THE SUNDA FLYING LEMUR

 

The Sunda flying lemur (Galeopterus variegatus) or Sunda colugo, also known as the Malayan flying lemur or Malayan colugo, is a species of colugo. Until recently, it was thought to be one of only two species of flying lemurs, the other being the Philippine flying lemur, which is found only in the Philippines. This species can be found throughout Southeast Asia ranging from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, southern Vietnam, southern Burma, and Singapore.^[3]

The Sunda flying lemur is not a lemur and does not fly. Instead, it glides as it leaps among trees. It is strictly arboreal, is active at night, and feeds on soft plant parts such as young leaves, shoots, flowers, and fruits. After a 60-day gestation period, a single offspring is carried on the mother's abdomen held by a large skin membrane.^[4] It is a forest-dependent species.

The head-body length of Sunda flying lemur is about 33 to 42 cm (13 to 17 in). Its tail length measures 18 to 27 cm (7.1 to 10.6 in),^[5] and its weight is 0.9 to 1.3 kg (2.0 to 2.9 lb).

The Sunda flying lemur is protected by national legislation. The Sunda flying lemurs are often hunted by locals with spears or other lethal equipment for various reasons such as food and fur. Habitat loss is known to occur intermittently, particularly in developing countries such as Malaysia.^[3] In addition to deforestation and loss of habitat, local subsistence hunting poses a serious threat to this animal. Competition with the plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) represents another challenge for this species. More information is needed on population declines, but at present, the rate of the decline is not believed to merit listing in any category lower than least concern.^[2]

 Sunda flying lemur

Classification and evolution

The Sunda flying lemurs' two forms are not morphologically distinct from one another; the large form occurs on the mainland of the Sunda Shelf area and the mainland of Southeast Asia, while the dwarf form occurs in central Laos and some other adjacent islands.^[1] The Laos specimen is smaller (about 20%) than the other known mainland population.^[6] Despite the large and dwarf forms, four subspecies are known: G. v. variegatus (Java), G. v. temminckii (Sumatra), G. v. borneanus (Borneo), and G. v. peninsulae (Peninsular Malaysia and mainland of Southeast Asia)^[1] incorporating on the genetic species concept due to geographic isolation and genetic divergence. Recent molecular and morphological data provide the evidence that the mainland, Javan, and Bornean Sunda flying lemur subspecies may be recognised as three separate species in the genus Galeopterus.^[7]

 

Habits and lifestyle

 

Sunda flying lemurs live either solitary or in small groups that are loosely connected. They can be territorial in foraging and sleeping areas. They are mainly nocturnal. They are strictly arboreal and in the daytime, they sleep high within dense foliage in the treetops or in holes in trees. With all four of their feet, they cling on to the trunk of a tree or the underside of branches. Climbing involves stretching out their two front legs and then bringing up their two back legs, which results in an awkward hopping. They can glide more than 100 m with minimal loss in elevation. When threatened, they either climb higher up or remain motionless. These animals are quite helpless if on the forest floor.

 

Behaviour and ecology

 

 

 The Sunda flying lemur is a skillful climber, but is helpless when on the ground.^[8] Its gliding membrane connects from the neck, extending along the limbs to the tips of the fingers, toes, and nails.^[9] This kite-shaped skin is known as a patagium, which is expanded for gliding. It can glide over a distance of 100 m with a loss of fewer than 10 m in elevation.^[9] It can maneuver and navigate while gliding, but strong rain and wind can affect its ability to glide. Gliding usually occurs in open areas or high in the canopy, especially in dense tropical rainforest. The Sunda flying lemur needs a certain distance to glide and to land to avoid injury.^[10] The highest landing forces are experienced after short glides; longer glides lead to softer landings, due to the colugo's ability to brake its glide aerodynamically. The ability to glide increases a colugo's access to scattered food resources in the rainforest, without increasing exposure to terrestrial or arboreal predators.^[11]

In general, the diet of the Sunda flying lemur consists mainly of leaves. It usually consumes leaves with less potassium and nitrogen-containing compounds, but with higher tannin.^[12] It also feeds on buds,^[13] shoots,^[14] coconut flowers, durian flowers,^[15] fruits, and sap^[16] from selected tree species. It also feeds on insects in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.^[17] The selected food sources depend on the localities, habitat, vegetation types, and availability.^[18]

The Sunda flying lemur mainly forages in tree canopies. It may forage on several different tree species in a single night,^[19][20] or on a single species. It can also be seen licking tree bark of selected tree species to obtain water, nutrients, salts, and minerals.^[21] Though the Sunda flying lemur has been reported to also occur in gardens and plantations, the species resides in forests primarily.^[22]

 

Distributions and habitats

 

The Sunda flying lemur is widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia, ranging from the Sunda Shelf mainland to other islands – Northern Laos,^[6] Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia (Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak), Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra, Bali, Java),^[1][23] and many adjacent islands.^[14] Conversely, the Philippine flying lemur (C. volans) is confined to the southern parts of the Philippines only.^[1]

The Sunda flying lemur is adapted to many different vegetation types, including gardens, primary and secondary forest,^[24] rubber and coconut plantations,^[25] fruit orchards (dusun),^[15] mangrove swamps,^[13] lowlands and upland forests,^[9][26] tree plantations,^[14] lowland dipterocarp forests, and mountainous areas,^[16] but not all of these habitats can sustain large colugo populations.^[22]

 

 

 

 Binomial name

 

 Galeopterus variegatus^[1]

(Audebert, 1799)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sunda flying lemur range 

 

 

THE CASSWARIES

 

Casuarius is a genus of birds in the order Casuariiformes, whose members are the cassowaries. It is classified as a ratite (flightless bird without a keel on its sternum bone) and is native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), Aru Islands, and northeastern Australia.^[3]

Three species are extant: The most common, the southern cassowary, is the third-tallest and second-heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu. The other two species are represented by the northern cassowary and the dwarf cassowary. A fourth but extinct species is represented by the pygmy cassowary.

Cassowaries feed mainly on fruit, although all species are truly omnivorous and take a range of other plant foods, including shoots and grass seeds, in addition to fungi, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. Cassowaries are very wary of humans, but if provoked, they are capable of inflicting serious, even fatal, injuries to both dogs and people. The cassowary has often been labeled "the world's most dangerous bird".^[4]

 

Taxonomy, systematics, and evolution

 

The genus Casuarius was erected by French scientist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Ornithologie published in 1760.^[5] The type species is the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius).^[6] The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus had introduced the genus Casuarius in the sixth edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1748,^[7] but Linnaeus dropped the genus in the important tenth edition of 1758 and put the southern cassowary together with the common ostrich and the greater rhea in the genus Struthio.^[8][9] As the publication date of Linnaeus's sixth edition was before the 1758 starting point of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, Brisson, and not Linnaeus, is considered as the authority for the genus.^[10]

Cassowaries (from Malay kasuari)^[11] are part of the ratite group, which also includes the emu, rheas, ostriches, and kiwi, as well as the extinct moas and elephant birds. These species are recognised:

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Casuarius casuarius	Southern cassowary or double-wattled cassowary	southern New Guinea, northeastern Australia, and the Aru Islands, mainly in lowlands[3]
	Casuarius unappendiculatus	Northern cassowary or single-wattled cassowary	Northern and western New Guinea, and Yapen, mainly in lowlands[3][12]
	Casuarius bennetti	Dwarf cassowary or Bennett's cassowary	New Guinea, New Britain, and Yapen, mainly in highlands[3]
(Extinct) †	Casuarius lydekkeri	Pygmy cassowary or small cassowary	Pleistocene fossils of New South Wales[13] and Papua New Guinea[14]

Most authorities consider the taxonomic classification above to be monotypic, but several subspecies of each have been described,^[15] and some of them have even been suggested as separate species, e.g., C. (b) papuanus.^[12] The taxonomic name C. (b) papuanus also may be in need of revision to Casuarius (bennetti) westermanni.^[16] Validation of these subspecies has proven difficult due to individual variations, age-related variations, the scarcity of specimens, the stability of specimens (the bright skin of the head and neck—the basis of describing several subspecies—fades in specimens), and the practice of trading live cassowaries for thousands of years, some of which are likely to have escaped or deliberately introduced to regions away from their origin.^[12]

The evolutionary history of cassowaries, as of all ratites, is not well known. A fossil species was reported from Australia, but for reasons of biogeography, this assignment is not certain, and it might belong to the prehistoric Emuarius, which was a genus of cassowary-like primitive emus.

All ratites are believed to have originally come from the super continent Gondwana, which separated around 180 million years ago. Studies show that ratites continued to evolve after this separation into their modern counterparts.^[17]

 

Description

Close-up of the head of a southern cassowary

Typically, all cassowaries are shy birds that are found in the deep forest. They are adept at disappearing long before a human knows they were there. The southern cassowary of the far north Queensland rain forests is not well studied, and the northern and dwarf cassowaries even less so. Females are larger and more brightly coloured than the males. Adult southern cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 ft) tall, although some females may reach 2 m (6.6 ft),^[18] and weigh 58.5 kg (130 lb).^[12]

All cassowaries' feathers consist of a shaft and loose barbules. They do not have rectrices (tail feathers) or a preen gland. Cassowaries have small wings with five or six large remiges. These are reduced to stiff, keratinous quills, resembling porcupine quills, with no barbs.^[12] The furcula and coracoid are degenerate, and their palatal bones and sphenoid bones touch each other.^[19] These, along with their wedge-shaped body, are thought to be adaptations to ward off vines, thorns, and saw-edged leaves, allowing them to run quickly through the rainforest.^[20]

Cassowaries have three-toed feet with sharp claws. The second toe, the inner one in the medial position, sports a dagger-like claw that may be 125 mm (5 in) long.^[12] This claw is particularly fearsome, since cassowaries sometimes kick humans and other animals with their powerful legs. Cassowaries can run at up to 50 km/h (30 mph) through the dense forest and can jump up to 1.5 m (5 ft). They are good swimmers, crossing wide rivers and swimming in the sea.^[21]

All three species have a keratinous, skin-covered casque on their heads that grows with age. The casque's shape and size, up to 18 cm (7 in), is species-dependent. C. casuarius has the largest and C. bennetti the smallest (tricorn shape), with C. unappendiculatus having variations in between. Contrary to earlier findings,^[22] the hollow inside of the casque is spanned with fine fibres that are believed to have an acoustic function.^[23]

Feet of a southern cassowary: Cassowaries use their feet as weapons.

Several functions for the casque have been proposed. One is that they are a secondary sexual characteristic. Other suggested functions include being used to batter through underbrush, as a weapon in dominance disputes, or for pushing aside leaf litter during foraging. The latter three are disputed by biologist Andrew Mack, whose personal observation suggests that the casque amplifies deep sounds.^[24]

Earlier research indicates the birds lower their heads when running "full tilt through the vegetation, brushing saplings aside and occasionally careening into small trees. The casque would help protect the skull from such collisions". Cassowaries eat fallen fruit, and consequently spend much time under trees where seeds the size of golfballs or larger fall from heights up to 30 m (100 ft); the wedge-shaped casque may protect the head by deflecting falling fruit.^{[citation needed]}

The casques also may play a role in either sound reception or acoustic communication. This is related to a discovery that at least the dwarf cassowary and southern cassowary produce very-low-frequency sounds, which may aid in communication in dense rainforest.^[24] The "boom" vocalisation that cassowaries produce is the lowest-frequency bird call known, and is at the lower limit of human hearing.^[25] A cooling function for the very similar casques of guineafowl has been proposed.

The average lifespan of wild cassowaries is believed to be about 40 to 50 years.^[26]

 

Behaviour and ecology

 

Cassowaries are solitary birds except during courtship, egg-laying, and sometimes around ample food supplies.^[19] The male cassowary defends a territory of about 7 km² (1,700 acres) for himself. Female cassowary have larger territories, overlapping those of several males.^[26] While females move among satellite territories of different males, they appear to remain within the same territories for most of their lives, mating with the same, or closely related, males over the course of their lives.

Courtship and pair-bonding rituals begin with the vibratory sounds broadcast by females. Males approach and run with their necks parallel to the ground while making dramatic movements of their heads, which accentuate the frontal neck region. The female approaches drumming slowly. The male crouches on the ground, and the female either steps on the male's back for a moment before crouching beside him in preparation for copulation, or she may attack. This is often the case with the females pursuing the males in ritualistic chasing behaviours that generally terminate in water. The male cassowary dives into water and submerges himself up to his upper neck and head. The female pursues him into the water, where he eventually drives her to the shallows, where she crouches making ritualistic motions of her head. The two may remain in copulation for extended periods of time. In some cases, another male may approach and run off the first male. He will climb onto her to copulate, as well.

Males are far more tolerant of one another than females, which do not tolerate the presence of other females.^{[citation needed]}

 

Reproduction

Juvenile southern cassowary

The cassowary breeding season starts in May to June. Females lay three to eight large, bright green or pale green-blue eggs in each clutch into a heap of leaf litter prepared by the male.^[19] The eggs measure about 9 by 14 cm (3.5 by 5.5 in) – only ostrich and emu eggs are larger.

The male incubates those eggs for 50–52 days, removing or adding litter to regulate the temperature, then protects the chicks, which stay in the nest for about 9 months. He defends them fiercely against all potential predators, including humans. The young males later go off to find a territory of their own.^[19][26]

The female does not care for the eggs or the chicks, but rather moves on within her territory to lay eggs in the nests of several other males. Young cassowaries are brown and have buffy stripes. They are often kept as pets in native villages (in New Guinea), where they are permitted to roam like barnyard fowl. Often they are kept until they become nearly grown and someone gets hurt. Mature cassowaries are placed beside native houses in cribs hardly larger than the birds themselves. Garbage and other vegetable food is fed to them, and they live for years in such enclosures; in some areas, their plumage is still as valuable as shell money . Caged birds are regularly bereft of their fresh plumes.^[20]

 

Diet

Southern cassowary eating banana

Cassowaries are predominantly frugivorous, but omnivorous opportunistically when small prey is available. Besides fruits, their diet includes flowers, fungi, snails, insects, frogs, birds, fish, rats, mice, and carrion. Fruit from at least 26 plant families has been documented in the diet of cassowaries. Fruits from the laurel, podocarp, palm, wild grape, nightshade, and myrtle families are important items in the diet.^[19] The cassowary plum takes its name from the bird.

Where trees are dropping fruit, cassowaries come in and feed, with each bird defending a tree from others for a few days. They move on when the fruit is depleted. Fruit, even items as large as bananas and apples, is swallowed whole. Cassowaries are a keystone species of rain forests because they eat fallen fruit whole and distribute seeds across the jungle floor via excrement.^[19]

As for eating the cassowary, it is supposed to be quite tough. Australian administrative officers stationed in New Guinea were advised that it "should be cooked with a stone in the pot: when the stone is ready to eat so is the cassowary".^[27]

 

Role in seed dispersal and germination

Cassowary feces, containing traces of seeds

Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large, dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, thus playing an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree Ryparosa were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%).^[28]

 

Distribution and habitat

 

Cassowaries are native to the humid rainforests of New Guinea, nearby smaller islands, East Nusa Tenggara, the Maluku Islands, and northeastern Australia.^[3] They do, however, venture out into palm scrub, grassland, savanna, and swamp forest. Whether some island populations are natural or the result of human trade in young birds is unclear.^[19]

 

Status and conservation

A free-ranging cassowary wandering in a tourist park at Etty Bay, Queensland

A road sign in Cairns, Queensland, Australia

The southern cassowary is endangered in Queensland. Kofron and Chapman, when they assessed the decline of this species, found that of the former cassowary habitat, only 20–25% remains. Habitat loss and fragmentation is the primary cause of decline.^[29] They then studied 140 cases of cassowary mortality, and found that motor-vehicle strikes accounted for 55% of the deaths, and dog attacks produced another 18%. Remaining causes of death included hunting (five cases), entanglement in wire (one case), the removal of cassowaries that attacked humans (four cases), and natural causes (18 cases), including tuberculosis (four cases). The cause for 14 cases was indicated as "for unknown reasons".^[29]

Hand feeding cassowaries poses a significant threat to their survival because it lures them into suburban areas. There, the birds are more susceptible to encounters with vehicles and dogs.^[30] Contact with humans encourages cassowaries to take food from picnic tables. Feral pigs also are a significant threat to their survival. They destroy nests and eggs of cassowaries, but their worst effect is as competitors for food, which may be catastrophic for the cassowaries during lean times.^[31][32]

In February 2011, Cyclone Yasi destroyed a large area of cassowary habitat, endangering 200 of the birds – about 10% of the total Australian population.^[33]

The Mission Beach community in far north Queensland holds an annual Cassowary Festival in September, where funds are raised to map the Mission Beach Cassowary Corridor.

 

In captivity

 

The cassowary has solitary habits and breeds less frequently in zoos than other ratites such as ostrich and emu. Unlike other ratites, it lives exclusively in tropical rainforest, and reproducing this habitat carefully is essential. Unlike the emu, which will live with other sympatric species, such as kangaroos, in "mixed Australian fauna" displays, the cassowary does not cohabit well among its own kind. Individual specimens must even be kept in separate enclosures, due to their solitary and aggressive nature. Territoriality is one of their most important characteristics.

The double-wattled cassowary (C. casuarius) is the most popular species in captivity, and it is fairly common in European and American zoos, where it is known for its unmistakable appearance. As of 2019 only Weltvogelpark Walsrode in Germany has all three species of cassowaries in its collection: single-wattled cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus) and Bennett's cassowary (Casuarius bennetti). If subspecies are recognised, Weltvogelpark Walsrode has C. b. westermanni and C. u. rufotinctus.

 

Relationship with humans

Cassowary held as pet during the Siboga Expedition on Indonesia and New Guinea, 1899–1900

Some New Guinea Highlands societies capture cassowary chicks and raise them as semi-tame poultry, for use in ceremonial gift exchanges and as food.^[34] They are the only indigenous Australasian animal known to have been partly domesticated by people prior to European arrival.^[35] The Maring people of Kundagai sacrificed cassowaries (C. bennetti) in certain rituals.^[36] The Kalam people considered themselves related to cassowaries, and did not classify them as birds, but as kin.^[34]

 

Attacks

 

Cassowaries have a reputation for being dangerous to people and domestic animals. During World War II, American and Australian troops stationed in New Guinea were warned to steer clear of them. In his 1958 book, Living Birds of the World, ornithologist Ernest Thomas Gilliard wrote:

The inner or second of the three toes is fitted with a long, straight, murderous nail which can sever an arm or eviscerate an abdomen with ease. There are many records of natives being killed by this bird.^[37]

This assessment of the danger posed by cassowaries has been repeated in print by authors, including Gregory S. Paul^[38] and Jared Diamond.^[39] A 2003 historical study of 221 cassowary attacks showed that 150 had been against humans; 75% of these had been from cassowaries that had been fed by people, 71% of the time the bird had chased or charged the victim, and 15% of the time they kicked. Of the attacks, 73% involved the birds expecting or snatching food, 5% involved defending their natural food sources, 15% involved defending themselves from attack, and 7% involved defending their chicks or eggs. Only one human death was reported among those 150 attacks.^[40]

The first documented human death caused by a cassowary was on April 6, 1926. In Australia, 16-year-old Phillip McClean and his brother, age 13, came across a cassowary on their property and decided to try to kill it by striking it with clubs. The bird kicked the younger boy, who fell and ran away as his older brother struck the bird. The older McClean then tripped and fell to the ground. While he was on the ground, the cassowary kicked him in the neck, opening a 1.25-cm (1/2-in) wound that may have severed his jugular vein. The boy died of his injuries shortly thereafter.^[41]

Cassowary strikes to the abdomen are among the rarest of all, but in one case, a dog was kicked in the belly in 1995. The blow left no puncture, but severe bruising occurred. The dog later died from an apparent intestinal rupture.^[41]

Another human death due to a cassowary was recorded in Florida on April 12, 2019. The bird's owner, a 75-year-old man who had raised the animal, was apparently clawed to death after he fell to the ground.^{[4][42][43][44][45][46]}

 

  

 

 

 

THE QINLING PANDA

 

The Qinling panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) is a subspecies of the giant panda, discovered in the 1960s^{[citation needed]} but not recognized as a subspecies until 2005.^[1][2] Disregarding the nominate subspecies, it is the first giant panda subspecies to be recognized.

 Qi Zai, the only brown panda in captivity, born 2008

Characteristics

 

It differs from the more familiar nominate subspecies by its smaller skull and dark brown and light brown (rather than black and white) fur, and its smaller overall size.^[3] Its eye spots are under the lower lid, instead of around the eyes. Brown pandas are very rare.

 

Distribution and habitat

 

This subspecies is restricted to the Qinling Mountains, at elevations of 1,300–3,000 metres (4,300–9,800 ft). Its coloration is possibly a consequence of inbreeding: as the population is closed off from genetic variation and this might have led to the preservation of the mutation responsible.^[1][3]

 

Conservation and threats

 

There are an estimated 1,800 Qinling pandas living in the wild.^[3]

On August 30, 1989, a female of this species was captured and brought to the Xi'an Zoo to be mated with a regular giant panda. This panda's offspring was black-and-white, but reportedly started becoming brownish as it aged. According to other reports she gave birth to three cubs, all of whom died shortly after being born. The mother, named Dan-Dan, died in 2000.^[4]

Due to the Qinling subspecies being restricted in range, it has been exposed to toxicants in their bamboo diet. Even though it is not fully known which toxicants it has been exposed to, it was determined to be heavy metals from atmospheric deposition. Thus, the conservation of the Qinling pandas may be compromised in the future due to air pollution in China.^[5]

Dental health is important for the survival of the Qinling Pandas. These pandas have a survival rate of 5-20 years. The most common dental abnormalities that Qinling Pandas face are dental attrition and fractures. These two abnormalities can impact the survival rate of these pandas.^[6]