Anti-poaching efforts are successfully helping to protect many rare species in Thailand, according to a recent report by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Videos and images collected from WCS camera traps provide park rangers much needed data that can be used to arrest and convict poachers. Additionally, camera trap information is used by Wildlife Conservation Society scientists to measure and track population sizes of numerous local species.

The camera traps, placed in multiple locations within Thailand's Western Forest Complex, have capture footage and pictures of a variety of species including wild pigs, leopards, tigers, gaurs, Asian elephants, sun bears, clouded leopards, banteng and many others. Camera trap data indicates that there are between 125 and 175 tigers living within the 18,000-square kilometer Western Forest Complex.

Thailand serves as a critical front in the battle against poachers. The WCS has joined forces with the Thai government to train park rangers how to protect the region's rare animals from illegal hunting. Many park rangers and wildlife guards from other Asian countries are trained in Thailand, so they can learn how to best protect the rare wildlife from poaching in their own countries.

Photo © DNP-Government of Thailand / WCS Thailand Program. Camera trap image of an Asian elephant calf in a heard of adults, photographed in the Western Forest Compex, Thailand.

Thailand's Anti-Poaching Efforts Paying Off

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 16:02:28.

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Scientists working in the remote montane forests of southern Tanzania have recently discovered a new species of bush viper. The new snake, named after the daughter of one of the scientists involved in the discovery, is called the Matilda's horned viper (Atheris matildae).

The discovery was made by a team of experts that included Michele Menegon of Museo delle Scienze of Trento, Italy, Tim Davenport of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Kim Howell of the University of Dar es Salaam.

Matilda's horned viper is similar to (and larger than) the Usambara bush viper (Atheris ceratophora). Genetic analysis has revealed that the two species diverged about 2.2 million years ago.

Scientists expect the Matilda's horned viper to be classified as critically endangered by the IUCN due to the species' restricted range. It is thought that the Matilda's horned viper survives within a fragment of montane forest no larger than 100 square kilometers.

Since illegal wildlife trade presents a serious threat to many reptiles in the region, the exact location of the new snake's habitat has not been publicized.

Photo © Tim Davenport / Wildlife Conservation Society.

New Bush Viper Discovered in Tanzania

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 12:19:51.

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The waved albatross

is another of the four species of albatrosses that inhabit the Northern Hemisphere (other albatrosses of the Northern Hemisphere include the Laysan albatross

, black-footed albatross

and the short-tailed ablatross).

The waved albatross breeds on Española Island in the Galapagos Island and spends the rest of the year at sea, foraging over the open ocean, off the coast of Peru and Ecuador. Due to its presence in the Galapagos, the waved albatross has also earned itself another common name: the Galapagos albatross.

Although the Galapagos Archipelago straddles the equator and is therefore well within the tropics, the islands are bathed in the cold Humboldt Current from the south. So in some ways, despite the fact that waved albatrosses forage in the Northern Hemisphere, their range is, well, just barely northern.

Photo © D. Gordon E. Robertson / Wikipedia.

Waved Albatross - Also Known As the Galapagos Albatross

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 13:28:00.

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The black-footed albatross

, like the Laysan albatross

, is one of the oddballs of the albatross family due to the fact that it inhabits the Northern Hemisphere (only four out of twenty-one species of albatrosses lives outside of the Southern Hemisphere). The black-footed albatross (also like the Laysan albatross) breeds in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It nests in colonies on Laysan Island, Midway Island, Kure Atoll, French Frigate Shoals and Kaula Island.

Unlike the Laysan albatross, which is considered to be common and not at threat from extinction, the black-footed albatross population is declining. Consequently, the species is classified as endangered. Today there are fewer than 120,000 mature adult black-footed albatrosses, and longline fishing currently poses the greatest threat to the species.

Black-footed albatrosses are notable for their distinct coloration. They are the only entirely dark-colored albatross to inhabit the northern Pacific Ocean. They have a halo of white feathers around the base of their bill and as the bird ages, the white fringe of feathers grows more prominant.

Black footed albatrosses feed on the eggs of flying fish as well as fish, squid and crustaceans. They use their keen sense of smell to pinpoint the location of prey when foraging over the open sea.

Photo © Daisy Gilardini / Getty Images.

Black-Footed Albatross - Not Your Average Albatross

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 13:03:03.

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As I mentioned in my previous post

, albatrosses and their relatives tend to be a group of birds that resides for the most part in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule and the Laysan albatross

is one such exception that's worth mention.

The Laysan albatross is a small, gull-like albatross that breeds in the Northern Hemisphere. More specifially, it forms vast nesting colonies on various Hawaiian Islands (including Laysan and Midway Islands), the French Frigate Shoals, the Bonin Islands (off the coast of Japan) and Guadalupe Island (off the coast of Mexico). Unlike many albatrosses, the Laysan is not considered to be threatened or endangered. In fact, it is among the most common seabirds that inhabit the Hawaiian Islands. Conservationists estimate that there are in the ballpark of 1.1 million Laysan albatrosses.

Photo © Sylvain Cordier / Getty Images.

Laysan Albatross - Hawaii's Albatross

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 11:54:01.

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Albatrosses and their relatives

, also known as the Procellariiformes, are one of those lucky groups of birds that share a single, rather obvious characteristic and, in doing so, make it easy for taxonomists to declare what a Procellariiform is and what a Procellariiform isn't.

In the case of Procellariiformes, this distinguishing characteristic is the tubelike structure of their nostrils—their nostrils are contained within tubes that run along the top of the beak. In some Procellariformes, the nostrils are fused within one tube but in one group of Procellariiformes, the albatrosses

, the nostrils lie within separate tubes on either side of their bill. Thus, although Procellariiformes are highly varied in their body shape and overall appearance, their tube-like nostrils unite them as a group as well as inspire the common name for the group: tubenoses.

Another common thread within the Procellariiformes is their preference for the Southern latitudes. Although there are some members of the group that do inhabit the Northern Hemisphere (namely petrels and shearwaters) most Procellariiformes remain within the stretches of the Southern Hemisphere where they spend most of their time at sea, feeding on the marine life—fish and squid—that blossoms in cold, nutrient-rich southern currents.

Photo © Marco Simoni / Getty Images.

Albatrosses and their Relatives - Total Tubenoses

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 11:12:22.

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The secretary bird

is in many ways Africa's version of the roadrunner. Like roadrunners, secretary birds have a fondness for dry, open habitats such as deserts, grasslands and scrublands. They also have a knack for running around on the ground catching their prey by stunning and stomping on it (since they feed on snakes, some of which are venemous, they can't be too careful when subduing their prey).

But secretary birds and road runners differ in many ways too. Despite some apparant similarities between the two groups, they are not closely related (the similarities are due more to the workings of convergent evolution than to a recently shared ancestry). In fact, secretary birds are classified amongst the birds of prey and are therefore closer cousins to the eagles, hawks, vultures, falcons and the osprey than to roadrunners.

From the hips up, secretary birds resemble their raptor cousins. Their head and body resemble those of a hawk and they have a bare face (a characteristic common to many raptors). But below the hips, secretary birds differ markedly from other raptors. Their greatest oddity is their legs which are not just long, they are comically long. From head to toe, adult secretary birds stand at an impressive meter or more tall.

Photo © EcoPic / iStockphoto.

Secretary Bird - One Tall Raptor

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 16:01:18.

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Golden eagles

are the mightiest of all avian predators in North America (and perhaps the world). To begin, these are no small birds. They weigh as much as 10 pounds and measure some 33 inches long with a wingspan in the ballpark of 86 inches. Their prey mainly consists of small mammals such as rabbits, haris, ground squirrels and such.

But there are stories of golden eagles having taken down much larger quarry such as foxes, coyotes, pronghorn and deer. Of course, many of the larger prey taken are often animals that have been incapacitated in some way, either through injury or the trials of long hard winters and lack of food. Additionally, golden eagles only attach large prey if they too are under stress to find food and if more suitable (smaller) prey is not present. The energetic requirements needed to kill large prey make it a last resort option for even these mighty birds.

Photo © Tracy Williams Photography / iStockphoto.

Golden Eagles - North America's Mightiest Avian Predator

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 12:53:20.

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Ospreys

are among the most widespread of all birds of prey

—they inhabit every continent except for Antarctica. Their distribution is so vast that taxonomists commonly split the species up into four subspecies based on range and on variations in their appearance.

Ospreys are not only notable for their expansive range, they are also expert fishers. They live on a diet of almost exclusively fish. To catch their prey, they fly over the water and plunge feet-first, snatching their prey from just beneath the surface. They carry the fish they catch back to the nest to eat (their strong feet, scaly toes and sharp talons enable them to hold onto their prey while flying).

Although ospreys are widespread and are not currently classified as threatened or endangered, they once suffered drastic declines due to pesticide poisoning. Fortunately in 1970, pesticides such as DDT were banned and the osprey population has since recovered.

Photo © James Michael Kruger / Getty Images.

The Osprey - One Widespread Bird of Prey

originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife

on Saturday, December 10th, 2011 at 20:39:22.

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