|
Wonambi
''Wonambi'' is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes that lived in late Neogene to late Quaternary Australia. Species of ''Wonambi'' were constrictor snakes unrelated to Australian pythons. Taxonomy and naming ''Wonambi naracoortensis'' was first described from fossils collected at Naracoorte, South Australia, the first extinct snake to be found in Australia. It was given the name Wonambi from the description, by the local Aboriginal people, of a serpent of the Dreamtime. This serpent, a mythological being commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as the Rainbow Serpent, was often held responsible for the creation of major features of the landscape. The Wagyl of the Western Australian Noongar people is thought to correlate to the South Australian people's Wonambi. It is cognate with the genus '' Yurlunggur'', found at Riversleigh in Queensland and in the Northern Territory. The family of this species, Madtsoiidae, became extinct in other parts of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonambi Maxillae Scanlon 2005 App 50(1) Fig 2
''Wonambi'' is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes that lived in late Neogene to late Quaternary Australia. Species of ''Wonambi'' were constrictor snakes unrelated to Australian pythons. Taxonomy and naming ''Wonambi naracoortensis'' was first described from fossils collected at Naracoorte, South Australia, the first extinct snake to be found in Australia. It was given the name Wonambi from the description, by the local Aboriginal people, of a serpent of the Dreamtime. This serpent, a mythological being commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as the Rainbow Serpent, was often held responsible for the creation of major features of the landscape. The Wagyl of the Western Australian Noongar people is thought to correlate to the South Australian people's Wonambi. It is cognate with the genus ''Yurlunggur'', found at Riversleigh in Queensland and in the Northern Territory. The family of this species, Madtsoiidae, became extinct in other parts of the world ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madtsoiidae
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madtsoiidae include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction. Genera include some of the longest snakes known such as '' Vasuki'', measuring at least long, and the Australian '' Wonambi'' and '' Yurlunggur''. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described, with more recent evidence suggesting that it is paraphyletic as previously defined. Although madtsoiids persisted on Australia until the Pleistocene, they largely went extinct elsewhere during the Eocene. However, some species persisted in South America and India through the Oligocene. Description Madtsoiidae was first classified as a sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainbow Serpent
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the Creator deity, creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many List of Australian Aboriginal group names, different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common Motif (visual arts), motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos. There are many names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power (sociology), power of this being within Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Aboriginal mythology, which includes the worldview commonly referred to as The Dreaming. The serpent is viewed as a giver of life through its association with water, but can be a destructive force if angry. The Rainbow Serpent is one of the most common and well-known Aborigin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yurlunggur
''Yurlunggur'' is a genus of fossil snake in the extinct family Madtsoiidae containing the species ''Yurlunggur camfieldensis'' known from the Oligocene and Miocene of Australia''.'' ''Y. camfieldensis'' was a large apex predator that typically reached in length, with one vertebra from the Wyandotte Creek suggesting a maximum length of . It is closely related to ''Wonambi naracoortensis'', present in Australia during the Pleistocene. The name of the genus is derived from traditional name given by the people of Arnhem Land to the Rainbow serpent. They closely resemble ''Varanus'' (monitors) more than small burrowing lizards. John D. Scanlon, John Scanlon has presented this as evidence of descent from the former, rather than burrowing ancestors that evolved into the elongate and legless snakes. The fossil material described by this species includes a rare example of a complete skull and mandible, often crushed in the fossilisation process, that was preserved in the soft limesto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Megafauna
The term Australian megafauna refers to the megafauna in Australia (continent), Australia during the Pleistocene, Pleistocene Epoch. Most of these species became extinct during the latter half of the Pleistocene, as part of the broader global Late Pleistocene extinctions, Late Quaternary extinction event and the roles of human and climatic factors in their extinction are contested. There are similarities between the prehistoric Australian megafauna and some mythical creatures from the The Dreaming, Aboriginal Dreamtime. Causes of extinction Many modern researchers, including Tim Flannery, think that with the History of Australian Aboriginals#Origins, arrival of early Aboriginal Australians, hunting and the use of Fire-stick farming, fire to manage their environment may have contributed to the extinction of the megafauna. Increased aridity during peak glaciation (about 18,000 years ago) may have also contributed, but most of the megafauna were already extinct by this time. Other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noongar
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Australia, Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance on the south coast. There are 14 different groups in the Noongar cultural bloc: Amangu, Ballardong, Yued, Kaneang, Koreng, Mineng, Njakinjaki, Njunga, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Wadandi, Whadjuk, Wiilman and Wudjari. The Noongar people refer to their land as . The members of the collective Noongar cultural bloc descend from people who spoke several languages and dialects that were often Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. What is now classified as the Noongar language is a member of the large Pama–Nyungan languages, Pama–Nyungan language family. Contemporary Noongar speak Australian Aboriginal English (a dialect of the English language) laced with Noong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wagyl
The Wagyl (also written Waugal, Waagal, and variants) is the Noongar manifestation of the Rainbow Serpent in Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, from the culture based around the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar describe the Wagyl as a snakelike Dreaming creature responsible for the creation of the Swan and Canning rivers and other waterways and landforms around present day Perth and the south-west of Western Australia. The Wagyl stories may represent the survival in oral tradition of extinct Australian megafauna, as there was a python-like snake, '' Wonambi naracoortensis'', with a length of . Name Due to the Noongar language having several dialects, the Wagyl is referred to by different groups by different names. Varieties include , , , , , , , , and . In the Wiilman Noongar dialect, the Wagyl is called the (meaning 'hairy-faced snake'). Mythology In Noongar mythology, stories about the Wagyl vary among the 14 different Noongar groups. Some gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013. As with the terms " wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three terms refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod which inhabit the upper branches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads ( cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacred Natural Site
A sacred natural site is a natural feature or a large area of land or water having special Spirituality, spiritual significance to peoples and communities. Sacred natural sites consist of all types of natural features including mountains, hills, forests, Sacred grove, groves, Tree worship, trees, rivers, lakes, lagoons, caves, islands and springs. They are often considered sacred spaces. Overview Sacred natural sites are natural features in or areas of land or water having special spiritual significance to peoples and communities. This working definition is broad and can be used as a basis for more specific articulations. Whilst "sacred natural sites" is the main term used, for reasons of variety and readability, other terms are used interchangeably, including sacred site, sacred place and sacred area. One interest in sacred natural sites from the perspective of nature conservation can lie in the components of biological diversity that they harbour, such as the species of animals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallaby
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family as kangaroos and sometimes the same genus, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the four largest species of the family. The term "wallaby" is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or a wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise. There are nine species (eight extant and one Extinction, extinct) of the brush wallaby (genus ''Notamacropus''). Their head and body length is and the tail is long. The 19 known species of Rock-wallaby, rock-wallabies (genus ''Petrogale'') live among rocks, usually near water; two species in this genus are endangered. The two living species of hare-wallabies (genus ''Lagorchestes''; two other species in this genus are extinct) are sma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Flannery
Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities that connect science and society. Common goals of science communication include informing non-experts about scientific findings, raising the public awareness of and interest in sci ..., activist, and public scientist. He is especially known for his 1994 book ''The Future Eaters'', on the natural history of Australasia, which was adapted for television in 2006, and his 2006 book ''The Weather Makers'', about the effects of climate change in Australia. As a researcher, Flannery had roles at several universities and museums in Australia, specialising in fossil marsupials and Evolution of mammals, mammal evolution. He made notable contributions to the palaeontology of Australia and New Guinea during the 1980s, including reviewing the evolution a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
