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Move
over, Will and Kate! In a dazzling ceremony, which made the Western tradition
of white wedding dress look quite boring (I mean, come on, just take a look
at those
shoes!), the fifth Dragon King of Bhutan, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel
Wangchuck married his commoner bride Jetsun Pema:
The young monarch was adorned with Bhutan's Raven Crown in 2008, after his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicated the throne, inheriting a Himalayan nation of nearly 700,000 that had just made the transition to democracy. In Bhutan, he goes by the affectionate moniker of “The People's King.” In Thailand, he's been dubbed “Prince Charming.”
The king looked pleased at the announcement of his wedding, which, according to media reports, will take place in October. “People might think that my queen should be highly educated, beautiful and the best of the best,” he said, grinning. “Jetsun Pema is a kind-hearted girl who is very supportive and whom I can trust. I cannot say how she might appear to the people, but to me, she is the one.” Not just “the one,” but the only one, it seems. Lucky girl. The king's father was married to four sisters.
Link | MSNBC's PhotoBlog has the photos
Sightings by locals in the Himalayan nation of Bhutan led researchers to look for tigers in higher elevations than they’ve ever been known to reside. Dr. Alan Rabinowitz of Panthera, a big cat conservation organization, and BBC wildlife photographer Gordon Buchanan went up in the mountains and set camera traps above 3,000 meters of elevation. They left the cameras for three months, then found that among many other species, tigers indeed came to have their pictures taken.
This is the only place on earth known to have tigers, leopard and snow leopards all sharing the same valley.
It is remarkable to have these three big cats sharing their range.
Most extraordinarily, the cameras took footage of two wild tigers, one male and one female, a discovery that moved Mr Buchanan to tears.
The next step is to create a preserve that would protect the tigers and other animals. See several videos at BBC News. Link -via the Presurfer
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The largest book in the world is a photo collection entitled Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom. It measures five feet wide by seven feet long, weighs 133 pounds, and is 122 pages long. It was written by MIT scientist Michael Hawley to raise money for education in that very poor nation. Amazon is currently selling it for $30,000.
