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Plantasia
Plantasia is a large public hothouse, located in the Parc Tawe retail park, Swansea, Wales that opened in 1990. Information Plantasia exhibits a wide range of tropical plants, insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and fish. There is a cafeteria and education room. The glasshouse contains two climate zones: Tropical with a rainforest, and Arid. The collection includes around 5,000 plants, some of which are endangered in their natural habitat. Plant types include palms, bananas, giant bamboo, various fruiting plants including Lime and many epiphytes including bromeliads, orchids and aroids, there is also a small collection of cacti and succulents in the arid zone. Along with the plants, there is supporting wildlife including meerkats, crested geckos, tarantulas, red-bellied piranha, koi carp, green-winged macaw, white-cheeked turaco, bearded dragons and a Burmese python. Additionally, Plantasia houses common marmosets, Asian leopard cats, Spectacled caimans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parc Tawe
Parc Tawe is a retail park and leisure area in Swansea. It is located in the eastern area of the city centre on the west bank of the River Tawe in the Lower Swansea. The area includes "out-of-town" style stores with car parks located outside the shopping area. A highly visible building in the area is the Plantasia - a large triangular tropical plant house. Entertainment in the area include a 10 screen UCI On 29 September 1989 until 2006 (Then: Odeon cinema) and a ten pin bowling alley. The area occupied by Parc Tawe was once the North Dock. The North dock was opened in 1852 becoming the first dock in the Swansea docks complex. During the 1930s changes in methods of working, reduced trade and the increasing size of ships led to the North Dock being closed and subsequently filled in. For decades the North dock area was an industrial wasteland, until re-development as a shopping complex in the late 1980s. Parc Tawe is divided into two shopping areas separated by the road li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in .... It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, twenty-fifth largest in the United Kingdom. Located along Swansea Bay in southwest Wales, with the principal area covering the Gower Peninsula, it is part of the Swansea Bay (region), Swansea Bay region and part of the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Glamorgan; also the ancient Welsh commote of Gŵyr. The principal area is the second most List of Welsh principal areas by population, populous local authority area in Wales with an estimate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arecaceae
The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees. Currently, 181 genera with around 2,600 species are known, most of which are restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts. Palms are among the best known and most extensively cultivated plant families. They have been important to humans throughout much of history. Many common products and foods are derived from palms. In contemporary times, palms are also widely used in landscaping. In many historical cultures, because of their importance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-and-green Macaw
The red-and-green macaw (''Ara chloropterus''), also known as the green-winged macaw, is a large, mostly-red macaw of the genus ''Ara''. This is the largest of the genus ''Ara'', widespread in the forests and woodlands of northern and central South America. However, in common with other macaws, in recent years there has been a marked decline in its numbers due to habitat loss and illegal capture for the parrot trade. Description The green-winged macaw can be readily distinguished from the scarlet macaw. While the breast of both birds are bright red, the upper-wing covert feathers of the green-winged macaw is mostly green (as opposed to mostly yellow, or a strong mix of yellow and green in the scarlet macaw). In addition, the green-winged macaw has characteristic red lines around the eyes formed by rows of tiny feathers on the otherwise bare white skin patch; this is one of the biggest differences from a scarlet macaw to the casual viewer. Iridescent teal feathers are surrounde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-bellied Piranha
The red-bellied piranha, also known as the red piranha (''Pygocentrus nattereri''), is a Type (biology), type of piranha native to South America, found in the Amazon basin, Amazon, Paraguay River, Paraguay, Paraná River, Paraná and Essequibo River, Essequibo basins, as well as coastal rivers of northeastern Brazil.''Pygocentrus nattereri''. Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan. Accessed 19 February 2016.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Editors FishBase. 2015. This fish is locally abundant in its freshwater habitat. They are omnivorous foragers and feed on insects, worms, crustaceans, and fish. They are not a migratory species but do travel to seek o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although many other members of the same infraorder ( Mygalomorphae) are commonly referred to as "tarantulas" or "false tarantulas". Some of the more common species have become popular in the exotic pet trade. Many New World species kept as pets have setae known as urticating hairs that can cause irritation to the skin, and in extreme cases, cause damage to the eyes. Overview Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate that relies on an exoskeleton for muscular support.Pomeroy, R. (2014, February 4). Pub. Real Clear Science, "Spiders, and Their Amazing Hydraulic Legs and Genitalia". Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/02/spiders-their-amazing-hydraulic-legs-and-genitals.html. Like other Arachnida, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crested Gecko
The crested gecko or eyelash gecko (''Correlophus ciliatus'') is a species of gecko native to southern New Caledonia. In 1866, the crested gecko was described by a French zoologist named Alphonse Guichenot. This species was thought extinct until it was rediscovered in 1994 during an expedition led by Robert Seipp. Along with several other New Caledonian gecko species, it is being considered for protected status by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. Taxonomy The species was first described in 1866 as ''Correlophus ciliatus'' by the French zoologist Alphone Guichenot in an article entitled "Notice sur un nouveau genre de sauriens de la famille des geckotiens du Muséum de Paris" ("Notes on a new species of lizard in the gecko family") in the ''Mémoires de la Société Scientifique Naturelle de Chérbourg''. It was later renamed ''Rhacodactylus ciliatus''. Recent phylogenetic analysis indicates that ''R. ciliatus'' and ''R. s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meerkat
MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope in Africa, and the locally designed and built MeerKAT was incorporated into the first phase of the SKA. MeerKAT was launched in 2018. Along with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), also in South Africa, and two radio telescopes in Western Australia, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the MeerKAT is one of four precursors to the final SKA. History MeerKAT is a precursor for the SKA-mid array, as are the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Description It is located on the SKA site in the Karoo, and is a pathfinder for SKA-mid technologies and science. It wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word (''káktos''), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aroids
The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also known as the arum family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 140 genera and about 4,075 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions. Many species display very decorative leaves and flowers, and they are widely used for gardening; popular as indoor plants and also outdoor plants where climates are mild, and winter freezes will not generally occur. However, some temperate species are also very popular in Mediterranean-climate gardening, or in moderately cool temperate zones, such as ''Zantedeschia''. Description Species within Araceae are often rhizomatous or tuberous, and the leaves nearly always contain calcium oxalate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. (See ''External links'' below). The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species is nearly equal to the number of bony fishes, more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family encompasses about 6–11% of all species of seed plants. The largest genera are '' Bulbophyllum'' (2,000 species), '' Epidendrum'' (1,500 species), '' Dendrobium'' (1,400 species) and '' Pleurothallis'' (1,000 species). It also includes ''Vanilla'' (the genus of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bromeliads
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, '' Pitcairnia feliciana''. It is among the basal families within the Poales and is the only family within the order that has septal nectaries and inferior ovaries.Judd, Walter S. Plant systematics a phylogenetic approach. 3rd ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 2007. These inferior ovaries characterize the Bromelioideae, a subfamily of the Bromeliaceae. The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss ('' Tillandsia usneoides''), and terrestrial species, such as the pineapple (''Ananas comosus''). Many bromeliads are able to store water in a structure formed by their tightly overlapping leaf bases. However, the family is diverse enough to include the tank bromeliads, grey-leaved epiphyte '' Tillandsia'' species that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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