Leatherback Facts

Bellagio Sea Turtle Conservation Initiative:
Strategic Planning for Long-Term Financing of
Pacific Leatherback Conservation and Recovery 17 – 20 July 2007
Terengganu, Malaysia

Strategic Planning for Long-term Financing of Pacific Leatherback Conservation and Recovery. This major event will bring together an internationally diverse group of concerned conservationists, scientists and resource managers to develop a long-term conservation plan for the critically endangered leatherback sea turtles in the Western Pacific.

Organizers of the meeting, the Hawaii-based Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and the US’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

“Conservation and recovery do not take place immediately. Successful conservation requires long-term commitments over many decades by local communities as well as dedication by government, managers and scientists; much of which is dependent upon adequate financial resources. Despite the commitments that people have made to the recovery of leatherback turtles, economic considerations are likely to persist as the driving factor behind local decisions for participation in recovery efforts”

Leatherback facts:

The leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest sea turtle and is the largest living reptile in the world. Mature males and females can be as long as six-and-a -half feet (2 m) and weigh almost 2000 lbs. (900 kg).

Leatherbacks get its name from its shell, which is like a thick leathery skin, with the texture of hard rubber. It is also known as leathery turtles.

Like all sea turtles, leatherback turtles have temperature dependent sex determination – the temperature of their nest determines their sex.

Females return to the beach of their ‘birth’ to lay eggs while males will never again return to land during their approximate 80-year lifetime.

Although they are air-breathing reptiles born on land, leatherbacks, like all sea turtles, spend their lives in the ocean. Females return to land only to lay their eggs.

Adults ply the seas alone, except on occasion gathering to feed in areas with large numbers of jellyfish. They also forage in coastal waters.

Leatherbacks mate in the waters adjacent to nesting beaches and along migratory corridors. After nesting, female leatherbacks migrate from tropical waters to more temperate latitudes, which support high densities of jellyfish prey in the summer. • They are the most migratory and wide ranging of sea turtles.

Thermoregulatory adaptations such as a counter-current heat exchange system, high oil content, and large body size allow them to maintain a core body temperature higher than that of the surrounding water, thereby allowing them to tolerate colder water temperatures.

They are unique among sea turtles in that their primary food is jellyfish. They also will eat fish, mollusks, squid, sea urchins, and other marine creatures.

Leatherbacks have some of the longest migrations recorded for any reptile. Individuals tagged in Terengganu have been recaptured in Japan, Hainan Island (China), Taiwan, the Philippines and Kalimantan (Indonesia). Post-nesting female leatherbacks released in Papua (Indonesia) were tracked using satellite technology swimming into waters off Japan, Korea, the Philippines and through central northern Pacific Ocean to California, USA.

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The Story of a Red Panda

The Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens (”shining cat,” from a Latinized form of the Greek ?, ailouros, “cat,” and the participial form of the Latin fulgere, “to shine”) is a mostly herbivorous mammal, slightly larger than a domestic cat (55 cm long). The Red Panda has semi-retractile claws and, like the Giant Panda, has a “false thumb” which is really an extension of the wrist bone. Thick fur on the soles of the feet offers protection from cold and hides scent glands. The Red Panda is native to the Himalayas in India and Nepal and southern China.

This taxonomic classification of both the Red Panda and Giant Panda has been under debate for many decades, as both species share characteristics of both bears and raccoons. However, they are only very distantly related by remote common ancestry from the Early Tertiary Period. Its common ancestor can be traced back to tens of millions of years ago with a wide distribution across Eurasia. Fossils of the Red Panda have been unearthed from China in the east to Britain in the west (Hu, 1990), and most recently a handful of fossils (Pristinailurus bristoli, Miocene, considered to be a new genus and species of the Red Panda) have also been discovered in North America.

The Red Panda is also known as the Wah because of its distinctive cry. This name was given to it by Thomas Hardwicke, when he introduced it to Europeans in 1821. It is called a Cat Bear because it was thought to be related to a small bear and washes itself like a cat by licking its entire body. Other names include Bear Cat, Cloud Bear, Bright Panda, Common Panda, Fire Cat, Fire Fox, Red Fox, Fox Bear, Himalayan Raccoon, Lesser Panda, Nigalya Ponya, Panda Chico, Panda Éclatant, Panda Rojo, Petit Panda, Poonya, Crimson Ngo, Red Cat, Sankam, Small Panda, Thokya, Wah, Wokdonka, and Vetri, and Ye.

Red Pandas are classified as endangered. No reliable numbers exist for the total population but it is very threatened due to the fragmentation of its natural habitats, their small numbers, and their food specialization needs. In southwest China the Red Panda is hunted for its fur and especially for its highly-valued bushy tail from which hats are produced. In the areas of China, where the Red Panda lives, their fur is often used for local cultural ceremonies and in weddings the bridegroom traditionally carries the hide. The ‘good-luck charm’ hats are used by Chinese newlyweds.

This, and the continuous clearing of the forests, has significantly reduced the population. It is now protected in all countries in which it lives, and the hunting of Red Pandas is illegal everywhere. Nevertheless, poaching continues and they are often illegally hunted and sold to zoos for dumping prices. The IUCN has mandated that small Pandas are a “threatened species“ since 1996, however it is now listed as endangered. It is very difficult to estimate the total population, yet one can assume that they cannot bear much more of a habitat change and that they are in danger of extinction due to the disappearance of the forests and the furtive hunting for its highly-valued tail and fur.

The Chinese name of the Red Panda is pinyin: xi?o xióng m?o, meaning ’small panda’ or, more analytically, ’small bear-cat’, in which ‘bear-cat’ is the Chinese name for the panda. The Chinese name of the Red Panda is based on that of the Giant Panda, unlike English where the Giant Panda has been named after the Red Panda. The Red Panda is also sometimes known as h?o hú (??), which literally translates as “fire fox”, a name which can designate either the red fox or the Red Panda.

The term fire-fox, as used to describe the Red Panda, has been propagated by its use as the logo for the web browser Mozilla Firefox. The old Chinese designation of Red Panda as “fire fox “refers to the Red Panda’s fur color.

In the Indian province of Sikkim the Red Panda is the state animal and it is also the mascot of the Darjeeling international festivals.

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The Falling of the Tamaraw

The wild Asiatic water buffalo is at present restricted to northeastern India, Ceylon, southern Vietnam, and the Malay Peninsula. This species is widely distributed as a domesticated animal and has been introduced into southern Europe, northern Africa, China, Philippines (called carabao), Indonesia, and Australia. The Tamaraw is Found only on mindoro Island in the Philippines and nowhere else in the world.

The Tamaraw is the largest land animal native to the Philippines. This small buffalo frequents dense vegetation along the rivers in the lowlands of Mindoro island and spends much of its time in the marshy areas. It is found in open grasslands and forests and range from sea level up to the high ridges of mountains on Mindoro Island, with elevation of more than 2000 m.

This dwarf buffalo is over hunted both by sport hunters and by people who are after its meat. The species is one of the top game animals and its head is considered valuable trophy by the average big-game hunter anywhere in the world. Inspite of government regulations prohibiting its capture and killing, the species continues to be collecte and killed by illegal hunters.

This dwarf buffalo is noted for its fierceness when cornered. The native hunters in Mindoro say that it is always best to have a nearly tree to climb up when hunting the Tamaraw, because it really attacks even when slightly wounded.

The Tamaraw found only on Mindoro Island and nowhere else.

Small dark brown or brownish black, with more hair covering on their bodies than the carabao; as large as as half-grown carabao, with short limbs; horns short, triangular at base with very pronounced series of rough grooves on anterior, posterior and lateral sides; inner sides of horn very rough; distal parts of horns rounded, sharply pointed ans coming close together; frontal parts of skull slightly bulging; ears moderate in size.

The animal averages about 1200 mm at the shoulders. The Basal length, sex unknown, 350 mm; total, 380;width of zygoma,164; circumference of horn at base, 280; length of horn, 390; length of upper molar-premolar series, 106; length of lower molar-premolar series, 118; length of upper molar, 62; length of lower molars, 63; total length of lower jaw,322.

The characteristics of Tamaraw, the skull moderately massive, narrow and elongate; profile of face almost straight; rostrum relatively long and slender. Molars Short, high with almost square crowns.

Hair on back reversed being directed forward from haunches to head; ears relatively small.

May be as big as the common carabao and medium-sized as the Tamaraw.

Though the national animal of the Philippines is the carabao, the Tamaraw is also considered as a national symbol of the Philippines. An image of the Tamaraw is found on the 1980-to-early-1990 version of the one-Peso coins.

In 2004, Proclamation No. 692 was enacted to make October 1 a special working holiday in the province of Occidental Mindoro. In line with the Tamaraw Conservation Month, the aim of the proclamation is to remind the people of Mindoro the importance of the conservation of the tamaraw and its environment.

In the 1970s Toyota Motors, through the defunct Delta Motors, built the Tamaraw AUV. Because of its ruggedness and simplicity of design, some examples still survive to this day, and copied by multinational (Ford and General Motors, through Francisco Motors in particular) and local manufacturers to this day. It is quite similar, though, to the Indonesian Kijang. During this time Toyota held a franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association, and once naming its team the Toyota Tamaraws.

During the wake of the Asian van popularity in the 1990s, Toyota Motors released an Asian van called Tamaraw FX in the Philippines. It was widely patronized by taxi operators and was immediately turned into a staple mode of transportation much like a cross of the taxi and the local jeepney.

The tamaraw is also the mascot of the varsity teams of the Far Eastern University (FEU Tamaraws) in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines, and of the Toyota Tamaraws of the Philippine Basketball Association.

The Tamaraw Falls in Barangay Villaflor, Puerto Galera was also named after the bovine.

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Javan Rhino

When speaking about rhinos, everybody thinks of the Sumatran Rhino first, not knowing that the Javan Rhino is the rarest of the rhino species with fewer than 60 animals surviving in only two known locations: one in Indonesia and the other in Vietnam. Rhinos have been poached from these small populations in recent years and much more intensive protection is needed if this species is to survive. However, the Javan and the Sumatran compete for the dubious distinction of being the most endangered species of rhino.

Name and origin:
* Rhinoceros sondaicus
* Rhinoceros: from the Greek rhino, meaning “nose” and ceros, meaning “horn”
* sondaicus: (Latin -icus indicates a locality) referring to the Sunda islands in Indonesia.; “Sunda” means “Java”

There are 2 sub-species of Javan rhino – the Vietnamese Javan Rhinoceros in which there are only about 50-60 individuals and the Indonesian Javan Rhinoceros which is on the brink of complete extinction. Both sub-species are classed as critically endangered.

Like the closely related larger Indian Rhinoceros, the Javan rhinoceros has only a single horn. Its hairless, hazy gray skin fall into folds into the shoulder, back, and rump giving it an armored-like appearance. The Javan rhino’s body length reaches up to 10-10.5 feet(3.1-3.2 meters), including its head and a height of 6 feet tall. Adults weigh up to 3,000-4,400 pounds(1,360-2,000 kilograms). Males horns can reach 10 inches in length while in females they are knobs or no horn at all. Females however are slightly bigger than males. Like the Indian Rhinoceros it has the sharp lower incisor teeth used in fights. To chew its herbivorous diet it has two rows of broad, low crowned molars. It has the smallest ears of all rhino species and has a prehensile lip. Like other rhinos, it has very poor eyesight, but acute senses of smell and hearing.

*** After World War II, Chinese poachers threatened the Javan rhino in the Udjung Kulon reserve. However, after a poacher was killed by a Javan tiger in the reserve, the poachers left for fear of the tigers (Boyle 1959). Unfortunately for the Javan rhinos (not to mention the tigers themselves), the Javan tiger is now extinct.

*** The Javan rhino can tolerate disturbed forest. Despite this fact, the few surviving rhinos have been forced to retreat to less desirable upland habitats because of the intense pressure from human settlement in its preferred lowland habitat.

*** The Javan rhino usually seeks to escape rather than attack an enemy, although when wounded or with a calf it may charge.

*** The Javan and Indian rhinos were thought to be the same species for many years. However, the Indian rhino is a little larger, its skin folds are slightly different and its skin is “knobby” as opposed to the smoother skin of the Javan rhino.

The Javan rhino appears to be a more adaptable feeder than other extant rhino species: in the tropical rainforest where the species now survives, it is a pure browser, but it possibly was a mixed feeder (both browse and grass) in other parts of its historic range where the species is generally believed to have occupied more lowland areas, especially along watercourses

Photo source: Animal Corner

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Bizzare Mola Mola

The ocean sunfish, or common mola, Mola mola, native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe, is the heaviest bony fish in the world, with an average weight of 1000 kilograms. It is flattened laterally, giving it a distinctive oval shape: sunfish are relatively narrow across, but can be as tall, counting their dorsal and anal fins, as they are long. Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish; as this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk.

When molas are swimming at the surface it is common for their fins to be mistaken for those of sharks.

Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions and orca whales will consume them. Among humans, sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan and Taiwan, but sale of their flesh is banned in the European Union. Sunfish are frequently, though accidentally, caught in gillnets, and are also vulnerable to harm or death from encounters with floating trash, such as plastic bags.

A member of the order Tetraodontiformes, the sunfish has many derived characters and is the type species of its genus.

Many of the sunfish’s various names allude to its unique “flattened” shape. Its specific name, mola, is Latin for “millstone”, which the fish resembles because of its grey color, rough texture, and rounded body. Its common English name, “sunfish”, refers to the animals habit of “sunbathing” at the surface of the water. The French- and Spanish-language names, poisson lune and pez luna, both mean “moon fish”, in reference to its rounded shape. In German, the fish is known as Schwimmender kopf, or “swimming head”, because it has no true tail. It has various obsolete binomial synonyms, and was originally classified in a pufferfish genus, as Tetraodon mola.

Photo source: Mike Johnson, Earth Window

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Jesus Christ Lizard

* They are part of the Iguana Family.
* They have the nickname “Jesus Christ Lizard” because when fleeing from a predator, they are very fast and can even run on top of the water.
* Basilisks actually have large hind feet with flaps of skin between each toe. The fact that they move quickly across the water, aided by their web-like feet, gives them the appearance of “walking on water”.
* Smaller basilisks can run about 10-20 meters on the water without sinking. Young basilisks can usually run farther than older ones.
* Like most reptiles, basilisks are active during the day.
* They have long toes and sharp claws.
* Most are under a foot in length, but some may grow up to two feet.
* Basilisks usually weigh between 200-600 grams.
* I don’t know for sure, but their maximum lifespan is probably around 7-8 years. In the wild, most die much sooner.
* Females lay about 2-18 eggs, five to eight times a year.
* Eggs hatch after about three months and the babies weigh about 2 grams.
* Their outstanding camouflage allows them to remain motionless and very hard to detect.

The Jesus Christ lizards are more properly known as basilisks—a colorful name referring to the legendary monsters whose breath and glances were fatal to those unfortunate enough to encounter them. Basilisks are quite large, as lizards go, up to three feet long, and the males have large crests on their heads, backs, and tails. This, and the fact that they run on two legs makes them look like little dinosaurs.

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Eco Conscious Kiwi Youth

…or simply Kev‘s blog “a blend of environmentalism and my day to day life. Join in on experiencing natures best and the journey to protecting it’s splendour.”

Feeding the Eel
Copyrights: Kevin Carter

…It’s quite strange how things work out in the end and you start towards a goal you never even considered before hand. In our careers guidance class some years ago, we had to write down our potential career options and how we were going to make them happen. We all had to list 3 and I quickly scribbled down computer programmer, systems admin and was stuck for a third so just put in nature conservationist….

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