Fish and Amphibians

Vanilla has brought prosperity to farmers in Madagascar – but often at the cost of its forests. Now, rewilding efforts and an unobtrusive gecko are restoring woodland and helping vanilla plants to thrive On a sweltering day on a family farm in north-eastern Madagascar, a gold dust day gecko creeps carefully along a thin vanilla vine, stalking its prey. The microscopic hairs on the gecko's bulbous toes help it to climb vertically. With its yellowish-green skin and rusty bars on the lower back, the gold dust day gecko is a common sight in Madagascar. This particular one is after a much-dreaded bug called voampangetotra – Malagasy for "farting insect" – whose toxic gas secretions destroy the flowering vanilla orchids. This is the first time that ecologist Thio Rosin Fulgence has witnessed such feeding behaviour. "Vanilla farmers told me this species of g...

Their shadow could not fall on anyone a caste above them. No right to draw water from the village well. Children of God, "Harijan", said Gandhi. The Constitution titled them Scheduled Caste. Dalit, the preferred word in the world of activists. Does the term matter? The "Idea" of the untouchable lurks like a shadow that cannot be shaken off. The bright lights of a city can blur the shadow and keep one untouched with idea on a daily basis. Not so in rural India. Not yet. Some scattered stories. My first encounter with the tall, stately priest remains etched. He had come for the annual ancestral ritual, "shraadh", to be performed at home. As he entered, I moved forward and bent to touch his feet. He immediately shuffled his feet back as he blessed me. Lesson one learnt. All preparations were done. The puja was performed and I was ready to serve him his meal. He immediately declined in spite of much persuasion by my husband and me. Panna called me aside and sa...

On this episode of Net-Zero Carbon, Evan Pohaski, CEO of freight carrier JLE Industries, joins Tyler Cole, director of carbon intelligence at FreightWaves, to discuss environmental, social and governance opportunities in the flatbed sector.  JLE is leading the charge for carriers through emission-reduction pilot projects and improved visibility solutions. Pohaski and Cole unpack how ESG initiatives can be used to separate the leaders from the laggards in freight and logistics. "Sustainability for us has to do with building long-term resiliency into the model. It's about increasing the value proposition to the customers while creating a better sense of purpose," Pohaski said. More than 70% of JLE's primary customers have ESG mandates, so JLE is working on helping those companies improve their ESG metrics. Cole and Pohaski discussed how economics and safety are considered table stakes, and ESG impacts are starting to be considered in the same way. "Safety ...

News > Science "> The Outside Story Published: 6/27/2021 6:01:35 PM Walking down my road on an early June afternoon several years ago, I spotted a snake attempting to cross into the underbrush. Covered in colorful splotches, it quickly slithered across the pavement and out of sight. I knew this wasn't a gartersnake, a familiar visitor to my garden, and later identified the reptile as a milksnake. This was my first encounter with the species, and while I spotted another milksnake two years later, I might be hard-pressed to see one again. Milksnakes are secretive and largely nocturnal. The eastern milksnake ( Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum ) is br...

PORT ORANGE — Driving along Volusia County's east coast on Florida State Road A1A means coming across several seafood spots. But for those passing through Port Orange's busiest road, Dunlawton Avenue, another unique option is coming soon. The Proud Crab restaurant is a few weeks away from opening at the Dunlawton Square by the end of the month, in the southeast corner of the Dunlawton Avenue and Nova Road intersection. Beaches restaurant: Beaches restaurant on track to open on Daytona's East ISB Friday Riverwalk: Port Orange chooses Bristol Development Group to lead the 'Riverwalk' project NSB: New Paradise Pizza restaurant in NSB brings mix of Italian, brick oven pizza flavors Kristin Claywell, who will be The Proud Crab's general manager, is no stranger to the restaurant industry. She worked at Norwood's Eatery & Treehouse Bar in New Smyrna Beach for more than 15 years and most recently at Takara Steakhouse and Sushi restaurant at...

KOCHI: A trip to take photographs of dragonfly lizards at Thattekkad Salim Ali bird sanctuary in Ernakulam turned into an event of identifying a new frog species along the Western Ghats region. Scientists have identified a freshwater species and named it Euphlyctis jaladhara with a common name Jaladhara skittering frog due to its habitat – a water reservoir. It started with Dr BH Channakesavamurthy's trip, when he was with the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in 2017 along with a team of other scientists. "I happened to see a fresh water frog with soil colour against the usual green. It increased my curiosity and I took two specimens from the spot in my wet vest. We submitted the specimen for scientific study," he said. Later multiple populations of this species have been identified along western coastal plains of the country. Scientists from ZSI, Mount Carmel College and the National Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhubaneswar collaborated in discovering t...

If you, like many of us, didn't end up winning $22,222 through Red Lobster this week, we get your pain. But the seafood restaurant chain is still offering fans some smaller wins with its new weekday lunch special. The weekday special introduces a new lunch menu, which offers fans 10 items for under $10 each. The dishes available in the new lunch menu include: Crispy Wild-Caught Flounder Garlic Shrimp Scampi Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp Crispy Claim Strips Popcorn Shrimp Soup, Salad, and Cheddar Bay Biscuits Crispy Cod Sandwich Oven-Broiled Wild-Caught Flounder Classic Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken Classic Caesar Salad with Seasoned Shrimp The promotion is available at participating locations from Monday through Friday until 3 pm. You can partake in the special in-restaurant, To Go, or through touch-free delivery when ordered directly from redlobster.com. h/t Chew Boom