Some mammalian highlights from the past year

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Antonsrkn
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
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Some mammalian highlights from the past year

Post by Antonsrkn »

I have spent the past 12 months first in Borneo then in Ecuador and have had some cool mammal finds to show for it. I still haven't processed all my photos yet but i figure theres no time like the present for a post, I think I have photos of all the highlights anyways.

Philippine tarsier (Carlito syrichta) - This one is from a tarsier sanctuary, i looked and it seems like it just provides a refuge for them to sleep in, I saw netting around but its only about chest height it shouldn't really stop a tarsier should one want to venture out. Anyways in the interest of full disclosure this is the only animal that is arguably not completely wild in this thread.
ImagePhilippine Tarsier by Anton, on Flickr

Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fasicularis)
Kinabatangan River
ImageNom Nom Nom... by Anton, on Flickr

Danum Valley
ImageWatchful Macaque by Anton, on Flickr

Rinca Island, Komodo National Park
ImageGrooming Session by Anton, on Flickr

Proboscis Monkey- I was never really happy with my photos of these, this one is kinda cool though.
ImageTaking Flight by Anton, on Flickr

Southern Pig tailed macaque
ImageHappy Mothers Day by Anton, on Flickr

Silver langurs
ImageSilver Langurs by Anton, on Flickr

Bornean Tarsier - Love these guys, I have a few more photos of them but this is the only one I currently have uploaded to Flickr
ImageBorneo Tarsier by Anton, on Flickr

Bornean Pygmy Elephant
ImageYoung Elephant by Anton, on Flickr

Bornean Orangutan
ImageBongo the Pongo by Anton, on Flickr

ImageOrangutan in nest by Anton, on Flickr

I believe this is a Large Pencil-tailed Tree Mouse (Chiropodomys major), if someone knows better please let me know!
ImageBornean Tree Mouse by Anton, on Flickr

South American Coati (Nasua nasua)
ImageSouth American Nasua by Anton, on Flickr

Mantled Howler monkey
ImageHear Me Roar by Anton, on Flickr

Brazilian Cottontail
ImageEaster Bunny by Anton, on Flickr

And I saved my 3 favorites for last!

Leopard Cat! I had a lengthy encounter with this little guy one night in the jungle, it was incredible and I got a whole series of photos!
Heres my account of it copied and pasted from my Flickr:
I was walking along through the jungle and I caught sight of some eyeshine ahead, the eyeshine appeared to be following the path of a streambed so I moved ahead and waited. Before long this leopard cat turned the bend in the bank, I was very surprised, I had been expecting a civet! I think the cat had been surveying the stream bed for tasty frogs and such. When the cat saw me it paused and I took a few photos, i slowly crouched to get a better angle and a twig cracked underneath my heel. I winced as I expected the cat to take off, instead it perked up and began padding forward towards me! After coming a meter or so closer it paused, we sat there looking at each other and I cautiously tried grinding my heel a little bit more into the dirt, all the while careful to keep as still as possible. Upon hearing the noise the cat had the same reaction as before, it hunched down and began stalking forward once more, it stopped again and I repeated the process several times with the cat approaching closer and closer everytime. In the end the cat had approached withing just a few meters of me and sat there looking at me, finally it decided I wasn't worth its while turned around and within a few seconds vanished. It popped back into view several times to check to see if I was following and then was finally swallowed up by the night and I didn't see it again.
ImageJungle Meeting by Anton, on Flickr

Banded Linsang - again I got super lucky as this linsang tried to move up a vertical dirt embankment in the forest and it was too steep so it turned around and looked at me for a few seconds before trying again and vanishing into the night.
ImageBanded Linsang by Anton, on Flickr

Mountain Coati (Nasuella olivacea)
As confirmed by two experts this is a rare procyonid from the cloud forests of Ecuador, the mountain coati (Nasuella olivacea) not to be confused with the similar and common coatis of the Nasua genus. Listed as data deficient by IUCN, not much is known about these coatis, their population status is a mystery and its not even clear how far their range extends. What is known is that it they are very rare to see and there are only a handful of (correctly identified) photos existing of this species in the wild, now there is one more! I was very lucky to see and get this photo of one of the least known and potentially most endangered procyonids. I was very impressed with how shy it was, the sound of my camera shutter scared it off when it was still 15m/45 ft away!
ImageRare Procyonid by Anton, on Flickr

Anyways thats a smattering of mammal photos from these past 12 months, hope you all enjoy!
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mrichardson
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 5:12 am
Location: Yorkshire, England
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Re: Some mammalian highlights from the past year

Post by mrichardson »

Some fantastic mammal sightings and photos. Not sure I've seen a photo of a Mountain Coati before. Thanks for posting.
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Curtis Hart
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan

Re: Some mammalian highlights from the past year

Post by Curtis Hart »

That's a very impressive assortment of mammals, especially with them all being forest mammals. I really like the Mountain Coati, Tarsiers, and Banded Linsang.


Curtis
ADCIII
Posts: 100
Joined: August 26th, 2010, 10:56 am

Re: Some mammalian highlights from the past year

Post by ADCIII »

IMPRESSIVE. Would love to see ALL of those Leopard Cat pix, Art
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