#and Cambodia

[roseworth]

anyways. i will literally take any lili mention i can get

[prattlinpeach]

A Swearing in, an Honour, and a Celebration!

Today was very special for myself and PSM, we were honoured to be a part of something very special. We got to witness the swearing in of some friends, and receive their citizenship to the United States. It was so very cool! The president of the Lebanon Valley Motorcycle Club and his family were being sworn in as citizens of the United States, and we were there to support them, and cheer them on!…

[wgm-beautiful-world]

The Gate of Angkor Thom in Krong Siem Reap, CAMBODIA

[reasonsforhope]

"An endangered bird famous for its elaborate leaping courtship displays is being reared in a special facility where the animals are able to develop their wild instincts.

With less than 600 individuals left in the wilds of Cambodia, conservationists have shown that the Bengal florican can successfully grow up in semi-captivity, raising hope that a safe and stable population can be reintroduced to prevent further declines.

A large facility inside the 144 square miles of forest comprising Phnom Kulen National Park is the world’s first assurance colony of this florican’s Indo-Chinese subspecies. As the name implies, it’s native to Bangladesh and India, where it is also endangered.

Amid waist-high grass, soft mesh netting divides areas for these members of the bustard family to grow up in seclusion. Minimal visual contact with their keepers ensures that these birds have room to practice all the important skills they’ll need for wild living—like foraging, keeping a lookout for predators, but most importantly for a florican, how to find a mate.

All species of floricans look to dazzle prospective mates with a remarkable courtship display. Standing in high grass, they will leap between 6 and 9 feet off the ground whilst striking a heroic pose that involves tucking their legs up and leaning back.

Hardly flightless, their goal isn’t to take to the wing, but to stay airborne enough to attract the attention of a female, before falling back to the ground and disappearing among the grasses.

Unfortunately, these birds need grasslands to live in, but grasslands in their native range are rapidly being turned into agricultural land by a developing South Asian population.

Leaping into action

The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) established the captive colony in 2019. Cambodia has a high degree of threatened biodiversity, with over 400 species listed as Endangered or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and 56 considered Critically Endangered.

The Bengal florican is just one of 30 such species held at the ACCB for future protection. The florican has just one remaining wild population of fewer than 600 individuals among the Tonle Sap Floodplains.

Conservationists from the ACCB work mainly to educate community members, especially Buddhist communities and students, about the plight of these ground-nesting birds.

“By engaging with diverse groups, we hope to bridge the conservation gap across generations,” Christel Griffioen, ACCB’s Country Director, told the IUCN.

These connections with the community have proved vital to the ACCB’s work. During the florican breeding season, the ACCB is notified where and when a wild florican nest is located. Depending on the timing in the season and the placement of the nest, ACCB biologists may choose to leave the eggs alone, but if the conditions aren’t optimal for chick mortality, they will safeguard the eggs, hatch them in their facility, and rear the birds in captivity for eventual reintroduction into the wild.

So far, the 11 surviving birds hatched at ACCB from eggs laid in the wild, along with four wild-hatched birds that have been taken in for one reason or another, are living and developing well.

“A full-time team at ACCB is dedicated to hand-rearing newly hatched chicks until they’re old enough to feed alone. They’re then moved into a facility that mimics their habitat where they remain, with limited to no human contact, safely cocooned in taller grass and soft ceilings that allow the males to practice their mating display,” writes the IUCN, noting that Christel and her team are always trying to transfer what they know about these birds in the wild to their conditions at the facility.

The conservationists hope to form a captive breeding program to further stabilize the animal’s numbers."

-via World at Large, January 10, 2025

[stamp-it-to-me]

two 1985 Cambodian stamps from a series on domestic cats

[ID: two postage stamps, both with illustrations of cats. end ID]

[millionmovieproject]

[zombilenium]

Unnamed Road, Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia

James Wheeler Photography

[so-what-then]

Henry Kissinger - and I'm not being exaggerrating here - is up there with Hitler&Co. as one of the worst genocidal monsters of all time. Of all time.

Respect no one's "mourning".

[softwaring]

zippo lighters from US vets during the Vietnam war

[rosechata]

cambodian sunset

[prettiest-liarr]

i absolutely LOVE seeing traditional/folk clothing from different countries/regions of the world so here r a few of my favorite folk clothes and their country/region :)

top left: hungary traditional folk clothing

top right: traditional aspara dancer from cambodia

bottom left: chinese hanfu inspired from (i believe) the tang dynasty

bottom right: caucus region (specifically armenia, i believe) traditional clothing

[scrumptiousstuffs]

So proud of First for singing 🎶 “My Fuel” live (with Khaotung being his no. 1 fan)

- also need people to know First wanted to sing it with Khaotung. But Khaotung insisted he sing it solo! 🫶🥺🧡🤍

Source as above

FirstKhaotung for GMMTV FanDay 16 Cambodia 2025

26/01/2025

[folkfashion]

Khmer bride, Cambodia, by khmerbridals

[wgm-beautiful-world]

BAYON TEMPLE - Ancient City of Angkor in CAMBODIA

[reasonsforhope]

"In Cambodia, 60 eggs were found in the nest of one of the world’s most endangered large reptiles, which after hatching set a new record for an international conservation effort to save them.

It was believed the Siamese crocodile, with the distinctive bony crest running down its skull, was extinct in the wild until it was rediscovered in 2000. Almost all of the 400 animals remaining live in Cambodia.

A network of private-public partnerships have been organizing conservation measures to protect the species, including captive breeding and reintroduction programs, and village patrols to ensure their nests and habitat are not tampered with.

In May [2024], locals in the Cardamom Mountains found a nesting site in an area that crocodiles hadn’t been released, suggesting they are expanding and breeding under their own powers: a tremendous sign for the species’ recovery.

“The hatching of 60 new crocodiles is a tremendous boost,” said Pablo Sinovas, who leads the Cambodia programme of conservation group Fauna & Flora International, which has been running a captive breeding program since 2012.

They’ve successfully reintroduced 196 crocs back into the wild, and it was they who deployed a team of conservationists to the nest site found in May for round-the-clock care and observation until every last one of the 60 eggs hatched, bringing their precious cargo into the world.

Generally speaking for crocodile species, the mothers are very attentive beasts, and even the fathers will help raise young if the mother isn’t around. When hatching, the little crocs emerge from the creche of eggs chirping, calling the mother in who then excavates the nest and takes any unhatched eggs in her mouth, rolling them around to speed up the hatching process.

The young are carried to the water in the mother’s mouth, where she will watch over, feed, and care for them until the next mating season."

-via Good News Network, July 19, 2024