Spotlight - 01.2020

8 Spotlight 1/2020 IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Fotos: mauritius images/United Archives/Top Foto; ddp; imago stock&people; INTERFOTO / Bildarchiv Hansmann; Nicole Patience/iStock.com

AUSTRALIA

Airdropped

dingo

MEDIUM

When residents of the tiny former

mining town of Wandiligong, Victo-

ria, in south-east Australia, heard the

crying in their backyard, they thought

that a dog had been hurt. What they

found — a newborn puppy with a cut

on its back — turned out instead to

be a very rare animal: an endangered

alpine dingo, likely dropped into the

garden by an eagle.

Veterinarians at the Alpine Animal

Hospital treated the puppy and iden-

tified it as possibly belonging to one

of the Australian continent’s three

dingo types. DNA testing was done,

and the results have made Lyn Wat-

son, director of the Australian Dingo

Foundation sanctuary, ecstatic.

Watson told ABC that the pup’s

DNA is pure, and that it is not a

dog-dingo hybrid, which is very com-

monly found in Australia. As such,

the young dingo will be a very valua-

ble addition to the foundation’s spe-

cial breeding programme, which was

created to keep the alpine dingo from

disappearing.

BRITAIN

Squaring the circle

EASY

In the late 1970s, mysterious crop circles began appearing over-

night in the English countryside. Many people thought they had

been created by aliens, but they were, in fact, the work of two

Englishmen, Dave Chorley and his friend Doug Bower. Now

Dave’s son, Jim Chorley, has told the BBC, “They saw it as a kind

of a folk art form. It was the biggest canvas that they could possi-

bly ever use.” The men didn’t tell the world the truth until 1991,

and some people weren’t happy about it. “I can understand why

people would need to still believe in the magic of it,” said Chor-

ley. However, he is happy that his father’s legacy lives on through

crop circles, which are now an international phenomenon.

eagle [(i:g&l]

, Adler

ecstatic: [Ik(stÄtIk]

, euphorisch

endangered

[IndeIndZEd]

, vom Aussterben

bedroht

puppy [(pVpi]

, Hundewelpe

resident [(rezIdEnt]

, Einwohner(in)

sanctuary

[(sÄNktSuEri]

, Schutzgebiet

canvas [(kÄnvEs]

, Leinwand

crop circle [(krQp )s§:k&l]

, Getreidekreis,

Kornkreis

legacy [(legEsi]

, Erbe, Vermächtnis

squaring the circle

[)skweErIN DE (s§:k&l]

, Quadratur des Kreises

UNITED STATES

Out of step

EASY

TV host Lara Spencer was called out recently on a

comment she made on Good Morning America about

Prince George’s love of ballet. She began by saying,

“Prince William says George absolutely loves ballet.”

Then Spencer added, “I have news for you, Prince

William: we’ll see how long that lasts.”

Hundreds of ballet dancers reacted by performing

in New York in support of the British prince, while

others posted videos online. Spencer later apologized

for her comment.

ballet [(bÄleI]

, Ballett

host [hEUst]

, Moderator(in)