title: "American lobster" content: traps, sometimes referred to as "pots", have a buoy floating on the surface, and lobstermen check their traps between one and seven days after setting them. The inefficiency of the trapping system has inadvertently prevented the lobster population from being overfished. Lobsters can easily escape the trap, and will defend the trap against other lobsters because it is a source of food. An estimated 10% of lobsters that encounter a trap enter, and of those that enter 6% will be caught. In the United States, the lobster industry is regulated. Every lobster fisher is required to use a lobster gauge


title: "American lobster" content: to measure the distance from the lobster's eye socket to the end of its carapace: if the lobster is less than long, it is too young to be sold and must be released back to the sea. There is also a legal maximum size of in Maine, meant to ensure the survival of a healthy breeding stock of adult males, but in parts of some states, such as Massachusetts, there is none. Also, traps must contain an escape hole or "vent", which allows juvenile lobsters and bycatch species to escape. The law in Maine and other states dictates a second


title: "American lobster" content: large escape hole or "ghost panel" must be installed. This hole is held shut through use of biodegradable clips made of ferrous metal. Should the trap become lost, the trap eventually opens, allowing the catch to escape. To protect known breeding females, lobsters caught carrying eggs are to be notched on a tail flipper (second from the right, if the lobster is right-side up and the tail is fully extended). Following this, the female cannot be kept or sold, and is commonly referred to as a "punch-tail" or as "v-notched". This notch remains for two molts of the lobster exoskeleton,


title: "American lobster" content: providing harvest protection and continued breeding availability for up to five years. In the late 1990s and early 21st century, lobster fishing was the cause of troubles between Acadians and Mi'kmaq First Nations in the Canadian Maritimes. The Acadian economy (and identity) relied substantially on fisheries, especially lobster. In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favor of the First Nations and granted them unlimited rights to natural resources, based on an 18th-century treaty. The federal government tried to take licenses and quotas from the traditional fishermen, whose fishing quota had already dropped dramatically in the years before, and


title: "American lobster" content: give them to the natives. Burnt Church, a reserve between Miramichi and the Acadian town of Neguac, was the hub of these troubles. The tension increased and decreased with each fishing season, reaching its climax in April 2003, when a riot broke in the port of Shippagan, where three native-owned fishing ships and a fish processing plant were burnt down. Since then, efforts have been made to bring Acadians and natives closer together, and the tension has slowly abated. American lobster tends to have a stable stock in colder northern waters, but gradually decreases in abundance moving southward. To manage


title: "American lobster" content: lobster populations, more regulations and restrictions, geared towards achieving sustainable populations, are implemented gradually southward. Currently there is no published genome for the American lobster, although a transcriptome was published in 2016. American lobster The American lobster ("Homarus americanus") is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. It is also known as Atlantic lobster, Canadian lobster, true lobster, northern lobster, Canadian Reds, or Maine lobster. It can reach a body length of , and a mass of over , making it not only the heaviest crustacean in the world,


title: "Gulf Air" content: been accepted by the Board of Directors. Majali left by the end of 2012, after serving the company for three years. Maher Salman Al Musallam was the acting CEO of Gulf Air until May 2016, when he was officially appointed to the role. At the Bahrain Airshow in January 2016, Gulf Air ordered 17 A321neo and 12 A320neo aircraft for delivery from June 2018, and cancelled a commitment to acquire six A330-300 aircraft. In addition, the airline also announced an restructured order for 16 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The new order of 16 Boeing 787-9 aircraft replaced an existing order for


title: "Nullification Crisis" content: Historian Richard E. Ellis describes the situation: State leaders, led by states' rights advocates like William Smith and Thomas Cooper, blamed most of the state's economic problems on the Tariff of 1816 and national internal improvement projects. Soil erosion and competition from the New Southwest were also very significant reasons for the state's declining fortunes. George McDuffie was a particularly effective speaker for the anti-tariff forces, and he popularized the Forty Bale theory. McDuffie argued that the 40% tariff on cotton finished goods meant that "the manufacturer actually invades your barns, and plunders you of 40 out of every 100


title: Shoelaces content: the tag is visible (as can be seen at right). Shoelaces Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both ends with stiff sections, known as aglets. Each shoelace typically passes through a series of holes, eyelets, loops or hooks on either side of the shoe. Loosening the lacing allows the shoe to open wide enough for the foot to be inserted or removed. Tightening the lacing and tying


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: Yellow-legged gull The yellow-legged gull ("Larus michahellis"), sometimes referred to as western yellow-legged gull (to distinguish it from eastern populations of yellow-legged large white-headed gulls), is a large gull of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of either the Caspian gull "L. cachinnans", or more broadly as a subspecies of the herring gull "L. argentatus". The genus name is from Latin "Larus" which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and the species name honours the German


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: zoologist Karl Michahelles. It is now generally accepted that the yellow-legged gull is a full species, but until recently there was much disagreement. For example, "British Birds" magazine split yellow-legged gull from herring gull in 1993 but included the Caspian gull in the former, but the BOU in Great Britain retained the yellow-legged gull as a subspecies of the herring gull until 2007. DNA research, however, suggests that yellow-legged gull is actually closest to the great black-backed gull "L. marinus" and Armenian gull "L. armenicus", while the Caspian gull is closer to herring gull and lesser black-backed gull "L. fuscus",


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: rather than being each other's closest relatives. There are two subspecies of the yellow-legged gull: The breeding range is centred on the Mediterranean Sea. In North Africa it is common in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and increasing in places. Recent breeding has occurred in Libya and Egypt. In the Middle East, a few breed in Israel and Syria with larger numbers in Cyprus and Turkey. In Europe there are colonies all along the Mediterranean coast, and also on the Atlantic islands and coasts north to Brittany and west to the Azores. It also breeds on the west side of the


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: Black Sea; here it overlaps with the Caspian gull but there is a difference in habitat, with the yellow-legged gull preferring sea cliffs and Caspian gull on flatter shores. In recent decades birds have spread north into central and western Europe. One to four pairs have attempted to breed in southern England since 1995 (sometimes hybrid pairs with lesser black-backed gulls), though colonisation has been very slow. Many birds remain in the same area all year round but others migrate to spend the winter in mild areas of western Europe or head south as far as Senegal, the Gambia and


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: the Red Sea. There is also extensive northward post-breeding dispersal in the late summer, with numbers in southern England high from July to October. It is reported as a vagrant to northeastern North America and Nigeria. The yellow-legged gull is a large gull, though the size does vary, with the smallest females being scarcely larger than a common gull and the largest males being roughly the size of a great black-backed gull. They range in length from in total length, from in wingspan and from in weight. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the bill is and the


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: tarsus is . Adults are externally similar to herring gulls but have yellow legs. They have a grey back, slightly darker than herring gulls but lighter than lesser black-backed gulls. They are much whiter-headed in autumn, and have more extensively black wing tips with few white spots, just as lesser black-backed. They have a red spot on the bill as adults, like the entire complex. There is a red ring around the eye like in the lesser black-backed gull but unlike in the herring gull which has a dark yellow ring. First-year birds have a paler head, rump and underparts


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: than those of the herring gull, more closely resembling first-year great black-backed gulls in plumage. They have a dark bill and eyes, pinkish grey legs, dark flight feathers and a well-defined black band on the tail. They become lighter in the underparts and lose the upperpart pattern subsequently. By their second winter, birds are essentially feathered like adults, save for the patterned feathers remaining on the wing coverts. However, their bill tips are black, their eyes still dark, and the legs are a light yellow flesh colour. The call is a loud laugh which is deeper and more nasal than


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: the call of the herring gull. They are omnivores like most "Larus" gulls, and they will scavenge on rubbish tips and elsewhere, as well as seeking suitable prey in fields or on the coast, or robbing smaller gulls and other seabirds of their catches. Yellow-legged gulls usually breed in colonies. Eggs, usually three, are laid from mid March to early May and are defended vigorously by this large gull. The nest is a sometimes sparse mound of vegetation built on the ground or on cliff ledges. In some places such as Gibraltar they have started nesting on buildings. The eggs


title: "Yellow-legged gull" content: are incubated for 27–31 days and the young birds fledge after 35–40 days. Yellow-legged gull The yellow-legged gull ("Larus michahellis"), sometimes referred to as western yellow-legged gull (to distinguish it from eastern populations of yellow-legged large white-headed gulls), is a large gull of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of either the Caspian gull "L. cachinnans", or more broadly as a subspecies of the herring gull "L. argentatus". The genus name is from Latin "Larus" which appears to have referred to


title: "Cecchetti method" content: are taught by registered teachers around the world in both pre-vocational and vocational dance schools. The syllabus is a progressive series of graded and vocational graded examinations, which are accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the government appointed regulator of qualifications in England and Wales. Successful exam passes in the Cecchetti method can therefore be submitted for credit towards other nationally recognised qualifications, however this only applies in England and Wales. These qualifications are in reality usually taken by the amateur rather than the professional dancer. There are a few ballet teachers, such as Gavin Roebuck, who can trace


title: "Les Huguenots" content: chosen to open the present building of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1858. During the 1890s, when it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera, it was often called 'the night of the seven stars', as the cast would include Lillian Nordica, Nellie Melba, Sofia Scalchi, Jean de Reszke, Édouard de Reszke, Victor Maurel and Pol Plançon. The opera was performed in Italian at the Met in the 19th century as "Gli Ugonotti". In the Soviet Union, the opera was given a new libretto as "Dekabristi", about the historical Decembrists. Like others of Meyerbeer's operas, "Les Huguenots" lost favor in the


title: "Jared Fogle" content: own children would be allowed only with approval of their mother. Fogle had already made a request to visit his two children in September, but McLaughlin contested it. Upon release from prison, Fogle will be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life and undergo treatment for sexual disorders. On November 19, 2015, Fogle formally pleaded guilty before federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt. In a statement, Fogle apologized for his crimes, saying that he wanted a chance to become a "good, honest person" and "redeem [his] life" after being ensnared in a life of "deception,


title: "Syrian Air" content: from Accra to Leopoldville on September 1, 1960, and a Dakota which crashed on its final approach of Kamishly on a domestic flight from Aleppo on May 6, 1961. Fortunately, there were no fatalities in either accident. The union between Egypt and Syria ended on September 26, 1961, amidst tensions between the leaderships of the two provinces of the UAR. The Syrian Arab Republic was declared in Syria, while Egypt chose to continue to carry the title of UAR for a few more years. In parallel to that divorce, Syria withdrew from UAA. All the airliners previously owned by Syrian


title: "Clarice Cliff" content: were added by holding the piece upside down and painting thin lines amongst the flowers. Being made from the individual brushstrokes, the "Crocus" pattern was clearly completely hand-painted, and the vibrant colours instantly attracted large sales. Initially, Clarice had just one young decorator produce "Crocus", Ethel Barrow. But as orders flooded in by 1930 a separate decorating 'shop' was established underneath the top floor of the building which housed the 'Bizarre' shop, and Ethel became responsible for training young painters how to do the pattern. Twenty young women painted nothing but "Crocus" 5½ days a week, for much of the


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: National September 11 Memorial & Museum The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit institution whose mission is to raise funds for, program, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: Center site. A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and destruction of the World Trade Center for the victims and those involved in rescue and recovery operations. The winner of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was Israeli architect Michael Arad of Handel Architects, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm. Arad worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design, creating a forest of swamp white oak trees with two square reflecting pools in the center marking where the Twin Towers stood. In August 2006, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began heavy construction on the memorial and museum. The design is consistent with the original master plan by Daniel Libeskind, which called for the memorial to be below street level—originally —in a plaza, and was the only finalist to disregard Libeskind's requirement that the buildings overhang the footprints of the Twin Towers. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation was renamed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2007. A dedication ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks was held at the memorial on September 11, 2011, and it opened


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: to the public the following day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, with remarks from Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama. The museum opened to the public on May 21. In September 2007 the Memorial & Museum began a four-month national-awareness tour of 25 cities in 25 states, and thousands participated in tour activities. The tour began at Finlay Park in Columbia, South Carolina, ending at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. Highlights included an exhibition of photographs, artifacts from the site and a film with firsthand accounts from individuals who had directly experienced the attacks. At the opening


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: ceremony in South Carolina, the students of White Knoll Middle School (who raised over $500,000 in 2001 for a new truck for the New York City Fire Department) were honored and retired New York City police officer Marcelo Pevida presented the city with an American flag which had flown over Ground Zero. The main attractions of the 2007 national tour were steel beams, later used in the construction of the memorial, for visitors to sign. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum conducts a "cobblestone campaign", in which a contributor may sponsor a cobblestone which will line the Memorial plaza.


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: Donors are recognized on the Memorial's website. Donors are able to locate their cobblestone by entering their name at a kiosk on the Memorial plaza. In 2008 the Memorial conducted two holiday cobblestone campaigns: the first for Father's Day, and the second for the December holiday season. On September 9, 2011, Secretary Shaun Donovan of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development said that the department had given $329 million to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum through HUD's Community Development Block Grant program. According to CNN, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey dropped


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: its claim that the 9/11 Memorial & Museum owed it $300 million in construction costs in return for "financial oversight of the museum and memorial". Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii sponsored S.1537, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Act of 2011, which would provide $20 million in federal funds annually toward the Memorial's operating budget (about one-third of its total budget). The legislation was presented to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on October 19, 2011. In return for federal funding S.1537 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to accept the donation by the memorial's


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: board of directors of title to the National September 11 Memorial, contingent on agreement by the board, the governors of New York and New Jersey, the Mayor of New York and the Secretary of the Interior. On October 19, 2011 William D. Shaddox of the National Park Service voiced concerns to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources about the agency's ability to provide the funds required by S.1537, testifying that NPS ownership of a property over which it would not have operational and administrative control (as stipulated by S.1537) was unprecedented. Formerly the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation,


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was formed as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation to raise funds and manage the memorial's planning and construction. Its board of directors met for the first time on January 4, 2005, and it reached its first-phase capital-fundraising goal ($350 million) in April 2008. This money and additional funds raised will be used to build the memorial and museum and endow the museum. In 2003, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation launched the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, an international competition to design a memorial at the World Trade Center site to commemorate the lives


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: lost on 9/11. Individuals and teams from around the world submitted design proposals. On November 19, 2003, the thirteen-member jury selected eight finalists. "Reflecting Absence", designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, was chosen as the winning design on January 6, 2004. It consists of a field of trees interrupted by two large, recessed pools, the footprints of the Twin Towers. The deciduous trees (swamp white oaks) are arranged in rows and form informal clusters, clearings and groves. The park is at street level, above the Memorial Museum. The names of the victims of the attacks (including those from the


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: Pentagon, American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 93, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) are inscribed on the parapets surrounding the waterfalls in an arrangement of "meaningful adjacencies". A portion of the slurry wall originally designed to hold back the Hudson River, about half of what Daniel Libeskind originally wanted to preserve, is maintained in the museum. On January 14, 2004, the final design for the World Trade Center site memorial was unveiled at a press conference in Federal Hall National Memorial. As mandated by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation owns,


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: operates and finances the "Reflecting Absence" Memorial and the Museum. John C. Whitehead, chair of the LMDC and the foundation, announced his resignation in May 2006 and was replaced at the LMDC by former president Kevin Rampe. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg replaced Whitehead as chair of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Foundation executive committee chair Thomas S. Johnson said on May 9, 2006: On May 26, 2006, Gretchen Dykstra resigned as president and chief executive officer of the World Trade Center Foundation. Joseph C. Daniels was appointed as president and CEO in October 2006. The memorial


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: projects were toned down, and the budget was cut to $530 million. Construction of the memorial began in August 2006 and, despite delays, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was confident that it would be completed by September 11, 2011. On March 13, 2006, construction workers arrived at the WTC site to begin work on the "Reflecting Absence" design. Some relatives of the victims and other concerned citizens gathered to protest the new memorial that day, saying that it should be built above ground. The president of the memorial foundation said that family members were consulted and formed a


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: consensus in favor of the design, and work would continue as planned. In May, estimated construction costs for the Memorial were reported to have risen to over $1 billion. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "There's just not an unlimited amount of money that we can spend on a memorial. Any figure higher than $500 million would be inappropriate." In 2006, at the request of Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki, builder Frank Sciame performed a month-long analysis which included input from victims' families, the lower Manhattan business and residential communities, architects and members of the memorial-competition jury. The analysis recommended design changes


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: which kept the memorial and museum within a $500 million budget. In July 2008, the Survivors' Staircase was lowered to bedrock, making it the first artifact to be moved into the museum. By the end of August, the footings and foundations were completed. On September 2 construction workers raised the first column for the memorial, near the footprint of the North Tower. By then, about 70 percent of the construction contracts were awarded or ready to award. A total of of steel were installed at the memorial site. By April 2010 the reflecting pools were fully framed in steel, and


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: 85 percent of the concrete had been poured. By April 22, workers had begun installation of the granite coating for the reflecting pools. By June the North Pool's granite coating was completed, and workers had begun granite installation in the South Pool. In July, the first soil shipments arrived at the site, and in August workers began planting trees on the memorial plaza. The swamp white oaks can reach at maturity, live from 300 to 350 years, and their autumn leaves are gold-colored. The "Survivor Tree" is a callery pear which survived the devastation and was kept for replanting. In


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: September, workers reinstalled two tridents salvaged from the Twin Towers. In November 2010, workers began testing the North Pool waterfall, and construction progressed through early 2011. In March installation of glass panels on the museum pavilion's façade began, and in May workers began testing the South Pool waterfall. Most of the memorial was finished in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, with the museum planned for completion one year later. By September 2, 243 trees were planted at the site and eight more were planted in the days before the memorial opened. By then, both pools were


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: completed and the waterfalls were tested daily. On September 12, 2011, one day after the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the memorial opened to the public with a lengthy set of rules and regulations approved by the foundation's board of directors. The period from September 11, 2011 to May 25, 2014 was known as the "interim operating period", when the memorial was surrounded by construction of neighboring World Trade Center projects; the fence was taken down on May 25, 2014. Three months after its opening, the memorial had been visited by over a million people. In January


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: 2004, "Reflecting Absence", by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, was selected from 5,201 entries from 63 countries as the winner of the LMDC's design competition. Two pools with the largest man-made waterfalls in the United States comprise the footprints of the Twin Towers, symbolizing the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. The waterfalls are intended to mute the sounds of the city, making the site a contemplative sanctuary. Landscape architect Peter Walker planted many parts of the memorial with white oaks. More than 400 swamp white oak trees fill the Memorial plaza,


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: enhancing the site's reflective nature. Pedestrian simulations tested the memorial's design. The pedestrian-modeling program Legion was used to simulate visitor utilization of the space, and its design was tweaked to prevent bottlenecks. The fountain was engineered by Delta Fountains. The names of 2,983 victims are inscribed on 152 bronze parapets on the memorial pools: 2,977 killed in the September 11 attacks and six killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The names are arranged according to an algorithm, creating "meaningful adjacencies" based on relationships—proximity at the time of the attacks, company or organization affiliations (for those working at the


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: World Trade Center or the Pentagon) and in response to about 1,200 requests from family members. Software by Local Projects implemented the arrangement. The names of the employees and visitors in the North Tower (WTC 1), the passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11 (which struck the North Tower), and the employees and a visitor of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing are around the perimeter of the North Pool. The names of the employees and visitors in the South Tower (WTC 2), the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 175 (which struck the South Tower), the employees,


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: visitors, and bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the North and South Towers, the first responders who died during rescue operations, the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania) and American Airlines Flight 77 (which struck the Pentagon), and the employees at the Pentagon are around the perimeter of the South Pool. Company names are not included, but company employees and visitors are listed together. Passengers on the four flights are listed under their flight numbers, and first responders with their units. The process for arranging the names was finalized in a 2006 agreement,


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: replacing an earlier plan to arrange the names randomly. According to Edith Lutnick (executive director of the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund), "Your loved ones' names are surrounded by the names of those they sat with, those they worked with, those they lived with and, very possibly, those they died with." The six adult victims of the 1993 bombing are memorialized on Panel N-73 at the North Pool. The phrase "and her unborn child" follows the names of ten pregnant women who died on 9/11 and one who died in the 1993 attack. A callery pear tree recovered from the rubble


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: at the World Trade Center site in October 2001 was later called the "Survivor Tree". When the -tall tree was recovered, it was badly burned and had one living branch. The tree had been planted during the 1970s near buildings four and five, in the vicinity of Church Street. Then-Memorial president Joe Daniels described it as "a key element of the memorial plaza's landscape". In November 2001, the tree was moved by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to the Arthur Ross Nursery in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for care. It was then replanted in


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: the Bronx on November 11, 2001. The tree was not expected to survive, but it showed signs of new growth the following spring. Although the memorial planning team intended to include the Survivor Tree, its permanent location was unknown at the time. Still under the care of the Bronx nursery, the tree was replanted without significant damage in March 2010 after it was uprooted by a storm. After the replanting, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "Again, we and the tree refused to throw in the towel. We replanted the tree, and it bounced back immediately." The Survivor Tree has become a


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: symbol of hope and rebirth; according to Arthur Ross Nursery manager Richie Cabo, "It represents all of us." In an August 29, 2011 Port Authority press release (after Hurricane Irene), Daniels said: "True to its name, the Survivor Tree is standing tall at the Memorial." Keating Crown (a survivor of the attacks) said, "It reminds us all of the capacity of the human spirit to persevere." "A Place of Remembrance: Official Book of the National September 11 Memorial" describes the tree as "a reminder of the thousands of survivors who persevered after the attacks". In December 2010, the tree, then


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: tall, was returned to the World Trade Center site in a ceremony attended by Bloomberg, city officials (including Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Port Authority executive director Chris Ward), survivors and rescue and recovery workers. Although the tree is a prominent part of the memorial, six other "survivor trees" have been planted near New York City Hall and the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge. Of these survivor trees, three are callery pears and three are little-leaf lindens. In May 2018, plans were revealed for a path through a "memorial glade" at the National September 11 Memorial. The


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: path will honor first responders who later got sick or died after inhaling toxins at the World Trade Center site. According to 9/11 Memorial & Museum president Alice Greenwald and former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, the path will be located on the southwest side of the memorial plaza, at the approximate site of a temporary ramp that first responders used during the cleanup effort. The path will include six large battered stones that, in the words of Michael Arad, "appear to jut up and out of the plaza as if violently displaced, and convey strength and resistance". Several pieces


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: of debris from the original World Trade Center will also be placed along the path. Although victims'-family groups agreed that names would be grouped by workplace or other affiliation, NYPD cadet Mohammad Salman Hamdani was not included with the other first responders or the other victims whose remains were found in the wreckage of the North Tower. His name appears on the memorial's panel 66 for World Trade Center victims (next to a blank space along the South Tower perimeter), with those who did not fit into the groups created by the memorial committee or who had a loose connection


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: to the World Trade Center. Hamdani's mother, Talat, has campaigned for the Memorial to acknowledge her son as a police cadet and first responder. Hamdani received a full police-department funeral after his body was found (months after the attacks), and the street on which he lived was renamed in his honor. Although the memorial's brochures were initially translated into at least ten languages, these languages did not include Arabic. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) questioned this decision in letters to memorial directors, and ADC director of communications and advocacy Raed Jarrar said: "Our fear is that there is a political


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: intention behind the exclusion". A memorial representative told the "New York Post", "As Arabic-speaking visitors currently represent our 25th-largest group, Arabic translations are not yet among the initial foreign-language editions." In 2015, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee made an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which had given hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to the September 11 Memorial through block grants to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The committee stated that the Memorial's decision to not publish Arabic-language brochures violated HUD's Limited English Proficiency rules for grantees. In December 2017, the ADC announced that


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: the Memorial had signed a settlement agreement whereby its commemorative guide would be translated into Arabic and made available. The September 11 Museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, and opened to the public on May 21. Its collection includes more than 40,000 images, 14,000 artifacts, more than 3,500 oral recordings, and over 500 hours of video. The underground museum has artifacts from September 11, 2001, including steel from the Twin Towers (such as the Last Column, the last piece of steel to leave Ground Zero in May 2002). In December 2011, museum construction halted temporarily due to disputes between


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Foundation over responsibility for infrastructure costs. On March 13, 2012, talks on the issue began, and construction resumed on September 10, 2012. After a number of false opening reports, it was announced that the museum would open to the public on May 21, 2014. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014. In attendance were a range of dignitaries, from President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to former mayors David


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg and current mayor Bill de Blasio. During the hour-long ceremony LaChanze sang "Amazing Grace", which she dedicated to her husband Calvin Gooding, who was killed in the World Trade Center attack. During the five days between its dedication and the public opening, over 42,000 first responders and family members of 9/11 victims visited the museum. An opening ceremony for the museum was held on May 21, during which twenty-four police officers and firefighters unfurled the restored national 9/11 flag before it was brought into the museum for permanent display. The gates surrounding the museum


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: were then taken down, marking their first removal since the attacks. Opening-day tickets quickly sold out. Despite the museum's design (to evoke memories without additional distress), counselors were available during its opening due to the large number of visitors. Designed by Davis Brody Bond, the museum is about below ground and accessible through a pavilion designed by Snøhetta. The National September 11 Memorial Museum encloses of publicly accessible space. The pavilion has a deconstructivist design, resembling a partially collapsed building (mirroring the attacks), and houses two tridents from the Twin Towers. One of the museum's walls is an exposed side


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: of the slurry wall retaining the Hudson River, which remained intact during (and after) September 11. Other Ground Zero artifacts include wrecked emergency vehicles (including a fire engine deformed from the collapse), pieces of metal from all seven World Trade Center buildings, recordings of survivors and first responders (including 911 phone calls), pictures of all victims, photographs from the wreckage and other media detailing the destruction (including the crashes, collapse, fires, those who jumped and the cleanup). The museum is designed to evoke memories without additional distress, particularly to first responders and the families of victims. "The Huffington Post" wrote


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: that "walking through the museum is like being transported back to the turmoil, destruction and anguish of 9/11. Exhibits express the disbelief and heartache of New York and the nation." The World Trade Center site was once part of Little Syria, the center of Arab life in the United States since the 1880s. The cornerstone of St. Joseph's Lebanese Maronite Church was found under the rubble, next to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 157 Cedar Street. Local historians and preservationists have requested that the National September 11 Museum include a reference to this history in the Museum's permanent exhibit


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: to "help the thousands of tourists who visit the site to understand that Arab-Americans have played a patriotic role in the country's history". According to the "New York Daily News", a museum spokesperson said that its "curators are not planning to include information about the area's Arab-American history in the museum's permanent collection." "Save Washington Street" advocates had approached the museum after hearing there would be a display about the construction of the World Trade Center site and the demolition of Radio Row, the electronic district cleared to make way for the towers. They have also articulated the need for


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: recalling the multiethnic character of "Little Syria", along with the Downtown Community House that served it, as extremely important for the historical memory of New York City and of the United States. General admission tickets to the museum are $24, a price which has raised concerns. Michael Bloomberg agreed, encouraging people to "write your congressman" for more federal funding. When the museum opened to victim families and first responders on May 15, 2014, anger by some that it was profiting from souvenirs considered in poor taste was widely covered. Souvenir proceeds would fund the museum and memorial. On May 29,


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: 2014, a U.S.-shaped cheese platter was among items removed for sale, and it was announced that all items sold would be reviewed by victim families for suitability. Families were further angered after a May 20, 2014 black-tie, VIP cocktail party for donors at the museum. Among the 60 attendees were former mayor Michael Bloomberg and representatives of Condé Nast. Family members objected to a party near unidentified remains; the sister of victim Robert Shay, Jr. tweeted, "Did you enjoy having drinks on top of my brother's grave last night?" Shay and dozens of other visitors were angered that first responders


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: were turned away from the museum the previous day while staff prepared for the party. She said, "I am outraged that I can't visit my brother's final resting place without an appointment but people like Mike Bloomberg can wine and dine there whenever they want. This memorial and museum is sacred ground and last night it was desecrated." A retired FDNY fire marshal said, "You don't have cocktail parties at a cemetery." A mid-2014 proposal to open a Danny Meyer cafe in the museum's atrium was criticized. In an early-morning ceremony on May 10, 2014, the long-unidentified remains of 1,115


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: victims were transferred from the city medical examiner to Ground Zero, where they would be placed in a space in the bedrock below ground as part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Reaction from the victims' families to the move was divided, with some supporting the decision and others calling the location inappropriate. Among the latter was FDNY Lt. James McCaffrey, the brother-in-law of 9/11 victim and firefighter Orio Palmer, who called a ground-level tomb a more dignified location: "The decision to put the human remains of the 9/11 dead in this basement is inherently disrespectful and totally offensive." McCaffrey said


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: that the remains deserved a prominence equal to that of the Memorial's trees and pools, and that the ceremony was held early in the morning because of opposition to the decision. Two centers were proposed and withdrawn from the World Trade Center Memorial plan in 2005: Plans called for the Freedom Center to share space with the Drawing Center in a building known as the Cultural Center. Of the dispute over the proposed centers, one "New York Times" editorial stated not only that the IFC's opponents make trivial and unconvincing suggestions that both the IFC and the "cultural component" of


title: "National September 11 Memorial & Museum" content: architect Daniel Libeskind's plans would somehow diminish the scope of the Memorial Museum, but also that the proposal for reducing the size of one of the centers had failed to consider the emotional impact of the space. In addition to the one at Ground Zero, a number of other memorials have been built by communities across the United States. Many are built around remnants of steel from the Twin Towers which have been donated by a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey program; over 1,000 pieces of World Trade Center steel have been distributed. National September 11 Memorial


title: "University of Georgia" content: for 16 years, well into the 21st century. Adams began a strategic plan to grow the university's academic programs in the new century. In 2001, UGA inaugurated the College of Environment & Design and the School of Public and International Affairs, the first new schools to open since 1964. The strategic plan also chose medicine and health sciences as a major focus of growth and development. Together with Provost Karen Holbrook and Arnett Mace (who succeed Holbrook), Adams opened the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute, the UGA Cancer Center, the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, and the Regenerative


title: "Quebec nationalism" content: Constitutional Act of 1791. The Act of the British Parliament created two colonies, Lower Canada and Upper Canada, each of which had its own political institutions. In Lower Canada, the French-speaking and Catholic "Canadiens" held the majority in the elected house of representatives, but were either a small minority or simply not represented in the appointed legislative and executive councils, both appointed by the Governor, representing the British Crown in the colony. Most of the members of the legislative council and the executive council were part of the British ruling class, composed of wealthy merchants, judges, military men, etc., supportive


title: "Westboro Baptist Church" content: entrance of any cemetery under control of the National Cemetery Administration from 60 minutes before to 60 minutes after a funeral. Failing to adhere to this law can lead to a substantial fine of up to $100,000 or up to a year in prison. The group responded to the new law with a series of tweets condemning the restrictions. On January 11, 2011, the state of Arizona held an emergency legislative session to pass a bill barring protests within of a funeral and within an hour from its beginning or end. The bill was swiftly signed into law ahead of


title: "Asian elephant" content: Asian elephant The Asian elephant ("Elephas maximus"), also called Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus "Elephas" and is distributed in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India and Nepal in the west to Borneo in the south. Three subspecies are recognised—"E. m. maximus" from Sri Lanka, "E. m. indicus" from mainland Asia and "E. m. sumatranus" from the island of Sumatra. The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the population has declined by at least


title: "Asian elephant" content: 50 percent over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. It is primarily threatened by loss of habitat, habitat degradation, fragmentation and poaching. In 2003, the wild population was estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals. Female captive elephants have lived beyond 60 years when kept in semi-natural surroundings, such as forest camps. In zoos, Asian elephants die at a much younger age; captive populations are declining due to a low birth and high death rate. The genus "Elephas" originated in Sub-Saharan Africa during the Pliocene and spread throughout Africa before emigrating to southern Asia. The earliest indications


title: "Asian elephant" content: of captive use of Asian elephants are engravings on seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation dated to the 3rd millennium BC. Carl Linnaeus first described the genus "Elephas" and an elephant from Ceylon under the binomial "Elephas maximus" in 1758. In 1798, Georges Cuvier first described the Indian elephant under the binomial "Elephas indicus". In 1847, Coenraad Jacob Temminck first described the Sumatran elephant under the binomial "Elephas sumatranus". Frederick Nutter Chasen classified all three as subspecies of the Asian elephant in 1940. Three subspecies are currently recognised: the Sri Lankan elephant, the Indian elephant, and the Sumatran elephant. In


title: "Asian elephant" content: 1950, Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala described the Borneo elephant under the trinomial "Elephas maximus borneensis", taking as his type an illustration in "National Geographic", but not a living elephant in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. "E. m. borneensis" lives in northern Borneo and is smaller than all the other subspecies, but with larger ears, a longer tail, and straight tusks. Results of genetic analysis indicate that its ancestors separated from the mainland population about 300,000 years ago. The population in Vietnam and Laos was tested to determine if it is a subspecies as well.


title: "Asian elephant" content: This research is considered vital, as less than 1,300 wild Asian elephants remain in Laos. In addition, two extinct subspecies are considered to have existed: In general, the Asian elephant is smaller than the African bush elephant and has the highest body point on the head. The back is convex or level. The ears are small with dorsal borders folded laterally. It has up to 20 pairs of ribs and 34 caudal vertebrae. The feet have more nail-like structures than those of African elephants—five on each forefoot, and four on each hind foot. On average, males are about tall at


title: "Asian elephant" content: the shoulder and in weight, while females are smaller at about at the shoulder and in weight. Length of body and head including trunk is with the tail being long. The largest bull elephant ever recorded was shot by the Maharajah of Susang in the Garo Hills of Assam, India in 1924, it weighed , stood tall at the shoulder and was long from head to tail. There are reports of larger individuals as tall as . The distinctive trunk is an elongation of the nose and upper lip combined; the nostrils are at its tip, which has a one


title: "Asian elephant" content: finger-like process. The trunk contains as many as 60,000 muscles, which consist of longitudinal and radiating sets. The longitudinals are mostly superficial and subdivided into anterior, lateral, and posterior. The deeper muscles are best seen as numerous distinct fasciculi in a cross-section of the trunk. The trunk is a multipurpose prehensile organ and highly sensitive, innervated by the maxillary division of the trigeminal nerve and by the facial nerve. The acute sense of smell uses both the trunk and Jacobson's organ. Elephants use their trunks for breathing, watering, feeding, touching, dusting, sound production and communication, washing, pinching, grasping, defense and


title: "Asian elephant" content: offense. The "proboscis" or trunk consists wholly of muscular and membranous tissue, and is a tapering muscular structure of nearly circular cross-section extending proximally from attachment at the anterior nasal orifice, and ending distally in a tip or finger. The length may vary from or longer depending on the species and age. Four basic muscle masses—the radial, the longitudinal and two oblique layers—and the size and attachments points of the tendon masses allow the shortening, extension, bending, and twisting movements accounting for the ability to hold, and manipulate loads of up to . Muscular and tendinous ability combined with nervous


title: "Asian elephant" content: control allows extraordinary strength and agility movements of the trunk, such as sucking and spraying of water or dust and directed air flow blowing. The trunk can hold about four litres of water. Elephants will playfully wrestle with each other using their trunks, but generally use their trunks only for gesturing when fighting. Tusks serve to dig for water, salt, and rocks, to debark and uproot trees, as levers for maneuvering fallen trees and branches, for work, for display, for marking trees, as weapon for offense and defense, as trunk-rests, and as protection for the trunk. Elephants are known to


title: "Asian elephant" content: be right or left tusked. Female Asian elephants usually lack tusks; if tusks—in that case called "tushes"—are present, they are barely visible, and only seen when the mouth is open. The enamel plates of the molars are greater in number and closer together in Asian elephants. Some males may also lack tusks; these individuals are called "filsy makhnas", and are especially common among the Sri Lankan elephant population. Furthermore, the forehead has two hemispherical bulges, unlike the flat front of the African elephant. Unlike African elephants which rarely use their forefeet for anything other than digging or scraping soil, Asian


title: "Asian elephant" content: elephants are more agile at using their feet in conjunction with the trunk for manipulating objects. They can sometimes be known for their violent behaviour. A record tusk described by George P. Sanderson measured along the curve, with a girth of at the point of emergence from the jaw, the weight being . This was from an elephant killed by Sir Brooke and measured in length, and nearly in circumference, and weighed . The tusk's weight was, however, exceeded by the weight of a shorter tusk of about in length which weighed . Skin colour is usually grey, and may


title: "Asian elephant" content: be masked by soil because of dusting and wallowing. Their wrinkled skin is movable and contains many nerve centers. It is smoother than that of African elephants, and may be depigmented on the trunk, ears, or neck. The epidermis and dermis of the body average thick; skin on the dorsum is thick providing protection against bites, bumps, and adverse weather. Its folds increase surface area for heat dissipation. They can tolerate cold better than excessive heat. Skin temperature varies from . Body temperature averages . Asian elephants have a very large and highly convoluted neocortex, a trait also shared by


title: "Asian elephant" content: humans, apes and certain dolphin species. They have a greater volume of cerebral cortex available for cognitive processing than all other existing land animals. Results of studies indicate that Asian elephants have cognitive abilities for tool use and tool making similar to great apes. They exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, including those associated with grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, play, altruism, use of tools, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, memory, and language. Elephants are reported to go to safer ground during natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes, although there have been no scientific records of this since it is hard to recreate


title: "Asian elephant" content: or predict natural disasters. Several students of elephant cognition and neuroanatomy are convinced that Asian elephants are highly intelligent and self-aware. Others contest this view. Asian elephants inhabit grasslands, tropical evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, dry deciduous forests and dry thorn forests, in addition to cultivated and secondary forests and scrublands. Over this range of habitat types elephants occur from sea level to over . In the eastern Himalaya in northeast India, they regularly move up above in summer at a few sites. In China, the Asian elephant survives only in the prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Simao, and Lincang


title: "Asian elephant" content: of southern Yunnan. In Bangladesh, some isolated populations survive in the south-east Chittagong Hills. A herd of 20–25 wild elephants was reported as being present in the Garo Hills of Mymensingh in the late-1990s, being detached from a big herd in the Peack hills of India and prevented from returning by fences put up in the meantime by the Indian border security force. The herd was estimated at about 60 individuals in 2014. Three subspecies are recognised: The Borneo elephant occurs in Borneo's northern and northeastern parts. In 2003, mitochondrial DNA analysis and microsatellite data indicated that the Borneo elephant


title: "Asian elephant" content: population is derived from stock that originated in the region of the Sunda Islands. The genetic divergence of Borneo elephants warrants their recognition as a separate Evolutionarily Significant Unit. Elephants are crepuscular. They are classified as megaherbivores and consume up to of plant matter per day. They are generalist feeders, and both grazers and browsers, and were recorded to feed on 112 different plant species, most commonly of the order Malvales, and the legume, palm, sedge and true grass families. They browse more in the dry season with bark constituting a major part of their diet in the cool part


title: "Asian elephant" content: of that season. They drink at least once a day and are never far from a permanent source of fresh water. They need 80–200 litres of water a day and use even more for bathing. At times, they scrape the soil for clay or minerals. Adult females and calves move about together as groups, but adult males disperse from their mothers when reaching adolescence. Bull elephants are solitary or form temporary 'bachelor groups'. Cow-calf units generally tend to be small, typically consisting of three adult most likely related females and their offspring. Larger groups of as many as 15 adult


title: "Asian elephant" content: females have also been recorded. Seasonal aggregations of 17 individuals including calves and subadults have been observed in Sri Lanka's Uda Walawe National Park. Until recently, Asian elephants, like African elephants, were thought to typically follow the leadership of older adult females, or matriarchs. But females form extensive and very fluid social networks, with varying degrees of associations between individuals. Social ties generally tend to be weaker than in African elephants. Elephants are able to distinguish low amplitude sounds. They use infrasound to communicate. Tigers have been recorded rarely attacking and killing calves especially if the calves become separated from


title: "Asian elephant" content: their mothers, are stranded from their herd or are orphaned. Adults are largely invulnerable to natural predation. There is a singular anecdotal case of a mother Asian elephant allegedly being killed alongside her calf, however this may well be dubious. Bulls will fight one another to get access to oestrous females. Strong fights over access to females are extremely rare. Bulls reach sexual maturity around the age of 12–15. Between the age of 10 and 20 years, bulls undergo an annual phenomenon known as "musth". This is a period where the testosterone level is up to 100 times greater than


title: "Asian elephant" content: non-musth periods, and they become aggressive. Secretions containing pheromones occur during this period, from the paired temporal glands located on the head between the lateral edge of the eye and the base of the ear. The gestation period is 18–22 months, and the female gives birth to one calf, only occasionally twins. The calf is fully developed by the 19th month, but stays in the womb to grow so that it can reach its mother to feed. At birth, the calf weighs about , and is suckled for up to three years. Once a female gives birth, she usually does


title: "Asian elephant" content: not breed again until the first calf is weaned, resulting in a four to five year birth interval. Females stay on with the herd, but mature males are chased away. Asiatic elephants reach adulthood at 17 years of age in both sexes. Elephants' life expectancy has been exaggerated in the past. They live on average for 60 years in the wild and 80 in captivity. Generation length of the Asian elephant is 22 years. Females produce sex pheromones. A principal component thereof, (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate, has also been found to be a sex pheromone in numerous species of insects. At most


title: "Asian elephant" content: seasons of the year, Asian elephants are timid and much more ready to flee from a foe than to attack. However, solitary rogues are frequently an exception to this rule, and sometimes make unprovoked attacks on passers-by. Rogue elephants sometimes take up a position near a road, making it impassable to travellers. Females with calves are at all times dangerous to approach. When an Asian elephant makes a charge, it tightly curls up its trunk and attacks by trampling its victim with feet or knees, or, if a male, by pinning it to the ground with its tusks. During musth,


title: "Asian elephant" content: bulls are highly dangerous, not only to human beings, but also to other animals. At the first indications, trained elephants are secured tightly to prevent any mishaps. There is also one case of a rogue elephant having actually consumed a human, an attack merited to be extremely unnatural. The elephant, a rogue female, had previously lost her calf to an accident involving farmers. This grievous loss led the elephant to target humans first as a threat, and then as a food source as her mental state deteriorated until she was finally killed and later dissected, revealing through DNA analysis that


title: "Asian elephant" content: she had indeed consumed human flesh. The incident was revealed to the general public in several articles and in the Animal Planet documentary "World's Deadliest Towns: Man-Eating Elephant". The first historical record of the domestication of Asian elephants was in Harappan times. Ultimately, the elephant went on to become a siege engine, a mount in war, a status symbol, a beast of burden, and an elevated platform for hunting during historical times in South Asia. Elephants have been captured from the wild and tamed for use by humans. Their ability to work under instruction makes them particularly useful for carrying


title: "Asian elephant" content: heavy objects. They have been used particularly for timber-carrying in jungle areas. Other than their work use, they have been used in war, in ceremonies, and for carriage. It is reported that war elephants are still in use by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to take control of Kachin State in northern Myanmar from Myanmar's military. The KIA use about four dozen elephants to carry supplies. They have been used for their ability to travel over difficult terrain by hunters, for whom they served as mobile hunting platforms. The same purpose is met in safaris in modern times. The pre-eminent


title: "Asian elephant" content: threats to Asian elephants today are loss, degradation and fragmentation of habitat, leading in turn to increasing conflicts between humans and elephants. They are poached for ivory and a variety of other products including meat and leather. One of the major instigators of human–wildlife conflict is competition for space. Destruction of forests through logging, encroachment, slash-and-burn, shifting cultivation, and monoculture tree plantations are major threats to the survival of elephants. Human–elephant conflicts occur when elephants raid crops of shifting cultivators in fields, which are scattered over a large area interspersed with forests. Depredation in human settlements is another major area


title: "Asian elephant" content: of human–elephant conflict occurring in small forest pockets, encroachments into elephant habitat, and on elephant migration routes. Studies in Sri Lanka indicate that traditional slash-and-burn agriculture creates optimal habitat for elephants by creating a mosaic of successional-stage vegetation. Populations inhabiting small habitat fragments are much more liable to come into conflict with humans. Human-elephant conflict is categorised into: Development such as border fencing along the India-Bangladesh border has become a major impediment to the free movement of elephants. In Assam, more than 1,150 humans and 370 elephants died as a result of human-elephant conflict between 1980 and 2003. In India


title: "Asian elephant" content: alone, over 400 people are killed by elephants every year, and 0.8 to 1 million hectares are damaged, affecting at least 500,000 families across the country. Moreover, elephants are known to destroy crops worth up to US$2–3 million annually. This has major impacts on the welfare and livelihoods of local communities, as well as the future conservation of this species. In countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Asian elephant is easily one of the most feared wild animals, although they are certainly far less deadly than those such as venomous snakes (which were estimated to claim more than 30


title: "Asian elephant" content: times more lives in Sri Lanka than elephants). As a whole, Asian elephants are considered behaviorally unpredictable, most tend to avoid human activity, but if surprised or scared by human activity or a mother feeling protective of a calf, an elephant may suddenly charge, which is often very dangerous to a person if they are caught out on foot. Gunfire and other forms of hazing, which are known to be effective in other potentially dangerous wild animals in causing them to avoid humans, can have a negative effect in elephants. Elephants known to be abused by humans in the past


title: "Asian elephant" content: are known to occasionally become "rogue elephants", which regularly attack people with no provocation. The demand for ivory as a result of rapid economic development during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in East Asia, led to rampant poaching and the serious decline of elephants in many Asian and African range countries. In Thailand, the illegal trade in live elephants and ivory still flourishes. Although the quantity of worked ivory seen openly for sale has decreased substantially since 2001, Thailand still has one of the largest and most active ivory industries seen anywhere in the world. Tusks from Thai poached elephants


title: "Asian elephant" content: also enter the market; between 1992 and 1997 at least 24 male elephants were killed for their tusks. Up to the early 1990s, Vietnamese ivory craftsmen used exclusively Asian elephant ivory from Vietnam and neighbouring Lao PDR and Cambodia. Before 1990, there were few tourists and the low demand for worked ivory could be supplied by domestic elephants. Economic liberalisation and an increase in tourism raised both local and visitors’ demands for worked ivory, which resulted in heavy poaching. The latest threat to endangered Asia elephants is high and increasing demand for elephant skin. The skin is used as an


title: "Asian elephant" content: ingredient in Chinese medicine as well as in the manufacture of ornamental beads. The practice has been aided by China's State Forestry Administration (SFA), which has issued licences for the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products containing elephant skin, thereby making trading legal. In 2010 four skinned elephants were found in a Myanmar forest. Twenty-six elephants were killed by poachers in 2013. The number jumped to 61 in 2016. According to the NGO, Elephant Family, the main source of elephant skin is, at present, Myanmar, where a poaching crisis has developed rapidly since 2010. Young elephants are captured and illegally


title: "Asian elephant" content: imported to Thailand from Myanmar for use in the tourism industry; calves are used mainly in amusement parks and are trained to perform various stunts for tourists. The calves are often subjected to a 'breaking in' process, which may involve being tied up, confined, starved, beaten and tortured; as a result, two-thirds may perish. Handlers use a technique known as the training crush, in which "handlers use sleep-deprivation, hunger, and thirst to "break" the elephants' spirit and make them submissive to their owners"; moreover, handlers drive nails into the elephants' ears and feet. "Elephas maximus" is listed on CITES Appendix


title: "Asian elephant" content: I. Asian elephants are quintessential flagship species, deployed to catalyze a range of conservation goals, including: About half of the global zoo elephant population is kept in European zoos, where they have about half the median life span of conspecifics in protected populations in range countries. This discrepancy is clearest in Asian elephants: infant mortality is twice that seen in Burmese timber camps, and adult survivorship in zoos has not improved significantly in recent years. One risk factor for Asian zoo elephants is being moved between institutions, with early removal from the mother tending to have additional adverse effects. Another


title: "Asian elephant" content: risk factor is being born into a zoo rather than being imported from the wild, with poor adult survivorship in zoo-born Asians apparently being conferred prenatally or in early infancy. Likely causes for compromised survivorship is stress and/or obesity. Demographic analysis of captive Asian elephants in North America indicates that the population is not self-sustaining. First year mortality is nearly 30 per cent, and fecundity is extremely low throughout the prime reproductive years. Data from North American and European regional studbooks from 1962 to 2006 were analysed for deviation of the birth and juvenile death sex ratio. Of 349 captive


title: "Asian elephant" content: calves born, 142 died prematurely. They died within one month of birth, major causes being stillbirth and infanticide by either the calf's mother or by one of the exhibition mates. The sex ratio of stillbirths in Europe was found to have a tendency for excess of males. The elephant plays an important part in the culture of the subcontinent and beyond, being featured prominently in the "Panchatantra" fables and the Buddhist "Jataka" tales. They play a major role in Hinduism: the god Ganesha's head is that of an elephant, and the "blessings" of a temple elephant are highly valued. Elephants


title: "Asian elephant" content: are frequently used in processions where the animals are adorned with festive outfits. The elephant is depicted in several Indian manuscripts and treatises. Notable amongst these is the Matanga Lila (elephant sport) of Nilakantha. The manuscript Hastividyarnava is from Assam in northeast India. In the Burmese, Thai and Sinhalese animal and planetary zodiac, the elephant, both tusked and tuskless, are the fourth and fifth animal zodiacs of the Burmese, the fourth animal zodiac of the Thai, and the second animal zodiac of the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka. Similarly, the elephant is the twelfth animal zodiac in the Dai animal


title: "Asian elephant" content: zodiac of the Dai people in southern China. Asian elephant The Asian elephant ("Elephas maximus"), also called Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus "Elephas" and is distributed in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India and Nepal in the west to Borneo in the south. Three subspecies are recognised—"E. m. maximus" from Sri Lanka, "E. m. indicus" from mainland Asia and "E. m. sumatranus" from the island of Sumatra. The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List,


title: "Ottery St Mary" content: in Mill Street, Silver Street and Yonder Street. An area known as 'The Square', is the heart of Ottery St Mary. There are pubs, restaurants, coffee and tea rooms. Ottery provides services, employment and a wide range of shopping for local residents as well as visitors from nearby villages, towns and often visitors coming from further afield and abroad. Historical Features are within walking distance from parking areas allowing residents and visitors to enjoy both history and shopping together. The parish church of St Mary's has been referred to as "a miniature Exeter Cathedral". Like the cathedral it is cruciform


title: "American bullfrog" content: American bullfrog The American bullfrog ("Lithobates catesbeianus" or "Rana catesbeiana"), often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an amphibious frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or "true frogs". This frog has an olive green back and sides blotched with brownish markings and a whitish belly spotted with yellow or grey. The upper lip is often bright green and males have yellow throats. It inhabits large, permanent water bodies, such as swamps, ponds, and lakes, where it is usually found along the water's edge. The male bullfrog defends a territory during the breeding season.


title: "American bullfrog" content: His call is reminiscent of the roar of a bull, which gives the frog its common name. This frog is native to southern and eastern parts of the United States and Canada, but has been widely introduced across other parts of North, Central and South America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia, and in some areas is regarded as an invasive species. The bullfrog is harvested for use as food in North America and in several countries into which it has been introduced. It is also cultured in controlled environments, though this is a difficult and not always successful undertaking.


title: "American bullfrog" content: Some international trade in frog legs occurs for human consumption. Bullfrogs are used in biology classes in schools for dissection and are sometimes kept as pets. Some authorities use the scientific name, "Lithobates catesbeiana", although others prefer "Rana catesbeiana". The specific name, "catesbeiana" (feminine) or "catesbeianus" (masculine), is in honor of English naturalist Mark Catesby. The dorsal (upper) surface of the bullfrog has an olive-green basal color, either plain or with a mottling and banding of grayish brown. The ventral (under) surface is off-white blotched with yellow or gray. Often, a marked contrast in color is seen between the green


title: "American bullfrog" content: upper lip and the pale lower lip. The teeth are tiny and are useful only in grasping. The eyes are prominent with brown irises and horizontal, almond-shaped pupils. The tympana (eardrums) are easily seen just behind the eyes and the dorsolateral folds of skin end close to them. The limbs are blotched or banded with gray. The fore legs are short and sturdy and the hind legs long. The front toes are not webbed, but the back toes have webbing between the digits with the exception of the fourth toe, which is unwebbed. Bullfrogs are sexually dimorphic, with males being


title: "American bullfrog" content: smaller than females and having yellow throats. Males have tympana larger than their eyes, whereas the tympana in females are about the same size as the eyes. Bullfrogs measure about from snout to vent. They grow fast in the first eight months of life, typically increasing in weight from , and large, mature individuals can weigh up to . In some cases bullfrogs have been recorded as attaining and measuring up to in length. The bullfrog is native to eastern North America. Its natural range extends from the Atlantic Coast to as far west as Oklahoma and Kansas. It is


title: "American bullfrog" content: not found on offshore islands near Cape Cod and is largely absent from Florida, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota. It has been introduced into Nantucket island, Arizona, Utah, other parts of Colorado and Nebraska, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. In these states, it is considered to be an invasive species and concern exists that it may outcompete native species of amphibians and upset the ecological balance. It is very common in California, where it is believed to pose a threat to the California red-legged frog, and is considered to be a factor in the decline of that vulnerable


title: "American bullfrog" content: species. Other countries into which the bullfrog has been introduced include Mexico, the western half of Canada, Cuba, Jamaica, Italy, the Netherlands, and France. It is also found in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, China, South Korea and Japan. The reasons for introducing the bullfrog to these countries have included their intentional release, either to provide a source of food or as biological control agents, the escape of frogs from breeding establishments, and the escape or release of frogs kept as pets. Conservationists are concerned the bullfrog is relatively immune to the fungal infection chytridiomycosis and as it invades new


title: "American bullfrog" content: territories, it may assist the spread of this lethal disease to more susceptible native species of frog. The bullfrog breeding season typically lasts two to three months. A study of bullfrogs in Michigan showed the males arriving at the breeding site in late May or early June, and remaining in the area into July. The territorial males that occupy sites are usually spaced some apart and call loudly. At least three different types of calls have been noted in male bullfrogs under different circumstances. These distinctive calls include territorial calls made as threats to other males, advertisement calls made to


title: "American bullfrog" content: attract females, and encounter calls which precede combat. The bullfrogs have a prolonged breeding season, with the males continuously engaging in sexual activity throughout. Males are present at the breeding pond for longer periods than females during the entire season, increasing their chances of multiple matings. The sex ratio is typically skewed toward males. Conversely, females have brief periods of sexual receptivity during the season. In one study, female sexual activity typically lasted for a single night and mating did not occur unless the females initiated the physical contact. Males only clasp females after they have indicated their willingness to


title: "American bullfrog" content: mate. This finding refutes previous claims that a male frog will clasp any proximate female with no regard to whether the female has consented. These male and female behaviors cause male-to-male competition to be high within the bullfrog population and sexual selection for the females to be an intense process. Kentwood Wells postulated leks, territorial polygyny, and harems are the most likely classifications for the bullfrog mating system. Leks would be a valid description because males congregate to attract females, and the females arrive to the site for the purpose of copulation. In a 1980 study on bullfrogs in New


title: "American bullfrog" content: Jersey, the mating system was classified as resource-defense polygyny. The males defended territories within the group and demonstrated typical physical forms of defense. Male bullfrogs aggregate into groups called choruses. The male chorus behavior is analogous to the lek formation of birds, mammals, and other vertebrates. Choruses are dynamic, forming and remaining associated for a few days, breaking down temporarily, and then forming again in a new area with a different group of males. Male movement has experimentally been noted to be dynamic. In the Michigan study, the choruses were described as "centers of attraction" in which their larger numbers


title: "American bullfrog" content: enhanced the males' overall acoustical displays. This is more attractive to females and also attractive to other sexually active males. Choruses in this study were dynamic, constantly forming and breaking up. New choruses were formed in other areas of the site. Males moved around and were highly mobile within the choruses. A review of multiple studies on bullfrogs and other anurans noted male behavior within the groups changes according to the population density of the leks. At higher population densities, leks are favored due to the difficulty in defending individual territories among a large population of males. This variance causes


title: "American bullfrog" content: differences in how females choose their mates. When the male population density is low and males maintain clearer, more distinct territories, female choice is mostly determined by territory quality. When male population density is higher, females depend on other cues to select their mates. These cues include the males' positions within the chorus and differences in male display behaviors among other determinants. Social dominance within the choruses is established through challenges, threats, and other physical displays. Older males tend to acquire more central locations while younger males were restricted to the periphery. Chorus tenure is the number of nights that


title: "American bullfrog" content: a male participates in the breeding chorus. One study distinguishes between chorus tenure and dominant tenure. Dominant tenure is more strictly defined as the amount of time a male maintains a dominant status. Chorus tenure is restricted due to increased risk of predation, lost foraging opportunities, and higher energy consumption. Calling is postulated to be energetically costly to anurans in general. Energy is also expended through locomotion and aggressive interactions of male bullfrogs within the chorus. To establish social dominance within choruses, bullfrogs demonstrate various forms of aggression, especially through visual displays. Posture is a key factor in establishing social


title: "American bullfrog" content: position and threatening challengers. Territorial males have inflated postures while nonterritorial males remain in the water with only their heads showing. For dominant (territorial) males, their elevated posture reveals their yellow-colored throats. When two dominant males encounter each other, they engage in a wrestling bout. The males have their venters clasped, each individual in an erect position rising to well above water level. The New Jersey study noted the males would approach each other to within a few centimeters and then tilt back their heads, displaying their brilliantly colored gular sacs. The gular is dichromatic in bullfrogs, with dominant and


title: "American bullfrog" content: fitter males displaying yellow gulars. The New Jersey study also reported low posture with only the head exposed above the water surface was typical of subordinate, or nonterritorial males, and females. High posture was demonstrated by territorial males, which floated on the surface of the water with their lungs inflated, displaying their yellow gulars. Males optimize their reproductive fitness in a number of ways. Early arrival at the breeding site, prolonged breeding with continuous sexual activity throughout the season, ownership of a centrally located territory within the chorus, and successful movement between the dynamically changing choruses are all common ways


title: "American bullfrog" content: for males to maintain dominant, or territorial, status within the chorus. Older males have greater success in all of these areas than younger males. Some of the males display a more inferior role, termed by many researchers as the silent male status. These silent males adopt a submissive posture, sit near resident males and make no attempt to displace them. The silent males do not attempt to intercept females but are waiting for the territories to become vacant. This has also been called the alternate or satellite male strategy. After selecting a male, the female deposits eggs in his territory.


title: "American bullfrog" content: During the mating grasp, or amplexus, the male rides on top of the female, grasping her just behind her fore limbs. The female chooses a site in shallow water among vegetation, and lays a batch of up to 20,000 eggs, and the male simultaneously releases sperm, resulting in external fertilization. The eggs form a thin, floating sheet which may cover an area of . The embryos develop best at water temperatures between and hatch in three to five days. If the water temperature rises above , developmental abnormalities occur, and if it falls below , normal development ceases. Newly hatched


title: "American bullfrog" content: tadpoles show a preference for living in shallow water on fine gravel bottoms. This may reflect a lesser number of predators in these locations. As they grow, they tend to move into deeper water. The tadpoles initially have three pairs of external gills and several rows of labial teeth. They pump water through their gills by movements of the floor of their mouths, trapping bacteria, single-celled algae, protozoans, pollen grains, and other small particles on mucus in a filtration organ in their pharynges. As they grow, they begin to ingest larger particles and use their teeth for rasping. They have


title: "American bullfrog" content: downward-facing mouths, deep bodies, and tails with broad dorsal and ventral fins. Time to metamorphosis ranges from a few months in the southern part of the range to 3 years in the north, where the colder water slows development. Maximum lifespan in the wild is estimated to be 8 to 10 years, but one frog lived for almost 16 years in captivity. Bullfrogs are voracious, opportunistic, ambush predators that prey on any small animal they can overpower and stuff down their throats. Bullfrog stomachs have been found to contain rodents, small reptiles, amphibians, crayfish, birds, and bats, as well as


title: "American bullfrog" content: the many invertebrates, such as insects, which are the usual food of ranid frogs. These studies revealed the bullfrog's diet to be unique among North American ranids in the inclusion of a large percentage of aquatic animals, such as fish, tadpoles, ram's horn snails, and dytiscid beetles. Bullfrogs can capture large, strong prey because of the powerful grip of their jaws after the initial ranid tongue strike. The bullfrog is able to make allowance for light refraction at the water-air interface by striking at a position posterior to the target's perceived location. The comparative ability of bullfrogs to capture submerged


title: "American bullfrog" content: prey, compared to that of the green frog, leopard frog, and wood frog ("L. clamitans, L. pipiens", and "L. sylvaticus", respectively) was also demonstrated in laboratory experiments. Prey motion elicits feeding behavior. First, if necessary, the frog performs a single, orienting bodily rotation ending with the frog aimed towards the prey, followed by approaching leaps, if necessary. Once within striking distance, the bullfrog begins its feeding strike, which consists of a ballistic lunge (eyes closed as during all leaps) that ends with the mouth opening. At this stage, the fleshy, mucous-coated tongue is extended towards the prey, often engulfing it,


title: "American bullfrog" content: while the jaws continue their forward travel to close (bite) just as the tongue is retracted. Large prey that do not fit entirely into the mouth are stuffed in with the hands. In laboratory observations, bullfrogs taking mice usually swam underwater with prey in mouth, apparently with the advantageous result of altering the mouse's defense from counter-attack to struggling for air. Asphyxiation is the most likely cause of death of warm-blooded prey. Ballistic tongue projection of the related leopard frog is possible due to the presence of elastic structures that allow storage and subsequent release of elastic recoil energy. This


title: "American bullfrog" content: accounts for the tongue projecting with higher power output than would develop by muscular action alone. Also, such mechanism relieves the tongue's musculature from physiological constraints such as limited peak power output - mechanical efficiency and thermal dependence by uncoupling the activation of the depressor mandibulae's contractile units from actual muscular movement. In other words, the kinematic parameters developed by contribution of the elastic structures differ from those developed by muscular projection, accounting for the difference in velocity, power output, and thermal dependence. Bullfrogs are able to jump distances 10 times their body length due to the ability of activating


title: "American bullfrog" content: muscular contractile units prior to extension of the plantaris muscle. In this process, sarcomeric contraction generates strain in elastic structures such as tendons, which in turn "catch" the energy generated by the strain. Such is subsequently released as the plantaris actively stretched during jumping, adding to the energy generated by muscular action alone, thus generating supramaximal powers that allow the bullfrog to jump great distances. Thus, the catch mechanism relies on elastic structures acting as muscle power amplifiers and their ability to absorb elastic strain energy and retain it for later explosive release during jumping. The fact that the catch


title: "American bullfrog" content: mechanism relies on elastic structures used as power amplifiers implies a series of conditions much convenient for the bullfrog. Sonomicrometry and electromyographic recordings of the plantaris muscle corroborate a relationship between presence of muscle-tendon units and decreasing, variable gearing. By supplying additional work output through the coupling of elastic strain energy, elastic structures relieve the musculature from the need of shortening at velocities that would otherwise hinder the amount of force generated, thus the magnitude of power output. This is also aided by a decreasing gearing, which makes it possible for the bullfrog to generate the desired velocity of movement


title: "American bullfrog" content: by relieving the plantaris from strenuous shortening velocities, achieving the velocity desired by slower, forceful contractions. As in the case of its ballistic tongue projection, elastic structures in the plantaris muscle also confer it thermal independence. Jumping peak power output and mechanical efficiency of high-elevation frogs of the genera "Hyla", "Eleutherodactylus","Colostethus", and "Atelopus," which achieve these at temperatures as low as 5 °C, are not statistically different from those achieved by tropical "Bufo" frogs at 35 °C. Bullfrogs are an important item of prey to many birds (especially large herons), North American river otters ("Lontra canadensis"), predatory fish, and occasionally


title: "American bullfrog" content: other amphibians. Predators of American bullfrogs once in their adult stages can range from belted kingfishers ("Megaceryle alcyon") to 1,100 pound American alligators ("Alligator mississippiensis"). The eggs and larvae are unpalatable to many salamanders and fish, but the high levels of activity of the tadpoles may make them more noticeable to a predator not deterred by their unpleasant taste. Humans hunt bullfrogs as game and consume their legs. Adult frogs try to escape by splashing and leaping into deep water. A trapped individual may squawk or emit a piercing scream, which may surprise the attacker sufficiently for the frog to


title: "American bullfrog" content: escape. An attack on one bullfrog is likely to alert others in the vicinity to danger and they will all retreat into the safety of deeper water. Bullfrogs may be at least partially resistant to the venom of copperhead ("Agkistrodon contortrix") and cottonmouth ("Agkistrodon piscivorus") snakes, though these species are known natural predators of bullfrogs as are northern water snakes ("Nerodia sipedon"). The American bullfrog provides a food source, especially in the Southern and some areas of the Midwestern United States. The traditional way of hunting them is to paddle or pole silently by canoe or flatboat in ponds or


title: "American bullfrog" content: swamps at night; when the frog's call is heard, a light is shone at the frog which temporarily inhibits its movement. The frog will not jump into deeper water as long as it is approached slowly and steadily. When close enough, the frog is gigged with a multiple-tined spear and brought into the boat. Bullfrogs can also be stalked on land, by again taking great care not to startle them. In some states, breaking the skin while catching them is illegal, and either grasping gigs or hand captures are used. The only parts normally eaten are the rear legs, which


title: "American bullfrog" content: resemble small chicken drumsticks and can be cooked in similar ways. Commercial bullfrog culture in near-natural enclosed ponds has been attempted, but is fraught with difficulties. Although pelleted feed is available, the frogs will not willingly consume artificial diets, and providing sufficient live prey is challenging. Disease also tends to be a problem even when great care is taken to provide sanitary conditions. Other challenges to be overcome may be predation, cannibalism, and low water quality. The frogs are large, have powerful leaps, and inevitably escape after which they may wreak havoc among the native frog population. Countries that export


title: "American bullfrog" content: bullfrog legs include the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, Bangladesh, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Most of these frogs are caught from the wild, but some are captive-reared. The United States is a net importer of frog legs. The American bullfrog is used as a specimen for dissection in many schools across the world. It is the state amphibian of Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma. American bullfrog The American bullfrog ("Lithobates catesbeianus" or "Rana catesbeiana"), often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an amphibious frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or "true frogs". This frog has


title: "Shell Centre" content: Shell Centre The Shell Centre, in London, is one of the two central offices of oil major Shell (the other is in The Hague). It is located on Belvedere Road in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a prominent feature on the South Bank of the River Thames near County Hall, and now forms the backdrop to the London Eye. The original Shell Centre comprised the tower building and three now demolished adjoining nine storey wings (collectively formerly known as the "Upstream Building"). The original development also included a separate building known as the "Downstream Building", which was separated


title: "Shell Centre" content: from the Upstream Building by the railway viaduct between Charing Cross and Waterloo East. The Downstream Building was disposed of by Shell in the 1990s and is now a block of residential apartments known as the White House, and has been heightened by a storey. The Shell Centre occupies part of the site cleared for the 1951 Festival of Britain. The areas closer to the River Thames now include Jubilee Gardens and the South Bank Centre. Jubilee Gardens remained undeveloped prior to its laying out as an open space, largely because of a restrictive covenant in favour of Shell that


title: "Shell Centre" content: restricts any building on the part of the site directly between the Shell Tower and the River Thames. The naming of the Shell Centre buildings perpetuated the split of the Festival site into distinct Upstream and Downstream areas – separated by the railway viaduct approach to Hungerford Bridge. During construction, parts of abandoned works for the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway were discovered. This was a prototype for a proposed pneumatic railway that would have run under the River Thames linking Waterloo and Charing Cross. Digging was started in 1865 but was stopped in 1868 due to financial problems. Visible in


title: "Shell Centre" content: the Thames at low tide just in line with the tower as water turbulence at one point a few feet into the river bed is the outflow point of the Shell Centre's air-conditioning system, which sucks in river water from just outside County Hall and sends it via a pipe within a bolt iron tunnel (built exactly like a tube railway tunnel), to a point convergent with the outfall, beyond which both the intake pipe and the outflow pipes continue under the embankment and Jubilee Gardens to the basement of the tower. From here the water is sent through filters


title: "Shell Centre" content: and heat exchangers to provide cooled air in the building. The pipes had to be specially supported on adjustable jacks during excavation work for the extension of the Jubilee line in 1995 because of settlement during the driving of an access tunnel out from Jubilee Gardens to the main running lines in York Road via Chicheley Street. The choice of Portland Stone cladding, and bronze framed individual upright windows were denounced by Modern Movement critics, and the Centre's buildings have generally been regarded as dull. However, the extremely traditional cladding has meant that the buildings have weathered better than most


title: "Shell Centre" content: of their contemporaries with concrete or aggregate faced façades or curtain wall glazing. The original interiors were luxuriously appointed, and as well as contributions from a British design team (many of whom had worked on the Festival of Britain), they included work by Ernesto Nathan Rogers who had worked on the Torre Velasca in Milan. Facilities for staff were lavish by the standards of the time, and the basement of the building was designed with a full size swimming pool and a spacious gymnasium. The basement also originally housed a rifle range, snooker room, a small supermarket for staff and


title: "Shell Centre" content: a host of other facilities. Until 1998, there was also a fully equipped theatre (designed by Cecil Beaton) which – unusually for a space dedicated to amateur productions – had full fly tower facilities. The courtyard of the Upstream Building included two notable sculptures: "Torsion Fountain" (also known as The Shell Fountain) by Franta Belsky is a tall bronze column of shell like forms, which once poured water into one another; and "Motorcyclist" by Siegfried Charoux – a larger than life figure of a rider astride his machine. The public realm of the Upstream Building has been steadily degraded over


title: "Shell Centre" content: the years, with the generous space between the columns of the entrance from York Road enclosed to enlarge the foyers. Textured paving in contrasting colours was installed to assist partially sighted pedestrians navigate the complex steps and ramps of the site, but also served to deter rough sleepers and skateboarders. The Shell Centre was constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine between 1957 and 1962, to a design by Sir Howard Robertson, and the tower stands at with 27 storeys (26 numbered and a mezzanine level) and extends three storeys below ground. The tower was the first London office tower to exceed


title: "Shell Centre" content: the height of the Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster. It replaced the Midland Grand Hotel as the tallest storied building in London, and the Royal Liver Building as the tallest in the United Kingdom. On completion the building also held the record for the largest office building, by floor space, in Europe. Parts of Shell's business which are run from the Shell Centre include refining and marketing along with a number of functional support activities such as finance and human resources. The Shell Centre is also the head office of Shell’s United Kingdom business (Shell UK Ltd.), which