With its tubular, bulbous nose, it may look like a character from a Dr. Seuss book or the bar scene in Star Wars.

But don't be fooled by its droll appearance: The saiga antelope is one of the animal world's great survivors. (See video: "Ice Age Antelope Under Threat.")

Saiga (Saiga tatarica) are about the size of a small goat—males weigh on average 90 pounds (41 kilograms) and females around 60 pounds (27 kilograms)—and live in the steppes, the arid grasslands that encompass parts of Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia.

Saigas, an endangered antelope species, are returning to Kazakhstani wildlife, thanks to conservation efforts.

Saiga graze near a watering hole.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

Despite their awkward running gait, head down, stubby legs on either side driving in tandem, they can clock 50 miles an hour (80 kilometers an hour) on their long migrations.

Saiga date back to the Ice Age—and they were once as prolific in Central Asia as bison were on the plains of North America. More than two million roamed the Eurasian steppes as recently as last century.

But following the breakup of the Soviet Union, poaching and other disruptions to their habitat led to a precipitous decline: In just 15 years their numbers plunged by nearly 95 percent, making the saiga antelope one of the world's most threatened animals.

Saiga gather at a watering hole. This scene was impossible to imagine, even a few years ago.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

In 2002, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—the world's leading conservation body—placed Saiga tatarica on its "red list" of critically endangered species.

Conservationists, scientists, and non-governmental organizations have rallied to the little ungulate's side.

One informal grouping, called the Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA), helped formulate an action plan for the saiga's preservation. All four countries where the antelopes still exist—Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia—have signed on.

The SCA works alongside the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), the main organization coordinating the saiga's defense, which is headquartered in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

ACBK is establishing protected areas across a region the size of France in Kazakhstan, home to around 90 percent of the world's saiga.

The most recent saiga reserve to have been declared is a 1.2-million acre swath in the Altyn Dala (Golden Steppe) region.

Under the ACBK's auspices, to monitor their status, saiga are being caught and tagged, and the calves weighed.

Scientists weigh a newborn saiga.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

Local people are being educated about the saiga's significance and the need to protect them.

This often constitutes a reintroduction to a lost tradition: Some indigenous groups once regarded the saiga as a holy animal.

The initiative is already yielding heartening results: From a low just a few years ago of around 20,000 to 30,000 saiga, spread thinly across Kazakhstan, their numbers last year passed the symbolic 100,000 mark. At last count they exceeded 150,000.

"This is a big deal, given the fact that the population was almost eradicated ten years back," says Steffen Zuther, a German scientist who works with the Kazakh government and the various organizations supporting the project.

Although, as Zuther says, saiga are still close to disappearing in some parts of their range, the hope in Kazakhstan is to return them to their early 1990s level of half a million.

Discussions are taking place about whether, and when, saiga can be taken off the critically endangered list, Zuther says.

Promising Signs

Poaching is on the decline in Kazakhstan, and saiga have been allowed to roam more or less freely.

A herd of saiga rush through the grasslands.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

The antelope's own fertile reproduction patterns are a boon. Females start giving birth when they're only one year old, and they often produce twins and triplets. (Saiga female life spans average ten years, and one doe may produce as many as 20 young.)

Saiga congregate Serengeti-like at a spot that shifts slightly from year to year, where they give birth en masse over roughly a week's time. This mass birthing allows enough calves a battling chance to survive predators such as wolves and eagles.

Once, the flat expanses and shallow rolling hills of the Betpak-Dala region—greened from the spring rains and dotted with the whites, yellows, and reds of wild tulips—were blanketed with tens of thousands of massing saiga.

During the past decade, though, their numbers in Betpak-Dala (also known as Hunger Steppe) fell to just a few hundred.

The first indication that protective measures were taking root in Betpak-Dala came in the spring of 2011, when some 20,000 saiga returned to give birth.

Saiga Spotting

Steffen Zuther recently led me and a small group of others on a hike to witness the calving.

As we walked under the enveloping sky, the smell of wild sage hanging in the air, he spoke of the subtle beauty of the steppe—and the saiga's importance within it.

"If you draw a circle of the steppe's ecosystem, the saiga is at the very center," Zuther said.

Steppe regions are defined by extreme temperatures (from minus 40 to more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 40 to 43 degrees Celsius) and by modest rainfall (between 8 and 20 inches or 20 to 50 centimeters a year), allowing only grasses, herbs, and shrubs to grow.

Although the steppe may conjure images of emptiness, some 2,000 species of plants grow in northern Kazakhstan alone, about 30 found nowhere else.

Saiga help maintain this vegetative balance through grazing and by carrying seeds in their fur that drop to the ground during their migrations between summer and winter pastures.

And, Zuther said, the antelope themselves are sustenance for those predators.

"The steppes that don't have saiga are somehow deader, quieter, and less diverse," he said.

Poaching: A Post-Soviet Crisis

During the late 1980s and 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region underwent economic convulsions, and saiga became an easy means to supplement reduced diets.

Or make a quick buck. Chinese use the males' foot-long translucent horns, ground into a powder, as a medicine for headache and fever. A pound of saiga horn could earn a poacher U.S. $2,000.

A preferred hunting method was to chase a saiga in a car or motorcycle until it collapsed from exhaustion.

Poaching played havoc with saiga reproduction. The rutting season is an intense affair: Males fight to the death—between 50 and 70 percent perish in the process—and in the end one buck will maintain a harem of around a dozen does.

During the worst of the poaching, the ratio was reduced to one male for every hundred females—an impossible situation for long-term survival of the species.

A saiga carcass is inspected by scientist Steffen Zuther and a driver.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

As our group walked on, we encountered a Kazakh ranger patrol on the lookout for poachers. The men suspected that a group might be operating there—they'd seen tire tracks.

Equipped with high-powered SUVs and fast motorcycles, poachers frequently outrun law officers, who more often than not drive clapped-out Soviet-era jeeps.

Nevertheless, saiga poaching is on the decline, thanks to a higher number of rangers and more vigilant policing.

New Concerns

Disconcerting developments loom on other fronts.

Kazakhstan has built a fence along its border with Uzbekistan, bisecting the Ustyurt Plateau migration route of one saiga population, which is still dangerously sparse.

At the same time, Kazakh officials are planning to build a railroad across the all-important Betpak-Dala steppe, where most of the country's saiga live.

And over the last four years, a mysterious disease has struck down thousands of saiga, mostly females, in various locations at the end of their calving season.

Experts originally blamed the bacterial infection pasteurellosis for the deaths. Now some believe the saiga had eaten too much "moisture-laden" grass during their postpartum period, when they're particularly hungry and thirsty.

Birth of Hope

Moving softly, single file, we at last spotted a female saiga a few hundred yards ahead of us. She sprang up, then darted away.

Saiga calves are left alone after birth. Their mother picks them up the same day or the next day and brings them back to the herd.

Photograph by Klaus Nigge

As we approached the spot, we saw twin calves lying in the brittle, pungent grass. They couldn't have been more than minutes old.

Their downy, earth-brown fur was damp, their eyes unblinking black orbs, their twitching noses like miniature vacuum spouts.

The mother would return later, Zuther explained, and in a few days they would leave here altogether.

In the distance, eagles circled in the dome-like sky. Predators aside, the future for these newborns seemed reasonably secure.

As we stood admiring them, the only sounds were the soughing of the wind, the song of a lark, and the rapid breathing of the babies.

We were elated—and humbled. Yet another generation of a creature that had coexisted millennia ago with woolly mammoths was emerging into the world of humans.

David Stern is based in Kiev, Ukraine. He writes primarily about the countries of the former Soviet Union.

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Pigeons and doves constitute the bird clade Columbidae, that includes some 310 species. They are stout-bodied birds with short necks, and have short, slender bills with fleshy ceres. Doves feed on seeds, fruits, and plants. This family occurs worldwide, but the greatest variety is in the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones.
In general, the terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably. In ornithological practice, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and historically, the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms. The species most commonly referred to as "pigeon" is the Feral Rock Pigeon, common in many cities.
Doves and pigeons build relatively flimsy nests from sticks and other debris, which may be placed in trees, on ledges, or on the ground, depending on species. They lay one or two eggs, and both parents care for the young, which leave the nest after seven to 28 days. Unlike most birds, both sexes of doves and pigeons produce "crop milk" to feed to their young, secreted by a sloughing of fluid-filled cells from the lining of the crop. Young doves and pigeons are called "squabs".
The Pteroclididae (sandgrouse) were formerly included in the order Columbiformes largely due to this drinking behavior ("The only other group, however, which shows the same behavior, the Pteroclididae, is placed near the doves just by this doubtlessly very old characteristic." ); more recently, it had been reported that they cannot drink by "sucking" or "pumping", and they are now treated separately in the order Pteroclidiformes and are considered to be closer to the shorebirds.
Columbidae are usually divided into five subfamilies, probably inaccurately. For example, the American ground and quail doves, which are usually placed in the Columbinae, seem to be two distinct subfamilies.[5] The order presented here follows Baptista et al. (1997) with some updates (Johnson & Clayton 2000, Johnson et al. 2001, Shapiro et al. 2002).
Osteology and DNA sequence analyses indicate the Dodo and Rodrigues Solitaire are better considered as a subfamily Raphinae in the Columbidae pending availability of further information.
The arrangement of genera and naming of subfamilies is in some cases provisional, because analysis of different DNA sequences yield results that differ, often radically, in the placement of certain (mainly Indo-Australian) genera. This ambiguity, probably caused by long branch attraction, seems to confirm the first pigeons evolved in the Australasian region, and that the "Treronidae" and allied forms (crowned and pheasant pigeons, for example) represent the earliest radiation of the group.
As the Dodo and Rodrigues Solitaire are in all likelihood part of the Indo-Australian radiation that produced the three small subfamilies mentioned above with the fruit-doves and -pigeons (including the Nicobar Pigeon), they are here included as a subfamily Raphinae, pending better material evidence of their exact relationships.
Exacerbating these issues, columbids are not well represented in the fossil record. No truly primitive forms have been found to date. The genus Gerandia has been described from Early Miocene deposits of France, but while it was long believed[citation needed] to be a pigeon, it is more likely a sandgrouse.[citation needed] Fragmentary remains of a probably "ptilinopine" Early Miocene pigeon were found in the Bannockburn Formation of New Zealand and described as Rupephaps; "Columbina" prattae from roughly contemporary deposits of Florida is nowadays tentatively separated in Arenicolumba, but its distinction from Columbina/Scardafella and related genera needs to be more firmly established (e.g. by cladistic analysis). Apart from that, all other fossils belong to extant genera. For these, and for the considerable number of more recently extinct prehistoric species, see the respective genus accounts.

Description
Pigeons and doves exhibit considerable variations in size. The largest species is the Crowned Pigeon of New Guinea, which is nearly turkey-sized, at a weight of 2–4 kg (4.4–8.8 lb) The smallest is the New World Ground-Dove of the genus Columbina, which is the same size as a House Sparrow and weighs as little as 22 g. With a total length of more than 50 cm (19 in) and weight of almost 1 kg (2 lb), the largest arboreal species is the Marquesan Imperial Pigeon, while the Dwarf Fruit Dove, which may measure as little as 13 cm (5.1 in), has a marginally smaller total length than any other species from this family. Smaller species tend to be known as doves, while larger species as pigeons, but no taxonomic basis distinguishes between the two.
Overall, the Columbidae tend to have short bills and legs, and small heads on large compact bodies. Their characteristic head bobbing was shown to be due to their natural desire to keep their vision constant in a 1978 experiment by B. J. Frost in which they were placed on treadmills – they did not bob their heads as their surroundings were constant. The wings are large and have low wing loadings; pigeons have strong wing muscles (wing muscles comprise 31–44% of their body weight) and are amongst the strongest fliers of all birds. They are also highly maneuverable in flight.


The Common Indian Dove mostly seen in the Villages of India
The plumage of the family is variable. Granivorous species tend to have dull plumage, with a few exceptions, whereas the frugivorous species have brightly coloured plumage.[8] The Ptilinopus fruit doves are some of the brightest coloured pigeons, with the three endemic species of Fiji and the Indian Ocean Alectroenas being amongst the brightest coloured. Pigeons and doves may be sexually monochromatic or dichromatic. In addition to bright colours, pigeons may sport crests or other ornamentation.
Like some other birds, Columbidae have no gall bladders. Some medieval naturalists concluded they have no bile (gall), which in the medieval theory of the four humours explained the allegedly sweet disposition of doves. In fact, however, they do have gall (as Aristotle already realised), which is secreted directly into the gut.

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KATHMANDU - As the chief of building codes and earthquake safety of the Lalitpur Municipality, located about 10 kilometers from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, Sainik Raj Singh has the tough job of cracking down on builders who fail to comply with the government's construction regulations." One can make many enemies by enforcing the codes but it is high time that we follow the rules strictly," the official told IPS in his office in Lalitpur.

Singh is not on a power trip - he is simply concerned about the number of unplanned buildings in Kathmandu, which has been ranked the world's most "at-risk" city for earthquakes by GeoHazards International (GHI).

Situated on top of the active Indian tectonic plate, which is

constantly pushing up against the Tibetan tectonic plate, Kathmandu was found to be extremely vulnerable to seismic activity, which can cause landslides and fires along with earthquakes.

While the city's 1.5 million residents are on alert, the city itself is unprepared for what experts believe is an inevitable disaster: the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) estimates that over 90% of existing buildings in Kathmandu and other cities in Nepal are non-engineered.

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Rupa Lake ,Rupa Tal is a freshwater lake in Nepal located in the south-east of Pokhara valley that includes Lekhnath municipality. It is the third biggest lake in Pokhara valley of Nepal and at an altitude of 600 m (1,969 ft) covering area about 1.35 km2 (0.5 sq mi) with an average water depth 3 m and maximum depth 6 m.The lake is elongated north to south and is fed by perennial streams. Its watershed area is 30 km², where The main inflow of water is from Talbesi stream, whereas Dhovan khola is the feeder stream with its outlet Tal khola at Sistani ghat. It supports a number of floral and faunal species. A total of 36 species of waterbirds have been recorded in the lake which represents about 19 percent of the total 193 wetland-dependent birds found in Nepal.

Rupa lake is the second main tourism attraction after Begnas Lake outside the Pokhara city. It provides enough space for boating experiences for national and international visitors. Cage culture as well as pen culture have been practiced in Rupa lake for fish farming. Farmers in the Kaski district of Nepal have formed the Rupa Lake Rehabilitation and Fisheries Cooperatives Limited to help protect the watershed.

 

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Begnas Lake is a freshwater lake in Kaski district of Nepal located in the south-east of the Pokhara Valley. The lake is the second largest, after Phewa lake, among the eight lakes in Pokhara Valley.Water level in the lake fluctuates seasonally due to rain, and utilization for irrigation. The water level is regulated through a dam constructed in 1988 on the western outlet stream, Khudi Khola.
Begnas Lake area with a number of resorts is a popular destination for tourists visiting Pokhara.The water from the lake is used for irrigation and some parts of the lake are used as caged fisheries. The Begnas lake area has a number of swampy areas around it, many of which have been converted to paddy fields day by day.

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Thamel is a popular tourist destination in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is a full Wi-fi zone in Nepal. Thamel has been the centre of the tourist industry in Kathmandu for over four decades starting from the hippie movement when many artists came to Nepal and spent weeks in Thamel. Even though Thamel has been referred to as the "ghetto" by some, most low-budget travelers consider it a tourist heaven.
Its concentration of narrow streets are lined with small shops selling everything from food, and provisions to clothes, walking gear, cakes, pastries, music, DVDs, handicrafts, travel agents, and budget hotels.
The area has many very good restaurants. Although prices tend to be significantly higher than non-tourist areas, food hygiene is generally a lot better too.

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Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City is the second largest city of Nepal with 264,991 inhabitants and is situated about 200 km west of the capital Kathmandu.It serves as the headquarters of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western Development Region. Pokhara is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. Three out of the ten highest mountains in the world — Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu — are situated within 30 miles (linear distance) of the city, so that the northern skyline of the city offers a very close view of the Himalayas.Due to its proximity to the Annapurna mountain range, the city is also a base for trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit through the ACAP region of the Annapurna ranges in the Himalayas.
Pokhara is situated in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley,which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley that lies in the midland region (Pahad) of the Himalayas. In this region the mountains rise very quickly and within 30 km, the elevation rises from 1,000 m to over 7,500 m. As a result of this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates in the country (3,350 mm/year or 131 inches/year in the valley to 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year in Lumle). Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in rainfall between the south and the north of the city,

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• Karnali is a perennial trans-boundary river originating on the Tibetan Plateau near Lake Mansarovar. It cuts through the Himalayas in Nepal and joins the Sarda River at Brahmaghat in India. Together they form the Ghaghra River, a major left bank tributary of the Ganges. With a length of 507 kilometres (315 mi) it is the largest river in Nepal. The total length of Ghaghara River up to its confluence with the Ganges at Doriganj in Bihar is 1,080 kilometres (670 mi). It is the largest tributary of the Ganges by volume and the second longest tributary of the Ganges by length after Yamuna.
• It rises in the southern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet, in the glaciers of Mapchachungo, at an altitude of about 3962 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level. The river flows south through one of the most remote and least explored areas of Nepal as the Karnali River. The 202 km Seti River drains the western part of the catchment and joins the Karnali River in Doti District north of Dundras hill. Another tributary the 264 km long Bheri rises in the western part of Dhaulagiri Himalaya and drains the eastern part of the catchment, meeting the Karnali near Kuineghat in Surkhet.
• Cutting southward across the Siwalik Hills, it splits into two branches, the Geruwa on the left and Kauriala on the right near Chisapani to rejoin south of the Indian border and form the proper Ghaghara. Other tributaries originating in Nepal are the West Rapti, the Kali (or Mahakali) and the little Gandak. Another important tributary of Ghaghara in India is the Sarayu river, famous for the location of Ayodhya, the capital of Dasarath’s Kingdom. It flows southeast through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states to join the Ganges downstream of the town of Chhapra, after a course of 1080 km. Sarayu river is stated to be synonymous with the modern Ghaghara river or as a tributary of it.

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Hanuman Dhoka is a complex of structures with the Royal Palace of the Malla kings and also of the Shah dynasty in the Durbar Square of central Kathmandu, Nepal. It is spread over five acres. The eastern wing with ten courtyards is the oldest part dated to the mid 16th century. It was expanded by King Pratap Malla in the 17th century with many temples. Sundari Chowk and Mohan Chowk in the north part of the palace are both closed. In 1768, in the southeast part of the palace, four lookout towers were added by Prithvi Narayan Shah. The royal family lived in this palace till 1886, where after they shifted to Narayanhiti Palace. The stone inscription outside is in fifteen languages and legend states that if all the 15 are read milk would spring from the middle of stone tablet.
The Hanuman Dhoka is the Hanuman Gate on east side of Durbar Square. It is the entry gate to the palace where a standing statue of Hanuman (monkey god), dated to 1672, guards the palace. Hanuman is decked with a red cloth and an umbrella. The face is smeared with a red paste. On the left is an interesting stone sculpture dated to 1673 of Lord Narasimha (the half-man, half-lion incarnation of Lord Vishnu), devouring the demon Hiranyakashipu, which is credited to Pratap Malla period according to an inscription on the pedestal of the image. Ahead of the main entrance, adjoining the Hanuman Temple, is the Nasal Chowk courtyard (‘Nasal’ means: “dancing one”) named after the image of dancing Shiva located on the east side of the square. This is the square where Birendra was crowned as king in 1975, on the platform in the middle of the courtyard. At the south side of the courtyard, stands the nine storey Basantapur Tower. While the courtyard was built during Malla Period, the buildings around it, which depict intricately carved doorways, windows, and struts, were creations of the Rana rulers. Nasal Chowk is a rectangular in a north–south direction with entrance from the northwest corner. Near the entrance is an intricately carved doorway with carvings of four gods that leads to the private apartments of Malla king. A golden image of Maha Vishnu is seen now in an open veranda on the eastern wall, as the original Maha Vishnu Temple in the square, which housed this image, was destroyed in the 1934 earthquake. Other structures in the courtyard are: the Audience Chamber of the Malla kings in the northeast corner, the throne of the Malla kings in an open verandah and portraits of the Shah Kings.
The Panch Mukhi Hanuman Temple (five faced Hanuman) dedicated to Hanuman is in the northeast corner of the Nasal Chowk. It has a unique design of five circular roofs. The temple priest is the only person who can enter the sanctum of the temple.

View Kathmandu 44600 in a larger map The Basantapur Tower ( ‘Basantpur’ means : “place of Spring,” ) is located on the south of Nasal Chowk. It is a nine-storey tower from the top of which a panoramic view of the palace and city could be seen. Erotic images are carved on the struts of this tower. This tower is one of the four red towers that King Prithvi Narayan Shah built delimiting the four old cities of the Kathmandu Valley namely, the Kathmandu or the Basantapur Tower, the Kirtipur Tower, the Bhaktapur Tower or Lakshmi Bilas, and the Patan or Lalitpur Tower.
Mul Chowk, dedicated to Taleju Bhawani, is a courtyard with two storey buildings all round that are exclusive places for religious rites. Taleju Bhawani is the tutelary goddess of the Malla family. Talegu Temple with a golden torana (door garland) is located to the south side of the courtyard. During the Dasain festival, deity of Talegu is shifted to this temple. The entrance to the temple is flanked with images of the river goddesses Ganges and Yamuna. Degu Taleju Temple is another triple roofed temple built by Shiva Singh Malla that is also dedicated to Taleju.
Mohan Chowk, built in 1649 to the north of Nasal Chowk, was the residential courtyard of the Malla kings. It was mandatory for a Malla king to be born here to become heir to the throne; an example cited to this belief is that of Jaya Prakash Malla who faced difficulties. At the center of the courtyard, there is a golden waterspout, known as Sun Dhara, said to be spring sourced from Budhanilkantha,in the north part of valley. It is an ornately carved spout sunk several metres below the courtyard level and the Malla kings used it for their daily ablutions. The four corners have towers. To the north of this chowk is the Sundari Chowk.
On the west side of Nassal Chowk, the Tribhuwan Museum has exhibits of items of the grandfather of King Birendra. Exquisite stone carvings, several impressive thrones, jewel-studded ornaments used for coronations, weapons, furniture, wooden temple carvings and a coin collection are on display at the museum. King Tribhuwan’s bedroom, study and personal effects have been recreated and preserved here. This part of the palace, next to Durbar Square, was built by the Ranas in the mid to late 19th century. The southeast corner of the courtyard has the King Mahendra Memorial Museum where two thrones are also on display

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This is Mount Everest, a topic way to obvious for the Twelve Mile Circle to consider. What could I add? Everyone knows about it, every map of the area shows it, and resources galore focus on it magnificence. Its in-country opposite, however — the lowest elevation in Nepal — is a different story and a far more elusive quarry.
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Who cares about the lowest elevation in Nepal? Well I do, but that’s not a sentiment shared by many others apparently. Oh, it’s mentioned all over the Intertubes but most always just like this:

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The Annapurna Circuit is a popular name for a trek within the Annapurna mountain range of central Nepal. The total length of the route varies between 160–230 km (100-145 mi), depending on where the motor transportation is used and where the trek is ended. The trek rises to an altitude of 5,400m on the Thorung La pass, touching the edge of the Tibetan plateau. This trek crosses two different river valleys and encircles the Annapurna massif, crossing Thorung La (5416m), the highest pass on this trek. Practically all trekkers hike the route counter

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