There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
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  Eyes on or hands on? A discussion of human interference
Posted by: GuateGojira - 09-22-2014, 03:29 AM - Forum: Debate and Discussion about Wild Animals - Replies (157)
That's be paranoid. It just TWO cases in several (OVER 80 CASES) of successful radiocollared tigers. [img]images/smilies/dodgy.gif[/img]

In fact, we don't know how the tigers get those wounds, they just blame the radiocollars, but they don't show the wide background. They could be wounds of intraespecific conflicts, or even a bite of an insect that the animal could not clean...

Camera traps only shows tiger and prey density, that serves for Conservation of course, but are useless if you want to know the life, single behavior, ecology, intraspecific behaviour and morphology of tigers. People like Dr Sunquist, Dr Karanth and Dr Chundawatt agree with this. Even when Dr Karanth invented the camera trap method, he agree that where the radiocollar studies which bring over 70% of the knowledge of the life of the tiger. Yes, direct observations like those of Valmik Thapar are also reliable, but it takes over three times the time, and by that time, tiger will die in other parts, do to ignorance in its behavior and ecological needs.
 
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  A wonder story of baby baboon
Posted by: sanjay - 09-19-2014, 05:37 PM - Forum: Miscellaneous - No Replies
The wildlife activist laholz warth capture a wonderful moment and narrated it in her blog-

A baby baboon fall in lioness troop but saved by the father.

read it here

http://laholzwarth.wordpress.com/2013/01...the-moment
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  Vintage
Posted by: Apollo - 09-16-2014, 08:21 AM - Forum: Terrestrial Wild Animals - Replies (110)
Post old hunting records, pics, vids, info and old circus stuff.
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  Beyond the Universe
Posted by: Pckts - 09-16-2014, 03:32 AM - Forum: Miscellaneous - Replies (60)
Chaos' thread on UFO's, Bigfoot and Ghosts, gave me a idea to see who believes in the Universe, Multivere, Dark matter, life on different planets and Galaxies.
How big do you guys dream, how far away can you imagine?

Post any and all info you find Interesting, any question that are unanswered and any theories you may have.
I will go first

Dark Matter
From what I have seen, dark matter is everything that exists outside the Universe, the Idea that Gravity draws planets towards the star that creates it, but if this is true, why are planets pulling further away, how would this be possible? Dark matter is the anti gravity, the idea that the opposite of gravity exists and if so, what is creating it?

Here is a Nasa write up on some of the Ideas behind it
Dark Energy, Dark MatterIn the early 1990's, one thing was fairly certain about the expansion of the Universe. It might have enough energy density to stop its expansion and recollapse, it might have so little energy density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow the expansion as time went on. Granted, the slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the Universe had to slow. The Universe is full of matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then came 1998 and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of very distant supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the Universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the expansion of the Universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. No one expected this, no one knew how to explain it. But something was causing it.Eventually theorists came up with three sorts of explanations. Maybe it was a result of a long-discarded version of Einstein's theory of gravity, one that contained what was called a "cosmological constant." Maybe there was some strange kind of energy-fluid that filled space. Maybe there is something wrong with Einstein's theory of gravity and a new theory could include some kind of field that creates this cosmic acceleration. Theorists still don't know what the correct explanation is, but they have given the solution a name. It is called dark energy.What Is Dark Energy?
*This image is copyright of its original author
Universe Dark Energy-1 Expanding UniverseThis diagram reveals changes in the rate of expansion since the universe's birth 15 billion years ago. The more shallow the curve, the faster the rate of expansion. The curve changes noticeably about 7.5 billion years ago, when objects in the universe began flying apart as a faster rate. Astronomers theorize that the faster expansion rate is due to a mysterious, dark force that is pulling galaxies apart.NASA/STSci/Ann FeildMore is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the Universe's expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery. It turns out that roughly 68% of the Universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the Universe. Come to think of it, maybe it shouldn't be called "normal" matter at all, since it is such a small fraction of the Universe.One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. The first property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity theory, the version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second prediction: "empty space" can possess its own energy. Because this energy is a property of space itself, it would not be diluted as space expands. As more space comes into existence, more of this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of energy would cause the Universe to expand faster and faster. Unfortunately, no one understands why the cosmological constant should even be there, much less why it would have exactly the right value to cause the observed acceleration of the Universe. 
*This image is copyright of its original author
Dark Matter Core Defies ExplanationThis image shows the distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and hot gas in the core of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520. The result could present a challenge to basic theories of dark matter.Another explanation for how space acquires energy comes from the quantum theory of matter. In this theory, "empty space" is actually full of temporary ("virtual") particles that continually form and then disappear. But when physicists tried to calculate how much energy this would give empty space, the answer came out wrong - wrong by a lot. The number came out 10[sup]120[/sup] times too big. That's a 1 with 120 zeros after it. It's hard to get an answer that bad. So the mystery continues.Another explanation for dark energy is that it is a new kind of dynamical energy fluid or field, something that fills all of space but something whose effect on the expansion of the Universe is the opposite of that of matter and normal energy. Some theorists have named this "quintessence," after the fifth element of the Greek philosophers. But, if quintessence is the answer, we still don't know what it is like, what it interacts with, or why it exists. So the mystery continues.A last possibility is that Einstein's theory of gravity is not correct. That would not only affect the expansion of the Universe, but it would also affect the way that normal matter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies behaved. This fact would provide a way to decide if the solution to the dark energy problem is a new gravity theory or not: we could observe how galaxies come together in clusters. But if it does turn out that a new theory of gravity is needed, what kind of theory would it be? How could it correctly describe the motion of the bodies in the Solar System, as Einstein's theory is known to do, and still give us the different prediction for the Universe that we need? There are candidate theories, but none are compelling. So the mystery continues.The thing that is needed to decide between dark energy possibilities - a property of space, a new dynamic fluid, or a new theory of gravity - is more data, better data.What Is Dark Matter?
*This image is copyright of its original author
Abell 2744: Pandora's Cluster RevealedOne of the most complicated and dramatic collisions between galaxy clusters ever seen is captured in this new composite image of Abell 2744. The blue shows a map of the total mass concentration (mostly dark matter).By fitting a theoretical model of the composition of the Universe to the combined set of cosmological observations, scientists have come up with the composition that we described above, ~68% dark energy, ~27% dark matter, ~5% normal matter. What is dark matter?We are much more certain what dark matter is not than we are what it is. First, it is dark, meaning that it is not in the form of stars and planets that we see. Observations show that there is far too little visible matter in the Universe to make up the 27% required by the observations. Second, it is not in the form of dark clouds of normal matter, matter made up of particles called baryons. We know this because we would be able to detect baryonic clouds by their absorption of radiation passing through them. Third, dark matter is not antimatter, because we do not see the unique gamma rays that are produced when antimatter annihilates with matter. Finally, we can rule out large galaxy-sized black holes on the basis of how many gravitational lenses we see. High concentrations of matter bend light passing near them from objects further away, but we do not see enough lensing events to suggest that such objects to make up the required 25% dark matter contribution.However, at this point, there are still a few dark matter possibilities that are viable. Baryonic matter could still make up the dark matter if it were all tied up in brown dwarfs or in small, dense chunks of heavy elements. These possibilities are known as massive compact halo objects, or "MACHOs". But the most common view is that dark matter is not baryonic at all, but that it is made up of other, more exotic particles like axions or WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles).
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  Largest Carnivourous Dinosaur Ever Found in Europe
Posted by: Pckts - 09-16-2014, 03:14 AM - Forum: Dinosaurs - Replies (8)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In Europe 150 million years ago, this dude was the biggest, baddest bully in town. Two scientists in Portugal announced on Wednesday that they have identified the largest carnivorous dinosaur ever found in Europe, a 33-foot-long (10-meter-long) brute called Torvosaurus gurneyi that was the scourge of its domain in the Jurassic Period.
 
"It was indeed better not to cross the way of this large, carnivorous dinosaur," said paleontologist Christophe Hendrickx of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Museu da Lourinhã in Portugal.Torvosaurus gurneyi was an imposing beast. It was bipedal, weighed four to five tons, had a skull almost 4 feet long, boasted powerful jaws lined with blade-shaped teeth four inches long, and may have been covered with an early type of feather, Hendrickx said."Torvosaurus gurneyi was obviously a super predator feeding on large prey like herbivorous dinosaurs," Hendrickx said.Remains of the new species were unearthed in Portugal by an amateur fossil hunter in 2003 in the rock cliffs of Lourinhã, a small town about 45 miles north of Lisbon, Hendrickx said. He said fossilized embryos probably belonging to this species were identified last year in Portugal.The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.At the time that Torvosaurus prowled the landscape, the region was a lush river delta with abundant fresh water and vegetation. The area teemed with dinosaurs and flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, primitive birds, crocodiles, turtles and mouse-sized mammals, according to paleontologist Octávio Mateus, also of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Museu da Lourinhã.Plant-eating dinosaurs living in the area included the huge, long-necked Lusotitan, the armored, tank-like Dracopelta and the spiky-tailed Miragaia, Mateus added.The two scientists said this is the second species of the genus Torvosaurus. The other one, Torvosaurus tanneri, lived at the same time in North America. It was known from the states of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and was identified in 1979.Its genus name, Torvosaurus, means "savage lizard." Its species name, gurneyi, honors James Gurney, the author and illustrator of the popular "Dinotopia" book series.Torvosaurus gurneyi was not the only meat-eating dinosaur in its neighborhood. For example, there was a European species of the well-known North American Jurassic predator Allosaurus, but the Torvosaurus found in Portugal was larger.Torvosaurus gurneyi not only is the largest known meat-eating dinosaur from Europe, but is the biggest land predator of any kind ever found on the continent, they added.There were larger dinosaur carnivores elsewhere, however.Tyrannosaurus in North America, Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus in North Africa and Giganotosaurus in Argentina all were bigger, but appeared on Earth much later than Torvosaurus, during the Cretaceous Period that followed the Jurassic Period."This animal, Torvosaurus, was already a fossil for 80 million years before the T. rex ever walked the Earth," Mateus said.During the Jurassic Period from about 200 million years ago to 145 million years ago, carnivorous dinosaurs generally were medium-sized, with an average length of about 7 to 16 feet. Larger ones like Torvosaurus, Allosaurus and Saurophaganax arrived in the late Jurassic Period.(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Grant McCool)
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  All about Gaur (Bos gaurus)
Posted by: Roflcopters - 09-15-2014, 01:22 PM - Forum: Herbivores Animals - Replies (322)
Scientific name: Bos gaurus
Species Authority: C.H. Smith, 1827

Taxonomic Notes:

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2003) ruled that the name for this wild species is not invalid by virtue of being antedated by the name based on the domestic form. Therefore, IUCN considers the wild species of Gaur under Bos gaurus, while referring to the domestic form (Mythun, Mithan or Gayal) as Bos frontalis Lambert, 1804 (see Gentry et al. 2004).

Traditionally, three subspecies of Gaur have been recognized: Bos gaurus gaurus in India, Nepal, and Bhutan; B. g. readei in Myanmar (Burma), southern China, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Thailand north of the Isthmus of Kra (Lydekker 1903); and B. g. hubbacki in Thailand south of the Isthmus of Kra and in West Malaysia (Lydekker 1907). (In addition, Hubback (1937) thought that there may be two subspecies of Gaur in Malaysia, one with a well developed dewlap and one without.) However, this trifid arrangement, based largely on differences in coloration and size, is no longer widely recognized (Grzimek 1990, Corbet and Hill 1992).

Groves and Grubb (cited in National Research Council 1983) concluded that there were only two subspecies: Bos gaurus gaurus in India and Nepal and Bos gaurus laosiensis in Myanmar (Burma), Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, and West Malaysia (and presumably southern China). More recent work by Groves and colleagues (e.g., Groves 2003) also supports this division into two subspecies. Analysis of skull and horn measurements revealed little multivariate overlap between Indian and Southeast Asian specimens: Southeast Asian specimens are much bigger, with relatively shorter nasal bones, a less wide horn span and a narrower occiput; and in South-east Asian specimens the ascending branch of the premaxilla generally does not reach the nasal, whereas in Indian specimens it usually does. Specimens from Bhutan, Chittagong (Bangladesh), Upper Chindwin (north Myanmar), and Mogok (north Myanmar) were intermediate, but tended more towards the South-east Asian type. The locations of these specimens suggest that the Gaur in north-east India are also likely to be intermediate but more similar to southeast Asian animals than to the Gaur in the rest of India (C. Groves pers. comm. 1995). In recognition of these phenotypic differences, B. g. gaurus and B. g. laosiensis are provisionally accepted here pending further morphometric and genetic study.

The extinct subspecies B. g. sinhaleyus survived on Sri Lanka into historic times (Grubb 2005).

 
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  Spinosaurus News ~
Posted by: brotherbear - 09-12-2014, 02:12 AM - Forum: Dinosaurs - Replies (152)
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/a...r-unveiled
 
The beast, called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, was already known to scientists from a long-ago fossil discovery, but most of those bones were destroyed during World War II. Now, 70 years later, a new skeleton found in Morocco reveals that the beast was far more aquatic than originally thought.

Spinosaurus had a long neck, strong clawed forearms, powerful jaws and the dense bones of a penguin. It propelled itself in water with flat feet that were probably webbed, according to a study released Thursday by the journal Science. The beast sported a spiny sail on its back that was 7 feet tall when it lived 95 million years ago.

"It's like working on an extraterrestrial or an alien," study lead author Nizar Ibrahim of the University of Chicago said, while standing in front of a room-sized reconstruction of the skeleton at the National Geographic Society. "It's so different than anything else around."

Ibrahim described the creature as "so bizarre it's going to force dinosaur experts to rethink many things they thought they knew about dinosaurs."

Scientists had thought that all dinosaurs stuck to the land, with occasional brief trips into the water. But the new skeleton shows clear evidence of river and lake living: hip bones like a whale's, dense bones that allowed it to dive for food, and nostrils positioned high on the skull, allowing Spinosaurus to mostly submerge.

It could walk and would probably nest on land, but on land it moved more awkwardly than on water, said study co-author Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago. It lumbered on its two hind feet because its powerful forelegs with sharp curved claws were designed more for killing than walking, he said.


 
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  Support for Blog and Article Section
Posted by: sanjay - 09-10-2014, 09:46 PM - Forum: Miscellaneous - Replies (5)
We have launched the Blog and Article section of wildfact -  see main domain - http://wildfact.com

I request members to write blog and article
  1. Article should be written by you and should not be copy pasted from anywhere else.
  2. Don't use books scan for showing texts, Instead write them in your words.
  3. You can write almost in any subject related to wild animals
  4. I have made category, But can be added more on your request.

You can start by writing basic information of wild animals, Like their characteristics, food, lifespan, etc.
Just think you are giving a common knowledge to site visitors. If you have not very deep knowledge, then you can write only basic information. For example you can write about profile of Lions, tigers, Or subspecies of tigers, Type of big cats etc.

Remember - try to use some good images along with posts.

====================================================

Now about website -
  1. If you are finding it hard to navigate for writing blog, tell us here, we will guide you.
  2. Currently their is no content so website will look empty. Once you will start adding content it will look more good.
  3. You will need to register on http://wildfact.com blog section once again, sorry for inconvenience. Currently you may have to wait to get approve by administrator for sometime (to stop spammers). So once you registered there, please tell us here. We will activate your account.

Basically this thread is for providing support for writing blog and related things. If you have any question just ask here.
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  Copyright Policy of Wildfact
Posted by: sanjay - 09-06-2014, 08:02 PM - Forum: Suggestion, Feedback and Complaint - Replies (1)
Wildfact.com do not hold the copyright permission of any images, video or other content posted by members. For precaution we put a copyright warning below each images in posts and try to give proper credits especially for images
 
If you are not a member here and seeing images, videos or other content that belong to you (or you own all copyright permission) anywhere in forum and if for any reason you want us to remove your content, we will immediately remove it, if you will provide proof of ownership of all copyright of content (Images, videos etc).

You need to contact us at [email protected]
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  Leopard Predation Thread
Posted by: Safaricam - 09-06-2014, 07:38 PM - Forum: Leopard - Replies (803)




I was lucky enough while out in the Masai Mara last year to witness a leopard hunt in the region of Intrepids Camp.

We arrived as the female leopard (who I have been since told is called Bahati - meaning Fortune - and daughter of Olive, granddaughter of Bella from Big Cat Diary) had come down from a tree and then emerged from bushes by the track. As you can see from the video above, she rolled in the dust and then appeared to spot gazelle nearby. Instantly her posture changed, she slunk down onto her haunches and crept into the long grass. It was amazing to see how low she could stay, and the stealth with which she moved. As she approached the oblivious gazelle, we watched on from the jeep, and despite standing and looking down at the scene, eventually we lost sight of her too in the grass. Such incredible camouflage when seen in their natural environment!

we waited patiently, holding our breaths, and with my camera trained on the gazelle. Minutes passed but we were all intently waiting and watching. Suddenly, as you see in the video, she exploded out of the grass and around the closest gazelle, who didn't stand a chance, gripping it by the windpipe. Such speed and power was phenomenal to watch - you can see how I jumped on the video!

After it's prey was subdued, Bahati paused to give us a few more photo opportunities and then dragged the gazelle off back to through the bushes. It made me realise how small a leopard is compared to some of the larger cats, as it seemed quite unwieldy for it. We watched it toy with its food in the bushes for a few minutes, and then it disappeared into thick bush (presumably back up a tree again - though sadly I didn't get to witness that). 

The he while event lasted about 15 or 20 minutes I should think, and I barely breathed through all of it. It felt a real privilege to be there to witness such a moment..

Hopefully you can enjoy the video and get a taste of the moment for yourself here:

​https://youtu.be/cljFHUDq8tw


if anyone has further knowledge of the hunting behaviour here I'd love to learn more. Thanks. 

Safaricam

 

 

 
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