Tiger mascot puts on a grrrrreat show

Well here's something you don't see every day - and for those intrigued by the legendary 'American troop mascot theory' often mentioned in Australian big cat lore, it's quite a treat to see an actual big cat getting up close with some military hardware.

Australian Royal Navy sailors from 816 squadron, also known as the Fighting Tigers, dropped into Australia Zoo on Sunday to play with teenage tiger Bashii.

But the eight-man crew from HMAS Albatross at Nowra in New South Wales were kept at bay until the 98kg four-year-old Sumatran tiger had checked out their chopper.

After the sailors’ dramatic arrival, landing their 10-tonne chopper behind the Beerwah tourist attraction, they made a $500 donation to the Wildlife Warriors tiger conservation program. 

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."

Paper tigers: Armageddon approaches for Sumatra's big cats

This page contains material from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Sumatran_Tiger_Berlin_Tierpark.jpg

ABC TV's excellent Foreign Correspondent program covered the pillaging of Sumatra's prized wilderness this week in disturbing detail - and you'll never guess where those trees are ending up!

Journalist Matt Brown reports:

The rate and scale of forest clearing in Sumatra by big paper producers approaches ecological Armageddon.

“I thought I’d seen, you know, impressive deforestation in the Amazon and parts of Africa. But what’s happening there (Sumatra) on a large industrial scale is pretty daunting …some of the worst forest destruction I’ve ever seen anywhere.” - Bill Laurance, Forest Scientist

Riau province in Sumatra is home to the world’s biggest paper plant. It’s owned and run by Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd, better known by the more disarming acronym APRIL.

The company has embarked on a massive land clearing project, removing natural stands of timber and replanting fast-growing acacia trees and when it’s done it says the plantation timber alone will feed the plant. APRIL describes this program as sustainable and certainly preferable to the ad hoc land clearing and burning which blights so much of the Indonesia archipelago.

Environmentalists and many villagers worry about the dramatic changes reshaping the land and also about the plight of residents who’ve been there a lot longer than most - like the Sumatran tiger.

“It breaks my heart because they have a right to live here and they’re even here before us, but people just keep taking so much from them. I feel really sorry for the tigers because there will be more forests destroyed.” - Karmila Parakkasia, WWF

Check out this footage of a rare Sumatran Tiger, and a not-so-rare bulldozer destroying its habitat:

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 :-(

Preps for Sumatra 2011 underway

Preparations have commenced for the Sumatra expedition now that some key aspects of the trip have been finalised - namely the purchasing of tickets!

And while Mike is the pinnacle of fitness, Rebecca has some work to do in the fitness department that includes regular rigorous bushwalks and weight training.

We're going into some pretty challenging terrain choc-a-bloc full of tigers (you know, SUMATRAN tigers), leopards, snakes, giant spiders (Rebecca's favourite) and orang-utans. In other words, we'll be strolling into some of the most biologically diverse terrain on the planet!

But the Orang Pendek isn't the only mystery animal hiding out in the jungles of Indonesia.

In 2005 the World Wildlife Federation's game cameras captured a still of a strange little red-furred carnivore (pictured below), nicknamed the 'Bornean red carnivore', the identity of which remains a mystery for now.

So you see, there will be more than enough to keep us busy while we look for the little hairy man!

Can Tiger poo solve our feral deer problem?

This page contains material from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Sumatran_Tiger_Berlin_Tierpark.jpg

Could Tiger poo help eradicate Australia's feral deer population?

University of Queensland scientists have spent the past eight years researching and developing a repellent product using tiger droppings collected from big cats at a Gold Coast theme park.

Scientist Peter Murray said deer innately recognised the tiger as a natural predator and the scent of its droppings scared them off. "We know there is an evolutionary relationship between the animals ... and there's a signal in the faeces the animal recognises as a predator," he said.

Eighteen deer (Family cervidae) species were introduced into Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly by acclimatisation societies. The majority of these animals perished. However, six of the liberated species - chital, red deer, rusa deer, fallow deer, hog deer and sambar - survived and went on to form viable wild populations.

In 1980, it was estimated that Australia had about 50,000 wild deer in 20 populations, mainly in the eastern states. But with the emergence of deer farming, this situation began to change. Escapes from deer farms and translocations of deer since the 1980s have seen the number of wild deer in Australia increase to about 200,000 in some 218 populations.

Mogo Zoo welcomes Sumatran Tiger cubs

Mogo Zoo on the NSW south coast has this week announced the birth of a litter of rare Sumatran tigers, part of the Global Breeding Program for Sumatran Tigers.

Born on 21 August, 2010, the playful cubs - two males and a female - are the offspring of mother Soraya and father Lari, who are deemed genetically valuable members of the Program. They will enjoy their first 'meet the press' moment later this week when media outlets will be able to photograph the little big cats.