title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On June 11, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship that PPP loan recipients' names and loan amounts were confidential and would not be publicly released. Eight days later, the Small Business Administration and the Department of the Treasury said that it would release the names, addresses, and other information about recipients of PPP loans exceeding $150,000 each. Each recipient would be listed with a dollar range of the loan amount. PPP loans of $150,000 and less would be disclosed in the aggregate. On July 6, the Department of Treasury posted the data to its web site.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A lawsuit was filed by several press organizations within the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in May 2020 seeking exact details of the PPP loan applicants beyond the information posted by the Small Business Administration. In November 2020, Judge James E. Boasberg ordered a preliminary injunction in favor of the press, requiring the SBA to publish the full names, addresses, and precise loan amounts of the PPP recipients by November 19, 2020. The data was released to the public on December 1, 2020. According to data from November 2020, 87 percent of PPP loans were for less than $150,000.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Racial disparities have been reported among recipients. In July 2020, a "National Geographic" article, citing the Center for Responsible Lending, reported that 95% of Black-owned businesses and 91% of Latino-owned businesses were unlikely to receive loans because they were very small businesses with few employees and because they did not have existing relationships with banks. The article also said that 41% of Black-owned businesses had already closed permanently while only 17 percent of white-owned businesses met this fate.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Some PPP loans were received by businesses owned or run by members of Congress or their spouses. On June 16, "Politico" reported that this included Reps. Susie Lee (D–NV), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D–FL), Roger Williams (R–TX), and Vicky Hartzler (R–MO). Three weeks prior, Dean Phillips (D–MN) had introduced legislation to require public release of the name of many of the recipients of PPP loans, but enough Republicans voted against it that the bill did not pass. Lee and Muarsel-Powell had voted in favor of public disclosures while Williams and Hartzler had voted against public disclosures. Ordinarily, an application for a Small Business Administration by a business owned or run by a member of Congress or their immediate family must be reviewed by the Standards of Conduct Commissions before the loan may be approved, but the Small Business Administration had waived that requirement for all PPP loans on April 13.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The parents of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany received $1–2 million for their business, McEnany Roofing, which has 141 employees. The press secretary told Fox News in April 2020 that most loans had gone to "companies with 10 or fewer employees. That is what this program is designed to do, that is who it is helping.”


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Businesses with addresses at properties owned by President Trump and advisor Jared Kushner received at least 25 PPP loans totaling over $3.65million. Of these businesses, 15 reported having no more than one employee each, or they did not self-report how many employees they had. Triomphe Restaurant Corp., at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City, received a PPP loan of $2,164,543, and it reported having zero employees. The business later closed.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: LifeWay Christian Resources surveyed Protestant pastors and found that 40% said their church had applied for government assistance through the CARES Act or through the Small Business Administration, and, of those who applied, 59% said they had been approved. The Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference estimated that 9,000 Catholic parishes had received PPP loans, roughly half of the Catholic parishes in the country. Jon Costas wrote in "Christianity Today" that churches should consider the "socio-economic and social justice issues" of applying for PPP loans, and whether following the rules for the loan proceeds are consistent with religious texts. Through June 30, 2020, over 88,000 loans totaling $7.3 billion were approved to churches. At least 60 churches in Texas received over $1 million each. They included Lakewood Church, a Houston megachurch led by televangelist Joel Osteen, which received $4.4 million; the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which received about $4 million; and the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese, which received about $4.5 million. A Florida-based company called ASLAN International Ministry received $8.4 million; it appeared that the company never did anything religious, and it was subsequently revealed as no longer maintaining a website nor a physical address.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A total of $850,000 in loans was granted to some of the country's most prominent anti-vaccination groups. While vaccines are generally considered safe and effective, these groups have been spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories that increase vaccine hesitancy, especially in the context on COVID-19.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The Center for Countering Digital Hate identified PPP loans made to the National Vaccine Information Center, to Joseph Mercola's online business group, to the Informed Consent Action Network, as well as to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Children's Health Defense.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center, which is the osteopathy clinic of anti-vaccination activist Sherri Tenpenny, received a $72,000 loan.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Between April 3 and April 14, PPP loans included at least 94 loans made to publicly traded companies or their subsidiaries, totaling $365million.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On April 23, the Small Business Administration released guidance stating that it is unlikely that a publicly traded business with substantial market value and access to capital markets would be eligible for a PPP loan. Such a business would not be able to certify in good faith that the PPP loan is necessary to support its ongoing operations because of the current economic uncertainty. While a lender does not need to require a business to demonstrate the basis in its certification, the Small Business Administration may do so. The Small Business Administration said it would not pursue action against any such business that applied for a PPP loan prior to April 23 and repays the loan proceeds by May 7, later extended to May 14 and then extended again to May 18. On April 28, the guidance was extended to businesses owned by private companies with similar situations.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Several businesses, including Potbelly, Ruth's Hospitality Group, Shake Shack, Nathan's Famous, and the Los Angeles Lakers, decided to repay the loan proceeds. Chembio Diagnostics, a publicly traded company, received a $3million PPP loan that is said it would use to increase its capacity to provide infectious-disease tests, including COVID-19 tests, due to increased demand. On May 4, "The New York Times" reported that publicly traded companies had returned at least $375million in PPP loans, based on securities filings and public announcements.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On April 28, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the Small Business Administration would do a "full review" of each PPP loan exceeding $2million. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned that businesses would held be "criminally liable" if they receive a loan exceeding $2million and do not follow the rules.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On May 13, the Small Business Administration said that any business that, together with its affiliates, received a total of less than $2million of PPP loan proceeds will be assumed to have made the good-faith certification of need in good faith. If the Small Business Administration determines that a business "lacked an adequate basis" for certifying the necessity of the PPP loan, the Small Business Administration will request business repay the outstanding PPP loan balance, and the business will become ineligible for PPP loan forgiveness. If the business subsequently repays the loan, no further enforcement actions will be taken on the matter.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On May 5, the Small Business Administration said that PPP loans received by nonprofit organizations are not considered federal financial assistance, are not subject to audit requirements under Uniform Guidance, and need not be included in the organization's Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: At least one of the people involved in the 2021 United States Capitol attack received a PPP loan. Richard Barnett received a $9,300 PPP loan on April 14, 2020.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A 38-year-old man in Irvine, California, had falsely claimed to be operating four businesses and had received about $5 million which he allegedly used to buy luxury cars.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Acting Pentagon Inspector General Glenn Fine was named the chair of the committee that oversees how the PPP loans were administered as well as the rest of the funding from the CARES Act. On April 7, 2020, four days after PPP loans began to be made, President Donald Trump removed Fine as head of the committee.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Hannibal Ware, the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration, said that the Small Business Administration had set stricter rules than were stated in the law establishing the program, which is causing an "unintended burden" on businesses.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The Small Business Administration requires 75% of a PPP loan be used for payroll costs, which is a rule not found in the law. The Small Business Administration stated all PPP loans would have a maturity date of two years, while the law allowed for up to ten years. The Small Business Administration has also not complied with all of the requirements stated in the law. The law required the Small Business Administration to issue guidance to lenders about the loan deferment process, but it did not do so. The law required lenders to prioritize businesses in underserved and rural areas, but the Small Business Administration did not issue any such guidance to lenders. The law required the Small Business Administration to register each PPP loan using the Taxpayer Identification Number of each business within 15 days after each loan was made, but it did not do so.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A group of software and information technology companies has sued the Small Business Administration and the Department of the Treasury, alleging that the two agencies had improperly added restrictions to the program that were not present in the original law.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers of America has said that virtually all business owners have taken such a loan assuming it would be forgiven, but the rules are highly complex and all the rules have not yet been released for loans that have already been made. The American Bankers Association has urged the federal government to release the forgiveness rules urgently.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On June 25, 2020, the Government Accountability Office released its first bimonthly report of its oversight of the Paycheck Protection Program, as required by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The report showed that, while the Small Business Administration had worked quickly to implement the PPP, the urgency caused confusion throughout the implementation of the PPP. Examples of ongoing confusion regarding the PPP included questions about who was eligible to apply for a PPP loan, the release of many unclear interim rules, the frequent release of numerous incomplete answers to questions, and a lack of clarity about how PPP loan proceeds must be used in order to qualify for loan forgiveness. The confusion added to the economic stress that employees were already experiencing from the pandemic.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: Some small businesses were concerned that a government agency would later cite them for certifying their need for the loan without good faith. Small businesses were also uncertain whether they would qualify for any loan forgiveness. These uncertainties caused many small businesses to decide to return their loan proceeds rather than face these possible consequences. As of May 31, 2020, businesses had returned more than 170,000 PPP loans, totaling approximately $38.5billion, largely resulting from many confusing statements and a lack of clarity and confusing information released by the Small Business Administration.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The report found that the PPP loan application process allowed small businesses to self-certify their needs and qualifications. Consequently, some applicants were able to exploit the program by illegitimately inflating their payroll costs to qualify for larger PPP loans, misrepresenting their number of employees to illegitimately appear eligible for a PPP loan, and certifying that the loan proceeds would be used for allowable costs while actually using the loan proceeds for personal uses.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The Government Accountability Office's report said that the Small Business Administration still had not explained how it would conduct the reviews of PPP loans that exceeded $2million each, nor had it explained how it would perform oversight of PPP loans that were smaller than that threshold.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: On June 18, 2020, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo regarding the interaction between PPP loans and federal awards. In the case of an organization that has received a federal award and has also received a PPP loan, the organization may use PPP loan proceeds to pay for payroll costs as long as it does not charge the same payroll costs to a federal award. Furthermore, the organization must utilize the PPP loan proceeds first in order to sustain its workforce, and the organization should take steps to preserve federal funds for restarting work on the federally funded project.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: In late October 2020, the Small Business Administration created a nine-page loan necessity questionnaire for entities that received PPP loans of $2million or more. The questionnaires ask about the entity's quarterly revenue, its capital expenditures, its dividend payments, whether it paid $250,000 or more of annualized compensation to any employee during the 24-week covered period, and to what extent its operations were altered due to COVID-19. In the version for non-profit organizations, the questionnaire asks about the organization's endowments. Nonprofit schools will need to provide information about their revenue from tuition. Some of the responses require information that could only have been obtained after the entity had already certified its need for the loan on its PPP loan application.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: As part of the PPP loan forgiveness process, the Small Business Administration will send the questionnaire to the lender of each entity that received a PPP loan of $2million or more. Within five business days, the lender must send the questionnaire to the applicable entity with a notification that Small Business Administration has undertaken a review of its PPP loan. After receiving the questionnaire from the lender, the entity has ten business days to complete and return the questionnaire to the lender.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The Small Business Administration said it would use the completed questionnaires to assess to what extent the entity was truthful in its good-faith certification in its loan application that the PPP loan was necessary for ongoing operations due to economic uncertainty. The Small Business Administration may determine an entity was ineligible for a PPP loan and may pursue repayment or other remedies if the entity does not complete and return the questionnaire.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The completed questionnaires are not necessarily exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The questionnaires ask the entity to indicate which parts of the completed form contain confidential or proprietary information, which might possibly prevent public release of the information under FOIA Exemption 4, which states exempts "trade secrets" and matters that are "commercial or financial information obtained from a person" that are "privileged or confidential".


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The Small Business Administration estimated that 42,000 for-profit entities and 10,000 non-profit organizations would receive questionnaires.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: The U.S. Department of Justice charged more than 500 people with illegally claiming PPP loans, collectively totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. One California couple submitted about 150 fraudulent applications to claim over $20 million intended for small businesses. After their conviction in June 2021, they were given ankle bracelets, but they cut them off and fled. They were sentenced to prison in absentia. They were captured in Montenegro in February 2022, and extradited to the U.S. later that year.


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A 2021 working paper by three finance professors at the University of Texas at Austin estimated that about 15% of the program's loans, representing $76 billion (about 1.8 million loans out of the total of about 11.8 million loans), had at least one indication of fraud. About 1.2 million loans (totaling $38 billion) had at least two indications of fraud. The study identified four primary and five secondary indications of a suspicious loan. The primary indicators were "non-registered businesses, multiple loans at a residential address, abnormally high implied compensation relative to industry by core-based statistical area (CBSA) averages, and large inconsistencies (as large as tenfold) between the jobs reported by borrowers on their PPP application and another contemporaneous government program application with a different incentive structure." The secondary indicators were "discontinuities around the maximum PPP compensation level of $100,000, rounded loan amounts, overrepresentation of PPP loans relative to U.S. Census data on the number of business entities in a particular industry and county, clustering of loans with similar features within lender-county pairs, and criminal records for PPP borrowers." The study found that financial technology (fintech) companies were far more likely to make suspicious PPP loans; fintech companies made about 29% of total PPP loans, but accounted for 52.63% of suspicious loans, and "FinTech loans are highly suspicious at a rate of almost five times that for traditional lenders."


title: Paycheck Protection Program

text: A December 2022 report from the US House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis cited fintech firms and small business lenders such as Blueacorn, Womply, Bluevine, and Kabbage as among those that failed to help prevent fraudulent loans, which "Insider" suggested may jeopardize participation in future programs. The article cited Bloomberg News reporting that estimated fintechs "handled only 15% of PPP loans overall but accounted for 75% of the fraudulent PPP loans investigated by the Justice Department."


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Survivor is a reality-competition television franchise produced in many countries around the world. The show features a group of contestants deliberately marooned in an isolated location, where they must provide basic survival necessities for themselves. The contestants compete in challenges for rewards and immunity from elimination. The contestants are progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted out by their fellow contestants until only one remains to be awarded the grand prize and named the "Sole Survivor".


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The British television producer Charlie Parsons developed the format for "Survivor" in 1992 for Planet 24, a United Kingdom television production company; the Swedish version, which debuted in September 1997 as "Expedition Robinson", became the first "Survivor" series to be broadcast on television. , the flagship American version of "Survivor" has aired 43 seasons of the show since its launch in 2000; the 43rd, and most recent is currently airing.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: "Survivor", through its seasons and various international versions, has maintained the basic premise of the game despite several new rules and gameplay twists introduced in later seasons. In the game, the contestants, known as castaways, are split into tribes and assigned separate camps at the filming's location, typically a tropical setting. As a tribe, the castaways must survive the elements, construct shelter, build fire, look for water, and scrounge for food and other necessities for the entire length of the game, which is generally around 39 days for most versions including the American version, but has ranged from 20 days (as in the French special seasons) to 153 days (as in ). In the first half of the game, the tribes face off in challenges, some for rewards of food, shelter, or luxury items, while others are for immunity, preventing the winning tribe from having to go to the next Tribal Council. At Tribal Council, the tribes discuss the events of the last few days with the host asking questions, and then vote out one of their own players, eliminating them from the game.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: In the second half of the game, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and challenges are played at an individual level for individual rewards and immunity. At subsequent Tribal Councils, those eliminated start to form the jury, who sit in on all subsequent Tribal Councils but otherwise do not participate. When only two or three castaways remain, those castaways attend the Final Tribal Council, where the jury is given the opportunity to ask them questions. After this, the jury members then vote to decide which of the remaining castaways should be declared the Sole Survivor and be awarded the grand prize.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Episodes typically cover the events that occurred over two to three days since the start of the game or previous Tribal Council, including Challenges and events that occur at the tribes' camps. Each episode typically ends with the Tribal Council and subsequent elimination of the voted-out player.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The following description of the show is based primarily on the U.S. version of "Survivor", though the general format applies to all international versions.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Players for each season are selected through applicants and casting calls, down-selecting to between 16 and 20 players and additional alternates. U.S. version host Jeff Probst noted that while 16 castaways assist in splitting the tribes with respect to age and sex, they have used 18 or 20 to provide them "wiggle room" in case of player injury or if one should want to quit the game. These players undergo physical and psychological evaluation to make sure they are physically and mentally fit for the survival endurance and will not likely quit during the filming period, replacing those that are questionable with the alternates. In one case, "Fiji", on the day before filming was to start after they had dismissed their alternates, one of the castaways opted out of the competition, forcing production to start with 19 players and adapting the activities of the first few days to accommodate the odd number of players.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Tribes may be predetermined by production before filming starts. Often this is done to equalize the sexes and age ranges within both tribes. Other seasons have had the tribes separated by age, gender, or race. In other cases, the tribes may be created by the castaways through schoolyard picks. Most often, only two tribes are featured, but some seasons have begun with three or four tribes. Once assigned a tribe, each castaway is given a buff in their tribe color to aid the viewers in identifying tribal allocation. Tribes are then subsequently given names, often inspired by the local region and culture, and directions to their camps.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: At their camps, tribes are expected to build a shelter against the elements from the local trees and other resources. Tribes are typically given minimal resources, such as a machete, water canteens, cooking pots, and staples of rice and grains, though this varies from season to season. Sometimes, tribes are provided with a water well near the camp, but require the water to be boiled to make it potable, necessitating the need for the tribe to build a fire. The tribes are encouraged to forage off the land for food, including fruits, wild animals, and fish.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: In some seasons, tribe swaps occur where one or more players shift from one tribe to another. These new tribal designations are often determined by random draw or schoolyard pick. When these occur, those players that shift tribes are given new buffs for their new tribe and return to that tribe's camp, with any personal possessions from their former camp moved with them. In seasons with more than two tribes, tribe swaps often reduce the number of tribes to two. In "", a tribe swap increased the number of tribes from two to three; a second tribe swap later in the season reduced the number of tribes back to two.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Tribes that have lost too many members may be absorbed by the other remaining tribes, as seen with the Ulong tribe in "" and the Matsing tribe of ""; in the former case, the lone remaining Ulong member joined the opposing Koror tribe and the tribes were treated as if they were merged, whereas in the later case the two remaining Matsing members were randomly assigned to the two remaining tribes. Alternatively, in "", the tribe that placed third in a designated challenge was disbanded, with the members reallocated to the other two tribes by schoolyard pick.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: At a point in or around the middle of the game, the remaining tribes are merged into one. All of the players then live in a single camp, and are given new buffs and instructed to select a new tribe name and paint a tribe flag. The merge is often signified with a feast. Though the merge often occurs when approximately 10 to 12 players remain, the tribes have been merged with as many as 13 players (as many of the seasons since "") and as few as eight (as in "").


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: During both pre- and post-merge parts of the game, the castaways compete in a series of challenges. Tribes are alerted to these upcoming challenges by a message, often in rhyme, delivered to camp by the production team at a basket or box on a nearby tree; this message has come to be called "treemail", playing off the word "e-mail". The message typically hints at what the challenge might be. The message may also provide props to demonstrate this, practice equipment for the players, or a sampling of the reward. Challenges can last from a few minutes to a couple of hours. The longest Survivor challenge was 11 hours and 55 minutes in the final immunity challenge in "Survivor: Palau".


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Prior to the merge, tribes compete against each other in challenges. These most often are multi-segment obstacle courses that include both physical and mental elements with the tribe that finishes first declared the winner; commonly, these start with tribe members collecting puzzles pieces that are then used to solve a puzzle by other tribe members. Other challenges may be based on winning a number of rounds of head-to-head competitions. Challenges are normally held with equal numbers of all tribes participating and in some cases equal splits of gender. Tribes with more players will be asked to sit out as many players as needed to balance the numbers, with the stipulation that those players cannot sit out in back-to-back reward and immunity challenges. When one tribe has more than twice the other tribe members, then players in the larger tribe cannot participate in back-to-back challenges. Tribes are given time to strategically decide who should sit out and who will perform the various duties on a challenge.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: After the merge, challenges are generally performed on an individual basis. These include similar obstacle courses as for team challenges, but will often also include endurance challenges, having players maintain the balance under precarious situations for as long as possible, with the last player remaining winning the challenge. In some cases, during post-merge challenges, the individuals will be split into separate teams, with only the winning team eligible for reward or immunity.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Challenges can be played for rewards, immunity, or both. Rewards include food, survival equipment like flint, tarps, or fishing gear, luxury items, and short getaways from camp. Before the merge, the entire winning tribe will enjoy these rewards. Post-merge, only one player may win the reward but will be given the opportunity to select one or more other players to bring along with them on it. Individual challenge rewards may also include an advantage that can be used at the subsequent immunity challenge, such as advancing directly into the final round of the challenge without having to participate in the first round.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Immunity challenges provide the winning tribe or team with immunity from Tribal Council. Immunity is usually represented in a form of an idol prior to the merge, and a necklace afterwards. Prior to the merge, tribes with immunity do not attend Tribal Council, allowing them to stay intact. In seasons featuring more than two tribes, immunity will be available for all but the last place finishers, forcing this one tribe to Tribal Council. With individual immunity, those castaways still attend Tribal Council with the rest of the merged tribe, but, unless they assign immunity to someone else, are ineligible to be voted for. Winning immunity is only good for one Tribal Council; at the next immunity challenge, the tribe or castaway will be asked to give up the idol or necklace, making immunity "up for grabs". There have been a few cases in which individual immunity challenges have taken place prior to the merge whereupon usually, one castaway in each tribe will be given immunity, after which both tribes will attend Tribal Council, one after the other. This is used to quickly dwindle the number of remaining castaways.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Though a wide variety of challenges have been used across the "Survivor"s broadcast, several challenges are frequently reused:


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Tribal Council is a special production stage located near the tribe camps. Tribes sit across a fire pit from the host while the jury members, if present, sit off to the side. A small alcove adjoins the structure for the players to cast their votes in private. Tribal Council almost always serves as an episode's finale.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The first time each player attends Tribal Council, he or she takes a torch and lights it from the fire pit while the host reminds them "fire represents life in this game". During the jury phase of the game, the host will call in the jury after the tribe is seated and remind jurors they are there to gather information but not speak or otherwise participate. The host will then proceed to ask the tribe questions about what has transpired since their last visit to Tribal Council (or the beginning of the game). The host asks these questions in hopes of bringing tribal dynamics to light, and players in precarious situations may reveal information or bargain with others to keep themselves in the game. Though the viewing audience typically sees only a few minutes of each Tribal Council, some have gone on for hours.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The host ends the formal discussion by declaring that it is time to vote. During the second half of the game, the host then gives the immunity challenge winner(s) the choice to keep their immunity necklace for themselves or give it to another player, then reminds players they cannot cast a vote for the player(s) who finally end up wearing the necklace(s). The host then directs the players to vote in the alcove one-by-one. After writing their vote, each player has the opportunity to address the camera before placing their vote in the ballot urn. Once all players have cast their votes, the host collects the urn, tallies the votes, and returns to the fire pit with the urn. Beginning from Survivor: Fiji, the host then offers players the opportunity to play an immunity idol prior to announcing the votes. If a player produces an idol, he or she must declare which player the idol protects (typically a player can protect anyone, including themselves). The host then confirms if the idol is legitimate, and if it is, the host declares that any vote for the protected player will not count. The host then reminds the tribe that once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the eliminated player must leave the Tribal Council area immediately.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: When enough votes have been read to eliminate one player, any additional votes remain unread and unknown to the players (in almost all cases, the leftover votes are also for the eliminated player). The host instructs the eliminated player to bring their torch, snuffs it out, and tells the player that "the tribe has spoken" (or in rare cases, a fitting variation thereof) and "it's time for you to go." As the eliminated player walks off, the host makes a final observation before telling the remainder of the tribe to "grab your torches and head back to camp" and wishes them a good night. Occasionally, tribes who have not made fire on their own or earned it in a challenge will have to douse their torches or leave the torches at Tribal Council.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The eliminated player has a final confessional to express their feelings about being eliminated before they are sequestered with other eliminated players until the end of filming. Later eliminated players join the jury who will decide the winner. Jurors are sequestered until the end of the Final Tribal Council. While sequestered, jurors cannot discuss their jury vote or experiences with other jurors to prevent any possible cooperation or collusion from subgroups within the jury. After casting their vote at Final Tribal Council, jurors also cannot discuss their vote with anyone lest they spoil the surprise reveal at the season finale.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Ties occasionally occur. Normally, the players vote a second time with only the tied players eligible for elimination. If this second vote does not break the tie, various tiebreakers have broken the stalemates. These tiebreakers have changed throughout the seasons. In "" and "", stalemates were broken by eliminating the player with the highest number of previous votes cast against them. If the players had the same number of previous votes cast against them, as seen in "Africa", the tie was resolved by a sudden-death challenge (in this case a trivia quiz about nature), with the loser eliminated. This soon led to alliances choosing a player to eliminate based on their vote history over other relevant factors. To put all players on even ground in subsequent seasons, the non-tied voters have several minutes to deliberate and must come to a unanimous decision about which tied castaway to eliminate. If they succeed, their chosen castaway is eliminated; if they do not, all non-immune deliberators draw concealed rocks from a bag, and the castaway who draws the odd-colored rock is eliminated. This encourages players to change their votes to avoid a stalemate and punishes deliberators for stalemating. The rock-draw tiebreaker has occurred three times: in "," "", and "". In "Survivor: Marquesas", the rock draw occurred with four players remaining, and the tied castaways were both involved in the deliberation and eligible for elimination; host Jeff Probst later revealed that this was a mistake and that this tiebreaker should only be used when six or more players are involved. Following "Survivor: Marquesas", all stalemates with four remaining players have been resolved by a fire-making duel where the first tied castaway to build a small fire high enough to burn through a rope remained in the game. The fire-making tiebreaker was also used in "Survivor: Palau" at a Tribal Council where the losing tribe had only two members remaining.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: When only two—or, in later seasons, three—players remain in the game, the finalists and jurors convene for Final Tribal Council. The change to three finalists presents more of a challenge to the castaway who wins the final immunity challenge: while that person has clinched their spot as a finalist, they cannot unilaterally decide which of the other remaining castaways they will compete against for jurors' votes.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: At Final Tribal Council, each remaining castaway makes an opening statement to the jury. One-by-one, each juror then addresses any or all of the finalists, asking questions or commenting on the finalists' behavior in the game. Jurors often ask questions hoping for answers that will help make their decision, while comments and speeches are generally an effort to sway other jurors. The finalists are usually free to respond to these questions and comments as they see fit, though jurors can expressly forbid them to respond. Beginning with "" in the U.S., the process shifted from each juror receiving the floor one-by-one toward a moderated discussion highlighting the show's three major tentpoles: "Outwit", "Outplay" and "Outlast". After the interrogation, finalists often have one last chance to make their case. The host then reminds the jurors that they are writing their choice to win (versus writing their choice to eliminate, as in all other votes) and, for the last time, declares that it is time to vote. One-by-one, jurors vote privately in the alcove. As with regular elimination votes, jurors can choose to address the camera to explain their vote. The host then collects the urn, and in most seasons, leaves the votes unread until a live finale months later, at the conclusion of the season's broadcast, where they read the votes publicly and crown the Sole Survivor.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Since the 41st season of the U.S. version of the show, the structure of Final Tribal Council has been permanently changed. When the votes are cast now, Jeff Probst simply reads off the votes and announces on the spot who won the game. The reunion show also now takes place immediately after this vote at the FTC site, with all of the contestants sitting and talking over the season with themselves and Jeff.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: At the finale of "", the only season to date with two finalists and eight jurors, host Jeff Probst reportedly had a white envelope containing the tiebreaker, but the exact nature of this tiebreaker is not known publicly, as a tie did not occur. This contingency plan was also in place for three-way ties involving three finalists and nine jurors. At the "" reunion, Probst revealed that a two-way tie in a final three would be broken with the third-place finisher casting the deciding vote. This first happened in "" when Wendell Holland and Domenick Abbate each received 5 votes to win. Laurel Johnson, the third-place finisher, became the 11th and final juror and cast the deciding vote.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: In the French series, ties between two finalists are resolved by crowning them co-winners, as seen in their third and seasons.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Some players have been eliminated from the game by other means than being voted out. Castaways who suffer severe injuries or exhaustion are evaluated by the medical team which is always on call. The medical team may provide treatment and give the player the option to continue in the game, warning them of the health risks involved. However, if the medical doctor determines that the player is at risk of permanent injury or death and needs to be removed from the game for their own health, they will be removed and taken to a nearby hospital. In "", the producers were notified that one of the remaining castaways' children had been hospitalized, and the castaway was pulled from the game to return home and be with their family. Survivor: Kaoh Rong has had the most evacuations to date, with three.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Occasionally, castaways who are not in need of medical treatment have decided to quit the game, without waiting to be voted out, due to physical or emotional exhaustion—either by making an announcement at a Tribal Council, in which case they are let out of the game without any vote, or by being recovered from camp after making their intentions clear to producers and being interviewed by the host. When a player leaves the game without being voted off, the other tribes are notified of the departed player's removal, and the next Tribal Council may be cancelled. After the players merge into one tribe, any who have been removed from the game by medical evacuation are still eligible to participate as jury members once the medical examiners deem them healthy enough to do so. Those that have quit the game voluntarily may also still be eligible for the jury and, if their reasons for leaving are considered sufficient, they may also still be allowed to make a farewell speech to the camera.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Hidden immunity idols are pocket-sized ornaments—typically necklaces—made to fit the theme of the season, that are hidden around the tribes' camps or other locations that the castaways have access to. When played at Tribal Council, the hidden immunity idol makes the castaway who plays it immune from elimination at that Tribal Council. Idols are typically usable until the Tribal Council with five players remaining, and do not need to be declared to other castaways when found. The idol, once found by a player, cannot be stolen from them, but other castaways can look through their possessions to see if they have it. Idols can, however, be transferred to other players at any point, or be played on another player at Tribal Council. Once an idol "leaves the game", either by being played or by the holder leaving the game with their idol, a replacement idol may be hidden.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The third type of idol is seen as a "happy medium" relative to the two previous versions, and forces both the voters and the idol holder to make a more complicated strategic decision: the voters may have to vote without knowing whether the person they are voting for has a hidden immunity idol or without knowing whether that person will choose to play it, and the person with the idol must decide whether to play it without knowing whether enough votes have been cast to vote them out of the game. This type of idol may be "wasted" if a player uses it and does not receive the highest number of votes, and other times idol holders may choose not to use the idol, intending to save it to use at a later time, but will be eliminated with their idol unplayed. Though this third idol continues to be used, two seasons have used the two latter forms of idols concurrently: in "Cagayan", clues were given to the third type of idol, but an idol with the second power was hidden with no clues; this idol could not be transferred. In "Kaôh Rōng", all hidden idols were of the third type, but two idols could be combined into a single idol of the second type, referred to as a "super idol".


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Strategically, castaways have used the idol as a bargaining chip to align other players with them and swing pending votes in a specific direction; as a result, some players have been inspired to create fake hidden immunity idols, either leaving them the spot that the original idol was found (most commonly), or carrying them around as a bluff to attempt to alter people's voting strategies in advance of Tribal Council. If a fake idol is played at Tribal Council, the host notes that it is not a hidden immunity idol and throws it in the fire. In the U.S. version of the show, the producers have encouraged players to make fake idols by providing decorative materials—such as beads, string, and paint—through props within the game. In "Cambodia", all idols were deliberately made to look different from each other to further encourage castaways to make fake idols.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: To help castaways find the idol, a series of clues are given to them in succession in a number of different ways. A clue may be given to the winner of a reward challenge, hidden among the reward prizes, announced by the host to all remaining castaways, or provided to a castaway who has been sent to Exile Island or temporarily sent to live with the other tribe. Castaways are under no obligation to share the idol clues with other players. Clues continue to be provided even after a player has secretly found the idol. Each successive clue includes all the previous clues given for that location. Only once a new idol is hidden are new clues provided to the players. In later seasons, players have been very aware that hidden idols may be in play from the start of the game and some have started to look for them near apparent landmarks before any clues have been provided. One castaway, Russell Hantz, was able to find two idols during "Survivor: Samoa" without the aid of clues. In light of this so-called "Russell factor," producers subsequently began hiding the idols in more difficult-to-find locations, and, in "", clues contained a rebus puzzle rather than text, though this did not carry into the next season or beyond.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Exile Island is a remote location away from the tribal camps, where one or two castaways are sent to live in isolation from the rest of their tribe. Exile Island was first introduced in "" when a single contestant was made to stay alone on a beach for a day as a result of being the first to drop out of an Immunity Challenge. This twist was not used regularly until ""; it was also used in "Cook Islands", "Fiji", "Micronesia", "Gabon", "Tocantins", and "San Juan del Sur". The first contestant to send him/herself to Exile Island was Yau-Man Chan.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: A selected player is exiled to a location (typically a small island) apart from the main tribe camps. Typically, the castaway is exiled after the reward challenge, leaving the challenge location for Exile Island, and usually returns immediately before the following immunity challenge. The exiled castaway is chosen as a result of the reward challenge: in the tribal phase, a member of the losing tribe is exiled (usually exiled by the winning tribe), while in the individual phase, the reward challenge winner holds the sole right to choose. Unless stated otherwise, players who win the right to decide who goes to Exile Island may also choose to go themselves. In "Micronesia", "Tocantins", and "San Juan del Sur", one person from each tribe was sent to Exile Island. In several seasons with Exile Island, there were tribe swaps with an uneven number of castaways remaining, as in "Panama", "Fiji", "Gabon", "David vs. Goliath"; the leftover contestant was treated as "tribeless" and exiled immediately after formation. In this case, the contestant was immune until following the next Tribal Council, joining the tribe that lost the next immunity challenge.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Once selected, the exiled contestant is immediately sent there. They are given minimal survival tools, typically a water canteen, a machete, a pot, and a limited amount of shelter. The two main disadvantages of being on Exile Island are the lack of food and water, which can weaken a player and make them less effective in challenges, and the isolation from other contestants, which can cause a player to become out of the loop and weaken their position in their tribe. Contestants are often sent to Exile Island for one or both of these strategic reasons.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: In certain seasons, exiled castaways receive a consolation prize: in all seasons with Exile Island, the exiled castaway receives a clue to the hidden immunity idol (or the idol nullifier on "David vs Goliath".), which may or may not be located on the island. On "Survivor: Gabon", the exiled castaway was given the option to give up their idol clue for "instant comfort," and in "Survivor: Tocantins", the exiled castaway had the right to change tribes. Occasionally the exiled castaway is instructed to return after the next Tribal Council, earning them automatic immunity.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Two seasons of the U.S. version have used different variations on the Exile twists. In "China", tribes who won reward challenges earned the right to "kidnap" a member of the losing tribe, who would stay with them until the next immunity challenge. The kidnapped person was given a clue to the hidden immunity idol which he or she must give to one member of the winning tribe. In "Samoa" a reverse version of the kidnapping rule was used, called "spy expedition" (also known as "observing"). The winning tribe had to send one of their own to accompany the other tribe until the immunity challenge. Both of these twists were retired after the merge. In "Kaôh Rōng", the three tribes were shuffled into two tribes with 13 players remaining; the leftover castaway, Julia Solowski, was exiled to the now-defunct third camp and joined the tribe that lost the next immunity challenge the day after their Tribal Council. In "Game Changers", the tribes switched with 15 players remaining, with Debbie being exiled for not being put on a tribe. Unlike other visitors to Exile Island, Debbie was sent to a luxury yacht.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The of the U.S. version introduced the titular Ghost Island, which was similar to Exile Island but featured mementos and props from previous seasons of "Survivor", including several misplayed advantages. Banished castaways were given the opportunity to acquire these advantages in a game of chance where they could either win the advantage or lose their vote at their next Tribal Council (represented as a parchment stating "No Vote"). However, not every episode has advantages given out at Ghost Island.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Redemption Island is a twist used in "", "" and "", in which voted out contestants remain in the game, exiled from the other castaways, competing in challenges for a chance to return to the game. It was first used in several international editions, including the Swedish version, the Israeli version as "The Island of the Dead", Philippine version's as "Isla Purgatoryo" (Purgatory Island), the Serbian version's as "Ghost Island" and the Romanian version's as "Exile Island".


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: After being voted out, contestants are exiled to Redemption Island, where they will fend for themselves like the castaways in the game proper until the next person is voted out. The day following Tribal Council, there is a duel in which the winner remains on the island and the losers are eliminated for good; upon elimination, the duel losers must remove their buff and throw it into a small fire pit. There are two places where the winner of the duel returns to the game: at the merge, where Redemption Island is cleared and reset; and when there are four players remaining in the main game, at which point Redemption Island is retired.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Double elimination cycles, or any other disruption of the game's pattern, leads to three or four duelists instead of two. In "Survivor: Redemption Island" only the loser of the duel was eliminated, resulting in four players competing in the final duel due to two double elimination cycles, with two Tribal Councils and no duels in between. For "Survivor: South Pacific", the rules were changed so only the winner remained in the game while all others were eliminated. In "Survivor: Blood vs. Water", there were three competitors at every duel, with only one player eliminated at each duel except for ones in which a sole winner returned to the main game.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Redemption Island in "Blood vs. Water" featured additional alterations to fit with the game's primary twist of featuring pairs of loved ones. Prior to any duel, the castaways with loved ones on Redemption Island are given the choice to replace their loved one on Redemption Island, with their loved one returning to the main game and taking their place in the tribe. In addition, the first-place winner of the duel must give a clue to a hidden immunity idol to any castaway in the main game.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: A short-term variation of the Redemption Island twist is used on "Australian Survivor", where at Tribal Council, the castaways are informed that the next two players voted-off (the castaway voted for that night and at the following Tribal Council) will not be eliminated from the game, but rather they will be Exiled. In Exile, the two castaways will compete in a "Redemption Island" style duel with the winner returning to the tribe and remaining in the game, and the loser being officially eliminated. This twist was used "Australian Survivor 2018" and "Australian Survivor 2019". Two variations of the Exile Twist was used during the "" - The first was during a Double Tribal Council, in which both tribes voted out a player, who would compete in a Fire Making Duel. The winner returns to the tribe and the loser is eliminated. The second variation had 3 players voted out in 2 tribal councils - the 6 players would compete in 2 challenges to return to the game - the 3 who remained would face a tribal council vote to determine who is eliminated.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Other seasons have featured alternate twists in which voted out players can return to the game. In 2003, "" featured the Outcast twist, in which the six eliminated castaways competed as the Outcast tribe against the two remaining tribes; as the Outcast tribe won the challenge, they earned the right to vote two of their own back into the game, while the other two tribes had to vote players out; following this, the tribes merged. In the of the Israeli version, voted out players remained in the game as "zombies", challenging their former tribemates to stay in the game and vote in their stead at Tribal Council; similar to Redemption Island, zombies returned to the game at the merge and near the end of the game. The 2019 season "" allowed eliminated players the decision of either leaving the game, or going to the titular island. Once there, the contestants survived on fewer supplies than were available in the main game, but had the option to quit at any time. The players on the island competed in an individual challenge at the merge, and with five players remaining, with the winner returning to the main game. This twist returned two seasons later for "Survivor: Winners at War".


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The Sole Survivor receives a cash prize of $1,000,000 prior to taxes and sometimes also receives a car provided by the show's sponsor. Every player receives a prize for participating on "Survivor" depending on how long they lasts in the game. In most seasons, the runner-up receives $100,000, and third place wins $85,000. All other players receive money on a sliding scale, though specific amounts have rarely been made public. Sonja Christopher, the first player voted off "", received $2,500. In "", the first season with tied runners-up, the two runners-up received $100,000 each, and Yau-Man Chan received $60,000 for his fourth-place finish. All players also receive an additional $10,000 for their appearance on the reunion show. In the (an all winners edition), winner Tony Vlachos received $2,000,000, the biggest cash prize in the show's history.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Most seasons between "The Australian Outback" and "Fiji" have featured a late-season reward challenge where the winner receives a car. This reward was infamous for what was later dubbed the "car curse," referring to the fact that no player who won the car ever went on to win the game during his, her or their original season.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Other prizes are given out post-game, usually at the live reunion that immediately follows the coronation of the winner.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Aside from the U. S. version, other franchises introduced variations and twists for the game. Most of these twists and variations are used in other franchises as well:


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: The "Survivor" format has been adapted for numerous international versions of the show, some named after the original "Expedition Robinson".<br>


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: One of the more novel merchandising items has been the interactive "" thrill ride at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California. The ride includes a rotating platform on which riders are divided into one of four "tribes." As the ride moves along an undulating track, riders can be sprayed by water guns hidden in oversized tribal masks while drums and other familiar Survivor musical accents play in the background. Other theming includes Survivor memorabilia throughout the queue line and other merchandise for sale in nearby gift shops. The ride has since been rethemed as Tiki Twirl.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: During the first "Survivor" seasons many online games based on forums were created. More specific "Survivor" online games appeared later.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: In late 2013, a former contestant of the American version of the show, Erik Reichenbach, launched a Kickstarter campaign for a "Survivor"-styled online mobile app called "Islands of Chaos". The app pits players from all over the world in a battle of challenges and strategy to be the last one standing. If the campaign is successful, the plan is to release the game free of charge on a range of platforms including on Apple and Android devices.


title: Survivor (franchise)

text: Beginning on July 8, 2007, a parody of "Survivor" called "Total Drama Island" appeared on the Canadian television network Teletoon. This animated show included 22 summer campers who signed up to stay at a five-star resort, which actually turned out to be a cruddy summer camp on an island somewhere in Muskoka, Ontario. The host, Chris McLean, is modeled after "Survivor" host Jeff Probst. The campers are taken to the island on boats to meet their fellow competitors, being heartbroken at the sight of their wasted summer. The campers were separated into two teams: The "Screaming Gophers" and the "Killer Bass". Every three days there would be a challenge for the campers to face, from jumping off a high cliff into a lake to survival skills. The losing team of each challenge would go to the Bonfire Ceremony the night of the challenge, and vote someone off the team, like "Survivor". Each team member still in the game would receive a marshmallow, leaving one team member without one. The member who does not receive a marshmallow (the symbol of life on the island) would have to walk the Dock of Shame and board the Boat of Losers to leave the island, and "Never ever ever ever ever" return (which turned out to be a lie in the episode "No Pain, No Game"). After 12 members of the island were voted off, the teams were merged. The winner receives a check for the C$100,000 and the final marshmallow. The show then ends with Chris thrown off the Dock of Shame. The show aired in 188 countries and also appeared on the channels of Cartoon Network and Jetix. The show became a critical and commercial success and it spun off into a series.


title: Letter (message)

text: A letter is a written message conveyed from one person (or group of people) to another through a medium. Something epistolary means that it is a form of letter writing. The term usually excludes written material intended to be read in its original form by large numbers of people, such as newspapers and placards, although even these may include material in the form of an "open letter". The typical form of a letter for many centuries, and the archetypal concept even today, is a sheet (or several sheets) of paper that is sent to a correspondent through a postal system. A letter can be formal or informal, depending on its audience and purpose. Besides being a means of communication and a store of information, letter writing has played a role in the reproduction of writing as an art throughout history. Letters have been sent since antiquity and are mentioned in the "Iliad". Historians Herodotus and Thucydides mention and use letters in their writings.


title: Letter (message)

text: Historically, letters have existed from ancient India, ancient Egypt and Sumer, through Rome, Greece and China, up to the present day. During the 17th and 18th centuries, letters were used to self-educate. The main purposes of letters were to send information, news and greetings. For some, letters were a way to practice critical reading, self-expressive writing, polemical writing and also exchange ideas with like-minded others. For some people, letters were seen as a written performance. Letters make up several of the books of the Bible. Archives of correspondence, whether for personal, diplomatic, or business reasons, serve as primary sources for historians. At certain times, the writing of letters was thought to be an art form and a genre of literature, for instance in Byzantine epistolography.


title: Letter (message)

text: In the ancient world letters might be written on various different materials, including metal, lead, wax-coated wooden tablets, pottery fragments, animal skin, and papyrus. From Ovid, we learn that Acontius used an apple for his letter to Cydippe. More recently, letters have mainly been written on paper: handwritten and more recently typed.


title: Letter (message)

text: There is a wealth of letters and instructional materials (for example, manuals, as in the medieval ars dictaminis) on letter writing throughout history. The study of letter writing usually involves both the study of rhetoric and grammar.


title: Letter (message)

text: Historians of the medieval period often study family letter collections, which gather the personal and business correspondence of a group of related people and shed light on their daily life. The Paston Letters (1425 – 1520 CE) are widely studied for insight into life in Britain during the Wars of the Roses. Other major medieval family letter collections include the Stonor Letters (1420 – 1483 CE), Plumpton Letters (1416 – 1552 CE), and Cely Letters (1472-1488 CE).


title: Letter (message)

text: Letters were a chief form of communication, in both personal and business communication, for many centuries before telegraphy, telephony, and Internet communications reduced their primacy. Even in times and places where literacy was lower, illiterate people could pay literate ones to write letters to, and to read letters from, distant correspondents. Even in the era of telegrams and telephones, letters remained quite important until fax and email further eroded their primacy, especially since the turn of the 21st century. As communication technology has developed in recent history, posted letters on paper have become less important as a routine form of communication. For example, the development of the telegraph drastically shortened the time taken to send a communication, by sending it between distant points as an electrical signal. At the telegraph office closest to the destination, the signal was converted back into writing on paper and delivered to the recipient. The next step was the telex which avoided the need for local delivery. Then followed the fax (facsimile) machine: a letter could be transferred from the sender to the receiver through the telephone network as an image. These technologies did not displace physical letters as the primary route for communication; however today, the Internet, by means of email, plays the main role in written communications, together with text messages; however, these email communications are not generally referred to as letters but rather as e-mail (or email) messages, messages or simply emails or e-mails, with the term "letter" generally being reserved for communications on paper.


title: Letter (message)

text: Due to the timelessness and universality of letter writing, extant letters from earlier eras constitute an important category of source material in historiography (the methodology of historians).


title: Letter (message)

text: During the 18th century, called the "Great Age of Letter Writing," the epistolary novel became a hugely popular genre and came from the format of letters. The novel also debuted in the 17th century with "Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister". Letter writers used this to communicate and explore their identity and daily life at the time. As a medium of writing that lies ambiguously between the public and private worlds, letters provide an appealing peek into other people's thoughts, feelings, and lives. During this historical period, publishing these "private" letters so they could build and preserve literary prominence became common for the first time. Just as social media streams now allow modern celebrities to present versions of their intimate lives for the public to see and read all about, so did early modern and 18th-century figures carefully build themselves in their letters for audiences to be excited to read these works of literature. In the 18th century, readers frequently associated personal letters with the ideals of honesty and truth. Writing in the 18th-century was a rough process that required a lot of materials, many of which were difficult or expensive to get. Researchers interested in the links and connections between migrants, settlers, and refugees have increasingly concentrated on letters and their purposes. Surprisingly, academics only began examining letters as artifacts in the late twentieth century; most studies continue to focus on the national course of epistolary novels.


title: Letter (message)

text: Letters also offer information on changing conceptions of privacy, secrecy, and trust during a period of widespread censorship, especially in war. Lastly, study on letter writing and mail services culture exposes the economic and technical roots of letter writing, as well as how links required resources ranging from writing tables and ink to postal employees and ships to carry letters over the world. A lot of letters that were written in this time also showed up in a popular magazine called "The Gentleman’s Magazine". People were also charged for postage during this time. They either had to pay before or during transit. Writers took great caution in their number of pages so they did not have to pay so much. These writers were considered very clever in their way to avoid the overcharge. Letter writing also became a really important pastime for some. Women were among these people to write letters and express themselves. A lot of female friendships were formed from women being encouraged to write letters. In fact, the most popular character who wrote in this period was named Clarissa Harlowe. This was also a chance for women to express their intelligence. They used letters also to separate themselves from their husbands and have their own voice to enter more into society. Even when the epistolary novel lost its popularity, people did not stop writing letters. It gave everyone a voice when they did not think they had one and it is incredibly important to people to have that, especially the women of this time.


title: Letter (message)

text: Alexander Pope was the first English writer to publish from his own letters during his lifetime, putting out a new example for authors and other important people's epistolary works. Pope recognized that writings may reflect both personal religious devotion and cleverness. Pope's works are lacking in formality and informality. He had written his letters all about his life and what he did. Pope also wrote about his friends and the health and work of them. "All the pleasure of using familiar letters is to give us the assurance of a friend's welfare," Pope said. He had also taken to describing himself as "a mortal enemy and despiser of what they call fine letters." There was a letter addressed to Pope’s father that ended up being used as writing paper for the "Iliad". When Alexander Pope's letters were published, they were widely read by a number of people.


title: Letter (message)

text: Despite email's widespread use, letters are still popular, particularly in business and for official communications. At the same time, many "letters" are sent in electronic form. The following advantages of paper letters over e-mails and text messages are put forward:


title: Letter (message)

text: This process, depending on how far the sender is from the recipient, can take anywhere from a day to 3–4 weeks. International mail is sent via trains and airplanes to other countries.


title: Letter (message)

text: In 2008, Janet Barrett in the UK received an RSVP to a party invitation addressed to 'Percy Bateman', from 'Buffy', allegedly originally posted on 29 November 1919. It had taken 89 years to be delivered by the Royal Mail. However, Royal Mail denied this, saying that it would be impossible for a letter to have remained in their system for so long, as checks are carried out regularly. Instead, the letter dated 1919 may have "been a collector's item which was being sent in another envelope and somehow came free of the outer packaging".


title: Letter (message)

text: The forms (conformations) of letters have usually followed traditional norms of the times and places where correspondence took place. Aspects such as where to place the elements (salutation, body of letter, valediction/closing, sender's address, recipient's address, date, and so on) were somewhat standardized albeit also usually flexible in practice. The form often varied by kind of letter. For any kind, though, factors of cost—such as that each sheet/leaf of paper cost money to buy and to post, and the fact of who paid for the posting (sender or recipient)—placed constraints on the forms of letters that varied from negligible in some times and places to crucial in others. These factors of cost drove norms on whether to write on both sides of the leaf, whether to cross the leaf with lines written in both directions (horizontally and vertically), whether to allow margins and how big or small to make them, how much to abbreviate to save space, and whether to have a separate envelope and thus how to fold the letter and where on the leaf to put the addresses.


title: Letter (message)

text: Business encyclopedias and textbooks of the 19th and 20th centuries show that businesspeople of those eras sometimes took the standardization of the forms of business letters to extremes. Typists were required to follow dozens or hundreds of rules about element placement and sizing, some of them with rather arbitrary and even counterproductive (wastefully expensive) strictness. However, the effort to standardize (on where to put the information and how to represent it) did have various valid motivations, as in some respects it presaged the concept of data normalization, helping with the extensive manual indexing, cataloguing, and filing that characterized the clerking duties of the era.


title: Letter (message)

text: Over the centuries, a lexicon of abbreviations, metonymic short forms, and conventional valedictions developed for frequent use in letters. For example, "yours of the 12th inst." meant "your letter of the 12th of this month"; "do" meant "ditto"; and forms like "Yr Obdt Srvt" for "Your Obedient Servant" were common.


title: Letter (message)

text: Cryptography (secret writing) sometimes played a role in letters in centuries past, as correspondents would use previously agreed code to try to shield the plaintext from the comprehension of prying eyes during the letter's transit. This could be done in business letters to lessen spying by competitors on prices and methods and in personal letters to try to evade postal censorship (either of wartime censors or of peacetime authoritarian censors) or the gossip of townsfolk. It could be in either cryptic form (for example, "AEDFX GHSTR HTFXV") or in deceptively readable form (for example, "the dog will run at sunset unless the rains come"). By the standards of modern digital applied cryptography, the security was often not especially high (that is, the codebreaking was not necessarily difficult), but it was usually high enough to meet the demands of the context (that is, the degree of risk, the likelihood or stakes of any codebreaking efforts, and the state of the codebreaking art in each era).


title: Letter (message)

text: Various forms or precursors of tamper-evident technology were developed over the centuries to enable the sending and receiving of letters whereby it would be evident to the recipient if anyone else had opened the letter before they received it. The principal class of these methods was sealing wax. Another method was to apply a small thin disc of adhesive material known as a wafer. A more elaborate class was letterlocking, including a type called spiral locking, which was especially relevant to government ministers, royal courts, judicial courts, and legislators.


title: Letter (message)

text: Envelopes are available in plain types as well as types with somewhat higher privacy protection in which a pattern of ink is printed on the inner side, making it more difficult for anyone trying to candle a sealed letter (that is, examine it translucently via backlight). Such envelopes are usually called privacy envelopes or security envelopes. Another sense of the term "security envelope" refers to security bags.


title: Letter (message)

text: Diplomatic mail pouch systems are special, small, closed postal systems run by each country's ministry of foreign affairs or department of state. A general theme of the diplomatic mail pouch is that outsiders never have physical access to it during the entire chain of custody; it never gets sent off out of sight of authorized persons, which would otherwise be the weak link in the chain where intelligence agencies could surreptitiously examine it in non-evident ways. The mail pouch itself in a diplomatic mail pouch system is often a security bag instead of merely any cloth pouch or sack.


title: Cannabis edible

text: A cannabis edible, also known as a cannabis-infused food or simply an edible, is a food product (either homemade or produced commercially) that contains decarboxylated cannabinoids (cannabinoid acids converted to their orally bioactive form) from cannabis extract as an active ingredient. Although "edible" may refer to either a food or a drink, a cannabis-infused drink may be referred to more specifically as a liquid edible or drinkable. Edibles are a way to consume cannabis. Unlike smoking, in which cannabinoids are inhaled into the lungs and pass rapidly into the bloodstream, peaking in about ten minutes and wearing off in a couple of hours, cannabis edibles may take hours to digest, and their effects may peak two to three hours after consumption and persist for around six hours. The food or drink used may affect both the timing and potency of the dose ingested.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Most edibles contain a significant amount of THC, which can induce a wide range of effects, including: relaxation, sleepiness, dizziness, dry mouth, euphoria, depersonalization and/or derealization, hallucinations, paranoia, and decreased or increased anxiety. THC-dominant edibles are consumed for recreational and medical purposes. Some edibles contain a negligible amount of THC and are instead dominant in other cannabinoids, most commonly cannabidiol (CBD). The main characteristic of cannabis edibles is that they take longer to affect users compared to smoked cannabis.


title: Cannabis edible

text: The earliest mention of cannabis-infused food was as far back as 2000 B.C. in India. Known as one of the oldest cannabis traditions, Bhang – a cannabis infused drink made with yogurt, nuts, spices, rose water – is an official drink of Holi, highly celebrated and revered festivals celebrated by the people of Hindu community in India revering Shiva or Kali. The oil-solubility of cannabis extracts was also known to ancient Indians, with Sanskrit recipes requiring cannabis to be sautéed in ghee before mixing it with other ingredients.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Majoun (cannabis jam) is another early type of edible first created by the nomadic Berber tribes of North Africa sometime around the 11th century. The traditional Majoun recipe calls for cannabis extract, datura seeds, honey, nuts, kif (a mixture of kief), and sometimes dates and figs.


title: Cannabis edible

text: The first mention of edibles in Europe appeared in a cookbook titled "De honesta voluptate et valetudine", which translates to "On Honorable Pleasure and Health" written by Bartolomeo Platina in 1465.


title: Cannabis edible

text: The first cannabis edible recipe appeared in the United States in the early 1960s in a cookbook called "The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book" written by Alice B. Toklas. The recipe is called "Hashish Fudge" and was actually contributed by Alice's good friend, Brion Gysin. Although it was omitted from the first American editions, Toklas' name and her "brownies" became synonymous with cannabis in the growing 1960s counterculture.


title: Cannabis edible

text: In some U.S. states that have legalized cannabis, edibles have experienced a dramatic rise in sales. Some are concerned about the danger edibles pose to children and inexperienced cannabis consumers. Calls to poison control have dramatically increased since 2008 due to dogs ingesting edibles. In Canada, cannabis-infused food products were legalized in October 2018, but regulatory restrictions and reduced consumer interest may inhibit innovation.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Ingesting cannabis may produce effects that last longer and can be more intense than inhaling cannabis. Different edible formats of cannabinoids may affect the rate of cannabinoid digestion and metabolism, which vary among people. Generally, edible cannabis products are digested more slowly than occurs for aerosol products. Oral administration generally leads to two peaks of concentration, due to enterohepatic circulation. Common side effects of ingesting edibles include increased appetite, dry mouth, and bloodshot eyes.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Cannabis edibles contain both delta 9 THC, which is responsible for the psychotropic properties of feeling relaxed and euphoric, and CBD, which may have effects without the psychoactive properties. Such effects may include analgesia, decreased inflammation, decreased spasticity, and anti-seizure effects. Cannabis edibles with CBD can decrease symptoms of psychosis and anxiety. Edible oils, tinctures, pills, and gummies have been prescribed to people with cancer to potentially improve poor appetite, pain, or weight loss. Cannabis edibles may be effective for muscle spasms and pain.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Some users of cannabis have reported adverse effects, such as confusion, hallucinations, panic attacks, paranoia, and intense psychotic effects. Cannabis may cause short-term impairments in cognition, memory, alertness, coordination, and balance which can increase risk of falls, especially in older people, and make driving a car dangerous.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Overdoses may occur because the dosage of THC in edibles is impossible to determine without specialized lab equipment and it varies from product to product. Some or all legalized U.S. states require packaged edibles to have dosage on the label; for instance California AB266 requires labeling to include "THC and other cannabinoid amount in milligrams per serving, servings per package, and the THC and other cannabinoid amount in milligrams for the package total", and states have required the recall of incorrectly labeled products. Overdoses can cause behavioral impairments, such as paranoia, impaired mobility, and nausea. Other risks, as a result of regular long-term cannabis use, include harmful effects to brain development, heart function, memory and cognition, and psychiatric health.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Long-term recreational marijuana use can cause cognitive impairments and also lead to cannabis use disorder (CUD). Symptoms of CUD include lack of motivation, decreased concentration, and loss of interest in other activities, tolerance, and dependence.


title: Cannabis edible

text: The important base to all food edibles is that it has fat that has been infused with THC. In other words, any food that contains butter, oil, milk, or any fatty substance can be turned into an edible. Examples of cannabis-infused foods include baked goods, candy, potato chips, and more. One may not be able to distinguish between regular baked goods and those containing cannabinoids, which however tend to have a slightly green tinge and often emit a faint cannabis smell. A mild grassy or cannabis flavor might be detectable if sufficient cannabis quantities are used.


title: Cannabis edible

text: A cannabis-infused drink is a drink infused with THC and can be as potent as a cannabis-infused food.


title: Cannabis edible

text: In U.S. states that have legalized cannabis for recreational use, drinks were about 4% of the cannabis market in 2014 but had fallen to around 1.5% of the market in 2016. Cannabis infused drinks can come in the form of coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Tinctures are potent, alcohol-based cannabis extracts. The solubility of THC in ethanol is greater than 1 g/mL. They are considered edibles as they are meant to be absorbed through the mouth and tongue. Tinctures are generally placed under the tongue using a dropper to allow it to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Tinctures can be added to any food or drink and provides more control over the cannabis dosage compared to cannabis-infused foods or drinks.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Dissolvable cannabinoid powder is tasteless and odorless, and may elicit effects typical of oral cannabis products. Powders are water-soluble and can be mixed into foods and drinks. Unlike traditional edibles which can take some 90 minutes to take effect, cannabinoid powder may produce effects within 20 minutes due to solubility and uptake of the powder constituents via the digestive tract, allowing rapid effects, especially of THC.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Cannabidiol (CBD) edibles are non-psychoactive and non-intoxicating, and contain varying amounts of THC, according to the manufacturer. These edibles provide the effects of cannabis without the psychoactive response to THC.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Cannabis capsules are considered edibles as they are also metabolized in the gut. Capsules can contain either THC or CBD and are an easier, more convenient way of administering medications.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Cannabis oil, or canna-oil, is a product that infuses any cooking oil with cannabis and its cannabinoids. Cannabis oil can be used for baking but is more commonly added to sauces or dressings or cooked with food. Coconut oil is a commonly used oil for infusion, but other options are olive, avocado, and walnut oil.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Cannabis butter, or cannabutter, is unsalted butter blended with cannabis and water. Cleaned and dried buds are steeped in melted butter or oil in preparation for consumption. Cannabutter can be added to any baking recipe.


title: Cannabis edible

text: In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medicinal cannabis use. As of 2022, cannabis has been legalized for medical use in 37 states as well as the District of Columbia and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands. Because cannabis remains under preliminary research for its potential to reduce chronic pain, it may be an alternative to opioids. Studies have shown that legalization of medical cannabis is associated with less opioid overdose deaths; however, further studies are needed to determine the nature of this relationship.


title: Cannabis edible

text: In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act classified marijuana as a Schedule I substance meaning that it is not currently accepted for medicinal use, has high potential for abuse, and has lack of accepted safety for use of the drug. Usually, this would mean cannabis cannot be dispensed or prescribed; however, state laws allow for cannabis use despite these regulations.


title: Cannabis edible

text: As of 2022, the following states in the U.S. have legalized recreational marijuana: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, with legalization in Maryland slated for July 1, 2023. Most states require some sort of labeling of the potential harmful effects of cannabis use and the nutrition facts of edible products.


title: Cannabis edible

text: On 17 October 2018, Canada became the first G7 nation to legalize recreational/adult-use cannabis with the Cannabis Act (the Act). That same day cannabis was removed from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The Act regulates retail cannabis, medical cannabis, and industrial hemp in Canada.


title: Cannabis edible

text: The adverse effects on health are most important when it is used in excessive quantities or with heavy frequency. A study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse entitled "Tasty THC: Promises and Challenges of Cannabis Edibles" found that heavy, long-term cannabis use appeared to worsen brain development, and psychiatric and heart health. On the other hand, the study also discovered that cannabis edibles did not appear to affect pulmonary function nor increase risk for cancer which is one reason people choose cannabis edibles over smoking cannabis. The study concedes that over-consuming cannabis is not lethal; to date, there has never been a death related to the actual toxicity of cannabis. However, there has been one death involving cannabis edibles.


title: Cannabis edible

text: A safety concern with regards to cannabis edibles is overconsumption which is usually caused by the delayed effects of ingested cannabis. Because users do not feel the effects of cannabis edibles right away, users often eat more to compensate and end up consuming too much THC. As a result, cannabis edibles have caused the most healthcare visits as compared to other forms of cannabis consumption. Additionally, the amount of cannabis in any individual product can be highly variable which is another contributing factor to overconsumption. In addition, people can have very different responses to the same amount of THC with 2.5 mg being enough for some people to begin to feel effects while, for others, 50 mg is required.


title: Cannabis edible

text: High concentrations of THC have been shown to cause hallucinations, delusions, and anxiety in some people; for most, these symptoms only last as long as that person is intoxicated, but some people can be affected for several days. Cannabis use has been connected with increased use of other drugs, although this connection has never been shown to be causal.


title: Cannabis edible

text: Many edible cannabis products are packaged in a way which could appeal to children (gummies, etc.), though laws requiring a minimum age to purchase recreational cannabis are universal in jurisdictions that have fully legalized its use, similar to age restrictions on alcohol. As with alcohol and prescription medicines, basic care should be taken to prevent children from having access to the product, as cannabis edibles have been the main cause of a number of health care visits relating to accidental cannabis consumption by children, although none resulted in death.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR engine is a series of , or straight-four, four-stroke gasoline engines manufactured by Nissan. It has an aluminum head and block with steel sleeves and has a DOHC 4-valve design, with variable valve timing on select models.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The engine was used in many small to medium Nissan vehicles, including high-performance turbocharged variants. It was designed by Nissan as a replacement of the earlier CA series of engines, and was replaced by the QR and MR series of engines. Power outputs are shown under JIS Net PS or ECE Net kilowatts unless otherwise indicated.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR16VE has Nissan's Neo VVL variable valve timing with lift control. It produces at 7800 rpm and at 7200 rpm. Redline is at 8300 rpm.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: This engine was never used on the USDM counterpart of the B14 Lucino, the B14 Nissan 200SX, as it uses the 1.6 L GA16DE and 2.0 L SR20DE engines instead.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: This version was used in the limited-production Pulsar VZ-R N1, produced from 1997 to 1998. These cars were tuned by Autech Japan. It made at 7800 rpm and at 7600 rpm. Redline of the N1 Version 2 (1998) is at 8600 rpm. This is also claimed to be the most powerful production 1.6 L naturally aspirated engine.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR18Di is a DOHC engine. It produces at 6500 rpm and at 4000 rpm. Based on the Single Point Fuel Injection system, it was installed on JDM cars and some UK versions. This model used some cast iron blocks and it was used on the P10 generation Nissan Primera, but due to the low overall power this engine option was dropped on the next generation.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: This engine was never used on the USDM counterpart of the P10/11 Primera, the Infiniti G20, as it uses the 2.0 L SR20DE engine instead.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR18DE is a DOHC engine. It produces at 6000 rpm and at 4800 rpm. This engine came with Multi Point Fuel Injection System ECCS (Electronic Concentrated Control System). The SR18DE crankshaft was produced with four fewer counterweights than the SR20DE variants, which have eight, for lighter weight and better fuel efficiency. These lightweight crankshafts were also homologated for use in the Japanese N2 Silvia racing program and later used in the SR20VE engine.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR20Di is a DOHC engine. It produces . Bore and stroke are . Similar to the 1.8 liter version except for bigger displacement with a throttle body injection system.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR20DE is a DOHC engine. It was used in over 15 Nissan models. It first appeared in October 1989 in the U12 Bluebird, and was gradually phased out over time with the introduction of the low-emissions QR engine family. It carried nominal power ratings between from the factory, although there are some Autech models with horsepower ratings of between 175 and 200 hp depending on the chassis and degrees of tuning.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR20DET is a DOHC engine. It is a turbocharged version of the SR20DE, with power outputs ranging from at 6000 rpm to at 6400 rpm, and torque outputs ranging from at 4800 rpm to at 4800 rpm. It was first used in the U12 Nissan Bluebird SSS ATTESA from October 1989, and expanded to several cars from 1989 through 2002. The Silvia was the longest-running Nissan model to use this engine, starting with the S13 series in 1991 and ending with the S15 series in 2002.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR20VE has Nissan's Neo VVL variable valve timing with lift control. It produces at 7000 rpm and at 6000 rpm with a 10.3:1 compression ratio and later (2001–2003) at 7200 rpm and at 5200 rpm with a 11:1 compression ratio.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: This engine was never used on the USDM counterpart of the P11 Primera, the Infiniti G20, as it uses the 2.0 L SR20DE engine instead.


title: Nissan SR engine

text: The SR20VET was the first turbocharged engine from Nissan with variable valve lift (VVL), produced exclusively for the Japanese market. It produces at 6400 rpm and at 3200 rpm, with 9.0:1 compression ratio.


title: Gir National Park

text: Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan Gir, is a forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary near Talala Gir in Gujarat, India. It is located north-east of Somnath, south-east of Junagadh and south-west of Amreli. It was established in 1965 in the erstwhile Nawab of Junagarh's private hunting area, with a total area of , of which is fully protected as a national park and as wildlife sanctuary. It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.


title: Gir National Park

text: The 14th Asiatic Lion Census 2015 was conducted in May 2015. In 2015, the population was 523 (27% up compared to previous census in 2010). The population was 411 in 2010 and 359 in 2005. The lion population in Junagadh District was 268 individuals, 44 in Gir Somnath District, 174 in Amreli District, and 37 in Bhavangar District. There are 109 males, 201 females and 213 cubs.


title: Gir National Park

text: In the 19th century, the rulers of Indian princely states used to invite the British colonists for hunting expeditions. At the end of the 19th century, only about a dozen Asiatic lions were left in India, all of them in the Gir Forest, which was part of the Nawab of Junagarh's private hunting grounds. British viceroys brought the drastic decline of the lion population in Gir to the attention of the Nawab of Junagadh, who established the sanctuary. Today, it is the only area in Asia where Asiatic lions occur and is considered one of the most important protected areas in Asia because of its biodiversity. The Gir ecosystem with its diverse flora and fauna is protected as a result of the efforts of the government forest department, wildlife activists and NGOs. It is now considered the jewel of Gujarat's ecological resources.


title: Gir National Park

text: The seven major perennial rivers of the Gir region are "Hiran", "Shetrunji", "Dhatarvadi", "Shingoda", "Machhundri", "Ambajal" and "Raval". The four reservoirs of the area are at four dams, one each on Hiran, Machhundri, Raval and Shingoda rivers, including the biggest reservoir in the area, the "Kamleshwar Dam", dubbed 'the lifeline of Gir'. It is located at 21°08′08″N to 70°47′48″E.


title: Gir National Park

text: During peak summer, surface water for wild animals is available at about 300 water points. When drought hits the area following poor rainfall, surface water is not available at a majority of these points, and water scarcity becomes a serious problem (mainly in the eastern part of the sanctuary). Ensuring the availability of water during peak summer is one of the major tasks of the Forest Department staff.


title: Gir National Park

text: More than 400 plant species were recorded in the survey of Gir forest by "Samtapau & Raizada" in 1955. The botany department of M.S. University of Baroda has revised the count to 507 during their survey. According to the 1964 forest type classification by "Champion & Sheth", the Gir forest falls under "5A/C-1a—very dry teak forest" classification. Teak occurs mixed with dry deciduous species. The degradation stages (DS) sub-types are thus derived as:


title: Gir National Park

text: Teak bearing areas are mainly in the eastern portion of the forest, which constitutes nearly half of the total area. Several species of acacia are found. Also found here are ber, jamun ("Syzygium cumini"), babul (acacia), flame of the forest, zizyphus, tendu and dhak.


title: Gir National Park

text: Also plants like karanj, umlo, amli, sirus, kalam, charal and an occasional vad or banyan tree are found. These broadleaf trees provide a cool shade and moisture content to the region. As part of the afforestation programme casuarina and prosopis have been planted along the coast borders of gir.


title: Gir National Park

text: The forest is an important biological research area with considerable scientific, educational, aesthetic and recreational values. It provides nearly 5 million kilograms of green grass by annual harvesting, which is valued approximately at 500 million (US$7.12 million). The forest provides nearly 123,000 metric tons worth of fuel wood annually.


title: Gir National Park

text: The count of 2,375 distinct fauna species of Gir includes about 38 species of mammals, around 300 species of birds, 37 species of reptiles and more than 2,000 species of insects.


title: Gir National Park

text: The carnivores group mainly comprises the Asiatic lion, Indian leopard, jungle cat, striped hyena, golden jackal, Bengal fox, Indian gray mongoose and ruddy mongoose, and honey badger. Asiatic wildcat and rusty-spotted cat occur, but are rarely seen.


title: Gir National Park

text: The main herbivores of Gir are chital, nilgai, sambar, four-horned antelope, chinkara and wild boar. Blackbucks from the surrounding area are sometimes seen in the sanctuary.


title: Gir National Park

text: The reptiles are represented by the mugger crocodile, Indian cobra, tortoise and monitor lizard which inhabit the sanctuary's bodies of water. Snakes are found in the bush and forest. Pythons are sighted at times along the stream banks. Gir has been used by the Gujarat State Forest Department which formed the Indian Crocodile Conservation Project in 1977 and released close to 1000 marsh crocodiles into Lake Kamaleshwar and other small bodies of water in and around Gir.