Sumatran stories: Cigau, the Golden Lion

Now we know these pictures probably don't hold a candle to the real Cigau, if it exists (or ever existed), but for the purposes of illustrating what we're on about they will have to do.

So just what is the Cigau (pronounced chee-gow)?

It is Sumatra's other cryptid, a golden-furred big cat - generally described as smaller but more stocky than a tiger, sporting a lion-like mane, a short tail, and forelegs longer than its hind legs, the latter detail reminscent of the hyena - known also as the Sumatran Lion. 

What on earth? Well why not - we are after all hunting for a pint-sized human-like ape, so the more the merrier where cryptids are concerned.

Richard Freeman wrote about the cigau following the CFZ's 2003 expedition:

"Back when Sahar's father was a bachelor (as Sahar is the same age as me this would have made it some time during the 1960s) he saw the cigau. Kerinci trades with other parts of Sumatra. They exchange rice for goods like silk. Sahar's father and four other men were traveling a trade route. The path led through the jungle. One of the men had committed a great taboo. He had eaten rice straight from the pot rather than waiting for portions to be given out.

"In the dead of night the cigau came from the forest to claim him. It stalked right into their camp and dragged him off into the darkness. It was smaller but stockier than a tiger. It had a silvery lion like mane and golden fur. Its forelegs were longer than its back legs like the build of a hyena. It had a short, tufted, cow like tail. The men searched the jungle franticly for their lost comrade but when they found him he was minus a stomach, disemboweled by the cigau.

"Sahar's father also spoke of a cigau who laired near a fallen tree that formed a natural bridge over a river. It would swim out and devour those who slipped into the water.

"Debbie also commented that she had many recent reports of the cigau in water. Most of them mentioned it flinging back its mane to shake of the water."

Sumatran Tiger dies - for loo roll!

Australian supermarket retailer IGA is being accused of turning Indonesian rainforests critical to the survival of the Sumatran tiger into toilet paper!

Greenpeace has named and shamed supermarket chain IGA after activists discovered a Sumatran Tiger stuck in a wild boar trap on land being logged by a company owned by Asia Pulp and Paper.

APP supplies toilet paper to the supermarket chain which then resells it under the Black and Gold and IGA Signature brands, stocked on Australian shelves.

Greenpeace says the tiger, which later died of its injuries, is one of just 400 remaining in the wild.

WARNING - the following footage may upset some viewers :-(

Beast Hunter chases Man Ape of Sumatra

We've just watched the new episode of Beast Hunter: Man Ape of Sumatra - wow!

It certainly gave us a taste of what we're heading in to - the dense jungle, changeable weather, the many wild creatures we'll be keeping company with, and some of the risks involved.

The episode is one of several in a new series hosted by Pat Spain, an American wildlife biologist with an enthusiasm for cryptozoology (and a distant relative of Charles Fort, no less!).

Pat explores the terrain, chats with locals, interviews witnesses - including Debbie Martyr, a resident ex-pat Brit who has seen the animal and now devotes much of her time to cataloguing sightings - and sets up camera traps with resident wildlife photographer and witness Jeremy Holden.

While an enjoyable program, with a great host, it has to be said - it is mildly irksome the way these TV shows fall into the familiar rut of continually ignoring the people (and research) that precedes them.

Instead of reinventing the wheel for the purposes of television, it would have added something to the program had the crew explored the angle of the hair samples and footprints already collected and analysed (Adam Davies/CFZ in 2005 and 2009), especially considering the episode had such a science focus for the host. Just a thought for next time guys!

Despite that criticism, it was a great episode and a very promising television show. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Update: Sumatra camera drive

Have you always wanted to somehow be involved in one of the Centre for Fortean Zoology's expeditions?

Well, now is your chance - from the comfort of your home you can support this year's 2011 Sumatra expedition by sponsoring a trail camera (also known as a 'game camera').

CFZ member Glen Vaudrey is leading the charge over at CFZ HQ in the sponsorship department with our new mascot 'Trevor the Trail Cam' (pictured above).

"It has long been established that photographic evidence is one of the many ways that proof of the existence of a cryptid can be confirmed. Whilst the CFZ has had an impressive record at recovering hair samples there has, until now, been a lack of photographic evidence of any of the cryptids. It soon became apparent that the quest to discover mystery animals would be aided with trail cams." Glen writes.

For approximately A$158 (aka £100) you can help the CFZ place a trail camera in the field.

For further information, if you're in the UK, contact Glen at glen@cfz.org.uk or tel 0161 777 6586.

Otherwise direct donations can be made via PayPal to Trailcams@CFZ.org.uk

Anyone wishing to donate physical trail cams only (at the Australian end) can email Rebecca or Mike at cfzaustralia@yahoo.com.au

We will identify and thank sponsors on this blog.

This could be our best chance yet to capture something truly extraordinary in the field!

Sumatra 2011 - In Search of the Orang-Pendek

CFZ expedition planner Adam Davies has launched the latest Centre of Fortean Zoology expedition - the continuing search for the Orang-Pendek - over on the CFZ HQ blog.

The team, as it stands, will comprise the following members: Dr Chris Clark, Richard Freeman, Dave Archer, Jon McGowan, Lisa Dowley, Andrew Sanderson, Rebecca Lang and Mike Williams.

Here's what Adam has to say about the Orang Pendek:

"Sumatra, and the Orang-Pendek in particular, hold a special affection for me. Since I first visited this beautiful country, with its dense virgin rainforest and proud tribal people, I have always been fascinated by the orang-pendek, the 'short man' of the forests.

"I have no doubt the Orang-Pendek exists. Over the years I have interviewed many witnesses who have seen this creature. In 2009 the CFZ expedition was fortunate to have an eyewitness ourselves in Dave Archer, and Sahar Dimus saw one pinned against a tree, before it scurried away from us into the jungle."

Read the whole post here.

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.

New discovery - TWO types of Asia's clouded leopard

By sleuthing through genes found in feline pelts more than a century old, scientists have discovered that the newest species of big cat known to science, the mysterious Sunda clouded leopard, actually comes in two different types.

These big cats apparently owe their origins to cataclysmic super-volcano eruptions and rising sea levels, researchers found.

The clouded leopards — the most elusive of all the big cats — make up the group known as genus Neofelis. Seen from the foothills of the Himalayas through Southeast Asia into China, they are most notable for patches on their fur said to be shaped like clouds and for the largest canine fangs relative to their bodies of any living cat. (Despite their name, clouded leopards are not actually a kind of leopard, but are completely separate from the genus that includes lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.)

"They're sometimes even called modern-day saber-toothed cats," researcher Andreas Wilting, a wildlife biologist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, told LiveScience from Borneo.
Comparisons between the clouded leopards of mainland Asia and the Sunda Islands of Southeast Asia, which include Borneo, Java, Sumatra and Bali, revealed the Sunda clouded leopard was genetically distinct, making it the newest species of big cat known to science. 

"The canines on the Sunda clouded leopard are even longer than seen on the mainland clouded leopard, and they have more dots in their cloud-shaped markings than mainland ones," Wilting said. "They are as genetically distinct from mainland clouded leopards as leopards are distinct from lions."

Although scientists wanted to learn more about the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), "they are hard to find in the forest," Wilting said. As such, he and his colleagues investigated DNA they gleaned from clouded leopard pelts, skulls, claws and bones gathered on the islands and kept in museums worldwide for up to more than a century, as well as excrement collected more recently by researchers in the field.

"Working with ancient DNA from museum specimens that were often highly degraded was a major challenge," Wilting said.

The scientists' genetic analysis — combined with investigation of available bones — revealed the Sunda clouded leopard is actually divided into two subspecies — Neofelis diardi diardi, indigenous to Sumatra, and Neofelis diardi borneensis, exclusive to Borneo.

"Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last ice age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate subspecies," Wilting said.

There were considerable genetic differences between the groups. There were also physical distinctions, often subtle in nature. A comparison of coat color patterns conducted by researcher Andrew Kitchener from National Museums Scotland saw only small deviations between the groups, which could be due to how the highly similar tropical habitats on the islands demanded similar camouflage strategies. The skulls also showed minor variations, according to researcher Per Christiansen of the University of Aalborg in Denmark — for instance, the Sumatra cat has a slightly wider nasal aperture relative to muzzle width than the Borneo one.

Both subspecies of Sunda clouded leopard are classified as endangered, since their numbers are low just like all other big cats. In order to save the Sunda clouded leopard, it is paramount to protect large areas of forest in Borneo and Sumatra or at least to manage them sustainably, Wilting said. The researchers are working closely with wildlife officials in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo to investigate and conserve the cats.

Battle on to save tiger from extinction

Right now the world is focusing on saving one of the great beasts of the jungle, the tiger, from the brink of extinction.

This week Russia is playing host to an international tiger summit, and Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio has pledged $1 million towards the cause. Wildlife activists and officials from 13 nations where tigers live in the wild arrived in St Petersburg this week at the invitation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The 13 countries where tigers still exist are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Money raised by DiCaprio and WWF through Save Tigers Now will go to fund antipoaching efforts and habitat protection in the 12 priority landscapes across Asia that WWF believes represent the best locations to maintain viable, thriving populations of tigers. The money will also fund advocacy and outreach activities to build support for tiger conservation.

The summit’s four day goal is for attendees to put their political weight behind vocalising imminent threats, and best practice protection and population recovery methods. There are currently just 3200 tigers living outside captivity in each of the countries represented.

Australia Zoo conservation manager Giles Clark claims there is little hope of turning the tide on other critically endangered flora and fauna if the tiger cannot be brought back from the brink. Mr Clark, who heads to Sumatra next week as part of an ongoing Australia Zoo initiative, said he had confidence the summit was more than a “talk fest”.

He said the Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit in the heart of Sumatran tiger homeland Kerinci Seblat National Park had proved the damage of the past decade could be undone. Australia Zoo has donated $150,000 to the TPCU this year.

“They (tigers) have proven to be incredibly resourceful and can bounce back if they and their habitats are left alone,” Mr Clark said.

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