IT’S summer and the South Coast mozzies are back in force, but at last I have found the ultimate way of preventing those dreaded mosquito bites.
Scientists in Ethiopia have established that sleeping with a live chicken in your room substantially decreases the risk of mosquito bites.
The study showed that the test models sleeping with a live chicken had far fewer mosquitoes in their rooms than did those sleeping without a chicken.
Apparently mosquitoes do not bite chickens and the scientists believe that either the mozzies see the chickens as potential predators or that there must somehow be something about the smell of a chicken that is an effective mosquito repellent.
Whatever the reason, it’s certainly worth a try.
Meanwhile, malaria has been eliminated in Sri Lanka and at least 13 other countries, including malaria hot spots Argentina and Turkey.
No new cases of the disease have been registered for at least a year (a country has to have a zero case situation for three years to be declared malaria free).
Sri Lanka took a three-pronged approach to malaria eradication: public education, rigorous use of insecticides and a close monitoring of every new case reported.
We must assume that live chickens played their part somewhere in the programme.
Staying with birds, our bird list in the new hide is already quite good, with 45 species ‘ticked’.
I’m afraid that includes the Indian mynah, which is an illegal immigrant, although it’s been around for so long it’s now probably a naturalised local.
Anyway, much to our surprise we’ve heard of another immigrant, of all things a peacock.
We’ve made enquiries and apparently there is indeed a peacock in the area.
The peacock’s cry is unmistakable and is distinctly un-African.
The peacock goes back a long way.
It’s mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible: 1 Kings, 10-22: ‘For the king (Solomon) had at sea a navy of Tharshish… one in three years came the navy bringing gold, and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks’.
Solomon’s ships must surely have sailed from Eilat, down the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and into the Indian Ocean, for it is understood that Tharshish was probably on the west coast of India.
This would be convenient as the peacock is native to India and is in fact India’s national bird.
It’s also native to Nepal and Sri Lanka and there is a jungle peacock in Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia.
It was introduced to Europe by traders a very long time ago.
It is mentioned in plays of the ancient Greeks and the Romans certainly knew it and in fact probably introduced it to Britain.
Over the centuries the peacock became a symbol of wealth and social status in Europe, and no decent aristocrat would be seen dead without a peacock or two parading around the estate.
We’ll just have to wait and see if our peacock parades around our estate and if he does, whether he gets ticked off in the log.
PS: we’re still looking for a chicken.
PPS: Will Linda Elks of Uvongo please ‘phone me via the Herald re: weavers.
Sources: The Week: The Best of the British and Foreign Media, and the Internet.
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