#naturalia

How Nature Reclaims Abandoned Architecture - In Pictures

Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

French photographer Jonk has released a new book spotlighting abandoned buildings reclaimed by nature in 17 countries.

Among the places featured in Naturalia II, a sequel to the 2018 photo book Naturalia, are abandoned public buildings such as nurseries and schools, a morgue, and a dental clinic in Pripyat and Chernobyl, a former factory and Palace of Culture and Sports in Tallinn, and a Lithuanian amusement park.

For Jonk, who formerly worked in finance and is currently on his sixth photo book, Naturalia has an ecological message: “Nature is strong and, whatever happens to Man, it will always be there,” he explains.

The pygmy hippo is a very hard animal to study in the wild. It is very elusive and lives in inhospitable areas. There are possibly two subspecies of Pygmy hippo, however, one of them, the Nigerian Pygmy Hippo is still not recognizable as a full subspecies. The problem is that it is believed now extinct and the only remains are a couple of skulls collected in the 1800′s. What this means is that we will probably never know if it was a subspecies or not. 

The Pygmy hippo is hunting for what is called bush meat. It is said that its meat quality is as good as wild boars and unlike its giant cousins, its teeth has no value. It is an endangered species that thrive much better in zoos but still the offspring mortality rate arise up to 30%. 

I think is sad when a species vanishes form earth and we still didn’t know much about it. At some point, I found extinction to be part of the game of who can survive to natural changes. The problem is that humans taking over, we are making the game of survival way harder for many species. I’m not so optimistic that a change in perspective will come any time soon but I still have hope we can change the way we see the world.

Dwarf Hippos in Madagascar? There are proof of Dwarf Hippos (known as Malagasy hippopotamus or Malagasy pygmy hippopotamus) that inhabited the island of Madagascar less that 1000 years ago. Resembles more to a Hippopotamus that to its smaller relative the Pygmy Hippo. I decided not to put it on this catalogue because it’s extinction appears not to be related to humans. 

What is exciting is that explorers from Discovery Channel recently discovered skulls from what appears to be a recent dead of a Malagasy Hippo. This might prove the existence of the animal but I feel more investigation needs to be done. The tv program is called “Extinct or Alive”. Leave you the link: here

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