Vangas
White-headed Vanga (Artamella viridis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Suborder:	Passeri
Family:	Vangidae Swainson, 1831
Genera
Artamella Calicalicus Cyanolanius Euryceros Falculea Hypositta Leptopterus Mystacornis Newtonia Oriolia Pseudobias Schetba Tylas Vanga Xenopirostris

The vangas (from vanga, Malagasy for the Hook-billed Vanga, Vanga curvirostris)^[1] are a group of little-known small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to Madagascar and the Comoros. They are usually classified as the family Vangidae. There are about 22 species, depending on taxonomy. Most species are shrike-like, arboreal forest birds, feeding on reptiles, frogs and insects. Several other Madagascan birds more similar to Old World warblers, Old World babblers or Old world flycatchers are now often placed in this family. Vangas differ greatly in bill shape and have a variety of foraging methods. Their stick nests are built in trees. They do not migrate.

Taxonomy[link]

Their relationship with other passerine groups is uncertain, but they seem closely related to some enigmatic African groups: the helmetshrikes (Prionops) and the shrike-flycatchers (Bias and Megabyas).^[2] They also appear to be close to some Asian groups: the woodshrikes (Tephrodornis), flycatcher-shrikes (Hemipus) and philentomas.^[3]

Though vangas were traditionally believed to be a small family of generally shrike-like birds, recent research suggests that several Madagascan taxa most similar in appearance and habits (and formerly considered to be) Old World warblers, Old World flycatchers or Old World babblers may be vangas. Yamagishi et al. found in 2001 that the newtonias appeared to belong with the vangas rather than the warblers and also that the Tylas was a vanga and not a bulbul.^[4] It also appears that Ward's Flycatcher and Crossley's Babbler belong with the vangas.^[5][6][7]

Description[link]

The vangas are an example of adaptive radiation, having evolved from a single founding population into a variety of forms adapted to various niches occupied by other bird families in other parts of the world.^[8] They differ in size, colour and bill shape but are similar in skull shape and bony palate structure.^[9] They are small to medium-sized birds, varying from 12 to 32 cm in length.^[10] Many have strong, hooked bills similar to those of shrikes. The Helmet Vanga has a particularly large bill with a casque on top. Other species, such as the newtonias, have a small, thin bill. The Sickle-billed Vanga is notable for its long, curved bill used to probe into holes and cracks.^[9]

Most vangas are largely black, brown or grey above and white below. Exceptions include the blue and white Blue Vanga and the blue-grey Nuthatch Vanga. The Helmet Vanga is mostly black with a rufous back. Male Bernier's Vangas are entirely black while the females are brown. It is one of several species with distinct male and female plumage while in other species the sexes are identical.^[10]

Most vangas have whistling calls.^[10]

Distribution and habitat[link]

All vangas are endemic to Madagascar apart from the Blue Vanga which also occurs in the Comoros on Mohéli island and, at least formerly, on Grande Comore.^[10] They are found throughout Madagascar, in a variety of forest and scrub habitats. Several species including Van Dam's Vanga and Sickle-billed Vanga can be found in the dry deciduous forests in the west of the island. Some such as Crossley's Babbler, Helmet Vanga and Bernier's Vanga are restricted to rainforest in the east of the island. Lafresnaye's Vanga and the recently-discovered Red-shouldered Vanga occur in subarid thorn scrub in the south-west.^[10]

Behaviour[link]

a Helmet Vanga feeding nestlings

Their diet can include insects, earthworms, millipedes, lizards and amphibians.^[9] The Blue Vanga and Chabert's Vanga occasionally eat fruit.^[8] Many species feed in small groups, often in mixed-species foraging flocks. The Hook-billed Vanga and Lafresnaye's Vanga tend to forage alone.^[9] Vangas have a variety of different foraging strategies. Many species glean food as they move through the branches. The Nuthatch Vanga climbs up trunks and branches like a nuthatch but does not climb downwards as nuthatches do.^[10] Crossley's Babbler forages by walking along the forest floor amongst the leaf litter.^[10] Chabert's Vanga and the Tylas Vanga often fly into the air to catch prey. The three Xenopirostris vangas use their laterally flattened bills to strip bark off trees to search for food underneath.^[8]

Most species nest in pairs, building cup-shaped nests using twigs, bark, roots and leaves. The Sickle-billed Vanga nests in groups and builds a large nest of sticks.^[9]

Status and conservation[link]

Some species of vanga are common such as Chabert's Vanga which can survive in secondary woodland and plantations of introduced trees.^[10] Several other species are threatened by loss of their forest habitat. Pollen's Vanga is classed as Near-threatened by BirdLife International and the Red-shouldered Vanga, Bernier's Vanga, Helmet Vanga and Red-tailed Newtonia are regarded as Vulnerable. Van Dam's Vanga is classed as Endangered because it is restricted to a small area of north-west Madagascar where the forest is rapidly disappearing due to clearance for agriculture and uncontrolled bushfires.^[11] Bluntschli's Vanga is known only from two old specimens and is classed as Data Deficient.^[12]

Species list[link]

Hook-billed Vanga (Vanga curvirostris)

Lafresnaye's Vanga (Xenopirostris xenopirostris)

Chabert's Vanga (Leptopterus chabert)

FAMILY: VANGIDAE

• Genus: Calicalicus
  • Red-tailed Vanga, Calicalicus madagascariensis
  • Red-shouldered Vanga, Calicalicus rufocarpalis
• Genus: Schetba
  • Rufous Vanga, Schetba rufa
• Genus: Vanga
  • Hook-billed Vanga, Vanga curvirostris
• Genus: Xenopirostris
  • Lafresnaye's Vanga, Xenopirostris xenopirostris
  • Van Dam's Vanga, Xenopirostris damii
  • Pollen's Vanga, Xenopirostris polleni
• Genys: Falculea
  • Sickle-billed Vanga, Falculea palliata
• Genus: Artamella
  • White-headed Vanga, Artamella viridis
• Genus: Leptopterus
  • Chabert's Vanga, Leptopterus chabert
• Genus: Cyanolanius
  • Blue Vanga, Cyanolanius madagascarinus
    • Comoro Blue Vanga, Cyanolanius (madagascarinus) comorensis.
• Genus: Oriolia
  • Bernier's Vanga, Oriolia bernieri
• Genus: Euryceros
  • Helmet Vanga, Euryceros prevostii
• Genus: Tylas
  • Tylas Vanga, Tylas eduardi
• Genus: Hypositta
  • Nuthatch Vanga or Coral-billed Nuthatch-vanga, Hypositta corallirostris
  • Bluntschli's Vanga or Short-toed Nuthatch-vanga, Hypositta perdita - taxonomic status questionable.
• Genus: Newtonia
  • Dark Newtonia, Newtonia amphichroa
  • Common Newtonia, Newtonia brunneicauda
  • Archbold's Newtonia, Newtonia archboldi
  • Red-tailed Newtonia, Newtonia fanovanae
• Genus: Mystacornis
  • Crossley's Babbler, Mystacornis crossleyi
• Genus: Pseudobias
  • Ward's Flycatcher, Pseudobias wardi

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vangidae

Wikispecies has information related to: Vangidae

• Vanga videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Vangas, Bird Families of the World

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2007)

Vanga
Supposed clairvoyant and healer
Born	(1911-01-31)31 January 1911 Strumica, Ottoman Empire, today Republic of Macedonia
Died	11 August 1996(1996-08-11) (aged 85) Sofia, Bulgaria[1]
Citizenship	Ottoman (1911-1913) Bulgarian (1913-1919) Serbian/Yugoslav (1919-1941) Bulgarian (1941-1996)
Spouse	Dimitar Gushterov, married 10 May 1942

Vanga (Bulgarian: Ванга) (31 January 1911 – 11 August 1996), born Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova (Вангелия Пандева Димитрова) after marriage Vangelia Gushterova (Вангелия Гущерова) was a blind Bulgarian^[2] mystic^{[citation needed]}, supposed clairvoyant^{[citation needed]} and herbalist who spent most of her life in the Rupite area in the Kozhuh mountains, Bulgaria. Her followers were convinced that she possessed paranormal abilities.

Life[link]

Vanga was born in Strumica, then in the Ottoman Empire, later consecutively in Kingdom of Bulgaria, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, again in Bulgaria, SFR Yugoslavia and today in the Republic of Macedonia. During the second Bulgarian annexation of the region (1941–1944) she moved to Petrich, (then and now in Bulgaria). She was a premature baby who suffered from health complications. In accordance with local tradition, the baby was not given a name until it was deemed likely to survive. When the baby first cried out, a midwife went into the street and asked a stranger for a name. The stranger proposed Andromaha (Andromache), but this was rejected as "too Greek", so the second stranger's proposal, Vangelia (Vangelis, Greek: Βαγγελία, short for Ευαγγελία, "herald of the good news", from the components ευ- meaning "true" and άγγελος which means "messenger"), was accepted–also a Greek name, but popular in the region.

In her childhood, Vangelia was an ordinary girl. Her father was conscripted into the Bulgarian Army during World War I, and her mother died when Vanga was quite young, which meant the girl depended on the neighbors for a long time. Vanga was intelligent, with blue eyes and blond hair. Her inclinations started to show up when she herself thought out games and loved playing "healing"–she prescribed some herbs to her friends, who pretended to be ill. Her father, being a widower, eventually married a good woman, thus providing a stepmother to his daughter.

A turning point in her life was a twister which lifted Vanga up and threw her in the field (this claim has not been verified with meteorological records or other accounts from that time). She was found after a long search–very frightened, and her eyes were covered with sand and dust, so she couldn't open them because of the pain. No healing gave results. There was money only for a partial operation,^[3] so her eyesight was failing.

In 1925 Vanga was brought to a school for the blind in the city of Zemun (Serbia), where she spent three years, and was taught to read Braille, play the piano, as well as do knitting, cooking, and cleaning.^[4] After the death of her stepmother she had to go back home to take care of her younger siblings. Her family was very poor, and she had to work all day.

In 1939 Vanga caught pleurisy, although she had been quite healthy in the previous years. The doctor's opinion was that she would soon die but she recovered quickly^{[citation needed]}.

The house of Vanga in Petrich

During World War II Vanga attracted more believers–a number of people visited her, hoping to get a hint about whether their relatives were alive, or seeking for the place where they died. On 8 April 1942 the Bulgarian tzar Boris III visited her.

On 10 May 1942 Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov, a man from a village near Petrich, who had come asking for the killers of his brother, but had to promise her not to seek revenge. Shortly before marriage, Dimitar and Vanga moved to Petrich, where she soon became well-known. Dimitar was later conscripted in the Bulgarian Army and had to spend some time in then Bulgaria annexed Northern Greece. He got another illness in 1947, fell into alcoholism, and eventually died on 1 April 1962.^[5]

Vanga died on 11 August 1996 from breast cancer. Her funeral attracted large crowds, including many dignitaries.^[6]

Fulfilling Vanga's last will and testament, her Petrich house was turned into a museum, which opened its doors on 5 May 2008.^[7]

Work[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009)

Vanga was illiterate or semi-literate. She did not write any books herself. What she said or allegedly said had been captured by staff members. Later numerous esoteric books on Vanga's life and predictions were written.

Vanga claimed that her extraordinary abilities had something to do with the presence of invisible creatures, but she couldn't clearly explain their origin. She said that those creatures gave her information about people, which she could not transmit to them, because distance and time didn't matter. According to Vanga, the life of everyone standing in front of her, was like a film to her, from birth till death. But changing "what was written on the generation" was beyond her power.

She is said to have foretold the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Chernobyl disaster, Boris Yeltsin's electoral victory, the date of Stalin's death, the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk, the September 11 attacks and Topalov's victory in the world chess tournament.^[8][9]

Vanga attempted prophesies of newborn or unborn children. She said that she was "seeing" and "talking" to people, who had died hundreds of years ago. Vanga talked about the future, although she did not like to. In her words, in 200 years man will make contact with brothers in mind from other worlds. She said that many aliens have been living on the earth for years. They came from the planet, which in their language is called Vamfim, and is the third planet from the Earth.

Followers of Vanga believe that she knew the precise date of her own death, and shortly before that she had said that a 10-year-old blind girl living in France was to inherit her gift, and that people would soon hear about her.^{[citation needed]}

According to the Russian website Pravda.ru, Vanga has predicted that a World War III will start in November 2010.^[10][11] However, this prophecy did not come true but North Korea—a nuclear nation, did attack South Korea on November 23, 2010,^[12] raising the assumptions that, perhaps, it has come true. Alternatively, in December 2010, protests in the Arab world started, with possibilities of spreading conflict. The validity of such claims is controversial since the followers of Baba Vanga are convinced that she wouldn't have predicted the time-line or given an announcement for such catastrophic events. On 27 September 2010, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced that the world is "in the midst of an international currency war". Discussion over currency war dominated the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit, which took place in Seoul, South Korea on November 11–12, 2010.

Healing[link]

Apart from prophesying, Vanga was believed to be a healer, but only through herbal medicines. According to her, people had to heal themselves only with herbs from the country they live in. She prescribed washing with an infusion of herbs and spices, claiming some beneficial effect on the skin. Vanga did not oppose mainstream medicine, although she thought that taking too much medicines is bad, because "they close the doors, through which nature restores the balance in the body with herbs."^{[citation needed]}.

Studies[link]

Accounts on the predictions of Vanga are often controversial and distorted by the media. One recent attempt to systematically summarize the existing knowledge about Vanga was made in the documentary "Vanga. The visible and invisible world".^[13] The movie includes interviews with some of the people who met Vanga in person, including Sergey Medvedev (press secretary to President of Russia Boris Yeltsin in 1995-1996; Sergey Medvedev visited Vanga as Yeltsin's envoy following Vanga's request to meet her), Neshka Robeva (Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast and coach), Sergey Mikhalkov (Soviet and Russian writer, author of the Soviet Union anthem), Nevena Tosheva (director of the first documentary about Vanga), Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (Kalmyk multi-millionaire businessman and politician). Several researchers have studied the phenomenon of Vanga in the attempt to establish whether she has any extraordinary capabilities. One of the first studies was initiated by Bulgarian government and is described in the 1977 movie Fenomen^[14] directed by Nevena Tosheva. Prominent Bulgarian psychiatrists Nicola Shipkovensky and Georgi Lozanov also studied the capabilities of Vanga. Reportedly, some of the studies concluded that about 80% of predictions of Vanga turned out to be accurate.^[15]

Controversy[link]

Vanga was widely known to be close to the government of Todor Zhivkov and, on several occasions, she appeared on public TV with him and other high officials of the Communist Party. It has been alleged that Vanga used data gathered by the secret services to win the trust of her visitors, although such option was hardly available to her due to the majority of the people visiting her every day. To date, this is yet to be investigated.^{[citation needed]}

Vanga in Russian popular culture[link]

Vanga is well known in the Russian speaking world, e.g. as indicated by large number of google hits in the Russian internet. Some Russian nationalists consider her a true prophet of God and use her alleged prophecies of the upcoming nuclear war and Russian victory to argue for more robust defense policy and, more generally, for a more optimistic view of Russia's future. On the other hand, many Christians reject her as a spiritist and a false prophet on behalf of the devil. Thus there is a widely propagated story of Vanga becoming enraged at a visiting cleric (Nathanael, metropolitan of Nevrokop) carrying a holy relic, saying that this presence prevents her from prophesying.

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Стоянова [Stoyanova], Красимира [Krasimira] (19967) (in Bulgarian). Истината за Ванга [The truth about Vanga]. Sofia: Balgarski Pisatel. ISBN 954-443-170-5. 
• Ostrander, Sheila; Schroeder, Lynn (1970). "Vanga Dimitrova: The Bulgarian Oracle". Psychic discoveries behind the Iron Curtain. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. pp. 259–281. ISBN 978-0-13-732230-5. 
• Valtchinova, Galia (2005). "Vanga, la "Pythie bulgare": idées et usages de l'Antiquité en Bulgarie socialiste" (in French). Dialogues d'histoire ancienne 31 (1): 93–127. DOI:10.3406/dha.2005.2487. http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/dha_0755-7256_2005_num_31_1_2487. Retrieved 1 January 2011. 
• Ivanov, Petko; Izmirlieva, Valentina (2003). "Betwixt and Between: The Cult of Living Saints in Contemporary Bulgaria". Folklorica, Journal of the Slavic and East European 8 (1): 33–53. https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/folklorica/article/viewFile/3733/3572. Retrieved 1 January 2011. 

External links[link]

• Stephen Kinzer: Rupite Journal; For a Revered Mystic, a Shrine Now of Her Own in The New York Times, April 5, 1995
• Baba Vanga - Prophecies of the Bulgarian Prophet
• Ideological Drive Against Paraperception Radio Free Europe Research, March 24, 1983, in Open Society Archives
• (in Russian) An article by Natalia Baltzun, translated by Kristina Hristova (Bulgaria)
• (in Russian) Vanga's Prophecies: Product of the Bulgarian Secret Services
• (in French) An article in french about Vanga's propheties, by K8 Transmission
• Baba Vanga Predictions
• NOTES FROM HISTORY: Baba Vanga, The Sofia Echo, December 19, 2005
• Baba Vanga say about 2012

See also[link]

• Mama Omida
• Djuna
• Edgar Cayce