Thursday, August 04, 2005

Interlude #1 ...a bedtime story : - )

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Once upon a time, long ago, there was a 2-foot tall, colorful, flightless bird species called the Takahe that lived only on the island of New Zealand (smaller than the state of Texas). Sadly, their ground-dwelling habitat was destroyed and they were hunted and preyed upon. From 1800 to 1900 only 4 were ever seen, and soon they were no more. By the 1930's Takahes were clearly extinct (...or SO-O-O-O people THOUGHT). Then in 1948, a few individuals were discovered living out their lives in remote mountain valleys. And upon closer scrutiny about 250 Takahes were located in those mountains! Initially, the numbers dropped significantly until adequate conservation measures were finally put in place. Now the population is once again past 250 and growing.
....Sleep well.

(And for your next assignment, look up the story of the Coelecanthe...)
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