Showing posts with label event. Show all posts
Showing posts with label event. Show all posts

The Melbourne Cup Carnival

Every year at about 3 pm on the first Tuesday in November, all Australians stop what they’re doing and turn on the television or radio. Why? They’re waiting for the country’s most famous horse race, the Melbourne Cup. At the first Melbourne Cup back in 1861, 17 horses competed in front of a crowd of about 4000 for the grand total of £170 prize money and a gold watch!
Melbourne cup horse race carnival event party
These days 24 of the world’s best horses run the 3200-metre race, competing for some of the biggest prize money in the business - about $5 million. Not only are the crowds huge at Flemington Racecourse, but more than 700 million people around the world also watch the race on television. A lot of people only ever bet on a horse race once a year — on the Melbourne Cup.

The event is a party. It doesn’t matter if you are not at Flem
ington to see the race yourself. People all over the country, and many in other countries too, hold Melbourne Cup parties, where they dress up, catch up with friends, and of course, watch the race! Dressing up is a regular part of Melbourne Cup Day Each year. There are competitions to find the best dressed man and woman at the racing carnival on the racecourse.
 Australiana by Ty Buchanan 
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Crowd Wave Observed in Prairie Dogs

The crowd wave at sporting events in not an entirely human thing. Prairie dogs do the "jump-yip". This keeps others involved and tells an individual how alert others are. It begins like the human wave. One or two will start doing it and at first it is ignored. Then it takes on a mind of its own and soon all are doing it.

The wave is just as noisy as the human wave with loud yips coming from everywhere. Prairie dogs use their whole body to make the sound. They raise there front legs then lower them with a "wee-oo" call in sequence. Like humans prairie dogs live in towns.

It was believed to be a warning call of the presence of predators, but prairie dogs continue the wave whether a predator is there or not. It is a social activity to test the alertness of others. If fellow animals do not respond a prairie dogs will not forage very much. On the other hand, if everyone is at it, they assume they can eat in safety. Somehow they are making a judgement about the prevailing danger.

In humans, the wave is usually done when the local team is doing well. Boredom about the state of play can trigger it as well. When the visiting team is doing well there is less motivation to do it - unless it is done in jest. It serves a social function in both species.
Nature by Ty Buchanan
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