Sphen And Magic
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Sphen And Magic
Sphen and Magic were two male Gentoo penguin, gentoo penguins at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. After meeting in 2018, they adopted and raised two chicks together, becoming internationally famous and symbolic for the LGBT rights in Australia, Australian gay rights movement. Sphen died in August 2024 at the age of 11. History Sphen was born at SeaWorld, whereas Magic was born at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium three years later. Magic and Sphen first met in the summer of 2018 at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, where they were part of a colony of 33 penguins. They Courtship display, courted by bowing, bringing each other pebbles, and accepting each other's pebbles, and then by singing to each other. During mating season, aquarium managers noted that the couple had made the biggest nest and had sat on it constantly, taking turns to do so for 28 days, a significantly better result than the other penguins. The aquarium's penguin keepers made the decision that the pair should be allowed ...
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Gentoo Penguin
The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The earliest scientific description was made in 1781 by Johann Reinhold Forster with a type locality in the Falkland Islands. The species calls in a variety of ways, but the most frequently heard is a loud trumpeting, which the bird emits with its head thrown back. Names The application of "gentoo" to the penguin is unclear. '' Gentoo'' was an Anglo-Indian term to distinguish Hindus from Muslims. The English term may have originated from the Portuguese ''gentio'' ("pagan, gentile"). Some speculate that the white patch on the bird's head was thought to resemble a turban. It may also be a variation of another name for this bird, "Johnny penguin", with Johnny being the Spanish counterpart of and sounding vaguely like gentoo. The Johnny rook, a pr ...
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Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest LGBT festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the largest Pride event in Oceania. It includes a variety of events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade and Party, Bondi Beach Drag Races, Harbour Party, the academic discussion panel ''Queer Thinking'', Mardi Gras Film Festival, as well as Fair Day, which attracts 70,000 people to Victoria Park, Sydney. The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is one of Australia's biggest tourist drawcards, with the parade and dance party attracting many international and domestic tourists. It is New South Wales' second-largest annual event in terms of economic impact, generating an annual income of about 30 million for the state. The event grew from gay rights parades held annually since 1978, when numerous participants had been arrested by New South ...
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Bird Duos
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further ...
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Avian Sexuality
Avian may refer to: *Anything related to birds (animals of the class ''Aves'') Aviation *Avro Avian, a series of light aircraft made by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s *Avian Limited, a hang glider manufacturer founded in 1989 Places *Avian, Iran, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran *, Friulian name of Aviano, a town and ''comune'' in northern Italy *Avian Island, Antarctica *Avian Tower, a high-rise building in Surabaya, Indonesia People *Avian (band), an American heavy metal band *Avian (given name), Russian male first name *Bob Avian (1937–2021), American choreographer and theater director See also * *Avian influenza, a virus adapted to birds *Evian, a brand of mineral water *Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains (), or simply Évian (, , or ), is a Communes of France, commune in Eastern France, by the border with Switzerland. It is located in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. A high-m ..., a commune in eastern Fr ...
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Individual Penguins
An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in many fields, including biology, law, and philosophy. Every individual contributes significantly to the growth of a civilization. Society is a multifaceted concept that is shaped and influenced by a wide range of different things, including human behaviors, attitudes, and ideas. The culture, morals, and beliefs of others as well as the general direction and trajectory of the society can all be influenced and shaped by an individual's activities. Etymology From the 15th century and earlier (and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics) ''individual'' meant " indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meanin ...
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Roy And Silo
Roy and Silo (hatched 1987) were two male chinstrap penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo. They were noted by staff at the zoo in 1998 to be performing mating rituals, and one of them in 1999 attempted to hatch a rock as if it were an egg. This inspired zoo keepers to give them an egg from a pair of penguins, which could not hatch it, resulting in both of them raising a chick that was named Tango. Tango herself was viewed in a similar situation with another female penguin. Roy and Silo drifted apart after several years, and in 2005, Silo paired with a female penguin called Scrappy. Roy and Silo's story has been made into a children's book and featured in a play. The practice of allowing pairs of male penguin couples to adopt eggs has been repeated in other zoos around the world. Both Tango and Roy have since died. History Roy and Silo met at the zoo and they began their relationship in 1998. They were observed conducting mating rituals typical of their species includi ...
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List Of Animals Displaying Homosexual Behavior
For these animals, there is documented evidence of homosexual behavior of one or more of the following kinds: sex, courtship, affection, pair bonding, or parenting, as noted in researcher and author Bruce Bagemihl's 1999 book ''Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity''. Bagemihl writes that the presence of same-sex sexual behavior was not "officially" observed on a large scale until the 1990s due to observer bias caused by social attitudes towards nonheterosexual people, making the homosexual theme taboo.Bagemihl (1999)News-medical.net (2006) Bagemihl devotes three chapters, "Two Hundred Years at Looking at Homosexual Wildlife", "Explaining (Away) Animal Homosexuality" and "Not For Breeding Only" in his 1999 book ''Biological Exuberance'' to the "documentation of systematic prejudices" where he notes "the ''present ignorance'' of biology lies precisely in its single-minded attempt to find reproductive (or other) 'explanations' for homosexuality, trans ...
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Homosexual Behavior In Animals
Various non-human animal species exhibit behavior that can be interpreted as homosexual or bisexual, often referred to as ''same-sex sexual behavior'' (SSSB) by scientists. This may include same-sex sexual activity, courtship, affection, pair bonding, and parenting among same-sex animal pairs. Various forms of this are found among a variety of vertebrate and arthropod taxonomic classes. The sexual behavior of non-human animals takes many different forms, even within the same species, though homosexual behavior is best known from social species. Scientists observe same-sex sexual behavior in animals in different degrees and forms among different species and clades. A 2019 paper states that it has been observed in over 1,500 species. Although same-sex interactions involving genital contact have been reported in many animal species, they are routinely manifested in only a few, including humans. Other than humans, the only known species to exhibit exclusive homosexual orientati ...
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List Of Individual Birds
This is a list of well-known real birds. For famous fictional birds, see list of fictional birds. * Águia Vitória, a bald eagle who serves as the mascot for Portuguese football club S.L. Benfica * Alex (parrot), Alex, a grey parrot who, in studies by Irene Pepperberg, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, demonstrated an ability to count; differentiate categories involving objects, colors, shapes, and materials; and understand the concept of same and different * All Alone (pigeon), All Alone, a Second World War homing pigeon awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross * Anchorage White Raven, a popular leucistic raven that lived in Anchorage, Alaska. * Andy (goose), Andy, a goose born without feet who used sneakers to help him stand and walk. He was killed by an unnamed perpetrator in 1991. * Apollo (parrot), Apollo, a grey parrot and subject of a YouTube channel * B95 (bird), B95, a red knot known for being the oldest known member of his species * Barry (owl) ...
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Climate Change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global temperatures is Scientific consensus on climate change, driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, Deforestation and climate change, deforestation, and some Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, agricultural and Environmental impact of concrete, industrial practices release greenhouse gases. These gases greenhouse effect, absorb some of the heat that the Earth Thermal radiation, radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary gas driving global warming, Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, has increased in concentratio ...
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Plastic Pollution
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized by size into micro-, meso-, or macro debris. Plastics are inexpensive and durable, making them very adaptable for different uses; as a result, manufacturers choose to use plastic over other materials. However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of environmental degradation, degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade. Together, these two factors allow large volumes of plastic to enter the environment as mismanaged waste which persists in the ecosystem and travels throughout food webs. Plastic pollution can afflict land, waterways and oceans. It is estimated that 1.1 to 8.8'' ''million tonnes of plastic waste enters the ocean from coastal communities each year. It is ...
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Conservation Biology
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management. The nature conservation, conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology. Origins The term conservation biology and its conception as a new field originated with the convening of "The First International Conference on Research in Conservation Biology" held at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California, in 1978 led by American biologists Bruce A. Wilcox and Michael E. Soulé with a group of leading university and zoo researchers and conservationists including Kurt Benirschke, Sir Otto Frankel, Thomas Lovejoy, and Jared Diamond. The meeting was prompted due to concern over tropical de ...
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