Home/Posts Tagged ‘elephant’
Posts Tagged ‘elephant’
Politics, Wildlife & Flora, May 16th, 2011,
Despite 70% of the British public supporting a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses, the UK government has failed to enact such a ban, opting for stiffer regulations instead. The circus animal debate heated up last month when undercover footage was released of an elephant in a British circus being beaten with a pitchfork. One the one side are animal welfare groups and most UK voters. On the other stand circus owners who reap great financial benefit from training, parading and often abusing exotic animals, including keeping them in inadequate conditions. From BBC News: In 2009, the…
Tags: animals, ban, circus, elephant, government, UK, wild
Green living, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Mar 16th, 2010,
The buzz around London’s new Strata SE1 skyscraper isn’t coming from the 3 wind turbines that crown its razor-like pinnacle, but from the attention this futuristic piece of architecture is garnering. The tower is part of a project to regenerate the central London neighborhood of Elephant and Castle. The rejuvenation project has been praised by a former U.S. president as an example of ‘sustainable growth’. No need for any obvious Clinton jokes there, I think. From an article in the Guardian: While wind speeds in the concrete jungle at the tower’s base would render a wind turbine pointless, at 42…
Tags: Castle, elephant, Guardian, london, Razor, SE1, skyscraper, Strata, tower, turbines, wind
Nature, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 12th, 2010,
The 12 day CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) meetings begin on Saturday in the city of Doha, capital of the Arab emirate of Qatar. The talks will attempt to hammer out transnational policies concerning the management and protection of animal and plant species that are threatened with endangerment or extinction due to international commerce. From the CITES website: Annually, international wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants…
Tags: African, bluefin, CITES, elephant, endangered, ivory, japan, New York Times, polar bear, species, trade, tuna, United States, US
Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 11th, 2010,
Life and death work in mysterious ways and one recent incident in Sydney’s Taronga Zoo is proof of that. An Asian Elephant gave birth yesterday to a healthy, living, baby boy. Two days ago, you wouldn’t have known that. Two days ago, zookeepers and veterinarians both declared the elephant calf dead inside the womb. Apparently, the mother had gone through 6 days of labor, but nothing happened. Even the ultrasounds showed no possible chance of a successful birth. Well, it would seem that once again, nature had everyone fooled (except the baby and his mother). Not only was the baby…
Tags: Asian Elephant, australia, birth, elephant, life and death, Sydney, Taronga Zoo
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 9th, 2010,
Species extinction is a hot issue. All the reasonably decent papers, TV nature shows and news programs are running stories on bluefin tuna, African elephants, tigers and fluffy polar bears more than ever before. Heck, the New York Times even ran a story about the greater sage grouse – a plains bird from the American West – being classified as ‘warranted but precluded’ instead of receiving the coveted endangered species status. That’s like when your movie is up for the Oscar for Best Picture, but you go home with Best Costume Design. New ideas in species conservation are becoming more…
Tags: African, elephant, extinction, Guardian, Nature, New York Times, sage grouse, species, tiger
