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Puffins Return to Scottish Island Famous for Curling Stones
For the first time in nearly a half century, puffins are returning to Ailsa Craig, a plug of volcanic rock off the west coast of Scotland. Curling aficionados already know the island as the world's preferred source of curling stones.
For the first time in nearly a half century, puffins are returning to Ailsa Craig, a plug of volcanic rock off the west coast of Scotland. Curling aficionados already know the island as the world's preferred source of curling stones.
Curling is the centuries-old sport in which people slide smooth granite stones across a 146-foot-long (45-meter-long) sheet of ice toward a bull's-eye, trying to knock their opponents' stones out of the way in the process. Stones used in the sport must withstand a healthy amount of abuse and constant freeze-thaw cycles.
About 250 years ago curlers discovered that the granite on Ailsa Craig made perfect curling stones. About 60 to 70 percent of the curling stones
