Vermont Black Bears and Elementary's Sand Trap Episode June 18, 2018

Summary: Elementary series Season 6's eighth episode Sand Trap June 18, 2018, clears Vermont black bears of murder but not a killer of a cemented-up inventor.

The Green Mountain State's plentiful forests provide Vermont black bears with abundant climbing and foraging: Vermont Fish & Wildlife @vtfishandwildlife, via Facebook Dec. 17, 2013

An agile trapper approaches, with fatal aftermaths, black bears near a Vermont mountainside cabin in Sand Trap, 142nd episode overall in the Columbia Broadcasting System procedural drama series Elementary June 18, 2018.

Director Jenifer Lynch and writers Robert Doherty and Kelly Wheeler bring Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) back from three months' recuperation for Season 6's eighth episode. Sherlock cryptically coaxes Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), "Now, would you like to hear about one scorned woman's attempt to frame an innocent black bear or not?" The brownstone's pregnant temporary houseguest, Kelsey Chapman (Michele Selene Ang), distracts Sherlock from describing death at the deceitful hands and devious mind of a dark-hearted killer.

It ends up easier to envision black bear behaviors, distribution ranges, life cycles and physiques since one subspecies of North American black bears exists throughout Vermont.

June and July function as breeding season months for the Ursus americanus americanus nominate (first-named) subspecies of North America's black bear species, Ursus americanus ("bear, American").

Adult females only grow fertilized eggs, through delayed implantation, every other fall even though Vermont black bears gain physical and sexual maturity as three- to six-year-olds. Delayed implantation halts the microscopic eggs' development until November so that females have two to five blind, deaf, downy, stub-limbed, toothless cubs in January or February. Wintry births initiate crawling, 0.5- to 0.75-pound (0.23- to 0.34-kilogram), 8-inch- (20.32-centimeter-) long newborn Vermont black bears into 16- to 24-month mother-cub den-inhabiting and forage-impelled interactions.

Vermont black bears juggle respective 4- to 7-pound (1.81- to 3.18-kilogram), 27-pound (12.25-kilogram) and 80-pound (36.28-kilogram) weights two to three, seven and 12 months after birth.

Adult female and male Vermont black bears know respective 2- to 3-foot (0.61- to 0.91-meter) paw-to-shoulder heights and 5- to 6-foot (1.52- to 1.83-meter) head-body lengths.

Mature 150- to 175-pound (68.04- to 79.38-kilogram) female and 250- to 350-pound (113.39- to 158.76-kilogram) male Vermont black bears look the smallest of North America's bears. Long-, tawny-snouted adults manifest five curved, 1.5-inch- (3.81-centimeter-) long claws on each five-toed paw; short-haired, short-tailed blue-black, black, brown-black or red-black bodies, sometimes with white-blazed chests. They need 4- to 8-inch- (10.16- to 15.24-centimeter-) long, 3.25- to 6-inch- (8.26- to 15.24-centimeter-) wide flat, long-clawed, semi-rectangular, semi-rounded front feet with rounded heel pads.

Five- to 9-inch (12.7- to 22.86-centimeter) by 3.5- to 6-inch (8.89- to 15.24-centimeter) back feet occur at 38- to 50-inch (96.52- to 127-centimeter) lengths behind front.

North American black bears, profiled scientifically in 1780 by Peter Simon Pallas (Sep. 22, 1741-Sep. 8, 1811), prefer clean-watered, dense, rough beech-, conifer-, oak-dominated woodland undergrowth.

Acorns, ants, apples, beechnuts, berries, carrion, cherries, corn, eggs, fish, grasses, honey, jack-in-the-pulpit roots, oats, seeds, skunk cabbage, succulents and termites queue up as food sources. Dawn- and dusk-active Vermont black bears require climbing, lumbering, swimming and 30-mile (48-kilometer) hourly speeds within 8- to 15-square-mile (20.72- to 38.83-square-kilometer), solitary, year-long feeding territories. They search for leaf-clumped piles as daytime and nighttime resting grounds and for burrows, caves and fallen, hollow or standing trees as overwintering and parenting dens.

Perhaps Dr. Leslie Ann Mertz's statement that "American black bears are not normally aggressive, and only very rarely harm humans" triggered Sherlock's thwarting wilderness-urban interface frame-ups.

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) returns to the Brooklyn brownstone after vindicating a Vermont black bear framed by a "scorned woman" in Elementary tv series' Sand Trap (season 6 episode 8): Elementary @Elementary_CBS, via Twitter June 18, 2018

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

The Green Mountain State's plentiful forests provide Vermont black bears with abundant climbing and foraging: Vermont Fish & Wildlife @vtfishandwildlife, via Facebook Dec. 17, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/vtfishandwildlife/photos/a.10150704073014725.420571.54736059724/10152089671769725/

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) returns to the Brooklyn brownstone after vindicating a Vermont black bear framed by a "scorned woman" in Elementary tv series' Sand Trap (season 6 episode 8): Elementary @Elementary_CBS, via Twitter June 18, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/Elementary_CBS/status/1008892122492297219

For further information:

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

Elementary ‏@Elementary_CBS. 18 June 2018. "Right this way! A new episode of #Elementary is on now. Stream it live with CBS All Access." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Elementary_CBS/status/1008892122492297219

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. 4 January 2016. "New Jersey Black Bear Kills May Increase in October and December 2016." EarthandSpaceNews. Monday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-jersey-black-bear-kills-may.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

Mertz, Leslie Anne. "American Black Bear." In: Michael Hutchins, Debra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 14, Mammals III: 302-303. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2003.

"Sand Trap." Elementary: The Sixth Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, June 18, 2018.

Vermont Fish & Wildlife @vtfishandwildlife. 17 December 2013. "Photo by Tom Rogers, Vermont Fish & Wildlife." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/vtfishandwildlife/photos/a.10150704073014725.420571.54736059724/10152089671769725/

Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Arrests June 18-19, 1303

Summary: A confession that embraced Church and Sanctuary rights for Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid suspects ensured arrests in 1303 and executions in 1304-5.

St. Michael, Crooked Lane, London's Candlewick Ward, was a parish church in London's Candlewick Ward where Richard de Puddlicote sought sanctuary in June 1303; J. Elmes and T.H. Shepherd's London and Its Environs (1831), Plate 166: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Inquiries into and investigations of the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid April 30-May 3, 1303, allowed high-profile arrests of John of Newmarket, John of St. Albans and Richard Puddlicott June 18-19, 1303.

The first known confession that bore on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid brought up John of St. Albans, one of 16 "consenting to the burglary." Perhaps the confessor William Palmer, deputy Keeper of Fleet Prison and Keeper of the Palace, considered Church rights for 14 ecclesiastics and Sanctuary for two non-ecclesiastics. It instead drove John de Drokensford (1260-May 9, 1329), the King's appointed investigator in London, to demand the identities and whereabouts of the 16's principal societies.

The confession and the ensuing entry into Abbey chambers and throughout Abbey grounds ended with Drokensford's team extracting three raid-related suspects from Chertsey, Dowgate and Southwark.

Paul Doherty, in The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303 for Carroll & Graf Publishers Sep. 26, 2005, furnishes no names for the suspects' arresting officers.

Abbey monks gave Drokensford's team addresses for the goldsmith John of Newmarket at a washerwoman's house in Southwark and the merchant Richard de Puddlicott near Dowgate. They headed the Drokensford team by Chertsey for the mason John of St. Albans, whose house held stone-breaking tools and Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid loot. Doherty identifies Reginald de Hadham, prior-elect after William de Huntingdon's death in August 1305, among monks indicating Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid burglar's and beneficiaries' whereabouts.

The Drokensford team judged the goldsmith, the mason and the merchant guilty because of Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid loot at each of the trio's premises.

Drokensford and the king's appointed justices John Bakewell, Ralph de Sandwich, Roger de Southcote and Walter of Gloucester knew of a window as the raid's entryway.

Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid burglars lacked the keys to heavy, locked, thick doors and the wooden bridge for the gap between door- and floor-level stairs. That meant alternatively manipulating someone in and out after moving the 10-inch- (25.4-centimeter-) wide stone sill, bars and shutters to the Chapter House Crypt's sixth window. It needed a mason to nick, nip and nudge the bars and sill, a merchant to net the noteworthiest treasures and a goldsmith to nab clientlele.

Confinement in the Tower of London until March 5, 1304, occurred after the Southwark and Chertsey arrests of John of Newmarket and John of St. Albans.

Arrest placed Puddlicott in the custody of Hugh Pourte at the Sheriff of London's house with wife Marjorie Horn in St. Magnus parish near London Bridge.

Puddlicott quit the Pourte residence, with help from Gaucelin/Gaucelyn Le Servient's valet Richard, for sanctuary in St. Michael's Church on Candlewick Street after a five-day custody. London common bailiffs Thomas Attewell and Gaucelin/Gaucelyn Le Servient unlawfully removed Puddlicott from 40-day sanctuary June 25, 1303, to the Tower for hanging Nov. 28, 1305. Doherty suspects that the Tower Chaplain shrove the goldsmith and the mason before stripped-down tying to hurdle-lashed horses speeding to Smithfield's elm-tree gallows March 5, 1304.

A confession that tendered Church and Sanctuary rights triggered three arrests that thwarted tradition and turned their three victims into hanged corpses in 1304 and 1305.

Plan of London (above) St. Magnus Parish (green arrow; center right), St. Michael, Crooked Lane (green X; center right) and Westminster Abbey (blue arrow; bottom left);
Vicinity of London (below): Chertsey (red circle; lower left), London (red arrow; center), Southwark (red arrow; center) and Westminster (red arrow; center):
W.R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas (1926); Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

St. Michael, Crooked Lane, London's Candlewick Ward, was a parish church in London's Candlewick Ward where Richard de Puddlicote sought sanctuary in June 1303; J. Elmes and T.H. Shepherd's London and Its Environs (1831), Plate 166: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/londonitsenviron00shep#page/n270/mode/1up

Plan of London (above): St. Magnus Parish (green arrow; center right), where Richard de Puddlicote was in custody in Sheriff Hugh Pourte's house; St. Michael, Crooked Lane (green X; center right), where Puddlicote sought sanctuary; Westminster Abbey (blue arrow; bottom left), scene of theft;
Vicinity of London (below): Chertsey (red circle; bottom left), where John of St. Albans the mason was arrested; London (red arrow; center); Southwark (red arrow; center), where John of Newmarket the goldsmith was arrested; Westminster (red arrow; center):
W.R. Shepherd's Historical Atlas (1926), page 75; Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin @ https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/london_plan_1300.jpg

For further information:

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

Elmes, James; Thomas H. (Hosmer) Shepherd. 1831. London and Its Environs in the Nineteenth Century: Illustrated by a Series of Views From Original Drawings by Thomas H. Shepherd. Series the First, Comprising the Earlier Edifices, Antiquities, Etc. London, England: Jones & Co.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/londonitsenviron00shep

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

Shepherd, William R. (Robert). 1921. Historical Atlas. Second revised edition. New York NY: Henry Holt and Company.
Available via HathiTrust https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hnwr2d?urlappend=%3Bseq=95

2018 June Solstice Happens Thursday, June 21, or Friday, June 22

Summary: The 2018 June solstice happens Thursday, June 21, at 10:07 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (6:07 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time).

June solstice places the noon sun directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer: Alexander Novati, Public Domain, via NASA SciJinks

The 2018 June solstice happens Thursday, June 21, at 10:07 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (6:07 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as three-month successor to March's equinox and as three-month predecessor to September's equinox in Earth's orbit around the sun.

The astronomical event of the June solstice happens everywhere on Earth at the same instant. Time zones, however, convert the date and hour of the event from the world’s time standard, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), to local time.

The 2018 June solstice occurs on Thursday, June 21, for all time zones except one. UTC+14 time zones, with local time 14 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, have a 2018 solstice date and time of Friday, June 22, at 12:07 a.m.

Kiritimati, a raised coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean’s Republic of Kiribati, observes Line Islands Time (LINT) year-round. LINT’s standard time is 14 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Kiritimati places the 2018 June solstice at 12:07 a.m. LINT, Friday, June 22.

The June solstice is an astronomical event occurring annually between June 20 and June 22. The Northern Hemisphere recognizes the June solstice as a summer solstice that marks the beginning of astronomical summer. The Southern Hemisphere observes the June solstice as a winter solstice that opens astronomical winter.

The June solstice pairs with the December solstice as the year’s two astronomical events celebrating a directly overhead sun at noon. The June solstice bestows the Northern Hemisphere’s noon, overhead sun upon the Tropic of Cancer. Also known as the Northern Tropic, the Tropic of Cancer is currently located at 23 degrees 26 minutes 14 seconds north latitude.

The Tropic of Cancer numbers among five imaginary circles of latitude on Earth. The other four circles of latitude consist of the equator, the Tropic of Capricorn and the polar circles of the Arctic and the Antarctic.

The Tropic of Cancer represents the most northerly latitudinal circle at which the sun can appear directly overhead. Its Southern Hemisphere counterpart, the Tropic of Capricorn, signifies the most southerly latitudinal circle for the sun’s overhead appearance. Also known as the Southern Tropic, the Tropic of Capricorn experiences the noon, directly overhead sun during the December solstice.

The tilt of Earth’s rotational axis is responsible for the astronomical event of the June solstice. Earth’s rotational axis tilts at an angle of 23.43711 degrees to its perpendicular orbital axis.

In Earth’s orbit around the sun, Earth’s rotational axis tilts toward the sun in June and away from the sun in December. June’s toward-tilt allows the sun’s rays to make perpendicular contact with Earth’s surface at the Tropic of Cancer. December’s away-tilt allows for sunlight’s perpendicular contact with Earth’s surface at the Tropic of Capricorn.

The June solstice effectuates the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day of the year and the Southern Hemisphere’s shortest day of the year. The Northern Hemisphere receives and reflects the most sunlight.

Six months later, the December solstice switches the effects to Northern Hemisphere’s shortest day and Southern Hemisphere’s longest day. Now the Southern Hemisphere receives and reflects the most sunlight.

Earth’s somewhat elliptical orbit around the sun yields two extreme points, known singularly as apsis (Ancient Greek: ἁψίς, hapsís, “arch, vault”) and plurally as apsides. The extreme point of aphelion (Ancient Greek: ἀπό, apó, “from” + ἥλιος, hḗlios, “sun”) registers the farthest center-to-center distance between Earth and sun. The extreme point of perihelion (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + ἥλιος, hḗlios, “sun”) references the closest center-to-center distance between Earth and sun.

Reaching the extreme points usually occurs within about two weeks of the solstices. Aphelion is attained in July, after the June solstice. Perihelion is achieved in January, after the December solstice.

Earth reaches 2018 aphelion Friday, July 6, at 16:47 GMT/UTC (12:47 p.m. EDT). Aphelion takes place 15 days 2 hours 40 minutes after the 2018 June solstice’s occurrence Thursday, June 21, at 10:07 GMT/UTC (6:07 a.m. EDT).

Earth’s 2018 perihelion happened Wednesday, Jan. 3, at 5:35 GMT/UTC (12:35 a.m. Eastern Standard Time). Perihelion took place 12 days 13 hours 6 minutes after 2017 December solstice’s occurrence Thursday, Dec. 21, at 16:29 GMT/UTC (11:29 a.m. EST).

The 2018 June solstice takes place during the moon’s first quarter phase of 50 percent surface illumination. Earth’s moon transitioned from its waxing crescent of less than 50 percent surface illumination to enter its first quarter phase Wednesday, June 20, at 10:51 GMT/UTC (6:51 a.m. EDT).

June's 2018 solstitial counterpart occurs Dec. 21, at 22:22 GMT/UTC (5:22 p.m. EST). The year's two equinoxes join the June and December solstices as seasonal markers. The March equinox announces the Northern Hemisphere's spring and the Southern Hemisphere's autumn. The September equinox ushers in the Northern Hemisphere's autumn and the Southern Hemisphere's spring. The 2018 September equinox happens Sunday, Sept. 23, at 01:54 GMT/UTC (Saturday, Sept. 22, at 9:54 p.m. EDT).

The takeaways for the 2018 June solstice that happens Thursday, June 21, or Friday, June 22, are that the first of two annual solstices opens the Northern Hemisphere’s astronomical summer and the Southern Hemisphere’s astronomical winter and that the Tropic of Cancer experiences the June event as the day of directly overhead sun at noon. Also, the Northern Hemisphere receives and reflects more sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere.

amount of sunlight reflected from Earth during the June 20, 2005, solstice: Takmeng Wong and CERES Science Team/NASA Langley Research Center, Public Domain, via NASA Earth Observatory

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

June solstice places the noon sun directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer: Alexander Novati, Public Domain, via NASA SciJinks @ https://scijinks.gov/solstice/

The CERES (Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite measures the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth during the June 20, 2005, solstice: Takmeng Wong and CERES Science Team/NASA Langley Research Center, Public Domain, via NASA Earth Observatory @ https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6125&src=ve

For further information:

Byrd, Deborah. “All You Need to Know: June Solstice 2017.” EarthSky > Astronomy Essentials > Earth. June 20, 2018.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/?p=2319

Espenak, Fred. “2018 Calendar of Astronomical Events.” Astro Pixels > Planetary Ephemeris Data -- Earth > SKYCAL -- Sky Events Calendar Generator > Astronomical Events Calendars for 2011 to 2022.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/astrocal/astrocal2018gmt.html

Espenak, Fred. “SkyCal -- Sky Events Calendar.” NASA Eclipse Web Site.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html

Espenak, Fred. “Solstices and Equinoxes: 2001 to 2100.” Astro Pixels > Ephemeris.
Available @ http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/soleq2001.html

“LINT -- Line Islands Time (Standard Time).” TimeAndDate > Time Zones > Abbreviations.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/lint

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017 June Solstice Happens Tuesday, June 20, or Wednesday, June 21.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 21, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/06/2017-june-solstice-happens-tuesday-june.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "2018 Northern Hemisphere Spring Equinox Happens Tuesday, March 20." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/03/2018-northern-hemisphere-spring-equinox.html

Stoller-Conrad, Jessica. “What’s a Solstice?” NASA SciJinks.
Available @ https://scijinks.gov/solstice/

“Winter and Summer Solstice.” NASA Visible Earth. Dec. 21, 2005.
Available @ https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=6125

2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera Season Stages 29 Operas

Summary: The 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season stages 29 operas, opening with Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila and closing with Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.

French tenor Roberto Alagna and Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča topline the 2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera season opener, Samson et Dalila by French Romantic Era composer Camille Saint-Saëns: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Feb. 15, 2018

The 2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera season stages 29 operas, opening Monday, Sept. 24, with Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila and closing Saturday, May 11, with Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.

The Metropolitan Opera devotes almost 63 percent of the 2018-2019 season’s schedule to operas by four opera giants. Three operas by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart are performed. Six operas by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini are staged. Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi is represented by five operas. German composer-librettist Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen) of four epic operas is performed.

Alphabetically, the 26 operatic productions range from Italian composer Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur to Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre.

Adriana Lecouvreur opens Monday, Dec. 31, at 6 p.m. EST. Seven additional performances of the three-act opera are scheduled: Jan. 4, 8, 12, 16, 19, 23 and 26.

Aida opens Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s first of five Verdi operas. Thirteen additional performances are offered: Sept. 29; Oct. 2, 6, 11, 15, 18; Jan. 7, 11, 14, 18; Feb. 28; March 7.

La Bohème opens Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. EDT as the 2018-2019 Met Opera’s season’s first of six Puccini operas. Ten additional performances of the four-act opera are scheduled: Sept. 29; Oct. 3, 6, 10, 13; Nov. 29; Dec. 3, 6, 10 and 13.

Carmen opens Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. EDT, as the first of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s two operas by 19th century French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet. Thirteen additional performances of the two-act opera are offered: Nov. 3, 6, 10, 15; Jan. 9, 12, 17, 21, 26, 29; Feb. 2, 5 and 8.

La Clemenza di Tito opens Saturday, March 30, 2019, at 8:30 p.m. EDT, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s third Mozart opera. Five additional performances of the two-act opera are scheduled: April 3, 6, 11, 16 and 20.

Dialogues des Carmélites by 20th century French composer Francis Poulenc opens Friday, May 3, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Two additional performances of the two-act opera are offered: May 8 and 11.

Don Giovanni opens Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s second Mozart opera. Eleven additional performances of the two-act opera are scheduled: Feb. 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20; April 4, 9, 12, 15 and 18.

Falstaff opens Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, at 8 p.m. EST, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s fifth Verdi opera. Six additional performances of the three-act opera are offered: Feb. 27; March 2, 5, 8, 12 and 16.

La Fanciulla del West opens Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. EDT, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s second Puccini opera. Six additional performances of the three-act opera are offered: Oct. 8, 12, 17, 20, 23 and 27.

La Fille du Régiment by Italian bel canto composer Gaetano Donizetti opens Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. EST. Six additional performances of the two-act opera are scheduled: Feb. 11, 15, 18, 23, 26; March 2.

Götterdämmerung opens Saturday, April 27, 2019, at 11 a.m. EDT, as the fourth and final installment in Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle. Two additional performances of the four-act opera are offered: May 4 and 11.

Iolanta by Russian Romantic Era composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Bluebeard’s Castle by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók open as a double header Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019, at 8 p.m. EST. Additional performances of both one-act operas are scheduled: Jan. 28; Feb. 1, 4, 9 and 14.

The Magic Flute, the Metropolitan Opera’s family-friendly, English-language abridgment of Wolfgang Mozart’s fairy tale opera, opens Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m. EST, as the first of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s three Mozart operas. Seven additional holiday performances are offered: Dec. 22, 24, 27, 29; Jan. 1, 3 and 5.

Marnie, a Metropolitan Opera-commissioned opera based on English novelist Winston Graham’s same-named psychological novel and composed by American contemporary classical music composer Nico Muhly, opens Friday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. EDT. Six additional performances of the two-act opera are scheduled: Oct. 22, 27, 31; Nov. 3, 7 and 10.

Mefistofele by Italian composer and librettist Arrigo Boito opens Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. EST. Six additional performances of the three-act opera are scheduled: Nov. 12, 16, 19, 24, 27; Dec. 1.

Otello opens Friday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. EST, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s third Verdi opera. Six additional performances of the four-act opera are offered: Dec. 17, 21, 28; Jan. 2, 5 and 10.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles opens Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. EST, as the second of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s two Bizet operas. Six additional performances of the two-act opera are scheduled: Nov. 17, 20, 24, 28; Dec. 1 and 8.

Pelléas et Mélisande by French Impressionist music composer Achille-Claude Debussy, opens Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. EST. Four additional performances of the three-act opera are offered: Jan. 19, 22, 25 and 31.

Das Rheingold opens with one performance, Thursday, March 14, 2019, at 8 p.m. EDT. Das Rheingold is the first in Wagner’s Ring Cycle of four epic operas.

Rigoletto opens Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. EST, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s fourth Verdi opera. Twelve additional performances of the three-act opera are scheduled: Feb. 16, 19, 23; March 1, 6, 9, 15, 20; April 26; May 1, 4 and 10.

Samson et Dalila by French Romantic Era composer Camille Saint-Saëns opens Monday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. EDT. Twelve additional performances of the three-act opera are offered: Sept. 28; Oct. 1, 5, 9, 13, 16, 20; March 13, 16, 19, 23 and 28.

Siegfried opens Saturday, April 13, 2019, at 11:30 a.m. EDT, as the third installment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle series of four epic operas. Two additional performances of the three-act opera are scheduled: May 2 and 9.

Tosca opens Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m. EDT, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s third Puccini opera. Twelve additional performances of the four-act opera are scheduled: Oct. 29; Nov. 2, 5, 9, 13, 17; March 18, 23, 26, 29; April 2 and 6.

La Traviata opens Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 8 p.m. EST, as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s second Verdi opera. Fourteen additional performances of the three-act opera are offered: Dec. 7, 11, 15, 18, 22, 26, 29; April 5, 10, 13, 17, 20, 24 and 27.

Il Trittico opens Friday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m. EST, as a trio of one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini. Six additional performances of the operatic triple bill are scheduled: Nov. 26, 30; Dec. 5, 8, 12 and 15.

Die Walküre opens Monday, March 25, 2019, at 6:30 p.m. EDT, as second in Wagner’s four-opera Ring Cycle. One additional performance of the three-act opera is offered: Thursday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

The takeaways for the 2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera season’s staging of 29 operas are that the season opens with French Romantic Era composer Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila and, peppering the season plentifully with Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner, presents Wagner’s full Ring Cycle, with Götterdämmerung as season closer.

American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke will appear as Brünnhilde, the self-sacrificing Valkyrie (Old Norse: valkyrja, “chooser of the slain”), in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, 2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera season: Susan Jordan @Moonbootica, via Twitter March 9, 2018

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

French tenor Roberto Alagna and Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča topline the 2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera season opener, Samson et Dalila by French Romantic Era composer Camille Saint-Saëns: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter tweet Feb. 15, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/964171645899431936

American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke will appear as Brünnhilde, the self-sacrificing Valkyrie (Old Norse: valkyrja, “chooser of the slain”), in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, 2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera season: Susan Jordan @Moonbootica, via Twitter March 9, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/Moonbootica/status/972192735250743296

For further information:

The Metropolitan Opera. “2018-19 Season Repertory and Casting.” The Metropolitan Opera > News and Features > Press Releases. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.metopera.org/MetOpera/news-and-features1/press-releases/Repertory-and-Casting/

Metropolitan Opera ‏@MetOpera. "Explore the just-announced 18–19 season!" Twitter. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/964171645899431936

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/

Susan Jordan ‏@Moonbootica. “Christine Goerke, Soprano striking a fierce pose as Brünnhilde during a 2019 Ring Cycle photoshoot -- Photos by Jonathan Tichler/Met Opera.” Twitter. March 9, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Moonbootica/status/972192735250743296

Dead and Dying Baobab Trees in Africa: Globally Warmed Climate Change?

Summary: Two researchers in South Africa, two in the United States and three in Romania find globally warmed climate change behind baobab casualties in Africa.

Chapman's Baobab, which suddenly collapsed in January 2016, now numbers among Africa's dead giant trees: Botswana Tourism @BotswanaTourism, via Twitter Aug. 20, 2012

Nine of the 13 biggest, most iconic, oldest, toughest of the world's baobab trees are dead or dying, according to an article in the online scientific journal Nature Plants June 11, 2018.

Twelve years of research beginning in 2005 back up the article The Demise of the Largest and Oldest African Baobabs for the journal's Brief Communication section. Aging and analyzing 60-plus specimens and autopsying four call up abiotic (environmental, non-living) causes for researchers in Massachusetts and Virginia and in Romania and South Africa. Not one of the four dead and five dying baobabs displayed damage, decay, decline or demise from biotic (living) causes, such as disease, parasitism and predation.

Climate change explanations emerge for Adrian Patrut and co-authors Roxana Patrut and Laszlo Rakosy, Grant Hall and Stephen Woodborne and Daniel Lowy and Karl von Reden.

Lead author and researcher Adrian Patrut, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Faculty member at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, found only broken cavity walls and toppled stems.

Financial support from the Romanian Ministry of National Education and the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation got the Patrut team to Africa's grassy, woody savannahs. Researchers had clinometers and laser rangefinders, increment borers and radiocarbon systems for height and girth 1.30 meters (4.26 feet) above ground level; wood samples; tree ages. They indicated the practical, versatile applicability of their "new approach, which is not limited to fallen specimens, but allows live specimens to be investigated and dated."

The article joins girth, height and volume measurements with calculated, radiocarbon and sample ages for the two biggest, four biggest and oldest and nine oldest baobabs.

The seven researchers kept Grootboom of Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia, southern Africa, in the chart even though they knew the "great tree" as a dead specimen.

The four-page article lists among the dead the Pamke, the Dorslandboom, the Glencoe tree, the Chapman baobab, the Makulu Makete Big baobab and the Platland or Sunland tree. They mention among the extant 15 superlative baobabs the Humani Bedford Old baobab, the Matendere Big baobab, the Luna tree, the Lebombo Eco rail baobab and the Sagole Big tree. The note the Holboom as having several stems and cavity walls broken off since 2012.

The study's chart observes the Makuri Leboom as with several old stems toppled and/or broken off.

The Lundu baobab presents several stems and cavity walls broken off since 2014.

The study quantifies the participating baobabs at five in South Africa, four in Namibia, three in Zimbabwe and one each in Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. The research reveals that "These deaths were not caused by an epidemic." The researchers state that "there has also been a rapid increase in the apparently natural deaths of many other mature baobabs."

The seven researchers turn to the suggestion that "the demise of monumental baobabs may be associated at least in part with significant monumental modifications of climate conditions that affected southern Africa in particular."

In 2009, the Glencoe Baobab's main old part split and died; Glencoe Farm, near Hoedspruit, Limpopo Province, northern South Africa: Alex & Juanita Aitkenhead Photography @Alex.Juanita.Photography, via Facebook Oct. 26, 2016

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Chapman's Baobab, which suddenly collapsed in January 2016, now numbers among Africa's dead giant trees: Botswana Tourism @BotswanaTourism, via Twitter Aug. 20, 2012, @ https://twitter.com/BotswanaTourism/status/237574437669568513

In 2009, the Glencoe Baobab's main old part split and died; Glencoe Farm, near Hoedspruit, Limpopo Province, northern South Africa: Alex & Juanita Aitkenhead Photography @Alex.Juanita.Photography, via Facebook Oct. 26, 2016, @ https://www.facebook.com/Alex.Juanita.Photography/photos/a.10153807179246640.1073741850.16499661639/10153814744431640/

For further information:

Agence France-Presse. 11 June 2018. "Giant African Baobab Trees Die Suddenly After Thousands of Years." The Guardian > Africa.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/11/giant-african-baobab-trees-die-suddenly-after-thousands-of-years

Alex & Juanita Aitkenhead Photography @Alex.Juanita.Photography. 26 October 2016. "Glencoe baobab on the Glencoe farm in Hoedspruit Limpopo." Facebook. Album Champion Trees of South Africa.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/Alex.Juanita.Photography/photos/a.10153807179246640.1073741850.16499661639/10153814744431640/

"Baobab." Siyabona Africa > Kruger Park.
Available @ http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_baobab.html

Botswana Tourism @BotswanaTourism. 20 August 2012. "#BotswanaFact: Chapman's Baobab - a 4,000-year-old tree in the Kalahari Desert -- is the 3rd largest tree in Africa." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/BotswanaTourism/status/237574437669568513

Cuní Sanchez, Aida. 14 June 2018. "Baobab Trees Have More Than 300 Uses But They're Dying in Africa." The Conversation > Environment + Energy.
Available @ https://theconversation.com/baobab-trees-have-more-than-300-uses-but-theyre-dying-in-africa-98214

Drake, Nadia. 11 June 2018. "Africa's Oldest Trees Are Dying, and Scientists Are Stumped." National Geographic > News.
Available @ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/oldest-tress-africa-baobabs-dead-climate-science/

Le Roux, Mariëtte. 11 June 2018. "'Shocking' Die-Off of Africa's Oldest Baobabs: Study." France 24.
Available @ http://m.france24.com/en/20180611-shocking-die-off-africas-oldest-baobabs-study

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 December 2013. "Australian Baobab Botanical Illustrations and Images Down Under." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/australian-baobab-tree-botanical.html

McDonnell, Tim. 11 June 2018. "Why Are Some of Africa's Biggest Baobab Trees Dying Off?" National Public Radio, Inc > Goats and Soda Stories of Life in a Changing World > Environment.
Available @ https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/06/11/616085781/why-are-some-of-africas-biggest-baobab-trees-dying-off

Miley, Jessica. 14 June 2018. "Death of Ancient Baobab Trees Suspected to be Caused by Climate Change." Interesting Engineering > News.
Available @ https://interestingengineering.com/death-of-ancient-baobab-trees-suspected-to-be-caused-by-climate-change

Nuwer, Rachel. 12 June 2018. "Last March of the 'Wooden Elephants': Africa's Ancient Baobabs Are Dying." The New York Times > Science.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/12/science/baobabs-climate-change-drought.html

Patrut, Adrian; Stephen Woodborne; Roxana T. Patrut; Laszlo Rakosy; Daniel A. Low; Grant Hall; and Karl F. von Reden. 11 June 2018. "The Demise of the Largest and Oldest African Baobabs." Nature Plants. doi.og/10.1038/s41477-018-0170-5
Available @ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-018-0170-5.epdf

Thompson, Avery. 13 June 2018. "The World's Ancient Baobab Trees Are Dying, And We Don't Know Why." Popular Mechanics > Science > Environment.
Available @ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a21291677/ancient-baobab-trees-dying/

van Wyk, Braam; and Piet van Wyk. 2013. Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Second edition, fully revised. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Nature.

Yong, Ed. 11 June 2018. "Trees That Have Lived for Millennia Are Suddenly Dying." The Atlantic > Science.
Available @ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/?single_page=true