The Fishing Cat kittens (Prionailurus viverrinus), at the National Zoo in Washington DC, sometimes need a break from romping around their yard and catching fish! Here, mom cleans one of the kittens. :3
(photo: Barbara Statas) (via: Smithsonian’s National Zoo)
How many Black Footed Ferret kits can fit in one burrow?
Three 2011 kits all try to peek out at the same time from their unit at FCC. This year’s litters are on their way and we’ll let you know when the first kits are born!Find out more: National BFF Conservation Center
(Photos: KT, USFWS)
Slow lorises being sold illegally, though openly, in Indonesian capital
by Jeremy Hance / Mongabay
Defying Indonesian law, slow lorises are being sold openly in Jakarta markets for the underground pet trade, according to wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC. In the last two weeks, TRAFFIC has recorded fifty different individual slow lorises on sale in the Indonesian capital.
“The openness of the slow loris trade highlights the fact that having one of the region’s best wildlife protection laws and promising to protect species is not enough—there must be stronger enforcement in Indonesia and the public should stop supporting the illegal wildlife trade,” says Chris R. Shepherd, Deputy Regional Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, in a press release.
Slow lorises are big-eyed nocturnal primates found throughout Southeast Asia. Three of the five known species are found in Indonesia: the Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang), the Bornean slow loris (Nycticebus menagensis), and the Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus). The Sunda and the Bornean are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, while the Javan is listed as Endangered…
(read more: DGR News)
(image: T - Pygmy Slow Loris, BL/BR - Sumatran/Sunda Slow Loris; by David Haring - Duke Lemur Center)
the smiling Loris” by Irawan Subingar
Extremely Rare Guam Rails Hatch at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
by Smithsonian staff
March 2012 - As Washington, D.C.’s unseasonably warm winter turns into spring, a baby boom is underway at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Two Guam rail (Gallirallus owstoni) chicks hatched March 3 and 4; they join six others in the Zoo’s collection—three of which live at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va. This brings the total population of these small, flightless birds to 162 individuals. Each hatching is significant—the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists these birds as extinct in the wild.
In about six weeks, keepers will separate the chicks from their parents, and Zoo veterinarians will perform a routine medical exam and take feather samples to determine their sexes.
To date, 82 chicks have hatched at the Zoo and SCBI, and each provides scientists with the opportunity to learn about the growth, reproduction, health and behavior of the species. The Zoo sent 29 Guam rails to the government of Guam for release and breeding, and an additional 25 birds have gone to other institutions to breed…
(read more: Smithsonian Science) (photos: Jim Jenkins)
animals-animals-animals: Numbat (photo by flyingblogspot)
Long Whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi)
ENDANGERED
Long-whiskered Owlet seen at Abra Patricia, Peru in Nov. 2011. The Abra Patricia Reserve area is part of a Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act project that is reforesting habitat for the benefit of resident and migratory birds.
(video: Guy Foulks)
Photos :
1. A White Rhino mother and calf in the landscape of iMfolozi Game Reserve in Natal, South Africa. It is the world’s largest repository of Rhino, home to an estimated 2,300. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold on the international market. South Africa alone has lost more than 400 rhino to illegal poaching incidents in 2011. The demand for Rhino horn is fueled by a wealthy Asian middle and upper class and used overwhelmingly as medication. (01 May 2011)
2. A female rhino in Natal, South Africa, that four months earlier survived a brutal dehorning by poachers who used a chainsaw to remove her horns and a large section of bone in this area of her skull. She survived the dehorning and has joined up with a male bull who now accompanies her. (09 November 2010)
3. A White Rhino cow is dehorned as a precautionary anti-poaching measure on a game farm outside of Klerksdorp, South Africa. A vet’s assistant holds the horns for an identity picture while the vet does a final check on the animal. (25 March 2011)
4. A Black Rhino in transit after being captured for security translocation at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. The park is famous for its translocation programs that saved the Southern White Rhino from extinction. The Black Rhino remains critically endangered in Africa today, with less than 3,500 surviving. (07 November 2010)
5. A wealthy Vietnamese woman sits and grinds Rhino horn for her personal consumption in a roadside cafe in Baoloc, Vietnam. The dealer who sold her the horn sits next to her. Rhino Horn is an illegal substance in Vietnam yet both the woman and her dealer have no fear of the police, grinding the horn in a cafe in full view of the street. The woman says that ground Rhino horn has cured her kidney stones and she now takes it daily for her general health. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold on the international market. South Africa alone has lost more than 400 rhino to illegal poaching incidents in 2011. The demand for Rhino horn is fueled by a wealthy Asian middle and upper class and used overwhelmingly as medication. (06 October 2011)
[Credit : Brent Stirton/Reportage by Getty Images for National Geographic Magazine]
(via rhamphotheca)
Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
… a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. In 2008, the IUCN classified the fishing cat as endangered since they are concentrated primarily in wetland habitats, which are increasingly being settled, degraded and converted. Over the last decade, the fishing cat population throughout much of its Asian range declined severely. Like its closest relative, the leopard cat, the fishing cat lives along rivers, streams and mangrove swamps. It is well adapted to this habitat, being an eager and skilled swimmer…
(read more: Wikipedia)
Save the California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii)
by Beth Pratt - NWF
The California Red-legged Frog, is struggling. This species was once considered one of the most abundant amphibians in California (and gained famed as being the frog featured in Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”), but now they are listed as federally threatened.
The National Wildlife Federation and Save the Frogs named the California red-legged—the largest native frog in the western states—one of America’s top ten most threatened frogs. Save the Frogs is currently trying to convince Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco to turn over Sharp Park Wetlands—home to red-legged frogs and other creatures—to the National Park Service to ensure protection. The wetland site is currently a golf course.
Show your support for California’s red-legged frog by sending Mayor Lee an email today.
(via: National Wildlife Federation)
