Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Flight of the Alala

"You profile Kinohi, a Hawaiian crow in the San Diego zoo. Why him?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR2VgTMj61A

.. much of the narration in the video is done by Richard Switzer, of San Diego Zoo ..

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`Alala Population Soars Past 100

By Richard Switzer – June 12, 2012

May 13 was an exciting day: our first `alala of the 2012 season hatched at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center! Just like all our previous `alala breeding seasons, this first chick was eagerly awaited and anxiously nurtured through its first few days (see video below). Over the past three weeks, another seven `alala chicks have hatched. Crucially, on May 31, we celebrated reaching the major milestone of 100 ‘alala in the entire world population! This is quite an achievement for a population that was down to a low of 20 individuals in 1994 and is currently considered extinct in the wild. In fact, following subsequent hatches, the population currently stands at 102 birds. We are hoping for several more chicks in the weeks to come.

http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/2012/06/12/alala-population-soars-past-100/

.. ooi .. the crow's screech most all know .. lol, the name alala (Hawaiian crow) fits it well ..

Alala

Alala, (Ancient Greek: ??a??; "battle-cry" or "war-cry"), was the female personification of the war cry in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Polemos, the daemon of war. Her name means loud cry, esp. war-cry, from the onomatopoeic Greek word ??a?? [alale], hence the verb ??a???? (alalazo) "raise the war-cry". She was an attendant of the war god Ares, whose war cry was her name, "Alale alala". Alalaxios (??a??????) is an epithet of Ares. Greek soldiers attacked the enemy with this battle cry in order to cause panic to the enemy lines. It is reputed to be derived from the horrific sound owls make.

In World War II, during the Greco-Italian War a similar battle cry "???a" (aera) was used by the Greek soldiers. During the Fascist "Ventennio", the same war-cry (modified as "eja eja alalà", where "eja" had the same meaning of war-cry, taken from Aeschylus and Plato) was adopted by the Arditi, a special corps of the Fascist Army. It was invented by Gabriele Dannunzio after the Capture of Fiume.

Quote

"Harken! O Alala, daughter of Polemos! Prelude of spears! To whom soldiers are sacrificed for their city’s sake in the holy sacrifice of death." - Pindar. Dithyrambs, Frag. 78. Alala is the warrior princess, war goddess The name Alala comes from the Greek word Alalai which means warrior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alala