Dogs Painted As Pandas And Tigers

Pet owners have painted their dogs to look like other animals including pandas and tigers in the latest craze to come out of China. The pictures, which appear to have been taken at a showcase of painted dogs in Zhengzhou, eastern China, show crowds gathering to take photos of the bizarre spectacle.

In one picture a retriever has been made to look like a tiger, while in another a small, fluffy puppy has been painted in the style of a tiny panda. China has often been quick to adopt unusual crazes, and the latest trend for pet owners follows an American fad of painting poodles to look like other animals at dog shows.

India Needs More Parks And Corridors For Long-Term Survival Of Its Animals

In a new study, an international team of scientists has determined that the long-term survival of many large species in the midst of rapid economic growth in India will require improving existing protected areas and establishing new protected areas and corridors.The study, carried out by researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Duke University, and other groups, found that country’s protected area system and human cultural tolerance for some species are key to conserving the subcontinent’s tigers, elephants, and other large mammals.

The researchers created models to estimate extinction probability for 25 large mammal species, determining current species distributions along with more than 30,000 historical records from natural history, taxidermy and museum records dating back 200 years.The models were used to gauge how factors such as protected areas, forest cover, elevation, and human demographics, and cultural attitudes impact extinction predictions.The results of the analysis found that all 25 species would experience some level of local extinction due to a variety of factors such as habitat loss and human population growth and development.

Great White Sharks Now One Of The Most Endangered Creatures On Earth

They are known as one of the deadliest creatures on Earth. But according to a shocking new study, great white sharks are also one of the most endangered. Wildlife experts say there are now fewer than 3,500 great whites left in the oceans, making them rarer than tigers.Yesterday, marine biologists called for an end to mankind’s long battle with sharks and demanded urgent action to prevent them going extinct.Great white sharks have a deserved reputation as ruthless and efficient killers, who use ambush techniques to attack fish, dolphins and seals from below.

Cruel Or Cute..???

Crouching tiger, hidden species? Siberian creatures welcome in the Year of the Tiger as China worries about their extinction
The sight of tigers in the wild in China is becoming increasingly rare, but there are hundreds in zoos around the country.So as the country came to a standstill this weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year, and see in the Year of the Tiger, it seemed only natural to use several Siberian tigers to welcome visitors to a zoo in Fuzhou in southeast China’s Fujian province.However, the tigers’ poses were far from natural, as they were cruelly forced into a series of poses as they made their greeting.Sitting on their hind legs with their paws in the air, the tigers were made to hold the poses for a lengthy period of time as visitors entered the zoo.

Battle To Save Tigers 3,200 Only Left

Conservationists say there are just 3,200 tigers left in the world as the future of the species is threatened by poachers, destruction of their habitat and climate change.The world population of tigers has fallen by 95 per cent in the past century. The WWF said it intends to intensify pressure to save the Panthera tigris by classifying it as the most at risk on its roster of 10 critically endangered animals.It hopes to increase patrols and work with politicians to eradicate poaching and thwart illegal trade of tiger skins and body parts.

The wildlife charity also aims to work with governments to encourage more responsible forest management and compensation for farmers whose livestock are killed by tigers to avoid them being hunted.Diane Walkington, head of species programme for the WWF in Britain, said: “This year has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations and so we have created a list of 10 critically important endangered animals that we believe will need special monitoring over the next 12 months.

“This year will also be the Chinese Year of the Tiger, and so we have put it at the top of our list. It will have special iconic importance.”Of course, there are thousands of other species on the endangered list. However, there is particular importance in selecting a creature such as the tiger for special attention.”To save the tiger, we have to save its habitat – which is also home to many other threatened species.”So if we get things right and save the tiger, we will also save many other species at the same time.”

Kerala's Tiger Reserve To Open Soon

Kerala’s second tiger reserve will open by January or February , state forest minister Binoy Viswam said Sunday.
“All the formalities are over and the opening would take place either in January or February, depending on the availability of union environment minister Jairam Ramesh,” Viswam said.

“Over the last many months, we have been finalising the legalities for turning the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary into the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve,” Viswam said.The sanctuary was established in 1973 and is located over a 285-sq-km protected area in Chittur taluk in Palakkad district of Kerala.

“To this area, we added another 358.662 sq km of forests and the tiger reserve would now have a total area of 643.662 sq km,” he said.The sanctuary has a rich diversity of animal life including 39 species of mammals, 16 species of amphibians, 268 species of birds, reptiles 61 species, fish 47 species, insects 1,049 species and butterflies 124 species.The sanctuary has a variety of trees mainly teak, neem, sandalwood and rosewood.

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Kerala's Tiger Reserve To Open Soon

Kerala’s second tiger reserve will open by January or February , state forest minister Binoy Viswam said Sunday.
“All the formalities are over and the opening would take place either in January or February, depending on the availability of union environment minister Jairam Ramesh,” Viswam said.

“Over the last many months, we have been finalising the legalities for turning the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary into the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve,” Viswam said.The sanctuary was established in 1973 and is located over a 285-sq-km protected area in Chittur taluk in Palakkad district of Kerala.

“To this area, we added another 358.662 sq km of forests and the tiger reserve would now have a total area of 643.662 sq km,” he said.The sanctuary has a rich diversity of animal life including 39 species of mammals, 16 species of amphibians, 268 species of birds, reptiles 61 species, fish 47 species, insects 1,049 species and butterflies 124 species.The sanctuary has a variety of trees mainly teak, neem, sandalwood and rosewood.

(source)

139 Tigers Killed In India Since 2006

As many as 139 tigers have been killed in India’s forests since 2006, minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh saidon Tuesday. The latest estimate of tigers in the wild in India is a critically low 1,411.In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Ramesh informed the upper house of parliament that 22 tigers were killed in 2006, 30 in 2007, 28 in 2008 and 59 by Nov 13 this year.

The minister said Rs.154.59 crore ($33 million) had been released by the Indian government this fiscal in efforts to protect the tiger.

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Thailand Authorities Make Grisly Tiger Seizure

The Thai Navy seized two tiger carcasses and 45 pangolins, and arrested eight traffickers who had planned to smuggle the animals across the Mekong River into Laos, TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, said today.

“Navy officers followed two cars carrying the traffickers in Ponpang village in the Rattana Wapi district of Nongkai Province on April 26, and made the arrests as they were attempting to transfer the slaughtered tigers and live pangolins to a boat,” TRAFFIC said in a statement accompanying photos released to the media.
Eight people were arrested including a Vietnamese woman and her Thai husband. Several others in the boat fled upon sighting the navy officers.

Tigers Chopped in Half

The two tiger carcasses, chopped in half, and the 45 pangolins, two of which were dead, were found inside the two cars, the statement added.The Navy and Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division have sent the tiger carcasses to Thailand’s Department of National Parks for DNA testing.”TRAFFIC lauds the Thai authorities for carrying out these DNA tests. Determining the origin of these tigers is crucial if authorities hope to end this tragic trade,” said TRAFFIC Southeast Asia’s Acting Director Chris R. Shepherd.

Are Tigers ‘Brainier’ Than Lions?

A wide-ranging study of big cat skulls, led by Oxford University scientists, has shown that tigers have bigger brains, relative to their body size, than lions, leopards or jaguars.

The team investigated the relationship between the skull size – the longest length between the front and back parts of the skull – of a large sample of tigers, lions, leopards and jaguars and the volume inside the cats’ respective craniums. The researchers report their findings in this month’s Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

‘What we had not expected is that the tiger has clearly much bigger relative brain size than do the other three species, which all have similar relative brain sizes,’ said Dr Nobby Yamaguchi of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), an author of the report with WildCRU Director Professor David Macdonald.