[ By Delana in Art & Design & Energy & Fuel & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Solar and wind power are commonly looked to when we mention renewable energy, but there are plenty of other sources of renewable energy that has not yet been explored to its full potential. Deep sea currents are a natural force that is just ripe for the harnessing, and Italian designer Marco Paolucci thinks he has worked out a way to make good use of these powerful natural waves.
The S2S Project would place sustainable energy generators on the sea bed to harness the massive perpetual power of ocean tides and turn that power into clean, renewable electricity. Paolucci estimates that each generator could produce one megawatt of electricity.
The perpetual motion of tidal currents could provide enough energy to dramatically reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. For all of their power, tidal currents haven’t been harnessed anywhere near their full potential. Sea-bound generators and floating control platforms could give the world a healthy boost toward weaning off of non-renewable oil and gasoline.
In Paolucci’s vision, the platforms will be outfitted with touch-screen control panels. The stations will not only be able to provide large amounts of clean, renewable energy – they will also be able to filter and desalinate sea water.
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Dark Towers to Beach Bunkers: Architecture of Hugon Kowalski
[ By Steph in Art & Design. ]
Rising from natural surroundings, the towers of ‘Instant House’ are harsh and spare, a far cry from the often lush biologically-inspired visuals of eco-friendly architecture. Just from this one example, it’s clear that Hugon Kowalski of Polish firm H3AR Architecture and Design has a uniquely urban and utilitarian approach to sustainable structures that inevitably stands out from the crowd.
Kowalski’s proposals, including the aforementioned Instant House, temporary residential units made of styrofoam concrete cylinders, stand like visions for a post-apocalyptic future. Although they are often described as bleak and reminiscent of the harsh clumsiness of now-abandoned Soviet structures, Kowalski’s projects are, above all, practical, meeting the challenges of the future head-on.
Instant House is designed to be constructed quickly and easily; in 2014, Kowalski says, it will be possible to produce concrete from rice husks, reducing carbon dioxide emissions during the manufacturing process. Another project, House on the Beach, above, is inspired by the design of the four-legged concrete tetrapod, which is meant to prevent beach erosion – essentially giving beach houses a function. Rather than being little more than inevitable casualties during a tsunami or other disaster, they serve as the front line in a battle against the ravaging forces of nature, breaking up the waves.
Kowalski imagines, for the stark deserts of Sudan, watertower skyscrapers that can access water in an existing underground lake beneath Darfur – the tenth largest in the world – and pump it to the surface. Inside these structures are not only the pumps but also a water treatment plant, a hospital, a school and a food storage center. Constructed using compressed dry clay bricks made on site from local materials, the towers would use some of the circulated water to heat or cool the buildings.
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The Great Outdoors: Office Space Goes Green and Open-Air
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Home & Garden & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
When you work at a desk, the nine-to-five workday can seem like an eternity – even if you like your job. An outdoor installation in downtown Denver uses fabulous living greenery to remind office drones that we all need to get out of the cubicle and into nature once in a while. The installation, put together by Tres Birds Workshop, was part irreverent, playful art and part serious commentary on our increasingly sheltered (as in: lived out within the walls of our homes and offices) lives.
(all images via: Tres Birds Workshop)
Using recycled office furniture and real living greenery, Tres Birds Set up five workplace-themed installations in the 16th Street Mall area of Denver’s business district. A conference room, a cubicle, a break room, a filing cabinet and an executive office line the outdoor space and entice pedestrians to stop and interact with them.
The charming bits of furniture all covered over with growing vines, leaves and various other green plants look like they must have been there for years. Indeed, it was the intention of Tres Birds to make the installation look as if nature had reclaimed the entire area. They call the project “Natural Systems Domination,” a reference to the ability of nature to completely take over and dominate everything if we only step aside and allow it to happen.
The green spirit of the installation carried far past its concept. The live vegetation was recycled into the neighborhood following its display, and all of the office furniture was re-donated to secondhand stores in the area. Nothing went to waste, which is just how this green-minded collective likes it.
Overall, the message of this fun but poignant installation is that we can all find a bit of time to step away from the desk each day. Nature is out there waiting to be enjoyed: it’s healthy, free relaxation. And who couldn’t use that in the middle of a busy workday?
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How to Embrace your Inner Earthquake
I’m one of the writers for Only Positive News, and just a few hours ago, we experienced an earthquake. Relatively minor. 3.2 by the time it reached us. (The epicenter was in Virginia, I live at the Jersey shore.) Everything was fine here, but what a reality check! You generally expect the ground to stay put! But nothing is certain.
That may frighten us, but that uncertainty might be a reminder to let go, to stop trying control the “earthquakes” that happen every day, in one form or the answer. We don’t have control of everything. And instead of it frightening us, what if we embraced it?
How do we embrace our natural disasters, whether internal or external?
1. Get used to danger. When was the last time you did something a little physically risky? Or even mentally challenging? Or socially risky, such as public speaking? The more we stretch our ability to tolerate danger, the more we can handle the small stuff. Or the big stuff.
2. Ride the unpredictable like a wave. Just as every one of us may have an inner child, perhaps we each possess a rebellious, wild teenager waiting to leap and jump off a bridge. Instead of the fear and anxiety you normally feel, try to change your mindset and think of our daily ups and downs as a thrill, a ride, a natural high.
3. Remember nature as a metaphor. All natural occurrences have some sort of personal, relatable metaphor. What was the last earthquake you experienced? Lightning storm? Can you make yourself feel like a tornado on command? Try it. Take a deep breath and bring your energy upward, spiraling through your center. Feel your strength, your power, grow.
And always, always remember, we are interconnected – these natural disasters, the planets, the moon, the air, the water. Be grateful of this amazing connection we have to Mother Nature. She is, after all, BOSS.
Beth
Blushing Hides: 10 Amazing Pink Animals
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series & Animals & Habitats & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Pink pigs (and people) display beauty that’s only skin deep but when pink appears as an animal’s prime pigment the results can be strikingly beautiful… they don’t call it “shocking pink” for nothing! This proud posse of puce poseurs provides proof positive pink can be a perfectly pleasing pigment. Period.
Pink Insects
(images via: Loucigaloun04, Mongabay and Dipity)
Insects can be pink owing to a number of factors but mainly two which would seem to be counteractive. Those that frequent pink flowers seek to blend in so as not to be seen by predators – or prey. Others adopt pink along with another, contrasting color to send a vivid “keep away!” signal to potential predators. Can you imagine hot pink & turquoise bees and wasps?
(image via: About.com/Insects)
Why bother with contrast when you’re a newly discovered Dragon Millipede (Desmoxytes purpurosea)? This small but serious critter has a gland that produces cyanide as a defense mechanism. You most definitely don’t want to be near this hot pink dude when he’s, er, millipede-off.
(images via: Audubonimages, Rigorous Intuition and Ohio Birds and Biodiversity)
Other insects are pink not by design but by defect, such as the pink katydid and grasshopper above. In cases of Erythrism, these creatures lack a certain pigment that (by virtue of its absence) leaves the insects with an unintended color scheme. Lobsters can suffer a similar fate but due to different pigments involved, there are no pink lobsters. Pity.
Pink Starfish
(images via: SP13001, TripAdvisor and Squidoo)
Starfish are a favorite subject of photographers thanks to their wide variation in coloration and contrast. It’s not certain what purpose vivid colors serve starfish, however. Slow-moving creatures who frequent reef environments and occasionally feast on endangered corals, starfish are often washed up on beaches where their brilliant hues quickly fade.
(image via: Bargain Florida Lots)
You’ve gotta hand it to echinoderms (who don’t actually HAVE hands), they’re definitely “stars” when it comes to showing their true colors. The hot pink starfish above somehow found its way to a southwest Florida beach without getting BP’d.
Pink Frogfish
(images via: Kapalselam, Delargy.com and DownBelow)
The world’s oceans host an abundance of pink fish and frogfish but this pink Frogfish steals the spotlight. Who can resist this finned clump of cotton candy as it scuttles along the seafloor? Don’t be fooled though, some species of frogfish have toxic spines on their heads that can deliver a painful dose of venom to the unwary.
(image via: RedBubble)
Frogfish don’t have scales and can adjust their skin coloration to match their surroundings. We’re not sure what was surrounding the bubblegum-pink frogfish above… perhaps a sunken ship’s cargo of pink bubblegum?
Pink Land Iguana
(images via: Cryptomundo, Zoo Kawaii and Galapagos Conservancy)
Almost 175 years after Charles Darwin roamed their rocky shores, the Galapagos Islands are still springing surprises on biologists who’d thought they’d seen it all. Maybe now they have: a small population of large, pink land iguanas living on the slopes of the Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island.
(image via: National Geographic)
A park ranger first noticed these (actually, quite noticeable) large iguanas in 1986 but it was thought at the time they were merely a variation of the common land iguana – or, that he’d been drinking. The results of blood testing (on the iguanas, not the ranger) confirmed the Pink Iguana is a specific species and not just a great band name.
Pink & Coral Cornsnakes
(images via: Poppycorns)
Snake breeders have long striven to induce their reptilian subjects to express colors not normally found in nature. Take the Pink & Coral Cornsnakes above… not to worry, they’re not poisonous. Buyers now can choose from a wide variety of pinks and patterns to suit their needs, whatever those needs might be.
(image via: Poppycorns)
Of course, it also helps to have a colorful name, like Coral Snow Peaches, Neon Coral Roses, Starburst (as in the candy) Snow Rhapsody or Champagne Pink Minstrel.
(image via: Bite-Dose)
Naturally pink tinted snakes are unusual and most of those reported have been determined to be albinos – their pink tint is owed to their muscle tissue showing through translucent skin. The snake above, however, boasts serrated stripes of brilliant pink that are even more prominent when seen against its black base coloration. Liophidium pattoni, native to the forests of Madagascar, is new to science having only been discovered in 2010.
Pink Flamingos
(images via: MyMixFM and Shutterpoint)
Think pink and pink flamingos are probably what come to mind. Not Pink Flamingos, the 1972 cult classic film from avantgarde director John Waters and starring the notorious Divine, but we digress. Real flamingos are not actually pink, they TURN pink from ingesting water-borne bacteria and from the beta carotene in the food they eat.
(images via: TravelBlog, Luxurious Mexico and Beecy.net)
Flamingos kept in zoos are fed beta carotene supplements and shrimp in order to help them maintain their rosy plumage. Not only do zoo visitors appreciate the results, the flamingos may as well: a pale, drab flamingo has a lesser chance of hooking up with their opposite number. Is that where the cliché “in the pink” comes from?
(image via: Wikipedia)
The garish bird above isn’t a flamingo but is shown here because of its various shades of pink ranging from salmon to neon. Take away the color and it’d be pug-ugly… like most vultures. Yep, it’s a California Condor chick!
Pink-Faced Bald Uakari
(images via: National Geographic, YouSayToo and Retrieverman)
Uakaris are monkeys… monkeys from Hell!! OK, not really, they come from isolated areas of the northwest Amazon basin and just look like Skeletor’s pet. There are 4 known species of Uakari but our focus here is on the Bald Uakari. This odd-looking New World monkey has copious hair all over its body with the exception of its head – much like your average middle-aged human male.
(image via: Greg Neise)
Uakaris have no fat beneath the skin of their faces; basically they’re just skin & bones above the neck, giving their countenances a bizarre, some say “demonic” aspect.
(images via: Fun Gallery, GEO and Wikipedia)
Since the Uakari’s home ranges are located deep in the Amazon rainforest, not a whole lot is known about their lives and lifestyles. Reports have stated they live in the treetops and (thankfully) have a herbivorous diet. Uakaris sometimes travel in groups of up to 100… forget chimps, they should’ve made Rise of the Planet of the Apes with THESE guys!
Pink Dolphins
(images via: Dani.gomes61, Creepy Animals and Condé Nast Traveler)
The pink Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) is actually a mottled pink with gray, though it’s pinker by far than any other dolphin. They’re also thought to be intelligent and have a brain capacity 40% larger than that of humans. You didn’t see any Amazon River Dolphins at the Kardashian wedding, did you? Case closed.
(images via: Scholastic, ECDAfrica and Daily Mail UK)
The Amazon pink dolphins come by their hue naturally, which is not to be confused with a number of albino Bottlenose Dolphins that have been featured in the news recently.
Pink Hippos
(images via: ScienceRay and Have-Fun-In-The-USA.com)
Pink Hippos are rarely sighted outside of Hanna-Barbara cartoons but they do exist, and for several reasons. Most hippos are a brownish-gray color with pink undertones. They can appear even pinker on hot, sunny days when they tend to sweat: hippo sweat is pink!
(images via: AnimalFWD, OK! Magazine and National Geographic)
For a few hippos, even sweating pink isn’t enough: so-called Leucistic hippos lack the normal amount of gray pigment in their skin and, by default, tend towards a more pinkish aspect. Hippos can tolerate leucism more than other creatures as they spend a lot of time in the water and, as a bonus, secrete an oily substance that acts as a sunscreen.
Pink Elephants
(images via: Tremendous News and BBC)
Pink Elephants, no longer just a drunkard’s hallucination! Though this post has focused on naturally pink animals, albino elephants just had to be included because there’s just no ignoring the 800-lb pink elephant in the room – or in the wild. Curiously, albinism is much more common (though still rare) in Asian Elephants and the sighting of the pink baby above in Botswana’s Okavango Delta region sparked a flood of interest from zoologists and conservationists.
(images via: IOL)
“I have only come across three references to albino calves,” stated Dr Mike Chase of Elephants Without Borders, “which have occurred in Kruger National Park in South Africa.”
(images via: Geof Wilson)
Dyeing to be pink? We’ll ignore the antics of pink poodle fanciers or that wacky Brit who tinted her cat pink with food coloring to match her hair. The flock of sheep above was “dyed in the wool” to deter rustlers. Don’t tell that English chick about this, OK?
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Island In the (Air)Stream: Floating Sculpture Goes Missing
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Nature & Ecosystems & News & Politics. ]
If you live in Europe and recently saw a lush green island floating by in the sky, don’t worry – you haven’t lost your mind. A team of U.K. artists and designers have lost something very important to them, though: this mesmerizing floating structure called Is Land.
(all images via: Is Land)
At the Secret Garden Party festival in Cambridgeshire in July, a group of vandals cut the support ropes tethering Is Land to the ground. The helium-filled floating island sailed away on the wind, carrying with it months of hard work on the part of artist Sarah Cockings, designer Laurence Symonds and a whole team of other contributors.
Is Land, a lushly vegetated artificial island in the sky, is a sculpture that reminds us all how close and how far away our perfect worlds are. It floats above the heads of onlookers, tantalizing them with glimpses of a lovely but ever-unreachable landscape.
Sadly, the few malicious festival-goers who decided to set Is Land aloft nearly deprived an American audience of this beautiful sculpture. It was due to make its first American appearance at Burning Man 2011 shortly after the Secret Garden Party. Thanks to the generosity of the Secret Garden Party fund, the Is Land creators have been able to start work on a new version of the piece that will be presented at Burning Man.
The team is still on the hunt for the original, however. Due to the time and money invested in Is Land, it would be a shame for this beautiful piece of art to disappear forever. According to wind patterns, the helium-filled sculpture should have touched down somewhere in the Czech Republic. Anyone who has seen Is Land or has information on its whereabouts can contact the designers through their website.
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The Uros: Organic Homes on Floating Man-Made Islands
[ By Steph in Geography & Travel. ]
At first glance, these dwellings don’t look like much more than a scattering of huts along the edge of a river. However, the land they sit on isn’t exactly natural – though it is alive. The Uros people fashioned these floating islands themselves out of living reeds, and have lived on them in the middle of Lake Titicaca, which is bordered by Bolivia and Peru, for hundreds of years.
Totora reeds, the materials used to create the islands as well as the Uros’ huts and boats, grow naturally in the lake. They have dense root systems that form a mat between three and six feet thick, keeping the islands buoyant despite sometimes supporting ten families. The roots rot away quickly, so the Uros – a Pre-Incan people who stake ownership claims to the lake and water – constantly add new reeds.
These islands are sometimes anchored and sometimes allowed to drift across the surface of the lake. As the eight-foot-thick mass slowly sinks, the new material is added to the top. The texture underfoot is said to be spongy, giving up to four inches with each step. In addition to the islands they live on, the Uros also have ‘outhouse islands’; the root system of the reeds absorbs and filters the waste.
The tortora reeds also provide for the Uros’ dietary and medical needs. The white bottom of the freshly-pulled reed contains iodine, which can help prevent goiter; it is also cool to the touch, and thus often split open and placed on areas of the body that are in pain. The flowers of the reed are made into tea. The Uros also rely on fish and birds for food, and occasionally venture to the mainland to barter for quinoa and other foods. While they have maintained a very natural lifestyle, they don’t shun modern technology – some of their boats have motors, and solar panels even power televisions. The Uros even run their own FM radio station.
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Nitty Gritty: The Wonder & Glory of Magnified Beach Sand
[ By Steve in Art & Design & Geography & Travel & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Dazzling in their variety and as individually unique as snowflakes, the sands of the world’s beaches take on a whole new level of awesomeness when viewed under high magnification. Dr. Gary Greenberg has been doing just that since 2001 using high-definition, three-dimensional light microscopes of his own design.
My Grains
(image via: Joeysplanting)
It’s said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but sometimes the beholder’s eye needs a little help to observe what smallness of size has heretofore kept hidden. Such is the case with beach sand, billions and billions of grains of which lurk on the world’s seashores oblivious to the crabs, seagulls and sunbathers who walk upon them unaware of what lies beneath.
(images via: DailyMail UK and DJ Mick)
And yet, as Dr. Gary Greenberg states, “as we walk along a beach we are strolling upon thousands of years of biological and geological history.” Indeed, while beaches themselves are constantly being built and rebuilt through the action of wind and waves, the formation of each individual grain of beach sand is a labor of love acting through time and tide.
(images via: Sandgrains.com and Gigazine)
Greenberg (above) knows a bit about sand… bit by bit, as it were. Since 2001 he has been photographing and documenting exquisite photomicrographs of sand grains, flowers, food and more using high-definition, three-dimensional light microscopes he invented and developed in the 1990s. Professor Greenberg is currently the director of the Microscopy & Microanalysis Laboratory at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy in Maui, where he enjoys ideal access to the island state’s wide variety of sandy beaches.
Microcosmic Menagerie
(images via: Sandgrains.com)
If one considers that sand grains are simply smaller versions of the boulders, rocks and pebbles they originated from, then it’s not too much of a stretch to accept that a large percentage of beach sand grains were once part of much larger seashells, corals, sponge skeletons and other calciferous organisms.
(image via: Gigazine)
In some locations these tiny remnants of marine life make up the majority of sand grains, and yet they only attract our notice due to the pink or white tint they impart to the sand. We say it’s “pretty”… but up close it’s beautiful.
(image via: DailyMail UK)
Scattered among sharp-edged and rounded stone one can spy honeycombed coral nodules, spiky sponge spicules, fragments of striped seashells and finely polished sea urchin spines. Chiseled down to size through the action of endless ocean waves, these fine grains exhibit an almost jewel-like appeal – eye-candy, as it were.
(images via: Gigazine and Wikipedia)
Those jagged grains that look like some new sugar-coated cereal? They’re not – though they may appear to be what one imagines starfish larvae might look like, these 5-pointed objects are actually the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) shells of foraminifera, tiny one-celled sea creatures abundant in the world’s oceans.
Fire & Icewater
(images via: Gigazine and Sandgrains.com)
Though sand grains formed from marine life remains are wondrous in their near-fractal reductive geometry, let’s not overlook the inorganic quotient of beach sand. Often of volcanic origin, these often colorful grains typically are carried down to the seashore by erosion of the very volcanoes that thrust their calderas above the waves thousands or millions of years ago. The volcanic sands of Hawaii shine under Greenberg’s microscopic spotlight, predominantly with the warm green tint of olivine crystals and semi-precious peridot.
(images via: Sandgrains.com)
Professor Greenberg doesn’t always look down (though we’re glad he does), and his pursuit of sand grains in all their microcosmic magnificence has taken him off the planet entirely, to the Moon.
(images via: Sandgrains.com)
Do lunar seas have beaches? Not as we know them, Jim, but our nearest celestial neighbor has sand in abundance. Greenberg’s images of moon sand grains illustrate the effect of waterless erosion over not just millions, but BILLIONS of years.
(image via: DailyMail UK)
Ironically perhaps, one particular Earthly sand grain evokes the most universal of sentiments: that would be the pale blue dot in the image above, magnified by Dr. Greenberg in order to reveal its intricate organic geometry. Once again fractals come to mind when contemplating this reduced remnant of a marine snail shell. The mathematically precise spiral invites comparisons to hurricanes, galaxies, even the eye of God himself… all in the space of a single millimeter. Forget that old cliché, size doesn’t matter – the way you look at things does.
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UNESCO To Add 10 New Natural World Heritage Properties
[ By Steve in Geography & Travel & Nature & Ecosystems & News & Politics. ]
The 35th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee will meet in Paris from June 19 through June 29 of 2011. Under consideration for inclusion on the UN agency’s World Heritage List are 10 new natural sites. A look at each of these 10 wonders of nature illustrates why they deserve inclusion, appreciation and protection.
Ningaloo Coast, Australia
(images via: Will Go To, Australia.com and Absolutely Australia)
Eastern Australia has the Great Barrier Reef but on Oz’s opposite shore, the remote Ningaloo Coast gives the country’s most famous ecological showpiece a real run for its money. Hugging Western Australia’s shore for 260 km (160 miles), the Ningaloo Coast is one of the world’s largest fringing reefs and much of it is surprisingly accessible, lying as close as 100 meters (330 ft) to land.
(image via: ECObytes)
Hundreds of other species of tropical fish patrol the reef along with whale sharks, humpback whales and rare sea turtle species. Snorkelers and glass-bottom boaters can take in one of the sea’s great spectacles in March and April as billions of coral organisms come together (as it were) in a mass spawning.
Pendjari National Park, Benin
(images via: Yukiba, AnyNation.com and Viamigo)
Pendjari National Park boasts an astonishing diversity of wildlife from elephants and lions to monkeys and hippos, but the area is best known for its abundance of rare and beautiful birds. Located in Benin’s rugged and isolated northwest, Pendjari National Park is one of Africa’s most scenic destinations combining cliffs, jungles, rivers and grasslands.
(images via: Simba Safari Camps, Travel iHub and TravelPod)
Pendjari National Park covers an area of 2,755 square kilometers (1,064 sq miles) and its isolation has so far kept it relatively unaffected by human intrusion. The government of Benin has worked with authorities in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger to create the WAP (W-Arli-Pendjari) park complex. By working together and downplaying rigid national boundaries, the three governments have allowed the region’s native creatures to thrive.
Wudalianchi National Park, China
(images via: CNTV, National Park of China, ShowChina and Cultural China)
Wudalianchi National Park, located in China’s northeastern province of Heilongjiang, is an otherworldly landscape formed by China’s youngest volcanoes. Wudalianchi, which translates to “Five Interconnected Lakes,” was formed approximately 60,000 years ago when a group of erupting volcanoes transformed the region’s landscape and water drainage patterns.
(image via: Radio86)
Wudalianchi National Park includes a number of large caves and oddly shaped lakes whose waters are tinted a variety of exotic hues. The park also features China’s largest cold mineral water recuperating center but environmentalists worry that increased tourism may harm the area’s fragile ecosystem.
Ancient Beech Forests of Germany
(images via: Mueritz-Nationalpark, TradeBit and SuperStock)
The name Buchenwald carries ominous baggage dating back to the darkest days of World War II but its literal translation – Beech Forest – merely describes some of Germany’s most breathtakingly beautiful scenery. The remaining ancient Red Beech forests have managed to preserve a little primeval ecology within shouting distance of the country’s urban and suburban centers. As a destination for those desiring some peace and quiet within comfortable walking distance, these stately, silent forests are unmatched.
(image via: Letters Home)
In Roman times, vast forests of Red Beech trees covered much of “Germania” but over the centuries most of the forests have been cleared for farming and for their wood resources. Only a few stands of Red Beech over 200 years old exist in Germany today.
Western Ghats, India
(images via: Art.Co.UK, MapsOf.net and Frans Lanting Stock)
The Western Ghats are a chain of steep, eroded cliffs and mountains that line much of India’s southwestern coast. It is thought that the cliffs mark the point where, tens of millions of years ago, India and the island of Madagascar split from one another. At that time the cliffs towered over 300 meters (1,000 ft) tall but since that time they have been weathered by wind & water and transformed by repeated episodes of volcanism.
(image via: How Volcanoes Work)
The Western Ghats are an ecological hotspot that boasts up to 140 endemic species of amphibians alone. Human pressure on the forests is unrelenting, however – in Sri Lanka, it’s estimated that only 1.5 percent of the Western Ghats’ original forest cover remains.
Hara Protected Area, Iran
(images via: Gardesh yaran and Abad)
If you thought Iran was a nation of deserts and sand, then you haven’t heard of the Hara Protected Area. Found along the country’s southern coast bordering the Arabian Sea, the region features some of the world’s remaining mangrove forests and an astonishing number of bird species for whom the region is a vital stop on long migration routes.
(image via: Gardesh Yaran)
The specific type of mangrove commonly found in the Hara Protected Area is Avicennia Marina, a tree that is uniquely adapted to growing in salt water and which can grow up to 8 meters (over 26 ft) tall. The government of Iran already restricts the types of commercial activity allowed in the Hara Protected Area but bestowing the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site on this essential ecosystem will certainly help preserve it.
Ogasawara Islands, Japan
(images via: Eric Cheng, Wikipedia and Japan Hotspot)
Formerly known as the Bonin Islands, Japan’s Ogasawara Islands can be reached only via a 25-hour boat trip – a fact that has undoubtedly helped preserve their near-pristine ecological status. This far-flung archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands combines rare and in some cases unique land flora and fauna with some of the world’s most diverse ocean reef communities.
(image via: Ippei + Janine)
The Ogasawara Islands weren’t always as isolated as they are today. In World War II some of the islands were bloody battlegrounds, especially Chichi Jima, the latter being where former U.S. president George H. W. Bush bailed out of his damaged airplane and was rescued by an American submarine.
Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya
(images via: The World Race, Stern, TripAdvisor and Haven Nature Camp)
The Kenya Lake System includes three separate “soda” lakes that are connected via sub-surface seepage. Like many of the Great Rift Valley Lakes, these lakes are mainly alkaline and infused with algae.
(image via: Arsa54)
Though Lake Natron in Tanzania (above) is perhaps the most famous of the Great Rift Valley lakes thanks to its often lurid pink coloration, the lakes of the Kenya Lake System (Lake Elementaita, Lake Nakuru, and Lake Bogoria) have earned special attention from the UNESCO committee due to the fact that their waters and the shrimp & algae living in them sustain as much as 75 percent of the world’s Lesser Flamingos.
Trinational Sangha: Congo, Cameroon, CAR
(images via: Congo Apes, Doli Lodge and Middle Africa)
The Dzanga-Sangha Complex of Protected Areas consists of a huge 4,589 sq km (1,772 sq mi) block of dense rainforest located in the triangular southwestern tip of the Central African Republic. Along with adjoining parks and protected areas in neighboring Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, the Trinational Sangha is home to significant populations of African Forest Elephants, Gorillas and Chimpanzees.
(image via: Middle Africa)
Though commercial logging took place within the area in the 1970s and 1980s, a concerted international effort has succeeded in closing the area to all human activity with the exception of subsistence hunting, tourism and scientific research.
Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, Viet Nam
(images via: Visa for Vietnam, SinhCafe, Vietnam Tours and Vietnam Travel)
Among the 10 natural properties under consideration for World Heritage Site status at the 35th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam. The park is the only site to be nominated under new criteria, though the park was previously granted World Heritage Site status by virtue of its geological values and not its copious wildlife.
(image via: Bayou Renaissance Man)
Located in Quang Binh Province, north-central Vietnam, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is situated in one of the world’s two largest karst regions. The park includes over 70 km (43.5 miles) of interconnected caves and grottos of which less than 1/3 have been explored. The world’s largest cave, Son Doong Cave, was discovered in April 2009 by British cave explorers of the British Caving Association. As exploration of the cave system continues, it’s probable that even more notable discoveries will be announced.
(image via: Vrindavan Today)
At press time, 911 properties of “outstanding universal value” in 151 different nations have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites, and 180 of these are natural properties. Though limited in their ability to oversee these sites and enforce their “hands off” status, UNESCO at least does the world a service by bringing these natural wonders to our notice. Joni Mitchell once sang, “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” but maybe by knowing what we’ve got today, we can help ensure they won’t be gone tomorrow.
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7 Wonders of the Plant World: Bizarre Blooms
[ By Steph in 7 Wonders Series & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
These aren’t flowers you’d give to your mother. Some smell like feces or rotting corpses, some are incredibly ugly, some are deadly while others are just strange. These 7 extreme flowers include the world’s largest, smallest, stinkiest and most dangerous. Stunning examples of the incredibly unexpected wonders that nature can serve up, the world’s most bizarre blooms entice, amaze and disgust.
World’s Largest Flower, Rafflesia arnoldii
(images via: parasiticplants.siu.edu)
Like a mutant toadstool crossed with man-eating flowers from another planet, Rafflesia arnoldii is red with white speckles and can reach up to three feet in diameter. Oh yeah, and it smells like a dead body. From the time this bizarre bloom forms a bud, exposing the pink undersides of its petals, it is disturbingly flesh-like. Then it opens to reveal itself in all of its glory, emitting an odor of decomposition to attract the flies that will pollinate it and help it spread.
Rafflesia arnoldii is found only in the rainforests of Benkulu, Sumatra Island, Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s the largest single flower on earth, and grows as a parasite on a particular species of vine, wrapping thread-like strands of tissue around its host in order to bleed it of water and nutrients.
The flower is both intensely fascinating and utterly repulsive – especially once you get close enough to notice just how mammalian it really looks, with pimply flesh covered in little hairs and pollen-producing parts that look like pustules.
Prehistoric Desert Flower, Welwitschia mirabilis
(images via: wikipedia)
It’s hideous, looking like something that died out to sea and washed up on the beach. It’s bizarre. It’s also extremely rare and incredibly unique. The Weltwitschia mirabilis is a flower – that’s right, a flower – found only in the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. In fact, it’s the latter country’s national flower. Considered a living fossil, weltwitschia is thought to be a holdover from the Jurassic period, when such plants – called gymnosperms – dominated the landscape. Over millennia, similar plants disappeared, but welwitschia managed to survive despite drastic changes to the climate of its environment.
This plant may look like a messy pile of leaves, but it actually only has two, which continue growing throughout the life of the plant, reaching lengths of up to 12 feet. These leaves tend to become ragged and frayed over time, split by the wind and sand to resemble a larger quantity of leaves.
Fleshy Fecal-Scented Parasitic Flower, Hydnora africana
(images via: botany.org)
At first, the Hydnora africana looks like a stone, blending in on the desert floor. But then it rises and opens its terrifying maw and you know you’ve come upon something outrageously unusual. What you see of the parasite Hydnora is just the flower of the plant, most of which is hidden underground, interweaving itself among the roots of its host plant, the succulent Euphorbia. The bloom opens in three sections called sepals, revealing a cavity that stinks like feces, luring in dung beetles. This cavity becomes a temporary trap, keeping the beetles inside long enough to enable pollination. The inside of the cavity is pinkish-orange, fleshy and covered in tiny downward-pointing hairs that prevent the beetles from climbing out. Eventually, the bloom opens enough so that the beetles can escape.
World’s Smallest Flower, Wolffia angusta
(images via: wikipedia, university of wisconsin)
Nope, that’s not algae, nor is it any ordinary aquatic plant. Wolffia, commonly referred to as watermeal and misidentified as duckweed, is officially the world’s smallest flower, with each bloom weighing about as much as two grains of sand. It takes about 5,000 of these teeny-tiny flowers to fill a thimble, and they’re amazingly small when seen against the grooves in a human fingerprint. Woffia sometimes grow in colonies that form a dense-looking mat on sheltered waters. The only way to identify the exact species of a wolffia flower is to view it under a microscope.
Each wolffia flower has a single pistil and stamen and produces the world’s smallest fruit, called a utricle. It has no leaves, stem or roots, floating freely in quiet freshwater lakes and marshes. Woffia is highly nutritious, serving as food for fish and waterfowl in nature and occasionally cultivated for use as livestock feed or even human cuisine. It’s eaten as a vegetable in Burma, Laos and Thailand.
Black Bat Flower, Tacca chantrieri
(images via: wikimedia commons)
Stunningly beautiful, magnificently strange, the black bat flower – Tacca chantrieri – is definitely one-of-a-kind. Not only does it produce black blooms, which is highly unusual in itself, but those blooms are decidedly animalistic with bat-like petal ‘wings’ as well as long ‘whiskers’ that trail up to a foot long. Also known as the devil’s flower, presumably because of its color and strange appearance, the black bat flower also produces odd-shaped blooms in shades of green and purple. This tropical flower can be found in Africa, Madagascar and northeast South America.
World’s Deadliest Flower, Belladonna
(images via: cupcakes2, wikipedia)
There’s a reason that Atropa belladonna is commonly called ‘deadly nightshade’. While it may not hold the official title of deadliest flower in the world (there’s no consensus on that topic), and other flowers like oleander are similarly dangerous, belladonna is notable not only for its ability to kill but for its history and unusual appearance. This perennial herbaceous plant, native to Europe, North Africa and Western Asia, has been used for centuries as a medicine, cosmetic, poison and hallucinogen. Both the foliage and the very juicy and tempting-looking dark purple berries of this plant are highly toxic. The scientific name ‘atropa’ is thought to be derived from that of the Greek goddess Atropos, one of the three fates, who was responsible for determining a man’s death. ‘Belladonna’ is Italian for ‘beautiful woman’.
Ingest any part of the deadly nightshade and you’ll be swallowing atropine, hyoscine and hyoscyamine, substances that cause a series of worsening symptoms from dilated pupils to slurred speech to hallucinations, delirium, convulsions and possibly death. The pupil-dilating part was once considered desirable, hence the name ‘belladonna’, though prolonged usage was known to cause blindness. In Ancient Rome it was used as a murder weapon.
The Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus Titanum
(images via: wikipedia, stepnout, wayfaring.info)
It’s not enough that the titan arum stands taller than an adult male human, or that its stamen is so crazily large and weird-looking that it has earned the flower the scientific name Amorphophallus titanum (essentially, ‘giant misshapen penis’.) No. This insane flower – which also happens to be incredibly beautiful – also has to smell like the rotting corpse of a mammal left too long in the sun. Say hello to what may just be the single weirdest flower in the world.
The titan arum, which grows in the rainforests of Sumatra, is often cultivated in botanical gardens for guests to gawk and gag over. The spadix of the flower, which is the tallest part, is covered in pollen at the top and dotted with bright red-orange carpels, or ovule-producing parts, at the bottom. It has a single petal called a spathe that is pale green and white on the outside and deep burgundy-purple on the inside. Like many other species, the flower emits the scent of rotting meat to attract pollinators.
The tallest bloom in cultivation, grown at the zoological garden Wilhelmina in Stuttgart, Germany, reached 9 feet 6 inches in height.
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