Blog Archives
Another rare kiwi hatches at the Columbus Zoo
Another kiwi has hatched just months after the historic first hatching at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium of this unique bird species. The latest North Island brown kiwi chick (Apteryx mantelli) hatched on June 25; the first hatched on March 23.
Only six kiwis, including the two chicks at the Columbus Zoo, have hatched in the past five years in North America. The Columbus Zoo is only the third zoo in North America to successfully hatch a kiwi chick since the first one hatched at Smithsonian’s National Zoo in 1975.
The newest chick, whose sex will be determined through DNA testing, is currently being cared for behind-the-scenes. The first chick is a male and animal care staff named him “Ariki” (ah-ree-kee), meaning first-born or chief in the species’ native New Zealand. Ariki can be seen between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Zoo’s Roadhouse nocturnal habitat. Including the chicks there are now five kiwis at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and a total of 21 kiwis in three United States zoos.
“The first hatching of a kiwi at the Columbus Zoo was a notably rare occurrence” said Columbus Zoo and Aquarium President and CEO Dale Schmidt. “To have a second kiwi hatch, especially so soon after the first one, is further proof our animal care team’s efforts are firmly based on science and expertise.”
Kiwis are flightless birds about the size of a domestic chicken and the egg, weighing as much as 20% of the female’s body weight, is the largest egg in relation to body size of any bird. The female kiwi lays one egg at a time in the burrow occupied by the male kiwi. In the wild the male completes the average 86-day incubation process on his own.
At the Zoo eggs are checked to see if they are fertile 30-45 days after they are laid. To maximize the potential of a successful hatching a fertile egg is placed in an incubator where it is monitored for temperature and humidity and turned slightly each day. Once the chick pips the egg it takes about four days for it to completely emerge and it survives on its yolk sac for 6-12 days.
Kiwi chicks are miniature versions of the adult kiwi and are about 1/8 of the size of an adult when they hatch. They are precocial, meaning they are completely on their own after hatching, and must find food and avoid predators without assistance. Most birds locate their food through sight and have a relatively poor sense of smell. Being nocturnal, the kiwi’s senses are just the opposite and they use their long beak to forage through leaf litter sniffing out earthworms and other invertebrates, fruits and berries.
Kiwis have a high mortality rate in the wild mostly due to predation by invasive species; 50% of kiwi eggs fail to hatch, 90% of chicks do not survive to six months of age and only 5% reach adulthood. Kiwi males are sexually mature at two years of age and females are reproductive at about three years old.
The five distinct species of kiwi are only found in New Zealand and zoos outside of New Zealand only manage the North Island brown kiwi. The kiwi is the unofficial mascot of New Zealand and despite having legal protection since 1896 their numbers are declining mostly due to predation by non-native species including dogs and cats.
The Columbus Zoo’s conservation program has supported projects to protect the kiwi including supplying funds to construct predator proof fencing around reserves and fitting kiwis with transmitters to enable regular monitoring.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Information from Columbus Zoo press release)
Work by photographer on display at University of Findlay
A collection of work by Mat Marrash will be on display through Friday, Aug. 5, at The University of Findlay’s Lea Gallery, located inside the Virginia B. Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion. The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
A digital and film photographer, Marrash focuses on historical and artistic aspects of photography. His knowledge base ranges from exposure to self-processing and fine printing. Currently, he is focusing on work using an antique, large-format, 8×10 camera.
Marrash has been part of and won several awards at many juried exhibitions including Lima Art Space Photo Club Exhibits, Findlay Art League, Hancock in the Parks Photo Contest, Wassenberg Art Center Annual Photo Exhibit and the FAVA Biennial Six States Photography Show.
Originally from Fairfield, Conn., Marrash is a recent Findlay graduate. He was the 2009 recipient of the dean of the College of Liberal Arts’ award for academic achievement. His goal is to explore the entire history of photographic technique in order to apply his experiences to the technologies of digital photography.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Information from University of Findlay Web site)
Joni Eareckson Tada to appear at Cedarville University conference
Join the Cedarville University Center for Bioethics and Joni and Friends September 15-17 for the Bioethics Conference 2011 and Through the Roof Summit. The theme of this year’s conference is “Equipping for End-of-Life Ministry.” Leading experts in the fields of bioethics and pastoral care will provide practical take-home tools for health care and ministry professionals.
There will be presentations by keynote speakers Joni Eareckson Tada, C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D., and Christopher Hook, M.D., as well as breakout sessions led by a variety of thought leaders in healthcare ethics and end-of-life ministry. Topics will include issues such as mechanically sustaining life, life support and God’s timing.
Tada is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joni and Friends International Disability Center. A diving accident at 17 left her a quadriplegic, and throughout her life she has assisted others in similar situations. She founded Joni and Friends as a response to the many questions resulting from her best-selling autobiography, “Joni.”
Mitchell is a professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Tennessee and editor of “Ethics & Medicine: An International Journal of Bioethics.” He was a consultant with the Center for Genetics & Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University and Co-Director for Biotechnology Policy and Fellow of the Council for Biotechnology Policy in Washington, D.C. He is currently serving as co-editor of the “Zondervan International Dictionary of Christian Bioethics,” to be published in 2012.
Hook is an Associate Professor of Medicine with the Mayo Clinic. He is also a Senior Fellow of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. He is actively involved in medical ethics scholarship and research
Register for the conference online at http://www.cedarville.edu/bioethics2011.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Information taken from Cedarville University press release)
Free Christian music festival slated in Cambridge
Rush of Fools will headline Empowered 2011, a free Christian music festival which will be held noon July 16 at McFarland Stadium, 1201 Clairmont Ave., Cambridge.
The event is free.
For information, call 740-432-7308.
Westerville and Twitter
One of the many great things about living in Westerville is how active city departments are on Twitter.
It’s a great way of keeping up with what’s going on in the city.
All-City news and information:
@tellwesterville
Westerville Parks & Recreation (program news, announcements, cancellations)
@WestervillePark
Westerville Electric Division
(outages, alerts and energy tips)
@WvilleElectric
Westerville Division of Police
(public safety information, alerts)
@WestervillePD
Does your city government do Twitter?
Follow @chrispugh3Sharing "The Click of the Casket Lock"
I enjoy reading good creative writing.
Angela Gyamfi, who was a co-worker of mine at The Affinion Group, shared a great one she wrote with me to post here.
Let me know what you think.
The Click of the Casket Lock
I was sprung from his loins,
Flesh of his flesh,
Soul of his Soul,
I called him Father.
Husband of my mother.
Each morning as you left for work,
you would toot your horn
as if to say goodbye,
And the same sound
would announce your return
And I would breathe, a sigh of relief.
For you are here, I need have no fear.
You helped me with my fears as a child,
My fear of the frogs that hopped in the backyard,
My fear of the snakes that slithered through the grass
You said, “Son there is no fear that you cannot overcome”
Pick your battles, you gain some, you lose some.
And I would smile,
Looking at your face,the face that looked just like mine.
But, today you left,without the toot of your familiar horn
Not in a car, but in a shroud of wool and adikudon,
You are not looking at me with your usual smile,
You look still and stern, expressionless.
And the sound that I feared most
breaks through the overwhelming cries of grief
That surrounds you.
That sound of the casket lock.
Tell me now to pick my battles,father.
Husband of my mother,
My greatest fear has come,
I cannot seem to shake this one..
It resounds in my ear,I cannot bear
that final echo.
The click of your casket lock.
Will I hear that sound when you return
from your trip from that dark,closed urn?
Where you go, I will one day follow,
Flesh of my flesh,
soul of my soul,
I will hear that sound after me,
That click that precedes the eternal walk
to where you must be.
And my son, he too will hear
that ominous sound, that final sound
Behind me as I take that inevitable walk
And I will come into your presence
Glady,silently, into heaven’s dock.
I will sail in on the wings of the celestial hawk.
And I will fear no more.
For death has lost its sting
And the grave has lost its victory
As the angels gloriously sing
All hail to God our King.
Great fireworks for the Fourth!
Happy Fourth of July!
Have a safe one today, and enjoy the above video from YouTube user “MrZiggy1000” from Friday night’s Red, White and Boom in Columbus.
Follow @chrispugh3Most drivers favor red light cameras, a new survey of 14 big U.S. cities finds
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This press release came from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. I thought the conclusions were interesting. What do you think?)
Two-thirds of drivers in 14 big cities with longstanding red light camera programs support their use, a new survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicates. The findings follow an Institute study demonstrating that cameras have reduced the rate of fatal red light running crashes by 24 percent in these same cities.
The strong public support confirms that red light camera opponents, while vocal and often influential, are a minority. Even in Houston, a city that voted in a November 2010 referendum to shut off its cameras, a majority of drivers say they favor red light camera enforcement.
“Most drivers don’t buy the argument that it’s somehow wrong to enforce the law just because you’re using a camera to do it,” says Anne McCartt, the Institute’s senior vice president for research. “They understand that this technology is preventing crashes in their cities.”
An Institute study released earlier this year showed that red light cameras save lives. Researchers looked at U.S. cities with populations over 200,000 and compared those with red light cameras to those without. In the 14 cities that had cameras in 2004-08 but didn’t have them in an earlier comparison period, automated red light enforcement saved 159 lives. If cameras had been operating in those years in all large U.S. cities, a total of 815 deaths would have been avoided.
As a follow-up, the Institute gauged drivers’ experience with cameras and their perceptions of them. More than 3,000 people in the 14 study cities were interviewed by cellphone and landline between Feb. 19 and March 29. The survey has a margin of error of about 2 percentage points. An additional 300 people were surveyed in Houston because of its recent vote to shut off the cameras. The city installed cameras in 2006, which was too late to be included in the crash study group. The Houston survey has a margin of error of 6 percentage points.
More than 9 of 10 drivers surveyed in the 14 cities believe running a red light is unacceptable, and more than 8 of 10 deem it a serious threat to personal safety. Two-thirds favor red light cameras, and 42 percent strongly favor them.
Among the 89 percent of drivers who are aware of the camera programs in their cities, a majority say the devices have made intersections safer. Nearly half know someone who has gotten a ticket, and 17 percent have gotten one themselves. Of the latter, about half believe it was deserved.
Previous surveys also have found widespread support for red light cameras, but opponents continue to claim that the programs violate privacy and are cooked up by cities merely to generate revenue. Voters in 8 cities have rejected camera programs in ballot initiatives during the past 3 years.
In Houston, where 53 percent of voters cast ballots against red light cameras in November, the people who went to the polls don’t seem to represent the majority of drivers. Fifty-seven percent of drivers there favor cameras, and 45 percent strongly favor them. However, opposition is firmer, with 28 percent saying they strongly oppose cameras versus 18 percent in the other 14 cities.
In the 14 study cities, a little more than a quarter of respondents said they oppose cameras. Asked why, 26 percent said cameras can make mistakes. The contention that cameras are about money, not safety, was mentioned by 26 percent. Nineteen percent said they make roads less safe and lead to more crashes, while 17 percent argued that they’re an invasion of privacy. The question was open-ended, and respondents could give as many reasons as they wanted.
The survey found less support for the use of cameras to crack down on right-on-red violations than for red light cameras generally. Such violations include making a right on red where it is not permitted and making the turn without stopping. Cities differ as to whether they issue tickets for rolling right-on-red turns when they are caught on camera. Nearly a fifth of drivers say they support cameras but oppose right-on-red enforcement. Forty-one percent of drivers support using cameras for these violations.
“Right-on-red violations usually aren’t associated with T-bone crashes, but they make intersections much more dangerous for pedestrians in particular,” McCartt says. “The survey results show cities need to do a better job explaining this issue to drivers.”
Percentage of drivers who support red light cameras in each of 14 study cities
Bakersfield, Calif. 68%
Baltimore, Md. 67%
Chandler, Ariz. 75%
Chicago, Ill. 65%
Garland, Texas 66%
Long Beach, Calif. 48%
Phoenix, Ariz. 74%
Portland, Ore. 68%
Raleigh, N.C. 62%
Sacramento, Calif. 71%
San Diego, Calif. 64%
Santa Ana, Calif. 54%
Toledo, Ohio 58%
Washington, D.C. 78%
View from the Pugh 