Dec 26
Phys.org (Frankie Taggart)
This handout photograph taken by a remote camera trap and released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Nepal shows a rare snow leopard in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, 260 kilometres (160 miles) east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. An innovative insurance plan for yak and other livestock is deterring herders from killing snow leopards that attack their animals.
National Geographic News (Christine Dell’Amore)
The snow leopard in Pakistan is an endangered species. The population of the rarely seen big cat has likely fallen to fewer than 450 in the country, mainly due to hunting. Now an expert has come up with an unconventional—and controversial—proposal to save the snow leopard: Classify it as a domesticated animal.
Discovery News (Peter Martell, AFP)
When Danish author Karen Blixen penned her autobiography “Out of Africa”, she wrote of the fierce leopards and lions that prowled the coffee estate she farmed at the foot of Kenya’s Ngong hills.
Today, that farm is a leafy upmarket suburb of the rapidly growing capital Nairobi, swallowed up by breakneck urbanisation that has turned a century-old colonial railway yard into a traffic-clogged major city.
But the sharp-toothed big cats have remained, finding themselves under growing pressure as one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities creeps onto ancient migration routes and hunting grounds.
May 22
The Times of India
HYDERABAD, INDIA: It’s not denizens alone who seem to be reeling under a severe water crisis this summer. Even animals in the state’s largest tiger belt, the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR), are hit by the shortage with only a handful of manually filled ‘saucer pits’ to quench their thirst. The smaller lakes in the tiger reserve, with a tiger population estimated between 52 and 67, have dried up. Experts note that the tigers usually travel the 25 km distance to reach Krishna river in search of water and could be doing the same now.
While the shortage of water seems to be most severe this time around, experts note that the NSTR belt has always been a parched region. Tigers in the belt, they say, are often forced to travel to the Krishna to quench their thirst. “This belt, which is a plateau, is known for water crises. The poor monsoon has aggravated the situation this time,” said R K Rao, a former forest officer who has worked extensively in this area during his tenure.
Wired Science
A female tiger and her cubs have been photographed roaming a north-Indian river valley by hidden camera traps. The images were taken in the Kosi River corridor, part of remote India’s Terai Arc Landscape.
A photo taken in January shows the tiger mom carrying a one-month-old cub in her mouth (left). Another taken on Nov. 26, 2011 shows the same female feasting on a domestic cow with two large cubs (below).
“Knowing the tiger numbers and their movement routes in a corridor would provide a sound database in taking decisions on developmental activities within and around the corridor,” said World Wildlife Fund coordinator Joseph Vattakaven in a press release.
REAWR | Big-Cat Conservation 