Archive for the ‘Read All About It’ Category
June Bugs…
June 2, 2009
The Hindenburg May 6 1937
May 8, 2009 
What is a dirigible?
You’ve seen them at one time or another. Those great big blimps that cover sporting events. Read about the history of these giant air balloons. This month is the anniversary of the Great Hindenburg that ended up self destructing due to highly flammable gas and materials that it was made of.
Cool Science Site
February 16, 2009
Be Red Cross Ready…
September 13, 2008
We Need to know What’s Happening… Darfur
May 22, 2007http://worldnews.about.com/od/sudan/ig/Darfur/Janjaweed-.htm
The continent of Africa is a beautiful place. It has may different people, many states, many different languages and dialects and many different governments. It is not a united continent as we are. Every state has its own government and answers only to themselves. There is no President of United Africa. A government that is unstable results in many problems, groups of people fight and lots of times decisions are not made the right way. Therefore many suffer, starve, or are killed.
A Really, Really Smart Parrot!
April 17, 2007
Parrot’s oratory stuns scientists
| By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent |
The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.
The bird, a captive African grey called N’kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope – just as a human child would do.
N’kisi’s remarkable abilities feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.
N’kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.About 100 words are needed for half of all reading in English, so if N’kisi could read he would be able to cope with a wide range of material.
Polished wordsmith
He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.
One N’kisi-ism was “flied” for “flew”, and another “pretty smell medicine” to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner, an artist based in New York.
When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N’kisi said: “Got a chimp?”
He appears to fancy himself as a humourist. When another parrot hung upside down from its perch, he commented: “You got to put this bird on the camera.”Dr Goodall says N’kisi’s verbal fireworks are an “outstanding example of interspecies communication”.
In an experiment, the bird and his owner were put in separate rooms and filmed as the artist opened random envelopes containing picture cards.
Analysis showed the parrot had used appropriate keywords three times more often than would be likely by chance.
Captives’ frustrations
This was despite the researchers discounting responses like “What ya doing on the phone?” when N’kisi saw a card of a man with a telephone, and “Can I give you a hug?” with one of a couple embracing.
Professor Donald Broom, of the University of Cambridge’s School of Veterinary Medicine, said: “The more we look at the cognitive abilities of animals, the more advanced they appear, and the biggest leap of all has been with parrots.”
Alison Hales, of the World Parrot Trust, told BBC News Online: “N’kisi’s amazing vocabulary and sense of humour should make everyone who has a pet parrot consider whether they are meeting its needs.
“They may not be able to ask directly, but parrots are long-lived, and a bit of research now could mean an improved quality of life for years.”
All images courtesy and copyright of Grace Roselli.
Oh How Cute
March 1, 2007
Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
Dema, the 26-day-old Sumatran Tiger cub, cuddles up to the 5-month-old Orangutan, Irma. The animals have shared a nursery room since they were rejected by their mothers.
Talk About It: Post Thoughts
After being abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth, the four play fight, nipping and teasing each other, and cuddling up for a shared nap when they are worn out.
“This is unusual and would never happen in the wild,” said zoo keeper Sri Suwarni, bottle-feeding a baby chimp on Wednesday. “Like human babies, they only want to play.”
The four have lived side-by-side for a month without a single act of hostility, she said.
Indonesian tigers and orangutans are both endangered species, threatened by rapidly shrinking habitats.
Conservationists estimate there are fewer than 700 Sumatran tigers still alive, while fewer than 60,000 orangutans remain in the wild. Around 90 percent of the jungle has been destroyed by illegal logging, poaching and cut-and-burn farming practices on Borneo and Sumatra islands.
The exceptional friendship will likely be short-lived, said veterinarian Retno Sudarwati, because as the animals grow up their natural survival instincts will kick in.
“When the time comes, they will have to be separated. It’s sad, but we cant’ change their natural behavior,” she said. “Tigers start eating meat when they are three months old.”
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
