EDITOR—Every climber knows that mountains are unforgiving. You have to move along the rocks very slowly, with a bunch of precautions so that, God forbid, you do not fall into the abyss, splashing your brains over the stones. Apparently, no one told the mountain goats about this. That is why they jump on steep cliffs as if on level ground, as if gravity had no effect on them. Mountain goats are divided into three groups: ibex, goats and tours. The difference between them is mainly in the structure of the horns. Mountain goats are closely related to mountain rams, with which they have many similarities. However, mountain rams avoid steep cliffs, and live on smooth slopes, at an altitude of 2200 to 3500 meters above sea level. Their more distant relatives are snow goats, chamois and gorals. In short, they have a lot of relatives. But the question arises: how can mountain goats stand on tiny rock ledges, several thousand meters high, and even run on them? What is their secret of climbing? Did they hack the laws of physics?
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ERIC ZUESSE—Some reader-comments there were against Russia’s Government, such as “Trish: What a disaster for Russia, the sooner Putin goes the better.” But others were instead against America’s Government, such as “TBTB: And the US says it is not party the war? It instigated it with NATO expansion to Russia’s borders, a coup in Ukraine to install a neo-Nazi proxy regime, arming it, training it, financing it, providing it with war plans and intelligence, plus mercenaries and diplomatic support.
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Amazing footage of a mother bear helping her cubs get over a tall fence. Something to think about, especially for those among us who think nothing of invading animal habitats or taking their lives for any reason whatsoever.
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A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat, She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of Farallon Island (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help. Within a few hours, a rescue team arrived and determined that she was so badly off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her…a very dangerous proposition.
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Viewed by many as an “eco-terrorist”, and certainly as an “annoying obstacle to human progress”, Tompkins, a onetime dedicated capitalist, eventually embraced the rights of all species, and the right of nature not to be exploited to death, with total equanimity. His transformation had profound consequences. Now Tompkins’ legacy—attained with his wife Kristine’s collaboration and support—will be the single biggest philanthropic gift in history, with an ecological footprint twice as large as Yellowstone Park in the US.
