A region of western Asia, in what is now Iraq, known as the âcradle of civilization.â Western writing first developed there, done with sticks on clay tablets. Agricultural organization on a large scale also began in Mesopotamia, along with work in bronze and iron (see Bronze Age and Iron Age).
Analysis: The photo is real â this orchid does exist, and the colorful center of the flower does resemble the face of a monkey or baboon â but the captions above are only semi-correct. The actual species name of the flower is Dracula gigas (Dracula meaning dragon, gigas meaning giant), not, as claimed above, Dracula simia.
Nature [#3211] Mystery Monkeys of Shangri-La This is the true story of a family of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys living in the highest forests in the world. Only recently discovered, snub-nosed monkeys are hauntingly beautiful primates, gentler than others of their kind.