By Chris Ingham Brooke, Chief Graffiti Artist

Over the last two years, we have built one of the most successful environmental blogs on the internet, based on the premise that we could give you the most interesting stories that weren’t preachy and were fun to read. However, what you may not know is that the vision behind Environmental Graffiti was always to give you a platform; a voice to share the most fascinating experiences from all over the globe. If you haven’t already signed up for the Beta, make sure you do because I have some exciting news for you…

Next week we’re completely re-launching. Our new platform will not just be a blog, but a magazine created by you. You’ll be able to write on the site, share experience and earn revenue from your articles.

What do you think? Here are some of the features and a few screenshots…

The new front page is where all the best articles get voted up. You’ll become the site’s editors.

My Graffiti is your personal dashboard. Here you can quickly reach your profile, articles you’ve written, feedback from editors, and check how much revenue you’ve made – as well as follow articles and comments from other writers you enjoy.

Your profile is where people can find out more about you, as well as Graffiti your wall and view your recent activity.

Write is where your articles are born. You can create content here, and it is then edited and published on the site.

So, what do you guys think?

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Massive shelf cloud over Saskatchewan, tinged orange by the rising sun
Image: Jeff Kerr

Seeing a shelf cloud, as impressive as it might be, usually means one thing – run for cover! Like most forbearers of bad weather, what we see from below is just the tip of the iceberg as shelf clouds are attached to a much larger cloud system, usually bringing thunderstorms or cold fronts. Roll clouds, on the other hand, are the gentle giants of the cloud world.

Like an eyelid gently closing over the landscape – a weak shelf cloud in Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia:

Image: Fir0002

Nothing gentle here – a shelf cloud enveloping the Australian town of Wagga Wagga before bringing a thunderstorm:

Image: Bidgee

Arcus cloud is the term used for a low, horizontal cloud formation associated with thunderstorm or cold front outflows. The two types of arcus clouds are shelf clouds and roll clouds; as their names suggest they are vastly different in appearance and generation.

Composition in pink and blue – a shelf cloud bringing Moscow turbulent weather:

Image: Chesnok

Shelf clouds are attached to their parent cloud, usually a thunderstorm-bringing cumulonimbus cloud. Unlike wall clouds, the cloud phenomenon they are often confused with, shelf clouds bring the storm along while wall clouds appear at the end of it.

Parting the skies – shelf cloud over Enschede, Netherlands:

Image: John Kerstholt

Here, a quite similar divide into good/bad weather zone:

Image: Longyester

The shelf cloud diagram below shows with blue arrows how the cold air descending from a cumulonimbus meets the warm and moist air in the environment (red arrows). Because the cold pool is denser, the warmer, moist air is forced upward and its humidity condenses into a shelf cloud.

Image: Pierre cb

Shelf cloud over the Baltic Sea close to Øland, Sweden:

Image: Arnold Paul

Is that an eagle’s face? Shelf cloud over Warsaw:

Image: Dariusz Wierzbicki

Roll clouds are just as amazing cloud phenomena. Unlike shelf clouds, they are completely detached from their parent cumulonimbus cloud. And unlike wall clouds, they are not likely to morph into tornadoes. Phew!

Textbook roll cloud over Las Olas Beach in Maldonado, Uruguay:

Image: Daniela Mirner Eberl

Impressive roll cloud stretching over the fields of Albany, MO and into the horizon:

Image: Dan Bush

Long cloud formations like roll clouds are rare as they require uniform cloud formation along an extended front. Roll clouds usually form near advancing cold fronts whose downdraft causes moist warm air to rise, then cool below its dew point and thus form a cloud.

Like a giant plantain? Roll cloud over a beach in Yucatan, Mexico:

Image: Sensenmann

Even cars speeding on Germany’s autobahn can’t escape this roll cloud:

Image: Daniel Schwen

A bit of a cloud aberration is the Morning Glory cloud, an extremely long and rare roll cloud that has so far only been observed over Northern Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria, the Mexican Sea of Cortez and Nova Scotia. It can reach a length of up to 1000 km and a height of 1 to 2 km. Often accompanied by sudden gusts of wind, the Morning Glory cloud can move at speeds of up to 60 km/h. Strong sea breezes and high humidity seem to further the formation of a Morning Glory cloud but despite being extensively studied, this meteorological phenomenon is not yet clearly understood.

Triple roll cloud or morning glory cloud over Queensland, Australia:

Image: Mick Petroff

We could be staring at clouds all day but, well, enough of cloud gazing and back to work.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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Image: Photographer unknown

Ensconced in the snow, his white camouflage suit rendering him invisible to the invading Soviet soldiers he stalked, Simo Häyhä steadied himself to fire. During the 1939–1940 Winter War, in temperatures as low as –40 °C, the Finnish sniper undertook a killing spree that saw him single-handedly take the lives of at least 700 men in less than 100 days. Over 500 of these he shot using a standard, bolt-action rifle with non-telescopic sights. Is it any wonder he earned the nickname The White Death among his enemies? Meet the man who would take Rambo to the cleaners.

Image: Photographer unknown

The sharpshooter who would later be credited with the highest number of confirmed kills in any war in history came from humble rural beginnings. Born near the present day Finnish-Russian border, Häyhä was a farmer and hunter before entering combat, though it’s no shock to learn he already had his share of marksman’s trophies. His skills sharpened by the sort of training only life can offer, this tough little outdoorsman was always going to be a handful, and when the Red Army invaded Finland three months after the outbreak of WWII, Häyhä heard the call of duty.

Image: Finnish Military Archives

Little was the operative word. Häyhä stood just 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) tall, which was one basis for his choice of weapon, an M/28 or M28/30 Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle that suited his small frame. He also rejected a scoped rifle in favour of basic iron sights for other reasons: it meant he presented less of target as he could keep his head lower; it negated the risk of his position being exposed by sun glare in a telescopic lens; and lastly open sights were not prone to fogging up or breaking which was a concern in the snow and ice of the Winter War. Häyhä was a professional.

Image: Photographer unknown

Of course an iron-sighted rifle also made aiming more difficult, but with 505 confirmed kills as a sniper – the other 200 he shot using a sub-machine gun – Häyhä clearly had a keen eye. Another tactic this greatest of gunmen used to conceal his own position from the enemy was to compact the snow before him so that his shot would not disturb the snow, and in true commando fashion he also kept his mouth was full of snow so that his breath did not give him away.

Image: Photographer unknown

Despite such measures, Häyhä’s fearful reputation preceded him, and the advancing Soviets tried several strategies specifically designed to dispose of this deadly lone menace. Teams of counter-snipers and artillery units were deployed with the sole purpose of eliminating The White Death, but the snow-covered forests of Finland were his hunting grounds, not theirs.

Image: Finnish Military Archives

Eventually, however, the Finnish sharpshooter’s exploits caught up with him. On March 6 1940, he was shot in the face while on the frontline by a Russian soldier. The exploding bullet went through his jaw and blew off his left cheek, with the soldiers who picked him up and brought him back to base reporting that “half his head was missing”. Yet Häyhä – said to be a quiet, affable man – was still able to survive, awakening from his coma on March 13, the day peace was declared.

Image: Photographer unknown

The heroic stand taken by Simo Häyhä and his fellow Fins against Soviet forces that outnumbered them by as much as 100:1 is often referred to as The Miracle of Kollaa. When the war had ended, Häyhä was promoted straight from corporal to second lieutenant. He went on to become a successful moose hunter and lived to the age of 96. When he was asked about his service, he stated, “I only did what was ordered, and did it as well as I could.” Asked what the key to his success was, his short answer was, “Practice… and clear days.”

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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Photo: Steve Winter and National Geographic

As the blue light of evening falls, the cat comes almost imperceptibly into view. Silently, the majestic predator pads along in search of food, its long, thick, silvery grey fur and black markings well camouflaged against the surrounding terrain. Native to the rugged mountainous regions of Central Asia, this solitary and crepuscular creature is among the most secretive of big cats. It is also one of the most threatened. As few as 3,500 snow leopards remain in the wild, ranging across twelve Asian countries – among them Afghanistan and Mongolia – and numbers continue to decline.

Snow leopard on the prowl

Photo: Steve Winter and National Geographic

In Afghanistan, where the population of snow leopards barely reaches into the hundreds, the capture and death of one of these rare creatures was the recent focus of a USA Today article. When the Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency received word of the sale of a snow leopard by Afghan villagers who had trapped it, they notified the authorities, who swooped to seize the animal.

Snow leopard snared

Photo: Panthera Snow Leopard Trust

Representatives of the US presence in Afghanistan promptly heard the news. Richard Fite, a senior advisor with the US Deptartment of Agriculture stationed in Mazar e Sharif reported that the snow leopard “had been snared, had all four legs bound together, and was transported by truck for at least 2-3 days over a terrible road in cold damp weather, poked and prodded by many, held in captivity for a week.”

Camouflaged cat

Photo: Geir Rune Rauset

Local and international officials joined forces to provide aid for the stricken animal, but despite their efforts, it was not saved. Still, even with the sadness surrounding the death, the story being spun is one of optimism. The interest and support local Afghanis showed the leopard – in a country where environmental protection is hardly a priority – gives conservationists working to protect the species hope.

Tsagaan

Photo: Orjan Johannson

Yet it appears human attitudes to the snow leopard are shifting across its range. Tom McCarthy, director of the non-profit conservation group Panthera’s Snow Leopard Program highlighted the fact that one of the threats facing this endangered cat is that it generally inhabits areas where humans make their living from herding. Thus, when livestock is lost, catching the animal is the people’s only recourse.

Aztai up

Photo: Panthera Snow Leopard Trust

Panthera creates programmes that allow snow leopards and humans to co-exist. They work with local herders, for instance, to reduce threats to livestock through improved livestock husbandry practices. In Pakistan, livestock vaccination is offered to villagers. “The loss to disease goes down so much that the community can afford to lose a few animals to the snow leopards,” McCarthy told USA Today.

Tom and Aztai

Photo: Panthera Snow Leopard Trust

Elsewhere, conservation efforts are less hampered by the effects of human conflict and political interests. “In Mongolia herders make handicrafts that are sold in zoos in Europe and the United States. If at the end of the year the community hasn’t killed any snow leopards, then the whole community gets a bonus,” said McCarthy. And the Snow Leopard Trust’s projects in Mongolia don’t end there.

Shonkor

Photo: Panthera Snow Leopard Trust

Panthera’s Snow Leopard Trust is working to track the elusive snow leopard from its research base in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. Among the means recently employed were over 40 cameras fitted over a 500-square-mile area – the most ambitious camera trapping study ever undertaken for snow leopards – and GPS satellite collars used to monitor the survival and movements of individual snow leopards.

Aztai

Photo: Panthera Snow Leopard Trust

Aztai was the first snow leopard to be outfitted with a collar when the Snow Leopard Trust began its study in August 2008. The team managed to collar Aztai again the following summer before the battery on his existing collar ran out, which was gratifying in the sense that they could follow him for another year, gathering information that would help to develop better strategies to conserve snow leopards.

Aztai leaving sleeping bag

Photo: Panthera Snow Leopard Trust

In 2009 the team also saw that Aztai had lost a toe on one paw, perhaps to a trap set for wolves. “Even though snow leopards are protected and killing them is punishable by stiff fines, it’s difficult to enforce the laws in a country as large and with so little infrastructure,” wrote Kim Murray, the trust’s Assistant Director of Science. “A stark reminder of the challenges we face in protecting this magnificent species.”

Cat lying down

Photo: Geir Rune Rauset

Yet the effort to learn more about these ‘ghosts of the mountains’ (known as irbis in Mongolian) continues, and with some hope for their survival. In spite of the various threats to the species – including the illegal trade snow leopard parts, decrease in natural prey, and habitat degradation – the fact that they live in some of the harshest and hardest to reach places on Earth may just be the key to their survival.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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Shrunken smoked heads of slain enemies
Photo circa 1912: Charles Hose

Deep in the steamy jungle of Borneo, the bold English ethnologist hacked away with his machete to make headway through the dense vegetation. The short, sharp parang was designed to be drawn quickly, the better to strike for the neck. Yet while Charles Hose no doubt carried a blade during the many days and nights he spent living among the peoples of Borneo, this fanatical observer of the cultures of the huge Southeast Asian island was also armed with a subtler colonial weapon: the camera. Hose took many a well-aimed shot, and among his focus were Borneo’s headhunters. Still, he wasn’t the only snap-happy white chappie sporting britches and taking pictures; others, like the Dutch, were at it too.

Gallery inside a Kayan Dayak house with skulls and weapons lining the wall

Photo 1900-1930: Photographer unknown

In truth, Charles Hose was armed not just with a camera but with a pen. Stationed on Borneo as the Resident Magistrate during British Imperial rule there, this intrepid investigator recorded all he saw in his book, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, published in 1912, and this included a discourse on headhunting:

“It is clear that the Ibans are the only tribe to which one can apply the epithet head-hunters with the usual connotation of the word, namely, that head-hunting is pursued as a form of sport,” write Hose, though he later states that these same people “are so passionately devoted to head-hunting that often they do not scruple to pursue it in an unsportsmanlike fashion.”

Ibu Dayak warrior headhunters from Longnawan, North Borneo

Photo circa 1927: Photographer unknown

Before we get lost in confusion over what does and does not constitute sporting headhunting, let’s just be clear that the Iban are a branch of Borneo’s indigenous Dayak peoples. This sub-group of natives became known as Sea Dayaks to Westerners during the colonial era under the dynasty of James Brooke (1803-1868), the Rajah of Sarawak, which is one of Borneo’s Malaysian states.

The violent exploits of the Sea Dayaks in the South China Sea are well documented, due in no small part to their aggressive culture of war against emerging Western trade interests in the 19th and 20th centuries. James Brooke and his Malays gave as good as they got, however, attacking and wiping out 800 of the scurvy pirates. The Ibans also became notorious for headhunting, even if their being branded as pioneers of the practice was unfortunate, and perhaps off the mark.

Dayak man in possession of two heads on strings

Photo 1900-1940: Photographer unknown

Charles Hose himself thought it “probable” that the Ibans “adopted the practice [of headhunting] some few generations ago only… in imitation of Kayans or other tribes among whom it had been established,” and that “the rapid growth of the practice among the Ibans was no doubt largely due to the influence of the Malays, who had been taught by Arabs and others the arts of piracy.”

Modern sources less prone to imparting blame tie in the beginnings of this grisly activity among the Ibans with their territorial and tribal expansionism. As their own areas became overpopulated, they were forced to intrude on lands belonging to other tribes – trespassing which could only lead to death at a time when brutal confrontation was the only means of survival.

Armed Dayaks busy with the scull of a head-hunted enemy, Central-Borneo

Photo 1894: Photographer unknown

Headhunting was also undoubtedly an important part of Dayak culture more widely. A tradition of retaliation for old headhunts kept the ritual alive until it was curtailed and then gradually stamped out by outside interference – namely, the reign of the Brooke Rajahs in Sarawak and the Dutch in Kalimantan Borneo – in the 100 years leading up to World War II.

Early on, Brooke Government reports describe war parties of Iban and Kenyah people – another group of tribes to whom headhunting was culturally important – in possession of captured enemy heads. Yet later on, with the exception of massed raids, the practice of headhunting was limited to individual retaliation attacks or occurred as the result of chance encounters.

Shaven-headed Dayak bearing a spear with a parang hanging from his side

Photo circa 1920: Photographer unknown

Even so, by Charles Hose’s time headhunting was evidently still enough of an issue for the ethnologist to devote sections of his book to the subject. Hose even went so far as to explore possible explanations for the habits and beliefs that may have underlain and supported this macabre ferocity, offering two possible theories:

“That the practice of taking the heads of fallen enemies arose by extension of the custom of taking the hair for the ornamentation of the shield and sword-hilt,” and that: “The origin of head-taking is that it arose out of the custom of slaying slaves on the death of a chief, in order that they might accompany and serve him on his journey to the other world.”

Medicine men of the Dusun-Dayaks in West Borneo

Photo: Photographer unknown

Without wishing to cast too much doubt on Hose’s discerning colonial eye, contemporary scholars have offered slightly different views on what headhunting meant to the people who practiced it. Within the complex polytheist and animist beliefs of the Dayaks, beheading one’s enemy was seen as the way of killing off for good the spirit of the person who had been slain.

The spiritual significance of the ceremony also lay in the belief that it ushered in the end of mourning for the community’s dead. The heads were put on display at traditional burial rites, where the bones of relatives were exhumed from the earth and cleaned before being put in burial vaults. Ideas of manhood were also bound up with the practice, and the taken heads were surely prized.

Dayak chief in full traditional war dress

Photo 1900-1940: Photographer unknown

Those who might sit snugly behind the idea that these barbaric practices lie far from Western civilised standards may want to think again. During WWII, Allied troops are known to have collected the skulls of dead Japanese as trophies. In 1944 Life published a photo of a young woman posing with a signed skull sent to her by her Navy boyfriend, an event that caused public outrage.

Under Allied direction, the Dayaks themselves retaliated against the Japanese with their brand of guerrilla warfare following ill treatment by the occupying forces. The gruesome tradition temporarily reared its head again as US airmen and Australian special operatives turned inland tribesmen into a thousand-man headhunting army which killed or captured some 1,500 Japanese soldiers.

War worker with Japanese skull sent by her Navy boyfriend

Photo, Life Magazine 1944: Photographer unknown

In far more recent times, beheading by Dayak people again resurfaced. Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo, has been marred by brutal outbreaks of ethnic violence since the late 1990s. In 2001, over 500 Madurese immigrants were killed and tens of thousands forced to flee, with the bodies of some victims decapitated in rituals all too reminiscent of traditions past.

Conversion to Islam or Christianity and anti-headhunting legislation by the colonial powers may have supposed to suppress headhunting, but violent practices the world over often have a habit of reappearing when situations get ugly.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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Tom Weilenmann

Just for the record, the term ‘octopodes’ should be used to describe several different groups or species of octopus. To describe a group of the same species of octopus, the correct term is the slightly unattractive ‘octopuses’. And as for the term octopi, well, it isn’t even considered a real word! So that’s that cleared up.

Nina

‘Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water’ seems a somewhat trite opening. But whatever the preamble, there remains another reason to watch your step when traipsing through the shallows of north Australia and Southeast Asia, albeit one that is a good deal more aesthetically pleasing than the ugly stonefish: the blue-ringed octopus.

Stephen Childs

Beautiful and delicate as the coral itself, the four known species of blue-ringed octopus are largely nocturnal, spending their days nestled like land mines in makeshift nests – usually sea shells, but since the advent of man, these flexible invertebrates have made fruitful use of bottles and also cans. Unlike many sea creatures its size (the largest grow to about 57cm), the blue-ringed octopus has been known to become quite aggressive when its seclusion is disturbed – say, by the foot of a clumsy human. It will retract its arms to make its sharp beak protrude in an attempt to discharge one of nature’s most deadly poisons – the deadly toxin tetradodoxin.

Sarah Speight

Tetradodoxin is the same deadly ingredient found in the flesh of the pufferfish. In the blue-ringed octopus, it is generated by bacteria that live symbiotically within the host creature’s salivary gland. Following a bite, the toxin will usually kill a human – a being many times the size of the octopus – in a matter of minutes. No effective antidote is yet known. The octopus uses its beak to crack the carapace of crustaceans and the shells of mollusks, afterwards injecting its deadly saliva into the prey’s body. It will suck the soft flesh through the hole it has made, leaving behind an empty shell.

Phil Camill

Even amidst the endless variation of the animal kingdom, rarely has death been packaged so attractively. Like many of its relatives in the group Cephalapoda (literally meaning ‘head foot’, due to the apparent body structure of octopodes, squid and others), the blue-ringed octopus boasts a flamboyant colour scheme that changes according to its mood. The meanings of cephalapod colouring are complex and not always well understood, though scientists are slowly coming to the conclusion that they are part of a sophisticated communication system that operates between these intelligent animals.

Sarah Speight

At first glance, the various species of blue-ringed octopus can be difficult to tell apart in situ. But by enraging one, perhaps by interrupting the solitude of a female who is guarding her eggs, a canny (and foolhardy) investigator will cause the octopus to reveal characteristic colours and patterns. The greater blue-ringed octopus is thus named for the size of its rings, not the size of its body. Its rings grow larger and will pulsate when it feels threatened. And for anyone who wishes to get close enough, this species can also be recognized by a characteristic iridescent blue ring that runs through its eye. The lesser blue-ringed octopus is decorated with brown patches, and its rings are barely visible until it is provoked. The blue-lined octopus – a third species – can be grey, beige or brown depending on its mood.

Sources: 1, 2

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Image via metafilter

One person’s thrill is another person’s horror, especially when it comes to heights. And scenic view or not, what if only a steel box, suspended by a wire, keeps you from dropping thousands of feet down? With dozens if not hundreds of cable car routes around the world, it’s not easy to pick the scariest ones. We’ve found eleven that made our stomachs feel more than a bit queasy.

China’s Tianmen Chan or Heaven’s Gate Mountain, pictured above, is located about 8 km south of the city of Zhangjiajie (formerly Dayong) in the northern province of Hunan. Visitors wanting to enjoy the view have only two options for getting up, neither of them very attractive: Either walking up 999 steps to the top of the mountain without platforms for stopping, or taking the cable car. The latter is the longest cable car ride in the world, covering a distance of 7455 m and scaling a height of 1279 m. Gulp…

The next image can only be titled “Ride to or from nowhere”. And the purpose is equally drab: Visitors to the top are greeted by the ruins of an ancient fortress. This is the Masada cableway in Masada, Israel, the world’s lowest cable car ride because its bottom station is 257 m below sea level. That doesn’t mean the height gap covered is not much – the top is 33 m above sea level and 290 m is quite a distance to fall… Does anyone else feel reminded of Mad Max?

Image: upyernoz

Staying in Israel, we’re not sure what’s scariest about Haifa’s Stella Maris cable car ride, which brings people from the Mediterranean coast to the top of Mount Carmel – the highway waiting below or the feeling of being dropped right into the sea? Must be a combination of both.

Image: ZeHawk

The téléphérique de l’Aiguille du Midi is a cable car to a mountain by the same name in the Mont Blanc Massif of the French Alps. This ride will make the heart of even the staunchest cable car lover beat faster as the 1955 construction still holds the title of and world’s highest vertical ascent cable car, covering a height gap of more than 2,800 m from 1,035 m to 3,842 m. The prices are also steep as authorities are cashing in on thrill seekers with ticket prices at EUR 41 for this 20-minute ride.

Image via pcgladiator

What’s at the top of the “Needle of Midday”? A viewing platform, café and gift shop, plus it is the starting point of the Vallee Blanche ski run. Yup, it’s up this mountain:

Image: Snappa 2006

Hong Kong’s Skyrail cable car ride sure is scenic but the view down, suspended over only water, is not for the faint-hearted. And just look at all the cable cars lined up one after another, like a gigantic necklace with little beads. Wouldn’t want to get stuck in that queue…

Image: Toby Oxborrow

If that wasn’t scary enough, the cable car’s cabin seems to have a glass bottom…

Image: Kathleena910

Let’s take a little break to get some facts straight: Cable cars are also called aerial tramways and should not be confused with street tramways or street cable cars – the former term used in British English and the latter in American English. The French and German terms téléphérique and Seilbahn, respectively, are also quite well known because so many of them can be found in the Alpine regions.

Though the system today is mostly associated with transporting people, the first cable car, devised in 1644, was actually built as a tool to move soil over a height distance. Later cable car systems in the 19th century were also mainly built to transport ore for mining. It was only in the 1920s with the emergence of a leisure industry that the first cable cars as means of public transport were developed.

Those first cable cars for sightseeing and recreational purposes went to the highest peaks of the Alps in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and after the Second World War to mountain peaks in other European regions, the Americas, Japan, Canada and South Africa. Speaking of which – Cape Town’s Table Mountain can be scaled via cable car but you should only do so if your stomach can take it…

Image: flowcomm

Image: Tom Booth

Getting on with our journey without any sugarcoating – passengers who can’t stomach the view down from Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain should keep their view firmly on the mountain top instead. But that might be difficult as visitors need to take two cable cars to reach the summit: One to Moro de Açúca at 20 m, another one to Pão de Açúcar, 396 m (1,299 ft) above the harbour.

Image: Andrew Griffith

And if the cable car looks vaguely familiar – this is where James Bond had his famous fight with Jaws on top of the cable car in Moonraker. Here’s another stomach-churning view with one of the famous cars that can hold 75 passengers.

Image: Laszlo Ilyes

At Yellow Mountain or Huang Chan in China we’re not sure what’s scarier – the view down or the cable car’s proximity to the mountain? What if there’s a sudden gust of wind that pushes the little cabin against the rock face? We shudder to think further.

Image via hpmuseum

The Klein Matterhorn cable car in Zermatt, Switzerland is Europe’s highest cable car with a terminal located at 3,320 m – just 563 m from the peak. Here are views of the Theodul Glacier and the cable car’s last section:

Image: Sikander

Image: Cable1

We’re not sure about the cable car to the island of Langkawi in Malaysia. On the one hand, it could win the prize for most scenic cable car ride ever, on the other… Well, see for yourself.

Image: Andy Lawson

The same construction, from up higher:

Image: Ravikiran Rao

Image: Khairil Yusof

Speaking of fog, we’ll leave you to ponder over the question of whether it would be better to see where one is going and shudder or to board a cable car into the unknown at this last location.

Image: C Ling Fan

The Genting Skyway in Genting, Malaysia, is about one hour away from Kuala Lumpur. Though South East Asia’s longest cable car system, it is also the world’s fastest, so if you’re out to enjoy the ride to Genting Highlands’ peak at 1760 m, it may be over before you know it.

Image: Prateek Bahadur

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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Environmental Graffiti’s Bennett Blumenberg recounts the siege of Acre in 1291, through the eyes of a common footsoldier

Hospitaler Master, Mathieu de Clermont defends the walls / D.Papety c.1840
Painting – PHGCOM / Wikimedia

PRELUDE –

“The air stinks! Smells like dead rats and rotten mutton. Piss everywhere, and the kids drink this foul, putrid water that runs down the alleys. At least it’s not too hot, winter and all… Hold onto your purse, thieves here will cut the hide to your belt before you can blink. Fight ‘em? You better be real good with a knife. Whores we have, the most exotic in the East as you would expect. Talk to me later about that, anything you desire is here… for a price… Spices, gold, the rarest of gems and rugs; play it safe and you’ll go home to become a rich man. Yeah, one more thing. When you see a Knight, step aside, don’t say a word, even kindly, and don’t stare. They’re all trained killing machines, I don’t care what anyone says otherwise. They’re nice fellows usually, but catch one drunk or angry and you’ll go home in pieces. This advice is for all three Orders. The Templars are forever a mystery, and probably the smartest. The Germans are unbearably fierce and the Hospitallers always have incredible food and never tire. Take their meat, say ‘thanks’ and then get away quickly.”

Crusader States map in 1135
Digital map – MapMaster / Wikipedia

Acre – aerial photo
Photo – Zaraza Friedman / NAVIS II

“Welcome to Acre, a cursed city this winter of 1291 waiting for the savage Mamluks to take it down. Me? I don’t hate the Muselman. All’s fair in love and war, and God is God wherever you find him. Hell, some believe He is a She! Don’t misunderstand, our Christian knights are incredible fighters, but we don’t have enough of them. And there’s no open field for the Templar Charge. Where the hell is the Pope or the Kings of Europe when we need ‘em? We’ve heard rumors for years about an alliance with the Horde. Can you imagine that! Franks and Mongols fighting side by side! The last I heard, the Pope demanded the Mongols convert and the Khan demanded the Pope and the Kings of Europe submit to him. Hell will freeze over before any of that happens. They say King Henry on Cyprus will send some fighters, but where are they? Well… here we are; step inside, watch your step, it’s time to get slam, deep drunk… If you sense death around the corner, well that’s Acre, the city where dreams go to die. Remember, you’re in the Kingdom of Jerusalem… what’s left of it…”

Acre – Franciscan Church / old city
Photo – Priyank Thatte

“OK, so you want to talk about the Crusades. Better refill that mug, we could be here all night. The problem now is that no one cares. The Pope still talks about liberating Palestine and Jerusalem from the Muselman, but show me the money and the will power. Yeah, a handful of exceptions. King Louis IX of France will always be in our hearts. He did what he said he would do, spent decades on crusade and trying to forge an alliance with the Mongols, but all to no avail and then he died so far from home in Tunis. Now, no one knows which way to look. The Mongols are still here after decades of war in the Near East. No longer considered invincible thanks to Egypt, but they are everywhere, there are so many of them. I can’t imagine a crusader army dominating a battlefield against such numbers, particularly with our knights weighed down by heavy armor. We’ve learned that the Mamluks of Egypt are near invincible; they are No.1, not the Mongols. The Sultan wiped the field with Mongol corpses at Ain Jalut in 1260.”

Ascelin of Cremone delivers letter from Pope Innocent IV to Mongol General Baiju, 1245
Photo – PHGCOM / Wikipedia

Egyptian Mamluks defeat Mongol Christian allies Armenians / Battle of Mari, 1266 / 15th century manuscript
Photo – PHGCOM / Wikipedia

“Why should the Mongols want us as allies? Long ago, Antioch signed on with the Horde, and Armenia and Cilicia have been fighting with them for decades. But now, I bet the prize would be the Orders. The Templar Charge is still in a class by its own: give ‘em a level field and nothing can beat it. In 1260, we let the Egyptian Mamluks through Acre territory to fight the Mongols at Ain Jalut. That is the closest we Franks ever came to an alliance with the Muslim world. Now? It ain’t gonna happen, no way! Each side trades arrogance and poor Acre is squeezed in the middle… Hey, sweetheart, where are the refills? Mugs are now empty on this table…”

SIEGE –

Mamluk Heavy Cavalry / Battle Ain Jalut, 1260 / 16th century Gothic style
Engraving – forum.kafegaul

Muslim hinged, counterweight, catapult in action during siege of city / 13th century
Manuscript painting – PHGCOM / Wikipedia

“Wake up, damn it get your eyes open! They’re here!! Khalil and his Mamluks are pounding on the door; how the hell can you sleep with that noise? Yeah, the booming thuds are rocks and boulders; I can’t count the number of siege engines pounding the walls. Hell, I think I smell gunpowder! This is what we get when the ‘good citizens of Acre’ – idiots all! – destroyed this city with the War of Saint Sabas, then reject a brilliant piece of diplomacy worked with the Sultan by William Bajeux, the good Master of the Knights Templar. Why the hell can’t we turn over the bastard Genoese to Kahlil? They’ve been attacking and robbing everyone, not just Muslims. Well, all of this is past and now Acre will be punished for all the past sins of Jerusalem: stupidity, greed and believing the Muselman is lower than us, that his God must be no good because Allah isn’t our God. The fucking world has gone insane! OK, yes, good King Henry did get the walls and towers repaired. Now look again… damn it keep your head down… How long do you think this crumbling city can last against that?”

Street fighting during siege of Acre / cgi concept
Screen shot – Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360)

“Stay close to the walls you idiot! Walk down the alleys and the siege engine stones will knock your head off, or you’ll slip in the blood and break your neck! I don’t know how much more of this we can stand, but we’ll never surrender so long as the Knights are still fighting. If only the Templars and Knights Hospitaller had magic to multiply themselves as needed. But the Knights are not gods, and we know that their night attacks failed badly, horses getting caught up in Muslim tent ropes. How long can they go on before they collapse from exhaustion? How long can any of us stand this? The towers are weak and crumbling; thank God the wells are deep and food still comes in by sea. Alley after alley is running with blood, and now some are escaping by sea while they can. I heard that the Master of those German knights ran some time ago, and King Henry is about to get out of this hell for his kingdom on Cyprus… Do you know your ear is bleeding? Come on… let’s deal with that… we’ll be face to face with Muselman real soon…”

Fighting on the rooftops during siege of Acre / cgi concept
Screen shot – Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360)

Spanish-Crusader / Cross – St. James of Compostela / Galicia – Order of Santiago
Photo – Galician Flag

“Master, Master where are you going, come back! Look at that! Sir William Bajeaux has walked away from the walls!! Come on, let’s get him back. Maybe he was hit in the head and doesn’t know what he is doing! Look, he turned around and… what is he saying? “Seigneurs, Je ne plus, car je suy mort – vees le coup.” …That he is Dead! I don’t understand… My God, he is dead, look at the blood all over his chest; how can he keep walking? Let’s go, he fell face down and isn’t moving… Easy Sir, don’t move now, the boys are here and we’ll get you back into Acre then find a doctor. The Muselman has honored you, they’ve stopped firing at us, so we can get you back to the city safely. You’ll be all right now, just don’t talk, keep your strength… Where the hell are those clean rags? I can’t stop the bleeding!! Shut up! The last thing the Master needs to hear is that Clermont of the Hospital is dead. We’re going to be face to face, sword to sword, in the alleys before very long. This is the end of Acre and the death of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.”

Fighting in the tunnels during siege of Acre / cgi concept
Screen shot – Digital Journal

“Forty-three days of Hell! Can you believe we are still alive! Come on, let’s get to that boat and on to Cyprus. Our magnificent Templars have barricaded themselves in their quarter, in the tunnels. If a miracle is possible, they are it!… There is already talk of coming back, maybe to Ruad. Gotta try, we can’t let Christ down; remember that is what this was all about when the crusades began. Then again, maybe Palestine does belong to the Muselman after all and he is only taking back what rightfully belongs to Allah? It looks like God punished us; maybe we deserved it. I can’t sleep anymore, I can’t get the picture out of my head: how the Master walked away from the walls and died. Then the terrible silence hit all of us, as if the universe could not believe what it saw. Muselman and Christian just stopped without a word being said. Barely breathing, we watched Death take a great knight. Maybe that is why we lost, why Acre fell, why the alleys are stained brown-red. We couldn’t listen to the best among us, so the worst took us down… No, you go find a whore by yourself, I need to be alone now… I can’t stand what’s in my head. Time to get drunk again… That helps for a short while…”

Twilight descends upon the Knights Hospitaller
Artist – Marc Carrie (c) 2007

RELEVANT FACTOIDS –

1. The Kingdom of Jerusalem did not encompass all Crusader states in the Near East. The Principality of Armenian Cilicia, Principality of Antioch, County of Edessa and County of Tripoli had equal status and recognition. When two of these states – Antioch and Cilicia – choose to formally ally with the Mongols, the implications were very important even as the Assembly of Acre initially chose to dismiss such developments as trivial.

Port of Acre / 15th – 16th centuries
Engraved Map – Zaraza Friendman / NAVIS 2

2. In April 1291, Acre had a population of ~40,000 with 12,000 soldiers and knights. With its back to the Sea, Acre was able to receive food and small numbers of soldiers throughout the siege. King Henry II of Cyprus arrived with 2,000 additional soldiers on May 6. The size of the Mamluk Sultan’s forces are not well known but likely were between 20,000 and 30,000 with the majority being volunteer siege workers. Massive walls and towers confronted Khalil’s army as the siege began. The Egyptian Mamluk Sultan was fully aware of Acre’s state of disrepair. Continual bombardment from large and small siege engines, in conjunction with sappers placing bombs under the walls and towers, was the preferred strategy and it worked. Forty catapults included an unknown number of hinged, counterweight trebuchets which needed only a small crew and set new records for distance and weight of thrown stones.

Mongol Siege Engines in action
Historic Print – sosyaldersleri

3. Ascelin of Cremone delivered a diplomatic letter from Pope Innocent IV to the Mongol General Baiju in March 1245 shortly before the Council of Lyon. Ascelin refused to give the Mongol General the minimal courtesy expected unless Baiju agreed to baptism. Baiju replied by calling the Pope and Christians ‘dogs’. Escaping death because he was a high ranking diplomatic envoy, Ascelin later met several Mongol princes who invited him to travel with them to Karakorum and meet the Great Khan. Ascelin refused and returned to the Pope with two Muslim envoys – Aïbeg and Serkis – sent by Baiju. They met with Pope Innocent IV in 1248 and delivered Baiju’s demand for submission to the Khan. The Pope replied with a Papal Bull asking that Mongols should stop killing Christians, and this failed attempt at laying the groundwork for an alliance came to an end in November, 1248.

Letter from Khan Guyug to Pope Innocent IV in 1246
Historic document – Latebird / Wikipedia.

4. Mortally wounded, Mathieu de Clermont, the Hospitaller Master, was carried to his galley while shouting at his men to put him down and insisting he could still fight. King Hugh and his brother fled with their garrison, and so did Otho de Grandison (Savoyard), close friend of King Edward I of England and Master of the English knights in Palestine, with the remnant of his contingent. The Venetians and the Genoese fled after they stole everything in sight that was not tied down. On the last day of the siege, the only active crusader fighting force was the Templars who had barricaded themselves in their tower by the sea.

Acre – Tunnels in Templar Fortress
Photo – Priyank Thatte

5. The Templars that held out in the quarter and tunnels of Acre are believed to have been killed to the last man when a tower collapsed on them and some Mamluk soldiers during a failed attempt to negotiate their safe passage. The Mamluk Sultan and William de Beaujeux were old friends, but had been forced to be enemies during the siege. Acre fell and was reduced to rubble by the Mamluk victors, only rebuilt centuries later by the Ottoman Turks. The Kingdom of Jerusalem reorganized on the island of Cyprus. During the next decade, several crusader attempts to return to Palestine failed. The power politics of the Near East had undergone a seismic shift with profound implications that remain with us in the 21st century.

Sources -

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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Image: Paolo Camera

The human affinity for monkeys and apes can easily be explained by our fascination with a species that is so much like us. When we see monkeys fighting, however, our empathy for the weaker one is overpowered by our admiration for the stronger fighter and his or her animalistic grace and ferociousness. Secretly wishing we had the guts and style to fight like monkeys perhaps?

Fighting langurs:

Image via scienceblogs

It usually starts with a stare down – here two macaques in Morocco:

Image: Antony

There are many reasons for monkeys to fight: Young monkeys will first start fighting to test their own strength and just like human children, their boundaries. While most of them will go for the smallest and weakest member of the family, Rhesus Monkeys or Rhesus Macaques are known to tackle the biggest and strongest one just to see if they can do it, therefore grossly overestimating their own size.

Let the blows start – macaques in Japan
Image: Richard Fisher

Play fighting is important for young monkeys as they thus prepare in a playful way for the real fights lying ahead: over food, mates and territory. Especially with teenage monkeys, boredom is another factor and often play fighting can lead to more serious fights – that must be where the term “monkeying around” comes from.

Photographer Stan Rawrysz captured this great sequence of young squirrel monkeys fighting it out on a rooftop in Costa Rica.

First, it started with a bit of harmless tackling and rolling around:

Then, someone started the hair pulling, a big no-no even in the monkey world:

Some more hair pulling and threatening gestures ensued:

… followed by a mean upper left:

… and then all hell broke loose – rolling, punching and shouting:

Social aggression in monkeys can also be a response to pain, frustration, fear or sexual arousal. Monkeys in captivity often react to the stress of their situation with aggressive behaviour towards others or self.

Not a friendly handshake – macaques fighting at Beijing Zoo:

Image: Self-made

Finally, here’s a video of gorillas fighting at Henry Dorley Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. Yes, we know, gorillas are apes, not monkeys but just look at these guys – they are not just kidding around – their intimidating gestures and poses definitely work:

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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Meat ant tackling a cane toad baby
Image via ABC News

Though harmless at first glance, the Venezuelan cane toad has wreaked havoc with Australia’s ecosystem over the 75 years since it was introduced. Killing even big predators like crocodiles through its poison and laying up to 30,000 eggs in one go, the cane toad is a force to reckon with. But there’s hope, yet, in the form of a surprise weapon: small is the new big with tiny Australian meat ants bringing down the mighty cane toad.

Here’s a short video of meat ants attacking and even toppling a cane toad baby:

Only about 100 Venezuelan cane toads (Bufo marinus) were introduced to Australia in 1935 to combat sugar cane beetles. The clever animals, however, avoided the beetles and went for everything else instead as they eat two and a half times their own body weight on average. Though there are plenty of natural predators in Australia that consider the cane toad a good meal, the toad usually has the last laugh: Even when big predators like crocodiles eat the frog, they die because of the cane toad’s poison stored in its glands.

Not recommended – croc eating poisonous cane toad:

Image via new scientist

Cute yet extremely poisonous:

Image: Jen 64

This poison coupled with the fact that females lay up to 30,000 eggs in a single clutch has led to a cane toad invasion, with their current population estimated at 200 million! This is having a devastating effect on Australian animal life as cane toads are changing the balance of the ecosystem in Northern Australia. But now there’s a newly discovered and unlikely enemy that might bring down the mighty cane toad: the Australian meat ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus).

Meat ants united while devouring their kill:

Image via ntnews

As the name partly suggests, these tiny insects – yet giants among ants – are omnivorous scavengers and have been used by farmers to clean carcasses in the past. Recently, it was discovered that meat ants are not affected by the cane toad’s poison and, in fact, have killed millions of cane toads already.

Small yet forceful – here protecting leafhopper nymphs whose sap they love:

Image: Fir0002

A group of researchers from the University of Sydney devised a clever way of instigating the ants’ natural predatory instinct further to speed up the process: They put a little bit of cat food next to areas where toadlets come out of the pond. The meat ants soon discovered the cat food and considered it a delicacy. From there, it was just a small step for them to discover the baby cane toads – still much bigger than them at about 1 cm but nevertheless snack size, and nothing a committed group of meat ants couldn’t tackle with a bit of team work.

Meat ants not giving the cane toadlet a chance:

Image via dropit2

Meat ants devouring a cicada:

Image: John O’Neill

Says Rick Shine, lead researcher from the University of Sydney, about the attack of the meat ants and therefore the success of the project:

“98 per cent of the baby toads were attacked by the ants within 2 minutes, and about 70 per cent of those cane toads were killed. … Even the ones that don’t die immediately die within a day or so of being attacked.”

Get me out of here!

Image via dropit2

Skeptics were quick to point out that local wildlife may be negatively affected by attracting so many meat ants at once but the researchers have thought about this as well. Native frogs, for example, have evolved with meat ants and know how to avoid them. For one, they hop away much faster and further upon contact with the meat ants, whereas the cane toad, relying on its poison, remains still, hoping for the ants to die. Explains Shine:

“They’ve evolved in a world without big predatory ants, so instead of hopping away like a sensible frog, they just freeze. That makes sense if [the predator] is affected by your toxin, but the [Australian meat] ants aren’t. … By the second hop, they [the native frogs] are in a different world. Cane toads have short stubby legs, and walk rather than hop.”

Skeptics may get convinced by considering the alternatives: killing cane toads through human efforts. If you’ve heard of Ghost Busters, you can imagine what Toad Busters might do. In Northern Australia, that means a committed group of citizens who sacrifice their weekends for gassing cane toads to slow down their population. Here’s a video of the Toad Busters vs. cane toads:

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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