Robber fly - Nature photographer Thomas Shahan specializes in amazing portraits of tiny insects. It isn't easy. Shahan says that this Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca), for instance, is "skittish" and doesn't like its picture taken.

Nature by Numbers (Video)

"The Greater Akashic System" – July 15, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Lightworkers, Intent, To meet God, Past lives, Universe/Galaxy, Earth, Pleiadians, Souls Reincarnate, Invention: Measure Quantum state in 3D, Recalibrates, Multi-Dimensional/Divine, Akashic System to change to new system, Before religion changed the system, DNA, Old system react to Karma, New system react to intent now for next life, Animals (around humans) reincarnate again, This Animal want to come back to the same human, Akashic Inheritance, Reincarnate as Family, Other Planets, Global Unity … etc.)

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle
American zoologist played by Sigourney Weaver in the film Gorillas in the Mist would have been 82 on Thursday (16 January 2014)

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Ancient beasts roam Spain's wilderness

Google – AFP, Roland Lloyd Parry (AFP), 2 March 2014

A wild horse in the hills above Sabucedo, a town in northwestern Spain,
on July 1, 2011 (AFP, Miguel Riopa)

Campanarios De Azaba — In an oak wood spanning the border of Spain and Portugal, an ancient sight unfolds: wild horses, not saddled or shoed, but roaming free as they did centuries ago.

Farming has declined in Spain, leaving the countryside deserted, conservationists say. Now the wild things are coming back: wolves, vultures and rare herbivores.

Dozens of Spanish "Retuerta" horses have been released over the past two years here into the 500-hectare (1,235-acre) Campanarios de Azaba Reserve.

"It's a wonderful horse that has been around since time immemorial," despite coming close to extinction, said Carlos Sanchez, director of the conservation group running the site.

"We are recovering the most primitive breeds to try to help manage an ecosystem which has been abandoned due to the disappearance of humans."

Nuzzling its mother's velvety brown hide, a foal suckles then disappears among the trees with the grazing herd.

"We released these animals to live by themselves, to take care of themselves in their environment," said conservationist Diego Benito, 35.

"We don't feed them. We just watch them and monitor how they are doing in their groups, which are the dominant horses and which of the mares are pregnant."

Overall in existence there are only about 150 Retuertas -- identified by genetic studies as one of the oldest horse breeds in Europe.

They were brought from the Donana National Park in southern Spain -- previously the only place where they existed -- to create a second breeding site in Campanarios, where they now number about 50.

Two wild horses fight in the hills of Sabucedo, a town in northwestern
Spain, on July 4, 2009 (AFP/File, Miguel Riopa)

- Wildlife comeback -

Sharing the reserve with rare vultures and free-roaming cows, the Retuerta horses are among the animal pioneers of what conservationists call "rewilding".

The Campanarios reserve is part-funded by Rewilding Europe, an initiative for development through "wild nature" in various countries.

"For the first time in history, Europe is facing a situation where there is no grazing anymore," said Frans Schepers, managing director of the Netherlands-based organisation.

"There has been a lot of land abandonment in Spain over the past few decades," he said.

Therefore, in recent years "Spain has shown a very interesting wildlife comeback," with wolves, vultures and even the endangered Iberian lynx recovering in numbers, he added.

Rewilding aims to turn this into an economic opportunity, to draw visitors and revive abandoned rural areas in the long-term.

The Campanarios reserve, currently inhabited just by the animals and a handful of staff, aims to draw groups of wildlife spotters and boost the local economy.

Jon Teixeira, 27, works in the reserve planting trees, releasing rabbits and leaving dead chickens for vultures to feed on.

"I am glad there is a reserve here -- that way we'll have jobs in the area, where there's a lot of unemployment," he said.

"And it's a good job there's a place where you can't hunt, otherwise all the animals would be wiped out."

Some wild horses run before a 400-year-old horse festival called "Rapa das
 bestas" in the village of Sabucedo, northwestern Spain, on July 6, 2008 (AFP/
File, Miguel Riopa)

- Stone age safari -

Elsewhere, conservationists this month released a herd of wild oxen to graze in a reserve near the northern Spanish city of Burgos.

In the coming months they plan to add endangered European bison and other breeds of wild horse to the reserve.

The oxen were set free near the Atapuerca prehistoric site, where archeologists have dug up human remains more than a million years old.

Conservationists want to take people visiting the dig on a stone age safari to see the living descendants of the beasts that roamed the area aeons ago.

"In the archaeological site lie the bones of the ancestors of todays' species. These are their evolutionary descendants," said Fernando Moran, a bison specialist at the park.

The Atapuerca site is not part of the Rewilding Europe initiative, but it shares the aim of drawing money and jobs to the abandoned rural areas while also preserving endangered species.

"It is about nature conservation, but also tourism, development and land management," Moran added.

"Spain is in general a fair bit more wild than the rest of Europe. Lots of hectares are being left empty, which for wild animals are obviously perfect."

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