WILDLIFE
Miaoli reiterates dog ban
The Miaoli County Government on Friday reiterated that hunting dogs are banned from areas known to be the habitat of Taiwan’s only surviving wild feline — the leopard cat. The Miaoli Agriculture Department said that signs have been put up since the ban was first imposed on March 25 in areas south of County Highway No. 140. It is likely that people have been training dogs in the area, as some that have been seen in the area wore tracking collars, the department said. Patrols in the area have been increased to help protect the indigenous species, the department said. People caught breaching the ban face fines of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 in accordance with provisions of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), it said. Other efforts to protect the leopard cats include speed warning signs, fences and speed cameras along the county highway after seven leopard cats were reported killed on the road last year, the department added.
EDUCATION
Universities’ impacts ranked
Twenty-four Taiwanese universities are in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which measures the social and economic influence among institutions. Tainan-based National Cheng Kung University ranked highest in Taiwan at No. 38, followed by National Changhua University of Education (No. 66), in the “2020 impact rankings” released on Wednesday by the London-based magazine. The rankings are based on the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals. National Taiwan University and Taichung-based Tunghai University were in the 101-200 bracket. Fu Jen Catholic University, Asia University, China Medical University, Kaohsiung Medical University, National Dong Hwa University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tzu Chi University and Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology, ranked 201-300. Another eight Taiwanese universities ranked 301-400, three were in the 401-600 bracket and one was at 601-plus in the rankings, which have 766 universities from 85 countries.
ASTRONOMY
Sunsets, streets to align
Sunsets will align with two streets in Taipei this month and early next month, the Central Weather Bureau said, but added that weather forecasts indicate cloudy to sunny skies for the first alignment. The alignment will be from Wednesday to May 1 on Zhongxiao E and W roads west of the Xinsheng Expressway from 5:58pm to 6:18pm on the first day, with each subsequent day’s sunset to be three minutes earlier. From May 2 to 4 the sunset will align with Emei Street west of Xining S Road from 5:59pm to 6:19pm on the first day, with subsequent days three and six minutes earlier.
FISHERIES
First tuna sets record
A bluefin tuna was auctioned in Yilan County yesterday for NT$2 million (US$66,489), a record for the first fish of the season. The Suao Township (蘇澳)-registered No. 168 Chuan Chang Lung on Thursday brought the 200kg tuna into Nanfangao Port (南方澳港), the Suao Fishermen’s Association said. To qualify as the first bluefin catch of the season, it must weigh at least 180kg and the boat that caught it must be legally registered in Taiwan and be the first to return to port. The tuna was auctioned at the Nanfangao Seafood Market, with the winner identified as businessman Cheng Chin-chih (鄭金池). Bidding started at NT$7,000 per kilogram before closing at NT$10,000, association head Tsai Yuan-lung (蔡源龍) said.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
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