Taxonomy.

At the end of the 1980s the genus "Callicebus" was revised from the Hershkovitz concept of three species to thirteen neotropical species, with the collared titi, "Callicebus torquatus", having four subspecies. In 2001 Colin Groves elevated one of the subspecies, the Colombian black-handed titi, "C. t. medemi", to "Callicebus medemi" and a year later Van Roosmalen "et al." elevated the remaining subspecies to species. These last changes were made with few arguments to support the changes and were apparently influenced by the increasing use of the so-called phylogenetic species concept of Cracraft, which seeks to define species as the "smallest diagnosable cluster of individual organisms within which there is a parental pattern of ancestry and descent." This might work given enough information, which is usually not the case.  The species complex was updated to "Cheracebus" in 2016. The recent discovery of a diploid number of 16 for the black titi, "Cheracebus lugens", in Brazil certainly suggests that (with the previously known 2n=20 of another, unidentified population of "C. torquatus") there are at least two species in this complex. But whether the Lucifer titi, "Cheracebus lucifer", or the Colombian black-handed titi, "Cheracebus medemi", are good species from this complex is in doubt. They are probably subspecies of "Cheracebus torquatus". Nevertheless, in this treatment "C. torquatus" is used in the sense of Hershkovitz (1990) until the systematics of this species complex becomes clearer.

Physical description.

Five adults weighed an average of 1462 g (range 1410–1722 g) with a head-body length of around 290–390 mm and a tail length of about 350–400 mm. The face has very little hair, being limited to sparse short white hairs over a black skin. There is no sexual dimorphism, although the male has canines a bit longer than the female. The species has the smallest karyotype known for primates, 2n=16 recently described by Bonvicino "et al."  The pelage is typically uniformly reddish brown or blackish brown. The tail is blackish mixed with some reddish hairs with hands and feet whitish or dark brown. This pelage contrasts in all of the subspecies with a band of white hair which extends upward from the chest and follows the neck, prolonging itself to the ears. This extension to the ears is weak in "Callicebus torquatus torquatus", a subspecies not confirmed for Colombia and different from the other subspecies which have white extending to the base of the ears. The other subspecies are differentiable from the above subspecies as follows:

Geographic distribution and habitat.

The collared titi is found throughout lowland Colombian Amazonia up to about of altitude in Putumayo and probably about the same in Caquetá. The species has been observed on the left bank of the Guayabero River, where it was collected in 1959 by Jorge Hernández Camacho, both in La Macarena National Park, and recently it was observed by the Colombian biologist Rocío Palanco north of the Guayabero above La Cordillera de los Picachos National Park. The species is found in the Vichada selva between the Vichada and Guaviare Rivers and the northernmost Colombian population extends north of the Vichada River, reaching the middle Tomo River, where it probably extends to the upper Tomo, although this needs to be confirmed.  The collared titi is not found on the lower Tomo or lower Tuparro River nor on the north bank of the lower Vichada River, contrary to the distribution map of Hershkovitz. This error is due to the collection of a specimen by the English ornithologist Cherrie in about 1904 from Maipures, which may have been a captive animal obtained in the village, since extensive and concerted efforts have failed to identify it for the entire area mentioned above; nor is it known by locals for this area. The nearest titi monkeys from Maipures in Colombia are found on the middle Tuparro River and south of the lower Vichada River.  Outside of Colombia this species extends from the Napo River northward throughout the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonia and throughout southern Venezuela to the Río Branco and the lower Río Negro in Brazil. South of the Amazon it is found west of the Río Purús to the Yavarí River.  The collared titi is seen most frequently in well-developed, tall forest with a closed canopy, usually over terra firme, but not exclusively so. The species also enters extensive várzea forest, especially if the forest is tall and well-developed. Such várzea forest contrasts with the habitat needs of the coppery titi, which also uses várzea forest and more commonly so. But the coppery titi survives in low, vine-covered, "poor" forest where the collared titi is rarely found. It is also known from some gallery forest, north of the Vichada River, although this seems to be the exception for the species, which is much more extensively known from closed-canopy forest to the south. Contrary to Kinzey & Gentry, the forest habitat of the collared titi grows on a variety of substrates, varying from white sand through many types of clay soils.

Natural history.

This species was studied in Peru by Kinzey (1975, 1976, 1977a, 1977b, 1977c, 1978, 1981, Kinzey et al., 1977, Kinzey & Gentry, 1979, Kinzey & Wright, 1982, Kinzey & Robinson, 1981, 1983) and by Easley (1982), Easley & Kinzey (1986), Starin (1992), Milton & Nessimain (1984), Robinson et al. (1987) (a review article). In Colombia the species has been studied by Defler (1983b, 1994a, 2003), Forero (1985), Palacios & Rodríguez (1994) and Palacios et al. (1997).  Social groups are made up of a monogamous pair and one or two of its young. A count of ten groups in Vichada yielded an average of 3.5 per group. Occasionally groups of five are seen and unpaired individuals ("floaters") can also be detected from time to time. Second year youngsters usually leave the group, although they may make it into the third year before leaving. These young animals sometimes appear, moving peripherally to the group and then disappear again to move alone.  Measured home ranges have varied from about 15–25 ha. Appropriate habitat contains 4–5 groups/km (14 + "floaters"), which may add another 8–10 individuals to the total ecological density/km. The average day range calculated by Kinzey (1977) and Kinzey et al. (1977) was 819.4 m (n=22 days) for a research project in Peru and at the Estación Biológica Caparú the average was 807.2 m (range 513.7 – 1070 m, n=26).  Easley calculated a time budget based on 400 hours of observation as 62.7% rest, 16.5% moving, 16.1% feeding, 2.7% grooming, 1.6% playing and 0.3% vocalizing. Palacios & Rodríguez calculated 54.3% rest, 22.9% moving, 17.6% feeding, 4.07% grooming, 0.41% playing, and 0.42% vocalizing based on 240 hours of observation.  Easley analyzed the locomotive and positional behavior of the species showing that it is a generalized quadruped using quadrupedal walking and running about 66.8% of the time. This species also engages in active jumping (23.9% of the time) and climbing 9.1% of the time). Sitting (62%3% is the most common posture, followed by lying (16.1%), walking (10.4%), jumping (4%), vertical clinging (3.1%), climbing (1.5%), running (0.8%), hanging suspended by the back legs (0.8%), horizontal clinging (0.7%) and standing 0.2%). If postures of locomotor behaviors are excluded from this analysis then the scores were sitting (74.8%), lying (19.3%), vertical clinging (3.7%), hanging suspended from the hind foot (0.9%), horizontal clinging (0.8%) and standing (0.2%). Previously Kinzey & Rosenberger had pointed out that these animals fit into the "clinging and leaping" group of primates. Groups of collared titis sleep on top of large branches of emergent trees, frequently a bit above the level of the main canopy.

Diet.

Although fruits are the major portion of this primate's diet, invertebrates and leaves are also consumed to a smaller degree. Lepidopteran larva, spiders and orthopterans are especially eaten with relish and probably occasional small lizards, judging by the hunting preferences of a tame, free-ranging adult female, which lived at the Caparú Biological Research Station on the lower Apaporis River.  Kinzey found the following range of dietary preference during his 135 hours study in Peru: 14% "Clarisia racemosa" (Moraceae); 13% unidentified (Guttifereae); 7% "Pithecellobium" sp. (Convolvulaceae); "Jessenia bataua" (Arecaceae); "Psychotrian axillaris" (Rubiaceae); "Guatteria elata" (Annonaceae); "Virola" sp. (Myristicaceae).  Easley identified frequency of item choice in the diet of the same groups as above: 74.1% fruits, 15.8% insects, 8.8% leaves, 0.6% buds and flowers and 0.1% other. Of the 57 fruit species identified, the palm tree, "Jessenia polycarpa", was the most commonly eaten in 22.7% of the feeding observations. The following lists the range of preference observed in this study: 22.7% "Jessenis polycarpa" (Arecaceae), 7.9% "Ocotea" no. 1 (Lauraceae); 6.6% "Tachigalia" sp. (Caesalpiniaceae); 5.9% "Beilschmiedia" sp. (Lauraceae); 5.8% Ocotea no. 2 (Lauraceae); 4.8% unidentified; 3.5% unidentified; 3.5% "Guatteria" sp. (Annonaceae); 3.4% "Annona" sp. (Annonaceae); 2.4% unidentified; 2.0% unidentified; "Guatteria" sp. (Annonaceae); 1.9% "Duguetia" sp. (Annonaceae).  Palacios & Rodríguez and Palacios "et al." identified 62 species from 32 plant familias in the diet of a study group of black titis in the Estación Biológica Caparú in eastern Colombia. The preference values of each family, according to species utilized is as follow: Myristicaceae (25.02%); Euphorbiaceae (15.28%); Moraceae (14.37%); Arecaceae (8.68%); Caesalpiniaceae (7.85%) Rubiaceae (5.10%); Chrysobalanaceae (4.41%); Annonaceae (4.19%); Cecropiaceae (4.03%); Araceae (1.95%); Elaeocarpaceae (1.78%); Dilleniaceae (1.69%), Combretaceae (1.17%), Apocynaceae (1%); Aquifoliaceae (1%), Meliaceae (0.88%); Sapotaceae (0.85%); Burseraceae (0.81%); Apocynaceae (0.67%); Monimiaceae (0.23%); Piperaceae (0.22%); Melastomaceae (0.18%); Humiriaceae (0.13%) Celastracezae (0.11%); Myrtaceae (0.09%); Lecythidaceae (0.08%); Aquifoliaceae (0.07%); Sterculiaceae (0.07%); Solanaceae (0.05%); Clusiaceae (0.02%).  The most important species consumed during six months in this study are listed as follows: 13.88% "Sandwithia heterocalyx" (Euphorbiaceae); 10% "Virola melinonii" (Myristicaceae); 8.35% "Iryanthera ulei" (Myristicaceae); 7.06 "Oenocarpus bataua" (Arecaceae); 6.53% "Heterostemon conjugatus" (Caesalbiniaceae); 5.10% "Coussarea" sp. (Rubiaceae); 5.02% "Ficus" sp. (Moraceae); 4.53% "Iryanthera crassifolia" (Myristicaceae); 3.84% "Helicostylis tomentosa" (Moraceae); 3.39% "Brosimum rubescens" (Moraceae).

Reproduction.

The estrus cycle seems to be about 16 days, based on observations of 14 cycles of a tame, free-ranging female which lived at the Estación Biológica Caparú (Vaupés, Colombia). During the period of receptivity (which lasts 2–3 days) the black labia and the clitoris became swollen and hard and behavior changes occurred. During the receptive period the female became much more affectionate towards its human "parents", purred loudly, somewhat like a cat and crouched in a lordotic position when the base of the tail was stimulated. Contrariwise to her increased affection towards her perceived "family unit" (or two humans), she became much more aggressive than normal towards any "outsiders" (i.e. other human beings). During estrus the female tongue-flicked frequently, using this signal in two opposite contexts; she tongue-flicked as she attempted to approach her favorite humans while she also tongue-flicked as a preliminary to attach on other (especially male) humans.  One recognizable pair at the Estación Biológica Caparú had been observed together for 14 years and was said to be still together at least four years more after this author had left. During the 14 years the pair produced 10 young, all of which survived the first year. During four years no young were produced.  In Vichada young are usually produced in December or early January. This is a difficult season with sharply reduced fruit resources for many animals in this part of the country (which has an annual precipitation of about 2400 mm; a long dry season is just taking hold and January and February present only a very few millimeters of precipitation for each month. A close analysis of the diet of the black titi here would be interesting, inasmuch as it would serve to identify the resources which allow the species to have this birth pattern.  On the Guayabero River near La Macarena the birth season is apparently about the same time as in Vichada. On the lower Apaporis River in Vaupés with about 3815 mm of precipitation throughout the year, the birth season is also centered around December, although some outlying births are known as early as the first of October. Nevertheless, the birth season is the same as the other two sites, despite the lack of a strong dry season. However, we know that fleshy fruits are beginning to increase from their yearly low during this time, so the question of resource use by the species remains very interesting.  Robinson "et al." also report a birth season of December to January for the species in Peru at 4oS. Why this specific birth season should be chosen by the species in such widely divergent places both north and south of the equator with different phenological cycles must remain for the moment an open question. The newborn quickly acclimates to being carried by the male, and usually goes to the female for nursing only.

Communication.

The collared titi is very affectionate within the family unit, but the adult pair is aggressive towards neighboring pairs. The most common interaction with neighbors is counter-singing of the pairs, where one pair waits listening while the other pair vocalizes their duet, later the listeners answer, while the first vocalizers listen. There are instances when two pairs interchange vocalizations from very close together or from almost the same place in the forest. Sometimes these emotional interactions may finish in chases by the pair or an individual against the others. Rodríguez & Palacios (1994) found evidence of different types of agonistic interactions between different pairs.  Vocalizations of this species are very complex, especially a long-call display utilized by these animals, perhaps to regulate spacing and defined territory. Surprisingly, experimental playback of solo male calls caused the owners of a particular territory to move away from the recording, and recordings of duetting caused the territory owners to duet in return and to travel parallel to the speaker. However, any approximate sound stimulus can cause duetting of territory owners, and many direct observations of duetting neighbors were observed to cause the territorial owners to move towards the calling, where they sometimes confronted each other across a small space.  There is some evidence that titis not only can determine sex from a long call but can identify duetting individuals, so it should perhaps not be surprising that a resident pair could distinguish a recording from a live monkey and move away from it.  A human-raised and newly matured female black titi on first shouting, attracted the resident forest group to come closer until they became accustomed to her presence, although they always answered her calling with their duetting, later neither coming closer nor moving away. The female's vocalizations sometimes attracted several individual males in short order, which attempted to duet with the female. Since the female had been raised by humans, she did not show interest in duetting with the newly appeared males nor in establishing a relationship with them, and the males eventually desisted and left. The only exception to this was one male which attempted to establish a relationship during two years before giving up and leaving during an accidental 26-day absence of the female when she became inadvertently lost in the forest.  Some vocalizations of black titi are listed here: (1). Morning duet – the most commonly heard vocalization of the pair, singing in duet, complex and utilized to defend territory; it is interchanged with neighboring groups as counter-singing; (2) danger peep – various soft, high-pitched peeps but sometimes low intensity, advising of danger; very difficult to localize; (3) purr – sounds very much like a cat's purr; used by all members of the group to show contentment, affection or request for food, grooming or contact; (4) rough growl – given by young animals when complaining of rain or when greeting adults; (5) sharp scream – when fighting to express extra disgust; (6) play growl – low, gargling growl used in play and changing in tone, terminating in interrogative tone; (7) soft whine – especially young animals but also adults when requesting something of another such as food or while grooming another; (8) bark – loud, sharp and sudden bark when molested by the unwelcome close presence of other larger primates such as "Lagothrix", "Cebus", "Ateles" or raptors.  Individuals of both sexes occasionally mark their chests with pungent wadded leaves, rubbing the leaf up onto the throat and chin to the mouth, where the wad is wetted and rubbed down again, repeated various times while looking up into the air. One wild male did this as he approached the tame estrus female, who was near a building, after this male had left the forest and while walking on the elevated poles which had been set up for monkey travel. Another foraging female marked herself in the presence of an observing human who was from her.  Displays are similar to the coppery titi, which were first described by Moynihan (1966, 1967, 1976a). Some displays are listed here: (1) piloerection – agonistic; excited state when attacked or attacking; during danger; (2) arched-back – agonistic; before some attacks or when threatened; position held for several seconds; (3) tail twinning – when duetting or resting the pair often wind their tails around each other's tail; (4) tongue flicking – in two contexts; aggressive just before attack or as space reducer towards mate and probably just before copulation (hand-raised female at EBC tongue flicks at human "parent", especially at height of estrus cycle; (5) chest rubbing – using a wadded leaf the individual rubs from throat to chest after first wetting the leaf with saliva; performed in presence of human observer; nervousness.  Kinzey "et al." observed play behavior only between the infant and male and between two juveniles. Agonistic behavior is common between neighboring groups and can sometimes results in fights, although usually the aggression is limited to intergroup vocalization.

Interspecific interactions and predators.

The collared titi usually attempts to move out of the path of passing troops of brown woolly monkey or tufted capuchin, although sometimes the small monkeys give a burst of loud and aggressive-sounding vocalization ("bark") when they are approached closely by the larger species. Titis frequently hides and shows much caution towards raptors. Being frightened causes them to give alarm peeps, probably because they must be especially alert to predators. A margay was detected alongside a dead collared titi during recent censuses on the Purité River in Colombia, although the monkey was not freshly killed. The local group was no longer observed after this.

Conservation status.

The collared titi is not considered to be endangered, but where there are many colonists this primate tends to disappear, due to deforestation. The species is commonly hunted and eaten by indigenous peoples or used as bait for hunting larger carnivores or for fishing; however, where there is plenty of forest meat the species is found commonly close to Indian settlements. The species is classified "Least Concern" (formerly LR) in the IUCN Red List. Actually the Colombian black-handed titi may be slightly endangered due to its presence in a zone of heavy colonization, but presently it is classified LC with the other subspecies. Fortunately the Colombian black-handed titi is found in La Paya National Park in Colombia, although the park itself is very vulnerable to surrounding colonization. The Lucifer titi is protected in Colombia by Amacayacu National Park and Cahuinarí National Park, while the black titi may be protected in Chiribiquete National Park and El Tuparro National Park and in the two biological preserves Nukak and Puinawai. Actually a clarification of the taxonomic status of many populations is needed to be able to monitor their conservation state.

The collared titi (Cheracebus torquatus) is a species or a closely related complex of species of titi, a type of New World monkey, from South America.

Der Halsband-Springaffe oder Witwenaffe ("Cheracebus torquatus", Syn.: "Callicebus torquatus") ist eine Primatenart aus der Unterfamilie der Springaffen innerhalb der Familie der Sakiaffen (Pitheciidae).


Early years and education.

Sarah Katherine Stone was born January 8, 1841, in Mississippi Springs, Hinds County, Mississippi. In 1861, the year the war broke out, Stone was twenty years old and a fairly typical example of a Southern belle, seeking to meet the usual expectations of a debutante of Southern society. She was one of seven surviving children of the cotton planter William Patrick Stone, who moved the family to Stonington Plantation near Delta, Louisiana, and died in 1855. After her mother, Amanda Susan Ragan Stone, became widowed, she purchased and managed the plantation called "Brokenburn", and its 150 slaves; it was located in northeastern Louisiana, not far from the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.  She graduated from Stephen Elliott's academy in Nashville, Tennessee.

Career.

In May 1861, a month after the outbreak of the war, Stone began to keep a diary that, as an "ego document", provides insights into her own sensitivities and looks at her social environment, providing a revealing moral portrait of her time.  Stone supported the cause of the Southern States with a youthful-romantic enthusiasm, even though the picture of just war, in which "dashing young officers in magnificent uniforms are inspired by patriotic maidens to heroic exploits," gave way to cruel reality how the front approached their homeland. In 1862, after the Union's first gunboats took up position on the banks of the Mississippi River just a few miles from their plantation, the skirmishes in the area increased with the Vicksburg campaign, leaving the family in March 1863 for a daring escape through the swamps of Louisiana forced to look.  As refugees, the Stones reached Tyler, Texas, where they spent two and a half years - much to the disfavor of the spoiled Kate Stone, who disliked anything but refined Texan manners. In this "dark corner of the Confederacy," as Stone calls it, she received news of the deaths of her brothers William and Coleman on the battlefield, further eclipsing her mood. After the defeat of the Southern Confederation, Stone returned in 1865 to Louisiana and found the family mansion looted and the plantation devastated. With the difficult reconstruction, the entries become rarer; the diary ends in 1868.

Personal life.

She was affiliated with the Madison Infantry Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Madison Parish Book Club. In 1869, she married Lieutenant Henry Bry Holmes, at Walton Bend Plantation, near Yazoo City, Mississippi. They had four children, Emmet, William, and twins Katy Bry and Amanda Julia.  She died December 28, 1907, in Tallulah, Louisiana.

Sarah Katherine Holmes Stone, better known as Kate Stone (January 8, 1841 – December 28, 1907), was an American diarist and community leader. She was the daughter of a wealthy cotton farmer and slaveholder in the Southern United States. She is remembered in American history and literature for her diary, "Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1865", edited by John Q. Anderson, which she kept during the time of the American Civil War, printed in 1955, which she kept continuously from May 1861 to November 1865; shorter supplements date from 1867 and 1868. In addition to the diaries of two other ladies of the upper southern society, Mary Boykin Chesnut and Sarah Morgan, Stone's journal since its first publication has often been used by historians to illustrate the Southern world.

Sarah Katherine Holmes Stone (geboren am 8. Januar 1841 in Mississippi Springs, Hinds County, Mississippi; gestorben am 28. Dezember 1907 in Tallulah, Louisiana), besser bekannt als Kate Stone, war die Tochter eines wohlhabenden Baumwollpflanzers und Sklavenhalters in den amerikanischen Südstaaten. Für die amerikanische Geschichts- und Literaturwissenschaft ist ihr Tagebuch von Interesse, das sie zur Zeit des Sezessionskriegs führte.


Taxonomy.

There are four recognized subspecies of the bald uakari, each of which is considered vulnerable to extinction:

Description.

The bald uakari weighs between 2.75 and 3.45 kg (6.1 and 7.6 lb), with head and body lengths average 45.6 cm (18.0 in) (male) and 44.0 cm (17.3 in) (female). In general, the bald uakari has a long, shaggy coat ranging from white in color to red and its head is bald. The tail is bob-like and rather short for a New World monkey (about ), at only half the length of the body and head combined. Its scarlet red face is due to the lack of skin pigments and plentiful capillaries that run under its facial tissue.

Behaviour and ecology.

The arboreal bald uakari prefers to reside in seasonally flooded forests in the area of the Amazon River Basin, in the countries of Peru and Brazil. It is important that the uakari is arboreal (lives in the tree tops) because of the flooding of the forests and the water rising to great heights during the rainy season. During the dry season, it returns to the ground to look for seeds and other food material. A study of the diet of the uakari found it to consist of 67% seeds, 18% fruit, 6% flowers, 5% animal prey, and buds. Its powerful lower jaw forms a pseudodental comb, which allows the uakari to open the hard surfaces of unripe fruits and eat the nuts that most other primates would not be able to open. It will also eat insects that happen to cross its path, however it does not specifically pursue this type of food.  The bald uakari can be found traveling up to 4.8 kilometers per day in multi-male/multi-female groups of 5 to 30 individuals, and even up to 100. It can be extrapolated from the general primate behavior of female philopatry that female uakaries are also philopatric. This means that males leave the natal group. The total size of the group's home range is between 500 and 600 hectares. This requires efficient territorial defense mechanisms. A few of these include specific vocalizations, wagging of the tail, and erection of the hair.  The bright red facial skin is a sign of good health and allows for the determination of a healthy mate. The breeding season is between October and May. Its gestation period is approximately six months. Both sexes have a sternal gland, which might be involved in olfactory communication, especially during mating, when the female encourages the male to mate by releasing an attractive scent. The bald uakari lives approximately 30 years and has been known to live over 30 years in captivity.  Due to the uakari's location, it is extremely common for these animals to contract malaria. Primates who have contracted the disease are noticeably paler and are not chosen as sexual partners as they do not have the desired natural immunity to malaria.

Conservation.

The conservation status of this species was changed from near threatened to vulnerable in the 2008 World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List because the species has declined at least 30% over the past 30 years (three generations) due to hunting and habitat loss. This is considerably better than the 1994 assessment which found it to be endangered, followed by the 2003 assessment which found the species to be near threatened. Although the conservation status has improved, actual population numbers are on a decreasing trend. Since it only lives in white water flooded forests, it is very susceptible to human impact (i.e.: land acquisition for agriculture and/or pastures).  Forest loss and hunting are the two most prominent threats to the bald uakari. Between 1980 and 1990 it was found that an average of 15.4 million hectares of tropical forests were destroyed each year and the Neotropics are facing forest loss in areas such as the southern and eastern parts of the Amazonia. In 1997, the Amazon Basin experienced the highest rate of forest destruction of the remaining tropical rainforests worldwide. Logging of hardwoods is a major contributor to overall destruction as large-scale logging disrupts the continuity of forest canopies. Canopy disruption and forest loss directly affect uakaris because of their arboreal lifestyle and adaptations for seed food consumption. Additionally, "Cacajao calvus" populations are located so close to the Amazon River that there is a higher risk of human hunting from canoes and such to use the primates as a food source or bait.

Conservation organisations.

In 1999, the Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rainforest, set forth by the World Bank, aimed to place a total of 350 million dollars from Germany, Britain, and other major industrialized communities into conservation programs for the Amazon. Conservation efforts have also been initiated by Wildlife Conservation Society representatives working in South America. The Amazon-Andes Conservation Program (AACP) was established in 2003 in order to protect a set of seven landscapes in the Amazon. These protected landscapes account for approximately three percent of the Amazon Basin. The Wildlife Conservation Society is planning on expanding to more landscapes in the near future. Along with the AACP, Brazil’s national environment agency, the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA) is gaining help from the army to patrol the Amazon for acts of illegal logging, mining, and deforestation.

The bald uakari ("Cacajao calvus") or bald-headed uakari is a small New World monkey characterized by a very short tail; bright, crimson face; a bald head; and long coat. The bald uakari is restricted to várzea forests and other wooded habitats near water in the western Amazon of Brazil and Peru.

Der Rote Uakari oder Scharlachgesicht ("Cacajao calvus") ist eine Primatenart aus der Gattung der Uakaris innerhalb der Sakiaffen (Pitheciidae). Er ist durch seinen roten, unbehaarten Kopf charakterisiert und bewohnt das nordwestliche Südamerika. Er lebt in größeren Gruppen und ernährt sich vorrangig von hartschaligen Früchten.


Background.

With Perestroika and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, ethnic tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis increased in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.  As of 2017, public opinion on both sides has been noted as "increasingly entrenched, bellicose and uncompromising". In this context, mutual concessions that might lower tensions in the longer term could in the shorter run threaten internal stability and the survival of ruling elites, hence leaving little incentive for compromise.

Timeline.

Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–94).

The Nagorno-Karabakh War, also known as the "Artsakh Liberation War" in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, was an armed conflict that took place in the late 1980s to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, entangled themselves in a protracted, undeclared war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh.  The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting with Armenia. A a referendum, boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh, was held, whereby most of the voters voted in favor of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia, which began anew in 1988, began in a relatively peaceful manner. As the Soviet Union's dissolution neared, the tensions gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis. Both sides made claims of ethnic cleansing and pogroms conducted by the other.  Inter-ethnic clashes between the two broke out shortly after the parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in Azerbaijan voted to unify the region with Armenia on 20 February 1988. The circumstances of the dissolution of the Soviet Union facilitated an Armenian separatist movement in Soviet Azerbaijan. The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the final result of a territorial conflict regarding the land. As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted to secede from Azerbaijan. In the process they proclaimed the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.  Full-scale fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), failed to bring resolution. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured territory outside the enclave itself, threatening to catalyze the involvement of other countries in the region. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the enclave. As many as 230,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan and 800,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia and Karabakh have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.  Some clashes occurred in the years following the 1994 ceasefire.

Border clashes (1994–2016).

The 2008 Mardakert skirmishes began on 4 March after the 2008 Armenian election protests. It involved the heaviest fighting between ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the 1994 ceasefire after the Nagorno-Karabakh War.  Armenian sources accused Azerbaijan of trying to take advantage of ongoing unrest in Armenia. Azerbaijani sources blamed Armenia, claiming that the Armenian government was trying to divert attention from internal tensions in Armenia.  Following the incident, on March 14 the United Nations General Assembly by a recorded vote of 39 in favour to 7 against adopted Resolution 62/243, demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.  2010 violence The February 2010 Nagorno-Karabakh skirmish was a scattered exchange of gunfire that took place on February 18 on the line of contact dividing Azerbaijani and the Karabakh Armenian military forces. Azerbaijan accused the Armenian forces of firing on the Azerbaijani positions near Tap Qaraqoyunlu, Qızıloba, Qapanlı, Yusifcanlı and Cavahirli villages, as well as in uplands of Agdam Rayon with small arms fire including snipers. As a result, three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed and one wounded.  The 2010 Mardakert skirmishes were a series of violations of the Nagorno-Karabakh War ceasefire. They took place across the line of contact dividing Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian military forces of the unrecognized but "de facto" independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire regime. These were the worst violations of the cease fire (which has been in place since 1994) in two years and left Armenian forces with the heaviest casualties since the Mardakert skirmishes of March 2008.  Between 2008 and 2010, 74 soldiers were killed on both sides.  2011–2013 continued fighting In late April 2011, border clashes left three Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers dead, while on 5 October, two Azerbaijani and one Armenian soldier were killed. In all during the year, 10 Armenian soldiers were killed.  The following year, border clashes between the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place from late April through early June. The clashes resulted in the deaths of five Azerbaijani and four Armenian soldiers. In all during 2012, 19 Azerbaijani and 14 Armenian soldiers were killed. Another report put the number of Azerbaijani dead at 20.  Throughout 2013, 12 Azerbaijani and 7 Armenian soldiers were killed in border clashes.  2014 clashes and helicopter shootdown In 2014, several border clashes erupted that had resulted in 16 fatalities on both sides by 20 June.  On 2 August, Azerbaijani authorities announced that eight of their soldiers had been killed in three days of clashes with NKO forces, the biggest single death toll for the country's military since the 1994 war. NKO denied any casualties on their side, while saying the Azerbaijanis had suffered 14 dead and many more injured. Local officials in Nagorno-Karabakh reported at least two Armenian military deaths in what was the largest incident in the area since 2008. Five more Azerbaijani troops were killed the following night, bringing the death toll from the August clashes to at least 15. The violence prompted Russia to issue a strong statement, warning both sides not to escalate the situation further.  By August 5, 2014 the fighting that started on 27 July had left 14 Azerbaijani and 5 Armenian soldiers dead. Overall, 27 Azerbaijani soldiers had died since the start of the year in border clashes.  In a separate incident in July 2014, the NKR Defense Army announced that troops had killed one and arrested two members of an Azerbaijani subversive group that had penetrated the contact line. In addition to spying on Armenian troop movements and military installations and civilian settlements in Karvachar (Kelbajar), the team was charged with the murder of Smbat Tsakanyan, a seventeen-year-old Armenian boy and resident of the village of Jumen. Both surviving members of the group were sentenced to life in prison by an Armenian court. In July 2015, video footage recorded by the team was released to the public and aired on Armenian state television.  On November 12, 2014, the Azerbaijani armed forces shot down a Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army Mil Mi-24 helicopter over Karabakh's Agdam district. Three servicemen were killed in the incident. Armenia's Defense Ministry stated the aircraft was unarmed and called its downing an "unprecedented provocation". Azerbaijani authorities claimed the helicopter was "trying to attack" Azerbaijani army positions. Armenian authorities stated that Azerbaijan will face "grave consequences". With the crash, 2014 became the deadliest year for Armenian forces since the 1994 ceasefire agreement, with 27 soldiers killed in addition to 34 fatalities on the Azerbaijani side. Six Armenian civilians also died in 2014, while by the end of the year the number of Azerbaijanis killed rose to 39 (37 soldiers and 2 civilians).  2015 sporadic fighting  In 2015, 42 Armenian soldiers and 5 civilians were killed as border clashes continued. In addition, at least 64 Azerbaijani soldiers also died.  Sporadic fighting primarily took place in: January, June, August, September, November and throughout December.

Four-Day War (2016).

Over the years, Azerbaijan had been growing impatient with the status quo. In this regard, propelled by oil and gas windfall, the country embarked in a military build-up. In 2015 alone, Baku spent $3bn on its military, more than Armenia's entire national budget.  Throughout January and February 2016, four Armenian and four Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in fighting at the Nagorno-Karabakh border. The first casualty of 2016 was a Nagorno-Karabakh soldier Aramayis Voskanian, who was killed by Azerbaijani sniper fire while serving in the eastern direction of the Line of Contact. In mid-February, Hakob Hambartsumyan, an Armenian herdsman from Vazgenashen, was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper. In March, two Azerbaijani and one Armenian soldier were killed in clashes along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.  Between 1 and 5 April 2016, heavy fighting along the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline left 88 Armenian and 31–92 Azerbaijani soldiers dead. One Armenian and three Azerbaijani soldiers were also missing. In addition, 10 civilians (six Azerbaijani and four Armenian) were also killed. During the clashes, an Azerbaijani military helicopter, 13 unmanned drones were shot down and an Azerbaijani tank was destroyed.

Renewed border clashes (2016–present).

Between 8 and 17 May 2016, sporadic fighting left 14 Armenian and three Azerbaijani soldiers dead, as well as one Azerbaijani civilian. On 5 October 2016, Armenian artillery shelled Azerbaijani positions on the line of contact with one Azerbaijani soldier being killed. One Armenian soldier was killed on 11 October 2016 in a skirmish on the line of contact. On 15 November, an Azerbaijani soldier was killed on the line of contact. On 27 November, Azerbaijani forces reported shooting down an Armenian drone which had crossed the line of contact.  A Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed in action with Azerbaijiani forces on 6 February 2017. On 8 February 2017, one Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed and another wounded in a firefight with Azerbajiani troops along the line of contact. On 24 February 2017, Azerbaijani forces shelled the Armenian positions near the village of Talish with artillery. The next day a large firefight broke out with Azerbajiani forces approaching Armenian lines in the same area, 5 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in the ensuing engagement.  On 15 May 2017, a Karabakh Osa air defense system was damaged or destroyed by a guided missile launched by Azerbaijani forces. On 20 May 2017, an Armenian soldier was killed in a firefight with Azeri troops, the Azerbaijani military utilized anti-tank grenades and 60mm mortar fire in the action. On 26 May 2017, a Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed in a skirmish with Azerbajiani forces involving mortars and grenade launches. On 16 June 2017 three Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers were killed by Azeri forces. On 22 June 2017 four Azeri soldiers were killed by Nagorno-Karakakh soldiers. On July 4 an Azeri woman and her two-year-old grandchild were killed as a result of shelling by Armenian forces. On 10 July 2017 a Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed in shelling by the Azerbaijani forces. On 25 July 2017, Azerbaijan claimed that one of its soldiers was wounded by a munition dropped from an Armenian UCAV. On 31 August 2017, Azerbaijani military positions were fired at and shelled at from Armenian military positions. The Armenian military were using large-caliber machine guns.  A Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper near the line of contact on 7 January 2018. A Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed by Azerbaijani fire on 7 February 2018. Three civilian volunteers were killed in a demining operation in Nagorno-Karabakh on 29 March 2018. A Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed by Azerbaijani fire on 9 April 2018. A Nagorno-Karabakh soldier was killed in a firefight with Azeri forces on 10 June 2018. In September 2018 a soldier of the Armenian Army was killed by Azeri gunfire whilst serving at a border post. In the same month, two Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers were killed by the Azeri army.

Fatalities.

Although no exact casualty figures exist, by 2009, as many as 3,000 people, mostly soldiers, had been killed, according to most observers. In 2008, the fighting became more intense and frequent. With 72 deaths recorded throughout the year, 2014 became the bloodiest since the war ended. According to the Union of Relatives of the Artsakh War Missing in Action Soldiers, as of 2014, 239 Karabakhi soldiers remain officially listed as unaccounted for. Between 1 and 5 April 2016, heavy fighting along the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline left 27 Armenian and 28 Azerbaijani soldiers dead. 26 Armenian soldiers were also missing. In addition, six civilians (four Armenian and two Azerbaijani) were killed.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a territorial and ethnic conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, which are "de facto" controlled by the self-declared Republic of Artsakh, but are internationally recognized as "de jure" part of Azerbaijan. The conflict has its origins in the early 20th century. Under the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin decided to make the Nagorno-Karabakh region an autonomous oblast of Soviet Azerbaijan. The present conflict began in 1988, when the Karabakh Armenians demanded that Karabakh be transferred from Soviet Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia. The conflict escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s.

Der Bergkarabachkonflikt ist ein Konflikt der Staaten Armenien und Aserbaidschan um die Region Bergkarabach im Kaukasus. Der Konflikt trat in der Moderne erstmals zur Unabhängigkeit der beiden Staaten nach 1918 auf und brach während der Endphase der Sowjetunion ab 1988 neu aus. Infolgedessen erklärte sich die Republik Bergkarabach (seit 2017 Republik Arzach) für unabhängig, wird bisher international aber von keinem Mitgliedstaat der Vereinten Nationen anerkannt.


History.

In 1954 the Soviet Union began development of a naval gun which could be used against both air and sea targets. The gun was developed by the development office ZKB-7 (later "Arsenal" ) under the direction of S. Tjurin. The first tests began in 1956. From 1960, the guns were begun to be installed on ships and tested. The first gun was installed on the "Grozny" (Russian: Грозный), a Kynda class cruiser (project 58). A second was installed in 1962 on the "Komsomolets Ukrainy" (Russian: Комсомолец Украины), the first Kashin class destroyer (Project 61). The system was officially launched on June 24, 1964. The guns were exported to various Eastern Bloc states over time. Due to the small caliber and lack of effectiveness they were soon replaced by the AK-100.

Construction.

Description.

The gun has two 76.2 mm caliber barrels. The projectiles are hand-loaded into an elevator from the ammunition chamber to the gun. The weapon has an automatic charging system. Both barrels fire simultaneously. This would achieve a theoretical rate of fire of about 100 rounds per minute, but is unsustainable. The barrels must be cooled a few minutes after 40 to 45 rounds of continuous fire. The cooling system is connected to the vessel's main water line.  The fire control is carried out either automatically via a fire control radar type MR-105 Turel (Russian: Турель, NATO code: Screech Owl), semi-automatically with the Prisma optical sight, or manually. The gun can be used against air, sea or land targets. There are two different types of ammunition available; contact and non contact fuses.

The AK-726 (abbr. of артиллерийский комплекс) is a double-barreled naval gun of 76.2 mm caliber, which was developed in the Soviet Union and is still in service in various navies.

Das AK-726 (Die Abkürzung AK steht für Артиллерийский комплекс (Artillerijskij kompleks; dt.: Artilleriekomplex)) ist ein doppelläufiges Marinegeschütz vom Kaliber 76,2 mm, das in der Sowjetunion entwickelt wurde und bis heute in diversen Marinen in Dienst ist.


Distribution and habitat.

This critically endangered species is endemic to the far eastern Amazon in Brazil, it being restricted to a relatively small region from the Tocantins River in Pará east to around the Grajaú River in Maranhão (similar to the range of the equally threatened Kaapori capuchin).

Anatomy and morphology.

They can be identified by their thick black hair, distinctive beard that shapes the face, and a bushy fox-like tail. They can have some yellowish brown highlights around the back and shoulders. There are some gender differences as the males tend to be slightly larger than females and also have a bulging forehead. They formerly included the red-backed, brown-backed and Uta Hick's bearded saki as subspecies or taxonomically insignificant variations (in which case the 'combined' species simply was called the bearded saki), but based on colour of pelage, karyotype, and molecular analysis it has been recommended treating these as separate species. The black bearded saki is the only dark-nosed species of bearded saki with a blackish back, though some females and young have a paler, brownish back.

Behavior.

As an infant the monkeys can be seen using their tail to grasp things but lose the ability as the primate gets older. They are very social animals commonly grooming and playing with one another, even with those of other species and can be found in groups of around 30 individuals.  The black bearded saki spends a majority of its time foraging for fruits and seeds, as well as insects. They use their strong canine teeth to crack open hard shells of fruits and nuts enabling them to access the unripened young seeds in the fruits.  Bearded sakis have a gestation period of 5 months and produce one young at a time. They don't become sexually mature until 4 years old and have an expected lifespan of 18 years.

Conservation.

Just over the last few decades urbanization has brought with it highways, agriculture, and dams creating an influx in habitat fragmentation, habitat destruction and hunting pressure. Habitat fragmentation is rising as secondary roads increase and people move closer to the forests. Along with an influx of people the amount of agriculture required to support the area increases, increases pressure for deforestation. They also face a hunting problem for their bushmeat and their tails used as dusters.  Habitat conservation is of top priority as this species has a particularly small range are considered the most endangered primate in the Amazon and already locally extinct in a large portion of their original range.

The black bearded saki ("Chiropotes satanas") is a species of bearded saki, a type of New World monkey, one of five remaining monkeys of their kind. The genus name "Chiropotes" means "hand-drinker" as they have been observed using their hands as ladles for scooping water into their mouths. This behavior is thought to be way of maintaining and protecting their magnificent beards.

Der Satansaffe oder Schwarze Saki ("Chiropotes satanas") ist eine Primatenart aus der Gruppe der Neuweltaffen (Platyrrhini). Der Rotrückensaki, der Braunrückensaki und der Uta-Hick-Saki galten früher als Unterarten des Satansaffen, heute werden sie jedoch als eigenständige Arten angesehen.


History.

The aim of all of Swisscontact's activities is to reduce poverty by private sector development.  Swisscontact was founded in 1959 under the name of Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation by leading figures from the Swiss business world, universities and politics. The first initiative came from Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet (1916-2010), who was of the opinion "that because of its wealth and as country without a colonial past, Switzerland should play an important role in development aid".  In the 1960s, Swisscontact set up vocational training colleges in Africa, Asia and Latin America and provided further training for the instructors at these colleges. This was followed in the 1980s by the launch of schemes aimed at promoting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), after graduates from the vocational training colleges had said that there was an urgent need for expert advice when setting up businesses. It was also evident that SMEs were experiencing considerable difficulty in obtaining commercial and investment credits. As a result, the organization introduced programmes favouring the creation of micro-finance institutions. After training car mechanics, Swisscontact also went on to develop integral solutions for preventing air pollution.  The organization was renamed in 1972, but retained its old title as a supplement.

Organisation.

Swisscontact has 60 employees in Switzerland and approximately 1,100 staff abroad. It carries out over 100 projects in 36 different countries to promote economic stability. The board of trustees consists of about 30 people from the business world, university and politics.  Swisscontact is specialized in project implementation, accepts assignments from public and private partners and carries out projects that have been put out to public tender. The organization also runs a programme of its own activities that are financed from donations and contributions from the state.  The foundation with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, is certified with the ZEWO seal of quality from the Swiss agency responsible for monitoring charitable organizations that raise donations in Switzerland. Two important partners of Swisscontact are the governmental organisations Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).  Since 2019, Springfield Centre, Durham (GB), has been a subsidiary of Swisscontact. The Springfield Centre is a consulting, training and research company focused on market systems development.

Topical priorities.

Swisscontact is convinced that employment and income open up pathways out of poverty and can reduce economic disparities. An innovative private sector strengthens structurally weak regions and enables disadvantaged groups to become active market participators.  All activities of Swisscontact can be divided into four areas of operation:

Skills development.

Since 1959 Swisscontact has been committed to providing vocational training and further education, the assumption being that professional competence is the key to the economic and social development of a country. Swisscontact started off by setting up technical vocational training colleges (for mechanics, electricians, electronic technicians, etc.) based on the Swiss model in countries where infrastructure was lacking. Over the past 25 years the main focus in the promotion of vocational training has shifted to instructing vocational training college instructors and setting up national vocational training systems on the one hand and to holding shorter courses on the other, in particular for unemployed youngsters and disadvantaged sectors of the population (in development cooperation usually called «skills training»). In simple basic courses, they can acquire knowledge that will give them the chance to find a job or become self-employed. Emphasis is always placed on getting as many women as possible involved in the schemes. At present, around 45% of those who have benefited are women.  Swisscontact supports practical vocational training by:

Enterprise Promotion.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the largest employers in developing countries as well. Swisscontact aims at strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses. The organisation's market system development approach, referred to as Inclusive Markets addresses the constraints and opportunities of markets for disadvantaged people.  To make markets more inclusive, Swisscontact refers to three different approaches:  In practice, these approaches are often combined.

Inclusive Finance.

In development cooperation, all financial services provided for people on low incomes in developing countries are bracketed together under the collective term microfinance. Their aim is to give small and medium enterprises access to banking services that allow them to maintain or expand their companies. Swisscontact does not grant microcredits, but instead assists local microcredit banks, insurance companies and savings and credit associations with advice and further training.  Swisscontact's activities in financial services include:  Swisscontact especially promotes microleasing (leasing productive assets, e.g. agricultural tools, livestock).

Climate-smart Economy.

Swisscontact is working for an economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development and is considering the responsible use of natural resources a prerequisite to achieve this. The organisations believes that services related to climate protection and associated technologies represent a growth market and will in future be able to provide people with jobs and income in developing countries as well. An example of this is recycling of reusable materials.  Swisscontact lends its support by:

Senior Expert Corps.

Since 1979 Swisscontact has a pool of retired professionals called the Senior Expert Corps. Its members are supporting SMEs in developing and transition countries in solving technical and operational problems on a voluntary basis. If necessary they provide further training to the personnel and management of the company. One assignment lasts a maximum of three months. The pool contains experts in: marketing and management consulting, electrical, civil and mechanical engineering, hotel and tourism services, food engineering, education, medical and health care services, agronomy and forestry engineering, construction and other specialized fields.

Swisscontact – Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation is a Swiss non-profit-organisation, which carries out projects aiming at reducing poverty in developing and transition countries by private sector development. It has been founded in 1959 as a politically and denominationally neutral organisation and has 60 employees in Switzerland and approximately 1,400 staff abroad. The main fields of activity are fostering skills development, small and medium enterprises, financial services and resource efficiency.

Swisscontact ist eine Schweizer Stiftung und wurde 1959 von Persönlichkeiten der Schweizer Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft gegründet. Sie ist ausschliesslich in der internationalen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit tätig und führt seit 1961 eigene und mandatierte Projekte durch. Seit ihrer Gründung steht die Stiftung der Privatwirtschaft nahe. Im Zentrum der Arbeit steht die Entwicklung integrativer sozioökonomischer Systeme. Ein zentraler Aspekt der systemischen Interventionen im Privatsektor ist die Förderung von lokalen und globalen Wertschöpfungsketten.


History.

The impetus for the treaty, like that of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty to limit landmines, has been concern over the severe damage and risks to civilians from explosive weapons during and long after attacks. A varying proportion of submunitions dispersed by cluster bombs fail to explode on impact and can lie unexploded for years until disturbed. The sometimes brightly colored munitions are not camouflaged, but have been compared to toys or Easter eggs, attracting children at play. Human rights activists claim that one in four casualties resulting from submunitions that fail to explode on impact are children who often pick up and play with the explosive canisters well after the conflict has ended. The 2006 Lebanon War provided momentum for the campaign to ban cluster bombs. The United Nations estimated that up to 40% of Israeli cluster bomblets failed to explode on impact. Norway organized the independent Oslo process after discussions at the traditional disarmament forum in Geneva fell through in November 2006.  The cluster munitions ban process, also known as the Oslo Process, began in February 2007 in Oslo. At this time, 46 nations issued the "Oslo Declaration", committing themselves to: Conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that prohibits the use and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians and secure adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and clearance of contaminated areas.  The Oslo Process held meetings in Lima in May 2007 and Vienna in December 2007. In February 2008, 79 countries adopted the "Wellington Declaration", setting forth the principles to be included in the convention.

Adoption.

Delegates from 107 nations agreed to the final draft of the treaty at the end of a ten-day meeting held in May 2008 in Dublin, Ireland. Its text was formally adopted on 2008 by 107 nations, including 7 of the 14 countries that have used cluster bombs and 17 of the 34 countries that have produced them.  The treaty was opposed by a number of countries that produce or stockpile significant quantities of cluster munitions, including China, Russia, the United States, India, Israel, Pakistan and Brazil. The U.S. has acknowledged humanitarian concerns about the use of cluster munitions, but insisted that the proper venue for a discussion of cluster munitions was the forum attached to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which includes all major military powers. The U.S. has further stated that the development and introduction of "smart" cluster munitions, where each submunition contains its own targeting and guidance system as well as an auto-self-destruct mechanism, means that the problematic munitions are being moved away from in any case. In 2006, Barack Obama voted to support a legislative measure to limit use of the bombs, while his general election opponent John McCain and his primary opponent Hillary Clinton both voted against it. According to the Pentagon's 2008 policy, cluster munitions are actually humane weapons. "Because future adversaries will likely use civilian shields for military targets – for example by locating a military target on the roof of an occupied building – use of unitary weapons could result in more civilian casualties and damage than cluster munitions," the policy claims. "Blanket elimination of cluster munitions is therefore unacceptable due not only to negative military consequences but also due to potential negative consequences for civilians."  The treaty allows certain types of weapons with submunitions that do not have the indiscriminate area effects or pose the same unexploded ordnance risks as the prohibited weapons. These must contain no more than nine submunitions, and no submunition may weigh less than. Each submunition must have the capability to detect and engage a single target object and contain electronic self-destruct and self-deactivation devices. Weapons containing submunitions which each weigh at least are also excluded. Australia, which supports the treaty, stated that the convention does not prohibit the SMArt 155 artillery shell that it has bought, which releases two self-guided self-destructing submunitions.  In response to U.S. lobbying, and also concerns raised by diplomats from Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and others, the treaty includes a provision allowing signatory nations to cooperate militarily with non-signatory nations. This provision is designed to provide legal protections to the military personnel of signatory nations engaged in military operations with the U.S. or other non-signatory nations that might use cluster munitions. David Miliband, who was Britain's foreign secretary under Labour, approved the use of a loophole to manoeuvre around the ban and allow the US to keep the munitions on British territory.  Prior to the Dublin meeting, the United Kingdom was thought to be one of a group of nations in a pivotal role whereby their cooperation could make or break the treaty. In an unexpected turn of events shortly before the end of the conference, Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared that the United Kingdom would withdraw all of its cluster bombs from service. This was done despite intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by the U.S. and objections by British government personnel who saw utility in the weapons.  The CCM was opened for signature at a ceremony at Oslo City Hall on 3– 2008. By the end of the ceremony, 94 states had signed the treaty, including four (Ireland, the Holy See, Sierra Leone and Norway) which had also submitted their instruments of ratification. Signatories included 21 of the 27 member-states of the European Union and 18 of the 26 countries in NATO. Among the signatories were several states affected by cluster munitions, including Laos and Lebanon.  In November 2008, ahead of the signing Conference in Oslo, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on all European Union governments to sign and ratify the Convention, as several EU countries had not yet declared their intention to do so. Finland had declared it would not sign, having just signed the Ottawa Treaty and replaced its mine arsenal largely with cluster munitions.

Entry into force.

According to article 17 of the treaty, the convention entered into force "on the first day of the sixth month after the month in which the thirtieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession has been deposited". Since the thirtieth ratification was deposited during February 2010, the convention entered into force on 2010; by that point, 38 nations had ratified the treaty.  As the convention entered into force, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke of "not only the world's collective revulsion at these abhorrent weapons, but also the power of collaboration among governments, civil society and the United Nations to change attitudes and policies on a threat faced by all humankind". A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said "These weapons are a relic of the Cold War. They are a legacy that has to be eliminated because they increasingly won't work". Nobel peace prize winner Jody Williams called the convention "the most important disarmament and humanitarian convention in over a decade".  Anti-cluster munitions campaigners praised the rapid progress made in the adoption of the convention, and expressed hope that even non-signatories – such as China, North Korea, Russia, and the US – would be discouraged from using the weapons by the entry into force of the convention. As one of the countries that did not ratify the treaty, the United States said that cluster bombs are a legal form of weapon, and that they had a "clear military utility in combat." It also said that compared to other types of weapons, cluster bombs are less harmful to civilians.  Article 11 requires the first Meeting of States Parties to be held within 12 months of the entry into force. The first such meeting was held in Laos in November 2010.

State parties.

To date, there are 108 State Parties to the Convention.  Another 15 states have signed, but not ratified the convention.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an international treaty that prohibits the use, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster bombs, a type of explosive weapon which scatters submunitions ("bomblets") over an area. The convention was adopted on 2008 in Dublin, and was opened for signature on 2008 in Oslo. It entered into force on 2010, six months after it was ratified by 30 states. As of February 2020, 108 states have signed the treaty and 108 have ratified it or acceded to it.

Das Übereinkommen über Streumunition, umgangssprachlich auch als Streubomben-Konvention bezeichnet, ist ein am 1. August 2010 in Kraft getretener völkerrechtlicher Vertrag über ein Verbot des Einsatzes, der Herstellung und der Weitergabe von bestimmten Typen von konventioneller Streumunition. Der Begriff Streu- oder Clustermunition bezeichnet Bomben, Granaten oder Gefechtsköpfe, die nicht als Ganzes explodieren, sondern eine Vielzahl an kleineren Sprengkörpern freisetzen. Typischerweise explodiert ein großer Teil dieser sogenannten Submunition nicht, sondern verbleibt als Blindgänger vor Ort. Die Gefährdung der Bevölkerung durch liegengebliebene Munition ist ungleich höher als bei konventioneller Munition, da die Blindgänger sehr zahlreich und wegen ihrer geringen Größe schwer auffindbar sind.


Course.

All three forks of the Kings River originate as snowmelt in the high Sierra Nevada mountains. The Middle and South Forks begin in Kings Canyon National Park, and join in the Monarch Wilderness (Sierra and Sequoia National Forests) to form the Kings River. The North Fork, which begins in the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra National Forest, joins the Kings River further downstream near Pine Flat Lake, the only major reservoir on the river. Much of the upper Kings River consists of remote backcountry and wilderness areas, accessible only by non-motorized trails. The entire upper course of the Kings River is in Fresno County; in the Central Valley, the Kings River also flows through parts of Tulare County and Kings County.

Headwaters.

The South Fork is the longest tributary of the Kings River, originating on the Sierra Crest at the far eastern edge of Kings Canyon National Park. It flows south, then flows west through the Cedar Grove section of Kings Canyon, a glacial valley with high granite cliffs and a meadow floor which has been compared in appearance to Yosemite Valley. The Middle Fork flows for through some of the park's most difficult-to-access backcountry, including Simpson Meadow and Tehipite Valley. The South and Middle Forks converge in the Monarch Wilderness at an elevation of just outside the national park to form the Kings River in the deepest part of Kings Canyon. With Spanish Peak towering above the north side of the river, and summits as high as on the south side, Kings Canyon is both deeper and narrower than the Grand Canyon. Below the confluence of

Lower river.

The Kings River emerges from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada near Piedra, about downstream of Pine Flat Dam. From there it flows across the gently sloping alluvial plain of the San Joaquin Valley, which today is one of the most productive agricultural regions of the United States. Here the Kings River encounters a large number of diversions that serve both irrigation and flood control purposes. Two key irrigation structures along the lower river are the Fresno Weir and People's Weir; both divert a substantial part of the river's flow into canals. The Kings River flows south-southwest past Sanger and Reedley, crossing briefly into northwest Tulare County before entering Kings County. At Kingsburg Cole Slough splits off to the northwest, rejoining the main stem about downstream at Laton.  About north of Lemoore the Kings River splits into a pair of distributaries, the North Fork and

Watershed and natural characteristics.

The Kings River is the largest river draining the southern Sierra Nevada. Its average annual flow of makes it larger than the Kern, Kaweah and Tule Rivers combined. Before the construction of Pine Flat Dam in 1954, the Kings River reached monthly averages as high as in May and June where it flows into the San Joaquin Valley, and averaged as low as in the driest months of September and October. After the dam was built, late spring-early summer high flows have been reduced, and late summer-autumn flows have greatly increased.  In the winter season of mid-November through April, rainstorms at lower elevations commonly flood the Kings River, although with less volume than the summer melt. Annual precipitation can be as high as in the Sierra; however, in the San Joaquin Valley the climate is semi-arid to arid with annual precipitation of, decreasing as one moves further west.  The majority of the runoff, about 71 percent, originates as snowmelt between April and July in the drainage basin above Pine Flat Dam. Three-quarters of this rugged watershed is a mile (1,600 m) or more above sea level; the watershed tops out at North Palisade, the highest point in Kings Canyon National Park. The canyons of the Kings River are relatively young in geological terms; mostly carved during the Pliocene and Pleistocene (5 million–12,000 years ago) during periods of rapid uplift in the Sierra Nevada.  During and before the Pleistocene, the upper portion of the watershed was heavily glaciated during successive ice ages, with valley glaciers flowing as much as down the river's three forks, carving the "V"-shaped river canyons into the "U"-shaped gorges of Kings Canyon, Tehipite Valley and others. The Sierra is composed mainly of granitic igneous rock; however, in the foothill area

Ecology.

Although most of the original wetlands and riparian zones in the valley have been lost to development, narrow riparian corridors still exist along of the Kings River between Pine Flat Dam and People's Weir (below Highway 99), and in other places such as lower Fresno Slough. The largest riparian habitats are concentrated in the Centerville Bottoms, east of Sanger, where the river divides into multiple channels over a roughly wide area. Below Highway 99 the river channels, with few exceptions, are almost completely channelized and modified from their native state. A minimum Kings River flow of is maintained at all times via releases from Pine Flat Dam, in order to support fish populations and riparian habitats.  In the foothills, California oak woodlands consisting mainly of blue and black oak occur along the Kings River, Mill Creek and other perennial tributaries. Other foothill areas are dominated by thick chaparral and brush. At lower to middle elevations in the Sierra Nevada portion of the watershed, mixed conifer forests are the primary habitat, with ponderosa pine and yellow pine being dominant. Some areas, such as the steeper and more exposed north wall of Kings Canyon, remain primarily chaparral and brush. Giant sequoias are found in this area of the watershed. The General Grant Grove is located about southwest

Early history.

At the time of first European contact, at least 5,000, but possibly as many as 15,000–20,000 Native Americans lived along the lower Kings River and its many branches in the Central Valley. The Kings River watershed is traditional Yokuts territory; the Kings River dialects of the Yokutsan language were divided among the Choynimni, who lived along about of the Kings River between present-day Piedra and Sanger; the Chukaymina along the Mill Creek tributary, and the Michahay further south. At least two other dialects, the Aiticha and the Toyhicha, were spoken further downstream on the Kings, but these groups have not been well documented.  The Yokuts mainly lived along the Kings River below the foothills and along the marshy fringes of Tulare Lake. The extensive oak forests in the Kings River riparian zone provided acorns, their main source of food. Wetlands provided them with abundant fish, waterfowl, fur-bearing animals including beaver and river otter, and edible roots. Tule rushes provided material for roofing their pit houses and building rafts and canoes, the main form of transport in the often flooded low country. The Yokuts traded with Paiute peoples (the Mono) in the Great Basin to the east, via various trails across the Sierra Nevada, one of which may have been via Kearsarge Pass at the eastern end of Kings Canyon. About 500 years ago, some of the Mono migrated west, settling in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada above Yokuts territory, where they eventually formed a distinct subgroup known as the Western Mono.  The first recorded Spanish explorers to see the Kings River were the members of Gabriel Moraga's expedition, which camped along the river on January 6, 1806, the day of the Epiphany. Thus, they named the river "El Rio de los Santos Reyes" ("River of the Holy Kings"), later shortened to "Rio Reyes", "Rio de los Reyes" or other variations thereof. Father Pedro Muñoz, a member of the 1806 expedition, wrote: "All the meadows are well covered with oak, alder, cottonwood and willow. The river abounds with beaver and fish. It is a location suitable for a mission, although there would also have to be a presidio." Extending the California mission system inland was a major goal of the Spanish Empire in the 1800s. However, no missions were ever established along the Kings River or elsewhere in the Central Valley. Jedediah Smith was the first American explorer to see the Kings River, encountering it during

Settlement of the Kings delta.

The Kings River country was not an attractive site for early settlers, because for most of its lower course the river flows in an incised channel between low bluffs (an area known as the Centerville Bottoms), leaving the surrounding plains high and dry, suitable only for livestock grazing. Further downstream, approaching Tulare Lake, the land was too swampy for farming in addition to being seasonally flooded. For this reason, farmers initially favored the more well-watered Kaweah Delta, the present-day location of Visalia, to the south. Agriculture along the Kings River was limited to the Centerville Bottoms until ditches were extended from further upstream to supply the surrounding lands, the first being the short Byrd Ditch in 1858. The Great Flood of 1862 and another in 1868 destroyed most of the early settlements along the Kings River, and also wiped out the cattle ranching economy of the San Joaquin Valley, precipitating an economic shift to farming.  Starting in 1870 the settlement of the region began in earnest, and larger and more permanent water supply systems were built. Long canals brought water to the large, semi-arid prairie between the Kings and San Joaquin rivers, enabling the growth of Fresno and attracting many more settlers to the area. Farming cooperatives or "colonies", where large landowners subdivided many small plots for individual farmers, were a popular early pattern of settlement and attracted immigrants from the eastern United States, Europe, and Asia. A few individuals were able to amass huge land holdings by exploiting loopholes in the Homestead Act and Swamp Land Act, the most successful being J.G. Boswell and his nephew James G. Boswell II, who acquired as much as in the lower Kings and the Tulare Lake bed. Despite portions being sold off since the 1980s, the Boswell family farm remains the largest privately owned farm in the world, at.  The Wright Act of 1887 allowed farmers to

Modern uses.

Irrigation.

Almost all of the Kings River's water is consumed for agriculture. The river irrigates about 1.1 million acres (4,500 km) of some of the most productive farmland in the United States; in 2009 the Kings delta produced crops valued at more than $3 billion. Fresno County, which is mostly supplied by Kings River water, ranked first among U.S. counties for agriculture sales in 2012. Tulare and Kings Counties ranked second and tenth, respectively.  The main crops grown in the Kings River service area are grapes, citrus, grain, and various fruits and nuts. Other crops include alfalfa, berries, rice, and miscellaneous nursery and field crops. More than of man-made canals deliver water to fourteen irrigation districts in the San Joaquin Valley. The Fresno, Kings River, Consolidated, Raisin City, Liberty and Laguna districts are located to the west of the river; the Tri-Valley, Hills Valley, Orange Cove, Alta and Kings County districts are located to the south. Kings River water also supplies the Riverdale, Stilson, James, Tranquility and Mid-Valley

Hydropower.

The Kings River system has several major hydroelectric plants; the only one on the main stem is the Jeff L. Taylor Pine Flat Power Plant, located at the base of Pine Flat Dam. KRCD has operated the power plant since its completion in 1984. Power generation at Pine Flat Dam is incidental, meaning it is governed by demand for irrigation water or flood control requirements rather than demand for power. There was a proposal to add one more dam on the Kings River near Piedra, which would create a small regulating reservoir below Pine Flat Dam, allowing the power station to be used for peaking purposes while releasing a stable flow for irrigation. Due to environmental concerns and a poor cost-benefit ratio this project was never built.  Further upstream, the three forks of the Kings have considerable hydropower potential due to their large drop in elevation from the Sierra crest. However, because the Middle and South Forks are located in Kings Canyon National Park,

Flood control.

Pine Flat Dam, holding up to of water, is the primary flood control facility in the Kings River Basin. The winter and spring flood control reservation is, although the reservoir can be drawn down further depending on the size of the Sierra snowpack.  During the winter and spring, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for determining the water release from Pine Flat Dam. The dam provides flood protection for of farmland along the Kings River and

Recreation.

The upper reaches of the Kings River, including the entirety of the Middle Fork and most of the South Fork, flow through rugged backcountry that can be reached only by foot or on horseback. The Middle and South Forks are part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, as is about of the main Kings below their confluence. About are classified as Wild and as Recreational. The North Fork is more accessible, with boating, camping and visitor facilities at Wishon Reservoir and a boat launch at Courtright Reservoir.  Whitewater rafting and kayaking on the Middle and South Forks is "extremely dangerous" and is usually only done by experts. However, the main Kings between the Garnet Dike put-in and Pine Flat Lake is a popular run for both commercial rafting companies and private boaters. According to the Forest Service,

List of tributaries.

Tributaries of the Kings River are listed going upstream from the North Fork/South Fork split near Lemoore. Major lakes/reservoirs and dams are also listed. Distributaries of the Kings River below Lemoore are detailed in the Course section.

The Kings River is a river draining the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California in the United States. Its headwaters originate along the Sierra Crest in and around Kings Canyon National Park and form the eponymous Kings Canyon, one of the deepest river gorges in North America. The river is impounded in Pine Flat Lake before flowing into the San Joaquin Valley (the southern half of the Central Valley) southeast of Fresno. With its upper and middle course in Fresno County, the Kings River diverges into multiple branches in Kings County, with some water flowing south to the old Tulare Lake bed and the rest flowing north to the San Joaquin River. However, most of the water is consumed for irrigation well upstream of either point.

Der Kings River (engl. für „Königsfluss“) ist ein Fluss in Kalifornien. Er entspringt in der Sierra Nevada aus drei Quellarmen.


Early crossbreeds.

Several unofficially recognized crossbreed types date from the 14th century or earlier, such as the Lurcher or the Longdog.  Historically, crosses between dogs of different types were more well accepted at a time when modern purebred breeds (based on the Eugenics principles) did not yet exist. These types of crosses were performed to aggregate qualities of two different types in the same dog or to perfect an already fixed type of dog, always for working purposes. An example to be cited is the famous case of Lord Orford's greyhounds which were improved by adding courage by the crossing with bulldogs, achieving the desired result after six generations. With success of the Lord Orford's dogs, the practice was adopted by other Greyhound breeders and became more common.Other historical examples are the Bull-and-terrier (Old English Bulldog and terrier cross) and crosses between foxhounds and Spanish pointers that later resulted the English pointer.

Designer dogs.

The "Encyclopædia Britannica" traces what was the "designer dog" fad to the late 20th century, when breeders began to cross purebred poodles with other purebred breeds in order to obtain a dog with the poodles' hypoallergenic coat, along with various desirable characteristics from other breeds. The primary identifying mark of a designer dog is that the resulting puppies are called by a portmanteau word made up of syllables (or sounds) from the breed names of the two purebred parents, such as Schnoodle ("Schn"auzer and p"oodle" cross). or Shepsky (German Shepherd Dog/Siberian Husky cross). Other purebred breeds are being crossed to provide designer dogs described with an endless range of created labels, such as the Puggle ("Pug" and Bea"gle" cross). There are even complex crosses (with multiple breeds in recent ancestry) being labeled in this manner, such as German Chusky (German Shepherd Dog, Siberian Husky, Chow Chow).  Like children in a family, a percentage of designer dogs with the same breed ancestry will look similar to each other, even though crossbreeding does not result in as uniform a phenotype as the breeding of purebreds. Often even pups in the same litter will look quite different.  Another defining characteristic of designer dogs is that they are usually bred as companions and pets. Working and hunting dogs deliberately crossbred for a particular working purpose are not generally given portmanteau names; they are most often referred to by a type name, such as Eurohounds (racing sled dogs) or Lurchers (hunting dogs). These dogs could be considered only as crossbreeds, not as designer animals, since appearance is not the main reason for them to be bred. An exception to this is the Labradoodle, which although having a portmanteau name, is often used as a Guide or Assistance dog as well as being a popular family dog.  Although designer dogs are often selected by owners for their novelty, reputable breeders sometimes use crossbreeding in an attempt to reduce the incidence of certain hereditary problems found in the purebred breeds, while retaining their more appealing traits. Jon Mooallem in "The New York Times" writes, "Given the roughly 350 inherited disorders littering the dog genome, crossing two purebreds and expanding their gene pools can be 'a phenomenally good idea,' according to one canine geneticist—if it is done conscientiously." Crossbreeding has not been well studied in dogs, although it has been for livestock. The heritability of the desired trait being bred for (such as a hypoallergenic coat) needs to be known; "Heritability is the proportion of the measurable difference observed between animals for a given trait that is due to genetics (and can be passed to the next generation)." In addition, the goals of dog crossbreeding may be harder to define than the goals of livestock crossbreeding; good temperament may be harder to define and measure than high calf weight.  Designer dog breeders are often criticised for being more interested in profitable puppy production than in dog health and welfare. Wally Conron comments on the popularity of crosses after his introduction of the Labradoodle: "Were breeders bothering to check their sires and bitches for heredity faults, or were they simply caught up in delivering to hungry customers the next status symbol?" "Designer dog" puppies sometimes bring higher prices than the purebreds from which they are bred.  The fanciers of designer dogs respond that all modern dog breeds were created from earlier breeds and types of dogs through the same kind of selective breeding that is used to create designer dogs. The Toy Poodle was bred down in size from larger poodles, most likely by crossing with various very small Bichon types, such as the Maltese and Havanese. Most of the modern breeds have ancestries that include various older dog types and breeds; see individual breed articles for details of the origin of each breed.  Health of crossbred dogs depends on their being descended from healthy parents. Breeders who select their breeding stock for cost-effectiveness and who skip health testing for the same reason will not produce puppies that are as reliably healthy as those bred by more conscientious breeders. However, studies of longevity in dogs have found some advantage for crossbreeds compared to purebred dogs. In general it is believed that crossbred dogs "have a far lower chance of exhibiting the disorders that are common with the parental breeds. Their genetic health will be substantially higher."  Many breeders of designer dogs take advantage of the fact that people are impressed by a pet that they believe offers them an elevated social status, such as other "designer" goods do. "It's human nature to aspire to own something a little different, a little fancy or in short supply."

Genetic defects.

Crossbreeding to take advantage of the increased chance that a recessive detrimental allele will only be inherited from one parent, and therefore not expressed in the phenotype of the offspring, is only one strategy breeders can use to decrease the incidences of genetic defects. Knowing the disease incidence in the breed, and the genetic history of the individual, is ultimately important in dog breeding.

Traits.

Because some traits are dominant, crossbreed dogs tend to manifest some physical characteristics more frequently than others. Border Collies and some Spaniels, for example, often produce crossbreed offspring with similar coats and ears. The crossbreed offspring of German Shepherd Dogs often have characteristic Shepherd faces. But all crossbred dogs will vary in which characteristics of their purebred parents that they inherit, and may look very different from one another, even within the same litter of puppies.

Registration and recognition.

Crossbreed dogs are not recognized by traditional breed registries, even if both parents are registered purebreds. Breed associations such as the American Kennel Club, the United Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club do not recognize designer crosses as dog breeds.  If crossbred dogs are bred together for some period of time, and their breeding is well documented, they may eventually be considered a new breed of dog by major kennel clubs (an example of a recent crossbreed becoming a breed recognised by all major kennel clubs is the Cesky Terrier). New breeds of dogs must have a breed club that will document the ancestry of any individual member of that breed from the original founding dogs of the breed; when the kennel club that the breed club wishes to join is satisfied that the dogs are pedigreed, they will accept and register the dogs of that breed. Each kennel club has individual rules about how to document a new breed. Some minor registries and internet registry businesses will register dogs as any breed the owner chooses with minimal or no documentation; some even allow the breeder or owner to make up a designer "breed name" for their pet.  Some crossbred dogs, created by breeding two purebred dogs of different breeds, may have the advantage of heterosis, or crossbreed vigor. This advantage can be progressively diluted when two crossbreeds are bred in the attempt to create a breed, narrowing the gene pool. The best way to continue taking advantage of crossbreed vigor is from the breeding of dogs of purebred ancestry, as this vigor is typically seen only in the first generation cross of two purebred animals of separate breeds, thus taking advantage of genetic diversity.

Portmanteau names.

With the long-time popularity of the label Cockapoo, used since at least 1960 and constructed by combining elements of its two contributing breeds (Cocker Spaniel/Poodle), it has become extremely common to find crossbred dogs given labels likewise invented by portmanteau. The tendency for using such labels in a jocular way dates back at least to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom's Dorgis (Dachshund/Welsh Corgi). None of these have become recognised by any major registry as purebred breeds. However, as of 2006, the portmanteau words Cockapoo and Labradoodle are found in some dictionaries. Fanciful label names such as these are often found in for-sale ads, or on the websites that allow sellers to make up their own names for litters of crossbred puppies. The terms are only loosely descriptive and are seldom consistent.

Crossbreed dogs, sometimes called designer dogs, are dogs which have been intentionally bred from two or more recognized dog breeds. They are not dogs with no purebred ancestors, but are not otherwise recognised as a breed in their own right, and do not necessarily breed true.

Katsuya Okada (jap., "Okada Katsuya"; * 14. Juli 1953 in Yokkaichi, Präfektur Mie) ist ein auf Nationalebene parteiloser japanischer Politiker und Abgeordneter im Shūgiin, dem Unterhaus des nationalen Parlaments, für den 3. Wahlkreis Mie. Von 2004 bis 2005 und ab 2015 war er Vorsitzender der Demokratischen Partei, anschließend bis September 2016 Vorsitzender der nachfolgenden Demokratischen Fortschrittspartei. In den Kabinetten Hatoyama, Kan und Noda war er von 2009 bis 2010 und 2012 Minister, unter anderem als Außen- und Vizepremierminister.


Design.

The Erie Land Light consists of a sandstone tower and a small, one-story building attached to the tower's southern side; the entire structure was constructed from Berea sandstone lined with brick. The lighthouse tower is with a diameter of tapering to. The interior diameter of the tower is and contains a cast iron, spiral staircase with 69 steps. The balcony where the lantern room sits is wide. The structure attached to the tower is wide, long, and tall; it is separated from the tower by steel doors.  The beacon itself, when it was in operation, was fueled by mineral oil and exhibited a fixed, white light. It had a focal plane above mean lake level and a range of. When the current lighthouse was built a third-order Fresnel lens was installed; the lens were transferred to another lighthouse when it was deactivated. Currently, the tower is equipped with a modern marine navigational beacon.

History.

In 1810, Congress authorized the construction and appropriated $1,600 for the first two lighthouses on the Great Lakes; one to be located at "the junction of Buffalo Creek and Lake Erie" and the other "on or near ". A total of of land overlooking the entrance to the channel into Presque Isle Bay was ceded by Brigadier General John Kelso of the Pennsylvania militia on April 2, 1811 for the lighthouse. Both the construction of the Buffalo Main Light and the Erie Land Light were delayed until 1818.  By 1858, the original, square, tower had begun to sink into the ground. The second tower was a, cylindrical tower built from "Milwaukee brick". The foundation of this tower was also unable to cope and had to be replaced again by 1866. An investigation found that a layer of quicksand was below the foundation of the Erie Land Light. To ensure the third tower remain sturdy, unlike its predecessors, the foundation was dug deep. Eight courses of oak timbers and long formed the base of the foundation. Atop the timber was poured of Portland cement mixed with crushed limestone; stone thick was laid on the cement. The third tower was built from sandstone. The Fresnel lens that was installed in the new tower cost $7,000 and shipped from Paris, France. A two-story, saltbox lightkeeper's house was also built at the same time.  On the recommendation of the naval inspector for the lighthouse district, the Erie Land Light was deactivated in 1880; it was sold for $1,800. After much public outcry, the lighthouse was repurchased in 1884 for double the amount and was reactivated the next year by an act of Congress. In 1886, the lighthouse was again decommissioned, though caretakers were still appointed and the beacon continued to operate until December 26, 1899 when it was finally extinguished. The lenses were removed in 1902 and were sent to the Marblehead Light in Ohio. After the lantern room was removed, the top of the tower was covered in tar paper. The lighthouse was acquired by the city of Erie in 1934.

Modern use and restoration.

The Erie Land Light was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1978. A wooden replica of the lantern room was placed on the tower in 1990 and was relit on December 26, 1999. The replica lantern room was eventually blown off of the tower on May 5, 2003 during a windstorm.  In 2004, The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission provided $400,000 in grants for restoration work on the lighthouse. The lighthouses interior stairs and over 200 bricks were replaced, and a copper replica of the original lantern room was built. The lantern was hoisted on to the lighthouse on March 19, 2004. The restoration was completed on June 19, 2004. The Erie–Western Pennsylvania Port Authority proposed in 2005 to take ownership of the Land Light from the city to increase its tourism potential, and, in 2010, to assume responsibility for the maintenance of the grounds surrounding the lighthouse. The lighthouse is opened to the public annually in the summer as a fundraiser for the Erie Playhouse.

The Erie Land Light, also known as the Old Presque Isle Light, is a lighthouse on the shore of Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is one of the three lighthouses in Erie, along with the Presque Isle Light and the North Pier Light. The lighthouse is situated on the bluffs overlooking the lake in Lighthouse Park east of downtown Erie.

Erie Land Light oder auch Old Presque Isle Light ist ein 15 m hoher Leuchtturm in Erie, Pennsylvania. Er ist einer von drei Leuchttürmen in Erie; die beiden anderen sind Presque Isle Light und North Pier Light. Das Bauwerk befindet sich im Lighthouse Park am Dunn Boulevard.