Hunt is on for 'extinct' Javan tiger

A Javan tiger captured on film in 1938.

Meru Betiri National Park officers have installed five trap cameras to establish the existence of Javanese tigers (Panthera tigris sondaica), now believed to be extinct, according to Antara News.

In the past two months, efforts to find Javanese tigers have been stepped up at the national park, according to chairman of the TNMB Bambang Darmadja.

"Many people believe that Javanese tigers are extinct. So we are trying to prove that the endangered animal still exist at Meru Betiri, by installing trap cameras," he said.

The national park covering a total area of 58,000 hectares is located in Jamber and Banyuwangi District, East Java Province.

According to a research conducted in 1997, officers found footprints and dung strongly believed to be that of Javanese tigers.

Komodo Dragon doesn't slay by venom alone

A new study has shown that the effectiveness of the Komodo Dragon bite is a combination of highly specialized serrated teeth and venom. The authors also dismiss the widely accepted theory that prey die from septicemia caused by toxic bacteria living in the dragon’s mouth.

Using sophisticated medical imaging techniques, an international team led by Dr Bryan Fry from the University of Melbourne have revealed that the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) has the most complex venom glands yet described for any reptile, and that its close extinct relative Megalania was the largest venomous animal to have lived.

The work will be published in the next issue of the journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ and will be available in the Online Edition this week.

“These large carnivorous reptiles are known to bite prey and release them, leaving the prey to bleed to death from the horrific wounds inflicted. We have now shown that it is the combined arsenal of the Komodo Dragon's tooth and venom that account for their hunting prowess,” said Dr Fry from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne.

“The combination of this specialized bite and venom seem to minimise the Dragon's contact with its prey and this allows it to take large animals.”

Komodo Dragons are native to the islands of Indonesia, with adult males weighing over 100kg, and exceeding 3 metres in length. They have around 60 highly serrated teeth which are frequently replaced during their lifetime.

The researchers conducted a comprehensive study of the Komodo Dragon bite, employing computer techniques to analyze stress in a dragon's jaws and compare them to those of a crocodile. The dragons were found to have much weaker bites than crocodiles, but magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of a preserved dragon head revealed complex venom glands and specialised serrated teeth which create deep lacerations for entry of the venom.

“We believe that the dragon is able to weaken and immobilize their prey with a venomous bite that increases the damage done by their long serrated teeth,” said Dr Fry.

The researchers located and surgically excised the glands from a terminally ill dragon at the Singapore Zoo, and used mass spectrometry to obtain a profile of the venom molecules. The team also analysed which toxin genes were expressed in the dragon’s venom gland.

The effects of venom were also tested by the team and found to be similar to that of the gila monster and many snakes which cause a severe loss in blood pressure by widening blood vessels, thereby inducing shock in a victim. These findings may explain the observations by Dr Fry and others that Komodo
Dragon prey become still and unusually quiet soon after being bitten. Bitten prey also bleed profusely, consistent with the team’s discovery that the venom was also rich in toxins that prolong bleeding.

The researchers also examined fossils of the Dragon's giant extinct relative Megalania (Varanus priscus). From similarities in skull anatomy they determined that this seven metre lizard would have used a similar venom and bite system, making it the largest venomous animal to have ever lived.

The work will be published in the next issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Plight of the Orang-utan in focus

In searching for the Orang Pendek, which some believe is a sub-species of Orang-utan, it's worth focusing on the plight of its iconic orange-furred cousin - and a new book out.

In the 1960s, it was believed that no more than about 4000 orang-utans remained in the wild. Consequently, IUCN - The World Conservation Union - declared the ape an endangered species, demanding its world-wide protection.

Nevertheless, the orang-utan today faces extinction because it is dependent on a rain-forest habitat that is rapidly being demolished due to human greed, and a growing human population.

Rijksen was among the first to make a detailed study of the ape in the wild, emerging as an authority on orang-utan conservation. In the late 1980s he became so alarmed by local rumours of the rapid decline of wild orang-utans that he initiated the study leading to this book. Meijaard conducted the ambitious, island-spanning surveys in Borneo and Sumatra to reveal the ape's whereabouts.

This is the story of their findings. It is the first comprehensive study of the ape's distribution and status based on a wealth of first-hand field data, and a frank, disturbing account of a mixture of good intentions, ignorance and greed, spelling doom for our Asian relative.

Nevertheless, the authors emphasise that the orang-utan can survive. A realistic plan to save the ape, and with it thousands of unique wild animals and plants, does exist. It is the authors' hope that Our Vanishing Relative, so urgent and eloquent in its description of the deadly net of problems descending over our helpless relative, will awaken attention and empathy in order to safeguard the future of the orang-utan.

The Thylacines of Irian Jaya

Author Malcolm Smith's new blog Malcolm's Musings: Cryptozoology has some fantastic translated material about Thylacine sightings in Irian Jaya aka "Indonesian Papua New Guinea".

"In the early 1990s, an amateur researcher called Ned Terry told of visiting an unidentified mission station in West Irian and hearing reports of an animal strikingly similar to the thylacine. (See Bunyips and Bigfoots, pages 112 - 113.) Then, in 1997, small, contradictory paragraphs starting appearing in the world press about its presence in the Indonesian half of the island. About this time, I managed to renew my acquaintance with an old friend, Gerry van Klinken and was surprised to discover that he was now the editor of Inside Indonesia.
   
"Gerry was kind enough to go an internet search for me, and was able to discover what appears to have been the original article which started the ball rolling. It was from Suara Pembaruan ("Voice of Renewal"), a Protestant newspaper with good connections in Irian Jaya. The information itself appears to have originated from the local Indonesian governor. Here then is the translation. I might add that, although Gerry helped me with the vocabulary, the responsibility for the translation is mine, and I have aimed for verbal accuracy rather than elegance."

Read the translations here.

Game camera project snaps amazing wildlife photos

A Costa Rican ocelot takes a peek at a camera.

It has to be one of the most interesting wildlife projects to date - a global camera trap mammal study, documenting 105 species in nearly 52,000 images, from seven protected areas across the Americas, Africa and Asia. 

The photographs reveal an amazing variety of animals in their most candid moments — from a minute mouse to the enormous African elephant, plus gorillas, cougars, giant anteaters and even tourists and poachers!

A southern pig-tailed macaque in Indonesia. 

Analysis of the photographic data has helped scientists confirm a key conclusion that until now, was understood through uncoordinated local study: habitat loss and smaller reserves have a direct and detrimental impact on the diversity and survival of mammal populations.

Impacts are seen in the form of less diversity of species and less variety of body sizes and diets (smaller animals and insectivores are the first to disappear), among others. This information replicated over time and space is crucial to understand the effects of global and regional threats on forest mammals and anticipate extinctions before it is too late.

A Costa Rican puma.

White-lipped pecari in Suriname.

A chimpanzee in Uganda.

All data from the study is publicly available at: www.teamnetwork.org/en/data/query

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."

Sumatra's Sunda clouded leopard makes a cameo

The camera-shy Sunda clouded leopard has finally been snapped by a camera trap in Indonesia's Berbak National Park on the island of Sumatra. The 22-second-long video footage shows the rare cat snaking its way through the dense jungle undergrowth.

It's not so hard to believe in Megalania

Occasionally, when a species colonises an island, it undergoes ‘insular gigantism’ and grow to several times their initial size. Until recently, this theory was used to account for the large size of the Komodo dragon (pictured above).

But it turns out dragons are not an oddity of island evolution – they’re one of the few surviving relics from an era when large-bodied carnivores roamed Australia and Southeast Asia. Three sites have been discovered across Queensland that contain fossils of dragons the same size as the creatures we see today, says Scott Hocknull, the senior curator of geosciences at the Queensland Museum. 

“Our data reject the long-held perception that V. komodoensis became a giant because of insular evolution,” Hocknull and colleagues wrote in the journal PLoS One in 2009. “The Komodo dragon first evolved on mainland Australia, probably in response to the Megafauna,” he says. The Australian fossils range from 3.5 million to 300,000 years old, though dragons might have been around until the Megafauna extinction 50,000 years ago.

About 3.5 millions years ago, dragons were the dominant lizard in Australia. Then, 1.8 million years ago, an even more fearsome lizard emerged; Megalania (Varanus prisca) could grow up to 5.5 m long and weigh 600 kg. 

Orang Pendek update - new species?

Danish zoologist Lars Thomas has finished his analysis of the suspected Orang Pendek hairs brought back from the 2009 CFZ Sumatra expedition - and it sounds very promising indeed!

Read all about it here: http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2010/11/lars-thomas-analysis-of-orang-pendek.html

Bali Tiger back from brink?

Reports have emerged that Bali's extinct tiger, Panthera tigris balica, may not be done and dusted after all.
Residents of the community of Dauh Siong at Lumbung Kauh village near Tabanan, West Bali, are becoming increasingly gripped by fear following the still-to-be-confirmed news of a tiger attack.
The possibility of a tiger attack in Bali is viewed with some incredulity in light of the belief that the last Bali tiger was shot in Sumbar Kima, west Bali in 1937 (the pictures accompanying this post date from the early 1900s). The smallest of all eight subspecies of tigers, the Bali Tiger weighed between 90-100 kilograms with a length of approximately 2 meters. Fears that tigers may once again be on the prowl in Bali's west have been fed by the savage mutilation of several dogs and a goat. Adding credence to reports is the eye witness account of local villager, I Made Pariawan Mardika (37), from the Dauh Siong community who told Beritabali.com that he saw a tiger attack his dog on Wednesday, August 4, 2010. He described the tiger as being about 1 meter tall and weighing 70 kilograms.
The man told the press how he was cutting grass to feed his livestock in a location some 200 meters from his home at 9:00 a.m. when his dogs, who always accompanies him, suddenly disappeared. At 11:00 a.m. he returned to the field, calling out his dog's name. As he walked he heard a yelping dog which led him to a clearing where what described as a "red-orange tiger with yellow accents and black stripes" was biting the hind quarter of his dog.
The farmer's description meshes to some degree with records of the Bali tiger which was said to have short hair that was of a deep orange color with darker, fewer stripes than other tiger species.
Confronted by a tiger having a meal, Mardika said, "I was face to face with that tiger for around one minute; I couldn't scream, I was so scared."
The tiger reportedly abandoned the dog and walked into the protected jungle area of Tukad Balian Patok Nagasari.
The terrified farmers did not pursue the animal and returned to his home where, he confesses, memories of the sighting still disturb his sleep.
Later, that same day, the farmer's dog returned home bearing bite wounds and patches of missing fur. The farmer said the dog now refuses to follow him outside the family compound.
In a separate but potentially related incident, a goat owned by Made Sumadi (37) of neighboring Banjar Nagasari, who discovered dead in a ravine with bites to its neck and hind quarters.
Some have speculated that the tiger sightings may be the result of the unconfirmed release of once captive cats some years ago into West Bali by Bali's Conservation Society (KSDA).
Village authorities are advising local villagers to exercise caution and travel in pairs when visiting forested areas and their agricultural fields. The chief of the West Selemadeg police precinct, I Nyoman Suarnata, has sent officers to the area and contacted the Bali Safari Park in Gianyar for technical advice and assistance.
In a related story, officers of the Bali Conservation Agency (KSDA) deployed field staff accompanied by forestry officials on Sunday, August 8, 2010, to search for the mysterious tigers in wooded lands around Lumbung Kauh village in West Selemadeg.
Selemadeg precinct police commander, I Nyoman Suarnta, confirmed that searches were conducted in the communities of Dauh Siong and Nagasari with officers from his jurisdiction also participating.
Disappointingly, efforts to find further evidence of the tigers proved unsuccessful.
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