Earthweek - 10 years ago

I'm cleaning out stuff trying to make room for the extra computer and stand, and I found a couple of articles that I had clipped from the newspaper and saved . . . from 10 years ago!  I figure if I type it here, it'll be saved f-o-r-e-v-e-r, and now I can finally throw these pieces of paper away. 

The articles were from Earthweek - A Diary of the Planet. 

Elephant Liberator
The matriarch of a herd of South African elephants deliberately opened a gate to free antelopes being held at a camp in the east of the country.  The South African Press Association reported that a private company had rounded up the antelopes near Empangeni to move them for a breeding program.  At first, members of the capture team thought the elephants were attracted to the alfalfa being used to feed the antelopes.  But they watched in amazement as the herd's matriarch, known locally as Nana, carefully undid all the gate's metal latches with her trunk, swung the gate open and stood back to watch the antelopes run into the night.  Local ecologist Brendon Whittington-Jones told the news agency, "Elephants are naturally inquisitive, but this behavior is certainly most unusual and cannot be explained in scientific terms." -- Distributed by: Tribune Media Services.

Orphan Rescue
Monkeys in the Indian city of Murshidabad rescued an orphaned member of their troop from a police station after the animal's mother had been shot dead, according to a report in the newspaper Pragati.  The mother langur was feeding on a tree when she was shot by an orchard owner in the West Bengal city.  Police took the dead body to their station with the baby clinging to its mother and refusing to be separated.  After officers decided to let the baby spend a last night with its dead mother, about 30 other monkeys laid siege to the station, with some sneaking inside and stealing away into the night with the baby.  Inspector Prabir Dutta told the newspaper, "The monkeys behaved in an exemplary fashion and impressed us with their show of solidarity.  Human beings have a lot to learn from them." -- Distributed by: The Los Angeles Times Syndicate