National Elephant Day (Thailand)

1. On 26 May 1998, the Thai government declared the 13th of March to annually be the Thai National Elephant Day or Chang Thai Day (Thai: วันช้างไทย). 
2. The observance was suggested by the Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand and submitted to the Coordinating Subcommittee for the Conservation of Thai Elephants. 
3. The date was chosen because the Royal Forest Department designated the white elephant as the national animal of Thailand on 13 March 1963.
4. It is also called Chang Thai Day, to draw attention to the importance of human-elephant relationship in Thailand since Thai people have had a close-knit relationship with elephants since ancient times, with the elephant playing a significant role in transportation, labor and battle.
5. In Thailand, white elephants (ช้างเผือก, chang phueak) are considered sacred and are a symbol of royal power.
6. Considered the national animal of Thailand, the elephant faced threats to its existence because of habitat invasion by humans and climate changes, amongst the other factors. 
7. The number of Thai elephants has been reduced from 100,000 to 2,000–3,000 wild elephants and about 2,700 domesticated elephants over the past 100 years.
8. In the Elephant Kraal Pavillion in the ancient historical city in Ayutthaya province, the elephants are treated to a huge feast of fruits and vegetables, and are even given blessings by a monk during a religious ceremony.
9. In Pattaya’s Nong Nooch Botanic Garden, the luck ritual included 75 elephants and their mahouts, who also took part in a grand elephant procession at the park.
10. Some elephant parks will even hold Buddhist rituals where the animals are thoroughly scrubbed and showered before monks are invited to perform ceremonies to wipe away bad luck and wish for good luck for the elephants and their mahouts in the coming year.
11. Special events are held at a number of venues in northern Thailand including the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre and the Elephant Nature Park.
12. A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Elephant_Day_(Thailand)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/thailand-celebrates-national-thai-elephant-day/article17455677.ece

http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/13/thailand-13th-of-march-elephant-day

http://www.asianelephantresearch.com/news-events.php?news=11

http://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/photos/in-pictures-thailands-annual-national-elephant-day

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thailand-observes-national-elephant-day-today/

https://www.facebook.com/events/402244986786374/

http://www.thaizer.com/festivals/national-elephant-day-in-thailand/

November is Peanut Butter Lovers Month

1. Southern Peanut Growers, representing southeastern peanut farmers, started the celebration as Peanut Butter Lovers Day on November 4, 1990. November 4 marks the anniversary of the first patent for peanut butter, applied for by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg on November 4, 1895.
2. Eating peanuts and peanut butter helps control hunger without leading to weight gain.
3. Studies found peanuts lowered the risk of cardiovascular and coronary heart disease. 
4. Eating peanuts and peanut butter may reduce colon cancer in women.
5. A study found that those getting the most niacin from foods were 70 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Peanuts are one of the foods highest in niacin.
6. In two studies, individuals eating five or more servings of nuts per week had a 25 percent to 30 percent lower risk of getting gallstones compared to those who rarely or never ate nuts. 
7. Although peanuts are technically classified as a legume, they were considered nuts for these experiments, so peanuts are actually the most commonly consumed ‘nut’ in the world.
8. All of the fat in peanut butter is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. A study found that insulin-resistant adults who ate a diet high in mono-saturated fat had less belly fat than people who ate more carbohydrates or saturated fat.
9. Eating peanuts can reduce the risk of diabetes according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
10. Peanut butter has protein as well as potassium — which lowers the risk of high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. It also contains fiber for your bowel health, healthy fats, magnesium to fortify your bones and muscles, Vitamin E and antioxidants.
11. Peanuts are susceptible to molds and fungus — some of which are highly toxic. A fungus called Aspergillus flavus produces a carcinogen that is twenty times more toxic than DDT, called aflatoxin. 
12. Feed your dogs peanut butter. The vitamins E and H (Biotin) in peanut butter can help to improve your dog's coat, dog skin, and nail strength. However, it is better to make your own and avoid feeding your dog high salt levels in commercial brands. Also, don't feed it to overweight dogs, as it is calorie-laden. Use little dollops of peanut butter to help your dogs swallow their pills. Warning: Some dogs may be allergic to peanut butter. Make sure your dog won't have allergic reactions before feeding him or her the peanut butter. Some people are amused by the mess dogs make when fed peanut butter because they can't get it off their mouths easily. This can be upsetting for the dog, so only feed it small amounts at a time.

Sources:

http://nationalpeanutboard.org/the-facts/fun-facts/

http://www.wikihow.com/Celebrate-Peanut-Butter-Lovers-Month

http://peanutbutterlovers.com/uncategorized/november-peanut-butter-lovers-month/

http://www.punchbowl.com/holidays/national-peanut-butter-lovers-day

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/11/november-is-peanut-butter-lovers-month.html

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-health-benefits-of-peanut-butter.html

http://www.peanut-institute.org/health-and-nutrition/default.asp

http://nationalpeanutboard.org/the-facts/fun-facts/

PAMANA shot dead after two months

1. Eagle “Pamana” bears the bloodline of eagles in the Lanao Del Norte region which is 245 km northwest of Hamiguitan. 
2. If Pamana survives and breeds with a resident bird, bloodlines would mix which is generally good for the eagle population, as wildlife genetics would predict.
3. Philippine eagle “Pamana” was “soft-released” through “hacking” method which is a procedure that involves caging the bird at the release site for at least two week prior to setting it free so that she would be adjusted or acclimatized to local conditions.
4. The lowland forests of Mt. Hamiguitan in San Isidro, Davao Oriental would have been Pamana’s new home. Famous for its dwarf or “bonsai” forests, Hamiguitan is a Global Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) that sits on a peninsula separating Davao Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. Because of its outstanding universal value as habitat for unique biodiversity, it is both a UNESCO World and an ASEAN Heritage Site.
5. The Philippine Eagle is classified as "critically-endangered" or close to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Only found in the Philippines, only around 400 pairs are left in the wild.
6. PEF released Pamana into the wild only in June 12,  to commemorate the 117th celebration of Philippine Independence Day. 
7. This is not the first time Pamana has suffered from human-inflicted injuries. Pamana was rescued three years ago as an eaglet surviving two gunshot wounds. She was found in a mountain range of Gabunan in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte in 2012.
8. The eagle, named "Pamana (Legacy)" by conservationists, was found with a bullet hole in her right breast that shattered her left shoulder, said Dennis Salvador, Executive Director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation.
9. Scientists from PEF found her body on August 16 after the tracker they had outfitted her with went into mortality mode – a signal that she was dead.
10. She was around 3 years old at the time of her death and the site where she was found, Mount Hamiguitan Range, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Davao Oriental, was only one kilometer from where they had released her.
11. Her body was already decomposing when they found it near a creek below thick forests just one kilometer away from her new forest home at Sitio Tomalite in San Isidro, Davao Oriental just this Sunday, August 16.
12. The death of a Philippine eagle (scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi) in Mount Hamiguitan comes as a shock because it is one of the country’s protected areas. 

Sources:

http://www.philippineeaglefoundation.org/article/80/flight-to-freedom-releasing-philippine-eagle-pamana-to-her-new-forest-home

http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/environment/103080-philippine-eagle-pamana-shot-mount-hamiguitan

http://www.wheninmanila.com/philippine-eagle-pamana-shot-dead-on-chest/

http://cnnphilippines.com/regional/2015/08/19/Pamana-Philippine-eagle-body-denr.html

Taking Care of Guinea Pig

Posting this reference guide from another site on how to take care of Guinea Pigs because we have a new pair of Guinea Pigs at home last 10 June 2015 which was given freely to me by a colleague who happens to be a breeder.

1. Brush your Teddy once a week at least and use a slicker brush will help get rid of any loose hair and help to slow down any moulting.
2. An alternative brush that you can use is a wire cat brush but take care not to hurt them by being too rough with it as you could scratch their skin.
3. A lot of people like the way their hair stands on end, and a good way to keep their hair standing up nicely is to brush the other way up their body so rather than head to rump, brush the other way rump to head.
4. Teddies tend to have a dryer skin than other breeds of guinea pig, so do take care when bathing them. http://teddybearteddies.webs.com/ reccomends no more than 3 baths a year and use a specialist shampoo. http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/ have a very good range.
5. When bathing them use a bowl of shallow warm water (or a sink) and then rinse them, apply shampoo and rinse again using the warm water.
6. Try not to get shampoo in their ears. You can do this by spot cleaning their head with a cloth.
7. Dry them with a towel to stop them from getting cold.
8. Take care to clean their ears each month as their ears do get a wax build up. Use a drop of mineral oil in each ear to loosen up the build up and take a cloth around your finger and remove the wax.
9. They will need their nails clipped once a month to ensure that they don’t grow too long.
10. They eat a standard guinea pig diet of 75% hay topped up with veggies and fruit not to mention vitamin c pellets and fresh water.
11. Their cage will need cleaning out once a week thoroughly to keep it clean. They do appreciate a clean and fresh cage so it is a priority to do this. Spot clean the cage daily to get rid of any poops that have appeared.
12. Never use sawdust, but line their cage with newspaper, hay or another suitable bedding such as fleece.

References:

http://teddybearteddies.webs.com/

http://www.onlineguineapigcare.com/category/breeds-of-guinea-pig/

Earth Day: 12 Names of Baby Animals

1. Leveret - A leveret is a young hare, especially one that is less than a year old. The word is a diminutive or "small version" of the Norman French levre for "hare." The addition of the suffix -et denotes that the hare is young or small.
2. Polliwog - A polliwog is a young frog or tadpole that has not yet grown legs. The word is derived from the Old English polwygle with pol meaning "head" and wygle meaning "wiggle." Idiomatically, a tadpole is a "wiggling head." In mariner slang, polliwog can also refer to a sailor who has not yet crossed the equator.
3. Kid - A kid is a baby goat or antelope, though the word may also refer to leather made from goat hide. You might recognize the phrase, "to handle with kid gloves" meaning "to handle with care." The first recorded usage of kid as slang for "child" was in 1599, and the verb form to kid (meaning "to joke") entered the vernacular in 1839.
4. Smolt - A smolt is a young salmon in the midst of its first migration from fresh water into the sea. The word is of Scottish origin, though it grew to prominence in the Middle English. "Smolt" may be related to "smelt" (one of many silvery fishes that prefer cold northern waters) because salmon in this young stage resemble the smelt fish. 
5. Hatchling - A hatchling is a young alligator, bird, reptile or fish recently emerged from an egg. The word is relatively new--"hatchling" slipped into common usage in 1900--but the first documented "hatchery" for birds operated under that name in 1880. The word originates from the Old English heaccan meaning "to produce young from eggs."
6. Fledgling - A fledgling is any young bird that has recently grown the feathers it needs in order to fly. In other words, a fledgling is a young bird that is ready to leave the nest. In common usage, a fledgling can be any inexperienced person or someone newly entering a profession, i.e. a fledgling baker or a fledgling pilot.
7. Shoat - A shoat is a young pig that has recently been weaned off of its mother's milk and onto solid food. Though a definitive origin of the word is unknown, "shoat" may come from the West Flemish schote referring to a pig under one year old. 
8. Spat - The word spat refers to the spawn of an oyster or similar shellfish, young oysters collectively, or a single baby oyster. "Spat" is also the past tense of "to spit," and in American English a "spat" is a petty argument or quarrel. 
9. Nymph - If you're picturing the beautiful demigoddesses of ancient Greece and Rome, you're only half right. A nymph is also the young of any insect that undergoes incomplete metamorphosis, like grasshoppers, termites, ticks and cockroaches. Nymphs are born with many of the characteristics they will carry into adulthood, unlike moths and butterflies which undergo a full metamorphosis, liquefying and reforming with wings in the pupal stage.
10. Eyas - An eyas is a young nestling hawk or falcon, though the word can also indicate a young hawk that has been taken from its nest so that it can be trained for hunting. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, hawks and falcons were esteemed hunters and the practice of training the birds was known as "falconry" or "hawking." Eyas is a variant of nyas from the Middle French niais meaning "nestling." "Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!" Their children all go by the same baby name. 
11. Whelp - A whelp is the young of a tiger, lion, wolf, bear, or dog. Today whelp can also be slang for an obstinate or overly vivacious child, akin to "brat" or "whippersnapper." Early forms of the word appear in Old English as hwelp, Old Norse as hvelpr, and Old High German as hwelf, but all of them seem to relate to "the young of the dog." 
12. Cygnet - A cygnet is a young swan. The word comes from the Latin cygnus meaning "swan" plus the diminutive suffix "-et." The more common English word swan stems from the Old Norse word svanr and its related German equivalent Schwan.

References:

http://dictionary.reference.com/slideshows/baby-animals