Zoology News
Loren Coleman
The self made Cryptozoologist, author and founder of the Cryptomundo blog, Loren Coloeman appears to have run out of money and is asking for donations to keep him and his website(s) alive.
Cryptozoology like any hobby is not cheap, but when it becomes your main source of income, I can imagine it is very hard to make ends meet, especially when you have to race off across the country and world to investigate sightings of the elusive cryptid.
A lot of work can be done from the office, but it doesn’t matter how much research you do for books and TV shows — you eventually need to get out there in the field, and do some real investigation - which costs money…
You can read more on Loren’s wows here No Bread. No Blog.
I must say, I’m surprised that what appears to have been a very successful blog is costing so much money to run - especially with all the advertisement!
A Colossal Squid
On February 22, 2007, New Zealand authorities announced that a Colossal Squid measuring 10 meters long and 450 kilograms in weight had been caught be fishermen in the freezing Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea.
It was brought to the surface as it fed on a Patagonian toothfish that had been caught off a long line. The specimen eclipsed the previous largest find in 2003 by about 150 kilograms, but this is still considerably shorter than some estimates have predicted.
Current estimates suggest the Colossal Squid could grow as big as 12-14 meters (39-46 feet) long - possibly even larger!
Reporting findings that help shape our understanding of how tool use has evolved among primates, researchers have discovered evidence that chimpanzees, at least under some conditions, are capable of habitually fashioning and using tools to hunt mammalian prey. The work, reported by Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University and Paco Bertolani of the University of Cambridge, will appear online in the journal Current Biology on February 22nd.
Intelligent Chimp?
Chimpanzees are well known for their ingenuity in using tools for some tasks, such as obtaining invertebrate insects from logs or pounding open hard nuts, but there had been only fleeting evidence of chimpanzees brandishing tools for bona fide hunting.
In the new work, researchers observed tool use in hunting by the Fongoli community of savanna-dwelling chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in southeastern Senegal. Chimpanzees were observed making spear-like tools in a step-wise fashion, and subsequently using them with jabbing motions in an apparent effort to obtain lesser bushbabies (Galago senegalensis) from cavities in hollow branches or tree trunks. Bushbabies are nocturnal prosimians that retire to such hidden cavities during the day.
Weird Elbow Crab
A French-led marine expedition team has discovered what is believed to be thousands of new species of molluscs and crustaceans around a Philippine island.
The announcement was made by officials and scientists on Monday.
Some 80 scientists, technicians, students and volunteers from 19 countries led by Philippe Bouchet of the French National Museum of Natural History surveyed waters around Panglao island, 400 miles south-east of Manila from 2004-2005.
The Panglao Marine Biodiversity Project turned over more than a hundred “holotype” or representative specimen of the rare finds to the Philippine National Museum on Monday.
The origins and earliest branches of primate evolution are clearer and thought to be even more ancient than previous studies estimated - infact they are thought to be a whopping 10 million years more ancient according to a new study.
Dszalayi Skeletons
A paper by researchers at Yale, the University of Winnipeg, Stony Brook University, and led by University of Florida paleontologist Jonathan Bloch reconstructs the base of the primate family tree by comparing skeletal and fossil specimens representing more than 85 modern and extinct species. The team also discovered two 56-million-year-old fossils, including the most primitive primate skeleton ever described.
In the two-part study, an extensive evaluation of skeletal structures provides evidence that plesiadapiforms, a group of archaic mammals once thought to be more closely related to flying lemurs, are the most primitive primates. The team analyzed 173 characteristics of modern primates, tree shrews, flying lemurs with plesiadapiform skeletons to determine their evolutionary relationships. High-resolution CT scanning made fine resolution of inaccessible structures inside the skulls possible.
“This is the first study to bring it all together,” said co-author Eric Sargis, associate professor of anthropology at Yale University and Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. “The extensive dataset, the number and type of characteristics we were able to compare, and the availability of full skeletons, let us test far more than any previous study.”
At least five major features characterize modern primates: relatively large brains, enhanced vision and eyes that face forward, a specialized ability to leap, nails instead of claws on at least the first toes, and specialized grasping hands and feet. Plesiadapiforms have some but not all of these traits. The article argues that these early primates may have acquired the traits over 10 million years in incremental changes to exploit their environment.
Rare Frillshark
A female frilled shark, sometimes referred to as a “living fossil” because the species has changed little since prehistoric times has been caught and filmed off the coast of Japan.
The rare shark was first spotted by a local fisherman who thought is was a weird eel-fish, so contacted the Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka.
Staff from the marine park later captured and filmed the shark swimming shortly before it died. It’s thought the shark was already very ill and this was probably the reason why this normally deep sea creature was found at the surface.
The video taken by the Awashima Marine Park can be seen on YouTube [link]. I think you will agree that it doesn’t look well at all, and personally I think it could already be dead and is just drifting with the current!
Brown Snake
Officials in Australia have warned that the server drought, the worst for more than 100 years, is driving thousands of snakes and other reptiles into urban areas.
Three people have been killed in Australian over the last few weeks, after being bitten by venomous reptiles.
Experts have warned that an army of snakes is on the move, looking for water. Driven by extreme thirst they have been discovered in gardens, bedrooms and even shopping centres.
A Saigaantelope
After spotting the
Protection for ‘weirdest’ species story on the BBC web site today, I followed the link to
EDGE and found an extraordinary website.
Recent studies indicate that almost 75 per cent of the world’s most extraordinary threatened mammals are receiving little or no conservation attention.
If these species go extinct, they will be lost forever. There are no similar animals on earth to replace them.
The EDGE of Existence programme aims to conserve the world’s most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species by implementing the research and conservation actions needed to secure their future.
The site has an amazing list of the top 100 endangered and critically endangered species in the world. I highly recommend checking out The EDGE of Existence programme, and consider donating to help fund research and protection of some of the world most unique creatures.
External Links:
The EDGE of Existence programme
The Zoological Society of LondonMangrove Terrapin rediscovered in Thailand
River Terrapins
The critically endangered mangrove terrapin (
Batagur baska), Asia’s largest fresh water turtle has been found in a mangrove swamp of western Thailand.
The female terrapin found by a local fisherman, is thought to have been on its way to nest when it was caught. Luckily the fisherman realised it was something special and contacted a local specialist from WWF Thailand’s Marine and Coastal Resources Unit.
In the past, the mangrove terrapin was hunted in their thousands for its eggs, meat and shells. Not surprisingly this has caused a sharp decline in their numbers, and along with over-hunting, the loss of their habitat and nesting areas (beaches) has meant they are almost extinct in the wild.
Dr Chavalit Vidthayanon, a freshwater biologist at WWF Thailand said “She is probably very lucky that she wasn’t eaten or sold to a wildlife trader,”.
Background Info:
The Batagur or mangrove terrapin (Batagur baska) is a species of riverine turtle. It is one of the most critically-endangered turtle species according to a 2003 assessment by the IUCN. Batagur baska is a rare and endangered Asian river terrapin also called the “Royal Turtle” in Cambodia because its eggs were a royal delicacy.
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