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New Zealand Fantail
The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. penita'' in the Chatham Islands, and the now-extinct ''R. f. cervina'' formerly on Lord Howe Island. It is also known by its Māori names, , or , and the Chatham Island subspecies by the Moriori name ''tchitake''; THE MORIORI PEOPLE OF THE CHATHAM ISLANDS: THEIR TRADITIONS AND HISTORY by Alexander Shand. the common pied morph is also known as pied fantail (not to be confused with the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gerrard Keulemans
Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. Keulemans) (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. Biography Keulemans was born in Rotterdam. As a young man he collected animal specimens for museums such as the Natural History Museum in Leiden, whose director, Hermann Schlegel, encouraged Keulemans and sent him on the 1864 expedition to West Africa. In 1869, he was persuaded by Richard Bowdler Sharpe to illustrate his '' Monograph of the Alcedinidae, or Family of Kingfishers'' (1868-1871) and to move to England, where he lived for the rest of his life. He was married twice, and had eight children by his first wife and seven children by his second wife. Only nine of his children reached adulthood. He also wrote topics on spirituality, and claimed he had a premonition at the moment of death of one of his sons. He died in Ilford, Essex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Vocalization
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by function from calls (relatively simple vocalizations). Definition The distinction between songs and calls is based upon complexity, length, and context. Songs are longer and more complex and are associated with territory and courtship and mating, while calls tend to serve such functions as alarms or keeping members of a flock in contact. Other authorities such as Howell and Webb (1995) make the distinction based on function, so that short vocalizations, such as those of pigeons, and even non-vocal sounds, such as the drumming of woodpeckers and the " winnowing" of snipes' wings in display flight, are considered songs. Still others require song to have syllabic diversity and temporal regularity akin to the repetitive and transformative p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire God
This is a list of deities in fire worship. African mythology Yoruba mythology * Ogun, fire god and patron of blacksmiths, iron, warfare, metal tools * Ọya, goddess of fire, wind, transforms into buffalo, fertility * Shango, god of thunder and fire, considered the storm-god * Aggayu, god of volcanoes, magma, sunlight, and heat Egyptian mythology * Ra, fire god of the sun, light, warmth, and growth * Sekhmet, protective lioness goddess of war, along with some elements of disease and curing of disease. Sometimes referenced in relation to the sun and its power, so possibly had to do with upkeep of the sun at times and fire * Wadjet, the protective serpent goddess who sends fire to burn her enemies Asian mythology Ainu mythology * Kamuy-huci, goddess of the fire Chinese mythology * Zhurong (Huoshen, God of Fire) * Huilu (Huoshen, Goddess of Fire) * Yandi (Huozhu, Accident of Fire) * Shennong (Huozhu, Accident of Fire) * Hua Guang Da Di * Ebo (Huozheng, Primary Fire) * Yùy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahuika
Mahuika is a Māori fire deity. Generally, Mahuika is female and wife of the god Auahitūroa. Myths In some versions, she is the younger sister of Hine-nui-te-pō, goddess of death. It was from her that Māui (in some versions he is her grandson) obtained the secret of making fire. She married Auahitūroa and together they had five children, named for the five fingers on the human hand, called collectively Ngā Mānawa. The symbolism of this connection between toropuku (fingers) and fire is revealed in the stories where Māui obtains fire from Mahuika by tricking her into giving him her fingernails one by one. She is also said to have played a role in the formation of Rangitoto Island, asking Ruaumoko, god of earthquakes and eruptions, to destroy a couple that had cursed her. In some parts of New Zealand, Mahuika is a male deity. This is also the case in some parts of tropical Polynesia; for instance, in the Tuamotu archipelago and the Marquesas The Marquesas Islands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māui (mythology)
Māui (Maui) is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar.Craighill Handy 1927: 118 Tales of Māui's exploits and adventures are told throughout most of Polynesia; they can be traced back as far west as islands off New Guinea. Some exploits common to most Polynesian traditions are stealing fire for humans from the underworld, fishing up islands with his magical hook, and capturing the Sun to lengthen the days. There is a great deal of variation in the representations of Māui from nation to nation, from being a handsome young man, to being an old wise wandering priest. Although Māui was said to be very rascally or "kolohe", many of his deeds were to better the lives of his fellow people. He was respected throughout most cultures of the Pacific and still is famous to this day. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Tree Of The Māori Gods
This is an example of a family tree of the Māori gods showing the most important gods in Māori mythology. This family tree gives just an example - there are remarkable regional variations. ''Māori Goddesses'' are displayed in ''italics'' The primordial gods were Ranginui and ''Papatūānuku'', Heaven and Earth. Te Anu-matao was the wife of Tangaroa. Hine-titamauri was the wife of Punga. Hine-te-Iwaiwa married Tangaroa and had Tangaroa-a-kiukiu, Tangaroa-a-roto, and Rona. Tangaroa-a-roto and Rona married Te Marama the moon. Hinetakurua married Tama-nui-te-ra, the Sun. Uru-Te-ngangana is believed to be the father of all light, and his children are stars, sun and moon. The father and mother of creation/all gods are personifications of the stages of creation; Te Kore, Te Po, etc See also * Māori mythology * List of Māori deities This is a list of Māori deities, known in Māori as . Major departmental deities * Haumiatiketike, the god of uncultivat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in. Māori had yet to invent a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, so they had no method to permanently record their histories, traditions, or mythologies. They relied on oral retellings memorised from generation to generation. The three forms of expression prominent in Māori and Polynesian oral literature are genealogical recital, poetry, and narrative prose. Experts in these subjects were broadly known as . The rituals, beliefs, and gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Birds Of New Zealand
This is the list of the birds of New Zealand. The common name of the bird in New Zealand English is given first, and its Māori-language name, if different, is also noted. New Zealand proper is an independent and sovereign state. New Zealand proper includes the North Island, the South Island, offshore islands, and outlying islands like the Chatham Islands. The Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau (a dependent territory); the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing states in free association with New Zealand); and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica). Only New Zealand proper is represented on this list, not the full Realm of New Zealand. Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below occur regularly in New Zealand as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants. The species marked extinct became extinct subsequent to human arrival in New Zealand. About two thirds of the extinctions occurred after the arrival of Māori but bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brood Parasite
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The evolutionary strategy relieves the parasitic parents from the investment of rearing young. This benefit comes at the cost of provoking an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve: many hosts have developed strong defenses against brood parasitism, such as recognizing and ejecting parasitic eggs, or abandoning parasitized nests and starting over. It is less obvious why most hosts do care for parasite nestlings, given that for example cuckoo chicks differ markedly from host chicks in size and appearance. One explanation, the mafia hypothesis, proposes that parasitic adults retaliate by destroying host nests where rejection has occurred; th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avian Incubation
Egg incubation is the process by which an egg, of oviparous (egg-laying) animals, develops an embryo within the egg, after the egg's formation and ovipositional release. Egg incubation is done under favorable environmental conditions, possibly by brooding and hatching the egg. Multiple and various factors are vital to the incubation of various species of animal. In many species of reptile for example, no fixed temperature is necessary, but the actual temperature determines the sex ratio of the offspring. In birds in contrast, the sex of offspring is genetically determined, but in many species a constant and particular temperature is necessary for successful incubation. Especially in poultry, the act of sitting on eggs to incubate them is called brooding. The action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs is also called broodiness, and most egg-laying breeds of poultry have had this behavior selectively bred out of them to increase production. Avian incubation A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clutch (eggs)
__NOTOC__ A clutch of eggs is the group of eggs produced by birds, amphibians, or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest. In birds, destruction of a clutch by predators (or removal by humans, for example the California condor breeding program) results in ''double-clutching''. The technique is used to double the production of a species' eggs, in the California condor case, specifically to increase population size. The act of putting one's hand in a nest to remove eggs is known as "dipping the clutch". Size Clutch size differs greatly between species, sometimes even within the same genus. It may also differ within the same species due to many factors including habitat, health, nutrition, predation pressures, and time of year. Clutch size variation can also reflect variation in optimal reproduction effort. In birds, clutch size can vary within a species due to various features (age and health of laying female, ability of male to supply food, and ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_e_(_Zonotrichia_Capensis_).jpg "Click for more on -> Brood Parasite")