HortPark, SG 20120402

Monarchs and Tigers belong to the genus Danaus. They are large butterflies, characterised by their orange wings, which have a black apex, and white subapical spots. All butterflies in this subfamily are thought to be toxic or distasteful to avian predators.

HortPark, SG 20130126

Danaus chrysippus is found across the entire African continent, throughout most of Asia south of the Himalayas, on most of the islands of the south Pacific, and across much of Australia.

HortPark, SG 20120402

The Common Tiger [Danaus genutia] is also called Striped Tiger in India to differentiate it from the equally common Plain Tiger [Danaus chrysippus].

HortPark, SG 20120402

The butterfly closely resembles the Monarch butterfly [Danaus plexippus] of the Americas. The wingspan is 75 to 95 mm. Danaus genutia is distributed throughout India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and extending to South East Asia and Australia.

Wednesday morning I awoke at 4am in my brother’s host mom’s house in Bo Pinto, San Pedro, just outside of San Jose. I was headed to La Fortuna and the bus left from the station in downtown San Jose at 6:15am. Somehow, in Costa Rica, this early didn’t seem nearly as painful as it should have. In fact, it really was easy to get up and get moving! I packed up my messenger bag and grabbed a banana from the fruit basket, that was always fully stocked, on the kitchen table. After the short walk to the InterAmerica I hopped on the commuter bus downtown. It’s amazing how inexpensive transit is down there. 210 colones to ride. This is approximately 45 cents in USD. So amazing!
The drive itself was beautiful and amazing. So many different types of forests, so many different types of plants, all depending on what altitude you are at in the mountains. Simply beautiful and amazing.

I arrived in Fortuna around 11:30am and Royo (I think is what he said his name was!) was waiting for me at the bus station from Cabinas Jerry, the hostel I was to stay at. The hostel was only two blocks from the bus station, but it was still nice. I settled into my clean, private room with private bath ($20/night), and headed out to explore La Fortuna. Fortuna is a small city and a beautiful city. Volcan Arenal looms over the city, there is almost no where, where you can not see the iconic cone shape. I had lunch at an over priced, but good touristy place called the Lava Lounge. It had a pretty view of the volcano and decent food, but was more expensive than I should have picked. Ah well, you only live once and I haven’t been on a vacation in over 7 years! I continued to explore after lunch. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a non-tourist place to buy a beach towel, which I foolishly forgot in San Pedro. I now have a Costa Rica, mariposa nacional souvenir towel. HA! oops. I also bought a bottle of water, which was the only well spent money of the morning.

At 2pm I had a tour with RedLava Tours… or so I thought. Turns out that the lovely girl who had booked my hostel and tour for me in San Jose, had emailed my booking of the tour to the owner of the company instead of calling him. He didn’t get the email in time. So after much fussing and phoning on my behalf by the owner of the Cabinas, I had a private car come pick me up, to catch up to the rest of the tour group. Talk about a ride! My private driver had a broken speedometer and raced around the mountain roads at break neck speed, passing cars and buses on blind corners while answering his phone! It was a riot. I’m sure if I had not been grinning about it, he would have been a little more responsible, but it awesome! When I caught up, my group agreed my ride was probably more fun, and told me all I had missed was our tour guide Christian climbing a tree like a monkey to pick us a fresh guava and the silhouette of two toucans. I was caught up before the group even entered the park. Apparently what took me about 15 minutes to traverse had taken them about an hour! So we entered the park, changed into swim suits, tried some delicious guava, took tons of photos of aves (birds) Montezumas and headed out for our hike.

The hike was amazing. (I know I keep saying everything was amazing, but it all really was amazing!!) Christian was a wonderful guide. He really knew his stuff. Traci, of Mike and Traci the newlyweds, in our group was going to college for the study of plants, and for once there was someone taking more pictures than me! She also had wonderful questions for Christian about all kinds of uses for plants. Through out the tour he had us chew on raw sugar cane, eat some palm heart, smell a bunch of different leaves of plants including one that smelled just like anise, and “strangle” a flower to get the natural bug repellant, that smelled like pine and honey, out of it. He also dug up some of the volcanic mud for free facials at the hot springs later on in the tour. About half way through the hike we came upon a wonderfully beautiful waterfall, like the kind you see on postcards, and we got to swim!!

(photo: Christian, Olga & Talia)

It was cool and refreshing. Christian also showed us where we could climb up the rocks a bit and jump off into the pool. It was magical. Eventually there should be photos of us all swimming and goofing off in the waterfall pool. It was quite the magical experience. We made it back to the main deck area for sunset over Laguna Arenal. Dejan had a little run in with a critter who wanted the banana in his bag so bad it latched onto his bag for a little spin. One of the other employees later put some banana in his hand and led the pesky thing around the complex to show all of the other tourists! What a job. It must be so much fun, most of the time at least. After sunset, Christian took us on a mini “night hike” to try and find some spiders and snakes and things. What we did find was a gigantic bull frog! I mean this guy was monstrous and we have pretty darn big bull frogs in the Midwest! We didn’t get a really good look at him since he slipped into his apparent home under a log pretty quick, but we could kind of see into the hole and get a glimpse of him! He was probably around 8 inches in diameter! We also found several small (by Costa Rica standards) spiders and one little snake that was too young for Christian to be sure of it’s species but he was pretty sure it was a fairly venomous one. I can’t remember what he said he thought it was though.

After the night hike we headed to the hot springs. No cameras, no clothes, not even shoes came along to the hot springs. We had all opted for the “natural river” hot springs. Definitely the right choice. It was like growing up swimming in the Huron River. We were just down stream from a road overpass, that held very little traffic and was paved underneath. Where the paving ended there was a small waterfall that we were later shown, you could get under. Apparently the local “romantic hang out,” since we interrupted at least one couple making love under there! Other than our tour group it was all locals hanging out at this hot spring location, which only made it more awesome. Screw fancy cement shaped pools, I’ll take a real river any day! It felt like you were in a heated pool, but there were trees and rocks. Oh it was heaven. While at the hot springs Christian mixed us drinks of a local liquor, Guaro, and grapefruit juice. Yum!  He also mixed up the volcanic mud with some water, in an indent in the top of a boulder. He then tenderly applied mud masks to all of us. There was plenty of mud left and many of the locals took advantage. Soon nearly everyone there had a mud mask on and about half of us had back/chest/arm masks on too! Once the mud was dry, all you had to do was rinse it off in the river and, as Christian put it you’d be as smooth as a baby’s behind.

When our time was up at the hot springs, the RedLava driver dropped us off at each of our hotels. As we got out Christian invited each of us to go out with him and his friend for some drinks and Talia and I both wanted dinner. So after a quick shower and change of clothes (unfortunately my nice stuff was all in San Jose!) Christian and his friend Julio came and picked me up. Talia was already in the car and we picked Olga up before heading to Establos (I think was the name) a bar with awful karaoke, but good beer prices and food. After Talia and I had dinner and the guys had some fries, and we all had some beers, we danced. Olga actually kind of knew how to Salsa. Have to say, I was a little jealous. I wish I knew how to Salsa! Even after Julio tried to teach me a bit, I’m still pretty sure I’m clueless. It’s all good though. I had a fantastic time. I love dancing. I wish people here in Chicago liked to dance and not just to shitty rap “dance” music. Julio tried to convince all of us to go back to the hot springs. We knew what that implied. The other girls thought Julio was crazy. I just think he was having a good time, so why not ask? Olga and Christian danced a lot, Julio and I danced a lot, Talia sat and chatted with their other friend Rico, from New York. They drove us all to our prospective hostels and that was that. Just a wonderfully fun evening.

The next morning Talia, Olga and I met at a Cafe for breakfast and then headed out for a short walk at Danaus. It was a beautiful, easy walk. There was a fantastic butterfly house that we spent a very, very long time in. The butterfly house was a “half-way house” for the butterfly populations the reserve was studying before release. On the walk we saw a Jesus Christ lizard, a two toed sloth, a three toed sloth, a little “blue jeans” Dart frog, a few other lizards and little animals and tons of birds. We had enough time after the walk at Danaus that we walked the short 5 kilometers back to downtown La Fortuna. It was a beautiful and amazing walk through rural Costa Rica. Small houses, families, horses, banana trees and papaya trees. Just beautiful. Olga and I were both headed back to San Jose that day, so while we hung around near the bus station waiting for the bus, we stopped by Red Lava’s office for Talia to look into taking a boat to Nicaragua the next day. We told the owner how much we’d loved our tour with Christian the day before. Christian even showed up and chatted a bit in between a morning tour and another afternoon tour. Very nice, friendly people.

I would really love to live in Costa Rica someday. I’m looking at going back to school, to Grad school. Specifically my interest is in Michigan State’s International Development with a focus in Sustainability M.S. and a minor in Spanish. Prior to Costa Rica I was thinking about getting a second Bachelor’s degree in something like Ecology or Environmental Sciences. After contacting MSU upon my return, they told me to look into going straight to Grad school, (unlike U of M) they don’t require undergrad to be in the same area of study. I didn’t know this was an option. Combining international sustainability with photography sounds like a good plan to me. A much better plan than starting completely over with a science bachelors degree. Even if I don’t get to live overseas, I have always wanted to travel a lot. I get antsy if I stay in one place for too long, vacation helps, travel for work would be better. I like adventure! I like flying! I love meeting people!

I can’t wait for my next adventure!

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This is the fifth Dark Days novel, and it continues the story of Mira. Mira can control fire, a rare thing among vampires, which makes her incredibly dangerous to everyone. And when she is teamed up with vampire slayer Danaus, her power grows exponentially. This is one reason everybody wants her–either to kill her to keep her from interfering with plans, or to use her as a means to bring about the end days. Either way, Mira finds herself surrounded by people she can barely trust and thrust into situations that constantly require her to make decisions that put those she loves into danger. Death, it seems, is around every corner, and this time the corners are in Hungary. Mira has few places to turn and fewer people she can depend on.

This book returns the point of view (POV) to Mira, after switching, for no apparent reason, to Danaus for the last book. Once again, Mira is faced with the Naturi who want to use her to open a portal to the place they were exiled to so they can return and cleanse the Earth of everyone. She also has to deal with the Elders, among who she is now one, as they use their centuries of living to manipulate and plot against each other. There is, it seems, no low they won’t sink to in order to get a little revenge. And then there is Mira’s love interest, the man who is dedicated to seeing her killed but who finds himself working with her more than against her. It’s an odd relationship to say the least.

I have to say I enjoyed the first three books and that the last book, due to the POV switch, kind of threw me. While this book returns to the formula of the first three there is also a lot jammed in here and it seems to cover little new ground, although it does inch along some character development. That said, if you really enjoyed the first three books then you will also enjoy this one.

I think series are tough to maintain because the writer either had a grand tale to tell or not and can get lost in the telling or just lost in the selling. Seems to me there are plenty of stories out there relating to Mira and Jocelyn Drake has proven that she can write so she should feel free to tie some of these story lines up and move forward. I’m hoping the next book does some of that.

Recommended, especially if you loved the first couple of books.

Click here to purchase the book from Amazon. Wait for Dusk (Dark Days, Book 5)

Today: three by Aeschylus (in two parts)

The Suppliant Maidens; translated by Seth Bernardete.

Right from the beginning, Bernardete says that this play is uninteresting. I would say he’s correct.

The plot is a tiny section of the story of Danaus: his fifty daughters (the maidens from the title) ask entry into the Greek city of Argos as they flee the lust of their cousins, the sons of Danaus’s brother Aegyptus. The king of Argos, Pelasgus, first hesitates and then lets them in. The end.

Probably this is only of interest to diehard classics scholars. Or perhaps it reads well in the Greek. Judging by this play and the next one, I rate Bernardete as a poor translator. His lines don’t read very well. There is too much switching of subject and object. Sentences are weak and ambiguous. Couple this with the weak source material, and you have a total pass. I am very, very tolerant of what most people call uninteresting and obscure, but this doesn’t even appeal to me.

Always looking for the silver lining: I find it interesting that Pelasgus offers the maidens food and lodging right away. Perhaps this is normal procedure for royalty treating royalty, but, in the context of modern times, it strikes me as an example that culture can be so constructed as to ensure that people in distress are taken care of. Ever since working at a homeless shelter, I have wondered if many of the dysfunctional parts of our society are really necessary. I’m going to file this away for further thought.

The Persians, translated by Seth Bernardete.

Once again our translator deprecates the work he’s going to translate, though not as much as he did Suppliant Maidens. This play is at least a curiosity: the only surviving tragedy with a subject matter pertaining to current events (well, events within 10 years of the play’s composition). The play depicts old men in Sousa, the capital of the Persian Empire, worrying about the fate of King Xerxes and the progress of his army. Xerxes’ mother joins the general gloom. A herald arrives, telling of the Persians’ defeat at the naval battle of Salamis. The queen and the old men decide to summon the ghost of Darius to ask for advice. The ghost, who seems impatient, explains that Xerxes’ arrogant display, where he claimed to have conquered the Ocean itself by crossing the Bosporus and throwing chains into the sea, angered the gods and caused his downfall. He predicts future defeat for the Persians. Xerxes himself arrives, and they all wail and moan.

There are some elements of something interesting here: ghosts, military disaster and a unique setting for a Greek Tragedy. Sadly, though, this play can’t help but seem to be a part of something greater. And, once again, Bernardete’s muddy translation makes the very quick script go by too slowly. It was interesting to imagine the Athenian audience of the play, all or most of whom would have been veterans from the victorious side of this war, feeling at least a little compassion at the misery their enemies must have felt. But that’s about it.

It’s interesting as a curiosity – appealing perhaps not just to Greek scholars but also to history buffs. If you’ve just read Herodotus, or even if you’ve just watched the film 300 and want a little epilogue to the story of the Persian Wars, it might be worth reading this one. But edifying literature it is not.

(Continued in part two)

Tulane architecture students in Ammar Eloueini’s Digital Fabrication class have created a pretty interesting little installation.  Starting with the idea of anamorphic graphics, the students created a structure that appears as one form when viewed correctly, but is made up of different pieces, each unique.  The pieces range in depth, up to 10 inches thick, where the form acts as a bookshelf. 

STUDENTS: Sam Levin, & Others
PROFESSOR: Ammar Eloueini
SCHOOL: Tulane University SoA
CLASS: Digital Fabrication
YEAR: 2011

Also something pretty interesting about the project is their use of Kickstarter to help them get funding for the production of the project.  Although it seems odd to have other people funding your school work,  it’s great to see that people are interested in, and willing to help, student design projects.
 

Back in January we started with the simple idea of anamorphic graphics, where we created the illusion of a complete shape from one perspective despite the fact that the form is actually fragmented. This idea has evolved into a complex transitional form.

After entering the building the viewer is confronted with the complete perspective of a cube, represented as a two dimensional hexagon. After continuing, the person realizes that the shape is actually projected on multiple surfaces.

When on the stairs, the viewer can look up and see the installation morph. The voids transition from 4-sided polygons to 5, and then 6-sided polygons. The voids also grow in size, with the space between them diminishing as they push together.

This creates a more porous surface. The third transformation is in the depth of the structure. The project is paper thin at the bottom, and grows to approximately 10″ deep. At the top a place is created to store flyers and papers outside of the administrative offices, which adds a function to the artistic piece. Motion sensors detect when someone is reaching in for one of the flyers or books, and triggers LED bulbs to light up. This transformational process realizes the idea of creating space out of two-dimensional drawings, something architects do everyday.

The installation will be made out of foam that is routed on a CNC machine. After being routed, the foam will be sealed and strengthened with epoxy. Finally, it will be primed and painted.

Check out their kickstarter video too!

All text, images, and video via Danaus Kickstarter page.

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Welcome fellow traveller… fellow maenad, fellow satyr, fellow lover of the dithyramb, lover of the high dance-kick, lover of poetry and of the unmixed wine; of merriment, of madness, of frenzy and of ecstasy; of the festival, of the flute, of the thyrsus, of the ivy and of the carefree mind, the freely soaring immortal spirit;  and of the front row!

There was an altar devoted to Bacchus on the stage of Ancient Athens and a seat, in the front row of the theatre, reserved for his priests alone. I wish to take us all to the front rows of that theatre, the Fifth Century BC theatre and watch the goings on there, during the two annual festivals held in Bacchus’ honour, the Bacchic festivals, or as they’re better known, the Dionysiac festivals. There, at the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, we can watch how three tragedians and one comedian dealt with the issues that troubled the lives of their fellow citizens and, at the same time, we can also listen to their advice. And isn’t good advice also immortal?

Watch and be entertained. It is a stage where the lofty gods and the lowly mortals wrestled fiercely for justice, where the serious word and the noble deed vied with the vulgar for the better recognition and for the higher dramatic prize. Where, to pay cautious homage to Nietzsche, the dark guts battled with the enlightened head: Bacchus’ mighty forces of dark desire against Apollo’s brilliant light of wisdom, of truth and of conscience.

Katerina Paliou as Medea Translated by G.Theodoridis. Performed at the Great Hall of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt

Bacchus, Dionysus, Dionysius, Dionysos, God of fertility and desire, god of wine, Bromios (the noisy god), Eleutherios (the god who frees mortals from care) Enorches (the god with balls!) Lyaeus (the god who loosens the bands and shackles of everyday care), Oeneus (the god of wine), Liknites (the god who separates the wheat from the chaff) Aegobolus (the goat killer) Acratophorus (the god who won’t mix his wine with water) Dimetor (born of two mothers) Evius, Iacchus – his names and eponyms are many. The stage of the ancient Greek world was almost completely dedicated to him. All the plays we have in existence -tragedies, comedies and satyr plays- are plays written so as to be presented at the two festivals celebrated in his honour, one in Spring and one in Winter, with fierce competition for the first prize.

Though we can lament the disappearance of well over 300 plays written by these four dramaturges as well as a great many by others, we can, nevertheless be thankful for those that have survived for us because they still manage to give us a fairly good understanding of the immense talent as well as the character of that population, of the nature of the humours that flowed and mingled through their bodies; of the ways and the turns of their lives and minds and of the shape and weight of their concerns.

There is a surfeit of excellent translations of all these dramaturges already available both, here on the net and in the bookshops of the world and I know that my own efforts will only add to that surfeit as well as to the befuddlement of those who search for the definitive translation. Alas, the “befuddled” will remain so, no matter how many more translations are placed in the web and upon the book shelves because such a thing as a definitive translation can never exist. As language changes, as it evolves with the ever-tilling of its cultural ground; as the customs, the ethics, the morals and the philosophies of people are questioned, reformed, deformed, reconstructed and deconstructed, so must any work that asks us to think, should be considered with ever-refreshed senses. New words, new notions, new imagination must be applied and translators should keep their eyes, ears and minds well awake to these changes and evolutions and must constantly revisit the original works.

Translating, without wishing to labour the metaphor or the act, is the art of cooking the same dish using, very often, vastly different ingredients. One can only try to convey with these new ingredients, as many of the effects the original had once conveyed. I hope I’ve been reasonably successful in doing that…  Imagine cooking a beef souvlaki using only vegetables and presenting it to the carnivorous epicurean in the hope that he doesn’t notice the difference! Of course he will, but the real test would be if he will still like it.

I invite my visitors to check these translations and to send me their comments, in all honesty and in the certainty that I shall pay them my fullest attention. More than anything else, I hope that the reader of these works will enjoy them as much as the audience of  the 5th century BC, who saw them performed for the first time.

The visitor will also find my efforts, along with those of Tony Kline (a fellow translator of polyglot proficiency) at:
Poetry in Translation   http://tkline.pgcc.net 
Tony’s site is effusive with translations of some of the best works in Literature and effulgent with the thoughts of some of the best minds ever recorded.

George Theodoridis, B.A., M.A. (Prel.), Dip.Ed.(Univ. of Melbourne, Australia)

“Never shall you be able to make smooth the prickly back of porcupines!”
(Aristophanes’ “Peace”)

My profound gratitude to Warrigal Mirriyuula for the design of the header. May Zeus bless his generous, effusive, profuse, prolific and profanely artistic soul.

…And to my dear photographer cousin, identically named, who has the genius to make me look far younger and far more thespian than I am! Aιωνίως ευγνώμων!

© Copyright 2001 George Theodoridis.
All Rights Reserved.

This work may be freely reproduced, stored and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any NON-COMMERCIAL purpose. For use by any theatrical, educational or cinematic organisation, however, including a non-commercial one, permission must be sought.
Under no circumstances should any of this work be used as part of a collage, which includes the work of other writers or translators.

Last Update: 10th March, 2013

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The Epidaurus Theatre, where an audience of 15,000 can hear the whisper of a single actor.  4thC, BC.

Apulian bell krater: Phlyax scene

Characters:

• Danaus
• Pelasgus

futile, agg.
Di scarsissima importanza, banale.
Dal latino futĭlis, ‘che lascia scorrere il liquido’. Prima metà del secolo XV.

Il significato della parola futile, che letteralmente significa “che perde acqua”, risale al mito greco delle Danaidi, le 50 figlie di re Danaus di Argo. Queste uccisero tutte, per volontà del padre, i propri mariti, che erano peraltro anche loro cugini: si trattava difatti dei 50 figli di Egitto, fratello di Danaus. L’unica che disobbedì al padre fu Ipermnestra, e suo marito Linceo si vendicò uccidendo le sorelle; queste, giunte nell’Ade, furono condannate dagli Dei a raccogliere per l’eternità l’acqua di un pozzo utilizzando caraffe bucate.

Caraffe che fanno, per l’appunto, acqua: e dunque la futilità dipende dai mezzi che vengono utilizzati.

(Ah, già che ci sono: Ipermnestra significa qualcosa tipo “super-sposa”)

Daños colaterales. Danaus chrysippus. Me faltaba de fotografiarle el cuerpo definido con sus manchitas y  la espiditrompa que no sabia como la tenia y ya lo he conseguido; contento por eso pero ademas, un lance que se produjo me confirmo que es tóxica para las aves. En uno de sus vuelos erráticos ascendio un poco y se acerco a unos cipreses, de allí salio como un rayo un Mosquitero Común a por ella yo crei que se la comia, pero sorpresa cuando la iba a picar hizo un escorzo el Mosquitero y salio corriendo de la mariposa. Eso me confirmo que no es plato de gusto para las aves, quizá las que estan aquí no la conocian, pero en vista de lo sucedido con el ave y las roturas del ala, es que la pillarón en  vuelo i debido a su tóxicidad, la soltaron. Mal porvenir se le presenta morira cualquier noche helada y sola.

Perdonarme por lo pesado con la mariposa; pero tenia que contarlo.

Daños colaterales. Danaus chrysippus. Siegúiendola en su errático volar de aquí para alla, conseguí hacerle unas fotos que buscaba el otro día, pero como hacia mas calor no paraban quietas. La verdad es que la frei a disparos de cámara, y consegui las tomas que queria.

Daños colaterales. Danus chrysippus. El día 25 de Noviembre, quise saber si estaban toda via las Mariposas Tigre donde las encontre, hacia una mañana de temperatura de 7 grados cº, medio nublado y con raticos de sol. Hasta las 13, 30 no aparecio la única que debia de haber pues el resto ya debia de haber emigrado. Estaba bastante pachucha, pues habia sufrido el ataque de algun depredador y tenia las alas hechas polvo. Podeis verlo en la fotografia.

Tirumala limniace

 

The Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace) is a butterfly found in India that belongs to the Crows and Tigers, that is, the Danaid group of the Brush-footed butterflies family. This butterfly shows gregarious migratory behaviour in southern India.

 

Description

Upperside black, with bluish-white semihyaline spots and streaks. Fore wing: interspace 1 two streaks, sometimes coalescent, with a spot beyond cell: a streak from base and an outwardly indented spot at its apex; a large oval spot at base of interspace 2, another at base of interspace 3, with a smaller spot beyond it towards termen; five obliquely placed preapical streaks, and somewhat irregular subterminal and terminal series of spots, the latter the smaller. Hind wing: interspaces 1b, 1a, and 1 with streaks from base, double in the latter two, cell with a forked broad streak, the lower branch with a hook, or spur-like slender loop, at base of 4 and 5 a broad elongate streak, and at base of 6 a quadrate spot; beyond these again a number of scattered unequal subterminal and terminal spots.

Underside: basal two-thirds of fore wing dusky black, the apex and hind wing olive-brown; the spots and streaks much as on the upperside, Antennae, head and thorax black, the latter two spotted and streaked with, white; abdomen dusky above, ochraceous spotted with white beneath. Male secondary sex-mark in form

Food-plants

• Asclepias
• Calotropis
• Heterostemma
• Marsdenia
• Dregea volubilis
• Heterostemma cuspidatum
• Hoya viridiflora
• Marsdenia tenacissima
• Crotalaria spp.
• Epibaterium spp.
• Soya

Larva

Yellowish white; 3rd and 12th segments, each with a pair of fleshy filaments, black and greenish white; each of the segments with four transverse black bars, the second bar on all broader than the others, bifurcated laterally, a yellow longitudinal line on each side; head, feet and claspers spotted with black

Pupa

“Green with golden scattered spots and beaded dorsal crescent”

Range

South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Habit

This species migrates extensively during the Monsoons in southern India. The migratory populations have been observed to be nearly entirely consisting of males

 

Danaus chrysippus. Seria muy interesante observar las relaciones entre aves inssetívoras y este danaido, constatando si los; Carboneros, Herrerillos y Trepadores, por ejemplo intentan alimentarse de este, debiendo recordarse que en algunos casos la avifauna española procede de África y ha tenido ya contactos <<indigestos>> con estos lepidópteros venenosos.

Pues nada ya tenemos nueva especie arraígada entre nosotros, las fotos estan tomadas en Zaragoza.

Los datos escritos estan sacados de referencias del Ministerio de Medio Ambiente.

Danus chrysippus. En terreno peninsular, ha mostrado preferencias por las zonas húmedas, sobre todo de cañaveral, pudiendo adaptarse a cualquier biotopo donde exita su planta nutricia.

Especie polífaga en el continente africano, siempre dentro de las Asclepiadáceas, estando citada en España especialmente de Asclepias curassavica (Flor de sangre);Cynachum acutum (Correhuela lechosa); Calotropis (Gencianacea) Stapelias (plantas suculentas). Cynachum acutum, es una trepadora que vegeta en lugares húmedos y que en España es muy propia de los cañaverales.

Danaus chrysippus: Nynphatoidea; Danaidae, Danainae, Danaini.

Especie Africana de fuerte carácter migrador, que se establecio en colonias en zonas litorales, de la  península Ibérica  y ha llegado a Aragón, parece que la colonización de Europa es irreversible.

De tamaño 65 a 70 mm. Color leonado, Ápex de las alas anteriores negro con puntos blancos, ala posterior mas clara. Colores intensos derivados de una notable toxicidad.

Status: Vulnerable.

“Danaus chrysippus”

The Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) or outside Asia, African Monarch, is a common butterfly which is widespread in Asia and Africa. It belongs to the Danainae (“Milkweed butterflies”) subfamily of the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae.

It is believed to be one of the first butterflies to be used in art. A 3500 year old Egyptian fresco in Luxor features the oldest illustration of this species.

The Plain Tiger can be considered the archetypical danaine of India. Accordingly, this species has been studied with in greater detail than other members of its subfamily occurring in India.

Distribution

The range of the Plain Tiger extends from Africa and southern Europe, eastwards via Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar to China and Sulawesi. It is a very common species

Euploea core

The Common Crow (Euploea core) is a common butterfly found in South Asia. In India it is also sometimes referred to as the Common Indian Crow, and in Australia as the Australian Crow. It belongs to the Crows and Tigers subfamily of the Nymphalidae (Brushfooted butterflies).

The Common Crow is the most common representative of its genus Euploea . Like the Tigers (Danaus spp), the Crows are inedible and thus mimicked by other Indian butterflies.

Description

The Common Crow (Euploea core) is a glossy black butterfly with brown underside with white marks along the outer margins of the wing. The wingspan is about 8-9 cm and the body also has prominent white spots.

Range

It is found in Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Australia.

Status

Very common

Habitat

It is found everywhere in India right up into the mountains till 8000 feet. Occasionally it swarms in the low, wet, jungles of South India due to the abundance of its foodplants which are spread over three orders of plants.

Habits

The butterfly, being protected by its inedibility, has a leisurely flight. It is often seen flying about shrubs and bushes in search of its host plants. It visits a large variety of flowering plant species.
On hot days large numbers of these butterflies can be seen mud-puddling on wet sand. This butterfly also gathers on damaged parts of plants such as Crotalaria, Heliotropium to forage for chemicals precursors to produce pheromones.

Along with other Danaids such as the Tigers, the Common Crow is one of the most common migrating butterfly species

Protection

The Common Crow is distasteful due to chemicals extracted from the latex of the food plants consumed in their caterpillar stage. Thus protected, they fly in a leisurely manner, gliding skillfully with wings held slightly above the horizontal. This indicates its protection due to inedibility to a predator. The inexperienced predator will try attacking it, but will learn soon enough to avoid this butterfly as the alkaloids in its body cause vomiting.

The butterfly has tough, leathery wings. When attacked it shams death and oozes liquid which causes any predators to release them. The butterfly thus has the ability to recover ‘miraculously’ after the predator thinks it has been killed.

Spotted From

Payyanur, Kerala .

Astfel, ceasul biologic din creier şi cel din antene formează un sistem de complexitate ireductibilă pentru că dacă unul dintre acestea ar lipsi fluturele şi-ar pierde capacitatea de orientare şi nu ar mai ajunge la ţintă.  Acest sistem este foarte improbabil de a se fi format prin acumulări infime succesive care ar fi direcţionat migraţia fluturelui şi nu există dovezi că migraţia s-ar fi putut produce şi altfel.

Sursa: ScienceNOW

Photo by Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) – Gnu Free

After some signs of rebellion were crushed at Nubia, Ahmosis was determined to end the threat of the aamu, so that after conquering Avaris, chased the remnants of the hikso army to Sharuhen in the Canaanite coast, where they were   strong and devastated the city to such an extent that would never rebuilt. Once extinct in danger of a new invasion, the king spread the devastation to all the cities of Canaan that he could access, in order to build a real policy of terror, both abroad and in the interior, from the beginning, inside the own Egyptian territory was applied to do piles with the hands cut from the bodies of the supporters of Seth, collaborators of the Asian Dynasties (this was an abhorrent behavior that had the practical purpose, of facilitating to the scribes the computation of enemies killed, such as still reflect the bas of Medinet Habu to the time of Ramses III). His successor Amenofis I maintained a protectorate over the cities of Syria, Nubia and the country of Kus (a part of the current Sudan), and he was well remembered in statues and monuments by the subsequent monarchs, but not too much is known of his reign, it seems that here can be applied the English proverb, “no news are good news”.

The influence of the clergy of Amon evolved during the reigns of the several Amenhotep and Thutmosis consecutive, although Amón never again pose a problem because from the beginning, the monarchy left the administration in the hands of officials, so the priests just had got certain control in the exclusive circle of the religion, although determinated political aspects of the succession were so connected to God, due to their intimate relationship with the king, which in some way conditioned its resolution to the approval of the clergy.

The priests were no longer noble, now  they are sons of officials, new people, Amun is the supporter of the clergy and monarchy.  Amun is the head of the gods of each prefecture and as the representative of the god is the king, therefore the prefectures are subordinated to the monarchy, and by a  mystical algorithm similar, clergy supports the monarchy as long as it is who represents Amon. According to some authors, at this time,regarding dynastic issues, Amon is considered the father of the king, if he would have a male descendant (with a real princess, preferably a sister), the new king would take the name of Amenophis (Amenhotep) , if not, then a son of some concubine of the king should marry a real princess and then would take the name of Thutmosis, in fact the clergy of Amon had no objection to make prevail to the wife and sister of  Thutmosis II, the famous Queen-king  Hatshepsut against Thutmosis III who despite having been chosen when he was a child for the post, though not willingly, he agreed to reign just after the death of the queen. So, they who were called Amenophis, they were directly sons of the King (Amon) and they who were called Thutmosis, they were sons of the law (Thot was the god of law), these sons were “legal” as long as they were married to royal princesses,in order to keep the blood of Amon (of the King, of course) in the dynastic line. Hatshepsut took advantage of this opportunity to assert their rights and to keep the throne to herself, invoking his lineage (of Amon) and the clergy not only did not object, but actually they encouraged the queen, in fact during his reign existed a rather than sacred bond between the monarchy and clergy, for instance, the second high priest of Amon and real great architect, Senmut, fue el amante de la reina y el constructor del impresionante mausoleo que edificó para ella, al lado del templo funerario de Mentuhotep IV en  Deir-el-Bahari.

The large size and the sumptuous look that from this time acquired the sacred enclosure of Karnak with the continuing contributions of  the several Thutmose and Amenhotep (the ends of the obelisks and a pylon even came to be coated with an alloy of gold and silver called electron), can give us an idea of the magnificence that surrounded the court of the priests of Amun, true kings in their own world.

By accessing the throne Thutmosis III, at start, initially he worked hard in to restore the Egyptian hegemony beyond its borders, thing that he got it when undid the plans of a coalition of cities that tried to face him, and then launched himself to an authentic work of conquest, leading Egypt to become a true empire. Retenu was conquered (the Lebanese-Palestinian coastal strip), and secured his position in the coastal cities of the area to take advantage of the newly confiscated fleet, to use it to transport troops and tasks of supply. Obviously it was not therefore a new preventive raid, this time, Egypt comes to stay. Thutmosis not deposes the native princes in most cases, making efforts to maintain frequent contact with their new Asian provinces without forget harvesting the taxes, of course. Then became entangled with Mitanni, that on several occasions had organized revolts against Egypt, so  first conquered Biblos in whose shipyards, he would build boats with cedar wood to cross the Eufrates in order to face the army of Mitanni, who defeated several times, show of force that led automatically to neighboring countries, Hatti, Assur y Babilonia to seek friendship with the king of Egypt,  flooding him with gifts, as was customary in such situations. Thutmose III established military bases every 65 km, along the Syrian coast, with the purpose of maintaining the Egyptian presence in the area permanently. However Thutmosis is not only an able military leader, but also showed a well-oiled diplomatic machine, which was applied to establish a policy of conciliation, of good relations with the conquered provinces, beginning a period of stability of what commerce was the direct beneficiary. Moreover, in some ways was the forerunner of a new stage in relations with the clergy, which during the sucesive reigns of the Amenhoteps and Thutmosis , they reduced the political influence of Amon, which it had culminated during the reign of Hatshepsut.

Thutmosis III, during his reign, strived to delete all references he could find of Hatshepsut at temples and monuments,and threw to the quarries, previously mutilated images and statues of the queen. This was not only a mere tantrum child, but that resulted in a stealthy and gradual return to the meaning and religious conception of Heliopolis, more appropriate for the absolute monarchy, although this antique religious centre depended,at this period, of the clergy of Karnak.

Egypt was the principal economic and military power in the known world, but the international language of business was not the egyptian language but the Akkadian, the language of Babylon. On the islands of the Aegean and the Greek coast on the contrary, the Egyptian currency was used, the kedet, and this was well due to the marked economic relations, that from the Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian kept with traders minoans and later with mycenaeans, to the point of being the origin of the port Pharos, that eventually would become Alexandria, Built exclusively for trade with the eastern Mediterranean island. The Egyptian influence is evident in the first doric temples and largely in the  own Greek mythology:  Cecrops the mythical founder of the first Athens, came from Egypt and also Erechtheus, like Danaus, Egypt’s twin brother, who was settled in the Mycenaean city of Argos, etc.

Waterfront Babylonian commercial empire, which connected India and Anatolia to the Syrian coast, Egypt developed an intense commercial activity thanks to the islands as far as Alasia (Cyprus), even it has discussed the possibility that would exist some kind of protectorate since there is evidence that Egypt recieved taxes from the princes of the islands.

Amenofis II,  after the death of Thutmose III, had to quell a rebellion from the Asian provinces, later in order to produce more fear, he ordered to sacrifice publicly six rebel princes in Thebes and one in Napata, the capital of the viceroyalty of Nubia.

Amun, during the reign of Amenhotep II, enjoys with the bloodshed and at the temple of the god were slaughtered the enemies of the monarchy, once, before a battle, that night, while the king piously prayed to Amun “It was ordered to capture victims alive. It was ordered to do two pieces of each one of them all. And here it was all burned. His Majesty was alone, no one was with him. Apart from the palace guard, the troops were already far from the king “(big trail of Mit-Rahineh. Vl. Vikentiev” crossing the Orontes “). Fortunately religious terrorism of Amenhotep II was only a macabre parentheses and Thutmosis IV did not act the same way, he gave way to diplomacy, as had the previous Thutmose, ignoring the rights of the clergy, he bypassed the influence of Amun in dynastic issue, by marrying Mutemuia, a princess of Mitanni, instead of having married a royal princess of Egypt, Mitanni, which at that time feared more danger from the North Hittite, chosen in this way, establishing cordial relations with Egypt, its former enemy.

Amenofis III deepened the divide between royalty and the clergy, mimicking what was done by Thutmose IV, when marrying foreign princesses from all the influential monarchs of the time, indiscriminately ,in a unprecedented diplomatic effort. International relations demanded a kind of religious synthesis which equated to Amun-Ra, with the cult of Shamash, so that the  Pharaoh (it is from then when it was start to use the term) as representative of Amun, now a universal god, will appear in the Asian provinces, endowed with a certain mystique additional legitimacy. “The sun …” “my Sun …”, was called the Pharaoh in the protocols and the international diplomatic correspondence; an example of the syncretism reached in this period  is the winged Sun disk such as it appears at the top in the mythological pantheons of all the relevant monarchies of this moment.

“Book of What is in the Underworld” although it began during the Twelfth Dynasty, was completed in the time of Amenhotep II and reflects the solar theology own dynasties of Thebes. This book describes the daily journey of the two boats of Ra on the primordial waters of Mu that surround the two worlds, the upper and lower,  crossing  as Ra-Horakhti in one of them,the sky during the day, and as Iufu (Afu-Ra) through the underworld with the other boat during the night. Every night, Ra, aged, with his aspect of ram, once lost the character of subtle spirit, is assassinated by his own creatures, but if Ra dies, dies with the existence itself, so in order to create it again, Ra, have to reborn each morning, and do it emerging from the mouth of the goddess Mut, with the appearance of a child. All this is very different from the traditional mystique, both Heliopolitan, and that of Hermopolis or Memphis, with which it shares, however, the essence of the solar cult.

The Amun Hymn, was one of the weapons wielded by the monarchy against the clergy, with which distanced itself radically from the elaborated symbolism, such as liked to the priests of Amun, in order to keep in the darkness to the secular world. It was written in colloquial language with the object that could be understood by everyone. Amenhotep III imposed the return to Heliopolitan theology (by which sovereignty resides in the crown without the direct intervention of Amun, removing in this way any authority to the clergy) and prepared the advent of  Atón, the radiant solar disk, in order to assimilating it to solar deities of Asia, as already mentioned, trying to establish some religious uniformity in his empire. The sirian Adonai could be a remnant of this intent, given the etymological similarity (Adon in Hebrew means “lord”, Adonai is the royal plural, used to refer to the deity).

Amenofis IV, Akhenaten, would lead to its ultimate consequences, those religious ideas that were sketched by his father, drastically cutting any ties to the classic religious dogma, with the purpose to set up a militant monotheism, completely new, in its place.

Bibliography:    Jacques Pirenne      ”Ancient Egypt History”

Paul Garelli               “Middle East History”

“8 July – The World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 32nd session, finished inscribing new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 8 July with the addition of 19 cultural sites and eight natural sites to the List…

• Monarch Butterfly biosphere Reserve (Mexico)“

So, what does this mean? From the UNESCO site:

“World Heritage designation, in the case of most protected areas, increases the associated funding potential of the site. Although this is not an official eligibility criteria for Global Environmental Facility (GEF) funds, the designation does increase the chances of securing GEF resources ” - Gonzalo Castro, Biodiversity Team Leader, The GEF Secretariat.

Hopefully this will help purchase adjoining areas to the reserve, to enlarge the area for monarchs to hibernate. Yay!

BTW, you can adopt a classroom in the region of the reserve via Monarch Watch; it provides school supplies for needy kids and under-funded teachers.

Other posts on Monarchs:

• Mexico acts to halt illegal logging in Monarch Reserve
• Migratory Pollinators

Fabulous image of the reserve from StevenMiller