All-they-can-drink alcohol? Animals crave it. A herd of two dozen elephants was caught sleeping off hangovers after drinking jungle beer brewed by villagers in India.
Elephants are known to be [violent] fans of mahua, according to Chief Executive of Wildlife SOS Kartick Satyanarayan:
“When they smell it, they can poke their trunks into kitchens or break down walls to get to it.
“Once finished, they stagger back home, toppling the odd tree or house on the way,” he added.
Locals from the village of Salipada, Odisha, India, left the jars of alcohol fermenting in the jungle, allowing these booze-loving elephants to dip their trunks in.
The elephants — including nine [minors called] calves — apparently lost sight of what their alcohol limit was and drank all of the mahua until they blacked out.
Local wildlife officials reportedly woke up the heavy sleepers by beating on drums, and the hungover animals slowly got up and stumbled back into the forest.
This was not the first occurrence of elephants drinking more than they can handle.
In April, a herd of elephants, who some consider “addicted” to the fermented alcohol [i.e., alcoholics], killed five people brewing liquor in the Jaisingh Nagar Forest range, according to the Daily Mail.
Forest officials warn locals to avoid brewing mahua when elephants are spotted nearby because they can smell the liquor from a distance and move closer to cause drunken havoc. Source
Welcome to the wettest place on Earth. "Living root bridges" can be found in the tropical rainforests of Meghalaya state, northeastern India, among the wettest places on Earth.
The gentle waterways that flow through the region’s valleys become gushing torrents during the summer monsoon season and would wash away traditional bamboo bridges.
So generations of indigenous Khasi people have devised a way of building root bridges by shaping living trees, like one near the village of Mawsynram.
It works like this: Rubber fig trees are planted or located on opposite riverbanks. As the trees' above-ground roots grow, the Khasi guide them across the water, sometimes with the support of temporary scaffolding like bamboo.
Limestone cave expedition, Jainta Hills
After years of tending, the roots eventually join and take hold of each other, forming a living suspension bridge that provides safe passage over swollen rivers. The innovation has proved critical to the Khasi people.
In this environment, bridges made of harvested materials would quickly rot and fall apart, leaving villages cut off and isolated. Building a living root bridge requires patience, however.
It takes about 15 to 30 years to grow a bridge sturdy enough to support humans. But the investment pays off. As these bridges age, they get stronger. Some are 100 feet long and can hold over 50 people.
Giant "wild men" of the world
Yeti (Mande Barung) of India
Of course they exist and gov'ts know. Ask Lloyd Pye.
In the U.S. knows them as Bigfoot, in Canada as Sasquatch, in China as Yeren, in Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, the Chechnia, and the Caucasus as Almas or "Wild Man," in Brazil as Mapinguary, in Sumatra as Orang Pendek, in Australia as Yowie, in Vietnam and Borneo as Batatut, Indonesia as Sajarang Gigi, in Bangladesh as Ban-Manush, in India as Mande Burung and, most famously of all, in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet as Yeti or "Abominable Snowmen."
The little-known Indian version of this legendary ape-like creature is called mande barung -- or "forest man" -- and is reputed to live in the remote west Garo Hills of the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, India.
I was invited by passionate Yeti-believer Dipu Marak to travel throughout the area to hear for myself what he says is compelling evidence of the existence of a black and grey ape-like animal which stands about nearly 10 feet (3m) tall.
The Mande Burung is a cryptozoological ape-like creature that inhabits the Meghalaya subtropical forests in the remote Garo Hills of the Northeast India. In July of 2019I was invited by passionate yeti believer Dipu Marak to travel throughout the area of the Garo Hills, Meghalaya, in search of India's Yeti.
(Indpendent.co.uk) [In 2008] a group of amateur "Yeti-hunters" from Meghalaya gave two hairs they say they discovered in a "nest" of the Mande Burung to a renowned British primatologist. Having examined the hairs, Ian Redmond said they were like that of no other creature known to live in these jungles. Even more teasingly, Dr. Redmond said that under the microscope the hairs most closely resembled those of a human, a chimp, a gorilla, or the purported "Yeti hairs" brought back by the late Sir Edmund Hilary's 1953 Mt. Everest expedition. More
Bollywood in Hollywood: Los Angeles hosts the 2016 Indian Film Festival April 6-10.
"Angry Indian Goddesses" official trailer, a Pan Nalin film at Indian Film Festival, Los Angeles
These Indian women protect forests better than men. The village men agree.
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Even the monsoon rains don’t keep the women of Ghunduribadi, a tiny tribal village in India’s eastern state of Odisha (Orissa), from patrolling the nearby forest at dawn.
Clad in colorful saris and armed with sticks and machetes, they file in the rain through rice fields and onto a muddy path that leads into 500 acres of wooded hills in the Nayagarh district. They’re looking for intruders that come to cut down their trees without permission.
Women's patrol nabbed three illegal loggers from nearby village and brought them to the local council. If not for the presence of reporter, they would've beaten the men (Sam Eaton).
Not long ago these women would have been considered trespassers here. Nearby, there are heavy stone markers laid down by the British in the 1800s when the government declared this forest its own.
But now, under India’s landmark 2006 Forest Rights Act, tribal villages like Ghunduribadi can claim title to their ancestral lands, some 150,000 square miles of forest all across India. That’s an area almost the size of California, making it one of the largest land reforms in India’s history. More
There is a temple in Western Thailand where devoted Buddhist monks live among unwanted tigers, nurturing them and releasing them into the wild when they reach maturity!
The temple is in the Saiyok district of Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, close to the border with Burma (which the dictators renamed "Myanmar"), some 24 miles (38 km) northwest of Kanchanaburi along the 323 Highway.
Hey, your thirsty tiger scratched me!
The story goes that in 1999 a tiger cub was given to the temple by villagers because it had been abandoned by its mother. Unfortunately, it later died due to the inexperience of the monks regarding tiger keeping.
Soon several more tiger cubs were given to the temple to care for, and the rest is history. As of records up to 2012, there are more than 100 tigers living in the temple.
(Etienne Verhaegen) "The Little Buddhas and the Tigers" (Les Petits Bouddhas et les Tigres)
Big predator cats love milk (strangefeed.com).
Tourists are attracted from around the world, where they can see enormous tigers lazily lounging wild around monk caretakers who go about with their daily routines. Some wildlife organizations have claimed that the temple has no permit from the Thai Wild Animals Reservation and Protection Act of 1992 and should be closed due to shady dealings with a tiger farm in Laos, allegations based on an investigation between 2005 to 2008.
Fortunately, in 2008, ABC News reporters spent three nights in the monastery and found no evidence of calming drugs being administered to the tigers or any other mistreatment. Both Thai and Western employees who were interviewed claimed that the animals were well treated. The head of the temple was interviewed and stated that their mission is clear, "To breed tigers and release them into the wild.” When in Buddhist Thailand, visit this wondrous place!
"Taming the Tigers" (2013): Thailand's Tiger Temple is one of the country's best known tourist attractions. Although marketed as a sanctuary to help conserve an endangered species, some activists claim it has a history of exploitation and abuse.
"If you're selling animal exploitation as a conservation project, then I have a serious concern," states Edwin Wiek of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. There's something undeniably mysterious and majestic about tigers, even in captivity. But while tourists are told the temple is a sanctuary for rescued animals, conservationist and animal rights activist Sybelle Foxcroft claims they are treated appallingly. "I personally saw sticks being broken across tigers' backs." The temple claims "assertive treatment" is the only way to train these powerful animals. In stark contrast, Foxcroft describes it as "probably one of the most horrific things I've ever seen."
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Thailand's Tiger Temple is full of real meat eating predators (Steve Winter/NatGeo).
SOUTHEAST ASIA - "Angel Warriors" tells the story of five girls from the city. They go on a
rural getaway surrounded by lush jungles and beautiful beaches. But
there's trouble in paradise when an excursion into the forest leads them into a dangerous encounter with local criminals, who are
endangering the surrounding ancient Buddhist cultural relics. However, the criminals didn't count on one thing: These
aren't docile city gals who cower in the face of danger. They are vicious vixens who decide
to take decisive action like they just saw "Sucker Punch." More
CAMBODIA (ChattahBox) – A woman who spent most of her life in the jungle before being reintegrated into society has fled once again into her beloved wild wilderness.
Rochom P’ngieng was 8 years old when she disappeared during a trek where she herded water buffalo with her older sister. For 20 years she was missing, until she was discovered in the forest, living off of the land, crawling instead of walking, and unable to speak.
She was brought back to the village she disappeared from and reunited with her family, the Lu’s. But there has always been some question as to whether or not she was truly their little girl. Experts mostly agree that an 8 year old would not have been capable of surviving in the jungle for so long on her own and that there is a good chance that Rochom is actually someone else.
But how she survived when it is so obvious she has spent a life in the jungle is equally mysterious. Other experts believe that it is Rochom, and that it was trauma and years of isolation that led to her losing the ability to speak in anything more than animal-like sounds.
In addition to this, she has difficulty walking upright, is nervous around people, and hates wearing clothes.
Her father, Sal Lu, believes that it is the work of forest spirits that have called his daughter since she was a child and protected her as she lived among them. She has tried to escape back into the jungle numerous times, and earlier this week she managed to do so. According to her father, she stripped off her clothes and left running into the wilds, disappearing once again.
He has gone to a mystic in the village to assist in the search. And she has allegedly told him that a [sacrificial] offering of an ox, a pig, a chicken, and four jugs of wine (a hefty fee) will bring her back. [In misguided desperation,] he is saving up to pay the price. Source
Sri Lanka army kills 11 Tamil rebels in east COLOMBO (AP) – The Sri Lankan military says it has killed 11 suspected Tamil rebels in the eastern jungles, in the biggest clash since declaring victory against the insurgents last week. The army said the soldiers recovered assault rifles, 20 Claymore mines, and a handful of grenades and anti-personnel mines along with the bodies of 11 men near the southeastern town of Ampara. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the troops were on a mission Wednesday to flush out the remnants of the Tamil Tigers in the eastern jungles when they attacked a group of rebels. He said the soldiers suffered no casualties. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
Sri Lanka urged at U.N. to ensure Tamils get aid
Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe during a UN Human Rights Council special session on Sri Lanka in Geneva on May 26. Sri Lanka said Wednesday it was confident of averting an international probe into alleged war crimes committed during its blistering offensive against the Tamil Tigers (AFP/Fabrice Coffrini).
GENEVA (Reuters) – Sri Lanka must ensure nearly 300,000 people who fled their homes in the final throes of its civil war receive the aid they need, the United States and other governments said on Wednesday.
At a special session of the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, dozens of countries also called for Colombo to give its minority Tamils and Muslims a political voice to ensure lasting peace in a country where Sinhalese are an ethnic majority.
Sri Lanka's minister of disaster management and rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, told the Geneva forum his government recognized the need to help those displaced in its drive to crush Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists.
"It is our duty to give them not only minimal standards but decent standards," he said, thanking Sri Lanka's allies China and India for their donations of tents and other supplies.
He dismissed concerns raised by the Red Cross and other aid groups who have been kept out of camps like Manik Farm, which holds about 210,000 people uprooted by the war. More>>
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