Marine Debris, Plastic Waste Inside Beached Sperm Whale in Indonesia

Summary: One thousand pieces of plastic filled the stomach and felled the beached sperm whale found on Kapita Island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, Nov. 19, 2018.

some of the plastic waste and other garbage in the stomach of the deceased sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) washed ashore on Kapota Island, southeastern Sulawesi: WWF-Indonesia @WWFIndonesia, via Facebook Nov. 19, 2018

Marine debris and 1,000 pieces of plastic waste abound in the beached sperm whale that appeared Nov. 19, 2018, on the Indonesian archipelago's Kapota Island near Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi Province.

Plastics pollution barred 1-ton (0.91-tonne) daily live-food requirements; blocked and bothered internal muscles, organs and tissues; brought about dehydration and starvation from false senses of satiety. Dwarf, giant and pygmy sperm whale carcasses continue floating like dead bowhead, gray and right whales and unlike sinking blue, Bryde's, fin, minke and sei whales. The 31.17-foot (9.5-meter) beached sperm whale displayed 13.23 pounds (6 kilograms) of raffia rope; ripped tarpaulins; two flip-flops; four plastic bottles; 25 plastic bags; 115 cups.

The Mammalia (from Latin mamma, "breast [feeding]") warm-blooded class member expects cod; crabs; cuttlefish; lantern fish; lobster; long-nosed skate; nautilus; octopus; rays; redfish; sharks; shrimp; squid.

Sixty- to 70-year-old life expectancies furnish the Cetacea (from Greek κῆτος, kētos, "sea monster") order member with northern and southern hemisphere mating, gestating and birthing seasons.

The Odontoceti (from Greek ὀδούς, odoús, "tooth" and κῆτος, kētos, "sea monster") toothed whale suborder member gets January through August northerly, July through March southerly matings. Fourteen-plus-month Physeteridae (from Greek φυσητήρ, phusētér, "blowpipe") sperm whale family cow gestations harvest  9.84- to 13.12-foot (3- to 4-meter), 440.92- to 661.39-pound (200- to 300-kilogram) calves. Physically and sexually mature 26- to 30-foot (8- to 9-meter) seven- to 12-year-old females increase 10- to 30-member pods by one calf each every six years.

Males juggle 44.09-pound (20-kilogram) daily milk intake as tail-first, temporarily hairy, underwater newborns through two-year-olds and seafood-eaters as one-year-olds until joining all-male bachelor pods as six-year-olds.

Sperm whales, known in 1758 to Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), keep male physical and sexual maturity for 40-plus-foot (12-plus-meter) 17- to 20-plus-year olds.

Sperm whales, labeled Physeter macrocephalus (big-headed blowpipe) scientifically, look smaller as females with 34.12- to 41.01-foot (10.4- to 12.5-meter), 26,455.47- to 52,910.94-pound (12,000- to 24,000-kilogram) maximums. Male sperm whales maximize 19.84-pound (9-kilogram) brains; plate-sized eyes; 49.21-foot (15-meter) heads; 52.49- to 68.89-foot (16- to 21-meter) lengths; 99,208.02- to 125,663.49-pound (45,000- to 57,000-kilogram) weights. Adults net barrel-shaped, smooth-skinned, squared-off heads; white-lipped mouths; flapless, tiny ear holes; light-bellied black-, blue-, brown-gray wrinkled bodies; paddle-shaped flippers; smooth-skinned flukes; 9.84-foot (3-meter) hourly speeds.

Adult sperm whales offer 10 to 20 unerupted teeth per upper-jaw side and 17 to 29 peglike, 2.21-plus-pound (1-plus-kilogram), 7.87-inch- (20-centimeter-) long teeth per lower-jaw side.

Sperm whales perform 90-minute dives through 9,842.52-plus-foot (3,000-plus-meter) depths and prefer body and surface-water temperatures at 91.4 and 60-plus degrees Fahrenheit (33 and 15-plus degrees Celsius).

Sperm whales queue up in their intestines ambergris, waxy-black perfume base, enhancer and stabilizer, and in their heads spermaceti, waxy-white candle, cosmetic, lubricant and polish ingredient. They range from temperate and tropical waters above canyons, shelves and slopes as females and juveniles into Antarctic, Arctic, pack-ice and shallow waters as solitary males. They send out two and 30 to 60 clicks per second for echolocation and communication and 22.97-foot (7-meter) high, 45-degree water-vapor columns from lopsided, S-shaped blowholes.

Age; earthquakes; injurious giant squids, killer whales, people, people's possessions and sharks; pollution; ruptured eardrums; shifting sandbanks; sickness; storms turn sperm whales into beached sperm whales.

A deceased sperm whale, found with its stomach filled with plastic waste, washed ashore on Kapota Island, near Indonesia's Wakatobi National Park, southeastern Sulawesi: BBC News @bbcnews, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2018

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

some of the plastic waste and other garbage in the stomach of the deceased sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) washed ashore on Kapota Island, southeastern Sulawesi: WWF-Indonesia @WWFIndonesia, via Facebook Nov. 19, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/WWFIndonesia/photos/a.10151928999164311/10157344721259311/

A deceased sperm whale, found with its stomach filled with plastic waste, washed ashore on Kapota Island, near Indonesia's Wakatobi National Park, southeastern Sulawesi: BBC News @bbcnews, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/posts/10156279898617217

For further information:

BBC News @bbcnews. 20 November 2018. "115 drinking cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags and two flip-flops were found inside the sperm whale's stomach." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/posts/10156279898617217

Linnaeus, Caroli. 1758. "38.1. Physeter catodon." Systema Naturæ per Regna Tria Naturæ, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 76. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726981

Linnaeus, Caroli. 1758. "38.1. Physeter macrocephalus." Systema Naturæ per Regna Tria Naturæ, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 76. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726981

The New York Times @nytimes. 21 November 2018. "Ingesting plastic can give whales a false sense of satiation, leading them to eat less food that provides the nutrients they need, said an official of an environmental nonprofit." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/10151755587164999

Singh, Akshay Pratap. 21 November 2018. "Dead Sperm Whale in Indonesia Found with 6 Kg of Plastic in Stomach." Voqi > Life Style.
Available @ https://voqi.in/dead-sperm-whale-in-indonesia-found-with-6-kg-of-plastic-in-stomach/

Taylor, Jessica. 21 November 2018. "Indonesian Whale Washes Up On Shore with Six Kilos of Plastic in Its Stomach." Evening Standard > Future London > The Plastic-Free Project.
Available @ https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/theplasticfreeproject/whale-washes-up-on-indonesian-shore-with-6-kilos-of-plastic-in-stomach-a3993566.html

Weilgart, Lindy. "Sperm Whale: Physeter macrocephalus." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 15, Mammals IV: 70. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

WWF-Indonesia @WWFIndonesia. 19 November 2018. "Added a new photo." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/WWFIndonesia/photos/a.10151928999164311/10157344721259311/

Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Margaret and the Barber Sisters

Summary: Would Alice and Castanea Barber have burned or hanged for the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid had Queen Margaret not intervened in November 1303?

Edward I expected harsh punishments for those involved in the 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid, but his second wife, Margaret (Marguerite) of France, displayed compassion in effecting the release of the two Barber sisters, Alice and Castanea, from fearsome Newgate Prison; Edward I and Margaret, as depicted in Cronica Nuova Figurata (1348) by Italian banker, historian and chronicler Giovanni Villani (1280-1348), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City (Italian: La Città del Vaticano): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The royal couple appeared to appreciate one another even though the king articulated anger against the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid suspects and the queen allowed herself to act compassionately toward sisters.

King Edward I (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) broached Chapter House Crypt suspects June 16, Aug. 14, Oct. 10, Nov. 10/14, 1303, and March 25, 1304. The king concentrated upon confining "malefactors," advisors, assistants, informants, purchasers, recipients and sellers and collecting the "great part of our treasure," calculated at £100,000, "carried elsewhere." He demanded that "all who are guilty of this deed, or have helped and advised in it, or received the said treasure, be arrested without delay."

Edward's second wife, Queen Margaret (1279-Feb. 14, 1318), from Paris, France, effectuated the extraction on bail of the Barber sisters, Alice and Castanea, from Newgate Prison.

Edward's first four royal writs respectively focused upon facilitating "a hasty remedy," feeling "more certain about the truth," fitting charge to crime and finalizing frightening punishments.

Edward's fourth royal writ Nov. 10/14, 1303, gave his appointed justices the order that "Ad negocium illud audiendum et terminandum secundum legem et consuetudinem nostri regni." William Bereford, Roger Brabazon, Roger de Hegham, Ralph de Sandwich and Walter of Gloucester headed "hearing and terminating that business per our kingdom's law and custom." Paul Doherty, in The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303 for Carroll & Graf Publishers, Sept. 26, 2005, identifies Margaret as influenced by, not influencing, Londoners.

Margaret juggled roles as consort in England and Scotland, diplomat to niece and upcoming daughter-in-law, mother to children and stepchildren and queen of mercy to subjects.

Perhaps Margaret knew "pressure from fellow [London] citizens" while "busy with diplomatic matters" concerning Edward II (April 25, 1284-Sept. 21, 1327) marrying Isabella (1295-Aug. 22, 1358).

Sir Francis Palgrave's edited Kalendars and Inventories of the Exchequer listed, "Postea ad Mandatum Dominae Reginae predict Castanea et Alicia, soror ejus dismissive sunt per Mancaptores." He mentioned that "Afterwards [subsequent to Edward's writ Nov. 10/14, 1303], at the Queen's command, the said Castanea and her sister Alice were released on sureties."

Bread Street jurors July 3, 1303, noted that "Castanea Barber and Alice her sister were receivers [shelterers]" for John of Newmarket, William Palmer and Richard Puddlicott. Goldsmiths likewise observed at the Guildhall inquiry July 4, 1303, that the Barber sisters operated as fences for goldsmith John of Newmarket and merchant Richard Puddlicott.

Twenty-four London aldermen July 29, 1303, put the sisters in London's Fleet Prison precinct and Westminster with Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid participants May 3-5, 1303. A horseman, four "ribalds," John and William de Kynebaston, John de Uggele and the sisters queued daylong "eating and drinking before advancing with arms towards Westminster. In the morning they returned, they did this for two nights but, after that, they never returned" to "a certain house within" London's Fleet Prison precinct.

Indictments Jan. 9 and 13-14, 1304, showed "a passing reference" since no "proof positive,  hard evidence " suggested the sisters stealing, storing or streaming Edward's treasures. Perhaps Alice and Castanea Barber never turned up burned or hanged for the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid because life took another tack through Margaret's compassion.

Findings by London's 24 aldermen that placed Alice and Castanea Barber in the vicinity of Fleet Prison and of Westminster with Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raiders sent the two sisters to frightful Newgate Prison, from which Queen Margaret of France, Edward I's second wife, mercifully freed them; Fleet Prison was rebuilt after Peasants' Revolt-caused destruction in 1381 and Gordon Riot-caused destruction in 1780 but was finally torn down in 1846; "Last Remains of the Fleet Prison," in Walter Thornbury's Old and New London, vol. II, page 408 (1878): Not in copyright, 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:

Edward I expected harsh punishments for those involved in the 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid, but his second wife, Margaret (Marguerite) of France, displayed compassion in effecting the release of the two Barber sisters, Alice and Castanea, from fearsome Newgate Prison; Edward I and Margaret, as depicted in Cronica Nuova Figurata (1348) by Italian banker, historian and chronicler Giovanni Villani (1280-1348), Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City (Italian: La Città del Vaticano): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EDuard_Marketa.jpg

Findings by London's 24 aldermen that placed Alice and Castanea Barber in the vicinity of Fleet Prison and of Westminster with Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raiders sent the two sisters to frightful Newgate Prison, from which Queen Margaret of France, Edward I's second wife, mercifully freed them; Fleet Prison was rebuilt after Peasants' Revolt-caused destruction in 1381 and Gordon Riot-caused destruction in 1780 but was finally torn down in 1846; "Last Remains of the Fleet Prison," in Walter Thornbury's Old and New London, vol. II, page 408 (1878): Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/oldnewlondonnarr02thor#page/408/mode/1up

For further information:

Boutell, Charles. 1864. Heraldry, Historical and Popular. Third edition, revised and enlarged. London, England: Richard Bentley.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/heraldryhistoric01bout

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

Harvey, Barbara F., ed. 1965. Documents Illustrating the Rule of Walter de Wenlok, Abbot of Westminster 1283-1307. Vol. II. Camden Fourth Series. London, England: Offices of the Royal Historical Society.

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

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession July 6, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Goldsmiths Talk July 4, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_13.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Aldermen Interviews July 29, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_27.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 August 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Westminster Jurors Aug. 6, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 August 2018. "Edward I's Second Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/edward-is-second-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 September 2018. "Westminster Abbey Refectory Raid and London Sheriff Hugh Pourte." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/westminster-abbey-refectory-raid-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 October 2018. "Edward I's Third Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/edward-is-third-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: "Falsely Indicted" Monks?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 October 2018. "Appellants Not Involved in the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/appellants-not-involved-in-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 October 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid Commission Oct. 26, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_26.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 November 2018. "Queen of Mercy to Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid Female Suspects." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/queen-of-mercy-to-westminster-abbey.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 November 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Female Suspects Left Behind." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_9.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 November 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Two Freed Female Suspects." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_16.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

Rothwell, Harry, ed. 1957. The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. Previously Edited as the Chronicle of Walter of Hemingford or Hemingburgh. Camden Series Volume LXXXIX. London, England: Royal Historical Society.

Thornbury, Walter. 1878. "Chapter XXXIII: The Fleet Prison." Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places. Vol. II: 404-416. London, England; Paris, France; New York NY: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.
Available via British History Online (BHO) @ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol2/pp404-416
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/oldnewlondonnarr02thor#page/404/mode/1up

Villani, Giovani. 1348. "Come il conte d'Artese isconfisse i Fiamminghi a Fornes, e come il re d'Inghilterra passò in Fiandra." Nuova Cronica, Tomo Secondo, Libro Nono, Capitolo XX: 237-238. Parma, Italy: Ugo Guanda Editore, 1991.
Available @ https://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/libri/v/villani/nuova_cronica/pdf/nuova__p.pdf

Villani, Giovanni. 1348. "Come il conte d'Artese isconfisse i Fiamminghi a Fornes, e come il re d'Inghilterra passò in Fiandra." Giovanni Villani Cronica Nova Figurata, folio 159R, page 142. BAV (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) Chigiano L VIII 296. Available via Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana @ https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Chig.L.VIII.296

Hawking's Brief Answers to the Big Questions: Black Hole Interiors

Summary: Black hole interiors emerge fifth in 10 questions that theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking examines in Brief Answers to the Big Questions.

binary system GRO 1655-40 comprises a star and a black hole; artist's representation of GRO 1655-40, with black hole pulling gas away from the star, by science illustrator Melissa Weiss: NASA/CXC (Chandra X-Ray Center)/M. Weiss, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Black hole interiors approach the halfway mark as fifth of 10 answered questions in the posthumous publication Oct. 15, 2018, of the last work by a world-renowned mathematics professor and theoretical physicist.

Chapter 5's "What Is Inside a Black Hole?" blends black hole interiors into Stephen Hawking's (Jan. 8, 1942-March 14, 2018) Brief Answers to the Big Questions. Albert Einstein's (March 14, 1879-April 18, 1955) theory of general relativity in 1915 concerns time, space and gravity, only electric force with ever-attractive and long-range consequences. John Michell (Dec. 25, 1724-April 21, 1793) before, and John Wheeler (July 9, 1911-April 13, 2008) after, the Einstein equations discerned dark stars and black holes.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Oct. 19, 1910-Aug. 21, 1995) and Lev Landau (Jan. 22, 1908-April 1, 1968) respectively exempted white dwarfs and neutron stars from fuel-exhausted gravitational collapse.

Robert Oppenheimer (April 22, 1904-Feb. 18, 1967), Hartland Snyder (Feb. 24, 1913-May 22, 1962) and George Volkoff (Feb. 23, 1914-April 24, 2000) featured more massive stars.

Thermal pressure from hydrogen conversion into helium goes against gravitational collapse in stellar masses greater than neutron stars and white dwarfs until they go through fuel. Oppenheimer, Snyder and Volkoff, and Roger Penrose heralded respectively "uniform spherically systematic symmetric" and non-spherical, non-uniform huge stars gravity-honed into compact, fuel-exhausted, infinitely dense, single-pointed singularities. Identification of quasi-stellar objects, quasar 3C273 in 1963, indicated gravitational energy releases from gravitational collapse into singularities whose information-gathering inspection the Penrose cosmic censorship conjecture inhibits.

Even gravitational pull from huger, not uneven pull from smaller, black hole interiors never jeopardizes journeys across entryway event horizons where gravity jams light back inside.

Additional in-falling matter and radiation and colliding, merging black holes keep increasing event horizon surface areas, beyond the sum of pre-merger areas in the latter's case.

Jacob Bekenstein in 1972 and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Sept. 14, 2015, list three stationary-state black hole parameters: angular momentum (spin); electric charge; mass. Event horizon area properties manifest the first and second laws of thermodynamics about entropy (disorder) increasing with time and proportional changes in system energy and entropy. The Uncertainty  Principle negates simultaneously noting particle position, size and speed; nets long-wavelength lightweights and short-wavelength heavyweights; nurtures black holes from objects heavier than salt grains.

Thermal radiation emissions from some decoupled virtual antiparticles and particles outrunning super-strong gravity occasions space-distorted, time-distorted black hole interiors with decreased masses and sizes into oblivion.

Thermal radiation emissions preserve nothing about black hole interiors even though scientifically deterministic laws present an evolving universe of non-created, non-destroyed, transferred, transformed energy, information, matter.

Flat-looking space-time away from curved, distorted, warped black hole interiors queues up supertranslation charges of uncurved, undistorted, unwarped space and time respectively conserving momentum and energy. Sasha Haco, Hawking, Malcolm Perry and Andrew Strominger regard charge, mass and momentum properties and super-rotation and supertranslation charges as retrievable information about black hole interiors. Their calculations since 2016 suggest all black hole entropy-related information from super-rotation (spinning) charges and some information about black hole interiors from super-translation (non-spin movement) charges.

Black holes transmit charge, mass and spin information even as surface storage areas on entryway event horizons teem with information thereby unlost about black hole interiors.

Ongoing revisions of light-year distances place black holes A 0620-00 and GRO 1655-40 closer to the sun than previous calculations; Stephen Hawking's voice has been beaming since June 15, 2018, to A 0620-00, currently considered as the nearest known black hole, with arrival at A 0620-00's event horizon slated for around the year 5475; artist's impression of GRO 1655-40 by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics computer animator/video producer April J. Hobart: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

binary system GRO 1655-40 comprises a star and a black hole; artist's representation of GRO 1655-40, with black hole pulling gas away from the star, by science illustrator Melissa Weiss: NASA/CXC (Chandra X-Ray Center)/M. Weiss, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_of_a_Stellar-Mass_Black_Hole.jpg

Ongoing revisions of light-year distances place black holes A 0620-00 and GRO 1655-40 closer to the sun than previous calculations; Stephen Hawking's voice has been beaming since June 15, 2018, to A 0620-00, currently considered as the nearest known black hole, with arrival at A 0620-00's event horizon slated for around the year 5475; artist's impression of GRO 1655-40 by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics computer animator/video producer April J. Hobart: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GRO_J1655-40.jpg

For further information:

Foellmi, Cédric. 2009. "What Is the Closest Black Hole to the Sun?" New Astronomy, vol. 14, issue 8 (November): 674-691.
Available via Semantic Scholar @ https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/73d5/2dfbf6be1c9aba2164e9875be2f5e46b52e2.pdf

Hawking, Stephen. 1994. Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays. New York NY: Bantam Books.

Hawking, Stephen. 2018. "[Chapter] 5: What Is Inside a Black Hole?" Brief Answers to the Big Questions. New York NY: Bantam Books.

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 October 2018. "Hawking's Brief Answers to the Big Questions: Scientific Literacy." Earth and Space News. Thursday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/hawkings-brief-answers-to-big-questions.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 October 2018. "Brief Answers to Big Questions: Divine Creation, Scientific Creation?" Earth and Space News. Thursday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/brief-answers-to-big-questions-divine.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 November 2018. "Cosmological Beginnings in Hawking's Brief Answers to Big Questions." Earth and Space News. Thursday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/cosmological-beginnings-in-hawkings.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 November 2018. "Intelligent Life in Stephen Hawking's Brief Answers to Big Questions." Earth and Space News. Thursday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/intelligent-life-in-stephen-hawkings.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 November 2018. "Hawking's Brief Answers to the Big Questions: Predictable Futures?" Earth and Space News. Thursday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/hawkings-brief-answers-to-big-questions.html

Globe at Night 2018 Second Perseus and Grus Campaigns Begin Nov. 29

Summary: The Globe at Night 2018 Second Perseus and Grus campaigns begin Thursday, Nov. 29, in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, respectively.

Grus the Crane’s first and second brightest stars, Alnair (Alpha Gruis) and Tiaki (Beta Gruis): Gustav Lindqvist @Gurrsnurr, via Twitter March 15, 2015

The Globe at Night 2018 second Perseus and Grus campaigns begin Thursday, Nov. 29, and close Saturday, Dec. 8, as checks of light pollution effects on visibility of Perseus the Hero in the Northern Hemisphere and Grus the Crane constellation in the Southern.

The November-to-December constellation campaigns open as the second of two 2018 Perseus and Grus campaigns. Globe at Night ran the first Perseus and Grus campaigns from Tuesday, Oct. 30, through Thursday, Nov. 8.

Perseus the Hero is considered a Northern Hemisphere constellation. Its placement occurs in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, the northern half of the imaginary sphere projected by astronomy into space. Perseus resides north of the celestial equator, astronomy’s imaginary projection of Earth’s equator onto the abstract celestial sphere.

Learn to Skywatch suggests finding Perseus by way of the Hero’s northern neighbor Cassiopeia. Gamma Cassiopeiae (γ Cassiopeiae; Gamma Cas, γ Cas) and Delta Cassiopeiae (δ Cassiopeiae; Delta Cas, δ Cas), the two stars in the Seated Queen’s less-defined vee, point to Eta Persei (η Persei; Eta Per, η Per) at the tip of the Hero’s fishhook. The eight-star fishhook also includes Gamma Persei (γ Persei; Gamma Per, γ Per), Mirfak (Alpha Persei, α Persei; Alpha Per, α Per), Delta Persei (δ Persei; Delta Per, δ Per), Mu Persei (Mu Per, μ Persei, μ Per), 48 Persei (c Persei, 48 Per, HR 1273, HIP 19343, or HD 25940), b Persei (HD 26961) and, at the fish hook’s tail, Lambda Persei (λ Persei; Lambda Per, λ Per).

The Hero’s fishhook overlaps with the constellation’s other finding aid, a wishbone. The six-star wishbone shares Gamma Persei, Mirfak (Alpha Persei) and Delta Persei with the fishhook. Epsilon Persei (ε Persei; Epsilon Per, ε Per), Beta Persei (β Persei; Beta Per, β Per) and Zeta Persei (ζ Persei; Zeta Per, ζ Per) form the wishbone’s fork.

Globe at Night provides eight magnitude charts for each campaign. Magnitude zero represents a cloudy sky. Magnitude seven presents a star-filled sky. Beta Persei, known traditionally as Algol, is visible at all targeted latitudes, 0 to 50 degrees north, according to Globe at Night’s charts for magnitudes two through seven.

Globe at Night’s simultaneous Southern Hemisphere campaign focuses on Grus the Crane constellation. Location in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere qualifies Grus as a Southern Hemisphere constellation. Constellation Guide website indicates Grus the Crane’s visibility as extending beyond the Southern Hemisphere. The Crane offers visibility in the Northern Hemisphere to observers at equatorial latitudes up to 34 degrees north latitude.

The Crane’s constellatory neighbors are all Southern Celestial Hemisphere residents. Sculptor and Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish lie to the north. Tucana the Toucan and Indus the Indian are adjacent to the Crane’s southern boundary. Eastern and western neighbors are Phoenix the Phoenix and Microscopium the Microscope, respectively.

Grus the Crane’s placement near other constellations’ brightest stars facilitates identification. Eridanus the River’s brightest star, Achernar (Alpha Eridani, α Eridani; Alf Eri, α Eri), and Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish’s brightest star, Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini, α Piscis Austrini; Alpha PsA, α PsA), frame the Crane.

Globe at Night’s website notes the triangle formed by the Crane’s three brightest stars. Alpha Gruis (α Gruis; Alpha Gru, α Gru) perches at the triangle’s apex. Known traditionally as Alnair (Arabic: al-nayyir, “the bright one”), Alpha Gruis is the Crane’s brightest star. The Crane’s second and third brightest stars, Beta Gruis (β Gruis; Bet Gru, β Gru) and Gamma Gruis (γ Gruis; Gam Gru, γ Gru), respectively, anchor the triangle’s sides.

Alnair and Beta Gruis are visible on Globe at Night’s charts for targeted latitudes 10 to 40 degrees south at magnitudes two through seven. They are not visible at the two lowest magnitudes, zero and one.

The takeaways for the Globe at Night 2018 second Perseus and Grus campaigns, which simultaneously run from Thursday, Nov. 29, through Saturday, Dec. 8, are that both campaigns close as the second of two 2018 Hero and Crane campaigns and that their completion signals the end of Globe at Night’s 2018 campaigns in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.

Perseus the Hero constellation lies between distinctively shaped Cassiopeia the Seated Queen constellation and Auriga the Charioteer constellation’s brightest star, Capella: Learn to Skywatch @Learntoskywatch, via Twitter Nov. 27, 2017

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Grus the Crane’s first and second brightest stars, Alnair (Alpha Gruis) and Tiaki (Beta Gruis): Gustav Lindqvist @Gurrsnurr, via Twitter March 15, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/Gurrsnurr/status/577085245876502528

Perseus the Hero constellation lies between distinctively shaped Cassiopeia the Seated Queen constellation and Auriga the Charioteer constellation’s brightest star, Capella: Learn to Skywatch @Learntoskywatch, via Twitter Nov. 27, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/Learntoskywatch/status/935221889034747904

For further information:

“Can You Find Grus?” Globe at Night > Finding Constellations.
Available @ https://www.globeatnight.org/finding/grus

“Can You Find Perseus?” Globe at Night > Finding Constellations.
Available @ https://www.globeatnight.org/finding/perseus

Gustav Lindqvist ‏@Gurrsnurr. “Ute och kollar stjärnor @Zelolule Grus can be found south of the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish.” Twitter. March 15, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Gurrsnurr/status/577085245876502528

Learn to Skywatch @Learntoskywatch. “Tonight's Target: The Constellation Perseus.” Twitter. Nov. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Learntoskywatch/status/935221889034747904

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Bootes and Crux Campaigns Happen in May.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 9, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/globe-at-night-2018-bootes-and-crux.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Cygnus and Second Scorpius Campaigns Begin Aug. 2.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/globe-at-night-2018-cygnus-and-second.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Hercules and Third Crux Campaigns Begin June 4.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 30, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/globe-at-night-2018-hercules-and-third.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Leo Campaign Begins April 6 for Northern Latitudes.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 4, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/globe-at-night-2018-leo-campaign-begins.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Pegasus and Second Sagittarius Campaigns Begin Oct. 1.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/globe-at-night-2018-pegasus-and-second.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Perseus and Grus Campaigns Begin Oct. 30.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/globe-at-night-2018-perseus-and-grus.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Sagittarius and Second Cygnus Campaigns Begin Sept. 1.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/globe-at-night-2018-sagittarius-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Globe at Night 2018 Scorpius and Second Hercules Campaigns Begin July 4.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/globe-at-night-2018-scorpius-and-second.html

2018-2019 Met Opera Season’s 10th Week Offers Bizet, Boito and Puccini

Summary: The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 10th week offers Bizet, Boito and Puccini operas of Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Mefistofele, La Bohème and Il Trittico.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season switches to La Bohème’s second cast Thursday, Nov. 29: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Dec. 14, 2017

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 10th week offers Bizet, Boito and Puccini operas in continuing performances of Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Mefistofele, La Bohème and Il Trittico during the season’s 10th week.

Week 10 in the 2018-2019 Met Opera season opens with the first of the week’s two performances of Il Trittico by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). The performance Monday, Nov. 26, starts at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. A second performance takes place Friday, Nov. 30, at 7:30 p.m.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season premiere of Il Trittico took place during the season’s ninth week. The season premiere occurred Friday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m.

The Metropolitan Opera includes Il Trittico in the 2018-2019 season’s roster of Saturday matinee radio broadcasts. Il Trittico’s performance Saturday, Dec. 8, numbers second in the season’s schedule of 24 Saturday matinee radio broadcasts.

The Metropolitan Opera hosted the world premiere of Il Trittico 99 years ago. Il Trittico’s world premiere took place Dec. 14, 1918.

Prior to the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, the Metropolitan Opera most recently performed Il Trittico during the 2009-2010 season. The 2009-2010 season’s performances marked the first revival of Jack O’Brien’s new staging of Il Trittico. The American director and producer’s new production debuted April, 20, 2007, in the Metropolitan Opera’s 60th performance of Il Trittico.

Il Trittico gathers together three one-act operas that are sometimes performed as an ensemble and sometimes separately. Il Trittico translates as triptych. The three component acts are Il Tabarro (The Cloak), Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) and Gianni Schicchi.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 10th week also continues performances of Mefistofele by Italian composer and librettist Arrigo Boito (Feb. 24, 1842-June 10, 1918). The week’s first Mefistofele performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday, Nov. 27.

The week’s second Mefistofele performance takes place Saturday, Dec. 1, at 1 p.m. Saturday’s performance opens the 2018-2019 Met Opera Saturday matinee radio broadcast season. Saturday’s performance occurs as the first of 24 Saturday matinee radio broadcasts scheduled for the 2018-2019 Met Opera season.

Prior to the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, the Metropolitan Opera most recently performed Mefistofele 18 years ago. The 1999-2000 Met Opera season’s staging debuted Robert Carsen’s new production Nov. 5, 1999. The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s performances mark the first revival of Carsen’s staging.

Week 10 also continues performances of Les Pêcheurs de Perles by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875). The week’s first performance of Les Pêcheurs de Perles is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7:30 p.m. The week’s second performance takes place Saturday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2018-2019 season premiere of Les Pêcheurs de Perles occurred during the season’s eighth week. The season premiere of Les Pêcheurs de Perles happened Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m.

The Metropolitan Opera includes Bizet’s opera in the 2018-2019 season’s Saturday matinee radio broadcast schedule. Les Pêcheurs de Perles closes the 2018-2019 Met Opera Saturday matinee radio broadcast season Saturday, May 4, 2019, as the last of 24 scheduled broadcasts.

Prior to the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, the Metropolitan Opera most recently performed Les Pêcheurs de Perles two years ago. The 2015-2016 Met Opera season’s staging debuted Penny Woolcock’s new production Dec. 31, 2015. The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s performances mark the first revival of Woolcock’s staging.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 10th week offers a solitary performance of Puccini’s La Bohème. Puccini’s bohemian opera is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7:30 p.m.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season premiere of La Bohème occurred during the season’s opening week. La Bohème’s season premiere took place Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Prior to the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, the Metropolitan Opera most recently performed La Bohème during the previous season, 2017-2018. Opera News’ monthly Operapedia feature writer Henry Stewart notes that the Metropolitan Opera has performed revivals of Franco Zeffirelli’s production every year, with the exception of 2013, since the staging’s 1981 debut.

The takeaways for the 2018-2019 Met Opera season's 10th week are that the week offers Bizet, Boito and Puccini in continued performances of Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Mefistofele and Il Trittico; brings back La Bohème for the season's winter cast; and ends with Mefistofele as the season's first Saturday matinee radio broadcast.

Boito’s Mefistofele opens the 2018-2019 Met Opera Saturday matinee radio broadcast season Saturday, Dec. 1, as the first of 24 scheduled broadcasts: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season switches to La Bohème’s second cast Thursday, Nov. 29: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Dec. 14, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160137119955533/

Boito’s Mefistofele opens the 2018-2019 Met Opera Saturday matinee radio broadcast season Saturday, Dec. 1, as the first of 24 scheduled broadcasts: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160137120435533/

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Opens Sept. 24 With Samson et Dalila.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 17, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/2018-2019-met-opera-season-opens-sept.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of La Fanciulla del West Is Thursday, Oct. 4.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 24, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of Mefistofele Is Thursday, Nov. 8.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 29, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of_29.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of Les Pêcheurs de Perles Is Wednesday, Nov. 14.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 5, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of Il Trittico Is Friday, Nov. 23.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 12, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of_12.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera Season Presents Four New Productions.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 25, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/2018-2019-metropolitan-opera-season_25.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Metropolitan Opera Season Stages 29 Operas.” 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. “La Bohème Is Feb. 24, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Feb. 19, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/02/la-boheme-is-feb-24-2018-met-opera.html

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Puccini’s timeless masterpiece of love and loss returns on September 25. . . .” Facebook. Dec. 14, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160137119955533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “The spectacular Robert Carsen production returns to the Met for the first time since 2000 . . .” Facebook. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160137120435533/

“New Production: La Bohème.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 266920 New Production La Bohème {823} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/14/1981.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=266920

“New Production: Mefistofele.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 332117 New Production Mefistofele {55} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/05/19999.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=332117

“New Production: Les Pêcheurs de Perles.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356215 New Production Les Pêcheurs de Perles {5} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/31/2015.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356215

Stewart, Henry. “Operapedia: La Bohème.” Opera News, vol. 81, no. 2 (August 2016).
Available @ https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/8/Departments/Operapedia_%E2%80%94_La_Boh%C3%A8me.html

Baby Masai Giraffe Ubumwe Dead 18 Days After Birth in Columbus Zoo

Summary: Baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe delighted Columbus Zoo and Aquarium staff in Ohio with delivery Oct. 30, 2018, and devastated all with death Nov. 17, 2018.

Ubumwe, comforted by her caretakers: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium @columbuszoo, via Facebook Nov. 17, 2018

Animal care team members for the Heart of Africa area in Ohio's Columbus Zoo and Aquarium await animal autopsy and pathology reports about the dead baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe Nov. 17, 2018.

Eight-year-old Zuri (from Swahili for "beautiful") bore her first-born calf Oct. 30, 2018, at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, EDT (8:30 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time, UTC). Her daughter Ubumwe (from Kinyarwanda for "togetherness" in Rwanda, central-east Africa) with 8-year-old Masai giraffe Enzi (from Swahili for "exalt") came out head and hooves first. Ubumwe displayed healthy nursing as a 105-pound (47.63-kilogram), 64-inch (1.62-meter) one-day-old Oct. 31 and as a 130-pound (58.97-kilogram) three-day-old Nov. 2, but not as a 17-day-old.

The baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe exhibited constipation, dehydration and pain around 6 p.m. and midnight EDT (10 p.m. Nov. 16 and 4 a.m. Nov. 17, UTC).

Computed tomography (CT) scan and ultrasound (high-frequency waves) furnished Dr. Randy Junge of the Animal Health Center no reason to operate on "abnormality of the bowel."

The baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe gave her last breaths at 8:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 p.m. UTC) after guarding darkened face, lowered body temperature and recurring dehydration. Wild-born calves of Masai giraffes, hailed as Kilimanjaro giraffes commonly and Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi (Tippelskirch's camel-like, leopard-like giraffe) scientifically, have their first month with birth mothers. Fourteen- to 15-month gestations initiate two- to six-hour births of Tippelskirch's camel-like, leopard-like giraffes, identified scientifically in 1898 by Paul Matschie (Aug. 11, 1861-March 7, 1926).

Six-foot (1.83-meter), 200-pound (90.72-kilogram) newborn males and smaller females, like the baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe, juggle 6-foot (1.83) meter drops from birth canals to the ground.

The baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe knew walking skills within 20 to 60 minutes even though newborns, plant-eaters as three- to four-week-olds, keep to year-long nursing schedules.

Rotating shifts of wild counterparts to Masai giraffe mother Zuri lead the 20- to 30-member herd's nurseries while other physically and sexually mature females locate food. Brown-eyed, thick-eyelashed females and males manifest 16-plus-foot (4.88-meter) versus 19-plus-foot  (5.79-plus-meter) heights; 1,575- to 2,700-pound (714.41- to 1,224.69-kilogram) versus 2,475- to 4,275-pound (1,122.64- to 1,939.11-kilogram) weights. They net 18-plus-inch (45.72-plus-centimeter) black-blue-tipped, saliva-thickened tongue, 2-foot (0.61-meter) head, 6.56-foot (2-meter) leg and neck, 12-inch (30.48-centimeter) foot, 40-inch (101.6-centimeter) upper-tail and 40-inch (101.6-centimeter) tail-hair lengths.

Physically and sexually mature three-plus-year-olds obtain 100-pound (45.36-kilogram) heads; 1.5-pound (0.68-kilogram) brains; 450-pound (204.12-kilogram) necks; 25-pound (11.34-kilogram) hearts; 280-foot- (85-meter-) long intestines; 6-inch- (15.24-centimeter-) wide hooves.

The brown-, cream-, orange-spotted Giraffidae family member paces with right, then left legs forward and passes 35-mile (56.33-kilometer) hourly speeds with front, then back legs forward.

Four-chambered stomachs and bony-ridged, prehensile-tongued, 32-toothed mouths qualify bone-grinding, soil-grazing Masai giraffes for acacia, mimosa, wild apricot and 97-plus trees' bark, buds, fruits, leaves and twigs. Ethiopian, Kenyan, Somalian and Tanzanian Masai giraffes daily require 10- to 120-minute lie-down sleeping or stand-up napping; 16-plus-hour browsing; 10-gallon (37.85-liter) hydrating; 75-pound (34.02-kilogram) plant-eating regimes. Bellows, bleats, coughs, growls, grunts, moans, moos, snorts, whistles; infrasounds outside human frequencies; multi-directional kicks signal stress from predatory cheetahs, crocodiles, hyenas, leopards, lions and poachers.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature imminently terms baby Masai giraffe Ubumwe, captive and 32,000-plus wild populations critically endangered from agro-industrialization, poaching and skin disease.

newborn Ubumwe (birthday Oct. 30, 2018) with her mother, Zuri: Columbus Zoo ‏@ColumbusZoo, via Twitter Nov. 2, 2018

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Ubumwe, comforted by her caretakers, Nov. 17, 2018: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium @columbuszoo, via Facebook Nov. 17, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/columbuszoo/photos/a.105162722105/10156116090937106/

newborn Ubumwe (birthday Oct. 30, 2018) with her mother, Zuri: Columbus Zoo @ColumbusZoo, via Twitter Nov. 2, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/ColumbusZoo/status/1058460100321525760

For further information:

"Baby Giraffe Born at Columbus Zoo." 10 TV > Published 10/30/18 06:30 AM EDT Updated 11/12/18 03:41 PM EST.
Available @ https://www.10tv.com/article/baby-giraffe-born-columbus-zoo

"Baby Giraffe Dies at Columbus Zoo." NBC4i > News > Local News > 17 November 2018.
Available @ https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/baby-giraffe-dies-at-columbus-zoo/1603681997

"Baby Watch: 2 Baby Giraffes Expected 'Any Day Now' at Ohio Zoo." WLWT5 > Updated 7:18 AM EDT Sep 24, 2018.
Available @ https://www.wlwt.com/article/2-giraffes-close-to-birthing-at-ohio-zoo-and-theres-a-live-cam/23130420

The Columbus Dispatch. 30 October 2018. "Baby Giraffe Born at Columbus Zoo." Canton Rep > News.
Available @ https://www.cantonrep.com/news/20181030/baby-giraffe-born-at-columbus-zoo/2

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium @columbuszoo. 2 November 2018. "Introducing Ubumwe the giraffe! Zuri’s daughter now has a name thanks to a longtime Columbus Zoo and Aquarium supporter. Ubumwe means 'togetherness' or 'unity' in Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda. . . ." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/columbuszoo/photos/a.105162722105/10156084943827106/

Columbus Zoo ‏@ColumbusZoo. 2 November 2018. "Introducing Ubumwe the #giraffe! Zuri’s daughter now has a name thanks to a longtime #ColumbusZoo supporter. Ubumwe means 'togetherness' or 'unity' in Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda. Check in with Zuri and Ubumwe on @NatGeoWild’s live cams: http://giraffebirthcam.com." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ColumbusZoo/status/1058460100321525760

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium @columbuszoo. 17 November 2018. "It is with a very heavy heart that we announce that Ubumwe, the female Masai giraffe calf born on Oct. 30, passed away today at approximately 8:30 a.m. At this time, the cause is unknown, and we will not have more information until a necropsy (animal autopsy) is conducted and a pathology report is received in several weeks. . . ." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/columbuszoo/posts/10156116102092106

Knapton, Sarah. 14 November 2018. "Giraffes At Risk of Extinction As They Are Given 'Critically Endangered' Status for First Time." The Telegraph > News > Science.
Available @ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/11/14/giraffes-risk-extinction-animals-listed-critically-endangered/

Martinelli, Deborah. 17 November 2018. "Columbus Zoo Announces Death of Newborn Baby Giraffe." WDTN > 2 News > Ohio.
Available @ https://www.wdtn.com/news/ohio/columbus-zoo-announces-death-of-newborn-baby-giraffe/1603950710

Matschie, P. (Paul). 1898. "Einige anscheinend noch nicht beschriebene Säugetiere aus Afrika." Sitzungs-Berichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin. Jahrgang 1898, no. 7 (19 juni 1898): 75-81. Berlin, Germany: R. Friedänder und Sohn.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8790817

Neese, Alissa Widman. 21 June 2018. "2 Baby Giraffes To Be Born End of Summer at Columbus Zoo." The Columbus Dispatch > News.
Available @ https://www.cantonrep.com/news/20181030/baby-giraffe-born-at-columbus-zoo/2

Toon, Ann and Stephen B. "Giraffe: Giraffa camelopardalis." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 15, Mammals IV: 408-409. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Wynn, Sarah. 2 November 2018. "Columbus Zoo Announces Name of Newborn Giraffe Calf." ABC 6 On Your Side > News > Local.
Available @ https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/columbus-zoo-announces-name-of-newborn-giraffe-calf