Daily Archives: May 17, 2022

Sylvie’s Gary Levine On The Brand’s Evolution – JCK

Posted: May 17, 2022 at 7:27 pm

If youll be at the Luxury show in Las Vegas this year (it opens June 8 to invited guests and June 10 for all JCK attendees), stop by the Sylvie booth to see what a brand evolution looks like. The Plano, Texasbased bridal manufacturer and longtime Luxury exhibitor recently unveiled a new logo, new typography, and new brand campaign on the occasion of its 15th anniversary.

Spearheaded by Gary Levine, the companys director of operations (and eldest son of company founders Ian and Sylvie Levine), the rebranding project is a very deliberate effort to position Sylvie for several more decades of growth.

This is very much about evolving into our next chapter and celebrating our heritage and better communicating our vision and our story, Levine tells JCK. Particularly the love story between my parents Ian and Sylvie, and the details in the designs of our products.

Levine joined the family business last August, after leaving a career in finance. The branding initiative was among his first orders of business.

The first thing we did was we talked to a handful of our strongest and closest customers, Levine says. We spoke to sales reps, particularly ones whod been with us for two decades plus, and we talked to people we know who have marketing backgrounds and brand experience and basically triangulated that into words, pictures, and ideas.

It became an iterative process that eventually turned into the new icon that we unveiled, new typography choices for our literature, having that be more feminine and uniquenot just fonts you could download from Google, he adds. We now have a custom font we worked with a designer to create.

The new Shine On brand campaign is a nod to Sylvies heritage and the bright future ahead, given the companys growth plans, according to a brand statement. Steeped in the companys new visual identity, the campaign features women who radiate youthful femininity, no matter their biological age, and are elegant, confident, and complex, Levine said in a statement.

In order to create the campaign, and fine-tune the brands strategy, Levine worked with his team to create fictional personas based on the customers who buy Sylvies products.

Every time we make a decision on marketing or the product side, we talk about, basically, the fake people we created, Levine says. We came up with where they shop, who they follow on Instagram. Thats what we did, and what you see is the product of all that.

In terms of actual products, however, much remains the same. The design hasnt changed at all, materially, Levine says. Thats whats been superstrong and has helped our company grow over the last 15 years and remain on trend.

At Luxury this year, buyers should expect to see many of the companys popular bridal styles displayed in yellow goldbecause its so hot, says Levinebigger center stones to compete with the rise of larger lab-grown center stones and a dedicated focus on the small details that set Sylvies designs apart.

Particularly taking existing styles we had and creating peekaboo or subtle details, which we find extremely popular these days, he says. Its the kind of thing you can only show a customer in a store and they find it amazing. Were trying to achieve those kinds of reactions and achieve the limits of whats possible in those small spaces. Thats really the crux of our new designs.

Top: Brianna ring in 18k yellow gold with 2 ct. pear-shape diamond center stone and 0.32 ct. t.w. diamond accents, $2,720 (center stone not included); photos courtesy of Sylvie

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Analysis: South Korea’s high-speed 5G mobile revolution gives way to evolution – Reuters

Posted: at 7:27 pm

SEOUL, May 13 (Reuters) - South Korea was the first country to launch a fifth-generation mobile network in 2019, heralding a warp-speed technological transformation to self-driving cars and smart cities.

Three years on, the giddy promises are unfulfilled.

Some 45% of the country's people are now on 5G, one of the highest rates globally, after some $20 billion in spending on network upgrades that have boosted connection speeds five-fold. But telecommunications companies have not been willing to invest in the fancier technology that would ramp speeds by 20 times over 4G technology.

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That is because the demand is not there yet. App makers have not brought to mass market services like autonomous driving that would require more firepower. Customers can watch Netflix and surf the net well enough with existing 5G technology.

Telcos have adapted by diversifying. To make the quantum leap to the highest-speed 5G will require the roll-out of essential services that need such fast connections.

"When households begin to have robots at their homes, for instance, telcos would then start ramping up infrastructure investments, so the highest-speed 5G will be partially available around 2025," said Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities.

The lesson for other countries racing toward 5G may be: curb your enthusiasm. The new technology holds great promise, but for now there will still be as much evolution as revolution in the high-speed internet future.

In April 2019, South Koreas three mobile carriers - with a PR campaign featuring K-pop stars and an Olympic gold medallist - as well as Verizon Communications of the United States - rushed their commercial 5G launches ahead of schedule, all keen to claim first spot in the high-profile wireless technology.

Asia's fourth-biggest economy has remained the 5G pioneer, but the hype had begun to fade even before COVID-19 slammed demand for 5G devices. Companies have baulked at investing the estimated $370 billion needed to set up the fastest 5G, and revenue growth has stalled.

"Rolling out 5G that is 20 times faster is nearly impossible, even in Seoul, said Ku Hyun-mo, CEO of South Korea's top telecoms operator, KT Corp (030200.KS).

Establishing nationwide coverage just cant be done," Ku told Reuters. The fastest version millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum "travels straight and it cant go around obstacles. It cant deliver the same speed once it travels a few hundred metres."

The ultra-shortwave mmWave would require 15 to 20 base stations per square kilometre (40-50 per square mile), compared with just two to five for 4G, according to a McKinsey report.

South Korean telcos have built around 215,000 5G base stations, but only 2% of them can handle mmWave. Other countries that have introduced 5G, such as the United States and China, also largely rely on the slower mid-band spectrum.

As of March, South Korea had 22.9 million 5G subscribers, just under half the number of its 4G users. By contrast, when 4G celebrated its third birthday, its users had more than doubled those of its predecessor.

"When 4G was first rolled out in 2011, data demand exploded to watch YouTube and Netflix, and users aggressively switched to 4G," said analyst Kim. Now, though, "telcos currently lack a killer service that can generate heavier data demand" that would justify paying up for 5G he said.

In the first two to three years of 4G, carriers' average revenue per user (ARPU) climbed 5% to 12% annually. By contrast, KT's ARPU rose 3.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier, while that of SK Telecom Co (017670.KS) edged up 0.6% and third-ranked LG Uplus Corp (032640.KS) saw a 4.2 decline.

"If telcos stick with the current connectivity business, they will plateau," said KT's Ku.

Mobile carriers are increasingly turning their eyes to new businesses. KT is developing artificial intelligence to power call centres, hoping that business will double this year, while SK Telecom has seen a jump in revenues for cloud services and data centres.

Diversification is paying off with investors so far. SK Telecom and KT shares have risen some 26% since 5G rolled out, beating the broader market's 18% rise even as ARPU growth slowed.

"From 3G to 4G, data demand increased exponentially. But at the moment, data demand is growing linearly," said Hyundai's Kim. "Mid-band 5G would facilitate the popularisation of 5G and serve as a bridge to the next step."

($1 = 1,275.6400 won)

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Reporting by Byungwook Kim and Joyce Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Global Quantum Sensors Market Evolution Analysis Report 2022-2031: Market Impact of Current Drivers and Trends and Recent Technological Developments -…

Posted: at 7:27 pm

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Quantum Sensors: Market Evolution 2022 to 2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report analyzes these trends and includes granular revenue forecasts of quantum sensors broken out by types of sensors and end user segment. It also includes profiles of 15 leading quantum sensor firms discussing their marketing strategies and likely products.

It has been three years since the analyst published a market assessment of the of the quantum sensor sector; much has changed. Quantum sensors are rapidly commercializing. For example, we are entering an era when quantum sensors will become day-to-day realities in air traffic control and healthcare.

At the same time, quantum sensors are being integrated into the quantum technology revolution. Thousands of high-performance optical detectors will be used both in optical quantum computers and in QKD.

And the playing-card sized quantum sensors of a few years ago are giving way to fully miniaturized chip-based quantum sensors. We must also consider the growing number of military applications for quantum sensors given the current geopolitical situation.

In addition, this report explores both where giant companies such as Bosch and Honeywell will make their mark and the opportunities available to the growing number start-ups in the quantum sensor space.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

E.1 Rich Uncle or Poor Cousin? Quantum Sensing in the Quantum Pantheon

E.2 Key Drivers that are bringing Quantum Sensing to the Fore

E.3 A Meta-trend shaping the Quantum Sensors Marketplace

E.4 Summary of Ten-year Forecasts by Type of End User/Application

E.5 Five Players to Watch in the Quantum Sensing Space

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 A Tale of Two Quantum Sensors

1.2 Objective and Scope of this Report

1.3 Methodology of this Report

1.4 Plan of this Report

Chapter Two: Quantum Sensing: Market Impact of Current Drivers and Trends and Recent Technological Developments

2.1 Quantum Sensing: Drivers and Trends

2.1.1 Driver 1: The Paradigm-Shifting Re-Definition of the S.I. Units

2.1.2 Driver 2: NIST-on-a-Chip (Noac) Thinking

2.1.3 Driver 3: The Quantum (Sensor) Space Race

2.1.4 Driver 4: Funding and Development in Quantum Computing and Quantum Communication

2.1.5 Meta-Trend: IoT (Internet-of-Things)

2.2 Quantum Sensor Technologies: Recent Developments

2.2.1 (Chip Scale) Atomic Clocks

2.2.2 Quantum Gravimeters

2.2.3 Quantum Magnetometers

2.2.4 Quantum Electric Field Sensors

2.2.5 Quantum Light Detectors

2.2.6 Quantum Imaging

2.2.7 Quantum LIDAR

2.2.8 Quantum Radar

2.2.9 Quantum Internet-of-Things (Q-IoT)

2.2.10 Key Takeaways from this Chapter

Chapter Three: Ten-Year Forecasts by Industry Sector

3.1 Quantum Sensing Applications and Markets by Sector

3.2 Transportation Markets: Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

3.3 Telecommunication and Energy Networks: Timing

3.4 The Financial Sector: Timing

3.5 The Construction, Surveying and Oil and Gas Industries

3.6 The Healthcare Industry: Quantum-Enhanced Imaging

3.7 The Defense Sector

3.8 Markets for Quantum Sensors in Scientific Research

3.9 Key Takeaways from this Chapter

Chapter 4: Quantum Sensing Companies: Products, Strategy, and Competitive Analysis

4.1 The Quantum Sensing Ecosystem

4.2 Bosch (Germany)

4.3 ColdQuanta (United States)

4.4 Element 6 (United Kingdom)

4.5 Honeywell (United States)

4.6 M Squared Lasers (United Kingdom)

4.7 Muquans (France)

4.8 NIST (United States)

4.9 QLM (United Kingdom)

4.10 QZabre (Switzerland)

4.11 Single Quantum (The Netherlands)

About the Analyst

Acronyms and Abbreviations Used In this Report

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/cx2tqq

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The History and Evolution of Bethel Road – Columbus Monthly

Posted: at 7:27 pm

How a rural, two-lane road became a busy corridor for international dining and groceries.

Linda Deitch| Columbus Monthly

Bethel Roads story began in 1833, when Hiram Andrews successfully petitioned Franklin County to fell trees for a new road that would run west from what we now call Olentangy River Road to the Scioto River. Township maps from the 1800s show this road and adjacent parcels bearing familiar names of area landowners (Henderson, Tuller, Hard, etc.), an orchard and the Bethel Church, after which the road was officially named in 1935.

Until the 1980s, there was no access from State Route 315 to this road for a simple reason: The freeway hadnt been built that far north yet. Bethel was a quiet, rural, two-lane road with homes, some offices, a church and roaming deer. There were no apartment complexes or shopping centers. Families who lived there often had owned their property for generations.

In 1976, the restaurant that would become The Refectory opened in the former Bethel Church building. Owner Kamal Boulos recalls that to reach the restaurant from Downtown you had to take 315 to Ackerman Road, then head north on Kenny Road to Bethel. There was only one other restaurant nearby around that time, he saysa Red Lobster, which was later the site of Winking Lizard Tavern (and is currently being redeveloped into a Sheetz).

More: Chef Richard Blondin Celebrates 30 Years at The Refectory

After access from both I-270 and 315 improved and a tedious four-year project to widen Bethel Road was completed in 1992, people from outlying suburbs helped turn the area into a commercial destination. This was before the allure of Tuttle Mall, Easton Town Center or Polaris Fashion Place, which opened in 1997, 1999 and 2001, respectively.

As pockets of development sprang up in those three shopping areas, once-popular restaurant corridors, including Bethel Road and State Route 161, suffered. Bethel fell out of favor with developers, real estate values fell and retail space there became more affordable. This enabled smaller, independent businesses to gain a foothold, such as Golden Delight Bakery, which opened in 1994 and remains there today.

More: Six Bethel Road Sweets and Desserts to Try

In 1997, a young Chinese engineer, Jay Yang, opened Columbus Asia Market (better known as CAM) in an 8,000-square-foot space on Bethel. At the time, CAM was the biggest Asian grocery store in Central Ohio, and it arrived in an era when the citys immigrant population was growing, new housing was being built nearby to appeal to 20-somethings and interest in international cuisine was surging. (CAM has since relocated to Hilliard.)

I saw the existing markets couldnt provide the services people wanted, Yang toldColumbus CEOin a 2020 interview. I thought, why cant an Asian grocery store do a better job, have a bright, spacious place? I thought I could bring that concept.

At the turn of the millennium, a variety of international restaurants followed, including Min-Ga in 2001, Buckeye Pho and Los Guachos in 2011, and Jiu Thai in 2013. Today, Bethel Road looks much different than when Boulos looked out in 1976 and saw few restaurant neighbors, save Red Lobster.

Theres room for everyone on Bethel Road, he says.

Several bygone establishments include: Rockys (a boisterous bar with 26 flavors of iced tea), Dalts, Cooker Bar & Grille, Davids San Francisco, Bumpers, Mark Pis Ancient Wok, Judys Caf and Big Bear, among others.

Hunan Lion, named the citys first true gourmet Chinese restaurant, by former Dispatchrestaurant reviewer Doral Chenoweth, made its debut on Bethel in 1987.

Correction: The print version of this story and the original online version contained an incorrect opening year for Hunan Lion.

This story is from the May 2022 issue of Columbus Monthly.

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Ingrid Andress Explores Self-Growth and Evolution On New Song Seeing Someone Else – Belles and Gals

Posted: at 7:27 pm

Seeing Someone Else, the latest single from 3X Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Ingrid Andress, is not the cheating song that its title and first few lines would lead you to believe. No, its writers (Ingrid alongside Derrick Sutherland and Jesse Frasure) have cleverly crafted a song that turns out to be about how people evolve during a relationship, whether their partner wants them to or not. Sometimes its hard to accept that the person you fell for initially has changed, but denying it is not healthy for either party.I think youre seeing who I used to be, I bet you wish I was the girl that you met out in a bar making a mess of 23 you know youre hanging on to history Ingrid tells her partner as she confronts them in this fantastic power ballad.

Talking about the write, Ingrid says Some people want to keep you exactly where you are for as long as possible, even if its hurting you. Sometimes you dont even realise its happening. But then one day you wake up and decide the person they want you to be isnt you anymore, so you pack your shit and break free from their grip. She continues This song has truly become one of my favourites from the new music, and I hope it makes you feel as liberated as I felt when writing it.

Ingrid also showcases her feelings visually on the singles official video through a mirage of grainy VHS footage that follows her through illuminated nighttime cityscapes ad dive bars. The end clip shows her watching footage of herself and reflecting on her personal journey, revealing an inspiring new sense of self-awareness and independence.

Theres as yet no further details about the album, but Ingrid is going to be kept very busy in the coming months as after performing in Nashville during the CMA Music Festival next month she is heading out on the road with Keith Urban for his 52-date North American The Speed of Now World Tour.

Follow Ingrid Andress here

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Article written by Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)

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Evolution Glass marks 10 years of growth in Calgary – Calgary Herald

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Breadcrumb Trail Links

Ashley and Richard Munro launched their own glass company 10 years ago, with its first job fixing the front door of a commercial building.

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Evolution Glass was housed in a 5,000-square-foot industrial bay they fixed up themselves in Vista Heights. They called on previous contacts here to let them know that only a year after they had moved to New Brunswick they were back in town and in business for themselves.

Handing out promotional flyers and networking, they acquired the necessary equipment and four trucks, and have never looked back.

Two years later the business had grown so much they needed to lease more space and moved into 14,000 square feet, but by last year it was evident they had run out of space again. The Cushman Wakefield team of David Reich and Kevin Tang moved them into 35,000 square feet of office, plant and showroom in the Kingswood Cabinet manufacturing plant in Melcors The District development, south of Country Hills Boulevard and west of Deerfoot Trail N.E.

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Ashley started her career in the industry in the accounting department of a Calgary glazing company, and was soon involved in its day-to-day service operations and streamlining its manpower. Richard had 12 years of experience in managing glazing projects of all sizes when they started Evolution Glass with four other employees.

Today they have a staff of 59, and projects have significantly increased in size from that broken glass door to several in the multimillion-dollar range.

Hence the need for room to house new equipment to increase efficiency and productivity, larger storage capacity, space for its 15 trucks, and a showroom to help clients understand the systems they work with.

Evolution Glass still fixes things, but way beyond the broken panes in a door. Today they repair windows on highrise buildings and change exterior ones 30 storeys high.

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But much of the business is with new construction. A good example is manufacturing and installing all of the glass for the podium tower of Brookfield Place, and all of the windows, doors and storefronts in the construction by PCL of the 14-storey Minto residential development at the bottom of 4th Street, N.E., in Bridgeland.

Also in the Bridgeland community, Evolution Glass is working with Clark Builders on a continuing-care facility for Alberta Infrastructure.

New schools have also kept the company busy in Mahogany, Auburn Bay and Springbank Hill for the Calgary Board of Education, as well as a school for the Tsuutina Nation and a K-9 school in Airdrie.

The crews are very experienced and able to take on all kinds of projects, but some jobs present interesting challenges, such as overhauling Plus-15 overpasses that require working over moving traffic.

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Evolution Glass boasts a busy department specializing in continuous service contracts, including for the City of Calgary and the Calgary Catholic School District.

The Munros have also launched a special projects division that has consulted on adding support to existing systems in older buildings, determining the best method of handling unique building envelopes and any specialized needs, such as installing the glass on the 61st executive floor of Telus Sky.

One of its more glamorous and challenging projects may never be seen by passersby, but the magnificent large glass dome on the rooftop of the MacEwan Hall tower at the University of Calgary must be a grand sight from inside the building.

Notes:

Way Out West Fest is a series of events to help people get connected to the West. It is an annual event taking place June 10 to 12 to discover and celebrate the diverse culture and spirit of the modern West, embracing the community and lifestyle, stories, adventure, grit and attitude that we should be proud of. Many of the events will take place west of the city, including in Longview, Millarville and Turner Valley. But others are in the city and include From Canvas to Interiors at Shedpoint on 34th Avenue S.E., on June 10. Its an evening where art meets storytelling interiors by viewing the western art of Paul Van Ginkel in his new studio, and rooms designed by Paul Hardy showcasing the likes of Sam Livingston, Nellie McClung and Chief Red Crow.

David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622 or by email at info@davidparker.ca.

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Curious Case of Asani: Birth, Evolution, Impact, and Eventual Waning of 2022’s First Cyclonic Storm | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather…

Posted: at 7:27 pm

Cyclone Asani

This week began on a wet note for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal, owing to the formation of Cyclone Asani over the Bay of Bengal. And while most cyclones are wont to cause a lot of devastation, Asani was relatively polite. Despite all the fanfare that accompanied its arrival, Asani left quietly, only bringing heavy rainfall and some respite from summer heat to the states along the East coast and across the southern peninsula.

Still, its journey from an innocuous cyclonic circulation to a full-blown Severe Cyclonic Storm is definitely worth talking about. Below, we dive into the rise and fall of 2022's first cyclone, as reported by the India Meteorological Department (IMD)!

Despite its minimal impact, Asani's journey was far from straightforward. The cyclonic storm saw itself recurving quite a bit, making it rather unpredictable till the last minute. The majority of models predicted a shift in the system's path from northwest to northeast as it approached the coast. However, on May 11, the deep depression (remains of cyclone Asani) drifted slowly northward/northwestwards until dark, then west-southwestwards.

The cyclonic storm was expected to proceed northeastwards near the coast under the influence of a short-amplitude westerly trough in the middle and upper troposphere approaching from the west. Instead, as the storm weakened as it approached the coast, the storm's height reduced, and it was confined to middle tropospheric levels. As a result, the storm's steering wind shifted from southeasterly to northwesterly, causing it to proceed northwestward.

But an anticyclone over peninsular India, northwestward progress was restricted. Therefore, the system moved slowly and stayed almost stationary along the shore, followed by a gradual west-southwestward movement until fading into a well-defined low-pressure area over the region on the morning of May, explains IMD.

Man crosses a road in heavy rains

Around the storm's centre, the maximum sustained wind speed was estimated to be around 30 knots (50-60 kmph) along and off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. On May 11, the high wind speed recorder at IMD, Machilipatnam, recorded a peak wind speed of 30 knots (55 kmph).

As far as rains are concerned, several Andhra, Yanam, Rayalaseema and Odisha districts received more than or equal to 7 cm of rainfall on May 11 and 12.

But the impact of the cyclone was far and wide in terms of rain and temperature. The cyclone-induced clouds hovered over the entire southern peninsula and blocked harsh summer sunshine. Its cooling effects were so strong that the faraway Bengalurus daytime mercury levels down to 24.3C, making May 11 the coldest May day the Karnataka capital has experienced since the year 2000.

Asani's birth began as that of any other cyclone, in the form of a low-pressure area. The LPA formed over the South Andaman Sea and the adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal on May 6. There began its process of intensification.

At first, it moved northwestwards, strengthening into a depression on the afternoon of May 7 and then a deep depression by the evening of the same day. During the early hours of May 8, continuing to move in the same direction, it intensified into a cyclonic storm and a severe cyclonic storm in the same evening.

This rapid intensification helped Asani reach its peak intensity of 55 knots (100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph) early the following day (May 9). It maintained its peak intensity till 10th noon.

Asani, which first de-intensified into a cyclone from a severe cyclone, moved slowly northwards before weakening into a deep depression over the west-central Bay of Bengal near the Andhra Pradesh coast on the evening of May 11.

It then crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Narsapur during the evening hours of May 11 as a severe depression with maximum sustained wind speeds of 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph. It subsequently proceeded slowly west-southwestwards, weakening into a depression early the next morning and a well-defined low-pressure area over coastal Andhra Pradesh the next morning.

**

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Web 3.0: the evolution | BCS – BCS

Posted: at 7:27 pm

Web 3.0 is a theme, a vision, a set of ideals to reshape internet in a sense to live out its founding promise and shape its next evolution vs the centralised Web2 we have today.

It attracts idealists, technologists and entrepreneurs who all have different motivations about this space, making it quite difficult to provide a simple definition and creates some very high profile differences of opinion around Web 3.0 as well.

But, what is Web 3.0? If you have heard about Brave, Arweave, Decentraland, Axie Infinity, etc., then congratulations, you are already familiar with some initial Web 3.0 real world examples.

Its original purpose was to share knowledge among humanity with different iterations coined to represent their evolution.

Web1 - 90s Web Altavista, Yahoo, Email but mostly static web to read.

Web2 - Interactive web, search engines, ecommerce, social media, new business models and power concentrated among technology companies.

Web 3.0 - Indicates a decentralised and permissionless future for the internet.

Web 3.0 aspires to build a decentralised internet where a community of users own, control participation, switch seamlessly between services / platforms and share the rewards of using the ecosystem. The key tenet is decentralisation (trustless and permissionless) which leaves it open for all and resistant to any form of censorship. Any Web 3.0 conversation is mentioned in the same breath as crypto, which would make readers wonder whats the connection here?

To achieve the Web 3.0 vision, we rely heavily on blockchain the technology that underpins the crypto ecosystem, the ability to implement smart contracts, etc. A blockchain is a distributed ledger of records maintained by a community. Its public and immutable in the sense that history is maintained by consensus.

Smart contracts allow you to enforce agreements and terms via software code. All the developments we see in this space, like NFTs (non fungible tokens), layer 0/1/2 protocols, zero knowledge proofs, innovative tokenomics, DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations), DeFi (decentralised finance), dApps (decentralised applications), metaverse and play-to-earn all tie in to some of these aspirations around Web 3.0. Its this remaking of the internet with these innovations that broadly gets referred to as Web 3.0 but its still early days.

There are already companies, platforms, protocols and services that operate in Web 3.0 but as a new field, we need to look forward, not necessarily to how Web 3.0 works at present, but at what the future might be, such as:

There have been some legitimate criticisms of Web 3.0 about whether it will truly deliver a new world, or just shift power from incumbents to a different set of stakeholders and early movers. Would Web 3.0 investors and builders who own a large number of tokens end up driving its future evolution / governance standards to their advantage?

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Whales Give More Design of Life Evidence, Defying Explanations Based on Natural Selection – Discovery Institute

Posted: at 7:27 pm

Photo: A humpback whale, by Whit Welles Wwelles14 / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0).

The Illustra Media documentary Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earthshares amazing information about humpback whales: their enigmatic songs, their multiple adaptations for aquatic life that defy the evolutionary mechanism, and the miraculous web of blood vessels that refrigerates the male reproductive organs to safe levels for sperm production. All of it defies explanations based on natural selection. But thats just the beginning when it comes to the largest animals that have ever lived larger even than the largest dinosaurs (see Brian Switeks discussion onSlate). Want to see humpback songs as sheet music?The Smithsonianhas printouts and recordings.

The system actually works better when the whale swims hard. How can that be, when the testes are located right between the abdominal swimming muscles? Its like trying to keep a refrigerator cold between two furnaces.

It works because the blood pumps harder during exercise, allowing more heat to escape into the water through the dorsal fin and tail. The higher volume of cool venous blood then enters the miraculous web (Latinrete mirabile,read more here) between the abdominal muscles, where the heat from the arteries is transferred to the cooler veins before entering the testes. Its a marvelous solution: a counter-current heat exchanger (CCHE) mechanism.

As Richard Sternberg and Paul Nelson explain in the film, without both internal testes and the refrigeration mechanism existing simultaneously, natural selection would halt, and whales would have gone extinct. Females, too, have a CCHE to protect the young during pregnancy. Similar CCHE systems are found in other marine mammals such as manatees and seals, providing more unlikely examples of convergent evolution.

Blue whales are the largest whales, making them the largest animals on earth. How do they sustain their massive weight? An article fromNOAA Fisheriessays that they target the highest-quality prey in order to maximize energy gain.

These huge animals can span a basketball court and weigh as much as 25 large elephants combined. But they feed on tiny fish called krill that are less than an inch long. When prey is scarce, blue whales conserve oxygen for deep dives. When the fish are plentiful, they ram through the schools at high speed, a strategy called lunge-feeding. They have their ROI (return on investment) all figured out. By watching tagged blue whales off the California coast, Elliott Hazen and a NOAA research team were able to figure out their optimization strategy.

The magic number for krill seems to be about 100 to 200 individuals in a cubic meter of water, Hazen said. If its below that range, blue whalesuse a strategyto conserve oxygen and feed less frequently. If its above that, theyll feed at very high rates and invest more effort.

Whales have an incredible capacity for long-distance migration. A pygmy blue whale set a new record.Sciencereports that a female named Isabela that had been photographed at the Galpagos Islands was seen eight years later off the coast of Chile, having traveled 5,200 kilometers, the longest recorded latitudinal migration made by any Southern Hemisphere blue whale on record. Most likely this is an annual trip the whales make, over 3,200 miles one-way.

Humpback whales are long-distance migrators too. The Australians have a cause for celebration now that conservation efforts have led to a remarkable rebound in their numbers down under,Science Dailysaid.

Captain Dave Anderson, featured in the Illustra film, often sees humpbacks off Dana Point, California, that have traveled south from Alaska, where they had delighted viewers on cruise ships.Phys.Orgreports the first sighting of a humpback near Hawaii on September 29, over a month earlier than normal. About 10,000 humpbacks winter in the oceans around Hawaii, usually November through May. Thats where Anderson got that beautiful drone shot of a humpback with her calf.

You may recall the dramatic slow-motion scene inLiving Watersof a humpback breaching the surface, rising high above the water and landing on its back with a mighty splash. Lad Allen and Jerry Harned got lucky on that shot. They were filming off the coast of Monterey with their Red Epic high-speed camera, looking for whales. But where are you going to point the camera, when they could be anywhere around the 360-degree horizon?

Harned pointed it out over the featureless water, turned on the pre-roll (a kind of camera memory) hopefully. As if on cue, the whale shot up right in the center of the field. Jerry hurriedly switched on the record button and got the whole sequence in high-definition slow motion a shot that still gives him chills when he thinks about it. As Paul Nelson said, the language fails when you see such wonders.

Whales play a vital role in the global nutrient cycle. TheProceedings of the National Academy of Sciencespublished a special issue about large mammals. One of the papers discussed Global nutrient transport in a world of giants, describing the oversized role that whales play in spreading nitrogen around for other ecological communities:

Despite their vastly decreased numbers, theimportant role of whales in distributing nutrients is just now coming to light.Whales transport nutrientslaterally, in moving between feeding and breeding areas, andvertically, by transporting nutrients from nutrient-rich deep waters to surface waters via fecal plumes and urine. Studies in the Gulf of Maine show that cetaceans and other marine mammalsdeliver large amounts of N to the photic zoneby feeding at or below the thermocline and then excreting urea and metabolic fecal N near the surface. [Emphasis added.]

The scientists estimate that whales transport almost four times as much nitrogen as terrestrial animals do. They also transport phosphorus and iron.

Because of theirenormous size and high mobility(and despite having many fewer species), great whales might have once transported nutrients away from concentration gradientsmore efficientlythan terrestrial mammals, the writers say. These nutrients are also assimilated more rapidly, andcontribute to system productivity more directlythan on land.

One of the diagrams in the paper, reproduced byScience Daily, shows the dependency of land animals on this nutrient cycle. Seabirds and anadromous fish like salmon carry these nutrients up rivers, where land animals like bears feed on the fish, profiting from the nutrients that whales had brought up from the deep ocean.

The authors even think that whales play a role in carbon dioxide levels that can affect the planets climate. They estimate that whale populations have been reduced by 90 percent from levels before the Moby Dick whaling days raising alarms about ecological damage to planetary ecosystems. This interconnectedness of life raises fresh impetus to preserve these magnificent creatures.

A paper inNature Communicationsreports something interesting about whale guts. Baleen whales have microbiomes with similarities to land animals, including humans. This is likely because, although they feed exclusively on marine animals, they have to digest chitin a polysaccharide from arthropod exoskeletons that is somewhat similar to the cellulose in plants that cows eat.

Like land herbivores, whales also have a foregut that helps pre-digest the polysaccharides. Since there are similarities and differences in the gut microbiomes, though, its not clear they successfully tied the findings to the old tale of whale evolution from a four-footed land animal.

Mammals host gut microbiomes of immense physiological consequence, but the determinants of diversity in these communities remainpoorly understood, the paper begins sheepishly. Dietappearsto be the dominant factor, buthost phylogenyalsoseemsto be an important, ifunpredictable, correlate.

Sternberg explains in the film how the whale-evolution sequence is more artistic license than demonstrable fact.

Captain Dave Anderson has taken an active role in rescuing whales. A thousand whales and dolphins a day, he says, die from being trapped in fishing nets. HisDolphin Safari websitetells the story of Lily the gray whale, whose rescue made TV news and inspired an award-winning book Anderson wrote to raise awareness of the plight of marine mammals caught in nets.

Recently, he has been developing a low-cost floating beacon that whale watchers can fasten to nets that whales are dragging along with them. This allows rescuers to find the whale again and cut it free, using a special pole with V-shaped knife that allows the rescuer to cut off the net off without harming the animal.

Sadly, whales and dolphins are also threatened by a growing problem: plastic trash.Phys.Org shows a picture of a dead sperm whale on a beach on Taiwan that was found to have plastic bags and fishing nets in its stomach. This may be one cause of the mysterious beachings of whales you hear about from time to time.

Anderson tells about how mylar balloons, let loose by thoughtless partygoers, often wind up in the ocean. Deflated and floating on the surface, they are mistaken for jellyfish, part of the whales diet, and can lead to death when ingested. We all need to realize that trash washed down our storm drains can threaten the most magnificent animals on earth.

But lets end on a happy note. The drones that gave the Illustra team such spectacular aerial photographs of whales and dolphins are proving useful for science.NOAA Fisheriesreports that hubcap-sized hexacopter drones are being used to study gray whales from above. Like humpbacks, gray whales have made a remarkable comeback since 1994 when restrictions on whaling were imposed. With these new aerial monitoring tools, scientists hope to spread this success story to other species that are still endangered.

Hopefully in the not-too-distant future, a NOAA marine biologist says, there will be many healthy populations of large whales to study. With that, the beauty of their intelligent design will also be preserved for posterity.

This article was originally published in 2015.

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THE EVOLUTION OF MONKEY – DAWN.com

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A snow-soaked monkey gazes into the camera lens | Photo by the writer

As tourism in the Galiyat region has increased, the eating habits and behavioural patterns of the areas native monkey population have changed. Those looking out for the primates are concerned about them becoming dependent on tourists for sustenance, while local farmers consider the monkeys a menace. Can man and monkey find a way to coexist?

It is the eyes that first get me. Frail and isolated from his family members, the baby monkey looks at me with innocence and vulnerability. It is February and the Galiyat region is white with snow. I am on assignment to do a story about the snowfall. The same snow has left the baby monkey soaked. The little creature out in the cold pulls harder at my heartstrings.

While it is not advisable for me to stop my old 1997 Toyota unless absolutely necessary, I just cannot move past the tiny beautiful creature. Maybe I am also driven by an instinctive curiosity to re-establish the thousands-year-old evolutionary relation between monkey and man. I step out of my vehicle and start feeding the infant biscuits. A mistake many tourists have made before me.

The serene moment between me and the infant is interrupted when I hear howling. Soon I see a troop of rhesus macaque, known more commonly as rhesus monkeys, aggressively advancing in my direction.

It is an unusual sight for me. The creatures, usually depicted as friendly and jovial, are in no mood to play. These monkeys clearly mean business.

This may have been an overreaction on my part, but seeing the troops advance, I jump back into my car. I have apparently invited the monkeys antagonist behaviour by ignoring their large troop and instead choosing to feed the baby. But there is more to the story.

When I am visiting the Galiyat, the region has been temporarily closed following the Murree tragedy in January, where at least 22 people, including 10 children, froze to death. The lack of tourists has made the monkeys more aggressive. They rely on these visitors for food.

It is common for tourists to feed the monkeys in the Galiyat valleys. No matter what season it is, one sees visitors feeding them fruits, corn, biscuits, chips and beverages. It is not exactly a healthy diet for the primates, but it is a diet they are used to.

People also feed these monkeys to make a mannat (pledge to God). This is not unique to the Galiyat and the culture exists in other parts of Pakistan and India. I bring bananas for them every week on Thursday or Friday, says Farzana Bibi, a resident of Abbottabad. She has allocated a certain amount from her sons incomes to support the monkeys in the Galiyat.

Besides the religiously inclined, on an average day, one may come across troops of monkeys surrounding tourists. Or, more commonly, tourists are seen approaching the monkeys resting on the railings by the roads or perched on pine tree branches, closely observing the movement and gifts their guests have brought to what has been their natural habitat for centuries.

Monkeys in the Galiyat region are very used to human company, as indicated by their usually friendly attitude towards them. But sometimes they snarl at tourists, warning them when they are crossing the boundaries of a friendly exchange. If feeling threatened, the monkeys may attack the intruders. But with the exception of rarely reported minor abrasions to tourists, no major injuries have ever been reported from the entire valley.

The mischievous monkeys also steal and snatch food from the tourists. Excited children, who love to be around the monkeys, are more vulnerable to the occasional attacks.

Raja Fareed, an eatery owner in Nathiagali, has grown up with these primates, closely observing their every move for years. Their angry mood, he tells me, can easily be judged from their howling and snarling. They apparently call on their intruders to inform them of where the monkeys territory starts. It is a natural alert system.

It is understandable that the monkeys are territorial. After all, this land was their home much before the transformation of the Galiyat valleys into a tourist friendly spot. But as tourism increases and makes inroads into the forests, the monkeys are making more frequent visits to the human population. While the tourists love the primates presence, local farmers consider them a menace.

What we see on display is a conflict as old as human civilisation. Settler versus the native. Man versus animal.

THE GALIYATS RHESUS MONKEYS

The name Rhesus, after a character in the Iliad, was apparently arbitrarily given to the primates by French naturalist and artist Jean-Baptiste Audebert in the book Natural History of the Monkeys and Lemurs (1799). These monkeys have existed in eastern Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and northern Pakistan for centuries.

In Pakistan, according to a 2020 WWF Pakistan article Why worrying about monkey business should be everyones business, these monkeys are illegally poached from their natural habitats. These monkeys can then be seen around the country, performing bandar tamashas and putting on shows so monkey charmers can make a quick buck. The practice remains under-researched.

The lack of research does not stop there. The exact population of the monkeys is not known by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department. This is cause of concern for policymakers and researchers. The lack of baseline statistics has resulted in limited research on the threats to the Rhesus natural habitats.

However, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife Department officials, the Galiyat alone have over 10,000 Rhesus monkeys. Dr Ume Habiba, a lecturer at the Wildlife Department at the University of Haripur, also estimates the monkey population in the Galiyat to be between 10,000 to 12,000.

They are a common species, Sardar Anwar, a Subdivisional Officer in Abbottabads Wildlife Division tells me. They are neither endangered nor extinct. According to the International Union for Conservation of Natures Red List of Threatened Species also, the species is at a relatively low risk of extinction.

In fact, the population is growing unchecked in the Galiyat. The region is home to a species of monkeys which, according to wildlife experts, give birth to one to three babies a year. Female macaques first breed when they are four years old.

Sardar Khalid, a social activist who cares for the monkeys in his free time, believes that, despite unchecked poaching, the Rhesuss population is much bigger than the estimates I am being provided with.

While the numbers vary, one thing is clear: the population of monkeys is increasing, while their natural habitat in the Galiyat region is being taken over for tourist and commercial activity.

A CHANGING HOME

When the area was closed during January and February this year, following the Murree tragedy, the monkeys suffered. Some social activists from Abbottabad and neighbouring areas highlighted that the monkeys were facing starvation. This brought into focus a hard-to-face reality: the tourists offerings have become the primary source of food for these animals.

Some administrative officers, officials of the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) and social activists tirelessly advocated for the monkeys, demanding a sustainable solution for feeding them. Some even demanded a permanent arrangement of transporting rotting vegetables and fruits to the Galiyat for feeding monkeys.

Ahsan Hameed, a GDA spokesperson says that, during the Covid-19 lockdowns too, they transported tonnes of rotting vegetables and fruits to the Galiyat, and dumped them at points most frequently visited by the monkeys. Additional Assistant Commissioner Galiyat Aminul Hasan also shares similar stories of taking care of the food problem of the monkeys.

Feeding monkeys is a common scene, but experts believe that humans socialising with and feeding the monkeys has, in fact, disturbed their natural eating habits.

The tourists who want to enjoy the company of monkeys, and want to post their interactions with the primates on social media, have changed the food preference of monkeys. According to Anwar from the Wildlife Division, their diet pattern has changed.

"When I am visiting the Galiyat, the region has been temporarily closed following the Murree tragedy in January, where at least 22 people, including 10 children, froze to death. The lack of tourists has made the monkeys more aggressive. They rely on these visitors for food. It is common for tourists to feed the monkeys in the Galiyat valleys.

These individuals are facilitating human-animal conflict, experts believe. A hungry monkey could attack tourists when not fed. Anwar says that there is plenty of indigenous food in the valley that the monkeys can, and should, eat instead.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, wildlife experts were hopeful that human-monkey distancing would facilitate rehabilitation of the disturbed ecosystems. Some social distancing from humans would do the monkeys good, they thought.

But even during the lockdowns, people would manage to make their way to the monkeys, feeding them, while posing for social media. The GDA also fed the monkeys rotting fruits and vegetables. Anwar disagrees with this practice and says he has written to the authority on the subject multiple times. This makes the monkeys dependent on humans for their sustenance, he says.

No threat would come to the monkeys lives if we do not throw biscuits and other food items at them, he tells me. These primates have survived on natural greenery and vegetation for centuries and, according to Anwar, there is an abundance of these in their habitats.

Anwar says that the Wildlife Division has made efforts to stop people from feeding the animals. He says that the monkeys behaviour has changed over the years, and they feel motivated to leave the forest areas and come down to the population, scavenging for and surviving on leftover food. This is wrong and must be stopped, the official reiterates.

WE ARE WHAT WE FEED

Monkeys have developed brains and are smart, says University of Haripurs Dr Habiba. They would not eat food that they find harmful to their life, the wildlife expert says. She does, however, agree that frequent human interaction has exposed the monkeys to multiple threats and the unmonitored feeding by tourists could cause them harm. Roads going through the forests have also disturbed their natural habitat and their movement across the roads also puts them in danger of fatal accidents.

These omnivores are vital for biodiversity and for the ecosystem to function. Yet their growing conflicts with humans are hard to deny. Habitat destruction and fragmentation, climate change, introduction to exotic species, pollution, overexploitation of resources, hunting, poaching and accidental death are also the threats to these mammals, observes Hina Jamil, a researcher.

But not everyone believes that separating man from monkey is a critical issue.

Dr Sajida Noreen, an assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Wildlife at the University of Haripur, says, Rhesus monkeys are synanthropic in nature [undomesticated species that benefit from living alongside human populations], which helps them adapt in various geographic regions of the world where human populations are settled. She adds that the monkeys can adjust to a variety of environmental conditions due to their tolerance of a broad range of habitats, including subtropical, temperate and subalpine habitats, as well as urban and other human modified environments.

In Pakistan, they are found in the northern hill regions of Murree, Swat, Kaghan, Azad Kashmir and Chitral. They also live throughout the high hills of the Hazara and Malakand Divisions, and in the Sakra mountains in Mardan Division and the Margalla Hills.

Those working towards increased protections for the monkey population point out that the monkeys are coming to the farms, at least in part, due to the construction of roads and arrival of tourists in the forests.

But while the monkeys may also benefit from their interactions with the human population, in many of the regions listed above, they are considered a nuisance and a severe threat to the livelihood of local farmers.

The conflict between man and monkey is a major issue. The destruction of crops and fruits by monkeys is a problem local farmers in the Galiyat are all too familiar with. The struggle for the same resources and land is ongoing, and can turn ugly.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY

The fight against monkeys hell-bent on destroying crops is an everyday reality for farmers in the Galiyat valley. People have become accustomed to the intruding monkeys attacks.

I had developed an orchard over an area of about five kanals of land, planting 104 plants of apples, apricots, walnuts, peaches, red and black persimmons, plums, pears and cherries during 2002, with the technical support of a non-governmental organisation, says Sardar Gohar Rehman Abbasi, a resident of the village Seri Khun Kalan. With this blooming orchard he was sure his income would increase and he would be able to better support his family.

The orchard started giving produce a year before some uninvited guests, the monkeys, started raiding the fruit trees, destroying the fruit at a very early stage. Abbasi complained about his predicament to the Wildlife Division, but to no avail. Instead they warned me to not even throw a stone at the uncontrolled monkeys, as it was a punishable crime under the wildlife protection laws and could lead to 14 years imprisonment, Abbasi recalls.

The monkey attacks, Abbasi estimates, resulted in a loss of 100,000 rupees per year. He says that NGOs planted 1,200 fruit trees in the area, but landowners had to cut most of them down due to frequent monkey attacks.

Abbasi complains that he and his fellow farmers spend their days taking care of their orchards, spending thousands of rupees every year on fertilisers, insecticides and, above all, protection for their crops. But still they are left with half eaten apples, apricots, persimmons and broken branches.

Our area had two main agriculture markets, one in Kala Bagh and the other in Kohala, says Abdul Sattar Khan, another villager. [These markets] used to facilitate trade and the export of Galiyats famous potatoes across the country. The markets, says Khan, have now ceased to exist as the monkeys unchecked raids have disturbed the agricultural activities in the area.

Khan says that tomatoes, beans, ladyfingers, turnips and pumpkins are the most favoured crops of the monkeys. He says that a troop of monkeys may comprise as many as a 100 monkeys, that attack the crops and rampage through the farms uncontrolled, destroying anything edible that they find.

Sardar Muhammad Sharif Khan, another villager, shares the names of seven persons, including a woman from his area, who were injured by the monkeys during year 2019 alone.

We have stopped growing potatoes due to the unchecked attacks and the destruction caused by the monkeys, says Raja Abdul Waheed, another farmer. Waheed says that he used to earn a decent income growing potatoes until a few years back. But when the monkeys began to attack, he had no choice but to change course.

Following the frequent construction and human activity in the forest areas of Bhagan and the Bakot forest, and with the growing dependence of monkeys on human feeding, troops of monkeys barge into orchards in search of food. They not only forcibly take away the unallocated share of fruits but also damage the plants and tree branches.

My wife and I throw stones at the invading monkeys climbing walnut trees in the small orchard, but they continue to eat and drop half eaten walnuts, says Chaudhry Sarwar, a resident of Bakot.

THE RULE OF THE LAW

As with many conflicts, the court had to intervene in the conflict between the farmers and the monkeys as well. Abbasi, the owner of an orchard in village Seri Khun Khalan who continued to highlight the loss of farmers livelihood because of monkey attacks at different forums, had finally had enough. He moved to the court of the Senior Civil Judge Abbottabad on May 19, 2017, seeking compensation for the loss of fruit and trees of his orchard.

The court heard both sides and some officials of the Abbottabad Wildlife Division also appeared and contested the case on behalf of their department. They stated before the court that none of the monkeys from Ayubia Park, a protected area for wildlife, go to the populated area and the complaint was baseless.

On February 20, 2019, the court ordered the Wildlife Division to pay a compensation of 3.5 million rupees to Rehman for the damage of his fruit trees and land by monkeys due to non-provision of food and negligence by the department.

The farmers also complain that, while the wildlife protection laws provide cover for the monkeys, no one is looking out for them. Painting themselves as helpless victims, they say they just look at the monkeys and can only make loud noises to scare them off. Shay, shay; Ha, ha, demonstrates Tamaz Khan, showing the kind of noises they make. Tamaz Khan is another villager who was injured by a small troop of monkeys once when he stopped them from entering his maize field.

But a look at the laws tells a different story.

Section 9A of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife and Biodiversity (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2015, states that: No person shall hunt any wild animal by means of a set gun, drop spear, deadfall, explosive, gun trap, explosive projectile, bomb, grenade, baited hook, net, snare, or any other trap, an automatic weapon, or a weapon of a calibre used by the Pakistan Army or Police Force or by means of a projectile containing any drug or chemical substance, likely to anaesthetise, paralyse, stupefy or render incapable an animal whether partly or totally.

But Section 63 allows Hunting in defence and defines that: (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, it shall not be an offence if (a) any person kills any wild animal by any means in the immediate defence of his own life or that of the life of any other person; and (b) the owner of livestock or his employee kills any wild animal, doing material damage to his livestock, by means not prohibited under this Act, within a reasonable distance where that livestock is grazing or where it is.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 1975, also used to provide cover for the owner of standing crops or his employee [who] kills any wild animal which is doing material damage to those crops by any means within the bounds of those crops. But similar clauses are not included in the 2015 Act.

The farmers, frustrated with the monkeys, believe that they do not have enough cover in the face of the monkeys. During multiple conversations, they lament the fact that they cannot use an electric fence or more extreme measures against the monkeys.

Those working for increased protections towards the monkey population point out that the monkeys are coming to the farms, at least in part, due to the construction of roads and arrival of tourists in the forests. The antagonism the farmers feel towards the monkeys who are costing them their livelihoods is understandable. But peaceful coexistence is also possible.

LEARNING TO COEXIST

According to the National Geographics Rhesus Macaque factsheet, these intelligent animals can adapt to many habitats, and some can even become accustomed to living in human communities.

In the Galiyat, experts suggest that rules regarding feeding and interacting with the monkey population must be strictly enforced. This is the norm in national parks and other areas with animal populations around the world.

The animals should also be better provided for in the forest area and their natural habitats must be protected, so they do not feel the need to venture out. The population of the monkeys must also be studied, so policymakers and researchers can work with the ground realities in mind.

Informed policymaking and enforcement will see behavioural change in both the tourists and the monkeys.

Even before a man was sent to space, Albert II, a male rhesus monkey became the first mammal to travel to space in 1949. So the primates ability to adapt has been long established.

Surely, with the right kind of planning and attention, and protection of their habitats, the monkeys could adapt to the changing dynamics. And, sooner or later, the tourists could also learn to mend their ways.

The writer is a journalist based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He tweets @MSadqat

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 15th, 2022

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