Talking to Dolphins with technology

More info about Whales, Dolphins [link]
2012-05-18 "Talking To Dolphins Could Be Possible With New Device" by Beth Buczynski
[http://www.care2.com/causes/talking-to-dolphins-could-be-possible-with-new-device.html]
Did you know that dolphins are believed to be the world’s second most intelligent animals, with only humans displaying greater brainpower? Still we keep them captive and train them to do tricks, as if they don’t have emotions or desires of their own.
Anyone who watched “Flipper” as a kid has heard the distinct cackles and squeaks that a dolphin uses to communicate. Scientists have long known that the dolphins speak to each other with these noises, and are likely trying to speak to us as well. Only we don’t understand that particular language. If we could, it could be a big step toward finding out just how smart they really are. Good thing scientists are hard at work creating a device that might do just that.
A team from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, working with colleagues from tech company Fusion, Inc., have created an underwater speaker (pictured below) that’s capable of playing back the dolphin’s entire acoustic range. The device not only produces the dolphins’ low-frequency sub-20 kiloHertz sounds, which can be mimicked and heard by humans, but also the high-frequency sounds we can’t hear, which go up to 150 kHz.

“The next step is to faithfully playback the original sounds of the dolphins by using the dolphin speaker. Once the dolphin speaker is completed it will enable us to playback a variety of dolphin sounds to dolphins, which will help to broaden the research of their acoustic abilities,” said Tokyo University grad student Yuka Mishima.
The team hopes that noting dolphin responses to different collections of sounds will help them interpret meaning behind this mysterious language, and maybe someday lead to a conversation between the world’s two smartest creatures. If successful, however, the team from Tokyo is likely to get an earful, since Japan allows the hunting and slaughtering dolphins for their meat.


2012-05-08 "‘Dolphin Speaker’ to Enhance Study of Dolphin Vocalizations and Acoustics" from "Acoustical Society of America (ASA)"
[http://www.newswise.com/articles/dolphin-speaker-to-enhance-study-of-dolphin-vocalizations-and-acoustics]
Newswise — Dolphins rely on the combination of a variety of vocalizations and vastly better acoustic abilities than humans to communicate with each other or to detect their surroundings and prey in the dark sea. To gain new insights into how dolphins communicate, researchers in Japan created a prototype of an extremely broadband “dolphin speaker” capable of projecting dolphins’ communication sounds, whistles, burst-pulse sounds, as well as detection sounds such as echolocation clicks.
Yuka Mishima, a graduate student at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, along with university colleagues and collaborators at Fusion Inc., will present their research at the Acoustics 2012 meeting in Hong Kong, May 13-18, a joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Acoustical Society of China, Western Pacific Acoustics Conference, and the Hong Kong Institute of Acoustics.
Dolphins can hear and produce not only low-frequency sounds below 20 kHz, which humans can also hear and produce, but go a step further to high-frequency sounds of up to 150 kHz, which are too high for humans to hear. Not only can dolphins produce tonal sounds like humans, they’re capable of vocalizing at a variety of frequencies simultaneously.
“Acoustic studies of dolphins that have been done so far focus mainly on recordings of vocalizations and hearing abilities, but relatively few playback experiments have been conducted,” explains Mishima. “There were no speakers that could project from low to high frequencies like dolphins, although some could project the low-frequency sounds or parts of dolphin sounds.”
Since playback experiments are a very important part of gaining a better understanding of dolphins’ communication and detection abilities, the researchers decided to create their own “dolphin speaker.”
“Our goal was to develop a dolphin speaker that could project the full range of all of the sounds dolphins make,” Mishima says. “We succeeded in developing a prototype broadband transducer for an echosounder last year by using new types of piezoelectric elements that had never been used for underwater acoustic transducers.”
They applied this technique to their dolphin speaker prototype, and it can now project sounds in the 7 to 170 kHz range.
“The next step is to faithfully playback the original sounds of the dolphins by using the dolphin speaker. Once the dolphin speaker is completed it will enable us to playback a variety of dolphin sounds to dolphins, which will help to broaden the research of their acoustic abilities,” notes Mishima.
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The 163rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) will feature more than 1,300 presentations on the science of sound and its impact on physics, engineering, and medicine. This international acoustics meeting will be held jointly with the 8th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of China and the 11th Western Pacific Acoustics Conference. It is organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Acoustics and will take place May 13-18, 2012, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE 163rd ASA MEETING
USEFUL LINKS:
* Main meeting website: http://acoustics2012hk.org/
* Searchable index: http://asa.aip.org/asasearch.html
* Hotel site: http://acoustics2012hk.org/hotel.php
WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM:
ASA's World Wide Press Room (www.acoustics.org/press) will contain additional tips on newsworthy stories and lay-language papers, which are 300-1200 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio, and video.
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This news release was prepared for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, ECHOES newsletter, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://www.acousticalsociety.org.

2012-05-17 "WTO Rules US Dolphin Safe Tuna Label ‘Unfair’ to Mexico; Decision a Big Blow to Dolphin Protection, Say Environmentalists"

More info about Whales, Dolphins [link]
 by Maureen Nandini Mitra, Managing Editor for "Earth Island Journal" [http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/wto_rules_us_dolphin_safe_tuna_label_unfair_to_mexico/]
In addition to her work at the Journal, Maureen is a columnist for The Faster Times and writes for several other magazines and online publications in the US and India. A journalism graduate from Columbia University, her work has appeared in the San Francisco Public Press, The New Internationalist, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, The Caravan and Down to Earth.
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled yesterday that United States’ “Dolphin Safe" tuna-labeling regulations unfairly discriminates against Mexico and probably needs to be modified to make an exception for Mexican fishermen, or dropped [http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds381_e.htm]. It’s not totally clear what the economic implications of the ruling are, but this is definitely a big setback in efforts to protect marine mammals.
The new ruling is a reversal of a September 2011 one on the same case where WTO arbitrators had decided that the labeling, while “more trade restrictive than necessary,” wasn’t actually discriminatory. Both the US and Mexico had appealed the decision in January, resulting in yesterday’s decision by the WTO appellate panel.  Trade analysts say it’s possible that if the US fails to comply it could mean sanctions against American products in the global market.
The decision was condemned by Earth Island Institute’s International Marine Mammal Project, which established the Dolphin Safe Tuna labeling program and monitors tuna companies around the world for compliance. “The WTO decision … is an outrageous attack that would ensure thousands of dolphins horrible deaths in tuna nets while lying to consumers about the Dolphin Safe status of such tuna,” said IMMP director David Phillips. “Earth Island will urge the Obama Administration and the US Congress to refuse to weaken the standards for Dolphin Safe tuna despite this noxious WTO decision,” he said.
The ruling is the latest development in a long-standing trade dispute between the US and Mexico that dates back to the establishment of the Dolphin Safe tuna label in 1990.
Here’s why the label is important: Schools of tuna often swim around with dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (ETPO), a large area running from Southern California to Peru and extending out into the Pacific Ocean almost to Hawai’i. Mexico and several other countries allow their tuna industry to deliberately target, chase and surround the dolphins with nets in order to get to the tuna. More than 7 million dolphins have been killed since this fishing method was introduced in 1957.
In 1990, after years of campaigning by IMMP, the Dolphin Safe tuna label was established in the US.  The label can only be used for tuna that is not caught by chasing and netting dolphins. Nor can it be used if dolphins are killed or seriously injured during a tuna fishing expedition. Dolphin deaths from tuna fishing have declined 98 percent since the label was established, says IMMP, with virtually only Mexican, Venezuelan, and Colombian tuna vessels still chasing and netting dolphins.
Mexico has objected to this labeling for years, claiming these restrictions to protect dolphins discriminate against the Mexican tuna industry. In 2008 it took its complaint to the WTO. However all other nations involved in tuna fishing in the ETPO region, except Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia, follow the US standards for Dolphin Safe tuna. “There is no reason why Mexico should not also comply with these standards,” said IMMP associate director Mark Palmer.
Palmer also pointed out that despite the US label being voluntary, the WTO dispute panel claimed the label was “mandatory” and therefore open for WTO review and restrictions.  “In fact, Mexico can sell tuna in the US with a Dolphin Safe label if they follow the same standards as US tuna fishermen and everyone else,” he said. "I suspect the issue is going to boil down to whether we allow Mexcio to kill dolphins and then say their tuna is dolphin safe," Palmer said.
Meanwhile, Nkenge Harmon, a spokesperson for US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters that the US remained “committed to ensuring that consumers receive accurate information concerning whether the tuna in a product labeled 'dolphin safe' was caught in a manner that caused harm to dolphins.”
Click here for further information on Earth Island’s Dolphin Safe tuna label and what you can do as a consumer to save dolphins [http://www.earthisland.org/dolphinSafeTuna/consumer/].


2012-05-16 "US tuna labelling 'inconsistent' with trade rules: WTO" from "AFP" newswire
GENEVA — US requirements on "dolphin friendly" tuna labelling breach trade rules by affording less favourable treatment to Mexican-caught tuna, the WTO's appeal body said on Wednesday.
The body reversed an earlier World Trade Organization ruling to find largely in favour of Mexico which claims its tuna products are being unfairly hurt by the measures.
In its judgement the Appellate Body said the labelling provisions "modify the conditions of competition in the US market to the detriment of Mexican tuna products".
The measures, it said, "are not even-handed in the way in which they address the risks to dolphins arising from different fishing techniques in different areas of the ocean".
"We find that the US 'dolphin-safe' labelling provisions provide 'less favourable treatment' to Mexican tuna products than that accorded to tuna products of the United States and tuna products originating in other countries and are therefore inconsistent with Article 2.1 of the Technical Barriers To Trade (TBT) Agreement," the body said.
Mexico's ambassador to the WTO, Fernando de Mateo, welcomed the decision as a "big victory" in the case lodged back in 2008, but Washington said it did not agree the measures were not applied even-handedly.
Mateo said Mexico now hoped to quickly gain access to the market, worth "billions of dollars" to the country.
In September last year, WTO arbitrators ruled that the labelling measures were not discriminatory while agreeing with Mexico that they were "more trade restrictive than necessary" to achieve their aims.
On this point the Appellate Body reversed the panel's finding.
"The US remains committed to ensuring that consumers receive accurate information concerning whether the tuna in a product labelled 'dolphin safe' was caught in a manner that caused harm to dolphins," said Nkenge Harmon, a spokeswoman for US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

Sea Shepards: Protectors of Whales & Dolphins

More info about Whales, Dolphins [link]
Sea Shepard and it's founder Paul Watson are among the few Humans who feel responsible for the protection of the Whales & Dolphins against the mass murder by certain Humans who would either eat them, bomb them (USA military), enslave them, or otherwise murder these other intelligent species with whom we share the planet.

2012-05-13 "Captain Paul Watson Arrested In Frankfurt, Germany on Warrant Issued by Costa Rica"[http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/05/13/captain-paul-watson-arrested-in-frankfurt-germany-on-warrant-issued-by-costa-rica-1374]
Captain Paul Watson was arrested yesterday in Germany for extradition to Costa Rica.  The German police have said that the warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest is in response to an alleged violation of ships traffic in Costa Rica, which occurred during the filming of Sharkwater in 2002.  The specific “violation of ships traffic” incident took place on the high seas in Guatemalan waters, when Sea Shepherd encountered an illegal shark finning operation, run by a Costa Rican ship called the Varadero.  On order of the Guatemalan authorities, Sea Shepherd instructed the crew of the Varadero to cease their shark finning activities and head back to port to be prosecuted.  While escorting the Varadero back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew.  The crew of the Varadero accused the Sea Shepherds of trying to kill them, while the video evidence proves this to be a fallacy.  To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where they uncovered even more illegal shark finning activities in the form of dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.
Conservationists around the world maintain hope that the Costa Ricans will drop the charges against Captain Watson.  There is also a chance that the charges have already been dropped, but Sea Shepherd has been unable to confirm that with the Costa Rican officials. With Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity, it would be a travesty for them not to stand up for sharks, which sit at the highest levels of the food chain assuring balance among ecological communities in the ocean.
While in jail, Captain Watson is being assisted by the European Parliament Vice President Daniel Cohn Bendit and the European deputy Jose Bove.  Our hope is that these two honorable gentlemen can set Captain Watson free before this nonsense goes any further.  The European Sea Shepherds have also mobilized to support Captain Watson.
As the plight of the sharks becomes more desperate, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has begun to outline a new shark campaign for 2012. Julie Andersen, founder of Shark Savers and Shark Angels, has joined Sea Shepherd to lead our global campaign to save sharks from extinction.
Sea Shepherd will use its expertise and experience, as well as media savvy, to empower people around the world to take back their sharks – an animal critical to their, as well as the global, environment and economy.
Sea Shepherd is offering its assistance to countries around the world to enforce international and local laws, end ruthless poaching, patrol marine sanctuaries under attack, implement high tech defenses, and empower locals through training and the provision of resources to take on the battle. Sea Shepherd will also fight a war of public opinion, changing everything we know about an animal most despised.
The first stop will be the South Pacific, where the team will be headed in June.
“We’ve got all the laws we need to protect sharks. Now we will leverage our resources and expertise to help countries around the globe enforce them. Using Galapagos as a model, we will travel wherever we are needed - enforcing local laws while developing strategies and training locals to defend their sharks, fueling world-wide enforcement efforts.” - Julie Andersen, Shark Campaign Director


2012-05-14 "Update on the Arrest of Captain Watson: Day 2 in Custody"
[http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/05/14/update-on-the-arrest-of-captain-watson-day-2-in-custody-1375]
Captain Watson remains in the custody of German authorities as of Monday, May 14th.  A German judge in the lower courts of Frankfurt has refused to release Captain Watson, instead saying that the German court would like to confirm that Costa Rica wants Captain Watson extradited to their country.  The German legal council representing Captain Watson includes Oliver Wallasch and Alexander Gruner.  Sea Shepherd operatives continue to work around the clock in Europe and Latin America in order to determine the true reasons behind Costa Rica’s warrant.
 The warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest was issued in Costa Rica in October of 2011, curiously close to the time that the Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) filed their civil suit against Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the United States.  The question remains, what prompted Costa Rica to issue an arrest warrant for Captain Watson in October of 2011?
 INTERPOL has issued a statement on their website citing that they will not publish a Red Notice seeking the arrest of Captain Watson because their Office of Legal Affairs is not satisfied that the request from Costa Rica is in compliance with INTERPOL’s Constitutions and Rules. Hopefully the German courts will come to the same conclusion soon and set Captain Watson free.
 As Sea Shepherd becomes increasingly more effective at protecting marine wildlife globally, the enemies of the oceans are using all their resources to stop us.  Currently Sea Shepherd is under legal attack from all parts of the globe and each case represents the very biodiversity we strive to protect.  In the UK Sea Shepherd is currently battling a lawsuit brought by seafood brokers Fish & Fish regarding Bluefin Tuna.  In the United States we have the civil suit brought forth by the ICR concerning anti-whaling activities in the Southern Ocean, and now with Captain Watson’s detainment in Germany (via Costa Rica’s arrest warrant) which we believe stems from Sea Shepherd victories in curbing shark finning on the high seas.  No matter the country or the court system, Captain Watson will not be intimidated, and he will not stop until marine life and ecosystems are given the protection they deserve.


2012-05-15 "Urgent Call to Sea Shepherd Supporters - Help Save Captain Watson from Extradition to Costa Rica!"
[http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/05/15/urgent-call-to-sea-shepherd-supporters-help-save-captain-watson-from-extradition-to-costa-rica-1376]
 In shocking news, German officials have decided to proceed with the extradition of Captain Watson to Costa Rica.  Our last hope of saving Captain Watson from extradition is to convince German officials at the Ministry of Justice to step in and overturn their decision.  Show your support for Captain Watson by contacting Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the Federal Minister of Justice in Berlin, Germany.  Let her know that the warrant for Captain Watson's arrest is politically motivated and thus should be ignored by the German government.  With international support we can set Captain Watson free, and keep him from the possibility of facing an unfair trial in Costa Rica.
Please contact: (Please be respectful in your communications)
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Federal Minister of Justice, Deutscher Bundestag, Platz der Republik, 11011 Berlin
Telephone 030 - 227 751 62
Fax 030 - 227 764 02
E-Mail: sabine.leutheusser-schnarrenberger@bundestag.de
Federal Ministry of Justice Mohrenstrasse 37, 10117 Berlin, Germany
 Telephone: +49 (030) 18 580-0
 Telefax: +49 (030) 18 580-9525
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 Sample Letter:
 Dear Ms Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger,
 I was very concerned to hear that Germany has detained Sea Shepherd's Captain Paul Watson for possible extradition to Costa Rica.  I understand that the warrant for Captain Watson's arrest is politically motivated and possibly due to an incident in which Sea Shepherd uncovered an illegal shark finning operation.
 I support Sea Shepherd's efforts to monitor and publicise illegal fishing and whaling around the world and recognize that some illegal fishing operations try to use international law to shut down the Sea Shepherd operations.  I urge you to consider the valuable work Captain Watson and Sea Shepherd are undertaking globally to highlight the dangers to our oceans in considering this extradition request.
 Sincerely,
 Your Name.

2012-05-11 "Navy study: Sonar, blasts might hurt more sea life" by AUDREY McAVOY from "Associated Press"
HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy may hurt more dolphins and whales by using sonar and explosives in Hawaii and California under a more thorough analysis that reflects new research and covers naval activities in a wider area than previous studies.
The Navy estimates its use of explosives and sonar may unintentionally cause more than 1,600 instances of hearing loss or other injury to marine mammals each year, according to a draft environmental impact statement that covers training and testing planned from 2014 to 2019. The Navy calculates the explosives could potentially kill more than 200 marine mammals a year.
A notice about the study is due to appear Friday in the Federal Register.
The old Navy analysis — covering 2009-2013 — estimated the service might unintentionally cause injury or death to about 100 marine mammals in Hawaii and California, although no deaths have been reported.
The larger numbers are partially the result of the Navy's use of new research on marine mammal behavior and updated computer models that predict how sonar affects animals.
The Navy also expanded the scope of its study to include things like in-port sonar testing — something sailors have long done but wasn't analyzed in the Navy's last environmental impact statement. The analysis covers training and testing in waters between Hawaii and California for the first time as well.
"Each time around, each time we swing through this process, we get better, we take a harder look, we become more inclusive," said John Van Name, senior environmental planner at the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The Navy isn't saying it will injure whales and dolphins as it trains sailors and tests equipment. It's telling the public and environmental regulators that its actions have the potential to harm or otherwise prompt a reaction in the animals.
The Navy takes a variety of measures to prevent harm to the animals, including turning off sonar when marine mammals are spotted nearby. It says the actual numbers of injured animals would be lower as a result.
The Navy must provide the information to the National Marine Fisheries Service to earn a permit for its activities. If it didn't do so and was later found to have harmed marine mammals, it would be found in violation of federal environmental law and have to stop its training and testing.
Zak Smith, staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he's encouraged the Navy reduced the threshold for the level of sonar it found to affect beaked whales — a species that appears to be particularly sensitive to the noise.
The Navy said it changed the threshold because research has shown beaked whales move away and otherwise react when exposed to a lower level of sound than earlier studies indicated.
"My first glance shows there's positive steps," Smith said after he took a quick look at the 1,800-page document. But he said he would have to look at the details before giving his full assessment.
The Navy uses sonar to track enemy submarines, torpedoes, mines and other potential threats underwater. Sonar operators send pulses of sound through the ocean and then listen for echoes from objects hit by the sound waves.
Scientists say the sound may disrupt the feeding patterns of marine mammals. The sound may also startle some species of whales, causing them to surface rapidly.
The Navy will be holding public meetings on the study in Hawaii during the week of June 11 and in Southern California on June 20.
____
Online: Hawaii and Southern California Training and Testing Study Area: www.hstteis.com

Elephant tribe gives honor to Human friend

2012-05-09 "Wild Elephants gather inexplicably, mourn death of “Elephant Whisperer”
[http://delightmakers.com/news/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-elephant-whisperer]
Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 2. His family tells of a solemn procession of Elephants that defies human explanation.
For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives.

The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”
For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died? Known for his unique ability to calm traumatized elephants, Anthony had become a legend. He is the author of three books, Babylon Ark, detailing his efforts to rescue the animals at Baghdad Zoo during the Iraqi war, the forthcoming The Last Rhinos, and his bestselling The Elephant Whisperer.
There are two elephant herds at Thula Thula. According to his son Dylan, both arrived at the Anthony family compound shortly after Anthony’s death.“They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,” Dylan is quoted in various local news accounts. “The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush.”Elephants have long been known to mourn their dead. In India, baby elephants often are raised with a boy who will be their lifelong “mahout.” The pair develop legendary bonds – and it is not uncommon for one to waste away without a will to live after the death of the other.
 A line of elephants approaching the Anthony house, but these are wild elephants in the 21st century, not some Rudyard Kipling novel.The first herd to arrive at Thula Thula several years ago were violent. They hated humans. Anthony found himself fighting a desperate battle for their survival and their trust, which he detailed in The Elephant Whisperer:“It was 4:45 a.m. and I was standing in front of Nana, an enraged wild elephant, pleading with her in desperation. Both our lives depended on it. The only thing separating us was an 8,000-volt electric fence that she was preparing to flatten and make her escape.“Nana, the matriarch of her herd, tensed her enormous frame and flared her ears.“’Don’t do it, Nana,’ I said, as calmly as I could. She stood there, motionless but tense. The rest of the herd froze.“’This is your home now,’ I continued. ‘Please don’t do it, girl.’I felt her eyes boring into me.
Anthony, Nana and calf “’They’ll kill you all if you break out. This is your home now. You have no need to run any more.’“Suddenly, the absurdity of the situation struck me,” Anthony writes. “Here I was in pitch darkness, talking to a wild female elephant with a baby, the most dangerous possible combination, as if we were having a friendly chat. But I meant every word. ‘You will all die if you go. Stay here. I will be here with you and it’s a good place.’“She took another step forward. I could see her tense up again, preparing to snap the electric wire and be out, the rest of the herd smashing after her in a flash.“I was in their path, and would only have seconds to scramble out of their way and climb the nearest tree. I wondered if I would be fast enough to avoid being trampled. Possibly not.“Then something happened between Nana and me, some tiny spark of recognition, flaring for the briefest of moments. Then it was gone. Nana turned and melted into the bush. The rest of the herd followed. I couldn’t explain what had happened between us, but it gave me the
 first glimmer of hope since the elephants had first thundered into my life.”
Elephants gathering at the Anthony home It had all started several weeks earlier with a phone call from an elephant welfare organization. Would Anthony be interested in adopting a problem herd of wild elephants? They lived on a game reserve 600 miles away and were “troublesome,” recalled Anthony.“They had a tendency to break out of reserves and the owners wanted to get rid of them fast. If we didn’t take them, they would be shot.“The woman explained, ‘The matriarch is an amazing escape artist and has worked out how to break through electric fences. She just twists the wire around her tusks until it snaps, or takes the pain and smashes through.’“’Why me?’ I asked.“’I’ve heard you have a way with animals. You’re right for them. Or maybe they’re right for you.’”What followed was heart-breaking. One of the females and her baby were shot and killed in the round-up, trying to evade capture.
“When they arrived, they were thumping the inside of the trailer like a gigantic drum. We sedated them with a pole-sized syringe, and once they had calmed down, the door slid open and the matriarch emerged, followed by her baby bull, three females and an 11-year-old bull.”Last off was the 15-year-old son of the dead mother. “He stared at us,” writes Anthony, “flared his ears and with a trumpet of rage, charged, pulling up just short of the fence in front of us.“His mother and baby sister had been shot before his eyes, and here he was, just a teenager, defending his herd. David, my head ranger, named him Mnumzane, which in Zulu means ‘Sir.’ We christened the matriarch Nana, and the second female-in-command, the most feisty, Frankie, after my wife.“We had erected a giant enclosure within the reserve to keep them safe until they became calm enough to move out into the reserve proper.“Nana gathered her clan, loped up to the fence and stretched out her trunk, touching the electric wires. The 8,000-volt charge sent a jolt shuddering through her bulk. She backed off. Then, with her family in tow, she strode the entire perimeter of the enclosure, pointing her trunk at the wire to check for vibrations from the electric current.
“As I went to bed that night, I noticed the elephants lining up along the fence, facing out towards their former home. It looked ominous. I was woken several hours later by one of the reserve’s rangers, shouting, ‘The elephants have gone! They’ve broken out!’ The two adult elephants had worked as a team to fell a tree, smashing it onto the electric fence and then charging out of the enclosure.
 “I scrambled together a search party and we raced to the border of the game reserve, but we were too late. The fence was down and the animals had broken out.
 “They had somehow found the generator that powered the electric fence around the reserve. After trampling it like a tin can, they had pulled the concrete-embedded fence posts out of the ground like matchsticks, and headed north.”
 The reserve staff chased them – but had competition.
 “We met a group of locals carrying large caliber rifles, who claimed the elephants were ‘fair game’ now. On our radios we heard the wildlife authorities were issuing elephant rifles to staff. It was now a simple race against time.”
 Anthony managed to get the herd back onto Thula Thula property, but problems had just begun:
“Their bid for freedom had, if anything, increased their resentment at being kept in captivity. Nana watched my every move, hostility seeping from every pore, her family behind her. There was no doubt that sooner or later they were going to make another break for freedom.
 “Then, in a flash, came the answer. I would live with the herd. To save their lives, I would stay with them, feed them, talk to them. But, most importantly, be with them day and night. We all had to get to know each other.”
 It worked, as the book describes in detail, notes the London Daily Mail newspaper.
 Anthony was later offered another troubled elephant – one that was all alone because the rest of her herd had been shot or sold, and which feared humans. He had to start the process all over again.
 And as his reputation spread, more “troublesome” elephants were brought to Thula Thula.
So, how after Anthony’s death, did the reserve’s elephants — grazing miles away in distant parts of the park — know?
 “A good man died suddenly,” says Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D., “and from miles and miles away, two herds of elephants, sensing that they had lost a beloved human friend, moved in a solemn, almost ‘funereal’ procession to make a call on the bereaved family at the deceased man’s home.”
“If there ever were a time, when we can truly sense the wondrous ‘interconnectedness of all beings,’ it is when we reflect on the elephants of Thula Thula. A man’s heart’s stops, and hundreds of elephants’ hearts are grieving. This man’s oh-so-abundantly loving heart offered healing to these elephants, and now, they came to pay loving homage to their friend.”
His sons say that their father was a remarkable man who lived his life to the fullest and never looked back on any choices he made.
He leaves behind his wife Francoise, his two sons, Dylan and Jason, and two grandsons, Ethan and Brogan.
Lawrence will be missed by all.
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To Hear More CLICK HERE [http://delightmakers.com/your-part/register/]
This story, written by Rob Kirby of  Beliefnet , has touched so many of us so very deeply that we have decided to put a call out to all those who would like to salute this amazing man, Lawrence Anthony. We thought that we might make a beautiful tribute to him and invite you all to be part of it. If you would like to upload your favourite elephant related photograph, poem, song, video or a few words of your own. Please fill in the form below. We will create a project page with all of your contributions and then turn them into a beautiful collection in his honour to give to the family.

Yanomami

"Amazon tribe massacre alleged in Venezuela" from "[London] Guardian" newspaper, reposted at
[http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2012/08/amazon-tribe-massacre-alleged-in.html]:
A massacre of up to 80 Yanomami Indians has taken place in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, according to claims emerging from the region, prompting the government to send in investigators.
 Blame is being placed on illegal garimpeiro miners who cross the border from Brazil to prospect for gold and have clashed violently with Amazon tribes before. According to local testimonies an armed group flew over in a helicopter, opening fire with guns and launching explosives into Irotatheri settlement in the High Ocamo area. The village was home to about 80 people and only three had been accounted for as survivors, according to people from a neighbouring village and indigenous rights activists.
 The claims were presented to local authorities in Puerto Ayacucho, the capital of Amazonas state on Monday, asking for an immediate investigation of the site where the alleged killing took place, and for the expulsion of the garimpeiros. The event would have taken place during the first two weeks of July but due to the remoteness of the village it is only now been made public.
 A spokeswoman at the public prosecutor's office said the government could not yet confirm the attack nor how many people may have been killed.
 Luis Shatiwe, a leader of the Yanomami group, told a Venezuelan newspaper that the survivors were hunters who had been out of the village at the time of the alleged attack. The hunters, he said, heard a helicopter and gunfire and said a communal hut in the village was destroyed by fire.
 Survival International, a London-based organisation that seeks to protect native peoples, said in a statement that another Yanomami told the group that tribespeople had found bones and charred bodies in the village.
A member of the team that collected the testimony said: "When we heard the first accounts we flew into Parima-B [the closest town] by helicopter with a contingent of military. In Parima we spoke to Yanomami who had walked six days to get to Parima-B to talk to us. In places this remote that is how people communicate." The man asked not to be identified.
 Luis Bello, a lawyer in Puerto Ayacucho who defends indigenous rights, said the allegations were the latest in a series of reports of abuse as garimpeiro activities in the region have increased. "Reports of garimpeiros attacking different communities are becoming more and more frequent, and now we also hear of rivers being poisoned with mercury. We've reported to the authorities but we are so far away that is it all easily forgotten," Bello said.
Bello said a combination of high gold prices and pressure from the Brazilian federal police in their own territory had led to the influx of garimpeiros. "They have also become more sophisticated. They used to fly in and land in clandestine strips, now they come in helicopters and use huge extracting machinery that is decimating the jungle," Bello said.
 In 1993, 16 Yanomamis were killed by garimpeiros in what became known as the Haximu massacre. But there have been cases that turn out to be fake. Aime Thilet, a member of Wataniba, an NGO that defends indigenous rights, said that when the latest alleged attack was reported "we were in the Alto Siapo, also on the border with Brazil, because we got radio a very detailed and what seemed credible report of another massacre, which turned out to be false".
 Livorio Guarulla, the governor of Amazonas state, said remoteness and military restrictions on access to the area made it difficult to investigate the claims quickly. "This happened in July but because it takes close to seven days to get there we don't really know what happened. The shaponos – the collective community dwellings – house more than 100 people, so it could be 70 [casualties] or it could be more or less."
 The minister for indigenous affairs has yet to make a statement.

Non-Human Nations: Pachyderms (Elephants)

"Will Africa’s Elephants be Extinct in 10 Years?" 2012-06-19 by Tara Holmes
[http://fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/06/2012-06-19-will-africas-elephants-be.html]

"Three rare elephants found dead in Indonesia" 2012-06-02 from "AFP" [fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/06/2012-06-02-three-rare-elephants-found.html]

2012-05-09 "Wild Elephants gather inexplicably, mourn death of “Elephant Whisperer” [fifthworldnews.blogspot.com/2012/05/elephant-tribe-gives-honor-to-human.html]


"Elephants may understand pointing"
2013-10-12 "UPI" [http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Elephants_may_understand_pointing_999.html]: Fife, Scotland - A study by researchers at Scotland's University of St. Andrews found elephants understand pointing by humans without being trained.    
Dr. Richard W. Byrne and graduate student Anna Smet studied 11 elephants in Zimbabwe for two months, reaching the conclusion that elephants understand pointing, The New York Times reported Friday.    
The elephants were given a simple pointing test, Smet said. She would put fruit in one of two buckets, unknown to the elephant, then point at the one with the fruit in it.    
The elephants picked the right bucket 67.5 percent of the time, Smet said.    
Primates and other animals have failed similar tests, the newspaper noted.    
Diana Reiss, an expert on elephant cognition at Hunter College, raised questions about whether the elephants, which were employed at an elephant-back safari attraction, learned how to interpret pointing by their handlers.    
"In these elephant camps such opportunities can easily go unnoticed by their human caretakers," Reiss said.    
Byrne and Smet said they plan to address this issue and investigate whether wild elephants can point to each other.    
"It makes us want to revisit visual signals by elephants for elephants," Smet said.