Useful Herbal Remedies

It is very important for everyone to know how to make a first aid box with useful Herbal Remedies. You may find, as many others have, that herbs become an enthusiasm. Gradually but surely, they take over the entire house. First, it’s only a small space in the bathroom closet; then, a cupboard in the kitchen is cleared.

Next, the entire basement is given over to your herbal wares; and abruptly, the cars are parked in the driveway because the garage is filled with bottles of odd-looking preparations. About this time, your family may be saying, “No more.” But let’s suppose you’re a long way from there and you just want to organize a small kit of useful Herbal Remedies.

What Do You Need for Herbal Remedies?

To make herbal remedies first aid kit, assess the needs of yourself and your family, and any situations that could arise requiring first aid. Do you have young children? What maladies are people in your family prone to? A good kit consists of items that can be used for a variety of purposes. The most basic first aid kit will include the following:

• All-purpose/burn salve (burns, sunburns, cuts, wounds)
• Aloe vera gel normally burns, sunburns, cuts, wounds
• Antifungal salve (cuts, wounds)
• Cold care capsules (colds, sluggish digestion, infections)
• Echinacea tincture (boosting immunity, colds, flu, infections)
• Eucalyptus essential oil (congestion [added to steams], achy muscles, insect repellent, cuts and abrasions, warts, cold sores)
• Garlic oil (ear infections, parasites, colds)
• Green clay powder (splinters, disinfecting wounds, poultices for poison oak/ivy, skin infections)
• Kloss’s Liniment (splinters and slivers, poison oak/ivy)
• Lavender essential oil (headaches, minor burns, and sunburn, insect bites, congestion)
• Licorice root tincture (sore throats, bronchial inflammation, herpes simplex I and II)
• Garlic–Mullein Flower Oil (ear infections, pain)
• Peppermint essential oil (digestive problems, burns, mouthwash, stimulant) 76 Making Your Own First Aid Kit
• Rescue Remedy flower essence (trauma, both emotional and physical can be used externally and internally for adults, children, and pets
• St. John’s wort salve (burns, sunburn, swellings, pain, bruises, achy muscles)
• St. John’s Wort Oil (burns, pain, nerve damage, depression, anxiety)
• Also, tea tree essential oil (congestion added to steams], achy muscles, insect repellent, cuts and abrasions, warts, cold sores, toothaches)
• Valerian tincture (pain, insomnia, stress and nervous tension, achy muscles)

Many of herbs work nicely for minor emergencies. Moreover, to your preferred medicinal teas, stock an assortment of powdered herbs for diverse purposes. Also, they are easy to mix for poultices and to encapsulate as required. Hence, keep your herbal first aid kit in a place that’s readily available to you and your family.

Further, the baskets, sewing boxes, small suitcases, travel pouches, cosmetic bags, and fishing tackle boxes make immense containers for first aid kits. Hence, be sure everything is clearly labeled so that others can use it. You might even wish to create a small first aid book that you keep near your remedies so that others can decipher what to use.

Herbal Remedies from Your Kitchen

Though not everyone has a medicine chest full of medicinal herbs, everyone does have a kitchen. And, generally, that kitchen is filled with medicinal plants. Indeed, many of my favorite medicinal plants have sneaked into the household via the kitchen door, ushered in by the Mistress of Spices, their healing spirits camouflaged in culinary garb.

Most of your favorite kitchen herbs double as well-known healers, respected throughout the ages by various cultures. Many are still used in herbal remedies and even pharmaceutical preparations. Think of how we tend to associate the flavor of certain herbs with assured foods basil with tomatoes, cloves with meat, horseradish with German food. Actually, these herbs were most often used with those foods for medicinal reasons, not for flavor.

For example, basil aids with the digestion of the acids in tomatoes; cloves and other spices helped preserve meat in the days before refrigeration and prevented flies from laying eggs in it. Further, horseradish, long associated with rich, oily cuisine, stimulates the digestion of oil.  Following is a cornucopia of kitchen medicines. See other useful and medicinal kitchen herbs and spices.

1.   Basil

A much-loved tonic for melancholy and low spirits, basil has antispasmodic properties that make it useful for headaches. It is commonly used to treat stress-induced insomnia and tension and nervous indigestion, and it is a well-known aphrodisiac.

2.   Black pepper

Considered one of the great tonics in traditional Chinese medicine, black pepper is warming, energizing, and stimulating. It is indicated for slow circulation, poor digestion, and “cold type” problems such as flu, coughs, and colds. Some people find it an irritant. Jethro Kloss, a famous herbalist of the early 1900s, publicized it as a toxic substance. However, most people tolerate it well.

3.   Cardamom

With a divinely sensual flavor, cardamom, which belongs to the same family as ginger, stimulate the mind and arouses the senses. It has long been careful an aphrodisiac, in part because of its irresistible flavor. In Ayurvedic medicine, cardamom is considered one of the best digestive aids. It is frequently combined as an anticatarrhal (combating inflammation of the mucous membranes) in formulas for the lungs.

4.   Chives

Chives are alike to garlic, though not as potent, so people sensitive to garlic can often like chives’ medicinal and culinary offerings. Like garlic, chives have antiseptic properties, and they also help in the digestion of rich foods and protect the respiratory system.

5.   Cinnamon

Highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine as a warming and stimulating herb, cinnamon is used to boost vitality, stimulate circulation, and clear congestion. It is a well-respected digestive aid, has powerful antiseptic actions as well, and is indicated for poor digestion, colds, and flu. With its pleasingly spicy flavor, cinnamon is often used in medicinal formulas to mask the flavor of less tasty herbs.

6.   Cloves

Clove oil is most famous as an analgesic for toothaches, but the entire clove bud, powdered and applied directly to the gum, is as effective. Aside from its analgesic properties, clove is stimulating, warming, and uplifting. It is used for sluggish digestion and nausea.

• Dill

Dill is one of the most well-known of traditional English remedies for infant colic, extolled in medicinal writings and nursery songs alike. Dill’s warming and comforting qualities are indicated for gas and colicky digestion. This herb is also an old folk remedy for hiccups.

7.   Horseradish

What better natural remedy is there for sinus congestion and head colds? This is my number one favorite. The root is rich in minerals, including silica, and in vitamins, including vitamin C. Its warming antiseptic properties make it the herb of choice for asthma, catarrh, and lung infections. Horseradish is also prized as a digestive aid and is especially useful as a complement to heavy, hard-to-digest meals.

8.   Marjoram and Oregano

This is very calming and soothing herbs. Both marjoram and oregano are used for nervousness, irritability, and insomnia due to anxiety and tension. They are great to drink as a tea either in combination or singly when you’re feeling edgy or to calm butterflies in the stomach. These delicious herbs also have antispasmodic properties that can be used advantageously for digestive and muscular spasms.

9.   Parsley

This superb garnish should never be left slighted on the side of a platter. It may be, in fact, the most nourishing item on your dinner plate. Also, it is rich in iron, beta-carotene, and chlorophyll. Parsley is used to treating iron-poor blood, anemia, and fatigue. It will enhance immunity and is indicated when you are prone to infections.

The main herb for bladder and kidney problems, it is a safe, effective diuretic. Parsley is used for serving to dry up a mother’s milk during the weaning process. Also, it is effective as a poultice for mastitis or swollen, enlarged breasts. Because of this, you should not use parsley in any quantities when nursing, as it may slow the flow of milk.         

10.                Rocket (Arugula)

Imagine the delight when you discovered that arugula, one of much favorite salad green, was a famous sexual stimulant and tonic. I’m not sure whether to indulge more or be more temperate in my servings.

11.                Thyme

This is the best herb we have for stimulating the thymus, a major gland of the immune system. Thyme is a great pick-me-up when you have low energy. Its antispasmodic properties are useful for lung problems and for convulsive coughs, such as whooping cough.

It’s an excellent remedy for sore throats (combined with sage), head colds (combined with horseradish), and stiffness related to chills. Thyme also helps stimulate the body’s natural defenses and, combined with echinacea, boosts the immune system.

12.                Turmeric

This is one of the best herbs for immune health. It is often overlooked because of the huge popularity of echinacea. But, for many centuries, it has upheld its reputation for its immune-enhancing properties and is highly regarded for its anti-tumor and antibiotic activities. In East Indian medicine, it is valued as a blood purifier and metabolic tonic.

Turmeric is used to regulate the menstrual cycle and relieve cramps, reduce fevers, improve poor circulation, and relieve skin disorders. Though, it is highly valued as a first aid treatment for boils, burns, strains, swelling, and bruises. Also, Read - Herbs and Foods

Time Limit – Human Experiences to Guide Future Generations

Historians interpret the past in several different ways. For some Time Limit, it is a repository of substantial human experiences to guide future generations to avoid certain mistakes and make a correct judgment about ensuing or prevalent issues. From the knowledge of the past, nations could learn how to establish social and political institutions to serve society.

When a change is in order, state institutions must adapt themselves according to the new needs for they’re optimal utility. But sometimes change is resisted and the past is glorified to such an extent that it becomes an obsession with nations. They become blinded to the present and hence unable to assess and analyzed they’re present conditions under the changing circumstances.

Some historians believe that the past becomes a burden when it is preserved as a sacred heritage as this prevents change in society. People remain so intoxicated with the grandeur of the past that they are oblivious to the present day challenges. According to the French philosopher, Descartes, those who travel and spend time outside they’re country become strangers to they’re own society. Similar, those who pay too much attention to the past become incapable of understanding the present.

Historians present the example of the United States which appeared on the map of the world as a new country carrying no burden of the past. It inherited no grand, old monarchy, aristocracy or feudalism. Here lay an opportunity to construct culture right from the beginning with fresh energy and vitality.

However, with the passage of time, the past crept in with values of imperialism, genocide, violations of human rights, overthrowing other sovereign states and other acts of exploitation and oppression. Within a short span of time, the American past, in turn, became as burdensome as that of the other old world countries.

When the French revolution wiped out monarchy and laid down the foundation of a new society, the conservative classes of England felt threatened as they were concerned about losing they’re status. Edmund Burke refuted the revolution in his book Reflection on the French Revolution, arguing that it destroyed centuries-old traditions of the French society, creating a void which would only lead to disorder and chaos.

What he meant was that building a new culture is not an easy task. In the absence of values and institutions, society confronts disturbance and anarchy. He convinced the reader that as a traditional society, England should keep it’s traditions intact as they have evolved over a long period of time. His ideology appealed to the ruling classes who resisted change.

Newly independent countries of Asia and Africa remain in a dilemma whether to get rid of they’re colonial and pre-colonial past and rewrite the history with a fresh perspective, making independence the focal point or to adjust the past with the present. Therefore, while some reject the colonial past of history, others retain it as a part of history and integrate it with they’re mainstream of historical narratives.

A group of historian argues with the concept that nations can learn from the past. According to them, there is a difference between the past and present-day cultures so the past can neither be revived nor repeated, society has to solve it’s problems in it’s present-day context and not in the light of experiences.

History has a limit as it does not cover each and every event that happened in the past. In it’s early phase, the chronicles of rulers and the privileged classes were recorded as they were regarded as history makers. Political events were emphasized instead of society and culture while other classes were either marginalized or ignored.

David Hume, the English philosopher, and historian present a new angle in documenting history by highlighting the role of commerce in history. He discussed the contribution of merchants and traders in reshaping history. Another breakthrough was made by German historians at the University of Gottingen who unfolded the rule of guilders, peasants, and workers in creating history.

Although history has broadened it’s scope it still has Time Limit when interrupted by ideology alone.  When history is written under such a framework, it has to be distorted to justify it. Consequently, it loses it's credibility. Read More – Qutub Minar – Most Imposing Monuments in India

House Wren vs Carolina Wren

Many birders confused about the difference between Carolina Wren vs House Wren. They have close resemblance make them difficult to identify.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) is a beautiful small bird having rusty upperparts, cinnamon underparts, and a different white eye-stripe. The Wren is about 4.9 to 5.5 in long, with an 11 in wingspan and a weight of about 18 to 23 g. The male and female birds are identical in plumage. However, the male is every so often slightly larger. Carolina Wren is a stocky and large-headed sparrow size bird with a bold white stripe above the eye.

And it is warm rusty brown above and buffy cinnamon below dark brown bars on wings and tail and white chin, throat and upper breast. It is a large wren; the second largest in the United States species after the cactus wren. The bird preferred habitat is in dense cover in forests, farm edges and suburban areas. Carolina Wren song is a bold “teakettle, teakettle, teakettle.

The bird songs can be confused with the Kentucky warbler. When Carolina Wren finding a mate, he tries to make pairs and maintain a territory and stay together for several years. The diet consists of invertebrates, such as beetles, grasshoppers, true bugs, katydids, spiders, ants, bees, wasps, small lizards, frogs, vegetable, and fruit pulp and various seeds.

Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) is a beautiful small bird having rusty upperparts, cinnamon underparts, and a different white eye-stripe.

House Wren

The House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) is a small songbird of wren family. The bird is generally a dull grayish-brown with darker barring on the wings and tail. The bird eyebrow line is faint, the bill is thin and slightly de-curved, and the tail is longish and often kept cocked. Hence, the bird is overall a brown, darker above and lighter below and pale streak above the eye.

It has a light eye ring and there back wings have dark narrow dark barring long bill, yellow at the base and black at the tip. Narrow black barring on tail, hence the bird song is an energetic, flutelike melody of gurgling outbursts.  This is the most widely distributed bird in the Americas. It's taxonomy is highly complex and some subspecies groups are often considered separate species.

An adult bird size is 4.3 to 5.1 in long, with a 5.9 in wingspan and weigh about 10 to 12 g. The House Wren is rich bubbly songbird and commonly heard during the nesting season but rarely afterward. This bird mainly eats insects such as butterfly larvae, spiders and snails. The House wrens rarely attend mixed-species feeding flocks. As a birdwatcher, you should know the Carolina Wren vs House Wren Source: Wikipedia

The House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) is a small songbird of wren family. The bird is generally a dull grayish-brown with darker barring on the wings and tail.

Read More – The Magical Blue-throated Barbet

Pink Trumpet Tree

The eye-catching Pink Trumpet ‘Tabebuia heterophylla’ Tree grows at a reasonable rate from a slim pyramid when young to a broad silhouette, 20 to 40 feet tall. The palmately compound, green leaves are evergreen throughout most of its range but may be briefly deciduous as the new leaves emerge. The showy display of pink or white, bell-shaped blooms appears throughout the spring and summer and is followed by the production of long, slender seedpods.

General Information

Scientific name: Tabebuia heterophylla

Pronunciation: tab-eh-BOO-yuh het-er-oh-FILL-uh

Common name(s): Pink Trumpet Tree

Family: Bignoniaceae

USDA hardiness zones: 10 through 11

Origin: not native to North America

Uses: large parking lot islands (> 200 square feet in size); wide tree lawns (>6 feet wide); medium-sized parking lot islands (100-200 square feet in size); medium-sized tree lawns (4-6 feet wide); recommended for buffer strips around parking lots or for median strip plantings in the highway; near a deck or patio; small parking lot islands (< 100 square feet in size); narrow tree lawns (3-4 feet wide); specimen; residential street tree; the tree has been successfully grown in urban areas where air pollution, poor drainage, compacted soil, and/or drought are common

Availability: generally available in many areas within its hardiness range.

Description

Height: 20 to 30 feet

Spread: 15 to 25 feet

Crown uniformity: irregular outline or silhouette

Crown shape: oval

Crown density: open

Growth rate: medium

Texture: medium

Foliage

Leaf arrangement: opposite/sub-opposite

Leaf type: palmately compound

Leaflet margin: entire; undulate

Leaflet shape: elliptic (oval); oblong

Leaflet venation: pinnate

Leaf type and persistence: evergreen; semi-evergreen

Leaflet blade length: 2 to 4 inches

Leaf color: green

Fall color: no fall color change

Fall characteristic: not showy

Flower

Flower color: pink; white

Flower characteristics: spring flowering; summer flowering; very showy

Fruit

Fruit shape: elongated; pod

Fruit length: 6 to 12 inches; 3 to 6 inches

Fruit covering: dry or hard

Fruit color: brown

Fruit characteristics: does not attract wildlife; no significant litter problem; persistent on the tree; showy

Trunk and Branches

Trunk/bark/branches: grow mostly upright and will not droop; not particularly showy; should be grown with a single leader; no thorns.

Pruning requirement: requires pruning to develop strong structure

Breakage: susceptible to breakage either at the crotch due to poor collar formation or the wood itself is weak and tends to break.

Current year twig color: brown

Current year twig thickness: medium

Wood specific gravity: 0.55

Culture

Light requirement: a tree grows in full sun

Soil tolerances: clay; loam; sand; acidic; alkaline; well-drained

Drought tolerance: high

Aerosol salt tolerance: moderate

Other

Roots: surface roots are usually not a problem

Winter interest: no special winter interest

Outstanding tree: the tree has outstanding ornamental features and could be planted more

Invasive potential: little, if any, the potential at this time

Pest resistance: no pests are normally seen on the tree

Use and Management

Pink Trumpet Tree is well suited for use as a street tree or for other areas such as in parking lot islands and buffer strips where temperatures are high and soil space limited. They will create a canopy over a sidewalk when planted on 25 to 30-foot centers if they are properly pruned. Develop high, arching branches several years after planting by removing the lower, drooping branches. This branching habit may take several prunings to accomplish. Pink Trumpet Tree can also be used as a shade tree for a residential property near the patio or deck, or it can be planted to provide shade to the driveway. The tree will provide lasting shade plus the added benefit of a sensational seasonal color show.

Moreover, Pink Trumpet Tree should be grown in full sun on just about any well-drained soil, wet or dry. Established trees are moderately salt-tolerant and highly drought tolerant. This tree is reported to be more tolerant of urban conditions than the Yellow Trumpet Tree. Propagation is by seed or by vegetative methods. Vegetatively propagated trees would help ensure that trees bloom at the same time. Seed propagated trees flower at different times. As far as no Pests and Diseases are of major concern. CP

Why do we have daylight savings time?

When daylight saving time is also known as summer time and starting again the confusion is once again ticking away: when exactly the end-time office? Why do we spring forward? Does it really save energy or bad for health? The federal government does not need States and U.S. territories observe daylight saving time, which is why the people of Arizona will be Puerto Rico, Hawaii,  Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the islands Northern Mariana did not modify there clocks this weekend. A time when they're is daylight saving time is known to cause a few problems.

National surveys by Rasmussen Reports, explain that 83 % of respondents knew when to move there clocks ahead in spring. And 27% however, admitted that one hour before or after at least once in there life because they did not change there clocks properly. It just does not understand, because we do not use daylight saving time in the first place? How and when daylight saving time start? Due to daylight saving “go to bed early and rise early” and the inquisitive history and controversial daylight saving time and understand that his shock that the sun would rise earlier then usual. Imagine the resources that can be saved if he and the others got up before noon and burned less midnight oil. it would be helpful to make better use of daylight, but it is unclear how to implement it.

Only the Second World War, the summer took place on a big scale. Germany was the initial state to approve the time change, to decrease artificial lighting and than save the coal for the war. Friends and foes soon. In America is a federal law standardized the start and end of each year for daylight saving time in 1918, for States that have chosen to watch it. During the Second World War, the United States made obligatory for the summer across the country as a way to save resources in times of war. Between February 9, 1942, and September 30, 1945, the government has gone a step farther. In the meantime, the DST was an observed year, mostly making the time to the new standard, if only for a few years. Since the end of World War II, though, summer has always been optional for states. Nevertheless, it's start and end times have changed and disappeared.

During the Arab oil embargo in 1973 to 1974, once again, the U.S. extended DST in the winter, resulting in a reduction of 1 % of the electric charge of the country. But after thirty years, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 provided for an obligatory one-month extension of daylight saving long controversial, since 2007. But it is been actually save energy? Energy Saving time or just suck? In recent years, more then a few studies have greatly suggested that the DST does not save energy and can even lead to a net loss. Environmental Economist Hendrik Wolff, when parts of the country extended daylight saving time for 2000-Sydney Olympics and to others do not. The researchers keenly found that the practice of lighting and decrease electricity consumption in the evening, but amplified energy in the morning already dark, evening destroy the gains.

Similarly, Matthew Kotchen, an economist of the University of California, “Indiana” has seen a situation developed for the study. Before 2006, only 15 states that the county observed 92 days to save time. Thus, when the state has given the entire summer it was possible to compare the before and after use of energy. though the use of artificial light is abridged, consumption of air conditioning is increased use energy more then offset the gains of the summer-time research in 2008. This is because the additional daylight hours in the evening add the hottest hours. So if people come home an hour earlier in a warm house, they turn on there air conditioner. In fact, Hoosier consumers paid more for electricity bills that have made the first of the annual variation during the summer period, the study found. But other studies show no energy gains.

In a 2008 report to Congress regarding daylight saving, mandated by that act the same energy gain 2,005 days of time. Which rise not to save energy. Light saving time in practice still widespread in 2011, saved 1.3 terawatt hours of electricity. This figure proposes that daylight saving time decrease annual electricity consumption of the United States at 0.03 % and the total energy consumption of 0.02 %. Though this % seem little, can lead to important savings due to huge total energy use. In adding, the economies of a few regions are in fact greater then in others.

California seems to take pleasure in a longer summer, maybe due to it's relatively mild climate encourages people to stay longer. The Energy Department report found that daylight saving time resulted in a savings of 1 % every day in the state that the figures were subjected to statistical variations and should not be taken as facts. And the profits of daylight saving “in the United States will mainly depend on it's location relative to the Mason-Dixon. The North may be a small victory for the North looks so. But in the South is a clear loser in terms of energy consumption. South has the majority energy consumption according to summer time.

Daylight: Healthy or harmful?

For decades, proponents of DST have argued that energy or not, summer boost health by promoting active lifestyles. At a time when American national has been studied, we are clearly seeing that the extension of daylight saving time in spring, watch TV, and an important reduction in external behavior, such as jogging, walking, or going to the park are much higher. And ‘significant because, of course, the total amount of light in a given day is the same. But others warn against the harmful effects. studies show that our body clocks circadian-set of light and darkness, never adjust to earning one hour of “extra” days of the end of the summer sun.

The consequence of this is that the bulk of the population has significantly decreased productivity, decreased quality of life, increasing susceptibility to disease, and just tired. One of the reasons so many people in the developed world are chronically tired and is suffering from “social jet lag. In other words, the circadian sleep optimum periods are out of balance with there real sleep. The change from morning to night only add to the discrepancy.

The light does not do similar things in the body in the morning and evening. More light to assist you're body clock in the morning, and it would be good. But more light at night could farther delay the body clock. Moreover, other studies suggest health risks even more serious. The risk of heart attack increases in the days immediately after the time change in spring. The most likely explanation for our results is sleep disorders and disruption of biological rhythms.

Daylight savings Lovers, Haters

With the verdicts on the benefits or costs, summer time to divide, it may be, it is not astonishing that annual time changes motivate polarized responses. In the UK, for example, part of a movement of light at the end of 10:10, a group that advocates the decrease of carbon emissions, arguing for a type of summer weather. Originally, they say, to pass the standard time of one hour, and than continue observing daylight saving time as usual by adding two hours in the night that we now think the standard time.

The peoples are behind standard time and want to totally abolish daylight saving time. Call for energy efficiency states that “baseless” If we are to save the year with summertime If we do not that will make energy-saving time. But do not most people relish the sun each evening was extra? All that remains in doubt. Most people only think time, the change is worth it. 47 % agreed with this result, only 40 % disagreed.

But Grasp Daylight research advises daylight saving time, many people are loving of. I think the first day of summer time is really like the first day of spring for many people. This is the first time they have for some time after work to enjoy the spring weather. I think if you ask most people if they like to have an extra hour of daylight in the evening, eight months a year, the answer would be quite positive. Also Read: How Sand Dunes Build Up

Great Dune of Pilat

Most of you heard about Asian or African deserts. But have you ever heard about the Desert in France? They’re is a little piece of natural phenomena found on the soul of Europe. The Great Dune of Pyla is a rare geological phenomenon and a very popular tourist attraction. This is being the tallest sand dune in France. Europe’s tallest sand dune nestled between the Atlantic Ocean, an enormous pine forest, the Arcachon Bay, a sandbank and a peninsula!

Sunset Crater Arizona

Sunset Crater Volcano is approximately one thousand years old. The last eruption took place sometime between about 1080 and 1150 AD. Sunset Crater, located in north-central Arizona, actually the youngest volcano found on the 130,000-square-mile at Colorado Plateau. The series of volcano eruption reshaped the nearby landscape, persistently changing the lives of human beings, plants, and animals.

It is named for it’s dazzlingly colored scoria deposits on the cone and only one of more than 550 vents of the vast San Francisco volcanic field. The Sunset main crater at the summit of the cone measures approximately 400 feet across, though the base of the cinder cone measures around one mile. Source: CP

The Gobi Bear of Mongolia

The rare Gobi Bear “Mazaalai” is a subspecies of the Brown Bear lives on the harshest places on Earth. It is in the list of critically endangered species by the Zoological Society of London. Gobi Bear is found in Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The flimsy eco-system of the Gobi desert is being threatened by the advance of the human activities that strengthen the process of desertification and shrinks the traditional natural habitat of the species.

The appearance of Gobi Bear

Gobi Bears is relatively small with brown fur, their head, belly, and legs are noticeably darker and lighter patches on the neck or chest.  Its population is decreasing as only 30 adults alive till 2009. The Gobi Desert is separated by enough distance from other brown bear populations to achieve reproductive isolation. The Gobi desert is the fifth largest desert in the world sprawling across half a million square miles of Mongolia and China. The Gobi desert temperatures are minus 40°F in winter and 120 in summer.

The Ecology, Genetic Diversity and Behavior of Gobi Bear

Gobi Bear normally eat roots, Wild rhubarb rhizomes, nitrebush berries, rodents, and other plants all of them can be scarce when the bears emerge from hibernation. Female bears make winter hibernation mostly place in rock caves or amidst deep bushes. The Hibernation period lasts from Nov to May.  Only around one percent of the diet consists of meat, mainly rodents, and carrion. They don’t rely on prey on large mammals. An adult male bear weighs about 96 to 138 kg; however, females are about 51 to 78 kg.  As far as genetic diversity which is the lowest ever observed in any species of brown bear? A small population of brown bears in the Pyrenees Mountains on the border of Spain and France has similar levels of genetic diversity.

Based on the study of morphology, the bear has historically been classified as the same subspecies as the Tibetan Blue Bear. A phylogenetic analysis has shown that Gobi Bear represent a relict population of the Himalayan Brown Bear. Sadly so far only 22 Gobi Bears left in the world. Historically, the decline of Gobi Bear started in the 1960s due to increase in livestock production around the desert.

Facts of Gobi Bear

Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis) average life span is 20 to 25 Year. It is also badly affected by climate change. Average annual rainfall in the Gobi desert fell from 100 to 50 millimeters during a 14-year drought between 1993 and 2007. There is no evidence found that the bears attack or eat any of the other large animals that live in the desert, such as ibex or camels. Although the Mongolian Government has banned hunting in Gobi Desert and formed a working group to explore ways of boosting the bear's population and new nature reserve to protect their habitat.

Researchers have fitted GPS in some bears to collect their habitat data. Which has shown low genetic diversity and no evidence of inbreeding based disorders? The Year 2013 was declared “Year of Protecting the Gobi Bear” by Mongolian Government.  Also, Mongolian people have embraced the beleaguered bear as a national treasure, all the more precious for its rarity. Gobi bears a distinct subspecies, gobiensis, to be an isolated group of the subspecies isabellinus, still found in China’s Tien Shan Mountains and the Himalaya. Hence time is really running out for this largely forgotten bear in the weird and inhospitable landscape of the desert. Source: CP

Lava Butte Oregon

There is a 500 feet tall Cinder Cone Lave Butte in central Oregon between the towns of Bend Oregon and Sunriver Oregon. Lava Butte is a 7,000-year-old cinder cone located on the flanks of Newberry Volcano. It is part of a system of small cinder cones is capped by a crater, normally extends about 60 feet deep beneath its south rim and 160 feet deep from the north side. Lava Butte only single eruption in 1977, started the fissure spewing hot cinders to form the cone.

California Condor Vulture

A New World vulture, the California condor is the largest North American land bird. In 1987, it became extinct in the wild due to poaching, lead poisoning and habitat destruction. However, the species has been successfully reintroduced to parts of Arizona, Utah and California.  But this does not mean, this majestic bird remains critically endangered.

California Condor Wingspan

This vulture is distinguished from other birds by its large black body with white triangles under-wing and its red-orange bald head.  California Condor with a wingspan reaching 3 meters (9 ft.) long. When it soars, the wings spread more than nine feet from tip to tip. It can soar and glide for hours without beating their wings. California condor is the largest flying bird in North America. They inhabit the forests, rocky shrub land and oak savannas of California, Arizona, Utah and Baja California, Mexico.

California Condor Habitat

California condors live in rocky, forested regions including canyons, gorges and mountains. They historically ranged throughout the western U.S. from Canada to Mexico, with some populations as far east as Florida and New York. The endangered bird is uniquely adapted to carrying out their role as nature’s cleanup crew.

With a robust immune system, condors do not get sick when feasting on carrion despite consuming various strains of bacteria. From the air, they search for dead animals, like deer or cattle. They feed only on carrion (dead animals that they find).  Although they do not have sharp talons, they have long, potent beaks which can tear through tough hides.

Their heads are bald for hygienic reasons; a featherless face stays cleaner when submerged into carcasses. After feasting, condors bathe often in rock pools and devote hours preening their feathers. Hence, if they are unable to find water, they clean their heads and necks by rubbing them on grass, rocks, and branches.

California Condor Extinct

The condors forage exclusively on dead animals, especially susceptible to lead exposure from carcasses left in the field. Although, lead poisoning from spent ammunition is the number one cause of death among endangered condors in the wild.

California Condor Facts

California condors can reach speeds of 88 km/h and altitudes of 15,000 ft. They have powerful ability of travel 150 miles per day in search of dead animals to scavenge. Which include large mammals like cattle, deer, and sheep as well as smaller mammals like rodents and rabbits? Without a good sense of smell, they rely solely on their keen eyesight to find food. Several times, this bird simply looks for groups of other scavengers and uses their size to scare them off the carcass. They can eat over 1 kg of food at a time, and then go for days without eating anything.

California condors lay their eggs in caves, rock crevices, or large trees (like redwoods or sequoias). They do not build nests but instead just lay the egg directly on the floor of the cave, cavity or tree hollow. They sometimes move rocks around with their beak to improve the nesting site. Living an average of 60 years, California condors are slow to mature and reproduce. At 6-8 years old, they start to breed. A male condor will perform ritualized displays to attract a mate. The skin on his head may turn an intense red-pink color during courtship. Once bonded, condor pairs perform acrobatic flights together. The pair will stay together throughout the years unless one is lost or they are unsuccessful in breeding.

Every two years, the female will lay just one egg. If it is removed, she can lay a replacement egg a month later. The male and female bird shares in the responsibility of rearing the young. They alternate in incubating the egg for a few days at a time. Once the chick hatches, they take turns feeding it (by regurgitation) and warming it. At 5-6 months, the fledgling practices flying, and by two years, the juvenile is ready to forage on its own.

California Condor Population

By 1987, there were only 10 California condors living in the wild. Biologists brought them all in for a captive breeding program. Currently, there are around 463 California condors alive in total, with a little over 200 living in the wild. But the California condor is still considered critically endangered by the IUCN Redlist. The total world population of California condors increased by 6.4 percent in 2017 from 435 at the end of 2016, to 463 the end of 2017.

Source: CP