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Spur (zoology)
A spur is an outgrowth of bone covered in a sheath of horn found in various anatomical locations in some animals. Unlike claws or nails, which grow from the tip of the toes, spurs form from other parts of the foot, usually in connection with joints where the toes meet the foot or the foot meets the long bones. Spurs are most commonly found on the hindfeet, though some birds possess spurs at the leading edge of the wings. Anatomy A spur is much like a true horn; it is a bony core attached to the skeleton and has an outer horny layer. Like horns, the spur grows from the base outwards, so the tip is older than the base. Some spurs form as an outgrowth of an existing bone, though most are secondarily formed as dermal bone hinged to the skeleton through a semi-rigid joint. Spurs on the hind-feet do not appear to molt, but the wing spurs of birds are molted once a year along with the wing feathers. Unlike claws, spurs are normally straight or only slightly curved, making them suit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanzinia Madagascariensis
''Sanzinia madagascariensis'', also known as the Malagasy tree boaMehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . or Madagascar tree boa, is a boa species endemic to the island of Madagascar. It was considered conspecific with the Nosy Komba ground boa. Like all other boas, it is non-venomous. Description Adults average 4–5 feet (122–152 cm) in length, although 6–7 foot (183–213 cm) specimens are not uncommon. Thermoreceptive pits are located between the labial scales. Females are larger than males. It is greenish in colour and is found on the east side of Madagascar. Distribution and habitat Endemic to Madagascar. The type locality given is "Madagascar". Favors trees and shrubs near streams, rivers, ponds and swamps. Conservation status This species was classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2006 with the following criteria: A1cd (v2.3, 1994). This means that a populat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey (not the related ocellated turkey). Description Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green legs. The body feathers are generally blackish and dark, sometimes grey brown overall with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in adult males. Adult males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. Juvenile males are called jakes; the difference between an adult male and a juvenile is that the jake has a very short beard and his tail fan has longer feathers in the middle. The adult male's tail fan feathers will be all the same length. When males ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domesticated Turkey
The domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo domesticus) is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus '' Meleagris'' and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica at least 2,000 years ago, recent research suggests a possible second domestication event in the area that is now the southwestern United States between 200 BC and AD 500. However, all of the main domestic turkey varieties today descend from the turkey raised in central Mexico that was subsequently imported into Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century. The domestic turkey is a popular form of poultry, and it is raised throughout temperate parts of the world, partially because industrialized farming has made it very cheap for the amount of meat it produces. Female domestic turkeys are called ''hens'', and the chicks are ''poults'' or ''turkeylings''. In Canada and the United States, male turkeys are called ''toms''; in the United Kingdom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metatarsus
The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the medial side (the side of the great toe): the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth metatarsal (often depicted with Roman numerals). The metatarsals are analogous to the metacarpal bones of the hand. The lengths of the metatarsal bones in humans are, in descending order, second, third, fourth, fifth, and first. Structure The five metatarsals are dorsal convex long bones consisting of a shaft or body, a base (proximally), and a head (distally).Platzer 2004, p. 220 The body is prismoid in form, tapers gradually from the tarsal to the phalangeal extremity, and is curved longitudinally, so as to be concave below, slightly convex above. The base or posterior extremity is wedge-shaped, articulating proximally with the tarsal bones, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galliformes
Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds. The order contains about 290 species, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica, and divided into five families: Phasianidae (including chicken, quail, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, peafowl (peacocks) and grouse), Odontophoridae (New World quail), Numididae (guinea fowl), Cracidae (including chachalacas and curassows), and Megapodiidae (incubator birds like malleefowl and brush-turkeys). They adapt to most environments except for innermost deserts and perpetual ice. Many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species are more colorful than the females, with often elaborate courtship behavio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult male bird, and a younger male may be called a cockerel. A male that has been castrated is a capon. An adult female bird is called a hen and a sexually immature female is called a pullet. Humans now keep chickens primarily as a source of food (consuming both their meat and eggs) and as pets. Traditionally they were also bred for cockfighting, which is still practiced in some places. Chickens are one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion , up from more than 19 billion in 2011. There are more chickens in the world than any other bird. There are numerous cultural references to chickens – in myth, folklore and religion, and in language and literature. Genetic studies have poi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarsometatarsus
The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) and metatarsal bones (foot). Despite this, the tarsometatarsus of birds is often referred to as just the shank, tarsus or metatarsus. Tarsometatarsal fusion occurred in several ways and extents throughout bird evolution. Specifically, in Neornithes (modern birds), although the bones are joined along their entire length, the fusion is most thorough at the distal (metatarsal) end. In the Enantiornithes, a group of Mesozoic avialans, the fusion was complete at the proximal (tarsal) end, but the distal metatarsi were still partially distinct. While these fused bones are best known from birds and their relatives, avians are neither the only group nor the first to possess tarsometatarsi. In a remarkable case of parallel evolution, they were also pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann's Tortoise
Hermann's tortoise (''Testudo hermanni'') is a species of tortoise. Two subspecies are known: the western Hermann's tortoise (''T. h. hermanni'' ) and the eastern Hermann's tortoise (''T. h. boettgeri'' ). Sometimes mentioned as a subspecies, ''T. h. peleponnesica'' is not yet confirmed to be genetically different from ''T. h. boettgeri''. Etymology The specific epithet, ''hermanni'', honors French naturalist Johann Hermann.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Testudo hermanni'', p. 121; ''T. h. boettgeri'', p. 29). The subspecific name, ''boettgeri'', honors German herpetologist Oskar Boettger. Geographic range ''Testudo hermanni'' can be found throughout southern Europe. The western population (''T. h. hermanni'') is found in eastern Spain, southern France, the Balearic islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, southern and central Italy (Tuscany). The e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spur-thighed Tortoise
The Greek tortoise (''Testudo graeca''), also known commonly as the spur-thighed tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. ''Testudo graeca'' is one of five species of Mediterranean tortoises ( genera '' Testudo'' and '' Agrionemys''). The other four species are Hermann's tortoise (''T. hermanni''), the Egyptian tortoise (''T. kleinmanni''), the marginated tortoise (''T. marginata''), and the Russian tortoise (''A. horsfieldii''). The Greek tortoise is a very long-lived animal, achieving a lifespan upwards of 125 years, with some unverified reports up to 200 years. Geographic range The Greek tortoise's geographic range includes North Africa, Southern Europe, and Southwest Asia. It is prevalent in the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (from Anapa, Russia, to Sukhumi, Abkhazia, Georgia, to the south), as well as in other regions of Georgia, Armenia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. Evolution The oldest known definitive fossil is from the Early Pliocene of Greece, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Femur
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with the tibia (shinbone) and patella (kneecap), forming the knee joint. By most measures the two (left and right) femurs are the strongest bones of the body, and in humans, the largest and thickest. Structure The femur is the only bone in the upper leg. The two femurs converge medially toward the knees, where they articulate with the proximal ends of the tibiae. The angle of convergence of the femora is a major factor in determining the femoral-tibial angle. Human females have thicker pelvic bones, causing their femora to converge more than in males. In the condition ''genu valgum'' (knock knee) the femurs converge so much that the knees touch one another. The opposite extreme is ''genu varum'' (bow-leggedness). In the general popu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Testudo (genus)
''Testudo'', the Mediterranean tortoises, are a genus of tortoises found in North Africa, Western Asia, and Europe. Several species are under threat in the wild, mainly from habitat destruction. Background They are small tortoises, ranging in length from 7.0 to 35 cm and in weight from 0.7 to 7.0 kg. Systematics The systematics and taxonomy of ''Testudo'' is notoriously problematic. Highfield and Martin commented: Synonymies on ''Testudo'' are notoriously difficult to compile with any degree of accuracy. The status of species referred has undergone a great many changes, each change introducing an additional level of complexity and making bibliographic research on the taxa extremely difficult. Most early and not a few later checklists contain a very high proportion of entirely spurious entries, and a considerable number of described species are now considered invalid – either because they are homonyms, non-binomial or for some other reason. Since then, DNA sequence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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