Tanzanite
Tanzanite is a blue gem that is produced commercially in one area of Tanzania, the Merelani Hills near the base of Mount Kilamanjaro and the city of Arusha. Tanzanite is a trade name for gem-quality specimens of the mineral zoisite, characterized by its blue color. It is known for its vitreous luster and pleochroic qualities – appearing to be different shades of blue when viewed from different directions. While most of the world’s gems have been enjoyed for thousands of years, tanzanite was discovered and marketed in the late 1960s. It is now compared to sapphire in terms of blue gemstone popularity.

November 25, 2023
The Red-Crowned Crane
The red-crowned crane, named for the red "cap" of exposed red skin on top of its head, is considered sacred in Japan, where it is a sign of fidelity in marriage. This species of crane is one of the world's largest and heaviest cranes standing at 158 cm (5 ft tall) with a wingspan of up to 2.5 m (8 ft) and weighing from 7 to 15 kg, (15 to 26 lbs). Red-crowned cranes are found in southeastern Russia, northeast China, Mongolia and eastern Japan and prefer to nest in marshes with relatively deep water and standing, dead vegetation. These cranes are well adapted to cold temperatures and consume fish, amphibians, rodents, reeds, grasses, heath berries, corn, and other plants. The Japanese population is non-migratory unlike the cranes from eastern Siberia and northeastern China that migrate to the Korean peninsula and east-central China. The red-crowned cranes pictured are at Kushiro Marsh on the island of Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island.

That Dam (“The Black Stupa”)
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics. Located in Vientiane, Laos, That Dam ("the black stupa") is one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in Vientiane. Legend holds that a seven-headed dragon lives underneath the stupa and protects the city.

Berkeley Plantation
Traditionally the story of the first Thanksgiving is thought of as the Pilgrims celebrating their Harvest Feast with Native Americans in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. However, the first official English-speaking Thanksgiving actually occurred at the Berkeley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia. This observance happened one year and 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts and almost two years before what we know as Thanksgiving. After a rough journey from England and upon their arrival on December 4, 1619, Captain John Woodlief and his crew of 35 men knelt on the shores of the James River and gave a prayer of thanks for their safe arrival and each year after, the settlers celebrated December 4th as a day of Thanksgiving. The plantation is also noted for where the military tune “Taps” was composed and where the first bourbon whiskey in America was brewed.

The White Tern
The white tern, found in the United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges, is famous for not laying its eggs in a nest like most birds, but choosing a rock, rock ledge, or bare branch causing its chicks to cling to that perch.

Pangolins
The pangolin is believed to be one of the world’s most trafficked animals. Pangolins are poached for their scales used in traditional Chinese medicine, for their meat, and sold or kept as pets. There are eight species of pangolins, four in Asia and four in Africa, and all are listed as vulnerable to critically endangered. They are sometimes known as “scaly anteaters” because of their long snouts and tongues and their diet of ants and termites like a typical anteater (they are also able to close their noses and ears to keep ants out when they’re eating). Pangolins are solitary, mostly nocturnal and live on the ground. The Liberia Wildlife Sanctuary rescues animals, such as this pangolin, with the ultimate goal of releasing the animals back into the wild or more protected areas.