News around the world

Saving elephants with Google and GPS

A university of British Columbia student has come up with a high-tech way to fight illegal elephant poaching in Kenya and South Africa.

Jake Wall, a PhD student in the university's geography department has helped fit almost 100 elephants with GPS satellite-tracking collars that track their movements, interactions and other behaviour in real-time.

Collars that track elephant movements are nothing new, but what Wall's collars do is detect if there's any significant change in their behaviour, which can reveal if an elephant has become sick or injured.

Algorithms are step-by-step procedures to calculate information like solving a mathematical problem or complete a computer process.

If one elephant appears to be dead according to the information the collar is emitting, the system can send signals to rangers, nearby researchers and conservationists who may help save the elephant.

Wall hopes that in the future the technology will evolve to allow them to collect even more information about elephants through the collars.

"I feel like we've really just scratched the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot of other behaviour that we could be looking for and as tracking systems improve, our ability to collect data and transmit it improves as well. We're kind of riding the technology wave," said Wall.

-Internet

Junkyard dog walks eight miles daily

Lilica, the junkyard dog walks a half-marathon every day to not only feed herself but her junkyard friends. Lilica was abandoned in front of a junkyard in Sao Carlos, Brazil and quickly became a part of the junkyard family, which is made up of a human family and stray dogs, chickens and goats. Three years ago Lilica had eight puppies, which meant eight more mouths to feed.

Realising that there wasn't enough food around the junkyard to feed everyone, Lilica left the junkyard every day to search for food.

"At the beginning she brought food to her puppies, but in time she began bringing food for the other animals in the junkyard as well," said junkyard owner Niele Vania Antonio.

Eventually Lilica's puppies were adopted, but that didn't stop her from her daily food-finding routine.

One day, Lilica met teacher Lucia Helena de Souza, who lived six kilometres (four miles) across the town from the junkyard.

De Souza saw her sniffing her garbage bins and she assumed Lilica was homeless.

"It was then that I called her and offered her some food," she said. And now, just as she has for the last three years, de Souza continues to give Lilica food every night.

She leaves her house at 9 p.m. and goes to an empty lot nearby to wait for Lilica. Every night without fail Lilica comes and is welcomed by a big bag of rice, beans and sausage.

"I don't travel, I don't go places and stay for too long because of her. I know she relies on me, so it's a commitment that I have with her and a commitment she has with me too 'cause she comes every day," de Souza said.

Once Lilica eats enough to get her strength back after the long trip, de Souza ties the bag in a knot and tells Lilica to be careful on the way home and watch out for cars.

Lilica says goodbye before picking up the bag and starting the long journey back home to feed her friends. Antonio says that humans can learn from Lilica's kindness and generosity.

"We as human beings barely share things with others, but an animal sharing things with other animals is a lesson, a true lesson for us."

- Internet