Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis (Deroplatys lobata) acting all hard and ready to squab, Tapah Hills, Perak, Malaysia
(photo: Bernard DuPont)
Showing posts tagged asia
Red-keeled Flowerpecker (Dicaeum australe)
Also known as the red-striped flowerpecker, the red-keeled flowerpecker is a species of passerine bird endemic to the Philippines. Like most flowerpeckers the red-keeled flowerpecker feeds mainly on nectar and berries (and insects) which it collects with its modified tongue tip. The Black-belted Flowerpecker (D. haematostictum) was once thought to be a subspecies of the red-keeled flowerpecker but recent data shows it as a separate species.
Phylogeny
Animalia-Chordata-Aves-Passeriformes-Dicaeidae-Dicaeum-asutrale
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Black-footed Cat
by Jaymi Heimbuch
Could this little guy be any cuter?? Or be any more easily mistakable for a house cat? But be assured, this is a very wild cat — and also one that is vulnerable to extinction. The Blackfooted Cat is the smallest African cat, and is endemic in the south west arid zone of southern Africa. These cats are strictly nocturnal, and hide at the slightest disturbance, and so are hardly ever seen.
They are most unusual in that the almost never climb trees, but instead find shelter by digging burrows. They are also known for being incredibly fierce if cornered — they would give lions and tigers a real run for their money if there weren’t such a size difference. Though it is not persecuted by farmers, its cousin the African wildcat is, and so falling victim to poisons and traps set for other animals — including the poisoning of carcasses to control jackals — is the most significant threat to this tiny species.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Zbyszko)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Marbled Cat
by Jaymi Heimbuch
This is the Marbled Cat. Native to South and Southeast Asia, it has been listed as vulnerable to extinction since 2002 with fewer than 10,000 mature individuals left in the world. It is about the size of a house cat and is a tree dweller where it hunts birds, squirrels and reptiles. It is considered sort of a miniature version of the clouded leopard.However, it is often victim to snaring by humans, as its bones, meat and fur are valued. Thankfully, hunting it is prohibited in many countries which may help to slow its decline — but only if deforestation is slowed as well. A loss of habitat is a serious threat to this arboreal species.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Johan Embréus)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Tigers
by Jaymi Heimbuch
Tigers are perhaps the most iconic cat species in the world, next to the African lion, and one of the most loved animal species worldwide. And yet, despite the respect, admiration and fear it inspires, it is endangered and disappearing from the wild at a rapid clip. There are six subspecies of tiger, including the more familiar Sumatran Tiger and Bengal Tiger, and some are more threatened than others. But the tiger as a species is in danger everywhere.Threats include a loss of habitat, but also they are hunted for their skins, and for parts of their bodies used as pain killers and aphrodisiacs (though there is zero scientific evidence that any part of a tiger has any medicinal properties). Though protected through CITIES, the black market trade in tigers (both alive and in pieces) is thriving. Today, the captive tiger populations for several subspecies outnumber the wild populations. Without more stringent protections and better enforcement, these big cats may disappear from the wild entirely.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Phillippe Put)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Clouded Leopard
by Jaymi Heimbuch
The Clouded Leopard has been in the news recently because it has been declared extinct in its native Taiwan. After over a decade of searching, researchers couldn’t find a shred of evidence that the cat still lives in the country.
Thankfully, the species still exists in other areas of Southeast Asia, though total numbers are estimated to be less than 10,000. Because of this, they have been listed as vulnerable to extinction (not endangered, but close to it), since 2008. The main threats against them, of course, are human-made — habitat loss from large–scale deforestation, and commercial poaching for the wildlife trade.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Wikipedia)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Bornean Bay Cat
by Jaymi Heimbuch
This is the Bay Cat, and it may disappear from the planet before we even learn anything about it. This, like the flat-headed cat, is not a well-studied species and researchers know very little about it. Indeed, it wasn’t even photographed until 1998! The Bay cat is found only in Borneo, and is quickly disappearing due to the deforestation of its habitat for commercial logging and oil palm plantations. Only an estimated 2,500 of these cats exist, and the population is in decline. This may be a species that remains a mystery until it disappears.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Jim Sanderson)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Flat-headed Cat
by Jaymi Heimbuch
This unusual species is perhaps one of the least-known felid species in the world. It is native to Borneo, Sumatra and the Thai-Malay Peninsula. The Flat-Headed Cat is one of the smaller species of wild cat, and lives among wetlands. It is listed endangered, with fewer than 2,500 mature individuals left in the wild, and the loss of the species is due primarily to the destruction of the wetlands on which they depend.
Like the fishing cats, this species is great at catching fish and have even been seen washing objects in the same way that raccoons do. But, the loss of habitat — mostly do to conversion into palm oil plantations — may mean it will disappear along with the forest.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Jim Sanderson)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Fishing Cat
by Jaymi Heimbuch
The fishing cat is a species that proves not all cats hate water, but in fact some love the water. These cats live along rivers and in mangrove swamps in Asia, primarily in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They are skilled swimmers, and are dependent on wetlands for their food. However, human exploitation of fish stocks as well as development of their habitat has had negative effects on the species and they are listed as endangered.
Conservation photographer Morgan Heim has been working on a project titled Cat In Water, which documents the lives of this amazing species, as well as the threats it faces for survival.
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Wikipedia)
Cats on the Brink - Endangered Felids: Snow Leopard
by Jaymi Heimbuch
This iconic cat lives in the unbelievably cold habitats of alpine and subalpine areas Central Asia and is rarely ever seen in the wild based in part because of its elusive nature and in part because there are so few left in the world. The estimated population of this endangered species is somewhere between 4,000 and 6,5000 individuals…
(read more: TreeHugger) (photo: Tambako the Jaguar)
New Sea Monster Found, Rewrites Evolution?
Cretaceous-era reptile Malawania anachronus discovered in Kurdistan.
by Christine Dell’Amore
A new species of dinosaur-era sea reptile is rewriting the books on the evolution of so-called sea monsters, a new study claims.
The newfound—and potentially controversial—Malawania anachronus was a10 ft (3 m)) long ichthyosaur, a group of dolphin-like creatures that could grow to 65 ft (20 m) in length. These fast-swimming predators peaked in diversity during the Jurassic period.
Oddly, though, new fossil analyses suggest that M. anachronus roamed the oceans of the early Cretaceous period—66 million years after its closely related cousins were thought to live.
That’s why Malawania anachronus—Kurdish and Greek for “out-of-time swimmer”—is “something that shouldn’t be there, but it is,” said study leader Valentin Fischer, a geologist and paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
But Michael Caldwell, an ichthyosaur expert at the University of Alberta in Canada who was not involved in the study, cautioned against getting too excited about the find, citing the fact that the study is based on one incomplete specimen…
(read more: National Geo) (illustration by Valentin Fischer)
The Pallas’s Cat (Otocolobus manul) kittens at the EFBC’s Feline Conservation Center, in Rosamond, CA, are 7 weeks old meow and growing fast!
Rhino populations in Sumatra, Borneo should be combined to save Sumatran rhino from extinction
by MongaBay staff
A new study argues for treating endangered Sumatran populations in Borneo and Sumatra as “a single conservation unit”, lending academic support to a controversial proposal to move wild rhinos from Malaysia to Indonesia.
The paper, authored by an international team of rhino experts and published in the journal Oryx, says that genetic differences between the island populations are minimal. Given the dire straights of the species — the wild population is estimated at less than 100 individuals — the researchers argue that ensuring the Sumatran rhino’s survival takes precedence over preserving what little genetic diversity remains between populations…
(read more: MongaBay)
The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is native to northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Most populations are anadromous (they live in seawater but breed in freshwater or brackish water), but there are also freshwater populations confined to landlocked lakes
This species has contributed much to the study of species formation and it is a research organism for evolutionary biologists and geneticists studying adaptation to new environments.
More about this fish on EOL: http://eol.org/pages/223856/details
Image by D. Ross Robertson via Shorefishes of the neotropics
Photographer Sergey Gorshkov watched this Kamchatka brown bear tire herself out fishing for salmon in a river before taking a well-deserved break in the Kronotskiy Reserve, Kamchatka, Russia
Picture: Sergey Gorshkov/Solent
