·       One of the distinguishing features of this species is that males define the boundaries of their home ranges by calls.

·       Overall, their communication system contains as many as 17 vocalisations.

Appearance

·       They are characterised by the grey mane around their face.

·       They are sometimes called bearded monkeys.

·       The magnificent Lion-tailed macaque is named due to its lion-like, long, thin, and tufted tail.

Habitat

·       In the wild, these are only native to India.

·       It is a primate endemic to small and severely fragmented rainforests of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

·       Threat: The biggest threat to the overall population of this species is the destruction of their rainforest habitat.

·       IUCN: Endangered

·       CITES: Appendix I

·       The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

·       These are parcels of low-lying lands where seawater flows in at certain times, and leaves behind salt and other minerals.

·       This ecosystem is instrumental in protecting the city from flooding.

·       According to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 2011, the ecologically sensitive salt pans fall under CRZ-1B category, where no economic activity is allowed with the exception of salt extraction and natural gas exploration.

·       Andhra Pradesh (20,716 acres) boasts the largest expanse of such land, followed by Tamil Nadu (17,095 acres) and Maharashtra (12,662 acres).

·       Ecological Significance: Salt pans, which, along with the mangroves, stop the city from flooding, also host various species of birds and insects.

·       The exercise is scheduled to be conducted from 13th to 26th September 2024 at Rabkoot Training Area in Salalah, Oman.

·       Exercise AL NAJAH has been held biennially since 2015, alternating between India and Oman. Last edition of the same exercise was conducted at Mahajan in Rajasthan.

·       The Indian Army contingent comprising 60 personnel is being represented by a Battalion of the Mechanised Infantry Regiment.

·       Aim of the Joint Exercise is to enhance joint military capability of both sides to undertake counter terrorism operations under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The exercise will focus on operations in the Desert environment.

·       Tactical drills to be rehearsed during the exercise include Joint Planning, Cordon and Search Operation, Fighting in Built Up Area, establishment of Mobile Vehicle Check Post, Counter Drone and Room Intervention, among others. Combined field training exercises that simulate real-world counter-terrorism missions have also been planned.

·       It is a reference application designed to assist businesses in creating their own customised buyer-side apps.

·       It supports network participants in building buyer apps with multilingual features.

·       The app initially supports Hindi, English, Marathi, Bangla and Tamil, with plans to scale up to all 22 languages provided by Bhashini.

·       Features: It includes real-time translation, transliteration, and voice recognition to allow businesses to expand market reach, enabling companies to tap into new regions and increase customer acquisition.

What is Bhashini?

·       It is India’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-led language translation platform.

·       It seeks to enable easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages, including voice-based access, and help the creation of content in Indian languages.

·       It aims to make Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources available in the public domain to be used by — Indian MSMEs, startups and individual innovators.

·       This will help developers to offer all Indians easy access to the internet and digital services in their native languages.

·       This online platform also has a separate ‘Bhasadaan’ section which allows individuals to contribute to multiple crowdsourcing initiatives, and it is also accessible via respective Android and iOS apps.

·       It is a perennial creeping climber known for its vigorous and rampant growth.

·       It is a native of Central and South America.

·       It is a major invasive species in several parts of southeast Asia, India, and the Pacific Islands.

·       It was introduced in India in the 1940s as ground cover in tea plantations and is now a serious threat to several plantation crops as well as forest areas all over the country.

·       It grows best where fertility, organic matter, soil moisture, and humidity are all high.

·       It damages or kills other plants by cutting out the light and smothering them.

·       It climbs up other plants to reach the canopy for better sunlight.

·       Mikania is known to have allelopathic potential by producing biochemicals that can inhibit seed germination and seedling growth of other plants.

·       It produces thousands of lightweight seeds that are wind-dispersed and also has the ability to reproduce vegetatively through its roots, resulting in rapid and widespread invasion by this weed in any disturbed area.