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Bigcats News

Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#46

(04-22-2014, 11:52 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote:
(04-22-2014, 11:37 AM)'Apollo' Wrote: Belated HAPPY EASTER WISHES to everyone.....


*This image is copyright of its original author



 
Wow, the tiger eat the Easter rabbit. That is good, no more pagan forms in Christian holidays. [img]images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]


 

 

 

lol [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]

 
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India sanjay Offline
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#47
( This post was last modified: 04-22-2014, 09:14 PM by sanjay )

A leopard hides on the top of roof in Ballarpur, A village in Western Maharashtra, India. It Runs amok when villagers discovered him and creates panic among them.




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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#48

Six more tigers found in Sunderbans

Tigers are burning bright in the Sunderbans. After detecting the presence of two new big cats outside the reserve area last month, the camera traps have captured images of six new tigers in the reserve area itself giving enough signs that the number of the big cats in the mangroves is stable. 

What's more, four of the new big cats are females, which according to forest officials show that the Sunderbans has breeding population of tiger. While a complete outcome of the camera trap exercise is expected by the end of this year, it has already found presence of eight new tigers in the entire mangroves this year, including two outside the reserve area. 

The new individuals, this time, were found in the National Park East range of the mangroves, comprising the forests of Baghmara and Chamta. "A total of 19 tigers have so far been found in this range, of which six are new and the rest were photo captured during the same exercise last year," said a senior official of WWF-India's Sunderbans chapter. 

Talking to TOI, chief wildlife warden Ujjwal Bhattacharya said the findings show that the tiger population in the Sunderbans is very much stable. "Tigers are great wanderers and have huge home ranges and territories. Images of new individuals in the Sunderbans drive home the fact again. While new tigers will come and make their own territories, some will either move out on their own in search of food or may be driven out by new individuals commonly known as outsiders," he said. 

With the findings of new individuals come the hope for a rise in tiger number. The new tigers, according to additional PCCF Pradeep Vyas, show that there may be actually more tigers in the Sunderbans compared to the figure of 103, the minimum number of big cats found in the mangroves last year. "These new big cats didn't appear before the cameras last time. So, this is a positive sign as far as tiger population here is concerned," he added. 

But, the officials are also cautious before jumping onto any conclusion. "At the moment, we can say that the population trend is stable. After compilation of images from all the ranges - National Park East, National Park West, Sajnekhali and Basirhat - we can say whether it is rising. For now, sighting of new individuals definitely brings hope for the future," said STR field director Soumitra Dasgupta. 

It may be noted that during the exercise last year, 26 big cats were found in the National Park East range. This year, the officials started their exercise in the month of March and laid 60 pairs of trap cameras across the range covering almost 700 square kilometres area. "We will conduct the same exercise in Sajnekhali and Basirhat after the monsoon. By the end of this year, you can expect the figure for the entire mangroves," said an official of WWF-India. The camera-trap exercise for the National Park West range is being conducted by the officials of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). 

State wildlife advisory board member Joydip Kundu said: "This is definitely a positive sign and a landmark effort by the department which is now bringing reliable estimation of tiger number from the mangroves. But, with these new findings, come the need to implement stronger protection measures." 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...925414.cms

 

 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#49

‘Aravali cat corridors needed to shield leopards’

For a city that is fast earning the adage of a concrete jungle, Gurgaon has a major share of the total 300 sqkm of leopard habitat in Haryana. While the forest department boasts about the number of leopards in the habitat, believed to be around 25, it is also worried about the safety of big cats.

Apart from the biggest threat, of humans encroaching on their territory, three major roads passing through the leopard habitat also pose a grave danger, officials say. They are NH-8, Rampura-Mohammedpur-Tauru and Palwal-Sohna-Rewari roads.

"According to the study conducted by the department, these areas require corridors to prevent such incidents. The roads should be elevated so that the habitat is minimally affected by traffic," said Vinod Kumar, conservator of forests (wildlife). Leopards have been hit while trying to cross these roads while the loss of habitat to construction and human encroachment often sees them straying into areas of human settlement. In either case, it's been fatal for the leopards. "The fragmented corridors should also be linked so that a larger habitat is available for the leopards and there are fewer chances of these animals straying into villages," Kumar suggested.

Locals residents in Manesar, located close to the Aravali foothills, claimed mining was a serious threat to the wildlife in the region. "Mining-related blasts here have increased tenfold and it has forced the animals to leave the region," said Amber Singh, a Navrangpur resident.

"To meet their daily food and water requirements, these big cats tread into human settlements as people have encroached on both land and water bodies. Their chances of survival are thin," said a wildlife expert.

A senior forest officer claimed that forest and wildlife was not a priority for the government and this was evident in the lack of action taken against non-forest activities in forest areas, which pose a threat to wildlife.

"Even the court orders in this regard are being flouted and construction is continuing in protected areas which has made the situation worse, he said. Under Indian law, leopards are listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Hunting or attacking leopards is illegal and is a punishable offence with a minimum sentence of up to three years of imprisonment or a fine of Rs 10,000.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/...928179.cms

 

 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#50
( This post was last modified: 04-23-2014, 10:16 PM by Apollo )

Leopard drowns in well in Chandrapur, rescue bid fails

A leopard died of drowning into a well, even as rescue workers toiled for hours to save the beast on Sunday morning. Rescue operation was launched on full scale to fish the leopard that had accidentally fallen into the well in Alesoor village in Sindewahi range during Saturday night. Hours of hard-work however went in-vain as the cot lowered to lift the beast out of the well gave away and the exhausted beast fell into the water and got drowned.

Nawargaon-Alesoor area in Sindewahi tehsil was hit by hailstorm and torrential rain on Saturday night. A leopard that had strayed into the village in the night accidentally fell into a well in the village. In the morning, people discovered the leopard swimming in the well. Many were surprised how the beast fell inside the well that have three feet high parapet wall.

While senior forest officials and rescue team of forest department rushed to the scene on getting information, a mob of hundreds of villagers had gathered at the place to watch the drowning leopard. Rescue workers lowered a cot, tied with ropes on all four ends, to fish the leopard out of the well. The beast climbed over the cot, but it bit off the rope tied to one corner.

Foresters then supported the dangling end of cot with the hooked iron rod and gradually raised the platform with the beast sitting over it. However, after the cot was raised midway, the hooked end of iron rod gave-in and the beast again fell into the well. Exhaustion and fatigue took over the beast and soon it got drowned, while rescue workers watched helplessly.

DCF, Bramhapuri forest division, Ashish Thakre claimed that rescue team tried its best to save the beast, but uncontrolled mob posed to be a big hurdle. "The leopard had bleeding claws as it had starched hard on the wall of the well for hours. Hours of swimming had exhausted its strength too. The outrageous mob looking down at him in the well was additional shock for the beast," he said.

He denied reports that the exhausted beast was tranquillized by forest shooter while it was sitting on the cot and drowsiness of tranquilization led to drowning of the beast after it fell back into the water. "We had kept the tranquiler guns and cage ready for emergency, but beast was not tranquillized. Exhaustion took over the leopard and it fell back into the well and got drowned," Thakre said. He claimed that post-mortem report has indicated some internal bleeding, which suggests that the beast had sustained some internal injuries during the fall into the well.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/...015829.cms
 

 

Hit-and-run: Leopard killed on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway


*This image is copyright of its original author



A one-year-old leopard was killed in a hit-and-run accident in the wee hours yesterday, near Ghodbunder village on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway. The leopard was the 41st animal to be killed in highways near Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) in the past 20 years. 

A study conducted under the ‘Mumbaikars for SGNP’ initiative of SGNP in 2012 revealed that 40 leopards have died in road accidents along the periphery of SGNP between 1994-2011.

A majority of the accidents took place on the stretch between Ghodbunder village and Vasai, near TWS. Some accidents were reported on the Bhandup-NITIE Road adjacent to IIT Road and on Thane-Ghodbunder Road, which is forested on either side.

Early on Sunday, Jogeshwari resident Parag Mayekar and his friends were on their way to Jivdani temple in Virar, on their bikes. Just before Ghodbunder village on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, Parag saw a leopard lying in the middle of the road. 

Motorists driving by were not stopping their vehicles.
“Around 5.15 am, I saw that a leopard was lying in the middle of the road. We got off our bikes and saw the animal lying unconscious. We immediately lifted the animal and moved it to the side of the road.

It was obvious that a speeding vehicle had knocked down the animal while it was trying to cross the road. In some time, the patrolling vehicle came, after which we also informed the SGNP rescue team. We took the animal in a rickshaw to the forest beat chowky near Fountain hotel.”

Dr Sanjeev Pinjarkar, a veterinary doctor from SGNP, said, “The animal is a one-year-old female leopard. It was already dead when our rescue team reached the spot near Ghodbunder village. The death was caused by severe injury caused by a fast-moving object.”

There has been an average of two leopards deaths every year due to road accidents. The numbers shot up in the years 2002 and 2007, with seven and six deaths recorded respectively.
The data also indicates that accidents are significantly higher between December and May, with December being the most dangerous. They are less frequent in the monsoon months.
On the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, leopards are most vulnerable on the stretch between Delhi Darbar Inn and Kolli Chowki, along with spots around Chena.

“Accidents appear to be fairly common along the highway at Tungareshwar, which has forested patches on either side of the road, with a natural ascent on one side of the road and a fairly steep descent on the other end,” said a scholar who was part of the study.

He added that several of the accident spots, especially around Chena had garbage dumps, a probable reason for noticeable leopard activity in the area.

Official speak

Vikas Gupta, SGNP director and chief conservator of forest, said, “We are going to speak to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to find solutions. We will try to restrict speeding of vehicles in that area, where animals cross frequently.

We will also discuss the possibility of constructing an underpass for wild animals with agencies. We have taken note of the points highlighted in the study on leopard deaths on the highway.
We will speak with local civic bodies and ask them to take strict action against dhabas and hotels that dump garbage on the periphery of SGNP and TWS.”

http://www.mid-day.com/articles/hit-and-...y/15242098

 

 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#51
( This post was last modified: 04-24-2014, 09:56 AM by Apollo )

Special training for big cat trackers

The Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF), dedicated to track the movement of big cats at Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), will receive combat training from the state police from the last week of May, official sources said.

The state government had recruited 63 personnel for STPF, the second such force in India after Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Bangalore, to be deployed at the STR.

"The combat training will continue for a month, after which STPF personnel will be deployed for carrying out regular vigilance activities. During their deployment, the personnel will also receive wildlife training to check movement of poachers," said regional chief conservator of forest (RCCF) Anup Naik.

He said although National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has sanctioned 112 STPF staff, recruitment for the remaining posts would be done after the state government gives a go-ahead.

"We used the services of STPF (temporarily) by forming a team of 17 foresters and 45 forest guards. The forest staffs were deputed from Baripada, Karanjia, Rairangpur and Similipal Tiger Reserve divisions. But following the new recruitment, we have a permanent and dedicated force," said Naik.

STR is spread over 2,750 sq km with a core of area over 1,195 sq km and a buffer of 1,550 sq km. According to NTCA (2010 census), there are about 23 tigers in the sanctuary. The state government in 2004 claimed that the reserve had movement of 64 tigers.

"We don't have exact figure of tigers except the one given by NTCA. After the STPF is pressed into the job, the big cat number can be ascertained," said an official, adding that the central government asked the STR to set up the STPF in February.

In September, 2013, eleven forest staff from Similipal had gone on an exposure visit to Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh to learn hi-tech tiger tracking and protection system. "The senior forest officials, who visited Kanha, will supplement the training of the STPF staff after their combat training is complete," said an official.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/...041813.cms

 

 

5 forest stations to come up in Wayanad

 Concerned about the lack of adequate field staff and monitoring facilities to tackle the rising man-animal conflicts, Maoist intrusions and threats of encroachments in Wayanad forests, the state government has sanctioned five forest stations there.

The five stations will cover Wayanad sanctuary and north and south forest ranges, which include porous areas like Thirunelli, Tholpatty, Muthanga, Bengur and Sultan Bathery.

The state also plans to recruit 55 field staff that include forest guards and veterinary doctors.

TOI had earlier reported on the issue of huge shortage of manpower and basic infrastructure in over 500 square kilometres of forest areas in Wayanad.

The department currently has just 180 field staff manning the sprawling forest areas and they have to encounter problems like increasing man-animal conflicts, Maoist intrusions, man-made forest fires and illegal encroachments by the resort lobby along the Western Ghats.

The south Wayanad forest range covers forest areas like Chedleth, Kalpetta and Meppady spanning 323.81 square kilometres, while the north range covers areas like Manthavadi, Peria and Begur forest regions spanning 223.45 square kilometres.

"Apart from this, we also have to monitor the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary and assist 95 tribal settlements inside the forest which are increasingly becoming vulnerable to wild animal attacks," a senior forest official said.

Officials said that the recent man-made forest fire near Tholpetty-Pozhuthana forest range, where hundreds of acres were destroyed, is a classic example where they were outnumbered as the fire raged on. "The field staff remained helpless as the fire spread rapidly in Thirunelli region and they had to wait for fire engines to arrive from Manathavadi, which is 30 km away," an official said.

In the last decade, Wayanad witnessed a drastic change in its eco-fragile environment over the years, disrupting the delicate balance of wildlife habitat here. The decreasing fodder and depleting natural resources added to the woes of wild animals, which have been intruding into farmlands and even attacking domestic animals.

This alarming trend coincided with the decrease in area of buffer zones around the forests, a substantial increase in traffic on the inter-state highway through the forest regions and a massive expansion of real estate - all leading to severe strain on the wildlife habitat.

But the officials point out that the recent forest fire luckily did not destroy the thick forests and they feel that once the rains begin the vegetation in this deciduous forest will blossom once again.

"But we now know that our jobs are far from over and should keep a constant vigil as the areas that have been destroyed by forest fire are vulnerable to encroachments,'' an official said.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/...016626.cms

 

 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#52

'Transsexual' tiger? Carcass in Kerala may be a rare find


Rarely does a tiger carcass excite wildlife scientists and enthusiasts. But then it's rare that proof of transsexualism is found in the world of big cats — and the first time it has been seen in India. 

Forest officials in Kerala's south Wayanad were on routine patrol when they came across a tiger carcass with severe injuries on its forelimbs on the morning of April 18. "Prima facie, it seemed a case of infighting. During autopsy, it was found that the tiger had testicles without any origin of penis, triggering confusion over its sex," said south Wayanad DFO P Dhanesh Kumar, adding that their veterinarian, Arun Sekaria is conducting further tests. 

Sekaria confirmed to Times Of India that he had conducted the autopsy. "At the moment, we have found signs of both sexes on the carcass. But further tests, like genotyping, hormonal profiling and histopathology, need to be done to come to a conclusion," he said, adding that a rudimentary uterus without ovaries, too, was found in the tiger. There were no external sexual organs and the tiger could be a hermaphrodite - an extremely rare condition in vertebrates in which an animal has both male and female reproductive organs. 

While genotyping is the process of determining differences in genetic make-up by examining DNA sequence, hormonal profiling is a test on the animal's blood samples to find out whether it has male or female hormones. 

Zoologist Pulak Lahiri said the success of the tests depend on how old the carcass was. "Such aberrations are not unusual in the animal kingdom," he said. Echoing his view Dr NVK Ashraf of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said such things can happen, but tests need to be done very carefully before coming to any conclusion. Tests on sex chromosome are vital in this case, Sekaria said. 

Wildlife Protection Society of India's executive director Belinda Wright said: "It's extraordinary, since I have never heard of something like this in tigers before." 

Though this is a unique case, homosexual behaviour has been seen and researched in the animal kingdom. As of 1999, nearly 1,500 species, ranging from primates to gut worms, have been observed engaging in same-sex behaviour and this is well documented in about 500 species. 

There were no external sexual %organs in the south Wayanad tiger, whose carcass was found on April 18. The big cat could be a %hermaphrodite - an extremely rare condition in vertebrates in which an animal has both male and female reproductive organs. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/...132792.cms

 

 
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Guatemala GuateGojira Offline
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#53

Wow, we now know of two cases of hermaphrodite tigers.

I know the case of a "lioness" with a mane. Could be this other case, but in lions? Probably yes.

 
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United States Pckts Offline
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#54

I wonder what body size the hermaphrodite tigers have. Are they closer to males or females?
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#55

(04-25-2014, 02:20 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: Wow, we now know of two cases of hermaphrodite tigers.

I know the case of a "lioness" with a mane. Could be this other case, but in lions? Probably yes.

 

 



Hi Guate can you share the other two cases of hermaphrodite tigers here 
 
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Guatemala GuateGojira Offline
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#56

I made this pic with all the records of Bengal tigers of Gerad Wood (1978), here is the hermaphrodite tiger.

*This image is copyright of its original author

By the way, you misunderstand me. I said two tigers, INCLUDING the one from you. So, only two records, the one from Wood and yours.
 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#57

(04-25-2014, 04:12 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: I made this pic with all the records of Bengal tigers of Gerad Wood (1978), here is the hermaphrodite tiger.

*This image is copyright of its original author

By the way, you misunderstand me. I said two tigers, INCLUDING the one from you. So, only two records, the one from Wood and yours.
 

 



Wow it was a very interesting read with all those big tigers.
TFS
 
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Guatemala GuateGojira Offline
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#58

Check this post: http://animalbattle.yuku.com/topic/60/Th...1mZMlcXK8w

Here are all the original pages that I posted at this moment. The images are not visible yet, but in the 26 of this month, my account will reset and they will be visible again.

 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#59

(04-25-2014, 04:29 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: Check this post: http://animalbattle.yuku.com/topic/60/Th...1mZMlcXK8w

Here are all the original pages that I posted at this moment. The images are not visible yet, but in the 26 of this month, my account will reset and they will be visible again.

 

 



Thanks for the link. Ill look for it on 26th as you said.
 
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Sri Lanka Apollo Away
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#60

ENCOUNTER WITH A BIG CAT IN MAHAS CHANDRAPUR


*This image is copyright of its original author


SHIVER DOWN THE SPINE

A leopard strayed into Ballarpur town in Maharashtras Chandrapur district on Monday from the nearby Karwa forest,injuring at least three persons and sparking panic.

After forest officials chased the beast into a cattle shed,it shocked everyone by ferociously jumping up 10 feet to make its way through the sheds tiled roof.

Even as onlookers and officials scampered in panic,the big cat dug its claws into the hips of one of the officials.

With people trying to capture it,the leopard aggressively dashed through narrow lanes,injuring a policeman.

It was finally cornered inside a bathroom where they managed to tranquilize it





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