ST. THOMAS - The owner of the Sapphire Beach Resort erected barricades Thursday to prevent the public from parking on the resort's property, raising the question of public beach access in the territory.

The new restriction is the latest action taken by the property's new owner, Dean Morehouse of Beachside Associates.

For years, the gravel parking area to the left of the main entrance has been used by locals and visitors coming to enjoy Sapphire Beach.

ST. THOMAS - With a new chief executive officer at the helm, Innovative is poised to take on the competitors that soon will enter the marketplace with the launch of the territory's V.I. Next Generation Network.

The V.I. Next Generation Network was formed after the territory was awarded $107 million in federal grants to build the territory's first open access broadband network.

When the government project was awarded, Innovative already was working on its own project to upgrade the old telecom system to a hybrid coaxial cable and fiber-optic network. The Next Generation Network is expected to be completed in the next six months.

ST. THOMAS - A New Jersey woman was jailed early Thursday morning after police said she pulled a police officer's hair and scratched her face.

Ritika Mehta, 31, was arrested at 2 a.m. Thursday and charged with aggravated assault and battery of a police officer. Her bail was set at $25,000.

V.I. Police Officer Kira Browne responded to another officer's request for assistance with a drunken couple fighting near "Quiet Mon Pub" in Cruz Bay, St. John, according to the probable cause fact sheet.

ST. CROIX - An employee who was shot during a robbery at a metal works in Estate Glynn on Thursday morning was the second person shot on the island in two days.

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The Virgin Islands Daily News - Official Site

Islands hit hard by storms now waiting for help

Monday, January 13, 2014

WE all know Christmas is a time for catching up with friends and family, even those spending the festive period abroad.

CFFAM rainn Mhr (Comharchumann Forbartha & Fostaochta) is a community group that manages a number of services for the 500-plus islanders, from library books to youth activities.

During the week the CCFAM twitter account tweeted that Eircom customers may ring the Customer Charter on 1800 40 00 00 and can ask to get a refund of line rental for the days that they were without phone service over Christmas and New Year following the recent storms.

Phone services to some homes on the island were knocked out long before Storm Christine came and caused yet more damage. The logistics of getting crews out to islands for repairs can be tricky ferries to and from rainn (also called Arranmore) were cancelled or cut some days.

Its a hazard and a fact of life for many islanders who live away from the mainland, but the ferocious winds and the damage caused by huge waves has meant many inhabitants of islands from Bere to Inishbofin and beyond are totting up the cost and waiting for repairs.

Writing on her Aran Islands Ireland Blog, Elisabeth Koopmans posted photographs of iche na gCoinnle beaga (Night of the little candles) and outlined how because of the ongoing chain of storms afflicting Inis Mein, the past four weeks were more or less coloured by agitation and unrest.

Living on an island there always will be vivid memories too of loved ones who lost their lives because of the sea. Therefore this whole period of time kept being characterised as one of fear and insecurity.

Over on Inishbofin, the island worst hit by the recent storms, the extent of the hammering dished out by the gales was best illustrated by the destruction of the lighthouse, a literal and metaphorical beacon for life on the islands.

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Islands hit hard by storms now waiting for help

Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago of 176 islands, was hit by Cyclone Ian Saturday, with winds up to 178 miles per hour. At least one person was killed, and authorities are still searching remote islands for more victims.

Authorities were searchingTonga'sremote islands for cyclone victims Sunday after a powerful storm cut a swath of destruction through this South Pacific archipelago, killing one person and destroying most of the homes in some areas.

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Relief efforts following Saturday's cyclone were concentrating on the Ha'apai islands one ofTonga'sthree island groups between the main island of Tongatapu in the south and the Vava'u islands to the north,Tonga'sDirector of Emergencies Leveni Aho said.

Cyclone Ian hitTongawith gusts of up to 178 miles per hour. The storm was later downgraded from Category 5 the most destructive level to Category 4, with gusts of up to 155 mph. On Sunday, the cyclone was tracking southeast away fromTonga.

Two navy patrol boats carrying tarpaulins, tents and other emergency supplies left Tongatapu to bring help to victims who were cut off in the Ha'apai islands.

Authorities have been unable to make telephone contact with 23 islands, which account for most of the inhabited islands in the Ha'apai group, Aho said.

"The patrol boats are still out there, going from island to island to scout for information," he said.

The Ha'apai islands are home to 8,000 people, most of whom live on the devastated islands of Lifuka, where the person died, and Foa.

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Tonga slammed by Category 5 cyclone, 1 killed

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga Authorities were searching remote islands for cyclone victims on Sunday after the most powerful storm to hit Tonga in decades cut a swathe of destruction through this South Pacific archipelago, leaving at least one person dead and several injured.

Relief efforts following Saturday's storm were concentrating on the Ha'apai islands one of Tonga's three island groups between the main island of Tongatapu in the south and the Vava'u islands to the north, Tonga's Director of Emergencies Leveni Aho said.

Cyclone Ian hit Tonga with gusts up to 287 kilometers (178 miles) per hour. The storm was later downgraded from the top of five-scale destructive cyclones to category four, with gusts of up to 250 kph (155 mph). On Sunday, the cyclone was tracking southeast away from Tonga.

Two navy patrol boats carrying tarpaulins, tents and other emergency supplies left Tongatapu to bring help to victims who were cut off in the Ha'apai islands.

Aho said authorities have been unable to make telephone contact with 23 islands, which account for most of the inhabited islands in the Ha'apai group.

"The patrol boats are still out there, going from island to island to scout for information," Aho said.

Ha'apai islands are home to 8,000 people, most of whom live on the devastated islands of Lifuka, where one person died, and Foa.

Aho estimated that hundreds of people on the two islands were taking shelter in church buildings that were being used as evacuation centers.

A New Zealand air force P3 Orion plane made a surveillance flight over the disaster area on Sunday, taking pictures showing the extend of the damage that surprised officials.

Aho said up to 70 percent of the homes and buildings in some areas had been flattened.

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Strong cyclone hits Tonga in South Pacific, killing at least 1 person amid widespread damage

ABC A church with extensive damage in the town of Pangai on Lifuka island, Ha'apai, Tonga.

Tongan authorities say they have made contact with most of the smaller islands battered by Cyclone Ian.

Contact with small northern islands of the Ha'apai group, home to about 8,000 people, was lost when the category five storm packing winds of more than 200 kilometres per hour swept through the area over the weekend.

There's been extensive damage to the islands and at least one person was killed.

Communication and power is still limited in some areas and there is concern for the well-being of residents on low-lying islands.

The director of Tonga's Disaster Management Team, Leveni Aho, says it appears some smaller islands were lucky to escape serious damage.

"The path of the cyclone was very narrow indeed, so it hit some islands, and yet the neighbourhood about 40 to 50 kilometres away was almost untouched," he said.

Mr Aho, who is co-ordinating the emergency response to the disaster, says he's surprised there are not more casualties.

"We haven't had any further reports of any deaths, which is very good indeed, and looking at the amount of devastation it was a miracle that not more than one person has a loss of life."

He says residents on some of the low-lying islands are being moved to higher ground after a sea surge left flooded some of their homes.

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Contact made with Tonga's isolated islands as relief efforts get underway after Cyclone Ian

Much Office Sessions: Islands
Islands stopped by to perform two songs, "Wave Forms" and "Death Drive" - watch more Much Office Sessions at http://much.ca/officesessions.

By: MUCH

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Much Office Sessions: Islands - Video

GULF ISLANDS, Canada "I'm not ashamed to say it," Colin Griffinson says, as he scans the island-dotted Strait of Georgia, "I have wooden boat disease!"

And as he spins the very big wheel of his 1943 Pacific Yellowfin, one of a string of wooden boats the Dublin, Ireland-born captain and master carpenter has bought and restored over the years, he looks like a kid playing with his favorite toy.

And so do we, eight passengers cruising British Columbia's Gulf Islands aboard this floating toy box stacked with mountain bikes, mopeds, kayaks, golf clubs, fishing rods, shotguns for skeet shooting and a water slide, with a hot tub on deck and a speed boat with wakeboards and water skis.

This 114-foot vessel boasts varnished mahogany and gleaming brass but modern conveniences. Griffinson has poured more than $2 million into this retro gem, which has been plying the Inside Passage along British Columbia's coast as a luxury charter yacht for the last decade around the Gulf Islands, into Desolation Sound and north to the Great Bear Rainforest.

In spring 2013, the Yellowfin began accepting individual passengers for the pampered experiences once enjoyed only by the likes of Pearl Jam, Uma Thurman and the Saudi Arabian oil minister. The experience is active small-boat cruising with four traditional staterooms comfortably holding eight passengers.

We set sail on a June afternoon from the 1880s Britannia Shipyards in Richmond, near Vancouver International Airport, for four days of touring the Gulf Islands. The other passengers are two Vancouver families Marc and Karen Telio with their teens Sophia and Jack, and Cyndie Martinez and Gus Jassal with 5-year-old Javeen.

We chug from the mouth of the Fraser River into the Strait of Georgia to the original engines' "pocketa-pocketa" rhythm while sipping the ship's signature Bloody Caesars spiked with Pemberton, British Columbia's organic Schramm potato vodka. They're delivered on the sunny front deck in vase-sized glasses just as a pod of harbor porpoises surfaces port side.

We overnight in Montague Harbour off Galiano Island, and I awaken at dawn to cawing gulls and the aroma of salt air and brewing coffee. I treasure the serenity of being the first guest awake, cradling a steaming latte and a freshly baked banana muffin as I settle into my favorite hangout an ornate 19th century barber's chair in the wheelhouse, a prop from the movie "Mississippi Burning" that serves as the captain's chair.

When I see Dominic "Dom" Giossan, our guide, lower the first of the kayaks, I drop everything and slide into a red one, gliding across the glassy water that ripples as seal heads pop up around me. A bald eagle hovers above the mossy forest. Pink light creeps across white beaches with the rising sun.

Lighted by those soft rays, the cream-colored Pacific Yellowfin looks every bit the classic character it is. Built in Maine by the U.S. military and named JMP64 a Junior Mine Planter to protect East Coast harbors from a German invasion in World War II the 450-ton vessel saw only a few months of military service before the war ended. It was bought by California's Department of Fish and Game for tuna research (hence the name). It boasts a colorful rsum, including an early 1960s stint in the Caribbean with mysterious CIA connections during the Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco. Then it lounged, deteriorating for a decade on the Sacramento River as a houseboat, until oilman Pete Whittier bought and nursed it back to health as his private yacht.

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Cruising British Columbia's Gulf Islands, luxury toy box in tow

Jan. 10, 2014 Most of us have seen pictures and probably YouTube videos of "tame" animals on the Galapagos Islands, the biological paradise that was Charles Darwin's major source of inspiration as he observed nature and gradually developed his ideas about the importance of natural selection as a mechanism by which populations of organisms would change -- evolve genetically -- across generations, eventually becoming better and better suited to life in their current conditions.

A corollary of Darwin's revolutionary idea was that organisms would also evolve to lose structures, functions, and behaviors they no longer needed when environmental circumstances changed. He noted that island animals often acted tame, and presumed that they had evolved to be so after coming to inhabit islands that lacked most predators.

But more than 150 years later that almost casual observation remained to come under scientific scrutiny. Today, a team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside, Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne and George Washington University published a study showing that island lizards are indeed "tame" as compared with their mainland relatives. The researchers were able to approach island lizards more closely than they could approach mainland lizards.

"Our study confirms Darwin's observations and numerous anecdotal reports of island tameness," said Theodore Garland, a professor of biology at UC Riverside and one of the paper's coauthors. "His insights have once again proven to be correct, and remain an important source of inspiration for present-day biologists."

Study results appear online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. They will appear in the journal in print on Feb. 22.

The researchers conducted analyses of relationships of flight initiation distance (the predator-prey distance when the prey starts to flee) to distance to mainland, island area, and occupation of an island for 66 lizard species, taking into account differences in prey size and predator approach speed. They analyzed island and mainland lizard species from five continents and islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.

Their results showed that island tameness exists and that flight initiation distance decreases as distance from mainland increases. In other words, island lizards were more accessible the farther the islands were from the mainland.

"The suggestion by Darwin and others that prey on oceanic islands have diminished escape behavior is supported for lizards, which are distributed widely on both continents and islands," Garland said.

He explained that escape responses are reduced on remote islands, because predators are scarce or absent there, and natural selection under reduced predation favors prey that do not waste time and energy developing and performing needless escape.

The research team also found that prey size is an important factor that affects escape behavior.

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Living on islands makes animals tamer

Fuerteventura, Maxorata, Canary Islands - Spain Travel Channel
Fuerteventura Maxorata http://www.myvideomdia.com English see below Fuerteventura ist die zweitgrte Insel der Kanaren und zugleich die lteste. Das Klima a...

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Skylanders BOOMCAST: Wind-Up, Sheep Wreck Islands, and more!
SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE SKYLANDERS VIDEOS: http://bit.ly/1buOS6I Skylanders Boomcast brings you the latest in Skylanders SWAP Force news. Zachary Gordon introduce...

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Skylanders BOOMCAST: Wind-Up, Sheep Wreck Islands, and more! - Video

Fuerteventura, Jandia, Canary Islands - Spain Travel Channel
Fuerteventura Jandia http://www.myvideomedia.com English see below Puerto del Rosario ist die Hauptstadt der kanarischen Insel Fuerteventura. Wir besuchen da...

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ABC Satellite image of Cyclone Ian as of 12:00pm Tongan local time, January 9.

Tonga's northern islands are bracing for the arrival of a powerful tropical cyclone which is forecast to bring hurricane force winds.

Tropical Cyclone Ian is currently packing average winds of 100 kilometres per hour with gusts of up to 140 kilometres per hour.

It's currently a Category Four system located about 300 kilometres north west of Vava'u and is moving south east at about five kilometres per hour.

Ian is expected to remain a Category Four storm for the next 24 hours and then weaken before leaving Tonga late Sunday.

Forecaster Shalwin Singh from the Fiji Meteorological Service says Tonga's northern islands will feel the brunt of Ian's fury.

"As the storm tracks south eastwards, we expect the Vava'u Group and the Ha'apai Group to be the worst affected, they will encounter the severe hurricane force winds," he said.

"It is a severe tropical cyclone now and close to its centre we expect the average winds to be up to 90 knots and that is quite significant.

"We expect hurricane force winds - that is above 65 knots - to be within 20 nautical miles of the centre.

Ian is expected to brush below Niuafo'ou, Tonga's most northerly island, in the Niua group.

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Tonga's northern islands brace for powerful cyclone

Japan is seeking to nationalize 280 remote islands in a move aimed at strengthening the country's territorial boundaries.

Japanese government officials say nationalizing the islands is intended to clarify the governments protection of its territories and reinforce its management of marine resources and national security, The Japan News reported.

Registering [remote islands] as Japans national assets would send a message that we intend to strengthen management of them Ichita Yamamoto, Japans state minister for oceanic police and territorial issues, said.

The government must accurately grasp the state of these remote islands, Yamamoto said, according to the report.

The move may heighten already strained tensions between Tokyo, China and South Korea, who are currently engaged in territorial disputes over ownership of unclaimed islands in the East China Sea, Reuters reported.

We believe that Japans actions in marine areas should follow international law, and should not harm the interest of other countries or the international community, said Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman of Chinas foreign ministry, according to Reuters.

Earlier in the week, Japan's Cabinet adopted a national security strategy and revised defense plans that increased defense spending and calls for a larger role in maintaining international stability.

The program includes acquisition of surveillance drones, anti-missile destroyers and other equipment as the country's defense priorities shift to focus on its dispute with China over uninhabited islands.

The revised defense plans are based on the new national security strategy that reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to raise the profile of Japan's military and for the country to play a bigger international role.

Experts say the strategy and the defense plans are in line with power shift that has been continuing for several years. But Japan's neighbors and some Japanese citizens worry that the guidelines push the country away from its pacifist constitution.

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Japan to take over management of 280 remote islands

ABC Satellite view of Severe Tropical Cyclone Ian approaching Tonga

Tonga's northern islands are bracing for the arrival of a powerful tropical cyclone which is forecast to bring hurricane force winds.

Tropical Cyclone Ian is currently packing average winds of 100 kilometres per hour with gusts of up to 140 kilometres per hour.

It's currently a Category Four system located about 300 kilometres north west of Vava'u and is moving south east at about five kilometres per hour.

Ian is expected to remain a Category Four storm for the next 24 hours and then weaken before leaving Tonga late Sunday.

Forecaster Shalwin Singh from the Fiji Meteorological Service says Tonga's northern islands will feel the brunt of Ian's fury.

"As the storm tracks south eastwards, we expect the Vava'u Group and the Ha'apai Group to be the worst affected, they will encounter the severe hurricane force winds," he said.

"It is a severe tropical cyclone now and close to its centre we expect the average winds to be up to 90 knots and that is quite significant.

"We expect hurricane force winds - that is above 65 knots - to be within 20 nautical miles of the centre.

Ian is expected to brush below Niuafo'ou, Tonga's most northerly island, in the Niua group.

Originally posted here:

Tonga's Vava'u and Ha'apai islands brace for hurricane force winds from Tropical Cyclone Ian

BATAM (Riau Islands): Indonesian water patrol police have nabbed 61 Vietnamese crew for poaching using trawlers in Riau Islands waters, Indonesias news agency Antarareported.

Commander of Water Patrol Boat Bisma 8001 Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sigit N Hidayat said yesterday the crew members were detained on Jan 4 along with four boats and three tonnes of fish at two separate locations around 15 miles off Jemaja Isle, Anambas District.

The loss from fish that has been caught amounts to hundreds of millions, but the environmental damage caused by the trawlers is even worse, Sigit said.

The Vietnamese crew had earlier applied for permits to fish in the Riau Islands waters at the Batam maritime affairs and fisheries office but their request was turned down.

The group went ahead to poach fish in Riau Islands on their way back to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese boats were reportedly spotted poaching regularly in Indonesian waters since last September.

In July last year, four Thai fishing boats were caught fishing illegally in the seas off eastern Aceh by Indonesian maritime authorities.

A total of 36 crew including 8 Thai and 28 Myanmar nationals were detained. Bernama

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

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61 Vietnamese nabbed for poaching in Riau Islands waters

Bank of the Philippine Islands, the nations third-largest lender by assets, fell to a three-week low in Manila stock trading after pricing a 25 billion peso ($559 million) rights offer at a 22 percent discount.

BPI, as the lender is known, slumped 2.2 percent to 84.30 pesos at the close of trading, the lowest level since Dec. 20. The bank will sell up to 370.4 million new shares at 67.50 pesos a share, it said in an exchange filing today, compared with its closing price of 86.15 pesos yesterday.

Proceeds from the offering will help expand lending and operations, and strengthen capital under stricter Basel III requirements, BPI said in a Nov. 6 filing. Bigger rival BDO Unibank Inc. raised the equivalent of $1 billion from a rights offer in June 2012.

Philippine National Bank (PNB) shares sank 3.1 percent to 80.9 pesos, the biggest drop since Nov. 22. The bank priced its own rights offer at 71 pesos, it said in a separate disclosure, a 15 percent discount to its close yesterday.

Philippine National will offer 162.9 million new shares starting on Jan. 27, with stockholders entitled to 15 new shares for 100 shares held, according to the disclosure. BPI will sell its shares from Jan. 20 with an entitlement ratio of one share for every 9.6 held by stockholders, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Norman P. Aquino in Manila at naquino1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Clarissa Batino at cbatino@bloomberg.net

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Bank of Philippine Islands Slumps on Rights Offer: Manila Mover

The Con Dao islands have an utterly unhurried ambience. "There are two traffic lights, but no work," the bike rental guy said apologetically as he gave me the island rundown. "One gas station, but close for lunch. Only one road, so you no lost. Right to airport or left to prisons and port."

Moped key in hand, I was relishing the chance to get out and explore some empty roads in search of a perfect beach for the day. I'd spent the previous week embracing Vietnamese city culture and its furious energy and commerce, but was now in need of some serious hammock time.

A cluster of 16 islets in the South China Sea, the Con Dao islands are 155 miles from Ho Chi Minh City. Only the main island, Con Son, is inhabited (its population is just 6,000), though the other islands can be visited.

Once hell on earth to thousands of prisoners incarcerated by French colonists and the American military, today the Con Daos are blissfully tranquil. With their ravishing sandy bays, rainforests and healthy coral reefs, their tropical appeal is easy to grasp. Flight connections used to be atrocious, but Vietnam Airlines now offers three daily flights from Ho Chi Minh City (52 one way).

The rental guy had lied about the one road. Easily sidetracked, my Honda and I had chanced upon a rough track close to the airport, and our inquisitiveness had rewarded us royally in the form of Dam Trau beach, a sublime half-moon crescent of pale sand, bookended by forest-topped rocky promontories.

After an hour's snorkelling, exploring the kaleidoscopic coral teeming with macro life and spending five minutes swimming eye-to-eye with a hawksbill turtle, I retreated to the plastic chairs in the bay's seafood shack, picked a victim from the live fish tank and gorged on crab with tamarind and chilli. The only other diners were a group from Hanoi, employees of a state-owned bank on a corporate jolly-with-a-purpose.

Vietnam is a country steeped in revolutionary rhetoric, and Vo Thi Sau, a teenage resistance fighter executed in Con Dao during the French occupation, fits the bill perfectly. (She killed a captain in a grenade attack at the age of 14, and wasn't captured until years later.) The bank staff were here to pay their respects to this national heroine, and to the thousands of others who lost their lives in Con Dao's 11 prisons.

Ghosts are everywhere in Con Dao, nowhere more so than at Phu Hai jail. Built in 1862, it once housed 20,000 prisoners political and criminal inmates chained together naked in rows. The really troublesome individuals were kept in "tiger cages", with six to 10 men crammed into a tiny open-roofed enclosure, beaten with sticks from above and dusted with lime and water (which burns the skin). Unbeknown to the world, the Americans continued operating these tiger cages until 1970 when a Life magazine report broke news of their existence, provoking an international outcry.

It had been a chastening day, the brutality of prison conditions contrasting acutely with the overwhelming beauty of my surroundings. As I strolled along the seafront promenade in Con Son town, it was easy to marvel at the sheer gentility of this pocket-sized island capital, its litter-free streets, French-era villas, well-kept municipal buildings and air of calm and prosperity.

Con Son town has a dozen or so hotels and guesthouses but the Six Senses resort (sixsenses.com; from 441), a short ride away to the north, really is in a class of its own. Occupying the island's best beach, it comprises 50 or so ocean-front, timber-clad beach villas, each fusing contemporary style with rustic chic.

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Vietnam's islands: an escape route to peace

Future Islands Photo by Tim Saccenti

Future Islands have officially announced their fourth album. The record is calledSinglesand it's set to be released on March 25 by way of 4AD, the band's new label after parting ways with Thrill Jockey. According to a press release, the follow-up to 2011'sOn the Wateris Future Islands' "boldest and most immediate work to date," due in part to a new partnership with producer Chris Coady, whose previous credits include Beach House, Grizzly Bear, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Fans of the synth-savvy swooners can expect a more polished, hi-fi sound for their 4AD debut.

The Baltimore trio made up of frontman Samuel T. Harring, bassist/guitarist William Cashion, and keyboardist/guitarist/programmer Gerrit Welmers is also plotting a hefty tour schedule in support of Singles. Find details of the forthcoming trek (which includes a few dates with Wye Oak, who are also planning a new record for later this year) below, along with the cover art for Singles. And for more info on Future Islands' next effort, check out SPIN'slist of 50 Albums You Gotta Hear in 2014.

Future Islands tour dates:

February 3 - Los Angeles, CA @ Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock February 6 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom February 8 - Baltimore, MD @ Floristree February 11 - London, U.K. @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen February 13 - Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie February 14 - Brussels, Belgium @ Beurschouwburg February 16 - Hamburg, Germany @ Ubel & Gefhrlich February 17 - Berlin, Germany @ C-Club March 3 - Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern * March 4 - Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel * March 5 - Saxapahaw, NC @ The Haw River Ballroom * March 7 - Chattanooga, TN @ JJ's Bohemia * March 8 - Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry's * March 9 - Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon * March 16 - Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe * March 24 - Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop March 25 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme March 26 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall March 27 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon March 28 - Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club March 29 - Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium March 31 - Billings, MT - The Railyard April 1 - Bozeman, MT @ The Filling Station April 2 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett April 3 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile April 4 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre April 5 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge April 6 - Eugene, OR @ Cozmic Pizza April 7 - Arcata, CA @ Humboldt Brews April 8 - Reno, NV @ The Holland Project April 9 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst April 10 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel April 21 - El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace April 22 - Marfa, TX @ Padre's April 23 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk April 24 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links April 25 - Little Rock, AR @ Stickyz Rock'n'Roll Chicken Shack April 26 - Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree April 29 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church April 30 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall May 1 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club

* = with Wye Oak

50 Albums You Gotta Hear in 2014

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Future Islands Jump to 4AD for 'Bold' New Album 'Singles'

Galapagos Marine Iguana:: A recent study reveals closely related lizard species have different escape behaviours depending on where they live, and that their evolutionary relationships were mostly irrelevant. Image: Blinking Idiot/Flickr

When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands, he noted that many of its animal inhabitants were so unafraid of people that a gun is here almost superfluous. He swatted birds with his hat, pulled the tails of iguanas and sat on giant tortoises.

These antics fuelled his famous idea that animals become tame when they live on remote, predator-free islands. Now, William Cooper Jr of Indiana UniversityPurdue University in Fort Wayne has tested Darwin's hypothesis on 66 species of lizards from around the world and found that island dwellers tended to be more docile than their continental relatives the strongest evidence yet for this classic idea. The results are published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Several studies and unpublished reports have shown that particular species are more approachable on islands where there are fewer predators, or quicker to flee on islands that contain introduced hunters such as feral cats. But despite this largely anecdotal evidence for island tameness, no one has ever established that its a general phenomenon in any group, says Cooper. We showed that for a large prey group lizards there really is a significant decline in wariness on islands.

Taming of the few Island tameness is an old idea, but there have been few tests of it, says Dan Blumstein, a behavioral biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. This is a needed paper that convincingly shows some of the drivers of island tameness in lizards.

Cooper and his colleagues scoured past studies and collated data on the distance at which lizards start to flee when approached by a researcher. They took a conservative approach, discarding studies in which researchers had pointed at the lizards, walked towards the animals faster or slower than a particular fixed speed, or studied populations that were habituated to humans.

Cooper and his team ended up with data for 66 species, from the Eurasian common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) to the Galapagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). The results clearly showed that humans can get closer to island-dwelling lizards than to mainland ones, and that lizards become more approachable on islands that are farther from the mainland.

Island ecology is so important that it overrides any effect of evolutionary history, Cooper and his co-authors say. They also showed that even closely related lizard species have different escape behaviors depending on where they live, and that their evolutionary relationships were mostly irrelevant.

The results do not explain why island lizards are tamer than those on the mainland, although the relative lack of island predators is the most likely reason. Animals with skittish dispositions can needlessly abandon valuable resources, and natural selection would be expected to weed out such responses if predators are rare or absent.

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Island Lizards Are Tamer Than Mainland Counterparts

Matt Moyer/National Geographic/Getty

A marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) at the Galapagos Islands National Park rests calmly as tourists walk by a behaviour that may have evolved because of a lack of predators.

When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands, he noted that many of its animal inhabitants were so unafraid of people that a gun is here almost superfluous. He swatted birds with his hat, pulled the tails of iguanas and sat on giant tortoises.

These antics fuelled his famous idea that animals become tame when they live on remote, predator-free islands. Now, William Cooper Jr of Indiana UniversityPurdue University in Fort Wayne has tested Darwin's hypothesis on 66 species of lizards from around the world and found that island dwellers tended to be more docile than their continental relatives the strongest evidence yet for this classic idea. The results are published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B1.

Several studies and unpublished reports have shown that particular species are more approachable on islands where there are fewer predators, or quicker to flee on islands that contain introduced hunters such as feral cats. But despite this largely anecdotal evidence for island tameness, no one has ever established that its a general phenomenon in any group, says Cooper. We showed that for a large prey group lizards there really is a significant decline in wariness on islands.

Island tameness is an old idea, but there have been few tests of it, says Dan Blumstein, a behavioural biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. This is a needed paper that convincingly shows some of the drivers of island tameness in lizards.

Cooper and his colleagues scoured past studies and collated data on the distance at which lizards start to flee when approached by a researcher. They took a conservative approach, discarding studies in which researchers had pointed at the lizards, walked towards the animals faster or slower than a particular fixed speed, or studied populations that were habituated to humans.

Cooper and his team ended up with data for 66 species, from the Eurasian common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) to the Galapagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). The results clearly showed that humans can get closer to island-dwelling lizards than to mainland ones, and that lizards become more approachable on islands that are farther from the mainland.

Island ecology is so important that it overrides any effect of evolutionary history, Cooper and his co-authors say. They also showed that even closely related lizard species have different escape behaviours depending on where they live, and that their evolutionary relationships were mostly irrelevant.

The results do not explain why island lizards are tamer than those on the mainland, although the relative lack of island predators is the most likely reason. Animals with skittish dispositions can needlessly abandon valuable resources, and natural selection would be expected to weed out such responses if predators are rare or absent.

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Islands make animals tamer