New “walking” shark species discovered

Perth, Australia based Biologist Dr. Gerald Allen and his colleagues recently discovered a new “walking” shark species off the coast of Ternate, one of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesian waters. Hemiscyllium Halmahera, are brown spotted fish that live on the ocean floor and use their pectoral and pelvic fins to push them along in a walking-like motion as they search for meals of small fish and invertebrates. Also known as bamboo sharks or longtail carpet sharks, they are relatively small reaching up to 28 inches in length. They are differentiated from similar looking sharks by their distinctive large horizontally elongated dark spots on their lower abdomen, a cluster of around 25 solid dark spots near their head.

source: Mark Erdmann and Weda Resort

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New mammal species discovered: a raccoon-sized critter with teddy bear looks

WASHINGTON –  Imagine a raccoon with a teddy bear face that is so cute it's hard to resist, let alone overlook. But somehow science did — until now.

Researchers announced Thursday a rare discovery of a new species of mammal called the olinguito. It belongs to a grouping of large creatures that include dogs, cats and bears.

The raccoon-sized critter leaps through the trees of mountainous forests of Ecuador and Colombia at night, according to a Smithsonian researcher who has spent the past decade tracking them.

SUMMARY

The olinguito lived in the National Zoo in Washington, mistaken for an olingo.

Olinguitos are smaller, have shorter tails, a rounder face, tinier ears and darker bushier fur.

Researchers guess there are thousands of olinguitos in the mountainous forest

But the adorable olinguito (oh-lihn-GEE'-toe) shouldn't have been too hard to find. One of them lived in the Smithsonian-run National Zoo in Washington for a year in a case of mistaken identity.

"It's been kind of hiding in plain sight for a long time" despite its extraordinary beauty, said Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian's curator of mammals.

The zoo's little critter, named Ringerl, was mistaken for a sister species, the olingo. Ringerl was shipped from zoo to zoo from 1967 to 1976: Louisville, Ky., Tucson, Ariz., Salt Lake City, Washington and New York City to try to get it to breed with other olingos.

It wouldn't.

"It turns out she wasn't fussy," Helgen said. "She wasn't the right species."

The discovery is described in a study in the journal ZooKey.

Helgen first figured olinguitos were different from olingos when he was looking at pelts and skeletons in a museum. He later led a team to South America in 2006.

"When we went to the field we found it in the very first night," said study co-author Roland Kays of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. "It was almost like it was waiting for us."

It's hard to figure how olingos and onlinguitos were confused for each other.

"How is it different? In almost every way that you can look at it," Helgen said.

'It looks kind of like a fuzzball ... a cross between a teddy bear and a house cat.'

- Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian's curator of mammals

Olinguitos are smaller, have shorter tails, a rounder face, tinier ears and darker bushier fur, he said.

"It looks kind of like a fuzzball ... kind of like a cross between a teddy bear and a house cat," Helgen said.

It eats fruit, weighs about 2 pounds and has one baby at a time. Helgen figures there are thousands of olinguitos in the mountainous forest, traveling through the trees at night so they are hard to see.

While new species are found regularly, usually they are tiny and not mammals, the warm-blooded advanced class of animals that have hair, live births and mammary glands in females.

Outside experts said this is not merely renaming something, but a genuine new species and a significant find, the type that hasn't happened for about 35 years.

"Most people believe there are no new species to discover, particularly of relatively large charismatic animals," said Case Western Reserve University anatomy professor Darin Croft. "This study demonstrates that this is clearly not the case."

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Boat full of protected species hits coral reef

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Chinese boat which ran into a reef in the Philippines in the Southwest held evidence of destruction of the environment even more inside: more than 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of meat from a protected species, the pangolin, or scaly anteater.

The steel-hulled ship hit an atoll 8 April at Tubbataha National Marine Park, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site on the island of Palawan. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said Monday that 400 boxes, each containing 25-30 kilograms of frozen pangolins were discovered during a second inspection of the boat Saturday.

The World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines said the Chinese ship F/N Min Yu Long might be bringing up to 2,000 animals without teeth, eating insects in coils in the boxes, with their stairs already removed.

"It's bad enough that the Chinese have illegally entered our seas, sailed the boat without documents and crashed recklessly a national marine park and world heritage site," said WWF Philippines chief executive officer Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tozzi. "It's just unfortunate that they seem to be posing as fishermen to illegal wildlife trade".

12 Chinese Sailors of the boat are in jail on charges of poaching and attempted bribery, said Adelina Villena, lawyer of the marine park. He said that additional charges are being prepared against them, including damage to the corals and violating wildlife laws in the country for being found in possession of pangolin meat.

It is not yet clear which of the four Asian pangolin species the meat comes from. The International Union for conservation of nature lists two as endangered: the Sunda pangolin, or Malay and the Chinese pangolin. Two others, including the Philippine pangolin endemic to Palawan, are classified as near threatened.

The animals are protected in many Asian Nations and international trade ban has been in force since 2002, but illegal trade continues. The meat and scales of the pangolin fetching hundreds of dollars per kilogram in China, where many believe that cure various diseases.

The IUCN says growing demand for pangolins and lax laws are erasing the Anteaters pilosans from their forest habitat in Southeast Asia.

Alex Marcaida, a government official of Palawan Council for sustainable development, Philippine authorities consider the Philippine pangolin endangered due to illegal trade unabated. He said that Chinese sailors have said pangolins have come from Indonesia, but officials had yet to verify the claim.

WWF-Philippines said that the illegal trade in wildlife is estimated to yield overall at least $ 19 billion per year, which includes the fourth-largest global illicit trade after narcotics, and counterfeit currency and trafficking in human beings. He said that the risks are low compared to other crimes, and that high-level dealers are rarely arrested, prosecuted or convicted.

The Philippine Army quoted the fishermen as saying that wandered accidentally into the waters of the Philippines Malaysia. They were detained in the city of Puerto Princesa's Southwest, where Chinese consular officials have visited them.

Tubbataha is a 97,000-hectare Marine Sanctuary (239,700 hectares) and the popular diving destination 640 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Manila. The massive reef was already damaged by a ship of the United States Navy who blocked in January and had to be dismantled.

Fishermen face 12 years in prison and fines of up to $ 300,000 for poaching charge alone. For possession of pangolin meat, can be imprisoned for up to six years and fined, Villena said.

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