Saturday, January 30, 2010

Spotted [Photo-Hunt]

Spotted this napping Bengal tiger at the Subic tiger safari. The sound of his snores made my hands shake as I snapped this photo. His paws are huge!

It was nap-time, too, for the spotted civet cat or alamid, as it is locally called. The civet cat is a nocturnal omnivore that is usually active between 6 pm and 4 am, less active on nights when the moon is bright; and its favorite diet is chico, rambutan, mango and coffee.

Coffee Alamid, the world's rarest brew, is coffee prepared from coffee beans harvested from droppings of wild civet on different forest floors of Philippine mountains. A 100-gram pack of coffee alamid costs US$100...a kilo is US$500. I haven't tried it yet but I was told that coffee alamid makes such a sublime cup. When roasted, it exudes a fruity aroma, and has a strong, sweet, dark chocolaty taste.

nocturnal civet cat

It looks like this spotted deer missed his nap. This nocturnal creature is listed by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) as an endangered species. Scientists call it the "world's rarest deer" and it is one of the three endemic deer species in the Philippines. Surviving population of the Visayan spotted deer still roams the rain-forests of the Visayan islands of Panay and Negros, specifically in the protected habitats of Mt. Kanlaon National Park, North Negros Forest Reserve, Mount Talinis and Lake Balinsasayao Reserve and West Panay mountains. This deer species is protected under Philippine law.


Visayan spotted deer in captivity

Posted for Photo-Hunt

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh you spotted a lot of exotic animals.

Sidney said...

I want to go back to bed and sleep some more!
Or maybe I just need some alamid coffee to get me going !

Susan Ellis said...

I've heard of this rare coffee before, but never really believed that people would make coffee from "processed" beans! who knew?!

bing said...

your nervousness was so obvious in that pic of the huge tiger! ha ha

i never knew alamids are called civet cats. interesting info.

you have done a lovely take for the week's theme!

Bing

rjs mama said...

petting the tiger at zoobic safari made me almost faint :)

hope you can visit and leave your mark on my blogs :)
my real story
my minute maid

Anonymous said...

awwww... the first photo is similar to mine of Caesar!!!! I like also the civet cat [so pretty] and the deer.
Fritz is adorable!
marina
http://nprimopiano.wordpress.com

Carver said...

Great shots for the theme and interesting about the coffee.

Scott Law said...

Beautiful shots all. I think I'd have a hard time drinking that coffee knowing where it comes from. I've heard of it before. I'm sure glad that deer is protected. Certainly another interesting theme with lots of different takes. I’m glad I came and saw yours.

I took a little different angle. You can drop by and check mine here.

YTSL said...

I appreciate that they are cool attractions but I wish such cool creatures didn't have to be stuck in a zoo... :S

escape said...

if only i can own a bengal tiger, ill definitely buy one. but im not sure if it's legal to have one.

Unknown said...

@ the dong, if Chavit Singson can own a tiger, so can you.:p

Unknown said...

@ YTSL, it's what i wish for when i am in a zoo. maybe in a perfect world. humans are destructive, and these animals have probably more chance of survival in the zoo than in the wild.

jam said...

Nice take! Tiger is indeed wearing a spotted outfit, haha!