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82-520: Practically the whole Wa region is rugged mountainous territory with steep hills and deep valleys. There were no urban areas. A section of the historical Wa territory was included in the state of Manglon , one of the Shan States. Sir James George Scott visited the Wa States around the turn of the century and wrote about the place, taking pictures of the people and the houses of the area as well. Considered

164-428: A biotemperature below 1.5 °C (34.7 °F). Mountain environments are particularly sensitive to anthropogenic climate change and are currently undergoing alterations unprecedented in last 10,000 years. The effect of global warming on mountain regions (relative to lowlands) is still an active area of study. Observational studies show that highlands are warming faster than nearby lowlands, but when compared globally,

246-521: A distant and inaccessible border area by former empires, the British census of 1901 did not include the Wa States, so statistics regarding a population over 50,000 in 1911 are estimates. The oral tradition of the Wa people claims that their territory had been much larger in the distant past, an assertion that is confirmed both by Shan and Yunnan Chinese sources. The Wa also regard their ancestral territory as being at

328-447: A female donkey (a jenny ). Mules vary widely in size, and may be of any color seen in horses or donkeys. They are more patient, hardier and longer-lived than horses, and are perceived as less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys. A female mule that has oestrus cycles, and so could, in theory, carry a fetus, is called a "molly" or "Molly mule", although the term is sometimes used to refer to female mules in general. A male mule

410-458: A mountain is roughly equivalent to moving 80 kilometres (45 miles or 0.75° of latitude ) towards the nearest pole. This relationship is only approximate, however, since local factors such as proximity to oceans (such as the Arctic Ocean) can drastically modify the climate. As the altitude increases, the main form of precipitation becomes snow and the winds increase. The effect of

492-507: A mule foal cloned by nuclear transfer of cells from foetal material, was born at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho . Neither an equid nor a hybrid animal had been cloned before. In general terms, in both the mule and the hinny, the foreparts and head of the animal are similar to those of the father sire , while the hindparts and tail tend to resemble those of the dam . A mule

574-407: A mule's giving birth was a frequently recorded portent in antiquity, although scientific writers also doubted whether it was really possible (see e.g. Aristotle , Historia animalium , 6.24; Varro , De re rustica , 2.1.28). Between 1527 and 2002, approximately sixty such births were reported. In Morocco in early 2002 and Colorado in 2007, mare mules produced colts. Blood and hair samples from

656-634: A significant role in religion. There are for example a number of sacred mountains within Greece such as Mount Olympus which was held to be the home of the gods. In Japanese culture, the 3,776.24 m (12,389.2 ft) volcano of Mount Fuji is also held to be sacred with tens of thousands of Japanese ascending it each year. Mount Kailash , in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, is considered to be sacred in four religions: Hinduism, Bon , Buddhism, and Jainism . In Ireland, pilgrimages are made up

738-469: A stallion, was bred to several mares, which gave birth to live foals that showed no characteristics of the donkey. In 1995, a group from the Federal University of Minas Gerais described a female mule that was pregnant for a seventh time, having previously produced two donkey sires, two foals with the typical 63 chromosomes of mules, and several horse stallions that had produced four foals. The three of

820-656: A time. Mules were used by armies to transport supplies, occasionally as mobile firing platforms for smaller cannons, and to pull heavier field guns with wheels over mountainous trails such as in Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War . In the second half of the twentieth century, widespread use of mules declined in industrialised countries. The use of mules for farming and for transportation of agricultural products largely gave way to steam-, then diesel-powered, tractors and lorries. On 5 May 2003, Idaho Gem ,

902-472: A visit to the Wa States in 1891. At that time there were between 300 and 400 houses in the place and it had become the largest settlement of Chinese Muslim expatriates in the region. The community owed its growth to a high birthrate and the intermarriage with women of Chinese and Shan descent . Daly also commented that the Panthay muleteers were well-armed. In the first fifty years of their presence in Wa territory

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984-467: A whole, 24% of the Earth's land mass is mountainous. There are three main types of mountains: volcanic , fold , and block . All three types are formed from plate tectonics : when portions of the Earth's crust move, crumple, and dive. Compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of

1066-452: Is El Alto , Bolivia, at 4,150 metres (13,620 ft), which has a highly diverse service and manufacturing economy and a population of nearly 1 million. Traditional mountain societies rely on agriculture, with higher risk of crop failure than at lower elevations. Minerals often occur in mountains, with mining being an important component of the economics of some mountain-based societies. More recently, tourism has become more important to

1148-556: Is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia , whose summit is 8,850 m (29,035 ft) above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m (69,459 ft). The tallest mountain including submarine terrain is Mauna Kea in Hawaii from its underwater base at 9,330 m (30,610 ft) and some scientists consider it to be

1230-417: Is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse . It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare ). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes ; of the two possible first-generation hybrids between them, the mule is easier to obtain and more common than the hinny , which is the offspring of a male horse (a stallion ) and

1312-478: Is a poor conductor of heat, so a parcel of air will rise and fall without exchanging heat. This is known as an adiabatic process , which has a characteristic pressure-temperature dependence. As the pressure gets lower, the temperature decreases. The rate of decrease of temperature with elevation is known as the adiabatic lapse rate , which is approximately 9.8 °C per kilometre (or 5.4 °F (3.0 °C) per 1000 feet) of altitude. The presence of water in

1394-419: Is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains . Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing , skiing , and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing , sport climbing , and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports . Mountains often play

1476-670: Is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust , generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock . Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill , typically rising at least 300 metres (980  ft ) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits , but most occur in mountain ranges . Mountains are formed through tectonic forces , erosion , or volcanism , which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through

1558-522: Is generally larger than a hinny, with longer ears and a heavier head; the tail is usually covered with long hair like that of its mare mother. A mule has the thin limbs, small narrow hooves and short mane of the donkey, while its height, the shape of the neck and body, and the uniformity of its coat and teeth are more similar to those of the horse. Mules vary widely in size, from small miniature mules under 125 cm (50 in) to large and powerful draught mules standing up to 180 cm (70 in) at

1640-556: Is not enough oxygen to support human life. This is sometimes referred to as the " death zone ". The summits of Mount Everest and K2 are in the death zone. Mountains are generally less preferable for human habitation than lowlands, because of harsh weather and little level ground suitable for agriculture . While 7% of the land area of Earth is above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), only 140 million people live above that altitude and only 20-30 million people above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) elevation. About half of mountain dwellers live in

1722-740: Is properly called a "horse mule", although it is often called a "john mule", which is the correct term for a gelded mule. A young male mule is called a "mule colt", and a young female is called a "mule filly". Breeding of mules became possible only when the range of the domestic horse, which originated in Central Asia in about 3500 BC , extended into that of the domestic ass, which originated in north-eastern Africa. This overlap probably occurred in Anatolia and Mesopotamia in Western Asia, and mules were bred there before 1000 BC . A painting in

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1804-444: Is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally, as well as through embryo transfer . A few mare mules have produced offspring when mated with a horse or donkey stallion. Herodotus gives an account of such an event as an ill omen of Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC: "There happened also a portent of another kind while he was still at Sardis—a mule brought forth young and gave birth to a mule" (Herodotus The Histories 7:57), and

1886-457: Is the highest mountain on Earth, at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). There are at least 100 mountains with heights of over 7,200 metres (23,622 ft) above sea level, all of which are located in central and southern Asia. The highest mountains above sea level are generally not the highest above the surrounding terrain. There is no precise definition of surrounding base, but Denali , Mount Kilimanjaro and Nanga Parbat are possible candidates for

1968-525: Is the largest mountain on Earth in terms of base area (about 2,000 sq mi or 5,200 km ) and volume (about 18,000 cu mi or 75,000 km ). Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest non-shield volcano in terms of both base area (245 sq mi or 635 km ) and volume (1,150 cu mi or 4,793 km ). Mount Logan is the largest non-volcanic mountain in base area (120 sq mi or 311 km ). The highest mountains above sea level are also not those with peaks farthest from

2050-526: Is viewed as the beginning of the autonomous Wa State polity. The UWSA continued to refer to the area as Meung Vax in Wa or wabang in Chinese. There were many historical Wa states, but there is hardly any information about them; some of the 'states' were little more than small villages and their surrounding territory. Usually these villages were roughly fortified and were built on hilltops or slopes. Occasionally these small states formed confederations, but since

2132-522: The Andes , Central Asia, and Africa. With limited access to infrastructure, only a handful of human communities exist above 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) of elevation. Many are small and have heavily specialized economies, often relying on industries such as agriculture, mining, and tourism. An example of such a specialized town is La Rinconada, Peru , a gold-mining town and the highest elevation human habitation at 5,100 metres (16,700 ft). A counterexample

2214-645: The Basin and Range Province of Western North America. These areas often occur when the regional stress is extensional and the crust is thinned. During and following uplift, mountains are subjected to the agents of erosion (water, wind, ice, and gravity) which gradually wear the uplifted area down. Erosion causes the surface of mountains to be younger than the rocks that form the mountains themselves. Glacial processes produce characteristic landforms, such as pyramidal peaks , knife-edge arêtes , and bowl-shaped cirques that can contain lakes. Plateau mountains, such as

2296-463: The Catskills , are formed from the erosion of an uplifted plateau. Climate in the mountains becomes colder at high elevations , due to an interaction between radiation and convection. Sunlight in the visible spectrum hits the ground and heats it. The ground then heats the air at the surface. If radiation were the only way to transfer heat from the ground to space, the greenhouse effect of gases in

2378-553: The Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949 brought a flood of predominantly non-Muslim Han Chinese , but almost no Huis, to the area of the Wa States and Shan State. In the wake of these developments many Panthays left the Wa territories and chose to migrate to Northern Thailand , where they became part of the community known as Chin Haw . Christian missionaries went into the Wa region in the early 20th century, reaching first

2460-818: The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal from the North Palace of Nineveh is a clear and detailed image of two mules loaded with nets for hunting. Homer noted their arrival in Asia Minor in the Iliad in 800 BC. Christopher Columbus allegedly brought mules to the New World. George Washington bred mules at his Mount Vernon home. At the time, they were not common in the United States, but Washington understood their value, as they were "more docile than donkeys and cheap to maintain." In

2542-616: The Nam Hka flowing across it, as well as the areas further to the south between the Mekong and the Salween down to Chiang Mai , had been their ancestral territory since time immemorial. This view is supported by remains of fortified towns on the hills now covered by jungle, as well as by the traditions of the Shan , according to which the territory of Kengtung State further to the south had formerly belonged to

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2624-617: The Nam Ting to settle in his territory. Initially the relations between the Muslim settlers and the Wa were good, for the Panthays had gained at Pan Long a safe base for their commercial operations out of reach from their Chinese persecutors. The Wa, on the other hand, expected to gain from the trade that the Muslims they had sheltered would generate in their new mountain abode. However, neither side trusted

2706-661: The People's Liberation Army took over mainland China. Some troops remained in the area east of the Salween river , where in later years Wa insurgent groups controlled the region with the support of the Communist Party of Burma . The Wa States were officially merged into the Shan State in post-independent Burma , but the administration of the Burmese government was not reaching the Wa region and

2788-560: The Tomb of Nebamun at Thebes , dating from approximately 1350 BC , shows a chariot drawn by a pair of animals which have been variously identified as onagers , as mules or as hinnies. Mules were present in Israel and Judah in the time of King David . There are many representations of them in Mesopotamian works of art dating from the first millennium BC. Among the bas-reliefs depicting

2870-432: The de facto upholders of the law in the unadministered Wa State. By the early 20th century the Panthays had increased their economic and military control in the area to such an extent that the relations between the Muslim settlers and their Wa hosts turned sour. Finally in 1926 the tensions erupted into the local "Wa-Panthay War" in which the Panthays at Pan Long would boast to a group of British visitors that "... neither

2952-430: The withers . The median weight range is between about 370 and 460 kg (820 and 1000 lb). The coat may be of any color seen in the horse or in the donkey. Mules usually display the light points commonly seen in donkeys: pale or mealy areas on the belly and the insides of the thighs, on the muzzle, and around the eyes. They often have primitive markings such as dorsal stripe, shoulder stripe or zebra stripes on

3034-613: The 952 metres (3,123 ft) Mount Brandon by Irish Catholics . The Himalayan peak of Nanda Devi is associated with the Hindu goddesses Nanda and Sunanda; it has been off-limits to climbers since 1983. Mount Ararat is a sacred mountain, as it is believed to be the landing place of Noah's Ark . In Europe and especially in the Alps , summit crosses are often erected on the tops of prominent mountains. Heights of mountains are typically measured above sea level . Using this metric, Mount Everest

3116-733: The Burmese and later also the Chinese areas of Wa territory. William Young , from Nebraska , studied in depth the Wa language and was instrumental in putting it into writing using a script based on the Latin alphabet . The first publication in the Wa language, a compilation of Wa hymns , was printed in 1933. In the 1940s, during the Chinese Civil War , remnants of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army retreated to territory within Burma as

3198-399: The Chinese nor the British mean anything to us. It is we who rule here." The war lasted throughout 1926 and 1927 and eventually the less organized Wa were defeated by the Muslim traders. Despite their victory the Panthay population of the Wa States declined from 1,517 (1,076 males and 441 females) in 1921 to 1,106 (685 males and 421 females) according to the 1931 Census of India . The reason

3280-585: The Colorado birth verified that the mother was indeed a mule and the foal was indeed her offspring. A 1939 article in the Journal of Heredity describes two offspring of a fertile mare mule named "Old Bec," which was owned at the time by Texas A&M University in the late 1920s. One of the foals was a female, sired by a jack. Unlike her mother, she was sterile. The other, sired by a five-gaited Saddlebred stallion, exhibited no characteristics of any donkey. That horse,

3362-677: The Hui Muslim settlers had gradually extended their influence from their base at Panlon over their Wa neighbours. Panlon became the most powerful community in the Wa States and this growth in power and prestige allowed the Panthay settlement to enjoy a great measure of autonomy. According to Sir George Scott most of the Panthays were Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school of thought that traced their roots to Dali , Menghua , Baishan , Fengqing and Yuxian , and were all merchants, mule-owners and "Men of substance". They used both Chinese and Arabic names and were

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3444-511: The Myanmar government. After the ceasefire, the Myanmar government began to call the region "Shan State Special Region No. 2 (Wa Region)" ( Parauk : Hak Tiex Baux Nong (2) Meung Man ). Academic Andrew Ong writes that this name was used by the government in order to indicate that it was subordinate to the Shan State government. The United Wa State Army was formed after the mutiny and April 17, 1989

3526-589: The Shan nationalist armed groups left the area alone as well. After decades of negotiation between the Chinese and the British, the China-Burma border was finalized in 1960. The border ran through the Wa region, cutting it in half, although the border had little practical effect on the Wa people. From 1966 to 1969, various Wa chieftains formed guerilla bands to defend their land. These groups were threatened by raids from Chinese nationalist guerillas and pressured to disarm by

3608-624: The Tatmadaw. The Communist Party of Burma arrived in the Wa region in the late 1960s. It built alliances with several Wa guerilla leaders in 1969 and incorporated them into its struggle against the Burmese state. During the Communist Party of Burma era, the Wa region had little internecine warfare and there were few Burmese attacks. Some towns experienced a modern administration for the first time during local communist rule. Throughout that period opium cultivation and drug trafficking increased and

3690-452: The US. Fold mountains occur when two plates collide: shortening occurs along thrust faults and the crust is overthickened. Since the less dense continental crust "floats" on the denser mantle rocks beneath, the weight of any crustal material forced upward to form hills, plateaus or mountains must be balanced by the buoyancy force of a much greater volume forced downward into the mantle. Thus

3772-525: The Wa States were traditionally animistic . But by the 19th century a minority of the Wa had been influenced by the Buddhist doctrine of the neighbouring Shan people, although mostly only superficially. The Wa who abandoned their traditional animistic ways became known as the 'Tame Wa'. In the late 19th century the Wa ruler of Son Mu welcomed the Panthay , a community of persecuted Hui Muslims that had fled across

3854-589: The Wa States. By the 18th century, during Qing dynasty rule in China, the Wa area became separated from the tribal military control of the Dai people . In the 19th century the British government considered the region a remote territory and did not administer the Wa States. The only Wa territory administered by the British was the State of Manglon , which was ruled by a Wa saopha and

3936-455: The Wa people who were displaced around 1229 and were later defeated by King Mangrai . Around Kengtung there are dispersed groups related to the Wa, such as the Tai Loi, En, Piying and Hsen Hsum, living in small villages, likely remnants of the former Wa population. The Vingngun (Pakkatè, Shan : Wiang Ngoen ) historical area of the Wa —where silver was said to have been worked— was included in

4018-622: The action of weathering , through slumping and other forms of mass wasting , as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers . High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction, such as mining and logging , along with recreation, such as mountain climbing and skiing . The highest mountain on Earth

4100-569: The adjacent elevation, is impressive or notable." Whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. John Whittow's Dictionary of Physical Geography states "Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres (1,969 ft) as mountains, those below being referred to as hills." In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a mountain is usually defined as any summit at least 2,000 feet (610 m) high, which accords with

4182-453: The ancient Wa traditional life became disrupted. However, for the first time in history an administrative system that collected revenue and maintained a significant armed force, as well as a rudimentary infrastructure, ushered the Wa region into the modern era. In 1989, a mutiny by Wa soldiers within the Communist Party of Burma Armed Forces ejected the Party and resulted in immediate ceasefire with

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4264-553: The atmosphere complicates the process of convection. Water vapor contains latent heat of vaporization . As air rises and cools, it eventually becomes saturated and cannot hold its quantity of water vapor. The water vapor condenses to form clouds and releases heat, which changes the lapse rate from the dry adiabatic lapse rate to the moist adiabatic lapse rate (5.5 °C per kilometre or 3 °F (1.7 °C) per 1000 feet) The actual lapse rate can vary by altitude and by location. Therefore, moving up 100 m (330 ft) on

4346-429: The atmosphere would keep the ground at roughly 333 K (60 °C; 140 °F), and the temperature would decay exponentially with height. However, when air is hot, it tends to expand, which lowers its density. Thus, hot air tends to rise and transfer heat upward. This is the process of convection . Convection comes to equilibrium when a parcel of air at a given altitude has the same density as its surroundings. Air

4428-516: The centre of the Earth, because the figure of the Earth is not spherical. Sea level closer to the equator is several miles farther from the centre of the Earth. The summit of Chimborazo , Ecuador's tallest mountain, is usually considered to be the farthest point from the Earth's centre, although the southern summit of Peru's tallest mountain, Huascarán , is another contender. Both have elevations above sea level more than 2 kilometres (6,600 ft) less than that of Everest. Mule The mule

4510-504: The centre of the inhabited world. Nowadays part of the area of the former Wa States is included in Wa State , an autonomous polity within Myanmar. There are no historical records on the Wa States before the 19th century. Northern Thai legends claim that before the advent of Buddhism the Lanna territory was founded by nine Wa clans. According to Wa oral tradition the area where they live, with

4592-459: The climate on the ecology at an elevation can be largely captured through a combination of amount of precipitation, and the biotemperature , as described by Leslie Holdridge in 1947. Biotemperature is the mean temperature; all temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) are considered to be 0 °C. When the temperature is below 0 °C, plants are dormant, so the exact temperature is unimportant. The peaks of mountains with permanent snow can have

4674-534: The conditions above and below a particular zone will be inhospitable and thus constrain their movements or dispersal . These isolated ecological systems are known as sky islands . Altitudinal zones tend to follow a typical pattern. At the highest elevations, trees cannot grow, and whatever life may be present will be of the alpine type, resembling tundra . Just below the tree line , one may find subalpine forests of needleleaf trees, which can withstand cold, dry conditions. Below that, montane forests grow. In

4756-469: The continental crust is normally much thicker under mountains, compared to lower lying areas. Rock can fold either symmetrically or asymmetrically. The upfolds are anticlines and the downfolds are synclines : in asymmetric folding there may also be recumbent and overturned folds. The Balkan Mountains and the Jura Mountains are examples of fold mountains. Block mountains are caused by faults in

4838-503: The crust: a plane where rocks have moved past each other. When rocks on one side of a fault rise relative to the other, it can form a mountain. The uplifted blocks are block mountains or horsts . The intervening dropped blocks are termed graben : these can be small or form extensive rift valley systems. This kind of landscape can be seen in East Africa , the Vosges and Rhine valley, and

4920-535: The definition since the 1970s. Any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US. The UN Environmental Programme 's definition of "mountainous environment" includes any of the following: Using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As

5002-460: The dry season and in semiarid areas such as in central Asia. Alpine ecosystems can be particularly climatically sensitive. Many mid-latitude mountains act as cold climate refugia, with the ecosystems occupying small environmental niches. As well as the direct influence that the change in climate can have on an ecosystem, there is also the indirect one on the soils from changes in stability and soil development. The colder climate on mountains affects

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5084-523: The economies of mountain communities, with developments focused around attractions such as national parks and ski resorts . Approximately 80% of mountain people live below the poverty line. Most of the world's rivers are fed from mountain sources, with snow acting as a storage mechanism for downstream users. More than half of humanity depends on mountains for water. In geopolitics , mountains are often seen as natural boundaries between polities. Mountaineering , mountain climbing, or alpinism

5166-428: The effect disappears. Precipitation in highland areas is not increasing as quickly as in lowland areas. Climate modeling give mixed signals about whether a particular highland area will have increased or decreased precipitation. Climate change has started to affect the physical and ecological systems of mountains. In recent decades mountain ice caps and glaciers have experienced accelerating ice loss. The melting of

5248-433: The feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, a mountain. Major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate , or at a mid-ocean ridge or hotspot . At a depth of around 100 km (60 mi), melting occurs in rock above the slab (due to the addition of water), and forms magma that reaches

5330-498: The glaciers, permafrost and snow has caused underlying surfaces to become increasingly unstable. Landslip hazards have increased in both number and magnitude due to climate change. Patterns of river discharge will also be significantly affected by climate change, which in turn will have significant impacts on communities that rely on water fed from alpine sources. Nearly half of mountain areas provide essential or supportive water resources for mainly urban populations, in particular during

5412-405: The horse it inherits speed, conformation, and agility. Mules are reputed to exhibit a higher cognitive intelligence than their parent species, but robust scientific evidence to back up these claims is lacking. Preliminary data exist from at least two evidence-based studies, but they rely on a limited set of specialized cognitive tests and a small number of subjects . Mules are generally taller at

5494-452: The latter available for testing each bore 64 horse-like chromosomes. These foals phenotypically resembled horses, though they bore markings absent from the sire's known lineages, and one had ears noticeably longer than those typical of her sire's breed. The elder two horse-like foals had proved fertile at the time of publication, with their progeny being typical of horses. While a few mules can carry live weight up to 160 kg (353 lb),

5576-487: The legs. The mule exhibits hybrid vigor . Charles Darwin wrote: "The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a hybrid should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection, powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone nature". The mule inherits from the donkey the traits of intelligence, sure-footedness, toughness, endurance, disposition, and natural cautiousness. From

5658-688: The manners of the rulers of the Shan States and were assisted by amafs or ministers in the various departments: The biggest celebration in the Wa region is the New Harvest Festival. It occurs annually in either August or September after the conclusion of rice harvests. General, festivals are held at the regional or district levels of government, although some wealthier townships of Wa State also host their own festivals. 22°30′N 98°45′E  /  22.500°N 98.750°E  / 22.500; 98.750 Mountainous A mountain

5740-440: The nineteenth century, they were used in various capacities as draught animals – on farms, especially where clay made the soil slippery and sticky; pulling canal boats; and famously for pulling, often in teams of 20 or more animals, wagonloads of borax out of Death Valley , California from 1883 to 1889. The wagons were among the largest ever pulled by draught animals, designed to carry 10 short tons (9 metric tons) of borax ore at

5822-511: The official UK government's definition that a mountain, for the purposes of access, is a summit of 2,000 feet (610 m) or higher. In addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, such as that the mountain rises 300 metres (984 ft) above the surrounding terrain. At one time, the United States Board on Geographic Names defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet (305 m) or taller, but has abandoned

5904-539: The other, and it was the more sophisticated Panthays who eventually profited most from the assistance they had been given. They carried out their commerce on mule caravans across the mountains, becoming skilled muleteers and seeing their trade in the Burma-Yunnan frontier region flourish. Sir Hugh Daly, British superintendent of the Northern Shan States, described the Panthay colony at Pan Long as 'powerful' during

5986-527: The plants and animals residing on mountains. A particular set of plants and animals tend to be adapted to a relatively narrow range of climate. Thus, ecosystems tend to lie along elevation bands of roughly constant climate. This is called altitudinal zonation . In regions with dry climates, the tendency of mountains to have higher precipitation as well as lower temperatures also provides for varying conditions, which enhances zonation. Some plants and animals found in altitudinal zones tend to become isolated since

6068-448: The shoulder than donkeys and have better endurance than horses, although a lower top speed. In the early twentieth century the mule was preferred to the horse as a pack animal – its skin is harder and less sensitive than that of a horse, and it is better able to bear heavy weights. A mule has 63 chromosomes , intermediate between the 64 of the horse and the 62 of the donkey. Mules are usually infertile for this reason. Pregnancy

6150-545: The superiority of the mule becomes apparent in their additional endurance. In general, a mule can be packed with dead weight up to 20% of its body weight, or around 90 kg (198 lb). Although it depends on the individual animal, mules trained by the Army of Pakistan are reported to be able to carry up to 72 kg (159 lb) and walk 26 km (16.2 mi) without resting. The average equine in general can carry up to roughly 30% of its body weight in live weight, such as

6232-504: The surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it often builds a volcanic mountain, such as a shield volcano or a stratovolcano . Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. The magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain: magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains , such as Navajo Mountain in

6314-470: The tallest mountain on land by this measure. The bases of mountain islands are below sea level, and given this consideration Mauna Kea (4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level) is the world's tallest mountain and volcano, rising about 10,203 m (33,474 ft) from the Pacific Ocean floor. The highest mountains are not generally the most voluminous. Mauna Loa (4,169 m or 13,678 ft)

6396-470: The tallest on earth. There is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain. In the Oxford English Dictionary a mountain is defined as "a natural elevation of the earth surface rising more or less abruptly from the surrounding level and attaining an altitude which, relatively to

6478-473: The temperate portions of the earth, those forests tend to be needleleaf trees, while in the tropics, they can be broadleaf trees growing in a rainforest . The highest known permanently tolerable altitude is at 5,950 metres (19,520 ft). At very high altitudes, the decreasing atmospheric pressure means that less oxygen is available for breathing, and there is less protection against solar radiation ( UV ). Above 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) elevation, there

6560-493: The vision of the Wa was restricted to their immediate surroundings, these alliances were neither far-reaching nor long-lasting. A great number of the communities living in the mountain villages had difficulties regarding water supply. The Wa used to build ponds to collect water and a system of bamboo pipes that brought water from the surrounding hills. The saopha of Mang Lon was a Buddhist Wa. Besides Manglon, five Wa States were known to be ruled by saophas who adopted some of

6642-615: Was populated mostly by Wa in the region that lay east of the Salween . The border with China was left undefined and the area was left alone, officially belonging neither to China nor to Great Britain . Consequently, the Wa States were never fully incorporated into British Burma . The population of the Wa States included other ethnic groups such as the Tai Yai , Lisu and Kachin people . There were also enclaves of Lahu at Mongkha and Lao Shan in Mongshaw within Wa territory. The inhabitants of

6724-582: Was that the dominance of the Muslim Panthays in the trade of the Wa frontier region had begun to wane. Barely a decade after the Wa-Panthay War the construction of the Burma Road between Lashio and Kunming in 1937–38 further set back the traditional mule caravan trade in which the Hui Muslim settlers had specialized. Finally the exodus of thousands of Yunnanese refugees and Kuomintang troops following

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