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Animal News (Except Bigcats)
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COPAL added 3 new photos.INCREDIBLE NEWS:
IS THE TASMANIAN TIGER ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING ON THE MAINLAND? HUNTER SAYS THE OFFICIALLY EXTINCT ANIMAL HAS BEEN SEEN 'NUMEROUS TIMES' !A Tasmanian tiger enthusiast has stirred the debate on whether the large carnivorous dog is actually extinct, by claiming there have been numerous sightings of the animal on mainland Australia.World-renowned thylacine hunter Michael Moss truly believes that the striped dogs are still out there, despite them being declared extinct and having not been conclusively sighted for the past 70 years.Mr Moss claims he has dash-cam footage of the elusive creature roaming the countryside in Victoria and believes there will be concrete evidence in the near future to prove they are in fact still alive.There has already been a claimed sighting of one in Fisheries Rd, Devon Meadows, a few years ago,' Mr Moss told the Cranbourne Leader.'And I've got footage of what I believe is one crossing a paddock in the Strezlecki Ranges, near Wilsons Promontory.'Most reports to date have been of animals near or crossing roads ... with the advent of dashboard cameras in cars, I think we will see some concrete evidence before much longer.'Mr Moss has spent the past 20 years scouring Australia for the yellowish-brown animal after he released a video of a dog-like creature scurrying across the Strzelecki Ranges 15 years ago.The grainy video shows a scrawny dog-like animal scampering across the ranges at top speed, showing off the classic thylacine feature of a striped torso.The video has been viewed over 166,000 times online with many commenters debating whether or not the creature is alive and well.At one time in Australia the Tasmanian tiger was widespread and they even extended to New Guinea.They were declared extinct mainly due to extensive hunting and competition from the dingoFossils have been discovered in South Australia, Victoria and WA of what is believed to be the Tasmanian tiger.Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Is-Tasmanian-tiger-alive-livin… 
Polar bears threatened: Experience limited energy savings in summer
Date: July 16, 2015 Source: University of Wyoming Summary: Some earlier research suggested that polar bears could, at least partially, compensate for longer summer food deprivation by entering a state of lowered activity and reduced metabolic rate similar to winter hibernation -- a so-called 'walking hibernation.' But new research shows that the summer activity and body temperature of bears on shore and on ice were typical of fasting, non-hibernating mammals, with little indication of 'walking hibernation.'  *This image is copyright of its original author A young polar bear stands on pack ice over deep waters in the Arctic Ocean in October 2009, during a major research project headed by the University of Wyoming. Credit: Shawn Harper Polar bears are unlikely to physiologically compensate for extended food deprivation associated with the ongoing loss of sea ice, according to one-of-its-kind research conducted by University of Wyoming scientists and others, and published today in the journal Science. "We found that polar bears appear unable to meaningfully prolong their reliance on stored energy, confirming their vulnerability to lost hunting opportunities on the sea ice -- even as they surprised us by also exhibiting an unusual ability to minimize heat loss while swimming in Arctic waters," says John Whiteman, the UW doctoral student who led the project. The loss of sea ice in the Arctic, which is outpacing predictions, has raised concern about the future of polar bears, leading to their listing as a globally threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2008. The bears depend on hunting seals on the surface of the sea ice over the continental shelf, most successfully from April to July. In parts of the polar bears' range, the lengthening period of sea ice retreat from shelf waters -- caused by increasing temperatures -- can reduce their opportunities to hunt seals, leading to declines in bear nutritional condition. Some earlier research suggested that polar bears could, at least partially, compensate for longer summer food deprivation by entering a state of lowered activity and reduced metabolic rate similar to winter hibernation -- a so-called "walking hibernation." But the new research shows that the summer activity and body temperature of bears on shore and on ice were typical of fasting, non-hibernating mammals, with little indication of "walking hibernation." Whiteman and his colleagues concluded in the Science publication: "This suggests that bears are unlikely to avoid deleterious declines in body condition, and ultimately survival, that are expected with continued ice loss and lengthening of the ice-melt period." The researchers reached that conclusion by capturing more than two dozen polar bears, implanting temperature loggers and tracking their subsequent movements on shore and on ice in the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska and Canada, during 2008-2010. The unprecedented effort, logistically supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and funded by the National Science Foundation, USGS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, required the assistance of numerous personnel, multiple helicopters and deployment of the U.S. Coast Guard ice-breaker, the Polar Sea. "Many colleagues -- even some on our research team -- doubted whether the study was possible, until we actually did it," says Merav Ben-David, the UW professor who developed the research plan along with Professor Hank Harlow, an eco-physiologist and colleague in the Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Steve Amstrup, previously with the USGS and currently the chief scientist at Polar Bears International. "This project was logistically so intense that it may never be replicated." At the same time, the scientists found that polar bears use an unusual physiological response to avoid unsustainable heat loss while swimming in the cold Arctic waters. To maintain an interior body temperature that allows them to survive longer and nowadays more frequent swims, the bears temporarily cool the outermost tissues of their core to form an insulating shell -- a phenomenon called regional heterothermy. "This regional heterothermy may represent an adaption to long-distance swims, although its limits remain unknown," wrote the scientists, who in an earlier publication -- in the journal Polar Biology -- noted that one of the bears in the study survived a nine-day, 400-mile swim from shore to ice. When recaptured seven weeks later, the bear had lost 22 percent of her body mass, as well as her cub. By shedding light on potential mechanisms that facilitated that bear's survival during her long swim, as well as the overall metabolism and activity of bears, the current study "profoundly contributes to understanding the value of summer habitats used by polar bears in terms of their energetics," Harlow says. Amstrup adds, "It fills a gap in our otherwise extensive knowledge of polar bear ecology and corroborates previous findings that the key to polar bear conservation is arresting the decline of their sea ice habitat." In addition to Whiteman, Ben-David, Harlow and Amstrup, co-authors of the Science paper are Research Zoologist George Durner of the USGS Alaska Science Center and Wildlife Biologist Eric Regehr of the USFWS Marine Mammals Management in Alaska, both previously Ph.D. students at UW, who also participated in project development and execution; and Professor Richard Anderson-Sprecher of UW's Department of Statistics and Research Scientist Shannon Albeke of UW's Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, who contributed to data analyses. Additional support for the project was provided by the UW Program in Ecology and Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium. Consultation with key Inuit communities in Alaska and Canada ensured the successful completion of the study. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wyoming. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: J. P. Whiteman, H. J. Harlow, G. M. Durner, R. Anderson-Sprecher, S. E. Albeke, E. V. Regehr, S. C. Amstrup, M. Ben-David. Summer declines in activity and body temperature offer polar bears limited energy savings. Science, 2015; 349 (6245): 295 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa8623 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...160322.htm
A fish too deep for science: New goby fish discovered
Date: July 17, 2015 Source: Pensoft Publishers Summary: Scientists have described a new goby fish species that lives deeper than its closest relatives and had gone unnoticed up until now. It has been discovered between 70 and 80 m in the southern Caribbean.  *This image is copyright of its original author Coryphopterus curasub, a new goby species from 70-80 m depth off Curacao, southern Caribbean. The maximum known length of the new species is 33 mm (1.3 inches). Credit: Carole Baldwin and Ross Robertson, Smithsonian Institution; CC-BY 4.0 Drs. Carole Baldwin and Ross Robertson from the Smithsonian Institution discovered a new small goby fish that differs from its relatives not only in its size and colors, but also in the depth of its habitat (70-80 m) in the southern Caribbean. Their finding comes as a part of the institution's Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP). This is why the scientists gave it the name Coryphopterus curasub in recognition of the Curasub submersible that was used in their deep-reef exploration. Their study can be found in the open-access journal ZooKeys. Marine biodiversity inhabiting shallow Caribbean coral reefs has been studied for more than 150 years, but much less is known about what lives at depths just below those accessible with conventional SCUBA gear. Thanks to the availability of a privately owned, manned submersible on the island of Curacao, the Curasub, scientists are now able to intensively study depths to 300 m (1,000 ft). "This is the fourth new deep-reef fish species described in two years from Curasub diving off Curacao," explained Baldwin, "Many more new deep-reef fish species have already been discovered and await description, and even more await discovery." She also pointed out that new species of mollusks and crustaceans have also been discovered, and a "biology bonanza" is highly likely as tropical deep reefs continue to be explored. In addition to the new goby species, the authors report on the collection of a related goby species some 50 m (164 ft.) deeper than it was previously known. Knowledge of species' upper and lower depth limits is information that Baldwin and Robertson are establishing for numerous fish species in the southern Caribbean, and in this study they tabulated and graphed depth information for the 14 known species of Coryphopterus gobies. "Deep reefs are diverse ecosystems in tropical seas that science has largely missed," Baldwin explained, "too deep to access using SCUBA gear and too shallow to be of much interest to deep-diving submersibles capable of descending thousands of meters." "How incomplete is our picture of tropical reef biodiversity if so little attention has been devoted to depths just below those home to shallow coral reefs? We don't know," she admitted. "Imagine conducting a census of people living in Washington, DC, but you only survey those inhabiting ground-level housing structures. If you don't know about the people living on second, third, fourth, etc., floors in apartment buildings and condominiums in a city packed with them, you're not getting a very complete picture of who lives here. Scientists' ignorance of the biodiversity inhabiting depths within a couple hundred meters of shallow coral reefs is similar." "We know that in temperate coastal areas, some fish species are being found at higher latitudes than previously recorded," Baldwin said, "presumably a response to warming surface waters." This hypothesis poses the question whether the fish in tropics could move deeper as well reacting to the climate change. Since no historical data on the topic is available, Baldwin's suggestion is to carry on digging into deep-reef exploration. "By thoroughly investigating reef ecosystems that lie just below shallow coral reefs, describing new species, documenting depth ranges of new and known species, we are providing the baseline information necessary to detect changes in the future." Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Carole C. Baldwin, D. Ross Robertson. A new, mesophotic Coryphopterus goby (Teleostei, Gobiidae) from the southern Caribbean, with comments on relationships and depth distributions within the genus. ZooKeys, 2015; 513: 123 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.513.9998 Pensoft Publishers. "A fish too deep for science: New goby fish discovered." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 July 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150717104917.htm> 
Two Rhino Poachers were killed by forest guard in Kaziranga National Park
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Image credit to demotix.com The body of an alleged rhino poacher at Burapahar range of Kaziranga National Park some 250 kms east of Guwahati on July 21, 2015, after he was killed by guards within the park in the north-eastern state of Assam. Acting on a tip-off about the presence of a four-member gang inside the Park, a team of forest staff and police along with the CRPF, launched a joint operation in and around the Park's Burapahar range. An encounter followed at Kukurakata Hills near Rangalu Forest camp in which the two poachers were killed, a senior Park official said. The police and CRPF personnel cordoned off NH-37 to prevent the poachers from escaping and a massive search operation has been launched to nab the two poachers who managed to escape. Two .303 rifles, sixteen rounds of ammunition and two mobile phones were recovered from the encounter site. Altogether, 26 poachers have been killed so far this year while more than 20 arrested from different districts in and around the Park. The poachers have killed eleven rhinos so far this year.
Genome-wide Evidence Reveals that African and Eurasian Golden Jackals Are Distinct Species
Klaus-Peter Koepfli17correspondenceemail, John Pollinger17, Raquel Godinho, Jacqueline Robinson, Amanda Lea, Sarah Hendricks, Rena M. Schweizer, Olaf Thalmann, Pedro Silva, Zhenxin Fan, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Pavel Dobrynin, Alexey Makunin, James A. Cahill, Beth Shapiro, Francisco Álvares, José C. Brito, Eli Geffen, Jennifer A. Leonard, Kristofer M. Helgen, Warren E. Johnson, Stephen J. O’Brien, Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Robert K. Waynecorrespondenceemail 17Co-first author Publication stage: In Press Corrected Proof Highlights •African and Eurasian golden jackals are genetically distinct lineages •Divergence between lineages is concordant across multiple molecular markers •Morphologic convergence is observed between African and Eurasian golden jackals •African golden jackals merit recognition as a distinct species Summary The golden jackal of Africa (Canis aureus) has long been considered a conspecific of jackals distributed throughout Eurasia, with the nearest source populations in the Middle East. However, two recent reports found that mitochondrial haplotypes of some African golden jackals aligned more closely to gray wolves (Canis lupus) [ 1, 2 ], which is surprising given the absence of gray wolves in Africa and the phenotypic divergence between the two species. Moreover, these results imply the existence of a previously unrecognized phylogenetically distinct species despite a long history of taxonomic work on African canids. To test the distinct-species hypothesis and understand the evolutionary history that would account for this puzzling result, we analyzed extensive genomic data including mitochondrial genome sequences, sequences from 20 autosomal loci (17 introns and 3 exon segments), microsatellite loci, X- and Y-linked zinc-finger protein gene (ZFX and ZFY) sequences, and whole-genome nuclear sequences in African and Eurasian golden jackals and gray wolves. Our results provide consistent and robust evidence that populations of golden jackals from Africa and Eurasia represent distinct monophyletic lineages separated for more than one million years, sufficient to merit formal recognition as different species: C. anthus (African golden wolf) and C. aureus (Eurasian golden jackal). Using morphologic data, we demonstrate a striking morphologic similarity between East African and Eurasian golden jackals, suggesting parallelism, which may have misled taxonomists and likely reflects uniquely intense interspecific competition in the East African carnivore guild. Our study shows how ecology can confound taxonomy if interspecific competition constrains size diversification.  *This image is copyright of its original author http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abst...15)00787-3
PUBLIC RELEASE: 19-AUG-2015
The Sumatran rhino is extinct in the wild in Malaysia NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF DENMARK  *This image is copyright of its original author IMAGE: THIS IS A SUMATRAN RHINO. view more CREDIT: RASMUS GREN HAVMØLLER Leading scientists and experts in the field of rhino conservation state in a new paper that it is safe to consider the Sumatran rhinoceros extinct in the wild in Malaysia. The survival of the Sumatran rhino now depends on the 100 or fewer remaining individuals in the wild in Indonesia and the nine rhinos in captivity. Despite intensive survey efforts, there have been no signs of the wild Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia since 2007, apart from two females that were captured for breeding purposes in 2011 and 2014. Scientists now consider the species extinct in the wild in Malaysia. The experts urge conservation efforts in Indonesia to pick up the pace. The conclusions are published online in Oryx, the International Journal of Conservation, led by the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen. Partners include WWF, the International Rhino Foundation and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is in charge of the global Red List of Threatened Species. Surviving rhinos are too far apart "It is vital for the survival of the species that all remaining Sumatran rhinos are viewed as a metapopulation, meaning that all are managed in a single program across national and international borders in order to maximize overall birth rate. This includes the individuals currently held in captivity", says lead author and PhD student Rasmus Gren Havmøller from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate. The experts point to the creation of intensive management zones as a solution; areas with increased protection against poaching, where individual rhinos can be relocated to, in order to increase the number of potential and suitable mating partners. Historically ranging across most of South-east Asia, the Sumatran rhino is now only found in the wild in Indonesia. Here, less than 100 individuals in total are estimated to live in three separate populations, one of which has seen a critical decline in distribution range of 70 % over the last decade. This trend echoes how the Sumatran rhino population dropped from around 500 to extinction between 1980 and 2005 in Sumatra's largest protected area, the enormous 1,379,100 hectare Kerinci Sebelat National Park. Apart from the wild populations, nine Sumatran rhinos are in captivity, with one in Cincinnati Zoo in U.S.A (soon to be moved to Indonesia), three held at facilities in Sabah, Malaysia for attempts to produce embryos by in vitro fertilization, and five in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Sumatra, Indonesia. Two year old conservation strategy awaits political will The intensive management zones as well as the single population strategy are two of four key actions identified back in April 2013 at the Sumatran Rhino Crisis Summit in Singapore and agreed upon that same year by the Indonesian government in the Bandar Lampung Declaration. "The tiger in India was saved from extinction due to the direct intervention of Mrs. Gandhi, the then prime minister, who set up Project Tiger. A similar high level intervention by President Joko Widodo of Indonesia could help pull the Sumatran rhinos back from the brink" says Christy Williams, co-author and coordinator of the WWF Asian and Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy. Widodo Ramono, co-author and Director of the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia (YABI) elaborates: "Serious effort by the government of Indonesia should be put to strengthen rhino protection by creating Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ), intensive survey of the current known habitats, habitat management, captive breeding, and mobilizing national resources and support from related local governments and other stakeholders". The global conservation strategy also included the continued development of Rhino Protection Units at sites with remaining breeding populations. While this has been achieved, the authors highlight a need for strengthening the units against poaching efforts, especially in northern Sumatra. With a high demand for rhinoceros horns in black markets in Asia, poaching continues to be a significant threat to the species. Finally, captive breeding was included in 2013 as one of the key conservation actions, but the necessary reproductive technology may still take years to develop, during which time we may lose the Sumatran rhino in the wild, says the authors. ### Reference Havmøller, R.G. et al., 2015. Will current conservation responses save the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis?. Oryx 2015: (5 pp.) - doi:10.1017/S0030605315000472 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...081915.php
PUBLIC RELEASE: 19-AUG-2015
The Sumatran rhino is extinct in the wild in Malaysia NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF DENMARK *This image is copyright of its original author IMAGE: THIS IS A SUMATRAN RHINO. view more CREDIT: RASMUS GREN HAVMØLLER Leading scientists and experts in the field of rhino conservation state in a new paper that it is safe to consider the Sumatran rhinoceros extinct in the wild in Malaysia. The survival of the Sumatran rhino now depends on the 100 or fewer remaining individuals in the wild in Indonesia and the nine rhinos in captivity. Despite intensive survey efforts, there have been no signs of the wild Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia since 2007, apart from two females that were captured for breeding purposes in 2011 and 2014. Scientists now consider the species extinct in the wild in Malaysia. The experts urge conservation efforts in Indonesia to pick up the pace. The conclusions are published online in Oryx, the International Journal of Conservation, led by the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen. Partners include WWF, the International Rhino Foundation and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is in charge of the global Red List of Threatened Species. Surviving rhinos are too far apart "It is vital for the survival of the species that all remaining Sumatran rhinos are viewed as a metapopulation, meaning that all are managed in a single program across national and international borders in order to maximize overall birth rate. This includes the individuals currently held in captivity", says lead author and PhD student Rasmus Gren Havmøller from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate. The experts point to the creation of intensive management zones as a solution; areas with increased protection against poaching, where individual rhinos can be relocated to, in order to increase the number of potential and suitable mating partners. Historically ranging across most of South-east Asia, the Sumatran rhino is now only found in the wild in Indonesia. Here, less than 100 individuals in total are estimated to live in three separate populations, one of which has seen a critical decline in distribution range of 70 % over the last decade. This trend echoes how the Sumatran rhino population dropped from around 500 to extinction between 1980 and 2005 in Sumatra's largest protected area, the enormous 1,379,100 hectare Kerinci Sebelat National Park. Apart from the wild populations, nine Sumatran rhinos are in captivity, with one in Cincinnati Zoo in U.S.A (soon to be moved to Indonesia), three held at facilities in Sabah, Malaysia for attempts to produce embryos by in vitro fertilization, and five in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Sumatra, Indonesia. Two year old conservation strategy awaits political will The intensive management zones as well as the single population strategy are two of four key actions identified back in April 2013 at the Sumatran Rhino Crisis Summit in Singapore and agreed upon that same year by the Indonesian government in the Bandar Lampung Declaration. "The tiger in India was saved from extinction due to the direct intervention of Mrs. Gandhi, the then prime minister, who set up Project Tiger. A similar high level intervention by President Joko Widodo of Indonesia could help pull the Sumatran rhinos back from the brink" says Christy Williams, co-author and coordinator of the WWF Asian and Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy. Widodo Ramono, co-author and Director of the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia (YABI) elaborates: "Serious effort by the government of Indonesia should be put to strengthen rhino protection by creating Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ), intensive survey of the current known habitats, habitat management, captive breeding, and mobilizing national resources and support from related local governments and other stakeholders". The global conservation strategy also included the continued development of Rhino Protection Units at sites with remaining breeding populations. While this has been achieved, the authors highlight a need for strengthening the units against poaching efforts, especially in northern Sumatra. With a high demand for rhinoceros horns in black markets in Asia, poaching continues to be a significant threat to the species. Finally, captive breeding was included in 2013 as one of the key conservation actions, but the necessary reproductive technology may still take years to develop, during which time we may lose the Sumatran rhino in the wild, says the authors. ### Reference Havmøller, R.G. et al., 2015. Will current conservation responses save the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis?. Oryx 2015: (5 pp.) - doi:10.1017/S0030605315000472 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...081915.php
Horrible news.
We are watching Rhinos disappear right in front of our very own eyes.
Praveen Siddannavar shared his album to the group: Sanctuary Asia.
3 hrs · Need your support and Contribution, pl read about the incident during your free time, thanks Praveen Siddannavar added 10 new photos to the album: Bhadra_Sloth_Bear_Attack — at Bhadra Tiger Reserve. Support needed for two forest watchers that have been attacked by Sloth bears during patrolling forest on foot… We feel very distressed to share the news of 2 "Unsung Heroes" Nagesh and Manu, forest watchers of Bhadra Tiger Reserve who were attacked by 2 sloth bears on 21st Aug 2015, while they were on foot patrols in Hebbe Range of Bhadra Tiger Reserve. Nagesh has severe injuries on his face with a fully mangled nose. He also has many deep wounds all over his body. Manu has a fractured left hand and several deep bear bite wounds all over his body. Some bite marks on his left thigh are so deep that they have exposed bone also! Both victims are in a state of shock and have been provided initial treatment. However they have been shifted to Mangalore (Father Muller Hospital) for further treatment. Initial assessment is that they need to spend many weeks in the hospital to recover. Nagesh and Manu are watchers working on daily wages basis, drawing a very low salary. This incident has shaken them up physically and mentally. During these tough times, they need all kind of support we all can offer. Hence I request and seek whatever support possible through individual contributions from you all. Following are the bank account details of Arjuna, Nagesh's father (as Nagesh doesn't have an account yet) and Manu. Please make your donations online directly to their accounts. A/C Holder Name: Manu K S A/C Number: 118801011001173 Bank: Vijaya Bank Branch: Sangameshwarpet, Karnataka IFSC Code: VIJB0001188 A/C Holder Name: Arjuna A/C Number: 104601011002941 Bank: Vijaya Bank Branch: Chikmagalur, Karnataka IFSC Code: VIJB0001046 Kindly make your donations and share the details (screen shot of the payments done) to me on [email protected] Many thanks & God bless… https://www.facebook.com/praveen.siddann...647&type=3 
Colombian Hippo's
A herd of hippopotamuses once owned by the late Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar has been taking over the countryside near his former ranch - and no-one quite knows what to do with them. It was in 2007, 14 years after Escobar's death, that people in rural Antioquia, 200 miles north-west of Bogota, began phoning the Ministry of Environment to report sightings of a peculiar animal. "They found a creature in a river that they had never seen before, with small ears and a really big mouth," recalls Carlos Valderrama, from the charity Webconserva. He went to look, and found himself faced with the task of explaining to startled villagers that this was an animal from Africa. A hippopotamus. "The fishermen, they were all saying, 'How come there's a hippo here?'" he recalls. "We started asking around and of course they were all coming from Hacienda Napoles. Everything happened because of the whim of a villain." When Hacienda Napoles was confiscated in the early 1990s, Escobar's menagerie was dispersed to zoos around the country. But not the hippos. For about two decades, they have wallowed in their soupy lake, watching the 20sq km (8 sq mile) park around them become neglected and overgrown - and then transformed back into a zoo and theme park, complete with water slides. All the while, the hippos themselves thrived, and multiplied. Here, conditions for hippos are idyllic. The river is slow moving and has plenty of shallows, perfect for larger animals which don't actually swim but push themselves off banks, gliding through the water. Moreover, the region never experiences drought, which tends to act as a natural brake on the size of herds in Africa. How much the hippos like Colombia can be judged from how much sex they are having. In Africa they usually become sexually active between the ages of seven and nine for males, and nine and 11 for females, but Pablo Escobar's hippos are becoming sexually active as young as three. All the fertile females are reported to be giving birth to a calf every year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I recently saw Neflix' new series "Narcos", with a short reference to Escobar's private zoo. Enough to get my interest and do some search on web about the destiny of the smuggled animal's. The hippo's there are doing a nice job in occupying a new home. There could be something big in the bush, let's see. Oh, and this is very funny... Colombian people, he believes, are more vulnerable than Africans because they see hippos as cuddly, "floppy" animals. The respected El Colombiano newspaper recently reported that children in a school near Hacienda Napoles are sharing a pond with the animals, and having direct contact with hippo calves at home. "My father brought a little one home once," an unnamed girl told the paper. "I called him Luna (Moon) because he was very sweet - we fed him with just milk." Another child, a boy, told the paper: "My father has captured three. It is nice because you have a little animal at home. We bottle-feed them because they only drink milk. They have a very slippery skin, you pour water and they produce a kind of slime, you touch them and it's like soap." ...only topped by this: There are people saying, 'Oh why do you have to castrate them? Just let them be - castrate the politicians' - Carlos Valderrama Sounds like colombians have a nice sense for animal conversation :) Full article: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27905743
Thx sanjay, yeah has been a while since my last activity...i try to participate as much as possible, but am quite bussy at the moment.
About the hippos...i think it's possible, that Escobar's "colony" could be quite "human tolerant". Like the gir lions, which are told to be quite tolerant toward humans, compared to other populations in africa. There has not fatal encounter happened yet between colombians and hippos, if the article is right - which i guess.
Yes, I agree, You are right about Gir Lions, I have seen people posting photos in which they are touching them or just walking at a distance of nearly 1 mt approx. I think its not good for lions, despite of their increasing population they are not physically and mentally healthy up to the mark, I mean when compared the Lions from Africa. Sorry for little off topic conversation
Mmmmm, this put weight to the theory of Valmik Thapar about the origin of the "Indian" lions of Gir. I don't know of any wild cat that allow you to be so close, just captive specimens or semi-tamed ones like the caned lions in South Africa.
The hippos are definitely biased toward humans, as they were feed by them and breed under they view. However, they are not native animals and could cause a great damage to the ecosystem. People may be "happy" with them for the moment, but I can bet that when the first human dead happen, they are going to change they mind immediately. The "human" solution will be to capture and sterilize them as son as possible, the "easier" form will be to hunt them down and eliminate them from the ecosystem. However, nature has teach us that "introduced" animals, in most of cases, can't be eliminated, check the wild boars and giant snakes in USA, the cats, foxes and dromedaries in Australia and these are just a few examples. I think that those hippos are going to manage to create a large population in the short time. For good or for bad, introduced species are here to stay. I can bet that if some millionaire man could buy large land tracks in USA and introduce Amur tigers, with the present prey base (deer, bison and bears), tigers will soon establish a good population (wolves and pumas are definitely NOT agree with this idea!). 
Elephants electrocuted by sagging power lines
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author check the link http://www.theguardian.com/environment/india-untamed/2015/sep/15/elephants-electrocuted-by-sagging-power-lines |
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