Saturday, November 27, 2010
PRUDENCE AND POPPY IN THE SNOW
The general consensus of opinion amongst the furry members of the CFZ Family is that winter is over-rated. Surprisingly, however, Biggles liked it.
THE DIALOGUE ON THE SUMATRA HAIR SAMPLES CONTINUES...
`The Highland Tiger` wrote back:
'Jon, I thank you for posting my comments. I understand that you wish to accept the findings of your experts. However, do you not think it prudent to contact orangutan specialists for their opinion of the hair samples. For them to confirm the identity of the hair samples would in my opinion have more validity in the wider zoological world. You need confirmation of the hair samples. not from just a generalist such as Lars, but from someone who is an expert in orangutan physiology. You need to eliminate any possibility it is of a known orangutan sub species, before you can claim it is of a new species.
And for the record, Richard Freeman is incorrect, in saying that orangutans have been missing from Western Sumatra since the 1880's. The IUCN report indicates that there were reports up to as recently as the 1960's. I really feel you need to get as many professional opinions on the hairs as you can.'
We wrote to Lars Thomas, who replied:
'Unfortunately it will not be possible to send anything to anybody - in order to get enough DNA out of the hairs, all the rest of them had to be sacrificed. The actual extraction process destroys the hairs. All that remains are my notes and drawings and the various pictures taken from the screen of the big microscope during the Weird Weekend. But intriguingly enough, a couple of days ago I got a call from a Danish guy, who used to work as a tourist guide in Indonesia. He had stumbled onto the CFZ blog and read about the orang pendek. He claims to have some long orange/reddish brown hairs in his position he found in Sumatra about 10 years ago, at a place where some local had seen an orang pendek. He never though much about it at the time, and just kept the hairs as a fun souvenir of his time in Indonesia.'
As far as the dates when orang utans were last seen in Kerinci National Park, Richard had been told that they had not been there since the 19th century. However, in the light of what THT has written, we have written to Debbie Martyr and the management of the park for clarification.
'Jon, I thank you for posting my comments. I understand that you wish to accept the findings of your experts. However, do you not think it prudent to contact orangutan specialists for their opinion of the hair samples. For them to confirm the identity of the hair samples would in my opinion have more validity in the wider zoological world. You need confirmation of the hair samples. not from just a generalist such as Lars, but from someone who is an expert in orangutan physiology. You need to eliminate any possibility it is of a known orangutan sub species, before you can claim it is of a new species.
And for the record, Richard Freeman is incorrect, in saying that orangutans have been missing from Western Sumatra since the 1880's. The IUCN report indicates that there were reports up to as recently as the 1960's. I really feel you need to get as many professional opinions on the hairs as you can.'
We wrote to Lars Thomas, who replied:
'Unfortunately it will not be possible to send anything to anybody - in order to get enough DNA out of the hairs, all the rest of them had to be sacrificed. The actual extraction process destroys the hairs. All that remains are my notes and drawings and the various pictures taken from the screen of the big microscope during the Weird Weekend. But intriguingly enough, a couple of days ago I got a call from a Danish guy, who used to work as a tourist guide in Indonesia. He had stumbled onto the CFZ blog and read about the orang pendek. He claims to have some long orange/reddish brown hairs in his position he found in Sumatra about 10 years ago, at a place where some local had seen an orang pendek. He never though much about it at the time, and just kept the hairs as a fun souvenir of his time in Indonesia.'
As far as the dates when orang utans were last seen in Kerinci National Park, Richard had been told that they had not been there since the 19th century. However, in the light of what THT has written, we have written to Debbie Martyr and the management of the park for clarification.
MORE PICTURES FROM INDIA (Captions by Richard Freeman)
Pintu, one of our guides, who found a mysterious bone in Siju caves
Me in Siju cave, looking for bones
Chris, Adam and I outside of Siju Cave, where a village headman reported an encounter with a mande-barung
Chris and Dave on an old fashioned jungle suspension bridge, minus Johnny Weissmuller
The beautiful Simsang River, where the sankuni, a huge mystery snake, has been reported.NAOMI WEST IS DESPERATELY SEEKING ROSIE
Jon, I just found out about this place and I can’t wait to go visit. It’s in Colorado and it’s called the Butterfly Pavilion. There is a Crawl-a-see-um where kids can hold a tarantula named Rosie. Here is the link: http://www.butterflies.org/
OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today
http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/
On this day in 1520 three of Magellan’s ships sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans ever to do so.
And now, the news:
Alaska polar bears given 'critical habitat'
From Estonia to Poland – one of Europe’s largest p...
Life discovered in deepest layer of Earth’s crust
Video Cat takes on two alligators
Animal genomes riddled with the 'skeletons' of anc...
San Jose Pet Store Looks To Find Homes For Over 1,...
Pictures of dead 'mermaid' in Zimbabwe?
Rare cricket halt work at Wakefield nature park
While the crickets clicked their clicky melodies, all the ants were fancy dancin' with the fleas...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2_xXMelR8
On this day in 1520 three of Magellan’s ships sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans ever to do so.
And now, the news:
Alaska polar bears given 'critical habitat'
From Estonia to Poland – one of Europe’s largest p...
Life discovered in deepest layer of Earth’s crust
Video Cat takes on two alligators
Animal genomes riddled with the 'skeletons' of anc...
San Jose Pet Store Looks To Find Homes For Over 1,...
Pictures of dead 'mermaid' in Zimbabwe?
Rare cricket halt work at Wakefield nature park
While the crickets clicked their clicky melodies, all the ants were fancy dancin' with the fleas...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2_xXMelR8