Indian scientists discover 12 night frogs

After years and years of hard work and studies, a group of Indian scientists finally discovered new frog species. They are 12 absolutely unique frogs and other 3 species that are apparently did not die out, as it has been thought before.

These frogs are a great find, since around 32% of amphibian species over the world are considered endangered species.

"Frogs are extremely important indicators not just of climate change, but also pollutants in the environment," said the project's lead scientist, biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju of the University of Delhi.

Biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju claimed that people do not take much interest in frogs or amphibians in India, because they are more focused on elephants and tigers.

The 12 species of frogs that were found are night frogs. The group of researchers had to spend nights listening to all sounds and trying to distinguish frog’s sounds. These frogs croak in a quite unusual way, similar to a cat’s call.

Winter around the world

Hello, privet, hola, ni hao! I’m back to my blog finally, and it’s winter now. Yes, the winter season is over the world, but not everywhere will you find snow :) I’d love to dedicate this article to winter and the winter nature. At that time of year the nature changes completely. Whatever you say, winter has some hidden mystery. Probably the nature falls asleep and it’s not that lively, probably the snow charms with its purity :) Here are some nice winter pictures. I really love them, hope you will too.

The northern lights in Alaska. It’s a spectacular scene. No wonder lots of tourists are rushing to Alaska each year in order to watch the beauty and more than that have fun skiing, walking.

The Canadian winter nature is something that you should see with your own eyes. Snow-covered pine-trees and snow-clad mountains.

That’s a Russian winter picture that I took myself in the nearby park.

Winter in Algeria! No comment :-)

Where the nature sings

The Alps is the name of one of the biggest and gorgeous mountain chain systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east, through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west. They are divided into the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps.

Mont Blanс is the highest mountain in the Alps chain - 4,808 meters (15,774 ft).

As we rise from the sea level into the upper levels of atmosphere the temperature decreases. What is interesting, there are eternal glaciers in the top of alps, the temperature is low; going down it begins to increase, that's why the lowest areas of the Alps are full of rich flora. Furthermore the weather forecast in the Alps is really unpredictable.

The Alps are considered to be attractive for tourists and especially Alpinists. Clean snow and at the same time wonderful forests, wide meadows, which you can smell amazing fragrance from, the cleanest air. What a place for chilling! Such nature is needed for people and their health to be strong, for getting some positive emotions, which people usually have a lack of. And the air is so clean, that some people might collapse, because they didn't get used to that clean air.
What is most wonderful about The Alps is its extremely rich and diverse nature : vast meadows, forests, lakes…

Great deal of herbaceous vegetation is very common in the Alps. There is a great variety of meadow flowers: rusty-leaved Alpenrose, Edelweiss, stemless gentian, Alpine pasque-flower, glacier buttercup etc. Wildlife still charms us: Alpine Ibex, Chamois, Alpine Marmot, Mountain Hare. Birds: Golden Eagle, Alpine Chough, Alpine Accentor.

Ptarmigan, Tengmalm's Owl, Capercaillie, Alpine Salamander. These species are found in 15% of the Alps protected in parks and reserves.

See The Alps location on the map.

Some gorgeous pictures of The Alps:

Learn more about The Alps in Wikipedia.

What does a zoo mean for an animal?

Have you ever been to the zoo? I have and i've seen something i completely disliked. Those poor animals were locked in dirty stinky cages...

There are many zoos all over the world. A zoo is a place where animals are confined within enclosures and displayed to the public. The first zoo founded primarily for scientific and educational reasons was the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris (1794). The founders and members of the Zoological Society of London adopted the idea of the early Paris zoo when they established London Zoo in 1828.

Some zoos try to supply animals with more natural living conditions, especially such animals as penguins. Others are usually kept in cages like in jail, whether they are big or small. Zoos are for entertainment. Can you imagine, all their life passes under the eye of people that gaze at them, throw food, tap on the bars or windows to make animal move their heads or make sounds. The animals definitely have a lack of freedom. They are still caught from wildlife and put into zoos. The human thinks that animals need any help. Quite the contrary the human has been killing animals to get food or make clothes

So, there was a solution. The first wild animal park Whipsnade Wild Animal Park was opened in 1931 in Bedfordshire, England.
The park covers 2.4 km² and it's still one of Europe’s largest wildlife conservation parks where animals are kept within sizeable enclosures. Since the early 1970s was built a 7 km² remarkable zoo in the Pasqual Valley near San Diego - San Diego Wild Animal Park that is run by the Zoological Society of San Diego. Another zoo comparable to these wild animal parks is the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Melbourne, Australia, focusing on displaying animals living in a wide open savanna. This 500-acre zoo is managed by the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board which also manages Melbourne Zoo. One of only 2 American state supported zoo parks is the 535 acre North Carolina Zoo located in Asheboro, North Carolina. So as you see, people have started to think about wildlife preservation. Wildlife preserves or national parks have been set up in some countries to protect wildlife and their natural habitants. These parks are also considered to be good for tourism, ecotourism, environmentalism. I believe it's a good opportunity to save endangered species, because the wilderness is full of dangers, such as habitant destruction and natural predators. Animals manage to get food, to bred but only under the guard. The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. National parks are usually located in places which have been largely undeveloped, and often feature areas with exceptional native animals, plants and ecosystems (particularly endangered examples of such), biodiversity, or unusual geological features.

on the map:

Canada's national parks system

New York's national parks

California's national parks

England's national parks

Texas national parks

See also:

Zoos worldwide

World Heritage Sites

UNESCO — Man and the Biosphere Programme

Links about UNESCO