Fuddland

In the mountains of northern Sichuan is the 720 square kilometre reserve of Jiuzhaigou. The name means “Valley of the Nine Villages”, after the nine high-fenced Tibetan settlements that originally populated the area. The 1000-or-so permanent residents of the villages within the park’s perimeter are forbidden from agricultural activities, and must rely on subsidies and tourism to survive.

Designated a national park in 1982—after ten years of heavy logging the government realised the value of the area’s natural beauty and banned further destruction of the environment—several of the villages are maintained to “tourist-friendly” levels of attractiveness and traditionally-dressed employees [not all of Tibetan nationality] occupy them during the park’s opening hours, showing people around the various rooms, all of which seem to magically lead to the gift shop.

Political and sociological ramifications of the region’s government-controlled status notwithstanding, the park houses some undeniably beautiful natural sights—even in the sub-freezing temperatures and baren foliage of mid-January, the landscape was impressive, and I was treated to frozen waterfalls and crystal-clear lakes of stunning cyan colours, refusing to freeze due to their mineral content.

A collection of my photos can be viewed via those of my Flickr images tagged with Jiuzhaigou [the slideshow option displays them at their best, against a black background], or alternatively as part of the still-growing Chengdu and Sichuan photoset.

[Before anyone asks: yes, there’s been a certain—small—degree of photo-editing, but I promise that the water really was that colour. Anyone who doubts me can ask to see the originals!]

I made a few videos at the Panda Breeding Research Centre in Chengdu, the first of which shows two three-year-old giant pandas play-fighting in the cold morning air.

Read the rest of “Panda-ing”…

A friend has taught her cat to fetch. She throws a ball of scrunched up paper and the cat—as you’d expect—chases and pounces after it, knocking it about a bit for some bonus excitement. But then, after he’s reassured us through his behaviour that he is sufficiently catlike for us not to think he’s a particularly svelte and vain dog, he picks it up in his mouth and brings it back to his owner, dropping it neatly in front of her for another round.

I have never seen a cat do this before; quite frankly, I’m so amazed that I’ve got nothing more to say about it. But I am pleased that it’s lead me to discover the nicely-written h2g2 entry on teaching cats to fetch:

Let the cat have its way with the ball for a while, then retrieve it and encourage the cat to follow you back to your original position by rustling the paper, making squeaky noises and saying “C’mere pudpudpudpudpud!”

Close all your windows—it’s Flying Ant Day!

Not quite as bad as Scotland last year, but still slightly creepy to see hundreds of them rising from between the cracks in the patio. And here, for your viewing pleasure and my own embarrassment, is the most pathetic nature documentary you’re ever likely to see.

[6.52Mb Quicktime movie]

I can still feel them crawling on me…

following an article on the bbc website, drawn to my attention by lisa, there’s probably been a bit of attention on sarah brosnan’s study on capuchin monkeys which suggests that a sense of justice may be inherited and not a human social construct. her conclusions came from observing how the monkeys reacted to being given unequal rewards [bland cucumber instead of yummy grapes] for performing the same tasks.

‘some refused to work, others took the food and refused to eat it.’

no comment seems to have been made about the fact that all the monkeys that took place in this experiment were female; in the published paper brosnan merely notes that,

‘…independent evidence indicates that capuchin females pay closer attention than males to the value of exchanged goods and services.’

which i think explains why females were used, but not why this is. it goes against what i would have thought, that the males would be more jealous of the others who get the nicer treat — but this probably says more about me than capuchin monkeys so perhaps i won’t explore that one any further.

Read the rest of “smarter than we think”…