Otters and Science News: FIRE MASTERED IN ISRAEL 350,000 YEARS AGO

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Sunday, December 14, 2014

FIRE MASTERED IN ISRAEL 350,000 YEARS AGO - How do you boycott fire?

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Where else but in Israel could have man come up with such a major idea to improve human life? A study of artifacts in an ancient cave near Haifa indicates that humans first started using fire there approximately 350,000 years ago.

THE FIRST BAR-B-QUE

Burnt flints from Tabun Cave in northern Israel may help to rewrite history of human evolution and development of culture

Control of fire is too recent to explain the evolution of humans' big brains

But it would have shaped the development of human culture and behaviour

Fire use seems to have occurred after humans expanded into cold climates

Evidence is thought to be 50,000 years older than any previously finds

TABUN CAVE

The Tabun Cave, located approximately 12 miles south of Haifa, “is unique in that it’s a site with a very long sequence,” according to University of Haifa archaeologist Ron Shimelmitz.

His new study examined “step by step how the use of fire changed in the cave.”

The Tabun Cave is rich in artifacts. It was occupied intermittently from 500,000 to around 40,000 years ago. “Researchers examined artifacts previously excavated from the site, which are mostly flint tools for cutting and scraping, and flint debris created in their manufacture,” Science magazine wrote.

Continue reading, including links to Israeli science and innovation news, and a list of Israeli products to boycott

An examination of approximately 100 layers of sediments in the depths of the cave deposits showed that none of the flints were burned from a period of approximately 350,000 years ago. Layers above that exposed many flints with red or black colors or cracking that showed they had been exposed to fire.

Photo on the right: Flints found in the Tabun Cave showed signs of having been blackened and turned red by flames while others showed characteristic round pits where part of the stone had flaked off in the heat in what are called 'pot lids'

Researchers on the Journal of Human Evolution wrote that since wildfires were rare in cases, they were controlled by those who lit them.

There are indications from other sites that humans used fire before then but there is no conclusive evidence that they were able to master its use.

Debates still rage among experts whether the use of fire actually began up to 2 million years ago or only more recently.

Harvard University’s Richard Wrangham said the Tabun caves study was “exciting” but not enough to convince him.

He agrees with Prof. Shimelmitz agree that whenever fire began, it changed the lives of humans by allowing them to cook and keep warm.

“There’s a reason people think we got fire from god,” Shimelmitz added.

Given that wildfires rarely spread into caves due to the lack of vegetation, the scientists believe these flints were burned in the fires built within the cave by prehistoric humans.

The discovery means our human ancestors in this area of Israel mastered control of fire nearly 50,000 years before other widely accepted evidence found to support the regular human use of fire.

It could bring new understanding to the development of culture and human behaviour.

HANDAXES FOUND IN TABUN CAVE

While 350,000 years ago, the lower Paeleolithic period, is too late for fire to have played a role in the development of human's big brains as some scientists have suggested, it would have played a key role in the origins of social behaviour, argue the scientists behind the latest study.

It has also been suggested that control of fire was one of the key developments that allowed early humans to spread into colder climates, but this expansion had already begun by 350,000 years ago.

Dr Ron Shimelmitz said: 'Understanding the time frame of this "technological mutation" will help explain aspects of our anatomical evolution and encephalization over the last million years.

'It will also provide an important perspective on hominin dispersals out of Africa and the colonization of temperate environments, as well as the origins of social developments such as the formation of provisioned base camps.'

Early humans are widely accepted to have gained complete widespread control of fire by around 125,000 years ago with the ability to kindle and light fires themselves. However, the time when human ancestors first gained this essential technological ability has been highly controversial.

Israeli children gather around a bonfire on the Jewish holiday of Lag Ba'Omer, in Jerusalem. Lag Ba'Omer commemorates the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the most important sages in Jewish history 1,800 years ago. The most well-known custom of Lag Ba'Omer is the lighting of bonfires throughout Israel and in Jewish communities worldwide. (Photo credit: Yossi Zamir/Flash 90/Times of Israel)

Some anthropologists claim that early humans, such asHomo erectus, began exploiting fire as long as 1.5 million years ago while still in Africa.

However, much of this evidence - which consists of heated clays and charcoal fragments - is disputed and could have occurred as a result of natural bush fires.

There are some who believe that fire played an instrumental role in the evolution of early hominins around two million years ago when our teeth and guts became smaller.

They have also argued that fire played a key role in the evolution of larger human brains.

However, many experts believe that early uses of fire may well have been opportunistic where early humans used natural bush fires rather than lighting fires themselves.

Ron Shimelmitz (photo credit: Courtesy, University of Haifa)

Dr Shimelmitz - Photo Univ of Haifa/Times of Israel

The artifacts found at these sites often show few signs of burning, suggesting fire was not used regularly, according to Dr Shimelmitz and his colleagues, whose research is published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

They say their findings at Tabun Cave are supported by evidence from other recent discoveries.

Burnt flints, bones and ash found in the Qesem Cave in Tel Aviv, Israel, point towards the use of a hearth in this cave that has been dated to around 300,000 years ago.

Dr Shimelmitz, along with researchers at the University of Arizona, said: 'While the earliest evidence of fire associated with hominin activities is much older, the data presented here indicate that fire became a regular and constant part of hominin behavioral adaptations in Eurasia only after 350,000 years ago.

'The benefits of fire for processing food, altering raw materials or enhancing social interactions would be fully realized only when use of fire shifted from opportunistic and occasional to habitual and regular.

'Regular use of fire changed hominin existence and influenced the direction of evolution in our lineage in a diversity of ways .

'To the extent that humans' physical, cognitive and social evolution was affected by the emergence of habitual fire use, we should be able to trace evidence for such impacts most clearly in the hominins that inhabited the landscape over the last 350,000 years ago.'

Tabun Cave has proved to be a rich site for archaeological evidence and is thought to have been inhabited intermittently through the Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages between 500,000 and 40,000 yaers ago.

Around 82 feet of sand, silt and clay have built up in the cave, allowing archaeologists to date the signs of human habitation left in each layer.

Among the remains found there were the skull fragments and bones from a female Neanderthal, that is thought to be around 120,000 years old.

Large numbers of deer bones have also been found there, which has led to suggests that is served as a place where animals were trapped and then butchered by humans.

Hundreds of flint tools, used to scrape and cut, have also been discovered together

However, Dr Shimelmitz said it was still unclear how the fires were started in the cave and may have been either by sparking kindling or keeping fire alight from natural bush fires.

He said: 'The changes in burning frequency at Tabun and Qesem not only signal the point in time where the use of fire became habitual, but also indicate that humans had mastered the art of kindling fire.

'Unfortunately there are no means currently available to directly determine how ancient fires were started, so the latter remains simply a hypothesis for the time being.'

Dr Simon Underdown, an athropologist at Oxford Brookes University, said the latest findings in Israel were 'exciting'.

He said: 'While we have evidence of fire use going back to almost 1 million years, it only appears irregularly and does not seem to have be a widespread behaviour - perhaps just being used by one or two bright sparks.

'Crucially this paper shows that by at least 350,000 years ago fire was being regularly used as a tool by our ancestors.

'Having the ability to make and control fire, along with projectile weapons and stone tools, further cemented our position as an apex predator of the Pleistocene.

'Fire use is one of the most important developments in human evolution but also very difficult to recognise in the archaeological record.

'Burnt material could have been from intentional campfires or from natural events such as bush fires.

'Fire allows food to be cooked which increases the calories in the diet while reducing the amount of energy our ancestors needed to use collecting it. But fire was also an important social tool.

'The heat allowed expansion into cold areas and the light extended the day and offered protection from predators.

'The attraction of an open fire is an old and primordial one for humans and here we can see the origins of that fascination.'

Sources
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/the-use-of-fire-may-have-begun-in-israel-350000-years-ago/2014/12/13/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2871232/Did-humans-master-fire-Israel-350-000-years-ago-Burnt-flints-cave-near-Haifa-earliest-evidence-fire-use.html

http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2014/12/israeli-cave-offers-clues-about-when-humans-mastered-fire

RELATED

Keeping up with tradition, Israel is a highly innovative country.

ISRAELI SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION NEWS LINKS:

Israeli science and innovation articles on this blog

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Middle%20East%20-%20Israel%20-%20Science%20-%20Tech%20-%20Innovations

BOYCOTT ISRAEL?

For your convenience here is a list of products you should boycott

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/11/boycott-israel-for-your-convenience.html

ISRAEL ON THE MAP

WILL PARTITION OF THAT RED BIT ON THIS MAP (ISRAEL) BRING PEACE TO THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE WORLD?

Israel is in red. Arab countries are in green.

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DANGEROUS PET FOOD ALERT

2014 - JERKY PET TREATS ARE KILLING DOGS.

At least one thousand dogs have been killed and over 5000 made seriously ill. This has been going on for months. No action from FDA so far. Read more:
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/05/thousands-of-american-dogs-sickened-and.html
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Also check this website for the latest pet food recalls. Filter for either cat or dog products. (Please note that manufacturers often voluntarily recall products so they won't appear on this list.)
https://www.avma.org/news/issues/recalls-alerts/pages/pet-food-safety-recalls-alerts.aspx?fvalue=Cat
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If at all possible, try to feed your pet people food. The web has samples of pet food recipes and information on what is nutritionally best for dogs and cats. Giving them people food will save you money in the long run, with a healthier pet and fewer visits to the vet.

USA and EU GIVE BILLIONS TO PALESTINIANS, who use money to pay salaries TO TERRORISTS WHO KILL JEWS

ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO BE A BALLET DANCER ~~~ Hallel Jafa Ariel was only 13, and was sleeping in her home in Israel after a ballet public performance, when a Palestinian from a neighboring village stabbed her multiple times, killing her. ~~~ The terrorist's mother lauded her son as a HERO. ~~~ The Palestinian Authority now pays the terrorist's family a substantial salary for life as a reward, ~~~ The Palestinian Authority spends enormous amounts of money paying salaries to terrorists or their families. ~~~ AMERICANS AND EUROPEANS HAVE CONTRACTED OUT THE ARABS TO KILL JEWS IN ISRAEL ~~~ CLICK ON IMAGE to read more about HALLEL and her tragic end

DO PLANTS HAVE INTELLIGENCE? Latest research indicates they do

Plants have between 15 and 20 senses, some of them analogous to our five senses. ~~~ Plants are able to sense and respond to light, water, gravity, temperature, soil structure, nutrients, toxins, microbes, herbivores, and chemical signals from other plants. This could not be done without an informational processing system. ~~~ They can form alliances with insects to use them as bodyguards, and when threatened by predators, they can summon them by using chemical signals. ~~~ They can get useful insects hooked on the drugs they make. ~~~ They use chemical warfare to fight enemies. ~~~ READ MORE fascinating facts about plant intelligence by clicking on these flowers..

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND ISLAM - What science says about it

The sciences of GENETICS and EPIGENTICS demonstrate that human EVOLUTION is still ongoing. ~~~ Changes in the human genome occur as a result of many factors in the physical and cultural environment. ~~~ Studies demonstrate that GENETIC CHANGES occur even during the lifetime of a person, and they can be inherited by their children. ~~~ In the case of ISLAM we have to consider 14 centuries of harsh indoctrination and cultural violence, repressed normal sexuality, and a lifestyle rooted in 7th century Arabia, in sharp conflict with 21st century science and culture. ~~~ MUSLIM UPBRINGING includes mental and physical abuse, and often sexual abuse of boys and girls as well. - The INBREEDING factor is also significant. Marriages to first cousins are very common, resulting too often in children with physical and mental disabilities. ~~~ The incidence of MENTAL ILLNESS and mental disability among Muslims has been all but ignored by countries that are importing millions of Muslim migrants. - This genetic factor may explain why second and third generation of Western Muslims have difficulty controliing emotions, and sometimes engage in actions of extreme violence. CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ MORE

IN PRAISE OF HEROES - Fighting wildfires or preventing a massacre on a French train

THE FEMINIST CULTURE denigrates men and ignores their heroic nature and their dignity. - It is MEN who we rely on to face the most life-threatening dangers and to save our lives and property.. - READ article on the men who gave up their lives fighting wildfires in Washington State, and the three US marines who stopped a Muslim from perpetrating a massacre on a French train. - READ article debunking the MYTH OF MALE PRIVILEGE. - In fact, men are mistreated by our society. WAR VETERANS languish without proper medical care, and are often homeless. - CLICK ON IMAGE to read articles

SKINNING AND OFTEN COOKING DOGS AND CATS ALIVE IN CHINA AND OTHER S.E. ASIAN COUNTRIES

It is disturbing that countries with thousands of years of civilization allow the torture of dogs and cats to be used for FOOD and the FUR INDUSTRY. - This is LEGAL in China and acceptable practice in Vietnam, Cambodia, and other S.E. Asian countries. - We have trade, diplomatic, and educational links with those nations, and in this way we are also indirectly COMPLICIT with this horror. - Hundreds of thousands of DOGS and CATS are tortured this way each year. - This PHOTO shows a puppy at a dog market in China (probably a stolen pet), lovingly pleading for attention. Later he was skinned alive. - CLICK on image to read more about this inhumane tradition, and to see related images, including those of dogs being boiled alive.

PRIONS FROM SICK DEER CAN PASS FROM DEER TO GRASS TO COW TO HUMAN - PRIONS CAUSE BRAIN DISEASES

PRIONS (tiny disease-causing agents) from SICK DEER's urine and feces can bind to PLANT roots and then travel to stem and leaves. - PRIONS are then consumed by grazing COWS, who can pass the prion infection on to HUMANS. - WHAT IS AMAZING about this is how cows can contract a serious animal disease by way of a plant. - Prions are responsible for several serious BRAIN DISEASES in animals and humans. PRIONS cause MAD COW, Creutzfeld-Jacob, and several other brain diseases, and have been linked to ALZHEIMER'S. CLICK ON IMAGE to read more.

EARTH GRAVITY WAVES RIPPLING THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE

The upper atmosphere is not only disturbed by SOLAR storms but by EARTH gravity waves as well - Gravity waves are born when air masses are pushed up or down by a thunderstorm, perhaps, or when wind is forced up and over a mountain range. When they reach the upper atmosphere these waves have built in amplitude and extent. They can dominate atmospheric processes sometimes threatening the reliability of Earth-based communication systems. - CLICK on image to read more and watch video of computer-generated model of gravity waves.

WHAT EARTHQUAKE AND OTHER DISASTER EXPERTS DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

READ ABOUT THE BIG ONE. Also, whether as a result of a mega-earthquake, large tsunami, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event (from a giant solar flare or from a terror attack that would fry the power grid), NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE VERY VULNERABLE TO MELTDOWN ~~~ A sustained electric power failure lasting several days would leave nuclear power plants unable to operate, unleashing a full meltdown.~~~~~ We already saw how a well-prepared country like JAPAN has been unable to bring its FUKUSHIMA nuclear power plant under control after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, leading to a meltdown. JAPAN will continue to dump millions of gallons of extremely radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean for at least the rest of this century. ~~~ READ ABOUT PREPAREDNESS for you and your PETS.~~~ CLICK ON IMAGE to read more

YELLOWSTONE ERUPTION OR NOT - BE PREPARED FOR ANY DISASTER - List of 50 PREPPER websites

A Yellowstone geologist stated that science can predict the MEGAVOLCANO behavior only as far as two weeks into the future - nothing more. Anything could happen beyond that time frame. ~~~ But Yellowstone is not the only threat on the horizon. ~~~ There are severe WEATHER EVENTS every year. ~~~ A SOLAR FLARE or a terror attack could unleash an electomagnetic pulse event (EMP) that would fry our grid and all electronics for a long time. ~~~ And then there are EARTHQUAKES ~~~ We have witnessed how incompetent all levels of government are to deal with these situations. We are on our own. So here is an article about the threat of the Yellowstone megavolcano. The article also provides preparedness tips for you, your family,and YOUR PETS for either evacuation or for hunkering down at home for an extended period of time ~~~ It includes a LIST of 50 PREPPER websites. ~~~ Illustration: Yellowstone magma pocket - by National Park Service ~~~ CLICK ON IMAGE to read article.

WHY DO MUSLIMS HATE YOU?

A good Muslim follows the Koran and Hadith to the letter. Read how those Muslim scriptures order Muslims to DESPISE AND KILL THE INFIDEL. ~~~ Muslims regard western values as repugnant, and many see jihad as justified. ~~~ Islam is not compatible with western culture. There can be no assimilation. ~~~ Abandoning Islam, or APOSTASY, is punishable by death. ~~~ Muslims have been waging war against other people since the 7th century. ~~~ It was always CONVERT OR DIE. Countless indigenous cultures and religions across Asia and Africa have been obliterated, forced to submit to Islam. ~~~ According to conservative estimates, Islam has killed 270 MILLION non-Muslims during 14 centuries of conquest and tyranny. That makes it the biggest GENOCIDE in history. ~~~ CLICK ON IMAGE to read why Islam hates you, in their own words, and learn more about the Muslim genocide

BRITISH TAXPAYERS OUTRAGED at EU spending their money building ILLEGAL ARAB SETTLEMENTS in Israel

FOR SEVEN YEARS ISRAELI AUTHORITIES HAVE DONE NOTHING to stop the EU building of illegal Arab settlements on Jewish land ~~~~~ While Israel has frozen construction across the Green Line, and razes the tiniest house addition or Jewish unauthorized outposts on the hills, Arabs keep building ILLEGAL SETLEMENTS with impunity, and with the funding and assistance of the European Union. Those settlements are in internationally-recognized Israeli land (Area C), thus the EU is not only violating Israeli sovereignty, but its own diplomatic rules of operation in foreign countries. - These illegal Arab settlements are meant to be FACTS ON THE GROUND for the eventual Muslim takeover of Jewish land - EUROPEANS DID NOT WANT JEWS IN EUROPE and murdered MILLIONS of them. Now they don't want Jews in their ancient homeland of ISRAEL either, call them "occupiers," and demand that the land be given to descendants of Muslims who invaded Israel in the 7th century. - The EU (inspired by the Nazi boycotts against Jews) already labels and boycotts products from the Jewish heartland - THE EU WAR AGAINST THE JEWS persists as they contract out the Arabs to continue Hitler's mission of killing Jews. Europe and the United States are the main funders of the Palestinian Authority, contributing to salaries paid to terrorists who murder innocent Israelis..CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ ARTICLE AND WATCH VIDEO

ISIS PLAN FOR INFILTRATING EUROPE AS REFUGEES

Along with Muslim refugees pouring into Europe there is a significant percentage of terrorists from ISIS and other Muslim factions. About 75% of those migrants are young men of military age. - This invasion follows ISIS threat earlier this year to flood Europe with HALF A MILLION MIGRANTS to unleash chaos. - The sudden spike in migration to Europe has been well orchestrated behind the scenes with the willing cooperation of Europeans. ~~~~~~~ Here we have a PERFECT STORM. (1) European leftist political elites need to expand their voting base with benefits-dependent migrants. (2) Business looks forward to cheap labor. (3) Leftists and media blatantly manipulate European shame for the Holocaust. Anyone opposed to this invasion is branded a RACIST.. - Basic math predicts an eventual demographic takeover of Europe by Islam. - The cartoon here has a an immigration officer asking jihadists "Anything to declare?" while they invade Europe - CLICK on image to read more

SATIRE - WHAT THE U.S. AND EU REALLY MEAN BY LAND FOR PEACE

Europe and the US commiserate for the loss of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. - But they obsessively demand that Israel be partitioned along borders only 9 miles wide at their narrowest point. - These borders and the creation of ANOTHER ARAB TERROR STATE under ISIS or Iran's influence will certainly lead to a Holocaust of 6 million Israeli Jews. - On this SATIRE White House aides promise that if the Arabs massacre the Jews in a shrunk Israel, Israelis should take comfort in the fact that the world will have an annual commemoration of their sacrifice for peace. - Image from Israel Matzav blog - CLICK on picture to read article.

THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION FOR FRANCE - AND NO-GO ZONES MAPS

CLICK on image to read details and satire by Prof. Stephen Plaut ~~~~~ And on a serious note, to read about the No-Go Zones or Muslim statelets already existing in Paris and rest of France ~~~~~ This poster, created by Daniel Pipes in the aftermath of the January 2015 Muslim attacks on French citizens in Paris, reflects the formula championed by France for the partition of Israel for the creation of a terror Palestinian state in the ancient Jewish heartland of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem ~~~~~ The poster reads: THIS ATTACK ONLY UNDERSCORES THE NEED FOR FRANCE TO IMMEDIATELY ENGAGE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRENCH MUSLIMS THAT WILL RESULT IN THE CREATION OF TWO STATES FOR TWO PEOPLES, LIVING SIDE BY SIDE IN PEACE AND SECURITY, WITH PARIS AS A SHARED CAPITAL

HITLER, THE NUREMBERG NAZI PARADE GROUNDS, and the resurgence of Nazi ideas in the EU

HITLER is gone but the relics of his Third Reich still hold Europe under his spell. - See PHOTOS of the NUREMBERG NAZI PARADE GROUNDS, and read about the plans for their renovation. - HITLER's racist and genocidal ideas now loom ever larger in Europe, as NEO-NAZIS, anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian LEFTISTS, and genocidal EU MUSLIMS find common cause in their hatred against Jews. - Germany will republish MEIN KAMPF in 2016. - Germany and the EU fund and organize BOYCOTT ISRAEL campaigns inspired by Nazi boycotts of Jewish stores in the 1930s. - Jews are being persecuted and MURDERED in the EU, mostly at the hands of EU Muslims. - Anti-Semitic activities in Germany alone rose by 1,000% in 2014, mostly by EU Muslims. - The NAZI-MUSLIM ALLIANCE that dates back to the 1940s, when the Palestinian leader, the Mufti of Jerusalem, joined Hitler in Berlin for the design and implementation of the Final Solution, and for the formation of a Bosnian Muslim SS Nazi division that perpetrated gruesome war crimes in Eastern Europe - CLICK on image to see Nuremberg then and now images, to read more, and watch VIDEO

IF JESUS LIVED IN JUDEA TODAY

Jesus would be called a "SETTLER" and Arabs would deny him access to Temple Mount (where Muslim conquerors erected a mosque), and to much of Judea and Samaria (West Bank), today under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) where no Jews are allowed. ~~~ Jews who have ventured into the PA have been LYNCHED. ~~~ Jesus would not be safe anywhere in Israel. He would be pelted with ROCKS or STABBED for being a "settler". Or he would be DECAPITATED, as Arabs did to four rabbis praying at a Jerusalem synagogue in 2014. ~~~ If Jesus were a child he would be BURNED BY FIREBOMBS (as Arabs did to a child in December 2014), or have his THROAT SLASHED in his own home, as Arabs did to the Fogel children. ~~~ CLICK on image to read more about the Muslim war against Jews and Christians in today's Judea and Samaria.

DECEPTION AND CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE IN ISRAEL

The insidious and wicked influence of the powerful pro-Arab Jewish left in Israel, promoting partition and/or the end of Jewish Israel. - WATCH EXCELLENT VIDEOS exposing the truth behind the Palestinian claim to Jewish land and the LAND FOR PEACE HOAX - This PHOTO by Oded Balilty won a Pulitzer Prize, and shows Nili, a teenager, defending her land against goons sent by the Israeli government. She was badly beaten in what is now known as THE AMONA POGROM: Israeli pollice brutally expelling Jews from their homes - READ about this, about the political conspiracy of silence about issues that are crucial for Israel's long-term survival, and about the political mediocrity that is irreparably harming Israel. CLICK on image to read article and watch videos

ONE ELEPHANT IS KILLED EVERY 15 MINUTES ON AVERAGE

Elephants will be EXTINCT in the wild in less than 10 years. PLEASE DEMAND that wild elephants be better protected. Although rescue and conservation organizations do their best, elephants are still being murdered. Organizations raise orphans only to release them to places where they will be killed for their tusks. ELEPHANTS NEED TRULY SAFE RESERVES that can be properly patrolled and defended from poachers. Current protection arrangements are not enough. CLICK on image for related news story about an elephant orphan.

SKINNED ALIVE FOR THEIR FUR in Asia - Millions tortured this way - BAN THE FUR TRADE

Puppies live only a few months inside cages before being slaughtered, gone INSANE from cruel treatment. ~~~ A few adult animals spend their entire lives inside cages breeding more puppies. ~~~ See photos of CHINESE WORKERS GRINNING as they immobilize puppies by ELECTROCUTION and then skin them alive. ~~~ After that the tortured animals are tossed on a pile to AGONIZE IN EXCRUTIATING PAIN. ~~~ This is all LEGAL in China. ~~~ In S.E. Asian countries with animal welfare laws, they are not enforced. ~~~ The West buys these furs because they are classified as belonging to "RACOON DOGS" (relatives of dogs) and not to dogs.. ~~~ PETITIONS are not enough. ~~~ The fur trade in the West must be stopped altogether. ~~~ CLICK ON IMAGE to read story and see heartbreaking photos and VIDEO from inside a Chinese fur farm.

THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY OF CAVES

IT ALL STARTED WITH A MEATBALL

Arthur was a stray dog who decided to join a European Peak Performance Team during their treck through the jungle in South America. It all started when one of the members gave him a meatball. From then on Arthur followed them through all kinds of challenges. In the end his loyalty, bravery and devotion paid off. He was first accepted as the fifth member of the team, and later adopted and flown to Sweden to live with a loving family in a forever home. CLICK on the image to read this moving and amazing story.

PLEASE PROTEST THE POACHING OF PRECIOUS WILDLIFE

HOW THE ISSUE OF ABORTION DEFINES OUR SOCIETY - Planned Parenthood caught selling baby body parts

In July 2015 a top physician with PLANNED PARENTHOOD was secretly filmed talking callously about crushing babies and illegally selling their body parts. - But it's not only P.P's. fault. US authorities and women rights defenders continue to support P.P. no matter what, and so far there has been no effort to charge them with an ILLEGAL ACT. - CLICK on photo to read about this scandal and other related articles, such as aborted babies, along with other medical waste, being burned as fuel to heat buildings in Oregon and in the UK. - Image of a newborn by Joanne Collins

PALESTINIAN ARABS - NAZIS THEN, NAZIS NOW

Their leader during the 1940s, the Mufti of Jerusalem, lived in Berlin and closely collaborated with Hitler and his henchmen in the design and implementation of the Holocaust. ~~~ He also created a Muslim Nazi SS Division guilty of gruesome crimes in Eastern Europe. ~~~ Later he trained Yassir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas to kill Jews and destroy Israel. ~~~ Today Palestinian Arabs profess admiration for Hitler and widely support his genocidal ideology. ~~~ They often praise Hitler, do the Nazi salute during military and student rallies, and display Nazi flags. ~~~ Photo Jerusalem Arab university students rally making the Nazi salute. (Photo Tom Gross Media.) CLICK on image to read more