"Mr. Mom"?

Male tigers double as mothers for their cubs

Photo by Scotti Cohn

"Pictures taken at the Ranthambore National Park on Saturday evening by wildlife conservator and photographer Balendu Singh show that the male tigers do double up as mothers for their cubs." ~ Bhanu Pratap Singh, The Times of India

Wolf OR7 Enters California

photo by Scotti Cohn

 “Whether one is for it or against it, the entry of this lone wolf into California is an historic event and result of much work by the wildlife agencies in the West,” said DFG Director Charlton H. Bonham. “If the gray wolf does establish a population in California, there will be much more work to do here.”

Read more at the Department of Fish and Game NEWS.

The Last Lions

 Jouberts share vulnerability of species during ‘Big Cat Week’

 “One of the alarming things for us, which was the sort of genesis of this film and this ‘Big Cat Week,’ actually, is that we discovered that in our lifetimes, lion numbers have dropped from 450,000 down to 20,000, and the leopard numbers are from 700,000 down to 50,000,” said Dereck Joubert.

The two-hour premiere of “The Last Lions” airs Dec. 16.

BIG CAT WEEK Episode Guide

From Panthera's November 2011 Newsletter

New Results of Island-Wide Survey Give Hope to the Sumatran Tiger

Links to images of Sumatran Tigers:

http://www.zooatlanta.org/home/animals/mammals/sumatran_tiger

http://www.tigersincrisis.com/sumatran_tiger.htm

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/sumatrantiger/sumatrantiger.html

Will El Lobo Survive?

For an update on the Mexican wolf recovery effort, read this excellent article by Jess Edberg, Information Services Director -- International Wolf Center:

Mexico’s work on recovering wolves

My, What a Loud Voice You Have!

Vocal chord shape creates big cats' roars

 

photo by Scotti Cohn

"It had previously been thought lions roar deeply because the vocal folds are heavy with fat, but the new study suggests the fat gives the vocal folds their square shape as opposed to the more traditional triangular vocal folds found in most species, and may cushion the vocal folds and provide repair material when they are damaged."

Read more.

"From the Cave to the Kennel"

". . .what the evolutionary history of the dog tells us about another animal: ourselves. From a cave in France, a new picture has emerged of canines as our prehistoric soulmates."

A fascinating article by Mark Derr, author of How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends.  

Photo by Scotti Cohn

"The standard explanation was that once the dump-diver became a dog, humans took charge of its evolution through selective breeding, choosing those with desired traits and culling those who came up short. This account is now falling apart in the face of new genetic analyses and recently discovered fossils."  - Mark Derr

Photo by Scotti Cohn

Read the full article HERE.