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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;areich, post: 1488287, member: 37479&quot;]<b>humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae - Kingdom of Tonga</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>The Kingdom of Tonga</b> is one of the more exotic nations in the World Wildlife Fund 25th Anniversary series.&nbsp; I nation of the deep South Pacific Ocean, far off the east of Australia and the islands geographically associated with it.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Tonga_on_the_globe_%28Polynesia_centered%29.svg/600px-Tonga_on_the_globe_%28Polynesia_centered%29.svg.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The small nation has an ancient pre-european history, prior to the discovery by Thomas Cooks explorations though out the area.&nbsp; As the only nation in the area to avoid colonization, much of its ancient culture is still intact. In 2010 it became a full constitutional monarchy.&nbsp; Noble Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō became its first rime minister.&nbsp; Tonga, like Japan, adapted to Western Contact and in 1831 organized as a kingdom with a Monarchy that freed its &quot;serfs&quot; and had land reform.&nbsp; Eventually the British put Tinga under its protection, although it was never colonized, nor gave up its monarchy.&nbsp; In 1970, the Protectorate ended, and became part of the Common Wealth.&nbsp; As a side note, the majority of Tonga&#039;s financial resources are dominated by the nobility and kingship, and Tonga was named the sixth most corrupt country in the world by Forbes magazine in 2008, just to tell you.&nbsp; Men like to take pictures of Tonga women for some reason</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Ula_fu.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>The Humpback Whale</b> is, like most Balaenopteridae or baleen whales (know as a group as the Rorquals ), is an endangered species, nearly hunted out of existence.&nbsp; They can travel 16,000 miles a year.&nbsp; They can weigh 80,000 pounds, and grow nearly 50 feet.&nbsp; They have a complex social life and sing around the globe.&nbsp; Today there is 80,000 individuals around the planet.&nbsp; Humpback songs are poorly understand.&nbsp; They do not repeat and whales of different areas sing the same songs that change over time.&nbsp; Evolutionary genetics is also not completely understood and DNA sequencing analysis has indicated the humpback is more closely related to certain rorquals, particularly the fin whale, although historically was considered a member of its own Genus.</p><p><br /></p><p>Humpbacks feed only in summer and live off the their fat in winter, which is interesting for an animal this large.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]189119.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.scubadivemaldives.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/whale.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><a href="http://ffffound.com/image/ccfe9e9c2ed7097d858522b43a5551f2bb7709a5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://ffffound.com/image/ccfe9e9c2ed7097d858522b43a5551f2bb7709a5" rel="nofollow">http://ffffound.com/image/ccfe9e9c2ed7097d858522b43a5551f2bb7709a5</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.oahudiving.com/humpback_whales_in_hawaii.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.oahudiving.com/humpback_whales_in_hawaii.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.oahudiving.com/humpback_whales_in_hawaii.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.mrbrklyn.com/whale/whale.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.mrbrklyn.com/whale/whale.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>And a little bit of coin art</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.mrbrklyn.com/whale/whale_whale.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The coin is a denomination of 2 pa&#039;anga, .925 silver fineness.&nbsp; It weighs 28.28 grams at a diameter and a mintage of 25,000 proof coins.&nbsp; The 1986 image has the portrait of the Tonga Monarch on the Obverse.</p><p><br /></p><p>(9 of 25 )[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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