14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

Last week Indonesian police seized 14 tons of frozen Malayan pangolins—a kind of scaly anteater—bound for China and arrested more than a dozen suspected smugglers, conservationists announced Tuesday.

The July 30 warehouse raid in Palembang on the island of Sumatra is the latest sign of China's skyrocketing demand for pangolin meat, blood, and scales.
"The pangolins were packed and ready for export to China via seaports in Sumatra and Java," Commissioner Didid Widjanardi of the Indonesian National Police said in a statement.

The black market trade in pangolins is soaring along with China's wealth, conservationists say.

"It appears to be huge—professional and at an industrial scale," said Elizabeth Bennett, director of the wildlife-trade program at the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Despite a global trade ban, pangolins are the most frequently seized mammals in Southeast Asia, according to TRAFFIC, the wildlife-trade monitoring network that announced the seizure.

Shipments of pangolins bound for China are regularly intercepted in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

(Read: "Wildlife Trade Booming in Burmese Casino Town" [February 28, 2008].)

Prestige Animals

Though their medicinal benefits are unproven, pangolin scales are said to help women lactate and treat ailments such as asthma and the skin condition eczema. Pangolin blood is thought to cure high blood pressure.

Pangolin meat is also considered a popular delicacy.

But the biggest factor driving the pangolin craze and price increase is the animal's scarcity. Though the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Malayan pangolin as only "near threatened," pangolin species have been hunted nearly out of existence in China and its neighboring countries.

source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080807-pangolin-trade.html

World's Smallest Snake Discovered, Study Says

The world's smallest snake—and perhaps the smallest possible snake—has been discovered on the Caribbean island of Barbados, a new study says.

At about ten centimeters long (less than four inches), the diminutive reptile might easily be mistaken for an earthworm, and could comfortably curl up on a U.S. quarter, researchers say.
A second new species, only slightly larger, was found on the neighboring island of St. Lucia.

Genetic tests and studies of the snakes' physical features identified the animals as new species, said biologist Blair Hedges of Penn State university, who led the study team.

Both new species belong to a little-known group of known as thread snakes—also called worm snakes and slender blind snakes. Short and slender, thread snakes burrow in the soil and live on a diet of insect larvae.

Small Victories

Finding the smallest snake completes an odd trifecta for Hedges, who also led the teams that discovered the world's smallest lizard and smallest frog.

"The frog and lizard are also found on Caribbean islands," he said. "But [my] describing all three [for science] is somewhat of a coincidence."

Unfortunately the smallest snake—which Hedges calls Leptotyphlops carlae—may be on the verge of extinction. It appears to be live on only a few square kilometers of forest on Barbados, where almost all the original forests have been cleared.

"I think it should be considered critically endangered because of its limited habitat, apparent rarity, and ongoing threats," sad Hedges, whose study will be published tomorrow in the journal Zootaxa.

Island Dwarfism

The world's roughly 3,100 known snake species show an enormous range in body size, from the Caribbean thread snakes to the roughly 30-foot long (10-meter-long) reticulated python.

source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080803-smallest-snake.html

General Information about the cheetah

Status Protected species in Namibia - considered vulnerable. Endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act. List on CITES Appendix I. First listed on 1 July 1975.
Description The cheetah has a slender, long-legged body with blunt semi-retractile claws. Its coat is tan with small, round, black spots, and the fur is coarse and short. The cheetah has a small head with high-set eyes. Black "tear marks," which run from the inside corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to the outside of its mouth, keep the sun out of its eyes, and aid in hunting.
Size Adult body length 105-152 cm; tail length 51-87 cm; shoulder height 62-86 cm; weight 31-64kg. The male is slightly larger than the female.
Specializations The cheetah's flexible spine, oversized liver, enlarged heart, wide nostrils, increased lung capacity, and thin muscular body make this cat the swiftest hunter in Africa. Covering 7-8 meters in a stride, with only one foot touching the ground at a time, the cheetah can reach a speed of 110 km/h in seconds. At two points in the stride, no feet touch the ground.
Habitat Cheetahs thrive in areas with vast expanses of land where prey is abundant. In Namibia cheetahs have been found in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, savannahs, dense vegetation, and mountainous terrain. Ninety-five percent of the Namibian population lives on commercial farms.
Range Once found throughout Asia and Africa, the species is now only scattered in Iran and various countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Home ranges for males in Namibia are 2,234 square km and 3,809 square km on average for females.
Behavior Cheetahs have a unique, well-structured social order. Females live alone except when they are raising cubs. The females raise the cubs on their own. The first 18 months of a cub's life are important - cubs learn many lessons because survival depends on knowing how to hunt wild prey species and avoid other predators such as leopards, lions, hyenas, and baboons. At 18 months, the mother leaves the cubs, who then form a sibling group, that will stay together for another 6 months. At about 2 years, the female siblings leave the group, and the young males remain together for life. Males live alone or in coalitions made up of brothers from the same litter. Some coalitions maintain territories in order to find females with which they will mate. Territories are often located in areas where there is a rich supply of wild game and/or water. Fierce fights between male coalitions, resulting in serious injury or death, can occur when defending territories.

Cheetahs hunt in the late morning and early evening. They capture their prey by stalking - until they prey is within 10-30 meters - before chasing. The prey is suffocated when a cheetahs bites the underside of the throat. Chases last about 20 seconds, and rarely longer then 1 minute. About half of the chases are successful. In Namibia, cheetahs use playtrees (trees with sloping trunks and large horizontal limbs, usually camelthorns) to observe their surroundings and mark the area. Cheetahs make chirping sounds, and hiss or spit when angered or threatened. They purr very loudly when content.
Reproduction Sexual maturity occurs at 20-23 months. The gestation period is about 95 days, and the average litter size is 4-5 cubs. Cubs are smoky-grey in color with long hair, called a mantle, running along their backs; they are up to 30 cm long and weigh 250-300 grams at birth. The mantle has several purposes: it is thought to camouflage the cub in dead grass, hiding it from predators, and to work as a mimicry defense, causing the cub to resemble a honey badger (ratel).
Population About 12,000-15,000 cheetahs are estimated to remain in 24 to 26 African countries and less than 100 animals in Iran. Namibia has the world's largest number of free-ranging cheetahs with about 3,000 animals.
Life Expectancy Studies have not been conducted in the wild on longevity; 8-12 years is average in captivity. Cub mortality is high for the species in both the wild and captivity. An average 30 percent of all cubs born in captivity die within one month of birth, and in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, about 90 percent die before reaching the 3 months of age.
Diet Small antelope, young of large antelope, warthog, springhare, and game birds.
Natural History Cheetahs have been kept in captivity for some 5,000 years. However, they breed poorly, and the captive population has been maintained through wild collection. Cheetahs suffer from a lack of genetic diversity making them more susceptible to disease and decreasing reproduction. The many parks and reserves of Africa offer protection for only a small amount of cheetahs. In these parks, lion and hyena numbers increase, and the cheetahs cannot compete with these large predators which kill cheetah cubs and steal their prey. Evolution has favored speed, and not strength for this species.
Survival Threats Decline in prey, loss of habitat, and indiscriminate trapping and shooting as a livestock predator threaten the survival of the cheetah throughout its range.
Legal Protection The cheetah is a protected species in Namibia, but people are allowed to remove cheetahs if they pose a threat to livestock or human life. Unfortunately, some farmers will capture cheetahs indiscriminately (the "conflict" animals may not be singled out), often removing or killing those that have not taken any livestock. Limited international trade in live animals and skins is permitted from Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Illegal trade in other parts of Africa and indiscriminate capture and removal in southern Africa continue to threaten the survival of this species.
Conservation To help this sleek hunter of the African wild win its race against extinction, we must:

1. Help protect its habitat and ensure a place for it on Namibian farmlands
2. Aid in the conservation of the wild prey base
3. Halt the indiscriminate capture and removal of the cheetah
4. Improve livestock management
5. Educate everyone about the need to conserve biological diversity, and the predators' unique role in a healthy ecosystem.
6. Ensure that cheetahs can provide economic benefits to the farmers on whose land they live.
Captivity CHEETAHS ARE WILD ANIMALS. Capture of wild cheetahs threatens the survival of the species in two ways. First, the removal of individuals reduce the species' genetic diversity in the wild. And secondly, cheetahs do not breed well in captivity. The Asian cheetah is nearly extinct because of its capture for private use. Special dietary requirements, unique needs, and unpredictable behavior make this a poor pet. Wild instincts remain intact even with tamed and captive-raised animals.

source:
http://www.cheetah.org /?nd=42&gclid=CMSckIm-hJUCFRTuegod8x2K2w