Smashing antlers coming right at you and deer on the trot are among the sights you'll see, though much of the time the action is limited.

Welcome to deerchannel.com -- the world from a white-tailed deer's point of view, streamed to you live on the Internet via a camera attached to the head or side of the animal.

"We are seeing and hearing things that no one has seen or heard before," said Doug Morrell, deerchannel.com's chief marketing officer.

For the non-specialist it is probably not the most riveting kind of "reality TV" -- no steamy love scenes in the Big Brother house or "survivors" voted off at tribal council.

But its backers see a niche market among zoologists or avid hunters who want to glean clues to the behaviour of white-tailed deer: what they eat, when they sleep, how they react to perceived threats or interact with one another.

"University professors are subscribing to the service and using it in their classrooms," said deerchannel.com CEO and president Tom Brooks as he pointed out wild turkeys and deer while driving his big pick-up truck.

The multi-billion dollar deer hunting industry is another target audience.

Morrell said about a thousand subscribers have signed on since the channel's launch late last year but it is early days with "prime-time" viewing expected in the autumn when the bucks start to knock heads during the mating rut.

The whole affair takes place on Brooks' 1,500 acre ranch in the deer-rich Texas hill country about two hours' drive south-west of Dallas.

It expands on concepts pioneered in South Africa and elsewhere of placing webcams at watering holes to stream live images of wildlife.

A deer is tranquilised with a dart gun and the camera is then fitted between its antlers or on its side, offering its unique take on its environment.

Several other remote cameras have been set up around the ranch to catch other views.

Surprises have included footage of deer wading into the water to eat aquatic plants -- an item that many scientists did not realise was on the whitetail's diet.

"It is the first time that folks have video of deer eating aquatic vegetation that I know of. They are adept at satisfying their needs in innovative ways," said Dr. James Kroll, director of the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management and Research at Stephen F. Austin State University.

"I've been studying deer for 35 years and most of the time I was putting radios on them to track them, but I could only guess at what they were doing most of the time. Now we know for sure what they are doing," Kroll, a scientific consultant to the channel, told Reuters.

Government departments have also approached Brooks' team to study if deer will cross cattle guards -- a grid of tubes in the ground which livestock won't step on -- in a bid to reduce deer/car mishaps on highways.

Other ventures in the pipeline include "moose TV" and "duck TV" as part of a broader wildlife network.

Mainstream viewers may prefer to watch contestants race around the world for a million dollars. But deerchannel.com reckons there are enthusiasts out there who want a duck's eye view of things.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

IT is not just the heat of the financial year ending, but the heat in the atmosphere that is stressing people out in the State. With the average temperature around 40 degrees Celsius, the Indian Meteorological Department calls it heat wave.

“We call this heat wave, when the temperature goes more than four degrees higher than the normal temperature,” said Kamaljit Ray, director at IMD, Ahmedabad. “The temperature for last few days has been well over four degrees than the normal,” she added. In March, the maximum normal temperature for Ahmedabad remains 36.0 degrees Celsius and the minimum 18.8 degrees. But in last couple of days, the maximum temperature has crossed 40 degrees in the city. The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 40.7 degrees


Explaining the reason, Ray pointed out that due to the approaching western disturbance, the temperature in the western part of India has gone up considerably. “The western disturbances carry a warm front, which results in the rise in temperature and humidity,” Ray said, adding that it is being expected that this condition would last for about 48 hours more. “This western disturbance might cause some rainfall in Jammu and Kashmir and some other northern states of the country,” Ray said, adding that as far as Gujarat is concerned, there may be some cloud formation on Saturday.

“As compared to winter, the frequency of western disturbances goes down considerably in summer,” Ray explained, adding that as they are pushed by cold wind from behind, once the western disturbance passes over, the temperature drops significantly.

“We are expecting that the situation would revert to normal within a couple of days,’’ Ray added.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

FOR the first time in the history of Surat police, one-hour laughter therapy session was organised at Police Parade Ground on Friday. More than 200 police staff, ranging from constables to assistant commissioner of police participated in the programme. Surat Police Commissioner came up with this innovative idea to help police staff over their stressful life which is mainly due to inadequate diet and irregular sleep.

Describing his experience in the laughing session, Assistant Commissioner of Police M K Bumadia said, “We are fed up of our regular activities as we have to devote most of our time in duties and this also affects our work. After this session, the staff is quite enthusiastic about more such sessions.

Moreover such activities also helps us bridge the distance between higher and junior officials.’’

He added that this was an experimental session and after the response from the staff it will be continued once in a week. Surat Laughing Club president Kamlesh Masalawala, who is conducting the programme said, “Earlier we had conducted similar sessions with school children and senior citizens. Seeing the stressful life of police staff, we approached Surat Police Commissioner seeking permission for a laughing session. The juniors with the higher officials laughed together without any exercise, mimicry or jokes. My team comprising of five members, on a preliminary basis, introduced different laughing techniques.”


Courtesy : Expressindia.com