Hidden Unseen

ABC’s of Animals

Way back in 1931, a convention of ecologists in Florence, Italy, decided that there should be an annual World Animal Day to pay tribute to all animal life and the people who love them. It is also a way to highlight the precarious situation of endangered species worldwide. It was decided that October 4, the feast day of Francis of Assisi, a nature lover and patron saint of animals and the environment, should be chosen as World Animal Day. Some churches will bless animals on the Sunday closest to October 4. We love animals and the environment, and decided to salute animals via an ABC’s of wildlife.

Celebrating World Animal Day with salute to animals via animal ABCs. A is for Alligator. This is not an albino alligator but leucistic alligator, one of the ‘famous’ white gators in Black Pearl, New Orleans. The photographer called this shot, “Mirror Mirror on the Wall…

B is for Bears as in these grizzly bears play fighting.

C is for Cheetah hunting in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, as seen during a safari.

D is donkey and her nursing foal.

E is for elephant, in this case — an elephant in the room.

F is for Fennec Fox, or a whole family of Fennec Foxes.

G is for Giraffes. These two giraffes are ‘fighting’ in Ithala Game Reserve, northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

H is for horses. These wild horses are located in the Erlebnispark Tripsdrill wildlife and theme park near Cleebronn in Southern Germany.

I is for Iguana. This Marine Iguana is at Espanola Island, Galapagos.

J is for Jaguar. This bored jaguar was found yawning at the Toronto Zoo.

K is for Koala. The conservation status of these cute marsupials are listed as vulnerable.

L is Lemur. This ring-tailed lemur is holding her twins that were born the night before the photo was taken.

M is for Moose, as in this moose in Denali National Park, Alaska.

N is for Narwhals. These medium-sized whales live year-round in the Arctic. Narwhal males have a long, straight tusk, that is actually an elongated upper left canine.

O is for Owl as in this Barn Owl in flight.

P is for Penguins, such as this family of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica.

Q is for Quoll. This is a black morph of the Eastern Quoll, a carnivorous marsupial which is native to mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania.

R is for Rhinoceros; this one has oxpecker birds along for the ride.

S is for Seal. This young and silly Southern Elephant Seal is located on the island of South Georgia, a part of the South Sandwich Islands.

T is for Tarsier. The photographer noted, “What’s cuter than 1 tarsier in a tree? 2 tarsiers – the world’s smallest primate.”

U is for Uakari. This is the Red Uakari, a primate that is small and has a short tail, but is best known for it’s naked face which most commonly ranges from pink to deep red in color. It lives in the tropical rainforest of South America.

V is for Vulture. This is a Cape Vulture in flight at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa.

W is for Wolf. A big, bad, beautiful, wolf with a vicious snarl.

X is for Xanthareel, a yellow eel.

Y is for Yak, as in this Yak near the sacred Yundrok Yumtso Lake, Tibet.

Z is for Zebra. This zebra herd stopped off at a watering hole at Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Source

Top 10 Prehistoric Cave Paintings

After visiting the Altamira cave paintings in northern Spain, Pablo Picasso famously exclaimed “after Altamira, all is decadence”. He wasn’t kidding. The art in this cave and in many others that dot parts of France, Spain and other regions in the world are among the greatest pieces of art ever created. Like all great art they provide an insight into the way that people thought, even though it was tens of thousands of years ago.

10. Magura Cave

The Magura Cave is one of the largest caves in Bulgaria located in the northwest part of the country. The cave walls are decorated by prehistoric cave paintings dating back about 8000 to 4000 years ago. More than 700 drawings have been discovered on the cave walls. They are painted with bat guano (bat excrement) and represent hunting and dancing people as well as a large variety of animals.

9. Cueva de las Manos

Cueva de las Manos is a cave located in an isolated area in the Patagonian landscape of southern Argentina. It takes its name (Cave of the Hands) from the stencilled outlines of human hands, but there are also many depictions of guanacos, rheas and other animals, as well as hunting scenes. Most of the hands are left hands, which suggests that painters held a spraying pipe with their right hand. The paintings are thought to have been created between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago.

8. Bhimbetka

Located in central India, Bhimbetka contains over 600 rock shelters decorated with prehistoric cave paintings. Executed mainly in red and white with the occasional use of green and yellow the paintings usually depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves. Animals such as bisons, tigers, lions, and crocodiles have also been abundantly depicted in some caves. The oldest paintings are considered to be 12,000 years old.

7. Serra da Capivara

The Serra da Capivara National Park in northeast Brazil is home to numerous rock shelters that are decorated with cave paintings. The paintings include scenes of rituals and hunting, trees and animals capivaras. Some scientists believe that the oldest cave paintings in the park are created 25,000 years ago. This is disputed by several geneticists however as this would conflict the currently accepted date of human settlement in the Americas.

6. Laas Gaal

Laas Gaal is a complex of caves and rock shelters in northwestern Somalia that contain some of the earliest known rock art in the Horn of Africa and the African continent in general. The prehistoric cave paintings are estimated to be between 11,000 and 5,000 years old. They show cows in ceremonial robes accompanied by humans, domesticated dogs and even a giraffe. The cave paintings are excellently preserved and retain their clear outlines and strong colors.

5. Tadrart Acacus

Tadrart Acacus form a mountain range in the Sahara desert of western Libya. The area is known for its rock paintings dating from 12,000 BC to 100 AD. The paintings reflect the changing environment of the Sahara desert which used to have a much wetter climate. Nine thousand years ago the surroundings were green with lakes and forests and with large herds of wild animals as demonstrated by rock paintings at Tadrart Aracus of animals such as giraffes, elephants and ostriches.

4. Chauvet Cave

The Chauvet Cave in southern France contains some of earliest known prehistoric cave paintings in the world. Based on radiocarbon dating the oldest paintings in the cave may be up to 32,000 years old. The cave was discovered in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet and his team of speleologists. These paintings contain images of animals such as the ibex, mammoth, horses, lions, bears, rhinos and lions. Advanced techniques such as the use of perspective is clearly demonstrated in the ‘panel of horses’ which shows several animals on the same plane.

3. Kakadu Rock Paintings

Located in the Northern Territory of Australia, Kakadu National Park contains one of the greatest concentrations of Aboriginal art sites in Australia. Approximately 5000 art sites have been discovered in Kakadu along the escarpment and on rock outliers. The Aboriginal painting are estimated to range in age from 20,000 years to the recent present although most of the paintings are less than 1500 years old. The site at Ubirr has some of the finest examples of “X-ray art” in the world. The Aboriginals not only painted the outside but also the bones and internal organs of the animals.

2. Altamira Cave

Discovered in the late 19th century, the Altamira Cave in northern Spain was the first cave in which prehistoric paintings were discovered. The paintings were of such an astounding quality that the scientific society doubted their authenticy and even accused it’s discoverer Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola of forgery. Many people simply did not believe prehistoric man had the intellectual capacity to produce any kind of artistic expression. It was not until 1902 when the paintings were acknowledged as genuine. The charcoal and ochre images of horses, bison and handprints in the Altamira Cave are among the best preserved cave paintings in the world.

1. Lascaux Paintings

Nicknamed “the prehistoric Sistine Chapel”, the Lascaux Caves are a cave complex in southwestern France decorated with some of the most impressive and famous cave paintings in the world. The Lascaux paintings are estimated to be 17,000 years old. Most of the cave paintings are situated quite a distance away from the entrance and must have been created with the aid of candles. The most famous cave painting is The Great Hall of the Bulls where bulls, horses and deers are depicted. One of the bulls is 5.2 meters (17 feet) long, the largest animal discovered so far in any cave.

Due to the damage resulting from too many people visiting the caves, the Lascaux paintings have been permanently closed to the public. The French government has built Lascaux II near the site where tourists can see a copy of the original cave.

Source

Salmon Run in Adams River

The Adams River is a tributary of the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. During mid-October millions of sockeye salmon run through this river and concentrate near the river mouth for breeding, an event that occurs once every four years. As many as 10 to 15 million salmons battle the Fraser River and the Thompson River to reach the 12 kilometer Adams River - the final stop to their 4,000 kilometer journey - where they spawn and die. While the sockeye return every year, the migration that occurs every fourth year (2010, 2014, 2018...) dwarfs the others.

Adams River sockeye travel from their spawning grounds to the South Thompson River, then into the Fraser River, and enter the Pacific. From the Strait of Georgia, they spend three years in the open ocean following Arctic currents to Alaska and the Aleutian islands. They then retrace their route to the Adams, completing a round trip of over 4,000 kilometers. At this point their numbers are reduced to about 2 million. They complete the arduous trip upstream, including navigating the swift waters and rapids of the Fraser Canyon, in just seventeen days. Unbelievably, the salmons do not eat during this period, instead relying on fat reserves stored up from heavy feeding in the Strait of Georgia in the late summer. It is at this point that the salmon take on their distinctive red hue, with the male fish also developing large humped backs and aggressive hooked mouths.

When a suitable location is found, the female digs a nest from 10 to 40 cm deep while the male hovers nearby, fending off all intruders. The female deposits approximately 3,500 pinkish eggs to which the male adds a whitish milt to fertilize them. The sockeye pair then cover the eggs with loose gravel as protection against marauding fish and birds.

Within the next 10 days, the crimson pair will turn a chalky gray as their tired and battered bodies slowly give up life, passing on the task of the continuation of the species to the tiny pink eggs that lay beneath the gravel.

The Adams River salmon run is patiently waited upon by grizzly bears, black bears, fishermen as well as tourist. Native fishermen, commercial fishermen and sport fishermen pursue the sockeye salmon from California to Alaska, both in the North Pacific Ocean and the rivers where the salmon enter to spawn and die. In 1913, more than 31 million sockeye were harvested from the run, a catch total that has never been repeated.

The best place to view the run is at the Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park. This is located between Adams Lake and the Shuswap Lake, about a 40 minute drive from Kamloops. The crimson salmon are easily seen in the river at the Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park where viewing platforms and walking paths have been established for many visitors to enjoy this natural attraction.

Source

Top 11 Incredible Terrace Fields

In order to make the best of poor soil, water conservation, and mountainous terrain, terraced farming was introduced by various cultures around the world. Extremely labor intensive to build, terracing allowed the land to support civilization’s increased need for crops, livestock and poultry. Erosion was avoided, rain and runoff water was preserved, and otherwise unused hillside became arable due to terraced agriculture. Not only do these terraced fields provide essential goods for the local people but they also feature some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world.

11. Sa Pa Terraces

Sa Pa is a town in northwest Vietnam not far from the Chinese border. The rice terrace fields, among the most popular tourist attractions in Vietnam, can be found in the Muong Hoa valley between Sa Pa town and the Fansipan Mountain, on a backdrop of thick bamboo woodlands. Local mountain people, the Hmong, Giay, Dao, Tay, and Giay, grow rice and corn on these paddy terraces, along with vegetables. Because of the climate, only one rice crop a year can be produced, resulting in abundant malnutrition.

10. Pisac

The still intact terrace fields of Pisac, constructed by the Incas, are still being used today. These mountainous terraces consist of 16 different cultivation sections. Pisac, a word of Quechua origins, means “partridge”. Inca tradition dictated building cities in the shape of birds and animals, and as such, Pisac is partridge shaped. The Pisac terraces included a military citadel, religious temples, and individual dwellings, and overlooks the Sacred Valley, between the Salkantay Mountains. These terraces even boated two suspension bridges, the bases of which can still be seen.

9. Douro Valley

The home of port wine, the Douro Valley is located in northern Portugal, some distance from the city of Porto. The hills of the valley are covered with terrace fields of vines falling steeply down to the river banks. The scenery of the valley is spectacular with the colors of the land changing throughout the year as the vines mature. In autumn the vines take a reddish and golden color, while in February-March the almond blossom gives an added white pinkish tone to the region. As well as port wine, regular red and white wines are also produced in the valley.

8. Bali Terraces

The archetypical Bali rice terraces are ubiquitous, and Balinese culture has depended on this method of agriculture for almost 2000 years. The Balinese stepped rice paddies were carved by hand, with rudimentary tools, and maintained by succeeding generations.

In central Bali, north of the village of Tegallalang in the Ubud district, lies a series of thriving stepped rice paddies, a favorite with travelers and photographers. Other verdant terraced rice paddies can be found in Sayan, Jatiluwih, Pupuan and Tabanan. In Bali, the terraced rice paddies are worked according to a well organized social order, called a subak. The subak manages the irrigation water sources, on a strict schedule, fairly distributing the water.

7. Choquequirao

Another Peruvian stepped agricultural site is Choquequirao, meaning Cradle of Gold. Seated on the border of Cuzco and Apurimac, this impressive terraced site, is located 3085 meter (10,120 feet) above sea level. Choquequirao contains a staircase configuration, made up of 180 terraces. Built in a completely different style than Machu Picchu, Choquequirao is much larger in area. One can only travel to Choquequirao by foot or horseback, and as such, is visited much less often than Machu Picchu. Without benefit of wheels, the trek to Choquequirao from Cachora can take up to four days!

6. Salinas de Maras

The Salineras de Maras, or Inca salt pans have been used for centuries. Salt miners direct natural spring water, containing high concentrations of salt, into the man made terraced flats, numbering around 3,000. This spring water becomes saline by leeching salt from the mountain itself. When the water is evaporated by the sun, thick salt deposits remain. The salt is then cut into huge slabs and transported to the markets. As in some of the Asian rice paddies, these salt pans are passed from generation to generation, and have been in use for centuries. If you plan on visiting, visit in the late afternoon, when the reflected sunset causes the salt pans to appear as if made of gold.

5. Ollantaytambo

During the Inca Empire, Ollantaytambo was the royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti who conquered the region, built the town and a ceremonial center. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru it served as a stronghold for the Inca resistance. The valleys along Ollantaytambo are covered by an extensive set of agricultural terraces which start at the bottom of the valleys and climb up the surrounding hills. The terraces permitted farming on otherwise unusable terrain. Nowadays Ollantaytambo is an important tourist attraction and one of the most common starting points for hike known as the Inca Trail.

4. Longji Terraces

The Longji or Dragon’s Backbone rice terraces were built over 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. The terrace fields are found in Longsheng about a two hours drive from Guilin. From a distance, during the growing season, these winding terraces appear as if they were green woven cables laid out over the hillsides, starting at the riverbank and ending near the mountaintop. One can meander through the paddies and villages, greeting and being greeted by horses, pigs, chickens and hard working locals. These rice terraces are Longsheng’s answer to limited arable land and a scant water supply.

3. Hani Terraces

The Hani rice paddy steppes are located below the villages on the side of the Ailao Mountains in Yuanyang, and have been cultivated for over 1,000 years. Also carved by hand by the Hani people, these rice terraces have turned a barren hillside into a lush sub-tropical paradise. These terrace fields support enough rice and fish cultivation for hundreds of thousands of people. Water is saved in the hilltop forests, and channeled down to the terraces for irrigation. The rice terraces are flooded from December to March, presenting a spectacular view to travelers.

2. Banaue Rice Terraces

Situated in the heartlands of the Cordilleras mountains of the Philippines and rising to an altitude of 1525 meters (5000 ft) are the Banaue Rice Terraces. The terraced fields were carved out by hand without modern tools by the Ifugao tribes and have been producing rice for almost 2,000 years. These terraces are so numerous, steep, and compact, that if stretched out end to end, they would wrap halfway around the globe. Lately, these under maintained rice terraces have been showing their age, as more and more Ifugao tribes people are emigrating to the cities.

1. Machu Picchu

One of the most beautiful and impressive ancient sites in the world, Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by Hawaiian historian Hiram Bingham after it lay hidden for centuries above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. The “Lost City of the Incas” is invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces and watered by natural springs.

Machu Picchu’s narrow terraces were constructed from stone blocks, with thousands of pathways and steps, connecting buildings, plazas and the cemetery. Water was channeled in via aqueducts that had been chiseled into the mountainside, for livestock and to irrigate crops of potatoes and corn. There are no growing crops today on Machu Picchu’s terraces, but a spectacular site none the less.

Source

World’s Largest Dancing Fountain

Set on the 30-acre Burj Khalifa Lake, at the center of the Downtown Dubai development in Dubai, the Dubai fountain can shoot 83,000 liters of water at any moment and water jets as high as 240 feet into the air. Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, the 900 feet long fountain can be seen from over 20 miles away.

The Dubai Fountain performs daily accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. The performance repertoire including Sama Dubai; Baba Yetu, an award-winning song in Swahili; the Arab world’s top-selling dance number Shik Shak Shok; and the signature piece of world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Con te partiro (Time to Say Goodbye).

When the fountain was inaugurated in 2009, it had two types of shooters - super shooters, which shoot water under more pressure up to 240 feet in the air, and extreme shooters, which can shoot water under the most pressure to 420 feet in the air. Because it takes a lot of time to build up enough pressure and energy to shoot water that high in the air, the super shooters are used the least during each show. The extreme shooters were used only once during the opening ceremony, after which they were disabled and no longer used in the shows.

Dubai Fountain schedule:

1:00pm First afternoon show
1:30pm Second afternoon show

Evening Shows

6:00 PM to 11:00 PM Sun – Wed
6:00 PM to 11:30 PM Thu – Sat

Source