A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge and La Trobe University questions the classification of the Littlefoot fossil, Australopithecus prometheus.
Littlefoot fossil from Sterkfontein Cave, central South Africa. Image credit: Purdue University.
The Littlefoot fossils were found in 1994 within a cave in Sterkfontein, central South Africa.
This specimen, referred to as StW 573, drew its name from the four small leg bones discovered in a box containing animal fossils, leading to the uncovering of the skeleton.
In the 2010s, paleoanthropologist Ronald Clark proposed that Littlefoot belonged to a hominin species known as Australopithecus prometheus.
Others argued that it was Australopithecus africanus, a hominid species first identified by Australian anatomist Raymond Dart in 1925 and already well-known in the region and across South Africa.
However, a new investigation by Dr. Jesse Martin and his team at La Trobe University has determined that Littlefoot does not exhibit a distinct set of traits linked to either species, suggesting it may be a completely new species.
“This fossil represents one of the most significant discoveries in human history, and its identity is crucial for understanding our evolutionary background,” stated Martin.
“We believe it’s evident that it does not belong to Australopithecus prometheus or Australopithecus africanus. This is likely a previously unidentified ancestor of humans.”
“Dr. Clark deserves recognition for discovering Littlefoot and for being among the few to suggest the presence of two hominin species in Sterkfontein.”
“Littlefoot indicates that this is likely true; there are indeed two species.”
Another forensic facial reconstruction of Australopithecus species – afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.
The researchers now intend to determine which species Littlefoot represents and how it fits within the human evolutionary tree.
Professor Andy Herries, a researcher at La Trobe University and the University of Johannesburg, remarked: “Littlefoot is one of the most complete and significant fossils ever discovered, providing valuable insights into early human diversity and how our ancestors adapted to various environments in southern Africa.”
“It is distinctly different from the designated specimen of Australopithecus prometheus, a classification based on the notion that early humans mastered fire, which we now understand was not the case.”
“Its unique significance compared to other contemporary fossils clearly indicates the necessity of defining it as a distinct species.”
Regarding this research, a paper was published in the December 2025 issue of the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
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Jesse M. Martin et al. 2025. StW 573 Littlefoot fossil is Australopithecus prometheus. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 188 (4): e70177; doi: 10.1002/ajpa.70177
WAfter arriving in Bangkok from Nairobi last December, Duncan Okindo sensed something was amiss as he began his job as a customer service agent. The 26-year-old had previously sold cattle, borrowed funds from a friend, and used his savings to pay the recruitment agency 200,000 Kenyan Shillings (£1,150).
“I thought it was a positive step to leave [the country] and seek opportunities to support my family,” Okindo recalls.
Unfortunately, when a van collected Okindo and six other Kenyans at the airport, the driver took their passports and falsely informed Thai officials that they were tourists. After several hours of travel, they were taken to a boat to cross a river, confused and exhausted.
For the next three months, he was forced to send thousands of messages from fake social media accounts, posing as a wealthy American investor to defraud U.S. real estate agents through cryptocurrency scams.
When he failed to hit his daily targets, he faced beatings, confinement in a freezing room, and sometimes went without food for up to two days. He prayed for the safety of others who suffered at the hands of the Chinese gangsters operating the center, wishing they could avoid the electrocution and sexual torture he witnessed.
“It was hell on Earth,” says Okindo. “I felt completely shattered.”
Eventually, he was released from Myanmar’s KK Park, a compound reflecting the rising number of Kenyans, Ugandans, and Ethiopians trafficked to Southeast Asia as criminal organizations look to expand the East African labor pool.
KK Park is a rapidly growing fraud center located in Myawadi, along Myanmar’s border with Thailand. Photo: Jittrapon Kaicome/The Guardian
Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, there’s been a surge in cyber slavery compounds, taking advantage of the country’s weakened governance and fostering illegal activities. The number of such centers along the Thai border has escalated from 11 to 26 in just four years.
Okindo considers himself fortunate. The mission to find and free trafficked individuals involves coordination among multiple governments, militias, and police forces. Thai officials have successfully promoted the release of thousands of trafficking victims, while East African governments are increasingly collaborating with Thai authorities willing to engage with Myanmar’s junta and militia forces at the border.
Victims can only be released into Thai custody if their home country agrees to take responsibility for their repatriation and the associated costs.
Since 2020, the Southeast Asian cyberslavery industry has ensnared hundreds of thousands, forcing individuals into what is colloquially termed “slaughtering the pigs,” a brutal way to build trust with scam targets before executing fraud. Initially aimed at Chinese and Taiwanese victims, the industry has expanded to Southeast Asians, Indians, and now, Africans.
“Sometimes I’m afraid to talk about it,” Okindo reflects. Photo: Provided by Duncan Okindo
This has led various human trafficking networks to search for recruits with English and technical skills, including East Africans. Estimates now suggest thousands are trapped in Southeast Asian compounds, according to Benedict Hoffman, a representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
As awareness grows among citizens in various countries, recruitment becomes increasingly challenging. “It’s much harder these days to enlist large numbers of individuals from India,” Hoffmann notes. “This is why we’re observing a rise in victims from Africa.”
Between January and April, the Kenyan government successfully repatriated 175 citizens from Myanmar; Roseline Njogu, the Director of the Diaspora Issues Department in Kenya’s State Department, noted that a substantial group of Kenyans, about 150 individuals trafficked from across Southeast Asia, was rescued between 2022 and 2024. This issue also extends to Ethiopia and Uganda.
Recruiters exploiting modern slavery are capitalizing on government migration promotion, targeting Kenya through online job advertisements, social media, texts, and in-person visits to rural areas, states Mutuk Nguri, CEO of the Counter Human Traffic Trust.
Chinese, Vietnamese, and Ethiopians rescued in Misawadi, Myanmar. They are recognized as victims of human trafficking at fraud centers. Photo: Thanaphon Wuttison/AP
The government acknowledges its precarious position, according to Nguri. The Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Issues did not respond to requests for comments.
Thailand has aided thousands, but repatriation presents its own challenges and costs. Thai officials must establish that workers are indeed victims of human trafficking before releasing them to their home countries.
When Susan Wahura* was rescued from a Myanmar romance scam operation in 2022, she spent a month moving between four Thai detention centers before realizing she was trafficked and initiating legal steps to obtain freedom.
“I spent time in a solitary cell before accepting my status as a trafficking victim which ultimately led to my freedom,” shares 32-year-old Wahura.
Neither Uganda nor Ethiopia maintain embassies in Thailand, complicating their ability to identify victims in Myanmar, currently engulfed in civil conflict. Earlier this year, several Ugandans and Ethiopians found themselves stranded at the Myanmar-Thai border as repatriation efforts stalled.
Duncan Okindo has created a TikTok video detailing his trafficking experiences in Myanmar, aiming to raise awareness about predatory agencies and bogus job offers. Photo: Carlos Mureithi/The Guardian
The fraud syndicate is exploiting vulnerabilities in East Africa’s diplomatic representation to deter victims from seeking help, asserts Jason Tower, a global initiative against transnational organized crime.
“Ultimately, that’s the objective of the scam syndicate—to transform individuals into profit-generating machines, acting as high-capacity con artists,” states Tower.
Nevertheless, despite repatriation efforts by East African nations, deceptive recruitment agencies keep advertising fake job opportunities. Both Okindo and Wahura continue to share guardian messages with Kenyans contemplating moves to Southeast Asia.
In May, Okindo, who holds a mass communication diploma, filed a lawsuit against the recruitment agency and its staff, accusing them of conscription into slavery and human trafficking. A Nairobi court has issued a temporary injunction preventing the overseas employment of labor.
Since his return, Okindo has spoken publicly about his experiences through television, TikTok, and other social media outlets, connecting stranded victims with legal support, aid organizations, and ambassadors for their recovery.
His aim is to raise awareness about malicious institutions and false job opportunities while encouraging victims to seek justice.
“I’ve enlightened many individuals,” he asserts. “Though I sometimes feel scared discussing it, I share my story, knowing that speaking out could help save others.”
Updown Cemetery Girl’s Skeletons Reveal West African Ancestry
M George et al.
The discovery of two unrelated young men buried in British cemeteries during the early Middle Ages suggests they may have had grandparents from West Africa. The exact means by which their ancestors arrived in the UK remains unknown, but this insight implies that Anglo-Saxon immigration was far more complex than previously assumed.
Following the Romans’ withdrawal from England in 410 AD, the British Isles were invaded and settled by Germanic tribes including the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. To explore the possibility of migration from other regions, Duncan Sayer and his colleagues from The University of Central Lancashire conducted an analysis of ancient DNA obtained from skeletons in two 7th-century cemeteries located on the southern coast of England.
One of these cemeteries is found in Kent, where a wealth of traded artifacts from various regions were unearthed, including Frankish pottery, buckles, and brooches. Burial customs at this site indicate that items such as cookware, cutlery, and combs were included with the dead.
The other site is the Matravars cemetery in western Dorset, which had fewer individuals interred with Romano-British practices.
While the majority of individuals buried here had ancestry from Northern Europeans or Western British and Irish, both the Updown girl and the young man from Worth Matravers exhibited genetic ties to West Africa, likely from grandparents.
In both cases, mitochondrial DNA, inherited maternally, traced back to Northern Europe; however, the autosomal DNA, inherited from both parents, revealed 20-40% ancestry from West African groups such as Esan, Yoruba, Mende, and Mandinka.
This indicates that the West African DNA likely traces back to their grandparents, marking the first known genetic link between Britain and Africa during the early Middle Ages.
Both individuals were interred as typical members of their community. DNA analysis revealed that the Updown girl had relatives—a grandmother and an aunt—buried in the same cemetery, who were approximately 11-13 years old when she died.
Examination of the carbon-nitrogen isotope ratios in the bone samples of the young man from Worth Matravers, who lived between the ages of 17 and 25, suggested insights into his diet during his growth period.
“His dietary habits suggest he was born and raised in the UK,” notes team member Ceiridwen Edwards from Huddersfield University.
Edwards indicates that evidence of West African DNA in York existed during the Roman period; however, Sayer contends that the proportion of West African DNA in these individuals is significantly lower than that of descendants from the Roman era. “This finding pertains to grandparents, rather than survivors of the Roman legions or administrators stationed for centuries,” he asserts.
Moreover, there is no evidence to support the notion that these individuals were enslaved, according to Sayer:
Instead, it suggests a context of transactions and mobility of people and goods. At some point, West Africans may have arrived in England aboard trade ships and settled here.
Sayer speculates that their arrival could have been tied to North Africa’s connection with the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century, driven by military interests in accessing gold from sub-Saharan Africa. “The revitalization of this trade route coincides with a time when we can identify these grandparents,” he remarks.
“This research underscores the dynamic state of what we refer to as post-[Western] Rome and the early medieval period in England,” comments Marina Soares da Silva at the Francis Crick Institute in London. “The authors propose a trade route supported by Byzantine governance in North Africa, which I consider a plausible scenario.”
According to Sayer, 7th-century England was not merely a collection of isolated communities in a ‘dark age,’ but rather dynamic societies engaging in trade and genetic exchanges with West Africa and beyond.
Historic Herculaneum – Discover Vesuvius, Pompeii, Ancient Naples
The exploration of history and archaeology takes you on an intriguing journey where the past comes alive through Mount Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Elephants are fascinating creatures. Despite their allure, our understanding of the elephant brain remains limited, and there are notable neuroanatomical differences between the Asian (Elephas Maximus) and African elephants (Loxodonta africana), which have largely gone unexplored. In a recent study, researchers from Humboldt Universität in Berlin and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research collected numerous elephant brains to investigate the macroanatomical features that differentiate the species. Surprisingly, they found that Asian elephants possess a larger brain and greater grey matter volume than African elephants, an intriguing contrast given the smaller body size of Asian elephants.
Asian elephant in Myanmar. Image credit: John Jackson.
“The morphological distinctions among elephant species are well-documented,” stated Dr. Marav Schah from Humboldt Universität Berlin and his colleagues.
“For instance, African savanna elephants are larger and have bigger ears than their Asian counterparts.”
“It is also noted that only female African elephants grow larger tusks compared to the minimal tusks found in Asian females.”
“These disparities indicate significant genetic divergence between savanna elephants in Asia and Africa, believed to have arisen 50,000 to 8 million years ago.”
In this research, the team examined the brain weights and structures of both Asian and African elephants via dissections, existing literature, and MRI scans from wildlife and zoo animals.
The findings revealed that adult Asian elephants are significantly heavier than their African counterparts, whose brains average just over 4,400 grams.
This specific finding could not be definitively validated for male elephants, as data for the brain weights in Asian males is limited.
However, the cerebellum appears proportionately heavier in African elephants (22% of total brain body weight) compared to Asian elephants (19%).
Researchers also demonstrated that elephants undergo extensive postnatal brain growth.
By adulthood, an elephant’s brain is roughly three times heavier than at birth.
This indicates that elephants experience notably more brain growth than all primates; except for humans, where the brain weighs only about one-fifth of its final weight at birth.
A boy African elephant in Kenya. Image credit: George Wittemyer.
“The variance in brain weight is likely the most significant difference among these two elephant species,” Dr. Shah noted.
“This accounts for the behavioral variations observed between elephants in Asia and Africa.”
“For instance, the two species display markedly different interactions with humans.”
“Asian elephants have been partially domesticated for millennia and serve as working animals across various cultures and regions.”
“Conversely, only a handful of cases of partial domestication have been somewhat successful with African elephants.”
“It is considerably harder to integrate an African elephant into human society compared to an Asian elephant.”
The study was published today in the journal pnas nexus.
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Marav Shah et al. 2025. The larger and relatively small cerebellum of Asian elephants compared to the African savanna elephants. pnas nexus 4(5): PGAF141; doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf141
VLogs by Nigerian content creators Tayo Aina feature anything from Nigeria Japan (immigration) wave and voodoo festival. Performing with Afrobeats stars in Benin david or last hunter-gatherer tribe. In Tanzania, you can get millions of views on YouTube.
Aina, 31, who started the channel in 2017 while working as an Uber driver, says it has allowed her to see parts of Nigeria that she had never had the chance to visit before. Using his iPhone, he began a mini-travel adventure, taking breaks to record the places he visited and tell stories not covered in mainstream media.
“I want to inspire the next generation of Africans to have no limits,” says Nigerian content creator Tayo Aina. Photo: Handout
Aina learned how to film and edit through YouTube tutorials, saved up to buy better equipment, and soon began traveling beyond Nigeria to countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Namibia, learning about the continent’s culture and social life. He created a travel video that introduces Africa through the lens of photography. African traveler.
“Most of the online media was negative, and I realized that I was trying to change the narrative about Africa by presenting it more clearly. It’s light,” says Aina, who now travels around the world.
Africa’s Creator Industry 2024 Report Research by publisher Communiqué and media technology company TM Global values the sector at £2.4bn and predicts it will grow five times by 2030, reflecting trends in the global creator economy. Its growth is being driven by a wave of creators between the ages of 18 and 34, a surge in internet connectivity and social media usage across the continent, and the explosion of African culture on the world stage.
Growing interest in African culture – from Afrobeats and Amapiano Music and dance to an international fashion collection made from African textiles such as Ankara and Kikyoy. African movies – This is part of an international aspiration for authentic cultural storytelling outside the Arctic Circle, reflected in global cultural movements such as Hallyu, says David Adeleke, Founder of Communiqué.
This year, TikTok recognized More than a dozen African creators including Nigerian lifestyle creators @__iremide, a person who makes videos that satirize everyday life, and a South African Sachiko-sama. The 22-year-old is known for cosplaying characters from anime, video games, and pop culture. Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of international affairs, recently said: held a meeting Other social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok are increasing their presence and Heva I’m getting involved.
The report says the industry is gaining momentum but is still young. Most content creators are in their third year of work, have fewer than 10,000 followers, and are faced with the challenge of turning social capital into income. The report adds that discussions about the monetization and standardization of the creator business ecosystem continue to take place primarily in Western countries.
But that is gradually changing.
As Aina’s channel grew and attracted a more international audience, he discovered what he was capable of. more and more It cost him money when his content was viewed by Western audiences rather than Africa. YouTube’s advertising model relies on ad spend, which is lower in many African markets than in North America and Europe.
“Part of the reason is economic. Generally speaking, Western creators and audiences have more resources, but that alone is not enough to justify the disparity in opportunity. ” says Adeleke.
As Aina began diversifying her content and audience to generate more income, there were other issues to worry about. He shares a video about the barriers and prejudice he faced during his travels, including being detained in Ethiopia on suspicion of drug possession, being arrested in South Africa on suspicion of being a “fraudster” and being refused entry to Dubai. I’ve posted it on my blog. The 2022 incident in Dubai was the “last straw” for Aina. Aina invested her savings in St. Kitts and Nevis and eventually secured a passport from St. Kitts and Nevis, becoming a citizen of the Caribbean nation.
He currently runs the Creator Academy on YouTube, where he has trained nearly 2,000 mostly African creators. “I want the next generation of Africans to grow their brands globally without limitations,” he says.
Chiamaka “Amaka” Amaku A 30-year-old Nigerian travel and lifestyle innovator who works as a social media manager and creates content as a personal project, believes digital infrastructure issues, including the challenges of sending and receiving international money, are a challenge for Nigerian creators. It says it can limit growth. Some global payment platforms have imposed restrictions on certain countries, including Nigeria, due to concerns about fraud and money laundering.
“Payment is one of the biggest challenges in Nigeria’s creator economy,” Amaku said, adding that payment barriers deter global brands from working with Nigerian creators.
In recent years, fintech companies such as flutter wave and salary stack While supporting international payments has reduced the barriers creators face in accepting digital payments, many restrictions remain, including local bank policies. For travel creators like Amaku, that means it’s harder to book flights or take Uber abroad.
Amaku, who charges between £250 and £500 for posts on his Instagram page, which has around 20,000 followers, says it is difficult to make a living from creating content and there is a “culture of secrecy” around fees in the industry in Nigeria. He says that many people have died because of this. Creators quickly changed.
Sharon Makira A 31-year-old Kenyan luxury travel creator who describes her audience as “Afropolitan champagne nomads” agrees. He said competition for brand sponsorships is fierce because many companies still rely on traditional advertising, so negotiating rates can become a race to the bottom.
With around 20,000 followers on Instagram and 7,000 followers on YouTube, she gets around five brand deals a year, and is paid around £600 to £1,000 per campaign. When she became a full-time content creator last year, after nearly a decade in media and PR, she realized she couldn’t make a living relying on a few unpredictable brand deals, so companies started creating content. We have opened a PR studio that allows you to tailor your business to suit your needs. Cooperate with viewers, travel agencies and other businesses nomad And luxury lodges in Rwanda Singita Kwitonda.
According to her, building a business around a social media brand can earn you several times more per project than a brand deal. “I think there’s real promise there.” [African] Creators: Leverage your social capital, network, credibility, and personal brand to launch your business,” she says.
A team of scientists from Colorado State University, Save the Elephants and Elephant Voices used machine learning to: African savanna elephant (African brown) The calls included name-like elements that identified the intended recipient. When the authors played the recorded calls, the elephants responded positively to the calls, either by returning the call or by approaching the speaker.
Two young elephants greet each other in the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Image by George Wittemyer.
“Dolphins and parrots call each other by name, imitating each other's distinctive sounds,” says Dr. Michael Pardo, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University and Save the Elephants.
“In contrast, our data suggest that elephants do not imitate the sounds of their mates when calling, but rather use a method that resembles the way humans communicate names.”
“The ability to learn to produce new sounds is unusual among animals, but it is necessary for identifying individuals by name.”
“Arbitrary communication, expressing ideas through sounds but not imitating them, greatly expands communication abilities and is considered a next-level cognitive skill.”
“If we could only make sounds that resembled what we say, our ability to communicate would be severely limited,” added George Wittemyer, a professor at Colorado State University and chairman of Save the Elephants' science committee.
“The use of arbitrary phonetic labels suggests that elephants may be capable of abstract thought.”
For their study, the researchers used machine learning techniques to analyze 469 recordings of rumbles made by wild female African elephant calves in the Samburu Buffalo Springs National Reserve in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, between 1986 and 2022.
The machine learning model correctly identified the recipient in 27.5% of these calls, which the researchers noted was a higher percentage than the model detected when control voice was input.
The researchers also compared the responses of 17 wild elephants to recordings of calls that were originally directed at them or at other elephants.
The researchers observed that the elephants approached the speaker playing the recordings more quickly and were more likely to respond vocally when they were called to, compared to when other elephants were called to.
This suggests that elephants recognise individual calls addressed to them.
“The discovery that elephants are not simply mimicking the calls of calling individuals is most intriguing,” said Dr. Kurt Fristrup, a researcher at Colorado State University.
“The ability to use arbitrary acoustic labels for other individuals suggests that other kinds of labels or descriptors may exist for elephant calls.”
The new insights revealed by this study into elephant cognition and communication reinforce the need to protect elephants.
Elephants are classified as follows: EndangeredThey are endangered due to poaching for their ivory and habitat loss due to development.
Due to their large size, they require a lot of space and can cause damage to property and pose a danger to people.
“Communicating with pachyderms is still a distant dream, but being able to communicate with them could be a game changer for their conservation,” Prof Wittemyer said.
“Living with elephants is difficult when you are trying to share the land but the elephants eat the crops.
“I want to warn them: 'Don't come here. If you come here, you will be killed.'”
a paper The findings were published in the journal. Natural Ecology and Evolution.
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MA Pardo othersAfrican elephants call out to each other by different names for each individual. Nat Ecol EvolPublished online June 10, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02420-w
WASHINGTON — African elephants communicate through calls and respond to their own names, a behavior rarely observed in the wild, according to a new study published Monday.
These names are embedded in the elephants’ distinctive low-pitched vocalizations that carry across the savanna, suggesting that animals with intricate social structures, where family units frequently disband and reunite, are more likely to have individual names.
Ecologist Stuart Pimm from Duke University, who was not involved in the study, remarked, “If you’re managing a large family, you need to be able to call out, ‘Hey, Virginia, come over here!'”
The phenomenon of animals calling each other by name is exceptionally rare in the wild. Humans have names, allowing us to call out to others, and pets like dogs also respond to their names. Baby Dolphin Birds have their own unique names, known as signature whistles, while parrots may also utilize names.
These named species possess the ability to learn and produce distinct sounds throughout their lives, a skill elephants also share.
Biologists conducted research on wild ecology and evolution using machine learning to identify name usage in audio recordings of savanna elephant vocalizations captured in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.
By observing the elephants from vehicles, researchers were able to determine which elephants were calling and responding to each other, such as a mother calling for her calf or an older female reaching out to a stray elephant later rejoining the group.
The computer model, analyzing the audio data likely containing names, accurately predicted the addressed elephant 28% of the time, compared to just 8% with meaningless data.
Lead author Mickey Pardo, a biologist at Cornell University, explained, “Like humans, elephants utilize names, but we can’t rely on them entirely as they likely don’t use names in the majority of their vocalizations.”
Elephants incorporate sounds beyond the human hearing range in their calls, leaving scientists uncertain about the specific vocal components that form an elephant’s name.
To validate their findings, researchers played the recordings to individual elephants. The elephants showed heightened responses, including ear flapping and trunk lifting, to recordings containing their names. Some elephants even disregarded vocalizations meant for other elephants.
“Elephants are highly social beings, constantly communicating and interacting, and this system of naming could be a fundamental aspect of their communication abilities,” noted co-author George Wittemyer, an ecologist at Colorado State University and a science advisor for Save the Elephants.
“We’ve provided a glimpse into the elephant’s cognitive world.”
Introducing too many trees into the African savannah can prevent small plants from accessing sunlight, which can affect the animals that eat them
Karine Boukey/Alamy
Ambitious tree-planting projects aimed at restoring Africa's forests could inadvertently harm grasslands and savannahs by providing too much shade. This can interfere with photosynthesis in small plants, which can have knock-on effects on other parts of the ecosystem.
In 2011, the German government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature launched the Bonn Challenge to restore 350 million hectares of degraded or deforested land around the world by 2030. As part of this effort, the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) was formed, with 34 countries across the continent pledging to reforest his 133.6 million hectares of land.
However, this has raised concerns about how Africa's other major ecosystems will be affected. You can learn more about kate parr Researchers at the University of Liverpool in the UK compared the area of forest restoration efforts in the AFR100 countries with the area of naturally forested areas.
In 18 of these countries, the pledged area was found to exceed the actual forest area, so non-forest habitats must also be included in the pledged area.
Of the 133.6 million hectares committed to reforestation across Africa, 70.1 million hectares are comprised primarily of non-forest ecosystems such as grasslands and savannahs. “It's the size of France, it's huge,” Parr said.
The researchers also found that 52 per cent of projects already underway are located in grasslands or savannahs. Approximately half of these are agroforestry projects. These include planting trees on agricultural land, which tends to be non-forest areas consisting of non-native species with low overall species diversity.
“Trees are great individually, but when you get a lot of them together, they can really change the ecosystem,” Parr says.
In open, grassy ecosystems, trees typically grow in a sparse pattern. Crowding of trees through mass planting can greatly reduce access to sunlight and can damage small plants. This has a knock-on effect on animals such as zebras that eat these plants.
Many of the countries involved receive funding to carry out afforestation projects, so there is an economic incentive to plant more trees, Parr said. “There is also a lack of awareness that these ecosystems are being harmed by tree planting,” she says.
Mr Parr hopes those responsible for tree-planting operations will consider the broader impacts of where they are planted, working with local communities to ensure people's livelihoods are not affected.
Jessica Gurevich A professor at Purdue University in Indiana said: “This is a worrying wake-up call for NGOs.” [non-governmental organisations], national and international restoration efforts, and a misguided “let's plant a tree” public reassured that these efforts must be more tightly controlled and evidence-based. Masu. ”
AFR100 had not commented at the time of publication.
Scientists have identified a new genus and species of true toad from a single specimen found in a high-altitude forest. mount kenya, an extinct volcano in Kenya and the second highest mountain in Africa after Kilimanjaro. Contrary to the popular belief that most of Kenya’s amphibians arose after volcanic activity subsided millions of years ago, this new species is related to the Kenya volcanic toad (Kenya Phrynoides vulcanis) – Its origins may date back as far as 20 million years, making it considerably older than the volcanic formation of Mt Kenya itself.
artistic performance Kenya Phrynoides vulcanis (A), dorsal view of the left hand of the holotype (B), and photographs of the dorsal (C) and ventral (D) sides of the holotype before preservation. Image credit: Liedtke other., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad160.
Dr Simon Loader, lead curator of vertebrates at the Natural History Museum, London, said: ‘Many of Kenya’s mountains are volcanic or geologically relatively new, so discovering ancient lineages that have lasted for millions of years is unlikely. It’s amazing.”
“It’s a real challenge to figure out how it got here.”
“We can’t say for sure, but it seems likely that they were once more widespread, and as the climate has changed over the past tens of millions of years, they have tracked their way through tropical forests, with their final destinations being the mountaintops. It was ‘Mt Kenya’. ”
The discovery of Kenya’s volcanic toads calls into question the concept of the Kenya interval, a term used to describe the striking contrast in amphibian diversity between Kenya and its neighboring countries.
Ethiopia and Tanzania have long been hotspots for amphibian biodiversity, but Kenya’s geological history and frequency of tectonic activity make it a difficult place for these organisms to thrive.
unique features Kenya Phrynoides vulcanis This suggests that the Kenyan Interval may not be as simple as previously believed.
When this toad was first discovered in Mount Kenya’s pit in 2015, it already seemed very different from the species normally seen in the area.
“We were really surprised to see this animal. It looked nothing like anything we had seen before, but it was similar to what we know and call the Tanzanian animal. Ta” Churamiti MaridadiIt is a forest tree toad that lives in the Ukaguru Mountains rainforest,” said National Museums of Kenya curators Dr Patrick Maronza and Dr Victor Wasonga.
Kenya Phrynoides vulcanisDistinctive features include its small size, more frog-like body, and distinctive green and brown markings.
Genetic and morphological differences from other known toad species have led to its recognition at the genus level.
Clues from physical features such as enlarged fingertips suggest it may be a climber.
Its thumb has a sharp tip known as a nuptial spine found in many male frogs and toads, which helps the male grasp the female and encourage reproduction.
“The forest toad found in the mountains of East Africa is unusual and does not resemble typical toads,” said Dr. Hendrik Müller, a researcher at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.
“More interestingly, some individuals are known to have an unusual reproductive strategy called ovoviviparity.”
“In ovoviviparity, the eggs hatch inside the female’s body. This means that the chicks are born from the mother as small toads, rather than as tadpoles.”
This finding is reported in the following article: paper inside Zoological journal of the Linnean Society.
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H. Christoph Liedtke other. A new species of toad discovered from Mount Kenya sheds light on the biogeography of East Africa’s mountains. Zoological journal of the Linnean Society, published online on November 7, 2023. doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad160
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su expressing concerns about the disproportionate impact high-tech layoffs could have on Black workers, according to a letter obtained by TechCrunch. expressed.
It was first reported The GrioThe letter includes steps the Department of Labor has taken to monitor the impact of technology layoffs on African Americans, regulations regarding business practices, and recent Supreme Court precedents to ensure that they are not treated unfairly. Contains a list of questions regarding Used to undermine a company’s DEI practices and budgets.
The technology industry has cut more than 240,000 jobs this year due to layoffs. The concern here is that the “last-in, first-out” approach to layoffs commonly adopted by companies may not be effective for new employees and less senior “non-essentials”, who are most likely to be in the minority. This could potentially affect employees in an emergency.
“Laying off the most recent hires directly impacts a group of people who have benefited from new diversity policies introduced in response to heightened race-based conversations in 2020,” the letter said. “have a significant impact.”
“While corporations reap billions in profits, Black, brown, and women tech workers bear the brunt of layoffs,” said Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC. We’ve seen it happen,” Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC, told TechCrunch. “Member of Parliament [Barbara] Lee and I as co-chairs CBC TECH2025is calling on governments to take steps to address this harmful and troubling trend. ”
The Ministry of Labor has not yet responded to the letter dated December 15th. A Ministry of Labor representative said, “We can confirm that we have received the letter and are considering it.”
The technology and venture industries have been facing a recession in recent years. In response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd, many companies pledged to support the Black community.But as the market slumps, the diversity pledge lack of fundsDEI jobs are being cut, and venture capital funding to Black founders continues to decline every quarter.
CBC is also being strengthened.Last week, it was I have written It called on Sam Altman and the OpenAI board to “quickly diversify the board to include subject matter expertise with perspectives from the African American community.” OpenAI Board of Directors I don’t have it at the moment Whether it’s women or people of color.
Updated to add comment from DoL. The headline has been updated to reflect that they are representatives, not senators.
The Group is one of Africa’s largest private investment funds. The privately held company, headquartered in Casablanca, operates in a variety of sectors, including banking, telecommunications, renewable energy, and the food industry. For many years, Al Mada’s approach has focused on acquiring majority stakes in Morocco’s largest private companies, with its portfolio spread across 27 markets, 25 of which are in Africa.
As part of its strategy and to remain relevant, the company is expanding its influence in these businesses, driving innovation within its portfolio, and increasing market share across the various sectors in which it operates while staying at the forefront of disruptive technologies that may emerge in the near future.
Last March, Al Mada launched a venture capital firm, aligning these observations with its objectives. Al Mada Ventures (AMV) was spun out. With a capital pool of $110 million (approximately AED 1.1 billion), Al Mada’s overarching plan was to create an Africa-focused company to address the gap in growth-stage investments. However, rather than relying on capital from DFIs or foreign institutional investors, the company uses capital raised exclusively from Africa. Apart from the anchor, Evergreen Fund’s limited partners include top-tier corporates and institutional investors based on the continent.
Mr. Laaresi co-founded the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) before being selected to lead the Moroccan venture. The fund is a $100 million pan-African VC fund created through a partnership between private equity firm AfricInvest Group and Europe-based venture capital firm Cathay Innovation.
tunnelSouth African parcel delivery platform has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding from investors including Founders Factory Africa, Digital Africa Ventures, E4E Africa and Jozi Angels.
The platform claims that e-commerce merchants can save between 50% and 80% on international shipping costs, and the funding will fuel expansion in its key market South Africa, as well as launches in other key African countries. He said that he would lay the foundation for the Emerging markets.
CEO Matthew Davey cum COO craig lowman Mr Davey founded the company in 2022 after seeking a solution to the challenges he faced as managing director of a Dutch company importing South African engineering materials into Europe. In his interview with TechCrunch, Davey said the process of moving these materials is cumbersome and expensive, and his experience shows that transportation costs are widespread, especially for small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets like South Africa. I’ve come to recognize the problem.
Current challenges in cross-border transportation are costing African businesses an estimated $50 billion a year in missed opportunities. The founders of TUNL identified a recurring problem among small and medium-sized traders in South Africa during the pandemic. That meant that shipping costs could exceed the value of the item. This also applies to high-quality goods such as textiles, clothing, footwear, camera accessories, and specialty components, despite the presence of major courier services such as DHL, UPS, and FedEx.
Typically, Cape Town sellers offer only one shipping option, such as DHL, to customers looking to purchase goods abroad. For example, a backpack might cost $60, and shipping from South Africa to the US could be about the same, $50-60, which could negatively impact your conversion rate. What TUNL has done is partner with delivery services like UPS and FedEx to ensure reasonable rates and subsidize shipping costs for small and medium-sized businesses by 50% to 75%.
“Our pricing is fully transparent and democratized. We want every business, large or small, to be able to transform their international sales by reducing shipping costs as much as possible. We want to make sure they have an equal opportunity to do the same,” Lowman said in a statement.
On the TUNL platform, sellers offer a variety of shipping options to their customers at checkout. This includes an “economy” option that incorporates shipping costs into the product price, allowing free shipping via TUNL’s courier service and slightly longer delivery times (approximately 10-14 days). Reduce cart abandonment at checkout. Alternatively, customers can choose expedited shipping options (within a week) via FedEx or UPS for a more reasonable price, such as $10 for the same backpack, allowing for more flexibility and potentially higher exchange rates. (The exact price may vary depending on destination and weight, but Davey says this is a consistent approximate number).
“It’s all about helping sellers succeed,” said the CEO. “Because if there’s only one expensive shipping option at checkout and the customer has two choices, they’re not going to buy it. “They can decide to abandon their cart or pay up.” “But when you introduce two shipping options, especially a free shipping option, human psychology forces the customer to choose one of the two, rather than abandoning the cart. .”
Primarily, South African e-commerce merchants using TUNL tend to ship most of their goods to the US, UK, Europe and Australia. Two-thirds of the shipments end up in the United States, Davey said. TUNL, which competes with Ivorian startups and platforms such as DHL partner ANKA, has grown 35% month-on-month since its launch and now has more than 700 merchants in its “delivery club.” TUNL’s merchants shipped more than 8,000 international parcels in 2023, representing R19.5 million worth of exports from South Africa, the company said in a statement.
The two-year-old e-commerce platform makes money by taking a margin from orders placed on its platform. The products we handle are wide-ranging, including backpacks, fashion shoes, arts and crafts, books, nanofiber materials, high-performance springs, various furniture, musical instruments, cosmetics, and other preserved foods. South Africa is known for its wine industry, with exports reaching 368.5 million liters last year. And although the transport of wine (alcohol) is not yet included in TUNL’s export items due to existing restrictions, Davey said the startup is now one of South Africa’s largest wine subscription businesses and its business He said he is in discussions about the possibility of participating. .
“We are getting a message from our merchants that we have transformed their business. They are adding new employees and growing because of us. So if our merchants are only serving the South African market, “It’s a win-win for the ecosystem to make people feel like they can look at the world as a market, rather than the only market they can serve,” he said. “We help merchants grow internationally just as we help them succeed, because the overseas consumer market is much larger than the domestic market for these types of products. ”
Davey said TUNL, which makes about $60,000 a month, will now focus on using the seed funding to improve sales and the onboarding process for new franchisees. In particular, the onboarding experience has been streamlined, relying primarily on customer support assistance and taking a more self-service approach.
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