General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Feb 18, 2021

World's Largest Iceberg Disintegrates Into Alphabet Soup

The ocean north of Antarctica has turned into an alphabet soup of broken icebergs.
In a satellite photo, the jagged outlines of 11 fractured icebergs swirl around a remote, penguin-filled island called South Georgia, located about 940 miles (1,500 kilometers) northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Each frozen chunk is a piece of the once-mighty iceberg A-68a, which held the title of the world's largest iceberg for more than three years before shattering into a dozen pieces a few weeks ago.
Now, each broken bit of the puzzle has its own name, beginning with A-68b, and ending with A-68M.

Feb 15, 2021

Edinburgh Aims to Become Sanctuary for Swifts as Numbers Decline

Conservationists are hoping to turn Edinburgh into a sanctuary for swifts after a drastic decline in the bird's population.
Numbers fell by more than 50% in the UK between 1995 and 2016, when the estimated average population dropped from 125,500 to 59,000.
One of the biggest challenges that the species faces is the loss of nesting sites in older buildings, which are often blocked off during renovation work or lost when buildings are demolished.
The Edinburgh Swift City Project is asking people to make boxes in a bid to encourage pairs to nest and breed.
Residents are also being urged to report any sightings of swift screaming parties - groups of two or more swifts flying at low level while calling loudly, which means they are breeding nearby.
Hubs are being created along a cycle route through the city to raise awareness, and a huge mural depicting the bird's long migration path between Africa and Europe is also being planned.
The bird conservation charity RSPB Scotland is currently searching for a building in the city and an artist to create the mural.

Feb 09, 2021

Peninsular India Recorded Warmest January in over 100 Years

Peninsular India recorded the warmest January in 121 years with a mean temperature of 22.33 degrees Celsius followed by 22.14 degrees Celsius recorded in January 1919 and 21.93 in January 2020.
Peninsular India also recorded unusually high rainfall in January - 45.9 mm against normal of 8.9 mm (+433 per cent above normal), the highest since 1951 according to a report released by India Meteorological Department on weather patterns in January.
There was a prolonged wet spell of around 17 days over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal from January 1 to 17 when there was widespread rain. For weeks, between December 31-January 6, January 7 to 13 and January 14 to 20, rainfall departure over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal was +807 per cent, +1036 per cent and +727 per cent respectively.

Feb 08, 2021

TN to Get its Fifth Tiger Reserve

In what comes as a major boost for wildlife and nature conservation, Tamil Nadu will now have a new tiger reserve, encompassing over one lakh hectares of land that falls under the Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary and Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Union government granted approval for the state's fifth tiger reserve following a letter from the Tamil Nadu government on January 7. This was based on the technical committee meeting that was held on January 22. The state government will notify the reserve as soon as the Union government does.
The Forest Department's proposal was to declare 1.48 lakh hectares of land encompassing Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary and Tirunelveli Wildlife Sanctuary as Tamil Nadu's fifth tiger reserve.
With the creation of Periyar and Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserves, the water needs of several southern districts have mostly been taken care of. With the new Srivilliputhur – Megamalai Tiger Reserve, the forests will be better protected and the rivers and streams will start flowing again.

Feb 07, 2021

Smallest Reptile on Earth Discovered in Madagascar

Scientists believe they may have discovered the smallest reptile on earth - a chameleon subspecies that is the size of a seed.
Two of the tiny lizards were discovered by a German-Madagascan expedition team in Madagascar.
The male Brookesia nana, or nano-chameleon, has a body of just 13.5 mm.
This makes it the smallest of about 11,500 known species of reptiles, according to the Bavarian State collection of Zoology in Munich.
Its length from top to tail is 22 mm (0.86 in).
The female is far bigger at around 29 mm, the institute said, adding that other specimens were yet to be located, despite "great effort".
The new chameleon is only known from a degraded montane rainforest in northern Madagascar and might be threatened by extinction.
Oliver Hawlitschek, a scientist at the Center of Natural History in Hamburg, said that the nano-chameleon's habitat has unfortunately been subject to deforestation, but the area was placed under protection recently, so the species will survive.

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