Injured Elephants Get Fake Legs

Two Asian elephants in Thailand have been fitted with new prosthetic limbs after each lost a leg to landmine explosions.An elephant wounded in a landmine explosion ten years ago has been fitted with an artificial leg.
Motala, the injured elephant, lives at The Friends of Asian Elephant Foundation elephant hospital in Lampang, in northern Thailand.
Motala's injury sparked international sympathy and donations, and in Thailand the 48-year-old pachyderm became a symbol of the plight of elephants.
After the artificial leg was fitted Motala was taken out for a walk.
A three-year-old elephant who lost her right front leg when she stepped on a landmine was successfully fitted with a permanent prosthetic limb the day before.
They attached the new leg to Mosha, who was only seven months old when the accident happened in Myanmar, not far from the Thai border. The region is peppered with land mines after half a century of conflict.
Immediately after Mosha lost her leg she was sent to the Lampang Elephant Hospital, and in 2007 her first artificial leg was fitted, allowing her to walk again.
Mosha became the world's first elephant with an artificial leg.
Her new leg can be adjusted as she grows.
Both elephants have been cared for at the Elephant Hospital, set up by the Friends of the Asian Elephant in 1993. The world's first such facility, the hospital has treated thousands of elephants for ailments ranging from eye infection to gunshot wounds.

Watch video:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090824-elephant-leg-video-ap.html

World's Biggest Cave Found in Vietnam

A massive cave recently uncovered in a remote Vietnamese jungle is the largest single cave passage yet found, a new survey shows.
At 262-by-262 feet (80-by-80 meters) in most places, the Son Doong cave beats out the previous world-record holder, Deer Cave in the Malaysian section of the island of Borneo.
Deer Cave is no less than 300-by-300 feet (91-by-91 meters), but it's only about a mile (1.6 kilometers) long.
By contrast, explorers walked 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) into Son Doong, in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, before being blocked by seasonal floodwaters—and they think that the passage is even longer.
In addition, for a couple of miles Son Doong reaches more than 460-by-460 feet (140-by-140 meters), said Adam Spillane, a member of the British Cave Research Association expedition that explored the massive cavern.
Spillane was in the first of two groups to enter the cave. His team followed the passage as far as a 46-foot-high (14-meter-high) wall.
"The second team that went in got flooded out," he said. "We're going back next year to climb that wall and explore the cave further."
(See photographs of the Son Doong cave.)
Laser Precision
A local farmer, who had found the entrance to the Son Doong cave several years ago, led the joint British-Vietnamese expedition team to the cavern in April.
The team found an underground river running through the first 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometers) of the limestone cavern, as well as giant stalagmites more than 230 feet (70 meters) high.

Huge shark Found On a New York Island

A reportedly 20-foot-long (6-meter-long) basking shark that washed ashore on a beach on New York's Long Island on Tuesday appears to have died from some kind of illness (basking shark picture and wallpaper).
(Also see "Giant Shark Mystery Solved: Basking Shark Hideout Found.")
New York State Parks official George Gorman said researchers will examine the basking shark to determine a cause of death. After that, it will be buried in nearby sand dunes on the beach.
Basking sharks are common in the waters off Long Island. The giant washed ashore on a town beach a few miles east of Jones Beach State Park, a popular recreation area for New York City-area residents.
Basking sharks are the world's second largest fish, after whale sharks, and can grow up to 32 feet (10 meters) long. Despite their giant mouths, the sharks are not considered dangerous and feed mainly on plankton. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the giant sharks as vulnerable to extinction.
After examining the basking shark, Tracy Marcus of Cornell University's Long Island-based Sport Fishing Education Center said the shark weighs about a ton. She said it is unusual for an ailing basking shark to come ashore. Usually they die in the ocean.
The cause of the Long Island shark's beaching may remain a mystery—as is where the giant creatures come from.
"We still have no idea where they give birth," Gregory Skomal, a marine biologist from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, told National Geographic News in May.
(Also see: "World's Largest Shark Species [Including Basking Sharks] at Risk, Expert Says.")