Back To Wild

The National Hurricane Center from Miami has reported 9 hurricanes and 12 tropical storms in the Atlantic coast in 2008. The forecast does come as a big threat to the coastal areas of United States where according to the meteorological departments claims that the “hurricane season” which lasts from June to end of November is going to be flooded with 6-12 tropical storms and 6-9 hurricanes.

Among the 6-9 hurricanes that are to hit the Atlantic Ocean, about 5 are expected to be highly powerful and destructive. Infact, they are going to be as dangerous to be ranking on Category 3 on a scale of 5, five being the most destructive kind.

The hurricane center collects important information about hurricanes from sources like the “hurricane hunter”, an aircraft which is laden with specially designed equipments that fly over the hurricane collecting data.

Florida is considered to be one of the largest affected areas lying on the east coast of America. Infact, awareness and alerting campaigns go on every year in such vulnerably laid areas. For instance, authorities request people to build stronger homes, learn more about the evacuation plans, pile up emergency kits and participate in training programs that can help teach them how to save pets too.

Experts opine that people living on the US coastline are barely prepared for any disaster. This news therefore comes as a careful reminder of organizing stocks and measures to escape natural calamities like hurricanes storms, etc. Infact, volunteers are being trained to function in the areas which are most likely to be disaster-hit by hurricanes and storms.

Earlier in April, a team led by William Grey revealed that there are going to be as many as 15 tropical storms this year, out of which 8 are going to be powerful and 4 are going to be major ones.

In 2004 and 2005, hurricanes like Katrina, Frances and Jeanna hit the Caribbean coast and the United States coastline which left behind nothing but destruction, death and loss of property.

A British Journal asserts that “warmer seas” are responsible for the dramatic rise of hurricanes in the ocean depths ever since the 1990s. Some names have already been suggested for the forthcoming tropical storms like Vicky, Arthur, Laura, Rene and Teddy.

According to the latest research conducted by a Swiss University in case of flies ignorance is bliss for longer lifespan. Scientists Joep Burger and Tadeusz Kawecki at the University of Lausanne said that “a negative correlation between an improvement in a fly’s mental capacity and its longevity has been discovered by them.”

The results of their research project are published in the Evolution Journal. To conduct their research study flies from the Basel region of North-Western Switzerland were divided into 2 groups. Intelligence of one group of flies was enhanced with the help of Pavlovian method where as the other group was left in their natural state. In Pavlovian method involves association of taste and smell with a particular food or other experiences involved.

At least 30-40 generations of flies underwent Pavlovian method resulting in flies that remembered and learned things better and longer. The group of flies left in their natural state had longer lifespan as compared to their intelligent counterparts. It was found that flies in the natural state had an average lifespan of 80-85 days whereas other group flies had of 50-60 days.

The scientists involved in the research study said: “In other terms, the more the fly becomes intelligent, the shorter its lifespan.” Scientists speculated that the increase in fly’s neural activities weakens its other life support system. They said: “This would explain why flies, like most other animals, have hardly developed their neural capacities.”

Archaeologists have discovered a pyramid belonging to ancient pharaoh, which was buried for generations. The pyramid is the tomb of King Menkauhor, who is supposed to have ruled Egypt’s 5th dynasty in mid 2400s B.C. for over eight years.

The structure was earlier known as Number 29 or the “Headless Pyramid”. It was lost in the sands of Saqqara, which is a spacious burial complex, belonging to the royals, located near present Cairo.

It took at least a year and half to remove the sand spread over the pyramid. The pyramid was lost and its substructure also could not be seen. It was discovered after archaeologists began to search the area.

Opinions vary about the date of the pyramid, placing it sometime in the Old Kingdom, between 2575 to 2150 B.C. It was also placed sometime during the Middle Kingdom, dating between 1975 to 1640 B.C. It was also observed that the lack of inscriptions and artwork, and blocks of red granite structure indicates its existence in Old Kingdom.

The newly discovered pyramid resembles the pyramid next to it. The latter belonged to the first pharaoh, who hailed from the 6th dynasty, Teti, who reigned during 2345 to 2181 B.C. The lost pyramid could also belong to the 5th dynasty. The neighboring pyramid also states that the lost pyramid belonged to Menkauhor.

The Egyptian pyramids are huge structures made up of stone or brick and are man-made constructions. The royals were buried under these structures.

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“Beauty,” the bald eagle finds a new beak after 3 years when a poacher shot her upper beak down. Around the middle of May 2008, a team of volunteers attached a beak to the 15 pound eagle thereby not just enhancing her appearance but also enabling her to grasp food for herself.

Nate Calvin, an engineer who has spent around 200 hours designing the beak for the bird says in a joke “She’s got a grill.” Nate says that the grill got slightly exposed when the outer synthetic covering peeled off. However, the new beak is a temporary attachment. It is presumed that a final beak will be made tougher and attached later.

However, volunteers and her saviors have no intention of throwing the bird back into the wild for the simple reason that the eagle has lived so long between humans that she would find it hard to tear her prey in the wild.

Jane Fink Cantwell claims that the temporary and/or artificial beak is certainly a big endeavor in giving the eagle a new means for survival. Jane explains that the eagle has the capacity to live for decades and with a broken beak, the bird couldn’t depend on humans to feed her food all the time. It was also observed that the bald eagle couldn’t even drink water or groom her feathers.

Anchorage, a bird recovery center, was where Beauty was taken and fed by humans. They waited in vain for a new beak to grow but it didn’t. Then Jane agreed to take her to her own Birds of Prey Northwest Ranch. At the ranch, she fed the bald eagle with strips of salmon with the help of tongs.

Finally, at an engagement in Boise, Jane met Calvin who offered to design an artificial beak for Beauty.

Beauty’s saviors are of the opinion that the nylon-laid beak will help the bird to drink water and grasp foods for her survival. Though there are numerous critics who feel that it isn’t that important to give attention to one bird that no more falls into the endangered species list, Jane is of the opinion that the bird can breed and be a foster mother to many orphaned eagles.

Jane Cantwell also sought an opportunity to give lectures around the country thereby encouraging people to not target such raptors.

It was a difficult task for the volunteers to fit the new beak onto the bird because she was a nervous wild animal as Jane claimed. Beauty was strapped and was consciously awake when the artificial beak was put on and removed from time to time to make proper adjustments. The Boeing Co., a synthetic skin maker in California has accepted to make a permanent and stronger beak for the bald eagle. After the surgery, Jane comforted the bald eagle and rejoiced with the words “The eagle has landed, and she has a beak.”

Pictures released by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) owned by the Brazilian government, reveals that a lost Brazilian tribe point their bows and arrows at an aircraft carrying photographers. It is reported that the tribesmen never exposed themselves to the outside world ever before.

Jose Carlos dos Reis Mereilles, head of FUNAI’s environmental protection which is responsible for the pictures, claimed that they were aware of the existence of the tribe in thick rainforest regions lying next to the Peruvian border since years now and that many pictures of their presence were captured on their earlier trips as well but not revealed to the public eye for scrutiny.

Jose revealed to the Brazilian newspapers that this time they revealed the sought pictures to the public in order to prove that the there were Indian people living in isolation for years around the Peruvian border. He also brought to attention the need to address the reasons why the tribe has been lying so mum in revealing their survival and presence in the region. It is also possible, he said that the tribe feared that their life would be infringed upon by intruders or meddlers from the Peruvian side.

The pictures were clicked from several FUNAI planes of the assumed inactive thatched roof village lying in a remote Brazilian state called Acre.

The Survival International, a British group which supports indigenous communities all around the globe has revealed in its website that the illegal logging (deforestation or felling of trees), farming and rising development in Peru is posing a threat to the life and existence of the newly found tribe in Brazil. Their existence could be further jeopardized by forcing other dislocated Peruvian tribes to come in contact with the newly found tribe.

Reports revealed that there were as many as 500 Indians living absolutely maroon lives on the Brazilian border.

Stephen Corry, director of Survival International asserted the need for the world to wake up to the existence of this tribe and to sort of assimilate them into the world community for survival. He expressed his concern for the need of acknowledging their fears and territories or else in no time would these tribes be made extinct.

Stephen also revealed that there were as many as 100 tribes around the globe who are living completely isolated lives even today.

Frozen clump of human hair belonging to northwest Greenland indicates that the first Eskimos in the New World were not descendants of North Americans as earlier thought of. They came directly from Asia. This was revealed in a new study led by Tom Gilbert of the Center for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

These initial settlers from the far north died out and had nothing to do with the present Inuit living in Greenland. The findings are based upon DNA analysis of the hair, which belonged to so –called  Paleo-Eskimos. The hair was found in permafrost soil in the Disco Bay in 1980s. The hair belongs to a man who lived some 4,000 years ago. This clump of hair provides the first compete mitochrondial genome for the early human. Mitochrondial DNA  passes  from  mother to child and gives an indication about the genetic marker to the maternal ancestry of the individual.

The study highlights that the hair of the ancient Greeland Eskimo, which was found, indicates that he was from Siberia. The genetic relatives of Paleo-Eskimo are surviving in small pockets of north- eastern Siberia and the Aleutian Islands, which extend from the Bering Sea, from Alaska to Russia.

Two theories indicate that the ancestors of the first Eskimos were from Alaska, Greeland and Canada. They were the descendants of Native Americans or they came from Siberia. The other view held was they were independent to both these origins, which is what Gilbert claims.