Unlike rodents, which have gnawing incisors that grow continually, the teeth of shrews wear down throughout life, and they lose their milk teeth before birth. Therefore, they have only one set of teeth for their lifetime. Apart from the first pair of incisors, which are long and sharp, and the chewing molars at the back of the mouth, the teeth of shrews are small and peg-like, and may be reduced in number. The dental formula of shrews is: upper=3.1.1-3.3; lower=1-2.0-1.1.3.
Shrews are fiercely territorial. They drive off rivals, and come together only to mate. Many species dig burrows to store food and hide from predators, but this is not universal. Some of them echolocate by squeaking, some are venomous, some have teeth strengthened by iron on the tips, they make ultrasonic squeaks, and two genera echolocate by clicks.
They eat plenty and often. They are very active animals, with voracious appetites. Shrews have unusually high metabolic rates, above that expected in small mammals. For this reason, they need to eat almost constantly. Probably the aquatic nymphs of insects (for example, mosquito larvae) are on the menu even though many of these are themselves hungry eaters.
Ground squirrel
Ground squirrels are marmots. These are small rodents, squirrels which live on and in the ground.
Most of them live in the mountains, like the Sierra Nevada, or the Alps. Marmots make holes in the ground. They live in burrows, underground. They hibernate, that is they sleep through the winter. Marmots are very social animals. They group together easily. They also like to communicate with each other, with whistles, especially when they sense danger.
They vary in size and habits. Most are able to rise up on their hind legs and stand fully erect comfortably for long periods. This way they watch for predators. They tend to live together more than other squirrels, and many live in colonies with complex social structures. Most Marmotini are rather short-tailed and large squirrels. The Alpine marmot ("Marmota marmota") is the largest living member of the Sciuridae, at 53–73 cm in length and weighing 5–8 kg.
Many historians suggest that marmots, rather than rats, were the carriers of bubonic plague epidemics in the Middle Ages.
Human Be-In
The 'Human Be-In' was an event during the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The Human Be-In caused the Summer of Love, which introduced hippie life and the word psychedelic to everyday Americans, and made the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco famous because it was the center of an American counterculture.
The hippie movement had two main sources. One source was college students who were not happy about the way the country was headed. They did not like the way African Americans were being treated in the South or the way young men were being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. The other source of the hippie movement was the 'Beat Generation' (poets and jazz hipsters).
Throughout the early 1960s, college students who were against the policies of segregation in Southern United States would travel to the south. They took part in sit-ins, register African Americans to vote, demonstrate, march, and other activism. More and more people were unhappy about the Vietnam War and the riots. During this time, San Francisco was becoming a center for younger people who liked to experiment with drugs, and it was also a center for the music scene. From the idea of the 'sit-in', they got the idea to have a 'Human Be-In' in early January to get people's minds off politics and the war.
The Human Be-In was announced on the cover of the first issue of the "San Francisco Oracle" as "A Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In". Speakers at the rally included Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (soon to be more widely known as 'Ram Dass'), and poets like Allen Ginsberg, who chanted mantras, and Gary Snyder. Leary set the tone that afternoon with his famous phrase "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out". Other counterculture leaders who were there included comedian Dick Gregory, Lenore Kandel, and Jerry Rubin. The Hells Angels, at the peak of their 'outlaw' reputation, looked after lost children. Local rock bands such as Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service provided the music, and Owsley "Bear" Stanley provided massive amounts of his "White Lightning" LSD to the gathered masses.
Soon every gathering was being called an '-In' of some kind. "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In", a television comedy series, began to appear on NBC just a year later, January 22, 1968.
During 1967, more and more young people from around the country began traveling to San Francisco. By the summer there were between 100,000 and 200,000 there taking part in the "Summer of Love".
Suva
Suva is the capital city of Fiji. It is on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu. Suva became the capital of Fiji in 1877. It was changed from the settlement of Kaivalagi on the island of Ovalau because that settlement had no space left to grow. Kaivalangi had been established by the Europeans. In 1996, 77,366 people lived in Suva. Including independent suburbs, 167,975 people lived in the Greater Suva city area.
Honiara
Honiara is the capital city of the Solomon Islands and of Guadalcanal Province. It has a population 84,520 (2017).
The town is on the island of Guadalcanal. It was built to replace the former capital of Tulagi at the end of World War II. Honiara became the capital of the Solomon Islands in 1952. The town is on the Kukum Highway, which connects Henderson field in the east of Honiara with the White River in the west, and passes the hospital Nambanaen and the burned down Chinatown. Honiara has a dock from which ships depart to other provinces. The gardens of the National Art Gallery are popular for afternoon strolls.
Port Vila
Port Vila (population 29,356, coordinates 17°45′S 168°18′E) is the capital city of Vanuatu. Located on the south coast of the island of Efate, it has the country's most important dock and airport, Bauerfield International, making it the nation's economic and commercial center.
During World War II, Port Vila was an American and Australian airbase. In 1987 and 2015, tropical cyclones badly damaged the city.
Tainan
Tainan City () is a city in Southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest city after Taipei, Kaohsiung, New Taipei City and Taichung City. Tainan was the capital of Taiwan in 1661 when Koxinga took the island from Dutch colonial rule. In 1684, the Qing Dynasty conquered Taiwan and created "Taiwan Fu" (the first local government in Taiwan). This was later renamed to "Tainan Fu" in 1885. Because it was the capital of Taiwan, Tainan is also called Fu-cheng (Government City). Tainan was also the capital of the Republic of Formosa. Tainan is one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, with the Dutch port at An-ping (安平) in 1624. It is also one of Taiwan's cultural capitals, as it built the First Confucian School/Temple on the island. There are remains of the Northern and Southern gates of the old city, and other old monuments. Tainan is the city with the most Buddhist and/or Taoist temples on Taiwan. Tainan City is surrounded by Tainan County to the north and east and the South China Sea to the west and south.
Tainan is famous with its 300-year history and buildings with old designs. Before the year of 1700, there were only the earliest people living there. But everything changed after the Dutch got to Tainan and made Fort Zeelandia (also called Anping Fort) in Anping. Then in 1661, the Dutch were kicked out by Koxinga, who followed the ideas of the Ming Dynasty, and his army. He ended 38 years of Dutch rule in Taiwan.