When someone says ‘wind power’ most people probably think of giant high-cost three-bladed wind turbines generating massive amounts of power on a distant hilltop - but harnessing energy from the wind can be much more diverse and exciting in its forms and applications than simple wind turbine farms would lead one to believe. From sleek wind powered vehicles and clever home wind power generators to airborne floating turbines and nano-vent skins, wind power innovation is virtually limitless.
- Before you jump to conclusions: no, these were not created by a bored geek in Photoshop. Amazingly, these uncanny animals are actually real: they climb the Argan trees of Morocco in search of food, which is otherwise sparse in the region. Over time they have become not only able to climb trees but downright adept at the art - the traipse across trees with a sure-footedness that is hard to imagine from a hoofed animal.
The droppings of the goats contain the kernels of the seeds they consume which are, strangely enough, used by locals to press and grind into oil. Even more disturbingly: this oil has a number of uses including culinary (yes, people eat it) and cosmetic (yes, they also smear it on themselves). You might want to skip over the versions of these products sold by local farmers for the somewhat cleaner mass-produced varieties. For a quarter-liter bottle of this goat-digested kernel-oil you can expect to pay from 15 to 50 dollars.
Known as skilled navigators of treacherous mountain conditions, maybe it isn’t such a surprise after all to find goats making their way up the steep and narrow trunks and branches of only slightly more dangerous trees. Unfortunately, the Argan tree is slowly being over-harvested so you may have to hurry to see the real thing. Still not sure you believe the images of goats climbing trees up to heights of 30 feet? There is nothing quite like a video to convince even the most cynical skeptics:Note that instead of the careful climbing one might expect these brave goats simply hop from one cluster of branches to another in search of food. In the middle of the video you can even see a younger goat run down the almost vertical slope of the tree before hopping lightly onto the ground below - followed shortly after by another that simply jumps from a higher set of branches to land on its feet.
Watch it on youtube !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQev3UoGp2M
4 comments:
Dear Ocho-Onda,
I typed a long comment and with the wrong click of the mouse, I lost it all. *sigh* Comes with the age :(.
Incidentally, I kept a multi-plug in the fridge today! What a scatterbrain I am...and I did not know till my younger boy asked me whether I was conducting some experiment :-). Anyway, I will try to recap what I wrote.
Thanks for such an interesting post! I never knew wind turbines could be such a lovely sight. The only ones I had seen prior to this are those turbines in Sacramento and windmills in Amsterdam. A truly eye-opening treat for the eyes :-).
As for the goat thingy, now I can understand why the bible refers to the sure-footedness of the goat in Psalms.
The thought of using the droppings of these goats for cosmetics is eeeeew...The fact that the urine of civet cats is being used for perfumes is bad enough!!!
Thanks for a most unusual post. Have a nice weekend!
cheers
Happy Valentines to you as well, . May this special day find you and your other half in lovely form! :-)
Thanks for dropping in and your kind words.
I wish I have the time to be able to write more.
Writing to me, is like a full time love affair to be pursued not in a hurry but an experience to be savoured, to capture the fleeting moods and emotions that tend to visit only at a moment's notice !
I admire your prolific writing ! Are you a full time blogger cum soccer mom ? :-)
BTW, I still can't figure out how linking works. I must have clicked on something by accident ! :-)
Do you know how to incorporate " Content Advisory", " Terms of Use" and " Intellectual Property Copyrights" into one's blog ? I looked up Blog Help but could not find any answers.
Dear Ocho-Onda,
You have been spared the ramblings of a bored housewife because I typed a terribly long comment and then my Firefox crashed :(. *sigh*
Ah - to recap ...Indeed you are right. I am a full-tim mom cum blogger cum CEO of the house haha:-). Thanks for your kind words. I love to read and write...anything to do with words and love to share the articles I like with readers but I only write for my blogs when there is inspiration, ambiance and the right feelings..So I do agree with your take re writing.
To add the content to your blog:
Go to Layout. Then click Add a Gadget.
Then a new window will appear. Click on TEXT.
A new window will appear. Cut and paste the Content Advisory etc into that window and click Save.
Now if you want to preserve your Intellectual Property, my advise is to either:
a) add Creative Commons - You can choose 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0
b) Use Copyscape..Google Copyscape and choose the design you want, click and then add the html code into your layout page by clicking ADD HTML after you click Add gadget.
When I used Copyscape, I got a bit of flak from readers/bloggers so I now use Creative Commons. You can see it in my side bar of my unplugged blog.
Hope this helps. Sorry to be so longwinded...It takes a bit of time to learn it...When I first started blogging, it was a major struggle for me and I surfed many websites, crashed my templates many times but all in all, it has been a worthwhile and enriching experience.
Take care and enjoy your weekend!
cheers
Thanks Paula, for the info. I will have a go at it! :-)
May the new dawn brings you and yours cheer and joy.
God Bless !
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