Posted on 12/05/2005 11:35:29 PM PST by dangus
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.
"This could be the first time in more than a century that a new carnivore has been discovered on the island," said the WWF in a statement.
The mammal, slightly larger than a cat with red fur and a long tail, was photographed twice by a camera trap at night.
Locals and wildlife experts who viewed photographs of the animal, which has very small ears and large hind legs, said they had never seen such a creature before and were convinced that it was a new species, WWF said.
Researchers hope to confirm the discovery by setting cage traps to catch a live specimen, but warn that Indonesian government plans to clear the rainforest to create the world's largest palm oil plantation may interfere with plans, WWF said.
The proposed plantation scheme, funded by the China Development Bank, is expected to cover an area of 1.8 million hectares, equivalent to about half the size of The Netherlands, said the WWF, formerly known as the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The potential new species of carnivore in Borneo would be the first since the discovery of the Borneo ferret-badger in 1895, the WWF said.
Pictures of the animal were first taken by WWF researchers in 2003, the photos kept unpublished by the WWF as research continued. The WWF decided to make public the photos with the release of a book about Borneo, to be published on Tuesday.
Thanks. After less than one second, I saw it just fine, but the lightening up of the photo is certainly nice.
ROTFLOL.
You think he'd be treacherous? He looks like a guide to me...
Gee, you pinged me and got me interested in it, then I forgot to ping you. #54, I'm a "duh".
>> You're out of date. There is no such thing as a Brontosaur anymore. They are Apatosaurs now. What they thought was a Brontosaur turned out to be a misidentification of a Apatosaur, so the earlier discovered one, the Apatosaur, gets to keep the name and Brontosaurs are no more. <<
O, believe me... I know about Ogden Marsh and the Apatosaurus. (Him and Stan from South Park are held by me to be very distant relatives.) Two points, however:
1. I am seeing a lot of sources, such as the Smithsonian, which have dropped the name "Apatosaurus" and reverting to the name "Brontosaurus," so I infered maybe they've decided to call the Apatosauri, Brontosauri, even if the original Brontosaurus has the wrong skull. (It's not like there were already Apatosauri known at the time.)
2. I said, "Brontosaur," referring to a class (actually, IIRC, a supergenus, to use proper phylogenic terms) of sauricians. While even the use of supergenera isn't universal in phylogeny, I did not believe that those that adopted the use of the term for the supergenera dropped the term, "Brontosaur." I only knew that the genus name was changed to Apatosaur. Or, are you only recognizing Diplodocidae as a subgrouping of Sauropodimorphae above the genus level?
[PS: Wikipedia refers to "Brontosaurus" only as being an errant identification of Apatosaurus, but also lists an "Eobrontosaurus." I'm not familiar with that. Is that what the Smithsonian is identifying as a Brontosaur? Have they passed the name onto a different species?]
CHUPACABRA!!
Ees hokay. < |:)~
Bear cats are AWESOME creatures. In the late 80's and early 90's a I worked at a zoo that was was leader in offspring of these creatures. I raised several groups of babies. Memories never to be forgotten.
PS. They realy really really smell! LMAO
Could it be that Paris Hilton got rid of another exotic 'pet'?
I believe you're confusing Brontosaurus with Stegosaurus, which had the ganglial mass at the base of it's tail. The tail itself had sharp tusks at the end which could have been used to defend the Stegosaurus from predators. The ganglial mass was thought to be the "brain" for the tail.
I certainly remember ol' Steggy; one of the most architypical dinosaurs around (like Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Iguanodont and the non-dinosaurs, Dimetrodon and Pterodactyl). But actually, what I was refering to was the Sauropods. I recall what you mean about Steggy, but the notion with the Suaropods was that their neck was so very long, and so far from the tail, that they were thought to have a relay station of sorts. (Such a "relay station" does, in fact, exist even in humans, but only in a much more simple form.)
By the way, speaking of ol' Steggy: Did they ever figure out how to attach the plates? Or what exactly they were for? Last I saw, they were still showing them as a frill down the spine, but were becming suspicious of that.
I thought my mother in law was in Texas for the winter....
Tanques. 
You're right. In males, we call it the "little head". It definitely thinks for itself and is quite capable of controlling our behaviour. /grin
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