Miniboat built by students makes it to England

A “miniboat” made by students at three Rhode Island schools was placed in the Atlantic Ocean and washed up on a British beach 10 months later.

The boat, dubbed Inspiration, was made by students at Central Falls High School, Veterans Memorial Elementary and Raices Dual Language Academy, all located in Central Falls.

The boat was made seaworthy by the elementary students and instruments including GPS trackers were installed by the high school students. The project was organised by the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography to help teach kids about the ocean.

“Like a message in a bottle, it had lots of information about Central Falls and about the schools and the children that helped build it,” told Andrea Gingris, assistant director of public engagement at URI-GSO. The small vessel’s sails carried it across the ocean and in November it was found on a beach in Christchurch, England.

Mysterious beach debris

A large and mysterious wooden object, partially unearthed by hurricane erosion on a Florida beach, is a shipwreck from the 1800s, according to archaeologists.

“This is definitely a ship,” Chuck Meide, director of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Programme from the St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, said after he and 10 Florida archaeologists removed sand from the 80-foot-long structure in Daytona Beach Shores.

He said, “You can see these timbers sticking up, those are massive, and the way they’re arranged, that’s how you build a ship.”

The wooden structure was discovered after heavy erosion from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

Blind horse breaks three Guinness World Records

A 22-year-old horse with no eyes broke three Guinness World Records: highest free jump by a blind horse, most flying changes by a horse in one minute and fastest time for a blind horse to weave five poles.

Morgan Wagner, of Corvallis, Oregon, chose her horse, Endo, from her grandmother’s herd when she was only 13 years old. At eight, Endo was diagnosed with equine recurrent uveitis, and eventually his eyes were removed. Morgan said it took time for the horse, now known as Endo the Blind, to regain his confidence.

Wagner said, “I’m very grateful to Guinness World Records for letting us have a platform for blind horses to show the world that they’re still capable of anything.”

British zoo welcomes birth of rare Malayan tapir

The Chester Zoo, England, announced the birth of a rare Malayan tapir, Nessa, born November 30 to mother Margery, 10, and father Betong, 10. It is heralded as a crucial step in conservation for the endangered species.

“We are one of just two British zoos currently caring for the Malayan tapir. It’s a species listed as endangered on the International Union of Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species,” the zoo said in the birth announcement.

There are estimated to be fewer than 2,500 Malayan tapirs remaining in the wild in Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand and Myanmar.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 17th, 2022