Survival Guide: Orangutan to the Rescue

 

How an Orangutan walked a lost researcher back to camp.

This kind of getting lost doesn’t happen anymore; I would have a GPS with me now. But two decades ago at Camp Leakey, an orangutan research camp on Borneo inside Tanjung Puting, the rain forest was an unknowable place. I was trying to find the maroon leaf monkey. One day, after four hours of following marked trails, I thought I saw one. I risked it and went off the trail. Forty-five minutes later, I was still wandering, no maroon leaf monkey in sight. I assumed the trail had to pick up somewhere near where I was, so I used my compass to make a guess. Another 30 minutes later, I wasn’t panicked, but I was definitely a little nervous. I had a headlamp, so I was somewhat prepared, but darkness was coming on quickly and finding my way back was only going to get more difficult.

There was much to admire off-trail—passing humans hadn’t disturbed these parts of the rain forest yet. At one point I saw a shimmering metallic blue pool in an opening. I moved closer, and it vibrated, and hundreds of butterflies took wing. What I saw in their place was the sea of pig feces that had so interested them moments before.

I picked south on the compass. I figured I’d eventually hit the river, if not a trail first. It paid off. After about 20 minutes I saw an unmarked trail. Seconds later, I heard a rustling. I was thinking it was feral pigs or a small wildcat. I shone my headlamp where I thought the sound was coming from. It was an orangutan. The face was familiar: one of the tribe being rehabilitated at camp. The orangutan and I looked at each other, and she held out her hand to me. Then she led me, hand clasped in hand, to camp. Just like me, she was heading back for the evening.


Source: Agustin Fuentes at National Georgaphic

Related: Audio: Fuentes’ Work With Orangutans in Borneo.

Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake NW of Raoul Island, New Zealand

Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS, NEIC, Golden, Colorado (and predecessors)

Event Time

1. 2013-08-28 02:54:41 UTC
2. 2013-08-28 14:54:41 UTC+12:00 at epicenter
3. 2013-08-27 21:54:41 UTC-05:00 system time

Location

27.795°S 179.672°E depth=488.6km (303.6mi)

Nearby Cities

288km (179mi) NW of Raoul Island, New Zealand
902km (560mi) SW of Nuku`alofa, Tonga
1014km (630mi) NNE of Whangarei, New Zealand
1076km (669mi) S of Suva, Fiji
1100km (684mi) NNE of North Shore, New Zealand

 

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.

Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.
 

 

READ THE FULL STORY HERE AT USGS.GOV The technically minded will find it fascinating.

Oldest Evidence of Cooking With Spices Found From 6,000 Years Ago

 

Ancient European hunter-gatherers were using garlic mustard seeds to give their foods a peppery kick as far back as 6,000 years ago. 

Researchers have found evidence for garlic mustard seeds in cooking residues left on ancient pottery shards discovered in what is now Denmark and Germany. The finding, published this week in the journal PLOS One, is the oldest evidence of spices being used for culinary purposes, said study co-author Oliver Craig, an archeologist at the University of York in the UK.

"We think it was mixed with other ingredients in a pot, so it was actually used to deliberately spice other foods," Craig said. Craig and his team found microscopic specks of plant-based silica, known as phytoliths, on fire-scorched pottery shards collected from three campsites in north central Europe that ranged between 5,800 and 6,150 years old.

The team identified the seeds as belonging to the garlic mustard plant, also known as Jack-by-the-hedge. The tiny black seeds from this plant have no nutritional value, but are known for their pungent, peppery taste.

Along with the garlic mustard phytoliths, the team also found remnants of fish and animal fat—probably deer—on the pottery shards, which suggests prehistoric cooks were using the spice to flavor these foods.

Read the full story by Ker Than here at National Geographic

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Why do wolves howl?

Cynthia Kidwell | Shutterstock.com

A new study shows that wolves howl more frequently to members of their pack with whom they spend more time, suggesting a link between relationship quality and howling frequency. 

READ THE FULL STORY BY DOUGLAS MAIN OF LIVESCIENCE.COM AT THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR