Science & Technology

Big cats in urban jungle: LA mountain lions, Mumbai leopards

Published

3 years ago

June 30, 2022

Los Angeles and Mumbai, India, are the world’s only megacities of 10 million-plus people where large felines — mountain lions in one, leopards in the other — thrive by breeding, hunting and maintaining territory within urban boundaries.

Long-term studies in both cities have examined how the big cats prowl through their urban jungles, and how people can best live alongside them — lessons that may be applicable to more places in coming decades, AP reported.

“In the future, there’s going to be more cities like this, as urban areas further encroach on natural habitats,” said biologist Audra Huffmeyer, who studies mountain lions at the University of California, Los Angeles. “If we want to keep these large carnivores around on the planet, we have to learn to live with them.”

Twenty years ago, scientists in Los Angeles placed a tracking collar on their first cat, a large male mountain lion dubbed P1, that defended a wide swath of the Santa Monica Mountains, a coastal range that lies within and adjacent to the city.

“P1 was as big as they get in southern California, about 150 pounds,” said Seth Riley, a National Park Service ecologist who was part of the effort. “These dominant males are the ones that breed — they won’t tolerate other adult males in their territory.”

With GPS tracking and camera traps, the scientists followed the rise and fall of P1’s dynasty for seven years, through multiple mates and litters of kittens. “2009 was the last time we knew anything about P1,” said Riley. “There must have been a fight. We found his collar, blood on a rock. And never saw him again. He was reasonably old.”

Since then, Riley has helped collar around 100 more mountain lions in Los Angeles, building a vast database of lion behavior that’s contributed to understanding how much territory the cats need, what they eat (mostly deer), how often they cross paths with people and what may imperil their future, AP reported.

In Mumbai, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, the leopards are packed in, too: about 50 have adapted to a space ideally suited for 20. And yet the nocturnal cats also keep mostly out of sight.

“Because these animals are so secretive, you don’t know much about them. You can’t just observe them,” said Vidya Athreya, director of Wildlife Conservation Society in India and part of a research team that recently fitted five leopards with tracking collars.

The leopards’ core range is centered around Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a protected area boxed on three sides by an urbanized landscape, including a neighborhood that’s home to 100,000 people and nearly a dozen leopards, AP reported.

Researchers tackled specific questions from park managers, such as how the cats cross busy roads near the park.

To get the answer, they collared a big male dubbed Maharaja. They found that it walked mostly at night and traversed over 60 kilometers in about a week, from the park in Mumbai to another nearby. The leopard crossed a busy state highway, using the same spot to pass, on three occasions. It also crossed a railway track.

The path chosen by Maharaja is nearby a new highway and a freight corridor under construction. Researchers said that knowing the big cats’ highway crossing habits can help policy makers make informed decisions about where to build animal underpasses to reduce accidents.

But learning to live alongside cats is not only a matter of infrastructure decisions, but also human choices and education, AP reported.

In Mumbai, Purvi Lote saw her first leopard when she was 5, on the porch of a relative’s home. Terrified, she ran back inside to her mother. But now the 9-year-old says she isn’t as afraid of the big cats.

Like other children, she doesn’t step outdoors alone after dark. Children and even adults travel in groups at night, while blaring music from their telephones to ensure that leopards aren’t surprised. But the most fundamental rule, according to the youngster: “When you see a leopard, don’t bother it.”

Leopards in Mumbai adapted to mainly hunt feral dogs that frequent garbage dumps outside the forest and mostly attacked people when cornered or attacked. But in 2010, 20 people in Mumbai died in leopard attacks, said Jagannath Kamble, an official at Mumbai’s protected forest.

Officials roped in volunteers, nongovernmental groups and the media for a public education program in 2011. Since then, fatalities have dropped steadily and no one has been killed in an attack since 2017, AP reported.

In Los Angeles, there have been no human deaths attributed to mountain lions, but one nonfatal attack on a child occurred in 2021.

Both cities have learned that trying to capture, kill or relocate the cats isn’t the answer, AP reported.

“Relocation and killing makes conflict worse,” said Beth Pratt, California regional director at National Wildlife Federation. “It’s better to have a stable population, than one where hierarchies and territories are disrupted.”

Avoidance is the safest strategy, she said. “These big cats are shy — they tend to avoid human contact as much as they can. They’re really extreme introverts of the animal kingdom.”

Related Topics:#Leopard #Lion #LosAngeles featured India Mumbai

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Science & Technology

TikTok is restoring service, thanks Trump

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.

Published

2 days ago

January 20, 2025

Ariana News

TikTok began restoring its services on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app's access in the U.S. when he returns to power on Monday, Reuters reported.

"Frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it," Trump said at a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration, adding that the U.S. will seek a joint venture to restore the short-video sharing app used by 170 million Americans.

In a message to users hours before the rally, TikTok said: "As a result of president Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S."

TikTok also issued an earlier statement after U.S. users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service's website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services. As of Sunday evening, the app remained unavailable for download on U.S. app stores.

"In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service," TikTok said in the earlier statement that also thanked Trump for "providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive."

TikTok’s public thanks to Trump, the day before he takes office, comes at a tense moment in U.S.-China relations. Trump has said he intends to place tariffs on China but has also indicated he hopes to have more direct contact with China’s leader.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Friday accused the U.S. of using unfair state power to suppress TikTok. "China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests," a spokesperson said.

TikTok stopped working for U.S. users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans' data being misused, read the report.

Trump said he would "extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security."

"I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture," he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order.

Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.

"A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned," a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from Apple (AAPL.O), and Google app stores late on Saturday.

Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the app over concerns the company was sharing Americans' personal info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok," crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election.

In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle (ORCL.N), and Walmart (WMT.N), taking stakes in the new company, Reuters reported.

Not everyone in Trump's Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and "Save TikTok".

Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: "Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of 'extension' of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law's qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China."

The U.S. has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.

Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of late Saturday.

Apple and Google (GOOGL.O), did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Web searches for "VPN" spiked in the minutes after U.S. users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends.

Users on Instagram fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform's e-commerce arm.

Marketing firms reliant on TikTok have rushed to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a "hair on fire" moment after months of conventional wisdom saying that a solution would materialize to keep the app running.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.

Suitors including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt have expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok's U.S. operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, though the company has denied that.

U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted a bid on Saturday to ByteDance for Perplexity to merge with TikTok U.S., a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters. Perplexity would merge with TikTok U.S. and create a new entity by combining the merged company with other partners, the person added.

Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the U.S.

Science & Technology

Pakistan launches first home-made observation satellite

Published

4 days ago

January 18, 2025

Ariana News

Pakistan launched its first home-made observation satellite on Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China, Pakistan's space agency said.

The PRSC-EO1 satellite will boost Pakistan's ability to monitor and manage natural resources, respond to disasters, and improve urban planning and agricultural development, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) said in a statement, Reuters reported.

This type of satellite uses electro-optical sensors to collect data and images of the Earth's surface by detecting and measuring reflected sunlight or emitted radiation.

China's Long March-2D carrier rocket also launched on Friday two other satellites, Tianlu-1 and Blue Carbon 1, into orbit along with the PRSC EO1, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said in a statement.

"Spearheaded by SUPARCO, this demonstrates our nation's growing capabilities in space science and technology," said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Currently valued at $5 billion, the earth observation satellite market is among the fastest growing sectors within the commercial space industry, with Novaspace predicting it to exceed $8 billion by 2033.

Countries including the United States, China and India have been building their own government and private satellite constellations to map the Earth. Indian startup Pixxel this month launched the country's first privately built satellite constellation.

Science & Technology

TikTok prepares to shut down app in US on Sunday, sources say

TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Published

6 days ago

January 16, 2025

Ariana News

TikTok plans to shut U.S. operations of its social media app used by 170 million Americans on Sunday, when a federal ban is set to take effect, barring a last-minute reprieve, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The Washington Post reported President-elect Donald Trump, whose term begins a day after a ban would start, is considering issuing an executive order to suspend enforcement of a shutdown for 60 to 90 days. The newspaper did not say how Trump could legally do so, Reuters reported.

The law signed in April mandates a ban on new TikTok downloads on Apple (AAPL.O), or Google (GOOGL.O), app stores if Chinese parent ByteDance fails to divest the site.

Users who have downloaded TikTok would theoretically still be able to use the app, except that the law also bars U.S. companies starting Sunday from providing services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of it.

The Trump transition team did not have an immediate comment. Trump has said he should have time after taking office to pursue a "political resolution" of the issue.

"TikTok itself is a fantastic platform," Trump's incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News on Wednesday. "We're going to find a way to preserve it but protect people's data."

A White House official told Reuters Wednesday President Joe Biden has no plans to intervene to block a ban in his final days in office if the Supreme Court fails to act and added Biden is legally unable to intervene absent a credible plan from ByteDance to divest TikTok, read the report.

U.S. Senator Ed Markey on Wednesday sought unanimous consent to extend the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok by 270 days but Republican Senator Tom Cotton blocked the proposal.

If it is banned, TikTok plans that users attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, the people said, requesting anonymity as the matter is not public.

"We go dark. Essentially, the platform shuts down," TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told the Supreme Court last week.

The company also plans to give users an option to download all their data so that they can take a record of their personal information, the sources said.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold the law and allow TikTok to be banned on Sunday, overturn the law, or pause the law to give the court more time to make a decision.

Shutting down TikTok in the U.S. could make it unavailable for users in many other countries, the company said in a court filing last month, because hundreds of service providers in the U.S. help make the platform available to TikTok users around the world - and could no longer do so starting Sunday, Reuters reported.

TikTok said in the court filing an order was needed to "avoid interruption of services for tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States."

TikTok had said that the prohibitions would eventually make the app unusable, noting in the filing that "data centers would almost certainly conclude that they can no longer store" TikTok code, content, or data.

The sources said the shutdown aims to protect TikTok service providers from legal liability and make it easier to resume operations if President-elect Donald Trump opted to roll back any ban.

Shutting down such services does not require longer planning, one of the sources said, noting that most operations have been continuing as usual as of this week. If the ban gets reversed later, TikTok would be able to restore service for U.S. users in a relatively short time, sources said.

TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

U.S. tech publication The Information first reported the news late on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden last April signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19, or face a nationwide ban. Last week, the Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold the law, despite calls from Trump and lawmakers to extend the deadline.

TikTok and ByteDance have sought, at the very least, a delay in the implementation of the law, which they say violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.

TikTok said in the court filing last month it estimated one-third of its 170 million American users would stop accessing the platform if the ban lasted a month.