A young ibex in El Torcal Nature Reserve near Antequera, Andalucia, Spain

The Iberian ibex, Spanish ibex, Spanish wild goat, or Iberian wild goat (Capra pyrenaica) is a species of ibex with foursubspecies. Of these, two can still be found on the Iberian Peninsula, but the remaining two are now extinct. The Portuguese subspeciesbecame extinct in 1892 and the Pyrenean subspecies became extinct on January 6, 2000. An ongoing project to clone to the Pyrenean subspecies resulted in one clone being born alive in January 2009. This is the first taxon to become "un-extinct", although the clone died a few minutes after birth.

Great Glacier Provincial Park, Lower Stikine, British Columbia, Canada

Great Glacier Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, created to protect the Great Glacier, one of the major sights along the lower Stikine River. The park lies on the river's west (right) bank inland from the British Columbia-Alaska boundary, which lies a few miles downstream. Immediately across the river from the Great Glacier and its park isChoquette Hot Springs Provincial Park, which protects the Stikine River Hot Springs. Both parks are in the traditional territory of the Tahltan people. and lie about 120 km southwest of the Tahltan community of Telegraph Creek, which lies at the upper, opposite, end of the Grand Canyon of the Stikine from the area of the Great Glacier. The park size is about 9,300 hectares.

Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona

Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon includes two separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The Corkscrew.

The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means "the place where water runs through rocks." Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí (advertised as "Hasdestwazi" by the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department), or "spiral rock arches." Both are located within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.

Geology

Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to other sub-aerial processes. Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways are eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic 'flowing' shapes in the rock.

Flooding in the canyon still occurs. A flood occurred on October 30, 2006 that lasted 36 hours, and caused the Tribal Park Authorities to close Lower Antelope Canyon for five months.

A beam of light in Upper Antelope Canyon

Entrance of Lower Antelope Canyon

Inside Upper Antelope Canyon

Stone Statue Road elephants at Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, Zijin Shan, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

The Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (Chinese: 明孝陵) is the tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. It lies at the southern foot of Purple Mountain (Chinese: 紫金山; pinyin: Zĭjīn Shān; literally "Purple-Golden Mountain"), located east of the historical center of Nanjing, China. Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tomb, 13 identical processions of funeral troops started from 13 city gates to obscure the real burying site.

The construction of the mausoleum began during the Hongwu Emperor's life in 1381 and ended in 1405, during the reign of his son the Yongle Emperor, with a huge expenditure of resources involving 100,000 laborers. The original wall of the mausoleum was more than 22.5 kilometers long. The mausoleum was built under heavy guard of 5,000 military troops.

The Sifangcheng ("Square City") pavilion

Elephants along the "Elephant Road"

Kogelberg Mountains, South Africa

The Kogelberg is a range of mountains along the False Bay coast in the Western Cape of South Africa. They form part of theCape Fold Belt and start south of Grabouw and form a steep coastal range to Kleinmond. The Kogelberg area has the steepest and highest drop directly into the ocean of any southern African coastal stretch. The R44 route is a scenic ocean drive that follows this section of coastline.

The mountains are made predominantly of Table Mountain Sandstone and form some very rugged terrain, which is extremely rich in fynbos, the native Cape flora. The Elgin Valley's surrounding mountain ranges are considered the hub of the Cape floral kingdom. They contain more plant species than anywhere else in the floral region, and a large section of the mountain range is now protected in the massive Kogelberg Nature Reserve. The unique local vegetation type is classified as Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos. The climate is Mediterranean, however much milder than average, due to constant maritime winds blowing off the SouthAtlantic Ocean. Winters are wet to very wet and cool, with summers being dry, warm and windy. Snow occasionally occurs on the highest peaks. The area is protected within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and comprises a core area of 103 629ha of protected land. The highest mountain is Koeëlberg (Afrikaans: Bullet Mountain) rising to 1289m above Koeël Bay.

Tube anemone

Tube anemones or cerianthids look very similar to sea anemones, but belong to an entirely different subclass of anthozoans. They are solitary, living buried in soft sediments. Tube anemones live and can withdraw into tubes, which are made of a fibrous material, which is made from secreted mucus and threads of nematocyst-like organelles, known as ptychocysts.

Cerianthids have a crown of tentacles that consists of two whorls of distinctly different sized tentacles. The outer whorl consists of large tentacles that extend outwards. These tentacles taper to points and are mostly used in food capture and defence. The smaller inner tentacles are held more erect than the larger lateral tentacles and are used for food manipulation and ingestion.

Ceriantharia

 

Cerianthidae

Cranberries floating on water's surface in Harwich, Massachusetts

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right. They can be found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler regions of thenorthern hemisphere.

Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 2 metres (7 ft) long and 5 to 20 centimetres (2 to 8 in) in height; they have slender, wiry stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the styleand stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. They are pollinated by bees. The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. It is edible, with an acidic taste that can overwhelm its sweetness.

Cranberries are a major commercial crop in certain American states and Canadian provinces (see cultivation and uses below). Most cranberries are processed into products such as juice, sauce, jam and sweetened dried cranberries, with the remainder sold fresh to consumers. Cranberry sauce is regarded an indispensable part of traditional American and Canadian Thanksgiving menus and some European winter festivals.

Since the early 21st century within the global functional food industry, raw cranberries have been marketed as a "superfruit" due to their nutrientcontent and antioxidant qualities.

Harvesting

Cranberries are harvested in the fall when the fruit takes on its distinctive deep red color. This is usually in September through the first part of November. To harvest cranberries, the beds are flooded with six to eight inches of water above the vines. A harvester is driven through the beds to remove the fruit from the vines. For the past 50 years, water reel type harvesters have been used. Harvested cranberries float in the water and can be corralled into a corner of the bed and conveyed or pumped from the bed. From the farm, cranberries are taken to receiving stations where they are cleaned, sorted, and stored prior to packaging or processing.

Although most cranberries are wet-picked as described above, 5–10% of the US crop is still dry-picked. This entails higher labor costs and lower yield, but dry-picked berries are less bruised and can be sold as fresh fruit instead of having to be immediately frozen or processed. Originally performed with two-handed comb scoops, dry picking is today accomplished by motorized, walk-behind harvesters which must be small enough to traverse beds without damaging the vines.

White cranberry juice is made from regular cranberries that have been harvested after the fruits are mature, but before they have attained their characteristic dark red color. Yields are lower on beds harvested early and the early flooding tends to damage vines, but not severely.

Cranberries for fresh market are stored in shallow bins or boxes with perforated or slatted bottoms, which deter decay by allowing air to circulate. Because harvest occurs in late autumn, cranberries for fresh market are frequently stored in thick walled barns without mechanical refrigeration. Temperatures are regulated by opening and closing vents in the barn as needed. Cranberries destined for processing are usually frozen in bulk containers shortly after arriving at a receiving station.

 About 95% of cranberries are processed into products such as juice drinks, sauce, and sweetened dried cranberries. The remaining 5% are sold fresh to consumers.

Tent and prayer flags, Tagong Grasslands, Sichuan, China

A prayer flag is a colorful panel of rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. Prayer flags are believed to have originated with Bon, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. In Bon, shamanistic Bonpo used primary-colored plain flags in healing ceremonies. They are unknown in other branches of Buddhism.^[1] Traditionally they are woodblock-printed with texts and images.

History

The Indian Buddhist Sutras, written on cloth in India, were transmitted to other regions of the world. These sutras, written on banners, were the origin of prayer flags. Legend ascribes the origin of the prayer flag to the Shakyamuni Buddha, whose prayers were written on battle flags used by the devasagainst their adversaries, the asuras. The legend may have given the Indian bhikku a reason for carrying the heavenly banner as a way of signifying his commitment to ahimsa. This knowledge was carried into Tibet by 800 CE, and the actual flags were introduced no later than 1040 CE, where they were further modified. The Indian monk Atisha (980 – 1054 CE) introduced the Indian practice of printing on cloth prayer flags to Tibet and Nepal.

During the Cultural Revolution, prayer flags were discouraged but not entirely eliminated. Many traditional designs may have been lost. Currently, different styles of prayer flags can be seen all across the Tibetan region.

Closeup view of bundle of prayer flags, located near Mount Everest on Tibetan side.

A darchor-style prayer flag in northern India