Arctic holds 90 billion barrels of oil: US

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/2008/07/24130139/Arctic-holds-90-billion-barrel.html

News excerpts from NDTV:

"The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

Included in the Artic bonanza is 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, the USGS said in a statement posted on its website.

The Arctic Circle is the name given to the region around the North Pole. It includes the Arctic Ocean, the northern parts of Europe, Asia, North America and the Russian Far East."

No wonder Russia has been making claims to all the resources in the Arctic region.

"Before we can make decisions about our future use of oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species, native communities and the health of our planet, we need to know what's out there," said USGS director Mark Myers.

This is something which is very true in the current scenario. Global warming has already become a monster which is directly affecting the Arctic endangered species. The quest of energy hungry world should not cause additional irreversible damage to these ecosystem.

Mysore Zoo

Recently went to Mysore with my friends. We also took out some time to visit the zoo. My experience at the Mysore zoo was very satisfying. The zoo is well maintained (its really crowded though, a -ve) with most of the common animals found there.

Most of the animals were kept in a environment closest to its possible natural habitat. The zoo had sufficient space, and they had the luxury to give enough to the animals. One of the main attraction, the Giraffe, is kept at the entry to the zoo which welcomes the public.

The above video was captured when two zebras were in their playful mood. It was satisfying to see the animals having fun even in their captivity. It looked like they were just kids who wanted to go out and have fun.

Well, thats the fun to be born wild......

The great rhino conservation success story

Something I thought worth sharing

*Information collected from the web, wikipedia

Here is a comment from the WWF website:

"The Indian, or greater one-horned, rhino is a conservation success story. Thanks to strict protection measures, its population increased from 600 in 1975 to 2,400 in 2002. But it is still an endangered animal that faces the ever-present danger of poaching for its horn."

The Indian Rhinoceros or the Great One-horned Rhinoceros or the Asian One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is a large mammal found in Nepal and in Assam, India. It is confined to the tall grasslands and forests in the foothills of the Himalayas.

In Assam, rhinos are found in the Kaziranga National Park where it is under conservation.
Kaziranga National Park has been granted maximum protection under the Indian law for wildlife conservation. Various laws, which include the Assam Forest Regulation of 1891 and the Biodiversity Conservation Act of 2002 have been enacted for protection of wildlife in the park.

Here is the rhino population chart (from wikipedia).

Awesome isn't it??

There are still issues with poaching in Kaziranga.


Join the rhino conservation effort with http://onehornedrhino.org/