Mekong Giant Catfish, CR ( critically endangered )

Mekong Giant Catfish
Pangasianodon gigas
CR ( critically endangered)

mixed media, hand sewn and beaded painted leather figure seated on hand made wooden chair
photograph by Bruce Mathews
in a private collection

Mekong Giant Catfish
Pangasianodon gigas
CR ( critically endangered)

In May of 2005, a 646 pound nine feet long giant catfish was caught in the Mekong River by a fisherman. This fish is the current record holder for the largest freshwater fish ever caught. Historically the Mekong Giant Catfish flourished in the Mekong River Basin. This catfish could be found in the freshwaters of the Tonle Sap Lake, Tonle Sap River in Cambodia, and the Mekong River which flows through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Local fisheries began reporting the disappearance of the species in the 1970s. Current population size is unknown for the Mekong Giant Catfish. The IUCN has qualified the species for Critically Endangered from estimations of past and current catch records over the last thirteen years which show a decline of more than 80% of the population.

Continuation of this species will not come easily. Fisheries in the Mekong Basin are on the rise. Loss and degradation of the catfish's habitat are serious threats also. Deforestation along the northern parts of the Mekong River area has caused increasing siltation of the Mekong mainstream. The rapids and whirlpool ecosystem within the "Golden Triangle" is the only part of the Mekong that the giant catfish use as a spawning ground. This portion of the river is slated to be reconfigured by a Mekong rapids blasting project sponsored by the governments of China, Burma, Thailand, and Lao People's Democratic Republic. With the removal of the rapids, navigation of the river channel will be easier for boats. Also the construction of dams along the river, like the Pak Mun Dam in Thailand, the catfish can not migrate back and forth to their historic spawning grounds.

Zeb Hogan, an American aquatic ecologist, leads the Mekong Fish Conservation Project in Cambodia. Their goal is to protect vulnerable populations of migratory fish in the Mekong River Basin. One of the supporters of this project is the National Geographic Society's Conservation Trust. As a part of this project, Hogan purchases live fish from Cambodian fishermen. The fish are weighed, measured, DNA samples gathered for genetic studies, tagged, and released back into the water. The record holding catfish caught in May of 2005 that was purchased from a fisherman was a part of this project. Unfortunately, the giant catfish died before it could be released. Optimistically though, this project should keep more endangered fish alive and allow scientists to gather valuable data about migration patterns, habitat use, and mortality rates. Hogan hopes this knowledge will lead to the creation of no-fishing zones and better management of Cambodian fisheries.

Pink-headed Duck , critically endangered

Pink-headed Duck
Rhodonessa caryophyllacea
CR ( critically endangered)
12"x7"x7"
mixed media , hand sewn and beaded leather figure seated in hand made wooden chair
photograph by Bruce Mathews

Pink-headed Duck
Rhodonessa caryophyllacea
CR (critically endangered)

Unconfirmed sightings in the 1960s and again in 2004 in remote wetlands of the state of Kachin, Burma ( some call the country Myanmar) and the fact that large areas of Burma haven't been explored by ornithologists are the reasons why this duck is considered critically endangered instead of extinct. The last specimen in the wild was shot and killed in 1935 in Darbhanga Bihar, India. The last known captive duck kept in an aviary at Foxwarren Park, England died in 1945.

Historically the Pink-headed Duck's known habitat included northern Burma, north-east India, and central Nepal. Freshwater ponds, marshes, swamps, and wetlands surrounded by bushes, tall grasses, and subtropical forests provided aquatic plants and mollusks to eat and nesting areas. Swamps of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in northern India have been drained, cultivated, and heavily populated, leading to the decline of the species in that area. Many forests in Burma are being heavily logged causing further stress on any of the ducks that might still be in this country.

The male Pink-headed Duck has a pink head and neck which has made it a sought after trophy by hunters through the years. The female has paler pink plumage on its head and neck. Not only does this pink coloration make this duck unlike any other duck, its pure white or pale yellow egg differs from all other duck's eggs by being almost perfectly spherical.

The Pink-headed Duck has always been considered as rare.

Siberian Crane, CR ( critically endangered)

Siberian Crane
Grus leucogeranus
CR, (critically endangered)
14"x6"x9"
mixed media, hand sewn and beaded painted leather figure seated on hand made wooden chair
photograph by Bruce Mathews

Siberian Crane
Grus leucogeranus
CR, (critically endangered)

Adult Siberian cranes stand five feet tall and weigh only thirteen pounds. Females generally lay two goose-sized olive green eggs which are incubated for twenty-nine days. Rarely do both chicks live. Siberian cranes are omnivores. Whilst living on the breeding grounds, they will hunt rodents,fish, insects, and gather cranberries. On migration and whilst living on wintering grounds these cranes dig up nutrient rich roots and tubers from the wetlands. The oldest living documented Siberian crane lived to be eighty-three years old.

Nine of the fifteen species of cranes worldwide are threatened with extinction. The Siberian crane with a rapidly declining population of less than three thousand is listed as critically endangered. Historically there were three populations of Siberian cranes.

The western population's breeding ground is in Russia just south of the Ob River and east of the Ural Mountains. They migrate southward to a single site along the south coast of the Caspian Sea in Iran. The crane's primary threat here comes from human hunters.

There is little doubt that the central population has been extirpated. This population once nested in western Siberia and migrated south to India, spending a resting period in Afghanistan. The last documented sighting of a Siberian crane in India during the winter months was in 2002.

The eastern population which makes up 95% of the entire Siberian crane global population locates its nesting grounds on the lowland tundra of northeastern Siberia near the Arctic Circle in wetlands, bogs, and marshes. These cranes winter along the lower Yangtze River (Chang Jing) in China. It is here, in China, where the species is threatened with losing its critical wetland habitat.

This wetland habitat is Poyang Hu lakes, a maze of small lakes and marshes filled with shallow water, wet meadows, and broad mudflats. During summer floods, this area grows into a single lake which shrinks every year becoming the perfect wetland habitat for cranes and numerous other migratory waterfowl. This critical habitat is in the lower Yangtze River basin in southeastern China.

Siberian cranes are threatened in these wetlands by commercial hunters and by farmers who are draining the pools of water, gaining new cropland. A growing human population also threatens this habitat. But by far the most imposing imminent threat to the very survival of this population is the manmade Three Gorges Dam. This hydroelectric dam spans the Yangtze River, upriver from the Poyang ecosystem. Below this dam, plans are to deepen and re-channel the lower river to improve transportation, agriculture, and industry. These changes will disrupt the seasonal flow of the river and change water levels in the lowlands. This dam also threatens other endangered species such as the Yangtze dolphins, Chinese sturgeons, Chinese tigers, Chinese alligators, and giant pandas.

Arabian Oryx, EN (endangered)

Arabian Oryx
Oryx leucoryx
EN (endangered)
15"x7"x7"
mixed media leather jointed sculpture
photograph taken by Bruce Mathews

Arabian Oryx
Oryx leucoryx
EN (endangered)

Around 1800 the habitat of these white antelope was the desert plains of the entire Arabian Peninsula. Nomadic herds composed of two to fifteen individuals followed the rare rains in search of grasses, leaves, and buds. During the heat of the day, the oryx would rest in the shade offered by trees and bushes. Their white coats helped also to reflect the desert's sweltering heat. The lifespan of an oryx could be as long as twenty years. Each birthing after a gestation period of eight to nine months produced a single calf. The jackal, a native predator, preyed on young calves. Humans hunted the adult oryx for their meat and hides.

World War II birthed new powerful human guided predators. The automatic rifle and the Jeep. Decimation escalated in the decades after this war until it is thought that the last wild oryx was killed in 1972. The main cause of extinction of the Arabian Oryx in the wild was overhunting. Bedouins killed them for their meat and hides. Sport hunters killed them as a trophy.

Thankfully, captive breeding had begun in the 1950s on the Peninsula. In 1962, several individuals were sent to the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona where the breeding program flourished. Oryx were reintroduced into the wild in Oman in 1982. In the following years others found the desert in Bahrain, Israel, and Saudi Arabia to be their new homes. The reintroduction population in the wild numbered 886 in 2003.

Sadly, poaching by humans has once again become a serious threat to the reintroduced oryx. Also the escalating temperatures in the desert are stressing these creatures.

Proboscis Monkey, EN ( endangered)

Proboscis Monkey
Nasalis larvatus,
EN, endangered
11"x7"x8"
mixed media leather jointed sculpture
photo by Bruce Mathews

Proboscis Monkey
Nasalis larvatus
EN, endangered

"Dutchmen monkeys", as they were known historically by local people on the island of Borneo, live only on this island in the treetops of riverine and coastal forests and swamps. The male monkeys huge noses, which swell and turn red when angry or excited, reminded the locals of the Dutch sailors during colonial times. These Dutchmen and Proboscis monkeys also shared the characteristic of appearing potbelllied. These monkeys have huge chambered stomachs which contain healthy bacterias that aid the digestion of leaves, seeds, and young sour fruits that make up their diet.

One of Asia's largest monkeys, the proboscis, who lives in groups, can weigh up to fifty pounds and have a lifespan of thirteen years. After a gestation period of 166 days, a female will give birth to one baby. Twins are rare. Proboscis monkeys have long thick tails which help them balance in treetops and are excellent swimmers due to their partially webbed hands and feet. This ability to swim allows the monkeys to cross rivers which are the crocodile's habitat. Crocodiles and humans are the main predators of this monkey.

The population trend for the Proboscis monkey is unknown because their habitat is shrinking at an alarming rate. These monkeys need vast expanses of native forests in order to hunt enough vegetal material for sustenance. Native forests are being logged for timber, burned to clear the land, and replaced with oil palm plantations. Palm oil, a major ingredient of soaps, moisturizer, lipstick, and foodstuffs such as margarine, confectionery, chocolate, and ice cream, is one of Malaysia's top exports.

In Sumatra the tigers and elephants are also losing their habitats due to these plantations.

Siberian Tiger, CE ( critically endangered)

Siberian Tiger
Panthera tigris ssp. Altaica
CE (critically endangered)
photograph by Bruce Mathews
11"x7"x6"
mixed media sculpture, painted hand stitched and beaded leather

Historically the Siberian tiger, ( reverently called "Amba", Great Sovereign, by the Udege people of Russian Far East) inhabited the Korean peninsula, Manchuria, and the Russian Far East. There were thought to be between six hundred and eight hundred tigers in the Russian Far East prior to economic development of the area. By 1940 this estimate dropped drastically to no more than thirty with an unknown number in China and Korea. Approximately two hundred and fifty mature individuals live in the Russian Far East currently but the numbers are declining. Only twenty percent of this declining population can be found within the supposed safe havens of three small reserves.

The Siberian tiger can live to be fifteen years old in the wild and possibly to twenty if kept in a zoo. Males can weigh as much as 660 pounds and be almost eleven feet long. Females will weigh between 200 to 370 pounds and be eight and one half feet long. Their orange colouring is paler than other tigers of the world and their stripes are brown instead of black. In the winter their hair can grow to be as long as twenty-one inches, helping insulate them from frigid winter temperatures. Tigers live a solitary life for the most part. After a gestation period of approximately 110 days, a female will give birth to a litter of two to three cubs, though this number can range from one to six cubs. The Siberian tiger's diet typically consists of red deer and wild boar. Their habitat is mixed pine and broadleaf forest.

Humans are the predators of the Siberian tiger. In the early 1900s the building of the Chinese Eastern Railway aided in the slaughter of the tiger in Manchuria. Poaching continues to this day, in spite of it being against the law, because of unstable economic conditions, the demand for hides and body parts for traditional Chinese medicine. Commercial logging within the dense forests of the Russian Far East and the subsequent development of the cleared land has reduced the tiger's habitat. Humans hunting red deer and wild boar make it difficult for tigers to exist on their traditional diet, forcing them to range into open grasslands to kill cattle for food.

Captive breeding of Siberian tigers within zoos worldwide has been quite successful and their existence in captivity is considered secure. The same can not be said of their existence in the wild.

Steller Sea Lion, endangered

Steller Sea Lion
Eumetopias jubatus
EN (Endangered)
mixed media sculpture, painted and stitched leather
12"x7"x8"

George Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist, accompanied Vitus Bering, a Russian explorer, on his second Alaskan expedition in 1741. Mr. Steller was the first qualified observer to study and classify these northern sea lions. Thus the name Steller Sea Lion.

The world population is divided into two groups, the western stock and the eastern stock. This division occurs at 144 degrees W longitude (Cape Suckling) just east of Prince William Sound, Alaska. The western stock can be found in the North Pacific Ocean from northern Hokkaido, Japan through the Kuril Islands, Okhotsk Sea, Commander Islands in Russia, the Aleutian Islands and central Bering Sea. The eastern stock live off the southern coast of Alaska and south to the Channel Islands of California.

Steller Sea Lions spend time on land on offshore islands. Some are called rookeries where the females and pups live. The other islands are called haul-offs. The rest of the time is spent in the water hunting for food. Their main diet is composed of a wide variety of fishes, squid, and octopus. Some of the most important prey species in Alaskan waters include walleye, pollock, Atka mackerel, Pacific herring, capelin, Pacific sand lance, Pacific cod, and salmon. These sea lions have rear flippers that can rotate to help them waddle on land and they have external ear flaps. Their lifespan can be as long as twenty-three years. Males can weigh up to 2,400 pounds and be ten to eleven feet long. Females can weigh about a thousand pounds less and be seven to nine feet long. Females give birth to a single pup after a year long gestation period. Native predators are killer whales ( orcas) and white sharks.

Populations have dropped drastically within both the western and eastern stocks off the coast of Alaska and down the continental United States and Canada in the past thirty years. Exact reasons for the decline are not known but researchers believe that increased commercial fisheries are catching large numbers of the Steller Sea Lion prey. Drownings occur also when sea lions become entangled in the fishing nets. Pollock is the major prey fish consumed by the western stock. Current distribution of the Pollock fishery overlaps extensively with the distribution of foraging sea lions and their habitat. Commercial fishing for pollock within these waters increases during the fall and winter which further stresses the sea lions because their metabolic demands are greater at this time. Nursing females and young lean sea lions are most vulnerable during the harsh winter season. When Steller's have to swim further out to sea in search of food they are increasingly exposed to predation.

The Eastern stock has its own tale of woe. Open sea salmon farm pens all along the Pacific coast are cropping up in sea lion habitat. Shortages of herring, hake, and pollock as a food source has driven the sea lions to invade the salmon nets. In the past, salmon farmers have shot and killed thousands of marine mammals, including Stellers. Thankfully now the Steller sea lion is protected under the Endangered Species Act though this act does nothing to slow the commercial fisheries invasion of the Steller sea lion habitat.