Already discovered in the front row of White House press briefings years ago.
Posted on 12/05/2005 5:15:46 PM PST by FReepaholic
GENEVA (Reuters) - Environmental researchers are preparing to capture what they call a new, mysterious species of carnivore on Borneo, the first such discovery on the wildlife-rich Indonesian island in over a century.
Swiss-based environmental group WWF said on Monday its researchers photographed the strange animal, which looks like a cross between a cat and a fox, in the dense, central mountainous rainforests of Borneo.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
cat and a fox - sounds like the makings for a Batman movie - foxy Catwoman does the dirty deed with the winged rodent and thus is born Batty Babycatfox - flys around all night eating bugs and trying to score some catknip but looks like a million bucks.
It's probably just a rat they want to put on the ESA list of give us some grant money to protect it.
Already discovered in the front row of White House press briefings years ago.
I use to trap those fisher critters...most interesting animal
Martens can catch a running squirrel as it races through the tree tops...a Fisher can catch a marten and will kill and eat them as well as everything else..
Even Canadian Lynx remains have been found in Fisher dens
and vice versa..
They can run down a tree head first and have amazing leaping and jumping ability.
They are basically an arboreal wolverine..
A trapper I used to know swears he saw one fight a badger that was trying to defend a big pile of deer corn...
The badger lost a leg in the fight and limped off...the fisher
got the corn..
Dont know if he also ate the badgers leg...but that would be typical of them.
I suspect I may not get cyberlaid tonight. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to rely on the real thing.
Foxes are in the Family Canidae with dogs. OMG, dogs are doing it with cats! Can the Apocalypse be far behind!? :-)
Or a Jackinthebox...
"Go Carnivores!"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4501152.stm
'New mammal' seen in Borneo woods
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
The creature, believed to be carnivorous, was spotted in the Kayan Mentarang National Park, which lies in Indonesian territory on Borneo.
The team which discovered it, led by biologist Stephan Wulffraat, is publishing full details in a new book on Borneo and its wildlife.
"You don't find new mammals that often, and to do so must be extraordinary," said Callum Rankine, head of the species programme at WWF-UK.
"We've got camera traps there, which are passive devices relying on infra-red beams across forest paths," he told the BBC News website.
"Lots of animals come past - it's much easier than pushing through the forest itself - and when an animal cuts the beam, two cameras catch images from the front and back."
Not a lemur
So far, two images are all that exist. But they were enough to convince Nick Isaac from the Institute of Zoology in London that the animal may indeed be new.
"The photos look most like a lemur," he told the BBC News website. "But there certainly shouldn't be lemurs in Borneo."
These long-tailed primates are confined to the island of Madagascar.
"It's more likely to be a viverrid - that's the family which includes the mongoose and civets - which is a very poorly known group," Dr Isaac said.
"One of the photos clearly shows the length of the tail and how muscley it is; civets use their tails to balance in trees, so this new animal may spend chunks of its time up trees too."
That could be one reason why it has not been spotted before. Another could be that access to the heart of Borneo is becoming easier as population centres expand and roads are built.
The WWF says this is the heart of the issue. It accuses the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia, which each own parts of Borneo, of encouraging the loss of native jungle by allowing the development of giant palm oil plantations.
Last week Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, chief minister of Sarawak, the larger Malaysian state on Borneo, said that such claims are unfounded and part of a smear campaign.
He told the BBC News website that palm oil plantations are mainly sited on land which had previously been cleared for cultivation or are in "secondary jungle".
But the WWF says species like the new viverrid - if new viverrid it be - are threatened by such development.
It is concerned that other as yet unknown creatures may go extinct before their existence can be documented.
The group is planning to capture the new species in a live trap so it can be properly studied and described.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4501152.stm
Published: 2005/12/06 01:21:11 GMT
© BBC MMV
You don't find new mammals that often, and to do so must be extraordinary Callum Rankine
My first thought was it looks like a lemur.
Were we once married?
Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, biblical?
Ray: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor. Real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies...
Venkman: Rivers and seas boiling!
Egon: 40 years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanos...
Winston: The dead rising from the grave!
Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... Mass hysteria!
Its the CHUPACABRA !!!
(tongue-in-cheek)
It's possible, but not likely.
We had one (or more?) here in mass. that was spooking people in the suburbs.
My mother saw one - she thought it was a sick dog. We all thought she was nuts, until it was identified.
Glad they don't grow too large...
A Koranimal
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.