Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Fairy Circles

The fairy circles of Namibia remain an unexplained mystery of science, a little bit like our crop circles.

They are found in the desert regions of southern Africa, in a belt which runs from Angola in the north, through Namibia into South Africa.

They make bizarre patterns on the landscape when viewed from above...


And they call for some yoga play...


They are such cute features of the Namibian landscape. In some places they cover whole valleys and are completely devoid of vegetation.

Often they are surrounded by a fringe of very tall grass.


Theories put forward include radioactive soil, toxic proteins left by poisonous plants, and termites eating the seeds. However, tests do not really support any of these ideas.

For now, the botanists are left with 'fairies' to explain this phenomenon.

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