OLINGUITO, THE UNKNOWN SPECIES FROM THE ANDES

Olinguito

Today, The Grandma is still relaxing at home. Summer is a season of hot and humidity and The Grandma prefers reading and watching some films instead of visiting new places, especially with the current situation of COVID19.

She has received the wonderful visit of one of her closest friends, Joseph de Ca'th Lon and they have been talking about nature and species. 

Joseph has explained her the amazing story of the olinguito, a mammal of the raccoon family Procyonidae that lives in montane forests in the Andes whose discovery was confirmed and announced on a day like today in 2013 by the Smithsonian.

The olinguito, Bassaricyon neblina, is a mammal of the raccoon family Procyonidae that lives in montane forests in the Andes of western Colombia and Ecuador.

The species was described as new in 2013. The specific name neblina is Spanish for fog or mist, referring to the cloud forest habitat of the olinguito.

On 22 May 2014, the International Institute for Species Exploration declared the olinguito as one of the Top 10 New Species of 2014 among species discovered in 2013.

It is the first new carnivoran mammal described in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years.

The olinguito is distinct from the other species within the genus, popularly known as olingos, and also from the kinkajou -kinkajous resemble olingos, but are not closely related. Its average weight is 900 grams, making it the smallest procyonid.

More information: Smithsonian Insider

The animal is an omnivorous frugivore that eats mainly fruits such as figs, but also insects and nectar; this diet results in feces the size of small blueberries. The olinguito is thought to be solitary, nocturnal and moderately reclusive.

Olinguitos appear to be strictly arboreal. They have a single pair of mammae, and probably produce a single offspring at a time.

Specimens of the species have been identified from the Andean cloud forest stretching from western Colombia to Ecuador, at elevations of 1,500 and 2,750 metres, which is the highest known range of any member of the genus Bassaricyon.

Its discovery was confirmed in the wild and announced on 15 August 2013. The species is not considered to be immediately at risk, but it is estimated that over 40 percent of the animal's potential range has been deforested.

Its discovery was announced on 15 August 2013 by Kristofer Helgen, the curator of mammals at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, olingo expert Roland Kays of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and collaborators. Helgen discovered specimens of the species in storage at The Field Museum in Chicago and used DNA testing to confirm a new species.

Olinguito

The researchers who identified the species were unable to discover any local names specific to it. The discovery was the first identification of a new mammal species of the order Carnivora in the Americas in 35 years.

Olinguitos were regularly seen and even publicly exhibited decades before they were recognized as members of a new species.

The animal had previously been confused with its taxonomic cousins, the olingos. One such example was Ringerl, an olinguito who lived in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., for a year and also toured many other zoos. Researchers unsuccessfully tried to breed her with olingos, not realizing she was a different species. Ringerl died in 1976.

The olinguito is smaller than the other species in the genus Bassaricyon. Its body, head to rump, is approximately 355 mm long, and its tail 335-424 mm long. It is also much furrier and has a shorter tail and smaller ears than others that share its genus.

The olinguito is found in the northern Andes at altitudes between 1,500 and 2,750 metres above sea level, which is much higher than the habitats for other olingos.

Based on morphological distinctions, four olinguito subspecies have been described: the nominate Bassaricyon neblina neblina, and B. n. osborni, B. n. hershkovitzi, and B. n. ruber. Each of these subspecies, though, were found to have a dental formula characteristic of other members of the family Procyonidae.

More information: BBC

Comparison of DNA from two olinguito subspecies to other olingo and related species was carried out on the basis of genetic dissimilarity derived from Kimura modeling of differences in base-pair composition of mitochondrial cytochrome b. 

The genetic divergence between olinguitos and other olingos makes olinguitos a basal sister lineage to the rest of the genus, and is equivalent to differences between species which have been assigned to separate subgenera or genera.

This split apparently occurred about 3.5 million years ago, suggesting that the earliest diversification of the genus took place in northwestern South America shortly after the ancestors of olingos first invaded the continent from Central America as part of the Great American Interchange.

The olinguito may be at risk in the future due to deforestation and urbanization.

The researchers reporting its discovery estimated that 42% of suitable historic olinguito habitat had already been converted to agriculture or urban areas and an additional 21% remained in natural but largely unforested conditions.

Since the natural habitat of the olinguito is at higher elevations, this means that its cloud forest habitat definitely needs to be protected in order to optimize this species' probability of survival. As of now, no strict efforts are known to be in place in order to reduce habitat destruction.

More information: CNN

The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us;

and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.

Charles Darwin

WIPHALA, THE NATIVE INDIAN ANDEAN NATIONAL FLAG

A woman with a Wiphala

After the events occurred in Catalonia last October, 14, The Grandma decided to take some days of relax to think about present and future. During these thirty days, she has been reading her favourite author, Salvador Espriu, one of the best writers in Catalan Literature.

Salvador Espriu was a writer who lived the Spanish Civil War and the Post War under the Francoist dictatorship. It was very difficult for him to survive in the middle of a big cultural repression and the continuous loss of civil rights that was that dictatorship. He couldn't exile and he started an internal exilium creating an own world called Sinera (Arenys, his real town, read from right to left) to try to survive and resist those dark years.

The Grandma thinks that those dark times have never disappeared in the Spanish society and nowadays they are clearer than ever. The struggle is hard but the prize is freedom and a society based in respect, tolerance and common effort. This struggle is very important and it is not a time to renounce but to fight, persevere and win.

During this month, The Grandma has been also a direct witness of terrible events occurred in Hong Kong, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Libya, Kurdistan and Bolivia. The reasons are the same -control of power by the upper social classes and slavery and resignation of poor ones-, but the targets are different -lithium in Bolivia, oil in Libya, Kurdistan and Venezuela, copper in Chile, control of population in Hong Kong or economic dependence and lawfare in Brazil and Catalonia.

The Grandma loves diversity and multiculturalism without forgetting the origin of ancient cultures. One of them, the Native American Andean population is a great example of suffering the effects of foreign colonisations and answering to them with a great resilience being proud of their culture and history.

Today, she wants to talk about the Wiphala, an important symbol of some native peoples of the Andes, in homage to all these countries that are suffering the avarice of the US with the hypocritical consent of the EU. At the end, it is only a question of resisting or serving.

Before talking about the Wiphala, The Grandma has read a new chapter of Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party and Other Stories.

The Wiphala is a square emblem, commonly used as a flag, representing some native peoples of the Andes that include today's Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and parts of Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

The suyu wiphalas are composed of a 7 × 7 square patchwork in seven colours, arranged diagonally. The precise configuration depends on the particular suyu represented by the emblem. The colour of the longest diagonal line (seven squares) determines which of the four suyus (regions) the flag represents: white for Qullasuyu, yellow for Kuntisuyu, red for Chinchaysuyu, and green for Antisuyu. There is also an alternate pattern for the Wiphala for Antinsuyu. Additionally a Wiphala also exists for Tupac Katari and the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army.

Wiphala

Article 6, section II of the 2009 Bolivian constitution establishes the Wiphala as the dual flag of Bolivia, along with the red-yellow-green tricolor.

In modern times the Wiphala has been confused with a rainbow flag which is wrongly associated with the Tawantinsuyu (Incan Empire). There is debate as to whether there was an Inca or Tawantisuyu flag. There are 16th and 17th-century chronicles and references that support the idea of a banner attributable to the Inca. However, it represented the Inca himself, not the empire. Also its origins are from symbols and mural designs found in several civilizations of the Andes with thousands of years of history.

The Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, holds a Wiphala that is dated through a C-14 test to the 11th century. It originates from the Tiwanaku region, and is part of a collection based on a kallawaya medicine man's grave.

More information: Backspace

The seven colors of the actual Wiphala reflect those of the rainbow. According to the Katarista movement, whose interpretation is promoted by the Bolivian authorities, the significance and meaning for each color are as follows:

Red: The Earth and the Andean man.

Orange: Society and culture.

Yellow: Energy and strength.

White: Time and change.

Green: Natural resources and wealth.

Blue: The Cosmos.

Violet: Andean government and self-determination.

The Aimara wiphala is a square flag divided into 7 × 7 (49) squares. The seven rainbow colors are placed in diagonal squares. The exact arrangement and colors varies with the different versions, corresponding to the suyus or Tupac Katari. It is very prominent in marches of indigenous and peasant movements in Bolivia.

This rainbow squares flag is used as the pan-indigenous flag of Andean peoples in Bolivia and has recently occasionally been adopted by Amazonian groups in political alliance.

Bolivian president Evo Morales established the Qullasuyu wiphala as the nation's dual flag, along with the previous red, yellow, and green banner in the newly ratified constitution. The Wiphala is also officially flown on governmental buildings.

More information: Chile Today

The most important thing is the indigenous people 

are not vindictive by nature.

We are not here to oppress anybody -but to join together

and build Bolivia, with justice and equality.

Evo Morales

CLIMBING CERRO AZUL VOLCANO ON ISABELA ISLAND

The Jones are visiting Isabela Island

Today, The Jones have spent a free day visiting Isabela Island and enjoying its views and its animals. 

They have talked about some memories of their childhood and beautiful experiences that they remember with emotion.

The Grandma has remembered her favourite TV Programs and Peke, her old friend which lives in Masquefa, near Barcelona. Both of them are beautiful past memories.

The family has read the last chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Cerro Azul is a shield volcano on the south western part of Isabela Island in the Galápagos Islands. At a height of 1,689 m it is the second highest peak in the Galápagos and due to its topographic prominence of over 1,500 m it is categorised as an ultra. The volcano is one of the most active in the Galápagos, with the last eruption between May and June 2008.

More information: Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are believed to be formed from a mantle plume which creates a hotspot of volcanic activity away from plate boundaries where islands then form above it, similar to process that has created the Hawaiian islands. Cerro Azul is at the edge of the upwelling with steep drop offs in the ocean to the West, while the sea is shallower to the east of Isabela Island.

The Galápagos Islands from the air

Cerro Azul is one of six coalescing volcanoes on Isabela Island: Ecuador, Wolf, Darwin, Alcedo, and Sierra Negra.  

Cerro Azul is shaped like a large upturned soup bowl and like the other volcanoes on Isabela Island has a large caldera its one at 4x5 km across is one of the smallest. The caldera shows evidence of collapse following eruptive episodes and reaches a depth of 450 m to 650 m below the rim of the caldera, only Wolf Volcano in the Galápagos is as deep. The volcano is 34 by 22 km at maximum and has a volume of 172 km3. It has steep upper slopes of between 12 and 30 degrees. The shape of the volcano is affected by the sharp ocean drop off to the west where this flank of the volcano slopes steeply to the ocean.

More information: Galápagos

Historical eruptions date back to 1932, but the volcano has had a number of active periods since then in 1940, 1943,1949, 1951, 1959, 1968, 1979, 1998 and most recently in 2008. It is estimated that the surface of the volcano is young, less than 5000 years old and it is estimated that the volcano is about 350,000 years old. The age of Cerro Azul is similar to Sierra Negra and Alcedo and their positioning is not believed to be related to plate movement over the magma plume but instead an interaction between the plume and the lithosphere.

Geochelone Nigra Vicina

The 2008 eruption began in May and included a fissure eruption on the south east flank of the volcano; the eruption in 1998 had also included fissure eruptions on this part of the volcano. The fissure eruptions resulted in lava flowing 10 km from the fissure. There was also an eruption within the caldera. A second fissure opened lower down the slope in early June.

Analysis of the lavas on Cerro Azul show a range of tholeiitic to alkalic basalts and are unlike the neighbouring Sierra Negra or Alcedo volcanoes.

A study published in 2006 showed that there was continuous expansion of the volcano prior to and after the eruption in 1998. This expansion would have been due to the emplacement of magma into the magma chamber.

More information: The Atlantic

The subspecies of giant tortoise on the island is Geochelone nigra vicina, this subspecies is dome shelled and has an overlapping range with the subspecies on the neighbouring Sierra Negra Volcano, Geochelone nigra guntheri, which is a saddleback tortoise. They Cerro Azul tortoises were not affected by the 2008 eruption although the 1998 eruption did force the National Park authorities to move tortoises by land and helicopter. Other tortoises were killed in that eruption, either from lava or associated fires.

More information: Drink Tea Travel

All civilization has from time to time become 

a thin crust over a volcano of revolution. 

Havelock Ellis