It was really a surprise for the San Francisco Zoo officials about the kill of a Siberian tiger that managed to escape from its high walled enclosure. They are also suspecting whether miscreants helped the big cat to come out on its own.

This Siberian tiger (Tatiana) killed a person and mauled two more brothers who visited the Zoo on December-26, the day after Christmas rampage.

They could manage the tiger to rest on peace only after shooting at a short range(This is a big blow to wildlife conservation). This tiger managed to escape from an enclosure, which is surrounded by 18-foot wall and 20-foot moat.

The same tiger pulled the flesh off a woman zoo keeper while feeding her through bars just before Christmas a year ago.

Police is still investigating on this issue- is there any carelessness involved in the escape of this big cat. Some times the unlocked door may predisposing factor for the escape of this wild cat.

Wildlife expert- Jack Hanna opined that it is virtually impossible for a tiger to leap a such a wide distance, even with a running start.

Humpback whale hunt has suspended in Antartica first time by Japan since the 1960’s after widespread criticism.

Japanese whaling officials confirmed that they had not harpooned any humpbacks yet. They told that the government suspended the hunts of humpback whales would last a year or two.

Japanese scientific whaling research program costs nearly 1,000 whales -mostly minks- a year in the pacific.

The whale meat is sold in specialty restaurants of Japan under this program.

Still waiting my fingers crossed, what will happen to their research program that costs voiceless creatures life…

The world is filled with weird and wonderful creatures, and a good proportion of them are found deep down in the ocean. We actually know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the deepest parts of the ocean here on planet earth.

Some marine species are of course very carefully studied and can even be found in marine aquariums in living rooms and public aquatic parks around the world. These species are however mostly the ones that are found close to the surface in the wild, e.g. the colourful reef fishes that never ventures further down than 30-40 meters.

For a creature that lives deep down at depths never explored by man, the risk (or chance) of ending up in an aquarium is slim. One of the most interesting beasts to surface from the depths during the 20th century is the Coelacanth.

Coelacanths are bony fishes from the order Coelacanthiformes. What makes them so interesting is the fact that before a living specimen was found during the 1930s, they were believed to have become completely extinct together with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.

In 1936, a museum curator named Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer befriended a Captain Goosen who worked on a trawler off the African coast. Goosen began saving interesting fish specimens for Courtenay-Latimer, and eventually he brought her a primitive looking fish caught about 70 meters (77 yards) from the mouth of the Chalumna River in the Indian Ocean. This strange looking fish turned out to be a true, living Coelacanth.

The finding proved that some Coelacanths had actually survived the through the Cretaceous period and continued to reproduce deep down in the ocean. Who knows what else we might find down there as we continue to explore the mesmerizing depths of the world’s oceans.

The Missing link between the whale and land animal was recently found out. It was nothing but a Raccoon like animal which looks like a long-tailed deer without antlers, or an overgrown long-legged rat.

In Kashmir region fossils recently dug up revealed the fact that the creature that bridges the whale and land animal is called as Indohyus.This creature revealed that there is crucial evolutionary similarities between it and water-dwelling cetaceans, such as porpoises, dolphins and whales.

This Indohyus can be considered as a closest relative of whale as thousands of fossils are recently dug in Kashmir, which is a part of India.Hans Thewissen, Professor of Anatomy at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine confirmed that this animal is a “missing link” to the sister species to ancient whales. He added- Morphologically this raccoon like animal won’t resemble whale at all. But anatomically speaking both of them are having same thickened ear bone.

“The earliest Whales didn’t resemble the current one” Professor Thewissen said. “It looked like a cross between a dog and pig”. The whales lost their legs and walking ability on land about 40 million years age, he said.

Previously most of the scientists believed that the hippopotamus has been the perfect candidate for the closest land relative as it closely resemble the whale not only in its features but also similar DNA.

In the yester years (say, million years ago), whales were natural descends of India and Pakistan. But Hippos are native of Africa. So there is no possibilty of evolution of Hippos from whales.

Below is the image of the suspected Indohyus

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) — When Jody Fabry descended the basement stairs to her seasonal home and saw broken glass on the floor, then spied what caused the mess, she didn’t know who was more frightened — her, or the deer that was the culprit.

A young doe apparently got into the basement through a window, then couldn’t get out. Fabry called officers to her home, but it was more difficult than it looked to remove the animal.

Officers eventually ended up chasing it around the basement until it jumped back out the way it came, then bounded off.

The deer, which Fabry guessed had been in the unoccupied home for a day, appeared to be unhurt.

BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) — An unknown predator mauled a pit bull and killed two puppies in Brunswick County, and residents fear it’s the same animal that killed three dogs in September. No one has reported ever seeing the animal.

The county’s animal control agency investigated the animal’s tracks, droppings and other clues but couldn’t determine what attacked the dogs. Locals call the unknown animal the Beast of Bolivia.

Some residents and experts said the predator may be a bear, a wayward panther or cougar, or even a wolf because 3-inch paw tracks were found at the scene.

Many suggest the predator came from the nearby Faircloth Zoo, which had a lion and a tiger before it closed more than a year ago. Animal control officials said the animals were sent elsewhere.

Information from: The Star-News, http://starnewsonline.com

Habitat

Distributed whole of India. Mayanmar and Thailand and part of Malay peninsula. Common in Srilanka.

Breeding

They are prolific breeders and breed in all seasons. Sexual maturity- 2 to 4 years. Gestation period-115 days. Litter size- 4to 6 young ones.

Life span

15 to 20 years.

Feeding At Captivity

Wheat bran 1 kg
Carrot 250 gms
Cabbage 250 gms
White Bengal gram 100 gms
Potato 250 gms
Salt 10 gms
Tapioca 100 gms

Housing

Housing consists of a sleeping chamber and an outer open moated enclosure.

Recently a new species of Spitting Cobra was discovered in Kenya. Usually this cobra was found in the dry lowlands of northern and eastern Kenya, north-eastern Uganda, southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia. This discovery made the number of species of Spitting Cobra in South Africa as six.

“But the most common area you can find this species is along the Kenyan coast,”- was the statement given by the renowned Herpatologist- Royjan Taylor, who manages the Bio-Ken snake farm.

This Cobra is considered to be a largest poisonous snake as it overtakes its poisonous ability of King Cobra. This snake will able to produce 6.2ml of liquid venom in a single milking, which can kill 20 people at a time.

Giant Spitting Cobra grows to a maximum of two meters, with an average of 1.5 meters, Herpetologist Wolfgang Wuster and Donald Bradley said, making the new species the largest in the world.

This discovery is considered to be a best in this century. Most of the cryptozoologists admired this discovery.

With regard to this new discovery, World-renowned conservationist Richard Leakey, has said: “There have to be many other unreported species.” Yes it is true!!! What do you think? Stamp your views…

Have you ever seen Malabar Gliding Frog? I have seen once in my lifetime. I came across this attracting frog once I have visited Ponmudi hills in Kerala.

They can glide slantingly from a tree over a distance of 10 meters. When jumping/gliding the webs of all four limbs are fully extended. The frogs naturally like humid surroundings but do not tolerate water.

In captivity during the day the frogs usually rested on the leaves with their legs gathered together and body flattened, with the forefeet folded underneath their body, and pupils, contracted to tiny slits. This posture and their leaf green color render them almost invisible among the leaves.

The frog fed on houseflies at night in captivity.

Breeding

Breeding coincides with south-west monsoon. A large group of frogs was observed calling in Goa forests, all sitting on bamboo shoots. The call can be syllabised as ‘tak-tak-tarrik’. The amplexus was axillary, the male holding the female at her armpit. Foam nests were attached to vegetation some meters above the pool.

Tadpoles olive in color closely dotted with dark brown on the body and lighter on the tail; Length of body 16mm, length of tail 26 mm. The toes are nearly entirely webbed. The tadpoles are carnivores.

The majority of reptiles are useful and do silent service to man in controlling agricultural pests, both insects and rodents, but excite little interest in man. If it were not for the poisonous snakes, reptiles as a group would be largely ignored.

The greatest danger to this useful group of animals (?) is for demand for their skin for commercial purposes.

Malcolm Smith drew attention over sixty years ago to the danger of extinction facing many reptile species due to this cause.

The skin trade has made Indian Crocodiles endangered, and the demand for snake and lizard skins remains a constant threat to the survival of such useful reptiles as the monitor lizard and rat snake.