My cuz wants to know some stuff about it so if you have any data to share I would appreciate it, you can also post pics, vids and what not.


Probably an overlooked understudied cat, but found relatively recently. I haven't found much on them with a few simple google searches, but maybe I'm just lazy. I found this at least.

"Ecology and conservation of Formosan clouded leopard, its prey, and other sympatric carnivores in southern Taiwan


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Date
2007-11-14
Author
Chiang, Po-Jen
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During 2000-2004 I studied the population status of the Formosan clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus) and the ecology of its prey and other sympatric carnivores in the largest remaining lowland primary forest in southern Taiwan. My research team and I set up 232 hair snare stations and 377 camera trap sites at altitudes of 150-3,092m in the study area. No clouded leopards were photographed in total 13,354 camera trap days. Hair snares did not trap clouded leopard hairs, either. Assessment of the prey base and available habitat indicated that prey depletion and habitat loss, plus historical pelt trade, were likely the major causes of extinction of clouded leopards in Taiwan.
Using zero-inflated count models to analyze distribution and occurrence patterns of Formosan macaques (Macaca cyclopis) and 4 ungulates, we found habitat segregation among these 5 herbivore species. Formosan macaques, Reeveâ s muntjacs (Muntiacus reevesi micrurus), and Formosan serows (Nemorhaedus swinhoei) likely were the most important prey species of Formosan clouded leopards given their body size and high occurrence rates in lower altitudes. In contrast, sambar deer (Cervus unicolor swinhoii) tended to occur more frequently as altitude increased. Formosan macaques exhibited seasonal differences in occurrence rates and were absent at altitudes > 2,500m in winter. Only Formosan serows showed preference for cliffs and rugged terrain, while the other 4 species, except wild boars (Sus scrofa taivanus), avoided these areas. Habitat segregation in forest understory and structure were more pronounced among the 4 ungulates. Forest structure rarely affected occurrence rates of Formosan macaques on the ground.
Niche relationships of the other sympatric carnivores were studied through habitat, diet, and temporal dimensions. Resource partitioning by carnivores was observed. Altitude was the strongest factor explaining the composition of the carnivore community in the local study-area scale and in the landscape scale across Taiwan. Carnivores could be divided into 2 groups: low-mid altitude consisting of Formosan ferret badgers (Melogale moschata subaurantiaca), gem-faced palm civets (Paguma larvata taivana), lesser oriental civets (Viverricula indica taivana), crab-eating mongooses (Herpestes urva formosanus), leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis chinensis), and feral cats (Felis catus), and the mid-high altitude group consisting of yellow-throated martens (Martes flavigula chrysospila), Siberian weasels (Mustela sibirica taivana), and Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus formosanus). Carnivore richness was higher at mid altitudes where these 2 groups overlapped (i.e. mid-domain effect). The low-mid altitude carnivores were more nocturnal and tolerant of human activity and forest alteration except crab-eating mongooses, which were diurnal and avoided human encroachment. Similar to crab-eating mongooses, the mid-high altitude carnivores also avoided human encroachment and were diurnal except for Siberian weasels, which were more nocturnal. Diet summary based on their major food items for all sympatric carnivores revealed 3 groups of foragers which foraged on: invertebrates, small mammals, and plant fruits. Felidae, yellow-throated martens, and Siberian weasels preyed on small mammals. Asiatic black bears and gem-faced palm civets ate mostly plant fruits. The other 3 carnivores were mainly invertebrate foragers. These 9 carnivores partitioned resource uses in the 3 niche dimensions except for some overlap in resource use by leopard cats and feral cats.
Prey base for Formosan clouded leopards and the carnivore richness in Taiwan were found to be lower in areas with higher levels of human activity. On the other hand, Formosan macaques and ungulates could become over-abundant without human hunting and top carnivore predation. Mesopredator release may occur because of vanishing top carnivores, causing reduction of the lower trophic level prey species. It is important to assess the cascading impacts of the loss of the Formosan clouded leopards and Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra chinensis) and the declining Asiatic black bears and to consider reintroduction of Formosan clouded leopards, as well as active management of the other larger mammals. These results provided baseline information for reintroduction of clouded leopards and management of their prey and generated new hypotheses regarding the ecology of these large mammals for future investigation.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29674
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• Doctoral Dissertations [10604]"
  

These cats are said to be the the largest leopards in the world, this is due to the fact that they are the biggest land predators in Sri Lanka therefore not having to compete with lions and tigers like some of their smaller cousins. Feel free to post pics, vids, data and everything else.


Here is something on their diet:
http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJo...4-6221.pdf

As some of you are aware, I will be going to Africa next sept. ( a long way away, I know)
And I wanted to know if their were any specific lion prides I should be on the look out for or ask questions about?

The locations are....

Arusha


Lake Burunge (NW border of Tarangire National Park)


 Central Serengeti 


Ngorongoro Region

Looking forward to buy a pickup truck that performs well for off roading. Any truck owners here that can help? 

I personally like the aggressive look of the Nissan titan but i have no clue about trucks, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MYTHICAL ISLAND OF LILLIPUT FINALLY REDISCOVERED

*This image is copyright of its original author

Melbourne| A small australian fishing boat operating in the Indian Ocean, could have accidentally rediscovered the long lost islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu, popularized in the 19th century by the litterary work of Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, paving the way for a long and unfructuous treasure hunt that went on for centuries.

The small vessel derived from its course during the night and found itself washed ashore on a sand bank. The crew of three men were rapidly assaulted by a group of tiny humanoids using toy-sized black-powder weapons. The seamen achieved to push their boat back to the sea and barely escaped with their lives. All three suffer numerous pin-sized bullet wounds and show signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Althought Mister Swift had always claimed that his story was entirely true and that Lilliput really existed, most scientists and intellectuals had agreed to consider the work as a far fetched, satirical fiction, too different from any other scientific work to be taken seriously into account. Some known scholars of the 20th century had however directed some serious researches to try and locate the mysterious island, like Dr Frederick Bracker[1] or Lord Arthur E. Case[2], but all were unsucessful.
It seems that the tiny archipelago located south of the australian mainland, was actually only 365 kilometers away from the location estimated by the author, but had escaped notice due to its small size. Both the Australian government and the United Nations have already announced that they would send delegations to try and open relations with the locals.

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/mythical-island-of-lilliput-finally-rediscovered/

Pics data and vids on venomous snakes, the most deadly in the world.

I'll start with one of the most dangerous, the black mamba.




capable of moving at 4.32 to 5.4 metres per second (16–20 km/h, 10–12 mph). It is by far the most feared and most dangerous snake species in Africa and it has a legendary reputation as a very fierce and territorial snake.

Based on the Median lethal dose (LD50) values in mice, the black mamba LD50 from all published sources is as follows:

• (SC) subcutaneous (most applicable to real bites): 0.32 mg/kg, 0.28 mg/kg.
• (IV) intravenous: 0.25 mg/kg, 0.011 mg/kg.
• (IP) intraperitoneal: 0.30 mg/kg (average), 0.941 mg/kg. 0.05 mg/kg (the last quote doesn't make it clear if is either intravenous or intraperitoneal.
  

It is estimated that only 10 to 15 mg will kill a human adult; however, its bites deliver about 120 mg of venom on average, although they may deliver up to 400 mg of venom in a single bite





And one of my favourite, the rattlesnake.




If you are on the end of one this could easily happen.

Please post your reviews of books about big cats and animals in general starting with the newest:
"Wild Cats of The World" by Dr.Luke Hunter
This is a new book that was slotted for release 29/09/2015 but a bit of delay happened and it is finally available.
I have not had the chance to read it from cover to cover yet but my first impression is very positive, a great book by the same title by Mel and Fiona Sunquist remains one of the main references on the ecology of wild cats, this book brings and important updating to the knowledge of the ecology and conservation of felids.
Hunter has excellent credentials, his Ph.D. dissertation on the reintroduced cheetahs and lions to Phinda game reserve in South Africa is well-written, he has field experience with all of Africa big cats and he presents that in his books, he is currently the president of Panthera the leading conservation organization of big cats.
The book is a great source of information especially for the less known species, I was slightly disappointed in the sense that there was little detail in the areas of morphology and feeding ecology, for example when he writes about tigers he states that the weight of a male tiger is 100-261 kg basically just stating the range versus the measurements, averages, and sources.
Feeding ecology is described without analyzing different studies.
The book has great photographs and illustrations and it is a must for any big cats library/collection.

Did you watch big cat diary?

If not, Big Cat diary was a show set in the Masai Mara (Kenya). It followed the lives of two lion prides (mostly the Marsh pride but sometimes the Ridge pride), the leopards of leopard gorge, and the cheetahs of the plains. There were three presenters, each focused on one of the three species. It was a very long running show, over 10 years it ran.

The show in itself was fantastic and ignited my interest in big cats.

If you can find episodes I highly recommend watching it as it was brilliant.

And if you did and still follow the lives of some of the stars, please post you favourite moments and/or updates on the cats.

I do have some bad news though, firstly Red disappeared and never reappeared and secondly Olive was killed by lions not too long ago, Jonathon wrote about her death, however she has a thriving daughter in bahati (meaning fortune) shown killing a gazelle.

This vid in itself is one of the best hunts I have seen on video.


My favourite moment was when honey confronted and scared off a lioness. This is from the show. (Jonathan Scott narrating)


Well I know I've gone on a bit of a tangent here but if you got the message please share your favourite bits and updates on the stars of the show.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wi...-cat-week/

Here is all the doc's they have shown so far.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wi...-cat-week/


@sanjay feel free to move this to the Doc thread, I just couldn't find it.

Lions are generally thought to prey on medium to large ungulates within the weight range 190-550kg with buffalo, giraffe and zebra among the preferred species but will also prey on smaller species such as warthogs. But is Black rhino is in the menu lists of a pride of lions? some report stating that the lion attack or hunt black rhino calves and sub-adult rhino..

Feel free to posts any report about lion predate on Black rhino