I just added two more trip reports for Latin America
North West Argentina 2009: Richard Webb, 2 weeks & 18 mammals or so, including Jaguarundi and 2 species of Tuco-tucos http://www.mammalwatching.com/Neotropical/neotropicargentina.html
and
Nicaragua 2007: Michal Polanski, 3 weeks & 10 species including Tayra, both Sloths and a Kinkajou. http://www.mammalwatching.com/Neotropical/neotropicnicaragua.html
Jon
Richard Webb went to Alaska twice this year to try to see a Canadian Lynx, whose numbers were at the top of their population cycle. He succeeded and a report of the two trips is here. http://www.mammalwatching.com/Nearctic/nearctusaalaska.html
Jon
Phil Telfer was in Madagascar last month and saw 42 species in 3 weeks including a Fossa.
A trip report is here http://www.mammalwatching.com/Afrotropical/afrotropmadagascar.html
Jon
ScienceDaily (Oct. 4, 2009) — The catastrophic decline around the world of “apex” predators such as wolves, cougars, lions or sharks has led to a huge increase in smaller “mesopredators” that are causing major economic and ecological disruptions, a new study concludes.
Amur Leopard Cat (photo Rich Lindie)
I was in South Korea last week and Rich Lindie and his partner Hayley took me out for a great day’s mammal watching. They found me my first Finless Porpoise under the Namhae Grand Bridge then took me to Seosan where – despite the terrible weather – we saw a stack of Raccoon Dogs, Water Deer and Amur Leopard Cats (check out Rich’s Amur Leopard Cat photo – they are very different to the oriental flavour).
A big big thanks to Rich and Hayley – they knew exactly where to find the animals and also make the best sandwiches in Korea!
Some pictures and more information are in my Korean page
Jon
An interesting article on the origins of the Flaklands Island Wolf
New Clues To Extinct Falklands Wolf Mystery (November 3, 2009) — Ever since the Falklands wolf was described by Darwin himself, the origin of this now-extinct canid found only on the Falkland Islands far off the east coast of Argentina has remained a mystery. Now, researchers who have compared DNA from four of the world’s dozen or so known Falklands wolf museum specimens to that of living canids offer new insight into the evolutionary ancestry of these enigmatic carnivores. … > full story
Hi all,
I photographed a couple of interesting bats in Senegal last month. The first, leaf-nosed type one I’m quite confident is Hipposideros cyclops, known as Woolly Leaf-nosed Bat. it was a pretty large guy (about 35 cm wingspan) that came into our camp’s kitchen taking cover from a thunderstorm, at Wassadou, 50 km east of Tambacounda (www.niokolo.com).
The second is one of the many African epauletted fruit bats species; from the location I’m guessing Epomophorus gambianus, but I’d appreciate any input as for its ID. It was hanging from the ceiling at a hotel in Tabakouta, not far from Gambia’s northern border.
Other interesting mammals included Patas and Vervet monkeys, Western Red Colobus, Guinea Baboons, Large Grey (or Egyptian) Mongoose, Golden Jackal, and unidentified genets and probable galagos at wassadou; unfortunately these weren’t seen under good enough light (we had storms almost every night), but the place seemed to have great potential for later in the dry season.
The reserve of Guembeul next to St Louis has free range Scimitar Oryx and Dama Gazelle, and Dorcas Gazelle in enclosures, waiting for reintroduction. Many of these come from the Sahara Wildlife Reserve in Almeria, Spain, where they have been bred for many years.
Best,
Ignacio Yúfera
www.iyufera.com
I read a post by Curtis Hart on Lonely Planet in which he reported seeing a black-footed ferret on a ranch in Arizona. I didn’t even know black-footed ferrets could be found there. Is this ranch open to the public? Any other good ferret watching spots?
This is old news, but here are some nice clips of two – apparently new mammals – that were discovered during this BBC doco in PNG
