own words and rephrased and nothing is copied directly from what I have published, so that shouldn't be a problem. My IP address does change occasionally. I really am not tech saavy, but I will try later on to sign up with a name. I hope I do not lose this correspondence with you.. I think I am double sending some of my communications to you, I am sorry for that but I don't really understand how this system works.
 * Regarding the Giant Otter wiki site, The bottom 2 sources are the 2 additional references I would like to add to accompany the new (and now correct) sentences and the 1st source presented below is the correct citing of the original publication that was originally referenced that I would also like to have presented in its correct form as it is below.
 * Sykes-Gatz, S. 2005. International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management Information and Guidelines (2005). Published by: Zoologischer Garten Dortmund, (Zoo Dortmund, Mergelteichstraße 80, 44225 Dortmund, Germany); 276 pp.
 * Sykes-Gatz, S. & Gatz, V. 2011. International Studbook for the Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) (Gray 1867), 2nd Edition 2011, Zoo Dortmund, Germany.
 * Gatz, V. & Sykes-Gatz, S. 2003, 2007, 2010. Giant Otter EEP Annual Report 2003, 2007, 2010, EAZA Yearbook 2003, 2007, 2010, EAZA Executive Office (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums), Amsterdam.
 * I would very much appreciate if you could please add them for me, as I had too many formatting difficulties to do so.
 * Thank you very much in advance, Sheila Sykes-Gatz 100.14.59.243 (talk) 13:56, 11 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, thank you I hope everything is now brief enough and acceptable for Wiki as I just rewrote/shortened it. Please let me know. I really would appreciate if you could please add the 2 new citations and the original one , but in its corrected form.. Everything is in my own words and rephrased and nothing is copied directly from what I have published, so that shouldn't be a problem.
 * Regarding the Giant Otter wiki site, The bottom 2 sources are the 2 additional references I would like to add to accompany the new (and now correct) sentences and the 1st source presented below is the correct citing of the original publication that was originally referenced that I would also like to have presented in its correct form as it is below.
 * Sykes-Gatz, S. 2005. International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management Information and Guidelines (2005). Published by: Zoologischer Garten Dortmund, (Zoo Dortmund, Mergelteichstraße 80, 44225 Dortmund, Germany); 276 pp.
 * Sykes-Gatz, S. & Gatz, V. 2011. International Studbook for the Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) (Gray 1867), 2nd Edition 2011, Zoo Dortmund, Germany.
 * Gatz, V. & Sykes-Gatz, S. 2003, 2007, 2010. Giant Otter EEP Annual Report 2003, 2007, 2010, EAZA Yearbook 2003, 2007, 2010, EAZA Executive Office (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums), Amsterdam.
 * I would very much appreciate if you could please add them for me, as I had too many formatting difficulties to do so.
 * I believe I have double or more sent you this communication, as I am not tech saavy and not sure where to write what (esp. as i have multiple seemingly near similar pages up for this communication string we are having). my IP address does occasionally change, so I may try to figure out how to sign up with a name, but I much prefer to limit my online presence as much as possible. Although I do not want to lose our ongoing conversation.
 * Thank you very much in advance, Sheila Sykes-Gatz 100.14.59.243 (talk) 14:10, 11 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Okay, I have condensed and rephrased the text a little - we need to keep this intelligible for non-technical audiences, so simpler is generally better! The sources have been added. Thank you! -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 12:21, 12 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, thank you for adding the new sources, I was hoping you could also please correct the original reference with the accurate citation, it is not a huge difference, but it is the most accurate. I have made the following corrections to your text, as even just subtle word changes can change the meaning of information based on science and thus be inaccurate. One has to be very careful when making word changes to avoid such.  This information is backed up with many years of research/scientific studies and published with peer reviews, so the changes I have made are necessary to present this information accurately.
 * Below are the changes :
 * Studies of giant otters in captivity have given indications about the environment necessary to both maintain a physically and behaviorally healthy population and allow successful cub-rearing. Those primary to this include providing at least the minimum land area proportion within the recommended land-to-water area ratio, and that all enclosure land surfaces (both artificial and natural) are nearly entirely covered with the recommended substrate conditions (i.e. tree-bark mulch, soft pebble-free sand/soil etc). Ensuring that the animals have sufficient privacy from human disturbances (visual and acoustic, from zoo staff or visitors) at parturition and during cub-rearing is also essential, but not sufficient alone. The prevalence of insufficient land area proportions and unsuitable substrate conditions in zoos worldwide have historically been the primary cause of high cub mortality and common and serious physical and behavioral health problems among giant otters. For example, stress to the parents during cub-rearing due to these inappropriate enclosure conditions has been the primary reason for cub neglect, abuse and infanticide. 100.14.59.243 (talk) 14:25, 12 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I have updated the text. Re the first citation, the two differences are a) the full address of the Zoo - we don't give those for publishers; and b) currently there is a page number for the specific information given (p.13) - if that is not accurate I suppose it should be removed? -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 16:36, 12 July 2022 (UTC)