A different planet of the earth - the socotra island

the island of mystry

Welcome to the Alien lands of Socotra, with strange trees like the Dragon Blood Tree! You would be inclined to think you were transported to another planet - or traveled to another era of Earth’s history.  Socotra Island, which is part of a group of four islands, has been geographically isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years. The archipelago features narrow coastal plains, a limestone plateau with caves, and mountains which rise to 1,525 meters above sea level.

 

 

 

Socotra is a small Yemeni archipelago of four islands and islets in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa, about 350 kilometers south of the Arabian peninsula.

Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 800 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.

Socotra is home to more than 800 species of plants, some 240 of which are endemic to the island, and there are certainly many more plant species that have yet to be discovered. The climate is harsh, hot and dry, and yet - the most amazing plant life thrives there.

A Dragon’s Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari) is seen in front of the Skund mountains on the island of Socotra, Yemen. The tree is so named because any injury to the bark results in a deep red liquid excreting from the scar – compared in the past to the "Blood of Dragons".

 

Dragons Blood Tree

The branches spread out into the sky and from below appear to hover over the landscape like so many flying saucers... and from above they have a distinct mushroom look.

There is also the Desert Rose (adenium obesium) which looks like nothing so much as a blooming elephant leg.

A Socotran Fig Tree (Dorstenia gigas) with a bizare swollen trunk that almost has human proportions grows against a limestone rock face on the island of Socotra. The plants are one of over 300 plant species endemic to the island.

HISTORY 

There was initially an Oldoway (or Oldowan) culture in Socotra. Oldoway stone tools were found in the area around Hadibo by V.A. Zhukov, a member of the Russian Complex Expedition in 2008.^[6][7]

Socotra appears as Dioskouridou ("of Dioscurides") in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st-century AD Greek navigation aid. A recent discovery of texts in several languages, including a wooden tablet in Palmyrene dated to the 3rd century AD, indicate the diverse origins of those who used Socotra as a trading base in antiquity.^[8]

In 2001 a group of Belgian speleologists of the Socotra Karst Project made a spectacular discovery. Deep inside a huge cave on the island Socotra they came across a large number of inscriptions, drawings and archaeological objects.^[9][10] As further investigation showed, they were left by sailors who visited the island between the 1st century BC and the 6th century AD. The majority of the texts is written in the Indian Brāhmī script, but there are also inscriptions in South-Arabian, Ethiopian, Greek, Palmyrene and Bactrian scripts and languages. This corpus of nearly 250 texts and drawings thus constitutes one of the main sources for the investigation of Indian Ocean trade networks in the first centuries of our era.^[11]

A local tradition holds that the inhabitants were converted to Christianity by Thomas the Apostle in AD 52. In the 10th century, the Arab geographerAbu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani stated that in his time most of the inhabitants were Christians. Socotra is also mentioned in The Travels of Marco Polo; Marco Polo did not pass anywhere near the island but recorded a report that "the inhabitants are baptised Christians and have an 'archbishop'" who, it is further explained, "has nothing to do with the Pope in Rome, but is subject to an archbishop who lives at Baghdad". They wereNestorians but also practised ancient magic rituals despite the warnings of their archbishop.^[12]

In 1507, a fleet commanded by Tristão da Cunha with Afonso de Albuquerque landed an occupying force at the then capital of Suq. Their objective was a Portuguese base to stop Arab commerce from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and to liberate the presumed friendly Christians from Islamic rule. Here they started to build a fortress. However, they were not welcomed as enthusiastically as they had expected and abandoned the island four years later, as it was not advantageous as a base.^[13]

The islands passed under the control of the Mahra sultans in 1511. In 1834, the United Kingdom stationed a garrison on the island. Plans were made to make it a coaling station for ships bound for India, but the climate was considered unsuitable and the British left in 1839.^[14] In January 1876, it became a British protectorate along with the remainder of the Mahra State of Qishn and Socotra. The P&O ship Aden sank after being wrecked on a reef near Socotra, in 1897, with the loss of 78 lives.

In October 1967, the Mahra sultanate was abolished. On 30 November 1967, Socotra became part of South Yemen. Since Yemeni unification in 1990 it has been part of the Republic of Yemen.

plants and animals

Socotra is considered the jewel of biodiversity in the Arabian Sea.^[22] In the 1990s, a team of United Nationsbiologists conducted a survey of the archipelago’s flora and fauna. They counted nearly 700 endemicspecies, found nowhere else on earth; only Hawaii, New Caledonia, and the Galapagos Islands have more impressive numbers.^[23]

The long geological isolation of the Socotra archipelago and its fierce heat and drought have combined to create a unique and spectacular endemic flora. Botanical field surveys led by the Centre for Middle Eastern Plants (part of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) indicate that 307 out of the 825 (37%) plant species on Socotra are endemic, i.e., they are found nowhere else on Earth.^[24] The entire flora of the Socotra Archipelago has been assessed for the IUCN Red List, with 3 Critically Endangered and 27 Endangered plant species recognised in 2004.^[24]

One of the most striking of Socotra's plants is the dragon's blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), which is a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. Its red sap was thought to be the dragon's blood of the ancients, sought after as a dye, and today used as paint and varnish.^[24] Also important in ancient times were Socotra's various endemic aloes, used medicinally, and for cosmetics. Other endemic plants include the giant succulent tree Dorstenia gigas, the cucumber tree Dendrosicyos socotranus, the rare Socotran pomegranate (Punica protopunica),Aloe perryi, and Boswellia socotrana.^[25]

The island group also has a rich fauna, including several endemic species of birds, such as the Socotra Starling (Onychognathus frater), the Socotra Sunbird (Nectarinia balfouri), Socotra Bunting (Emberiza socotrana), Socotra Cisticola (Cisticola haesitatus), Socotra Sparrow (Passer insularis),Socotra Golden-winged Grosbeak (Rhynchostruthus socotranus), and a species in a monotypic genus, the Socotra Warbler (Incana incana).^[25] Many of the bird species are endangered by predation by non-native feral cats.^[23] While there are no native amphibians, the reptiles species are over 90 percent endemic to Socotra and include skinks, legless lizards, and one species of chameleon, Chamaeleo monachus.

As with many isolated island systems, bats are the only mammals native to Socotra. In contrast, the coral reefs of Socotra are diverse, with many endemic species.^[25] Socotra is also one of the homes of the Bicyclus anynana.^[26]

Over two thousand years of human settlement on the islands have slowly but continuously changed the environment, and according to Jonathan Kingdon, "the animals and plants that remain represent a degraded fraction of what once existed". The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea says the island had crocodiles and large lizards, and the present reptilian fauna appears to be greatly reduced. Until a few centuries ago, there were rivers and wetlands on the island, greater stocks of the endemic trees, and abundant pasture. The Portuguese recorded the presence of water buffaloes in the early 17th century. Now there are only sand gullies, and many native plants only survive where there is greater moisture or protection from livestock.^[25] The remaining Socotra fauna is greatly threatened by goats and other introduced species, as well as climate change.

Road to the future

If you could design a car to fit perfectly into a city, what would it look like? That was the question researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab asked back in 2003. Over the following years a team of designers, urban planners and even architects began to tackle it. They set themselves two targets: to create a car that could fit into tight parking spaces, and to make it easier than ever to manoeuvre. The result of their deliberations is the CityCar – an all-electric, two-seater that can fold in the middle when it’s being parked, making it just 1.5m long. It is so short when it’s folded that up to three of them can fit end-to-end into one parking space. “This is not a traditional vehicle,” says MIT designer Praveen Subramani. “From the start we wanted to achieve something different, so we began rethinking the basic architecture of a car.”

The MIT team dispensed with the traditional engine, transmission and gearbox, instead developing ‘robot wheels’ that each have their own electric drive motor and steering motor, as well as suspension and braking. The wheels rotate up to 120° so the car can slip into parking spaces sideways and spin on its own axis. The repositioning of the inner workings leaves space for the folding mechanism. The CityCar is effectively split into two sections: the front passenger compartment and a rear module housing the batteries. By sliding the front half up against the rear section using two small actuators in the linkage between each end, the wheelbase contracts.

This can be done with the occupants on board, although it might feel like being tipped off an armchair. Driving the CityCar will take some getting used to. “We decided upon a drive-by-wire system, so there was no need for a steering wheel,” says Praveen. In other words, there is no mechanical linkage between the steering and throttle controls, with commands being sent to the robot wheels electronically. The traditional steering wheel is replaced by something resembling an aircraft control yoke. The lack of a steering column means the driver and passenger can get in and out through the windscreen that swings upwards.

In 2010, Basque company Denokinn began working with MIT and helped turn a halfscale model into a full-size car, the ‘Hiriko’, the Basque word for urban. Next year, Hirikos will hit the streets of Vitoria-Gasteiz near Bilbao for a trial scheme. “The current plan is to start small-scale production in the next year and a half,” says Praveen. Fleets of Hirikos will be deployed in cities and available to hire, much like the ‘Boris Bikes’ in London. Alternatively, they would cost €12,500 (£10,000) to buy and the batteries would be leased.

LEGO MARVEL Super Heroes Gameplay PC

Indian scientific history

aryabhatta

Aryabhatta I earth’s rotational time
At the age of 23, Aryabhatta I judiciously noted down his observations and calculations for a mathematical system to figure out the workings of the universe for his now famous work Aryabhatiyam. The book, his only surviving treatise on mathematical astronomy, states that the Earth was spherical in shape, rotates on its axis and like the remaining planets, revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. All this, 1500 years and 1000 years before Copernicus and Galileo! He also calculated that the Earth takes 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.01 seconds to complete one rotation, which coincides with the modern value of 23:56:4.091.

Brahmagupt a rules for zero
While Bhaskara I maybe credited with giving zero the symbol it has today and Aryabhatta for introducing zero to the world, it was in fact Brahmagupta who gave zero its exalted status as a number in mathematics. He was the first mathematician to frame the rules of operations. He concluded rather successfully in his book, Brahmasphuta Siddhanta that the addition or subtraction of zero to or from any quantity, negative or positive is always zero, the product of any quantity with zero is zero and that the division of any quantity by zero is infinity.

Bhaskara IFormulated units, tens, hundreds…
He did give the numeral zero its symbol, but Bhaskara’s I probably most important mathematical contribution concerns the representation of numbers in the positional system. Numbers are arranged in columns and have to be read from right to left as units, tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. He has given us an extremely succinct method for writing down even very large numbers.

 Nagarjuna I

Discoverer of alloys
Around 2nd BC, in a laboratory in Nagarjuna Konda, Andhra Pradesh, Nagarjuna I, a Buddhist monk, exclaimed in joy as he discovered the process of alloying. His book, Rasarathnakara, retains notes on the process of extraction of silver, tin and copper from their ores and their purification. They also mention the process of distillation, sublimation, 106 calcination and colouring of metals.

Baudhayana Before Pythagoras
Baudhayana, in his book, the Sulba Sutra, mentions a theorem stating that a rope stretched along the length of the diagonal (hypotenuse) of a rectangle produces an area, which the vertical and horizontal sides make together. Sounds familiar? It is in fact a prelude to a theorem, which would eventually be known as the Pythagoras theorem.

varahamihira

Varahamihira
Mapping the skies Gather around all ye sailors, astronomers, astrologers and star-gazers. A man named Varahamihira gazed at the stars one night as you do and observed that the night sky continuously shifts throughout the year as the Earth orbits the sun. But, “If one were to take a fixed point in time and mark the position of the star on that day every year,” he put forth, “one would notice the sky slowly shifting backwards with each progressing year.” He was the first to mention in his work Pancha Siddhantika that the ayanamsa, or the shifting of the equinox is 50.32 seconds, which remains unchanged till this day. This time period helps us chart and navigate the skies at night or day, learn about our horoscope for the year and keep a track of our favourite constellation.

Bhaskara II
GRAVITY
We don’t know whether an apple fell on Bhaskara II’s head as he was resting underneath the tree or that maybe he fell from the apple tree itself. All we know is that he was the first to conceive and write on the notion of gravity and the effect of its force some 500 years before the proverbial apple fell on Sir Isaac Newton’s head. In his book, Surya Siddhant, Bhaskara II makes a note on the force of gravity: “Objects,” he noted, “fall on earth due to a force of attraction by the Earth. Therefore, the Earth, planets, constellations, moon, and sun are held in orbit due to this attraction.” How do you like them apples?

shushrutha

Sushruta
1st PLASTIC SURGEON
2600 years ago, Sushruta along with his colleagues conducted what could be termed as the first plastic surgery in the world. To reconstruct the amputated noses of his patients, a marked punishment of their crimes, Sushruta would use his technique of forehead flap rhinoplasty, which is repairing the disfigured nose with a flap of skin from the forehead, a practice almost unchanged to this day. Educated in Varanasi, Sushruta pioneered the science of surgery in India. His book, the Sushruta Samhita, is the first classical book of surgery, in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery in eight categories. In case you are wondering about the pain, local anaesthesia was given in the form of medicated wine.

kanada

Kanada
Proponent of Atomic Theory
According to folklore, whilst nibbling on a morsel of food, Kanada threw away the bits after realising that they could not be divided into smaller bites. This incident prompted him to consider that everything in the universe is made up of pramanu (atom), the real entities which are obtained when a matter is divided and subdivided until further division is not possible. Many believe that Kanada was the earliest proponent of the atomic concept in the universe and that the atom was the indestructible particle of matter, long before John Dalton some 2500 years later introduced his Law of Atomic Theory into modern day physics.

Life barier on the western ghats of india

Birds

There are 508 species of birds found in the Western Ghats, out of which 16 species are endemic to the region. The Laughingthrush are amongst the most prolific ones sighted here. The two main species of the Laughingthrush found in the region are the Kerala Laughingthrush and the Black-chinned Laughingthrush; the former found principally in the region south of the Palakkad Gap whereas the population of the latter is confined to the Nilgiri region in the Ghats. Dr P O Nameer of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Kerala, adds that species differ morphologically and are allopatric in their distribution, meaning that their ranges do not overlap each other ensuring that each species have their distinctive characteristics preserved. “While the two species may share their home in the high altitude regions of the southern Western Ghats, their behavioural activities are different,” he says. The bird calls of the Kerala Laughingthrush consists of high-pitched series of steeply ascending notes ‘pee-koko… pee-koko’ while the Black-chinned resort to making birds calls in ascending and descending sounds of ‘kek’, heard during early morning and afternoon periods. Another distinction between the species is their diet preferences. With the species in the Nilgiri region feast on flowers, fruits and insects, their counterparts in the south of the Palakkad Gap remain steadfastly vegetarian by feasting on fruits and flowers. Within the regions of the Palakkad Gap, home to the Kerala Laughingthrush, there are two distinct zones. Here the sub-species of the Kerala Laughingthrush – the Palani Laughingthrush is found to the south – and the Banasura Laughingthrush is found in Coorg and Wayanad region, which lies to the north of the Gap.

Fish

Almost all the rivers in the southern part of India have their origins in the Western Ghats. A total number of 102 species of fishes reside in these rivers and hill streams of the Ghats, of which 11 species belonging to the Garra genus are endemic in various isolated areas of the southern Western Ghats. As majority of the rivers of the Western Ghats empty out into the sea, these fresh water fish have developed a peculiar characteristic to help adapt to the conditions. “The fishes of this genus have a disc protruding on the ventral side near its mouth. It is known as a sucker and is used by the species to attach their bodies physically to either the roots of the trees, small tennis sized pebbles or boulders and rocks near the river banks,” elaborates Dr M Arunachalam, professor at the Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu. This, he states, “allows the fish to avoid getting washed out into the sea while maintaining their velocity in the rapid river current.” The Garra gotyla stenorhynchus belonging to this genus is found, thanks to its limited distribution pattern, only in the tributaries of the Kaveri basin. Another species called the Tunga Garra (Garra bicornuta), found only in the Tunga River in Karnataka, has two distinct horn like structures on the dorsal side of its head, near its mouth, which are made of keratin and in some cases are often used as a defence mechanism by them,” says Arunachalam. The Kalakad Garra (Garra kalakadensis), found in the Pachayar River in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve region is characterised and identified by its physical appearance. “In order to survive in the cold waters of the Western Ghats, the Kalakad Garra, has undergone an evolutionary adaption, thereby ridding its body of scales and having a naked ventral side.”

Elephants

The elephant population is focused mainly in the Nilgiri, Anamalai Hills and the Periyar regions in southern Western Ghats. There are a number of elephant corridors in the Ghats including the Nilgiri-Mysore-Wyanad Elephant Reserves that are spread over Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Another critical corridor lies in the Tirunelli region of Kerala that links the elephant population of Wyanad and Nagarahole with the Brahmagiri hills. A third critical corridor is in the Kollegal region, near the settlement of Bailur in Karnataka. Recent studies have discovered a genetic differentiation in the elephants found in north and south of the Palakkad Gap based on analysis of their mitochondrial DNA. “The elephant population found in the Nilgiri region, which is spread over 15,000 sq km, north of the Gap, can be traced to a single matriarchal lineage,” says Prof Raman Sukumar, an ecologist from the Centre of Ecological Studies at the Indian Institute of Sciences, Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, research further showed the Nilgiri population of elephants to be genetically distinct from those found in the Anamalai Hills and Periyar regions, separated by the 40 km Palakkad Gap. “Here, three mitochondrial haplotypes (which in genetics is a combination of alleles (DNA sequences) at adjacent locations (loci) on the chromosome that are transmitted together) have been discovered among the elephants living in the south of the Gap. Though these differences among these haplotypes maybe small, as they all belong to the Beta elephant clade common in southern and east-central India,” he concludes. While the reason behind this genetic disparity is still elusive, it is indicative of the Gap acting as a biogeographic barrier in the past.