A pygmy elephant has gored an Australian veterinarian student to death in a remote wildlife park on the Malaysian island of Borneo.
Jenna O'Grady Donley, 25, from New South Wales, was trekking with a friend and a Malaysian guide in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah state when they were attacked by the rare elephant.
State wildlife department director Laurentius Ambu said the bull may have been startled and charged when the two tourists tried to take its photo.
While the guide and one woman managed to get away, the elephant's tusk pierced the other woman's body, and she died instantly, he said.
Ambu said that the women earlier trekked to a mud volcano but were disappointed that they did not see much wildlife, so the guide took them back another way and not on the main path.
Police are questioning the guide.
Mr Ambu said fatal attacks were rare, though single elephant bulls are known to be aggressive.
Jenna Donley's mother Liz Donley told ABC: "Bull elephants are fast, they can move with unpredictability, and they're aggressive and they're protective.
"This was an animal by itself and they startled it. This is an accident that's happened, a very tragic accident."
She said her daughter had a keen interest in large animals and had volunteered in Africa to help injured animals at a wildlife sanctuary.
Ms Donley was a final-year student at The University of Sydney studying a Bachelor of Veterinary Science.
It is understood she was due to graduate next week.
The elephant, a sub-species of the Asian elephant, is considered endangered, with around 1,500 to 2,000 left on Borneo island.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/vet-student-gored-death-pygmy-elephant-023213709.html
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Showing posts with label pygmy elephant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pygmy elephant. Show all posts
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Friday, November 12, 2010
Bid to save Borneo’s rhinos
Reforestation will reconnect areas of rainforest - enabling larger mammals movement again
November 2010: A long-term reforestation project to help save Borneo's wildlife has been agreed in Sabah. Borneo's unique wildlife, including endangered species such as the Sabah rhino, the clouded leopard and the orang utan, is threatened by deforestation and habitat fragmentation. The project is focussing on restoring and reconnecting degraded and fragmented forest land.
The Sabah Forestry Department is working with the Rhino and Forest Fund (RFF), a German-based NGO. Sabah officials say they will now ensure that the reserve and the restored areas will remain protected, excluding any conversion or logging in the future.
The core area of Tabin remains still untouched and represents one of the oldest and most diverse rainforests in the world. But the reserve is surrounded by oil palm plantations, restricting movements of large mammals. The restoration project of the Rhino and Forest Fund will increase habitat and reconnect patches of rainforest, enabling the movements and breeding of isolated populations, such as the pygmy elephant and the Sabah rhino.
Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of the Sabah Forestry Department said: ‘Forests are important for Sabah's climate and its rich biodiversity. They provide fundamental services to human well beings and therefore need to be protected and restored.'
Dr Petra Kretzschmar, co-founder of RFF, stated: ‘We see the charismatic Sabah rhino as a flagship species for the diverse lowland rainforest in Sabah. The signing is a major breakthrough to effectively combine the protection of endangered species like the rhino and the restoration of their natural habitat.'
The restoration work will start in early next year and will be expanded as time goes on.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sabah-rhino.html
November 2010: A long-term reforestation project to help save Borneo's wildlife has been agreed in Sabah. Borneo's unique wildlife, including endangered species such as the Sabah rhino, the clouded leopard and the orang utan, is threatened by deforestation and habitat fragmentation. The project is focussing on restoring and reconnecting degraded and fragmented forest land.
The Sabah Forestry Department is working with the Rhino and Forest Fund (RFF), a German-based NGO. Sabah officials say they will now ensure that the reserve and the restored areas will remain protected, excluding any conversion or logging in the future.
The core area of Tabin remains still untouched and represents one of the oldest and most diverse rainforests in the world. But the reserve is surrounded by oil palm plantations, restricting movements of large mammals. The restoration project of the Rhino and Forest Fund will increase habitat and reconnect patches of rainforest, enabling the movements and breeding of isolated populations, such as the pygmy elephant and the Sabah rhino.
Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of the Sabah Forestry Department said: ‘Forests are important for Sabah's climate and its rich biodiversity. They provide fundamental services to human well beings and therefore need to be protected and restored.'
Dr Petra Kretzschmar, co-founder of RFF, stated: ‘We see the charismatic Sabah rhino as a flagship species for the diverse lowland rainforest in Sabah. The signing is a major breakthrough to effectively combine the protection of endangered species like the rhino and the restoration of their natural habitat.'
The restoration work will start in early next year and will be expanded as time goes on.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sabah-rhino.html
Bid to save Borneo’s rhinos
Reforestation will reconnect areas of rainforest - enabling larger mammals movement again
November 2010: A long-term reforestation project to help save Borneo's wildlife has been agreed in Sabah. Borneo's unique wildlife, including endangered species such as the Sabah rhino, the clouded leopard and the orang utan, is threatened by deforestation and habitat fragmentation. The project is focussing on restoring and reconnecting degraded and fragmented forest land.
The Sabah Forestry Department is working with the Rhino and Forest Fund (RFF), a German-based NGO. Sabah officials say they will now ensure that the reserve and the restored areas will remain protected, excluding any conversion or logging in the future.
The core area of Tabin remains still untouched and represents one of the oldest and most diverse rainforests in the world. But the reserve is surrounded by oil palm plantations, restricting movements of large mammals. The restoration project of the Rhino and Forest Fund will increase habitat and reconnect patches of rainforest, enabling the movements and breeding of isolated populations, such as the pygmy elephant and the Sabah rhino.
Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of the Sabah Forestry Department said: ‘Forests are important for Sabah's climate and its rich biodiversity. They provide fundamental services to human well beings and therefore need to be protected and restored.'
Dr Petra Kretzschmar, co-founder of RFF, stated: ‘We see the charismatic Sabah rhino as a flagship species for the diverse lowland rainforest in Sabah. The signing is a major breakthrough to effectively combine the protection of endangered species like the rhino and the restoration of their natural habitat.'
The restoration work will start in early next year and will be expanded as time goes on.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sabah-rhino.html
November 2010: A long-term reforestation project to help save Borneo's wildlife has been agreed in Sabah. Borneo's unique wildlife, including endangered species such as the Sabah rhino, the clouded leopard and the orang utan, is threatened by deforestation and habitat fragmentation. The project is focussing on restoring and reconnecting degraded and fragmented forest land.
The Sabah Forestry Department is working with the Rhino and Forest Fund (RFF), a German-based NGO. Sabah officials say they will now ensure that the reserve and the restored areas will remain protected, excluding any conversion or logging in the future.
The core area of Tabin remains still untouched and represents one of the oldest and most diverse rainforests in the world. But the reserve is surrounded by oil palm plantations, restricting movements of large mammals. The restoration project of the Rhino and Forest Fund will increase habitat and reconnect patches of rainforest, enabling the movements and breeding of isolated populations, such as the pygmy elephant and the Sabah rhino.
Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of the Sabah Forestry Department said: ‘Forests are important for Sabah's climate and its rich biodiversity. They provide fundamental services to human well beings and therefore need to be protected and restored.'
Dr Petra Kretzschmar, co-founder of RFF, stated: ‘We see the charismatic Sabah rhino as a flagship species for the diverse lowland rainforest in Sabah. The signing is a major breakthrough to effectively combine the protection of endangered species like the rhino and the restoration of their natural habitat.'
The restoration work will start in early next year and will be expanded as time goes on.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sabah-rhino.html
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Lilliput jumbos — a subject of debate (via Paul Cropper)
Lilliput jumbos — a subject of debate
12 April 2010
The Hindu
KOCHI: The existence or not of pygmy elephants (‘Kallana' in Malayalam) is back in debate following the reported sighting of one such animal at Marakappara in the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary in the State recently.
Sali Palode and Jain Angadikkal, wildlife photographers, reportedly photographed the animal on March 18 on a trip along with Mallan Kani, a tribesman. However, experts say the existence of a dwarf race in one part of Kerala is improbable.
“We could see the animal as close as 100 metres and photograph it,” Mr. Sali says. Mr. Jain says the skin of the animal appeared wrinkled. It had a long tail and its trunk touched the ground. It looked like the miniature of an adult tusker.“Although it is well known that smaller elephants were found on the island of Borneo, a DNA analysis by Columbia University in 2003 had confirmed that these elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) were a genetically distinct type of the Asian elephants,” says R. Sukumar, Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.“These elephants were recognised as ‘an evolutionarily significant unit.' They are only slightly shorter than elephants in Sri Lanka or India. The elephants of Sumatra were somewhat shorter on average, but not so much that they can be called pygmy elephants. The use of the term pygmy was very misleading,” said Mr. Sukumar, who is a member of the Project Elephant Task Force.The WWF website describes Borneo elephants as smaller in size than other Asian elephants. The males may only grow to less than 2.5 metres and have babyish faces, larger ears and longer tails that reach almost to the ground, the website says.
Anil Antony, Wildlife Warden, Wildlife Division, Thiruvananthapuram, says forest officials, along with Mallan Kani, visited the area immediately after the news came in. However, no evidence, not even its dung, could be found.
Variations in size
Regarding Peppara, Dr. Sukumar says there can be variations in size of the animals in natural populations. No perspective regarding the height of the animal can be obtained from the picture. It appeared to be weak and the long hair in its tail looked distinctive on assessing the photograph taken by the wildlife photographers, he says.
T.N.C. Vidya, who was part of the team that conducted the DNA studies on Borneo elephants, says there is nothing to suggest that it is a pygmy adult elephant that was photographed.
“Just as there are dwarfs among humans, if one does come across an occasional true elephant dwarf, that is not reason enough to think that it is a different subspecies or species. The Borneo elephants have evolved in isolation from other elephant populations for hundreds of thousands of years,” says Dr. Vidya, a Ramanujan Fellow of the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.
“In Kerala, there are no such populations in isolation and, therefore, I will not expect to find any distinct race of elephant,” she says.
12 April 2010
The Hindu
KOCHI: The existence or not of pygmy elephants (‘Kallana' in Malayalam) is back in debate following the reported sighting of one such animal at Marakappara in the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary in the State recently.
Sali Palode and Jain Angadikkal, wildlife photographers, reportedly photographed the animal on March 18 on a trip along with Mallan Kani, a tribesman. However, experts say the existence of a dwarf race in one part of Kerala is improbable.
“We could see the animal as close as 100 metres and photograph it,” Mr. Sali says. Mr. Jain says the skin of the animal appeared wrinkled. It had a long tail and its trunk touched the ground. It looked like the miniature of an adult tusker.“Although it is well known that smaller elephants were found on the island of Borneo, a DNA analysis by Columbia University in 2003 had confirmed that these elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) were a genetically distinct type of the Asian elephants,” says R. Sukumar, Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.“These elephants were recognised as ‘an evolutionarily significant unit.' They are only slightly shorter than elephants in Sri Lanka or India. The elephants of Sumatra were somewhat shorter on average, but not so much that they can be called pygmy elephants. The use of the term pygmy was very misleading,” said Mr. Sukumar, who is a member of the Project Elephant Task Force.The WWF website describes Borneo elephants as smaller in size than other Asian elephants. The males may only grow to less than 2.5 metres and have babyish faces, larger ears and longer tails that reach almost to the ground, the website says.
Anil Antony, Wildlife Warden, Wildlife Division, Thiruvananthapuram, says forest officials, along with Mallan Kani, visited the area immediately after the news came in. However, no evidence, not even its dung, could be found.
Variations in size
Regarding Peppara, Dr. Sukumar says there can be variations in size of the animals in natural populations. No perspective regarding the height of the animal can be obtained from the picture. It appeared to be weak and the long hair in its tail looked distinctive on assessing the photograph taken by the wildlife photographers, he says.
T.N.C. Vidya, who was part of the team that conducted the DNA studies on Borneo elephants, says there is nothing to suggest that it is a pygmy adult elephant that was photographed.
“Just as there are dwarfs among humans, if one does come across an occasional true elephant dwarf, that is not reason enough to think that it is a different subspecies or species. The Borneo elephants have evolved in isolation from other elephant populations for hundreds of thousands of years,” says Dr. Vidya, a Ramanujan Fellow of the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.
“In Kerala, there are no such populations in isolation and, therefore, I will not expect to find any distinct race of elephant,” she says.
Lensemen [sic] claim sighting pygmy jumbo; experts skeptical (via Paul Cropper)
Lensemen claim sighting pygmy jumbo; experts skeptical
12 April 2010
The Press Trust of India Limited
English
Thiruvananthapuram, April 12, 2010 (PTI) - The long speculation over the existence of pygmy elephants in forests of the Western Ghats is back in debate with two local wildlife photographers claiming to have spotted a dwarf jumbo at Peppara Wildlife Sanctury near here. The state Wildlife Department officials, however, say they have not come across any empirical or scientific proof to establish the claim.
The lensmen claim that they saw the diminutive tusker at a distance of 100 meters during an expedition to the area last month and released its photographs to the local media. "We were trekking with Mallan Kani, a local tribal chief. He knows the topography of the forest very well. All of a sudden we came across the jumbo with wrinkled face and long tail. Its trunk touched the ground," one of the photographers said.
It looked more like the miniature of an adult tusker, he said.
However, animal experts say that no dwarf elephants have been scientifically identified in any forests in Kerala region. "No environmental factor is existing in Kerala for the evolution of pygmy elephants," said P S Easa, a member of Steering Committee of the Project Elephant Task Force and expert in elephant ecology and behaviour.
R Sukumar, Professor at Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said the actual height of the animal could not be assessed from the picture which is claimed to be that of a pygmy elephant.
Just after getting information on the sighting of the jumbo, an official team led by Anil Antony, Wildlife Warden at Thiruvananthapuram, visited the area along with Mallan Kani.
He said they did not get any evidence to substantiate the claim.
Known as "Kallana" among the Kani tribals of the area, the existence of such type of an elephant has often been reported from different parts of the world including Borneo in Indonesia and Africa. Borneo elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) were long thought to be identical to the Asian Elephant and descendants of a captive population.
The WWF Website describes Borneo elephants as being smaller in size than other Asian elephants. The males may grow to a height of less than 2.5 metres and have babyish faces, larger ears and longer tails that almost reach the ground, the website says. Dr T N C Vidya, a Ramanujan Fellow of the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, said "Just as there are dwarfs among humans, if one does come across an occasional true elephant dwarf, that is not reason enough to think that it is a different subspecies or species." However, Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala K P Ouseph told PTI that he had ordered a detailed study on the possibility of the presence of "Kallana" in the forests of Kerala.
12 April 2010
The Press Trust of India Limited
English
Thiruvananthapuram, April 12, 2010 (PTI) - The long speculation over the existence of pygmy elephants in forests of the Western Ghats is back in debate with two local wildlife photographers claiming to have spotted a dwarf jumbo at Peppara Wildlife Sanctury near here. The state Wildlife Department officials, however, say they have not come across any empirical or scientific proof to establish the claim.
The lensmen claim that they saw the diminutive tusker at a distance of 100 meters during an expedition to the area last month and released its photographs to the local media. "We were trekking with Mallan Kani, a local tribal chief. He knows the topography of the forest very well. All of a sudden we came across the jumbo with wrinkled face and long tail. Its trunk touched the ground," one of the photographers said.
It looked more like the miniature of an adult tusker, he said.
However, animal experts say that no dwarf elephants have been scientifically identified in any forests in Kerala region. "No environmental factor is existing in Kerala for the evolution of pygmy elephants," said P S Easa, a member of Steering Committee of the Project Elephant Task Force and expert in elephant ecology and behaviour.
R Sukumar, Professor at Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said the actual height of the animal could not be assessed from the picture which is claimed to be that of a pygmy elephant.
Just after getting information on the sighting of the jumbo, an official team led by Anil Antony, Wildlife Warden at Thiruvananthapuram, visited the area along with Mallan Kani.
He said they did not get any evidence to substantiate the claim.
Known as "Kallana" among the Kani tribals of the area, the existence of such type of an elephant has often been reported from different parts of the world including Borneo in Indonesia and Africa. Borneo elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) were long thought to be identical to the Asian Elephant and descendants of a captive population.
The WWF Website describes Borneo elephants as being smaller in size than other Asian elephants. The males may grow to a height of less than 2.5 metres and have babyish faces, larger ears and longer tails that almost reach the ground, the website says. Dr T N C Vidya, a Ramanujan Fellow of the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, said "Just as there are dwarfs among humans, if one does come across an occasional true elephant dwarf, that is not reason enough to think that it is a different subspecies or species." However, Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala K P Ouseph told PTI that he had ordered a detailed study on the possibility of the presence of "Kallana" in the forests of Kerala.
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