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Southern Minke Whale
The Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale (''Balaenoptera bonaerensis'') is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second smallest rorqual after the common minke whale and the third smallest baleen whale. Although first scientifically described in the mid-19th century, it was not recognized as a distinct species until the 1990s. Once ignored by the whaling industry due to its small size and low oil yield, the Antarctic minke was able to avoid the fate of other baleen whales and maintained a large population into the 21st century, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.Branch, T. A. (2006). "Abundance estimates for Antarctic minke whales from three completed circumpolar sets of surveys, 1978/79 to 2003/04". ''Paper'' SC/58/IA18 ''submitted to the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee'', pp. 1–28. Surviving to become the most abundant baleen whale in the world, it is now one of the mainstays of the industry alongside its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58See the 2014 version of the ICS geologic time scale million years ago. It is the second and most recent epoch of the Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch. Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale, which placed the fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otago Peninsula
The Otago Peninsula ( mi, Muaūpoko) is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Otago Harbour and runs parallel to the mainland for 20 km, with a maximum width of 9 km. It is joined to the mainland at the south-west end by a narrow isthmus about 1.5 km wide. The suburbs of Dunedin encroach onto the western end of the peninsula, and seven townships and communities lie along the harbourside shore. The majority of the land is sparsely populated and occupied by steep open pasture. The peninsula is home to many species of wildlife, notably seabirds, pinnipeds, and penguins; several ecotourism businesses operate in the area. Geography The peninsula was formed at the same time as the hills facing it across the harbour, as part of the large, long-extinct, Dunedin Volcano. Several of the peninsula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry". As the decision-making body of the convention, the IWC reviews and revises measures laid down in the "Schedule to the Convention", which govern the conduct of whaling throughout the world. These measures include conferring complete protection of certain species; designate specific areas as whale sanctuaries; set limits on the numbers and size of whales which may be taken; prescribe open and closed seasons and areas for whaling; and prohibit the capture of suckling calves and female whales accompanied by calves. The Commission also mandates the compilation of catch reports and other statistical and biological records, and is actively involved in whale r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryde's Whale
Bryde's whale ( Brooder's), or the Bryde's whale complex, putatively comprises three species of rorqual and maybe four. The "complex" means the number and classification remains unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research. The common Bryde's whale (''Balaenoptera brydei'', Olsen, 1913) is a larger form that occurs worldwide in warm temperate and tropical waters, and the Sittang or Eden's whale (''Balaenoptera edeni'', Anderson, 1879) is a smaller form that may be restricted to the Indo-Pacific. Also, a smaller, coastal form of ''B. brydei'' is found off southern Africa, and perhaps another form in the Indo-Pacific differs in skull morphology, tentatively referred to as the Indo-Pacific Bryde's whale. The recently described Omura's whale (''B. omurai'', Wada et al. 2003), was formerly thought to be a pygmy form of Bryde's, but is now recognized as a distinct species. Rice's whale (''B. ricei''), which makes its home solely in the Gulf of Mexico, was once c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sei Whale
The sei whale ( , ; ''Balaenoptera borealis'') is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the blue whale and the fin whale. It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters. It avoids polar and tropical waters and semi-enclosed bodies of water. The sei whale migrates annually from cool, subpolar waters in summer to temperate, subtropical waters in winter with a lifespan of 70 years. Reaching in length and weighing as much as , the sei whale consumes an average of of food every day; its diet consists primarily of copepods, krill, and other zooplankton. It is among the fastest of all cetaceans, and can reach speeds of up to (27 knots) over short distances. The whale's name comes from the Norwegian word for pollock, a fish that appears off the coast of Norway at the same time of the year as the sei whale. Following large-scale commercial whaling during the late 19th and 20th centuries, when over 255,000 whales were killed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is only a small portion of the DNA in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA can be found in the cell nucleus and, in plants and algae, also in plastids such as chloroplasts. Human mitochondrial DNA was the first significant part of the human genome to be sequenced. This sequencing revealed that the human mtDNA includes 16,569 base pairs and encodes 13 proteins. Since animal mtDNA evolves faster than nuclear genetic markers, it represents a mainstay of phylogenetics and evolutionary biology. It also permits an examination of the relatedness of populations, and so has become important in anthropology and biogeography. Origin Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA are thought to be of separate evolutionary origin, with the mtDNA being deri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alloenzyme
Alloenzymes (or also called allozymes) are variant forms of an enzyme which differ structurally but not functionally from other allozymes coded for by different alleles at the same locus. These are opposed to isozymes, which are enzymes that perform the same function, but which are coded by genes located at different loci. Alloenzymes are common biological enzymes that exhibit high levels of functional evolutionary conservation throughout specific phyla and kingdoms. They are used by phylogeneticists as molecular markers to gauge evolutionary histories and relationships between different species. This can be done because allozymes do not have the same structure. They can be separated by capillary electrophoresis. However, some species are monomorphic for many of their allozymes which would make it difficult for phylogeneticists to assess the evolutionary histories of these species. In these instances, phylogeneticists would have to use another method to determine the evolutionar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's North Pole. Owing to Earth's axial tilt of 23.439281°, winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in Polar regions of Earth, polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring (season), spring. The tilt of Axial tilt#Earth, Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a Hemi ... in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from the December solstice (typically December 21 UTC) to the March equinox (typically March 20 UTC), while summer lasts from the June solstice through to the September equinox (typically on 23 September UTC). The dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the Year#Astronomical years, astronomical year. Within the Northern Hemisphere, oceanic currents can change the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osteology
Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology (biology), morphology, function, disease, pathology, the process of ossification (from cartilage, cartilaginous molds), and the resistance and hardness of bones (biophysics). Osteologists frequently work in the public and private sector as consultants for museums, scientists for research laboratories, scientists for medical investigations and/or for companies producing osteological reproductions in an academic context. Osteology and osteologists should not be confused with the pseudoscientific practice of osteopathy and its practitioners, osteopaths. Methods A typical analysis will include: * an inventory of the skeletal elements present * a dental inventory * aging data, based upon epiphyseal fusion and dental eruption (for subadults) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoology, zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a zoological name. Gray was Keeper of Zoology, keeper of zoology at the British Museum in London from 1840 until Christmas 1874, before the natural history holdings were split off to the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum. He published several catalogues of the museum collections that included comprehensive discussions of animal groups and descriptions of new species. He improved the Zoological specimens, zoological collections to make them amongst the best in the world. Biography Gray was born in Walsall, but his family soon moved to London, where Gray studied medicine. He assisted his father in writing ''The Natural Arrangement of British Plants'' (1821). After being Blackballing, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Natural History Museum's main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. The museum is a centre of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, such as specimens collected by Charles Darwin. The museum is particularly famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons and ornate architecture—sometimes dubbed a ''cathedral of nature''—both exemplified by the large ''Diplodocus'' cast that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Scottish people, Scottish, Chinese people, Chinese and Māori people, Māori heritage. With an estimated population of as of , Dunedin is both New Zealand's seventh-most populous metro and urban area. For historic, cultural and geographic reasons the city has long been considered one of New Zealand's four main centres. The urban area of Dunedin lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, surrounding the head of Otago Harbour, and the harbour and hills around Dunedin are the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the surrounding valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. Archaeological evidence points to lengthy o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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