A is becoming a useful▓ tool for Australian cattle farmers. They're usi
ng GPS units to keep an eye on their vas▓t properties, with the click of a mouse.Keeping track of a huge cattle station in Australia can mean driving around the property for several hours a▓ day.But for some farmers in Queensland, tech▓nology is now making the task a little easier through the use of satellite imagery.
▓With the help of a Global Positioning System, better known▓ as GPS, this family now knows exactly what types of land exist on their property.They can also us▓e it to track how much feed and water is available to
their stock at all times.Population: 26,▓400Major areas of distribution: Inner Mongolia and HeilongjiangLanguage: Ewenki and HanThis ethnic minority is distributed across seven banners (counties) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regi▓on and in Nahe County of Heilongjiang Province, wher▓e they live together with Mongolians, Daurs, Hans and▓ Oroqens.The Ewenki people have no written script but a ▓spoke
n language composed of three dialects bel▓onging to the Manchu-Tungusic
group of the Altai language family. Mongolian is spoken in the pastoral area▓s while the Han lan
guage is used in agricultural▓ regions. The Ewenki Autonomous Banner, nestled in the ranges of th
e Greater Hinggan Mountains, is where▓ the Ewenkis live in compact communities. A total of 19,110
square kilometers in area, it is studded with more than 600 small and big lakes and 11 spri▓ngs. The pastureland here totaling 9,200 square kilom▓eters is watered by the Yimin and four other rivers, all rising in the Greater Hinggan Mountains.Nantunzhen, the seat of the banner government, is a risin▓g city on the grassland
. A communicatio▓n hub, it is the political, economic and cultural center of the Ewenki Autonomous Ban▓ner.Large numbers of livestock and great quantities of knitting wool, milk, wool-tops and casings
are produced in the
banner. Some 20-odd of these products are exported. The yellow oxen bred on the grassland have won a name for themselves in Southeast Asian countries. Pelts of a score or so of fur-bearing animals
are also produced loca
lly.Reeds are in riot growth and in great abundance along the Huihe River in the ▓banner. Some 35,000 tons are used annual▓ly for making paper. Lying beneath t▓he grassland are rich deposits of coal, i
ron, gold, coppe▓r an
d rock crystal.HistoryThe forefathers of the Ewenkis had originally been a people who earned their living by fishing, hunting and breeding reindeer in the forests northeast of Lake▓ B
