Trash bird

By David Grimm Feb. 26, 2021 , 10:45 AM The cats and dogs lie as if asleep, in individual graves. Many wore collars or other adornments, and they had been cared for through injury and old age, like today’s pets. But the last person to bury a beloved animal companion in this arid Egyptian land on the coast of the Red Sea did so nearly 2000 years ago. The site, located in the early Roman port of Berenice, was found a decade ago, but its purpose was mysterious. Now a detailed excavation has unearthed the burials of nearly 600 cats and dogs, along with the strongest evidence yet that these animals were treasured pets. That would make the site the oldest known pet cemetery, the authors argue, suggesting that the modern concept of pets wasn’t alien to the ancient world. “I’ve never encountered a cemetery like this,” says Michael MacKinnon, a zooarchaeologist at the University of Winnipeg who has studied the role of animals across the bygone Mediterranean but was not involved with … [Read more...] about Graves of nearly 600 cats and dogs in ancient Egypt may be world’s oldest pet cemetery

JAKARTA: As thunderous clouds roll in from the sea, Jakarta residents brace themselves for a familiar scenario. Heavy showers soon drench parts of the city and in just a few hours, rainwater begins to overwhelm the drainage system. When that happens, major streets, roads and back alleys are inundated in ankle-deep, sometimes knee-deep water, causing traffic gridlocks so severe that motorists find themselves stuck on the roads for hours. But there is more trouble to come. The clouds begin to move to the mountainous suburbs further south. As massive rainfall hits these upstream areas, creeks and rivers begin to swell and the dozens of flood control dams and sluice gates along their paths start to raise their alert level. It won’t be long before the dams are overwhelmed and officials manning them are left with no choice but to release the water. A flood is imminent and the surging water is on its way to the capital city. Residents who live near the rivers are immediately … [Read more...] about IN FOCUS: The fight against Jakarta’s devastating yearly floods

SINGAPORE: For the past 10 years or so, Madam Tan Mgeok Moi wakes up at the crack of dawn to get ready for work. Mercifully, for the part-time estate cleaner, her workplace is not far from home. By 7am, Mdm Tan is already sweeping up whatever rubbish she finds at the four Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks under her care around Yishun Street 81. It is hard, laborious work, and at 60, she is no longer as spry as she used to be. “I’m old and getting older, and my legs get a little sore sometimes when I work,” she said in Mandarin as she sat down to rub medicated oil on her knees. READ: Nee Soon Town Council steps up fight against sanitary pad litterbugs in Yishun Mdm Tan also has to deal with a daily job hazard - mindless littering in its various forms , from dirty water being thrown out of flat windows to discarded banana peels strewn on grass patches. She was almost hit recently by leftover food wrapped in newspaper that was thrown from one of the upper … [Read more...] about The Big Read: Singapore’s high-rise littering problem – out of sight, out of mind

JAKARTA: The flimsy, makeshift bamboo walkway creaked and bent as Ade Djuhana treaded his steps carefully metres above trash-strewn water in a coastal area of Jakarta. At the end of the 500m passageway, the rows of mangrove trees opened up revealing a wetland devastated by a recent storm surge. About 5,000 trees in just one corner of the wetland, he said, were lost to the incoming waves. Across the wetland, there are sections where massive mangrove trees sat lopsided, stacked on top of each other with huge chunks of their roots jutting out of the water. Mr Djuhana said another strong wave, which occurred much earlier, was responsible for the destruction. Mr Djuhana, a short, stocky man with bushy eyebrows, is the caretaker of Jakarta’s last remaining mangrove forests. He works at the Jakarta Parks and Forestry Agency as chief of the Pantai Indah Kapuk mangrove ecotourism and protected forest unit. Mangrove trees were once abundant across the Indonesian capital’s 30km … [Read more...] about Last mangrove ecosystem in Jakarta city under threat from land subsidence and climate change