Word: wilding
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...their nominations, the Globes breaks movies and lead performances into drama (where most of the serious contenders reside) and comedy or musical. For Globe-watchers, that's the fun part. How to find five comedies? This year the wild card was In Bruges, the madly violent crime farce from Anglo-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. The critics groups paid the movie no mind, but it and its stars, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson got Globe nominations. The Comedy or Musical category is also the consolation spot for actors nudged out of the more competitive Drama department; so James Franco, surely worthy...
...animals living in the wild, nature plays for keeps. A life spent battling predators, famine, disease and the elements may be an independent one, but it can also be a very short one. That, at least, is the case zoos and wildlife parks often make when they contend that protective captivity may be a boon for many animals, particularly species that are endangered or threatened. But when it comes to at least one big and beloved creature, a new study suggests that a zoo might be the least safe place in the world...
...findings reported in the new paper, it's the life-span numbers that are the most shocking. Among African elephants, zoo-born females live a median of 16.9 years in zoos, while those in the wild make it to a wizened 56. Asian elephants, the more endangered of the two species, live 18.9 years in captivity and 41.7 in the wild. A few superannuated wild elephants have actually reached their 70s, and in Kenya, from 30% to 50% of the noncaptive population hits at least 50. "So far," says Mason, one of the authors of the new study, published...
Worse, what's killing the elephants is often ills they would never encounter in the wild. Obesity, for one: cage any healthy animal, feed it well and forbid it to move around too much, and it's likely to get fat. Cardiovascular disease is commonly reported among elephants, which, as in humans, can be a direct result of too many calories and too little exercise. What's more, baby elephants born in captivity are noticeably chubbier from the start than those born in the wild. That may be a result of the mothers weighing too much, but whatever the reason...
...pictures of China on the wild side...