Earth and Space News

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Elementary's Adventure of Ersatz Sobekneferu: West African Crocodiles

Summary: Elementary's The Adventure of Ersatz Sobekneferu July 2, 2018, solves fraud and murder, not the fate of a mummified worshiper of West African crocodiles.

West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus); Bazoulé, central Burkhina Faso; September 2007: Marco Schmidt, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

West African crocodiles indirectly advance the plot through their association with an alleged Egyptian mummy that appears on The Adventure of the Ersatz Sobekneferu, Elementary procedural drama series episode July 2, 2018.

Director Lucy Liu and writers Robert Doherty, Kelly Wheeler and Robert Hewitt Wolfe brandish a mummified body (Grace Gray) as the missing mummy of Pharaoh Sobekneferu. Archaeological fraud simultaneously cloaks homicide, as crimes that conceivably copycat the Persian Princess Wardegauna or Persian Mummy Rhodugune (flourished fifth century B.C.?) controversy Oct. 19, 2000. Sobekneferu, as "beauty of Sobek" and Sobek's priestess, drew upon her father Amenemhat ("Amon is foremost") III's (died 1814 B.C.) devotion to the crocodile-headed god Sobek.

Nile and West African crocodiles elicited reverence and revulsion from ancient Egyptians even though the latter, smaller-sized species entered into Nile River- and pharaoh-related religious ceremonies.

Dry seasons function as nesting months in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

August through January likewise get West African crocodiles above high water lines in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan. Physically and sexually mature female West African crocodiles hone sealed underground nest holes that hold 50 to 80 eggs for hatching within 80 to 90 days. West African crocodile mothers-to-be inhabit the nesting grounds for the entirety of the nesting months and for one month or more after their eggs properly incubate.

Female West African crocodiles journey around watersides and over water bottoms with hatchlings, whose diets jumble egg yolk the first day and insects the first month.

Behavioral patterns, distribution ranges and life cycles keep West African crocodiles in arid desert caves; brackish, open waters; forested wetlands; lagoons; mangrove swamps; and river basins.

Arid adaptations, cultural roles, habitat niches and genetic testing lead to the names desert, sacred and West African crocodiles commonly and Crocodylus suchus ("Crocodile crocodile") scientifically. Even five-foot- (1.53-meter-) long adults maintain docility; manifest minimally aggressive predation; mirror crocodile deities in Egyptian wall art; and move sustainably amid dried-out burrows and caves. Brown- or olive-bodied sub-adult and brown- or gray-bodied, gray-, white or yellow-bellied mature West African crocodiles need birds, carrion, crustaceans, fish, frogs, insects, snakes and spiders.

West African crocodile populations no longer observe as distribution ranges such original homelands as Egypt because of obstinate, organized hunters of meat, skins and trophy parts.

Swimming with six pacifist crocodiles in Chad prompted Wildlife Conservation herpetologist Michael Klemens' providing Evon Hekkala, Fordham University biologist in Bronx, New York, with specimen tissue.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis queues West African crocodiles up as the same species as Egypt's bejeweled, cossetted, revered temple pets and mummified residents of royal tombs. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (April 15, 1772-June 19, 1844) revealed in 1807 ancient sacred and West African crocodile resemblances recorded by Greek historian Herodotus (484 B.C.?-425 B.C.?). Behavior, scales, size and skulls suggest aggressive, large Nile crocodiles and amiable, little West African crocodiles as ancient Egypt's geographically overlapping, respectively feared and favored crocodiles.

Sherlock's tackling archaeological fraud turns up a pseudo-mummy's modern identity even as it thrusts a missing, mummified West African crocodile god-worshiping pharaoh back among unsolved mysteries.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus); Bazoulé, Burkhina Faso; September 2007: Marco Schmidt, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bazoule_sacred_crocodiles_MS_6709.JPG

left to right: Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), Morland Holmes (John Noble) and Lucy Liu (Joan Watson) in Elementary tv series' The Adventure of Ersatz Sobekneferu (season 6 episode 10): Elementary @ElementaryCBS, via Facebook July 2, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/ElementaryCBS/photos/a.151627898295663.14686.151013691690417/1097860497005727/

For further information:

"The Adventure of Ersatz Sobekneferu." Elementary: The Sixth Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, July 2, 2018.

Cunningham, Seth W. 12 April 2016. "Fine Scale Patterns of Genetic Partitioning in the Rediscovered African Crocodile, Crocodylus suchus (Saint-Hilaire 1807)." PeerJ > Biodiversity and Conservation Section.
Available @ https://peerj.com/articles/1901/

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London England: George Newnes Ltd., 1892.

Elementary @ElementaryCBS. "Tonight, don't miss a special episode of Elementary directed by Lucy Liu and featuring guest star John Noble!" Facebook. July 2, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/ElementaryCBS/photos/a.151627898295663.14686.151013691690417/1097860497005727/

Hekkala, Evon; Matthew H. Shirley; George Amato; James D. Austin; Suellen Charter; John Thorbjarnarson; Kent A. Vliet; Marlys L. Houck; Rob DeSalle; Michael J. Blum. 9 September 2011. "An Ancient Icon Reveals New Mysteries: Mummy DNA Resurrects a Cryptic Species Within the Nile Crocodile." Molecular Ecology. doi.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05245.x
Available @ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05245.x

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 July 2018. “Blue Wildebeests and Tarragon Tea on Elementary's Nobody Lives Forever.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/blue-wildebeests-and-tarragon-tea-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 June 2018. “Vermont Black Bears and Elementary's Sand Trap Episode June 18, 2018.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/vermont-black-bears-and-elementarys.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2018. “Elementary Sober Companions, Amethysts and Agiorgitiko Red Wine Grapes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/elementary-sober-companions-amethysts.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 June 2018. “Elementary's Give Me the Finger: Not the Southeast Asian Fruit Durian.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/elementarys-give-me-finger-not.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 June 2018. “Elementary's Give Me the Finger: Floppy Disks Dinosaurs Like Grallator.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/elementarys-give-me-finger-floppy-disks.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 June 2018. “Bird Flu on Elementary's Bits and Pieces and Wild Red Junglefowl.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/bird-flu-on-elementarys-bits-and-pieces.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 May 2018. “Boxing Kangaroos and Elementary Season 6 Episode 4 Our Time Is Up.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/boxing-kangaroos-and-elementary-season.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 May 2018. “American Staffordshire Terrier and Elementary's Pushing Buttons.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/american-staffordshire-terrier-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 May 2018. “Cassowaries and Elementary's Pushing Buttons Episode May 14, 2018.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/cassowaries-and-elementarys-pushing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 May 2018. “Monoceros Unicorns: Puzzles Once You've Ruled Out God on Elementary.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/monoceros-unicorns-puzzles-once-youve.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 May 2018. “Sumatran Tigers and Elementary's An Infinite Capacity for Taking Pains.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/sumatran-tigers-and-elementarys.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 November 2016. “Green Tree Python Natural History Illustrations and Elementary.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/green-tree-python-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 November 2016. “Eastern Poison Ivy Botanical Illustrations and Elementary's Henny Penny.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/eastern-poison-ivy-botanical.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 November 2016. “Galápagos Marine Iguana Natural History Illustrations and Elementary.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/galapagos-marine-iguana-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 October 2016. "China's Imperial Jade Heirloom Seal Worth Several Cities on Elementary." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/10/chinas-imperial-jade-heirloom-seal.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 May 2016. “Mopane Worm Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Invisible Hand.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/mopane-worm-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 May 2016. “Johannes Vermeer Painting The Astronomer: Elementary's Invisible Hand.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/johannes-vermeer-painting-astronomer.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 March 2016. “Shih Tzu Dog Breed and Elementary's Up to Heaven and Down to Hell.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/shih-tzu-dog-breed-and-elementarys-up.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2016. “Mushroom Botanical Illustrations and Elementary's A Study in Charlotte.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/mushroom-botanical-illustrations-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 November 2015. "Black-Capped Central American Squirrel Monkeys and Elementary Series." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/black-capped-central-american-squirrel.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2015. “Tienchi-Flower Tea and Elementary's Evidence of Things Not Seen.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/tienchi-flower-tea-and-elementarys.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 April 2015. “Pablo Picasso Painting Woman Reading on Elementary's A Stitch in Time.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/03/pablo-picasso-painting-woman-reading-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 February 2015. “Extinct Quagga Plains Zebra on Elementary's The Female of the Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/extinct-quagga-plains-zebra-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 January 2015. “Elementary's Yellow Clivia and Yellow Clivia Botanical Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/01/elementarys-yellow-clivia-and-yellow.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 December 2014. “Elementary's Nutmeg Concoction and Nutmeg Botanical Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/elementarys-nutmeg-concoction-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 November 2014. “Elementary's Bird in Blue-Throated Macaw Natural History Illustrations.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/11/elementarys-bird-in-blue-throated-macaw.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 October 2014. “Bearded Dragon Natural History Illustrations: Not Elementary's Nemesis.” Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/bearded-dragon-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 May 2014. “Ficus Benjamina Botanical Illustrations and Elementary's Stunted Tree.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/ficus-benjamina-botanical-illustrations.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 February 2014. “Dimetrodon Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dimetrodon.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/dimetrodon-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 January 2014. “Nanotyrannus Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Dead Clade Walking.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/01/nanotyrannus-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2013. “Fruit in Osage Orange Botanical Illustrations and Elementary Series.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/fruit-in-osage-orange-botanical.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 November 2013. “George Stubbs Painting The Godolphin Arabian and Elementary's Nutmeg.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/george-stubbs-painting-godolphin.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Darley Arabian and Elementary's Studhorse.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-darley-arabian.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 November 2013. “John Wootton Painting The Byerley Turk and Elementary's Thoroughbreds.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/11/john-wootton-painting-byerley-turk-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 August 2013. “Turner Fighting Temeraire Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/turner-fighting-temeraire-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 June 2013. “Paul Gauguin Painting Tahitian Women on the Beach in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/paul-gauguin-painting-tahitian-women-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 May 2013. “Rubens Painting The Incredulity of St Thomas in Elementary's The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/rubens-painting-incredulity-of-st.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 May 2013. “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Painting Rousse in Elementary Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-painting.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 May 2013. “The Bruegel Painted Parable in the Elementary Series Episode The Woman.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-bruegel-painted-parable-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 February 2013. “Osmia Avosetta Natural History Illustrations for Elementary's Bee.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/osmia-avosetta-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 February 2013. “Russian Tortoise Natural History Illustrations and Elementary's Clyde Jan. 31, 2013.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-tortoise-natural-history.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 January 2013. “Costliest, World-Most Expensive Chopard Watch: 201 Carats at $25 Million.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/costliest-world-most-expensive-chopard.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 January 2013. “Chopard Watch Worth $25 Million on Elementary Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/chopard-watch-worth-25-million-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 January 2013. “Claude Monet Painting Nympheas 1918 in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/claude-monet-painting-nympheas-1918-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 January 2013. “Paul Cézanne Still Life Painting Fruit in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/01/paul-cezanne-still-life-painting-fruit.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 December 2012. “Paul Signac Painting Women at the Well in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/paul-signac-painting-women-at-well-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 December 2012. “The Van Gogh Pietà Painting in Elementary Series Episode The Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-van-gogh-pieta-painting-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2012. “Edward Hopper Painting Western Motel in Elementary Series' Leviathan.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/edward-hopper-painting-western-motel-in.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 September 2012. "Are Lesser Clovers Sherlock's Lucky Shamrocks on Elementary's Pilot?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-lesser-clovers-sherlocks-lucky.html

Mayell, Hillary. 18 June 2002. "Desert-Adapted Crocs Found in Africa." National Geographic News > Animals & Nature.
Available @ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/06/0617_020618_croc.html

Saint-Hilaire, Geoffroy. 1807. "Description de deux crocodiles qui existent dans le Nil, comparés au crocodile de Saint-Domingue." Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle 10: 67-86.
Available @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23268#page/81/mode/1up

Scalesofanubis. 3 August 2012. "West African (Desert) Crocodile - Crocodylus suchus." Carnivora Forum.
Available @ http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9666824/1/

Whitaker III, Romulus Earl; and Nikhil Whitaker. "Nile Crocodile." In: Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy and Neil Schlager, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 7, Reptiles: 186. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Yong, Ed. 14 September 2011. "Nile Crocodile Is Actually Two Species (and the Egyptians Knew It)." National Geographic > Science & Innovation > Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Available @ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2011/09/14/nile-crocodile-is-actually-two-species-and-the-egyptians-knew-it/

Friday, July 6, 2018

Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession July 6, 1303

Summary: The confessor's and the mason's executions ensued from William Palmer's second confession July 6, 1303, to the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid.

screenshot of William Palmer's July 6, 1303, confession, as presented in Sir Francis Palgrave's The Antient Kalendars, vol. I (1836), page 268: via Internet Archive

William Palmer assumed the role of confessor June 17, 1303, and July 6, 1303, to London officials and royal appointees for addressing the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid April 30-May 3, 1303.

William Palmer bore 14 names in June for the 16 "consenting to the burglary" and, in July, seven names with five names borne the previous month. He correlated July's names with April's and May's crimes for five officials, of whom three considered his confession the previous month at the Guildhall in London. He described the doers of the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid as daring a forced entry and diverting royal treasures to the Church and to London.

Palmer explained exposing Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid evil-doers in his first confession despite a sacristan's bribe and in his second despite a sub-prior's death threats.

Palmer fit into London as Keeper of the Fleet Prison and into Westminster as lieutenant to John Shenche, absentee Keeper of the Palace alongside Westminster Abbey.

King Edward I (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) gathered Chancery, Court of Common Pleas, Exchequer, Kings Bench, Kings Hall and Palace officials, including Shenche, at York. He rarely headed south to London and Westminster because he had York as capital city, government seat and military base in order to harry the Scots. His letter June 6, 1303, initiated John Bakewell's, Ralph de Sandwich's, Roger de Southcote's and Walter of Gloucester's inquiries about the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid.

Sandwich judged Palmer's first Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid confession with John Clicot, London Mayor; John le Blund, London Coroner; and Simon de Paris, London Sheriff.

Sandwich kept Palmer's second Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid confession, in Latin, not in Norman French, to Bakewell, Clicot, le Blund and Southcote at the Guildhall.

Palmer's second confession listed, first through fifth, sacristan Adam de Warfield, subprior Alexander de Pershore, treasurer Thomas de Dene and brothers Robert and Roger de Bures. Palmer mentioned their "often" moving back and forth "on the evening and the morning after the burglary of the Treasury, carrying many things towards the church." He noted "Roger de Wenlok and Hamo, the Sacristan's valet, would often accompany the said monks" and John of St. Albans was "organizer of the tools."

Palmer observed that Pershore "threatened him that he would have him killed if he revealed their plans [about the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid] to anyone."

Palmer placed Robert and Roger de Bures, Walter de Erksdale/Erskdale, Simon de Henley, Dene and Pershore "around Pentecost" with barge "boatman Godde, at King's bridge Westminster."

The sextet queued up "two great baskets bound by black corn" and "of a great weight" for London dispersal before return landing near the Abbey Mill. He revealed, "John de Uggele was a shelterer of those thieves who committed the burglary" through St. Albans' tools used for breaking into the Royal Treasury. Both confessions sent suspects to Newgate, Tower and Westminster prisons even though only John of St. Albans shared his confessor's sentence of hanging March 15, 1304.

What turned the coroner, justices, mayor and sheriff against the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid confessor and mason, but not 18 others that the confession tendered?

William Palmer's confession places six co-conspirators (de Bures brothers, Thomas de Dene, Walter de Erksdale/Erskdale, Simon de Henley, Alexander de Pershore) at King's Bridge (bottom right of sketch) with boatman Godde around Pentecost; plan of Westminster Abbey and Palace drawn in 1303, the 31st year of the reign of King Edward I (June 17/18, 1239-July 7, 1307); Hubert Hall's The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer (1891), page 31: via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

screenshot of William Palmer's July 6, 1303, confession, as presented in Sir Francis Palgrave's The Antient Kalendars, vol. I (1836), page 268: via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/antientkalendars01grea_0#page/268/mode/1up

Doherty, Paul. 2005. The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303. New York NY: Carroll & Graf Publisher.

Hall, Hubert. 1891. The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer. With Illustrations by Ralph Nevill. The Camden Library. New York NY: A.C. Armstrong & Son; London, England: Elliot Stock.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015035120412
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cu31924032413340

Keay, Anna. 2011. The Crown Jewels. London UK: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 April 2018. "Richard Puddlicott and the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/richard-puddlicott-and-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 May 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid in April and May 1303 in England." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 May 2018. "Mysteries of the April-May 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/mysteries-of-april-may-1303-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 June 2018. "King Edward I's Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-edward-is-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Royal Proclamation June 16, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_8.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession June 17, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Arrests June 18-19, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_22.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Indenture June 22, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_29.html

Palgrave, Sir Francis, ed. 1836. "Appendix: Records Relating to the Robbery at the Treasury, 31 Edw. I." The Antient Kalendars and Inventories of His Majesty's Exchequer Together with Other Documents Illustrating the History of That Repository. Vol. I: 251-299. London England: Commissioners of the Public Records of The Kingdom.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/antientkalendars01grea_0#page/251/mode/1up

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Second 2018 Shadowless Lahaina Noon Happens in July in Hawaii

Summary: The second 2018 shadowless Lahaina Noon happens in July in Hawaii as a directly overhead sun at solar noon shines away shadows from vertical objects.

second 2018 Lahaina Noon, July 11-July 27: SS&TC @ShortSleeveClub, via Twitter June 1, 2018

The second 2018 shadowless Lahaina Noon happens in July as a directly overhead sun at apparent local solar noon shines away shadows from people and other verticals in the Hawaiian archipelago’s windward islands.

The earliest instance of July 2018’s Lahaina Noon listed by Honolulu’s Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum occurs Wednesday, July 11, at Lihu’e, Kaua’i. Lahaina Noon is timed for Kaua’i’s second largest town at 12:43 p.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard (22:43 [10:43 p.m.] Coordinated Universal Time/Greenwich Mean Time).

The Bishop Museum gives July 2018 Lahaina Noon days and times for eight additional locales in Hawai’i’s windward islands.

Lihu’e, Kaua’i: Wednesday, July 11, at 12:43 p.m. HAST (22:43 UTC/GMT);
Kane’ohe, O’ahu: Sunday, July 15, at 12:37 p.m. HAST (22:37 UTC/GMT);
Kaunakakai, Moloka’i: Tuesday, July 17, at 12:34 p.m. HAST (22:34 UTC/GMT);
Hana, Maui: Wednesday, July 18, at 12:30 p.m. HAST (22:30 UTC/GMT);
Kahului, Maui: Wednesday, July 18, at 12:32 p.m. HAST (22:32 UTC/GMT);
Lahaina, Maui: Wednesday, July 18, a 12:32 p.m. HAST (22:23 UTC/GMT);
Hilo, the Big Island: Tuesday, July 24, at 12:26 p.m. HAST (22:26 UTC/GMT);
Ka Lae (South Point), the Big Island: Friday, July 27, at 12:28 p.m. HAST (22:26 UTC/GMT).

The Bishop Museum notes that an absolute Lahaina Noon does not happen this year at Honolulu, O’ahu, and Kailua-Kona, the Big Island. The museum explains that Lahaina Noon requires the sun’s apparent placement in the sky at 90 degrees over the location. In 2018, the sun only reaches 89 degrees for Honolulu and Kailua-Kona.

The Hawaiian archipelago’s tropical location in the central Pacific Ocean qualifies its windward islands for experiencing an apparently directly overhead sun twice each year. Local latitude explains the range in dates and times for the Hawaiian archipelago’s Lahaina Noon.

The Hawaiian archipelago’s first Lahaina Noon occurs annually in May. The sun’s late spring sweep of the archipelago favors the most southerly windward islands with earliest occurrences of Lahaina Noon before the most northerly windward islands.

Favoritism reverses in mid-summer. The archipelago’s second set of Lahaina Noons takes place in July. Mid-summer’s Lahaina Noon occurs earlier in the most northerly windward islands and later in the most southerly windward islands.

Nihoa is the only leeward island in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands’ (NWHI) stretch of 10 islands and atolls that undergoes Lahaina Noon. Its location, at 23.060556 degrees north latitude, falls within Earth’s equator-straddling tropical zone.

Nihoa is about 30 nautical miles (approximately 56 kilometers) closer to Kaua’i, northernmost of the archipelago’s windward islands, than to Necker Island, Nihoa’s leeward neighbor. Nihoa is approximately 130 nautical miles (about 240 kilometers) northwest of Kaua’i. Necker Island lies approximately 160 nautical miles (about 296 kilometers) northwest of Nihoa.

Necker Island’s placement at 23.576389 degrees north latitude disqualifies the hook-shaped island from the Lahaina Noon experience. The Northern Hemisphere’s Tropic of Cancer, at 23.4369 degrees latitude, and the Southern Hemisphere’s Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.4369 degrees south latitude, delimit Earth’s tropical band.

Before 900 C.E., Necker Island fell within the tropical zone, with the Tropic of Cancer lying just north. The Tropic of Cancer’s southward drift has excluded Necker Island from the Hawaiian archipelago’s Lahaina Noon experience.

The Tropic of Cancer’s southward drift toward the equator in the Northern Hemisphere mirrors the northward drift of its Southern Hemisphere counterpart, the Tropic of Capricorn, toward the equator. The equatorward drift of the two tropical extremes reflects the slowly decreasing obliquity of the ecliptic. The astronomical term references the equator’s angle of inclination with respect to the plane of Earth’s orbit, known as the ecliptic.

The takeaway for the second 2018 shadowless Lahaina Noon is that July’s solar phenomenon marks the Hawaiian archipelago’s uniqueness as the only U.S. location where the sun appears directly overhead.

Nihoa, only leeward island in the Hawaiian archipelago experiencing Lahaina Noon: Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps, Public Domain, via NOAA Photo Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

second 2018 Lahaina Noon, July 11-July 27: SS&TC @ShortSleeveClub, via Twitter June 1, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/ShortSleeveClub/status/1002608373752303616

Nihoa, only leeward island in the Hawaiian archipelago experiencing Lahaina Noon; Image ID sanc1482, NOAA's Sanctuaries Collection: Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps, Public Domain, via NOAA Photo Library @ http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/sanc1482.htm

For further information:

“2018 Lahaina Noon Days and Times.” Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum > 2018 Astronomy Highlights.
Available @ https://www.bishopmuseum.org/2018-astronomy-highlights/

Bryan, E.H. (Edwin Horace), Jr.; Richard Crowe; and Timothy F. Slater. Stars Over Hawaii. Third revised edition. Hilo HI: Petroglyph Press, 2015.

Marriner, Derdriu. “2016’s First Lahaina Noon Is May 15; Next 2016 Lahaina Noon Is July 11.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 11, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/2016s-first-lahaina-noon-is-may-15-next.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Hilo Welcomes First 2017 Lahaina Noon Thursday, May 18.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 10, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/05/hilo-welcomes-first-2017-lahaina-noon.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Hilo Welcomes Second 2017 Lahaina Noon, Monday, July 24." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 12, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/07/hilo-welcomes-second-2017-lahaina-noon.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "No Shadows Are Cast During May 2018 Lahaina Noon in Hawaiian Islands." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 16, 2018.
Availble @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/no-shadows-are-cast-during-may-2018.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Second 2016 Lahaina Noon Begins Monday, July 11." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 6, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/07/second-2016-lahaina-noon-experience.html

“Necker Island.” What-When-How > Ancient Astronomy.
Available @ http://what-when-how.com/ancient-astronomy/necker-island/

Ruggles, Clive. Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myths. Santa Barbara, CA: Denver, CO; Oxford, England: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2005.

SS&TC @ShortSleeveClub. Jun 1 “Twice every year, in the US state of Hawaii, shadows completely disappear.” Twitter. June 1, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ShortSleeveClub/status/1002608373752303616

Vsauce @tweetsauce. “The Sky Gate sculpture in Honolulu, HI is wavy, but twice a year (during Lahaina noon in May and July) the sun is directly above and the sculpture's shadow is a perfect circle.” Twitter. Dec. 20, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/tweetsauce/status/943615594837843968

Monday, July 2, 2018

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conducts Three 2018-2019 Met Opera Season Operas

Summary: Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts three 2018-2019 Met Opera season operas in his new role as the Metropolitan Opera’s third Music Director.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin's official title is the Metropolitan Opera's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts three 2018-2019 Met Opera season operas in his new role as the Metropolitan Opera’s third Music Director, officially titled the Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director in recognition of a $15 million from the Neubauer Family Foundation specifically honoring the new director.

The three 2018-2019 Met Opera season operas under Maestro Nézet-Séguin’s conductorship are La Traviata, Pelléas et Mélisande and Dialogues des Carmélites. The trio comprises a new production and two revivals.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first opera as Metropolitan Opera’s new Music Director is La Traviata by 19th century opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). The three-act opera opens Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Maestro Nézet-Séguin conducts all of December’s eight performances.

La Traviata’s opening night in December not only debuts Yannick Nézet-Séguin in his first official conductorship at the Metropolitan Opera but also debuts a new production of Verdi’s bittersweet, perennially popular opera. The 2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera season’s new staging occurs under the direction of American film and stage director Michael Mayer.

An additional seven performances are slated for Friday, April 5, through Saturday, April 27, 2019. The April performances are under the conductorship of Nicola Luisotti.

Nézet-Séguin’s second official opera as Music Director is Pelléas et Mélisande by French Impressionist music composer Achille-Claude Debussy (Aug. 22, 1862-March 25, 1918). The three-act opera opens Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Maestro Nézet-Séguin conducts four of the season’s five performances. In addition to opening night, he also conducts Saturday, Jan. 19; Tuesday, Jan. 22; Friday, Jan. 25. The closing night Thursday, Jan. 31, conductor is to be announced.

Pelléas et Mélisande is performed as a revival production. The Metropolitan Opera’s most recent performance of the French-language opera was during the 2010-2011 season. The original staging traces back to March 23, 1995, in the Metropolitan Opera’s 91st performance of Claude Debussy’s only completed opera. English theatre and opera director (now Sir) Jonathan Miller directed the 1994-1995 Met Opera season’s new staging.

Nézet-Séguin’s third official opera as Music Director is Dialogues des Carmélites by French composer and pianist Francis Poulenc (Jan. 7, 1899-Jan. 30, 1963). Maestro Nézet-Séguin conducts all three of the season’s performances. The French-language opera opens Friday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. A second performance is offered Wednesday, May 8. Dialogues des Carmélites closes with the Saturday, May 11, performance at 12 p.m. EDT.

The Metropolitan Opera most recently performed Dialogues des Carmélites during the 2012-2013 season. The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s production revives staging that debuted Feb. 5, 1977, in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Poulenc’s opera about faith and martyrdom. English theatre, opera and film director John Dexter (Aug. 2, 1925-March 23, 1990) directed the premiere’s staging.

The Metropolitan Opera has succeeded in accelerating Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s arrival as the opera house’s third Music Director by two seasons. His assumption of the pivotal role originally was scheduled for the 2020-2021 Met Opera season. Now Maestro Nézet-Séguin’s start date is autumn 2018.

Nézet-Séguin’s accelerated appointment allows for increasing his conductorship from two to three operas per season. Beginning with the 2020-2021 Met Opera season, Maestro Nézet-Séguin will lead a minimum of five operas per season.

“it is wonderful for the entire company that Yannick will assume his duties two seasons ahead of schedule,” General Manager Peter Gelb states in the Metropolitan Opera’s Feb. 15, 2018, press release.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s title of the Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director represents the first instance of the position’s named appointment. The named position ensues from the Neubauer Family Foundation’s gift of $15 million specifically honoring Nézet-Séguin’s appointment.

Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer has served on the Metropolitan Opera’s Board since 1999. Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer and her husband, Joseph Neubauer, founded the Neubauer Family Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1999.

“I have worked with the Neubauers for many years in Philadelphia and know how committed they are to supporting the arts,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin shares in the Metropolitan Opera’s Feb. 15, 2018, press release.

The takeaway for Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s conducting three 2018-2019 Met Opera season operas is that his accelerated arrival as the Metropolitan Opera’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, effective autumn 2018, allows for his leading of one new production and two revivals in the 2018-2019 season.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Yannick Nézet-Séguin's official title is the Metropolitan Opera's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160140682740533/

Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites is rostered for Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin's third conductorship during the 2018-2019 Met Opera season: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 19, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160146382220533/

For further information:

ArtsJournal @ArtsJournalNews. “Nézet-Séguin to Lead Met Opera Two Years Early.” Twitter. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ArtsJournalNews/status/964223287864766464

La Cieca (James Jorden). “The Advent of the Nézet-Séguin Era: Announcing the Metropolitan Opera’s 2018-2019 Season.” Parterre Box. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ http://parterre.com/2018/02/15/the-metropolitan-operas-2018-2019-season/

Cooper, Michael. “Yannick Nézet-Séguin Will Lead the Met Opera, Two Years Early.” The New York Times > Arts > Music. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-season-dudamel-kaufmann-netrebko-yannick.html?

Marriner, Derdriu. "2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera Season Presents Four New Productions." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 18, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/2018-2019-metropolitan-opera-season.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera Season Stages 29 Operas.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 11, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/ailyn-perez-sang-three-2017-2018-met.html

The Metropolitan Opera. “Yannick Nézet-Séguin Named the Metropolitan Opera’s Music Director.” The Metropolitan Opera > About > Press Releases. June 2, 2016.
Available @ https://www.metopera.org/About/Press-Releases/YannickNezet-Seguin/

The Metropolitan Opera. “Yannick Nézet-Séguin to Become Met Music Director in September 2018, Two Seasons Earlier Than Originally Planned.” The Metropolitan Opera > About > Press Releases > 18-19 Season Announcements. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.metopera.org/About/Press-Releases/1819SeasonAnnouncement/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin leads the classic John Dexter production of Poulenc’s devastating story of faith and martyrdom.” Facebook. Feb. 19, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160146382220533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “We are excited to announce that Maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin and the Met have accelerated the timeline . . .” Facebook. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160140682740533/

“Metropolitan Opera Premiere Dialogues des Carmélites.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 248220 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Dialogues des Carmélites {1} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 02/5/1977.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=248220

“New Production Pelléas et Mélisande.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 319780 New production Pelléas et Mélisande {91} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/23/1995.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=319780

“New Production La Traviata.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353718 New Production La Traviata {961} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/31/2010.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353718

Plotkin, Fred. “An Analysis of the Metropolitan Opera’s New Season.” WQXR > Blogs > Operavore. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.wqxr.org/story/analysis-metropolitan-opera-2018-2019-season/

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Blue Wildebeests and Tarragon Tea on Elementary's Nobody Lives Forever

Summary: Tarragon teas and western white-bearded blue wildebeests close cases on Elementary Season 6's ninth episode, Nobody Lives Forever, June 25, 2018.

Serengeti traveling buddies: western white-bearded blue wildebeests (Connochaetes taurinus mearnsi) and plains zebras (Equus quagga); Seronera, Serengeti National Park, northwestern Tanzania; Saturday, June 24, 2017, 09:31: Jan Fleischmann (Wolves201), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Blue wildebeests and tarragon teas are aggressively afoot and astir as long as assassins avoid apprehension in the Columbia Broadcasting System procedural drama series Elementary episode Nobody Lives Forever June 25, 2018.

Director Guy Ferland and writers Roberty Doherty, Jeffrey Paul King and Kelly Wheeler bring bizarre bellows and brews into Season 6's ninth episode, 129th episode overall. Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) considers cacophonies corroboration that "A number of studies have concluded that exposure to nature sounds can reduce stress and improve focus." He defends, for discerning case-related details, deafening displays among western white-bearded blue wildebeests even though he disdains Joan Watson's (Lucy Liu) drinking "that wretched" tarragon tea.

And yet, "previously on Elementary," Sherlock exposes Joan to execrable emanations from stinky but tasty Icelandic kæstur hákarl ("fermented shark meat") and Southeast Asian durian fruits.

Serengeti furnishes the clue that Sherlock favors one of five blue wildebeest subspecies of Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Maasai language gives the name Serengeti to northern Tanzania and southwestern Kenya, whose "endless plains" never get black wildebeests of Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland. Serengeti National Park hosts the western white-bearded blue wildebeest subspecies, Connochaetes taurinus mearnsi ([Edgar Alexander] Mearns's [Sep. 11, 1856-Nov. 1, 1916] bull [with] beard [and] mane"). Western white-bearded blue wildebeests, investigated taxonomically by Edmund Heller (May 21, 1875-July 18, 1939) in 1913, inhabit Lake Naivasha in Kenya and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.

Western white-bearded blue wildebeests journey the last three weeks in June to Maasai Mara National Reserve and Naivasha and to Ngorongoro and Serengeti for annual mating.

Western white-bearded blue wildebeest members of the Bovidae family keep to a communication system of bellows, ge-nu calls, horn-pushing, neck-rubbing, nose-rubbing, shrill alarms, snorts and stomps.

A seven- to nine-month gestation leads to one 41.89-pound (19-kilogram) calf for each adult female physically and sexually mature at 16 months in 20-year life cycles. Mothers and tawny-brown unweaned calves and weaned nine-month-olds make up 10- to 1,000-member groups from west of the Gregory Rift Valley to Lake Victoria's Speke Bay. They need permanent water sources every day or two during June-October dry seasons on acacia savannas; high-rainfall, long-bladed grasslands; open bush-lands and woodlands; and short-grass plains.

Western white-bearded blue wildebeest populations optimally occur on short-grassed alkaline and volcanic soils up to 5,905.51 to 6,889.76 feet (1,800 to 2,100 meters) above sea level.

Adults possess 41.34- to 53.15-inch (105- to 135-centimeter) hoof-shoulder heights, 59.06- to 86.61-inch (150- to 220-centimeter) head-body lengths and 23.62- to 35.43-inch (60- to 90-centimeter) tails.

Mature western white-bearded blue wildebeests queue up blue-, brown- or white-gray, 198.42- to 308.65-pound (90- to 140-kilogram) bodies with broad muzzles, humped shoulders and rearward-sloped backs. They reveal black faces, tails and undersides; black-brindled forequarters and necks; dark, lank manes; downward-curved, outward-extended, inward-pointed, upward-pointing, unridged 11.81-plus-inch (30-plus-centimeter-) long horns; and tan legs. The International Union for Conservation of Nature scores western white-bearded blue wildebeests as of least concern despite deforested, expropriated watersheds; fenced-in migration routes; and illegal hunting.

Perhaps Sherlock thrives on Serengeti-transmitted mating sounds because western white-bearded blue wildebeests thwart threatening agro-industrialists, collectors, crocodiles, globally warmed climate change, hunters, hyenas, leopards and lions.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

For stress relief and focus improvement, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) favors Serengeti sounds over Joan Watson's (Lucy Liu) "wretched" tarragon tea in Elementary tv series' Nobody Lives Forever (season 6 episode 9): Elementary @ElementaryCBS, via Facebook June 26, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/ElementaryCBS/photos/a.151627898295663.14686.151013691690417/1089136171211493/

For further information:

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London England: George Newnes Ltd., 1892.

Elementary @ElementaryCBS. 26 June 2018. "A biology professor who was working on a secret genetics project is poisoned... does Sherlock have this case locked up?" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/ElementaryCBS/photos/a.151627898295663.14686.151013691690417/1089136171211493/

Heller, Edmund. 21 October 1913. "Gorgon albojubatus mearnsi, new subspecies Loita White-Bearded Wildebeest." New Races of Ungulates and Primates From Equatorial Africa. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections (Publication 2245), vol. 61, no. 17): 1-2. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30095965

IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group. 2016. "Connochaetes taurinus." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T5229A50185086. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T5229A50185086.en.
Available @ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/5229/0

"Nobody Lives Forever." Elementary: The Sixth Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, June 25, 2018.

Taylor, Barry. "Blue Wildebeest." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 16, Mammals V: 43. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2003.