Study says cougars, wolves save human lives

Don JenkinsCapital Press

Published on July 29, 2016

Courtesy of Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Brian Kertson

A cougar watches over its prey. A new study by university researchers found cougars prevent traffic fatalities by reducing deer populations.

A new study by university scientists seeks to foster rural acceptance of large carnivores by showing that cougars save lives by reducing the number of deadly collisions between vehicles and deer.

Researchers affiliated with colleges in Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Alberta, Canada, compared data from 19 states in the East, South and Midwest. The scientists concluded that recolonizing cougars in those states would thin deer populations and prevent five traffic fatalities and more than 700 injuries a year.

One of the lead researchers, Laura Prugh of the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Services, told a university publication that the authors hoped to “help people become more accepting of living” with large carnivores.

Efforts to reach Prugh and the study’s lead author, University of Idaho professor Sophie Gilbert, were unsuccessful.

The study acknowledges that reintroducing predators, such as cougars and wolves, is a “highly polarizing” issue and that ranchers, hunters and rural residents “bear the brunt of the costs.”
Conservation efforts, however, depend on large carnivores thriving outside protected wildernesses, according to the study.

“Societal acceptance of large carnivores living in proximity to humans is therefore a critical yet daunting conservation goal,” the study states.

“Public perceptions of carnivores may become more positive knowing that these predators reduce their odds of crashing into an ungulate.”

Central Washington rancher Keith Kreps said he hasn’t seen benefits from what he says are an increasing number of cougars around his cattle in Klickitat County.

He said he lost about 18 calves to the big cats last summer and two more were injured. He said he fears a human will be attacked.

“They’re trying to convince John Q. Public that the cats are beneficial. I don’t feel they’re beneficial to our area. They’re detrimental,” he said.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’ve never wanted to see all the cougars gone, but they’re too thick,” Kreps said. “The deer are gone, and they’ve started in on my cattle.”

According to the study, efforts to control deer by other means, including hunting, have had limited success. “Recolonization by large carnivores could provide an efficient solution to the problem of deer overabundance,” the study states.

Mark Pidgeon, president of the Hunters Heritage Council in Washington, said hunters could thin deer herds if given a chance.

“The obvious solution here is to have more hunter harvests,” he said. “One of the reasons the number of hunters is going down is because people don’t feel they have the opportunity.”

Pidgeon warned that using a species to suppress another could have unintended environmental consequences.

“An ecosystem needs to be managed as a whole,” he said. “The eradication of predators would not be good either.”

The chances of a motorist hitting a deer or elk are one-in-169 nationwide, but vary greatly by state, with collisions most likely to happen in West Virginia, Montana, Iowa, Pennsylvania and South Dakota, according to an estimate by the insurance company State Farm.

The Washington State Patrol annually receives more than 1,100 reports of vehicles colliding with wildlife, mostly deer and elk. On average, the collisions cause two deaths and 1,190 injuries, according to the Washington Department of Transportation.

Many collisions apparently go unreported. Highway workers pick up about 3,500 deer and elk carcasses each year, according to the transportation department.

The study was published by Conservation Letters, an online journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. The paper is titled, “Socioeconomic benefits of large carnivore recolonization through reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions.”

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Concerted action needed to save large mammals: Study

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Jul 29, 2016

Group of 43 conservation scientists and other experts are calling for a coordinated global plan to protect the world’s ‘megafauna’.

 

 The species, such as elephants, rhinos, gorillas, and big cats are now threatened with extinction (Representational Image)

 

Bengaluru: A new study by over 43 scientists under the banner of the ‘Wildlife Conservation Society India Program’, warns of the imminent extinction of the world’s largest mammals if there is no worldwide strategy or a coordinated global plan to prevent the world's megafauna from sliding into oblivion.

A team of conservation biologists is calling for a worldwide strategy to prevent the unthinkable: the extinction of the world’s largest mammals. In a public declaration published in the journal BioScience, a group of 43 conservation scientists and other experts are calling for a coordinated global plan to protect the world’s ‘megafauna’.

Among the threats cited by the group as drivers of this mass extinction are illegal hunting, deforestation, habitat loss, the expansion of agriculture and livestock into wildlife areas, and the growth of human populations.

The team has worked on the study to examine population trends of many species, including many of the most well-known, charismatic species such as elephants, rhinos, gorillas, and big cats that are now threatened with extinction.

Approximately 59% of the world’s biggest mammalian carnivore species -- including the tiger -- and 60 per cent of the largest herbivores are now listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species,  since they are threatened with extinction.

  “Perhaps the biggest threat for many species is direct hunting, driven by a demand for meat, pets, and body parts for traditional medicines and ornaments,” Dr. Elizabeth Bennett, WCS’s Vice President of Species Conservation stated.

“Only a massive commitment from the international community will stop this.” Species at risk include elephants that provide a suite of vital ecosystem services as ecological engineers, dispersing seeds and nutrients across vast areas.

The loss of elephants worldwide to poachers is well-known and is the focus of extensive efforts to shut down ivory trade, but the study authors point out that many species are at risk from similar threats but are so poorly known that effective conservation efforts to save them are difficult.

“With simultaneous loss of wildlife habitat and expansion of human populations and agriculture, negative interactions between people and wildlife are bound to arise,” said WCS India Scientist Dr. Varun R. Goswami, who is  also a co-author on the study.

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It’s International Tiger Day — here is everything you ever wanted to know about these stunning, wild cats

• Simone M Scully
• July 29, 2016

Christopher Kray/Flickr

Today is International Tiger Day, a day to celebrate these majestic, endangered wild cats that are renowned for their beautiful coats and black stripes.
These elusive, solitary Asian creatures have long inspired awe. They are the national animal of Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea. Every year, travelers flock to such places as Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh National Parks in India  just for a chance of spotting one of these creatures in their natural habitat. And yet, tigers are highly endangered and are listed on the IUCN red list,
Business Insider spoke with Ullas Karanth, Director for Asia at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and tiger researcher, to learn more about these beautiful big cats and the threats they face today. Here are some of the most interesting things that we learned.

Tigers are strictly an Asian species. Tiger fossils were discovered in China suggest that the species could be over two million years old.

J.H. Mazak et al, PLoS ONE

Source: J.H. Mazak et al, PLoS ONE 

Today, tigers are the largest of the big cats in the world, weighing up to 660 pounds. They can get up to 10 feet in length — with their tails alone measuring three feet. Tigers are also incredible jumpers, able to pounce at least 10 meters (approximately 32 feet).

AP Photo/Joydip Kundu, File

Source: WWF

Able to live in a variety of forest and grassland environments,”tigers are versatile,” said Karanth. “They can live in temperatures ranging from -35 degrees Celsius in Russia to 48 degrees Celsius in India [and] they can adapt to annual rainfall as low as 600mm to as high as 8000mm.”

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

Unlike most cats, tigers like water and they are good swimmers. As a result, they are often seen cooling off in rivers, streams, and pools.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Tigers are fierce predators, able to take down prey twice their size. “They usually hunt and eat wild pigs, deer, wild cattle, elephant calves, and antelope,” said Karanth. “They sometimes eat fish, but that is not their main food, and [they] have been known to kill crocodiles and seals that they find on shore or on beaches.”

(AP Photo/ Deepak Sharma)

Cubs are born in litters of three to four, and they start hunting when they are just one year old. They remain with their mothers until they are two.

REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

Source: Defenders of Wildlife

Tigers are mostly nocturnal and hunt their prey at night. Due to a retinal adaptation called the tapetum lucidum, which reflects light back into the retina, their night vision is about six times better than the vision of humans. They also have more rods (which see shapes) in their eyes than cones (which see color) allowing them to better detect the movement of their prey in darkness.

(AP Photo/ Deepak Sharma)

Source: National Geographic

They have five different types of whiskers on their face and body that are used for picking up movement and vibrations to help the tiger navigate in darkness, detect danger, and hunt.

fPat Murray/Flickr

Their beautiful coats help camouflage them when they are in their habitat. “They are gorgeous and striking when displayed in zoos, but in the forests they blend into the bushes and the stripes break [up] their outline,” Karanth explained. “Their main prey-species do not have color vision so the brilliant coloration is not what the prey sees.”

Srikaanth Sekar/Flickr

Tigers have stripe patterns that are unique to each individual cat — just like human fingerprints. Their stripes are also imprinted on their skins.

Emma Websdale/Flickr

Source: Scientific American

White tigers are bengal tigers that have a rare gene mutation, which is only found in about 1 in every 10,000 tigers. These white cats are also more prone to a condition called strabismus, which means they have crossed eyes.

REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

Source: National Geographic

A tiger's roar is so loud that it can be heard from over two miles away and it can reach up to 114 decibels, which is about loud as a jet airplane taking off according to Scientific American.

REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American

“Contrary to popular view, most tigers are terrified of humans and shy away from them,” Karanth said. “They view humans not as prey, but as feared enemies to avoid.” Still, tigers have killed more humans than any other wild animal, but often these attacks are provoked or the man-eating tigers are old and injured, unable physically to hunt their normal prey.

(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Historically, their range extended from Turkey through South and Southeast Asia, but now they are found only in South and Southeast Asia, China, and the Russian Far East. The largest populations are found in India. “In the last 200 years, their range has shrunk by 93%,” Karanth said.

AP Photo/ Deepak Sharma

According to Karanth, tigers are endangered today for three main reasons: Their prey have been over-hunted, they are poached for their fur and body parts (which are used in traditional medicine), and their habitats have been degraded and fragmented due to farming, logging, industrial development, and other forms of human encroachment.

China Photos/Getty Images

But there is some good news: After a century of constant decline, the number of wild tigers is finally rising, thanks to successful conservation efforts by governments and non-governmental organizations around the world, according to a report by the WWF and the Global Tiger Forum released earlier this year.

Koshy Koshy/Flickr

Source: WWF  

The latest population estimate is at 3,890 tigers in the wild, up from an estimated 3,200 in 2010.

AP Photo/ Mustafa Quraishi, File

Source: WWF  

“I believe tigers will survive and increase [their numbers], something that seemed impossible 50 years ago,” Karanth said.

Derrick Brutel/Flickr

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Has the mystery of the Beast of Dartmoor finally been solved?

Owner of missing lynx zoo admits they released pumas into the wild in the 1980s 

• Sightings of big cats were rubbished by police and animal experts
• But admission of released pumas backs up theory behind the 'Beast'
• It's believed two generations lived on moors before dying from the cold 

By Harriet Mallinson For Mailonline

Published: 21 July 2016

Pumas were once released into the wild by the same zoo who recently lost a lynx, the current owner admitted today. Over the years dozens of sightings of mysterious big cats in the West Country gave rise to the legend of the Beast of Dartmoor. Police and animal experts historically rubbished the claims despite the beliefs of locals.

Over the years dozens of sightings of mysterious big cats in the West Country gave rise to the legend of the Beast of Dartmoor. Police and animal experts historically rubbished the claims (file image of a puma)

But now, after the escape of Flaviu the lynx from Dartmoor Zoo two weeks ago, owner Benjamin Mee has revealed that wild big cats did roam the area for over 30 years.

He confirmed a pack of pumas were 'released' from the zoo during the 1980s.

They lived on the surrounding land, terrorising farmers and their livestock while feeding on scraps of rubbish in the village.

Ben claims he even said he saw one of the beasts prowling the village himself when he bought the zoo ten years ago.

He said: 'Puma were released in the Sparkwell area in the 1980s and there were many sightings of puma in this area up until 2010.

'I even saw one when I first came here in 2006.

'They used to come out into the village. I saw one by a crossing.

'The farmers don't want the publicity and wouldn't tell you this if you asked but there were a lot of animals lost to the pumas during those years.'

It wasn't until the winter of 2010 - the coldest for years - that Ben believes the pumas were wiped out and there have been no reported sightings since.

Owner Benjamin Mee has revealed that wild big cats did roam the Dartmoor area for over 30 years. He confirmed a pack of pumas were 'released' from the zoo during the 1980s

He added: 'I think two whole generations of pumas managed to live on the moor until the winter of 2010.

'When the weather got so cold, they all died.'

Since Ben made his claims, Herman Welch, 75, of Plymouth, Devon, has come forward to claim he was nearly mowed down by a 'black panther' near the zoo in 2004.

He claims he reported the incident to Dartmoor Zoo and the authorities at the time - but no-one believed him.

He said: 'I was driving on my way to Sparkwell when this thing jumped out right in front of me, less than six feet away.

The big cats revelation comes as the search for Flaviu (pictured) enters its second week. The search team have repositioned larger humane traps to catch the two-year-old Carpathian

'It stopped and looked right at me and then ran off into the woods.

'I stayed for a while and was hoping somebody would have been driving behind me, but no-one was around.

'I got to the golf course and I said 'I've just seen a bloody panther jump in front of me' and my friends just laughed and said 'Hermann, don't be daft.'

'No-one believed me. They said 'if a panther was roaming around here, Hermann, half the town would be out looking for it.'

The big cats revelation comes as the search for Flaviu enters its second week.

The search team have repositioned larger humane traps to catch the two-year-old Carpathian and a recording of its mother has now been broadcast across the moor in an attempt to locate the animal.

A public appeal has also been launched by the zoo for camera equipment to help keep tabs on the missing lynx around the clock. 

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Ask a Vet: Why does my cat have a droopy tummy?

• 21 Jul 2016
• By Rory Thomson

A cat at Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter

Q: We got Daisy, a two-year-old female cat, from a rescue centre who didn’t know much about her life before coming to them. Daisy has a very droopy tummy, it’s quite close to the floor. She isn’t overweight and everything else about her is fine apart from her stomach hanging. Is this because of her having kittens early in life or could it be something worse?
Sarah Willis, North Shields

Vet Rory Thomson, from St. Clair Veterinary Care, in Blyth

A: Many cats have this sagging abdominal skin known as the primordial pouch. It is more prominent in some cat breeds, such as the Bengal, so genetics influence the shape and size of it. Environmental factors such as excess fat storage and loss of skin elasticity as the cat ages can also affect the appearance, making the pouch sag lower.

Fighting cats often kick their opponents abdomen with their hind legs and this extra layer of skin provides some protection against injury. The extra skin also allows more flexibility and freedom of movement when a cat is running and jumping.

If you look at some of the big cats, you will notice they also have this layer of sagging skin. One theory is that this saggy skin enables the stomach to stretch in the wild ancestors of our domestic cat as they consume larger, more irregular meals.

As long as this droopy tummy just feels like excessive skin with no lumps or bumps and is not causing any pain or discomfort, it is unlikely to be anything to worry about. If, however, the whole abdomen is drooping it is worth getting it checked out by a vet as abdominal distension would be more concerning. It may reduce in size with good nutrition and exercise as this may help tighten some of the excess skin while promoting loss of excessive fat.

Please note that advice in this section is for general guidance, and if your pet is very unwell you should contact your veterinary surgeon as soon as possible as this advice does not replace the need for a clinical examination of your pet.

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Happy Birthday to Ernest Hemingway, with Love from His Many-Toed Cats

Ask not for whom the cat purrs; it purrs for thee.

 

07/21/2016 

 

Jillian Capewell Entertainment News Editor, The Huffington Post

American Stock Archive via Getty Images

American novelist and journalist Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) with his pet cat, circa 1950.

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. attributed to Ernest Hemingway

Only one author in America is known for his sparse prose, Nobel-Prize-winning work, long-held spot in the Western canon and ... the generations of six-toed cats living in his former home on the southernmost spot of Florida. Yes, Ernest Hemingway’s legacy includes a bevy of polydactyl (read: having more toes than average) felines who roam around the Key West home the author lived in from 1931-40.

Looking at photos of the house, one can almost hear the creaking of the wood floors and the click-clack of Hemingway’s typewriter (which one among his reported Royal, Underwood and Corona models is up to your imagination) and feel the muggy Florida heat. What visitors don’t have to imagine are the cats that lived with Hemingway on this property: They’re still there, and all are said to have descended from one original polydactyl. 

Joe Raedle via Getty Images

Cat toes attached to a fluffy orange cat in the bedroom of the Ernest Hemingway home in 2001.

Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum curator Dave Gonzalez told The Huffington Post that a local captain — “respected as the very best shipwreck and salvage captain on the east coast” — who liked to chat with Hemingway on the nearby docks gave the author a kitten from his six-toed cat named Snowball. The female cat’s name? Snowball Jr. 

A 2012 New York Times article mentioned that to sailors, many-toed cats bring extra luck, which is much-needed for those on the sea. Many of the cats mentioned in the article have famous names: Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. 

MCT via Getty Images

Cat toes accompanying Spencer Tracy (the cat) to the cat fountain, a urinal Hemingway dragged 

home from his favorite Key West saloon in the 1930s.

Gonzalez said that the cats, which are only allowed to openly roam the grounds during operating hours, have some favorite spots: the bed in the house’s master bedroom and the living room sofa. “Today, they are the true residents of the Hemingway Home,” he wrote in an email.

In honor of Hemingway’s 117th birthday on July 21, please enjoy these irresistible photos of fuzzy cat toes, accompanied by some choice quotes from the author himself. When you’re done, why not make a cocktail and pick up your high school copy of The Old Man and the Sea or the travel-worn A Moveable Feast that accompanied you on your trip to Paris? Papa would approve.  

KAREN BLEIER via Getty Images

Cat toes checking out the grounds at the Ernest Hemingway home in Key West, Florida.

KAREN BLEIER via Getty Images

Cat toes make the perfect headrest for a sleepy cat at Hemingway’s former home in 2013.

Visions of America via Getty Images

Cat toes. No filter needed.

Georges DeKeerle via Getty Images

Have cat toes, will dangle cat toes.

No animal has more liberty than the cat, but it buries the mess it makes. The cat is the best anarchist. “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” Ernest Hemingway

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cat toes, seen here in 1968, are pretty good at getting important business work done.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Memorials for beloved cats and their accompanying cat toes.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A wooden house to safely shelter cat toes from the storm. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Charlie Chaplin, seen here, has six toes on each paw, not seen here.

One cat just leads to another. Ernest Hemingway, letter from Finca Vigia, Cuba, to his first wife, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (1943)

Coast-to-Coast via Getty Images

No patio set is complete without a few good cat toes.

James L Amos via Getty Images

Both descendants of Hemingway’s original cats, a big cat teaches a little cat the art of having many toes. 

 

 

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One of only 80 of world's most endangered big cats is hit and injured by car

By The Siberian Times reporter

27 July 2016

 

Fears for three year old 'secretive' Amur leopardess named after Olympic giant Jean-Claude Killy.

'We have stopped active phase of search for wounded leopardess'. Picture: Land of the Leopard National Park

The rare cat, one of only a few dozen living in the wild, was struck this week by a car in Primorsky region, near Kravtsovka village. The female lay on the road long enough for pictures to be taken by passing motorists. Then she fled into the forest but there are concerns that the big cat is wounded.
She was recognised as 'Killy' from pictures taken at the site before leaving the scene of the accident.
Searches of surrounding territory failed to locate the leopardess, but now there is a watch for her on photo-traps in an attempt to assess her condition after the collision. 

Ivan Rakov, spokesman for the national park, said: 'We have stopped active phase of search for wounded Killy, we're now in the passive stage. It means that experts will be carefully checking pictures taken by photo-traps and cameras to identify Killy among them, and to understand what's happening to her.

'Clearly it won't be easy because this three year old leopard is known for her secretive behaviour.'

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Killy the leopard is one of 80 most endangered big cats. Pictures: Land of the Leopard National Park

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Staff at the Land of the Leopards National Park identified her from the pattern of her spots. 
He was named after the former French World Cup alpine ski racer, and triple Olympic champion. From 1995 to 2014 he was a member of the International Olympic Committee and chaired the coordination committee  Sochi 2014.

The Amur leopard is officially recognised as 'critically endangered' yet the numbers in the wild have risen from as low as 30 in 2007 to around 80 now. This came after a 'baby boom' among the leopards in the national park set up to protect them from poaching which had driven them to the brink of extinction as a wild animal.

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Tragic map shows how the once-dominant Asiatic lion is confined to a tiny patch of land

Fortunately, the Gir lion is thriving in Gujarat.

Jul 24, 2016 ·

Scroll Staff

The Asiatic lion once roamed a range that stretched all the way from Greece to Bengal. Today the lions are confined to the Gir forest in Gujarat. The "king of the jungle" is an endangered animal, with a population so small that the cats are thoroughly inbred and incredibly vulnerable to disease.

The unusual sight of eight lions strolling on the streets of Junagadh town are something of a reminder of what the subcontinent must have been like when the big cats roamed all over. Tommyknocker, a Wikimedia user, took information from The African Lion Environmental Research Trust as well as the Gir data to put together this map comparing the historic distribution of lions to the range that they currently roam in.

The results are stark.

The map doesn't delineate between the Asiatic and African lions, but it is believed that the habitat of the cats now found only in Gir once extended as far as North Africa and much of West Asia.

Certainly the bits of the map that extend up to Turkey and Greece are a reference to the same animal that is today confined to Gujarat.

Most conservationists believe that the advent of guns was responsible for extinction of the Asiatic lion from much of its territory, with the last sighting in Turkey going as far back as the 19th century. Iran saw its last specimen in the 1940s.

In India too, lion-hunting was a popular past time for the royalty and other aristocrats. As recently as 1964, you could hunt lions in Gujarat for just Rs 300. Even the Gir forest where the animals continue to live were once the hunting grounds of the Nawab of Junagadh, the last of whom banned hunting of the animal after its numbers dropped precipitously.

Conservationist Valmik Thapar has offered another theory for why there are so few Asiatic lions still alive in the wild. In Exotic Aliens, he argues that the lions were never indigenous to the area, but were simply introduced into the region for the purpose of hunting.

This, however, remains a fringe theory and whether indigenous or not, the one good bit of news is that the Gir lion itself is thriving: Over the last hundred years, there has been a 15-fold increase in the number of lions (523 at last count) and their range now covers 22,000 sq. km, up from the core zone of 6,000 sq. km.

There have even been efforts to reintroduce the animals into Madhya Pradesh, although that project has run into trouble because of political wrangling between the two states.


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Warnings of imminent extinction crisis for largest wild animal species

Date:

July 27, 2016

Source:

Wildlife Conservation Society

Summary:

A team of conservation biologists is calling for a worldwide strategy to prevent the unthinkable: the extinction of the world's largest mammal species.

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Indian water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) in Kaziranga National Park, India, is an endangered bovid with a global population estimated at fewer than 4,000 individuals in the wild.

Credit: Varun R. Goswami, WCS India Program

 

A team of conservation biologists is calling for a worldwide strategy to prevent the unthinkable: the extinction of the world's largest mammal species.

In a public declaration published in today's edition of the journal BioScience, a group of more than 40 conservation scientists and other experts are calling for a coordinated global plan to prevent the world's "megafauna" from sliding into oblivion.

Among the threats cited by the group as drivers of this mass extinction are illegal hunting, deforestation and habitat loss, the expansion of agriculture and livestock into wildlife areas, and the growth of human populations.
"The more I look at the trends facing the world's largest terrestrial mammals, the more concerned I am we could lose these animals just as science is discovering how important they are to ecosystems and to the services they provide for people," said Dr. William Ripple, professor of ecology at Oregon State University and lead author of the study.

Ripple worked with other authors on the study to examine population trends of many species, including many of the most well-known, charismatic species such as elephants, rhinos, gorillas, and big cats that are now threatened with extinction.

Approximately 59 percent of the world's biggest mammalian carnivore species -- including the tiger -- and 60 percent of the largest herbivores are now listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species as threatened with extinction.

"Perhaps the biggest threat for many species is direct hunting driven by a demand for meat, pets, and body parts for traditional medicines and ornaments," Dr. Elizabeth Bennett, WCS's Vice President of Species Conservation and a co-author on the study. "Only a massive commitment from the international community will stop this rampant destruction of so many animal populations."

All of these large species play critical roles in their ecosystems. Species at risk include elephants, that provide a suite of vital ecosystem services as ecological engineers, dispersing seeds and nutrients across vast areas. "The loss of elephants in the forests of Central Africa is increasingly damaging the function of the region's most important ecosystems," said WCS Conservation Scientist Dr. Fiona Maisels, one of the study's co-authors. "We're only beginning to understand how vital these keystone species are to the health of rainforests and other species that inhabit them."

Human-wildlife conflict is a serious concurrent threat for many species. "With simultaneous loss of wildlife habitat and expansion of human populations and agriculture, negative interactions between people and wildlife are bound to rise," said WCS India Scientist Dr. Varun R. Goswami, also a co-author on the study. "For wide-ranging megafauna like elephants and tigers, we need landscape-scale conservation strategies, taking into account the increasing interface between wildlife and people."

Some megafauna face the threat of obscurity. The loss of elephants worldwide to poachers in pursuit of ivory is well-known and is the focus of extensive efforts to shut down this trade, but the study authors point out that many species are at risk from many similar threats but are so poorly known that effective conservation efforts to save them are difficult.

The paper includes a 13-part declaration that highlights the need to acknowledge the threatened status of many large mammals and the vital ecological roles they play. The declaration also cites the importance of integrating the efforts of scientists and funding agencies in developing countries where many species occur; the need for a new global framework to conserve megafauna; and the moral obligation of saving the world's biggest mammal species.

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Wildlife Conservation Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. William J. Ripple et al. Saving the World's Terrestrial Megafauna. BioScience, 2016 DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biw092

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Wildlife Conservation Society. "Warnings of imminent extinction crisis for largest wild animal species." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 July 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160727172008.htm>.

 

 

Simon's Cat---Laser Toy (video)

Cat Sleep

Understanding Your Sleepy Cat

Kittens sleep more than adult cats.  Photo Credit: © Amy Shojai, CABC

 

By Amy Shojai, CABC

Cats Expert

Cat sleep and understanding your sleepy cat is important because cats sleep two-thirds of their life away. That's sixteen hours or more each day, and is more than any other mammal, except for the opossum and some bats.

Understanding Your Sleepy Cat

Why do cats sleep so much? Several issues are involved. Predators that have few natural enemies can afford to sleep for longer periods of time. Also, the need for sleep increases in direct proportion to the amount of energy required. Being a predator, the cat has extraordinary energy needs for hunting, but usually uses enormous bursts of energy to stalk, pounce, and wrestle that toy mouse into submission.

Cat-Napping Champs!

The sleep activity of cats, like that of people and many other mammals, is characterized by two patterns of brain activity. This activity has been measured experimentally with an electroencephalograph (EEG) that records waves or pulses of activity on a graph.

When awake the cat's brain broadcasts little bunched-together irregular peaks.

But when dozing, the cat's brain produces long, irregular waves called slow-wave sleep which usually lasts fifteen to thirty minutes total. As he dozes a cat generally lies with his head raised and paws tucked beneath him. Sometimes he actually sleeps sitting up, in which case his muscles stiffen to hold him upright. This way he's ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

When kitty moves from light into deep sleep, his body relaxes; he stretches out, and rolls to one side. His brain patterns change and become smaller and closer together, and are very similar to his waking patterns. However, cats are fully relaxed and hard to awaken during deep sleep (referred to as "rapid sleep" because of the quick brain wave movement). This phase usually lasts only about five minutes, and the cat then returns to slow-wave sleep-and thereafter alternates between the two until he finally wakes up. Interestingly, kittens fall directly into deep rapid sleep without this alternating pattern until they're about a month old.

Cat dreams are born during rapid sleep. Yes, cats DO dream, but we can only guess the subject matter. When those paws twitch or cat-calls spill from the sleeping kitty, perhaps he's chasing dream mice!

The cat's senses continue to record sounds and scents during up to 70 percent of sleep, so the kitty can awaken quickly at the squeak of a mouse or smell of a rat. Slower wakeup times are characterized by a predictable pattern of blinking, yawning and stretching. First the forelegs, then back, and finally rear legs each in turn are flexed. Most cats also groom themselves briefly upon first awakening.

While humans may sleep in marathon eight-hour (or longer) sessions, cat sleep more commonly consists of short and long naps throughout the day. Habits vary between cats but very old and very young kittens sleep more than robust adults. Sleep time increases on cold, rainy or cloudy days.

Cats are most active at daybreak and sundown. That's why kitties seem to love playing at these times and can pester tired owners with wake-up calls. But they typically adapt to the humans they love, sleeping on the owner's schedule. That way, they sleep when you are gone and spend more awake time when you are home.

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Cougars could save lives by lowering vehicle collisions with deer

Date:

July 14, 2016

Source:

University of Washington

Summary:

A team of researchers has for the first time begun to quantify the economic and social impact of bringing back large carnivores. Using cougars and their value in reducing deer-vehicle collisions as a case study, the researchers found that within 30 years of cougars recolonizing the Eastern U.S., large cats could thin deer populations and reduce vehicle collisions by 22 percent -- each year preventing five human fatalities, 680 injuries and avoiding costs of $50 million.

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A cougar stands over its prey.

Credit: Brian Kertson/Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

 

You would never guess it from their soft eyes and timid demeanor, but the swift-footed deer is North America's most dangerous mammal to humans.

Each year deer cause 1.2 million vehicle collisions in the U.S., triggering more than 200 deaths, some 29,000 injuries and $1.66 billion in costs associated with vehicle damage, medical bills and road cleanup.

These staggering figures are in part because deer's natural predators -- large carnivores such as wolves and cougars -- have declined in population, leaving large ungulates like deer to reproduce mostly unchecked.

A team including University of Washington's Laura Prugh has for the first time begun to quantify the economic and social impact of bringing back large carnivores. Using cougars and their value in reducing deer-vehicle collisions as a case study, the researchers found that within 30 years of cougars recolonizing the Eastern U.S., large cats could thin deer populations and reduce vehicle collisions by 22 percent -- each year preventing five human fatalities, 680 injuries and avoiding costs of $50 million.

The study is published online this week in the journal Conservation Letters. The student-led project was initiated during a community ecology class Prugh taught in 2014 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Lead author Sophie Gilbert, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta, will start in the fall as an assistant professor at the University of Idaho.

"The important take-home is that there can be very tangible benefits to having large carnivores around -- economic and social benefits, not just ecological benefits," said Prugh, a UW assistant professor of quantitative wildlife sciences in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

"Carnivores are so controversial and there's a lot of fear, anxiety and resistance when they are reintroduced or recolonize an area. We are hoping that showing people how their lives could really benefit in a tangible way from having large carnivores around could help people become more accepting of living with them."

Cougars, also called mountain lions, panthers and pumas, used to live throughout most of the U.S. and Canada. State-sponsored bounty hunts to protect livestock and humans from the cats led to their complete removal from the Midwest and eastern states by the early 20th century.

Breeding populations have since recolonized their former habitats in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska, and individual males have made it to Connecticut and, most recently, Tennessee. It is likely just a matter of time before new breeding populations pop up farther east, Prugh said.

In the meantime, without as many predators, the deer population has grown across the U.S., particularly in the eastern states. While these ungulates provide ample hunting opportunities, an overabundance of deer has led to more collisions with vehicles as well as impacts on landscapes and vegetation from deer's herbivore diet.

"I think everyone on the East Coast has either hit a deer or knows somebody who's hit a deer, so it's a very real problem for people," Prugh said. "An overabundance of ungulates might be a hunter's paradise, but it comes with problems as well."

The researchers calculated the cougars' impact by comparing white-tailed deer population densities and the numbers of deer killed by vehicles with and without cougar predation.

Their models showed that cumulatively over 30 years, 155 human deaths and more than 21,000 injuries could be prevented by the presence of cougars in 19 eastern states. A single cougar would kill 259 deer over its average six-year lifespan, preventing eight collisions and saving nearly $40,000 in associated costs.

The researchers were conservative in their estimates of the benefits cougars could bring. They assumed that three out of four deer killed by cougars would have died from other causes without cougars present, thereby reducing the impact of cougars on deer mortality by 75 percent. They also limited the possible range for cougars to large forested areas, although cougars could probably live in rural and suburban areas as they do in western states. Finally, the researchers assumed cougars would prey on deer at the same rate in western and eastern states. In reality, cougars would likely hunt deer at a higher rate in eastern states, because out west they have more prey options such as elk.

"The modeling framework and assumptions we made stacked the cards against the cougars being able to reduce the deer population. We didn't have any expectations that cougar predation would be enough to drive the deer down, and yet it did," Prugh said.

"Cougars are deer specialists and they target adults. With a long-lived species like deer, removing adults in prime breeding age can really have an impact on population growth."

The researchers were able to compare their modeled results with an actual example in South Dakota, where a viable cougar population lives in the Black Hills. The data clearly showed that after cougars repopulated the region in the 1990s, deer-vehicle collision rates markedly dropped. This real-life test case was strong evidence of a trend that could happen elsewhere, Prugh said.

The authors acknowledge that re-establishing cougars across the U.S. has its costs. Attacks on humans, pets and livestock could become more common, though their estimates show that cougars would actually save five times the number of people they would kill by way of preventing deer-vehicle collisions. The researchers next hope to complete full cost-benefit analyses in smaller subsections of the country where cougars are present.

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington. The original item was written by Michelle Ma. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sophie L. Gilbert, Kelly J. Sivy, Casey B. Pozzanghera, Adam DuBour, Kelly Overduijn, Matthew M. Smith, Jiake Zhou, Joseph M. Little, Laura R. Prugh. Socioeconomic Benefits of Large Carnivore Recolonization Through Reduced Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions. Conservation Letters, 2016; DOI: 10.1111/conl.12280

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University of Washington. "Cougars could save lives by lowering vehicle collisions with deer." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 July 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160714163350.htm>.

Cat Meowing

Understanding Cats' Meowing

Even Kittens Talk With Meows.  Photo Credit: © Amy Shojai, CABC from "Complete Kitten Care"

 

By Amy Shojai, CABC

Cats Expert

April 24, 2016.

Meowing can sound charming at first but quickly becomes obnoxious. Cat language—what I call “felinese”—is composed of a combination of body postures, scent signals, and vocalizations. Humans are scent-blind compared to cats, and we often overlook tail talk and ear signals that make up the majority of their communication. But feline yowls, growls, hisses and purrs get our undivided attention—especially at 5:00 a.m.

Kinds of Meowing

There are four major categories: murmur patterns include purrs and trills; vowel patterns are meows in all their variations (cats can produce several diphthongs, too); articulated patterns are chirps and chattering that express frustration; and strained intensity patterns are warnings such as hisses and growls. Experts also speculated that some cat vocalizations may be so subtle, or pitched at such a high frequency, that only other cats can hear these “silent meows.”

Not all cats are vocal. Persians and the beautiful blue Chartreux breeds, for instance, tend to be rather quiet.

Others never shut up. Siamese and Oriental-type breeds are especially talkative. My cat Seren(dipity) holds long, drawn-out conversations and insists on having the last word.

What Does Meowing Mean? 

Felines use a wide range of vocalizations to communicate with other cats, but seem to reserve “meows” primarily for talking to their people. What exactly does Kitty want? Is she hurling cat-curses at you, praising your taste in art, or just pestering you for the fun of it?

Meows are demands: let me OUT, let me IN, pet me, play with me, FEED me! As the cat becomes more passionate and insistent, his meows grow more strident and lower-pitched. Meow demands most frequently take place in the wee hours of the night when owners want to sleep.

Midnight Meowing 

Cats normally sleep 16 hours a day and are most active at night when mousy prey is about. Kitty goes through the motions of mouse-patrol whether outside or indoors. It’s aggravating, but it’s normal.
The determined and savvy cat visits the bedroom, and may even snuggle and sleep with you for a portion of the night. But then she decides you've both had enough sleep. She first offers loving head-bonks, nibbles your nose or toes, or drops toys on your head. If that doesn’t rouse you, the meows escalate.

Soon, the human is desperate to shut off the caterwauling. Once you roll out of bed, Kitty scampers ahead of you, leading the way to (often) the empty food bowl. Sometimes, there’s still food available—but Kitty wants a dinner companion to watch her eat. Filling the bowl may, indeed, temporarily stop the yowls. It’s hard to meow with a mouthful of kibble. But something else is going on.

You have been trained by the best!

Out-Thinking Loud-Mouth Cats

Giving in to meow-demands tells the cat that pestering you is an effective means of getting her way. Putting the pillow over your head, yelling at her, or pushing her off the bed, still gives her the attention she craves. It teaches the cat that the longer she persists, the more likely she’ll succeed.
There are health issues that can prompt excess meowing. Deaf cats, old cats suffering from kitty Alzheimer's, stressed kitties suffering from separation anxiety, and those with thyroid, heart or kidney issues may yowl.

But in otherwise healthy cats, the only way to extinguish this behavior is to totally ignore the cat. That means, you DON’T get up to feed her; you DON’T indulge in toe-tag games; you DON’T yell at her, spray her with water, or give any attention at all. That’s hard to do when she’s paw-patting your nose, or shaking the windows with yowls.

What to do? You practice tough kitty-love.

Invest in earplugs, shut the bedroom door, or confine the cat to another room on the other side of the house. It can take weeks to months to get rid of this behavior if it’s been going on for a while. Be aware that the behavior will get WORSE right before it goes away. Behaviorists call this an extinction burst, so be prepared and don't give in.

It’s either that, or you can remain at the beck and cat-call of your favorite feline, for the duration of your relationship.

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