Tigers related to snow leopards

This is a snow leopard video.

From the BBC:

Tigers are less closely related to lions, leopards and jaguars than these other big cats are to each other, according to a new comprehensive study.

The genetic analysis also reveals the tiger began evolving 3.2 million years ago, and its closest living relative is the equally endangered snow leopard.

The discovery comes as the BBC launches a collection of intimate videos of wild tigers and the threats they face.

Despite the popularity and endangered status of tigers, much remains to be discovered about them, including how they evolved.

It has long been known that the five species of big cat, the tiger, lion, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard, which belong to the Panthera genus, and the two species of clouded leopard, are more closely related to each other than to other smaller cats.

India’s Eastern Himalayan rainforest could have one of the world’s largest number of wild cat species, after seven species were recorded in two years: here.

CITES fails to agree new tiger farm rules: here.

Myanmar creates world’s largest tiger reserve, aiding many endangered Southeast Asian species: here.

In a valley high in the Wakhan Mountains of Afghanistan, a hunter several weeks ago waded through snowdrifts to check his traps and found that he had snared one of the rarest creatures alive: a snow leopard: here.

Endangered snow leopard clawing its way back – Innovative conservation project in Pakistan: here.

Baby snow leopard filmed in wild mountains of Bhutan: here.

Snow Leopards Thriving in Afghanistan: here.

KUALA LUMPUR: Researchers have captured the first images of a spotted leopard in Malaysia, putting to rest a decades-old debate over the existence of the endangered cat in the country: here.

May 2010: Two clouded leopard cubs have been radio-collared and returned to the wild in India: here.

Hawfinches and long-tailed tit

Today, again to the old harbour.

The many mallards, the two mandarin ducks, the tufted ducks and the female common pochard were still there.

In the cemetery, two hawfinches high up in a tree.

This is a hawfinch video.

Hawfinch migration: here.

A bit further, a long-tailed tit.

Nuthatch and greenfinch sounds. Jays, magpies, wood pigeons, blackbirds.

Many bird tracks in the snow on the graves.

Animal tracks in the snow, guide: here.

Afghan town Marjah attacked

Thousands of US troops, joined by British and Canadian forces, are beginning a major attack on the town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan, the first major offensive since President Barack Obama approved the escalation of the war: here.

This video is called Afghan displaced face harsh winter.

As ISAF and Afghan forces are about to launch a large operation in Helmand province, thousands of people are fleeing the area: here.

Anti-war campaigners have dismissed the latest military onslaught in Afghanistan as a “propaganda ploy” and reiterated their demand for the immediate withdrawal of all troops from the country: here.

Obama’s secret prisons in Afghanistan endanger us all: here.

Afghanistan’s secret jails: here.

Villagers accuse US Special Forces for killing five civilians: here.

Honduras, a death squad ‘democracy’

This video says about itself:

A UN panel said this week that Honduran landowners have reportedly hired former Colombian paramilitaries as mercenaries to protect them against possible violence stemming from government tensions. The panel also says that separately, a 120-person group of paramilitaries from several countries in that region was reportedly created to support the coup in Honduras itself.

With the restoration of diplomatic ties and the resumption of aid and credits, Honduras has been welcomed back into the fold of “democratic” nations, even as the organizers of last June’s coup remain at their posts and death squad murders continue: here.

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 26, 2010 (IPS) – Less than a month into his term, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo is facing street protests, complaints of human rights violations, and criticism of the truth commission he set up to investigate the Jun. 28 coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya: here.

Honduras: Partial list of resistance members murdered by pro-capitalists: here.

Honduras: COFADEH Register of Political Murders since Coup: here.

Honduras: Neither Forget Nor Forgive, Cries the Resistance: here.

Dole Foods and Chiquita may be on the verge of facing justice for ‘pacifying’ their work force, suppressing labor unions and terrorizing peasant squatters in Colombia: here.