Best of our wild blogs: 25 Mar 13

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [18 - 24 Mar 2013]
from Green Business Times

Otterly wild weekend with reefy and mangrove celebrations too
from wild shores of singapore

an otteriffic encounter @ serangoon reservoir - 24Mar2013
from sgbeachbum

An Uncommon Butterfly @ Mandai
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker collecting nectar from flowers of Erythrina sp.
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Mud Lobster sighting on first outing in 2013
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

三月双溪布洛华语导游 Mandarin guide walk@SBWR March (XXXIV) from PurpleMangrove

Mangrove Horseshoe Crab
from Monday Morgue

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Malaysia: Rare clouded leopard caught in Felda scheme

New Straits Times 25 Mar 13


The clouded leopard in the trap set up by the state Wildlife and National Parks Department. Pic by Ramli Ibrahim

GUA MUSANG: The state Wildlife and National Parks Department yesterday captured a rare clouded leopard in Felda Perasu here following reports of its sightings by settlers.

Director Rahmat Topani said the male leopard, which was under threat of extinction, was lured into a trap set up by rangers in an oil palm plantation about 8am on Wednesday.

"The clouded leopard is a rare species and is protected. The animal has no record of attacking humans but we laid the trap when villagers reported sightings in their area."

He said the captured leopard, known scientifically as Neofelis nebulosa, was estimated to be about 4 years old with a height of 0.5m.

"We will release it into the wild in the Kuala Koh national park soon."

Rahmat said the department could not ascertain a claim made by a villager that the clouded leopard had mauled 10 goats in the settlement but would look into the issue.

"As the size of the clouded leopard is not that big, it may not be possible for it to have eaten the goats. Besides, clouded leopards normally only prey on chickens."

Settler Mat Zain Deraman, 53, said he lost 10 goats on Tuesday and Wednesday and believed they were mauled by the clouded leopard.

"I helped set up the trap with the rangers and we put two goat carcasses as bait," he said.

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Greenpeace targets Great Barrier Reef coal plans with new ship

Stuart McDill PlanetArk 25 Mar 13;

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace welcomed a new incarnation of their flagship Rainbow Warrior to Sydney on Friday, saying the vessel - whose sails cut its use of fossil fuels - will fight for the future of the Great Barrier Reef.

The reef, a popular tourist site worth billions of dollars annually to the Australian economy, is threatened by dredging, sedimentation and coal port and shipping development. UNESCO will decide in June whether the reef should be listed as a World Heritage Site in danger.

"Having the Rainbow Warrior here in Australia to confront the out-of-control coal industry undoubtedly brings a lift to a campaign that tens of thousands of Australians are already part of," said David Ritter, Greenpeace Australia CEO.

The 850-tonne ship has hi-tech rigging that includes two A-frame masts, 54 meters (177 feet) high, that allow air to flow over the sails without interruption. This enables the ship to sail completely without use of fossil fuels when the winds are right.

"We don't like burning fossil fuels either so we built a real sailboat," said Peter Willcox, the boat's captain, who was a volunteer on the original Rainbow Warrior in 1985, when it was bombed and sunk while in port in New Zealand.

The new ship is en route to Queensland to join the campaign to save the Great Barrier Reef from a planned expansion of the coal industry.

Ritter said Greenpeace is not anti-mining but that there is a direct link between the expansion of the coal industry on the east coast of Australia and the health of the reef.

"You cannot build up to nine new coal terminals in a World Heritage area and not experience real damage. What we are talking about here is nothing less than the industrialization of the Great Barrier Reef," Ritter said.

"It's no wonder UNESCO are very concerned, and that could prove deeply embarrassing for Australia," he added.

Heralded as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the 2,000 km (1,200 mile) Great Barrier Reef is home to 400 types of coral, 240 species of birds and 1,500 species of fish. It is worth A$6 billion ($6.13 billion) a year in tourism to the economy.

(Reporting by Stuart McDill, editing by Elaine Lies)

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India: Cameras Capture Tigers Trekking Through Wildlife Corridor

Douglas Main LiveScience.com Yahoo News 25 Mar 13;

A camera trap has captured photos of two healthy tigers using a protected corridor in the Kerala province of southwest India this year, evidence that the pathway could help populations of the endangered animals.

The first photo shows an adult male tiger in very good health that has just preyed upon a gaur, also known as an Indian bison, according to a release from the World Land Trust, which funded the creation of the protected area. The camera trap spotted another adult tiger, also in good health, earlier in the year.

The corridor, which is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) long and connects two adjacent wildlife reserves, was originally created to allowelephants to move between the parks. Indeed, elephants have been spotted moving through the area, as have sloth bears, leopards, barking deer and mongooses, according to the release.

"We are all very pleased to see the increased usage of the corridor by a wide range of animals, and capturing these tigers on film is very exciting," said Sandeep Kr. Tiwari, deputy director at Wildlife Trust of India.

The Thirunelli-Kudrakote corridor, as it's called, runs through a global hotspot of diversity, the World Land Trust reports. India's largest elephant population calls the corridor home, as do 10 native mammal species (including the Salim Ali's fruit bat and the Nilgiri tahr, a type of goat) and 13 endemic bird species, like the Malabar parakeet.

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