We were filming the monkeys at the Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia back in October 2008, when we noticed one monkey seemed to have a kitten for a baby.
Posts Tagged Wildlife
Monkey adopts orange kitten
Aug 25
Friends
Apr 14
Researchers have discovered a cryptic species of gecko in the 
Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, reports Fauna & Flora International (FFI), a conservation group that operates in the region.
The new species, named Cnemaspis neangthyi after Neang Thy, a Cambodian conservationist, was first collected during a field survey led by Dr Lee Grismer of La Sierra University in 2007. It is characterized by a broad flattened head and cryptic coloration that helps it blend in with rock surfaces and tree trunks.
Neang, who runs FFI’s Cardamom Mountains Research Group and works for Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, said the discovery highlights the need to study and protect the Cardamom region, a biodiversity trove that is under threat from agriculture, fire, and illegal logging.
mongabay.com
The only two baby mountain gorillas in the world in captivity, orphaned in 2007 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo following the slaughter of their mothers in the wild, moved yesterday to a new sanctuary within the country’s Virunga National Park, the Congolese Wildlife Authority said today.
Ndeze and Ndakasi, the 2 1/2-year-old female orphans, had been living in the city of Goma outside the park since mid 2007 because of the conflict in eastern Congo, the agency said in a statement.
“The successful transfer of these orphaned mountain gorillas from unsuitable conditions in Goma to the Senkwekwe Centre here in Rumangabo is a big victory in the fight to ensure the survival of the subspecies,” said Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park.
“But we have not yet won the war to protect the gorillas or Virunga from the many threats that continue to endanger them both. We must not forget that Virunga remains arguably the most threatened park in Africa.”
nationalgeographic.com
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News
A rare mockingbird could be reintroduced to the Galapagos Islands – with the help of some specimens collected by Charles Darwin.
A team of geneticists extracted DNA from two birds that the famous 
naturalist collected in 1835.
By comparing this to DNA from living sub-populations on two other islands, the scientists revealed genetic clues about how best to conserve the birds.
They report their findings in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The researchers used two specimens that Darwin and Robert Fitzroy – the captain of HMS Beagle – collected from Floreana Island during their trip to the Galapagos more than 170 years ago.
The Floreana mockingbird (Mimus trifasciatus ) became extinct on the island soon after this famous expedition, mainly because of the human impact on its delicate habitat.
Today only two small sub-populations survive on two tiny satellite islets – Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana.
bbc.co.uk
Matt Kaplan
for National Geographic News
After all, the thunderous, seemingly tone-deaf chorus in the above video is “sung” by a species of alligator, the crocodiles’ stout-headed cousin.
Chinese alligators are among the most vocal crocodilians, and now researchers think they’ve figured out why: the reptiles burst into song to form singles clubs.
nationalgeographic.com
Rare mosses, dragonflies and wading birds will benefit as they recolonise the wilderness north of Hadrian’s Wall
The most sinister sounding of all Britain’s scientifically treasured
landscapes has been rescued two years ahead of schedule and restored to its natural state as a deep bog.
Famous as the retreat of the Mosstrooper outlaws who harried villages in Northumberland and the south of Scotland, the Border Mires have been reflooded in a £700,000 project after years as part of the country’s strategic timber reserve.
Rare mosses, dragonflies and wading birds have started to recolonise the revived wilderness just north of Hadrian’s Wall where soggy peat hags – waterlogged blocks of peat underground – go as deep as 15 metres. Special machinery, including a tractor with tyres 2.5 metres wide to prevent it sinking, have removed the last traces of Forestry Commission conifers.
guardian.co.uk
ScienceDaily
New experiments by Oxford University scientists reveal that New Caledonian crows can spontaneously use up to three tools in the correct sequence to achieve a goal, something never before observed in non-human animals without explicit training.
Sequential tool use has often been interpreted as evidence for advanced cognitive abilities, such as planning and analogical reasoning, but this has never been explicitly examined.
The researchers set out to investigate what the crows really understood about the tasks and their own actions with tools. A report of their research appears in the journal PLoS One.
In the wild, New Caledonian crows use a range of tool types for extracting invertebrate prey from holes and crevices, and in captivity, they have been shown to make, or select, tools to retrieve food rewards. In previous experiments, the Oxford team reported that a crow (named ‘Betty’) was capable of spontaneously inventing new tool designs according to what was required by the tasks. In all these cases, however, objects were used to act on pieces of food.
sciencedaily.com
QUITO (Reuters) – Lonesome George, the last remaining giant tortoise of his kind, may soon be a father to the delight of conservationists.
Unhatched eggs have been found in his “bachelor” pen in the Galapagos Islands, his keepers said on Tuesday.
For decades, the last known Pinta island tortoise had shown little interest in reproducing. But at age 90, George is said to be in his sexual prime.
Galapagos tortoises were among the species Charles Darwin observed to formulate his theory of evolution in the 19th century.
Scientist have been trying to get George to mate since 1993, when they introduced two female tortoises of a different subspecies into his pen.
The Galapagos National Park said the five eggs found on Monday were “in perfect condition” and have been placed in an incubator.
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Research reveals how the frog and other ‘super-sleeper’ animals do it
One species of burrowing frogs can survive for years buried in mud without food and water. New research has figured out how the frog and other “super-sleeper” animals do it.
Many species of animals go through a period of torpor to conserve energy when resources are scarce. The champion in energy-saving mode is the burrowing frog (Cyclorana alboguttata).
A team of scientists at the University of Queensland discovered that the metabolism of these frogs ‘ cells changes radically during the dormancy period allowing maximized use of limited energy resources without ever running on empty.
This discovery could lead to medical applications down the line.
“It could potentially be useful in the treatment of energy-related disorders such as obesity ,” said Sara Kayes, who will present her findings at the Society of Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, June 29.
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