About the poet: Raymond Geuss, Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University, is also one of Britain’s best poets. His last book Parrots, Poets, Philosophers & Good Advice is a series of instructional poems on how to live based on the works of Plato, Catullus, Juvenal, Martial, Euripides, Sappho and Aeschylus. Topics include eating, drinking, work, indigency, old age, looks, cleanliness, sex and the posthumous evaluation of human achievement.
Bush and Blair Did Strike Iraq Deal, Says Welsh MP: here.
Former prime minister Tony Blair has been labelled a barrier to peace in the Middle East by a Labour MP following his “hawkish” comments about Iran: here.
February 2010. The Long whiskered owlet, one of the rarest birds in the world, has been filmed and photographed in January 2010 in the Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC) main research area, La Esperanza, in Peru.
The owlet was observed by Shachar Alterman, an Israeli birdwatcher who joined the UK charity organization’s project for a month to carry out bird inventories in the region.
The species was also seen by Noga Shanee, co-founder of the organization, and Edin Fonseca, a local guide whose help made it possible to find such a rare species.
First discovered in 1976
The Long-whiskered owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi) was first discovered in 1976, when it was caught in a mist nest
sic; mist net
by an ornithological team. Since then, the wlet has been seen very few times. It is endemic to a very small altitudinal range in the humid mountain forests of Amazonas and San Martin. The species is listed as Endangered on IUCN Red List.
Despite all efforts, by researchers and birders alike, no Long-Whiskered Owlet has been seen since 2007. Alterman and Sahnee state that “As far as we know, this is only the fourth time this rare bird has ever been seen in the wild – and the first time it has been captured on video”.
“At first I thought it was a frog, since it sounded coarser than the playback I have. But it is a very distinctive call”, Said Alterman after the sighting. “Suddenly it felt as though the whole forest is full of ‘Lechusitas’ (The common local nickname for the bird in Peru).
“After a brief moment of silence, they were calling from all different corners of the forest”, He added. “The bird itself was perched five metres above our head.”
“It’s been one of the happiest moments in my life. We birders are so easy to please, just give us a new bird and we’re satisfied, but this one tops it all. This is the first time that I feel that finding a new bird can help its natural habitat and a whole community. At least that’s what I pray will happen”, says Alterman.
Shanee added that “On the same night the owlet was found, the NPC group heard no less than five birds which responded to the recorded calls played by the team. No previous record of such dense population exists so far”. Two other species of rare and endemic birds; Rusty-Tinged Antpitta and Johnson’s Tody-Tyrant were identified on the same 3 week trip.
During the survey, Shanee also spotted 12 yellow tailed woolly monkeys – Adults males and females, and some young ones.
Critically endangered monkey – Threatened by deforestation
According to Shanee, the owlet is threatened by the same hazards which affect the yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda). This critically endangered monkey is endemic to a small area of the Tropical Andes in Peru; itself an endangered ecosystem. The main threat facing the area and its inhabitants is massive deforestation which is directly connected to the growing human population and poverty. There are less then a 1,000 of these monkeys dispersed between several remote and unconnected populations.
“We are hoping that this new discovery of the Long-Whiskered Owlet‘s population and the interest it will generate with birdwatchers and conservationist groups will help to further conservation efforts for this special forest”.
Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC) was founded by Sam and Noga Shanee and Lizzie Cooke in 2007. It began as a non-profit organization and was awarded UK charity status in August 2009. NPC was set to promote the conservation of Neotropical forest habitat and all wildlife through various means. These include: land protection; research; improvement of degraded habitat for wildlife; creation of public awareness; environmental education; and facilitation of the commercialization of sustainable, ecological products on behalf of local people.
A group of twitchers in Peru have caught a rare glimpse of a bizarre-looking bird not seen for 26 years. The bird-watchers spotted a long-whiskered owlet, a species first discovered in 1976 that has remained largely out of sight since: here.
July 2010. The first full photograph of an endangered Ochre-fronted Antpitta in the wild was recently taken by American Bird Conservancy Conservation (ABC) Biologist Daniel Lebbin at Peru’s Abra Patricia Bird Reserve. Lebbin photographed a male a short distance from the Owlet ecolodge, within the reserve located in northern Peru at an elevation of about 7,000 feet: here.
One of the world’s rarest birds, Long-whiskered owlet, seen several times in Peru: here.
Long-whiskered Owlet: New location and access site: here.
Peru: Prized Bird and Wildlife Area in Amazon Headwaters Purchased With Help of American Bird Conservancy: here.
March 2012: A new conservation area established in central Peru will help protect the area’s shrinking cloud forest, as well as a rich biodiversity of wildlife that includes numerous endemic bird species and the endangered Andean cat: here.
December 2010. For the first time in Peru, conservationists have purchased privately owned lands within a national protected area and then donated them to the national government. Twenty-nine privately owned properties totalling 1,196 acres within Peru’s Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve were donated on December 1 to SERNANP, the government agency that administers national protected areas. The donated lands are home to the Iquitos Gnatcatcher, a Critically Endangered bird first described in 2005: here.
August 2011: A new nature reserve in central Peru has been established through the efforts of American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN). The new San Marcos Private Conservation Area (PCA) covers more than 2,400 acres, protecting important high-altitude cloud forests: here.
A hidden colony of endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkeys was recently discovered in Peru: here.
Under siege: oil and gas concessions cover 41 percent of the Peruvian Amazon: here.
An authoritative online life history for the Endangered Yellow-shouldered Blackbird Agelaius xanthomus has been published on Neotropical Birds Online: here.
The largest snake the world has ever known likely had a diet that included crocodile, or at least an ancient relative of [that] reptile.
Scientists have discovered a 60-million-year-old ancient crocodile fossil, which has been named a new species, in northern Columbia, South America. The site, one of the world’s largest open-pit coal mines, also yielded skeletons of the giant, boa constrictor-like Titanoboa, which measured up to 45 feet long (14 m).
Crocodyliforms are extinct reptiles that are distant relatives of modern crocodiles and alligators.
“We’re starting to flesh out the fauna that we have from there,” said study author Alex Hastings, a graduate student at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Specimens used in the study show the new species, named Cerrejonisuchus improcerus, grew only 6 to 7 feet long (about 2 m), making it easy prey for Titanoboa.
Clearly this new fossil would have been part of the food-chain, both as predator and prey,” said Jonathan Bloch, a Florida Museum vertebrate paleontologist and associate curator. “Giant snakes today are known to eat crocodylians, and it is not much of a reach to say Cerrejonisuchus would have been a frequent meal for Titanoboa. Fossils of the two are often found side-by-side,” added Bloch, who was part of the fossil-hunting expeditions.
Indeed, anacondas have been documented consuming caimans — reptiles in the same family as crocodiles — in the Amazon.
The new croc species is the smallest member of Dyrosauridae, a family of now-extinct crocodyliforms. Dyrosaurids typically grew to about 18 feet and had long tweezer-like snouts for eating fish. By contrast, the newly discovered species had a much shorter snout, indicating a more generalized diet that likely included frogs, lizards, small snakes and possibly mammals.
“It seems that Cerrejonisuchus managed to tap into a feeding resource that wasn’t useful to other larger crocodyliforms,” Hastings said.
The study reveals an unexpected level of diversity among dyrosaurids, said Christopher A. Brochu, a paleontologist at the University of Iowa, who was not involved in the study.
Scientists previously believed dyrosaurids diversified in the Paleogene, the period of time following the mass extinction of dinosaurs. But this study reinforces the view that much of their diversity was in place before the mass extinction event, Brochu said. Somehow dyrosaurids survived the mass extinction intact while other marine reptile groups, such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, died out completely.
Thought to be a distant relative of the anaconda and boa constrictor, the snake – named Titanoboa – was not venomous. Instead, it crushed its prey with the constricting force of 400lbs per sq inch – the equivalent of lying under the weight of one and a half times the Brooklyn Bridge: here.
Are Anacondas Really Capable of Devouring a Human? Here.
Population Structure and Gene Flow of the Yellow Anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) in Northern Argentina: here.
The reticulated python is (barely) the world’s longest snake, but the green anaconda is almost 2x as heavy: here.
New snake identification guide can help Florida residents enjoy the outdoors: here.
Discarded Burmese pythons hunt Florida mammals to brink of extinction: here.
May 2013. A Miami man has caught and killed the longest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, measuring 18 feet, 8 inches. The python was a 128-pound female that was not carrying eggs, according to University of Florida scientists who examined the snake. The previous record length for a Burmese python captured in the wild in Florida was 17 feet, 7 inches: here.
Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir criticizes President Obama for continuing unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a policy started under the Bush administration. Mir claims that the drones have killed many women and children, but no top al-Qaeda or Taliban leaders.
CIA drone missiles attacks claimed the lives of 123 civilians last month alone in Pakistan, while on the other side of the border, US Special Forces have launched an assassination campaign against alleged leaders of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement: here.
Last week London hosted a huge terrorist fundraising meeting. At the London Afghan Conference the British, US, Spanish and Japanese governments promised to give £80 million to the Taliban: here.
Death of US soldiers in Pakistan exposes their military presence: here.
Expanding the war in Pakistan, by Jeremy Scahill: here.
The overall amount of money invested in soldiers, weapons and war has been largely unaffected by the global economic downturn, a top think tank has said: here.
U.N. official to call for halt of C.I.A. drone strikes in Pakistan: here.
Labour Unions to Go On A One-Day Nation Wide Strike in Support of Tekel Workers
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Turkey’s Major Confederation of Labour and Public Servant Unions are going on a one day nation wide strike on January 4 to extend support to Tekel ([tobacco and alcohol] Monopoly) workers in protest of the government.
The negotiations between, Turk-Is, Turkey’s largest federation of labour unions –representing the Tekel workers– and the government have failed, when Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s offer failed to satisfy Turk-Is.
After the break up of negotiations, Turkey’s major confederation of Labour and Civil Servant unions, Turk-Is Hak-Is, DISK, Memur-Sen, Turkiye, Kamu-Sen and KESK, got together Tuesday and decided to go on a one day nation wide strike to warn the government.
Workers from the privatised TEKEL (Monopoly) factories who have been struggling for 50 days at a sit-down strike in Ankara to secure a transfer to other public institutions along with their employee rights and called for a general strike, at a recent mass rally in Ankara.
Last week, following a meeting with Turk-Is Chairman Mustafa Kumlu, Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered two of his ministers to work on the issue and come up with a solution to the situation.
Tekel workers who had been on a hunger strike, gave a break and decided to wait for the government’s offer.
Kumlu said Turk-Is wanted the government to reemploy Turk-Is workers at other public institutions, noting that negotiations broke down due to a disagreement over how the workers would be reemployed.
The government offers to reemploy Tekel workers under 4-C contract, which means a partial loss of rights for the workers, the initial cause of the protests.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week visited the three North African capitals that have seen the ouster of longstanding regimes—Cairo, Tunis and Tripoli: here.
Greek trade unionists have confirmed that they will kick off a 24-hour strike next week in response to government plans to impose a brutal austerity programme on working people: here.
