Eco-tourism project at Konni to get a facelift

PATHANAMTHITTA: The eco-tourism project launched by the Forest Department at Konni four years ago is to get a facelift with the department deciding to launch the second phase of the project.

Official sources told The Hindu on Saturday that steps would be taken to set up a children's park and butterfly park at the elephant camp.

Construction of a compound wall, proper lighting of the elephant camp, streamlining elephant safari with a view to attracting more tourists are the other thrust areas in the second phase.

The eco-tourism project, developed jointly by the departments of Forests and Tourism, at the nine-acre elephant camp was launched in January 2007, making it a base station facilitating various eco-tourism activities in the region.

Source :- The Hindu May 30, 2011

The camp at present houses modern elephant shelters, elephant kraal, photo gallery, biogas plant, retiring rooms for mahouts, and shops selling forest produce.

Absence of entertainment facilities for children and ‘lack' of entrepreneurship on the part of the authorities seem to have affected the prospects of the park.

Butterfly park

The butterfly park will have a polycarbonate dome suitably designed for weather control.

According to the sources, the park will be home to hundreds of colourful butterflies, including rare species, especially at a time when the butterfly population is under threat due to depleting green cover.

Certain species of butterflies are on the verge of extinction and the proposed park has got much significance in this context.

Conservatory

A conservatory, museum, and an audio-visual room aimed at creating awareness among the visitors of biodiversity and a breeding house displaying metamorphosis of a butterfly will be the major attractions.

The department is planning to convert an old inspection bungalow on the banks of the Achencoil river in the forests at Naduvathumoozhy into a heritage interpretation centre as part of the eco-tourism project.

Elephant ride

Though the camp houses five elephants, the department has been conducting the elephant ride using a female elephant, Priyadarshni.

Tree-top huts have been planned at the elephant camp to lure more tourists as part of the second phase of the project. This is besides the proposals for jungle treks, rock climbing and river rafting.

Construction of an open-air theatre and a pond for bathing the captive elephants are the other schemes to be implemented at the camp.

Earth's inner core melting'

Washington: The inner core of the Earth, which is believed to be growing about one millimetre per year, may be melting, scientists have claimed.

According to researchers at the University of Leeds in England, this melting could actually be linked to activity on the Earth's surface and the findings could help explain how the core generates the planet's magnetic field.

The 2,400km wide inner core which is a ball of solid iron about the same size of the moon is surrounded by an outer core made up mostly of liquid iron-nickel alloy, a highly viscous mantle layer and, topping it off, a solid crust that forms the surface of the planet.

As the Earth cools from the inside out, it is believed that the molten outer core is slowly freezing, leading the inner core to grow at a rate of about one millimetre per year.

"The standard view has been that the inner core is freezing all over and growing, but it appears that there are regions where the core is actually melting," said Sebastian Rost, a seismologist who led the research.

Source: The Indian Express. 19-05-2011

Milky Way 'in mid-life crisis'

Washington: Our Milky Way is suffering from a mid-life crisis and will slow down its production of stars over the next billion years, say planetary scientists.

Galaxies typically fall into one of two categories – energetic blue galaxies that form new stars at an impressive rate, or lethargic red galaxies which are slowly dying. But, a team at Swinburne University of Technology has shown our own Milky Way galaxy is neither of these. Rather it is a rare "green valley" galaxy that is half way between a youthful blue galaxy and a geriatric red one.

This is the first time that the scientists have compared both the colour and the star formation rate of the Milky Way to that of other galaxies in the Universe, the 'Astrophysical Journal' reported.


"Determining the state of our own galaxy while we're stuck inside it is very difficult to do. The phrase 'it's hard to see the forest for the trees' really rings true here," Dr Darren Croton, who led the team, said.

Source: The Indian Express. 26-05-2011

Moon may have as much water as earth has: study

London: The moon’s interior may contain 100 times more water than previously thought, perhaps as much as the Earth’s interior has, a new study has claimed.
Scientists have recently discovered water in moon, which was long thought to be a dusty and dry place, after examining lunar rocks brought to Earth in 1972 by the final manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17.

Now, researchers from Case Western Reserve University who analysed the volcanic samples of the ancient lunar crust believe there could be 100 times more water than previously thought, the Daily Mail reported.

In fact, the measured quantities, could be as high as the water contained in the Earth’s upper mantle -- the viscous layer of semi-molten rock that lies just beneath this planet’s crust, the scientists said.

If this is the case, it challenges a long-held theory about the moon’s formation. Most experts believe a huge impact early in Earth’s history ejected material into space that became the moon.

Source: The Indian Express. 27-05-2011