Hi Jennifer,
The Siberian flying squirrel in Finland and Estonia are an inhabitant of the Palaearctic taiga. It can not fly like a bat , but it can glide up to 75 metres.
It prefers old nest holes made by woodpeckers , but may also nest in bird boxes.
In Finland it is famous for it’s conlict between squirrel conservationists and forestry.
It is listed in the Finnish Red Book and classified as endangered in Estonian Red Book.
Cheers,
Ann
Sweden
PS. Photos courtesy by Estonian Fund for Nature
Flying foxes to wilt with climate change, by ABC Science Online’s Stephen Pincock, contends that new research shows some of Australia’s flying foxes face a grave threat from extreme temperatures expected to become more frequent with climate change.
Dr Nicola Markus, an Australian expert on their ecology and co-author of this new research, says, “It bodes extremely badly for the black flying foxes.”
In early 2002, she and an international team of researchers witnessed the deaths of more than 1,300 grey-headed and black flying foxes at Dallis Park in northern New South Wales (most of them females and their dependent young).
“On that day, what we saw was, very simply, that the flying foxes died of heat stress,” Dr Markus said. The temperatures, which exceeded 42 degrees Celsius, killed more than 1,300 of the animals. State-wide, more than 3,500 flying foxes fell to the soaring temperatures in that single heatwave.
Flying foxes are keystone species for forest environments. They have also been central to a taxonomic debate, which asks, are they really primates?
In 1986, Dr. John D. Pettigrew published his findings that all flying fox species (examined) shared the half-dozen brain pathways that were otherwise unique to primates. Under a microscope, their brain affinities with lemurs were difficult to tell apart.
Megabats and microbats had been historically grouped together because of the obvious similarities of their handwings. However, Dr. Pettigrew observed that the differences between to two groups included such things as diet, dentition, chromosomes, world geographic distribution, sperm, biochemistry, parasitology and numerous features of behavior. He also hypothesised that the two groups evolved flight separately, with the mega-chiroptera in the Tertiary era and the micro-chiroptera, much earlier, in the Cretaceous.
Mr. Minoru Morimoto, Director General of The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) in Tokyo, said today that journalists and editors are misinforming the public and abusing the credibility of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Many of the news articles and stories about Japan’s whale research have incorrectly cited the World Conservation Union (IUCN) listing of humpback whales as “vulnerable” and fin whales as “endangered”.
The fact is that the IUCN’s website for its “Red List” clearly says that these listings are “out of date”. Both the assessment of these species and the criteria used to classify them are “out of date.” This is because the assessments were done in 1996 and used 1994 criteria which have since been revised. The IUCN has received updated assessments from its expert group but these have not yet been made public or adopted. Mr. Morimoto said that journalists and editors should at a minimum acknowledge this when they cite the IUCN listing of humpback and fin whale or not use them inappropriately.
In a similar way, articles have used the IWC Scientific Committee estimate of 42,000 to say that the current population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere is “around 40,000” but that estimate applies to 1997/1998. With the population growing at 10% per year, (IWC SC estimate for East Australia 1981-96, 12.4% and West Australia 1977-91,10.9%) it would now be more than 2.5 times what it was at that time and more than 3 times what it was when IUCN did their assessment.
Mr. Morimoto said that it is misleading and confusing to readers to simply quote the IUCN’s listing which the IUCN itself says is out of date. He urged journalists and editors not to simply copy the rhetoric of the anti-whaling NGOs but to do their homework and present more precise reporting. Mr. Morimoto reiterated his earlier statement that Japan’s research makes a valuable contribution to the management of Antarctic whale species to ensure that any future commercial whaling regime is robust and sustainable and that a take of 50 humpback whales would have no impact on the population or the whale-watching industry.
Web links to IUCN World Conservation Union Red Listing of Humpback and Fin whales (see “annotations” in “Assessment Information”) and the International Whaling Commission website.
Humpback whale: http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/13006/all
Fin whale: http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/2478/summ
IWC population estimates: http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/estimate.htm
Japanese whalers are on their way to the Southern Ocean. This JARPA II fleet has attracted more attention than usual because of the inclusion of humpback whales in the annual kill quota.
The mother ship, the Nisshin Maru, has “RESEARCH” emblazoned on her hull, and when questioned on the humpback whale component of this year’s quota, spokesperson Hideki Moronuki said “Japan is conducting truly scientific research activities, we have to decide anything from the viewpoint of science.” However, a recent publication in science journal Nature questioned the science behind Japan’s research program and when the program was reviewed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in late 2006, the following was found:
“JARPA had the potential to improve management of minke whales in the Southern Ocean, but such an outcome has not been realised, despite nearly two decades of effort by a large and well-funded research laboratory in Tokyo.”
Major JARPA objectives are largely unachieved, notably:
– the data were not accepted under the IWC’s method for managing whale populations and assigning catch limits;
– efforts to estimate natural mortality had produced confidence intervals that ‘spanned such a wide range that the parameter remains effectively unknown’;
– data on trends in abundance were so imprecise that they could be interpreted as consistent with anything from a decline to an increase;
– efforts to elucidate the role of whales in the Antarctic marine ecosystem had led to ‘relatively little progress, even allowing for the complexities of the subject.
“Despite these failings the government of Japan stated at the 2007 International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee meeting that the objectives and methods of the full-scale JARPA II program would remain unchanged and the justification for the numbers of animals killed remains unclear”.
The ‘Plan for the Second Phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic (JARPA II) – Monitoring of the Antarctic Ecosystem and Development of New Management Objectives for Whale Resources’ says “Changes in the pregnancy rate and age at sexual maturity are very important since they indicate changes in the trend of abundance or shifts in prey conditions.” A sample size of 50 for both fin and humpback whales was chosen, despite the fact that during the 18-year JARPA program no significant trends could be found for these parameters in minke whales regardless of having “an annual sample size that was almost an order of magnitude greater than those planned for humpback and fin whales.”
Will JARPA II tell us more about these species in order to manage them effectively?
The IWC already has a comprehensive assessment process in order to evaluate whale stocks. In 2006 a Comprehensive Assessment of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales was held, and attended by Japan. Research priorities included: “Describe the genetic structure of seven putative southern hemisphere breeding populations; quantify the complex linkages between high-latitude feeding grounds and breeding stocks; and, estimate the abundance of breeding stocks.”
Some of this research is already being conducted by Australian scientists using non-lethal methods. JARPA II’s lethal research will not address any of these objectives, although the non-lethal sightings component will. The researchers write that “Japan’s proposal to kill humpback whales is not scientifically credible, and will potentially disrupt ongoing non-lethal research programs directed at filling knowledge gaps identified for the Comprehensive Assessment.”
The whole question of science’s role in JARPA II is further brought into question by the authors of the Nature article (all members of the IWC Scientific Committee)who have stated, “The promulgation of a lethal research program that targets low-priority science, with a demonstrably low likelihood of achieving its stated objectives, appears unsupportable when viewed solely in a scientific context…the Government of Japan remains impervious to any influence from the broader scientific community. It is time to acknowledge that the debate about research whaling has little or nothing to do with science. Indeed, by insisting that this form of whaling is scientifically valid, Japan forces the Scientific Committee to remain dead-locked, ultimately to the detriment of the IWC’s credibility and function.”
Perhaps Japan’s justification for her research is best summed up by Minoru Morimoto, head of the Institute for Cetacean Research, “Japan’s research makes a valuable contribution to the management of Antarctic whale species to ensure that any future commercial whaling regime is robust and sustainable to provide a reliable food source for generations to come.”
by Annie in Australia
The piercing, descending shriek of the Lesser Sooty Owl Tyto multipunctata sounds much like a falling bomb, without the explosion at the end. It has enormous eyes and exceptional hearing, allowing it to hunt in almost total darkness.
It is a formidable rainforest predator of almost all the creatures I have posted at this weblog over the past few years.
Formerly classified as a sub-species of the much larger and darker Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa, it has since been re-classified into a distinct species that is endemic to Australia.
Macleay’s Spectre Extatosoma tiaratum would have to be one of the most spectacular insects in the Daintree rainforest. Males readily fly in search of mates, but much larger females are incapable of flight. First instar nymphs resemble ants.
Phasmids are well represented in the Wet Tropics with some of the largest insects in the world. The Titan Stick Insect Acrophylla titan blends very well into the forest with its stick-like appearance and can attain a length of 250 mm.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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