title: Turkish cuisine

text: Turkish tea or Turkish coffee, with or without sugar, is usually served after dinner or more rarely together with desserts.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: Although the majority of Turks profess the Islamic religion, alcoholic beverages are as widely available as anywhere. Rakı (pronounced [ɾaˈkɯ]) is the most popular alcoholic drink in Turkey.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: There are a few local brands of lager such as Bomonti, Marmara 34 and Efes Pilsen and a small selection of international beers that are produced in Turkey such as Skol, Beck's, Miller, Foster's, Carlsberg and Tuborg. In Turkey, craft beers became popular in present-day; Gara Guzu, Feliz Kulpa, Pablo and Graf are some Turkish craft beer brands


title: Turkish cuisine

text: There are a variety of local wines produced by Turkish brands such as Sevilen, Kavaklıdere, Doluca, Corvus, Kayra, Pamukkale and Diren which are getting more popular with the change of climatic conditions that affect the production of wine. A range of grape varieties are grown in Turkey. For the production of red wine, the following types of grapes are mainly used; in the Marmara Region, Pinot noir, Adakarası, Papazkarası, Semillion, Kuntra, Gamay, Cinsault; in the Aegean Region, Carignane, Çalkarası, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alicante Bouschet; in the Black Sea Region and the eastern part of the country, Öküzgözü, Boğazkere; in Central Anatolia, Kalecik Karası, Papazkarası, Dimrit; in the Mediterranean Region, Sergi Karası, Dimrit. As for white wine, the grapes can be listed as follows; in the Marmara Region, Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillion, Beylerce, Yapıncak; in the Aegean Region, muscat and semillion; in the Black Sea Region, Narince; in Central Anatolia, Emir, Goat Cheese. In addition to mass production, it is quite popular to produce wines in private farms and sell them in the locality. Visitors can find different "home made" wines in Central Anatolia (Kapadokya/Cappadocia region - Nevşehir), the Aegean coast (Selçuk and Bozcaada (an island in the Aegean Sea)).


title: Turkish cuisine

text: At breakfast and all day long Turkish people drink black tea ("çay"). Tea is made with two teapots in Turkey. Strong bitter tea made in the upper pot is diluted by adding boiling water from the lower. Turkish coffee ("kahve") is usually served after meals or with dessert.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: Ayran (yogurt drink) is the most common cold beverage, which may accompany almost all dishes in Turkey, except those with fish and other seafood. It's a mix of yogurt and water, similar to lassi. It may be served with salt, according to taste.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: Şalgam suyu (mild or spicy fermented black carrot juice) is another important non-alcoholic beverage that is usually combined with kebabs or served together with rakı.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: Boza is a traditional winter drink, which is also known as millet wine (served cold with cinnamon and sometimes with leblebi).


title: Turkish cuisine

text: Sahlep is another favorite in winter (served hot with cinnamon). Sahlep is extracted from the roots of wild orchids and may be used in Turkish ice cream as well. This was a popular drink in western Europe before coffee was brought from Africa and came to be widely known.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: "Limonata" (lemonade) is very popular. It is traditionally served with baklava and other sweets. Sometimes lemonade is served with strawberry flavoring. This is called "çilekli limonata".


title: Turkish cuisine

text: Sherbet (Turkish "şerbet," pronounced ) is a syrup which can be made from any of a wide variety of ingredients, especially fruits, flowers, or herbs. Examples include pears, quinces, strawberries, apples, cornelian cherry, pomegranates, oranges, rose petals, rose hips, or licorice and spices. Sherbet is drunk diluted with cold water.


title: Turkish cuisine

text: In classical Turkish cuisine, hoşaf (from the Persian "Khosh-ab", meaning "fresh water") alternatively accompanies meat dishes and "pilav" (pilaf).


title: Addison O'Dea

text: Addison O'Dea (, ) is an American filmmaker and writer who specializes in anthropology. His work has been published and broadcast by National Geographic, Discovery and Ozy.


title: Addison O'Dea

text: Hugh Addison White O'Dea was born on June 15, 1979, in New York Hospital to Hugh Patrick O'Dea Jr. (1938–2007) and Sara ("née" Greenway) O'Dea. He has two younger brothers, John Remsen Varick O'Dea and Patrick Gannon Greenway O'Dea. Based in New York City, the family traveled internationally extensively for both personal and professional reasons. O'Dea attended the Dwight School in Manhattan for international baccalaureate and holds a BSc from New York University.


title: Addison O'Dea

text: O'Dea, a former contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler, has written and directed a number of virtual reality documentary films focusing on subjects such as the origin of voodoo through West African Vodun in Togo and Benin; and ancient Quranic libraries in the Sahara.


title: Addison O'Dea

text: , O'Dea was producing an action film set in the Sahara written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. Featuring a Tuareg character as the protagonist, the working title is "Tuareg Project". He is also the writer and producer of a documentary series called "Beat Nation", currently in development with Ginedo Films, also produced by Nabil Elderkin and Mattia Bogianchino.


title: Addison O'Dea

text: It was reported in 2021 that O'Dea is directing a feature film financed by Endeavor Content titled "Unlikely Heroes".


title: Addison O'Dea

text: His largest project to date is writing and directing the thirty six-episode series Discovery TRVLR for Discovery, Inc. and Google. Filmed on all seven continents, the series centers around a "Guru, Renegade, Entertainer or Explorer" in each environment as they pull the curtain back on varying rituals, unique traditions and life-threatening quests that encompass their culture." At that time, Discovery TRVLR was Discovery's largest virtual reality project to date.


title: Addison O'Dea

text: The series was designed by O'Dea to go to as remote locations as possible and focus on the universality of the people who live there. Rather than sending a message of 'we are all the same' or forcing Western ideals on the characters, the idea is to create an elegant juxtaposition at a hyperlocal level. "Defying convention" in Communist Vietnam is significantly different when contrasted alongside the same idea in Catholic Mexico.


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil (or coconut butter) is an edible oil derived from the wick, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat; in warmer climates during the summer months it is a clear thin liquid oil, melting at warmer room temperatures of around . Unrefined varieties have a distinct coconut aroma. It is used as a food oil, and in industrial applications for cosmetics and detergent production. Due to its high levels of saturated fat, numerous health authorities recommend limiting its consumption as a food.


title: Coconut oil

text: Oil production is dependent upon palm cultivation. Oil production is thus threatened by coconut pests. This means most significantly the "Oryctes" rhinoceros beetles especially the Asiatic Rhinoceros Beetle ("O. rhinoceros") and the Red Palm Weevil ("Rhynchophorus ferrugineus").


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil can be extracted through a wet or dry process. More simply (but perhaps less effectively), oil can be produced by heating the meat via boiling water, the sun or a slow fire.


title: Coconut oil

text: The all-wet process uses coconut milk extracted from raw coconut rather than dried copra. The proteins in the coconut milk create an emulsion of oil and water. The more problematic step is breaking up the emulsion to recover the oil. This used to be done by prolonged boiling, but this produces a discolored oil and is not economical. Modern techniques use centrifuges and pre-treatments including cold, heat, acids, salts, enzymes, electrolysis, shock waves, steam distillation, or some combination thereof. Despite numerous variations and technologies, wet processing is less viable than dry processing due to a 10–15% lower yield, even taking into account the losses due to spoilage and pests with dry processing. Wet processes also require investment of equipment and energy, incurring high capital and operating costs.


title: Coconut oil

text: Dry processing requires that the meat be extracted from the shell and dried using fire, sunlight, or kilns to create copra. The copra is pressed or dissolved with solvents, producing the coconut oil and a high-protein, high-fiber mash. The mash is of poor quality for human consumption and is instead fed to ruminants; there is no process to extract protein from the mash.


title: Coconut oil

text: Proper harvesting of the coconut (the age of a coconut can be 2 to 20 months when picked) makes a significant difference in the efficacy of the oil-making process. Copra made from immature nuts is more difficult to work with and produces an inferior product with lower yields.


title: Coconut oil

text: Conventional coconut oil processors use hexane as a solvent to extract up to 10% more oil than produced with just rotary mills and expellers. They then refine the oil to remove certain free fatty acids to reduce susceptibility to rancidification. Other processes to increase shelf life include using copra with a moisture content below 6%, keeping the moisture content of the oil below 0.2%, heating the oil to and adding salt or citric acid.


title: Coconut oil

text: Virgin coconut oil (VCO) can be produced from fresh coconut milk, meat, or residue. Producing it from the fresh meat involves either wet-milling or drying the residue, and using a screw press to extract the oil. VCO can also be extracted from fresh meat by grating and drying it to a moisture content of 10–12%, then using a manual press to extract the oil. Producing it from coconut milk involves grating the coconut and mixing it with water, then squeezing out the oil. The milk can also be fermented for 36–48 hours, the oil removed, and the cream heated to remove any remaining oil. A third option involves using a centrifuge to separate the oil from the other liquids. Coconut oil can also be extracted from the dry residue left over from the production of coconut milk.


title: Coconut oil

text: A thousand mature coconuts weighing approximately yield around of copra from which around of coconut oil can be extracted.


title: Coconut oil

text: Refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) oil is usually made from copra and dried coconut kernel, which is pressed in a heated hydraulic press to extract the oil. This yields practically all the oil present, amounting to more than 60% of the dry weight of the coconut. This crude coconut oil is not suitable for consumption because it contains contaminants and must be refined with further heating and filtering.


title: Coconut oil

text: Another method for extraction of coconut oil involves the enzymatic action of alpha-amylase, polygalacturonases, and proteases on diluted coconut paste.


title: Coconut oil

text: Unlike virgin coconut oil, refined coconut oil has no coconut taste or aroma. RBD oil is used for home cooking, commercial food processing, and cosmetic, industrial, and pharmaceutical purposes.


title: Coconut oil

text: RBD coconut oil can be processed further into partially or fully hydrogenated oil to increase its melting point. Since virgin and RBD coconut oils melt at , foods containing coconut oil tend to melt in warm climates. A higher melting point is desirable in these warm climates, so the oil is hydrogenated. The melting point of hydrogenated coconut oil is .


title: Coconut oil

text: In the process of hydrogenation, unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids) are combined with hydrogen in a catalytic process to make them more saturated. Coconut oil contains only 6% monounsaturated and 2% polyunsaturated fatty acids. In the partial hydrogenation process, some of these are transformed into trans fatty acids.


title: Coconut oil

text: Fractionated coconut oil provides fractions of the whole oil so that its different fatty acids can be separated for specific uses. Lauric acid, a 12-carbon chain fatty acid, is often removed because of its high value for industrial and medical purposes. The fractionation of coconut oil can also be used to isolate caprylic acid and capric acid, which are medium-chain triglycerides, as these are used for medical applications, special diets and cosmetics, sometimes also being used as a carrier oil for fragrances.


title: Coconut oil

text: The World Health Organization's "Codex Alimentarius" guidelines on food, food production, and food safety, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, includes standards for commercial partners who produce coconut oil for human consumption.


title: Coconut oil

text: The Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC), whose 18 members produce about 90 per cent of the coconut sold commercially, has published its standards for virgin coconut oil (VCO), defining virgin coconut oil as obtained from fresh, mature coconut kernels through means that do not "lead to alteration of the oil."


title: Coconut oil

text: In 2018, world production of coconut oil was , led by the Philippines and Indonesia accounting together for 67% of the world total.


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil contains only trace amounts of free fatty acids (about 0.03% by mass). Most of the fatty acids are present in the form of esters. In the following content, the expressions "fatty acids" and "acid" below refer to esters rather than carboxylic acids.


title: Coconut oil

text: The following table provides information about the composition of coconut oil and how it compares with other vegetable oils.


title: Coconut oil

text: Many health organizations advise against the consumption of coconut oil owing to its high levels of saturated fat, including the United States Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, British National Health Service, British Nutrition Foundation, and Dietitians of Canada.


title: Coconut oil

text: Marketing of coconut oil has created the inaccurate belief that it is a "healthy food". Instead, studies have found that coconut oil consumption has health effects similar to those of other unhealthy fats, including butter, beef fat, and palm oil. Coconut oil contains a high amount of lauric acid, a saturated fat that raises total blood cholesterol levels by increasing the amounts of both high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Although lauric acid consumption may create a more favorable total blood cholesterol profile, this does not exclude the possibility that persistent consumption of coconut oil may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases through other mechanisms, particularly via the marked increase in total blood cholesterol induced by lauric acid. Because the majority of saturated fat in coconut oil is lauric acid, coconut oil may be preferred over partially hydrogenated vegetable oil when solid fats are used in the diet.


title: Coconut oil

text: A 2017 review of clinical research by experts associated with the American Heart Association recommended against consumption of coconut oil due to its propensity for increasing blood levels of LDL as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.


title: Coconut oil

text: A 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials on whether chronic consumption of coconut oil might affect risk factors for cardiovascular diseases found that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholestrol (but also high-density lipoprotein (HDL)) concentrations were elevated compared with nontropical vegetable oils. The review stated that "coconut oil should not be viewed as healthy oil for cardiovascular disease risk reduction, and limiting coconut oil consumption because of its high saturated fat content is warranted."


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil is 99% fat, composed mainly of saturated fats (82% of total; table). In a 100 gram reference amount, coconut oil supplies 890 calories. Half of the saturated fat content of coconut oil is lauric acid (41.8 grams per 100 grams of total composition), while other significant saturated fats are myristic acid (16.7 g), palmitic acid (8.6 g), and caprylic acid (6.8 g). Monounsaturated fats are 6% of total composition, and polyunsaturated fats are 2% (table). Coconut oil contains phytosterols, whereas there are no micronutrients in significant content (table).


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil has a long history in Asia, particularly in tropical regions where the plant is abundant, where it has been used for cooking. It is the oil of choice in Sri Lankan cuisine, where it is used for sautéing and frying, in both savoury and sweet dishes. It also plays a prominent role in the cuisines of Thailand and Kerala.


title: Coconut oil

text: As an oil relatively recently introduced to Western countries, coconut oil is commonly used in baked goods, pastries, and sautés, having a nut-like quality with some sweetness. It is sometimes used by movie theatre chains to pop popcorn.


title: Coconut oil

text: Other culinary uses include replacing solid fats produced through hydrogenation in baked and confectionery goods. Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated coconut oil is often used in non-dairy creamers and snack foods. In frying, the smoke point of coconut oil is .


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil has been tested for use as a feedstock for biodiesel to use as a diesel engine fuel. In this manner, it can be applied to power generators and transport using diesel engines. Since straight coconut oil has a high gelling temperature (), a high viscosity, and a minimum combustion chamber temperature of (to avoid polymerization of the fuel), coconut oil typically is transesterified to make biodiesel. Use of B100 (100% biodiesel) is possible only in temperate climates, as the gel point is approximately . The oil must meet the Weihenstephan standard to use pure vegetable oil as a fuel. Moderate to severe damage from carbonisation and clogging would occur in an unmodified engine.


title: Coconut oil

text: The Philippines, Vanuatu, Samoa, and several other tropical island countries use coconut oil as an alternative fuel source to run automobiles, trucks, and buses, and to power generators. Biodiesel fuel derived from coconut oil is currently used as a fuel for transport in the Philippines. Further research into the potential of coconut oil as a fuel for electricity generation is being carried out in the islands of the Pacific, although to date it appears that it is not useful as a fuel source due to the cost of labour and supply constraints.


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil has been tested for use as an engine lubricant and as a transformer oil. Coconut oil (and derivatives, such as coconut fatty acid) are used as raw materials in the manufacture of surfactants such as cocamidopropyl betaine, cocamide MEA, and cocamide DEA.


title: Coconut oil

text: Acids derived from coconut oil can be used as herbicides. Treatment with catalytic lipase has reportedly given coconut oil antimicrobial characteristics. Before the advent of electrical lighting, coconut oil was the primary oil used for illumination in India and was exported as cochin oil.


title: Coconut oil

text: Coconut oil is an important base ingredient for the manufacture of soap. Soap made with coconut oil tends to be hard, though it retains more water than soap made with other oils and thus increases manufacturer yields. It is more soluble in hard water and salt water than other soaps allowing it to lather more easily.


title: Coconut oil

text: The oil can be used to treat dryness and sores from saltwater and sunburn. It can be used for burning in a torch or dripped into fire to create insect-repelling smoke. It also protects metal from corrosion.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (July 19, 1904 – December 24, 1985) was an American gentleman farmer known as a great-grandson of Abraham Lincoln. In 1975, he became the last undisputed descendant of Lincoln when his sister, Mary Lincoln Beckwith, died without children.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was born in Riverside, Illinois, to Jessie Harlan Lincoln and Warren Wallace Beckwith. Jessie's parents were Robert Todd Lincoln—eldest son of Abraham Lincoln—and Mary Eunice Harlan. Jessie eloped in 1897 with Warren Beckwith, a classmate and football star at Iowa Wesleyan College. Before their divorce in 1907, they had two children: Mary Lincoln Beckwith, who died in 1975, and Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith attended a private school in Washington, D.C., and New York Military Academy in Cornwall, New York, in addition to spending two years at his grandfather Robert Todd Lincoln's previous boarding school, Phillips Exeter Academy. He later received a law degree from what is now Georgetown University.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith enjoyed boating and sailing and generally avoided the media and publicity. On one occasion, a newspaper published pictures of him as a young man when he was arrested for speeding in Omaha, Nebraska.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith's mother died in 1948 and in later life, he gave his profession as "gentleman farmer of independent means", his inheritance having included a working farm in Middlesex County, Virginia.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith was a representative for Illinois Day as part of the 1964 New York World's Fair. In June 1965, he received an honorary doctorate degree from his parents' school, Iowa Wesleyan College. Also in 1965, he was a guest of honor at Chicago's commemoration ceremony upon the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's funeral.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: In 1967, Beckwith was quoted as saying he "was not especially interested" in his ancestors' life in the White House. He did however retain some Lincoln memorabilia, most of which he gave to the state of Illinois, and Lincoln's rifle which he later gave to the Smithsonian Institution.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith married three times, first to Hazel Frances Holland (formerly Wilson; 1899–1966), in March 1927, second to Annemarie Hoffman (born ), in November 1967, and third to Margaret Elizabeth Hogan (formerly Fristoe; 1921–2009), in 1979. His marriage to Holland lasted nearly four decades, ending with her death in 1966. His marriage to Hoffman lasted a month shy of nine years, ending in divorce in September 1976, and his marriage to Hogan ended with his own death, in 1985.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith never publicly acknowledged paternity for any child, making him the last confirmed descendant of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. However, he did have step-children through his marriages to Holland and Hogan. Hoffman alleged that her son, Timothy Lincoln Beckwith (born 1968), was fathered by him, but her failure to present the child for paternity testing coupled with proof Beckwith had undergone a vasectomy some years prior to the child's birth led the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to declare that Beckwith was not the father. Despite the court's ruling, Timothy's claims to Beckwith's estate were never terminated, and after Beckwith's death in 1985, charitable organizations that had been named as beneficiaries in Beckwith's will offered Timothy, then 17 years old, a settlement of US$1,000,000 in exchange for giving up any claims to the estate. Since 1995, Timothy has worked as an assistant state's attorney in West Palm Beach, Florida and maintained a relatively low profile, though articles speculating about his paternity continue to be published.


title: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith

text: Beckwith spent his life between Vermont and the Washington, D.C. vicinity. He died on December 24, 1985, in Hartfield, Virginia, where he had lived in a nursing home.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as populations are fragmented and restricted to less than . Moreover, the extent and quality of the rhino's most important habitat, the alluvial Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands and riverine forest, is considered to be in decline due to human and livestock encroachment. As of August 2018, the global population was estimated to comprise 3,588 individuals, including 2,939 individuals in India and 649 in Nepal. Kaziranga National Park alone had an estimated population of 2,048 rhinos in 2009. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam has the highest density of Indian rhinos in the world with 84 individuals in an area of in 2009.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but excessive hunting and agricultural development reduced its range drastically to 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal. In the early 1990s, between 1,870 and 1,895 Indian rhinos were estimated to have been alive. Since then, numbers have increased due to conservation measures taken by the government. However, poaching remains a continuous threat, as more than 150 Indian rhinos were killed in Assam by poachers between 2000 and 2006.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Nearly 85% of the global Indian rhinoceros population is concentrated in Assam, where Kaziranga National Park contains 70% of rhino population.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The generic name "Rhinoceros" is a combination of the ancient Greek words ῥίς ("ris") meaning "nose" and κέρας ("keras") meaning "horn of an animal". The Latin word "ūnicornis" means "one-horned".


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: "Rhinoceros unicornis" was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 who described a rhinoceros with one horn. As type locality, he indicated Africa and India.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhinoceros is monotypic. Several specimens were described since the end of the 18th century under different scientific names, which are all considered synonyms of "Rhinoceros unicornis" today:


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Ancestral rhinoceroses first diverged from other perissodactyls in the Early Eocene. Mitochondrial DNA comparison suggests the ancestors of modern rhinos split from the ancestors of Equidae around 50 million years ago. The extant family, the Rhinocerotidae, first appeared in the Late Eocene in Eurasia, and the ancestors of the extant rhino species dispersed from Asia beginning in the Miocene.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Fossils of "R. unicornis" appear in the Middle Pleistocene. In the Pleistocene, the genus "Rhinoceros" ranged throughout South and Southeast Asia, with specimens located on Sri Lanka. Into the Holocene, some rhinoceros lived as far west as Gujarat and Pakistan until as recently as 3,200 years ago.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian and Javan rhinoceroses, the only members of the genus "Rhinoceros", first appear in the fossil record in Asia during the Early Pleistocene. The Indian rhinoceros is known from Early Pleistocene localities in Java, South China, India and Pakistan. Molecular estimates suggest the species may have diverged much earlier, around . Although belonging to the type genus, the Indian and Javan rhinoceroses are not believed to be closely related to other rhino species. Different studies have hypothesised that they may be closely related to the extinct "Gaindatherium" or "Punjabitherium". A detailed cladistic analysis of the Rhinocerotidae placed "Rhinoceros" and the extinct "Punjabitherium" in a clade with "Dicerorhinus", the Sumatran rhinoceros. Other studies have suggested the Sumatran rhinoceros is more closely related to the two African species. The Sumatran rhino may have diverged from the other Asian rhinos as long as 15 million years ago.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos have a thick grey-brown skin with pinkish skin folds and one horn on their snout. Their upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps. They have very little body hair, aside from eyelashes, ear fringes and tail brush. Bulls have huge neck folds. The skull is heavy with a basal length above and an occiput above . The nasal horn is slightly back-curved with a base of about by that rapidly narrows until a smooth, even stem part begins about above base. In captive animals, the horn is frequently worn down to a thick knob.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhino's single horn is present in both bulls and cows, but not on newborn calves. The horn is pure keratin, like human fingernails, and starts to show after about six years. In most adults, the horn reaches a length of about , but has been recorded up to in length and in weight.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Among terrestrial land mammals native to Asia, Indian rhinos are second in size only to the Asian elephant. They are also the second-largest living rhinoceros, behind only the white rhinoceros. Bulls have a head and body length of with a shoulder height of , while cows have a head and body length of and a shoulder height of . The bull, averaging about is heavier than the cow, at an average of about .


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The rich presence of blood vessels underneath the tissues in folds gives them the pinkish colour. The folds in the skin increase the surface area and help in regulating the body temperature. The thick skin does not protect against bloodsucking "Tabanus" flies, leeches and ticks.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos once ranged across the entire northern part of the Indian Subcontinent, along the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, from Pakistan to the Indian-Myanmar border, including Bangladesh and the southern parts of Nepal and Bhutan. They may have also occurred in Myanmar, southern China and Indochina. They inhabit the alluvial grasslands of the Terai and the Brahmaputra basin. As a result of habitat destruction and climatic changes its range has gradually been reduced so that by the 19th century, it only survived in the Terai grasslands of southern Nepal, northern Uttar Pradesh, northern Bihar, northern West Bengal, and in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The species was present in northern Bihar and Oudh at least until 1770 as indicated in maps produced by Colonel Gentil. On the former abundance of the species, Thomas C. Jerdon wrote in 1867:


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Today, its range has further shrunk to a few pockets in southern Nepal, northern West Bengal, and the Brahmaputra Valley. Its habitat is surrounded by human-dominated landscapes, so that in many areas, it occurs in cultivated areas, pastures, and secondary forests. In the 1980s, Indian rhinos were frequently seen in the narrow plain area of Manas River and Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In 2006, the total Indian rhinoceros population was estimated to comprise 2,577 individuals, of which 2,165 lived in India:


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: By 2014, the population in Assam increased to 2,544 Indian rhinos, an increase of 27% since 2006, although more than 150 individuals were killed by poachers during these years.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The population in Kaziranga National Park was estimated at 2,048 individuals in 2009. By 2009, the population in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary had increased to 84 individuals in an area of .


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In 2015, Nepal had 645 Indian rhinos living in Parsa National Park, Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park, Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve and respective buffer zones in the Terai Arc Landscape as recorded in a survey conducted from 11 April to 2 May 2015. The survey showed that the population of rhinos in Nepal from 2011 to 2015 increased 21% or 111 individuals.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhino population, which once numbered as low as 100 individuals in the early 1900s, has increased to more than 3,700 in year 2021 as per The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) signature 2021 report, State of the Rhino.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Bulls are usually solitary. Groups consist of cows with calves, or of up to six subadults. Such groups congregate at wallows and grazing areas. They are foremost active in early mornings, late afternoons and at night, but rest during hot days.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: They are excellent swimmers and can run at speeds of up to for short periods. They have excellent senses of hearing and smell, but relatively poor eyesight. Over 10 distinct vocalisations have been recorded. Males have home ranges of around that overlap each other. Dominant males tolerate other males passing through their territories except when they are in mating season, when dangerous fights break out.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos have few natural enemies, except for tigers, which sometimes kill unguarded calves, but adult rhinos are less vulnerable due to their size. Mynahs and egrets both eat invertebrates from the rhino's skin and around its feet. "Tabanus" flies, a type of horse-fly, are known to bite rhinos. The rhinos are also vulnerable to diseases spread by parasites such as leeches, ticks, and nematodes. Anthrax and the blood-disease sepsis are known to occur.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In March 2017, a group of four tigers consisting of an adult male, tigress and two cubs killed a 20-year-old male Indian rhinoceros in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos are grazers. Their diet consists almost entirely of grasses, but they also eat leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruits, and submerged and floating aquatic plants.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: They feed in the mornings and evenings. They use their semi-prehensile lips to grasp grass stems, bend the stem down, bite off the top, and then eat the grass. They tackle very tall grasses or saplings by walking over the plant, with legs on both sides and using the weight of their bodies to push the end of the plant down to the level of the mouth. Mothers also use this technique to make food edible for their calves. They drink for a minute or two at a time, often imbibing water filled with rhinoceros urine.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos form a variety of social groupings. Bulls are generally solitary, except for mating and fighting. Cows are largely solitary when they are without calves. Mothers will stay close to their calves for up to four years after their birth, sometimes allowing an older calf to continue to accompany her once a newborn calf arrives. Subadult bulls and cows form consistent groupings, as well. Groups of two or three young bulls often form on the edge of the home ranges of dominant bulls, presumably for protection in numbers. Young cows are slightly less social than the bulls. Indian rhinos also form short-term groupings, particularly at forest wallows during the monsoon season and in grasslands during March and April. Groups of up to 10 rhinos, typically a dominant male with females and calves, gather in wallows.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos make a wide variety of vocalisations. At least 10 distinct vocalisations have been identified: snorting, honking, bleating, roaring, squeak-panting, moo-grunting, shrieking, groaning, rumbling and humphing. In addition to noises, the Indian rhino uses olfactory communication. Adult bulls urinate backwards, as far as behind them, often in response to being disturbed by observers. Like all rhinos, the Indian rhinoceros often defecates near other large dung piles. The Indian rhino has pedal scent glands which are used to mark their presence at these rhino latrines. Bulls have been observed walking with their heads to the ground as if sniffing, presumably following the scent of cows.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In aggregations, Indian rhinos are often friendly. They will often greet each other by waving or bobbing their heads, mounting flanks, nuzzling noses, or licking. Indian rhinos will playfully spar, run around, and play with twigs in their mouths. Adult bulls are the primary instigators in fights. Fights between dominant bulls are the most common cause of rhino mortality, and bulls are also very aggressive toward cows during courtship. Bulls chase cows over long distances and even attack them face-to-face. Indian rhinos use their horns for fighting, albeit less frequently than African rhinos that largely use the incisors of the lower jaw to inflict wounds.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Captive bulls breed at five years of age, but wild bulls attain dominance much later when they are larger. In one five-year field study, only one Indian rhino estimated to be younger than 15 years mated successfully. Captive cows breed as young as four years of age, but in the wild, they usually start breeding only when six years old, which likely indicates they need to be large enough to avoid being killed by aggressive bulls. Their gestation period is around 15.7 months, and birth interval ranges from 34 to 51 months.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Habitat degradation caused by human activities and climate change as well as the resulting increase in the floods has caused large death of Indian rhinos and has limited their ranging areas which is shrinking.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhino species is inherently at risk because over 70% of its population occurs at a single site, Kaziranga National Park. Any catastrophic event such as disease, civil disorder, poaching, or habitat loss would have a devastating impact on the Indian rhino's status. However, small population of rhinos may be prone to inbreeding depression. Expansion of other protective areas and introduction of rhinos in more areas is needed.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Sport hunting became common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was the main cause for the decline of Indian rhinoceros populations. Indian rhinos were hunted relentlessly and persistently. Reports from the mid-19th century claim that some British military officers shot more than 200 rhinos in Assam alone. By 1908, the population in Kaziranga National Park had decreased to around 12 individuals. In the early 1900s, the Indian rhinoceros was almost extinct. At present, poaching for the use of horn in traditional Chinese Medicine is one of the main threats that has led to decreases in several important populations. Poaching for the Indian rhino's horn became the single most important reason for the decline of the Indian rhinoceros after conservation measures were put in place from the beginning of the 20th century, when legal hunting ended. From 1980 to 1993, 692 rhinos were poached in India, including 41 rhinos in India's Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary in 1983, almost the entire population of the sanctuary. By the mid-1990s, the Indian rhinoceros had been extirpated in this sanctuary. Between 2000 and 2006, more than 150 rhinos were poached in Assam. Almost 100 rhinos were poached in India between 2013 and 2018.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In 1950, in Nepal the Chitwan’s forest and grasslands extended over more than and were home to about 800 rhinos. When poor farmers from the mid-hills moved to the Chitwan Valley in search of arable land, the area was subsequently opened for settlement, and poaching of wildlife became rampant. The Chitwan population has repeatedly been jeopardised by poaching; in 2002 alone, poachers killed 37 animals to saw off and sell their valuable horns.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Globally, "Rhinoceros unicornis" has been listed in CITES Appendix I since 1975. The Indian and Nepalese governments have taken major steps towards Indian rhinoceros conservation, especially with the help of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and other non-governmental organisations. In 1910, all rhino hunting in India became prohibited.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In 1957, the country's first conservation law ensured the protection of rhinos and their habitat. In 1959, Edward Pritchard Gee undertook a survey of the Chitwan Valley, and recommended the creation of a protected area north of the Rapti River and of a wildlife sanctuary south of the river for a trial period of 10 years. After his subsequent survey of Chitwan in 1963, he recommended extension of the sanctuary to the south. By the end of the 1960s, only 95 rhinos remained in the Chitwan Valley. The dramatic decline of the rhino population and the extent of poaching prompted the government to institute the "Gaida Gasti" – a rhino reconnaissance patrol of 130 armed men and a network of guard posts all over Chitwan. To prevent the extinction of rhinos, the Chitwan National Park was gazetted in December 1970, with borders delineated the following year and established in 1973, initially encompassing an area of . To ensure the survival of rhinos in case of epidemics, animals were translocated annually from Chitwan to Bardia National Park and Shuklaphanta National Park since 1986.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhinoceros population living in Chitwan and Parsa National Parks was estimated at 608 mature individuals in 2015.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos have been reintroduced to the following new areas where they had previously inhabited but became extinct. These efforts have produced mixed results, mainly Due to lack of proper planning and management, sustained effort, adequate security of the introduced animals.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In 1984, five Indian rhinos were relocated to Dudhwa National Park — four from the fields outside the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and one from Goalpara. This has born results and the population has increased to 21 rhinos by 2006.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In early 1980s, Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam had more than 70 Indian rhinos which were all killed by poachers. In 2016, two Indian rhinos, a mother and her daughter, were reintroduced to the sanctuary from Kaziranga National Park as part of the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) program, but both animals died within months due to natural causes.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos were once found as far west as the Peshawar Valley during the reign of Mughal Emperor Babur, but are now extinct in Pakistan. After rhinos became "regionally extinct" in Pakistan, two rhinos from Nepal were introduced in 1983 to Lal Suhanra National Park, which have not bred so far.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: Indian rhinos were initially difficult to breed in captivity. In the second half of the 20th century, zoos became adept at breeding Indian rhinoceros. By 1983, nearly 40 babies had been born in captivity. As of 2012, 33 Indian rhinos were born at Switzerland's Zoo Basel alone, meaning that most captive animals are related to the Basel population. Due to the success of Zoo Basel's breeding program, the International Studbook for the species has been kept there since 1972. Since 1990, the Indian rhino European Endangered Species Programme is also being coordinated there, with the goal of maintaining genetic diversity in the global captive Indian rhinoceros population.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The first recorded captive birth of an Indian rhinoceros was in Kathmandu in 1826, but another successful birth did not occur for nearly 100 years. In 1925, a rhino was born in Kolkata. No rhinoceros was successfully bred in Europe until 1956 when first European breeding took place when baby rhino Rudra was born in Zoo Basel on 14 September 1956.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In June 2009, an Indian rhino was artificially inseminated using sperm collected four years previously and cryopreserved at the Cincinnati Zoo’s CryoBioBank before being thawed and used. She gave birth to a male calf in October 2010.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In June 2014, the first "successful" live-birth from an artificially inseminated rhino took place at the Buffalo Zoo in New York. As in Cincinnati, cryopreserved sperm was used to produce the female calf, Monica.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Indian rhinoceros is one of the motifs on the Pashupati seal and many terracotta figurines that were excavated at archaeological sites of the Indus Valley civilisation. A rhinoceros is the vahana of the Hindu goddess Dhavdi. There is a temple dedicated to Maa (Mother) Dhavdi in Dhrangadhra, Gujarat.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: The Rhinoceros Sutra is an early text in the Buddhist tradition, found in the Gandhāran Buddhist texts and the Pali Canon, as well as a version incorporated into the Sanskrit Mahavastu. It praises the solitary lifestyle and stoicism of the Indian rhinoceros and is associated with the eremitic lifestyle symbolized by the Pratyekabuddha.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In the 3rd century, Philip the Arab exhibited an Indian rhinoceros in Rome. In 1515, Manuel I of Portugal obtained an Indian rhinoceros as a gift, which he passed on to Pope Leo X, but which died on the way from Lisbon to Rome. Three artistic representations were prepared of this rhinoceros: "Dürer's Rhinoceros", a woodcut by Hans Burgkmair dated to 1515, a drawing and a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, also dated 1515. Dürer's Rhinoceros was sent as a present from the King of Portugal, Manuel I, to Pope Leo X in 1515, and this rhino died in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy in early 1516, and it was immortalised as "Dürer's Rhinoceros" in the woodcut. In 1577–1588, Abada was a female Indian rhinoceros kept by the Portuguese kings Sebastian I and Henry I from 1577 to 1580 and by Philip II of Spain from about 1580 to 1588. She was the first rhinoceros seen in Europe after "Dürer's Rhinoceros". In about 1684, the first presumably Indian rhinoceros arrived in England. George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys spread the rumour that his chief rival Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford had been seen riding on it.


title: Indian rhinoceros

text: In 1741–1758, "Clara the rhinoceros" (c. 1738 – 14 April 1758) was a female Indian rhinoceros who became famous during 17 years of touring Europe in the mid-18th century. She arrived in Europe in Rotterdam in 1741, becoming the fifth living rhinoceros to be seen in Europe in modern times since Dürer's Rhinoceros in 1515. After tours through towns in the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, Switzerland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, France, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Papal States, Bohemia and Denmark, she died in Lambeth, England. In 1739, she was drawn and engraved by two English artists. It was then brought to Amsterdam, where Jan Wandelaar made two engravings that were published in 1747. In the subsequent years, the rhinoceros was exhibited in several European cities. In 1748, Johann Elias Ridinger made an etching of it in Augsburg, and Petrus Camper modelled it in clay in Leiden. In 1749, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon drew it in Paris. In 1751, Pietro Longhi painted it in Venice.


title: Hakuna matata

text: "Hakuna matata" is a Swahili phrase, meaning "no trouble" or "no worries" and "take it easy". (literally "hakuna": "there is no/there are no"; "matata": "worries".) The 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios animated film "The Lion King" brought the phrase to Western prominence in one of its most popular songs, in which it is translated as "no worries". The song is often heard at Disney's resorts, hotels, and amusement parks. It is widely understood that Sherpa’s in the region of Tanzania sing this song to fellow hikers before their journey up to Mt. Kilimanjaro.


title: Hakuna matata

text: In 1983, German group Boney M. released "Jambo—Hakuna Matata", an English-language version of Them Mushrooms' song Jambo Bwana. Liz Mitchell provided the song's lead vocals, backed by Reggie Tsiboe, Frank Farian, Cathy Bartney, Madeleine Davis and Judy Cheeks. The single was intended to be included in the group's successfully untitled seventh album, to be released in the fall of 1983. Due to a poor chart performance (No. 48 in the German charts), the single ultimately was not included in the album (which was completely reworked and not released until May 1984 as "Ten Thousand Lightyears").


title: Hakuna matata

text: In 1994, the Walt Disney Feature Animation animated film "The Lion King" brought the phrase international recognition, featuring it prominently in the plot and devoting a song to it. A meerkat and a warthog, Timon and Pumbaa, teach Simba that he should forget his troubled past and live in the present. The song was written by Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), who found the term in a Swahili phrasebook. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards, and was later ranked the 99th best song in movie history by the American Film Institute on a list of 100.


title: Hakuna matata

text: In 2003, Disney was granted a trademark protecting the phrase from being used on clothing and footwear. Prior to the release of the 2019 "Lion King" remake, the trademark caused controversy in East Africa. More than 280,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org asking Disney to drop the trademark.


title: Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape

text: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) is a training program, best known by its military acronym, that prepares U.S. military personnel, U.S. Department of Defense civilians, and private military contractors to survive and "return with honor" in survival scenarios. The curriculum includes survival skills, evading capture, application of the military code of conduct, and techniques for escape from captivity. Formally established by the U.S. Air Force at the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War, it was extended to the Navy and United States Marine Corps and consolidated within the Air Force during the Korean War with greater focus on "resistance training."


text: During the Vietnam War (1959–1975), there was clear need for "Jungle" survival training and greater public focus on American POWs. As a result, the U.S. military expanded SERE programs and training sites. In the late 1980s, the U.S. Army became more involved with SERE as Special Forces and "Spec Ops" grew. Today, SERE is taught to a variety of personnel based upon risk of capture and exploitation value with a high emphasis on aircrew, special operations, and foreign diplomatic and intelligence personnel.


text: The origins of SERE are rooted in the leadership of Britain's MI9 Evasion and Escape ("E&E") organization, formed at the onset of World War II (1939–1945). Led by World War I veteran Colonel (later Brigadier) Norman Crockatt, MI9 were formed to train air crew and Special Forces in evading enemy troops following bail-out, forced landings, or being cut off behind enemy lines. A training school was established in London, and officers and instructors from MI9 also began visiting operational air bases, providing local training to air crews unable to be detached from their duties to attend formal courses. MI9 went on to devise a multitude of evasion and escape tools; These tools included overt items to aid immediate evasion after bailing out and covert items for use to aid escape following capture which were hidden within uniforms and personal items (concealed compasses, silk and tissue maps, etc.).


text: Once the United States entered the war in 1941, MI9 staff traveled to Washington, D.C., to discuss their now mature E&E training, devices, and proven results with the United States Army Air Forces ("USAAF"). As a result, the United States initiated their own Evasion and Escape organization, known as MIS-X, based at Fort Hunt, Virginia.


text: There were also several unofficial private "clubs" created during World War II by British and American pilots who had escaped from German forces during the war and returned to friendly lines. One such club was the "Late Arrivals' Club". This strictly nonmilitary club had a flying boot which was worn under the left collar of a uniform as its identifying symbol.


text: USAAF General Curtis LeMay realized that it was cheaper and more effective to train aircrews in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape techniques than to have them lost in the arctic (or ocean) or languishing (or lost) in enemy hands. Thus, he supported the establishment of formal SERE training at several bases/locations (from July 1942 to May 1944) hosting the 336th Bombardment Group (now the 336th Training Group), including a small program for Cold Weather Survival at RCAF Station Namao in Edmonton, Alberta where American, British, and Canadian B29 aircrews received basic survival training. In 1945, a consolidated survival training center was initiated at Fort Carson, Colorado, under the 3904th Training Squadron, and, in 1947, the Arctic Indoctrination Survival School (colloquially known as "the Cool School") opened at Marks Air Force Base in Nome, Alaska.


text: During WWII, the U.S. Navy discovered that 75% of its pilots who had been shot or forced down came down alive, yet barely 5% of them survived because they could not swim or find sustenance in the water or on remote islands. Since the ability to swim was an essential survival skill for Navy pilots, training programs were developed to ensure pilot trainees could swim (requiring cadets to swim one mile and dive 50 feet underwater to be able to escape bullets and suction from sinking aircraft). Soon, the training was expanded to include submerged aircraft escape.


text: During the Korean War (1950–1953), the Air Force moved their survival school to Stead AFB, Reno Stead Airport as the 3635th Combat Crew Training Wing. In 1952, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) designated the United States Air Force (USAF) as executive agent (EA, as below) for joint escape and evasion.


text: The Korean War showed that traditional notions about captives during wartime were no longer valid as North Koreans, with Chinese backing, ignored the Geneva Conventions regarding treatment of POWs. This mistreatment was especially true for American airmen because of North Korean hatred of bombardments and airmen's prestige among soldiers. North Koreans were interested in the propaganda value of American captives given their new methods for gaining compliance, extracting confessions, and gathering information, which proved successful against American soldiers.


text: Soon after the Korean War ended, the DoD initiated the Defense Advisory Committee on Prisoners of War to study and report on the problems and possible solutions regarding the Korean War POW fiasco. The charter of the committee was to find a suitable approach for preparing the U.S. armed forces to deal with the combat and captivity environment.


text: The committee's key recommendation was the implementation of a military "Code of Conduct" that embodied traditional American values as moral obligations of soldiers during combat and captivity. Underlying this code was the belief that captivity was to be thought of as an extension of the battlefield; i.e., as a place where soldiers were expected to accept death as a possible duty. President Eisenhower then issued Executive Order 10631 which stated: "Every member of the Armed Forces of the United States are expected to measure up to the standards embodied in the Code of Conduct while in combat or in captivity." The U.S. military likewise began the process for training and implementing this directive.


text: While it was accepted that the Code of Conduct would be taught to all U.S. soldiers at the earliest point of their military training, the Air Force believed more was needed. At the USAF "Survival School" (Stead AFB), the concepts of evasion, resistance, and escape were expanded and new curricula were developed as "Code of Conduct Training". Those curricula have remained the foundation of modern SERE training throughout the U.S. military.


text: The Navy also recognized the need for new training, and by the late 1950s, formal SERE training was initiated at "Detachment SERE" Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine with a 12-day Code of Conduct course designed to give Navy pilots and aircrew the skills necessary to survive and evade capture, and if captured, resist interrogation and escape. Later, the course was expanded so that other Navy and Marine Corps troops, such as SEALs, SWCC, EOD, RECON / MARSOC, and Navy Combat Medics would attend. Subsequently, a second school was opened at Naval Air Station North Island. The Marine Corps opened their Pickel Meadow camp (initially established by Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton) in 1951, where Marines would be trained in outdoor survival and, later, opened the Mountain Warfare Training Center (MCMWTC) in Bridgeport, California, where training could be done in Level A SERE (as below). "Survival training" for soldiers has ancient origins as survival is a goal of combat. Survival training was not distinct from "combat training" until navies realized the need to teach sailors to swim. Such training was not related to combat and was intended solely to help sailors survive. Similarly, firefighting training has long been a navy focus and remains so today (although survival of the ship may be the primary goal). Water survival training has been a distinct and formal part of Navy basic training since World War II, although its importance was greatly increased with the advent and expansion of naval aviation.


text: In 1953, the Army established the "Jungle Operations Training Center" at Fort Sherman in Panama (known as "Green Hell"). Operations there were ramped up during the 1960s to meet the demand for jungle-trained soldiers in Vietnam. In 1958, the Marine Corps opened Camp Gonsalves in northern Okinawa, Japan, where jungle warfare and survival training was offered to soldiers headed for Vietnam. As the Vietnam War progressed, the Air Force also opened a "Jungle Survival School" at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.


text: When Stead AFB closed in 1966, the USAF "survival school" was moved to Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington State (where it is centered today). The Air Force also had other survival schools including the "Tropical Survival School" at Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone, the "Arctic Survival School" at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, and the "Water Survival School" at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, which operated under separate commands. In April 1971, these schools were brought under the same Group and squadrons were organized to conduct training at Clark, Fairchild and Homestead, while detachments were used for other localized survival training (the acronym "SERE" was not used extensively in the Air Force until later in the 1970s).


text: In 1976, following accusations and reports of abuses during Navy SERE training, DoD established a committee (i.e., "Defense Review Committee") to examine the need for changes in Code of Conduct training. After hearing from experts and former POWs, they recommended the standardization of SERE training among all branches of the military and the expansion of SERE to include "lessons learned from previous US Prisoner of War experiences" (intending to make the training more "realistic and useful").


text: In late 1984, the Pentagon issued DoD Directive 1300.7 which established three levels of SERE training with the "resistance portion" incorporated at "Level C". That level of training was specified for soldiers whose "assignment has a high risk of capture and whose position, rank, or seniority make them vulnerable to greater than average exploitation efforts by a captor".


text: While initially only four military bases (Fairchild AFB, SERE), Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Naval Air Station North Island, and Camp Mackall (at Fort Bragg) were officially authorized to conduct Level C training, other bases have been added (such as Fort Rucker). Individual bases may conduct SERE courses which include C-level elements (see "Schools" below). The required (every 3 years) Level C refresher course is commonly taught by USAF "detachments" (often just one SERE specialist/instructor) stationed at a base or a traveling specialist.


text: As the designated executive agency for U.S. military SERE training, the USAF's 336th Training Group continues to provide the only U.S. military career SERE specialists and instructors who are part of Air Force Special Warfare Operations and are utilized in varied roles throughout the Air Force and DoD. See USAF "Survival Instructors".


text: The DoD defines Executive Agency as "the Head of a DOD Component to whom the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) or the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF) has assigned specific responsibilities, functions, and authorities to provide defined levels of support for operational missions, or administrative or other designated activities that involve two or more of the DOD Components." DoD chose the U.S. Air Force as its Executive Agency for joint escape and evasion in 1952 and it was therefore the candidate to be chosen as the EA for SERE and CoC training in 1979. The Air Force remained EA for most survival, evasion, escape and rescue related matters until 1995. But, with the growing importance of personnel recovery (PR), the United States Department of Defense established the Joint Services Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Agency (JSSA) in 1991 and designated it the DoD EA for DoD Prisoner of War / Missing in Action (POW / MIA) matters. In 1994 the JSSA was designated as the central organizer and implementer for PR and the USAF as the EA for Joint Combat Search and Rescue (JCSAR) Combat search and rescue. In 1999, the JPRA Joint Personnel Recovery Agency was created as an agency under the Commander in Chief, US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and was named the Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR) for DoD-wide PR matters. JPRA has been designated a Chairman's Controlled Activity since 2011.


text: JPRA has its headquarters at Fort Belvoir and as organizing agency (OA) for all DoD "resistance" training, it has close ties with the 336th Training Group (which was given the role of organizing and operating the Personnel Recovery Academy or PRA). JPRA and the PRA now coordinate PR activities and train PR/SERE globally with American allies making extensive use of USAF SERE experts.


text: The first USAF "survival instructors" were experienced civilian wilderness volunteers and USAF personnel with prior instructor experience (and they included a small cadre of "USAF Rescuemen", i.e. United States Air Force Pararescue). When the Army Air Force formed the Air Rescue Service (ARS) in 1946, the 5th Rescue Squadron conducted the first Pararescue and Survival School at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. With the move to Stead AFB and the opening of a full-time survival school, the USAF initiated the military's only full-time, career survival instructor program (with the Air Force Specialty Code 921). By the time the Air Force opened the survival school at Fairchild AFB in 1966, it also opened a separate "Instructor Training Branch" (ITB) under the 3636th Combat Crew Training Squadron where all Air Force Survival Instructors received their specialist training, composed of six months of classroom and field training, and initial qualification rating, which was "Global Survival Instructor". They then had to complete six months of On-the-Job Training (OJT) before they were qualified to teach SERE (aka "Combat Survival Training" or "CST"). Years of additional training for added specialties (such as arctic, jungle, tropics, and water survival, "resistance training", and "academic instruction") yield some of the most trained personnel in the U.S. military.


text: Currently, USAF SERE specialist/instructor training is conducted under the 66th Training Squadron at Fairchild AFB. After selection and qualification conducted at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas via a SERE specialist orientation course, potential SERE instructors are assigned to the 66th Training Squadron to learn how to instruct SERE in any environment: the "field" survival course at Fairchild, the non-ejection water survival course at Fairchild AFB (which trains aircrew members of non-parachute-equipped aircraft), and the resistance training orientation course (which covers the theories and principles needed to conduct Level C Code of Conduct resistance training laboratory instruction). USAF SERE specialists also earn their jump wings at the United States Army Airborne School. SERE Specialists who work in the "dunker" portion of the water survival course at Fairchild are certified through the Navy Salvage Dive Course. The SERE training instructor "7-level" upgrade course is a 19-day course that provides SERE instructors with advanced training in barren Arctic, barren desert, jungle, and open-ocean environments.


text: The Air Force's SERE instructors play key roles in DoD-wide training and in implementing other branches SERE training programs; both the Navy and Army send their SERE instructors to take the basic 9-day SERE course (SV-80-A) taught by the 22nd TS since these other branches have no career option for SERE. Because the Air Force has the largest and best trained SERE staff, it assumes diverse roles DoD wide, such as furnishing SERE training for Red Flag exercises.


text: SERE curriculum has evolved from being primarily focused on "outdoor survival training" to increasingly focus upon "evasion, resistance, and escape". Military survival training differs from typical civilian programs in several key areas:


text: Military survival schools also teach unique skills such as parachute landings, basic and specialized signalling, vectoring a helicopter, use of rescue devices (forest-tree penetrators, harnesses, etc.), rough terrain travel, and interaction with indigenous peoples.


text: The military "has an obligation to the American people to ensure its soldiers go into battle with the assurance of success and survival. This is an obligation that only rigorous and realistic training, conducted to standard, can fulfill". The U.S. Army has long taken survival training as an integral part of combat readiness (per FM 7-21.13 "The Soldier's Guide") and combat training is largely about an individual soldier's survival as opposed to the enemy's non-survival. "Survival", as a distinct part of modern military training, largely emerges in special environment operations (as shown in "Mountain Operations", FM 3-97.6, "Jungle School", the Marine Corps' mountain warfare training center, the Air Force's Desert and Arctic Survival Schools (as above), and the Navy's Naval Special Warfare Cold Weather Detachment Kodiak).


text: Certain skills have been identified that enhance every soldier's chance for survival (whether they are on the battlefield or not):


text: Military personnel are often subject to enhanced risks and unique situations and, therefore, beyond basic combat skills and specialty skills, many U.S. military personnel receive training in survival skills specific to their assignment. Such general survival training may include the basics listed above along with:


text: Evading an enemy consists of certain well-known basic skills, but the military has an interest in not openly discussing its practices since this may assist an enemy. Major militaries spend considerable time and energy preparing for evasion with extensive planning (routes, practices, pick-up points, methods, "friendlies", "chits", weapons, etc.). Some elements of hostile survival preparedness and teaching are classified. This is especially true for "resistance" training where one hopes to prepare those who might be captured for hardship, stress, abuse, torture, interrogation, indoctrination, and exploitation.


text: The foundation for capture preparedness lies in knowing one's duty and rights if taken prisoner. For American soldiers, this begins with the Code of the United States Fighting Force. It is:


text: Training on how to survive and resist an enemy in the event of capture is generally based on past experiences of captives and prisoners of war. Thus, it is important to know who one's captors are likely to be and what to expect from them. Intelligence regarding such things is sensitive, but in the modern era, captives are less likely to enjoy the status of "prisoner of war" and so to gain protections under the Geneva Conventions. American soldiers are still taught the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war, but they are less likely to receive those protections than to offer them.


text: Because details cannot be offered, a few examples of well-known resistance methods provide clues as to the nature of resistance techniques:


text: The teaching of "resistance" is typically done in a "simulation laboratory" setting where "resistance training" instructors act as hostile captors and soldier-students are treated as realistically as possible as captives/POWs with isolation, harsh conditions, close confinement, stress, mock interrogation, and torture "simulations". While it is impossible to simulate the reality of hostile captivity, such training has proven very effective in helping those who have endured captivity know what to expect of their captivity and themselves under such conditions.


text: "Escape Training" has elements similar to evasion and resistance trainingif details are revealed, it potentially helps adversaries. Much of this training has to do with observation, planning, preparation, and contingencies. And much of this comes from historical experience so public sources are revealing (such as the movies The Great Escape (film) and Rescue Dawn).


text: 1. Water (ocean, river, littoral) Survival: Military personnel are much more likely to find themselves in a water survival situation than others. How to survive in water is taught at Navy Recruit Training, Navy SUBSCOL Submarine Escape Training, the Air Force Water Survival Course and at a separate SoF Special Forces Professional Military Education (PME) courses. Featured in such courses are topics and exercises such as:


text: 2. Arctic (sea ice, tundra) Survival: Air Force aircrews spend considerable time flying over arctic regions Polar Routes and while modern arctic survival situations are rare, the training remains useful and worthwhile because its content obviously relates to winter survival anywhere. All U.S. military branches have some type of cold/winter/mountain survival training originating from hard-learned lessons during the Korean War (see above and below). Dealing with cold conditions presents several unique content areas:


text: 3. Desert Survival: While desert survival training was part of U.S. military survival courses since their inception (see Air Forces Manual No. 21) the focus of survival training went that direction in 1990 with Operation Desert Shield Gulf War (1990-1991). Desert survival training is likely to remain a major focus in the foreseeable future. While there is a common mistake to think of deserts as hot, much of the Arctic (and Antarctic) is also polar desert. And under the definition of desert climate (a climate in which there is an excess of evaporation over precipitation), some deserts are deemed "cold weather deserts" such as the Gobi Desert. Because the unifying feature of all deserts is a lack of water, that is the focus for desert survival:


text: 4. Jungle/Tropics Survival: Staying alive in the jungle is relatively easy, but doing so comfortably can be very difficult. There are good reasons why soldiers deemed JWS (Jungle Warfare School) in Panama "Green Hell":


text: 5. Isolation Survival: Isolation is not just "being alone", it's being away from the familiar and comforting. Isolation survival has long been part of SERE in the "resistance" portion of training, but has more recently been recognized as worthy of broader attention. The psychological impact of suddenly finding yourself alone, lost, or outside your "comfort zone" can be debilitating, seriously depressing, and even fatal (via panic). Isolation survival also focuses upon the broader view of captivity to include kidnapping and non-combatant captivity. Isolation survival training has more focus on psychological preparedness and less upon "skills".


text: The vast majority of SERE/Survival Schools mentioned in "History" above are still operating. There has also been growth in private sector SERE Schools and training (which are not relevant herein). However, there has been a significant change in military use of private sector SERE training that is relevant here. That change has produced one odd outcomethe military has found it difficult to keep their well-trained and highly experienced SERE instructors because of lucrative private sector opportunities. The vast majority of those jobs require military SERE training.


text: Branch distinctions for SERE have become less clear or relevant since the creation of the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA, as above). Because the JPRA has "primary responsibility for DoD-wide personnel recovery matters," (which specifically includes Level C SERE training), it integrates, coordinates, mandates, and draws from all military branches as needed. It is also worthy to note that much of military SERE is viewed as "joint operations" and cross-branch training is common (or required). SERE training detachments (usually, USAF) often work with different branches, especially where bases have been combined as "Joint Bases" and for update/review training. In that regard, designating schools by branch may be less meaningful.


text: It is common practice for joint operation SERE training to be conducted at, through, or in conjunction with individual military bases.


text: The Army position statement on SERE training is clear: "The Army has an obligation to the American people to ensure its soldiers go into battle with the assurance of success and survival. This is an obligation that only rigorous and realistic training, conducted to standard, can fulfill." Like all military branches, the Army operates under DOD Directive 1300.7 which requires and specifies Code of Conduct training for military personnel. Because the Army views a large portion of its training as "survival" related and since the Army has more soldiers than the other branches, there are many modes and schools for survival and SERE training (as indicated above and below). Army Airborne School, for example is largely about surviving parachute jumps but is not deemed a "survival school". US Army Green Berets, Army Rangers, Delta Force and other SoF soldiers receive extensive survival training as an inherent part of their overall combat training (as well as specific SERE training).


text: The mission of the United States Army SERE training is "to ensure each student gains the ability to effectively employ the SERE tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) necessary to return with honor regardless of the circumstances of separation, isolation or capture."


text: The USN Center for Security Forces (CENSECFOR) of the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story promulgates the Navy's SERE training. The mission of the Command is "to educate and train those who serve, providing the tools and opportunities which enable life-long learning, professional and personal growth and development, ensuring fleet readiness and mission accomplishment; and to perform such other functions and tasks assigned by higher authority". This includes basic survival training for all Navy sailors and DOD Directive 1300.7 requiring "Code of Conduct" training (as above). The major Navy SERE schools and courses include:


text: The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) has over 60,000 personnel and is responsible for all Air Force training programs, including SERE training. In AETC, the 336th Training Group at Fairchild AFB, Washington has the mission to "provide high risk of isolation personnel with the skills and confidence to "Return With Honor" regardless of the circumstances of isolation." It is also the largest U.S. Military SERE training provider training more than 20,000 students, in 19 different courses, each year."


text: As with the other branches, the Air Force offers a wide scope of survival training within other courses, but unique to the Air Force is the stationing of career SERE specialists at bases around the world as renewal and upgrade SERE instructors, advisors, and PR specialists. In the mid-80s, the USAF Combat "Desert" Survival Course was established by the 3636th Combat Crew Training Wing and USAF Survival Training Schools began emphasizing "Combat SERE Training" (CST) instead of "Global SERE Training". The primary Air Force survival schools/courses are:


text: "Preserving the lives and well-being of U.S. military, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, and DoD contractors authorized to accompany the force (CAAF) who are in danger of becoming, or already are beleaguered, besieged, captured, detained, interned, or, otherwise missing or evading capture (hereafter referred to as "isolated") while participating in U.S.-sponsored activities or missions, is one of the highest priorities of the DoD. The DoD has an obligation to train, equip, and protect its personnel, to prevent their capture and exploitation by adversaries, and to reduce the potential for the use of isolated personnel as leverage against U.S. security objectives. Personnel Recovery (PR) is the sum of military, diplomatic, and civil efforts to prepare for and execute the recovery and reintegration of isolated personnel." MSGID/GENADMIN/CG MCCDC QUANTICO VA REF/A/DODI O-3002.05//REF/B/CJCSM 3500.09//REF/C/MCO 3460.3| MARADMINS Number: 286/18 23 May 2018 announcing that "Training and Education Command (TECOM) in a joint effort with U.S. Army Forces Command, and with the assistance of the Joint Personal Recovery Agency, has developed a SERE Level A Training Support Package (TSP) that enables deploying units to self-train SERE Level A in an instructor guided group setting."


text: The U.S. Marine Corps operates jointly with the Navy and cooperatively with the other branches in much of its SERE training, but operates its own Level C course at the Full Spectrum SERE Course, U.S. Marines Special Operations School (MSOS), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Marine Spec Ops often train with Navy Spec Ops and utilize Navy training when it fits their needs and there is no equivalent USMC course. The Corps like to stand apart and have their own specifications for required "Code of Conduct" training:


text: Level A is taught to recruits and candidates in Officer Candidate School and the Recruit Depots, or under professional military education (but note the JPRA note above).


text: Level B is taught at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California, and at the North Training Area, Camp Gonsalves, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.


text: Level C is held at Camp Lejeune, as above, although some Marine personnel are trained at the Navy facilities listed above.


text: President George W. Bush's declaration (February 5, 2002) that the Geneva Convention(s) regarding POWs did not apply to the conflict with al-Qaida or the Taliban as those "detainees" were not entitled to POW status or those legal guarantees of humane treatment has led to serious problems for SERE training. The military Code of Conduct, based upon American adherence to the Geneva Conventions related to treatment of prisoners of war, gave American soldiers some legal and moral argument for their right to such protections. To soldiers who are legally required to follow the directives of their Commander-in-Chief, this declaration offered a potential excuse for harsh techniques or even torture by American personnel or those who captured Americans. (A soldier's claim that this was an "unlawful order" would be a difficult defense because the legal definition of torture - "intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering" - is less than resolved. The intent is hard to prove and the meaning of "severe" in this application is debated).


text: From its origins in the 1950s, the "Resistance" portion of SERE was based upon a firm belief in and commitment to the protections of the Geneva conventions (as above). That opposing forces chose to ignore those protections was the very reason for creating the Code of Conduct and the ensuing development of "Resistance Training" (as above). While it has since been thoroughly emphasized and shown through compelling evidence (as below) that some NON-SERE military personnel who falsely claimed to be U.S. "SERE Instructors" engaged in the unlawful taking of and misuse of SERE "training materials" (which were created for the purpose of helping U.S. Military personnel prepare for and resist the unlawful and immoral torture techniques being used by enemies) and then used those materials as "training guides" for developing torture and "enhanced interrogation" methods supported by President Bush, there remain some who persist in conflating "SERE Techniques" with "Detainee Interrogation/Torture" by misguided CIA and other U.S. military personnel.


text: By definition, there are NO "SERE Techniques" involving torture as the "R" in SERE is about "Resistance training" to assist American POWs (or captives) in resisting unlawful force or methods intended to compel them to act against their fellow prisoners or their honor as soldiers.


text: An online magazine article from June 2006 referenced a 2005 document obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through the Freedom of Information Act in which the former chief of the Interrogation Control Element at Guantanamo Bay said "SERE instructors" taught their methods to interrogators of the prisoners in Cuba. The article also stated that physical and mental techniques used against some detainees at Abu Ghraib are similar to the ones SERE students are taught to resist.


text: According to Human Rights First, the interrogation that led to the death of Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush involved the use of techniques used in SERE training. According to the organization "Internal FBI memos and press reports have pointed to SERE training as the basis for some of the harshest techniques authorized for use on detainees by the Pentagon in 2002 and 2003."


text: On 17 June 2008, Mark Mazzetti of "The New York Times" reported that the senior Pentagon lawyer Mark Schiffrin requested information in 2002 from the leaders of the Air Force's captivity-resistance program, referring to one based in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The information was later used on prisoners in military custody. In written testimony to the Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing, Col. Steven Kleinman of the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency said a team of trainers whom he was leading in Iraq were asked to demonstrate SERE techniques on uncooperative prisoners. He refused, but his decision was overruled. He was quoted as saying "When presented with the choice of getting smarter or getting tougher, we chose the latter." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has acknowledged that the use of the SERE program techniques to conduct interrogations in Iraq was discussed by senior White House officials in 2002 and 2003.


text: It has been subsequently confirmed that in 2002 JPRA was asked by the CIA to provide advisors on topics such as "deprivation techniques... exploitation and questioning techniques, and developing countermeasures to resistance techniques". What has never been revealed is who the JPRA instructors actually were, but almost every source continues to deem them "SERE instructors". JPRA is not SERE and many of its resistance training instructors are not SERE instructors (they are from the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency). The techniques they taught the CIA are not SERE resistance training methods (although they are related) - they are the work product of Bruce Jessen and James Elmer Mitchell. For example, "waterboarding" (probably the most controversial of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" proposed by Jessen and Mitchell) has never been used in resistance training as part of Air Force SERE training and therefore, neither psychologist had any experience with it. (Waterboarding was reintroduced to the curriculum for both Air Force and Navy SERE training in 2018.)


text: While "Resistance" is clearly part of SERE training, not all resistance training is part of SERE. The SERE community is about TRAINING and, within SERE, "Resistance" is about teaching others methods and techniques to help them deal with captivity and avoid exploitation. SERE instructors use "role-playing" exercises to allow students to experience simulated abuse, stress, and exploitation as might be expected if captured. Interrogation is something captives should expect and SERE instructors role-play as interrogators. While this means that such instructors must know how real interrogations might be conducted, their RT training focuses on effective role-playing in a VERY tightly controlled environment. Col. Steven Kleinman, a top intelligence officer at Fairchild AFB who was named the director of intelligence for JPRA in 2004, calls the "mistaking of role-playing resistance training as a basis for actual interrogations" a "critical disconnect" in the misinformation Jessen and Mitchell were "selling" to the CIA. When Col. Kleinman was ordered by the commander of JPRA to teach non-SERE soldiers the techniques that were used by role-playing "interrogators" in resistance training at SERE schools, he refused. (Note: Col. Kleinman was NOT a SERE officer, he was an "ISR" Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency officer).


text: On 9 December 2014, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report ("SASC report", hereafter) which detailed how contractors who developed the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by U.S. personnel received 81 million for their services and identified the contractors, who were referred to in the report via pseudonyms, as principals in Mitchell, Jessen & Associates from Spokane, Washington. Two of them were psychologists, John "Bruce" Jessen and James Mitchell. Jessen was a senior psychologist at the Defense Department who had worked with Army special forces in resistance training. The report states that the contractor "developed the list of enhanced interrogation techniques and personally conducted interrogations of some of the CIA's most significant detainees using those techniques. The contractors also evaluated whether the detainees' psychological state allowed for continued use of the techniques, even for some detainees they themselves were interrogating or had interrogated." Mitchell, Jessen & Associates developed a "menu" of 20 potential enhanced techniques including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and stress positions.


text: Over the six years following their hiring by friends at the CIA (Kirk Hubbard), Mitchell, Jessen & Associates would hire over 100 staff, bill the CIA for over $80,000,000, and lead the American military (and other parts of the government) into perhaps their greatest public relations fiasco. When 60 Minutes aired pictures from Abu Ghraib in May 2004, the shock was "heard around the world". Americans (for the most part) began hearing of "SERE" for the first time and still hear it today as more and more information about American torture becomes known. While Mitchell, Jessen & Associates hired ex-"SERE instructors" we don't know how many, if any, were actually "SERE", how many were private contractors who used the title "SERE Instructor", how many were CIA that called themselves "SERE interrogators" merely because they used Mitchell's and Jessen's stolen (classified) library materials that have been repeatedly misrepresented as "SERE" training techniques". They came from classified training materials (historical and instructional) used for curriculum development in military and JPRA Level-C "resistance training".


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are an enumeration of seven spiritual gifts first found in the book of Isaiah, and much commented upon by patristic authors.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The seven gifts are found in the Book of Isaiah , a passage which refers to the characteristics of a Messianic figure empowered by the "Spirit of the Lord".


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The Greek and Hebrew versions of the Bible differ slightly in how the gifts are enumerated. In the Hebrew version (the Masoretic text), the "Spirit of the Lord" is described with six characteristics: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and “fear of the Lord”. The last characteristic (fear of the Lord) is mentioned twice. In the earliest Greek translation (the Septuagint), the first mention of the fear of the Lord is translated as "spirit of [...] godliness" ("πνεῦμα" [...] "εὐσεβείας").


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The names of the seven gifts mentioned in the Greek translation were then translated into Latin as follows:


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The "Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit" is one of several lists of virtues, vices and blessings in Christian devotional literature which follow a scheme of seven. Others include the seven deadly sins, the seven virtues, the seven last words from the cross, the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, and the Beatitudes.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The seven gifts were often represented as doves in medieval texts and especially figure in depictions of the Tree of Jesse which shows the Genealogy of Jesus. For Saint Thomas Aquinas, the dove signifies by its properties each gift of the Holy Spirit.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Although the New Testament does not refer to Isaiah 11:1-2 regarding these gifts, According to the "Catechism of the Catholic Church", these gifts "complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them." Initiates receive them at Baptism and they are strengthened at Confirmation, so that one can proclaim the truths of the faith. "The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace," for "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and ."


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The Catholic teaching is echoed by the Anglican church, which teaches that "the imparting of the gifts of the Spirit is associated with baptism, as well as Confirmation and Ordination." Confirmation completes Baptism for it is through the Laying On of Hands by the bishop that the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit are bestowed.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Wisdom is considered the first and the greatest of the gifts. It acts upon both the intellect and the will. According to St. Bernard, it both illumines the mind and instills an attraction to the divine. Adolphe Tanquerey OP explained the difference between the gift of wisdom and that of understanding: "The latter is a view taken by the mind, while the former is an experience undergone by the heart; one is light, the other love, and so they unite and complete one another." A wise and loving heart is the perfection of the theological virtue of charity.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Understanding helps one relate all truths to one's supernatural purpose; it further illuminates one's understanding of Sacred Scripture; and it assists us to understand the significance of religious ritual. This gift strengthens one's insight through prayer, scripture, and the sacraments. This all gives a person a profound appreciation for God’s providence.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Counsel functions as a sort of supernatural intuition, to enable a person to judge promptly and rightly, especially in difficult situations. It perfects the cardinal virtue of prudence. While prudence operates in accord with reason as enlightened by faith, the gift of counsel operates under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the will of God.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Fortitude is often identified with courage, but Aquinas takes its meaning to also encompass endurance. Joseph J. Rickaby describes it as a willingness to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection, verbal abuse, or physical harm. The gift of fortitude allows people the firmness of mind that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil. It is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of the same name.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The gift of knowledge allows one, as far as is humanly possible, to see things from God's perspective. It “allows us to perceive the greatness of God and his love for his creatures” through creation.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Piety accords with reverence. A person with reverence recognizes his total reliance on God and comes before God with humility, trust, and love. Thomas Aquinas says that piety perfects the virtue of religion, which is an aspect of the virtue of justice, in that it accords to God that which is due to God. In a series of talks on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said that piety is a recognition of "our belonging to God, our deep bond with him, a relationship that gives meaning to our whole life and keeps us resolute, in communion with him, even during the most difficult and troubled moments”. Francis goes on: "Piety is not mere outward religiosity; it is that genuine religious spirit which makes us turn to the Father as his children and to grow in our love for others, seeing them as our brothers and sisters."


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Fear of the Lord is akin to wonder (or awe). With the gift of fear of the Lord, one is made aware of the glory and majesty of God. At a June 2014 general audience Pope Francis said that it “is no servile fear, but rather a joyful awareness of God’s grandeur and a grateful realization that only in him do our hearts find true peace”. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all one’s desires. This gift is described by Aquinas as a fear of separating oneself from God. He describes the gift as a "filial fear," like a child's fear of offending his father, rather than a "servile fear," that is, a fear of punishment. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is the perfection of the theological virtue of hope.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: In "Summa Theologiae" I.II, q. 68, a1, Saint Thomas Aquinas says that four of these gifts (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel) direct the intellect, while the other three gifts (fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) direct the will toward God.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: In some respects, the gifts are similar to the virtues, but a key distinction is that the virtues operate under the impetus of human reason (prompted by grace), whereas the gifts operate under the impetus of the Holy Spirit; the former can be used when one wishes, but the latter, according to Aquinas, operate only when the Holy Spirit wishes. In the case of Fortitude, the gift has, in Latin and English, the same name as the virtue which it is related to, but from which it must be distinguished.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: In "Summa Theologiae" II.II, Thomas Aquinas asserts the following correspondences between the seven Heavenly Virtues and the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit:


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: To the virtue of temperance, no Gift is directly assigned; but the gift of fear can be taken as such, since fear drives somebody to restrict himself from forbidden pleasures.


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: The Rev. Brian Shanley contrasts the gifts to the virtues this way: "What the gifts do over and above the theological virtues (which they presuppose) is dispose the agent to the special promptings of the Holy Spirit in actively exercising the life of the virtues; the gifts are necessary for the perfect operations of the virtues, especially in the face of our human weakness and in difficult situations."


title: Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

text: Saint Augustine drew a connection between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes (Matt.5:3-12).


title: Melvin Purvis

text: Melvin Horace Purvis II (October 24, 1903 – February 29, 1960) was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. Given the nickname "Little Mel" because of his short, frame, Purvis became noted for leading the manhunts that captured or killed bank robbers such as Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd, but his high public profile was resented by local law enforcement. Purvis asserted he had killed Floyd single-handed, others variously claimed that Floyd had been already wounded, or even that Purvis had ordered Floyd summarily shot dead for refusing to provide information.


title: Melvin Purvis

text: Purvis had the reputation of torturing recalcitrant interviewees. Roger Touhy, a minor-league gangster who was arrested for fund-raising kidnappings during his conflict with the Chicago outfit, alleged he suffered the loss of of body weight and several teeth plus broken vertebrae due to being beaten every time he fell asleep during weeks of questioning by Purvis's men. Purvis became the FBI's golden boy, having captured more of designated public enemies than any other agent, but found himself sidelined after he began to enjoy better press than J. Edgar Hoover.


title: Melvin Purvis

text: Purvis was born in Timmonsville, South Carolina, to Melvin Horace Purvis, Sr. (1869–1938), a tobacco farmer and businessman, and Janie Elizabeth (née Mims, 1874–1927); he was the fifth of eight siblings.


title: Melvin Purvis

text: Purvis was a well-educated man, and known to be a crack shot. He received his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law and had a brief career as a lawyer. Purvis was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order while attending South Carolina. He joined the FBI in 1927 and headed the Division of Investigation offices in Birmingham, Oklahoma City, and Cincinnati. In 1932, he was placed in charge of the Chicago office by Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover. He eventually led an investigation into the crash of United Airlines Trip 23, which uncovered foul play as the cause of the crash.