Hanging by a thread? A study offers new insights on the greenback cutthroat trout. Image: Fish and Wildlife Service
From the Green Blog in the New York Times, a story about this beautiful creature:
The rare greenback cutthroat trout, Colorado’s state fish, is even more imperiled than scientists thought, a new study suggests. Continue reading
Native to Central Europe, Euphoria are now widely growing in the High ranges of Kerala.Their highly unusual, sculptural structure makes these plants look somehow rather bizarre. In Kerala these plants are grown as ornamentals in home and public gardens.
Vaska the cat, one of the Hermitage Museum mice hunters, seen in the museums yard, with an antic statue on the background, in St. Petersburg, in this April 25, 2004 photo. Cats have been part of the Hermitage’s security system since its founding days. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Winding beneath the magnificent halls of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, with its Da Vincis, diamonds, Greek statuary, Egyptian parchments, enormous number of paintings, mechanical peacock clock, and other treasures, there is a catacomb of cellars. It was into this windowless nether region—far below the Winter Palace’s expansive view of the waters of the Neva—that Maria Haltunen and I had cautiously descended. As I followed her through a narrow, imperfectly-lit corridor, full of large pipes and jutting wires, Haltunen gasped. “Look!” she said.
In the semi-darkness, a little being had appeared. He perched, a foot-tall shadow, on a water pipe.
“Oh, you are a fat one!” said Haltunen, jangling the chain of her I.D. pass like a talisman as she approached the pointy-eared creature. “How nice you are!”
The cat sat, perfectly still. Then he vanished.
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Vandaperiyar, Idukki District
Thanks to one of Atlantic Monthly’s most talented writers, who mostly writes on topics unrelated to our site, we came across the above. For many of us it is the first time hearing Hemingway’s spoken voice–we know only his written voice(s). The last line says it all.
Bi-Coloured Frogs are endemic to the Western Ghats, especially in Periyar Tiger Reserve. The tropical climate and abundant rain combine to create rich and varied niches that offer safe haven for these amphibians. The leaf litter–the most nutrient and species rich strata–is a favourite hunting ground for these frogs.
Illustration by Valero Doval
Click the illustration above to go to a great article in this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine by Eliza Griswold about the historic significance of Rachel Carson’s book:
“Silent Spring” was published 50 years ago this month. Though she did not set out to do so, Carson influenced the environmental movement as no one had since the 19th century’s most celebrated hermit, Henry David Thoreau, wrote about Walden Pond.
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Caves. What have they done for us lately? According to an article in Phys.Org, for astronauts they do amazingly important things, like providing:
…a taste of working as a safe and effective team during long spaceflights. In particular, they can hone their leadership and group skills while working in a typical multicultural team found on the International Space Station. Course designer Loredana Bessone explains the similarities of caving and working in space: “The ‘cavenauts’ have to adapt to a completely new environment. Working and living underground is both physically and mentally demanding.”
Community. Collaboration. We get it. This team spelunked for six days together and the video of their experience (after the jump) is worth six minutes, especially for any adrenaline junky. Continue reading
The only natural sandalwood forest in Kerala is near to Munnar at Marayoor. The sandalwood of Marayoor is said to be the best in the world. Continue reading
Basking Ridge, NJ
©Elephant Listening Project. A thermal image of a juvenile forest elephant drinking minerals dissolved in water at the Dzanga Bai, Central African Republic. Different color palettes can be selected for the images (this one used “rainbow”) while the videos and the image at right were captured using the “iron” color palette.
We first saw the photos in a magazine, and then realized two of our own contributors work under the same roof as the Elephant Listening Project.
Click the image to the left to go to their website for photos and videos of the amazing new approach to listening. We just returned there to see the new photo to the left and listen to some new recordings they have provided.
And then it dawned on us that we are currently identifying the theme of Summer 2013 internships and our related contribution to conservation at the Periyar Tiger Reserve, which has a healthy population of Asian elephants who may benefit from some listening.
Maybe one of our Lab-based contributors will help us with an introduction to their office mates in the Elephant Listening Project?
Cardamom County guests, Mr. & Mrs. Renjith, visited Periyar Tiger Reserve and shared some of their wildlife experiences with us.
Ig Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Elena Bodnar demonstrates her invention (a brassiere that can quickly convert into a pair of protective face masks) assisted by Nobel laureates Wolfgang Ketterle (left), Orhan Pamuk, and Paul Krugman (right). Photo credit: Alexey Eliseev, 2009 Ig Nobel Ceremony
Further to the theme started with reference to the book, now: Continue reading
Kerala Backwaters, India
Toddy Shop, Kanjirapally, Kottayam District
If you are a fan of these fun prizes, click the image of the book to go to the publisher’s site:
Marc Abrahams, the founder of the famous Ig Nobel Prize, offers an addictive, wryly funny exposé of the oddest, most imaginative, and just plain improbable research from around the world. He looks into why books on ethics are more likely to get stolen and how promoting people randomly improves their work, to what time of month generates higher tips for Vegas lap dancers and how mice were outfitted with parachutes to find a better way to murder tree snakes in Guam.
Abrahams’ tour through these unlikeliest investigations of animals, plants, and minerals (including humans) will first make you laugh, then make you think about the globe in a new way. Continue reading
Geraniums are bushy evergreen perennials grown as ornamental flowers for both indoor and outdoor display. Geraniums are commonly found in the gardens of the High Ranges of Kerala.
Photo credit: Stephen Crafts
Organikos 