Photo Gallery (Guest Photo)

Guest Photo

Cenderawasih bird

Cenderawasih bird or a stranger called with the name of Bird of Paradise, is a typical bird of Papua, Indonesia. 43 of this beautiful bird species, 35 of which can be found in Papua. The rest, it is hard to find.

Its beautiful fur, mainly found in the male Cendrawasih. Generally, wool is very bright with a combination of black, reddish-brown, orange, yellow, white, blue, green, and purple. Cendrawasih species that are popular Paradisaea apoda, Paradisaea minor, Cicinnurus regius, and Seleucidis melanoleuca.

Birds usually live in dense forests or in low. He has a habit to play in the morning when the sun began to light appeared in the eastern horizon.
Cendrawasih male wearing fur neck to apprehend the kind of interesting opponents. Cendrawasih very masculine dance spectacular. While singing at the top of the limb, this male wiggle to different directions. Sometimes even reversed depending on the limb. However, each species of course have a distinctive type of dance.

In Papua, animals, animals in this region have a unique. Cendrawasih bird is one of the few birds that ilmiahnya name means "heaven", "magnificent", "beautiful", and "very good".

Robby Sawaki, one of the traditional artists of Papua, calling birds as Cenderawasih legged woman is not or Apoda. In Latin Cendrawasih bird described as paradisaea apoda. Birds are very beautiful but does not have the legs to be not from earth, because they walk or sit in a tree.

Cendrawasih thirty species are found in Indonesia, 28 of which are found in Papua is home to Cendrawasih paradigalla carunculata, Cendrawasih long tails astrapia nigra, Cendrawasih paratia parotia sefilata, Cendrawasih cicinnurus respublica Wilson, and red Cendrawasih paradiasea rubra.

A son of the Papua-day work as a tour guide, Helmut Kmur, say, in every occasion when he was traveling in the Land of Papua, many see it and witness with their own eyes the animals from Papua and in the catch in the sale. "One of them is bird paradise, which I often see birds on the market outside the area of Papua, "said Helmut.

Helmut, also deplore the original Papua hunt and kill a protected animal. "I take an example, people want to create an event must be present Cenderawasih bird as a sign," he said.

Birds get the nickname the bird paradise, the first population quite a lot in the forest of Papua, but continue to be hunted because of the drastic population decline and now is difficult to find. The causes, among others, forest where they seek refuge and breed narrow start line with the increasing logging.
Andreas Lameki, Head of Forestry Biak Numfor said, Cendrawasih bird hunting is prohibited based on the actual letter of the decision the Ministry of Forestry, but because the price in the market arouse enough, so that hunters continue to hunt wild.

While Cendrawasih king, Cendrawasih bald, red Cendrawasih, toowa, and Cendrawasih small yellow tails, have been included in the list of types of protected animals under the Law No 5 Year 1990 and PP RI No. 7 of 1999.

In many bird market in Jakarta a few years ago, a bird Cendrawasih sold illegally with the price Rp.1-2 million per head. Meanwhile, the collectors are also buying the bird of Paradise that has been preserved with the price of Rp750 to Rp1 million thousand.

The Sumatran tiger

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of the tiger subspecies as compared to the Siberian tiger which is the largest.
Sumatran male tigers average 8 feet in length (2.4 meters) from head to tail and weigh about 265 pounds (120 kilograms).  Females average 7 feet in length (2.2 meters) and weigh about 200 pounds (90 kilograms).The smaller size of the Sumatran tiger makes it easier to move quickly through the jungle.  Also, their stripes are narrower than other tiger species.  The tiger's patterned coloring is an adaptation for camouflage in their natural habitat, which is often tall grass.  Webbing between their toes, when spread,  enables the Sumatran tiger to be very fast swimmer. They will, if given the chance, run hoofed prey into the water who are much slower swimmers.

DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT:

The Sumatran tiger is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in habitat that ranges from lowland forest to sub mountain and mountain forest including some peat moss forests.   According the the Tiger Information Center and the World Wildlife Fund there are no more than 500 of these tigers left in the wild with some estimates considerably lower.

Sumatra has undergone much agricultural growth and as a result, tiger habitat has become fragmented with about 400 tigers inhabiting five National Parks and two Game Reserves.  The largest population of about 110 tigers lives in Gunung Leuser National Park.  Another 100 live in unprotected areas that will soon  be lost to agriculture. The tigers that live in unprotected areas are very vulnerable to poaching as well as the killing of problem animals that come in contact with villagers encroaching upon the animal's habitat.

The continuing loss of habitat is intensifying the crises to save this tiger.

BEHAVIOR AND DIET:


The extent of a tiger's range varies according to habitat and availability of prey. Its sight and hearing are very acute, accounting for the tiger being such an efficient predator. The tiger lives alone for the most part, and there is only occasional cooperation between different individuals. A male will not tolerate other males staying in his territory, but will permit other transient males to move through his area.

A female uses her territory only for hunting, while the territory of a single male can overlap with those held by several females. The tiger emerges to hunt at dusk, and may travel more than 20 miles in a night.

The hunting method is slow and patient, stalking through often dense cover until close enough to spring. Tigers in general tend to attack prey from the side or rear at close range and when the prey weighs more than half that of the tiger, a throat bite is used and death is caused by suffocation. They will kill whatever they can catch, including fish, crocodiles and fowl, with the most common larger prey being wild pigs and deer.

Interestingly, is has been learned that one of the main reasons orangutans spend a minimal amount of time on the ground is from fear of tiger attack.

ZOO DIET:

In the Zoo the tigers are fed an assortment of fish, meat and poultry parts.

REPRODUCTION and GROWTH:

Tigers can breed at any time of the year, but they typically mate in winter or spring. Tigers appear to reach maturity at about 4 years of age, although earlier maturity has been recorded. Gestation is normally 103 days. The usual number of cubs is two or three, though there may be as many as six.

The cubs are blind and helpless at birth weighing about 3 pounds each. Their eyes usually open by the tenth day, although some zoo-born cubs have their eyes open as soon as they are born. During the first 8 weeks the cubs consume only their mother's milk. They are suckled for 5 or 6 months.

The cubs leave the den for the first time when they are 2 months old. They are wholly dependent until they are about 6 months old when they learn how to kill.  They can hunt for themselves by the time they are about 18 months old and are fully independent at two years of age.  Longevity in the wild is 15 years and 20 years in captivity.

ENDANGERED STATUS:

Sumatran tigers are critically endangered.  The Indonesian Sumatran Tiger Conservation Strategy has been established by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and it outlines management strategies for both wild and captive tiger populations.

Even without any further losses of these magnificent animals,, the present populations are so small that they are vulnerable to severe environmental catastrophes, as well as genetic problems typical of small populations.

Indonesia has 65 captive Sumatran tigers living in zoos, 85 in European zoos and 20 in Australian zoos. There are  70 tigers managed by North American zoos of which the Honolulu Zoo has three. Our younger male and female pair have had cubs at another zoo and we expect them to breed again starting in 2007.  The entire captive population is descended from 37 wild-caught founders.  To find out more about captive management of Sumatran tigers check out this site:  Tiger Global Conservation Strategy.

It is now illegal to hunt tigers, however, this has not stopped the poaching of these animals for tiger products.  China, by virtue of its large population, is the largest consumer and producer of manufactured products containing tiger parts.

Outside tiger range countries, large numbers of bones ands other tiger products have been found in Taiwan and South Korea, many of which were from Indonesia. A great number of these medicinal tiger products are also consumed by Asian-Americans in North American cities, who can afford the expensive prices.  The World Wildlife Fund has recently made progress  working with the Schools of Chinese Medicine in North America to change attitudes toward the use tiger products.

At the turn of the century, there were probably over 100,000 tigers roaming the forests of central and southern Asia.  There are now only about 6,000. Three of the eight sub-species of tiger are already extinct.