Dingoes Didn't Run Tasmanian Tigers Out of Australia

Though highly similar in their skull anatomy, specialized for a carnivorous diet, the thylacine, front, and the dingo very likely had different hunting styles. Researchers analyzing skeletons of the forelimbs found important differences
CREDIT: Carl Buell

by Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff Writer
Date: 03 May 2011 Time: 07:01 PM ET

The extinct thylacine, more commonly known as the "Tasmanian tiger" or "marsupial wolf," hunted more like a cat than a dog, meaning the tiger moniker may be the more appropriate nickname.

The thylacine had the striped coat of a tiger, the body of a dog and like other marsupials (including kangaroos and opossums) carried its young in a pouch. These carnivores were last seen in Australia 3,000 years ago, having died out after the introduction of dingoes by humans. The last remaining populations were sheltered by their isolation on the island of Tasmania, surviving until the 1900s, when a concentrated eradication effort wiped the thylacine out.

Researchers hypothesized that the dingoes were a main cause of the thylacine decline in Australia, because the two species were in direct competition -- using the same hunting strategies to hunt the same prey. [Top 10 Creatures of Cryptozoology]

"Dingoes are a species of wolves, they are runners," study researcher Borja Figuerido of Brown University said. "If the thylacines are ambushers, the hypothesis of the extinction of the thylacine outcompeted by dingoes is less probable."

Elbow joints connected to...

By looking at the elbow joint bones of the thylacine and 31 other mammals, the researchers noticed they resembled those of cats, which can rotate their paws upward to pounce and attack prey. Dogs and wolves don't have this rotation capability.

"These anatomical characters reveal something about the hunting strategies of the thylacine. They are more ambushers than previously suspected," Figueirido said. "Ambush predators usually manipulate the prey with the forearms, they have very good mobility. Running predators lack this ability, because the elbow is locked."

The limited rotation of their arm bones makes dogs and wolves (including dingoes) faster runners, which changed their hunting behaviors. Dogs and wolves hunt in packs, following their prey over longer distances. The researchers determined that the thylacine was more of a solitary, ambush-style predator, similar to cats.

Mammalian cousins

Marsupial mammals, found mainly in Australia and other areas of the Southern Hemisphere, are similar to placental mammals (such as humans, dogs and cats), but their evolution diverged from ours during the Cretaceous Period, the earliest example of a marsupial appearing about 125 million years ago.

The evolution of these two groups of mammals is an example of convergent evolution, where two separate groups in different locations evolve similar morphologies to deal with similar habitats. The thylacine was thought to be the marsupial equivalent, or ecomorph, of the wolf, with similar body size and eating habits.
Now, Figueirido said, "this designation will need to be revised."

The study was published today (May 3) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biology Letters.


http://www.livescience.com/14006-thylacine-hunting-behavior.html

China’s rarest bird discovered wintering in Indonesia

A wintering Chinese Crested Tern Sterna bernsteini has been seen and photographed in Pulau Lusaolate, north Seram, Indonesia, representing the first record of the species outside the breeding season for over 70 years.

First discovered in 1861, Chinese Crested Tern was largely presumed extinct until 2000, when four adults and four chicks were found amongst a colony of other tern species on Matsu Island off the Fujian coast in China. In 2004, it was discovered breeding on the Jiushan Islands. At present these and the Wuzhishan Islands in Zhejiang province, are the only known breeding sites in the world.

Asian bird expert, Craig Robson was leading a bird tour when he came across the remarkable record. He recounts, “I took the group out to Pulau Lusaolate on 4 December 2010 to see the well-known population of Olive Honeyeater Lichmera argentauris, that have been known from this tiny islet for many decades. Soon after arrival I noticed a roosting group of 30-40 Greater Crested Terns Sterna bergii on some rocks just off the beach. Checking through the flock quickly with binoculars, I noticed one that I thought might be a Lesser Crested S. bengalensis. Checking with the telescope, I immediately realised that I was looking at perhaps the first ever winter ’sighting’ of a Chinese Crested Tern. I quickly got a series of photos through the ‘scope. The bird flew off with a few Greater Crested Terns and was briefly seen foraging offshore before it disappeared around the island.”


This amazing record begs-the-question of how many more are wintering in this region, and birders, should be encouraged to survey wintering groups of Greater Crested Terns around the numerous islands in the Seram Sea and perhaps even further south in the Banda Sea.

With an estimated population of not more than 50 birds, the Critically Endangered Chinese Crested Tern is China’s most threatened bird and much rarer than the Giant Panda. The greatest threat to the tern’s survival is egg collection by fishermen for food, which continues even though the breeding sites are within protected areas

Chinese Crested Tern is one of the species benefitting from the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme. The programme is spearheading greater conservation action, awareness and funding support for all of the world’s most threatened birds, starting with the 190 species classified as Critically Endangered.

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2010/12/chinas-rarest-bird-discovered-wintering-in-indonesia/

China’s rarest bird discovered wintering in Indonesia

A wintering Chinese Crested Tern Sterna bernsteini has been seen and photographed in Pulau Lusaolate, north Seram, Indonesia, representing the first record of the species outside the breeding season for over 70 years.

First discovered in 1861, Chinese Crested Tern was largely presumed extinct until 2000, when four adults and four chicks were found amongst a colony of other tern species on Matsu Island off the Fujian coast in China. In 2004, it was discovered breeding on the Jiushan Islands. At present these and the Wuzhishan Islands in Zhejiang province, are the only known breeding sites in the world.

Asian bird expert, Craig Robson was leading a bird tour when he came across the remarkable record. He recounts, “I took the group out to Pulau Lusaolate on 4 December 2010 to see the well-known population of Olive Honeyeater Lichmera argentauris, that have been known from this tiny islet for many decades. Soon after arrival I noticed a roosting group of 30-40 Greater Crested Terns Sterna bergii on some rocks just off the beach. Checking through the flock quickly with binoculars, I noticed one that I thought might be a Lesser Crested S. bengalensis. Checking with the telescope, I immediately realised that I was looking at perhaps the first ever winter ’sighting’ of a Chinese Crested Tern. I quickly got a series of photos through the ‘scope. The bird flew off with a few Greater Crested Terns and was briefly seen foraging offshore before it disappeared around the island.”


This amazing record begs-the-question of how many more are wintering in this region, and birders, should be encouraged to survey wintering groups of Greater Crested Terns around the numerous islands in the Seram Sea and perhaps even further south in the Banda Sea.

With an estimated population of not more than 50 birds, the Critically Endangered Chinese Crested Tern is China’s most threatened bird and much rarer than the Giant Panda. The greatest threat to the tern’s survival is egg collection by fishermen for food, which continues even though the breeding sites are within protected areas

Chinese Crested Tern is one of the species benefitting from the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme. The programme is spearheading greater conservation action, awareness and funding support for all of the world’s most threatened birds, starting with the 190 species classified as Critically Endangered.

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2010/12/chinas-rarest-bird-discovered-wintering-in-indonesia/