Carnivores
jlynch | January 25, 2008By way of GrrlScientist, I notice that Fieldiana (the journal of the Field Museum is now freely available online. This means that DD Davis’ classic study "The giant panda: a morphological study of evolutionary mechanisms" of 1964 can now be enjoyed by one and all. Over three hundred pages, detailing everything you’d want to know about giant panda morphology.
jlynch | January 23, 2008I've written before about efforts to study and support jaguar populations here in the desert southwest and Mexico. So the following is saddening. Nature is reporting that:
The US government will not attempt to save jaguars from extinction within the formal system of the Endangered Species Act... [Cats seen in the US in recent years] do not justify a formal "recovery plan". The agency says that it will instead work on behalf of the endangered cat with other countries south of the border that comprise the rest of the animal's range.
jlynch | January 21, 2008
Sea otter, Enhydra lutris Linnaeus 1758
Mother with young.
[picture source]
And who can resist sea otters holding hands?
jlynch | August 16, 2007
Last October I blogged about the reappearance of jaguars in southern Arizona and the possible effect of Bush’s border fence on the species recovery. While jaguars have been seen in Arizona, the closest breeding population is 125 miles south of the border and is being studied by the Northern Jaguar Project. The population is estimated to number between 80 and 120 individuals and illegal hunting has removed at least 25 adults and cubs in recent years. If jaguars are to return to the United States, this population is surely vital.
Kevin McHugh of the Project has kindly let me know that they…
jlynch | August 11, 2007
Take eight minutes and watch this. Nice work by the buffaloes when faced by a weak lion defense.
(HT to Tim Sandefur for the link).
jlynch | June 18, 2007
This image released by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing shows front views of a new fossil panda skull, Ailuropoda microta, from Jinyin Cave, Guangxi, China, left, and a living giant panda skull, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, right. The first skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been discovered in China, researchers report. Discovery of the skull, estimated to be at least 2 million years old, is reported by Russell L. Ciochon in the Tuesday June 19, 2007 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (AP Photo/ Institute…
jlynch | June 13, 2007
Sea otter (Enhydra lutris) mother and eleven day old cub at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo. This one is specially for my daughter who loved the otters holding hands and is coming home tonight after two weeks in Ireland. (And it turns out to be post #1000 since I moved to Scienceblogs.)
Photo: Associated Press.
jlynch | June 10, 2007
A newborn South African bat eared fox learns to stalk and hunt birds at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. Born in late April this youngster and his four siblings, not pictured, have just recently emerged from their birthing den and are now learning how to explore and hunt.(Ken Bohn/Zoological Society of San Diego/Associated Press)
Learning to "stalk and hunt birds," eh? Good luck with that. Otocyon megalotis is unique among the fox-like canids in being highly insectivorous, specializing in eating dung beetles and harvester termites, the latter making up nearly 70% of their diet. They do…
jlynch | March 30, 2007
Sea otters "holding hands" at the Vancouver Aquarium. This is especially for PZ as I know he deep down really likes mammals and that whole cephalopod thing is just a front. ( Via Boing Boing.)
jlynch | March 15, 2007
This beauty is a Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi ), a new species native to Borneo and Sumatra.
For many years the clouded leopard was traditionally regarded as a monotypic genus with four subspecies. But recent molecular genetic analyses (mtDNA, nuclear DNA sequences, microsatellite variation, and cytogenetic differences) have revealed that there is however a strong case for reclassification and the defining of two distinct species of clouded leopard - Neofelis nebulosa (mainland Asia) and Neofelis diardi (Indonesian archipelago). This case for two clouded leopard species based…
jlynch | January 24, 2007Darren Naish ("Tetrapod Zoology") has joined our merry band. Wander over, say "Hi", and learn about the evolution of vampires.
jlynch | January 9, 2007Unfortunately, there was no "Monday Mammal" yesterday and there will be none this week - I am unfortunately too busy to put together a decent post what with catching up after SICB.
However, as an update to last week's post on the mystery mammal from Borneo, you could do much worse than check out these two posts by Darren Naish. (The posts are newer than mine, but we were both posting independently
of each other. Darren was interested in the mystery from the beginning while I only became interested in the issue after being sent a reprint of the Mammal Review paper by my good friend and…
jlynch | January 1, 2007
What is this mystery beast captured on film in Kayan Mentarang National Park, East Kalimantan, Indonesia in 2003? Initial claims were that it was a new species
of carnivore. But is there evidence for this claim?
Initial discussions centered on whether the specimen was a viverrid of some kind (e.g. the very rare Hose's Palm Civet, Hemigalus [Diplogale] hosei). The WWF, who sponsored the original research, for their part felt that this was most likely a new species of civet. Recently a study by
Meijaard et al. has analyzed the two available photos of the specimen (and in so doing generated…
jlynch | December 26, 2006
Note: Since I'm getting a lot of queries about this photo ... I don't own copyright for the photo and don't have the contact information for the source of the picture. I got the photo off the web and neglected to note the source. Googling "polar bear" should result in the original, but that may mean you have to browse many pages before you find it. Good luck!
The Washington Post is reporting that the Bush Administration wants to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act,
"We've reviewed all the available data that leads us to believe the sea ice the polar bear depends…
jlynch | October 9, 2006
The endangered jaguar (Panthera onca) is making a partial comeback in the Southwest. As this article notes, sightings have become more frequent over the past decade as males are crossing over from Mexico. Needless to say, conservationists are worried about the effect of the 700 mile Bush's Border Boondoggle on not only the jaguar but other species.
Picture by permission of the Northern Jaguar Project
jlynch | August 28, 2006
In May I reported on marmots allegedly killing cats in Washington. Now it seems the raccoons are in on the action and "a gang of raccoons that shows no fear has killed at least 10 cats and attacked several more."
But, they look so cute ...