The poorly known Manipur Bush-quail Perdicula manipurensis has been seen in India, the first confirmed sighting of this small gamebird for over seventy years.
On 6 June 2006, the Embankment & Drainage Department had to undertake some engineering works in and around Manas National Park, a world heritage site in Assam.
The team was accompanied by the region’s Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate, Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury, a noted ornithologist, who was present to inspect the works.
As access to the park during the monsoon season is notoriously difficult, this was a rare opportunity to enter the area at this time of year.
“Driving was very slow as in places the road was invisible, being entirely overgrown with tall grass.
At 2.30 pm, a quail was flushed which flew in front of our vehicle for about 15 metres and dropped into the grass in the middle of the road.
I was familiar with flushing quails, buttonquails and rails in the grassland sanctuaries of Assam but the larger size of this bird and its rather slaty-grey colour surprised me,” described Dr Choudhury.
“The bird took off again and flew for another 15 metres confirming that it could be only one species – the Manipur Bush-quail.
Experts have expressed confidence that they can find the sunken wreck of the ship made famous by legendary Solway [Scotland] born sailor John Paul Jones next month.
The Bonhomme Richard went down in 1779 off Flamborough Head in East Yorkshire as Jones famously said: “Surrender - I have not yet begun to fight.”
Several bids have been made to recover the ship captained by a man credited as the founding father of the US Navy.
Now underwater archaeology experts will use hi-tech methods to try to find it.
Daar komt Pauwel Jonas aan
’t is zo’n aardig ventje.
Zijn schip is aan de grond gegaan,
bij het Engels endje …
[ Here comes Paul Jones
He’s such a nice fellow.
His ship went down,
near the English cape …]
The hero’s welcome for Jones exacerbated tensions between the Dutch supporters of the princely, or, legally, ‘Stadhouder’ family; and the anti United Kingdom bourgeois ‘Patriot’ party.
Months after Jones’ visit, in December 1780, The Netherlands were at war with the United Kingdom, as an ally of the United States in their revolution, and France.
Dutch eighteenth century painter of flowers, Jan van Huijsum: here.
WELSH university researchers say one of Britain’s oldest species will be an even more frequent visitor to our coastlines as the water is getting warmer.
Professor Graeme Hays, of Swansea University’s School of the Environment and Society, has led international efforts to save the leatherback from extinction.
His research has led to evidence that UK waters have warmed - leading to more appearances by leatherbacks.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Association for the Prevention of Torture have issued a joint statement calling on European states to ‘cease all involvement’ in US torture flights, known as renditions ‘or illegal detentions’.
Titled ‘Twelve Steps to End Renditions and Secret Detentions in Europe’ the joint statement says: ‘The Report of Senator Dick Marty to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, along with the investigations of the EU Parliament, non-governmental organisations and journalists has demonstrated compellingly that officials in certain European states have tolerated, and in some cases actively supported, the US-initiated system of renditions and secret detentions.
‘As a result, people have been detained and transferred abroad, without due legal process, to places where they have been subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
‘Some have been handed over for interrogation to states that routinely use torture.
Juruena National Park, Brazil – A WWF expedition into the newly created Juruena National Park deep in the Amazon forest has revealed several potentially new species to science.
Following a preliminary survey, expedition scientists from Brazil’s National Institute for Amazon Research and the Amazonas Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development discovered two new frog, fish and bird species, one tree species and one primate.
“These are exciting discoveries,” said Claudio Maretti, WWF-Brazil’s Coordinator for Protected Areas.
“But to confirm that the species are really new to science we have to carry out a series of tests,” he cautioned.
“This will be done as soon as the expedition comes to a close.”
Identification of some endemic flora and fauna species was anticipated by most of the researchers visiting the area, which is difficult to access and has hardly been studied up to the present day.
In addition to these potentially new scientific discoveries, experts on the expedition came across 200 species of birds, ocelots (wild cats), and a pink dolphin.
“Finding a pink dolphin was a complete surprise since we didn’t imagine that this animal lived in the area,” Maretti said.
Its habitat, however, is threatened by river development projects, and is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
In addition to the river dolphin, there are at least 40,000 plant species, 427 mammals, including jaguars, anteaters and giant otters, 1,294 birds, 378 reptiles, 427 amphibians and around 3,000 fish found in the Amazon.
A huge dinosaur bone yard has been uncovered in Edmonton, where housing construction is booming.
A man walking his dog in a city park found the first fossils some years ago, but now paleontologists are discovering the site’s full potential.
The bones belong to one of the largest duck-billed dinosaurs, known as Edmontosaurus.
The 13-metre-long, slow-moving, short-armed plant eater roamed through swampy habitat 70 million years ago.
Although the species is named after the city, the fossils were previously found only in southern Alberta.
“Because Edmontosaurus has such a huge distribution north and south, all the way up to the north slope of Alaska, we may also learn something about the migratory patterns of dinosaurs,” said Phil Currie, a paleontologist at the University of Alberta.
Construction on new homes is non-stop in Edmonton, sparking fears that yet-to-be-discovered bones are being built over. …
Shaw has also come across teeth belonging to predators.
It’s possible the teeth belong to the Albertosaurus that may have hunted or killed the Edmontosaurs or scavenged its remains.
American filmmaker James Longley’s remarkable documentary, Iraq in Fragments, screened recently at the San Francisco Film Festival (see WSWS review; also about.com review here).
Longley’s film, which pays considerable attention to the lives and suffering of ordinary Iraqis, is divided into three sections, following individuals and events in the Sunni, Shia and Kurdish areas of the country.
As the WSWS comment noted, “Longley’s film establishes the disastrous character of the US encounter with Iraq and the almost universal hatred felt for the American occupiers.”
The 34-year-old documentarian filmed in Iraq between February 2003, one month prior to the American invasion of the country, and April 2005, long after, as he describes in the movie’s production notes, “Baghdad had descended into a regime of looting, kidnappings, shootings, bombings, and a deep uncertainty about the future of the country.”
Joanne Laurier recently conducted a telephone interview with James Longley.
From BirdLife:
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