ph_r

[opticallyaddicted]

[mrodofficial]

Land of The Giants Project for Iceland

This design transforms mundane electrical pylons into statues on the Icelandic landscape.Choi + Shine,is the US architecture practice behind the proposal

[poison-ivy-on-drugs]

[bolgs69]

#ilovemrod

[macleod]

The Kakapo of New Zealand is critically endangered and only 103 remain in the wild1

The kakapo is one of the rarest parrots in the world:

It’s flightless

It’s the world’s heaviest parrot

It’s possibly the oldest living bird and

It has a low-frequency mating boom that can travel several kilometres

The kakapo can only be found in New Zealand and every year countless people from around the world - including dozens of hard working volunteers – give their time and energy trying to save the kākāpō from the brink of extinction.

Listen to the kakapo skraark

Listen to the kakapo boom

Listen to the kakapo ching

(Source)

[bolgs69]

Leadbeater’s possum - critically endangered

Leadbeater’s possum evolved about 20 million years ago. It was first documented in 1867. Extensive searches have found the existing population in Victoria’s Central Highlands. However, the availability of suitable habitat is critical: forest must be neither too old nor too young, with conservation efforts for Leadbeater’s possum involving protection of remaining old-growth stands, and maintenance of younger stands that are allowed to attain hollow-bearing age.

Leadbeater’s possums, found in parts of Yellingbo and Toolangi Forest, have declined in numbers by more than 90 per cent since the mid 1980s.

Today “there are fewer than 1500 Leadbeater’s possums remaining in the wild, with much of its remaining habitat targeted for logging. For it to have a fighting chance to survive, a Great Forest National Park needs to be established that is sufficient in size to restore the forest,” said Wilderness Society Victoria Campaign Manager Amelia Young.

She called on the Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to back the Great Forest National Park proposal.

It proposes Victorians create and add a new 355,000ha of protected forests to the existing 170,000ha of parks and protected areas in the Central Highlands of Victoria.

“We know that extinction of this animal can be avoided if logging is removed from its forest habit — today’s upgrading shows that a fresh approach to reserving its forest habitat is sorely needed,” Ms Young said.

“Thankfully the Great Forest National Park proposal provides a positive and optimistic future for this species.”

check out

[alexvausesblog]

[bolgs69]

Narcissism

Definition - extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one's own talents and a craving for admiration.

Identifying pathological narcissism in high-functioning individuals  - has a grandiose sense of self-importance 

- is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

- believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people 

- requires excessive admiration

- has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

- is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

[bolgs69]

Jourdan Dunn on Taylor Swift

Jourdan to Karlie:

Karlie some time in the last couple of weeks:

[bolgs69]

Oenpelli python - expert helps save elusive python from extinction

The Oenpelli python (Morelia oenpelliensis) was first described by Europeans in 1977, but has long been recognised as an important totemic creature by the Bininj Aboriginal people of western Arnhem Land, particularly those living around the headwaters of the East Alligator River. 

Its long and thin body can grow to at least 5m; it is dark olive brown with darkened blotches and an iridescent sheen that takes on an ethereal silver grey colour at night.

Secretive and shy, the big snake lives among sandstone outcrops in western Arnhem Land and sometimes ventures into the tropical woodland to hunt, often climbing into trees.

A leading expert on reptiles from the city of Darwin in Northern Territory has played a key role in saving an elusive python from extinction.

Darwin herpetologist Dr Gavin Bedford has successfully bred the first Oenpelli pythons legally born in captivity. The elusive python has reportedly inspired rainbow serpent of Aboriginal mythology. The rare snake was illegally bred in the 1980s in the country but it is the first time it has been reared legally.

Dr Bedford has been working to preserve the species and save it from extinction since the previous ten years. He has spent $250,000 attempting to catch, breed and raise the Oenpelli species. The spices can grow up to five metres in length and was found in the area. The project to save the species was a part of a private-sector led initiative to create a bank of Oenpelli pythons as they face the risk of extinction. Oenpelli pythons are usually very difficult to catch and have a long breeding cycle that makes their conservation difficult for the scientists.

Dr Bedford said, “A lot of animals are going missing in Kakadu and Arnhem Land and we don't know why. We'd like to blame cane toads but it happened before.”

Oenpelli python

[hymnoptera]

The high brown fritillary butterfly was once common in woodlands across England and Wales. Photograph: Iain H Leach/Butterfly Conservation

UK’s most endangered butterfly back from the brink …

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/02/uks-most-endangered-butterfly-high-brown-fritillary-makes-comeback

[bolgs69]

Hawksbill Turtle Numbers Up 200 Percent

Hawksbill turtles are found throughout the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, however, the South Pacific is the only place where this endangered turtle is thriving.

In 2015, an analysis of 22 years of data on hawksbill turtles in the Arnavons, located in the Solomon Islands, shows signs of recovery after 150 years of excessive hunting by natives.

FACTS

Type: Reptile

Diet:  Carnivore

Average life span in the wild: 30 to 50 years (est.)

Size: 24 to 45 in (62.5 to 114 cm)

Weight: 100 to 150 lbs (45 to 68 kg)

Protection status: Endangered

(the population of hawksbill turtles in the Arnavon Islands of the South Pacific)

[bolgs69]

South Island Takahē

The flightless takahē  is endemic to New Zealand and the largest living rail (Rallidae family) in the world. This unique bird was once thought to be extinct, but was rediscovered near Lake Te Anau in the Murchison Mountains, South Island, on 20 November 1948.

2015 was a record breeding year for the critically endangered takahē. The Department of Conservation Takahē Recovery Team reared almost twice the number of takahē chicks than their previous best season. “The breeding unit has produced 25 chicks and when we combine that with chicks from pest-free islands and mainland islands we are looking at almost 40 chicks,” says DOC Takahē Ranger Glen Greaves. 

That will boost the existing population - up to 300 - by more than 15 per cent, he said. 

The successful season is put down to increasing captive breeding pairs, investment in new breeding pens and a move away from intensive hand rearing.

DOC 

[todropscience]

The gif set shows the rare and critically endangered Bryan’s shearwater (Puffinus bryani). Recently rediscovered in Japan, these are the first footage for this species.

video: The Asahi Shimbun

[bolgs69]

Ugh...what!?!

TLC quote

Taylor is in love with herself, and with fame. Date guys for PR purposes for hetero fans. Break up for publicity. Write songs & sell albums. Hang out with Karlie to entice the gays. But never come out on LGBT rights like Miley Cyrus does. Collect famous friends. Discard as soon as they stop being popular. [Bye Hailee steinfeld, Hello Camila] Dance for everyone at award shows to make sure the camera focuses on you. Only you. Call Paps everyday and let them know you are ready. Then show up looking pretty & pose for them but act as if you were surprised. Anyone who spoils her image even a tiny bit is cut off for life [GTFO Emily, Bye-bye Dianna] Befriend everyone so that nobody hates you, build industry connections. Become more popular. Spend millions on the best PR tools so that more & more people like you. Always scan for minute amounts of criticism & immediately take action - shut it down or distract. Change public perception and remain loved. Become the BEST POPSTAR IN THE WORLD. Maintain your level. Make sure nobody else will ever reach there. Be BFFs with all colleagues, EXCEPT your top threats [Riri, Katy, Miley] Confuse people about your sexuality. Keep them talking. Always remain in the limelight. Taylor is not hetero or homo, she is famesexual. She does not love men, women , Calvin or Karlie. Those are only rungs on the ladder. All that matters is the climb.

[bolgs69]

Endangered Birds in Australia

Swift parrot

Forty-spotted pardalote

Orange-bellied parrot

Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) are calling for the public to help protect three species of critically endangered birds.

They have set up a crowdfunding project to pay for nest boxes to protect dwindling Tasmanian populations of the swift parrot, forty-spotted pardalote and orange-bellied parrot, which are under threat from predatory sugar gliders.

The project follows the latest research from Professor Robert Heinsohn and Dr Dejan Stojanovic, which found the iconic Tasmanian swift parrot was facing population collapse and could be extinct within 16 years.

"Inaction could mean extinction," said Dr Stojanovic, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society. "Tasmania is home to some of the most endangered birds in Australia, and they share a common threat - predation by the sugar glider. We are trying to do something about it."

The next boxes cost between $30 and $50 to buy and install. They provide a safe-haven for birds and are valuable research tools for scientists as they undertake a risk assessment for orange bellied parrots.

The orange-bellied parrot is confined to only one population in the Tasmanian southwest World Heritage Area, but there is no information to assess whether sugar gliders pose a risk to this population.

source

[bolgs69]

Laughing Owl - Extinct

The Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies) was a native of New Zealand. The whēkau belongs to a genus found only in New Zealand and has been estimated to have been in New Zealand for at least a million years and possibly as long as 25 million years. It was found in rocky places on the Southern Alps and the downs of Canterbury and Otago.

Persecution by man and the introduction of more powerful, direct predators like cats and stoats (short-tailed weasels) are the factors now thought to have brought about the extinction of this gentle and unwary bird.

As for the ‘laughing’ part of its moniker, it came down to this owl’s “mischievous-sounding calls,” also described as “a loud cry made up of a series of dismal shrieks frequently repeated” and “precisely the same as two men ‘cooeying’ to each other from a distance.” It sure sounds like the bird made a distinctive din; what a shame its fate means it’s a sound our ears will never again hear…

LAST SEEN: The last known bird was one found dead on a road at Blue Cliffs Station, near Timaru, in 1914.

[8951530-blog]

TLC quote

"...wakes up every morning wondering 1) what the news media is saying about her; 2) what Tumblr bloggers and social media posters are saying about her; and 3) whether a desire to pee or ingest coffee is the stronger impulse. I don't think she's inhuman or odd, but I do think she's 100% calculating. About everything. She can appear to date dudes or chicks, or even fall in what to her passes for "love" with someone other than herself. But only if it's calculated to conform with the image she's selling. So her longest acknowledged relationship lasted what, 3 months? At least Kloss lasted almost a year. But of course she'll never acknowledge that RS, because it doesn't calculate with The TS BRAND. I think the whole thing with Karlie was partly real, and partly calculated to add some edge to her goody-two-shoes image. In any event, it clearly got pushed over a line that detracted from the TS BRAND. So ... Sayonara, Karlito. Conclusion: A Great World Leader does not necessarily lead greatly. Branding ain't leadership."

[zsl-edge-of-existence]

The last known Spix’s macaw in the wild was a male who, for lack of his own species, bonded and mated with a female blue-winged macaw.  The pair successfully raised several blue-winged nestlings that they fostered, but produced no offspring of their own.  There has been no sighting of the pair since the year 2000.