Africa

Traveling Telescope teaches Kenyan students the science of astronomy

Traveling Telescope teaches Kenyan students the science of astronomy

11 Photos

Although Kenya lies on the equator and has dramatic nighttime skies in rural areas, children find it hard to name planets and other bodies as astronomy is rarely taught in schools — but that is changing as The Traveling Telescope visits some of the country’s most remote areas with telescopes and virtual reality goggles.
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Collaring elephants in Kenya

Collaring elephants in Kenya

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The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is collaring two young male elephants from the Amboseli region to better understand their migration routes. As Kenya’s population increases dramatically every year more land traditionally used by elephants as routes is being populated and developed and elephants have been impacted. IFAW intends to study data from the collared elephants movements to plot how this impact affects them.

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Ebola outbreak hits West Africa

Ebola outbreak hits West Africa

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Across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, at least 672 people have died from the worst outbreak yet of the hemorrhagic fever, the World Health Organization said, placing great strain on the health systems of some of Africa’s poorest countries. Sierra Leone now has the highest number of Ebola cases, surpassing neighboring Guinea where the outbreak originated in February. Highly contagious, especially in the late stages, its symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea as well as internal and external bleeding.

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Tracking elephants and other large mammals in Africa

Tracking elephants and other large mammals in Africa

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Kenyan and Tanzanian governments started a joint aerial count of elephants and other large mammals in the shared ecosystem of the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro and Natron-Magadi landscape. The one-week exercise, which started Oct. 7 and costs $104,000 dollars, is a collaboration between the two countries and the Kenya Wildlife Service, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and the African Wildlife Foundation, among others.

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