Waterbuck

 

Ellipsen-Wasserbock

 

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

 

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

 

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

 

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. The thirteen subspecies are grouped under two varieties: the common or Ellisprymnus waterbuck and the Defassa waterbuck. The head-and-body length is typically between 177–235 cm (70–93 in) and the average height is between 120 and 136 cm (47 and 54 in). A sexually dimorphic antelope, males are taller as well as heavier than females. Males reach approximately 127 cm (50 in) at the shoulder, while females reach 119 cm (47 in). Males typically weigh 198–262 kg (437–578 lb) and females 161–214 kg (355–472 lb). The coat colour varies from brown to grey. The long, spiral horns, present only on males, curve backward, then forward and are 55–99 cm (22–39 in) long.

 

Waterbuck are rather sedentary in nature. A gregarious animal, the waterbuck may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of five years, but are most dominant from the age of six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. Predominantly a grazer, the waterbuck is mostly found on grassland. In equatorial regions, breeding takes place throughout the year, but births are at their peak in the rainy season. The gestational period lasts for seven to eight months, followed by the birth of a single calf.

 

Waterbuck inhabit scrub and savanna areas along rivers, lakes and valleys. Due to their requirement for grasslands as well as water, the waterbuck have a sparse ecotone distribution. The IUCN lists the waterbuck as being of Least Concern. More specifically, the common waterbuck is listed as of Least Concern while the defassa waterbuck is Near Threatened. The population trend for both the common and defassa waterbuck is downwards, especially that of the latter, with large populations being eliminated from certain habitats because of poaching and human disturbance.

 

The scientific name of the waterbuck is Kobus ellipsiprymnus. The waterbuck is one of the six species of the genus Kobus and belongs to the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. The generic name Kobus is a New Latin word, originating from an African name, koba. The specific name ellipsiprymnus refers to the white elliptical ring on the rump, from the Greek ellipes (ellipse) and prymnos (prumnos, hind part). The animal acquired the vernacular name "waterbuck" due to its heavy dependence on water as compared to other antelopes and its ability to enter into water for defence.

 

The type specimen of the waterbuck was collected by South African hunter-explorer Andrew Steedman in 1832. This specimen was named Antilope ellipsiprymnus by Ogilby in 1833. This species was transferred to the genus Kobus in 1840, becoming K. ellipsiprymnus. It is usually known as the common waterbuck. In 1835, German naturalist Eduard Rüppell collected another specimen, which differed from Steedman's specimen in having a prominent white ring on its rump. Considering it a separate species, Rüppell gave it the Amharic name "defassa" waterbuck and scientific name Antilope defassa. Modern taxonomists, however, consider the common waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck a single species, K. ellipsiprymnus, given the large number of instances of hybridisation between the two. Interbreeding between the two takes place in the Nairobi National Park owing to extensive overlapping of habitats.

 

Not many fossils of the waterbuck have been found. Fossils were scarce in the Cradle of Humankind, occurring only in a few pockets of the Swartkrans. On the basis of Valerius Geist's theories about the relation of social evolution and dispersal in ungulates during the Pleistocene the ancestral home of the waterbuck is considered to be the eastern coast of Africa - with the Horn of Africa to the north and the East African Rift Valley to the west.

 

The waterbuck is the largest amongst the six species of Kobus. It is a sexually dimorphic antelope, with the males nearly 7 percent taller than females and around 8 percent longer. The head-and-body length is typically between 177–235 cm (70–93 in) and the average height is between 120 and 136 cm (47 and 54 in).[10] Males reach approximately 127 cm (50 in) at the shoulder, while females reach 119 cm (47 in). The waterbuck is one of the heaviest antelopes. a newborn typically weighs 13.6 kg (30 lb), and growth in weight is faster in males than in females. Males typically weigh 198–262 kg (437–578 lb) and females 161–214 kg (355–472 lb). The tail is 22–45 cm (8.7–17.7 in) long.

 

The waterbuck is of a robust build. The shaggy coat is reddish brown to grey, and becomes progressively darker with age. Males are darker than females. Though apparently thick, the hair is sparse on the coat. The hair on the neck is, however, long and shaggy. When sexually excited, the skin of the waterbuck secretes a greasy substance with the odour of musk, giving it the name "greasy kob". The odor of this is so unpleasant that it repels predators. This secretion also assists in water-proofing the body when the animal dives into water. The facial features include a white muzzle and light eyebrows and lighter insides of the ears. There is a cream-coloured patch (called "bib") on the throat. Waterbuck are characterised by a long neck and short, strong and black legs. Females have two nipples. Preorbital glands, foot glands and inguinal glands are absent.

 

The common waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck are remarkably different in their physical appearances. Measurements indicate greater tail length in the latter, whereas the common waterbuck stand taller than the defassa waterbuck. However, the principal differentiation between the two types is the white ring of hair surrounding the tail on the rump, which is a hollow circle in the common waterbuck but covered with white hair in the defassa waterbuck.

 

The long, spiral horns curve backward, then forward. Found only on males, the horns range from 55 to 99 cm (22 to 39 in) in length. To some extent, the length of the horns is related to the bull's age. A rudimentary horn in the form of a bone lump may be found on the skulls of females.

 

Waterbuck are rather sedentary in nature, though some migration may occur with the onset of monsoon. A gregarious animal, the waterbuck may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. The various groups are the nursery herds, bachelor herds and territorial males. Herd size increases in summer, whereas groups fragment in the winter months, probably under the influence of food availability. As soon as young males start developing horns (at around seven to nine months of age), they are chased out of the herd by territorial bulls. These males then form bachelor herds and may roam in female home ranges. Females have home ranges stretching over 200–600 hectares (0.77–2.32 sq mi; 490–1,480 acres). A few females may form spinster herds. Though females are seldom aggressive, minor tension may arise in herds.

 

Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of five years, but are most dominant from the age of six to nine. Territorial males hold territories 4–146 hectares (0.015–0.564 sq mi; 9.9–360.8 acres) in size. Males are inclined to remain settled in their territories, though over time they may leave inferior territories for more spacious ones. Marking of territories includes no elaborate rituals - dung and urine are occasionally dropped. After the age of ten years, males lose their territorial nature and replaced by a younger bull, following which they recede to a small and unprotected area. There is another social group, that of the satellite males, which are mature bulls as yet without their own territories, who exploit resources, particularly mating opportunities, even in the presence of the dominant bull. The territorial male may allow a few satellite males into his territory, and they may contribute to its defence. However, gradually they may deprive the actual owner of his territory and seize the area for themselves. In a study in the Lake Nakuru National Park, only 7 percent of the adult males held territories, and only half of the territorial males tolerated one or more satellite males.

 

Territorial males may use several kinds of display. In one type of display, the white patch on the throat and between the eyes is clearly revealed, and other displays can demonstrate the thickness of the neck. These activities frighten trespassers. Lowering of the head and the body depict submission before the territorial male, who stands erect. Fights, which may last up to thirty minutes, involve threat displays typical of bovids accompanied by snorting. Fights may even become so violent that one of the opponents meets its death due to severe abdominal or thoracic wounds. A silent animal, the waterbuck makes use of flehmen response for visual communication and alarm snorts for vocal communication. Waterbuck often enter water to escape from predators which include lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs and Nile crocodiles (leopards and spotted hyenas prey on juveniles). However, it has been observed that the waterbuck does not particularly like being in water. Waterbuck may run into cover when alarmed, and males often attack predators.

 

Waterbuck are susceptible to ulcers, lungworm infection and kidney stones. Other diseases from which these animals suffer are foot-and-mouth disease, sindbis fever, yellow fever, bluetongue, bovine virus diarrhoea, brucellosis and anthrax. The waterbuck is more resistant to rinderpest than are other antelopes. They are unaffected by tsetse flies but ticks may introduce parasitic protozoa such as Theileria parva, Anaplasma marginale and Baberia bigemina. 27 species of ixodid tick have been found on waterbuck - a healthy waterbuck may carry a total of over 4000 ticks in their larval or nymphal stages, the most common among them being Amblyomma cohaerens and Rhipicephalus tricuspis. Internal parasites found in waterbuck include tapeworms, liverflukes, stomachflukes and several helminths.

 

The waterbuck exhibits great dependence on water. It can not tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. However, it has been observed that unlike the other members of its genus (such as the kob and puku), the waterbuck ranges farther into the woodlands while maintaining its proximity to water. With grasses constituting a substantial 70 to 95 percent of the diet, the waterbuck is predominantly a grazer frequenting grasslands. Reeds and rushes like Typha and Phragmites may also be preferred.A study found regular consumption of three grass species round the year: Panicum anabaptistum, Echinochloa stagnina and Andropogon gayanus. Hyparrhenia involucrata, Acroceras amplectens and Oryza barthii along with annual species were the main preference in the early rainy season, while long life grasses and forage from trees constituted three-fourths of the diet in the dry season.

 

Though the defassa waterbuck were found to have a much greater requirement for protein than the African buffalo and the Beisa oryx, the waterbuck was found to spend much less time on browsing (eating leaves, small shoots and fruits) in comparison to the other grazers. In the dry season about 32 percent of the 24-hour day was spent in browsing, whereas no time was spent on it during the wet season. The choice of grasses varies with location rather than availability; for instance, in western Uganda, while Sporobolus pyramidalis was favoured in some places, Themeda triandra was the main choice elsewhere. The common waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck in the same area may differ in their choices; it has been observed that while the former preferred Heteropogon contortus and Cynodon dactylon, the latter showed less preference for these grasses.

 

Waterbuck are slower than other antelopes in terms of the rate of maturity. While males become sexually mature at the age of six years, females reach maturity within two to three years. Females may conceive by the age of two-and-a-half years, and remain reproductive for another ten years. In equatorial regions, breeding takes place throughout the year, and births are at their peak in the rainy season. However, breeding is seasonal in the Sudan (south of Sahara), with the mating season lasting four months. The season extends for even longer periods in some areas of southern Africa. Oestrus lasts for a day or less.

 

Mating begins after the male confirms that the female is in oestrus, which he does by sniffing her vulva and urine. A resistive female would try to bite or even fight off an advancing male. The male exhibits flehmen, and often licks the neck of the female and rubs his face and the base of his horns against her back. There are several attempts at mounting before the actual copulation. The female shifts her tail to one side, while the male clasps her sides with his forelegs and rests on her back during copulation, which may occur as many as ten times.

 

The gestational period lasts for seven to eight months, followed by the birth of a single calf. Twins are rare. Pregnant females isolate themselves in thickets as parturition approaches. Newborn calves can stand on their feet within a half-hour of birth. The mother eats the afterbirth. She communicates with the calf by bleating or snorting. Calves are kept hidden from two to three weeks up to two months. At about three to four weeks, the calf begins following its mother, who signals it to do so by raising her tail. Though bereft of horns, mothers will fiercely defend their offspring from predators. Calves are weaned at eight months, following which time they join groups of calves of their own age. Young females remain with their mothers in nursery herds, or may also join bachelor herds. The waterbuck lives to 18 years in the wild and 30 years in captivity.

 

The waterbuck is native to southern and eastern Africa (including countries such as Angola, Botswana, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) besides a few countries of western and northern Africa such as Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Though formerly widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, its numbers have now decreased in most areas.

 

The common waterbuck is found east of the Eastern African Rift. Its southern range extends to the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve (KwaZulu Natal) and to central Namibia. By contrast, the defassa waterbuck inhabits western and central Africa. The defassa waterbuck occurs west of the Albertine Rift and ranges from Eritrea to Guinea Bissau in the southern Sahel, its most northerly point of distribution being in southern Mali. Its range also stretches east of the Congo basin through Zambia into Angola, while another branch extends to the Zaire River west of the Congo basin. While the common waterbuck is now extinct in Ethiopia, the defassa waterbuck has become extinct in Gambia.

 

Waterbuck inhabit scrub and savanna areas alongside rivers, lakes and valleys. Due to their requirement for grasslands as well as water, the waterbuck have a sparse distribution across ecotones (areas of interface between two different ecosystems). A study in the Ruwenzori Range showed that the mean density of waterbuck was 5.5 per square mile, and estimates in the Maasai Mara were as low as 1.3 per square mile. It has been observed that territorial size depends on the quality of the habitat, the age and health of the animal and the population density. The greater the age of the animal or the denser the populations, the smaller are the territories. In Queen Elizabeth National Park, females had home ranges 21–61 hectares (0.081–0.236 sq mi; 52–151 acres) in area whereas home ranges for bachelor males averaged between 24–38 hectares (0.093–0.147 sq mi; 59–94 acres). The oldest female (around 18 years old) had the smallest home range.

 

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists the waterbuck as of least concern (LC). More specifically, the common waterbuck is listed as of Least Concern while the defassa waterbuck is near threatened (NT). The population trend for both the common and defassa waterbuck is decreasing, especially that of the latter, with large populations being eliminated from their habitats due to poaching and human settlement. Their own sedentary nature too is responsible for this to some extent. Numbers have fallen in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Akagera National Park, Lake Nakuru National Park, and Comoé National Park. Population decrease in the Lake Nakuru National Park has been attributed to heavy metal poisoning. While cadmium and lead levels were dangerously high in the kidney and the liver, deficiencies of copper, calcium and phosphorus were noted.

 

Over 60 percent of the defassa waterbuck populations thrive in protected areas, most notably in Niokolo-Koba, Comoe, Mole, Bui, Pendjari, Manovo-Gounda St. Floris, Moukalaba-Doudou, Garamba, Virunga, Omo, Mago, Murchison Falls, Serengeti, and Katavi, Kafue and Queen Elizabeth National Parks, the national parks and hunting zones of North Province (Cameroon), Ugalla River Forest Reserve, Nazinga Game Ranch, Rukwa Valley, Awash Valley, Murule and Arly-Singou. The common waterbuck occurs in Tsavo, Tarangire, Mikumi, Kruger and Lake Nakuru National Parks, Laikipia, Kajiado, Luangwa Valley, Selous and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi game reserves and private lands in South Africa.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.

 

Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Als Wasserbock werden zwei Arten afrikanischer Antilopen aus der Gattung der Wasserböcke (Kobus) bezeichnet. Man unterscheidet den Ellipsen-Wasserbock (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) und den Defassa-Wasserbock (Kobus defassa). Beide wurden ursprünglich in einer Art zusammengefasst und zur Unterscheidung von den anderen Arten der Gattung Kobus auch unter dem Namen Gemeiner Wasserbock geführt, heute gelten sie als eigenständig.

 

Der Ellipsen-Wasserbock (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) ist eine große, kräftige, bis zu 270 kg schwere Antilope mit zotteligem, graubraunem Fell und einem weißen Ring um den Schwanzansatz (die namengebende Ellipse). Auch das Gesicht ist teilweise weiß, und ein weißer Streifen zieht sich von der Kehle bis zum Ohrenansatz. Nur die männlichen Tiere tragen lange, stark geringelte, weit geschwungene und nach vorne gerichtete Hörner. Die Schulterhöhe beträgt 1,30 m.

 

Das Verbreitungsgebiet reicht von Südafrika und Nordost-Namibia über Botswana und Mosambik und die Savannen Ostafrikas bis nach Äthiopien und Somalia.

 

Diese Antilopenart ist an Dauergewässer gebunden, in deren Nähe sich Wälder oder offenes Grasgelände mit Dickicht und Schilf bewachsene Gebiete befinden. Junge Männchen bilden eigene Herden, Weibchen und Jungtiere leben in Gruppen von 5 bis 10 Tieren zusammen.

 

Die beiden Wasserbock-Arten sind weniger stark ans Wasser gebunden als andere Vertreter ihrer Gattung. Sie können sich durchaus vom Wasser entfernen und sind dann in der offenen Savanne oder in Wäldern zu finden. Die weiblichen Wasserböcke leben in Herden von etwa fünf, in seltenen Fällen bis zu siebzig Tieren. Ebenfalls Herden bilden junge Männchen. Dagegen werden ältere Männchen zu Einzelgängern, die ein Revier gegen Artgenossen verteidigen und jedes durchziehende Weibchen für sich beanspruchen.

 

Wasserböcke gehören zu den häufigsten Großsäugetieren Afrikas. Schätzungsweise gibt es etwa 95.000 Defassa-Wasserböcke und 105.000 Ellipsen-Wasserböcke, von denen mehr als die Hälfte in Schutzgebieten lebt. Beide Arten werden seitens der IUCN als gering gefährdet (near threatened) klassifiziert. Die Bestände außerhalb von Schutzgebieten sind durch Jagd und Habitatzerstörung rückläufig.

 

(Wikipedia)

Great egret-Ardea alba

 

The great egret is a large heron with all-white plumage. Standing up to 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, this species can measure 80 to 104 cm (31 to 41 in) in length and have a wingspan of 131 to 170 cm (52 to 67 in). Body mass can range from 700 to 1,500 g (1.5 to 3.3 lb), with an average of around 1,000 g (2.2 lb). It is thus only slightly smaller than the great blue or grey heron (A. cinerea). Apart from size, the great egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet, though the bill may become darker and the lower legs lighter in the breeding season. In breeding plumage, delicate ornamental feathers are borne on the back. Males and females are identical in appearance; juveniles look like non-breeding adults. Differentiated from the intermediate egret (Mesophoyx intermedius) by the gape, which extends well beyond the back of the eye in case of the great egret, but ends just behind the eye in case of the intermediate egret.

  

It has a relative slow flight, with its neck retracted, but a very powerful flight. With 2 wing beats a second it reaches a speed of 30 mph (50 km/h). The retracted neck is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises, and spoonbills, which extend their necks in flight. The great egret walks with its neck extended and wings held close. The great egret is not normally a vocal bird; it gives a low hoarse croak when disturbed, and at breeding colonies, it often gives a loud croaking cuk cuk cuk and higher-pitched squawks.

  

The great egret is generally a very successful species with a large and expanding range, occurring worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. It is ubiquitous across the Sun Belt of the United States and in the Neotropics. In North America, large numbers of great egrets were killed around the end of the 19th century so that their plumes could be used to decorate hats. Numbers have since recovered as a result of conservation measures. Its range has expanded as far north as southern Canada. However, in some parts of the southern United States, its numbers have declined due to habitat loss, particularly wetland degradation through drainage, grazing, clearing, burning, increased salinity, groundwater extraction and invasion by exotic plants. Nevertheless, the species adapts well to human habitation and can be readily seen near wetlands and bodies of water in urban and suburban areas.

  

The great egret is partially migratory, with northern hemisphere birds moving south from areas with colder winters. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

  

In 1953, the great egret in flight was chosen as the symbol of the National Audubon Society, which was formed in part to prevent the killing of birds for their feathers.

  

On 22 May 2012, it was announced a pair of great egrets were nesting in the UK for the first time at the Shapwick Heath nature reserve in Somerset. The species is a rare visitor to the UK and Ben Aviss of the BBC stated that the news could mean the UK's first great egret colony is established. The following week, Kevin Anderson of Natural England confirmed a great egret chick had hatched, making it a new breeding bird record for the UK. In 2017 seven nests in Somerset fledged 17 young, and a second breeding site was announced at Holkham National Nature Reserve in Norfolk where a pair fledged three young.

  

For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_egret

 

taken on my way to work. the sun looked extra soft and extra gentle on that day, almost like a veil to the world. even the packed platform and train looks extra nice because of it.

Wood/Carolina Duck on Quarry Lake, Phoenix Park, Dublin

 

[order] Anseriformes | [family] Anatidae | [latin] Aix sponsa | [UK] Wood Duck | [FR] Canard branchu | [DE] Brautente | [ES] Pato de la Florida | [IT] Anatra sposa | [NL] Carolinaeend

 

Measurements

spanwidth min.: 70 cm

spanwidth max.: 73 cm

size min.: 47 cm

size max.: 54 cm

Breeding

incubation min.: 31 days

incubation max.: 35 days

fledging min.: 56 days

fledging max.: 70 days

broods 1

eggs min.: 9

eggs max.: 14

 

Physical characteristics

 

Wood Ducks are intermediate in size, between the Mallard and Blue-winged Teal; on average, males weigh 680 g and females weigh 460 g. From a distance, the male Wood Duck on the water appears as a dark-bodied, dark-breasted, light-flanked duck with a striped crested head and a light-coloured throat. At close range, its iridescent plumage, red eyes, and black, red, and white bill are conspicuous. A white eye-ring, light-coloured throat, and fine crest distinguish the female from both the male Wood Duck and females of other species. Both sexes usually show a downward pointing crest at the back of the head, and their long broad square tails are distinctive features in flight.

The wings of Wood Ducks are highly characteristic. The primary wing feathers, which are the 10 outermost flight feathers attached to the wing beyond the wrist, are dark in colour. The outer vanes of these feathers look as if they have been sprayed with aluminum paint. The Wood Duck is the only North American duck so marked.

In most cases it is possible to distinguish immature from mature ducks and to tell males from females by their wings alone. In the Wood Duck, as in other ducks, the feathers of that year's young are finer, more pointed and worn, and less colourful than those of adults. Females show a few small feathers on the upper surface of the wing that are purplish and have the same lustre as oil on water. These feathers are absent in males. The white tips on the feathers along the trailing edge of the wing are usually teardrop-shaped in the female, but either straight or V-shaped in the male. By studying the wings of ducks taken by hunters, biologists can determine the ratio of young to adult ducks in the population and thereby measure waterfowl production.

The Wood Duck is a distinctively North American species. Its only close relative is the Mandarin Duck of eastern Asia. Evidently the Wood Duck originated in North America, as fossil remains have been found only in widely scattered locations in the eastern part of the continent.

 

Habitat

 

Like other perching ducks, Wood Ducks nest in trees. Preferred nesting sites are holes in hollow trunks or large branches that result from broken limbs, fire scars, lightning and logging damage. They also use cavities created by large woodpeckers such as the Pileated Woodpecker. Nests are situated from 1 to 15 m above ground, in trees more than 40 cm in diameter. They are usually found close to water, although females sometimes select trees some distance from water.

 

Other details

 

In Canada, the Wood Duck nests in scattered locations in the southern parts of all provinces; however, there is only one breeding record for Newfoundland and Labrador. The most extensive breeding ranges are in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. This duck occurs over a much wider area in late summer and early autumn, as a result of post-breeding dispersal. Although most Wood Ducks migrate to the United States, a few may spend the winter in extreme southern Ontario and southeastern British Columbia.

The Wood Duck is much more widely distributed in the United States, where it nests in areas east of the Mississippi River, along the lower Missouri River into South Dakota, in eastern Texas, along the Pacific coast, and in a few other places. It winters mainly along the Atlantic coast from New York south, along the Gulf coast into central Texas, to the lower Mississippi River valley and western California. A few winter in Mexico south to Distrito Federal. In Europe all sightings are of escaped birds.

 

Feeding

 

The Wood Duck is mainly a herbivore, or vegetarian, with plant foods making up about 90 percent of its diet. Foods vary according to their local availability, but duckweeds, cypress seeds, sedges, grasses, pondweeds, and acorns are among the more important foods throughout North America. In recent years corn has assumed a greater importance as small groups of Wood Ducks engage in field feeding behaviour similar to that of dabbling ducks, such as Mallards.

Ducklings require a high protein diet for rapid growth. Invertebrates such as dragonflies, bugs, beetles, and spiders are important foods during the first few weeks of life, so high populations of these small creatures are essential in habitats where the young will hatch and develop.

 

Conservation

 

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 6,200,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 3,500,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2002). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. [conservation status from birdlife.org]

 

Breeding

 

The female Wood Duck breeds when one year old. She lines the nest with down, or fine feathers, taken from her breast, and lays eight to 15 dull-white to cream-coloured eggs. She incubates, or keeps the eggs warm, for 28 to 30 days until they hatch. During unusually cold weather, or if the female is away from the nest for an abnormally long time, incubation may require a few extra days.

Upon hatching, usually in June in eastern Canada, the young use their sharp claws to climb up the inside of the nesting cavity to its entrance, then jump and flutter to the ground, generally landing unharmed. The female guides them to the nearest water, where they will spend the next eight to nine weeks hunting for food together.

Shortly after the female begins incubation the male loses interest in family affairs and spends more time away from the nest. He joins other males, which eventually form large groups. As mid-summer approaches, the males begin the move to remote, undisturbed, sheltered places to moult, or shed old feathers. To reach these areas, they may travel great distances; many thousands migrate to southeastern Canada from breeding grounds in the northern states. On arrival the moult begins, and by August the brilliant spring feathers of the male have been replaced by a plumage similar to that of the female. Then, all at once, the flight feathers are moulted, leaving the male flightless for approximately four weeks while new feathers grow in.

Soon after the ducklings have fledged, or taken their first flight, usually by mid-August in eastern Canada, the females leave their broods, move a short distance, and undergo their moult. Like the males, they too seek out remote, undisturbed swamps and marshes and become flightless for a short period.

In late summer and early autumn, the young with their newly acquired powers of flight and the adults with their recently replaced flight feathers move in a leisurely way about the northern parts of their range. Their principal concern is to store up energy, in the form of fat, in preparation for the soon-to-come fall migration.

 

Migration

 

Wood Ducks migrate north to their Canadian breeding grounds, arriving there by April. Pair formation may occur on the wintering grounds before or during spring migration, or on the breeding grounds if one of the pair is lost. Mated pairs seek out secluded swamps or beaver ponds that provide water, nesting sites, brooding habitat, and feeding areas. Females often return to the same general area in which they were hatched.

By the first severe frost, usually in late September or early October in eastern Canada, Wood Ducks begin to head for the southeastern United States. Southern populations of Wood Ducks, particularly females, are less migratory. Populations in the interior of British Columbia migrate to the west coast, whereas Wood Ducks that live on the coast do not migrate at all. Has occurred Bermuda (regular), Azores and Alaska. Many sightings from Europe, presumed escapes.

Just your average "Office Girl"...!

 

Oh how I wish that were true..!! Then I could spend my working days looking like this..!

 

But would I be the Secretary, PA, or the Boss...??!!

 

Well.. I'm flexible and would happily take on any position...😉😅💋💋

YOUR BABY IS DUE Aug 28:

You are currently 4 WEEKS PREGNANT

Estimated Date of Conception: Dec 05, 1988

(4 weeks 3 days or 1 months)

This is based on the cycle length provided, not an average cycle length of 28 days, however it is still an estimate.

PROGRESS: You are 12% of the way through your pregnancy.

12% Weekly Development WEEK 1 & 2

Weeks 1 & 2 of your pregnancy is Nov 22, 1988 - Dec 05, 1988

Baby Conceived: It's ovulation time. If sperm and egg meet, you're on your way to pregnancy.

WEEK 3: Week 3 of your pregnancy is Dec 06, 1988 - Dec 12, 1988

Implantation occurs: Your baby is a tiny ball of several hundred cells that are rapidly multiplying and burrowing into the lining of your uterus. The cells that become the placenta are producing hCG, the pregnancy hormone. It tells your ovaries to stop releasing eggs and keep producing progesterone. Once there's enough hCG in your urine, you'll get a positive pregnancy test result.

WEEK 4: Week 4 of your pregnancy is Dec 13, 1988 - Dec 19, 1988 - Positive Pregnancy Test: Your baby is an embryo made up of two layers, the hypoblast and the epiblast. The placenta is developing and preparing to provide nutrients and oxygen to your growing baby. The amniotic sac is developing and will surround and protect your baby while it continues to grow.

WEEK 5: Week 5 of your pregnancy is Dec 20, 1988 - Dec 26, 1988 - Your embryo is now made up of three layers, the ectoderm, the mesoderm and the endoderm which will later form all the organs and tissues. You might start to feel the first twinges of pregnancy such as tender breasts, frequent urination, or morning sickness.

WEEK 6: Week 6 of your pregnancy is Dec 27, 1988 - Jan 02, 1989

Heartbeat detectable by ultrasound. Your baby's heart is beating about 160 times a minute and the nose, mouth and ears are taking shape. Lungs and digestive system are forming organs.

WEEK 7: Week 7 of your pregnancy is Jan 03, 1989 - Jan 09, 1989 - Your baby is forming hands and feet. Key organs like the stomach, liver and esophagus are beginning to form. Your uterus has doubled in size. The umbilical cord is transferring blood and waste between baby and mother.

WEEK 8: Week 8 of your pregnancy is Jan 10, 1989 - Jan 16, 1989 - The respiratory system is forming now. Breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of the developing lungs.

WEEK 9: Week 9 of your pregnancy is Jan 17, 1989 - Jan 23, 1989 - Your baby is nearly an inch long now. If you watch closely, you may see your baby move if you have an ultrasound done

WEEK 10: Week 10 of your pregnancy is Jan 24, 1989 - Jan 30, 1989 - Your baby's organs are growing and beginning to mature. The baby's head comprises half the length of the body.

WEEK 11: Week 11 of your pregnancy is Jan 31, 1989 - Feb 06, 1989 - Fingers and toes have separated and the bones are beginning to harden. External genitalia has almost completely formed.

WEEK 12: Week 12 of your pregnancy is Feb 07, 1989 - Feb 13, 1989 - The kidneys can now secrete urine and the nervous system is maturing. You baby may be curling all 10 toes, practicing opening and closing fingers and sucking a thumb. And mom should have gained from 0,5 -3 kgs.

WEEK 13: Week 13 of your pregnancy is Feb 14, 1989 - Feb 20, 1989 - Miscarriage risk decreases. Your baby now has unique fingerprints and the kidney and urinary tract are completely functional, that means she's peeing. And if you are having a girl, her ovaries are already full of thousands of eggs.

WEEK 14: Week 14 of your pregnancy is Feb 21, 1989 - Feb 27, 1989 - Your baby's facial muscles are getting a workout as he squints, frowns, grimaces and practices his first smile for you.

WEEK 15: Week 15 of your pregnancy is Feb 28, 1989 - Mar 06, 1989 - Your baby is looking more like a baby with legs growing longer than the arms and all her limbs moving. The ears are properly positioned on the side of her head and the eyes are moving from the side of the head to the front of the face. At your doctor's visit, he should offer you a quad screening test to check for Down's syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities.

WEEK 16: Week 16 of your pregnancy is Mar 07, 1989 - Mar 13, 1989 - Baby's heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day. His eyes are working and moving side to side even though the eyelids are still sealed. Mom will have a "pregnancy glow" due to increased blood supply.

WEEK 17: Week 17 of your pregnancy is Mar 14, 1989 - Mar 20, 1989 - Baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone and her heart is now regulated by her brain. She's practicing her sucking and swallowing skills in preparation for that first suckle at your breast or the bottle. Mom's breasts may have increased a full bra size.

WEEK 18: Week 18 of your pregnancy is Mar 21, 1989 - Mar 27, 1989 - Gender reveal time. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticable now but he may hide them during an ultrasound. Are you feeling kickes and punches? Baby's hearing is also developing, so you may want to start talking to your baby.

WEEK 19: Week 19 of your pregnancy is Mar 28, 1989 - Apr 03, 1989 - Baby's brain is designating specialized areas for his 5 senses - vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his skin to prevent wrinkling.

WEEK 20: Week 20 of your pregnancy is Apr 04, 1989 - Apr 10, 1989 - Your baby weighs about 300 grams and is the size of a small banana. Her uterus is fully formed this week and she may have tiny primitive eggs in tiny ovaries now. His testicles are waiting for the scrotum to finish growing and will begin their descent soon. Mom can expect to gain about 1/2 lb per week for the rest of her pregnancy.

WEEK 21: Week 21 of your pregnancy is Apr 11, 1989 - Apr 17, 1989 - Feel all that moving and shaking going on! Baby's arms and legs are in proportion now and movements are much more coordinated. Bone marrow is now helping the liver and spleen produce blood cells. The intestines are starting to produce meconium, the thick tarry looking stool first seen in baby's diaper.

WEEK 22: Week 22 of your pregnancy is Apr 18, 1989 - Apr 24, 1989 - Senses are growing stronger. Now she can hear your heart beat, your breathing and digestion. Sense of sight is becoming more fine-tuned and he can preceive light and dark. Hormones are now developing which will the organs the commands they need to operate.

WEEK 23: Week 23 of your pregnancy is Apr 25, 1989 - May 01, 1989 - Premature baby may survive. Baby's organs and bones are visible through his skin, which has a red hue because of the developing veins and arteries beneath. He'll become less transparent as his fat deposits fill in. Baby is also developing surfactant which will help the lungs inflate if baby is born prematurely

WEEK 24: Week 24 of your pregnancy is May 02, 1989 - May 08, 1989 - Baby's face is almost fully formed complete with eyelashes, eyebrows and hair. Right now her hair is white because there's no pigment yet. Between now and 28 weeks, the doctor should send mom for a glucose screening test for gestational diabetes.

WEEK 25: Week 25 of your pregnancy is May 09, 1989 - May 15, 1989 - Baby is gaining more fat and looking more like a newborn. Hair color and texture is in place. His lungs are maturing and preparing for that first breath. You might feel the baby having hiccups.

WEEK 26: Week 26 of your pregnancy is May 16, 1989 - May 22, 1989 - Brain-wave activity is on high That means baby can hear noises and respond to them with an increase pulse rate or movement. Eyes are beginning to open but they don't have much pigmentation. That will develop over the next couple months and may even continue to change until she's about 6-months-old.

WEEK 27: Week 27 of your pregnancy is May 23, 1989 - May 29, 1989 - Start talking to your baby . Baby may recognize both your and your partner's voices. This is the time to read and even sing to your baby. She now has taste buds so when you eat spicy food, your baby will be able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid. Her mealtime comes about two hours after yours. Feel some belly spasms? Those are likely hiccups from that spicy food. It doesn't bother the baby as much as you. Baby also has settled in to a regular sleep cycle, but it may be different from mom's.

WEEK 28: Week 28 of your pregnancy is May 30, 1989 - Jun 05, 1989 - During the third trimester the brain triples in weight adding billions of new nerve cells. Senses of hearing, smell and touch are developed and functional. Your baby is having different sleep cycles, including rapid eye movement. That means she's dreaming.

WEEK 29: Week 29 of your pregnancy is Jun 06, 1989 - Jun 12, 1989 - Baby can breathe. Baby's bones are soaking up lots of calcium as they harden so be sure to consume good sources of calcium. We recommend taking Nordic Naturals and Fairhaven Health supplements.

WEEK 30: Week 30 of your pregnancy is Jun 13, 1989 - Jun 19, 1989 - Baby's brain is taking on characteristic grooves and indentations to allow for an increased amount of brain tissue. Bone marrow has taken over the production of red blood cells. This means she'll be better able to thrive on her own when she's born Baby is now weighing about 1.36 kgs and is 28 centimetres.

WEEK 31: Week 31 of your pregnancy is Jun 20, 1989 - Jun 26, 1989 - Baby's brain is developing faster than ever and he's processing information, tracking light and perceiving signals from all five sense. She's probably moving a lot, especially at night when you're trying to sleep. Take comfort that all this activity means your baby is healthy. Mom may start feeling some Braxton Hicks contractions.

WEEK 32: Week 32 of your pregnancy is Jun 27, 1989 - Jul 03, 1989 - Baby can focus on large objects not too far away; toenails and fingernails have grown in along with real hair. He's practicing swallowing, breathing, kicking and sucking. All key skills for thriving after birth.

WEEK 33: Week 33 of your pregnancy is Jul 04, 1989 - Jul 10, 1989 - Immune system is maturing. The bones in your baby's skull are still pliable which makes it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. Your uterine walls are becoming thinner allowing more light to penetrate your womb. That helps baby differentiate between night and day.

WEEK 34: Week 34 of your pregnancy is Jul 11, 1989 - Jul 17, 1989 - Baby's fat layers are filling her out and will help regulate body temperture when she's born. If your baby is a boy, the testicles are making their way down from the abdomen to the scrotum.

WEEK 35: Week 35 of your pregnancy is Jul 18, 1989 - Jul 24, 1989 - Kidneys are fully developed and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her physical development is complete. She'll spend the next few weeks gaining weight and adding baby fat. Baby is settling lower into the pelvis preparing for delivery and this is called "lightening".

WEEK 36: Week 36 of your pregnancy is Jul 25, 1989 - Jul 31, 1989 - Hopefully your baby is in a head-down position. If not, your practitioner may suggest an external cephalic version to manipulate your baby into a head down position. The vernix caseosa has now disappeared.

WEEK 37: Week 37 of your pregnancy is Aug 01, 1989 - Aug 07, 1989 - Baby is considered full term. Baby is taking up most of the room in your womb so he's only kicking and poking you, no more somersaults. Baby is sucking her thumb, blinking eyes and inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid.

WEEK 38: Week 38 of your pregnancy is Aug 08, 1989 - Aug 14, 1989 - Baby's eyes right now are blue, gray or brown but once they're exposed to light they may change color or a shade. The lanugo, the fine downy hair that covered his body for warmth is falling off in preparation for delivery. Her lungs have strenthened and her vocal cords have developed. That means she's ready for her first cry.

WEEK 39: Week 39 of your pregnancy is Aug 15, 1989 - Aug 21, 1989 - Baby is ready to make his debut. He's adding more fat as his pinkish skin turns white or white-grayish. He won't have his final pigment until shortly after birth.

WEEK 40: Week 40 of your pregnancy is Aug 22, 1989 - Aug 28, 1989 - This is the official end of your pregnancy but because due dates are just a calculation he might be "late." No need to worry, your body knows the right time to go into labor, or your doctor may suggest you be induced. At birth your baby's eye sight is a little blurry since central vision is still developing. Just say hello and he'll recognize your voice.

 

During the Process of Fertilization, the sperm and the oocyte cease to exist as such, and a new human being is produced.

Another average bluebell shot :P It's my birthday today, and on the way to town I saw these at Quakers Walk and thankfully had brought my camera as it was a nice day out :)

London band Average Sex supporting The Hungry Ghosts at Centrala Birmingham.

 

Average Sex headlining a show at The Hare and Hounds Birmingham.

This photo was taken on the Milford Track, a 4-day / 3-night walk in northern Fiordland, on New Zealand's South Island.

 

Wet? Well, yes.

 

To get things into perspective, you have to know that the nearby town of Milford received a mean of 6.75 metres of rain per year between 1971 and 2000. We were frequently told that the Milford track area gets around 7m a year, while some of the western slopes of the mountains in Fiordland get up to 9m. The day before this photo was taken, we spent much of the walk being refreshed by most of the day's near-negligible 214mm, of which 40mm fell in one 30-minute period.

 

Measuring rainfall in metres may seem quaint; and yet Fiordland is positively parched by comparison with some of the soggier parts of the world.

 

Lloro in Columbia is thought to get 13m a year, though this is a modelled figure that has never been measured.

Mount Wai‘ale‘ale, on the Hawai'an island of Kauai, gets 11.5 to 13m a year.

Mawsynram, in north-eastern India, receives 11.9m annually.

Mount Tutenendo in Columbia gets 12m a year.

Cherrapunji, near Mawsynram, gets 11m a year – almost all of it between June and August. It holds the record for the wettest 6 months ever recorded, with 22.5m between April and September 1861. In July that year 9.3m fell, making it the wettest month ever recorded anywhere.

Debundscha in Cameroon gets 10m a year.

Quibdo in Columbia gets 9m.

Bellenden Ker, in Queensland, Australia, gets 8.6m a year.

And last among these sodden spots, Andagoya in Colombia gets 7m. All of the above are towns and villages; Fiordland is a wonderful wilderness.

 

The most rain ever recorded in a 3-day period – 3.9m – is held by La Réunion. Now that's wet.

 

It rained and rained and rained and rained,

The average fall was well maintained,

And when the tracks were simply bogs

It started raining cats and dogs.

 

After a drought of half an hour

we had a most refreshing shower,

then the most curious thing of all:

a gentle rain began to fall.

 

Next day was also fairly dry

save for the deluge from the sky

which wet the party to the skin:

and after that, the rain set in.

 

This poem is found in many websites in a variety of slightly different versions. On those sites, it is variously linked with the west coast of Scotland and with the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Setting aside those few individuals who pass it off as their own invention, is invariably attributed to "Anon", with associated dates often in the 1980s. I first saw it framed on the wall of a mountain hut on the Millford Track, where it is attributed to an anonymous tramper who left it there in 1989.

 

I have found one source that may be the root of it all. A certain Ho-Fang, from what must then have been the villagethe city (sorry, Nelson - see Andrew's comment under this shot) of Nelson (located in the north of South Island), published it on 15 September 1931, under the title West Coast Weather in the Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 1336, where it was printed on page 3.

 

"Fang" is quite a common family name in China and Taiwan, so the author might be Chinese, though in normal Chinese usage the given name, "Ho", would follow the family name. Somehow it sounds like a nom de plume. I can't find any obvious name for which this would be an anagram, though.

 

There is something about Ho-Fang's printed introduction to the poem that does not quite ring true, and I wonder whether Ho-Fang cribbed it from some earlier source - perhaps (who knows?) even from some saturated scribbler in Scotland.

 

Scotland? Saturated? Kinlochewe, the wettest met station in Scotland, gets a paltry 2.2m a year. Almost sahelian, if you ask me.

 

A B&W conversion.

Average day of a Sea Lion - Galapagos

A Ferrari F430 outside the Ferrari dealership in Geneva.

Our Fiat hire car was not quite this good.

Many 20 second exposures, averaged

Hyderabad (Listeni/ˈhaɪdərəˌbæd/ HY-dər-ə-bad; often /ˈhaɪdrəˌbæd/) is the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. Occupying 625 square kilometres along the banks of the Musi River, it has a population of about 6.8 million and a metropolitan population of about 7.75 million, making it the fourth most populous city and sixth most populous urban agglomeration in India. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including Hussain Sagar - predating the city's founding - north of the city centre.

 

Established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, known as the Nizams of Hyderabad. The Nizam's dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, and became the capital of Andhra Pradesh after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the newly formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh and the city became joint capital of the two states, a transitional arrangement scheduled to end by 2025.

 

Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible today, with the Charminar - commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah - coming to symbolise Hyderabad. Golconda fort is another major landmark. The influence of Mughlai culture is also evident in the city's distinctive cuisine, which includes Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, attracting men of letters from different parts of the world. Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire in the mid-19th century, with artists migrating to the city from the rest of the Indian subcontinent. While Hyderabad is losing its cultural pre-eminence, it is today, due to the Telugu film industry, the country's second-largest producer of motion pictures.

 

Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, and it continues to be known as the City of Pearls. Many of the city's traditional bazaars, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar, have remained open for centuries. However, industrialisation throughout the 20th century attracted major Indian manufacturing, research and financial institutions, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Special economic zones dedicated to information technology have encouraged companies from across India and around the world to set up operations and the emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the area's naming as India's "Genome Valley". With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to India's overall gross domestic product.

 

HISTORY

TOPONYMY

According to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means "Haydar's city" or "lion city", from haydar (lion) and ābād (city). It was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who was also known as Haydar because of his lion-like valour in battles. Andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was originally called Baghnagar (city of gardens). One popular theory suggests that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city, named it "Bhaganagar" or "Bhāgnagar" after Bhagmati, a local nautch (dancing) girl with whom he had fallen in love. She converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was renamed Hyderabad in her honour. According to another source, the city was named after Haidar, the son of Quli Qutb Shah.

 

EARLY AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY

Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE. The region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda ("shepherd's hill"), and was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE. Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, Golkonda came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty from 1158, whose seat of power was at Warangal, 148 km northeast of modern Hyderabad.

 

The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khilji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate. This lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khilji's general. During this period, Alauddin Khilji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is said to have been mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda, to Delhi. Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded to the Delhi sultanate in 1325, bringing Warangal under the rule of the Tughlaq dynasty until 1347 when Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah, a governor under bin Tughluq, rebelled against Delhi and established the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan Plateau, with Gulbarga, 200 km west of Hyderabad, as its capital. The Bahmani kings ruled the region until 1518 and were the first independent Muslim rulers of the Deccan.

 

Sultan Quli, a governor of Golkonda, revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1518; he rebuilt the mud-fort of Golconda and named the city "Muhammad nagar". The fifth sultan, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, established Hyderabad on the banks of the Musi River in 1591, to avoid the water shortages experienced at Golkonda. During his rule, he had the Charminar and Mecca Masjid built in the city. On 21 September 1687, the Golkonda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after a year-long siege of the Golkonda fort. The annexed area was renamed Deccan Suba (Deccan province) and the capital was moved from Golkonda to Aurangabad, about 550 km northwest of Hyderabad.

 

MODERN HISTORY

In 1713 Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal emperor, appointed Asif Jah I to be Viceroy of the Deccan, with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Administrator of the Realm). In 1724, Asif Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan to establish autonomy over the Deccan Suba, named the region Hyderabad Deccan, and started what came to be known as the Asif Jahi dynasty. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were referred to as Asif Jahi Nizams, or Nizams of Hyderabad. The death of Asif Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons, backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces, contended for the throne. The accession of Asif Jah II, who reigned from 1762 to 1803, ended the instability. In 1768 he signed the treaty of Masulipatnam, surrendering the coastal region to the East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent.

 

In 1769 Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Nizams. In response to regular threats from Hyder Ali (Dalwai of Mysore), Baji Rao I (Peshwa of the Maratha Empire), and Basalath Jung (Asif Jah II's elder brother, who was supported by the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau), the Nizam signed a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1798, allowing the British Indian Army to occupy Bolarum (modern Secunderabad) to protect the state's borders, for which the Nizams paid an annual maintenance to the British.

 

Until 1874 there were no modern industries in Hyderabad. With the introduction of railways in the 1880s, four factories were built to the south and east of Hussain Sagar lake, and during the early 20th century, Hyderabad was transformed into a modern city with the establishment of transport services, underground drainage, running water, electricity, telecommunications, universities, industries, and Begumpet Airport. The Nizams ruled their princely state from Hyderabad during the British Raj.

 

After India gained independence, the Nizam declared his intention to remain independent rather than become part of the Indian Union. The Hyderabad State Congress, with the support of the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India, began agitating against Nizam VII in 1948. On 17 September that year, the Indian Army took control of Hyderabad State after an invasion codenamed Operation Polo. With the defeat of his forces, Nizam VII capitulated to the Indian Union by signing an Instrument of Accession, which made him the Rajpramukh (Princely Governor) of the state until 31 October 1956. Between 1946 and 1951, the Communist Party of India fomented the Telangana uprising against the feudal lords of the Telangana region. The Constitution of India, which became effective on 26 January 1950, made Hyderabad State one of the part B states of India, with Hyderabad city continuing to be the capital. In his 1955 report Thoughts on Linguistic States, B. R. Ambedkar, then chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, proposed designating the city of Hyderabad as the second capital of India because of its amenities and strategic central location. Since 1956, the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad has been the second official residence and business office of the President of India; the President stays once a year in winter and conducts official business particularly relating to Southern India.

 

On 1 November 1956 the states of India were reorganised by language. Hyderabad state was split into three parts, which were merged with neighbouring states to form the modern states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The nine Telugu- and Urdu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in the Telangana region were merged with the Telugu-speaking Andhra State to create Andhra Pradesh,with Hyderabad as its capital. Several protests, known collectively as the Telangana movement, attempted to invalidate the merger and demanded the creation of a new Telangana state. Major actions took place in 1969 and 1972, and a third began in 2010. The city suffered several explosions: one at Dilsukhnagar in 2002 claimed two lives; terrorist bombs in May and August 2007 caused communal tension and riots; and two bombs exploded in February 2013. On 30 July 2013 the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of India declared that part of Andhra Pradesh would be split off to form a new Telangana state, and that Hyderabad city would be the capital city and part of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. On 3 October 2013 the Union Cabinet approved the proposal, and in February 2014 both houses of Parliament passed the Telangana Bill. With the final assent of the President of India in June 2014, Telangana state was formed.

 

GEOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY

Situated in the southern part of Telangana in southeastern India, Hyderabad is 1,566 kilometres south of Delhi, 699 kilometres southeast of Mumbai, and 570 kilometres north of Bangalore by road. It lies on the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of the Deccan Plateau. Greater Hyderabad covers 625 km2, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. With an average altitude of 542 metres, Hyderabad lies on predominantly sloping terrain of grey and pink granite, dotted with small hills, the highest being Banjara Hills at 672 metres. The city has numerous lakes referred to as sagar, meaning "sea". Examples include artificial lakes created by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (built in 1562 near the city centre), Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. As of 1996, the city had 140 lakes and 834 water tanks (ponds).

 

CLIMATE

Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The annual mean temperature is 26.6 °C; monthly mean temperatures are 21–33 °C. Summers (March–June) are hot and humid, with average highs in the mid-to-high 30s Celsius; maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C between April and June. The coolest temperatures occur in December and January, when the lowest temperature occasionally dips to 10 °C. May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from 26 to 39 °C; December, the coldest, has temperatures varying from 14.5 to 28 °C.

 

Heavy rain from the south-west summer monsoon falls between June and September, supplying Hyderabad with most of its mean annual rainfall. Since records began in November 1891, the heaviest rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period was 241.5 mm on 24 August 2000. The highest temperature ever recorded was 45.5 °C on 2 June 1966, and the lowest was 6.1 °C on 8 January 1946. The city receives 2,731 hours of sunshine per year; maximum daily sunlight exposure occurs in February.

 

CONSERVATION

Hyderabad's lakes and the sloping terrain of its low-lying hills provide habitat for an assortment of flora and fauna. The forest region in and around the city encompasses areas of ecological and biological importance, which are preserved in the form of national parks, zoos, mini-zoos and a wildlife sanctuary. Nehru Zoological Park, the city's one large zoo, is the first in India to have a lion and tiger safari park. Hyderabad has three national parks (Mrugavani National Park, Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park), and the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary is about 50 km from the city. Hyderabad's other environmental reserves are: Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Gardens, Shamirpet Lake, Hussain Sagar, Fox Sagar Lake, Mir Alam Tank and Patancheru Lake, which is home to regional birds and attracts seasonal migratory birds from different parts of the world. Organisations engaged in environmental and wildlife preservation include the Telangana Forest Department, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Animal Welfare Board of India, the Blue Cross of Hyderabad and the University of Hyderabad.

 

ADMINISTRATION

COMMON CAPITAL OF TELANGANA AND ANDHRA PRADESH

According to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 part 2 Section 5: "On and from the appointed day, Hyderabad in the existing State of Andhra Pradesh, shall be the common capital of the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years. After expiry of the period referred to in sub-section, Hyderabad shall be the capital of the State of Telangana and there shall be a new capital for the State of Andhra Pradesh."

 

The same sections also define that the common capital includes the existing area designated as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. As stipulated in sections 3 and 18 of the Reorganisation Act, city MLAs are members of Telangana state assembly.

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) oversees the civic infrastructure of the city's 18 "circles", which together encompass 150 municipal wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator, elected by popular vote. The corporators elect the Mayor, who is the titular head of GHMC; executive powers rest with the Municipal Commissioner, appointed by the state government. The GHMC carries out the city's infrastructural work such as building and maintenance of roads and drains, town planning including construction regulation, maintenance of municipal markets and parks, solid waste management, the issuing of birth and death certificates, the issuing of trade licences, collection of property tax, and community welfare services such as mother and child healthcare, and pre-school and non-formal education. The GHMC was formed in April 2007 by merging the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) with 12 municipalities of the Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts covering a total area of 625 km2. In the 2009 municipal election, an alliance of the Indian National Congress and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen formed the majority. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board is a civic administration agency overseeing an area of 40.1 km2, where there are several military camps. The Osmania University campus is administered independently by the university authority.

 

Law and order in Hyderabad city is supervised by the governor of Telangana. The jurisdiction is divided into two police commissionerates: Hyderabad and Cyberabad, which are again divided into four and five police zones respectively. Each zone is headed by a deputy commissioner.

 

The jurisdictions of the city's administrative agencies are, in ascending order of size: the Hyderabad Police area, Hyderabad district, the GHMC area ("Hyderabad city") and the area under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The HMDA is an apolitical urban planning agency that covers the GHMC and its suburbs, extending to 54 mandals in five districts encircling the city. It coordinates the development activities of GHMC and suburban municipalities and manages the administration of bodies such as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB).

 

As the seat of the government of Telangana, Hyderabad is home to the state's legislature, secretariat and high court, as well as various local government agencies. The Lower City Civil Court and the Metropolitan Criminal Court are under the jurisdiction of the High Court. The GHMC area contains 24 State Legislative Assembly constituencies, which form five constituencies of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India).

 

UTILITY SERVICES

The HMWSSB regulates rainwater harvesting, sewerage services and water supply, which is sourced from several dams located in the suburbs. In 2005, the HMWSSB started operating a 116-kilometre-long water supply pipeline from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to meet increasing demand. The Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited manages electricity supply. As of October 2014, there were 15 fire stations in the city, operated by the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department. The government-owned India Post has five head post offices and many sub-post offices in Hyderabad, which are complemented by private courier services.

 

POLLUTION CONTROL

Hyderabad produces around 4,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, which is transported from collection units in Imlibun, Yousufguda and Lower Tank Bund to the dumpsite in Jawaharnagar. Disposal is managed by the Integrated Solid Waste Management project which was started by the GHMC in 2010. Rapid urbanisation and increased economic activity has also led to increased industrial waste, air, noise and water pollution, which is regulated by the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TPCB). The contribution of different sources to air pollution in 2006 was: 20–50% from vehicles, 40–70% from a combination of vehicle discharge and road dust, 10–30% from industrial discharges and 3–10% from the burning of household rubbish. Deaths resulting from atmospheric particulate matter are estimated at 1,700–3,000 each year. Ground water around Hyderabad, which has a hardness of up to 1000 ppm, around three times higher than is desirable, is the main source of drinking water but the increasing population and consequent increase in demand has led to a decline in not only ground water but also river and lake levels. This shortage is further exacerbated by inadequately treated effluent discharged from industrial treatment plants polluting the water sources of the city.

 

HEALTHCARE

The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of all facilities related to health and preventive services. As of 2010–11, the city had 50 government hospitals, 300 private and charity hospitals and 194 nursing homes providing around 12,000 hospital beds, fewer than half the required 25,000. For every 10,000 people in the city, there are 17.6 hospital beds, 9 specialist doctors, 14 nurses and 6 physicians. The city also has about 4,000 individual clinics and 500 medical diagnostic centres. Private clinics are preferred by many residents because of the distance to, poor quality of care at and long waiting times in government facilities, despite the high proportion of the city's residents being covered by government health insurance: 24% according to a National Family Health Survey in 2005. As of 2012, many new private hospitals of various sizes were opened or being built. Hyderabad also has outpatient and inpatient facilities that use Unani, homeopathic and Ayurvedic treatments.

 

In the 2005 National Family Health Survey, it was reported that the city's total fertility rate is 1.8, which is below the replacement rate. Only 61% of children had been provided with all basic vaccines (BCG, measles and full courses of polio and DPT), fewer than in all other surveyed cities except Meerut. The infant mortality rate was 35 per 1,000 live births, and the mortality rate for children under five was 41 per 1,000 live births. The survey also reported that a third of women and a quarter of men are overweight or obese, 49% of children below 5 years are anaemic, and up to 20% of children are underweight, while more than 2% of women and 3% of men suffer from diabetes.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

When the GHMC was created in 2007, the area occupied by the municipality increased from 175 km2 to 625 km2. Consequently, the population increased by 87%, from 3,637,483 in the 2001 census to 6,809,970 in the 2011 census, 24% of which are migrants from elsewhere in India, making Hyderabad the nation's fourth most populous city. As of 2011, the population density is 18,480/km2. At the same 2011 census, the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration had a population of 7,749,334, making it the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the country. The population of the Hyderabad urban agglomeration has since been estimated by electoral officials to be 9.1 million as of early 2013 but is expected to exceed 10 million by the end of the year. There are 3,500,802 male and 3,309,168 female citizens - a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. Among children aged 0–6 years, 373,794 are boys and 352,022 are girls - a ratio of 942 per 1000. Literacy stands at 82.96% (male 85.96%; female 79.79%), higher than the national average of 74.04%. The socio-economic strata consist of 20% upper class, 50% middle class and 30% working class.

 

ETHNIC GROUPS, LANGUAGE AND RELIGION

Referred to as "Hyderabadi", residents of Hyderabad are predominantly Telugu and Urdu speaking people, with minority Bengali, Gujarati (including Memon), Kannada (including Nawayathi), Malayalam, Marathi, Marwari, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Uttar Pradeshi communities. Hadhrami Arabs, African Arabs, Armenians, Abyssinians, Iranians, Pathans and Turkish people are also present; these communities, of which the Hadhrami are the largest, declined after Hyderabad State became part of the Indian Union, as they lost the patronage of the Nizams.

 

Telugu is the official language of Hyderabad and Urdu is its second language. The Telugu dialect spoken in Hyderabad is called Telangana, and the Urdu spoken is called Dakhani. English is also used. A significant minority speak other languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada.

 

Hindus are in the majority. Muslims are present throughout the city and predominate in and around the Old City. There are also Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi communities and iconic temples, mosques and churches can be seen. According to the 2001 census, Hyderabad district's religious make-up was: Hindus (55.41%), Muslims (41.17%), Christians (2.43%), Jains (0.43%), Sikhs (0.29%) and Buddhists (0.02%); 0.23% did not state any religion.

 

SLUMS

In the greater metropolitan area, 13% of the population live below the poverty line. According to a 2012 report submitted by GHMC to the World Bank, Hyderabad has 1,476 slums with a total population of 1.7 million, of whom 66% live in 985 slums in the "core" of the city (the part that formed Hyderabad before the April 2007 expansion) and the remaining 34% live in 491 suburban tenements. About 22% of the slum-dwelling households had migrated from different parts of India in the last decade of the 20th century, and 63% claimed to have lived in the slums for more than 10 years. Overall literacy in the slums is 60–80% and female literacy is 52–73%. A third of the slums have basic service connections, and the remainder depend on general public services provided by the government. There are 405 government schools, 267 government aided schools, 175 private schools and 528 community halls in the slum areas. According to a 2008 survey by the Centre for Good Governance, 87.6% of the slum-dwelling households are nuclear families, 18% are very poor, with an income up to ₹20000 (US$300) per annum, 73% live below the poverty line (a standard poverty line recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Government is ₹24000 (US$360) per annum), 27% of the chief wage earners (CWE) are casual labour and 38% of the CWE are illiterate. About 3.72% of the slum children aged 5–14 do not go to school and 3.17% work as child labour, of whom 64% are boys and 36% are girls. The largest employers of child labour are street shops and construction sites. Among the working children, 35% are engaged in hazardous jobs.

 

NEIGHBOURHOODS

The historic city established by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah on the southern side of the Musi River forms the "Old City", while the "New City" encompasses the urbanised area on the northern banks. The two are connected by many bridges across the river, the oldest of which is Purana Pul ("old bridge"). Hyderabad is twinned with neighbouring Secunderabad, to which it is connected by Hussain Sagar.

 

Many historic and tourist sites lie in south central Hyderabad, such as the Charminar, the Mecca Masjid, the Salar Jung Museum, the Nizam's Museum, the Falaknuma Palace, and the traditional retail corridor comprising the Pearl Market, Laad Bazaar and Madina Circle. North of the river are hospitals, colleges, major railway stations and business areas such as Begum Bazaar, Koti, Abids, Sultan Bazaar and Moazzam Jahi Market, along with administrative and recreational establishments such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Telangana Secretariat, the Hyderabad Mint, the Telangana Legislature, the Public Gardens, the Nizam Club, the Ravindra Bharathi, the State Museum, the Birla Temple and the Birla Planetarium.

 

North of central Hyderabad lie Hussain Sagar, Tank Bund Road, Rani Gunj and the Secunderabad Railway Station. Most of the city's parks and recreational centres, such as Sanjeevaiah Park, Indira Park, Lumbini Park, NTR Gardens, the Buddha statue and Tankbund Park are located here. In the northwest part of the city there are upscale residential and commercial areas such as Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Khairatabad and Miyapur. The northern end contains industrial areas such as Sanathnagar, Moosapet, Balanagar, Patancheru and Chanda Nagar. The northeast end is dotted with residential areas. In the eastern part of the city lie many defence research centres and Ramoji Film City. The "Cyberabad" area in the southwest and west of the city has grown rapidly since the 1990s. It is home to information technology and bio-pharmaceutical companies and to landmarks such as Hyderabad Airport, Osman Sagar, Himayath Sagar and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park.

 

LANDMARKS

Heritage buildings constructed during the Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras showcase Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval, Mughal and European styles. After the 1908 flooding of the Musi River, the city was expanded and civic monuments constructed, particularly during the rule of Mir Osman Ali Khan (the VIIth Nizam), whose patronage of architecture led to him being referred to as the maker of modern Hyderabad. In 2012, the government of India declared Hyderabad the first "Best heritage city of India".

 

Qutb Shahi architecture of the 16th and early 17th centuries followed classical Persian architecture featuring domes and colossal arches. The oldest surviving Qutb Shahi structure in Hyderabad is the ruins of Golconda fort built in the 16th century. The Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Charkaman and Qutb Shahi tombs are other existing structures of this period. Among these the Charminar has become an icon of the city; located in the centre of old Hyderabad, it is a square structure with sides 20 m long and four grand arches each facing a road. At each corner stands a 56 m-high minaret. Most of the historical bazaars that still exist were constructed on the street north of Charminar towards Golconda fort. The Charminar, Qutb Shahi tombs and Golconda fort are considered to be monuments of national importance in India; in 2010 the Indian government proposed that the sites be listed for UNESCO World Heritage status.

 

Among the oldest surviving examples of Nizam architecture in Hyderabad is the Chowmahalla Palace, which was the seat of royal power. It showcases a diverse array of architectural styles, from the Baroque Harem to its Neoclassical royal court. The other palaces include Falaknuma Palace (inspired by the style of Andrea Palladio), Purani Haveli, King Kothi and Bella Vista Palace all of which were built at the peak of Nizam rule in the 19th century. During Mir Osman Ali Khan's rule, European styles, along with Indo-Islamic, became prominent. These styles are reflected in the Falaknuma Palace and many civic monuments such as the Hyderabad High Court, Osmania Hospital, Osmania University, the State Central Library, City College, the Telangana Legislature, the State Archaeology Museum, Jubilee Hall, and Hyderabad and Kachiguda railway stations. Other landmarks of note are Paigah Palace, Asman Garh Palace, Basheer Bagh Palace, Errum Manzil and the Spanish Mosque, all constructed by the Paigah family.

 

ECONOMY

Hyderabad is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP), tax and other revenues, of Telangana, and the sixth largest deposit centre and fourth largest credit centre nationwide, as ranked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2012. Its US$74 billion GDP made it the fifth-largest contributor city to India's overall GDP in 2011–12. Its per capita annual income in 2011 was ₹44300 (US$670). As of 2006, the largest employers in the city were the governments of Andhra Pradesh (113,098 employees) and India (85,155). According to a 2005 survey, 77% of males and 19% of females in the city were employed. The service industry remains dominant in the city, and 90% of the employed workforce is engaged in this sector.

 

Hyderabad's role in the pearl trade has given it the name "City of Pearls" and up until the 18th century, the city was also the only global trading centre for large diamonds. Industrialisation began under the Nizams in the late 19th century, helped by railway expansion that connected the city with major ports. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Indian enterprises, such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and Andhra Bank (AB) were established in the city. The city is home to Hyderabad Securities formerly known as Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE), and houses the regional office of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In 2013, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) facility in Hyderabad was forecasted to provide operations and transactions services to BSE-Mumbai by the end of 2014. The growth of the financial services sector has helped Hyderabad evolve from a traditional manufacturing city to a cosmopolitan industrial service centre. Since the 1990s, the growth of information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITES), insurance and financial institutions has expanded the service sector, and these primary economic activities have boosted the ancillary sectors of trade and commerce, transport, storage, communication, real estate and retail.

 

Hyderabad's commercial markets are divided into four sectors: central business districts, sub-central business centres, neighbourhood business centres and local business centres. Many traditional and historic bazaars are located throughout the city, Laad Bazaar being the prominent among all is popular for selling a variety of traditional and cultural antique wares, along with gems and pearls.

 

The establishment of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), a public sector undertaking, in 1961 was followed over the decades by many national and global companies opening manufacturing and research facilities in the city. As of 2010, the city manufactured one third of India's bulk drugs and 16% of biotechnology products, contributing to its reputation as "India's pharmaceutical capital" and the "Genome Valley of India". Hyderabad is a global centre of information technology, for which it is known as Cyberabad (Cyber City). As of 2013, it contributed 15% of India's and 98% of Andhra Pradesh's exports in IT and ITES sectors and 22% of NASSCOM's total membership is from the city. The development of HITEC City, a township with extensive technological infrastructure, prompted multinational companies to establish facilities in Hyderabad. The city is home to more than 1300 IT and ITES firms, including global conglomerates such as Microsoft (operating its largest R&D campus outside the US), Google, IBM, Yahoo!, Dell, Facebook, and major Indian firms including Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Polaris and Wipro. In 2009 the World Bank Group ranked the city as the second best Indian city for doing business. The city and its suburbs contain the highest number of special economic zones of any Indian city.

 

Like the rest of India, Hyderabad has a large informal economy that employs 30% of the labour force. According to a survey published in 2007, it had 40–50,000 street vendors, and their numbers were increasing. Among the street vendors, 84% are male and 16% female, and four fifths are "stationary vendors" operating from a fixed pitch, often with their own stall. Most are financed through personal savings; only 8% borrow from moneylenders. Vendor earnings vary from ₹50 (75¢ US) to ₹800 (US$12) per day. Other unorganised economic sectors include dairy, poultry farming, brick manufacturing, casual labour and domestic help. Those involved in the informal economy constitute a major portion of urban poor.

 

CULTURE

Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire. After the fall of Delhi in 1857, the migration of performing artists to the city particularly from the north and west of the Indian sub continent, under the patronage of the Nizam, enriched the cultural milieu. This migration resulted in a mingling of North and South Indian languages, cultures and religions, which has since led to a co-existence of Hindu and Muslim traditions, for which the city has become noted. A further consequence of this north–south mix is that both Telugu and Urdu are official languages of Telangana.[164] The mixing of religions has also resulted in many festivals being celebrated in Hyderabad such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali and Bonalu of Hindu tradition and Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha by Muslims.

 

Traditional Hyderabadi garb also reveals a mix of Muslim and South Asian influences with men wearing sherwani and kurta - paijama and women wearing khara dupatta and salwar kameez. Muslim women also commonly wear burqas and hijabs in public. In addition to the traditional Indian and Muslim garments, increasing exposure to western cultures has led to a rise in the wearing of western style clothing among youths.

 

LITERATURE

In the past, Qutb Shahi rulers and Nizams attracted artists, architects and men of letters from different parts of the world through patronage. The resulting ethnic mix popularised cultural events such as mushairas (poetic symposia). The Qutb Shahi dynasty particularly encouraged the growth of Deccani Urdu literature leading to works such as the Deccani Masnavi and Diwan poetry, which are among the earliest available manuscripts in Urdu. Lazzat Un Nisa, a book compiled in the 15th century at Qutb Shahi courts, contains erotic paintings with diagrams for secret medicines and stimulants in the eastern form of ancient sexual arts. The reign of the Nizams saw many literary reforms and the introduction of Urdu as a language of court, administration and education. In 1824, a collection of Urdu Ghazal poetry, named Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa, authored by Mah Laqa Bai - the first female Urdu poet to produce a Diwan - was published in Hyderabad.

 

Hyderabad has continued with these traditions in its annual Hyderabad Literary Festival, held since 2010, showcasing the city's literary and cultural creativity. Organisations engaged in the advancement of literature include the Sahitya Akademi, the Urdu Academy, the Telugu Academy, the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, the Comparative Literature Association of India, and the Andhra Saraswata Parishad. Literary development is further aided by state institutions such as the State Central Library, the largest public library in the state which was established in 1891, and other major libraries including the Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, the British Library and the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.

 

MUSIC AND FILMS

South Indian music and dances such as the Kuchipudi and Kathakali styles are popular in the Deccan region. As a result of their culture policies, North Indian music and dance gained popularity during the rule of the Mughals and Nizams, and it was also during their reign that it became a tradition among the nobility to associate themselves with tawaif (courtesans). These courtesans were revered as the epitome of etiquette and culture, and were appointed to teach singing, poetry and classical dance to many children of the aristocracy. This gave rise to certain styles of court music, dance and poetry. Besides western and Indian popular music genres such as filmi music, the residents of Hyderabad play city-based marfa music, dholak ke geet (household songs based on local Folklore), and qawwali, especially at weddings, festivals and other celebratory events. The state government organises the Golconda Music and Dance Festival, the Taramati Music Festival and the Premavathi Dance Festival to further encourage the development of music.

 

Although the city is not particularly noted for theatre and drama, the state government promotes theatre with multiple programmes and festivals in such venues as the Ravindra Bharati, Shilpakala Vedika and Lalithakala Thoranam. Although not a purely music oriented event, Numaish, a popular annual exhibition of local and national consumer products, does feature some musical performances. The city is home to the Telugu film industry, popularly known as Tollywood and as of 2012, produces the second largest number of films in India with the largest number being produced by Bollywood. Films in the local Hyderabadi dialect are also produced and have been gaining popularity since 2005. The city has also hosted international film festivals such as the International Children's Film Festival and the Hyderabad International Film Festival. In 2005, Guinness World Records declared Ramoji Film City to be the world's largest film studio.

 

ART AND HANDICRAFTS

The region is well known for its Golconda and Hyderabad painting styles which are branches of Deccani painting. Developed during the 16th century, the Golconda style is a native style blending foreign techniques and bears some similarity to the Vijayanagara paintings of neighbouring Mysore. A significant use of luminous gold and white colours is generally found in the Golconda style. The Hyderabad style originated in the 17th century under the Nizams. Highly influenced by Mughal painting, this style makes use of bright colours and mostly depicts regional landscape, culture, costumes and jewellery.

 

Although not a centre for handicrafts itself, the patronage of the arts by the Mughals and Nizams attracted artisans from the region to Hyderabad. Such crafts include: Bidriware, a metalwork handicraft from neighbouring Karnataka, which was popularised during the 18th century and has since been granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag under the auspices of the WTO act; and Zari and Zardozi, embroidery works on textile that involve making elaborate designs using gold, silver and other metal threads. Another example of a handicraft drawn to Hyderabad is Kalamkari, a hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile that comes from cities in Andhra Pradesh. This craft is distinguished in having both a Hindu style, known as Srikalahasti and entirely done by hand, and an Islamic style, known as Machilipatnam that uses both hand and block techniques. Examples of Hyderabad's arts and crafts are housed in various museums including the Salar Jung Museum (housing "one of the largest one-man-collections in the world"), the AP State Archaeology Museum, the Nizam Museum, the City Museum and the Birla Science Museum.

 

CUISINE

Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices. Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem, with their blend of Mughlai and Arab cuisines, have become iconic dishes of India. Hyderabadi cuisine is highly influenced by Mughlai and to some extent by French, Arabic, Turkish, Iranian and native Telugu and Marathwada cuisines. Other popular native dishes include nihari, chakna, baghara baingan and the desserts qubani ka meetha, double ka meetha and kaddu ki kheer (a sweet porridge made with sweet gourd).

 

MEDIA

One of Hyderabad's earliest newspapers, The Deccan Times, was established in the 1780s. In modern times, the major Telugu dailies published in Hyderabad are Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy, Sakshi and Namaste Telangana, while the major English papers are The Times of India, The Hindu and The Deccan Chronicle, and the major Urdu papers include The Siasat Daily, The Munsif Daily and Etemaad. Many coffee table magazines, professional magazines and research journals are also regularly published. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board established the first radio station in Hyderabad State around 1919. Deccan Radio was the first radio public broadcast station in the city starting on 3 February 1935, with FM broadcasting beginning in 2000. The available channels in Hyderabad include All India Radio, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Red FM and Big FM.

 

Television broadcasting in Hyderabad began in 1974 with the launch of Doordarshan, the Government of India's public service broadcaster, which transmits two free-to-air terrestrial television channels and one satellite channel. Private satellite channels started in July 1992 with the launch of Star TV. Satellite TV channels are accessible via cable subscription, direct-broadcast satellite services or internet-based television. Hyderabad's first dial-up internet access became available in the early 1990s and was limited to software development companies. The first public internet access service began in 1995, with the first private sector internet service provider (ISP) starting operations in 1998. In 2015, high-speed public WiFi was introduced in parts of the city.

 

EDUCATION

Public and private schools in Hyderabad are governed by the Central Board of Secondary Education and follow a "10+2+3" plan. About two-thirds of pupils attend privately run institutions. Languages of instruction include English, Hindi, Telugu and Urdu. Depending on the institution, students are required to sit the Secondary School Certificate or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. After completing secondary education, students enroll in schools or junior colleges with a higher secondary facility. Admission to professional graduation colleges in Hyderabad, many of which are affiliated with either Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) or Osmania University (OU), is through the Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAM-CET).There are 13 universities in Hyderabad: two private universities, two deemed universities, six state universities and three central universities. The central universities are the University of Hyderabad, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the English and Foreign Languages University. Osmania University, established in 1918, was the first university in Hyderabad and as of 2012 is India's second most popular institution for international students. The Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, established in 1982, is the first distance learning open university in India.

 

Hyderabad is also home to a number of centres specialising in particular fields such as biomedical sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, such as the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). Hyderabad has five major medical schools - Osmania Medical College, Gandhi Medical College, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences - and many affiliated teaching hospitals. The Government Nizamia Tibbi College is a college of Unani medicine. Hyderabad is also the headquarters of the Indian Heart Association, a non-profit foundation for cardiovascular education.

 

Institutes in Hyderabad include the National Institute of Rural Development, the Indian School of Business, the Institute of Public Enterprise, the Administrative Staff College of India and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Technical and engineering schools include the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad (BITS Hyderabad) and Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) as well as agricultural engineering institutes such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University. Hyderabad also has schools of fashion design including Raffles Millennium International, NIFT Hyderabad and Wigan and Leigh College. The National Institute of Design, Hyderabad (NID-H), will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 2015.

 

SPORTS

The most popular sports played in Hyderabad are cricket and association football. At the professional level, the city has hosted national and international sports events such as the 2002 National Games of India, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open women's tennis tournament, the 2007 Military World Games, the 2009 World Badminton Championships and the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championship. The city hosts a number of venues suitable for professional competition such as the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex for field hockey, the G. M. C. Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli for athletics and football, and for cricket, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, home ground of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. Hyderabad has hosted many international cricket matches, including matches in the 1987 and the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cups. The Hyderabad cricket team represents the city in the Ranji Trophy - a first-class cricket tournament among India's states and cities. Hyderabad is also home to the Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. A previous franchise was the Deccan Chargers, which won the 2009 Indian Premier League held in South Africa.

 

During British rule, Secunderabad became a well-known sporting centre and many race courses, parade grounds and polo fields were built. Many elite clubs formed by the Nizams and the British such as the Secunderabad Club, the Nizam Club and the Hyderabad Race Club, which is known for its horse racing especially the annual Deccan derby, still exist. In more recent times, motorsports has become popular with the Andhra Pradesh Motor Sports Club organising popular events such as the Deccan 1/4 Mile Drag, TSD Rallies and 4x4 off-road rallying.

 

International-level sportspeople from Hyderabad include: cricketers Ghulam Ahmed, M. L. Jaisimha, Mohammed Azharuddin, V. V. S. Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju, Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub and Noel David; football players Syed Abdul Rahim, Syed Nayeemuddin and Shabbir Ali; tennis player Sania Mirza; badminton players S. M. Arif, Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Chetan Anand; hockey players Syed Mohammad Hadi and Mukesh Kumar; rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Asher Noria and bodybuilder Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan.

 

TRANSPORT

The most commonly used forms of medium distance transport in Hyderabad include government owned services such as light railways and buses, as well as privately operated taxis and auto rickshaws. Bus services operate from the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in the city centre and carry over 130 million passengers daily across the entire network. Hyderabad's light rail transportation system, the Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS), is a three line suburban rail service used by over 160,000 passengers daily. Complementing these government services are minibus routes operated by Setwin (Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities). Intercity rail services also operate from Hyderabad; the main, and largest, station is Secunderabad Railway Station, which serves as Indian Railways' South Central Railway zone headquarters and a hub for both buses and MMTS light rail services connecting Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Other major railway stations in Hyderabad are Hyderabad Deccan Station, Kachiguda Railway Station, Begumpet Railway Station, Malkajgiri Railway Station and Lingampally Railway Station. The Hyderabad Metro, a new rapid transit system, is to be added to the existing public transport infrastructure and is scheduled to operate three lines by 2015. As of 2012, there are over 3.5 million vehicles operating in the city, of which 74% are two-wheelers, 15% cars and 3% three-wheelers. The remaining 8% include buses, goods vehicles and taxis. The large number of vehicles coupled with relatively low road coverage - roads occupy only 9.5% of the total city area - has led to widespread traffic congestion especially since 80% of passengers and 60% of freight are transported by road. The Inner Ring Road, the Outer Ring Road, the Hyderabad Elevated Expressway, the longest flyover in India, and various interchanges, overpasses and underpasses were built to ease the congestion. Maximum speed limits within the city are 50 km/h for two-wheelers and cars, 35 km/h for auto rickshaws and 40 km/h for light commercial vehicles and buses.

 

Hyderabad sits at the junction of three National Highways linking it to six other states: NH-7 runs 2,369 km from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in the north to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, in the south; NH-9, runs 841 km east-west between Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and Pune, Maharashtra; and the 280 km NH-163 links Hyderabad to Bhopalpatnam, Chhattisgarh. Five state highways, SH-1, SH-2, SH-4, SH-5 and SH-6, either start from, or pass through, Hyderabad.

 

Air traffic was previously handled via Begumpet Airport, but this was replaced by Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) (IATA: HYD, ICAO: VOHS) in 2008, with the capacity of handling 12 million passengers and 100,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. In 2011, Airports Council International, an autonomous body representing the world's airports, judged RGIA the world's best airport in the 5–15 million passenger category and the world's fifth best airport for service quality.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Hyderabad (Listeni/ˈhaɪdərəˌbæd/ HY-dər-ə-bad; often /ˈhaɪdrəˌbæd/) is the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. Occupying 625 square kilometres along the banks of the Musi River, it has a population of about 6.8 million and a metropolitan population of about 7.75 million, making it the fourth most populous city and sixth most populous urban agglomeration in India. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including Hussain Sagar - predating the city's founding - north of the city centre.

 

Established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, known as the Nizams of Hyderabad. The Nizam's dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, and became the capital of Andhra Pradesh after the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the newly formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh and the city became joint capital of the two states, a transitional arrangement scheduled to end by 2025.

 

Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible today, with the Charminar - commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah - coming to symbolise Hyderabad. Golconda fort is another major landmark. The influence of Mughlai culture is also evident in the city's distinctive cuisine, which includes Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, attracting men of letters from different parts of the world. Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire in the mid-19th century, with artists migrating to the city from the rest of the Indian subcontinent. While Hyderabad is losing its cultural pre-eminence, it is today, due to the Telugu film industry, the country's second-largest producer of motion pictures.

 

Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, and it continues to be known as the City of Pearls. Many of the city's traditional bazaars, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar, have remained open for centuries. However, industrialisation throughout the 20th century attracted major Indian manufacturing, research and financial institutions, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Special economic zones dedicated to information technology have encouraged companies from across India and around the world to set up operations and the emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the area's naming as India's "Genome Valley". With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to India's overall gross domestic product.

 

HISTORY

TOPONYMY

According to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means "Haydar's city" or "lion city", from haydar (lion) and ābād (city). It was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who was also known as Haydar because of his lion-like valour in battles. Andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was originally called Baghnagar (city of gardens). One popular theory suggests that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city, named it "Bhaganagar" or "Bhāgnagar" after Bhagmati, a local nautch (dancing) girl with whom he had fallen in love. She converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was renamed Hyderabad in her honour. According to another source, the city was named after Haidar, the son of Quli Qutb Shah.

 

EARLY AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY

Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE. The region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda ("shepherd's hill"), and was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE. Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, Golkonda came under the control of the Kakatiya dynasty from 1158, whose seat of power was at Warangal, 148 km northeast of modern Hyderabad.

 

The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khilji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate. This lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khilji's general. During this period, Alauddin Khilji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is said to have been mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda, to Delhi. Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded to the Delhi sultanate in 1325, bringing Warangal under the rule of the Tughlaq dynasty until 1347 when Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah, a governor under bin Tughluq, rebelled against Delhi and established the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan Plateau, with Gulbarga, 200 km west of Hyderabad, as its capital. The Bahmani kings ruled the region until 1518 and were the first independent Muslim rulers of the Deccan.

 

Sultan Quli, a governor of Golkonda, revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1518; he rebuilt the mud-fort of Golconda and named the city "Muhammad nagar". The fifth sultan, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, established Hyderabad on the banks of the Musi River in 1591, to avoid the water shortages experienced at Golkonda. During his rule, he had the Charminar and Mecca Masjid built in the city. On 21 September 1687, the Golkonda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after a year-long siege of the Golkonda fort. The annexed area was renamed Deccan Suba (Deccan province) and the capital was moved from Golkonda to Aurangabad, about 550 km northwest of Hyderabad.

 

MODERN HISTORY

In 1713 Farrukhsiyar, the Mughal emperor, appointed Asif Jah I to be Viceroy of the Deccan, with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Administrator of the Realm). In 1724, Asif Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan to establish autonomy over the Deccan Suba, named the region Hyderabad Deccan, and started what came to be known as the Asif Jahi dynasty. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were referred to as Asif Jahi Nizams, or Nizams of Hyderabad. The death of Asif Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons, backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces, contended for the throne. The accession of Asif Jah II, who reigned from 1762 to 1803, ended the instability. In 1768 he signed the treaty of Masulipatnam, surrendering the coastal region to the East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent.

 

In 1769 Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Nizams. In response to regular threats from Hyder Ali (Dalwai of Mysore), Baji Rao I (Peshwa of the Maratha Empire), and Basalath Jung (Asif Jah II's elder brother, who was supported by the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau), the Nizam signed a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1798, allowing the British Indian Army to occupy Bolarum (modern Secunderabad) to protect the state's borders, for which the Nizams paid an annual maintenance to the British.

 

Until 1874 there were no modern industries in Hyderabad. With the introduction of railways in the 1880s, four factories were built to the south and east of Hussain Sagar lake, and during the early 20th century, Hyderabad was transformed into a modern city with the establishment of transport services, underground drainage, running water, electricity, telecommunications, universities, industries, and Begumpet Airport. The Nizams ruled their princely state from Hyderabad during the British Raj.

 

After India gained independence, the Nizam declared his intention to remain independent rather than become part of the Indian Union. The Hyderabad State Congress, with the support of the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India, began agitating against Nizam VII in 1948. On 17 September that year, the Indian Army took control of Hyderabad State after an invasion codenamed Operation Polo. With the defeat of his forces, Nizam VII capitulated to the Indian Union by signing an Instrument of Accession, which made him the Rajpramukh (Princely Governor) of the state until 31 October 1956. Between 1946 and 1951, the Communist Party of India fomented the Telangana uprising against the feudal lords of the Telangana region. The Constitution of India, which became effective on 26 January 1950, made Hyderabad State one of the part B states of India, with Hyderabad city continuing to be the capital. In his 1955 report Thoughts on Linguistic States, B. R. Ambedkar, then chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, proposed designating the city of Hyderabad as the second capital of India because of its amenities and strategic central location. Since 1956, the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad has been the second official residence and business office of the President of India; the President stays once a year in winter and conducts official business particularly relating to Southern India.

 

On 1 November 1956 the states of India were reorganised by language. Hyderabad state was split into three parts, which were merged with neighbouring states to form the modern states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The nine Telugu- and Urdu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in the Telangana region were merged with the Telugu-speaking Andhra State to create Andhra Pradesh,with Hyderabad as its capital. Several protests, known collectively as the Telangana movement, attempted to invalidate the merger and demanded the creation of a new Telangana state. Major actions took place in 1969 and 1972, and a third began in 2010. The city suffered several explosions: one at Dilsukhnagar in 2002 claimed two lives; terrorist bombs in May and August 2007 caused communal tension and riots; and two bombs exploded in February 2013. On 30 July 2013 the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of India declared that part of Andhra Pradesh would be split off to form a new Telangana state, and that Hyderabad city would be the capital city and part of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. On 3 October 2013 the Union Cabinet approved the proposal, and in February 2014 both houses of Parliament passed the Telangana Bill. With the final assent of the President of India in June 2014, Telangana state was formed.

 

GEOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY

Situated in the southern part of Telangana in southeastern India, Hyderabad is 1,566 kilometres south of Delhi, 699 kilometres southeast of Mumbai, and 570 kilometres north of Bangalore by road. It lies on the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of the Deccan Plateau. Greater Hyderabad covers 625 km2, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. With an average altitude of 542 metres, Hyderabad lies on predominantly sloping terrain of grey and pink granite, dotted with small hills, the highest being Banjara Hills at 672 metres. The city has numerous lakes referred to as sagar, meaning "sea". Examples include artificial lakes created by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (built in 1562 near the city centre), Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. As of 1996, the city had 140 lakes and 834 water tanks (ponds).

 

CLIMATE

Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The annual mean temperature is 26.6 °C; monthly mean temperatures are 21–33 °C. Summers (March–June) are hot and humid, with average highs in the mid-to-high 30s Celsius; maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C between April and June. The coolest temperatures occur in December and January, when the lowest temperature occasionally dips to 10 °C. May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from 26 to 39 °C; December, the coldest, has temperatures varying from 14.5 to 28 °C.

 

Heavy rain from the south-west summer monsoon falls between June and September, supplying Hyderabad with most of its mean annual rainfall. Since records began in November 1891, the heaviest rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period was 241.5 mm on 24 August 2000. The highest temperature ever recorded was 45.5 °C on 2 June 1966, and the lowest was 6.1 °C on 8 January 1946. The city receives 2,731 hours of sunshine per year; maximum daily sunlight exposure occurs in February.

 

CONSERVATION

Hyderabad's lakes and the sloping terrain of its low-lying hills provide habitat for an assortment of flora and fauna. The forest region in and around the city encompasses areas of ecological and biological importance, which are preserved in the form of national parks, zoos, mini-zoos and a wildlife sanctuary. Nehru Zoological Park, the city's one large zoo, is the first in India to have a lion and tiger safari park. Hyderabad has three national parks (Mrugavani National Park, Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park), and the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary is about 50 km from the city. Hyderabad's other environmental reserves are: Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Gardens, Shamirpet Lake, Hussain Sagar, Fox Sagar Lake, Mir Alam Tank and Patancheru Lake, which is home to regional birds and attracts seasonal migratory birds from different parts of the world. Organisations engaged in environmental and wildlife preservation include the Telangana Forest Department, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Animal Welfare Board of India, the Blue Cross of Hyderabad and the University of Hyderabad.

 

ADMINISTRATION

COMMON CAPITAL OF TELANGANA AND ANDHRA PRADESH

According to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 part 2 Section 5: "On and from the appointed day, Hyderabad in the existing State of Andhra Pradesh, shall be the common capital of the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years. After expiry of the period referred to in sub-section, Hyderabad shall be the capital of the State of Telangana and there shall be a new capital for the State of Andhra Pradesh."

 

The same sections also define that the common capital includes the existing area designated as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. As stipulated in sections 3 and 18 of the Reorganisation Act, city MLAs are members of Telangana state assembly.

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) oversees the civic infrastructure of the city's 18 "circles", which together encompass 150 municipal wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator, elected by popular vote. The corporators elect the Mayor, who is the titular head of GHMC; executive powers rest with the Municipal Commissioner, appointed by the state government. The GHMC carries out the city's infrastructural work such as building and maintenance of roads and drains, town planning including construction regulation, maintenance of municipal markets and parks, solid waste management, the issuing of birth and death certificates, the issuing of trade licences, collection of property tax, and community welfare services such as mother and child healthcare, and pre-school and non-formal education. The GHMC was formed in April 2007 by merging the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) with 12 municipalities of the Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts covering a total area of 625 km2. In the 2009 municipal election, an alliance of the Indian National Congress and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen formed the majority. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board is a civic administration agency overseeing an area of 40.1 km2, where there are several military camps. The Osmania University campus is administered independently by the university authority.

 

Law and order in Hyderabad city is supervised by the governor of Telangana. The jurisdiction is divided into two police commissionerates: Hyderabad and Cyberabad, which are again divided into four and five police zones respectively. Each zone is headed by a deputy commissioner.

 

The jurisdictions of the city's administrative agencies are, in ascending order of size: the Hyderabad Police area, Hyderabad district, the GHMC area ("Hyderabad city") and the area under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The HMDA is an apolitical urban planning agency that covers the GHMC and its suburbs, extending to 54 mandals in five districts encircling the city. It coordinates the development activities of GHMC and suburban municipalities and manages the administration of bodies such as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB).

 

As the seat of the government of Telangana, Hyderabad is home to the state's legislature, secretariat and high court, as well as various local government agencies. The Lower City Civil Court and the Metropolitan Criminal Court are under the jurisdiction of the High Court. The GHMC area contains 24 State Legislative Assembly constituencies, which form five constituencies of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India).

 

UTILITY SERVICES

The HMWSSB regulates rainwater harvesting, sewerage services and water supply, which is sourced from several dams located in the suburbs. In 2005, the HMWSSB started operating a 116-kilometre-long water supply pipeline from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to meet increasing demand. The Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited manages electricity supply. As of October 2014, there were 15 fire stations in the city, operated by the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department. The government-owned India Post has five head post offices and many sub-post offices in Hyderabad, which are complemented by private courier services.

 

POLLUTION CONTROL

Hyderabad produces around 4,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, which is transported from collection units in Imlibun, Yousufguda and Lower Tank Bund to the dumpsite in Jawaharnagar. Disposal is managed by the Integrated Solid Waste Management project which was started by the GHMC in 2010. Rapid urbanisation and increased economic activity has also led to increased industrial waste, air, noise and water pollution, which is regulated by the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TPCB). The contribution of different sources to air pollution in 2006 was: 20–50% from vehicles, 40–70% from a combination of vehicle discharge and road dust, 10–30% from industrial discharges and 3–10% from the burning of household rubbish. Deaths resulting from atmospheric particulate matter are estimated at 1,700–3,000 each year. Ground water around Hyderabad, which has a hardness of up to 1000 ppm, around three times higher than is desirable, is the main source of drinking water but the increasing population and consequent increase in demand has led to a decline in not only ground water but also river and lake levels. This shortage is further exacerbated by inadequately treated effluent discharged from industrial treatment plants polluting the water sources of the city.

 

HEALTHCARE

The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of all facilities related to health and preventive services. As of 2010–11, the city had 50 government hospitals, 300 private and charity hospitals and 194 nursing homes providing around 12,000 hospital beds, fewer than half the required 25,000. For every 10,000 people in the city, there are 17.6 hospital beds, 9 specialist doctors, 14 nurses and 6 physicians. The city also has about 4,000 individual clinics and 500 medical diagnostic centres. Private clinics are preferred by many residents because of the distance to, poor quality of care at and long waiting times in government facilities, despite the high proportion of the city's residents being covered by government health insurance: 24% according to a National Family Health Survey in 2005. As of 2012, many new private hospitals of various sizes were opened or being built. Hyderabad also has outpatient and inpatient facilities that use Unani, homeopathic and Ayurvedic treatments.

 

In the 2005 National Family Health Survey, it was reported that the city's total fertility rate is 1.8, which is below the replacement rate. Only 61% of children had been provided with all basic vaccines (BCG, measles and full courses of polio and DPT), fewer than in all other surveyed cities except Meerut. The infant mortality rate was 35 per 1,000 live births, and the mortality rate for children under five was 41 per 1,000 live births. The survey also reported that a third of women and a quarter of men are overweight or obese, 49% of children below 5 years are anaemic, and up to 20% of children are underweight, while more than 2% of women and 3% of men suffer from diabetes.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

When the GHMC was created in 2007, the area occupied by the municipality increased from 175 km2 to 625 km2. Consequently, the population increased by 87%, from 3,637,483 in the 2001 census to 6,809,970 in the 2011 census, 24% of which are migrants from elsewhere in India, making Hyderabad the nation's fourth most populous city. As of 2011, the population density is 18,480/km2. At the same 2011 census, the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration had a population of 7,749,334, making it the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the country. The population of the Hyderabad urban agglomeration has since been estimated by electoral officials to be 9.1 million as of early 2013 but is expected to exceed 10 million by the end of the year. There are 3,500,802 male and 3,309,168 female citizens - a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. Among children aged 0–6 years, 373,794 are boys and 352,022 are girls - a ratio of 942 per 1000. Literacy stands at 82.96% (male 85.96%; female 79.79%), higher than the national average of 74.04%. The socio-economic strata consist of 20% upper class, 50% middle class and 30% working class.

 

ETHNIC GROUPS, LANGUAGE AND RELIGION

Referred to as "Hyderabadi", residents of Hyderabad are predominantly Telugu and Urdu speaking people, with minority Bengali, Gujarati (including Memon), Kannada (including Nawayathi), Malayalam, Marathi, Marwari, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Uttar Pradeshi communities. Hadhrami Arabs, African Arabs, Armenians, Abyssinians, Iranians, Pathans and Turkish people are also present; these communities, of which the Hadhrami are the largest, declined after Hyderabad State became part of the Indian Union, as they lost the patronage of the Nizams.

 

Telugu is the official language of Hyderabad and Urdu is its second language. The Telugu dialect spoken in Hyderabad is called Telangana, and the Urdu spoken is called Dakhani. English is also used. A significant minority speak other languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada.

 

Hindus are in the majority. Muslims are present throughout the city and predominate in and around the Old City. There are also Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi communities and iconic temples, mosques and churches can be seen. According to the 2001 census, Hyderabad district's religious make-up was: Hindus (55.41%), Muslims (41.17%), Christians (2.43%), Jains (0.43%), Sikhs (0.29%) and Buddhists (0.02%); 0.23% did not state any religion.

 

SLUMS

In the greater metropolitan area, 13% of the population live below the poverty line. According to a 2012 report submitted by GHMC to the World Bank, Hyderabad has 1,476 slums with a total population of 1.7 million, of whom 66% live in 985 slums in the "core" of the city (the part that formed Hyderabad before the April 2007 expansion) and the remaining 34% live in 491 suburban tenements. About 22% of the slum-dwelling households had migrated from different parts of India in the last decade of the 20th century, and 63% claimed to have lived in the slums for more than 10 years. Overall literacy in the slums is 60–80% and female literacy is 52–73%. A third of the slums have basic service connections, and the remainder depend on general public services provided by the government. There are 405 government schools, 267 government aided schools, 175 private schools and 528 community halls in the slum areas. According to a 2008 survey by the Centre for Good Governance, 87.6% of the slum-dwelling households are nuclear families, 18% are very poor, with an income up to ₹20000 (US$300) per annum, 73% live below the poverty line (a standard poverty line recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Government is ₹24000 (US$360) per annum), 27% of the chief wage earners (CWE) are casual labour and 38% of the CWE are illiterate. About 3.72% of the slum children aged 5–14 do not go to school and 3.17% work as child labour, of whom 64% are boys and 36% are girls. The largest employers of child labour are street shops and construction sites. Among the working children, 35% are engaged in hazardous jobs.

 

NEIGHBOURHOODS

The historic city established by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah on the southern side of the Musi River forms the "Old City", while the "New City" encompasses the urbanised area on the northern banks. The two are connected by many bridges across the river, the oldest of which is Purana Pul ("old bridge"). Hyderabad is twinned with neighbouring Secunderabad, to which it is connected by Hussain Sagar.

 

Many historic and tourist sites lie in south central Hyderabad, such as the Charminar, the Mecca Masjid, the Salar Jung Museum, the Nizam's Museum, the Falaknuma Palace, and the traditional retail corridor comprising the Pearl Market, Laad Bazaar and Madina Circle. North of the river are hospitals, colleges, major railway stations and business areas such as Begum Bazaar, Koti, Abids, Sultan Bazaar and Moazzam Jahi Market, along with administrative and recreational establishments such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Telangana Secretariat, the Hyderabad Mint, the Telangana Legislature, the Public Gardens, the Nizam Club, the Ravindra Bharathi, the State Museum, the Birla Temple and the Birla Planetarium.

 

North of central Hyderabad lie Hussain Sagar, Tank Bund Road, Rani Gunj and the Secunderabad Railway Station. Most of the city's parks and recreational centres, such as Sanjeevaiah Park, Indira Park, Lumbini Park, NTR Gardens, the Buddha statue and Tankbund Park are located here. In the northwest part of the city there are upscale residential and commercial areas such as Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Khairatabad and Miyapur. The northern end contains industrial areas such as Sanathnagar, Moosapet, Balanagar, Patancheru and Chanda Nagar. The northeast end is dotted with residential areas. In the eastern part of the city lie many defence research centres and Ramoji Film City. The "Cyberabad" area in the southwest and west of the city has grown rapidly since the 1990s. It is home to information technology and bio-pharmaceutical companies and to landmarks such as Hyderabad Airport, Osman Sagar, Himayath Sagar and Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park.

 

LANDMARKS

Heritage buildings constructed during the Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras showcase Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval, Mughal and European styles. After the 1908 flooding of the Musi River, the city was expanded and civic monuments constructed, particularly during the rule of Mir Osman Ali Khan (the VIIth Nizam), whose patronage of architecture led to him being referred to as the maker of modern Hyderabad. In 2012, the government of India declared Hyderabad the first "Best heritage city of India".

 

Qutb Shahi architecture of the 16th and early 17th centuries followed classical Persian architecture featuring domes and colossal arches. The oldest surviving Qutb Shahi structure in Hyderabad is the ruins of Golconda fort built in the 16th century. The Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Charkaman and Qutb Shahi tombs are other existing structures of this period. Among these the Charminar has become an icon of the city; located in the centre of old Hyderabad, it is a square structure with sides 20 m long and four grand arches each facing a road. At each corner stands a 56 m-high minaret. Most of the historical bazaars that still exist were constructed on the street north of Charminar towards Golconda fort. The Charminar, Qutb Shahi tombs and Golconda fort are considered to be monuments of national importance in India; in 2010 the Indian government proposed that the sites be listed for UNESCO World Heritage status.

 

Among the oldest surviving examples of Nizam architecture in Hyderabad is the Chowmahalla Palace, which was the seat of royal power. It showcases a diverse array of architectural styles, from the Baroque Harem to its Neoclassical royal court. The other palaces include Falaknuma Palace (inspired by the style of Andrea Palladio), Purani Haveli, King Kothi and Bella Vista Palace all of which were built at the peak of Nizam rule in the 19th century. During Mir Osman Ali Khan's rule, European styles, along with Indo-Islamic, became prominent. These styles are reflected in the Falaknuma Palace and many civic monuments such as the Hyderabad High Court, Osmania Hospital, Osmania University, the State Central Library, City College, the Telangana Legislature, the State Archaeology Museum, Jubilee Hall, and Hyderabad and Kachiguda railway stations. Other landmarks of note are Paigah Palace, Asman Garh Palace, Basheer Bagh Palace, Errum Manzil and the Spanish Mosque, all constructed by the Paigah family.

 

ECONOMY

Hyderabad is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP), tax and other revenues, of Telangana, and the sixth largest deposit centre and fourth largest credit centre nationwide, as ranked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2012. Its US$74 billion GDP made it the fifth-largest contributor city to India's overall GDP in 2011–12. Its per capita annual income in 2011 was ₹44300 (US$670). As of 2006, the largest employers in the city were the governments of Andhra Pradesh (113,098 employees) and India (85,155). According to a 2005 survey, 77% of males and 19% of females in the city were employed. The service industry remains dominant in the city, and 90% of the employed workforce is engaged in this sector.

 

Hyderabad's role in the pearl trade has given it the name "City of Pearls" and up until the 18th century, the city was also the only global trading centre for large diamonds. Industrialisation began under the Nizams in the late 19th century, helped by railway expansion that connected the city with major ports. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Indian enterprises, such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and Andhra Bank (AB) were established in the city. The city is home to Hyderabad Securities formerly known as Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE), and houses the regional office of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In 2013, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) facility in Hyderabad was forecasted to provide operations and transactions services to BSE-Mumbai by the end of 2014. The growth of the financial services sector has helped Hyderabad evolve from a traditional manufacturing city to a cosmopolitan industrial service centre. Since the 1990s, the growth of information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITES), insurance and financial institutions has expanded the service sector, and these primary economic activities have boosted the ancillary sectors of trade and commerce, transport, storage, communication, real estate and retail.

 

Hyderabad's commercial markets are divided into four sectors: central business districts, sub-central business centres, neighbourhood business centres and local business centres. Many traditional and historic bazaars are located throughout the city, Laad Bazaar being the prominent among all is popular for selling a variety of traditional and cultural antique wares, along with gems and pearls.

 

The establishment of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), a public sector undertaking, in 1961 was followed over the decades by many national and global companies opening manufacturing and research facilities in the city. As of 2010, the city manufactured one third of India's bulk drugs and 16% of biotechnology products, contributing to its reputation as "India's pharmaceutical capital" and the "Genome Valley of India". Hyderabad is a global centre of information technology, for which it is known as Cyberabad (Cyber City). As of 2013, it contributed 15% of India's and 98% of Andhra Pradesh's exports in IT and ITES sectors and 22% of NASSCOM's total membership is from the city. The development of HITEC City, a township with extensive technological infrastructure, prompted multinational companies to establish facilities in Hyderabad. The city is home to more than 1300 IT and ITES firms, including global conglomerates such as Microsoft (operating its largest R&D campus outside the US), Google, IBM, Yahoo!, Dell, Facebook, and major Indian firms including Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Polaris and Wipro. In 2009 the World Bank Group ranked the city as the second best Indian city for doing business. The city and its suburbs contain the highest number of special economic zones of any Indian city.

 

Like the rest of India, Hyderabad has a large informal economy that employs 30% of the labour force. According to a survey published in 2007, it had 40–50,000 street vendors, and their numbers were increasing. Among the street vendors, 84% are male and 16% female, and four fifths are "stationary vendors" operating from a fixed pitch, often with their own stall. Most are financed through personal savings; only 8% borrow from moneylenders. Vendor earnings vary from ₹50 (75¢ US) to ₹800 (US$12) per day. Other unorganised economic sectors include dairy, poultry farming, brick manufacturing, casual labour and domestic help. Those involved in the informal economy constitute a major portion of urban poor.

 

CULTURE

Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire. After the fall of Delhi in 1857, the migration of performing artists to the city particularly from the north and west of the Indian sub continent, under the patronage of the Nizam, enriched the cultural milieu. This migration resulted in a mingling of North and South Indian languages, cultures and religions, which has since led to a co-existence of Hindu and Muslim traditions, for which the city has become noted. A further consequence of this north–south mix is that both Telugu and Urdu are official languages of Telangana.[164] The mixing of religions has also resulted in many festivals being celebrated in Hyderabad such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali and Bonalu of Hindu tradition and Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha by Muslims.

 

Traditional Hyderabadi garb also reveals a mix of Muslim and South Asian influences with men wearing sherwani and kurta - paijama and women wearing khara dupatta and salwar kameez. Muslim women also commonly wear burqas and hijabs in public. In addition to the traditional Indian and Muslim garments, increasing exposure to western cultures has led to a rise in the wearing of western style clothing among youths.

 

LITERATURE

In the past, Qutb Shahi rulers and Nizams attracted artists, architects and men of letters from different parts of the world through patronage. The resulting ethnic mix popularised cultural events such as mushairas (poetic symposia). The Qutb Shahi dynasty particularly encouraged the growth of Deccani Urdu literature leading to works such as the Deccani Masnavi and Diwan poetry, which are among the earliest available manuscripts in Urdu. Lazzat Un Nisa, a book compiled in the 15th century at Qutb Shahi courts, contains erotic paintings with diagrams for secret medicines and stimulants in the eastern form of ancient sexual arts. The reign of the Nizams saw many literary reforms and the introduction of Urdu as a language of court, administration and education. In 1824, a collection of Urdu Ghazal poetry, named Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa, authored by Mah Laqa Bai - the first female Urdu poet to produce a Diwan - was published in Hyderabad.

 

Hyderabad has continued with these traditions in its annual Hyderabad Literary Festival, held since 2010, showcasing the city's literary and cultural creativity. Organisations engaged in the advancement of literature include the Sahitya Akademi, the Urdu Academy, the Telugu Academy, the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, the Comparative Literature Association of India, and the Andhra Saraswata Parishad. Literary development is further aided by state institutions such as the State Central Library, the largest public library in the state which was established in 1891, and other major libraries including the Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, the British Library and the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.

 

MUSIC AND FILMS

South Indian music and dances such as the Kuchipudi and Kathakali styles are popular in the Deccan region. As a result of their culture policies, North Indian music and dance gained popularity during the rule of the Mughals and Nizams, and it was also during their reign that it became a tradition among the nobility to associate themselves with tawaif (courtesans). These courtesans were revered as the epitome of etiquette and culture, and were appointed to teach singing, poetry and classical dance to many children of the aristocracy. This gave rise to certain styles of court music, dance and poetry. Besides western and Indian popular music genres such as filmi music, the residents of Hyderabad play city-based marfa music, dholak ke geet (household songs based on local Folklore), and qawwali, especially at weddings, festivals and other celebratory events. The state government organises the Golconda Music and Dance Festival, the Taramati Music Festival and the Premavathi Dance Festival to further encourage the development of music.

 

Although the city is not particularly noted for theatre and drama, the state government promotes theatre with multiple programmes and festivals in such venues as the Ravindra Bharati, Shilpakala Vedika and Lalithakala Thoranam. Although not a purely music oriented event, Numaish, a popular annual exhibition of local and national consumer products, does feature some musical performances. The city is home to the Telugu film industry, popularly known as Tollywood and as of 2012, produces the second largest number of films in India with the largest number being produced by Bollywood. Films in the local Hyderabadi dialect are also produced and have been gaining popularity since 2005. The city has also hosted international film festivals such as the International Children's Film Festival and the Hyderabad International Film Festival. In 2005, Guinness World Records declared Ramoji Film City to be the world's largest film studio.

 

ART AND HANDICRAFTS

The region is well known for its Golconda and Hyderabad painting styles which are branches of Deccani painting. Developed during the 16th century, the Golconda style is a native style blending foreign techniques and bears some similarity to the Vijayanagara paintings of neighbouring Mysore. A significant use of luminous gold and white colours is generally found in the Golconda style. The Hyderabad style originated in the 17th century under the Nizams. Highly influenced by Mughal painting, this style makes use of bright colours and mostly depicts regional landscape, culture, costumes and jewellery.

 

Although not a centre for handicrafts itself, the patronage of the arts by the Mughals and Nizams attracted artisans from the region to Hyderabad. Such crafts include: Bidriware, a metalwork handicraft from neighbouring Karnataka, which was popularised during the 18th century and has since been granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag under the auspices of the WTO act; and Zari and Zardozi, embroidery works on textile that involve making elaborate designs using gold, silver and other metal threads. Another example of a handicraft drawn to Hyderabad is Kalamkari, a hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile that comes from cities in Andhra Pradesh. This craft is distinguished in having both a Hindu style, known as Srikalahasti and entirely done by hand, and an Islamic style, known as Machilipatnam that uses both hand and block techniques. Examples of Hyderabad's arts and crafts are housed in various museums including the Salar Jung Museum (housing "one of the largest one-man-collections in the world"), the AP State Archaeology Museum, the Nizam Museum, the City Museum and the Birla Science Museum.

 

CUISINE

Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices. Hyderabadi biryani and Hyderabadi haleem, with their blend of Mughlai and Arab cuisines, have become iconic dishes of India. Hyderabadi cuisine is highly influenced by Mughlai and to some extent by French, Arabic, Turkish, Iranian and native Telugu and Marathwada cuisines. Other popular native dishes include nihari, chakna, baghara baingan and the desserts qubani ka meetha, double ka meetha and kaddu ki kheer (a sweet porridge made with sweet gourd).

 

MEDIA

One of Hyderabad's earliest newspapers, The Deccan Times, was established in the 1780s. In modern times, the major Telugu dailies published in Hyderabad are Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy, Sakshi and Namaste Telangana, while the major English papers are The Times of India, The Hindu and The Deccan Chronicle, and the major Urdu papers include The Siasat Daily, The Munsif Daily and Etemaad. Many coffee table magazines, professional magazines and research journals are also regularly published. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board established the first radio station in Hyderabad State around 1919. Deccan Radio was the first radio public broadcast station in the city starting on 3 February 1935, with FM broadcasting beginning in 2000. The available channels in Hyderabad include All India Radio, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Red FM and Big FM.

 

Television broadcasting in Hyderabad began in 1974 with the launch of Doordarshan, the Government of India's public service broadcaster, which transmits two free-to-air terrestrial television channels and one satellite channel. Private satellite channels started in July 1992 with the launch of Star TV. Satellite TV channels are accessible via cable subscription, direct-broadcast satellite services or internet-based television. Hyderabad's first dial-up internet access became available in the early 1990s and was limited to software development companies. The first public internet access service began in 1995, with the first private sector internet service provider (ISP) starting operations in 1998. In 2015, high-speed public WiFi was introduced in parts of the city.

 

EDUCATION

Public and private schools in Hyderabad are governed by the Central Board of Secondary Education and follow a "10+2+3" plan. About two-thirds of pupils attend privately run institutions. Languages of instruction include English, Hindi, Telugu and Urdu. Depending on the institution, students are required to sit the Secondary School Certificate or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. After completing secondary education, students enroll in schools or junior colleges with a higher secondary facility. Admission to professional graduation colleges in Hyderabad, many of which are affiliated with either Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) or Osmania University (OU), is through the Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAM-CET).There are 13 universities in Hyderabad: two private universities, two deemed universities, six state universities and three central universities. The central universities are the University of Hyderabad, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the English and Foreign Languages University. Osmania University, established in 1918, was the first university in Hyderabad and as of 2012 is India's second most popular institution for international students. The Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, established in 1982, is the first distance learning open university in India.

 

Hyderabad is also home to a number of centres specialising in particular fields such as biomedical sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, such as the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN). Hyderabad has five major medical schools - Osmania Medical College, Gandhi Medical College, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences - and many affiliated teaching hospitals. The Government Nizamia Tibbi College is a college of Unani medicine. Hyderabad is also the headquarters of the Indian Heart Association, a non-profit foundation for cardiovascular education.

 

Institutes in Hyderabad include the National Institute of Rural Development, the Indian School of Business, the Institute of Public Enterprise, the Administrative Staff College of India and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Technical and engineering schools include the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad (BITS Hyderabad) and Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) as well as agricultural engineering institutes such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University. Hyderabad also has schools of fashion design including Raffles Millennium International, NIFT Hyderabad and Wigan and Leigh College. The National Institute of Design, Hyderabad (NID-H), will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 2015.

 

SPORTS

The most popular sports played in Hyderabad are cricket and association football. At the professional level, the city has hosted national and international sports events such as the 2002 National Games of India, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open women's tennis tournament, the 2007 Military World Games, the 2009 World Badminton Championships and the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championship. The city hosts a number of venues suitable for professional competition such as the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex for field hockey, the G. M. C. Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli for athletics and football, and for cricket, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, home ground of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. Hyderabad has hosted many international cricket matches, including matches in the 1987 and the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cups. The Hyderabad cricket team represents the city in the Ranji Trophy - a first-class cricket tournament among India's states and cities. Hyderabad is also home to the Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. A previous franchise was the Deccan Chargers, which won the 2009 Indian Premier League held in South Africa.

 

During British rule, Secunderabad became a well-known sporting centre and many race courses, parade grounds and polo fields were built. Many elite clubs formed by the Nizams and the British such as the Secunderabad Club, the Nizam Club and the Hyderabad Race Club, which is known for its horse racing especially the annual Deccan derby, still exist. In more recent times, motorsports has become popular with the Andhra Pradesh Motor Sports Club organising popular events such as the Deccan 1/4 Mile Drag, TSD Rallies and 4x4 off-road rallying.

 

International-level sportspeople from Hyderabad include: cricketers Ghulam Ahmed, M. L. Jaisimha, Mohammed Azharuddin, V. V. S. Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju, Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub and Noel David; football players Syed Abdul Rahim, Syed Nayeemuddin and Shabbir Ali; tennis player Sania Mirza; badminton players S. M. Arif, Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Chetan Anand; hockey players Syed Mohammad Hadi and Mukesh Kumar; rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Asher Noria and bodybuilder Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan.

 

TRANSPORT

The most commonly used forms of medium distance transport in Hyderabad include government owned services such as light railways and buses, as well as privately operated taxis and auto rickshaws. Bus services operate from the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in the city centre and carry over 130 million passengers daily across the entire network. Hyderabad's light rail transportation system, the Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS), is a three line suburban rail service used by over 160,000 passengers daily. Complementing these government services are minibus routes operated by Setwin (Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities). Intercity rail services also operate from Hyderabad; the main, and largest, station is Secunderabad Railway Station, which serves as Indian Railways' South Central Railway zone headquarters and a hub for both buses and MMTS light rail services connecting Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Other major railway stations in Hyderabad are Hyderabad Deccan Station, Kachiguda Railway Station, Begumpet Railway Station, Malkajgiri Railway Station and Lingampally Railway Station. The Hyderabad Metro, a new rapid transit system, is to be added to the existing public transport infrastructure and is scheduled to operate three lines by 2015. As of 2012, there are over 3.5 million vehicles operating in the city, of which 74% are two-wheelers, 15% cars and 3% three-wheelers. The remaining 8% include buses, goods vehicles and taxis. The large number of vehicles coupled with relatively low road coverage - roads occupy only 9.5% of the total city area - has led to widespread traffic congestion especially since 80% of passengers and 60% of freight are transported by road. The Inner Ring Road, the Outer Ring Road, the Hyderabad Elevated Expressway, the longest flyover in India, and various interchanges, overpasses and underpasses were built to ease the congestion. Maximum speed limits within the city are 50 km/h for two-wheelers and cars, 35 km/h for auto rickshaws and 40 km/h for light commercial vehicles and buses.

 

Hyderabad sits at the junction of three National Highways linking it to six other states: NH-7 runs 2,369 km from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in the north to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, in the south; NH-9, runs 841 km east-west between Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and Pune, Maharashtra; and the 280 km NH-163 links Hyderabad to Bhopalpatnam, Chhattisgarh. Five state highways, SH-1, SH-2, SH-4, SH-5 and SH-6, either start from, or pass through, Hyderabad.

 

Air traffic was previously handled via Begumpet Airport, but this was replaced by Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) (IATA: HYD, ICAO: VOHS) in 2008, with the capacity of handling 12 million passengers and 100,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. In 2011, Airports Council International, an autonomous body representing the world's airports, judged RGIA the world's best airport in the 5–15 million passenger category and the world's fifth best airport for service quality.

 

WIKIPEDIA

\_|_/ Average Holiday Moors and Christians Elda 2012 * Mitja Festa Moros i Cristians Elda 2012 \_|_/

 

Art Digital

 

♪♫♫♪

“Ain't no man can avoid being born average, but there ain't no man got to be common.”

~ Satchel Paige

 

p.s. This is a real fetus and i took this picture at the science museum in LA. This is the negative with orange hue.

July 2011 Update: Due to popular demand, I am building this ecommerce dashboard into a subscription based product anyone can use for their ecommerce site. Launch details at edash.tv

 

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Older:

 

A work in progress, this is a real-time sales dashboard for cincottachemist.com.au

 

The goal is to provide an at-a-glance view on where sales are for the day, trending product and searches and visibility over order queues.

 

Note: I have set numbers to zero or blurred terms for confidentiality reasons.

 

Check out the notes above for information on what we're tracking.

 

I should also give props to Panic. While I have done a few dashboards in my time I definitely took some inspiration from their status screen -- it also motivated me to make some progress on this project.

Carrieton.

The Carrieton district has a highly unreliable but average rainfall of around 300mm per annum and the elevation at 395 metres (or 1,300 feet) made it an attractive area for early pastoralists. The town of Carrieton stands on what was part of the Yanyarrie Run. In 1853 the Grants sank a well and built a large stone tank around- the Yanyarrie Whim which is located on the northern outskirts of Carrieton. Yanyarrie Run and Coonatto Run made up the main runs of the Grant brothers. By 1859 the combined runs exceeded 900 square miles. In 1866 the Grants bought property near Millicent for pasturage during times of drought. This was needed in that year as in 1864 they had shorn 87,000 sheep but in 1866 they only had 18,000 to shear. Their wool was carted by bullock dray down to Port Augusta through Horrocks Pass. Another run in the district was Yalpara Run east of Carrieton run by John and Richard Ragless. They had their own desalination water plant in the 1870s to make the well water potable. They faced tough years and during the drought of 1866 half of their 250,000 sheep died. Their run, like the Grants runs was resumed in 1875.

 

Despite being many miles beyond Goyder’s Line (even Orroroo was beyond Goyder’s Line) the government resumed this section of the Grant family runs in 1877 to survey the Hundred of Yanyarrie and establish the government towns of Carrieton and Eurelia. Both towns had settlement begin around 1878 just a couple of years before the railway to Quorn was pushed through the area in 1881. With the land sales the Grants bought some freehold land and maintained a small station on Coonatto finally selling up in 1903. As one local newspaper reported in 1880 before the droughts set in “farmers will reach the banks of the Finke River and the McDonnell Ranges”! But 1882 proved Surveyor General George Goyder correct. The grain and the top soil blew away in a terrible drought throughout this region. It was a terrible start to the little towns of Carrieton and Eurelia. Yet they survived.

 

By 1879 Carrieton had a post office, a general store, Davies blacksmiths and coach builders- the largest operations north of Gawler. (In 1890 this business employed 31 men in Carrieton.) The Carrieton Hotel opened in 1879 with Michael O’Grady being the first publican. The Eureka Hotel opened in 1880, but closed in 1946 and was then demolished. When the government conducted a census in 1881 Carrieton had a population of 120. (Today it has less than 100 people.) By then it had a railway siding and railway station which opened in 1880. Carrieton was an important stop as the carriage lamps were all taken out at Carrieton to have their wicks cleaned and trimmed and the lamps polished before being replaced in the next train. In the early 1880s during the drought Carrieton acquired a school (1882), a police station (1884), St Raphael’s Roman Catholic Church (the large presbytery was built in 1889), a small Methodist Church (1882), an Anglican Church (1888) and the railway station, built in 1885 at a cost of £1,500. The first agricultural show was held in Carrieton in 1882. These days the town has an annual night time rodeo which started in 1953. But Carrieton is very much a ghost town. The hotel recently closed, the school is a private residence, the churches are used for housing as is the railway station and the old stores are derelict and falling down. The town has no future.

 

First i saw these and "Yeah Tattos, Freckles... cute!"

but than i saw bruises, Scars, cellulite and stretchmarks and i was "What the Hell?".

But than i read the explanations on the Card and its a good way to tell the Kids that this is natural.

I wouldn´t buy this.

First the Stickers look terrible on Dolls and its way to expensive.

January 2025.Joe’s Junk on Fair Park Boulevard Little Rock, Arkansas.KodakTX400.Pentax KX-silver.Pentax120mm.OrangeFilter.CaffenolCH@20minutes.Scanned:FujifilmXH1

Joe, as seen on Fillmore St, San Francisco (thanks Joe for being a good sport).

  

Also worth looking at for a slice of colourful San Francisco: SF Pride 2011, Bay to Breakers 2011, Carnaval SF 2011, the How Weird Street Faire 2011 and other San Francisco Madness.

 

Explored 25/07/11 #215 :)

Showing how distance to camera affects average image intensity

This is the back of my 2018 Fujifilm X-T3.

Top right, in the red box, you can see that the metering collar dial is set to 'MULTI'.

 

In yellow you can see that the camera is actually in 'AVERAGE', not 'MULTI'. If you touch and jiggle the dial a bit, it jumps in and out of 'MULTI' but it is unreliable.

 

Top left, in blue, is another collar dial which is called the 'DRIVE MODE' dial and that is also jittery. It is now set to S (single) but sometimes it jumps to CL (continuous low) to the left or 'MULTI EXPOSURE' to the right on its own.

 

These are very important but low quality dials. I have a much older Pentax K-5 with collar dials and those are flawless.

 

I think they had a boardroom meeting before the launch of the camera: Kenny: "Okay boss, our X-T3 is almost finished, we just need to select the type of metering- and drive mode dials. What kind of dials do you want? We've got these top-of-the-line Zaratsu polished gold plated Japanese made dials that can withstand 50 billion movement and we've got these plastic ones which are 2 cent a pop and also used by European- and American car manufacturers." Boss: "Well Kenny, put those cheap ones in, if they are good enough for the European- and American car consumers, they are good enough for our cameras. They don't know what quality is and they don't expect for it to last for more than 3 years anyway."

 

I like these "X-T" line of camera's but my "X-H" doesn't have these bullshit collar dials and proved to be more reliable. I'm not a Fujifilm fanboy, I'm a Pentax refugee.

 

youtu.be/3JcmQONgXJM?feature=shared

Nothing to see here, move along

Busted!... here I am with a very un-glam look...just the average house wife around these parts.

I have to share this with you as I had just taken the bin out to the kerb when some guy walking a dog starts chatting me up from the footpath on the other side of the road....like W.T.F.?

"Hi its a lovely evening...the warmer weather is nice...you have a beautiful garden ect" and heres me just smiling and giving a gentle girly wave and quickly spinning on my feet and dashing back into the safety of the palm forest.... heart beating madly.

It's moments like these I wish I had a soft sexy female voice so I could have said back to him...."Yes its a lovely evening but if your dog shits on my driveway again I'll bury you both up the back yard with the rest of them!...have a nice night sugar!" lol....Sorry... I have a weird and wicked sense of humour....however if there's flowers on my doorstep in the morning....gulp!...I'm in trouble lol.

 

There was a regular hatch of big dark Olives today on that corrie loch (see the next picture). This "average" fish took a green Olive size 14. The fog was so thick that you sometimes couldn't see your fly. But as there was no wind you could hear the fish rising. Tricky but exciting.

 

Safely released like all the fogs of this gallery.

 

Note about this gallery : if the name of the lochs are fake, in order to preserve them from the angling pressure, the areas are always accurate.

 

You can also leave comments on www.facebook.com/jean.dupuis.9849

Opening credits: “The Black Arts” – Stereolab

 

Waking up: “Ceremony” – New Order

 

Average day: “Playground Love” – Air

 

First date: “She Said”– Holly Golightly

 

Falling in love: “Fade Into You” – Mazzy Star

 

Love scene: “Asleep From Day” – The Chemical Brothers (with Hope Sandoval)

 

Fight scene: “Voila” – Francoise Hardy

 

Breaking up: “Yes, I Am Blind” - Morrissey

 

Getting back together: “Do You Realize?” – The Flaming Lips

 

Secret love: “Tiempo y Silencio” – Cesaria Evora

 

Life's okay: “Little Wing" – Jimi Hendrix

 

Mental breakdown: “How to Disappear Completely” – Radiohead

 

Driving: “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” – The Smiths

 

Learning a lesson: “Get It While You Can” – Janis Joplin

 

Deep thought: “Floe” (Glassworks) – Phillip Glass, Michael Reisman

 

Flashback: “Like a Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan

 

Partying: “Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls” – Book of Love

 

Happy dance: “Sweet Jane” – Lou Reed

 

Regretting: “Wild Horses” – The Rolling Stones

 

Long night alone: “Hey Jupiter”– Tori Amos

 

Death scene: “La fille aux cheveux de lin” - Debussy

 

Closing credits: “Halah” – Mazzy Star

  

For the My Life Soundtrack Group... :)

  

average of all daily photos published december 2016

 

total exposure time in seconds: 2.37362459597

Average depth of 100 m deep, glacier water 4 °C

Jasper NP, the largest national park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

---------------------------

Durchschnittliche Tiefe von 100 m, Gletscherwasser 4 °C

Jasper NP, der größte Nationalpark in den kanadischen Rocky Mountains.

This Redwing and fieldfare were sitting together.

 

The redwing is a winter visitor, enjoying the feast of seasonal berries the UK's hedgerows, gardens and parks have to offer. Look out for the distinctive orangey-red patches under its wings.

Statistics

Length: 21cm

Wingspan: 34cm

Weight: 63g

Average lifespan: 2 years

Conservation status

Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Listed as Near Threatened on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

When to see

September to April

Bennett Spring State Park, located approximately 12 miles west of Lebanon, Missouri, is one of America’s premier trout destinations. The spring, which flows into the Niangua River, has a daily average flow of more than 100 million gallons. Osage Indians credit a large earthquake for the creation of the spring. Their belief was that the Creator caused this quake when he became angry with the tribe. The spring provided an ideal location for grain and saw mills in the 1800s, the most successful of which was operated by Peter Bennett. The spring valley became a popular camping, fishing and hunting ground for farmers while waiting for their grain to be ground at the Bennett mill. Peter Bennett died in 1882, and although his son William continued its operation, the Bennett Mill burned in 1895.

  

In 1900 the Missouri Fish Commissioner introduced 40,000 mountain trout into the spring, and a privately owned fish hatchery was built in 1923. In 1924, the state purchased the spring and part of the surrounding area to create one of Missouri’s first state parks. The park is now owned and operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the Missouri Department of Conservation operates the trout hatchery. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), created by the federal government in the 1930s, contributed much to the present-day character of the park. Their projects included cabins, shelter houses, roads and trails, and the beautiful arched bridge across the spring branch. The CCC also constructed the concrete dam just upstream of the stone bridge to make the spring more habitable to the non-native trout and to maintain a constant water level at Bennett Spring.

  

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The best way to view my photostream is on Flickriver: Nikon66's photos on Flickriver

Average Joe with a moustache on a late 19th Century arcade tintype.

It’s been many years now since that horrendous day in September

when our world was attacked by strangers, but the evil we will

never forget! How could we?

Terrorist hijacked our planes and crashed into our twin towers

killed innocent people and filled us all with terror

and made a mess of our beautiful world

 

So many innocent lives were lost

what an awful cost!

Mothers empty arms

lay folded across her chest.

Daddy’s baseball glove now lays silent and still

Grandma’s kitchen still waits, white washed and clean.

But they shall not return, they have entered

heavens domain, forever happy in the arms of God

 

But what of their families, left behind;

Their treasures all lay buried in the rubbish

The rubbish of a mad mans plans

Plans to kill Americans and destroy our land, but little did he know

that God still held us safely in the palm of his hands

 

All those innocent lives were lost, but they have not died in vain

They gave their lives for our country, just like the soldiers in Vietnam

Just like the sailors at Pearl Harbor

Just like the death toll of World War One

These innocent people have not died in vain

 

The torture, the pain, the agony, all the sadness of

911 brought American together in a song,

The song of freedom; let freedom ring

It brought America together in prayer;

Oh God, please bless America

America united;

Neighbor helping neighbor

The prince and the pauper hand in hand.

Where presidents and kings kneel to pray

The world united, and it was good, if only

for a day

And oh, how I wish it could stay this way!

 

Today, it is to these people that we gather to pay tribute .

The victims and the families of 911

Innocent ordinary everyday average working people like us

who became our newest American heroes!

Firemen, policemen, nurses, taxi drivers, pilots, secretaries,

and I could go on forever and a day, because who in America

did 911 not touch in some way?

We have all been touched, and we must never forget this day!

Let’s bow our heads and pray! Let’s thank God for a nation where

freedom rings and God is still alive and he does his job so well!

“I ask you God to please keep

BLESSING America "!

 

©Mary Alice Bowles 2001

 

by hp bit.ly/1G1la9g

 

Testosterone

The chemical structure of testosterone.

A ball-and-stick model of testosterone.

Names

IUPAC name

17β-Hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one

Systematic IUPAC name

(8R,9S,10R,13S,14S,17S)-17-Hydroxy-10,13-dimethyl-1,2,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydrocyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-one

Other names

Androst-4-en-17β-ol-3-one

Identifiers

CAS Number

58-22-0 ☑

3D model (JSmol)

Interactive image

ChEBI

CHEBI:17347 ☑

ChEMBL

ChEMBL386630 ☑

ChemSpider

5791 ☑

DrugBank

DB00624 ☑

ECHA InfoCard100.000.336

KEGG

D00075 ☑

PubChem CID

6013

UNII

3XMK78S47O ☑

InChI[show]

SMILES[show]

Properties

Chemical formula

C19H28O2

Molar mass288.431 g·mol−1

Melting point155 °C

Pharmacology

ATC code

G03BA03 (WHO)

License data

EU EMA: by INN

Routes of

administration

Transdermal (gel, cream, solution, patch), by mouth (as testosterone undecanoate), in the cheek, intranasal (gel), intramuscular injection (as esters), subcutaneous pellets

Pharmacokinetics:

Bioavailability

Oral: very low (due to extensive first pass metabolism)

Protein binding

97.0–99.5% (to SHBG and albumin)[1]

Metabolism

Liver (mainly reduction and conjugation)

Biological half-life

2–4 hours[citation needed]

Excretion

Urine (90%), feces (6%)

Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).

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Infobox references

Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and an anabolic steroid. In male humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle and bone mass, and the growth of body hair.[2] In addition, testosterone is involved in health and well-being,[3] and the prevention of osteoporosis.[4] Insufficient levels of testosterone in men may lead to abnormalities including frailty and bone loss.

 

Testosterone is a steroid from the androstane class containing a keto and hydroxyl groups at the three and seventeen positions respectively. It is biosynthesized in several steps from cholesterol and is converted in the liver to inactive metabolites.[5] It exerts its action through binding to and activation of the androgen receptor.[5] In humans and most other vertebrates, testosterone is secreted primarily by the testicles of males and, to a lesser extent, the ovaries of females. On average, in adult males, levels of testosterone are about 7 to 8 times as great as in adult females.[6] As the metabolism of testosterone in males is more pronounced, the daily production is about 20 times greater in men.[7][8] Females are also more sensitive to the hormone.[9]

 

In addition to its role as a natural hormone, testosterone is used as a medication, for instance in the treatment of low testosterone levels in men and breast cancer in women.[10] Since testosterone levels decrease as men age, testosterone is sometimes used in older men to counteract this deficiency. It is also used illicitly to enhance physique and performance, for instance in athletes.

  

Contents

1Biological effects

1.1Before birth

1.2Early infancy

1.3Before puberty

1.4Pubertal

1.5Adult

1.6Aggression and criminality

1.7Brain

2Medical use

3Biological activity

3.1Steroid hormone activity

3.2Neurosteroid activity

4Biochemistry

4.1Biosynthesis

4.2Distribution

4.3Metabolism

4.4Levels

5Measurement

6History

7Other animals

8See also

9References

10Further reading

Biological effects[edit]

In general, androgens such as testosterone promote protein synthesis and thus growth of tissues with androgen receptors.[11] Testosterone can be described as having virilising and anabolic effects (though these categorical descriptions are somewhat arbitrary, as there is a great deal of mutual overlap between them).[12]

 

Anabolic effects include growth of muscle mass and strength, increased bone density and strength, and stimulation of linear growth and bone maturation.

Androgenic effects include maturation of the sex organs, particularly the penis and the formation of the scrotum in the fetus, and after birth (usually at puberty) a deepening of the voice, growth of facial hair (such as the beard) and axillary (underarm) hair. Many of these fall into the category of male secondary sex characteristics.

Testosterone effects can also be classified by the age of usual occurrence. For postnatal effects in both males and females, these are mostly dependent on the levels and duration of circulating free testosterone.

 

Before birth[edit]

Effects before birth are divided into two categories, classified in relation to the stages of development.

 

The first period occurs between 4 and 6 weeks of the gestation. Examples include genital virilisation such as midline fusion, phallic urethra, scrotal thinning and rugation, and phallic enlargement; although the role of testosterone is far smaller than that of dihydrotestosterone. There is also development of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles.

 

During the second trimester, androgen level is associated with sex formation.[13] This period affects the femininization or masculinization of the fetus and can be a better predictor of feminine or masculine behaviours such as sex typed behaviour than an adult's own levels. A mother's testosterone level during pregnancy is correlated with her daughter's sex-typical behavior as an adult, and the correlation is even stronger than with the daughter's own adult testosterone level.[14]

 

Early infancy[edit]

Early infancy androgen effects are the least understood. In the first weeks of life for male infants, testosterone levels rise. The levels remain in a pubertal range for a few months, but usually reach the barely detectable levels of childhood by 4–7 months of age.[15][16] The function of this rise in humans is unknown. It has been theorized that brain masculinization is occurring since no significant changes have been identified in other parts of the body.[17] The male brain is masculinized by the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen, which crosses the blood–brain barrier and enters the male brain, whereas female fetuses have α-fetoprotein, which binds the estrogen so that female brains are not affected.[18]

 

Before puberty[edit]

Before puberty effects of rising androgen levels occur in both boys and girls. These include adult-type body odor, increased oiliness of skin and hair, acne, pubarche (appearance of pubic hair), axillary hair (armpit hair), growth spurt, accelerated bone maturation, and facial hair.[19]

 

Pubertal[edit]

Pubertal effects begin to occur when androgen has been higher than normal adult female levels for months or years. In males, these are usual late pubertal effects, and occur in women after prolonged periods of heightened levels of free testosterone in the blood. The effects include:[19][20]

 

Growth of spermatogenic tissue in testicles, male fertility, penis or clitoris enlargement, increased libido and frequency of erection or clitoral engorgement occurs. Growth of jaw, brow, chin, and nose and remodeling of facial bone contours, in conjunction with human growth hormone occurs.[21] Completion of bone maturation and termination of growth. This occurs indirectly via estradiol metabolites and hence more gradually in men than women. Increased muscle strength and mass, shoulders become broader and rib cage expands, deepening of voice, growth of the Adam's apple. Enlargement of sebaceous glands. This might cause acne, subcutaneous fat in face decreases. Pubic hair extends to thighs and up toward umbilicus, development of facial hair (sideburns, beard, moustache), loss of scalp hair (androgenetic alopecia), increase in chest hair, periareolar hair, perianal hair, leg hair, armpit hair.

 

Adult[edit]

Testosterone is necessary for normal sperm development. It activates genes in Sertoli cells, which promote differentiation of spermatogonia. It regulates acute HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis) response under dominance challenge.[22] Androgen including testosterone enhances muscle growth. Testosterone also regulates the population of thromboxane A2 receptors on megakaryocytes and platelets and hence platelet aggregation in humans.[23][24]

 

Adult testosterone effects are more clearly demonstrable in males than in females, but are likely important to both sexes. Some of these effects may decline as testosterone levels might decrease in the later decades of adult life.[25]

 

Health risks[edit]

Testosterone does not appear to increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. In people who have undergone testosterone deprivation therapy, testosterone increases beyond the castrate level have been shown to increase the rate of spread of an existing prostate cancer.[26][27][28]

 

Conflicting results have been obtained concerning the importance of testosterone in maintaining cardiovascular health.[29][30] Nevertheless, maintaining normal testosterone levels in elderly men has been shown to improve many parameters that are thought to reduce cardiovascular disease risk, such as increased lean body mass, decreased visceral fat mass, decreased total cholesterol, and glycemic control.[31]

 

High androgen levels are associated with menstrual cycle irregularities in both clinical populations and healthy women.[32]

 

Sexual arousal[edit]

See also: Hormones and sexual arousal

When testosterone and endorphins in ejaculated semen meet the cervical wall after sexual intercourse, females receive a spike in testosterone, endorphin, and oxytocin levels, and males after orgasm during copulation experience an increase in endorphins and a marked increase in oxytocin levels. This adds to the hospitable physiological environment in the female internal reproductive tract for conceiving, and later for nurturing the conceptus in the pre-embryonic stages, and stimulates feelings of love, desire, and paternal care in the male (this is the only time male oxytocin levels rival a female's).[citation needed]

 

Testosterone levels follow a nyctohemeral rhythm that peaks early each day, regardless of sexual activity.[33]

 

There are positive correlations between positive orgasm experience in women and testosterone levels where relaxation was a key perception of the experience. There is no correlation between testosterone and men's perceptions of their orgasm experience, and also no correlation between higher testosterone levels and greater sexual assertiveness in either sex.[34]

 

Sexual arousal and masturbation in women produce small increases in testosterone concentrations.[35] The plasma levels of various steroids significantly increase after masturbation in men and the testosterone levels correlate to those levels.[36]

 

Mammalian studies[edit]

Studies conducted in rats have indicated that their degree of sexual arousal is sensitive to reductions in testosterone. When testosterone-deprived rats were given medium levels of testosterone, their sexual behaviors (copulation, partner preference, etc.) resumed, but not when given low amounts of the same hormone. Therefore, these mammals may provide a model for studying clinical populations among humans suffering from sexual arousal deficits such as hypoactive sexual desire disorder.[37]

 

In every mammalian species examined demonstrated a marked increase in a male's testosterone level upon encountering a novel female. The reflexive testosterone increases in male mice is related to the male's initial level of sexual arousal.[38]

 

In non-human primates, it may be that testosterone in puberty stimulates sexual arousal, which allows the primate to increasingly seek out sexual experiences with females and thus creates a sexual preference for females.[39] Some research has also indicated that if testosterone is eliminated in an adult male human or other adult male primate's system, its sexual motivation decreases, but there is no corresponding decrease in ability to engage in sexual activity (mounting, ejaculating, etc.).[39]

 

In accordance with sperm competition theory, testosterone levels are shown to increase as a response to previously neutral stimuli when conditioned to become sexual in male rats.[40] This reaction engages penile reflexes (such as erection and ejaculation) that aid in sperm competition when more than one male is present in mating encounters, allowing for more production of successful sperm and a higher chance of reproduction.

 

Males[edit]

In men, higher levels of testosterone are associated with periods of sexual activity.[41][42]

 

Men who watch a sexually explicit movie have an average increase of 35% in testosterone, peaking at 60–90 minutes after the end of the film, but no increase is seen in men who watch sexually neutral films.[43] Men who watch sexually explicit films also report increased motivation, competitiveness, and decreased exhaustion.[44] A link has also been found between relaxation following sexual arousal and testosterone levels.[45]

 

Men's levels of testosterone, a hormone known to affect men's mating behaviour, changes depending on whether they are exposed to an ovulating or nonovulating woman's body odour. Men who are exposed to scents of ovulating women maintained a stable testosterone level that was higher than the testosterone level of men exposed to nonovulation cues. Testosterone levels and sexual arousal in men are heavily aware of hormone cycles in females.[46] This may be linked to the ovulatory shift hypothesis,[47] where males are adapted to respond to the ovulation cycles of females by sensing when they are most fertile and whereby females look for preferred male mates when they are the most fertile; both actions may be driven by hormones.

 

Females[edit]

Androgens may modulate the physiology of vaginal tissue and contribute to female genital sexual arousal.[48] Women's level of testosterone is higher when measured pre-intercourse vs pre-cuddling, as well as post-intercourse vs post-cuddling.[49] There is a time lag effect when testosterone is administered, on genital arousal in women. In addition, a continuous increase in vaginal sexual arousal may result in higher genital sensations and sexual appetitive behaviors.[50]

 

When females have a higher baseline level of testosterone, they have higher increases in sexual arousal levels but smaller increases in testosterone, indicating a ceiling effect on testosterone levels in females. Sexual thoughts also change the level of testosterone but not level of cortisol in the female body, and hormonal contraceptives may affect the variation in testosterone response to sexual thoughts.[51]

 

Testosterone may prove to be an effective treatment in female sexual arousal disorders,[52] and is available as a dermal patch. There is no FDA approved androgen preparation for the treatment of androgen insufficiency; however, it has been used off-label to treat low libido and sexual dysfunction in older women. Testosterone may be a treatment for postmenopausal women as long as they are effectively estrogenized.[52]

 

Romantic relationships[edit]

Falling in love decreases men's testosterone levels while increasing women's testosterone levels. There has been speculation that these changes in testosterone result in the temporary reduction of differences in behavior between the sexes.[53] However, it is suggested that after the "honeymoon phase" ends—about four years into a relationship—this change in testosterone levels is no longer apparent.[53] Men who produce less testosterone are more likely to be in a relationship[54] or married,[55] and men who produce more testosterone are more likely to divorce;[55] however, causality cannot be determined in this correlation. Marriage or commitment could cause a decrease in testosterone levels.[56] Single men who have not had relationship experience have lower testosterone levels than single men with experience. It is suggested that these single men with prior experience are in a more competitive state than their non-experienced counterparts.[57] Married men who engage in bond-maintenance activities such as spending the day with their spouse/and or child have no different testosterone levels compared to times when they do not engage in such activities. Collectively, these results suggest that the presence of competitive activities rather than bond-maintenance activities are more relevant to changes in testosterone levels.[58]

 

Men who produce more testosterone are more likely to engage in extramarital sex.[55] Testosterone levels do not rely on physical presence of a partner; testosterone levels of men engaging in same-city and long-distance relationships are similar.[54] Physical presence may be required for women who are in relationships for the testosterone–partner interaction, where same-city partnered women have lower testosterone levels than long-distance partnered women.[59]

 

Fatherhood[edit]

Fatherhood decreases testosterone levels in men, suggesting that the emotions and behavior tied to decreased testosterone promote paternal care. In humans and other species that utilize allomaternal care, paternal investment in offspring is beneficial to said offspring's survival because it allows the parental dyad to raise multiple children simultaneously. This increases the reproductive fitness of the parents, because their offspring are more likely to survive and reproduce. Paternal care increases offspring survival due to increased access to higher quality food and reduced physical and immunological threats.[60] This is particularly beneficial for humans since offspring are dependent on parents for extended periods of time and mothers have relatively short inter-birth intervals.[61] While extent of paternal care varies between cultures, higher investment in direct child care has been seen to be correlated with lower average testosterone levels as well as temporary fluctuations.[62] For instance, fluctuation in testosterone levels when a child is in distress has been found to be indicative of fathering styles. If a father's testosterone levels decrease in response to hearing their baby cry, it is an indication of empathizing with the baby. This is associated with increased nurturing behavior and better outcomes for the infant.[63]

 

Motivation[edit]

Testosterone levels play a major role in risk-taking during financial decisions.[64][65]

 

Aggression and criminality [edit]

See also: Aggression § Testosterone, and Biosocial criminology

Most studies support a link between adult criminality and testosterone, although the relationship is modest if examined separately for each sex. Nearly all studies of juvenile delinquency and testosterone are not significant. Most studies have also found testosterone to be associated with behaviors or personality traits linked with criminality such as antisocial behavior and alcoholism. Many studies have also been done on the relationship between more general aggressive behavior/feelings and testosterone. About half the studies have found a relationship and about half no relationship.[66]

 

Testosterone is only one of many factors that influence aggression and the effects of previous experience and environmental stimuli have been found to correlate more strongly. A few studies indicate that the testosterone derivative estradiol (one form of estrogen) might play an important role in male aggression.[66][67][68][69] Studies have also found that testosterone facilitates aggression by modulating vasopressin receptors in the hypothalamus.[70]

 

The sexual hormone can encourage fair behavior. For the study, subjects took part in a behavioral experiment where the distribution of a real amount of money was decided. The rules allowed both fair and unfair offers. The negotiating partner could subsequently accept or decline the offer. The fairer the offer, the less probable a refusal by the negotiating partner. If no agreement was reached, neither party earned anything. Test subjects with an artificially enhanced testosterone level generally made better, fairer offers than those who received placebos, thus reducing the risk of a rejection of their offer to a minimum. Two later studies have empirically confirmed these results.[71][72][73] However men with high testosterone were significantly 27% less generous in an ultimatum game.[74] The Annual NY Academy of Sciences has also found anabolic steroid use which increase testosterone to be higher in teenagers, and this was associated with increased violence.[75] Studies have also found administered testosterone to increase verbal aggression and anger in some participants.[76]

 

Testosterone is significantly correlated with aggression and competitive behaviour and is directly facilitated by the latter. There are two theories on the role of testosterone in aggression and competition.[77] The first one is the challenge hypothesis which states that testosterone would increase during puberty thus facilitating reproductive and competitive behaviour which would include aggression.[77] Thus it is the challenge of competition among males of the species that facilitates aggression and violence.[77] Studies conducted have found direct correlation between testosterone and dominance especially among the most violent criminals in prison who had the highest testosterone levels.[77] The same research also found fathers (those outside competitive environments) had the lowest testosterone levels compared to other males.[77]

 

The second theory is similar and is known as "evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory of male aggression".[78][79] Testosterone and other androgens have evolved to masculinize a brain in order to be competitive even to the point of risking harm to the person and others. By doing so, individuals with masculinized brains as a result of pre-natal and adult life testosterone and androgens enhance their resource acquiring abilities in order to survive, attract and copulate with mates as much as possible.[78] The masculinization of the brain is not just mediated by testosterone levels at the adult stage, but also testosterone exposure in the womb as a fetus. Higher pre-natal testosterone indicated by a low digit ratio as well as adult testosterone levels increased risk of fouls or aggression among male players in a soccer game.[80] Studies have also found higher pre-natal testosterone or lower digit ratio to be correlated with higher aggression in males.[81][82][83][84][85]

 

The rise in testosterone levels during competition predicted aggression in males but not in females.[86] Subjects who interacted with hand guns and an experimental game showed rise in testosterone and aggression.[87] Natural selection might have evolved males to be more sensitive to competitive and status challenge situations and that the interacting roles of testosterone are the essential ingredient for aggressive behaviour in these situations.[88] Testosterone produces aggression by activating subcortical areas in the brain, which may also be inhibited or suppressed by social norms or familial situations while still manifesting in diverse intensities and ways through thoughts, anger, verbal aggression, competition, dominance and physical violence.[89] Testosterone mediates attraction to cruel and violent cues in men by promoting extended viewing of violent stimuli.[90] Testosterone specific structural brain characteristic can predict aggressive behaviour in individuals.[91]

 

Estradiol is known to correlate with aggression in male mice.[92] Moreover, the conversion of testosterone to estradiol regulates male aggression in sparrows during breeding season.[93] Rats who were given anabolic steroids that increase testosterone were also more physically aggressive to provocation as a result of "threat sensitivity".[94]

 

Brain[edit]

The brain is also affected by this sexual differentiation;[13] the enzyme aromatase converts testosterone into estradiol that is responsible for masculinization of the brain in male mice. In humans, masculinization of the fetal brain appears, by observation of gender preference in patients with congenital diseases of androgen formation or androgen receptor function, to be associated with functional androgen receptors.[95]

 

There are some differences between a male and female brain (possibly the result of different testosterone levels), one of them being size: the male human brain is, on average, larger.[96] Men were found to have a total myelinated fiber length of 176 000 km at the age of 20, whereas in women the total length was 149 000 km (approx. 15% less).[97]

 

No immediate short term effects on mood or behavior were found from the administration of supraphysiologic doses of testosterone for 10 weeks on 43 healthy men.[98] A correlation between testosterone and risk tolerance in career choice exists among women.[64][99]

 

Attention, memory, and spatial ability are key cognitive functions affected by testosterone in humans. Preliminary evidence suggests that low testosterone levels may be a risk factor for cognitive decline and possibly for dementia of the Alzheimer's type,[100][101][102][103] a key argument in life extension medicine for the use of testosterone in anti-aging therapies. Much of the literature, however, suggests a curvilinear or even quadratic relationship between spatial performance and circulating testosterone,[104] where both hypo- and hypersecretion (deficient- and excessive-secretion) of circulating androgens have negative effects on cognition.

 

Medical use[edit]

Main article: Testosterone (medication)

Testosterone is used as a medication for the treatment of males with too little or no natural testosterone production, certain forms of breast cancer,[10] and gender dysphoria in transgender men. This is known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which maintains serum testosterone levels in the normal range. Decline of testosterone production with age has led to interest in androgen replacement therapy.[105] It is unclear if the use of testosterone for low levels due to aging is beneficial or harmful.[106]

 

Testosterone is included in the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, which are the most important medications needed in a basic health system.[107] It is available as a generic medication.[10] The price depends on the form of testosterone used.[108] It can be administered as a cream or transdermal patch that is applied to the skin, by injection into a muscle, as a tablet that is placed in the cheek, or by ingestion.[10]

 

Common side effects from testosterone medication include acne, swelling, and breast enlargement in males.[10] Serious side effects may include liver toxicity, heart disease, and behavioral changes.[10] Women and children who are exposed may develop virilization.[10] It is recommended that individuals with prostate cancer not use the medication.[10] It can cause harm if used during pregnancy or breastfeeding.[10]

 

Biological activity[edit]

Steroid hormone activity[edit]

The effects of testosterone in humans and other vertebrates occur by way of multiple mechanisms: by activation of the androgen receptor (directly or as DHT), and by conversion to estradiol and activation of certain estrogen receptors.[109][110] Androgens such as testosterone have also been found to bind to and activate membrane androgen receptors.[111][112][113]

 

Free testosterone (T) is transported into the cytoplasm of target tissue cells, where it can bind to the androgen receptor, or can be reduced to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by the cytoplasmic enzyme 5α-reductase. DHT binds to the same androgen receptor even more strongly than testosterone, so that its androgenic potency is about 5 times that of T.[114] The T-receptor or DHT-receptor complex undergoes a structural change that allows it to move into the cell nucleus and bind directly to specific nucleotide sequences of the chromosomal DNA. The areas of binding are called hormone response elements (HREs), and influence transcriptional activity of certain genes, producing the androgen effects.

 

Androgen receptors occur in many different vertebrate body system tissues, and both males and females respond similarly to similar levels. Greatly differing amounts of testosterone prenatally, at puberty, and throughout life account for a share of biological differences between males and females.

 

The bones and the brain are two important tissues in humans where the primary effect of testosterone is by way of aromatization to estradiol. In the bones, estradiol accelerates ossification of cartilage into bone, leading to closure of the epiphyses and conclusion of growth. In the central nervous system, testosterone is aromatized to estradiol. Estradiol rather than testosterone serves as the most important feedback signal to the hypothalamus (especially affecting LH secretion).[115] In many mammals, prenatal or perinatal "masculinization" of the sexually dimorphic areas of the brain by estradiol derived from testosterone programs later male sexual behavior.[116]

 

Neurosteroid activity[edit]

Testosterone, via its active metabolite 3α-androstanediol, is a potent positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor.[117]

 

Testosterone has been found to act as an antagonist of the TrkA and p75NTR, receptors for the neurotrophin nerve growth factor (NGF), with high affinity (around 5 nM).[118][119][120] In contrast to testosterone, DHEA and DHEA sulfate have been found to act as high-affinity agonists of these receptors.[118][119][120]

 

Testosterone is an antagonist of the sigma σ1 receptor (Ki = 1,014 or 201 nM).[121] However, the concentrations of testosterone required for binding the receptor are far above even total circulating concentrations of testosterone in adult males (which range between 10 and 35 nM).[122]

 

Biochemistry[edit]

 

Human steroidogenesis, showing testosterone near bottom.[123]

Biosynthesis[edit]

Like other steroid hormones, testosterone is derived from cholesterol (see figure).[124] The first step in the biosynthesis involves the oxidative cleavage of the side-chain of cholesterol by cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc, CYP11A1), a mitochondrial cytochrome P450 oxidase with the loss of six carbon atoms to give pregnenolone. In the next step, two additional carbon atoms are removed by the CYP17A1 (17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase) enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum to yield a variety of C19 steroids.[125] In addition, the 3β-hydroxyl group is oxidized by 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to produce androstenedione. In the final and rate limiting step, the C17 keto group androstenedione is reduced by 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to yield testosterone.

 

The largest amounts of testosterone (>95%) are produced by the testes in men,[2] while the adrenal glands account for most of the remainder. Testosterone is also synthesized in far smaller total quantities in women by the adrenal glands, thecal cells of the ovaries, and, during pregnancy, by the placenta.[126] In the testes, testosterone is produced by the Leydig cells.[127] The male generative glands also contain Sertoli cells, which require testosterone for spermatogenesis. Like most hormones, testosterone is supplied to target tissues in the blood where much of it is transported bound to a specific plasma protein, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG).

 

Regulation[edit]

 

Hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis

In males, testosterone is synthesized primarily in Leydig cells. The number of Leydig cells in turn is regulated by luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). In addition, the amount of testosterone produced by existing Leydig cells is under the control of LH, which regulates the expression of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.[128]

 

The amount of testosterone synthesized is regulated by the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis (see figure to the right).[129] When testosterone levels are low, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is released by the hypothalamus, which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland to release FSH and LH. These latter two hormones stimulate the testis to synthesize testosterone. Finally, increasing levels of testosterone through a negative feedback loop act on the hypothalamus and pituitary to inhibit the release of GnRH and FSH/LH, respectively.

 

Factors affecting testosterone levels may include:

 

Age: Testosterone levels gradually reduce as men age.[130][131] This effect is sometimes referred to as andropause or late-onset hypogonadism.[132]

Exercise: Resistance training increases testosterone levels,[133] however, in older men, that increase can be avoided by protein ingestion.[134] Endurance training in men may lead to lower testosterone levels.[135]

Nutrients: Vitamin A deficiency may lead to sub-optimal plasma testosterone levels.[136] The secosteroid vitamin D in levels of 400–1000 IU/d (10–25 µg/d) raises testosterone levels.[137] Zinc deficiency lowers testosterone levels[138] but over-supplementation has no effect on serum testosterone.[139]

Weight loss: Reduction in weight may result in an increase in testosterone levels. Fat cells synthesize the enzyme aromatase, which converts testosterone, the male sex hormone, into estradiol, the female sex hormone.[140] However no clear association between body mass index and testosterone levels has been found.[141]

Miscellaneous: Sleep: (REM sleep) increases nocturnal testosterone levels.[142] Behavior: Dominance challenges can, in some cases, stimulate increased testosterone release in men.[143] Drugs: Natural or man-made antiandrogens including spearmint tea reduce testosterone levels.[144][145][146] Licorice can decrease the production of testosterone and this effect is greater in females.[147]

Distribution[edit]

The plasma protein binding of testosterone is 98.0 to 98.5%, with 1.5 to 2.0% free or unbound.[148] It is bound 65% to sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and 33% bound weakly to albumin.[149]

 

Plasma protein binding of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone show

Metabolism[edit]

vte Testosterone metabolism in humans

Testosterone structures

The image above contains clickable linksTestosterone metabolism in humans. Conjugation (sulfation and glucuronidation) occurs both with testosterone and with all of the other steroids that have one or more available hydroxyl (-OH) groups in this diagram.

Both testosterone and 5α-DHT are metabolized mainly in the liver.[1][151] Approximately 50% of testosterone is metabolized via conjugation into testosterone glucuronide and to a lesser extent testosterone sulfate by glucuronosyltransferases and sulfotransferases, respectively.[1] An additional 40% of testosterone is metabolized in equal proportions into the 17-ketosteroids androsterone and etiocholanolone via the combined actions of 5α- and 5β-reductases, 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and 17β-HSD, in that order.[1][151][152] Androsterone and etiocholanolone are then glucuronidated and to a lesser extent sulfated similarly to testosterone.[1][151] The conjugates of testosterone and its hepatic metabolites are released from the liver into circulation and excreted in the urine and bile.[1][151][152] Only a small fraction (2%) of testosterone is excreted unchanged in the urine.[151]

 

In the hepatic 17-ketosteroid pathway of testosterone metabolism, testosterone is converted in the liver by 5α-reductase and 5β-reductase into 5α-DHT and the inactive 5β-DHT, respectively.[1][151] Then, 5α-DHT and 5β-DHT are converted by 3α-HSD into 3α-androstanediol and 3α-etiocholanediol, respectively.[1][151] Subsequently, 3α-androstanediol and 3α-etiocholanediol are converted by 17β-HSD into androsterone and etiocholanolone, which is followed by their conjugation and excretion.[1][151] 3β-Androstanediol and 3β-etiocholanediol can also be formed in this pathway when 5α-DHT and 5β-DHT are acted upon by 3β-HSD instead of 3α-HSD, respectively, and they can then be transformed into epiandrosterone and epietiocholanolone, respectively.[153][154] A small portion of approximately 3% of testosterone is reversibly converted in the liver into androstenedione by 17β-HSD.[152]

 

In addition to conjugation and the 17-ketosteroid pathway, testosterone can also be hydroxylated and oxidized in the liver by cytochrome P450 enzymes, including CYP3A4, CYP3A5, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6.[155] 6β-Hydroxylation and to a lesser extent 16β-hydroxylation are the major transformations.[155] The 6β-hydroxylation of testosterone is catalyzed mainly by CYP3A4 and to a lesser extent CYP3A5 and is responsible for 75 to 80% of cytochrome P450-mediated testosterone metabolism.[155] In addition to 6β- and 16β-hydroxytestosterone, 1β-, 2α/β-, 11β-, and 15β-hydroxytestosterone are also formed as minor metabolites.[155][156] Certain cytochrome P450 enzymes such as CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 can also oxidize testosterone at the C17 position to form androstenedione.[155]

 

Two of the immediate metabolites of testosterone, 5α-DHT and estradiol, are biologically important and can be formed both in the liver and in extrahepatic tissues.[151] Approximately 5 to 7% of testosterone is converted by 5α-reductase into 5α-DHT, with circulating levels of 5α-DHT about 10% of those of testosterone, and approximately 0.3% of testosterone is converted into estradiol by aromatase.[2][151][157][158] 5α-Reductase is highly expressed in the male reproductive organs (including the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, and epididymides),[159] skin, hair follicles, and brain[160] and aromatase is highly expressed in adipose tissue, bone, and the brain.[161][162] As much as 90% of testosterone is converted into 5α-DHT in so-called androgenic tissues with high 5α-reductase expression,[152] and due to the several-fold greater potency of 5α-DHT as an AR agonist relative to testosterone,[163] it has been estimated that the effects of testosterone are potentiated 2- to 3-fold in such tissues.[164]

 

Levels[edit]

Total levels of testosterone in the body are 264 to 916 ng/dL in men age 19 to 39 years,[165] while mean testosterone levels in adult men have been reported as 630 ng/dL.[166] Levels of testosterone in men decline with age.[165] In women, mean levels of total testosterone have been reported to be 32.6 ng/dL.[167][168] In women with hyperandrogenism, mean levels of total testosterone have been reported to be 62.1 ng/dL.[167][168]

 

Testosterone levels in males and females show

Total testosterone levels in males throughout life show

 

Reference ranges for blood tests, showing adult male testosterone levels in light blue at center-left.

Measurement[edit]

Testosterone’s bioavailable concentration is commonly determined using the Vermeulen calculation or more precisely using the modified Vermeulen method,[174][175] which considers the dimeric form of sex-hormone-binding-globulin.[176]

 

Both methods use chemical equilibrium to derive the concentration of bioavailable testosterone: in circulation testosterone has two major binding partners, albumin (weakly bound) and sex-hormone-binding-globulin (strongly bound). These methods are described in detail in the accompanying figure.

  

Dimeric sex-hormone-binding-globulin with its testosterone ligands

  

Two methods for determining concentration of bioavailable testosterone.

History[edit]

A testicular action was linked to circulating blood fractions – now understood to be a family of androgenic hormones – in the early work on castration and testicular transplantation in fowl by Arnold Adolph Berthold (1803–1861).[177] Research on the action of testosterone received a brief boost in 1889, when the Harvard professor Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817–1894), then in Paris, self-injected subcutaneously a "rejuvenating elixir" consisting of an extract of dog and guinea pig testicle. He reported in The Lancet that his vigor and feeling of well-being were markedly restored but the effects were transient,[178] and Brown-Séquard's hopes for the compound were dashed. Suffering the ridicule of his colleagues, he abandoned his work on the mechanisms and effects of androgens in human beings.

 

In 1927, the University of Chicago's Professor of Physiologic Chemistry, Fred C. Koch, established easy access to a large source of bovine testicles — the Chicago stockyards — and recruited students willing to endure the tedious work of extracting their isolates. In that year, Koch and his student, Lemuel McGee, derived 20 mg of a substance from a supply of 40 pounds of bovine testicles that, when administered to castrated roosters, pigs and rats, remasculinized them.[179] The group of Ernst Laqueur at the University of Amsterdam purified testosterone from bovine testicles in a similar manner in 1934, but isolation of the hormone from animal tissues in amounts permitting serious study in humans was not feasible until three European pharmaceutical giants—Schering (Berlin, Germany), Organon (Oss, Netherlands) and Ciba (Basel, Switzerland)—began full-scale steroid research and development programs in the 1930s.

  

Nobel Prize winner, Leopold Ruzicka of Ciba, a pharmaceutical industry giant that synthesized testosterone.

The Organon group in the Netherlands were the first to isolate the hormone, identified in a May 1935 paper "On Crystalline Male Hormone from Testicles (Testosterone)".[180] They named the hormone testosterone, from the stems of testicle and sterol, and the suffix of ketone. The structure was worked out by Schering's Adolf Butenandt, at the Chemisches Institut of Technical University in Gdańsk.[181][182]

 

The chemical synthesis of testosterone from cholesterol was achieved in August that year by Butenandt and Hanisch.[183] Only a week later, the Ciba group in Zurich, Leopold Ruzicka (1887–1976) and A. Wettstein, published their synthesis of testosterone.[184] These independent partial syntheses of testosterone from a cholesterol base earned both Butenandt and Ruzicka the joint 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[182][185] Testosterone was identified as 17β-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one (C19H28O2), a solid polycyclic alcohol with a hydroxyl group at the 17th carbon atom. This also made it obvious that additional modifications on the synthesized testosterone could be made, i.e., esterification and alkylation.

 

The partial synthesis in the 1930s of abundant, potent testosterone esters permitted the characterization of the hormone's effects, so that Kochakian and Murlin (1936) were able to show that testosterone raised nitrogen retention (a mechanism central to anabolism) in the dog, after which Allan Kenyon's group[186] was able to demonstrate both anabolic and androgenic effects of testosterone propionate in eunuchoidal men, boys, and women. The period of the early 1930s to the 1950s has been called "The Golden Age of Steroid Chemistry",[187] and work during this period progressed quickly. Research in this golden age proved that this newly synthesized compound—testosterone—or rather family of compounds (for many derivatives were developed from 1940 to 1960), was a potent multiplier of muscle, strength, and well-being.[188]

 

Other animals[edit]

Testosterone is observed in most vertebrates. Testosterone and the classical nuclear androgen receptor first appeared in gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates).[189] Agnathans (jawless vertebrates) such as lampreys do not produce testosterone but instead use androstenedione as a male sex hormone.[190] Fish make a slightly different form called 11-ketotestosterone.[191] Its counterpart in insects is ecdysone.[192] The presence of these ubiquitous steroids in a wide range of animals suggest that sex hormones have an ancient evolutionary history.[193]

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone

Amtrak Locomotive 40 leading Amtrak Train 58, the northbound City of New Orleans arrives then departs the station in Brookhaven, Mississippi on Wednesday, May 9, 2018.

 

I was told that Locomotive 130, one of Amtrak's new Heritage Units was on this train but unfortunately, it was not.

 

AMTK 40 [GE P42DC]

The most common local species and larger than average for the family at 5 mm.

Welcome to Modernville, where the past meets the present in the quirkiest ways possible! This vintage postcard captures the essence of our bustling, average European city, complete with all the modern-day marvels and a touch of old-world charm.

 

Front of the Postcard:

 

Skyline: A mix of medieval buildings and sleek skyscrapers, because why not? Our city planners couldn't decide, so they went with both!

 

Traffic: Horse-drawn carriages sharing the road with electric scooters. It's a traffic jam of epic proportions, but hey, it's all part of the charm. River cruise ships showing you the same sights you can admire on land.

 

Cafés: Cobblestone streets lined with quaint cafés where you can sip on artisanal lattes while listening to live accordion music. Just don't trip over the Wi-Fi cables.

 

Fashion: Locals sporting a unique blend of traditional lederhosen and the latest high-tech wearable gadgets. It's a fashion statement that says, "I'm ready for Oktoberfest and a Zoom meeting."

 

Back of the Postcard:

 

Greetings: "Wish you were here to experience the joy of waiting in line for our world-famous hybrid bakery, where you can get a croissant with a side of virtual reality!"

 

Weather: "Today's forecast: partly cloudy with a chance of spontaneous flash mobs. Don't forget your umbrella and your dancing shoes!"

 

Local Attraction: "Be sure to visit our state-of-the-art museum, where you can see ancient artifacts and the latest memes side by side. It's history and hilarity all in one place!"

 

So, whether you're here for the history, the high-tech, or just the hilarity, Modernville has something for everyone. Come for the sights, stay for the Wi-Fi, and leave with a postcard that perfectly captures the delightful chaos of our beloved city.

 

P.S.: Don't forget to try our famous fusion cuisine—schnitzel sushi is a must!

 

---

 

Feel free to share this postcard with friends and family, and let them know that Modernville is the place where the past and present collide in the most entertaining ways!

Voronezhskoye Vodokhranilische is a reservoir on the Voronezh River in the Voronezh Region of Russia. It is entirely located in the urban district of Voronezh and is one of the world's largest reservoirs located entirely within the city limits. The initial (design) parameters of the reservoir were as follows: area 70 km², volume 0.204 km³, length 35 km, average width 2 km, average depth 2.9 m, height above sea level - 93.0 m. Currently, the reservoir has changed its size: area 59.9 km², volume 0.1993 km³, average width 1.7 km, average depth 3.3 m, maximum depth 19.4 m. It was formed in 1971-1972 by a dam for the purpose of industrial water supply to the city. In colloquial speech, Voronezh residents are sometimes called the sea or the Voronezh Sea. Currently heavily contaminated. Work is underway to increase the average depth of the reservoir in order to clean it. The city of Voronezh is located on the banks of the reservoir.

 

Previously, on the site of the reservoir there was the Voronezh River, on the banks of which Peter I began building ships in 1695. As a result of the work, the forests on the banks were cut down, which led to a strong shallowing of the river. To save the reservoir from drying out, lock systems were built according to the project of the English engineer Peri. The water in the river rose to 15 feet. And for the safety of navigation, in 1703, at the confluence of the artery, the first wooden dam and a casement lock were erected on the Voronezh River.

 

The wooden dam existed until 1931, but fell into disrepair much earlier. Its territory has become a hotbed of infections and malarial mosquitoes, the floodplain of the river has turned into a swamp. In addition, in the 1930s, Voronezh became a city with a large number of industrial enterprises. The city's water needs have increased dramatically. As a result, on August 14, 1937, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted the Resolution "On the Improvement of the Voronezh River and Its Floodplain". Two options were considered: flooding and drainage. Preference was given to flooding: in the 1940s, it was planned to create a reservoir 10 kilometers from Voronezh and strengthen the banks with ramparts. But in 1941, the war began. Voronezh was seriously destroyed, the restoration of the city lasted about 15 years, and only in 1967 they returned to this idea. Work on the creation of the reservoir was carried out in a short time, ahead of schedule, as a result of which, instead of 15 years allotted for the creation of the reservoir, it took 3 years. But due to the hasty construction, it was not possible to properly prepare the bottom of the reservoir and deepen it (the average depth was only 2-3 meters), and the treatment facilities of the enterprises were not built. All this, according to environmentalists, became the cause of serious water pollution in the future.

 

On August 9, 1971, a decisive operation was carried out: the builders blocked the bed of the Voronezh River. On March 31, 1972, the filling of the Voronezh reservoir began. 4 days later, on April 3, 1972, the complex of technical structures of the Voronezh hydroelectric complex, including the dam and the navigable lock, was put into operation. By the summer of 1972, the water level was at its present level.

 

The project also solved the transport problem - it created a waterway from the Don through the Voronezh River to Lipetsk. In 1982, excursions transported more than 200 thousand passengers. Today, this route does not operate. Also, since the 1970s, fishing has been carried out on the reservoir - by 1990, the catch reached 10 tons.

 

In 1975, work was carried out to improve the embankments of the Voronezh reservoir. The parks "Scarlet Sails" and "Dolphin" were opened on the left bank. A decorative lighthouse has been erected on the beach near the Scarlet Sails Park.

 

In 1977, the construction of the Northern Bridge over the reservoir began. It was opened on December 5, 1985.

 

In the early 1990s, the sanitary services announced that the reservoir did not meet the accepted standards, so swimming in the reservoir became less widespread and fishing on its territory remained only a sports hobby. The authorities carried out a purge, but it was not deep enough to change the situation for the better. Today, the city's industry requires three times less water than in the 1970s, and irrigation consumes only 1.39 million cubic meters of water per year — 2.6% of total water consumption. For 40 years, the area of the reservoir has decreased, and the shoals are expanding every year.

 

Until the early 2000s, 2 aeration fountains operated near the dam of the Chernavsky Bridge, which served as oxygenation of water in the stagnant corners of the reservoir and cooled the water. In May 2010, it was planned to build a grandiose fountain with a jet height of up to 175 meters in approximately the same place, near the Scarlet Sails Park, but this project remained on paper.

 

From 1991 to 1996, on the left bank near the railway bridge (Artamonova-Odintsova Street), work was carried out to alluvinate the shore - a sandy beach 2 kilometers long and 300-800 meters wide was created, as well as a sand spit. Around the same time, sections of the coast in Otrozhka north of the railway bridge were washed out, and the creation of an island for VPS-4 began. In 2004, the beach near the Gorky sanatorium was washed.

 

On September 7, 1996, the Admiralty Square was solemnly opened on the right bank of the reservoir. In its place, the first ships of the Russian Navy were built.

 

In 2005, a project of mass reclamation of shores and islands appeared, which, according to its developers, should deepen the reservoir to 8-10 meters and accelerate the current, with a sharp decrease in the area of the water surface. This will purify the water and prevent an environmental disaster. Roads and residential areas will be built on the reclaimed areas, which would bring additional benefits to the city. This project was actively supported by the chief architect of the region Leonid Yanovsky and the mayor Boris Skrynnikov. However, a number of environmentalists consider such a project dubious, besides, its implementation requires a lot of money and several decades. However, in the 2008 general plan of Voronezh, it is still planned to reclaim several areas of the reservoir by 2020.

 

From 2007 to 2009, on the initiative of Mayor B. Skrynnikov, a piece of land was washed near the Vogresovskaya dam on the right bank (Petrovskaya Embankment), up to 300 meters wide. It was planned to create an entertainment complex, shopping centers, and a water park on it, but these projects remained unimplemented. On Artamonova Street, DSK has been building a residential complex since 2009.

 

In November 2008, the VOGRES bridge was recognized as emergency.

 

In October 2009, the 15-year reconstruction of the Chernavsky Bridge was completed.

 

In July 2014, the Gotō Predestination museum ship opened on the reservoir.