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At 1,967 feet in length, High Pass Siding is the highest point above sea level on the Desert Line.
The view here at the west switch of the siding is looking east towards Jacumba California (Campo and the border is behind us at this point).
Carrizo Gorge Railway, at High Pass Siding - MP 84.5.
Campo - San Diego County, California.
(October 17 , 2015)
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3371-
THE PILLARS OF THE STATE." (No. i.)
t, 1756]
THIS etching represents, in profiles facing each other, two half-length figures . of the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. H. Fox, afterwards Lord Holland. On the Duke's riband are three fleurs-de-lis, indicating his alleged subserviency to France ; on the breast of Fox a similar symbol appears, for the same purpose ; Fox has a fox's head, as usual ; the Duke is looking at him through a large magnifying glass ; this was his custom, see other portraits, eg., " Poor Robin's Prophecy", No. 3383; "The Advocate", No. 3527; "Punch's Opera", No. 3394. Behind each figure is a gallows, with " THE PILLARS OF THE STATE" written on the upper limbs. Chains suspended from the gallows support an inverted English ship, on the keel of which the French Cock is ostentatiously crowing ; on the ship is a label, probably referring to the anticipated fate of each minister, — " GALLUS-SO NEAH."
Below the design is the following inscription:—
" Brother Brother, we are both in the Wrong.
Vide Gay's Peachum & Lockit."
Por a particular reference to this print, see " The 2 H, H,'s ", No. 3342.
This engraving is No. 1 in a volume of satires, entitled "A Political and Satyrical History of the Years 1756 and 1757", &c.
In the " Explanation " prefixed to the engravings is the following letterpress, referrmg to this design :—
"Plate I. The Deserts of these Caricaturas are by the Satyrist fixed over the Heads of each, as partly by the Craft of one, and the Blunders of the other, our Marine at that time was turned topsi-turvy, while the Gallich Clock crowed triumphant. But a succeeding Patriot' has since weighed the foundered Bark to his own Glory, and the Satisfaction of the People."
For the Duke of Newcastle, see "The Noble Game of Bob Cherry", No. 2850; for Mr. Fox, see " The French King in a Sweat", No. 3691.
3f X 2 in.
3372. "THE PILLARS OF THE STATE" (No. 2.)
i [August, 1756]
THIS engraving is a copy from the design described with the same title and date, No. 3371. Below the design are the lines, as before :—
" Brother Brother we are both in the Wrong,—
Vide Gay's Peachum & Lockit".
It was prepared to illustrate "England's Remembrancer," &c.; see "The 2 H, H,'s", No. 3342, note. It is one of a series of copies from satires described in that entry in this Catalogue.
3f X 2fm. Brit Mus. Library (Grenville), 16.370.
Jolie Brise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Development
Designer: Alexandre Pâris
Location: Le Havre
Year: 1913
Builder: Albert Paumelle Yard
Role: Pilot Cutter
Specifications
Sparred length: 22.50 m (73 ft 10 in)
Length on deck: 17.06 m (56 ft)
Load waterline length: 14.63 m (48 ft)
Beam: 4.63 m (15 ft 2 in)
Draught: 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in)
Displacement: 44 tonnes
Crew: Up to three
Trainees: Up to twelve
Hull appendages
Rig
Rig type: Gaff
Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. After a short career as a pilot boat, owing to steam replacing sail, she became a fishing boat, a racing yacht and a sail training vessel.
1923-1977 Post-Pilot History
Bought by Evelyn George Martin in 1923 she was refitted and won the first Fastnet race from seven starters in August 1925. In 1927 Martin sold Jolie Brise, through an advertisement in Yachting World to Captain Warren Ferrier and his partner Dr Brownlow Smith.
An engine and an additional cabin were fitted at Morgan Giles's yard at Teignmouth. Bobby Somerset, a founder member of the Ocean Racing Club - as was Martin, purchased her in 1928. After competing in the Fastnet, Bermuda and Santander races he sold her four years later to Lt. John Gage, RNR.
His ownership was only for a year and it seems that in 1934 she was purchased by an American, Stanley Mortimer. Alterations, mostly to the living accommodation were made at a yard in Palma, Majorca and a Gardner diesel was fitted in Marseilles. After cruising the Mediterranean, and with war in the offing Jolie Brise returned to Southampton and was put up for sale.
She was bought by William Stannard but requisitioned by the Royal Navy which laid her up on a mud berth at Shoreham for the duration of the war. In 1945 she was bought by a syndicate headed by Lillian and Jim Worsdell and her name was changed to Pleasant Breeze.
A voyage to New Zealand was aborted and when she put into Lisbon she was acquired by a Portuguese syndicate headed by Luis Lobato. Repaired and refitted, she was once again listed as Jolie Brise. For nearly 30 years her home port remained Lisbon but in 1975, partly because of the political situation in Portugal, she returned to the Solent, 50 years after her first Fastnet win.
1977 onwards Current Role
In 1977 she was bought in a collaboration between Dauntsey's School, the International Sailing Craft Association and the Science Museum to serve as the flagship of its sailing club and remains in that role.
Between 1977 and 1991 she sailed extensively around European waters crewed by students from the School, including winning Tall Ships Races in 1980 and 1986. The students were also involved heavily in the care and maintenance of her.
In 1991 she entered a major refit at Gloucester Docks, which was completed in 1993.
The same year she entered the Fastnet Race again, sixty years after her first time in 1931. After a circumnavigation of the UK in 1994, she has sailed all over Europe, and beyond with crews from the School, hosting other schools and groups of young people and with commercial trainees. In 1996 she returned to Portugal to visit Luis Lobato, in 1997 she went north, venturing 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle and in 2000, 2009 and 2017 she sailed across the Atlantic to the Bermuda, USA and Canada. In 2019 she visited Iceland and the Faroe Islands for the first time.
In 2003 she was bought by Dauntsey's School outright.
The boat is currently skippered by Toby Marris, and has the capacity to carry up to 12 students for local and international cruising and racing trips.
Canadian Music Week
Friday, March 23, 2012
Venue: Ballroom
Music, Special Event
Now in it’s 30th year, we’re thrilled to host Canada’s largest new music festival! Tonight Alberta Music & SASKMusic present Cowpuncher, Jordan Cook, Makeshift Innocence, Zoo Lion, Jeffery Straker & Zachary Lucky.
Zachary Lucky (8:00pm)
Folk
Zachary Lucky is a patriot. Born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – he was never one to wander to far off the beaten track – until he showed up on the Canadian music circuit in August of 2010 with his debut full length recording “Come and Gone.” “Striking and beautifully crafted, the songs on Zachary Lucky’s debut album reveal a talent for melody and a newfound confidence – Come & Gone is an enticingly brief, but highly auspicious debut” said exclaim.ca. ?
Jeffery Straker (9:00pm)
Folk, Pop, Singer-Songwriter
Originally from small town Saskatchewan, the classically trained pianist was raised by a church organist mother and auctioneer father. He swears he was born under the piano on the family farm. All of this might explain his ability to share songs with audiences.
Jeffery is a musical descendant of Beethoven through teacher-student lineage (seriously…see his website for the full story). He was a student of the Royal Conservatory of Music and received his licentiate diploma in piano performance from Trinity College, London when he was 19. That’s kind of like a black belt in piano.
jeffstraker.com
Zoo Lion (10:00pm)
Rock
Born and raised prairie boys, the band is comprised of the beating rhythms of Craig Aikman’s guitar, the groovy riffs of Matt Tysowski’s bass, the intense licks of Mark Heit’s guitar and the complex beats of Tyler Reimer’s drums.
Zoo Lion unleashed their second album, entitled Nothing Automatic, in April 2010 to follow up on their successful debut album Telling Your People (2008). While tracks off their second and third disc were laid down at MCC in Calgary, all three were recorded in Vancouver with the help of District Four Studio producers Aaron Nordeen and Shawn Penner. Parts have also been recorded at the legendary Mushroom Studios – which have seen so many iconic musicians in the past.
Zoo Lion has caught the attention of the music industry by winning a handful of contests – including the 2009 Canadian Radio Star title from Calgary radio station CJAY 92 for their song “Pry”, which won them a week at the 2009 Canadian Music Week in Toronto.
Makeshift Innocence (11:00pm)
Pop, Reggae, Rock, Roots, Singer-Songwriter, Soul
In 2007, lead singer Jesse-James Cameron formed Makeshift Innocence. Canadian born, Cameron spent three formative years in Negril, Jamaica, where he fell in love with the tones and feel of Reggae music – music that now infuses the group’s Rock, Reggae, Pop and Roots sounds with authentic Caribbean flavour.
Jordan Cook (12:00am)
Rock
Canadian born Jordan Cook has electrified audiences all over the world. Cook has been seen showcased at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he was the first Canadian rock artist to tour China, and was declared the revelation of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He has made guest appearances with such legends as Van Morrison, B.B. King, and the Aretha Franklin band.
The Jordan Cook Show will remind you that rock is not dead with his swaggering blues, honest unrestrained lyrics, towering energy and the multitude of gear aiming to take over the audience with every drop of sweat.
Cowpuncher (1:00am)
Country, Grunge, Indie, Rock, Roots
With guns drawn and wits sharpened like steel points Cowpuncher comes to plunder the Canadian musical landscape with a sound that borders paranoid country with a stinking wool mitt of rock and roll. Cowpuncher is a collective of the finest musicians that Western Canada has to offer and they are unabashedly passionate in the performance of their high energy brand of music.
Cowpuncher is Canada’s most beloved underground band; resourceful, ruthless, and relentless.
The Ballroom: Our largest venue space is perfect for gala parties, dance parties, formal dinners, conferences, and live performances. www.gladstonehotel.com/venue
More About Canadian Music Week Here
Photos by: Laynna Meyler
Vintage Ivory Knee-Length Cut Out Backeless Wedding Dress With Bow Decor Sash For Bride www.milanoo.com/product/vintage-ivory-knee-length-cut-out...
FLATware at Floor Length and Tux
November 17th, 2012
4125 W. Melrose St.
Chicago IL 60641
FLATware was the christening of the new Floor Length and Tux location. All previous FLAT participants were invited to present a "plate".
Jon Bollo, EC Brown, Matty Colston, Meg Duguid, Jacob C. Hammes, Chris Hefner, Brandon Heuser, Chuck Jones, Angela Lopez, Liz Nielsen, Stephen Nyktas, Catie Olson, Jonathan Ozik, Danielle Paz, Cole Pierce, Frank Pollard, Dawn Reed, Kristen Romaniszak, Julie Rudder, Kendrick Shackleford, Edra Soto, Bj Vogt, Carl Warnick, Brett Williams
Thanks to the Nailbourne project, I now understand how the communities and landscape fots in along its length, though that a bubbling noisy stream can just vanish then appear miles away is very difficult to get your head round. The Nailbourne only fully flows in very wet years, but when it does, the beds that are dry now can be several feet deep.
But downstream of Littlebourne, where the Nailbourne becomes the Little Stour, it is wider, about six feet wide, clogged with reeds and weeds, but also was used to power to large mills. They both stand, one between Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux, and the other in Wickhambreaux itself, though is now just a house But is a large white clapboard building, with a large wheel.
These days, the village looks very prosperous, all grand houses or cottage conversions.
From here, the Little Stour makes its way over the marshes which centuries ago was the Wantsum Channel, so Wickhambreaux was almost a seaside town.
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The interior of this very pretty church is dominated by nineteenth-century work. The whole of the chancel and baptistry is lined with dark brown encaustic tiles, hiding a straightforward fourteenth-century church. The east window is an early example of American Art Nouveau in England, and dominates the entire building. It was designed by Baron Arild Rosenkrantz in 1896. Above the window are stencilled paintings of angels ascending, which can also be seen in the nave, whilst the roof there has a charming star-spangled sky. At the south-west corner is a vestry - screened off by an eighteenth-century screen which may have formed part of the refitting of the chancel paid for by Mary Young. Her monument in the chancel records that 'infirm from her youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age'. She left £100 for wainscotting and ornamenting the chancel. The interior viewed from the east gives an unusual appearance as the aisles flank the tower (see also Sandhurst).
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Wickhambreaux
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WICKHAM BREAUS
LIES adjoining to Littleborne north-eastward, being usally called Wickham Brook. It is likewise called Wickham by Wingham, to distinguish it from the two other parishes of the same name in this county. In Domesday it is written Wicheham, a name derived from its situation near the banks of the river, which runs close to it. There is only one borough in it, viz. the borough of Wickham, which comprehends the whole parish.
Wickham is a low, flat, and unpleasant situation, and lying so near the marshes cannot but be unhealthy, the land throughout it is in general good and sertile, especially near the village, where the fields are very large and level ground. The village, in number about twenty houses, stands at the south-east boundary of the parish, built round a green, over which the road leads to Ickham, having the church and court-lodge on one side, and the parsonage, a handsome brick house, on the other. At the further end of the green, the Lesser Stour crosses the road, and turns a corn-mill belonging to the manor, beyond it is only one house, called the Stone-house, being built of squared stones and slints in chequers, and by the arched windows and door-ways seems of some antiquity. The parish stretches a good distance northward, as far as Groveferry, the house of which is within it, and the greater Stour river, over a level of about 500 acres of marsh land, which extend from the river into a sinus, with a ridge of upland on each side, to within a quarter of a mile of the village. North eastward from which is the Saperton, formerly the property of the Beakes's, who resided here as early as king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign; it was sold by them to the Furneses, whence it came by marriage, with Copthall, in this parish, to the St. John's, viscounts Bolingbroke, who have lately sold it, but one of the family of Beake, many of whom lie buried in this church, now occupies it. A little beyond this is Newnham, once accounted a manor, formerly belonging to the Ropers, lords Teynham, afterwards to the Bartholomews, then to Joseph Brooke, esq. of Rochester, and now to his devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke, of Town-Malling.—Hence among the marshes is the hamlet of Grove, through which the road leads across them to the right over the lesser Stour, to Wingham, Ash, and the eastern parts of Kent, and to the left by Grove-ferry over the Greater Stour, to the northern part of the country and the Isle of Thanet. There is no other wood in the parish excepting Trendley park. There is no fair.
At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, this place was part of those possessions with which that king had enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux. Accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of his lands:
In Donamesford hundred, the bishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates. There is a church, and one priest who gives forty shillings per annum. There is one park, and two mills of fifty shillings, and two saltpits of thirtytwo pence, and three fisheries of four shillings, and thirtytwo acres of meadow. Pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, when he received it twenty pounds, now thirty pounds. There belong to this manor in Canterbury three plats of land paying six shillings and eight pence. Alured Biga held it of king Edward. Moreover there belongs to this manor half a suling of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of the bishop of Baieux, and it is and was worth separately sixty shillings.
Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown, of which this manor appears afterwards to have been held by the Cliffords. Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, possessed it in the reign of king John, and with Agnes de Cundy, his wife, was a good benefactor to St. Augustine's abbey, and that of St. Radigund. (fn. 1) By the marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of Walter Clifford, with John de Brewse, it passed into that name, and William de Brewse, or de Braiosa, as they were written in Latin, was possessed of it in the 42d year of king Henry III. His descendant William de Brewse, lord of the honour of Brembre, in Sussex, and of Gower, in Wales, as he stiled himself, whose ancestor came into England with the Conqueror, who gave him the castle of Brember, and whose descendant afterwards, by the marriage with Bertha, daughter and one of the coheirs of Milo, earl of Hereford, became possessed of the castles of Brecknock and Gower likewife, and bore for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant, between twelve cross-croslets, or; though I find by the pedigrees of this family, that his ancestors bore Azure, three bars vaire, argent, and gules. He was several times summoned to parliament in king Edward I.'s reign, as was his son of the same name, both in that and Edward II.'s reign, and died possessed of this manor in the 19th year of the latter. Very soon after which it appears, with the church appendant to it, to have come into the possession of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, half brother to king Edward II. (fn. 2) After which it descended to his brother John Plantagenet, likewife earl of Kent, it being then held of the king in sergeantry. He died anno 26 Edward III. upon which Joane his sister, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of Sir Thomas Holand, became his heir, who in her right not only possessed this manor, but became earl of Kent likewise. She afterwards married Edward the black prince, and died in the 9th year of king Richard II. being succeeded in this manor then held in capite, by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, her son by her first husband, whose two sons, Thomas and Edward, both earls of Kent, and the former created Duke of Surry, in turn succeeded to it, and the latter dying anno 9 Henry IV. his five sisters became his coheirs, and on a partition made between them, Edmund, earl of March, son of Eleanor, late countess of March, the eldest of them became entitled to this manor in his mother's right, being the last earl of March of this family, for he died s. p. in the 3d year of king Henry VI. being then possessed of it. The year after which, Joane, wife of Sir John Gray, appears by the escheat rolls to have been entitled to it; not long after which it became the property of the family of Tibetot, or Tiptoft, as they were usually called, in whom it continued down to John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, who was attainted and beheaded in 1471, anno 10 Edward IV. king Henry being then restored to the crown. He lest an infant son Edward, who, though he was afterwards restored in blood by king Edward IV. yet I do not find that he was ever reinstated in the possession of this manor, which remained in the crown till the reign of king Henry VIII. who granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir Matthew Browne, of Beechworth-castle, who in the 22d year of it, passed it away to Lucy, widow of his uncle Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer of England, whose grandson Anthony was, anno I and 2 of Philip and Mary, created viscount Montague, and died possessed of this manor anno 34 Elizabeth, and by his will devised it to his eldest son by his second wife, Sir George Browne, who was of Wickham Breaus, and his grandson Sir George Browne, K. B. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Winifrid, married to Basil Brooks, esq. of Salop, and Eleanor, to Henry Farmer, esq. of Oxfordshire, they joined in the sale of it, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, to Sir H. Palmer, bart. of Wingham, who died possessed of it in 1706, s. p. and by his will devised it to his nephew Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by his will gave it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who married Bethia, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, who died in 1760, s. p., having devised this manor, with the advowson of the church appendant, to his widow. She afterwards married John Cosnan, esq. who in her right became possessed of it, and died in 1778, s. p. leaving her furviving, upon which she again became entitled to the possession of it, and continued owner of it till her death in 1797, on which it came to her nephew Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
Trendley park, now accounted a manor of itself, is situated at the north-west boundary of this parish, being entirely separated from the rest of it by that of Littleborne intervening. It was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and is noticed in the survey of Domesday, in the description of the manor of Wickham above recited, in which it is mentioned as being then a park; and it should seem that at least part of it was then accounted as appurtenant to that manor; though in the description of the manor of Littleborne, in the same survey, which then belonged to the abbey of St. Augustine, it appears that the bishop had lands belonging to that manor too lying within his park here. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park as much land as is worth sixty shillings, says the record. In part of the recompence for which, the bishop seems to have given the abbot the manor of Garwinton, in Littleborne, and other land within the manor of Leeds, as may be seen by the entries of both these manors in the same record. Soon after which there was another exchange of land made between the bishop and archbishop Lanfranc, for some which lay within his park of Wikeham. What is remarkable in this instrument is, that it is given in two languages, in Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, for both are originals, as was a frequent custom of that time. Appendant to it is the bishop's seal in wax, representing him on one side on horseback, with his sword and spurs, as an earl, and on the other habited as a bishop, with his pastoral staff; being perhaps the only seal of Odo at this time extant. (fn. 3) By all which it appears, that this park is much more antient than that of Woodstock, which has been accounted the first inclosed park in England. How long it continued an inclosed park, I have no where found; but in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign it was not so, as appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3d year of it, after the death of Edmund, earl of March, at which time there were two hundred acres of wood in it. He was lord of the manor of Wickham, and Trendley park was chiefly at that time certainly appurtenant to it, and continued so whilst in the possession of the same owners, which it did most probably till the attainder of John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, in the 10th year of king Edward IV. when they both came into the hands of the crown, and though king Henry VIII. afterwards granted the manor of Wickham to Sir Matthew Browne, yet I do not find that Trendley park was granted with it. From which time it has had separate owners. For some time it has been the property of the family of Denne, who continue at this time the owners of it. It lies in an unpleasant, lonely part of the parish, facing Westbere, and consists of three hundred acres of woodland, and a house called the Park-house. There is a high road through the middle of it from Stodmarsh to Canterbury market, which in king Edward II.'s reign, was attempted to be shut up, but the sheriff, with the posse comitatus, was ordered to open it again, as being an antient and allowed high road.
Charities.
Andrew Holness, of Seton, in Ickham, by will in 1554, gave to the poor 2s. in money and bread, to be distributed yearly; the churchwardens to take so much yearly out of his lands in Ickham and Wickham, except his house and garden at Seton, in case his executors did not give the same yearly.
Henry Sloyden, of Wickham Breaus, by will in 1568, gave for the use of the poor and Littleborne, in equal portions, a piece of land containing six acres and a half in the latter parish, called Church-close, which is distributed twice a year by the respective minister and churchwardens, and is of the annual produce of 4l.
John Smith, rector of this parish, by deed in 1656, gave a school-room, and a house and garden for a schoolmaster, in this parish, for teaching the children of it. The master to be chosen from one of his relations in preference, if any such could be found, is vested in the rector and churchwardens of this parish.
Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, by his will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to each of the several parishes of Wickham, Stodmarsh, Littleborne, and five others therein mentioned, to be paid into the hands of the minister and churchwardens yearly, out of his manor and lands of Well-court, at Michaelmas, towards the relief of the poor of each of them.
Thomas Belke, D. D. rector of this parish, by will in 1712, gave 501. for the putting out of five poor children of this parish apprentices.
There are about thirty poor constantly relieved, and casually seventy.
This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of three isles and one chancel, having at the west end a square tower, in which hang six bells. The church is not large, but is handsome and neat. In the middle isle are several memorials for the Beakes, of Saperton. In the south isle for the Larkins, who lived at Grove, in this parish. In the east window are remains of good painted glass, viz. the arms of Edward the black price and of Mortimer, quartered with Burgh, and a representation of Herod's daughter beheading John the Baptist. In the chancel, on the pavement, is the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription, for Henry Welde, rector, obt. 1420. A gravestone, and monument for Alexander Young, B D. rector of this parish, who rebuilt this parsonage-house, and repaired that of Eastchurch, of which he was vicar likewife, at the expence of 2000l. obt. March 21, 1755. A memorial for John Smith, rector, obt. Oct. 28, 1658. In the church-yard are many headstones, and a tombstone for the family of Beake. In the windows of this church there were formerly many different shields of arms, long since demolished.
This church was always an appendage to the manor, and continues so at this time, Sir Narborough D' Aeth, bart. owner of the manor of Wickham, being the present patron of it.
There was antiently both a rectory and vicarage in this church, which continued till the year 1322, when on a vacancy of the latter, Richard de Newcastle, the rector, petitioned archbishop Walter Reynolds, that they might be consolidated, which was granted, and they have continued in that state to the present time. (fn. 4)
This rectory is valued in the king's books at 29l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 19s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at 250l. communicants one hundred and sixty-three. In 1640 the same. There are eighteen acres of glebe-land.
The marsh-lands in this parish, within Wickham and Preston valleys, pay a modus of two-pence an acre, and those within Newnham 1½d. only, in lieu of all tithes.
IMO: 9521021
MMSI: 259027000
Call Sign: LAKW7
Flag: Norway
Type: Multi Purpose Offshore Vessel
Gross Tonnage: 6072
DeadWeight: 3800
Length x Breadth: 99m x 19m
Year Built: 2011
Status: Active
Jolie Brise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Development
Designer: Alexandre Pâris
Location: Le Havre
Year: 1913
Builder: Albert Paumelle Yard
Role: Pilot Cutter
Specifications
Sparred length: 22.50 m (73 ft 10 in)
Length on deck: 17.06 m (56 ft)
Load waterline length: 14.63 m (48 ft)
Beam: 4.63 m (15 ft 2 in)
Draught: 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in)
Displacement: 44 tonnes
Crew: Up to three
Trainees: Up to twelve
Hull appendages
Rig
Rig type: Gaff
Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. After a short career as a pilot boat, owing to steam replacing sail, she became a fishing boat, a racing yacht and a sail training vessel.
1923-1977 Post-Pilot History
Bought by Evelyn George Martin in 1923 she was refitted and won the first Fastnet race from seven starters in August 1925. In 1927 Martin sold Jolie Brise, through an advertisement in Yachting World to Captain Warren Ferrier and his partner Dr Brownlow Smith.
An engine and an additional cabin were fitted at Morgan Giles's yard at Teignmouth. Bobby Somerset, a founder member of the Ocean Racing Club - as was Martin, purchased her in 1928. After competing in the Fastnet, Bermuda and Santander races he sold her four years later to Lt. John Gage, RNR.
His ownership was only for a year and it seems that in 1934 she was purchased by an American, Stanley Mortimer. Alterations, mostly to the living accommodation were made at a yard in Palma, Majorca and a Gardner diesel was fitted in Marseilles. After cruising the Mediterranean, and with war in the offing Jolie Brise returned to Southampton and was put up for sale.
She was bought by William Stannard but requisitioned by the Royal Navy which laid her up on a mud berth at Shoreham for the duration of the war. In 1945 she was bought by a syndicate headed by Lillian and Jim Worsdell and her name was changed to Pleasant Breeze.
A voyage to New Zealand was aborted and when she put into Lisbon she was acquired by a Portuguese syndicate headed by Luis Lobato. Repaired and refitted, she was once again listed as Jolie Brise. For nearly 30 years her home port remained Lisbon but in 1975, partly because of the political situation in Portugal, she returned to the Solent, 50 years after her first Fastnet win.
1977 onwards Current Role
In 1977 she was bought in a collaboration between Dauntsey's School, the International Sailing Craft Association and the Science Museum to serve as the flagship of its sailing club and remains in that role.
Between 1977 and 1991 she sailed extensively around European waters crewed by students from the School, including winning Tall Ships Races in 1980 and 1986. The students were also involved heavily in the care and maintenance of her.
In 1991 she entered a major refit at Gloucester Docks, which was completed in 1993.
The same year she entered the Fastnet Race again, sixty years after her first time in 1931. After a circumnavigation of the UK in 1994, she has sailed all over Europe, and beyond with crews from the School, hosting other schools and groups of young people and with commercial trainees. In 1996 she returned to Portugal to visit Luis Lobato, in 1997 she went north, venturing 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle and in 2000, 2009 and 2017 she sailed across the Atlantic to the Bermuda, USA and Canada. In 2019 she visited Iceland and the Faroe Islands for the first time.
In 2003 she was bought by Dauntsey's School outright.
The boat is currently skippered by Toby Marris, and has the capacity to carry up to 12 students for local and international cruising and racing trips.
Many things have changed along the busy Colac shopping strip that runs the length of Murray Street. Shops have come and gone, and each time the shop front it inhabits is redecorated. Yet if you look above a shop's awning, you will often find the original building's upper floors and parapets, still very much intact.
This shop built of red brick with fine stonework has been ornately and lavishly decorated with panels of cyanide and olive green and chartreuse majolica tiles around the arched window and doorway and in panels along the parapet. The shop's original establishment date of 1883 may be seen in gilt lettering against a Prussian blue background in two panels above the front door. The building is a testament to the wealthy pastoral past of Colac, and in its day would have stood out as much along the Murray Street shopping strip as it does today.
Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac. The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray. A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains. The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches. The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name. The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it. Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city. Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people. Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets. Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).
Classic Matte Satin strapless A-line gown featuring a sweetheart neckline and softly pleated above the knee length skirt. Small flowers and a Bias inset at the natural waist finish the look. Available in all Matte Satin color combinations.Click to more images and information about Strapless satin bridesmaid dress with natural waist.
The length of Witham Brothers Daf FA CF85-360 is accentuated in this photograp of B15WBR. It was previously AY57EFD, new in 2007.
The bill length of this species is more than half the head length; the bill of the Downy is relatively shorter. Only the males (both species) have red markings on the rear of their heads when adult. However, both sexes of the Hairy juvies have red foreheads. (The patch disappears on both adult sexes with age.) While both species are regular up here (8600 ft. msl) the Hairy is much more common... the Downy favors the lower altitudes. This one is clearly a juvenile bird, and probably female.
IMG_9144; Hairy Woodpecker
Fraser Island stretches over 123 kilometres in length and 22 kilometres at its widest point. With an area of 184 000 hectares it is the largest sand island in the world.
Fraser Island's World Heritage listing ranks it with Australia's Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Fraser Island is a precious part of Australia's natural and cultural heritage, it is protected for all to appreciate and enjoy.
Fraser island is a place of exceptional beauty, with its long uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, and over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and others clear and blue all ringed by white sandy beaches. Ancient rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks.
Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres. The low "wallum" heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance, and provide magnificent wildflower displays in spring and summer.
fraser island australia The immense sand blows and cliffs of coloured sands are part of the longest and most complete age sequence of coastal dune systems in the world and they are still evolving.
They are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the last 700 000 years. The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level.
The Great Sandy Strait, separating Fraser Island from the mainland, is listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).
The wetlands include: rare patterned ferns; mangrove colonies; sea-grass beds; and up to 40,000 migratory shorebirds. Rare, vulnerable or endangered species include dugongs, turtles, Illidge's ant-blue butterflies and eastern curlews.
I wanted to capture this for reals but from southern Illinois, the sun was pretty much at its zenith and at my widest focal length (24mm on FF) there was no way I was gonna be able to see both the lake and the sun. I had a fisheye lens, but the front element made getting the solar filter in place difficult. Maybe a 16-35 would have worked, but maybe not... so... this.
Each of the eight solar images was shot at 200mm but was much like the corona picture yesterday (in fact that IS the corona picture from yesterday's post on the right) in that it was against a totally black sky as one had to really underexpose to somewhat preserve the sun in each shot. It's a fairly easy Photoshop job to then take each partial eclipse image and cut it out, and drop it in. The magic is in making it look like it is in any way touching reality.
The final image was 25 layers in Photoshop. Fourteen layers were dedicated to the sun and moon, while 10 were there just to make it look more real. I probably could have done 10 more to try to make it look real but in the end it's never going to look as real as if the sun had been IN the actual shot.
So is it good? Again - meh. It's just something I wanted to try. It's "fun". Yeah. That's it.
Challenge prompt: Stranger Photography
While reading up on how to do (non-candid) stranger photography I learned about the 100 Strangers Flickr group and decided that I'd print up contact cards and try for more than 1.
I have a longer description of the first attempt at Hailey's Headshot, but this full-length shot includes the sparkly pants that made me want to take her photo.
Thanks for being my first stranger, Hailey!
The meerkat (Suricata suricatta) or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body length is around 24–35 cm (9.4–13.8 in), and the weight is typically between 0.62 and 0.97 kg (1.4 and 2.1 lb). The coat is light grey to yellowish-brown with alternate, poorly-defined light and dark bands on the back. Meerkats have foreclaws adapted for digging and have the ability to thermoregulate to survive in their harsh, dry habitat. Three subspecies are recognised.
Meerkats are highly social, and form packs of two to 30 individuals each that occupy home ranges around 5 km2 (1.9 sq mi) in area. There is a social hierarchy—generally dominant individuals in a pack breed and produce offspring, and the nonbreeding, subordinate members provide altruistic care to the pups. Breeding occurs around the year, with peaks during heavy rainfall; after a gestation of 60 to 70 days, a litter of three to seven pups is born.
They live in rock crevices in stony, often calcareous areas, and in large burrow systems in plains. The burrow systems, typically 5 m (16 ft) in diameter with around 15 openings, are large underground networks consisting of two to three levels of tunnels. These tunnels are around 7.5 cm (3.0 in) high at the top and wider below, and extend up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) into the ground. Burrows have moderated internal temperatures and provide a comfortable microclimate that protects meerkats in harsh weather and at extreme temperatures.
Meerkats are active during the day, mostly in the early morning and late afternoon; they remain continually alert and retreat to burrows when sensing danger. They use a broad variety of calls to communicate among one another for different purposes, for example to raise an alarm on sighting a predator. Primarily insectivorous, meerkats feed heavily on beetles and lepidopterans, arthropods, amphibians, small birds, reptiles, and plant material in their diet.
Commonly living in arid, open habitats with little woody vegetation, meerkats occur in southwestern Botswana, western and southern Namibia, and northern and western South Africa; the range barely extends into southwestern Angola. With no significant threats to the population, the meerkat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Meerkats are widely depicted in television, movies and other media.
Etymology
The word 'meerkat' derives from the Dutch name for a kind of monkey, which in turn comes from the Old High German mericazza, possibly as a combination of meer ('lake') and kat ('cat'). This may be related to the similar Hindi: मर्कट (markat, or monkey), deriving from Sanskrit, though the Germanic origin of the word predates any known connections to India. The name was used for small mammals in South Africa from 1801 onward, possibly because the Dutch colonialists used the name in reference to many burrowing animals. The native South African[clarification needed] name for the meerkat is 'suricate', possibly deriving from the French 'surikate', which in turn may have a Dutch origin. In Afrikaans the meerkat is called graatjiemeerkat or stokstertmeerkat; the term mierkatte or meerkatte can refer to both the meerkat and the yellow mongoose (Afrikaans: rooimeerkat). In colloquial Afrikaans mier means 'ant' and kat means 'cat', hence the name probably refers to the meerkat's association with termite mounds.
Taxonomy
In 1776, Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber described a meerkat from the Cape of Good Hope, giving it the scientific name Viverra suricatta. The generic name Suricata was proposed by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1804, who also described a zoological specimen from the Cape of Good Hope. The present scientific name Suricata suricatta was first used by Oldfield Thomas and Harold Schwann in 1905 when they described a specimen collected at Wakkerstroom. They suggested there were four local meerkat races in the Cape and Deelfontein, Grahamstown, Orange River Colony and southern Transvaal, and Klipfontein respectively. Several zoological specimens were described between the late 18th and 20th centuries, of which three are recognised as valid subspecies:
S. s. suricatta (Schreber, 1776) occurs in southern Namibia, southern Botswana, and South Africa.
S. s. majoriae Bradfield, 1936 occurs in central and northwestern Namibia.
S. s. iona Crawford-Cabral, 1971 occurs in southwestern Angola.
Phylogeny and evolution
Meerkat fossils dating back to 2.59 to 0.01 million years ago have been excavated in various locations in South Africa. A 2009 phylogenetic study of the family Herpestidae suggests it split into two lineages around the Early Miocene (25.4–18.2 mya)—eusocial and solitary mongooses. The meerkat belongs to the monophyletic eusocial mongoose clade along with several other African mongooses: Crossarchus (kusimanse), Helogale (dwarf mongoose), Liberiictis (Liberian mongoose) and Mungos (banded mongoose). The solitary mongoose lineage comprises two clades including species such as Meller's mongoose (Rhynchogale melleri) and the yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata).
Characteristics
The meerkat is a small mongoose of slim build characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail and a brindled coat pattern. It is smaller than most other mongooses except the dwarf mongooses (genus Helogale) and possibly Galerella species. The head-and-body length is around 24–35 cm (9.4–13.8 in), and the weight has been recorded to be between 0.62–0.97 kg (1.4–2.1 lb) without much variation between the sexes (though some dominant females can be heavier than the rest). The soft coat is light grey to yellowish brown with alternate, poorly-defined light and dark bands on the back. Individuals from the southern part of the range tend to be darker. The guard hairs, light at the base, have two dark rings and are tipped with black or silvery white; several such hairs aligned together give rise to the coat pattern. These hairs are typically between 1.5 and 2 cm (0.59 and 0.79 in), but measure 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) on the flanks. Its head is mostly white and the underparts are covered sparsely with dark reddish-brown fur, with the dark skin underneath showing through. The eyes, in sockets covering over 20% of the skull length, are capable of binocular vision. The slim, yellowish tail, unlike the bushy tails of many other mongooses, measures 17 to 25 cm (6.7 to 9.8 in), and is tipped with black. Females have six nipples. The meerkat looks similar to two sympatric species—the banded and the yellow mongooses. The meerkat can be told apart from the banded mongoose by its smaller size, shorter tail and bigger eyes relative to the head; the yellow mongoose differs in having a bushy tail and lighter coat with an inner layer of yellow fur under the normal brown fur.
The meerkat has 36 teeth with the dental formula of
3.1.3.2
3.1.3.2
It is well adapted for digging, movement through tunnels and standing erect, though it is not as capable of running and climbing. The big, sharp and curved foreclaws (slightly longer than the hindclaws) are highly specialised among the feliforms, and enable the meerkat to dig efficiently. The black, crescent-like ears can be closed to prevent the entry of dirt and debris while digging. The tail is used to balance when standing upright. Digitigrade, the meerkat has four digits on each foot with thick pads underneath.
The meerkat has a specialised thermoregulation system that helps it survive in its harsh desert habitat. A study showed that its body temperature follows a diurnal rhythm, averaging 38.3 °C (100.9 °F) during the day and 36.3 °C (97.3 °F) at night. As the body temperature falls below the thermoneutral zone, determined to be 30–32.5 °C (86.0–90.5 °F), the heart rate and oxygen consumption plummet; perspiration increases sharply at temperatures above this range. Additionally, it has a basal metabolic rate remarkably lower than other carnivores, which helps in conserving water, surviving on lower amounts of food and decreasing heat output from metabolic processes. During winter, it balances heat loss by increasing the metabolic heat generation and other methods such as sunbathing.
Ecology and behaviour
The meerkat is a social mammal, forming packs of two to 30 individuals each comprising nearly equal numbers of either sex and multiple family units of pairs and their offspring. Members of a pack take turns at jobs such as looking after pups and keeping a lookout for predators. Meerkats are a cooperatively breeding species—typically the dominant 'breeders' in a pack produce offspring, and the nonbreeding, subordinate 'helpers' provide altruistic care for the pups. This division of labour is not as strictly defined as it is in specialised eusocial species, such as the breeder-worker distinction in ants. Moreover, meerkats have a clear dominance hierarchy with older individuals having a higher social status. A study showed that dominant individuals can contribute more to offspring care when fewer helpers were available; subordinate members increased their contributions if they could forage better.
Packs live in rock crevices in stony areas and in large burrow systems in plains. A pack generally occupies a home range, 5 km2 (1.9 sq mi) large on average but sometimes as big as 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi), containing many burrows 50 to 100 m (160 to 330 ft) apart, of which some remain unused. A 2019 study showed that large burrows towards the centre of a range are preferred over smaller ones located near the periphery; this was especially the case with packs that had pups to raise. A pack may shift to another burrow if the dominant female has little success finding prey in an area. The area near the periphery of home ranges is scent marked mostly by the dominant individuals; there are communal latrines, 1 km2 (0.39 sq mi) large, close to the burrows. Packs can migrate collectively in search of food, to escape high predator pressure and during floods.
Meerkats are highly vigilant, and frequently survey their surroundings by turning their heads side to side; some individuals always stand sentry and look out for danger. Vocal communication is used frequently in different contexts; for instance repetitive, high-pitched barks are used to warn others of predators nearby. They will generally retreat to their burrows for safety, where they will remain until the danger is gone. They stick their heads out of burrows to check the area outside, still barking. Mobs of meerkats fiercely attack snakes that may come near them. Raptors such as bateleurs, martial eagles, tawny eagles, and pale chanting goshawks are major aerial predators; on the ground, meerkats may be threatened by bat-eared foxes, black-backed jackals, and Cape foxes.
Social behaviour
Encounters between members of different packs are highly aggressive, leading to severe injuries and often deaths; 19% of meerkats die by conspecific violence, which is the highest recorded percentage among mammals. Females, often the heaviest ones, try to achieve dominance over the rest in many ways such as fierce competition or taking over from the leader of the pack. A study showed that females who grew faster were more likely to assert dominance, though males did not show such a trend. Males seeking dominance over groups tend to scent mark extensively and are not submissive; they often drive out older males in a group and take over the pack themselves. Subordinate individuals face difficulties in breeding successfully; for instance, dominant females often kill the litters of subordinate ones. As such, subordinate individuals might disperse to other packs to find mates during the breeding season. Some subordinate meerkats will even kill the pups of dominant members in order to improve their own offspring's position.[30] It can take days for emigrants to secure entry into other packs, and they often face aversion from the members. Males typically succeed in joining existing groups; they often inspect other packs and their burrow systems in search of breeding opportunities. Many often team up in 'coalitions' for as long as two months and travel nearly 5 km (3.1 mi) a day on twisted paths. Dispersal appears to be less common in females, possibly because continuing to stay within a pack can eventually win them dominance over other members. Dispersed females travel longer than coalitions, and tend to start groups of their own or join other similar females; they aim for groups of emigrant males or those without a breeding female. Subordinate females, unlike subordinate males, might be ousted from their packs, especially in the latter part of the dominant female's pregnancy, though they may be allowed to return after the birth of the pups.
Burrowing
Meerkat burrows are typically 5 m (16 ft) in diameter with around 15 openings, though one of dimensions 25 by 32 m (82 by 105 ft) with as many as 90 holes has been reported. These large underground networks comprise two to three levels of tunnels up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) into the ground; the tunnels, around 7.5 cm (3.0 in) high at the top, become broader after descending around a metre. The entrances, 15 cm (5.9 in) in diameter, are created by digging at an angle of 40 degrees to the surface; the soil accumulated as a result can slightly increase the height of burrow sites. 'Boltholes' are used for a quick escape if dangers are detected. While constructing or renovating burrows meerkats will line up to form a continuous head-to-tail chain, break the soil into crumbs with their foreclaws, scoop it out with their forepaws joined and throw it behind them between their hindlegs.
Outside temperatures are not reflected at once within burrows; instead there is usually an eight-hour lag which creates a temperature gradient in warrens, so that burrows are coolest in daytime and warmest at night. Temperatures inside burrows typically vary between 21 and 39 °C (70 and 102 °F) in summer and −4 and 26 °C (25 and 79 °F) in winter; temperatures at greater depths vary to a much lesser extent, with summer temperatures around 22.6 to 23.2 °C (72.7 to 73.8 °F) and winter temperatures around 10 to 10.8 °C (50.0 to 51.4 °F). This reduces the need for meerkats to thermoregulate individually by providing a comfortable microclimate within burrows; moreover, burrowing protects meerkats in harsh weather and at extreme temperatures. Consequently, meerkats spend considerable time in burrows; they are active mainly during the day and return to burrows after dark and often to escape the heat of the afternoon. Activity peaks during the early morning and late afternoon. Meerkats huddle together to sleep in compact groups, sunbathe and recline on warm rocks or damp soil to adjust their body temperatures.
Meerkats tend to occupy the burrows of other small mammals more than constructing them on their own; they generally share burrows with Cape ground squirrels and yellow mongooses. Cape ground squirrels and meerkats usually do not fight for space or food. Though yellow mongooses are also insectivores like meerkats, competition for prey is minimal as yellow mongooses are less selective in their diet. This association is beneficial to all the species as it saves time and efforts spent in making separate warrens. Many other species have also been recorded in the meerkat burrows, including African pygmy mice, Cape grey mongooses, four-striped grass mice, Highveld gerbils, rock hyraxes, slender mongooses, South African springhares and white-tailed rats.
Vocalisations
Meerkats have a broad vocal repertoire that they use to communicate among one another in several contexts; many of these calls may be combined by repetition of the same call or mixing different sounds. A study recorded 12 different types of call combinations used in different situations such as guarding against predators, caring for young, digging, sunbathing, huddling together and aggression.
Short-range 'close calls' are produced while foraging and after scanning the vicinity for predators. 'Recruitment calls' can be produced to collect meerkats on sighting a snake or to investigate excrement or hair samples of predators or unfamiliar meerkats. 'Alarm calls' are given out on detecting predators. All these calls differ in their acoustic characteristics, and can evoke different responses in the 'receivers' (meerkats who hear the call); generally the greater the urgency of the scenario in which the call is given, the stronger is the response in the receivers.
This indicates that meerkats are able to perceive the nature of the risk and the degree of urgency from the acoustics of a call, transmit it and respond accordingly. For instance, upon hearing a terrestrial predator alarm call, meerkats are most likely to scan the area and move towards the source of the call, while an aerial predator alarm call would most likely cause them to crouch down. A recruitment call would cause receivers to raise their tails (and often their hair) and move slowly towards the source.
The complexity of calls produced by different mongooses varies by their social structure and ecology. For instance eusocial mongooses such as meerkats and banded mongooses use calls in a greater variety of contexts than do the solitary slender mongooses. Moreover, meerkats have more call types than do banded mongooses. Meerkat calls carry information to identify the signaling individual or pack, but meerkats do not appear to differentiate between calls from different sources. The calls of banded mongooses also carry a 'vocal signature' to identify the caller.
Diet
The meerkat is primarily an insectivore, feeding heavily on beetles and lepidopterans; it can additionally feed on eggs, amphibians, arthropods (such as scorpions, to whose venom they are immune), reptiles, small birds (such as the southern anteater-chat), plants and seeds. Captive meerkats include plenty of fruits and vegetables in their diet, and also kill small mammals by biting the backs of their skulls. They have also been observed feeding on the desert truffle Kalaharituber pfeilii. Meerkats often eat citron melons and dig out roots and tubers for their water content.
Mongooses spend nearly five to eight hours foraging every day. Like other social mongooses, meerkats in a pack will disperse within 5 m (16 ft) of one another and browse systematically in areas within their home range without losing visual or vocal contact. Some individuals stand sentry while the rest are busy foraging. Meerkats return to an area only after a week of the last visit so that the food supply is replenished sufficiently. They hunt by scent, and often dig out soil or turn over stones to uncover hidden prey. Meerkats typically do not give chase to their prey, though they may pursue geckos and lizards over several metres. Food intake is typically low during winter.
Reproduction
Meerkats breed throughout the year with seasonal peaks, typically during months of heavy rainfall; for instance, maximum births occur from January to March in the southern Kalahari. Generally only dominant individuals breed, though subordinate members can also mate in highly productive years. Females become sexually mature at two to three years of age. Dominant females can have up to four litters annually (lesser for subordinate females), and the number depends on the amount of precipitation. Mating behaviour has been studied in captive individuals. Courtship behaviour is limited; the male fights with his partner, getting hold of her by her snout. He will grip the nape of her neck if she resists mounting, and hold her down by grasping her flanks during copulation.
After a gestation of 60 to 70 days, a litter of three to seven pups is born. Pups weigh around 100 g (3.5 oz) in the first few days of birth; the average growth rate for the first three months is 4.5 g (0.16 oz) per day, typically the fastest in the first month. A 2019 study showed that growth and survival rates of pups might decrease with increase in temperature.
Infants make continuous sounds that resemble bird-like tweets, that change to a shrill contact call as they grow older. Young pups are kept securely in a den, from where they emerge after around 16 days, and start foraging with adults by 26 days. The nonbreeding members of the pack help substantially with juvenile care, for instance they feed the pups and huddle with them for warmth. A study showed that nearly half of the litters of dominant females, especially those born later in the breeding season were nursed by subordinate females, mostly those that were or recently had been pregnant.
Sex biases have been observed in feeding; for instance, female helpers feed female pups more than male pups unlike male helpers who feed both equally. This is possibly because the survival of female pups is more beneficial to female helpers as females are more likely to remain in their natal pack. Some helpers contribute to all activities more than others, though none of them might be specialised in any of them. Sometimes helpers favour their own needs over those of pups and decide not to feed them; this behaviour, known as "false-feeding", is more common when the prey is more valued by the meerkat.
The father remains on guard and protects his offspring, while the mother spends a lot of time foraging to produce enough milk for her young. Mothers give out shrill, repetitive calls to ensure their pups follow them and remain close together. Unable to forage themselves, young pups vocalise often seeking food from their carers. Like many species, meerkat pups learn by observing and mimicking adult behaviour, though adults also engage in active instruction. For example, meerkat adults teach their pups how to eat a venomous scorpion by removing the stinger and showing the pups how to handle the creature. The mother runs around with prey in her mouth, prompting her pups to catch it. Pups become independent enough to forage at around 12 weeks of age. Meerkats are estimated to survive for five to 15 years in the wild; the maximum lifespan recorded in captivity is 20.6 years.
Females appear to be able to discriminate the odour of their kin from that of others. Kin recognition is a useful ability that facilitates cooperation among relatives and the avoidance of inbreeding. When mating occurs between meerkat relatives it often results in negative fitness consequences (inbreeding depression), that affect a variety of traits such as pup mass at emergence from the natal burrow, hindleg length, growth until independence and juvenile survival. These negative effects are likely due to the increased homozygosity or higher genetic similarity among individuals that arise from inbreeding and the consequent expression of deleterious recessive mutations.
Distribution and habitat
The meerkat occurs in southwestern Botswana, western and southern Namibia, northern and western South Africa; the range barely extends into southwestern Angola. It lives in areas with stony, often calcareous ground in a variety of arid, open habitats with little woody vegetation. It is common in savannahs, open plains and rocky areas beside dry rivers in biomes such as the Fynbos and the Karoo, where the mean yearly rainfall is below 600 mm (24 in). The average precipitation reduces to 100 to 400 mm (3.9 to 15.7 in) towards the northwestern areas of the range. It prefers areas with short grasses and shrubs common in velds, such as camelthorn in Namibia and Acacia in the Kalahari. It is absent from true deserts, montane regions and forests. Population densities vary greatly between places, and are significantly influenced by predators and rainfall. For instance, a study in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, where predation pressure is high, recorded a lower mean meerkat density relative to a ranch with lower occurrence of predators; in response to a 10% decrease in rainfall over a year, the density fell from 0.95 to 0.32/km2 (2.46 to 0.83/sq mi).
Threats and conservation
The meerkat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List; the population trend appears to be stable. There are no significant threats except low rainfall, which can lead to deaths of entire packs. Research has shown that temperature extremes have negative impacts on Kalahari Desert meerkats. Increased maximum air temperature is correlated with decreased survival and body mass in pups, perhaps as a result of dehydration from water loss during evaporative cooling or decreased water content in food, or from the heavier metabolic costs of thermoregulation on hot days. Higher temperatures are also associated with increased rates of endemic tuberculosis infection; this may be due to decreased immune function resulting from physiological stress, as well as increased male emigration rates observed during heat waves.
Meerkats occur in several protected areas such as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Makgadikgadi Pan. The Kalahari Meerkat Project, founded by Tim Clutton-Brock, is a long-term research project run by four different research groups that focuses on understanding cooperative behaviour in meerkats. It began in the Gemsbok National Park but was shifted to the Kuruman River Reserve in 1993.
In culture
Meerkats are generally tame animals. However, they are unsuitable as a pet as they can be aggressive and have a strong, ferret-like odour. In South Africa meerkats are used to kill rodents in rural households and lepidopterans in farmlands. Meerkats can transmit rabies to humans, but yellow mongooses appear to be more common vectors. It has been suggested that meerkats may even limit the spread of rabies by driving out yellow mongooses from their burrows; meerkats are generally not persecuted given their economic significance in crop protection, though they may be killed due to rabies control measures to eliminate yellow mongooses. Meerkats can also spread tick-borne diseases.
Meerkats have been widely portrayed in movies, television and other media. A popular example is Timon from the Lion King franchise, who is an anthropomorphic meerkat. Meerkat Manor (2005–2008), a television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films that was aired on Animal Planet, focused on groups of meerkats in the Kalahari that were being studied in the Kalahari Meerkat Project. Meerkats populated an acidic floating island in the 2012 film Life of Pi.
Loading grain at Richardson grain elevators
Burrard Inlet North Vancouver BC Canada
Bulk Carrier
IMO: 9354844
MMSI: 240690000
Call Sign: SWZT
Flag: Greece [GR]
AIS Vessel Type: Cargo
Gross Tonnage: 43205
Deadweight: 82329 t
Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 228.99m × 32.26m
Year Built: 2006
Built: 1956, refurbished 2007
Dimensions: 140 feet length/ 22 feet beam/ 10 feet draft
Class: Luxury Class
Type: Sailing Ship
Capacity: 16 passengers
Crew: 8 crew members + 1 natural guide
-
Accommodation: 8 cabins with private bathroom, all cabins have climate controls and ample space to hang and store clothing
Facilities: comfortable salon for lectures and presentations, TV/Video system, inside and Al Fresco Dinning Areas, sundeck with lounge chairs, a resting area
Activities: walks & hikes, snorkeling, kayaking, dinghy rides, diving
Safety and navigation: all international standards of safety, ISM certified, equipped with an emergency alarm system, 2 emergency life rafts for 16 pax each, emergency life vests, fog horns, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers, all emergency equipment, SOLAS certified
Specific feature: Sea kayaks, snorkeling gear, wetsuits, kids club.
Title: Ink
Length: 60 Sec
Client: CCTV - Central China Television
Agency: MMIA
Creative Director: Zhou Jiahong
Art Director: Wu Hao
Copywriters: Zhou Jiahong, Sophia Xu
Storyboard: Wu Hao, Liang Yuanchun
Production Company: Troublemakers.tv & weareflink.com
Director: Niko Tziopanos
Producer - Troublemakers.tv: James Hagger
Producer - weareflink: Andreas Lampe
CG & Compositing Artist: Alexander Heyer
Compositing Artist: Martin Hess
CG Artist: Philipp Von Preuschen
CG Artist: Timo Schaedel
Ink & Footage: Thore Bornemann
Ink & Making Of: Felix Martens
Production Coordinator: Catharina Foelling
Production Assistant: Aurelie Da Silva
Music & Sound Design: Supreme Music, Florian Lakenmacher
MoCap: MoCap Lab, Remi Brun, Frank Vayssettes, Thomas Oger
Taiji Performer: Alexandre Thorlet
Joker: Willi Wutz
Watch this video on Vimeo. Video created by vimeo.com/troublemakers.
Fraser Island stretches over 123 kilometres in length and 22 kilometres at its widest point. With an area of 184 000 hectares it is the largest sand island in the world.
Fraser Island's World Heritage listing ranks it with Australia's Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Fraser Island is a precious part of Australia's natural and cultural heritage, it is protected for all to appreciate and enjoy.
Fraser island is a place of exceptional beauty, with its long uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, and over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and others clear and blue all ringed by white sandy beaches. Ancient rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks.
Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres. The low "wallum" heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance, and provide magnificent wildflower displays in spring and summer.
fraser island australia The immense sand blows and cliffs of coloured sands are part of the longest and most complete age sequence of coastal dune systems in the world and they are still evolving.
They are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the last 700 000 years. The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level.
The Great Sandy Strait, separating Fraser Island from the mainland, is listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).
The wetlands include: rare patterned ferns; mangrove colonies; sea-grass beds; and up to 40,000 migratory shorebirds. Rare, vulnerable or endangered species include dugongs, turtles, Illidge's ant-blue butterflies and eastern curlews.
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamidae, and Pygopodidae).
Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Hawaiian archipelago, and the islands of New Zealand, as well as many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans. Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans. Around thirty families are currently recognized, comprising about 520 genera and about 3,900 species. They range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm-long (4.1 in) Barbados threadsnake to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters (22.8 ft) in length. The fossil species Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 meters (42 ft) long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago. The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event). The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the Brooklyn Papyrus.
Most species of snake are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom that is potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by constriction.
Etymology
The English word snake comes from Old English snaca, itself from Proto-Germanic *snak-an- (cf. Germanic Schnake 'ring snake', Swedish snok 'grass snake'), from Proto-Indo-European root *(s)nēg-o- 'to crawl to creep', which also gave sneak as well as Sanskrit nāgá 'snake'. The word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old English næddre was the general word for snake. The other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp- 'to creep', which also gave Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō) 'I crawl' and Sanskrit sarpá ‘snake’.
The fossil record of snakes is relatively poor because snake skeletons are typically small and fragile making fossilization uncommon. Fossils readily identifiable as snakes (though often retaining hind limbs) first appear in the fossil record during the Cretaceous period. The earliest known true snake fossils (members of the crown group Serpentes) come from the marine simoliophiids, the oldest of which is the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian age) Haasiophis terrasanctus from the West Bank, dated to between 112 and 94 million years old.
Based on comparative anatomy, there is consensus that snakes descended from lizards. Pythons and boas—primitive groups among modern snakes—have vestigial hind limbs: tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs, which are used to grasp during mating The families Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae also possess remnants of the pelvic girdle, appearing as horny projections when visible.
Front limbs are nonexistent in all known snakes. This is caused by the evolution of their Hox genes, controlling limb morphogenesis. The axial skeleton of the snakes' common ancestor, like most other tetrapods, had regional specializations consisting of cervical (neck), thoracic (chest), lumbar (lower back), sacral (pelvic), and caudal (tail) vertebrae. Early in snake evolution, the Hox gene expression in the axial skeleton responsible for the development of the thorax became dominant. As a result, the vertebrae anterior to the hindlimb buds (when present) all have the same thoracic-like identity (except from the atlas, axis, and 1–3 neck vertebrae). In other words, most of a snake's skeleton is an extremely extended thorax. Ribs are found exclusively on the thoracic vertebrae. Neck, lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are very reduced in number (only 2–10 lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are present), while only a short tail remains of the caudal vertebrae. However, the tail is still long enough to be of important use in many species, and is modified in some aquatic and tree-dwelling species.
Many modern snake groups originated during the Paleocene, alongside the adaptive radiation of mammals following the extinction of (non-avian) dinosaurs. The expansion of grasslands in North America also led to an explosive radiation among snakes. Previously, snakes were a minor component of the North American fauna, but during the Miocene, the number of species and their prevalence increased dramatically with the first appearances of vipers and elapids in North America and the significant diversification of Colubridae (including the origin of many modern genera such as Nerodia, Lampropeltis, Pituophis, and Pantherophis).
Fossils
There is fossil evidence to suggest that snakes may have evolved from burrowing lizards, during the Cretaceous Period. An early fossil snake relative, Najash rionegrina, was a two-legged burrowing animal with a sacrum, and was fully terrestrial. One extant analog of these putative ancestors is the earless monitor Lanthanotus of Borneo (though it also is semiaquatic). Subterranean species evolved bodies streamlined for burrowing, and eventually lost their limbs. According to this hypothesis, features such as the transparent, fused eyelids (brille) and loss of external ears evolved to cope with fossorial difficulties, such as scratched corneas and dirt in the ears. Some primitive snakes are known to have possessed hindlimbs, but their pelvic bones lacked a direct connection to the vertebrae. These include fossil species like Haasiophis, Pachyrhachis and Eupodophis, which are slightly older than Najash.
This hypothesis was strengthened in 2015 by the discovery of a 113-million-year-old fossil of a four-legged snake in Brazil that has been named Tetrapodophis amplectus. It has many snake-like features, is adapted for burrowing and its stomach indicates that it was preying on other animals. It is currently uncertain if Tetrapodophis is a snake or another species, in the squamate order, as a snake-like body has independently evolved at least 26 times. Tetrapodophis does not have distinctive snake features in its spine and skull. A study in 2021 places the animal in a group of extinct marine lizards from the Cretaceous period known as dolichosaurs and not directly related to snakes.
An alternative hypothesis, based on morphology, suggests the ancestors of snakes were related to mosasaurs—extinct aquatic reptiles from the Cretaceous—forming the clade Pythonomorpha. According to this hypothesis, the fused, transparent eyelids of snakes are thought to have evolved to combat marine conditions (corneal water loss through osmosis), and the external ears were lost through disuse in an aquatic environment. This ultimately led to an animal similar to today's sea snakes. In the Late Cretaceous, snakes recolonized land, and continued to diversify into today's snakes. Fossilized snake remains are known from early Late Cretaceous marine sediments, which is consistent with this hypothesis; particularly so, as they are older than the terrestrial Najash rionegrina. Similar skull structure, reduced or absent limbs, and other anatomical features found in both mosasaurs and snakes lead to a positive cladistical correlation, although some of these features are shared with varanids.
Genetic studies in recent years have indicated snakes are not as closely related to monitor lizards as was once believed—and therefore not to mosasaurs, the proposed ancestor in the aquatic scenario of their evolution. However, more evidence links mosasaurs to snakes than to varanids. Fragmented remains found from the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous indicate deeper fossil records for these groups, which may potentially refute either hypothesis.
Genetic basis of snake evolution
Main article: Limb development
Both fossils and phylogenetic studies demonstrate that snakes evolved from lizards, hence the question became which genetic changes led to limb loss in the snake ancestor. Limb loss is actually very common in extant reptiles and has happened dozens of times within skinks, anguids, and other lizards.
In 2016, two studies reported that limb loss in snakes is associated with DNA mutations in the Zone of Polarizing Activity Regulatory Sequence (ZRS), a regulatory region of the sonic hedgehog gene which is critically required for limb development. More advanced snakes have no remnants of limbs, but basal snakes such as pythons and boas do have traces of highly reduced, vestigial hind limbs. Python embryos even have fully developed hind limb buds, but their later development is stopped by the DNA mutations in the ZRS.
Distribution
There are about 3,900 species of snakes, ranging as far northward as the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and southward through Australia. Snakes can be found on every continent except Antarctica, as well as in the sea, and as high as 16,000 feet (4,900 m) in the Himalayan Mountains of Asia. There are numerous islands from which snakes are absent, such as Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand (although New Zealand's northern waters are infrequently visited by the yellow-bellied sea snake and the banded sea krait).
Taxonomy
All modern snakes are grouped within the suborder Serpentes in Linnean taxonomy, part of the order Squamata, though their precise placement within squamates remains controversial.
The two infraorders of Serpentes are Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia. This separation is based on morphological characteristics and mitochondrial DNA sequence similarity. Alethinophidia is sometimes split into Henophidia and Caenophidia, with the latter consisting of "colubroid" snakes (colubrids, vipers, elapids, hydrophiids, and atractaspids) and acrochordids, while the other alethinophidian families comprise Henophidia. While not extant today, the Madtsoiidae, a family of giant, primitive, python-like snakes, was around until 50,000 years ago in Australia, represented by genera such as Wonambi.
There are numerous debates in the systematics within the group. For instance, many sources classify Boidae and Pythonidae as one family, while some keep the Elapidae and Hydrophiidae (sea snakes) separate for practical reasons despite their extremely close relation.
Recent molecular studies support the monophyly of the clades of modern snakes, scolecophidians, typhlopids + anomalepidids, alethinophidians, core alethinophidians, uropeltids (Cylindrophis, Anomochilus, uropeltines), macrostomatans, booids, boids, pythonids and caenophidians.
Legless lizards
Main article: Legless lizard
While snakes are limbless reptiles, evolved from (and grouped with) lizards, there are many other species of lizards that have lost their limbs independently but which superficially look similar to snakes. These include the slowworm and glass snake.
Other serpentine tetrapods that are unrelated to snakes include caecilians (amphibians), amphisbaenians (near-lizard squamates), and the extinct aistopods (amphibians).
Biology
The now extinct Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 m (42 ft) in length. By comparison, the largest extant snakes are the reticulated python, measuring about 6.95 m (22.8 ft) long, and the green anaconda, which measures about 5.21 m (17.1 ft) long and is considered the heaviest snake on Earth at 97.5 kg (215 lb).
At the other end of the scale, the smallest extant snake is Leptotyphlops carlae, with a length of about 10.4 cm (4.1 in). Most snakes are fairly small animals, approximately 1 m (3.3 ft) in length.
Perception
Pit vipers, pythons, and some boas have infrared-sensitive receptors in deep grooves on the snout, allowing them to "see" the radiated heat of warm-blooded prey. In pit vipers, the grooves are located between the nostril and the eye in a large "pit" on each side of the head. Other infrared-sensitive snakes have multiple, smaller labial pits lining the upper lip, just below the nostrils.
A snake tracks its prey using smell, collecting airborne particles with its forked tongue, then passing them to the vomeronasal organ or Jacobson's organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue provides a sort of directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously. The snake's tongue is constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water, analyzing the chemicals found, and determining the presence of prey or predators in the local environment. In water-dwelling snakes, such as the anaconda, the tongue functions efficiently underwater.
The underside of a snake is very sensitive to vibration, allowing the snake to detect approaching animals by sensing faint vibrations in the ground. Despite the lack of outer ears, they are also able to detect airborne sounds.
Snake vision varies greatly between species. Some have keen eyesight and others are only able to distinguish light from dark, but the important trend is that a snake's visual perception is adequate enough to track movements. Generally, vision is best in tree-dwelling snakes and weakest in burrowing snakes. Some have binocular vision, where both eyes are capable of focusing on the same point, an example of this being the Asian vine snake. Most snakes focus by moving the lens back and forth in relation to the retina. Diurnal snakes have round pupils and many nocturnal snakes have slit pupils. Most species possess three visual pigments and are probably able to see two primary colors in daylight. The annulated sea snake and the genus Helicops appears to have regained much of their color vision as an adaption to the marine environment they live in. It has been concluded that the last common ancestors of all snakes had UV-sensitive vision, but most snakes that depend on their eyesight to hunt in daylight have evolved lenses that act like sunglasses for filtering out the UV-light, which probably also sharpens their vision by improving the contrast.
Skin
The skin of a snake is covered in scales. Contrary to the popular notion of snakes being slimy (because of possible confusion of snakes with worms), snakeskin has a smooth, dry texture. Most snakes use specialized belly scales to travel, allowing them to grip surfaces. The body scales may be smooth, keeled, or granular. The eyelids of a snake are transparent "spectacle" scales, also known as brille, which remain permanently closed.
The shedding of scales is called ecdysis (or in normal usage, molting or sloughing). Snakes shed the complete outer layer of skin in one piece. Snake scales are not discrete, but extensions of the epidermis—hence they are not shed separately but as a complete outer layer during each molt, akin to a sock being turned inside out.
Snakes have a wide diversity of skin coloration patterns which are often related to behavior, such as the tendency to have to flee from predators. Snakes that are at a high risk of predation tend to be plain, or have longitudinal stripes, providing few reference points to predators, thus allowing the snake to escape without being noticed. Plain snakes usually adopt active hunting strategies, as their pattern allows them to send little information to prey about motion. Blotched snakes usually use ambush-based strategies, likely because it helps them blend into an environment with irregularly shaped objects, like sticks or rocks. Spotted patterning can similarly help snakes to blend into their environment.
The shape and number of scales on the head, back, and belly are often characteristic and used for taxonomic purposes. Scales are named mainly according to their positions on the body. In "advanced" (Caenophidian) snakes, the broad belly scales and rows of dorsal scales correspond to the vertebrae, allowing these to be counted without the need for dissection.
Molting
Molting (or "ecdysis") serves a number of purposes. It allows old, worn skin to be replaced and it can remove parasites such as mites and ticks that live in the skin. It has also been observed in snakes that molting can be synced to mating cycles. Shedding skin can release pheromones and revitalize color and patterns of the skin to increase attraction of mates. Renewal of the skin by molting supposedly allows growth in some animals such as insects, but this has been disputed in the case of snakes.
Molting occurs periodically throughout the life of a snake. Before each molt, the snake stops eating and often hides or moves to a safe place. Just before shedding, the skin becomes dull and dry looking and the snake's eyes turn cloudy or blue-colored. The inner surface of the old skin liquefies, causing it to separate from the new skin beneath it. After a few days, the eyes become clear and the snake "crawls" out of its old skin, which splits close to the snake's mouth. The snake rubs its body against rough surfaces to aid in the shedding of its old skin. In many cases, the cast skin peels backward over the body from head to tail in one piece, like pulling a sock off inside-out, revealing a new, larger, brighter layer of skin which has formed underneath.
A young snake that is still growing may shed its skin up to four times a year, but an older snake may shed only once or twice a year. The discarded skin carries a perfect imprint of the scale pattern, so it is usually possible to identify the snake from the cast skin if it is reasonably intact. This periodic renewal has led to the snake being a symbol of healing and medicine, as pictured in the Rod of Asclepius.
Scale counts can sometimes be used to identify the sex of a snake when the species is not distinctly sexually dimorphic. A probe is fully inserted into the cloaca, marked at the point where it stops, then removed and measured against the subcaudal scales. The scalation count determines whether the snake is a male or female, as the hemipenes of a male will probe to a different depth (usually longer) than the cloaca of a female.
Skeleton
The skeletons of snakes are radically different from those of most other reptiles (as compared with the turtle here, for example), consisting almost entirely of an extended ribcage.
The skeleton of most snakes consists solely of the skull, hyoid, vertebral column, and ribs, though henophidian snakes retain vestiges of the pelvis and rear limbs.
The skull consists of a solid and complete neurocranium, to which many of the other bones are only loosely attached, particularly the highly mobile jaw bones, which facilitate manipulation and ingestion of large prey items. The left and right sides of the lower jaw are joined only by a flexible ligament at the anterior tips, allowing them to separate widely, and the posterior end of the lower jaw bones articulate with a quadrate bone, allowing further mobility. The mandible and quadrate bones can pick up ground-borne vibrations; because the sides of the lower jaw can move independently of one another, a snake resting its jaw on a surface has sensitive stereo auditory perception, used for detecting the position of prey. The jaw–quadrate–stapes pathway is capable of detecting vibrations on the angstrom scale, despite the absence of an outer ear and the lack of an impedance matching mechanism—provided by the ossicles in other vertebrates—for receiving vibrations from the air.
The hyoid is a small bone located posterior and ventral to the skull, in the 'neck' region, which serves as an attachment for the muscles of the snake's tongue, as it does in all other tetrapods.
The vertebral column consists of between 200 and 400 vertebrae, or sometimes more. The body vertebrae each have two ribs articulating with them. The tail vertebrae are comparatively few in number (often less than 20% of the total) and lack ribs. The vertebrae have projections that allow for strong muscle attachment, enabling locomotion without limbs.
Caudal autotomy (self-amputation of the tail), a feature found in some lizards, is absent in most snakes. In the rare cases where it does exist in snakes, caudal autotomy is intervertebral (meaning the separation of adjacent vertebrae), unlike that in lizards, which is intravertebral, i.e. the break happens along a predefined fracture plane present on a vertebra.
In some snakes, most notably boas and pythons, there are vestiges of the hindlimbs in the form of a pair of pelvic spurs. These small, claw-like protrusions on each side of the cloaca are the external portion of the vestigial hindlimb skeleton, which includes the remains of an ilium and femur.
Snakes are polyphyodonts with teeth that are continuously replaced
Snakes and other non-archosaur (crocodilians, dinosaurs + birds and allies) reptiles have a three-chambered heart that controls the circulatory system via the left and right atrium, and one ventricle. Internally, the ventricle is divided into three interconnected cavities: the cavum arteriosum, the cavum pulmonale, and the cavum venosum. The cavum venosum receives deoxygenated blood from the right atrium and the cavum arteriosum receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium. Located beneath the cavum venosum is the cavum pulmonale, which pumps blood to the pulmonary trunk.
The snake's heart is encased in a sac, called the pericardium, located at the bifurcation of the bronchi. The heart is able to move around, owing to the lack of a diaphragm; this adjustment protects the heart from potential damage when large ingested prey is passed through the esophagus. The spleen is attached to the gall bladder and pancreas and filters the blood. The thymus, located in fatty tissue above the heart, is responsible for the generation of immune cells in the blood. The cardiovascular system of snakes is unique for the presence of a renal portal system in which the blood from the snake's tail passes through the kidneys before returning to the heart.
The vestigial left lung is often small or sometimes even absent, as snakes' tubular bodies require all of their organs to be long and thin.[71] In the majority of species, only one lung is functional. This lung contains a vascularized anterior portion and a posterior portion that does not function in gas exchange. This 'saccular lung' is used for hydrostatic purposes to adjust buoyancy in some aquatic snakes and its function remains unknown in terrestrial species. Many organs that are paired, such as kidneys or reproductive organs, are staggered within the body, one located ahead of the other.
Snakes have no lymph nodes.
Venom
Cobras, vipers, and closely related species use venom to immobilize, injure, or kill their prey. The venom is modified saliva, delivered through fangs. The fangs of 'advanced' venomous snakes like viperids and elapids are hollow, allowing venom to be injected more effectively, and the fangs of rear-fanged snakes such as the boomslang simply have a groove on the posterior edge to channel venom into the wound. Snake venoms are often prey-specific, and their role in self-defense is secondary.
Venom, like all salivary secretions, is a predigestant that initiates the breakdown of food into soluble compounds, facilitating proper digestion. Even nonvenomous snakebites (like any animal bite) cause tissue damage.
Certain birds, mammals, and other snakes (such as kingsnakes) that prey on venomous snakes have developed resistance and even immunity to certain venoms.Venomous snakes include three families of snakes, and do not constitute a formal taxonomic classification group.
The colloquial term "poisonous snake" is generally an incorrect label for snakes. A poison is inhaled or ingested, whereas venom produced by snakes is injected into its victim via fangs. There are, however, two exceptions: Rhabdophis sequesters toxins from the toads it eats, then secretes them from nuchal glands to ward off predators; and a small unusual population of garter snakes in the US state of Oregon retains enough toxins in their livers from ingested newts to be effectively poisonous to small local predators (such as crows and foxes).
Snake venoms are complex mixtures of proteins, and are stored in venom glands at the back of the head. In all venomous snakes, these glands open through ducts into grooved or hollow teeth in the upper jaw. The proteins can potentially be a mix of neurotoxins (which attack the nervous system), hemotoxins (which attack the circulatory system), cytotoxins (which attack the cells directly), bungarotoxins (related to neurotoxins, but also directly affect muscle tissue), and many other toxins that affect the body in different ways. Almost all snake venom contains hyaluronidase, an enzyme that ensures rapid diffusion of the venom.
Venomous snakes that use hemotoxins usually have fangs in the front of their mouths, making it easier for them to inject the venom into their victims. Some snakes that use neurotoxins (such as the mangrove snake) have fangs in the back of their mouths, with the fangs curled backwards. This makes it difficult both for the snake to use its venom and for scientists to milk them. Elapids, however, such as cobras and kraits are proteroglyphous—they possess hollow fangs that cannot be erected toward the front of their mouths, and cannot "stab" like a viper. They must actually bite the victim.
It has been suggested that all snakes may be venomous to a certain degree, with harmless snakes having weak venom and no fangs. According to this theory, most snakes that are labelled "nonvenomous" would be considered harmless because they either lack a venom delivery method or are incapable of delivering enough to endanger a human. The theory postulates that snakes may have evolved from a common lizard ancestor that was venomous, and also that venomous lizards like the gila monster, beaded lizard, monitor lizards, and the now-extinct mosasaurs, may have derived from this same common ancestor. They share this "venom clade" with various other saurian species.
Venomous snakes are classified in two taxonomic families:
Elapids – cobras including king cobras, kraits, mambas, Australian copperheads, sea snakes, and coral snakes.
Viperids – vipers, rattlesnakes, copperheads/cottonmouths, and bushmasters.
There is a third family containing the opistoglyphous (rear-fanged) snakes (as well as the majority of other snake species):
Colubrids – boomslangs, tree snakes, vine snakes, cat snakes, although not all colubrids are venomous.
Reproduction
Although a wide range of reproductive modes are used by snakes, all employ internal fertilization. This is accomplished by means of paired, forked hemipenes, which are stored, inverted, in the male's tail. The hemipenes are often grooved, hooked, or spined—designed to grip the walls of the female's cloaca. The clitoris of the female snake consists of two structures located between the cloaca and the scent glands.
Most species of snakes lay eggs which they abandon shortly after laying. However, a few species (such as the king cobra) construct nests and stay in the vicinity of the hatchlings after incubation. Most pythons coil around their egg-clutches and remain with them until they hatch. A female python will not leave the eggs, except to occasionally bask in the sun or drink water. She will even "shiver" to generate heat to incubate the eggs.
Some species of snake are ovoviviparous and retain the eggs within their bodies until they are almost ready to hatch. Several species of snake, such as the boa constrictor and green anaconda, are fully viviparous, nourishing their young through a placenta as well as a yolk sac; this is highly unusual among reptiles, and normally found in requiem sharks or placental mammals. Retention of eggs and live birth are most often associated with colder environments.
Sexual selection in snakes is demonstrated by the 3,000 species that each use different tactics in acquiring mates. Ritual combat between males for the females they want to mate with includes topping, a behavior exhibited by most viperids in which one male will twist around the vertically elevated fore body of its opponent and force it downward. It is common for neck-biting to occur while the snakes are entwined.
Facultative parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis is a natural form of reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. Agkistrodon contortrix (copperhead) and Agkistrodon piscivorus (cottonmouth) can reproduce by facultative parthenogenesis, meaning that they are capable of switching from a sexual mode of reproduction to an asexual mode. The most likely type of parthenogenesis to occur is automixis with terminal fusion, a process in which two terminal products from the same meiosis fuse to form a diploid zygote. This process leads to genome-wide homozygosity, expression of deleterious recessive alleles, and often to developmental abnormalities. Both captive-born and wild-born copperheads and cottonmouths appear to be capable of this form of parthenogenesis.
Reproduction in squamate reptiles is almost exclusively sexual. Males ordinarily have a ZZ pair of sex-determining chromosomes, and females a ZW pair. However, the Colombian Rainbow boa (Epicrates maurus) can also reproduce by facultative parthenogenesis, resulting in production of WW female progeny. The WW females are likely produced by terminal automixis.
Embryonic Development
Snake embryonic development initially follows similar steps as any vertebrate embryo. The snake embryo begins as a zygote, undergoes rapid cell division, forms a germinal disc, also called a blastodisc, then undergoes gastrulation, neurulation, and organogenesis. Cell division and proliferation continues until an early snake embryo develops and the typical body shape of a snake can be observed. Multiple features differentiate the embryologic development of snakes from other vertebrates, two significant factors being the elongation of the body and the lack of limb development.
The elongation in snake body is accompanied by a significant increase in vertebra count (mice have 60 vertebrae, whereas snakes may have over 300). This increase in vertebrae is due to an increase in somites during embryogenesis, leading to an increased number of vertebrae which develop. Somites are formed at the presomitic mesoderm due to a set of oscillatory genes that direct the somitogenesis clock. The snake somitogenesis clock operates at a frequency 4 times that of a mouse (after correction for developmental time), creating more somites, and therefore creating more vertebrae. This difference in clock speed is believed to be caused by differences in Lunatic fringe gene expression, a gene involved in the somitogenesis clock.
There is ample literature focusing on the limb development/lack of development in snake embryos and the gene expression associated with the different stages. In basal snakes, such as the python, embryos in early development exhibit a hind limb bud that develops with some cartilage and a cartilaginous pelvic element, however this degenerates before hatching. This presence of vestigial development suggests that some snakes are still undergoing hind limb reduction before they are eliminated. There is no evidence in basal snakes of forelimb rudiments and no examples of snake forelimb bud initiation in embryo, so little is known regarding the loss of this trait. Recent studies suggests that hind limb reduction could be due to mutations in enhancers for the SSH gene, however other studies suggested that mutations within the Hox Genes or their enhancers could contribute to snake limblessness. Since multiple studies have found evidence suggesting different genes played a role in the loss of limbs in snakes, it is likely that multiple gene mutations had an additive effect leading to limb loss in snakes.
Behavior
Snake coiled on a stick in Oklahoma. It was brumating in a large pile of wood chips, found by this landscaper after he bulldozed the pile in late autumn 2018.
In regions where winters are too cold for snakes to tolerate while remaining active, local species will enter a period of brumation. Unlike hibernation, in which the dormant mammals are actually asleep, brumating reptiles are awake but inactive. Individual snakes may brumate in burrows, under rock piles, or inside fallen trees, or large numbers of snakes may clump together in hibernacula.
Feeding and diet
All snakes are strictly carnivorous, preying on small animals including lizards, frogs, other snakes, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails, worms, and insects. Snakes cannot bite or tear their food to pieces so must swallow their prey whole. The eating habits of a snake are largely influenced by body size; smaller snakes eat smaller prey. Juvenile pythons might start out feeding on lizards or mice and graduate to small deer or antelope as an adult, for example.
The snake's jaw is a complex structure. Contrary to the popular belief that snakes can dislocate their jaws, they have an extremely flexible lower jaw, the two halves of which are not rigidly attached, and numerous other joints in the skull, which allow the snake to open its mouth wide enough to swallow prey whole, even if it is larger in diameter than the snake itself. For example, the African egg-eating snake has flexible jaws adapted for eating eggs much larger than the diameter of its head. This snake has no teeth, but does have bony protrusions on the inside edge of its spine, which it uses to break the shell when eating eggs.
The majority of snakes eat a variety of prey animals, but there is some specialization in certain species. King cobras and the Australian bandy-bandy consume other snakes. Species of the family Pareidae have more teeth on the right side of their mouths than on the left, as they mostly prey on snails and the shells usually spiral clockwise.
Some snakes have a venomous bite, which they use to kill their prey before eating it. Other snakes kill their prey by constriction, while some swallow their prey when it is still alive.
After eating, snakes become dormant to allow the process of digestion to take place; this is an intense activity, especially after consumption of large prey. In species that feed only sporadically, the entire intestine enters a reduced state between meals to conserve energy. The digestive system is then 'up-regulated' to full capacity within 48 hours of prey consumption. Being ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), the surrounding temperature plays an important role in the digestion process. The ideal temperature for snakes to digest food is 30 °C (86 °F). There is a huge amount of metabolic energy involved in a snake's digestion, for example the surface body temperature of the South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus) increases by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) during the digestive process. If a snake is disturbed after having eaten recently, it will often regurgitate its prey to be able to escape the perceived threat. When undisturbed, the digestive process is highly efficient; the snake's digestive enzymes dissolve and absorb everything but the prey's hair (or feathers) and claws, which are excreted along with waste.
Hooding and spitting
Hooding (expansion of the neck area) is a visual deterrent, mostly seen in cobras (elapids), and is primarily controlled by rib muscles.[98] Hooding can be accompanied by spitting venom towards the threatening object,[99] and producing a specialized sound; hissing. Studies on captive cobras showed that 13 to 22% of the body length is raised during hooding.
Locomotion
The lack of limbs does not impede the movement of snakes. They have developed several different modes of locomotion to deal with particular environments. Unlike the gaits of limbed animals, which form a continuum, each mode of snake locomotion is discrete and distinct from the others; transitions between modes are abrupt.
Lateral undulation
Lateral undulation is the sole mode of aquatic locomotion, and the most common mode of terrestrial locomotion In this mode, the body of the snake alternately flexes to the left and right, resulting in a series of rearward-moving "waves". While this movement appears rapid, snakes have rarely been documented moving faster than two body-lengths per second, often much less. This mode of movement has the same net cost of transport (calories burned per meter moved) as running in lizards of the same mass.
Terrestrial lateral undulation is the most common mode of terrestrial locomotion for most snake species. In this mode, the posteriorly moving waves push against contact points in the environment, such as rocks, twigs, irregularities in the soil, etc. Each of these environmental objects, in turn, generates a reaction force directed forward and towards the midline of the snake, resulting in forward thrust while the lateral components cancel out. The speed of this movement depends upon the density of push-points in the environment, with a medium density of about 8[clarification needed] along the snake's length being ideal. The wave speed is precisely the same as the snake speed, and as a result, every point on the snake's body follows the path of the point ahead of it, allowing snakes to move through very dense vegetation and small openings.
When swimming, the waves become larger as they move down the snake's body, and the wave travels backwards faster than the snake moves forwards. Thrust is generated by pushing their body against the water, resulting in the observed slip. In spite of overall similarities, studies show that the pattern of muscle activation is different in aquatic versus terrestrial lateral undulation, which justifies calling them separate modes. All snakes can laterally undulate forward (with backward-moving waves), but only sea snakes have been observed reversing the motion (moving backwards with forward-moving waves).
Sidewinding
Most often employed by colubroid snakes (colubrids, elapids, and vipers) when the snake must move in an environment that lacks irregularities to push against (rendering lateral undulation impossible), such as a slick mud flat, or a sand dune, sidewinding is a modified form of lateral undulation in which all of the body segments oriented in one direction remain in contact with the ground, while the other segments are lifted up, resulting in a peculiar "rolling" motion. This mode of locomotion overcomes the slippery nature of sand or mud by pushing off with only static portions on the body, thereby minimizing slipping. The static nature of the contact points can be shown from the tracks of a sidewinding snake, which show each belly scale imprint, without any smearing. This mode of locomotion has very low caloric cost, less than 1⁄3 of the cost for a lizard to move the same distance. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that sidewinding is associated with the sand being hot.
Concertina
When push-points are absent, but there is not enough space to use sidewinding because of lateral constraints, such as in tunnels, snakes rely on concertina locomotion. In this mode, the snake braces the posterior portion of its body against the tunnel wall while the front of the snake extends and straightens. The front portion then flexes and forms an anchor point, and the posterior is straightened and pulled forwards. This mode of locomotion is slow and very demanding, up to seven times the cost of laterally undulating over the same distance. This high cost is due to the repeated stops and starts of portions of the body as well as the necessity of using active muscular effort to brace against the tunnel walls.
Arboreal
The movement of snakes in arboreal habitats has only recently been studied. While on tree branches, snakes use several modes of locomotion depending on species and bark texture. In general, snakes will use a modified form of concertina locomotion on smooth branches, but will laterally undulate if contact points are available. Snakes move faster on small branches and when contact points are present, in contrast to limbed animals, which do better on large branches with little 'clutter'.
Gliding snakes (Chrysopelea) of Southeast Asia launch themselves from branch tips, spreading their ribs and laterally undulating as they glide between trees. These snakes can perform a controlled glide for hundreds of feet depending upon launch altitude and can even turn in midair.
Rectilinear
The slowest mode of snake locomotion is rectilinear locomotion, which is also the only one where the snake does not need to bend its body laterally, though it may do so when turning. In this mode, the belly scales are lifted and pulled forward before being placed down and the body pulled over them. Waves of movement and stasis pass posteriorly, resulting in a series of ripples in the skin. The ribs of the snake do not move in this mode of locomotion and this method is most often used by large pythons, boas, and vipers when stalking prey across open ground as the snake's movements are subtle and harder to detect by their prey in this manner.
Interactions with humans
Snakes do not ordinarily prey on humans. Unless startled or injured, most snakes prefer to avoid contact and will not attack humans. With the exception of large constrictors, nonvenomous snakes are not a threat to humans. The bite of a nonvenomous snake is usually harmless; their teeth are not adapted for tearing or inflicting a deep puncture wound, but rather grabbing and holding. Although the possibility of infection and tissue damage is present in the bite of a nonvenomous snake, venomous snakes present far greater hazard to humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists snakebite under the "other neglected conditions" category.
Documented deaths resulting from snake bites are uncommon. Nonfatal bites from venomous snakes may result in the need for amputation of a limb or part thereof. Of the roughly 725 species of venomous snakes worldwide, only 250 are able to kill a human with one bite. Australia averages only one fatal snake bite per year. In India, 250,000 snakebites are recorded in a single year, with as many as 50,000 recorded initial deaths. The WHO estimates that on the order of 100,000 people die each year as a result of snake bites, and around three times as many amputations and other permanent disabilities are caused by snakebites annually.
The treatment for a snakebite is as variable as the bite itself. The most common and effective method is through antivenom (or antivenin), a serum made from the venom of the snake. Some antivenom is species-specific (monovalent) while some is made for use with multiple species in mind (polyvalent). In the United States for example, all species of venomous snakes are pit vipers, with the exception of the coral snake. To produce antivenom, a mixture of the venoms of the different species of rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths is injected into the body of a horse in ever-increasing dosages until the horse is immunized. Blood is then extracted from the immunized horse. The serum is separated and further purified and freeze-dried. It is reconstituted with sterile water and becomes antivenom. For this reason, people who are allergic to horses are more likely to have an allergic reaction to antivenom. Antivenom for the more dangerous species (such as mambas, taipans, and cobras) is made in a similar manner in South Africa, Australia , and India, although these antivenoms are species-specific.
Snake charmers
In some parts of the world, especially in India, snake charming is a roadside show performed by a charmer. In such a show, the snake charmer carries a basket containing a snake that he seemingly charms by playing tunes with his flutelike musical instrument, to which the snake responds. The snake is in fact responding to the movement of the flute, not the sound it makes, as snakes lack external ears (though they do have internal ears).
The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 in India technically prohibits snake charming on the grounds of reducing animal cruelty. Other types of snake charmers use a snake and mongoose show, where the two animals have a mock fight; however, this is not very common, as the animals may be seriously injured or killed. Snake charming as a profession is dying out in India because of competition from modern forms of entertainment and environment laws proscribing the practice. Many Indians have never seen snake charming and it is becoming a folktale of the past.
Trapping
The Irulas tribe of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India have been hunter-gatherers in the hot, dry plains forests, and have practiced the art of snake catching for generations. They have a vast knowledge of snakes in the field. They generally catch the snakes with the help of a simple stick. Earlier, the Irulas caught thousands of snakes for the snake-skin industry. After the complete ban of the snake-skin industry in India and protection of all snakes under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, they formed the Irula Snake Catcher's Cooperative and switched to catching snakes for removal of venom, releasing them in the wild after four extractions. The venom so collected is used for producing life-saving antivenom, biomedical research and for other medicinal products. The Irulas are also known to eat some of the snakes they catch and are very useful in rat extermination in the villages.
Despite the existence of snake charmers, there have also been professional snake catchers or wranglers. Modern-day snake trapping involves a herpetologist using a long stick with a V-shaped end. Some television show hosts, like Bill Haast, Austin Stevens, Steve Irwin, and Jeff Corwin, prefer to catch them using bare hands.
Consumption
Although snakes are not commonly thought of as food, their consumption is acceptable in some cultures and may even be considered a delicacy. Snake soup is popular in Cantonese cuisine, consumed by locals in the autumn to warm their bodies. Western cultures document the consumption of snakes only under extreme circumstances of hunger, with the exception of cooked rattlesnake meat, which is commonly consumed in Texas and parts of the Midwestern United States.
In Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, drinking the blood of a snake—particularly the cobra—is believed to increase sexual virility. When possible, the blood is drained while the cobra is still alive, and it is usually mixed with some form of liquor to improve the taste.
The use of snakes in alcohol is accepted in some Asian countries. In such cases, one or more snakes are left to steep in a jar or container of liquor, as this is claimed to make the liquor stronger (as well as more expensive). One example of this is the Habu snake, which is sometimes placed in the Okinawan liqueur Habushu (ハブ酒), also known as "Habu Sake".
Snake wine (蛇酒) is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. First recorded as being consumed in China during the Western Zhou dynasty, this drink is considered an important curative and is believed to reinvigorate a person according to traditional Chinese medicine
Pets
In the Western world, some snakes are kept as pets, especially docile species such as the ball python and corn snake. To meet the demand, a captive breeding industry has developed. Snakes bred in captivity are considered preferable to specimens caught in the wild and tend to make better pets. Compared with more traditional types of companion animal, snakes can be very low-maintenance pets; they require minimal space, as most common species do not exceed 5 feet (1.5 m) in length, and can be fed relatively infrequently—usually once every five to 14 days. Certain snakes have a lifespan of more than 40 years if given proper care.
Symbolism
In ancient Mesopotamia, Nirah, the messenger god of Ištaran, was represented as a serpent on kudurrus, or boundary stones. Representations of two intertwined serpents are common in Sumerian art and Neo-Sumerian artwork and still appear sporadically on cylinder seals and amulets until as late as the thirteenth century BC. The horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) appears in Kassite and Neo-Assyrian kudurrus and is invoked in Assyrian texts as a magical protective entity. A dragon-like creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian Period until the Hellenistic Period (323 BC–31 BC). This creature, known in Akkadian as the mušḫuššu, meaning "furious serpent", was used as a symbol for particular deities and also as a general protective emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the Underworld god Ninazu, but later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm-god Tishpak, as well as, later, Ninazu's son Ningishzida, the Babylonian national god Marduk, the scribal god Nabu, and the Assyrian national god Ashur.
In Egyptian history, the snake occupies a primary role with the Nile cobra adorning the crown of the pharaoh in ancient times. It was worshipped as one of the gods and was also used for sinister purposes: murder of an adversary and ritual suicide (Cleopatra). The ouroboros was a well-known ancient Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. The precursor to the ouroboros was the "Many-Faced", a serpent with five heads, who, according to the Amduat, the oldest surviving Book of the Afterlife, was said to coil around the corpse of the sun god Ra protectively. The earliest surviving depiction of a "true" ouroboros comes from the gilded shrines in the tomb of Tutankhamun. In the early centuries AD, the ouroboros was adopted as a symbol by Gnostic Christians and chapter 136 of the Pistis Sophia, an early Gnostic text, describes "a great dragon whose tail is in its mouth". In medieval alchemy, the ouroboros became a typical western dragon with wings, legs, and a tail.
In the Bible, King Nahash of Ammon, whose name means "Snake", is depicted very negatively, as a particularly cruel and despicable enemy of the ancient Hebrews.
The ancient Greeks used the Gorgoneion, a depiction of a hideous face with serpents for hair, as an apotropaic symbol to ward off evil. In a Greek myth described by Pseudo-Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca, Medusa was a Gorgon with serpents for hair whose gaze turned all those who looked at her to stone and was slain by the hero Perseus. In the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses, Medusa is said to have once been a beautiful priestess of Athena, whom Athena turned into a serpent-haired monster after she was raped by the god Poseidon in Athena's temple. In another myth referenced by the Boeotian poet Hesiod and described in detail by Pseudo-Apollodorus, the hero Heracles is said to have slain the Lernaean Hydra, a multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of Lerna.
The legendary account of the foundation of Thebes mentioned a monster snake guarding the spring from which the new settlement was to draw its water. In fighting and killing the snake, the companions of the founder Cadmus all perished – leading to the term "Cadmean victory" (i.e. a victory involving one's own ruin).
Three medical symbols involving snakes that are still used today are Bowl of Hygieia, symbolizing pharmacy, and the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius, which are symbols denoting medicine in general.
One of the etymologies proposed for the common female first name Linda is that it might derive from Old German Lindi or Linda, meaning a serpent.
India is often called the land of snakes and is steeped in tradition regarding snakes. Snakes are worshipped as gods even today with many women pouring milk on snake pits (despite snakes' aversion for milk). The cobra is seen on the neck of Shiva and Vishnu is depicted often as sleeping on a seven-headed snake or within the coils of a serpent. There are also several temples in India solely for cobras sometimes called Nagraj (King of Snakes) and it is believed that snakes are symbols of fertility. There is a Hindu festival called Nag Panchami each year on which day snakes are venerated and prayed to. See also Nāga.
In India there is another mythology about snakes. Commonly known in Hindi as "Ichchhadhari" snakes. Such snakes can take the form of any living creature, but prefer human form. These mythical snakes possess a valuable gem called "Mani", which is more brilliant than diamond. There are many stories in India about greedy people trying to possess this gem and ending up getting killed.
The snake is one of the 12 celestial animals of Chinese zodiac, in the Chinese calendar.
Many ancient Peruvian cultures worshipped nature. They emphasized animals and often depicted snakes in their art.
Religion
Snakes are used in Hinduism as a part of ritual worship. In the annual Nag Panchami festival, participants worship either live cobras or images of Nāgas. Lord Shiva is depicted in most images with a snake coiled around his neck. Puranic literature includes various stories associated with snakes, for example Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the Universe on his hoods and to constantly sing the glories of Vishnu from all his mouths. Other notable snakes in Hinduism are Vasuki, Takshaka, Karkotaka, and Pingala. The term Nāga is used to refer to entities that take the form of large snakes in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Snakes have been widely revered in many cultures, such as in ancient Greece where the serpent was seen as a healer.[148] Asclepius carried a serpent wound around his wand, a symbol seen today on many ambulances. In Judaism, the snake of brass is also a symbol of healing, of one's life being saved from imminent death.
In religious terms, the snake and jaguar were arguably the most important animals in ancient Mesoamerica. "In states of ecstasy, lords dance a serpent dance; great descending snakes adorn and support buildings from Chichen Itza to Tenochtitlan, and the Nahuatl word coatl meaning serpent or twin, forms part of primary deities such as Mixcoatl, Quetzalcoatl, and Coatlicue." In the Maya and Aztec calendars, the fifth day of the week was known as Snake Day.
In some parts of Christianity, the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is compared to saving one's life through beholding the Nehushtan (serpent of brass). Snake handlers use snakes as an integral part of church worship, to demonstrate their faith in divine protection. However, more commonly in Christianity, the serpent has been depicted as a representative of evil and sly plotting, as seen in the description in Genesis of a snake tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden. Saint Patrick is purported to have expelled all snakes from Ireland while converting the country to Christianity in the 5th century, thus explaining the absence of snakes there.
In Christianity and Judaism, the snake makes its infamous appearance in the first book of the Bible when a serpent appears before Adam and Eve and tempts them with the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. The snake returns in the Book of Exodus when Moses turns his staff into a snake as a sign of God's power, and later when he makes the Nehushtan, a bronze snake on a pole that when looked at cured the people of bites from the snakes that plagued them in the desert. The serpent makes its final appearance symbolizing Satan in the Book of Revelation: "And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."
In Neo-Paganism and Wicca, the snake is seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Additionally, snakes are sometimes associated with Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft.
Medicine
Several compounds from snake venoms are being researched as potential treatments or preventatives for pain, cancers, arthritis, stroke, heart disease, hemophilia, and hypertension, and to control bleeding (e.g. during surgery).
Ok, first attempt at the entire dress. I'm liking the sleeve length and I'm keeping the elastic at the ends of the sleeves. (Eilonwy's original dress had a cuff, but this doll has got thumbs that just really want to snag on the ends of the sleeves.
Right now the bodice is separate from the skirt and I'm thinking of leaving it that way. With the addition of the 2nd color in the pleat and the need for a wider piece of fabric, it's a lot of fabric at that apex. I don't want Eilonwy to look like she's hiding a baby bump....
I'm also going to lengthen the torso part of the bodice just a tich--maybe half an inch? If you look at the sides, she's exposing a bit of flesh. :-(
Wave Lengths is an audiovisual ode to swimming. In a pool, as in life, we are alone together. Yet there is something about the immersive nature of swimming that further separates an individual from their peers. In the water time slows and speeds up. Thoughts roam and regulate. We move in new ways. Wave Lengths will explore the lived experiences of swimmers. What they think in the water, what that space feels like and its significance in their lives. Centennial pool members will be invited to explore their understanding of swimming in conversation with artists Veronica Simmonds and Katie McKay. These interviews will be audio recorded as well as photographed. Veronica Simmonds will edit each audio interview into a 4 minute piece which will be accompanied by Katie McKay’s images of the interviewee and the pool space. There will be four interviews in total making a 14 minute audio slideshow, looped and projected onto the side wall of Centennial Pool at 1970 Gottingen Street.
JXM_1797
WestJet Boeing 737-700 C-FEWJ
Nikon D5100 DSLR
Zenzanon f3.5 150mm medium format lens
Bronica to Nikon F mount adapter
Tamron 2x MC tele-converter
exposed at f7.1 for 1/500 ISO 800, hand held
f14 450mm effective focal length on APS-C vs a 35mm full frame camera
16:9 crop of frame
Title / Titre :
Lumberman uses a bucksaw to saw a fallen log into 16-foot lengths, Gatineau, Quebec /
Un bûcheron découpe un tronc abattu en segments de 16 pieds avec une scie à bûches, à Gatineau (Québec)
Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Ronny Jaques
Date(s) : March 1943 / mars 1943
Reference No. / Numéro de référence : ITEM 3197732, 3627875
central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3197...
central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3627...
Location / Lieu : Gatineau, Québec, Canada
Credit / Mention de source :
Ronny Jaques. National Film Board. Still Photography Division. Library and Archives Canada, e000762535 /
Ronny Jaques. Office national du film du Canada. Service de la photographie. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, e000762535
Call No.: 12_0025
Title: Postcard, length 745 ftâ¦speed 70 miles per hourâ¦
Corp. Name: Zeppelin
Additional Information: Zeppelin LTA
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Camera Canon EOS-1D X
Body Serial Number 048011000900
Lens Model EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
Lens Serial Number 7200003235
Exposure (1/125) sec
Aperture f/4.5
Focal Length 135 mm
ISO Speed 25600
Length of Tour: 22Days-21Nights
Tour Price from: US$1,099 per person
Places Visited: Hanoi to Saigon
Tour Style: Indo Basic
Tour Grade: Moderate
Tour Highlights: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum & Temple of Literature in Hanoi, trip to the Perfume Pagoda, Tam Coc caves, Jade cavern, historic site of Hoa Lu, Marvelous Halong Bay with 2 nights on a traditional Junk, Traditional handicrafts villages, Imperial City and tombs in Hue, cruise onto the Perfume River, Old colonial, Vietnamese and Chinese houses in Hoi An, Historical Cham site of my Son, Beautiful beaches in Nha Trang, Old Cham towers of Po Klong Garai, Art Deco architecture and cool pine forests in Dalat, War Remnants Museum in Saigon Cu Chi Tunnels & Cao Dai Holy See, Cruise onto the Mekong canals, Homestay in the Mekong Delta, Floating market in Can Tho, Jade Emperor Pagoda in Saigon
The Czech Republics new assault rifle the CZ805 BREN
Caliber: 5.56x45 mm NATO, 7.62x39 M43 interchangeable; also 6.8x43 Rem SPC proposed in near future
Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt
Overall length: 910 mm (butt extended)
Barrel length: 360 mm standard, other lengths available
Weight: 3.6 kg less magazine and accessories
Rate of fire: ~ 700 rounds per minute
Magazine capacity: 20, 30 or 100 rounds
The CZ 805 assault rifle was first introduced to the public in 2009, as a possible future replacement for aged Sa. Vz. 58 assault rifles still in use by Czech armed forces. According to the recent news, early in 2010 the CZ 805 was selected as a next standard military rifle for Czech armed forces, with production contract issued to the famous Czech arms factory CZ-UB in the city of Uhersky Brod. It is quite possible that CZ 805 rifles also will be offered for export, either in military (select-fire) or in civilian (semi-automatic only) versions.
The CZ 805 (which is apparently dubbed as "CZ 805 BREN A1" in Czech sources) is a modular weapon of modern appearance. In its layout it is somewhat similar to the Belgian FN SCAR assault rifle (against which CZ 805 competed and won in Czech army trials), but similarity is not exact and there are significant design differences between these two weapon systems.
The CZ 805 assault rifle is of modular, multi-caliber design, with aluminum alloy upper receiver and polymer lower receiver / fire control unit. The magazine housing is a separate detachable unit, which can be replaced in the field in the course of caliber change. CZ 805 also features quick-change barrels, allowing to change calibers and barrel lengths according to the mission profile (in each caliber there there are short carbine barrel, standard barrel and long "marksman" or "squad automatic" barrel). The basic action uses fairy common piston-operated gas action with manual gas regulator, and a rotating bolt locking. For each proposed caliber, there is a separate bolt with appropriate dimensions.
Fire control unit includes ambidextrous safety / fire selector switch, which permits single shots, 2-round bursts and full automatic fire. Charging handle can be installed on either sideofthegun,depending on user preferences.
Feed is from detachable box magazines, which are inserted into detachable magazine housing. In standard configuration, the CZ 805 will use proprietary 5.56x45 caliber 30-round magazines made of translucent polymer. Other magazine housings will allow use of STANAG or HK G36 5.56mm magazines, as well as various 7.62x39 and 6.8x43 magazines.
CZ 805 assault rifle is fitted with integral Picatinny rail on the top of receiver, with additional rails running on the sides and the bottom of the forend. Rifle will be issued with folding iron sights, and will also accept a wide variety of additional sighting equipment (red-dot or telescope day sights, night sights, lasers etc). Rifle is equipped with side-folding buttstock, which is adjustable for length of pull, and can be completely removed if maximum compactness is required. Additional equipment also includes new, specially designed 40mm underbarrel grenade launcher CZ G 805 and also a new knife-bayonet.
Quite possibly the most remarkable street in all Norwich, St Benedict's Street boasts 5 mediaeval churches within its short 500 metre length, and all of them either ruined or redundant.
St Laurence is easy to miss, quite a feat for a huge church; you approach the porch down some steep steps. I met who I thought was an old lady climbing down, but she turned out to be one of the volunteers, and she could remember the light and the glory of the church when in use.
Inside it is a vast empty space, empty except for a simple aluminium framed greenhouse in the middle of the nave. It was explained this was for the use of locals who used the space to grow seedlings, although to my eyes it hadn't been used for some years.
The fittings and furnishings are faded, and the roof looks to be in a worrying state, but after climbing the steep steps to the altar to look back west, it must have been a fine church in its day.
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One of the staggering experiences of the church explorer in Norwich is the sheer proximity of one church to another. In a little over four hundred yards, you can walk past five redundant medieval churches in the length of St Benedict's Street alone, from the back of St Gregory to the ruin of St Benedict itself. One of these churches, St Swithin, is now the Norwich Arts Centre, while St Gregory and St Margaret have occasional uses for exhibitions and concerts.
That leaves St Laurence, the biggest of the five, a grand and prominent landmark now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust; without their loving care it would be little more than a rotting corpse. As it is, it is quite the biggest empty shell in the middle of Norwich.
It was not always so, of course. This was one of half a dozen large city centre churches completely rebuilt during the 15th century. It took about sixty years, but nevertheless St Laurence is all of a piece, a textbook Perpendicular church. From St Benedict's Street it is not immediately clear quite how vast this building is; it is the third biggest medieval church in Norwich after St Peter Mancroft and St Andrew, bigger even than St Stephen. The clerestory is 12 windows long, and the mighty tower almost 120 feet high.
It is more imposing from Westwick Street, standing high above the street like a fortress. For pedestrians coming into central Norwich from Coslany, it is like a gateway to the city, far more impressive than the city walls. The spired stair turret on the tower is castle-like, especially in George Plunkett's 1938 images.
One of the most interesting aspects of the exterior is the west doorway, easily missed and seen only from the narrow St Laurence's Passage. The spandrils feature two exquisitely carved martyrdoms, quite undamaged by time or the hand of iconoclasts. One is that of St Laurence himself, and shows him tied to the gridiron while the fire is prepared (St Laurence being the patron saint of those who cook on barbecues) , and the other is of St Edmund shot full of arrows. You can see them on the left.
Above the passage, the great tower's height is accentuated by the narrowness of the gap to its left. And the unbroken length of the nave and chancel is so high, too; the north side drops away to Westwick Street, and the floor takes this as its level. You step down a flight of stairs into the south porch, which is otherwise hard against the street, thanks to widening for trams in the late 19th century, and then through a 15th century door down into the church itself..
The sheer scale of this building is only apparent once you are inside. The roof seems absurdly high, the 1490s hammerbeam roof lost far off in the shadows. The arcades are less elegant than forceful, and the unbroken line, with no chancel arch, marches purposefully eastward.
This is all accentuated by the fact that St Laurence is pretty much completely empty. Almost, but not quite. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, St Laurence underwent an extraordinary makeover.
In a city renowned for the excesses of its Anglo-Catholic churches, this was among the highest of the high. The sanctuary had always been raised above the level of the chancel because it goes over a large vault, shown in the old engraving on the left, as at Tunstead. But here the entire easterly third of the building was elevated by the late Victorians into a great platform, a flight of steps leading through a stone screen and then again to the sanctuary, until the altar was fully twelve feet above the floor of the nave.
George Plunkett's 1938 image shows the interior with Victorian benches and a passageway accentuating the view east.
The altar and reredos are now gone, but the painted panels that flanked them survive. They depict angels and Saints, but the most curious thing about them is that all the faces are drawn from the life, little Edwardian boys and youths cloaked out in contemporary clothes, but wearing nimbuses and holding gilded symbols, and older men with wings and in armour. It is all at once grotesque and fascinating. The reredos they flanked was the Parish war memorial, so they may be even later than they appear. The screen to the north aisle chapel has panels painted in a similarly naive manner. I strove to understand what it was that had possessed people to do this, but I could not.
There is a 15th century font contemporary with the rebuilding of the church, and a scattering of medieval glass has been built into an abstract design in the north aisle chapel. There were brasses, but these were removed; first to St Peter Hungate, and then into storage when the museum there closed.
St Laurence was one of the 24 Norwich churches recommended for demolition by the Brooke Report, a shocking possibility that galvanised Lady Harrod and others into forming the Norfolk Churches Trust to defeat the philistines. Under the circumstances, it seems ungrateful for us not to actually do anything with the place. My friend Tom tells me that this church has a wonderful acoustic, and in truth it is hard to see it ever having any use other than for performance or liturgy - it is simply too big for conversion into anything else. Its shell is recognised today as a vital part of the Norwich townscape, and that at least is now safe for future generations; but will it ever again be anything more than a shell?
Simon Knott, November 2005
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichlawrence/norwichlawrence...
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St Lawrence’s has a very dramatic site: owing to the steep slope down to the river, on its south side, it stands several feet below street level, but on the north, an equal height above it!
St Lawrence was a deacon in 3rd century Rome, who was martyred by being roasted alive on a gridiron.
The most notable feature of the exterior is the unique profile of the tower, with its corner turret. This very un-East Anglian feature dates from the restoration of the church in 1893. The tower itself is 112 feet high. The nave and chancel with their clerestorey run without a break under one roof. The clerestorey is faced with freestone. There is a very prominent rood stair turret on the south side, which marks the division between nave and chancel.. The west door has two carved spandrels: one of St Lawrence being roasted on a gridiron, and the other of the martyrdom of St Edmund: the Abbey at Bury St Edmund’s was the original patron of the church. The south door is the original mediæval one.
The church has long since been stripped of its furnishings, and now stands as an impressive empty space, flooded with light from the great windows and the clerestorey. With the exception of the font, which is of the 15th century, all the fittings were of late 19th or early 20th century date.
These fittings include the flight of seven steps up to the altar, and the reredos, which is a war memorial of 1921. It includes painted panels by Kingston Rudd, though inspection will reveal that many of them are unfinished, and so have a rather ’impressionistic’ effect. The figure painting is very much of the period.
The nave and chancel are in fact divided internally, which may indicate that the continuous clerestorey is a later addition. The nave pillars are octagonal, with rounded angles, and their capitals are wavy.
The roof is well seen from inside, and dates from 1498. There is some mediæval stained glass in a mosaic in the east window of the south aisle.
There were several brasses, but these have been removed to storage. On the east wall of the north aisle, however, is a brass plaque of 1891 to the memory of Sarah Glover, inventor of the Norwich Sol-fa, on which the later Tonic Sol-fa (‘doh, ray, me …’) was based; her father was curate here from 1811 to 1827. Sarah died in 1867, at Great Malvern, where she is buried.
The church was a centre of controversy in 1863, when the Rector, Edwin Hillyard, allowed ‘Father Ignatius’ (Joseph Leycester Lyne) and his ‘monks’, who had a house on Elm Hill, to take part in the services. The services were conducted in an extremely Ritualistic manner, with candles, incense, and vestments – all virtually unknown in the Church of England at this time. Large crowds attended for the spectacle, and there were riots in the street outside. Ignatius left Norwich in 1865, but Hillyard stayed until 1876. By then, the classical style reredos had been removed, and also the box pews (chopped up one night by Ignatius and his cohorts), and the altar steps and the screens inserted.
After Hillyard left, the church went into a decline, and was united with St Gregory in 1903; it was finally closed in 1968. After many years of uncertainty about its future, it came under the care of the Churches’ Conservation Trust in 19....
www.norwich-churches.org/St Lawrence/home.shtm
Lodhie Foundation sets up Basketball at Chhor Boys High School in Umerkot District of Sindh Province in Pakistan on Jan29, 2014
The Basketball system was built, installed and game initiated by the fine team of Shaantech KEPZ Karachi in collaboration with students, teachers, staff of the Chhor Boys school. This team game initiative is part of our poverty alleviation and human development work being introduced in many unprivilaged rural areas and villages of Sindh as a start.
Team sports are equally as important as education in developing world class citizens.
Why I picked Basketball Halfcourt to Sindh villages and now schools. 1) All ages have fun playing it 2) Can be set up in any small area of village, home, school or factory 3) Very low cost set up and material 4) Very easy to learn to play 5) Teaches teamwork to win 6) Teaches you to stay focused, be unselfish 7) Gives very healthy exercise 8) Length of game only 1 hour or less 9) Encourages and allows participation of family, friends, teachers