2007 April | Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

Archive for April 2007

April 1st, 2007

PhotoshopContest.com

This looks like a lot of fun and from what I can see, artists are given the original photo to work with and then have to creatively change it. There are several categories or photos to choose from.

Here are some of the “Dragon” entries …..

The original image

‘Performers’ by anabrin ‘Blind Decay’ by marcoballistic

“What a Flop” by watch them drift ’Chinese Dragon’ by anfa

‘Lizard Diving’ by dbbowling

You have to register on the site to enter and they have great contest prizes such as photo software.

I am sure this will be a site to bookmark and enjoy again and again…

Posted in Photography/Digital Art
By Lesley Smitheringale

April 1st, 2007

The Weirdest Frog In The World

clipped from skirmisher.org

Discovered only about four years ago in India, the Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis is a “chubby, seven-centimeter-long, purple amphibian with a pointy snout.” It was found hopping around in the Western Ghats, a range of hills in western India [Wikipedia entry here].

Posted in Wildlife
By Lesley Smitheringale

April 1st, 2007

The Discover Interview: Jane Goodall

The woman who changed the way we think about animals reflects on what she’s learned from her adoptive chimpanzee family.

by Virginia Morell

howling

(All images Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute)

Four decades ago, a leading zoologist dismissed Jane Goodall as an amateur. She agreed. “My future is so ridiculous,” she wrote. “I just squat here, chimp-like, on my rocks, pulling out prickles & thorns, and laugh to think of this unknown ‘Miss Goodall’ who is said to be doing scientific research somewhere.”

But within a few months of beginning her study of chimpanzees in 1960, insinuating herself into their lives in the forests of Africa, she made a shocking discovery: Chimpanzees construct tools. Legendary anthropologist Louis Leakey announced that because of Goodall’s observations, “we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as human.” She soon gained entrance to a doctoral program at Cambridge University, even though her highest previous degree was from a secretarial school, and was well on her way to becoming a scientific icon.

To this slim, ponytailed young woman, chimps looked more clever, more scary, and often more human than anyone had ever suspected. They hunt, sometimes engage in cannibalism, make war on each other, adopt orphans, and drum on tree roots and wave branches in ritual-like displays. Some chimps are cunning politicians; others seem devoted to their families.

Fame and age have broadened Goodall’s focus. These days she spends most of her time on the road, lecturing and raising funds for the Jane Goodall Institute (check their blog) and its efforts to assist wild and rescued chimpanzees. But she still keeps close tabs on her adopted family, the African primates who took her in ……

Complete article and interview can be seen here: Interview with Jane Goodall