animalphiles

Tiger cub may be last hope for species

A tiny South China Tiger cub could be the key to saving his species from extinction. He was born Friday at a South African reserve.  His parents had been sent there from China to breed.

The parents, Cathay and Tiger Woods are being taught how to survive in the wild. The cub has been named Tiger Woods, Jr.

Cathay and her mate Tiger Woods – named after the US golfer – are being taught how to survive in the wild at the reserve. The eventual goal is to release Jr., and any other offspring, into the wild in China, where fewer than 30 of the big cats remain.

Jr. is currently being hand-reared.  Although Cathay displayed motherly instincts by cleaning her cub, project staff removed him because they feared he might die in the unseasonally cold weather. He'll be returned to his mother later.

Click here for more awesome pics from The Daily Mail

 

Improvements for tiger conservation in Asia

Researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society and other institutions say improvements in the management of existing protected areas in South Asia could double the number of tigers currently existing in the region.  

A new study examined 157 reserves throughout the Indian subcontinent—comprising India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. It found that 21 of the protected areas meet the criteria needed for large healthy tiger populations.  In the absence of  data to produce a reliable estimate, tiger conservationists say that the big cats may currently number between 1,500 to 4,000 animals in the four countries combined.

The small improvements to increase tiger populations cited in the study include better funding, increasing staff support, restoring tiger habitat, and stepping up enforcement activities that focus on preventing the poaching of tigers and their prey.

The researchers found that landscapes surrounding protected areas play a significant role in the ability of those reserves to support tigers. The 21 areas most capable of supporting large numbers of tigers are concentrated in a few regions in central India, and the Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan. Eighteen of the protected areas currently contain tiger populations.

The remaining 129 protected areas do not have the potential to sustain high numbers of tigers, but nonetheless these reserves could be capable of containing tigers over the long term if the landscape surrounding the reserves are better managed to reduce negative impacts.

Critically Endangered Amur Leopard Captured

One of the rarest big cats on the planet, an Amur leopard, has been captured and health-checked by experts from a consortium of conservation organizations, before being released again in Russia. There are estimated to be between 24 and 32 Amur leopards living in the wild.

Representatives from a group of organizations, including the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Biology and Soils, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) captured the female in a remote location in south-west Primorye as part of their work to save the critically endangered leopard.  The animal was tranquilized and an extensive and high-tech medical examination undertaken by the veterinary team.

Initial findings from the veterinary examination of the leopard include the presence of a heart murmur, which could be indicative of inbreeding depression.  Remarkably given the remote location, the team was able to capture footage of the heart, using a portable sonogram device, which has already been sent out for review by heart specialists. 

Alexei Kostyria, biologist from the Institute of Biology and Soils in Vladivostok and co-leader of the project, commented, “This capture represents a new benchmark in assessing health of wild animals in Russia.  We have brought together top experts from Russia and around the world and taken state-of-the-art equipment deep into the taiga to conduct medical assessments of the Far Eastern leopard.  We have an unprecedented level of collaboration and remarkable effort that is essential if we are to save this critically endangered leopard.” 

Kostyria’s counterpart, John Goodrich of the Wildlife Conservation Society, commented, “Catching this female was a big step forward in our efforts to understand the status of this population, and to better define necessary conservation actions needed to conserve this population.” 

Orphan panther cub finds home in Tampa

Staffers at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida, call an orphaned panther cub an "ambassador for her species."

She is just two-months old and named Calusa, but most folks call her Lucy.

Lucy was abandoned by her mother in the Big Cypress Swamp and found by wildlife officers. She was thin and suffered from cuts. She's been hand-fed ever since and her wounds are healing.

She could go on display in about two months.
Photo: Julie Busch/Tampa Tribune

Trio of rare leopard cubs make frisky first appearance

They aren't your typical sweet, adorable kittens. Three Persian leopard cubs were snapping and snarling as they met their public for the first time at the Budapest Zoo yesterday.

The Persian leopard is the largest of the leopard subspecies and is native to Western Asian countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Armenia. It's endangered, however, with less than 2,000 thought to be living in the wild. An additional 74 leopards live in zoos.

The cubs born in Hungary  — sisters Bella and Bara and brother Bahar — are part of a breeding program of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. They will stay in Budapest for about a year, when they will be transferred to other zoos around the world.
Photo: AP/Bela Szandelszky

Rare tigers born in Romania

From Reuters:
Lenuta and Costel, two tiger cubs from one of the world's most endangered species, the Siberian tiger, were born in a Romanian zoo this year.    

The Siberian tiger, native to northern China, southern Russia and parts of North Korea is on the brink of extinction in the wild, decimated by poaching and loss of habitat. Scientists believe only a few hundred now live outside captivity.

The cubs, now weighing about seven pounds each, were born on May 21 to six-year-old Gina and her mate, six-year-old Geo.

"It is a miracle," Liliana Stancu, chief of a zoo in the city of Galati in eastern Romania, told Reuters. "Their mother was extraordinary, accepting them, carefully looking after and feeding them from the very beginning."

"Without her help it would have been almost impossible for the little tigers to survive ... we try not to touch the cubs so as to not scare the mother into loosing the milk."

The mother kept the cubs out of public view in an indoor den until this month.

Cuteness cubed (to the third power)

The Leipzig Zoo in Germany is proud to present a trio of tiger cubs to an adoring public.

The triplets were born June 30 and each is still no bigger than a house cat.

See more great pix at The Daily Mail.

White tiger litter debuts in Mexico

Five baby Bengal tigers have met their public at a zoo in western Mexico. What makes this litter remarkable is that four of them are white.

They were born in April as the result of a natural breeding program, at the Guadalajara Zoo. Check out the adorable AP video

The tigers' father, Nino, has sired every litter born at the zoo.
Photo: AP/Guillermo Arias

Three-legged tiger spotted in Indonesia

Wildlife officials believe a three-legged Sumatran tiger photographed by a camera trap in Indonesia lost his paw in a snare.

The images were captured in March and May of this year inside Tesso Nilo National Park in central Sumatra. A biologist with the World Wildlife Fund says the big cat seems to be in good physical condition other than the missing front foot.

Officials believe it is the same tiger reported caught in a snare in November 2006. They speculate the tiger might somehow have scratched or gnawed off his own paw to escape. A WWF statement says it is distressing that the trap was set inside a national park where the rare animals are supposed to be protected.

Sumatran tigers are only found on that island, where they have been hunted for the black market. Their habitat is being lost to agricultural and logging operations.

Since 2005 at least 101 snares have been conviscated, most of them inside protected areas.

Baby boom at tiger conservation center

84 Siberian tiger cubs have been born since March at a breeding center in China, and dozens more are expected in the coming months.

The Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding Center says the cubs are all doing well.

Fewer than 400 Siberian tigers — also known as Amur, Manchurian or Ussuri tiger — are believed to survive in the wild, about 20 of them in China and the rest in Russia.

Human settlements have encroached on the cats' habitat, and they also are in danger from poachers who want hides and bones for traditional Chinese medicine.

The breeding center plans to train some of the cubs for life in the wild and release them in the future.
photo:AP/Xinhua