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Weekly Update
TANZANIA: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has released photographs of a newly discovered African Kipunji monkey (Rungwece-bus Kipunji) in the narrow forest corridors linking Mt Rungwe to Livingstone, in southern Tanzania. Kipunji has recently been reclassified as a new genus, making this the first new monkey genus discovered in over 83 years. Found only in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, the Kipunji monkey is extremely rare, with only 500 individuals estimated in the wild. The arboreal Kipunji monkey is charachterised by long whiskers and a high crest of hair on the tip of its head. It lives in social groups of 30-36 individuals, and to date, 16 groups have been identified in the Rungwe-Livingstone area while three are found in the Ndundulu Forest Reserve. —Reuters
I think I’ll take the stairs
PARIS: Inspired by the human cannonball of circus fame, US defence resear-chers have patented a device to fire police officers, fire-fighters or special forces to the top of a five-storey building, New Scientist reported.
The device could put a man on the top of a five-storey building in less than two seconds, it said in a news item on its website (http://www.newscientist.com).
The invention comprises a launch ramp that would be placed on the ground at an angle of about 80 degrees to the building.
A person would then sit in a chair attached to the ramp, and compressed air from a cylinder underneath would shoot the chair up the ramp’s guide rails.
“At the top, the chair would come to an instant halt, leaving the person to fly up and over the edge of the roof, to hopefully land safely on top of the building,” said New Scientist.
The patent, filed by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), says the ramp’s precise elevation and the chair’s speed of ascent would be calculated by computer.— AFP
Mummy with tattoos found in ancient Peru site
WASHINGTON: A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been found in a ceremonial burial site on Peru’s north coast near Trujillo, the National Geo-graphic Society reported.
The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewellery and weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed, archaeologists reported.
They said the woman was part of the Moche culture that thrived in the area between AD 1 and AD 700. The mummy was dated about AD 450.
The presence of gold jewellery and other fine items indicates the mummy was that of an important person, but anthropologist John Verano of Tulane University said the researchers are puzzled by the presence of war clubs, which are not usually found with females.
The woman had complex tattoos, distinct from others of the Moche, covering both arms and other areas.
The grave also contained headdresses, jewellery made of gold and semiprecious stones, war clubs, spear throwers, gold sewing needles, weaving tools and raw cotton.— AP
Man dies from cat scratch
LONDON: A man died after being scratched by his playful pet cat, an inquest in Britain heard on Tuesday.
The graze on Martin Maas’s left hand turned septic. The 61-year-old, from Swindon, southwest England, died days later in hospital from a subcutaneous infection.
Wiltshire Coroner David Masters recorded a verdict of death by natural causes at the hearing, and said it would be unduly harsh to lay all the blame on the cat.
He said it was impossible to prove that the cat scratch itself had caused Maas’s death but it had been “the portal through which the infection had got in”.— AFP
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