OOPA: Cuscus a long way from home

A mysterious spotted creature dropped off at a zoo in China is actually a type of possum most likely smuggled into the country as a novelty pet.

Keepers at Wenling Zoo in south-eastern China were baffled by the bug-eyed, long-tailed critter, after it was handed in by an unknown man last week.

But not long after the zoo was contacted by Danny Li, an animal enthusiast who lives in Hong Kong, who told them it was a spotted cuscus — a marsupial native to northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia's Maluku Islands.

Will wildlife smuggling strip Asia of animals?

Chris Shepherd, deputy regional director for Southeast Asia at Traffic, fears Asian wildlife have a bleak future.

The illegal wildlife trade, Shepherd says, is thriving. "It's not a pretty picture," he says, citing tigers as an example. "They're being absolutely hammered. We've lost so many tigers over the past couple of years. Anywhere there are tigers, there are people trying to kill them. Here in Southeast Asia, it's the meat and bones. It's something rare, something illegal; it's impressive if you eat it. It's worth a lot of money."

The trade is pervasive. Thai tiger farms have been nabbed illegally selling surplus cubs; tiger-bone glue, made from bones that have been boiled, dried and ground into a powder, is a popular medicine in Vietnam; Chinese tiger farms reportedly serve "king meat" and tiger-bone wine in on-site restaurants. Gosling says Vietnam, China, Thailand and probably Burma and Laos have tiger farms or tiger parks that foster the trade in body parts.

In Vietnam, environmentalists worry about the silence of the northern forests. A few years ago, Indonesian traders sent 25 tonnes of freshwater turtles to China each week, to be sold as food with medicinal properties. Now, conservationists say, there are too few remaining turtles to make the poaching worthwhile.

Police general Misakawan Buara, who commands a force of 470 staff at the Royal Thai Police division of natural resources and environment crime, has a fair idea who some of the big illegal wildlife traders are in Thailand, but he won't name names.

"I cannot tell you, I don't have proof. It's very hard to catch people like that. I suspect [them], but maybe I will lose [in court]." He knows trading and poaching has reached alarming levels across the nation. "If we keep going like this, some time soon in Thailand there will be no animals."

Blobmonster washes up on Chinese beach

Our thanks to David Hearder for sending this one in:

At 17m long, there's no way anyone could miss the dead creature that washed up on a beach, much to the amazement of locals.

Reports from around the world said the decaying remains of the "giant fish" had attracted many onlookers to the beach shore in Guangdong, China, since it was found on April 25.

The "mysterious" creature had become entangled in fishing net. Theories circulated quickly that the "fish" had been caught by fishermen, but dumped because of its weight.

Reports said the decomposing body had made it difficult for experts to identify the creature, which weighs an estimated five tonnes.

Three international marine biology experts had been shown a photograph of the creature by science news source Live Science.

All believed the "sea monster" was a whale; perhaps a fin whale or a bryde's whale.

China's dog in sheep's clothing

Vets have dismissed (not surprisingly) a Chinese farmer's claim one of his sheep has given birth to a sheep dog. Yes, really!

The woolly progeny (pictured above left) was supposedly found tucked up with 'mum' in a paddock, being licked clean.

Farmer Liu Naiying claims he found the lamb-dog in one of his fields just after it had been born.

"I was herding the sheep, and saw a sheep licking her newborn lamb on the grassland. The lamb was still wet," he said. "When I went up close to check on the lamb I was shocked because it looked so weird, like a cross between a sheep and a dog. I was a bit frightened, as I've been raising sheep for 20 years and had never seen such a creature."

Though it has wool like a lamb's, the creature's mouth, nose, eyes, paws and tail are most definitely dog-like. Liu says the creature even plays like a puppy. Fancy that!

Wildmen of South-East Asia

Dale Drinnon has an excellent write-up on the wildmen of SE Asia this week over at the CFZ UK blog.

It seems that generally there is a larger and a smaller type of 'Wildman' throughout Southeast Asia, and they both correspond to the types in India, Tibet and China as well. In other words, the 'Wildmen' of Vietnam, Cambodia and so on are contiguous with the Chinese 'Wildmen' and the Indian 'Wildmen' (Such as the ones recently sought by a CFZ expedition) Ivan Sanderson identified the larger type as the Tok and Kung-Lu in Southeast Asia, but they are the same as the Shan (and variants) in South China and North Vietnam, as well as the larger type of "Yeti", and the larger type of Chinese 'Wildman'

Read the whole thing here.

Is South China's rare tiger fighting back?

Photos of what could be an extremely rare South China tiger shot by tourists at Sanqing Mountain Jiangxi Province on October 15, 2010, and published by Chinese media, have reignited debate about whether the animal still thrives in the wild.

Tourist Bao Shuguang was visiting Sanqing Mountain with friends when he spotted the yellow animal about 100m away. Yelling "Tiger!", he took four vague photographs (two of which are reproduced below) of the animal in a tree, but later said he could not be sure that it was a tiger. Two or three minutes later, the animal walked into the woods.

Li Hua, an official from Sanqing Mountain Administration Committee, said she could not confirm if the cat was a tiger, but said an expert from Zhongshan University said it looked very much like a South China tiger after he saw the photo.

The South China Tiger is teetering on the verge of extinction. It has not been seen for more than 10 years, and experts believe there are only 10-30 of the big cats left in the wild. The species is only being sustained by breeding programs carried out in zoos. Conservationists believe tigers worldwide could become extinct within the next decade due to poaching, demand for Chinese medicine utilising tiger body parts, and shrinking habitats.

The South China tiger is listed as animal under first-class state protection and considered one of 10 critically endangered creatures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7184027.html

$1.5M sought for Chinese Yeren Expedition

Beijing, China (AHN) - Despite more than 400 people claiming to have sighted an elusive ape-like creature covered all over with red, gray or black hair, lurking in the mountainous region of Shennongjia Nature Reserve, Heibei China, it has never been found.

Past expeditions have only brought back hairs supposedly from the creature, which when analyzed were neither of human or any known animal species. If found, this “missing link” would help scientists learn how primates evolved from ape to human.

Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7020168792?Scientific%20Search%20for%20Chinese%20Bigfoot%20Relaunched#ixzz12163zdM4