title: "White stork" content: during the breeding season. The smaller dark-plumaged Abdim's stork is often encountered with white stork flocks in southern Africa. Breeding pairs of white stork may gather in small groups to hunt, and colony nesting has been recorded in some areas. However, groups among white stork colonies vary widely in size and the social structure is loosely defined; young breeding storks are often restricted to peripheral nests, while older storks attain higher breeding success while occupying the better quality nests toward the centres of breeding colonies. Social structure and group cohesion is maintained by altruistic behaviours such as allopreening. White storks


title: "White stork" content: exhibit this behaviour exclusively at the nest site. Standing birds preen the heads of sitting birds, sometimes these are parents grooming juveniles, and sometimes juveniles preen each other. Unlike most storks, it never adopts a spread-winged posture, though it is known to droop its wings (holding them away from its body with the primary feathers pointing downwards) when its plumage is wet. A white stork's droppings, containing faeces and uric acid, are sometimes directed onto its own legs, making them appear white. The resulting evaporation provides cooling and is termed urohidrosis. Birds that have been ringed can sometimes be affected


title: "White stork" content: by the accumulation of droppings around the ring leading to constriction and leg trauma. The white stork has also been noted for tool use by squeezing moss in the beak to drip water into the mouths of its chicks. The adult white stork's main sound is noisy bill-clattering, which has been likened to distant machine gun fire. The bird makes these sounds by rapidly opening and closing its beak so that a knocking sound is made each time its beak closes. The clattering is amplified by its throat pouch, which acts as a resonator. Used in a variety of social


title: "White stork" content: interactions, bill-clattering generally grows louder the longer it lasts, and takes on distinctive rhythms depending on the situation—for example, slower during copulation and briefer when given as an alarm call. The only vocal sound adult birds generate is a weak barely audible hiss; however, young birds can generate a harsh hiss, various cheeping sounds, and a cat-like mew they use to beg for food. Like the adults, young also clatter their beaks. The "up-down display" is used for a number of interactions with other members of the species. Here a stork quickly throws its head backwards so that its crown


title: "White stork" content: rests on its back before slowly bringing its head and neck forwards again, and this is repeated several times. The display is used as a greeting between birds, post coitus, and also as a threat display. Breeding pairs are territorial over the summer, and use this display, as well as crouching forward with the tails cocked and wings extended. The white stork breeds in open farmland areas with access to marshy wetlands, building a large stick nest in trees, on buildings, or on purpose-built man-made platforms. Each nest is in depth, in diameter, and in weight. Nests are built in


title: "White stork" content: loose colonies. Not persecuted as it is viewed as a good omen, it often nests close to human habitation; in southern Europe, nests can be seen on churches and other buildings. The nest is typically used year after year especially by older males. The males arrive earlier in the season and choose the nests. Larger nests are associated with greater numbers of young successfully fledged, and appear to be sought after. Nest change is often related to a change in the pairing and failure to raise young the previous year, and younger birds are more likely to change nesting sites.


title: "White stork" content: Although a pair may be found to occupy a nest, partners may change several times during the early stages and breeding activities begin only after a stable pairing is achieved. Several bird species often nest within the large nests of the white stork. Regular occupants are house sparrows, tree sparrows, and common starlings; less common residents include Eurasian kestrels, little owls, European rollers, white wagtails, black redstarts, Eurasian jackdaws, and Spanish sparrows. Paired birds greet by engaging in up-down and head-shaking crouch displays, and clattering the beak while throwing back the head. Pairs copulate frequently throughout the month before eggs


title: "White stork" content: are laid. High-frequency pair copulation is usually associated with sperm competition and high frequency of extra-pair copulation; however, extra-pair copulation is infrequent in white storks. A white stork pair raises a single brood a year. The female typically lays four eggs, though clutches of one to seven have been recorded. The eggs are white, but often look dirty or yellowish due to a glutinous covering. They typically measure , and weigh , of which about is shell. Incubation begins as soon as the first egg is laid, so the brood hatches asynchronously, beginning 33 to 34 days later. The first


title: "White stork" content: hatchling typically has a competitive edge over the others. While stronger chicks are not aggressive towards weaker siblings, as is the case in some species, weak or small chicks are sometimes killed by their parents. This behaviour occurs in times of food shortage to reduce brood size and hence increase the chance of survival of the remaining nestlings. White stork nestlings do not attack each other, and their parents' method of feeding them (disgorging large amounts of food at once) means that stronger siblings cannot outcompete weaker ones for food directly, hence parental infanticide is an efficient way of reducing


title: "White stork" content: brood size. Despite this, this behaviour has not commonly been observed. The temperature and weather around the time of hatching in spring is important; cool temperatures and wet weather increase chick mortality and reduce breeding success rates. Somewhat unexpectedly, studies have found that later-hatching chicks which successfully reach adulthood produce more chicks than do their earlier-hatching nestmates. The body weight of the chicks increases rapidly in the first few weeks and reaches a plateau of about in 45 days. The length of the beak increases linearly for about 50 days. Young birds are fed with earthworms and insects, which are


title: "White stork" content: regurgitated by the parents onto the floor of the nest. Older chicks reach into the mouths of parents to obtain food. Chicks fledge 58 to 64 days after hatching. White storks generally begin breeding when about four years old, although the age of first breeding has been recorded as early as two years and as late as seven years. The oldest known wild white stork lived for 39 years after being ringed in Switzerland, while captive birds have lived for more than 35 years. White storks consume a wide variety of animal prey. They prefer to forage in meadows that


title: "White stork" content: are within roughly 5 km (3 mi) of their nest and sites where the vegetation is shorter so that their prey is more accessible. Their diet varies according to season, locality and prey availability. Common food items include insects (primarily beetles, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets), earthworms, reptiles, amphibians, particularly frog species such as the edible frog ("Pelophylax" kl. "esculentus") and common frog ("Rana temporaria") and small mammals such as voles, moles and shrews. Less commonly, they also eat bird eggs and young birds, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and scorpions. They hunt mainly during the day, swallowing small prey whole, but killing


title: "White stork" content: and breaking apart larger prey before swallowing. Rubber bands are mistaken for earthworms and consumed, occasionally resulting in fatal blockage of the digestive tract. Birds returning to Latvia during spring have been shown to locate their prey, moor frogs ("Rana arvalis"), by homing in on the mating calls produced by aggregations of male frogs. The diet of non-breeding birds is similar to that of breeding birds, but food items are more often taken from dry areas. White storks wintering in western India have been observed to follow blackbuck to capture insects disturbed by them. Wintering white storks in India sometimes


title: "White stork" content: forage along with the woolly-necked stork ("Ciconia episcopus"). Food piracy has been recorded in India with a rodent captured by a western marsh harrier appropriated by a white stork, while Montagu's harrier is known to harass white storks foraging for voles in some parts of Poland. White stork nests are habitats for an array of small arthropods, particularly over the warmer months after the birds arrive to breed. Nesting over successive years, the storks bring more material to line their nests and layers of organic material accumulate within them. Not only do their bodies tend to regulate temperatures within the


title: "White stork" content: nest, but excrement, food remains and feather and skin fragments provide nourishment for a large and diverse population of free-living mesostigmatic mites. A survey of twelve nests found 13,352 individuals of 34 species, the most common being "Macrocheles merdarius", "M. robustulus", "Uroobovella pyriformis" and "Trichouropoda orbicularis", which together represented almost 85% of all the specimens collected. These feed on the eggs and larvae of insects and on nematodes, which are abundant in the nest litter. These mites are dispersed by coprophilous beetles, often of the family Scarabaeidae, or on dung brought by the storks during nest construction. Parasitic mites do


title: "White stork" content: not occur, perhaps being controlled by the predatory species. The overall effect of the mite population is unclear, the mites may have a role in suppressing harmful organisms (and hence be beneficial), or they may themselves have an adverse effect on nestlings. The birds themselves host species belonging to more than four genera of feather mites. These mites, including "Freyanopterolichus pelargicus" and "Pelargolichus didactylus" live on fungi growing on the feathers. The fungi found on the plumage may feed on the keratin of the outer feathers or on feather oil. Chewing lice such as "Colpocephalum zebra" tend to be found


title: "White stork" content: on the wings, and "Neophilopterus incompletus" elsewhere on the body. The white stork also carries several types of internal parasites, including "Toxoplasma gondii" and intestinal parasites of the genus "Giardia". A study of 120 white stork carcasses from Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg in Germany yielded eight species of trematode (fluke), four cestode (tapeworm) species, and at least three species of nematode. One species of fluke, "Chaunocephalus ferox", caused lesions in the wall of the small intestine in a number of birds admitted to two rehabilitation centres in central Spain, and was associated with reduced weight. It is a recognised pathogen and


title: "White stork" content: cause of morbidity in the Asian openbill ("Anastomus oscitans"). More recently, the thorough study performed by J. Sitko and P. Heneberg in the Czech Republic in 1962–2013 suggested that the central European white storks host 11 helminth species. "Chaunocephalus ferox", "Tylodelphys excavata" and "Dictymetra discoidea" were reported to be the dominant ones. The other species found included "Cathaemasia hians", "Echinochasmus spinulosus", "Echinostoma revolutum", "Echinostoma sudanense", "Duboisia syriaca", "Apharyngostrigea cornu", "Capillaria sp." and "Dictymetra discoidea". Juvenile white storks were shown to host less species, but the intensity of infection was higher in the juveniles than in the adult storks. West Nile


title: "White stork" content: virus (WNV) is mainly a bird infection that is transmitted between birds by mosquitos. Migrating birds appear to be important in spread of the virus, the ecology of which remains poorly known. On 26 August 1998, a flock of about 1,200 migrating white storks that had been blown off course on their southward journey landed in Eilat, in southern Israel. The flock was stressed as it had resorted to flapping flight to return to its migratory route, and a number of birds died. A virulent strain of West Nile virus was isolated from the brains of eleven dead juveniles. Other


title: "White stork" content: white storks subsequently tested in Israel have shown anti-WNV antibodies. In 2008 three juvenile white storks from a Polish wildlife refuge yielded seropositive results indicating exposure to the virus, but the context or existence of the virus in Poland is unclear. The white stork's decline due to industrialisation and agricultural changes (principally the draining of wetlands and conversion of meadows to crops such as maize) began in the 19th century: the last wild individual in Belgium was seen in 1895, in Sweden in 1955, in Switzerland in 1950 and in the Netherlands in 1991. However, the species has since been


title: "White stork" content: reintroduced to many regions. It has been rated as least concern by the IUCN since 1994, after being evaluated as near threatened in 1988. The white stork is one of the species to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA) applies. Parties to the agreement are required to engage in a wide range of conservation strategies described in a detailed action plan. The plan is intended to address key issues such as species and habitat conservation, management of human activities, research, education, and implementation. Threats include the continued loss of wetlands, collisions with overhead power lines,


title: "White stork" content: use of persistent pesticides (such as DDT) to combat locusts in Africa, and largely illegal hunting on migration routes and wintering grounds. A large population of white storks breeds in central (Poland, Ukraine and Germany) and southern Europe (Spain and Turkey). In a 2004/05 census, there were 52,500 pairs in Poland, 30,000 pairs in Ukraine, 20,000 pairs in Belarus, 13,000 pairs in Lithuania (the highest known density of this species in the world), 10,700 pairs in Latvia, and 10,200 in Russia. There were around 5,500 pairs in Romania, 5,300 in Hungary and an estimated 4,956 breeding pairs in Bulgaria. In


title: "White stork" content: Germany, the majority of the total 4,482 pairs were in the eastern region, especially in the states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1296 and 863 pairs in 2008 respectively). Apart from Spain and Portugal (33,217 and 7,684 pairs in 2004/05 respectively), populations are generally much less stable. The Danish population declined to just three pairs in 2005. In the eastern Mediterranean region Turkey has a sizeable population of 6195 pairs, and Greece 2139 pairs. In Western Europe the white stork remains a rare bird despite conservation efforts. In 2004 France had only 973 pairs, and the Netherlands 528 pairs. In Armenia


title: "White stork" content: the population of the White Stork is slightly increasing in the period between 2005 and 2015, and by last data makes 652 pairs. In the early 1980s, the population had fallen to fewer than nine pairs in the entire upper Rhine River valley, an area closely identified with the white stork for centuries. Conservation efforts successfully increased the population of birds there to 270 pairs (in 2008), largely due to the actions of the Association for the Protection and Reintroduction of Storks in Alsace and Lorraine. The reintroduction of zoo-reared birds has halted further declines in Italy, the Netherlands, and


title: "White stork" content: Switzerland. There were 601 pairs breeding in Armenia and around 700 pairs in the Netherlands in 2008, and few pairs also breed in South Africa, typically recent colonists from within the normal wintering population. In Poland, electric poles have been modified with a platform at the top to prevent the white stork's large nest from disrupting the electricity supply, and sometimes nests are moved from an electric pole to a man-made platform. Introductions of zoo-reared birds in the Netherlands has been followed up by feeding and nest-building programs by volunteers. Similar reintroduction programs are taking place in Sweden, and Switzerland,


title: "White stork" content: where 175 pairs were recorded breeding in 2000. Long term viability of the population in Switzerland is unclear as breeding success rates are low, and supplementary feeding does not appear to be of benefit. A reintroduction programme to South East England, based at Knepp Castle in West Sussex, is in its early stages in July 2018, with juvenile birds being kept in a six and a half acre pen until maturity, when they will be released. Sussex was chosen for its strong historical associations with the stork. The programme aims to establish a breeding population in Britain for the first


title: "White stork" content: time since 1416. Due to its large size, predation on vermin, and nesting behaviour close to human settlements and on rooftops, the white stork has an imposing presence that has influenced human culture and folklore. The Hebrew word for the white stork is "chasidah" (חסידה), meaning "merciful" or "kind". Greek and Roman mythology portray storks as models of parental devotion. The 3rd century Roman writer Aelian citing the authority of Alexander of Myndus noted in his "De natura animalium" (book 3, chapter 23) that aged storks flew away to oceanic islands where they were transformed into humans as a reward


title: "White stork" content: for their piety towards their parents. The bird is featured in at least three of Aesop's Fables: The Fox and the Stork, The Farmer and the Stork, and The Frogs Who Desired a King. Storks were also thought to care for their aged parents, feeding them and even transporting them, and children's books depicted them as a model of filial values. A Greek law called "Pelargonia", from the Ancient Greek word "pelargos" for stork, required citizens to take care of their aged parents. The Greeks also held that killing a stork could be punished with death. Storks were allegedly protected


title: "White stork" content: in Ancient Thessaly as they hunted snakes, and widely held to be Virgil's "white bird". Roman writers noted the white stork's arrival in spring, which alerted farmers to plant their vines. Followers of Islam revered storks because they made an annual pilgrimage to Mecca on their migration. Some of the earliest understanding on bird migration were initiated by an interest in white storks; "Pfeilstörche" ("arrow storks") were found in Europe with African arrows embedded in their bodies. A well-known example of such a stork found in the summer of 1822 in the German town of Klütz in Mecklenburg was made


title: "White stork" content: into a mounted taxidermy specimen, complete with the ornate African arrow, that is now in the University of Rostock. Storks have little fear of humans if not disturbed, and often nest on buildings in Europe. In Germany, the presence of a nest on a house was believed to protect against fires. They were also protected because of the belief that their souls were human. German and Dutch households would encourage storks to nest on houses, sometimes by constructing purpose-built high platforms, to bring good luck. Poles, Lithuanians and Ukrainians believe that storks bring harmony to a family on whose property


title: "White stork" content: they nest. The white stork is a popular motif on postage stamps, and it is featured on more than 120 stamps issued by more than 60 stamp-issuing entities. It is the national bird of Lithuania and Belarus, and it was a Polish mascot at the Expo 2000 Fair in Hanover. In the 19th century, storks were also thought to only live in countries having a republican form of government. Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid mentioned storks in his poem "Moja piosnka (II)" ("My Song (II)"): In 1942 Heinrich Himmler sought to use storks to carry Nazi propaganda leaflets so as


title: "White stork" content: to win support from the Boers in South Africa. The idea for this "Storchbein-Propaganda" plan was a secret that was transmitted by Walter Schellenberg to be examined by the German ornithologist Ernst Schüz at the Rossiten bird observatory who pointed out that the probability of finding marked storks in Africa was less than one percent, requiring a 1000 birds to transmit 10 leaflets successfully. The plan was then dropped. According to European folklore, the stork is responsible for bringing babies to new parents. The legend is very ancient, but was popularised by a 19th-century Hans Christian Andersen story called "The


title: "White stork" content: Storks". German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket on their backs or held in their beaks. These caves contained "adebarsteine" or "stork stones". The babies would then be given to the mother or dropped down the chimney. Households would notify when they wanted children by placing sweets for the stork on the window sill. From there the folklore has spread around the world to the Philippines and countries in South America. Birthmarks on the back of the head of newborn baby, "nevus flammeus nuchae", are sometimes referred to


title: "White stork" content: as stork-bite. In Slavic mythology and religion, storks were thought to carry unborn souls from Vyraj to Earth in spring and summer. This belief still persists in the modern folk culture of many Slavic countries, in the simplified child story that "storks bring children into the world". Storks were seen by the Slavs as bringing luck, and killing one would bring misfortune. A long-term study that showed a spurious correlation between the numbers of stork nests and human births is widely used in the teaching of basic statistics as an example to highlight that correlation does not necessarily indicate causation.


title: "White stork" content: The child-bringing myth has appeared in different forms in history. Children of African American slaves were sometimes told that white babies were brought by storks, while black babies were born from buzzard eggs. Psychoanalyst Marvin Margolis suggests the enduring nature of the stork fable of the newborn is linked to its addressing a psychological need, in that it allays the discomfort of discussing sex and procreation with children. Birds have long been associated with the maternal symbols from pagan goddesses such as Juno to the Holy Ghost, and the stork may have been chosen for its white plumage (depicting purity),


title: "White stork" content: size (in that it is big enough to carry an infant), and flight at high altitude (likened to flying between Earth and Heaven). The fable and its relation to the internal world of the child have been discussed by Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung. In fact, Jung recalled being told the story himself upon the birth of his own sister. The traditional link with the newborn continues with their use in advertising for such products as nappies and birth announcements. There were negative aspects to stork folklore as well; a Polish folk tale relates how God made the stork's plumage


title: "White stork" content: white, while the Devil gave it black wings, imbuing it with both good and evil impulses. They were also associated with handicapped or stillborn babies in Germany, explained as the stork having dropped the baby "en route" to the household, or as revenge or punishment for past wrongdoing. A mother who was confined to bed around the time of childbirth was said to have been "bitten" by the stork. In Denmark, storks were said to toss a nestling off the nest and then an egg in successive years. In medieval England, storks were also associated with adultery, possibly inspired by


title: "White stork" content: their courtship rituals. Their preening and posture saw them linked with the attribute of self-conceit. White stork The white stork ("Ciconia ciconia") is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to end of tail, with a wingspan. The two subspecies, which differ slightly in size, breed in Europe (north to Finland), northwestern Africa, southwestern Asia (east to southern Kazakhstan) and southern Africa. The white stork is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa


title: "Les Misérables (musical)" content: recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Marius persuades Éponine to help him find Cosette ("Éponine's Errand"). At a small café, Enjolras exhorts a group of idealistic students to prepare for revolution. Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, much to the amusement of his compatriots, particularly the wine-loving Grantaire ("The ABC Café—Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students realize that they can use the public's dismay to incite their revolution and that their time has come ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about her chance meeting


title: "Les Misérables (musical)" content: Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Nick Jonas as Marius, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Katie Hall as Cosette, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Hadley Fraser as Grantaire, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Matt Lucas as Monsieur Thénardier and Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier. There are also various non-English language cast albums of the musical. Les Miserables Reviews Box Office Theatre Ltd. Retrieved 2016-07-12 Les Misérables (musical) Les Misérables (; ), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as Les Mis or Les Miz (), is a sung-through musical based on the 1862 novel of the same name by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo.


title: "Black stork" content: Black stork The black stork ("Ciconia nigra") is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae." Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, the adult black stork has mainly black plumage, with white underparts, long red legs and a long pointed red beak. A widespread, but uncommon, species, it breeds in scattered locations across Europe (predominantly in Spain, and central and eastern parts), and Asia to the Pacific Ocean. It is a long-distance migrant, with European populations wintering in


title: "Black stork" content: tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asian populations in the Indian subcontinent. When migrating between Europe and Africa, it avoids crossing the Mediterranean Sea and detours via the Levant in the east or the Strait of Gibraltar in the west. An isolated, non-migratory, population occurs in Southern Africa. Unlike the closely related white stork, the black stork is a shy and wary species. It is seen singly or in pairs, usually in marshy areas, rivers or inland waters. It feeds on amphibians, small fish and insects, generally wading slowly in shallow water stalking its prey. Breeding pairs usually build nests in large


title: "Black stork" content: forest trees—most commonly deciduous but also coniferous—which can be seen from long distances, as well as on large boulders, or under overhanging ledges in mountainous areas. The female lays two to five greyish-white eggs, which become soiled over time in the nest. Incubation takes 32 to 38 days, with both sexes sharing duties, and fledging takes 60 to 71 days. The black stork is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but its actual status is uncertain. Despite its large range, it is nowhere abundant, and it appears to be declining


title: "Black stork" content: in parts of its range, such as in India, China and parts of Western Europe, though increasing in others such as the Iberian Peninsula. Various conservation measures have been taken for the black stork, like the Conservation Action Plan for African black storks by Wetlands International. It is also covered under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. English naturalist Francis Willughby wrote about the black stork in the 17th century, having seen one in Frankfurt. He named it "Ciconia nigra", from the Latin words for "stork" and "black"


title: "Black stork" content: respectively. It was one of the many species originally described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae", where it was given the binomial name of "Ardea nigra". It was moved to the new genus "Ciconia" by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson two years later. The word "stork" is derived from the Old English word "storc", thought to be related to the Old High German "storah", meaning "stork", and the Old English "stearc", meaning "stiff". The black stork is a member of the genus "Ciconia", or typical storks, a group of seven extant


title: "Black stork" content: species, characterised by straight bills and mainly black and white plumage. The black stork was long thought to be most closely related to the white stork ("C. ciconia"). However, genetic analysis via DNA–DNA hybridization and mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA by Beth Slikas in 1997 found that it was basal (an early offshoot) in the genus "Ciconia". Fossil remains have been recovered from Miocene beds on Rusinga and Maboko Islands in Kenya, which are indistinguishable from the white and black storks. The black stork is a large bird, measuring between in length with a wingspan, and weighing around . Standing as


title: "Black stork" content: tall as , it has long red legs, a long neck and a long, straight, pointed red beak. It bears some resemblance to Abdim's stork ("C. abdimii"), which can be distinguished by its much smaller build, predominantly green bill, legs and feet, and white rump and lower back. The plumage is black with a purplish green sheen, except for the white lower breast, belly, armpits, axillaries and undertail coverts. The breast feathers are long and shaggy, forming a ruff which is used in some courtship displays. The black stork has brown irises, and bare red skin around its eyes. The


title: "Black stork" content: sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. Moulting takes place in spring, with the iridescent sheen brighter in new plumage. It walks slowly and steadily on the ground and like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched. The juvenile resembles the adult in plumage, but the areas corresponding to the adult black feathers are browner and less glossy. The scapulars, wing and upper tail coverts have pale tips. The legs, bill and bare skin around the eyes are greyish green. It could possibly be confused with the juvenile yellow-billed stork, but the


title: "Black stork" content: latter has paler wings and mantle, a longer bill and white under the wings. During the summer, the black stork is found from Eastern Asia (Siberia and northern China) west to Central Europe, reaching Estonia in the north, Poland, Lower Saxony and Bavaria in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Greece in the south, with an outlying population in the central-southwest region of the Iberian Peninsula (Extremadura and surrounding provinces of Spain, plus Portugal). It is migratory, wintering in tropical Africa and Asia, although certain populations of black storks are sedentary or dispersive. An isolated population exists in Southern


title: "Black stork" content: Africa, where the species is more numerous in the east, in eastern South Africa and Mozambique, and is also found in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Botswana and less commonly Namibia. Most of the black storks that summer in Europe migrate to Africa, with those from western Germany and points west heading south via the Iberian Peninsula and the rest via Turkey and the Levant. Those flying via Spain spend winter in the Falémé River basin of eastern Senegal, Guinea, southern Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and western and central Mali, while those flying via the Sinai end up in northern Ethiopia, the


title: "Black stork" content: Kotto River basin in the Central African Republic, the Mbokou river basin in Chad and northeastern Nigeria. Black storks summering in western Asia migrate to northern and northeastern India, ranging mainly from Punjab south to Karnataka, and Africa. They are occasional visitors to Sri Lanka. Those summering further east in eastern Russia and China winter mainly in southern China, and occasionally in Hong Kong, Myanmar, northern Thailand, and Laos. They were first recorded in western Myanmar in 1998. The black stork prefers more wooded areas than the better-known white stork, and breeds in large marshy wetlands with interspersed coniferous or


title: "Black stork" content: broadleaved woodlands, but also inhabits hills and mountains with sufficient networks of creeks. It usually inhabits ponds, rivers, edges of lakes, estuaries and other freshwater wetlands. The black stork does inhabit more agricultural areas in the Caspian lowlands, but even here it avoids close contact with people. Its wintering habitat in India comprises reservoirs or rivers with nearby scrub or forest, which provide trees that black storks can roost in at night. In southern Africa it is found in shallow water in rivers or lakes, or swamps, but is occasionally encountered on dry land. After disappearing from Belgium before the


title: "Black stork" content: onset of the 20th century, it has returned to breed in the Belgian Ardennes, Luxembourg and Burgundy, France, by 2000. It appears to be increasing in numbers in Spain and Portugal, where the population was estimated at 405 to 483 pairs in 2006. The black stork is a rare vagrant to the British Isles, turning up in the warmer months—particularly in spring—generally in the south and east. Sightings have become more common since the 1970s as its breeding range moves northwards. It has been recorded in Scotland six times between 1946 and 1983, including from Shetland, Orkney and the Highlands,


title: "Black stork" content: as well as the Scottish Borders (Peebles). It is not abundant in the western parts of its distribution, but more densely inhabits eastern Transcaucasia. Further east, it has been recorded from locations across Iran, though little is known about its habits there; breeding has been recorded from near Aliabad in Fars province, Khabr National Park in Kerman province, Karun river in Khuzestan province, Qaranqu River in East Azarbaijan province, and Aliabad river in Razavi Khorasan province. The population has declined in Iran due to draining of wetlands. East of the Ural Mountains, the black stork is patchily found in forested


title: "Black stork" content: and mountainous areas up to 60°‒63° N across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. South of Siberia, it breeds in Xinjiang, northwestern China, northern Mongolia south to the Altai Mountains, and northeastern China south to the vicinity of Beijing. In the Korean Peninsula, the black stork is an uncommon summer visitor, no longer breeding in the south since 1966. Birds have been seen in the northeast but it is not known whether they breed there. Similarly it has been seen in the summer in Afghanistan, but its breeding status is uncertain. Migration takes place from early August to October, with a


title: "Black stork" content: major exodus in September. Some of the Iberian populations, and also those in southern Africa, are essentially non-migratory, though they may wander freely in the non-breeding areas. A broad-winged soaring bird, the black stork is assisted by thermals of hot air for long-distance flight, although is less dependent on them than is the white stork. Since thermals only form over land, the black stork, together with large raptors, must cross the Mediterranean at the narrowest points, and many black storks travel south through the Bosphorus, as well as the Sinai and Gibraltar. The trip is around via the western route


title: "Black stork" content: and via the eastern route, with satellite tracking yielding an average travel time of 37 and 80 days respectively. The western route goes over the Rock of Gibraltar or over the Bay of Gibraltar, generally on a southwesterly track that takes them to the central part of the strait, from where they reach Morocco. Many birds fly around the Sahara next to the coast. About 10% of the western storks choose the passage Sicily – Cap Bon, Tunisia. Spain contains several important areas—Monfragüe National Park, Sierra de Gredos Regional Park, National Hunting Reserve in Cíjara, Natural Park of the Sierra


title: "Black stork" content: Hornachuelos and Doñana National Park—where black storks stop over on the western migration route. Pesticide use has threatened birdlife in nearby Doñana. Further south, Lake Faguibine in Mali is another stopover point but it has been affected by drought in recent years. A wary species, the black stork avoids contact with people. It is generally found alone or in pairs, or in flocks of up to a hundred birds when migrating, or over winter. The black stork has a wider range of calls than the white stork, its main call being a "chee leee", which sounds like a loud inhalation.


title: "Black stork" content: It makes a hissing call as a warning or threat. Displaying males produce a long series of wheezy raptor-like squealing calls rising in volume and then falling. It rarely indulges in mutual bill-clattering when adults meet at the nest. Adults will do so as part of their mating ritual or when angered. The young clatter their bills when aroused. The "up-down display" is used for a number of interactions with other members of the species. Here a stork positions its body horizontally and quickly bobs its head up from down-facing to around 30 degrees above horizontal and back again, while


title: "Black stork" content: displaying the white segments of its plumage prominently, and this is repeated several times. The display is used as a greeting between birds, and—more vigorously—as a threat display. The species' solitary nature means that this threat display is rarely witnessed. The black stork breeds between April and May in the Northern Hemisphere, with eggs usually laid in late April. In southern Africa, breeding takes place in the months between September and March, possibly to take advantage of abundant water prey rendered easier to catch as the rivers dry up and recede—from April and May in Zimbabwe, Botswana and northern South


title: "Black stork" content: Africa, and as late as July further south. The nest is large, constructed from sticks and twigs, and sometimes also large branches, at an elevation of . The black stork prefers to construct its nest in forest trees with large canopies where the nest can be built far from the main trunk—generally in places far from human disturbance. For the most part, deciduous trees are chosen for nesting sites, though conifers are used as well. A 2003 field study in Estonia found that the black stork preferred oak ("Quercus robur"), European aspen ("Populus tremula"), and to a lesser extent Scots


title: "Black stork" content: pine ("Pinus sylvestris"), and ignored Norway spruce ("Picea abies"), in part due to the canopy structure of the trees. Trees with nests averaged around high and had a diameter at breast height of . Furthermore, 90% of the trees chosen were at least 80 years old, highlighting the importance of conserving old-growth forests. A 2004 field study of nesting sites in Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli National Park in north-eastern Greece found that it preferred the Calabrian pine ("Pinus brutia"), which had large side branches that allowed it to build the nest away from the trunk, as well as black pine ("Pinus nigra") and


title: "Black stork" content: to a lesser extent Turkey oak ("Quercus cerris"). It chose the largest trees in an area, generally on steeper ground and near streams. Trees chosen were on average over 90 years old. In the Iberian peninsula it nests in pine and cork oak ("Quercus suber"). In steeply mountainous areas such as parts of Spain, South Africa and the Carpathian Mountains it nests on cliffs, on large boulders, in caves and under overhanging ledges. The black stork's solitary nests are usually at least 1 km (0.6 mi) apart, even where the species is numerous. Although newly constructed nests may be significantly


title: "Black stork" content: smaller, older nests can be in diameter. In southern Africa, the black stork may occupy the nests of other bird species such as hamerkop ("Scopus umbretta") or Verreaux's eagle ("Aquila verreauxi") and commonly reuses them in successive years. They are repaired with earth and grass, and lined with leaves, moss, grass, animal fur, paper, clay and rags. In a clutch, there are two to five, or rarely even six large oval grey-white eggs, which become soiled during incubation. They can be long and wide, averaging about in length and in width. The eggs are laid with an interval of two


title: "Black stork" content: days. Hatching is asynchronous, and takes place at the end of May. Incubation takes 32 to 38 days, with both sexes sharing duties, which commence after the first or second egg is laid. The young start flying by the end of July. Fledging takes 60 to 71 days, after which the young joins the adults at their feeding grounds. However, for another 2 weeks, the young continue to return to the nest, to be fed and to roost at night. At least one adult remains in the nest for two to three weeks after hatching to protect the young. Both


title: "Black stork" content: parents feed the young by regurgitating onto the floor of the nest. Black stork parents have been known to kill one of their fledglings, generally the weakest, in times of food shortage to reduce brood size and hence increase the chance of survival of the remaining nestlings. Stork nestlings do not attack each other, and their parents' method of feeding them (disgorging large amounts of food at once) means that stronger siblings cannot outcompete weaker ones for food directly, hence parental infanticide is an efficient way of reducing brood size. This behaviour has only rarely been observed in the species,


title: "Black stork" content: although the shyness of the species and difficulties in studying its nesting habits mean that it might not be an uncommon phenomenon. The black stork mainly eats fish, including small cyprinids, pikes, roaches, eels, budds, perches, burbots, sticklebacks and muddy loaches ("Misgurnus" and "Cobitis"). It may feed on amphibians, small reptiles, crabs, mammals and birds, and invertebrates such as snails, molluscs, earthworms, and insects like water beetles and their larvae. Foraging for food takes place mostly in fresh water, though the black stork may look for food on dry land at times. The black stork wades patiently and slowly in


title: "Black stork" content: shallow water, often alone or in a small group if food is plentiful. It has been observed shading the water with its wings while hunting. In India, it often forages in mixed species flocks with the white stork, woolly-necked stork ("Ciconia episcopus"), demoiselle crane ("Grus virgo") and bar-headed goose ("Anser indicus"). The black stork also follows large mammals such as deer and livestock, presumably to eat the invertebrates and small animals flushed by their presence. The black stork hosts more than 12 species of helminth, with "Cathaemasia hians" and "Dicheilonema ciconiae" reported to be the most dominant. The juvenile black


title: "Black stork" content: stork, although having a less diverse helminth population, is parasitized more frequently than the adult. A new species of "Corynebacterium"—"C. ciconiae"—has been isolated from the trachea of healthy black storks, and is thought to be part of the natural flora of the species. A diverse array of predatory mesostigmatid mites—particularly the genera "Dendrolaelaps" and "Macrocheles"—have been recovered from black stork nests. Their role is unknown, though they could prey on parasitic arthropods. Since 1998, the black stork has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. This is because it has a


title: "Black stork" content: large range—more than 20,000 km (7,700 mi)—and because its population is thought not to have declined by 30% over ten years or three generations and thus is not a rapid enough decline to warrant a vulnerable rating. Even so, the state of the population overall is unclear, and although it is widespread, it is not abundant anywhere. Black stork numbers have declined for many years in western Europe, and the species has already been extirpated from Scandinavia. The population in India—a major wintering ground—is declining. Previously a regular winter visitor to the Mai Po Marshes, it is now seldom seen


title: "Black stork" content: there, and appears to be in decline in China overall. Its habitat is changing rapidly in much of eastern Europe and Asia. Various conservation measures have been taken, including Wetlands International's Conservation Action Plan for African black storks, which focuses on improving the wintering conditions of the birds which breed in Europe. It is protected by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Hunters threaten the black stork in some countries of southern Europe and Asia, such as Pakistan, and breeding populations


title: "Black stork" content: may have been eliminated there. The black stork vanished from the Ticino River valley in northern Italy, with hunting a likely contributor. In 2005, black storks were released into the Parco Lombardo del Ticino in an attempt to re-establish the species there. Black stork The black stork ("Ciconia nigra") is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae." Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, the adult black stork has mainly black plumage, with white underparts, long red legs


title: "Mullins River" content: accession of the liberal Morazán to power in Honduras in 1830 In 1832 Fray Antonio began to work among them, building “a small Catholic chapel that was served intermittently by a Catholic priest.” This was the first Catholic chapel in Belize in modern times. In 1836 Fray Rubio from Bacalar replaced Fray Antonio. During 1830 Baptist minister James Bourne began visiting Mullins River and Stann Creek. He reported the population of each of the communities as about 100. By 1832 the number had grown to 500. In November 1834 Methodists Thomas Jefferies and John Greenwood had arrived in Mullins River


title: "David Lodge (author)" content: be described as in any way experimental. Comedy, it seemed, offered a way of reconciling a contradiction, of which I had long been aware, between my critical admiration for the great modernist writers, and my creative practice, formed by the neo-realist, antimodernist writing of the 1950s. My association with Malcolm Bradbury, and the example of his own work in comedy, was therefore a crucial factor in this development in my writing." Lodge says he "was once rung up by a man to settle a bet by declaring whether I was the same person as Malcolm Bradbury". As an academic, Lodge


title: "Product (category theory)" content: of morphisms. Second, consider product functor. For families we should find a morphism . We choose the product of morphisms . A category where every finite set of objects has a product is sometimes called a cartesian category (although some authors use this phrase to mean "a category with all finite limits"). The product is associative. Suppose is a cartesian category, product functors have been chosen as above, and denotes the terminal object of . We then have natural isomorphisms These properties are formally similar to those of a commutative monoid; a category with its finite products constitutes a symmetric


title: "Aerial refueling" content: the Mediterranean Sea in order to extend their range for the 2,000 km flight during the Operation Wooden Leg air raid on the headquarters of the PLO near Tunis, Tunisia. During the Falklands War, aerial refueling played a vital role in all of the successful Argentine attacks against the Royal Navy. The Argentine Air Force had only two KC-130H Hercules available and they were used to refuel both Air Force and Navy A-4 Skyhawks and Navy Super Etendards in their Exocet strikes. The Hercules on several occasions approached the islands (where the Sea Harriers were in patrol) to search and


title: "Big Bill Broonzy" content: 1955, with the assistance of the Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, "Big Bill Blues". He toured worldwide, travelling to Africa, South America, the Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. On the school's opening night, December 1, he taught a class, "The Glory of Love". By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from throat cancer. He died on August 14 or 15, 1958 (sources vary on the precise date), and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, in Blue Island, Illinois. Broonzy's


title: Deinotherium content: cranium, and a shorter mandibular symphysis than the other two species. "D. bozasi" appears at the beginning of the late Miocene, and continues there after the other two species have died out elsewhere. The youngest fossils are from the Kanjera Formation, Kenya, about a million years old (early Pleistocene). "Deinotherium" was a large proboscidean. Two adults of "D. giganteum" are around tall and weighed . This is similar to adult males of "D. proavum", one of which weighed and was tall. However, both these species are smaller than a 45-year-old male of "D. "thraceiensis"", at tall and . The permanent


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: Snowshoe hare The snowshoe hare ("Lepus americanus"), also called the varying hare, or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks. Its feet also have fur on the soles to protect it from freezing temperatures. For camouflage, its fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its flanks are white year-round. The snowshoe hare is also distinguishable by the black tufts of fur on


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: the edge of its ears. Its ears are shorter than those of most other hares. In summer, it feeds on plants such as grass, ferns and leaves; in winter, it eats twigs, the bark from trees, and buds from flowers and plants and, similar to the Arctic hare, has been known to steal meat from baited traps. Hares are carnivorous under the availability of dead animals, and have been known to eat dead rodents such as mice due to low availability of protein in a herbivorous diet. It can sometimes be seen feeding in small groups. This animal is mainly


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: active at night and does not hibernate. The snowshoe hare may have up to four litters in a year which average three to eight young. Males compete for females, and females may breed with several males. A major predator of the snowshoe hare is the Canadian lynx. Historical records of animals caught by fur hunters over hundreds of years show the lynx and hare numbers rising and falling in a cycle, which has made the hare known to biology students worldwide as a case study of the relationship between numbers of predators and their prey. Snowshoe hares occur from Newfoundland


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: to Alaska; south in the Sierra Nevada to central California; in the Rocky Mountains to southern Utah and northern New Mexico; and in the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee. Locations of subspecies are as follows: Snowshoe hares are primarily found in boreal forests and upper montane forests; within these forests, they favor habitats with a dense shrub layer. In the Pacific Northwest, snowshoe hares occupy diverse habitats, including mature conifers (mostly Douglas-fir ["Pseudotsuga menziesii"] and variants), immature conifers, alder ("Alnus" spp.)/salmonberry ("Rubus spectabilis"), Sitka spruce ("Picea sitchensis")/salal ("Gaultheria shallon"), and cedar ("Thuja" spp.) swamps. In western Oregon, snowshoe


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: hares were present in brush patches of vine maple ("Acer circinatum"), willows ("Salix" spp.), rhododendrons ("Rhododendron" spp.), and other shrubs. In Utah, snowshoe hares used Gambel oak ("Quercus gambelli") in the northern portion of the Gambel oak range. In the Southwest, the southernmost populations of snowshoe hares occur in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico, in subalpine scrub: narrow bands of shrubby and prostrate conifers at and just below timberline that are usually composed of Engelmann spruce ("Picea engelmannii"), bristlecone pine ("Pinus aristata"), limber pine ("P. flexilis"), and/or common juniper ("Juniperus communis"). In Minnesota, snowshoe hares use jack pine


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: ("P. banksiana") uplands, edges, tamarack ("Larix laricina") bogs, black spruce ("Picea mariana") bogs, and sedge ("Carex" spp.), alder, and scrub fens. In New England, snowshoe hares favor second-growth aspen ("Populus" spp.)-birch ("Betula" spp.) near conifers, but other forest types occupied by snowshoe hares include aspens, paper birch ("B. papyrifera"), northern hardwoods, red maple ("A. rubrum"), balsam fir ("Abies balsamea"), red spruce ("Picea rubens")-balsam fir, eastern hemlock ("Tsuga canadensis"), northern red oak ("Quercus rubra"), oak ("Quercus" spp.)-pine ("Pinus" spp.), eastern white pine ("P. strobus")-northern red oak-red maple, and eastern white pine. Snowshoe hares also use shrub swamps dominated by buttonbush ("Cephalanthus


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: occidentalis"), alders, and silky dogwood ("Cornus ammomum"). Further details on plant communities used by snowshoe hares in different regions are in Bittner and Rongstad. Snowshoe hares are crepuscular to nocturnal. They are shy and secretive and spend most of the day in shallow depressions, called forms, scraped out under clumps of ferns, brush thickets, and downed piles of timber. They occasionally use the large burrows of mountain beavers ("Aplodontia rufa") as forms. Diurnal activity level increases during the breeding season. Juveniles are usually more active and less cautious than adults. Snowshoe hares are active year-round. The breeding season for hares


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: is stimulated by new vegetation and varies with latitude, location, and yearly events (such as weather conditions and phase of snowshoe hare population cycle). Breeding generally begins in late December to January and lasts until July or August . In northwestern Oregon, male peak breeding activity (as determined by testes weight) occurs in May and is at the minimum in November. In Ontario, the peak is in May and in Newfoundland, the peak is in June. Female estrus begins in March in Newfoundland, Alberta, and Maine, and in early April in Michigan and Colorado. First litters of the year are


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: born from mid-April to May. The gestation period is 35 to 40 days; most studies report 37 days as the average length of gestation. Litters average three to five leverets depending on latitude, elevation, and phase of population cycle, ranging from one to seven. Deep snowpack increases the amount of upper-branch browse available to snowshoe hares in winter, and therefore has a positive relationship with the nutritional status of breeding adults. Litters are usually smaller in the southern sections of their range since there is less snow. Newborns are fully furred, open-eyed, and mobile. They leave the natal form within


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: a short time after birth, often within 24 hours. After leaving the birthplace, siblings stay near each other during the day, gathering once each evening to nurse. Weaning occurs at 25 to 28 days except for the last litter of the season, which may nurse for two months or longer. Female snowshoe hares can become pregnant anytime after the 35th day of gestation. The second litter can therefore be conceived before the first litter is born (snowshoe hares have twin uteri). Pregnancy rates ranged from 78 to 100% for females during the period of first litter production, 82 to 100%


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: for second litters, and for the periods of third and fourth litters pregnancy rates vary with population cycle. In Newfoundland, the average number of litters per female per year ranged from 2.9 to 3.5, and in Alberta the range was from 2.7 to 3.3. The number of litters per year varies with phase of population cycle (see below). In Alberta the average number of litters per year was almost 3 just after a population peak and 4 just after the population low. Females normally first breed as 1-year-olds. Juvenile breeding is rare and has only been observed in females from


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: the first litter of the year and only in years immediately following a low point in the population cycle. In Yukon, 30-day survival of radio-tagged leverets was 46%, 15%, and 43% for the first, second, and third litters of the year, respectively. There were no differences in mortality in plots with food added. The main proximate cause of mortality was predation by small mammals, including red squirrels ("Tamiasciurus hudsonicus") and Arctic ground squirrels ("Spermophilus parryii"). Littermates tended to live or die together more often than by chance. Individual survival was negatively related to litter size and positively related to body


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: size at birth. Litter size is negatively correlated with body size at birth. Northern populations of snowshoe hares undergo cycles that range from seven to 17 years between population peaks. The average time between peaks is approximately 10 years. The period of abundance usually lasts for two to five years, followed by a population decline to lower numbers or local scarcity. Areas of great abundance tend to be scattered. Populations do not peak simultaneously in all areas, although a great deal of synchronicity occurs in northern latitudes. From 1931 to 1948, the cycle was synchronized within one or two years


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: over most of Canada and Alaska, despite differences in predators and food supplies. In central Alberta, low snowshoe hare density occurred in 1965, with 42 to 74 snowshoe hares per 100 acres (40 ha). The population peak occurred in November 1970 with 2,830 to 5,660 snowshoe hares per 100 acres (40 ha). In the southern parts of its range, snowshoe hare populations do not fluctuate radically. Exclosure experiments in Alberta indicated browsing by snowshoe hares during population peaks has the greatest impact on palatable species, thus further reducing the amount of available foods. In this study, insufficient nutritious young browse


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: was available to sustain the number of snowshoe hares present in the peak years (1971 and 1972) in winter. Major variables in habitat quality include average visual obstruction and browse biomass. Snowshoe hares prefer young forests with abundant understories. The presence of cover is the primary determinant of habitat quality, and is more significant than food availability or species composition. Species composition does, however, influence population density; dense softwood understories support greater snowshoe hare density than hardwoods because of cover quality. In Maine, female snowshoe hares were observed to be more common on sites with less cover but more nutritious


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: forage; males tended to be found on sites with heavier cover. Winter browse availability depends on height of understory brush and winter snow depth; saplings with narrow stem diameters are required for winter browse in heavy snow. In northern regions, snowshoe hares occupy conifer and mixed forests in all stages of succession, but early successional forests foster peak abundance. Deciduous forests are usually occupied only in early stages of succession. In New England, snowshoe hares preferred second-growth deciduous, coniferous, and mixed woods with dense brushy understories; they appear to prefer shrubby old-field areas, early- to mid-successional burns, shrub-swamps, bogs, and


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: upper montane krumholz vegetation. In Maine, snowshoe hares were more active in clearcut areas than in partially cut or uncut areas. Sapling densities were highest on 12- to 15-year-old plots; these plots were used more than younger stands. In northern Utah, they occupied all the later stages of succession on quaking aspen and spruce-fir, but were not observed in meadows. In Alberta, snowshoe hares use upland shrub-sapling stages of regenerating aspens (either postfire or postharvest). In British Columbia overstocked juvenile lodgepole pine ("Pinus contorta") stands formed optimal snowshoe hare habitat. In western Washington, most unburned, burned, or scarified clearcuts will


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: normally be fully occupied by snowshoe hares within four to five years, as vegetation becomes dense. In older stands (more than 25 years), stem density begins to decline and cover for snowshoe hares decreases. However, in north-central Washington, they may not colonize clearcuts until six or seven years, and it may take 20 to 25 years for their density to reach maximum. Winter snowshoe hare pellet counts were highest in 20-year-old lodgepole pine stands, lower in older lodgepole stands, and lowest in spruce-dominated stands. In western Oregon, snowshoe hares were abundant only in early successional stages, including stable brushfields. In


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: west-central Oregon, an old-growth Douglas-fir forest was clearcut and monitored through 10 years of succession. A few snowshoe hares were noted in adjacent virgin forest plots; they represented widely scattered, sparse populations. One snowshoe hare was observed on the disturbed plot 2.5 years after it had been clearcut and burned; at this stage, ground cover was similar to that of the uncut forest. By 9 years after disturbance, snowshoe hare density had increased markedly. In western Washington, snowshoe hares routinely used steep slopes where cover was adequate; most studies, however, suggest they tend to prefer gentle slopes. Moonlight increases snowshoe


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: hare vulnerability to predation, particularly in winter. They tend to avoid open areas during bright phases of the moon and during bright periods of a single night. Their activity usually shifts from coniferous understories in winter to hardwood understories in summer. Vegetative structure plays an important role in the size of snowshoe hare home ranges. Snowshoe hares wander up to 5 miles (8 km) when food is scarce. In Montana home ranges are smaller in brushy woods than in open woods. In Colorado and Utah, the average home range of both sexes was 20 acres (8.1 ha). On the Island


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: of Montreal in Quebec, the average daily range for both sexes was 4 acres (1.6 ha) in old-field mixed woods. In Montana, the home range averaged 25 acres (10 ha) for males and 19 acres (7.6 ha) for females. In Oregon the average snowshoe hare home range was 14.6 acres (5.9 ha). Snowshoe hares require dense, brushy, usually coniferous cover; thermal and escape cover are especially important for young hares. Low brush provides hiding, escape, and thermal cover. Heavy cover 10 feet (3 m) above ground provides protection from avian predators, and heavy cover 3.3 feet (1 m) tall provides


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: cover from terrestrial predators. Overwinter survival increases with increased cover. A wide variety of habitat types are used if cover is available. Base visibility in good snowshoe hare habitat ranges from 2% at 16.5 feet (5 m) distance to 0% at 66 feet (20 m). Travel cover is slightly more open, ranging from 14.7% visibility at 16.5 feet (5 m) to 2.6% at 66 feet (20 m). Areas with horizontal vegetation density of 40 to 100% at 50 feet (15 m) are adequate snowshoe hare habitat in Utah. Snowshoe hares eat a variety of plant materials. Forage type varies with


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: season. Succulent green vegetation is consumed when available from spring to fall; after the first frost, buds, twigs, evergreen needles, and bark form the bulk of snowshoe hare diets until spring greenup. Snowshoe hares typically feed at night and follow well-worn forest paths to feed on various plants and trees. Snowshoe hares prefer branches, twigs, and small stems up to 0.25 inch (6.3 mm) diameter; larger stems are sometimes used in winter. In Yukon, they normally eat fast-growing birches and willows, and avoid spruce. At high densities, however, the apical shoots of small spruce are eaten. The snowshoe hare winter


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: diet is dominated by bog birch ("Betula glandulosa"), which is preferred but not always available. Greyleaf willow ("Salix glauca") is eaten most often when bog birch is not available. Buffaloberry ("Shepherdia canadensis") is the fourth most common diet item. White spruce ("Picea glauca") is eaten, but not preferred. In Alaska, spruce, willows, and alders comprise 75% of snowshoe hare diets; spruce needles make up nearly 40% of the diet. In northwestern Oregon, winter foods include needles and tender bark of Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, and western hemlock ("Tsuga heterophylla"); leaves and green twigs of salal; buds, twigs, and bark of willows;


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: and green herbs. In north-central Washington, willows and birches are not plentiful; snowshoe hares browse the tips of lodgepole pine seedlings. In Utah, winter foods include Douglas-fir, willows, snowberry ("Symphoricarpos" spp.), maples, and serviceberry ("Amelanchier" spp.). In Minnesota, aspens, willows, hazelnut ("Corylus" spp.), ferns ("Pteridophyta" spp.), birches, alders, sumacs ("Rhus" spp.), and strawberries ("Fragaria" spp.) are winter foods. Winter foods in New York include eastern white pine, red pine ("Pinus resinosa"), white spruce, paper birch, and aspens. In Ontario, sugar maple ("Acer saccharum"), striped maple ("A. pensylvanicum"), red maple, other deciduous species, northern white-cedar ("T. occidentalis"), balsam fir, beaked hazelnut


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: ("C. cornuta"), and buffaloberry were heavily barked. In New Brunswick, snowshoe hares consumed northern white-cedar, spruces, American beech ("Fagus grandifolia"), balsam fir, mountain maple ("A. spicatum"), and many other species of browse. In Newfoundland, paper birch is preferred. Further details on regional food preferences are summarized in "Snowshoe hare and allies": In Alaska, snowshoe hares consume new leaves of blueberries ("Vaccinium" spp.), new shoots of field horsetails ("Equisetum arvense"), and fireweed ("Epilobium angustifolium") in spring. Grasses are not a major item due to low availability associated with sites that have adequate cover. In summer, leaves of willows, black spruce, birches,


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: and bog Labrador tea ("Ledum groenlandicum") are also consumed. Black spruce is the most heavily used and the most common species in the area. Pen trials suggest black spruce is not actually preferred. Roses ("Rosa" spp.) were preferred, but a minor dietary item, as they were not common in the study area. In northwest Oregon, summer foods include grasses, clovers ("Trifolium" spp.), other forbs, and some woody plants, including Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, and young leaves and twigs of salal. In Minnesota, aspens, willows, grasses, birches, alders, sumacs, and strawberries are consumed when green. In Ontario, summer diets consist of clovers,


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: grasses, and forbs. The snowshoe hare is a major prey item for a number of predators. Major predators include Canada lynx ("Lynx canadensis"), bobcats ("L. rufus"), fishers ("Martes pennanti"), American martens ("M. americana"), long-tailed weasels ("Mustela frenata"), minks ("M. vison"), foxes ("Vulpes" and "Urocyon" spp.), coyote ("Canis latrans"), domestic dogs ("C. familiaris"), domestic cats ("Felis catus"), wolves ("C. lupus"), mountain lions ("Felis concolor"), great horned owls ("Bubo virginianus"), barred owls ("Strix varia"), spotted owls ("S. occidentalis"), other owls, red-tailed hawks ("Buteo jamaicensis"), northern goshawks ("Accipiter gentilis"), other hawks (Buteonidae), golden eagles ("Aquila chryseatos"), and crows and ravens. Other predators include


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: black bears ("Ursus americanus"). In Glacier National Park snowshoe hares are a prey item of Rocky Mountain wolves ("Canis lupus irremotus"). The habitat for some snowshoe hares has changed dramatically, leaving some habitats without snow. Some hares have adapted and stay brown all winter. Others, however, continue to turn white in winter. These hares are at an increased risk of being hunted and killed because they are no longer camouflaged. Many people in the scientific community believe that snowshoe hare populations are at risk of crashing unless interbreeding speeds up the process of evolution to year-round brown. Other species who


title: "Snowshoe hare" content: rely on the hare as part of their diet are also at risk. Snowshoe hare The snowshoe hare ("Lepus americanus"), also called the varying hare, or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks. Its feet also have fur on the soles to protect it from freezing temperatures. For camouflage, its fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its flanks are white year-round.


title: "Patrick Ewing" content: in a Knick uniform (he is the only player to play 1,000 games with the Knicks). In 2000, he left the Knicks as part of a trade to the Seattle SuperSonics. In the trade, the Knicks sent Ewing to Seattle and Chris Dudley to Phoenix, and received Glen Rice, Luc Longley, Travis Knight, Vladimir Stepania, Lazaro Borrell, Vernon Maxwell, two first-round draft picks (from the Los Angeles Lakers and Seattle) and two second-round draft picks from Seattle. After a year with the Sonics and another with the Orlando Magic, he announced his retirement on September 18, 2002. After that season,


title: "Gibbs free energy" content: work in a reversible cell. The maximum work is thus regarded as the diminution of the free, or available, energy of the system ("Gibbs free energy" "G" at "T" = constant, "P" = constant or "Helmholtz free energy" "F" at "T" = constant, "V" = constant), whilst the heat given out is usually a measure of the diminution of the total energy of the system (internal energy). Thus, "G" or "F" is the amount of energy "free" for work under the given conditions. Until this point, the general view had been such that: "all chemical reactions drive the system to


title: "Medical ethics" content: general, Western medicine defers to the wishes of a mentally competent patient to make their own decisions, even in cases where the medical team believes that they are not acting in their own best interests. However, many other societies prioritize beneficence over autonomy. Examples include when a patient does not want a treatment because of, for example, religious or cultural views. In the case of euthanasia, the patient, or relatives of a patient, may want to end the life of the patient. Also, the patient may want an unnecessary treatment, as can be the case in hypochondria or with cosmetic


title: "Conventional wisdom" content: Conventional wisdom Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public and/or by experts in a field. The term is often credited to the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who used it in his 1958 book "The Affluent Society": However, the term dates back to at least 1838. "Conventional wisdom" was used in a number of other works prior to Galbraith, occasionally in a positive or neutral sense, but more often pejoratively. However, previous authors used it as a synonym for 'commonplace knowledge'. Galbraith specifically prepended 'The' to the phrase to emphasize its uniqueness,


title: Pocahontas content: contemporary type of moral tale, in which a Christian hero maintains his faith despite threats and intimidation. Karen Ordahl Kupperman suggests that Smith used such details to embroider his first account, thus producing a more dramatic, second account of his encounter with Pocahontas as a heroine worthy of reception by Queen Anne. Its later revision and publication was probably an attempt to raise his own stock and reputation; he had long since fallen from favor with the London Company, which had funded the Jamestown enterprise. Anthropologist Frederic W. Gleach, drawing on substantial ethnohistory, suggests that Smith's second account, while substantially


title: "Information privacy" content: US had signed in February 2008 a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Czech Republic in exchange of a visa waiver scheme, without concerting before with Brussels. The tensions between Washington and Brussels are mainly caused by a lesser level of data protection in the US, especially since foreigners do not benefit from the US Privacy Act of 1974. Other countries approached for bilateral MOU included the United Kingdom, Estonia, Germany and Greece. As heterogeneous information systems with differing privacy rules are interconnected and information is shared, policy appliances will be required to reconcile, enforce, and monitor an increasing amount


title: Heron content: Heron The herons are the long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 64 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera "Botaurus" and "Ixobrychus" are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus "Zebrilus", form a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from the herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks. The


title: Heron content: classification of the individual heron/egret species is fraught with difficulty, and no clear consensus exists about the correct placement of many species into either of the two major genera, "Ardea" and "Egretta". Similarly, the relationships of the genera in the family are not completely resolved. However, one species formerly considered to constitute a separate monotypic family, the Cochlearidae or the boat-billed heron, is now regarded as a member of the Ardeidae. Although herons resemble birds in some other families, such as the storks, ibises, spoonbills, and cranes, they differ from these in flying with their necks retracted, not outstretched. They


title: Heron content: are also one of the bird groups that have powder down. Some members of this group nest colonially in trees, while others, notably the bitterns, use reed beds. The herons are medium- to large-sized birds with long legs and necks. They exhibit very little sexual dimorphism in size. The smallest species is usually considered the little bittern, which can measure under in length, although all the species in the genus "Ixobrychus" are small and many broadly overlap in size. The largest species of heron is the goliath heron, which stands up to tall. The necks are able to kink in


title: Heron content: an S-shape, due to the modified shape of the cervical vertebrae, of which they have 20–21. The neck is able to retract and extend, and is retracted during flight, unlike most other long-necked birds. The neck is longer in the day herons than the night herons and bitterns. The legs are long and strong and in almost every species are unfeathered from the lower part of the tibia (the exception is the zigzag heron). In flight, the legs and feet are held backward. The feet of herons have long, thin toes, with three forward-pointing ones and one pointing backward. The


title: Heron content: bill is generally long and harpoon-like. It can vary from extremely fine, as in the agami heron, to thick as in the grey heron. The most atypical bill is owned by the boat-billed heron, which has a broad, thick bill. The bill, as well as other bare parts of the body, is usually yellow, black, or brown in colour, although this can vary during the breeding season. The wings are broad and long, exhibiting 10 or 11 primary feathers (the boat-billed heron has only nine), 15–20 secondaries. and 12 rectrices (10 in the bitterns). The feathers of the herons are


title: Heron content: soft and the plumage is usually blue, black, brown, grey, or white, and can often be strikingly complex. Amongst the day herons, little sexual dimorphism in plumage is seen (except in the pond-herons); differences between the sexes are the rule for the night herons and smaller bitterns. Many species also have different colour morphs. In the Pacific reef heron, both dark and light colour morphs exist, and the percentage of each morph varies geographically. White morphs only occur in areas with coral beaches. The herons are a widespread family with a cosmopolitan distribution. They exist on all continents except Antarctica,


title: Heron content: and are present in most habitats except the coldest extremes of the Arctic, extremely high mountains, and the driest deserts. Almost all species are associated with water; they are essentially nonswimming waterbirds that feed on the margins of lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds, and the sea. They are predominantly found in lowland areas, although some species live in alpine areas, and the majority of species occurs in the tropics. The herons are a highly mobile family, with most species being at least partially migratory. Some species are partially migratory, for example the grey heron, which is mostly sedentary in Britain, but


title: Heron content: mostly migratory in Scandinavia. Birds are particularly inclined to disperse widely after breeding, but before the annual migration, where the species is colonial, searching out new feeding areas and reducing the pressures on feeding grounds near the colony. The migration typically occurs at night, usually as individuals or in small groups. The herons and bitterns are carnivorous. The members of this family are mostly associated with wetlands and water, and feed on a variety of live aquatic prey. Their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic animals, including fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic insects. Individual species may be


title: Heron content: generalists or specialise in certain prey types, such as the yellow-crowned night heron, which specialises in crustaceans, particularly crabs. Many species also opportunistically take larger prey, including birds and bird eggs, rodents, and more rarely carrion. Even more rarely, herons eating acorns, peas, and grains have been reported, but most vegetable matter consumed is accidental. The most common hunting technique is for the bird to sit motionless on the edge of or standing in shallow water and to wait until prey comes within range. Birds may either do this from an upright posture, giving them a wider field of view


title: Heron content: for seeing prey, or from a crouched position, which is more cryptic and means the bill is closer to the prey when it is located. Having seen prey, the head is moved from side to side, so that the heron can calculate the position of the prey in the water and compensate for refraction, and then the bill is used to spear the prey. In addition to sitting and waiting, herons may feed more actively. They may walk slowly, around or less than 60 paces a minute, snatching prey when it is observed. Other active feeding behaviours include foot stirring


title: Heron content: and probing, where the feet are used to flush out hidden prey. The wings may be used to frighten prey (or possibly attract it to shade) or to reduce glare; the most extreme example of this is exhibited by the black heron, which forms a full canopy with its wings over its body. Some species of heron, such as the little egret and grey heron, have been documented using bait to lure prey to within striking distance. Herons may use items already in place, or actively add items to the water to attract fish such as the banded killifish. Items


title: Heron content: used may be man-made, such as bread; alternatively, striated herons in the Amazon have been watched repeatedly dropping seeds, insects, flowers, and leaves into the water to catch fish. Three species, the black-headed heron, whistling heron, and especially the cattle egret, are less tied to watery environments and may feed far away from water. Cattle egrets improve their foraging success by following large grazing animals, catching insects flushed by their movement. One study found that the success rate of prey capture increased 3.6 times over solitary foraging. While the family exhibits a range of breeding strategies, overall, the herons are


title: Heron content: monogamous and mostly colonial. Most day herons and night herons are colonial, or partly colonial depending on circumstances, whereas the bitterns and tiger herons are mostly solitary nesters. Colonies may contain several species, as well as other species of waterbirds. In a study of little egrets and cattle egrets in India, the majority of the colonies surveyed contained both species. Nesting is seasonal in temperate species; in tropical species, it may be seasonal (often coinciding with the rainy season) or year-round. Even in year-round breeders, nesting intensity varies throughout the year. Tropical herons typically have only one breeding season per


title: Heron content: year, unlike some other tropical birds which may raise up to three broods a year. Courtship usually takes part on the nest. Males arrive first and begin the building of the nest, where they display to attract females. During courtship, the male employs a stretch display and uses erectile neck feathers; the neck area may swell. The female risks an aggressive attack if she approaches too soon and may have to wait up to four days. In colonial species, displays involve visual cues, which can include adopting postures or ritual displays, whereas in solitary species, auditory cues, such as the


title: Heron content: deep booming of the bitterns, are important. The exception to this is the boat-billed heron, which pairs up away from the nesting site. Having paired, they continue to build the nest in almost all species, although in the little bittern and least bittern, only the male works on the nest. Some ornithologists have reported observing female herons attaching themselves to impotent mates, then seeking sexual gratification elsewhere. The nests of herons are usually found near or above water. They are typically placed in vegetation, although the nests of a few species have been found on the ground where suitable trees


title: Heron content: of shrubs are unavailable. Trees are used by many species, and here they may be placed high up from the ground, whereas species living in reed beds may nest very close to the ground. Generally, herons lay between three and seven eggs. Larger clutches are reported in the smaller bitterns and more rarely some of the larger day herons, and single-egg clutches are reported for some of the tiger herons. Clutch size varies by latitude within species, with individuals in temperate climates laying more eggs than tropical ones. On the whole, the eggs are glossy blue or white, with the


title: Heron content: exception being the large bitterns, which lay olive-brown eggs. The word "heron" first appeared in the English language around 1300, originating from Old French "hairon, eron" (12th century), earlier" hairo "(11th century), from Frankish "haigiro" or from Proto-Germanic "*haigrô", "*hraigrô". Herons are also known as "shitepokes" , or euphemistically as "shikepokes" or "shypokes". "Webster's Dictionary" suggests that herons were given this name because of their habit of defecating when flushed. The 1971 "Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary" describes the use of "shitepoke" for the small green heron of North America ("Butorides virescens") as originating in the United States,


title: Heron content: citing a published example from 1853. The "OED" also observes that "shiterow" or "shederow" are terms used for herons, and also applied as derogatory terms meaning a "thin, weakly person". This name for a heron is found in a list of gamebirds in a royal decree of James VI (1566–1625) of Scotland. The "OED" speculates that "shiterow" is a corruption of "shiteheron". Another former name was "heronshaw" or "hernshaw", derived from Old French "heronçeau". Corrupted to "handsaw", this name appears in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." A possible further corruption took place in the Norfolk Broads, where the heron is often referred to


title: Heron content: as a "harnser". Analyses of the skeleton, mainly the skull, suggested that the Ardeidae could be split into a diurnal and a crepuscular/nocturnal group which included the bitterns. From DNA studies and skeletal analyses focusing more on bones of body and limbs, this grouping has been revealed as incorrect. Rather, the similarities in skull morphology reflect convergent evolution to cope with the different challenges of daytime and nighttime feeding. Today, it is believed that three major groups can be distinguished, which are (from the most primitive to the most advanced): The night herons could warrant separation as subfamily Nycticoracinae, as


title: Heron content: it was traditionally done. However, the position of some genera (e.g. "Butorides" or "Syrigma") is unclear at the moment, and molecular studies have until now suffered from a small number of studied taxa. Especially, the relationships among the subfamily Ardeinae are very badly resolved. The arrangement presented here should be considered provisional. A 2008 study suggests that this family belongs to the Pelecaniformes. In response to these findings, the International Ornithological Congress recently reclassified Ardeidae and their sister taxa Threskiornithidae under the order Pelecaniformes instead of the previous order of Ciconiiformes. Subfamily Tigriornithinae Subfamily Botaurinae Subfamily Ardeinae Other prehistoric and


title: Heron content: fossil species are included in the respective genus accounts. In addition, "Proherodius" is a disputed fossil which was variously considered a heron or one of the extinct long-legged waterfowl, the Presbyornithidae. It is only known from a sternum; a tarsometatarsus assigned to it actually belongs to the paleognath "Lithornis vulturinus". Heron The herons are the long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 64 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera "Botaurus" and "Ixobrychus" are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or


title: "Publius Clodius Pulcher" content: were held in Julius Caesar's grace and favour house in the Regia, lent to him as "pontifex maximus". They were hosted by his wife, Pompeia and his mother, Aurelia, and they were supervised by the Vestal Virgins. It was a cult from which men were excluded and they were not permitted to speak or even know the goddess's name: the euphemism "Good Goddess" was used. Clodius intruded on the rites, disguised as a woman and apparently intent on finding and seducing Pompeia but was discovered. The ensuing scandal dragged on for months during which Pompey returned from the east, Caesar


title: "Publius Clodius Pulcher" content: wasted no time enacting a substantial legislative programme. The "Leges Clodiae" included setting up a regular dole of free grain, which had been distributed monthly at heavily discounted prices but was now to be given away at no charge, increasing Clodius' political status. Clodius also abolished the right of taking the omens on a fixed day, if they were declared unfavourable, to prevent the assembly of the comitia, which had been possessed by every magistrate by the terms of the "Lex Aelia et Fufia". He also prevented the censors from excluding any citizen from the Senate or inflicting any punishment


title: "Independent school (United Kingdom)" content: to bring a judicial review of the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance as it affected the independent education sector. This was heard by the Upper Tribunal at the same time as a reference by the Attorney General asking the Tribunal to consider how the public benefit requirement should operate in relation to fee-charging charitable schools. The Upper Tribunal’s decision, published on 14 October 2011, concluded that in all cases there must be more than "de minimis" or token benefit for the poor, but that trustees of a charitable independent school should decide what was appropriate in their particular circumstances. The


title: "Goo Goo Dolls" content: at both "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on June 8, 2007, and again at "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on June 22, 2007. In July 2007 the band discussed their career as a whole and gave a live performance on A&E's Private Sessions. Rzeznik stated that after the release of "Without You Here" and their summer tour with Lifehouse and Colbie Caillat, the band would return to the studio to begin work on their next album, their ninth overall. On June 27, 2007, the Goo Goo Dolls performed to a sold out crowd at Red Rocks Amphitheatre


title: Lhasa content: Lhasa Lhasa or Chengguan is a district and administrative capital of Lhasa City in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The inner urban area of Lhasa City is equivalent to the administrative borders of Chengguan District, which is part of the wider prefectural Lhasa City. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining and, at an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world. The city has been the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century. It contains many culturally significant Tibetan


title: Lhasa content: Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Palaces. Chengguan literally translates to "urban gateway" () in the Chinese language. Lhasa literally translate to "place of gods" ( , god; , place) in the Tibetan language. Ancient Tibetan documents and inscriptions demonstrate that the place was called Rasa (), which either meant "goats' place", or, as a contraction of "rawe sa", a "place surrounded by a wall," or 'enclosure', suggesting that the site was originally a hunting preserve within the royal residence on Marpori Hill. Lhasa is first recorded as the name, referring to the area's temple


title: Lhasa content: of Jowo, in a treaty drawn up between China and Tibet in 822 C.E. By the mid 7th century, Songtsen Gampo became the leader of the Tibetan Empire that had risen to power in the Brahmaputra River (locally known as the "Yarlung Tsangpo River") Valley. After conquering the kingdom of Zhangzhung in the west, he moved the capital from the Chingwa Taktsé Castle in Chongye County (pinyin: Qióngjié Xiàn), southwest of Yarlung, to Rasa (Lhasa) where in 637 he raised the first structures on the site of what is now the Potala Palace on Mount Marpori. In CE 639 and


title: Lhasa content: 641, Songtsen Gampo, who by this time had conquered the whole Tibetan region, is said to have contracted two alliance marriages, firstly to a Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal, and then, two years later, to Princess Wencheng of the Imperial Tang court. Bhrikuti is said to have converted him to Buddhism, which was also the faith attributed to his second wife Wencheng. In 641 he constructed the Jokhang (or Rasa Trülnang Tsulagkhang) and Ramoche Temples in Lhasa in order to house two Buddha statues, the Akshobhya Vajra (depicting the Buddha at the age of eight) and the Jowo Sakyamuni (depicting Buddha


title: Lhasa content: at the age of twelve), respectively brought to his court by the princesses. Lhasa suffered extensive damage under the reign of Langdarma in the 9th century, when the sacred sites were destroyed and desecrated and the empire fragmented. A Tibetan tradition mentions that after Songtsen Gampo's death in 649 C.E., Chinese troops captured Lhasa and burnt the Red Palace. Chinese and Tibetan scholars have noted that the event is mentioned neither in the Chinese annals nor in the Tibetan manuscripts of Dunhuang. Lǐ suggested that this tradition may derive from an interpolation. Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa believes that "those histories


title: Lhasa content: reporting the arrival of Chinese troops are not correct." From the fall of the monarchy in the 9th century to the accession of the 5th Dalai Lama, the centre of political power in the Tibetan region was not situated in Lhasa. However, the importance of Lhasa as a religious site became increasingly significant as the centuries progressed. It was known as the centre of Tibet where Padmasambhava magically pinned down the earth demoness and built the foundation of the Jokhang Temple over her heart. Islam has been present since the 11th century in what is considered to have always been


title: Lhasa content: a monolithically Buddhist culture. Two Tibetan Muslim communities have lived in Lhasa with distinct homes, food and clothing, language, education, trade and traditional herbal medicine. By the 15th century, the city of Lhasa had risen to prominence following the founding of three large Gelugpa monasteries by Je Tsongkhapa and his disciples. The three monasteries are Ganden, Sera and Drepung which were built as part of the puritanical Buddhist revival in Tibet. The scholarly achievements and political know-how of this Gelugpa Lineage eventually pushed Lhasa once more to centre stage. The 5th Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682), unified Tibet and moved


title: Lhasa content: the centre of his administration to Lhasa in 1642 with the help of Güshi Khan of the Khoshut. With Güshi Khan as a largely uninvolved overlord, the 5th Dalai Lama and his intimates established a civil administration which is referred to by historians as the "Lhasa state". The core leadership of this government is also referred to as the Ganden Phodrang, and Lhasa thereafter became both the religious and political capital. In 1645, the reconstruction of the Potala Palace began on Red Hill. In 1648, the "Potrang Karpo" (White Palace) of the Potala was completed, and the Potala was used


title: Lhasa content: as a winter palace by the Dalai Lama from that time onwards. The "Potrang Marpo" (Red Palace) was added between 1690 and 1694. The name Potala is derived from Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the Dalai Lama's divine prototype, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The Jokhang Temple was also greatly expanded around this time. Although some wooden carvings and lintels of the Jokhang Temple date to the 7th century, the oldest of Lhasa's extant buildings, such as within the Potala Palace, the Jokhang and some of the monasteries and properties in the Old Quarter date to this second flowering in Lhasa's


title: Lhasa content: history. By the end of the 17th century, Lhasa's Barkhor area formed a bustling market for foreign goods. The Jesuit missionary, Ippolito Desideri reported in 1716 that the city had a cosmopolitan community of Mongol, Chinese, Muscovite, Armenian, Kashmiri, Nepalese and Northern Indian traders. Tibet was exporting musk, gold, medicinal plants, furs and yak tails to far-flung markets, in exchange for sugar, tea, saffron, Persian turquoise, European amber and Mediterranean coral. The Qing dynasty army entered Lhasa in 1720, and the Qing government sent resident commissioners, called the Ambans, to Lhasa. In November 11 of 1750, the murder of the


title: Lhasa content: regent by the Ambans triggered a riot in the city that left more than a hundred people killed, including the Ambans. After suppressing the rebels, Qing Qianlong Emperor reorganized the Tibetan government and set up the governing council called Kashag in Lhasa in 1751. In 1904 a British expedition force led by Francis Younghusband entered Lhasa and forced remaining low-level Tibetan officials to sign the Treaty of Lhasa after the fleeing of Dalai Lama. The treaty was subsequently repudiated and was succeeded by a 1906 Anglo-Chinese treaty. All Qing troops left Lhasa after the Xinhai Lhasa turmoil in 1912. By


title: Lhasa content: the 20th century, Lhasa, long a beacon for both Tibetan and foreign Buddhists, had numerous ethnically and religiously distinct communities, among them Kashmiri Muslims, Ladakhi merchants, Sikh converts to Islam, and Chinese traders and officials. The Kashmiri Muslims ("Khache") trace their arrival in Lhasa to the Muslim saint of Patna, Khair ud-Din, contemporary with the 5th Dalai Lama. Chinese Muslims lived in a quarter to the south, and Newar merchants from Kathmandu to the north of the Barkhor market. Residents of the Lubu neighbourhood were descended from Chinese vegetable farmers who stayed over after accompanying an Amban from Sichuan in


title: Lhasa content: the mid-nineteenth century; some later intermarried with Tibetan women and spoke Tibetan as their first language. The city's merchants catered to all kinds of tastes, importing even Australian butter and British whisky. In the 1940s, according to Heinrich Harrer:- After the establishment of Communist Chinese People's Republic of China, "(...) the People's Liberation Army (PLA) invaded the country in 1950. In March 1959, an uprising centered on the capital, Lhasa, prompted a massive crackdown, during which the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (b. 1935), fled into exile." Such markets and consumerism came to an abrupt end after the arrival of Chinese


title: Lhasa content: government troops and administrative cadres in 1950. Food rations and poorly stocked government stores replaced the old markets, until the 1990s when commerce in international wares once more returned to Lhasa, and arcades and malls with a cornucopia of goods sprang up. Of the 22 parks ("lingka"s) which surrounded the city of Lhasa, most of them over half a mile in length, where the people of Lhasa were accustomed to picnic, only three survive today: the Norbulingka, Dalai Lama's Summer Palace, constructed by the 7th Dalai Lama; a small part of the Shugtri Lingka, and the Lukhang. Dormitory blocks, offices