Pakistan Wild Life

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Chukar Partridge

Spotted Owlet -

Bar-headed Goose

Falcon with prey

 

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Paradise on Earth - Pakistan

 

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Hingol park

 

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Snow leopards have been forced to the edge of extinction by hunting and human encroachment and are now one of the world's most endangered animals. In the far north of Pakistan, locals have long feared them but find themselves now relying on money that saving snow leopards brings in. What is it like living alongside a ferocious predator? M Ilyas Khan finds out.

Substantial investment programmes are in place to help preserve these rare animals which, though rare and beautiful, present a serious threat to livestock.

"These are pastoral communities with heavy dependence on livestock, and a carnivore's presence scares them," said Dr Ali Nawaz of Quaid-e-Azam University who supervises an internationally-funded snow leopard programme in Pakistan.


A hairy encounter

• Some 4,000 to 6,000 worldwide; between 200 and 400 in Pakistan
• Native to the mountains of Central and South Asia, their range stretches over more than 80,000 sq km (31,000 square miles) in Pakistan's extreme north
• Mostly feed on wild animals, but livestock is also fair game
• Retaliatory killings by farmers are not uncommon but are rarely reported

But despite all these efforts and interventions, livestock still remains central to an economy which has not yet moved beyond the subsistence level.

And this entails a continuing conflict between humans and wild predators - every year there are reports of livestock damaged by snow leopards, and of snow leopards being shot or poisoned to death by angry farmers.

"Retaliatory killings are a knee-jerk reaction, and they continue to happen because even the community, which may disapprove of it, tries to cover it up to avoid trouble with the authorities and the donors," said Dr Nawaz.

"By comparison, the population of wild mountain goats has decreased by at least 50%, and nearly half of their ranges have been lost to livestock and farming."

Pakistan is still home to between 200 and 400 snow leopards, Dr Nawaz says, but sustaining this population will require a massive effort of the international community at what he calls the "landscape level".

In this setting, the policemen and the wildlife rangers posted in remote valleys act as a stabilising factor in relations between communities and conservationists.

Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF)

A non-profit organization set up under section 42 of the companies Ordinance 1984 with Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Affiliated with the Snow Leopard Trust, USA, the SLF is dedicated to conserve viable populations of snow leopards and other wild carnivores as an integral part of landscapes across Pakistan.

 

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Ram Chakore

 

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Indus River Dolphin Sindh.

By wnn
December 22nd, 2019

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The Indus river Dolphin or Indus blind Dolphin (Platanista minor) world’s rarest animal found in the freshwater of the Indus River near Sukkur town in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Dolphin locally known as “Bulhan” occurs only in the Indus river.

The estimated remaining population of Indus river Dolphins is about 1100 widely populate in the lowest parts of the Indus river between chashma and kotri barrages. Indus river dolphins are one of the four river Dolphin species and subspecies on the planet that spend the majority of their lives in freshwater. The main sense in dolphins is hearing, the only way to communicate by means of acoustic sense to navigate each other and hunt prey.

Indus river Dolphins is one of the world’s most extinction endangered species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species the population of Indus River Dolphin has fallen by more than 50 percent since 1944.Their ecosystem is in dire and the main threat to Indus river dolphins are fishing, depleting flows, habitat contamination due to industrial, agricultural and domestic activities. Dolphins get trapped in irrigation canals, some people kill them for meat, oil, fishing bait or even to prepare alternative traditional medicines. A new study reveals that due to industrial activities, the scales of dolphins are filled with DDT, PCBs and other Carcinogenic substances.

Scientific Name: Platanista minor

Status: Endangered in IUCN Red List

Population Approximately: 1100 Habitat: Indus River System in Pakistan

Length: 7 – 8.5 feet
Weight: 150 – 200 pounds

Common Name: Indus River Dolphin / Indus Blind Dolphin

Local Name: Bhulan (Urdu, Sindhi) Lifespan Period: Up to 35 year

 

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Himalayan Ibex.
Khujrab Park, GB.

 

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Black Deer, Bahawalpur

 

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A Spanish hunter, Carlo Pasc,o has hunted a flare-horned Markhor in Gilgit after paying a permit fee of $83,500, making it the third time the national animal of Pakistan has been hunted this season.

The hunting fees for different local species were decided in November last year as the Gilgit-Baltistan Wildlife department auctioned off the permits for Markhor for $83,500. In 2018-19, the hunters paid $110,000 for hunting the animal.

 

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Black Alfa male wolf
Dec 16, 2019 ,Bahawalpur ,Pakistan



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Barking Deer / Indian Muntjac,

Margalla Hills, Islamabad,

Jan 2020.



MAMMAL CLICK BANNER OF THE WEEK

Himalayan Ibex (Capra sibirica hemalayanus)

Photo Credit: Mudasir Rao

Khunjerab National Park, Pakistan

Regarded as a subspecies of the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica). It is the longest and heaviest member of the genus Capra, though its shoulder height is surpassed by the markhor. They are found in the western Himalaya in Pakistan and India, usually at elevations of 3800m and higher. An adult ibex weighs about 90 kgs, and stands around 40 inches tall, with huge curved horns. The horns have notches on the front, and grow each year. Their coat is thick and woolly in winter, and shed in early summer. Colour ranges from pale brown to dark brown, with a darker dorsal stripe. They are usually found in small herds, and sometimes around 50 together. They normally feed on grass, moss and small shrubs. In winter, they come down to lower elevations in search of food as the mountains get covered in snow. In summer they move back upward as the snow melts.

Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) rarely come close to human settlements. This picture was taken near irrigation canal, Indus river.
Most Siberian ibexes are seen in central and northern Asia, Afghanistan, western and northern China (Primarily Xinjiang), north-western India, south-eastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, eastern Uzbekistan, Mongolia, northern Pakistan, and south-central Russia.

 

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Golden Jackal, December 18

Khairpur Sindh



Black-Naped or Indian Hare (Lepus nigricollis)

Photo Credit: Tariq Hameed Tariq Hameed Sulemani

Bahawalpur area, Punjab, Pakistan, 2018

A common species of hare found in the Indian Subcontinent[3] and in Java. Introduced to Madagascar, Comoro Islands, Andaman Islands, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Mayotte, Mauritius and Réunion[4]

There are 7 recognized subspecies:

Lepus nigricollis aryabertensis
Lepus nigricollis dayanus
Lepus nigricollis nigricollis
Lepus nigricollis ruficaudatus
Lepus nigricollis sadiya
Lepus nigricollis simcoxi
Lepus nigricollis singhala

 

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