Pakistan Leopards: research to study population and find ways for public to coexist

Most of the exotic wild cats still living in the wild are considered threatened or endangered to one degree or another. They are often pressured by a loss of habitat which either pushes them towards starvation or an increase in encounters with people - both of which usually lead to the loss of the animal.

This is true of the leopard found throughout Asia, extending towards the Middle East. However, in Pakistan steps are being to taken to learn more about the current condition of the leopard population and to educate local citizens as to the plight of the leopard, it's role as an important forest predator, and how the leopard and local communities can coexist.

The Pakistan branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Pakistan) has been provided funding from the Humane Welfare and Nature Conservation Society to implement an ambitious program of in-the-field study of the leopard in Ayubia National Park combined with public outreach and education.

In collaboration with the University of Siena, Italy, WWF-Pakistan will conduct tracking studies using satellite collars, diet analysis, and genetic studies, along with camera traps to better determine the extant of the current leopard population within Pakistan. WWF-Pakistan will also be working with a multimedia company to develop a variety of media products, including documentaries, to increase public awareness of the leopard and its role within the Pakistan forest ecology.

No one is sure as to the actual number of leopards in the area, but Uzma Khan, a wildlife biologist and WWF representative for the project, has stated that it “could be as few as four.”

“I conducted interviews of local residents in Ayubia and they all believe the population to be in the thousands,” Khan said. "But one leopard looks for prey in an area about 20 to 60 square hectares. So it is quite possible for a single leopard to be spotted at one corner of the park one day and the next corner the very next day. The villagers assume that they are everywhere.”

With the loss of forest habitat due to development and the free-grazing of cattle, there has come a greater number of predations by leopards on cattle - not to mention more encounters and attacks on humans. The new study and the information it disseminates will hopefully make people more understanding of the predicament that the Pakistan people have imposed on the leopard.

This is a situation that is very similar to how African communities are having to find better ways to protect people and livestock from the lions that are being encroached upon. Also, a loss of habitat in Southern California is causing a marked increase in mountain lion encounters - including attacks on joggers and mountain bikers. In all cases, this is the result of the demand for land to accommodate a growing human population. Predators like lions, tigers, and leopards are literally being backed into an ecological and geographical corner and their basic survival instincts are, unfortunately, putting them at odds with human societies.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department is working closely with the WWF-Pakistan in the hopes of developing a national management policy that will ensure the long-term future of the leopard while also protecting livestock and public safety.

Source: The Nation.
Source: The Express Tribune.

Endangered Elephants: scientists unlock mysteries while numbers decline in Indonesia

Often in this blog, I cite some of the new and unusual things we are learning about life in the ocean. Much of it is literally uncharted territory with new species and biological processes cropping up all the time.

But let's not forget terra firma, too. Take for example an iconic land animal, one that we have observed and studied for many years: the elephant. Even today, the elephant has mysteries that we are still trying to unfold.

A recent study by scientists from Canada's University of Guelph of Asian elephants that reside at Busch Gardens zoological park in Florida, revealed some new information about the pachyderm's ability to retain and dissipate heat. With an animal of this size, many of the biological processes that allow other animals, including man, to function - circulation, breathing, bone structure - often go through some adaptations. To help regulate its body temperature, it is thought that African elephants radiate excess heat through their large ears. However, the Asian elephant has noticeably smaller ears. So, as it builds up heat throughout the course of the day, how can it release that stored heat at day's end? Why through its trunk, of course.

Thermal images taken of the elephants (click here to see them online at BBC Nature) throughout the day and into the evening reveal that the Asian elephant compensates for its smaller ears by concentrating heat in its trunk. In fact, the ears are some of the coolest spots on the elephant's body.

According to study leader Dr Esther Finegan, "As the Asian elephant ears are so much smaller in surface area, they [are] very much less effective [at heat loss] than the larger African elephants' ears. But, why African elephants do not use their trunks - as Asian elephants appear to do - is a wonderful question to which we do not yet know the answer."

So, a new study of an familiar old animal reveals heretofore unknown biological processes. And it also raises questions about pre-existing beliefs scientists held about African elephants. Once again, we continue to learn, we continue to question, we continue to re-learn.

Unfortunately, studying Asian elephants within the confines of zoos like Busch Gardens may someday prove to be the only way we can learn anything about these huge beasts. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of Sumatran elephants in the wilds of Indonesia have reached critically low levels and face a greater risk of extinction than ever before.

Pressured by a growing loss of jungle habitat to deforestation, it is estimated that there are only 2,400 to 2,800 Sumatran elephants in the wild - a reduction by 50% from a count taken in 1985. That's a population cut in half in just 25 years.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has now raised the Sumatran elephant's listing from "endangered" to "critically endangered" which puts it on the IUCN's Red List. The Indonesian government has been trying to limit forest development - deforestation has been replacing forest in favor of palm oil plantations - but the government has seen limited success. It is now considering a new approach using financial incentives.

"The government has recently allowed companies to have restoration areas instead of logging concessions for some remaining forest area, so those kind of initiatives can be done by companies where they can also still make profit and at the same time also have the recovery of the endangered species," said a representative of the World Wildlife Fund told Voice of America.

How unfortunate it is that, on the one hand, we are still learning about an animal that has roamed the earth for thousands of years, long before the dawn of man, while at the same time we may be witnessing its extinction in the wild - and that passing will be of our making. Whales, sharks, and other ocean creatures are not the only species at risk.

And we called the elephant Dumbo?

Source: BBC Nature
Source: Voice of America

The Dugong: a revered marine mammal threatened in Okinawa

The Dugong, with a face only a mother dugong could love, is a gentle marine mammal that lives in the marine saltwater shallows along the coast of Asia, northern Australia, and the east coast of Africa. A kissin' cousin to the manatee, except for its preference for salt water (the manatee prefers brackish water), the dugong suffers many of the same threats as the manatee - loss of habitat from human development, injury from boats, and hunting.

The dugong is listed by the IUCN as vulnerable to extinction and CITES limits or bans trade in dugongs based on the specific population. In Okinawa, Japan, a small, fragile population of 50 that inhabit the shallows near Camp Schwab, a U.S. military air base, have been at risk for years as the U.S. has been working towards expanding the air base, thereby eliminating the dugong's primary feeding area.

Conservation groups have been battling the military on this for several years and it appears to be moving forward to at least a showdown, if not a resolution. While a lawsuit was filed by several conservation groups back in 2003 and awaits its day in federal court, recent progress has been made with a petition/letter campaign from over 400 conservation groups. And last year, a judge issued a ruling that the Department of Defense violated the National Historic Preservation Act, requiring the military to review its impact on the dugong habitat.

But the military is still pressing forward with its plans while the legal process grinds away. If you would like to add your voice in requesting the current administration to reconsider the base expansion in consideration of the dugong - an animal revered and considered sacred by the Okinawan people and listed as a national monument by Japan's federal government - then click here.

“For Okinawans, the dugong compares only to the American bald eagle in terms of cultural and historical significance,” said Takuma Higashionna, a city councilmember from Nago City, Japan.