The reasons attributed to this weak mobility in the tigers are injuries from the breathing roots cannot be ruled out and the major cause could be low prey density and with human presence in the vicinity, the tigers have developed a tendency to stray outside the jungles.

A recent survey and research by the Wildlife institute of India clearly concludes the low prey density in Sajnekhali area of the Sunderbans in West Bengal, India. The recent seizures of traps, laid to trap the poach deer, confirms the fears about how the low prey density is affecting the tigers in the Sunderbans.

It seems that the big cat might soon lose its hunting skills. The behavior patterns of tigers in Sunderbans is a matter of grave concern for wild life lovers. Vets and researchers are trying to study wildlife A to Z in order to come up with a solution to this strange and unfortunate issue.

]]> http://www.wildlifeworld360.net/tigers-of-sunderbans-in-a-grave-situation.html/feed 0 http://www.wildlifeworld360.net/the-bar-tailed-godwit-bird-navigation-system.html http://www.wildlifeworld360.net/the-bar-tailed-godwit-bird-navigation-system.html#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2013 04:36:00 +0000 admin http://www.wildlifeworld360.net/?p=2376 The latest discovery will jolt all the modern day devices of navigation, and the new navigational device to reckon with is- the bar tailed godwit’s navigational system.

Wild life creatures fascinate with their movements, features, characteristics and style.

The Bar Tailed Godwit Bird undertakes one of the most marvellous and amazing migrations ever witnessed by mankind. The birds 7,000 miles (11000 km) journey can last for more than approximately eight days.

Researchers believe that a couple of bird’s species make use of the magnetic field of the earth in order to navigate, just like they had a compass built within their brain. There is also a likelihood that the Godwit also navigates with the help of the sun during the day and with the help of the stars during the night.

It is also contemplated that the Godwit is capable of sensing any upcoming storm systems which let it avail the benefit arising due to the tailwinds. The details how these incredible bird make their journey baffles the experts, and they just watch in awe the journey of these birds.

Such a marvel of nature and the gifts the Lord has bestowed upon them makes us feel humble in comparison. Yet we humans are ignorant or rather tend to ignore the marvel of Mother Nature and try to intimidate the lesser fortunate creatures.

It is time to sit back and appreciate their abilities and learn from them.

You may visit Gir National Reserve and stay at the Gir Birding Lodge, Gujarat. The lodge is situated next to one of the main gates of the    Gir National Park.

Driving past the sleepy hamlets close to the lodge, you realise that perhaps this is the closest you can get to the nature. The lodge, set amidst mango orchard, there are 12 cottages blending perfectly well with their natural surroundings of the    Gir National Park, and offering you a dramatic and thrilling panoramic view of the Gir National Park.

You can enjoy an uninterrupted view of the forests, and the wildlife reserve, from the large windows and verandas of your cottage. If you are lucky then you may be rewarded by a glimpse of the king of the jungle- the Asiatic lion- all from your cottage window.

You can also enjoy the calls of the wild all through the night as you look forward to the safari next morning. The lodge will arrange a lion safari for you under an expert guide, and you will be transported to the world of lions, which is a protected and preserved zone and you will realize how the lions and other animals and birds species live in harmony. You may click your pictures, and enjoy the drama and thrill in the air.

You may also have a close look at the lives of hospitable local herder’s tribe called Maldharis- whose life style has changed little over the years. You may take a walk up to the river that flows through the national park, and hope to spot the king of the jungle- the lion- the Asiatic king.

The Sundarbans tiger land is a reserve land of 4264 square km, and has been declared as a world heritage site, to protect the tigers. According to the last survey conducted there are about 250 tigers in this wild life park, and are protected and preserved by the ever vigilant security guards.

The tigers in the Sundarbans are reputed to be man eaters and their prime target is the honey collectors who put their life at risk to work at beehives, and on an average about 100 people are killed in a year in this wild life by the tigers who inhabit here in extremely tough climatic conditions and it is believed that the saline water consumed by the tigers here is the main reason for these tigers to be ferocious and man eating animal.

The flora and fauna of this wild life reserve will mesmerize you with different kinds of species of birds and animals like crocodiles, deer, mammals, and snakes like cobra and other reptiles found here in abundance.

Trikona Point is the favourite spot marked her in the jungles to have a glimpse of the tigers and their way of life. The tigers dominate even the narrow creek which connects the Sundarbans land, where the boatmen survive only because of miracles and their own cunning and divine grace and there is nothing to protect them from the tigers. The visitors to this reserve travel by boats are awed at the sheer courage of the boatmen in Sundarbans and appreciate the nature and its blessings and curses, and cross the watery world against the brevity of human life, when faced with the tigers.

In the creeping silence of the eerie reserves the tigers rule the wild life in Sundarbans.

The Antelope Island State park is situated in Utah in the Great Salt Lake. This is a very pristine locale and an absolute paradise for the wildlife lover. This is a total paradise for the tourist and the beautiful island with its immensely beautiful surroundings and the most mesmerizing ambience this is a beautiful paradise in this part of the world. This is an island that is home to the lovely antelopes and the most beautiful wild animals. There are around 500 freely roaming animals and you would find the bison here which is the most famous wild animal here in the Antelope Island. The island totally rich in scenic beauty and absolutely natural surroundings is the ideal place to go to and the most mesmerizing locale in this part of the world.

Antelope Island is the region which is found in the Utah State park system. Normally visitors come to this park by an automobile or by boat. The automobile crosses a causeway that goes over the Layton area.

Anyone who comes here to the Antelope Island is sure to enjoy the adventurous activities that makeup the region. So you would get the best recreational activities like the biking, hiking, horseback trails and also the scenically beautiful delights which are in this part of the world. So enjoy the beautiful sailboats and the kayakers and the powerboats which are the best ways a tourist would get the best travel experiences. Campers normally come here to see the lovely sunsets and the sunrises and also the beauty of the sights in the Whiterock Bay in the Antelope Island.

There are many people who really love swimming in the Salty water in the Great Salt Lake area. This is sometimes more salty in the ocean. The water is so salty here that the extra buoyant nature of the water helps people to float on the surface easily.

The island spans over around 28,022 acres and it appears very deserted and barren. Antelope Island is the place where the flora and the fauna are found in an amazingly charming biodiversity and they are mainly found in the Great Basin. This is the best place to get the best of wildlife. The island did not have the antelope for many years and they were then brought back in the year 1993, and today they are seen in many areas of the park.

There are the best varieties of coyotes, bobcats and the deer and also the best plethora of avifauna and the waterfowl. The most famous are the American Bison here and today there are some 600 animals here. The wild animals are many times seen by the tourists coming here as they drive up the backroads or on the trails of the biking experiences. There is actually an annual roundup of the annual bison and the best month of the year to see this is November. There are also techniques that are used to see the best sights of buffalos here.

There are many facilities here like the picnic area, the marina and also the camping areas. The campgrounds are great with the best sights of the vault toilets. There are showers available here so the best travel experiences are found here in the land of absolute tour delights.

Enjoy kayaking here as also going on the sailboats, powerboats and also kayaks. Then there are facilities for camping, hiking, bicycle trails and also wildlife watching. Come here to the Land of Antelope Island and enjoy the best travel sights.

North America is a great destination for the ideal kind of wildlife pleasures and get to see the best tour delights and go back with charming and memorable tales to cherish. This is one land which is the ideal for the nature lover and the wildlife enthusiast.

So if you are planning to visit Brunei do include wildlife tours as part of your itinerary. The Ulu Temburong National Park is one such region in Brunei which would demand your attention. The entire park is made up of the best kind of habitats and the most ideal forest and jungle vegetation. So you would have the montane forest and the jungle forest all at a great elevation of around 2000 metres. One accesses the pristine surroundings of this park through the longboat river corridors that are a very common feature here. Besides there are the most fascinating jungle tracks here which are perfect for hiking. So it is obvious that this is one zone that has not tracks or roads.

Often regarded as a land for the threatened species across Borneo, the UlU Temburong national park is a great zone of beautiful travel delights and the wildest of experiences. The mountainous terrain and the absolutely beautiful topography renders a tourist totally helpless with excitement and thrill and he asks for more as the place is a never ending treasure house of adventurous pursuits. With the steep slopes and the narrow ridges which dot the region, the innumerable peaks with their lovely green caps and the mesmerizing sights of the beautiful land here is something to take back as a travel kitty. The deep jungles with their virgin expanse and the secondary vegetation which is so much a part of the entire area is responsible to have made this one stop experience a must see in travel experiences.

The Belalong river basin is one area within the park precincts which is reserved only for scientific study. There is a Kuala Belalong Field studies Centre which is managed by the Brunei Darussalam University and where there are many scientists who come from all parts of the world to conduct surveys and to study the eco systems and the related animal life.

There is a preservation policy here that has totally protected the park from being subjected to activities like destructive logging, plantation development and clearing many areas in Borneo. Thus the Ulu Temburong Park is a paradise for all those scientists who appreciate the absolute beauty of Mother Nature.

The most adventurous would find this park their home. The 12 kms longboat trip up the steam and through the rapids is very exciting and filled with thrills. Sometimes the longboat has to be pushed in case the water is shallow and many times the tourists walk over the river so that the boat can be managed. The rainfall in the park determines the level of the river water.

The interesting factor is the fact that the boatmen and the guides are all locals who have grown up in this area. So they are totally familiar with the park area and the river is their home. So they know where to go looking for fruits and where the hill paddy rice fields would be found.

There is a certain pattern to the vegetation here and it is immediately noticed as you reach the entrance of the park. The secondary forests slowly turn into paddy fields and these are mainly found near the batang Duir longhouse. From here the river view changes .

For those who want to walk through the park there are facilities of wooden walkways making their walking trails very planned.

The Ulu Temburong National park in Brunei is thus a mixture of thrill, fun, excitement and pleasure.

Take a tour of the Ulu Temburong national park in this part of Brunei, in Borneo and enjoy the most cherishable travel delights.

There are two photos that have been taken. This is the first time that such a kind of species has been discovered in this part of the world. This is a rare occasion for all the scientists of wildlife who have considered it a eureka moment in this arena. This is a mammalian species which is the latest find. There was a report of this event of a feline cat having been founded. The forest officials of the forests of Bengal sent pictures of the cat to the Wildlife Institute of India. They said that there was a leopard cat which is of the melanistic kind. Such a species has never been found before according to the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve officials.

This is a cat which has never been spotted before. It has been captured in the camera for the world to see. This is a species that has been identified as a rare cat and it is very difficult. But the scientists here have finally taken a decision to go ahead with the melanistic leopard cat being. They have laid traps with camera within the main area of the Sunderbans which helps us to gather if the species is common here or not.

There is a senior member belonging to the International Union for the Conservation of the Nature Cat group of specialists had not found the species earlier. Then the forest department sent the photos to the Wildlife Authorities. The cat was found in the traps laid by the camera specialists in the district of Raigad and this is a little bigger than the wild cat. But it is not as big as the leopard. The sources say that there has never been the sighting of any other animal like in the regions of the Sunderbans. Apart from the cats and the 18 tigers that are found here, there are also many fishing or jungle cats which were found in the camera exercise. It was done outside the vicinity of the jungle reserve for the first time. Many of them are expected to be sighted still and they came upon the sightings of the black cat this February.

But the wildlife authorities say that the identification process was not very easy. The tail was what is the crucial part and it helped in identifying the entire thing. It was thought that this was a melanistic fishing cat or a marbled cat. There were many other discussions with the help of carnivore experts who would help to identify the cat as a black leopard cat.

There was a fishing cat’s tail that can be one third of the length of the body. The leopard’s tail is half the length of the body. As one goes deeper in the forests of the Sunderbans, the camera has captured at least 18 Bengal tigers and then the photo of this melanistic cat is a major discover. For all the wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers, the conservation lists and the environment lovers, the spotting of this wild cat is a great moment.

It was a chance discovery that helped the forest officers to scan through pictures and they stopped in their tracks when they came across a small creature with a long tail. This is something that has not been seen in so many years of exploration and documentation as seen in the Sunderbans.

Sunderbans is the only reserve for tigers in the Indian subcontinent where leopards have never been sighted. There are some sightings as reported in the Bangladeshi site. The black cat that has been seen in the camera is bigger than a normal cat and smaller than a leopard thus making it a very unique sight for all the wildlife enthusiasts. This is a real rare sight in this part of the world in Sunderbans.

There are two genes which show whether the animals would be yellow with black or totally black. The Black Panther gets its colour from the recessive black gene. So the wildlife experts reiterate that they have never seen any animal like this here in Sunderbans.

• Physical features: All species boast a different appearance. But, usually, an argali possesses a light brown coat, white legs, and a white patch on its rump. As compared to the females, the males tend to have larger as well as relatively appealing horns whose length can reach up to 13% of their total mass of the body. Setting off their stunning look is also a white hair patch flanking the neck as well as a unique crest along their back. Featuring corkscrew horns bending at the front, a mature male can bear a corkscrew horn of up to 20 to 22 kg. The weight of the sheep can range from 130 pounds to 350 pounds, while the height can be anywhere from 3 to 4 feet.
• Unique Physical Ability: An Argali, by blowing air via the nostrils, can produce a warning hiss as well as an alarming whistle.
• Habitat: Argali is mostly seen today in Central Asia and that too at an altitude of 1300 meters and over. However, their subspecies are only seen in the different zones – Ovis Ammon Severtzovi in the west of Uzbekistan and the Altai Argali is in east of Mongolia. Mostly, you can spot them in the highly elevated mountainous regions that feature dry alpine habitats. Argalis are very sociable and settle in single-gender clusters each ranging from 2 to 100 members.
• Reproduction: One of the most unique Argali facts is that just at the start of the mating season, a violent competition takes place among the males to obtain the friendliest female. This contest is so hostile that their clashing horns’ sounds echoes in the mountains. Overall, the gestation period is 5 months after which the female becomes the mother of one or two lambs. To give birth, the female argali tends to go away from the male herd. At birth, the young one weighs seven to eight pounds, which is the same as the human infants. Once the birth has occurred, these infants veil themselves in the soaring grasses and the mother feeds them.
• Life Span: 10 to 17 years.
• Food: The Argalis are purely herbivorous as they only feed on grass, sedges, and herbs. In summer when these greens turn out to be dry, Argalis are forced to migrate in search of food to the higher elevations.
• Migration: Mostly males migrate seasonally so that they can survive in summer, especially to be on the higher elevations. The Argalis tend to have long legs due to which they can roam speedily from one location to another. This is also the main reason as to why they flee quickly from the predators in the jagged zones of the mountains.
• Current Number of Species: 9 – Altai argali, Tibetan argali, Kara Tau argali, North China argali, Severtzov argali, Karaganda argali, Gobi argali, Tian Shan argali, and Marco Polo argali.

Scientifically known as the Panther Onca, this feline animal belongs to the Panthera genus. If you are looking at it for the first time, you will feel as if it is a leopard. However, for a clear cut distinction, look for the rosette shaped prints that are completely different from those seen on a leopard. Are you interested in knowing more about the Jaguarundi? I am sure that you will be as this is the mammal of historic, religious, and cultural importance since times immemorial.

• Physical features: The weight of this animal ranges from 50 to 100 kilograms, while the length ranges from 5.5 to 6 feet with the height from 25 to 30 inches. The skin spots bears a pattern in which the large ones flank the small dots. Mostly, the color of the skin is reddish brown or yellow. But, what is more interesting to know of the Jaguarundi is the fact that melanism can make it look black with black spots and so they are also called black panthers. By contrast, albinism although seen in very rare cases makes the animal look white and so also sometimes are known as the white jaguars.
• Unique Abilities: Jaguars can make many sounds such as grunting, mewing, and roaring. As they love to be in water, they have excellent swimming abilities. While swimming, they can carry their prey with dexterity. And yes, they are more talented in climbing and fishing.
• Habitats: Once to be seen on the Mexico border, it is today only spotted in the Amazon basin. Most of the times, these animals are seen in swamps, rain forests, deciduous forests, and pampas grasslands, especially of northern Mexico as well as the central and northern parts of South America besides the Amazon Basin. They mostly like to be alone and their residing territory is outlined with their waste.
• Life Span: Jaguarundi is a solitary mammal who can live for 12 years when living in the wild. However, in captivity, they tend to live for 20 to 23 years.
• Prey: Rivers are the hubs of their food in form of turtles, caimans (alligator like, but small creatures), and fishes. However, they also eat big ones like tapirs, deer, monkeys, cattle, capybaras, reptiles, and peccaries indicating that the jaguars are carnivores.

• Hunting Skills: The typical hunting manner is to pierce off the skull in just one strong bite – all credit goes to their very strong jaws. Instead of chasing, these strong cat prefer to hide and attack their prey. They tend to hunt at night instead during the day. Although it is rare, they even climb trees for making a trap so that they can easily kill with just a sole powerful bite.
• Protection: Jaguars are hunted very randomly for their fur making them one of the most endangered species in the world today.
• Gestation Period/Reproduction: The gestation period is 90 to 105 days following which the females become mothers of the 2 to 4 young ones. These animals can mate anytime in the year, but separate after the birth. It is only the females who bring up the young ones as the males have a tendency of attacking their own small ones.

• Physical features: Siberian tigers are muscular creatures of around 850 pounds in weight and 10 to 12 feet in height. The color of their skin is pale orange coated with stripes in not pure black, but dark brown. However, there are also Siberian tigers in white coat with chocolate stripes. As per the type of tooth, their size changes anywhere between 1 and 3 inches, but the canines are the longest. Whiskers of 15 cm around are sensitive, longer in males, and are utilized for sensory perception. There is no specific mating season for them and they attain maturity between 3 to 5 years. Surprisingly, these tigers can jump until 23 feet and can also survive heavy iciness.

• Cubs: One of the interesting Siberian Tiger facts is that the cubs are blind when they are born. So, the mothers protect them heavily for some 8 weeks after which these small ones slowly wander around with their mothers. At 1, they aid in hunting, while at 3 marking full maturity in most, they start hunting independently.
• Diet: These wild cats require daily 20 pounds of meat and mostly prey on elk, deer, and pigs (wild ones). It is only on days of lack of food that they attack fish, frogs, fowls, and monkeys. One of the most surprising Siberian Tiger facts is that only 1 of every 10 hunting jumps give them results. The chronicles reveal that a tiger in search of food can run over 600 miles, eat daily 200 pounds of meat, and can also eat 100 pounds in one go. As compared to the Bengal tigers, these are rare man-eaters. As of the records, only six events of eating men have been noticed in the 20th century. Bears are one of their favorites, especially the brown bears as they cannot climb the trees.
• Hunting: Siberian tigers acquire the ‘ambush’ while hunting method in which they tend to attack from a distance of 30 to 80 feet from their prey. If there is a fight, these tigers caution the trespasser by rattling their tail well in advance.
• Though the male tiger fights for its territory fiercely, it won’t harm an intruder female with cubs.
• Habitat: Male Siberian tigers love a private life as well as big personal territories of which many go beyond 4000 square miles. Unlike the males, the females take care of cubs and stay with their own families. A majority of them are mostly nocturnal. Formerly found in plenty in Korea, China, Mongolia, and Russia; today they are only seen in eastern Russia. These tigers are usually killed for utilizing their costly skins and also for preparing a few medicines (China).
• Life span: This is up to 25 years. However, those living in the wild tend to live longer as compared to those in captivity.
• Identity: The locals of Siberia identify these tigers as the animals of great respect. In fact, the Tungusic folks call them ‘Old Man’ or ‘Grandfather’, whereas the people of Nanai refer to them as ‘Amba’. Now, this is one of the most surprising Siberian Tiger facts.