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Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now confined to the island of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, the Tasmanian devil became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936. It is related to quolls, and distantly related to the thylacine. It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. The Tasmanian devil's large head and neck allow it to generate among the strongest bites per unit body mass of any extant predatory land mammal. It hunts prey and scavenges on carrion. Although devils are usually solitary, they sometimes eat and defecate together in a communal location. Unlike most other dasyurids, the devil the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene is an interglacial period within the ongoing Ice age, glacial cycles of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to Marine isotope stages, Marine Isotope Stage 1. The Holocene correlates with the last maximum axial tilt towards the Sun of the Earth#Axial tilt and seasons, Earth's obliquity. The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth, and impacts of the human species worldwide, including Recorded history, all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition towards urban culture, urban living in the present. The human impact on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global significance for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.Looney Tunes . ''www.bcdb.com'', April 12, 2012 Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large List of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird and Elmer Fudd. The term ''Looney Tunes'' has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' were initially produced by Leon Schlesinger and animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from 1930 to 1933. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quoll
Quolls (; genus ''Dasyurus'') are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal, and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Another two species are known from fossil remains in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits in Queensland. Genetic evidence indicates that quolls evolved around 15 million years ago in the Miocene, and that the ancestors of the six species had all diverged by around four million years ago. The six species vary in weight and size, from to . They have brown or black fur and pink noses. They are largely solitary, but come together for a few social interactions, such as mating, which occurs during Winter, the winter season. A female gives birth to up to 30 pups, but the number that can be raised to adulthood is limited by the number of teats (6–7). They have a life span of 1–5 years (species dependent). Quolls eat smaller mammals, small birds, l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data and observed heritable traits of DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, and morphology. The results are a phylogenetic tree—a diagram depicting the hypothetical relationships among the organisms, reflecting their inferred evolutionary history. The tips of a phylogenetic tree represent the observed entities, which can be living taxa or fossils. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the taxa represented on the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about directionality of character state transformation, and does not show the origin or "root" of the taxa in question. In addition to their use for inferring phylogenetic pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satan
Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'evil inclination'. In Christianity and Islam, he is usually seen as a fallen angel or jinn who has rebelled against God, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In the Quran, Iblis (Shaitan), the leader of the devils (''shayāṭīn''), is made of fire and was cast out of Heaven because he refused to bow before the newly created Adam. He incites humans to sin by infecting their minds with ''waswās'' ('evil suggestions'). A figure known as ''ha-satan'' ("the satan") first appears in the Hebrew Bible as a heavenly prosecutor, subordinate to Yahweh (God); he prosecutes the nation of Judah in the heavenly court and tests the loyalty of Yahweh's followers. During the intertestamental period, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beelzebub
Ba'al Zabub , Ba'al Zvuv or Beelzebub ( ; ''Baʿal-zəḇūḇ''), also spelled Beelzebul or Belzebuth, and occasionally known as the Lord of the Flies, is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name ''Beelzebub'' is associated with the Canaanite god Baal. In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan. He is known in demonology as one of the seven deadly demons or seven princes of Hell, Beelzebub representing gluttony and envy. The '' Dictionnaire Infernal'' describes Beelzebub as a being capable of flying, known as the "Lord of the Flies", "Lord of the Flyers", or the "Lord of the Flying Demons". He is also referenced in the well-known novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding due to his ties to hell and the themes of the book. Judaism Hebrew Scriptures The source for the name ''Beelzebub'' is in the Books of Kings (), written ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarcophilus Laniarius
''Sarcophilus laniarius'' is an extinct species of marsupial in the genus '' Sarcophilus''. It is therefore closely related to the Tasmanian devil (''S. harrisii''). Richard Owen originally named the species ''Dasyurus laniarus''. Pleistocene fossil deposits in limestone caves at Naracoorte, South Australia include specimens of ''S. laniarius'', which were around 15% larger and 50% heavier than modern devils.Owen and Pemberton, p. 35. Older specimens believed to be 50–70,000 years old were found in Darling Downs in Queensland and in Western Australia. It is not clear whether the modern devil evolved from ''S. laniarius'', or whether they coexisted at the time.Owen and Pemberton, p. 36. Richard Owen argued for the latter hypothesis in the 19th century based on fossils found in 1877 in New South Wales. It has been conjectured that ''S. laniarius'' and ''S. moornaensis'', another now-extinct larger species, may have hunted and scavenged. It is known that there were several gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Owen produced a vast array of scientific work, but is probably best remembered today for coining the word ''Dinosauria'' (meaning "Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile"). An outspoken critic of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Owen agreed with Darwin that evolution occurred but thought it was more complex than outlined in Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species''.[''Wikipedia:Citing sources, page range too broad''] Owen's approach to evolution can be considered to have anticipated the issues that have gained greater attention with the recent emergence of evolutionary developmental biology. Owen was the first president of the Microscopical Society of London in 1839 and edited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Shaw (biologist)
George Kearsley Shaw (10 December 1751 – 22 July 1813) was an English botanist and zoologist. Life Shaw was born at Bierton, Buckinghamshire, and was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, receiving his M.A. in 1772. He took up the profession of medical practitioner. In 1786, he became the assistant lecturer in botany at the University of Oxford. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. In 1791, Shaw became assistant keeper of the natural history department at the British Museum, succeeding Edward Whitaker Gray as keeper in 1806. He found that most of the items donated to the museum by Hans Sloane were in very bad condition. Medical and anatomical material was sent to the museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons, but many of the stuffed animals and birds had deteriorated and had to be burnt. He was succeeded after his death by his assistant Charles Konig. Shaw's library of natural history books and some of his specimens and equipment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Wombat
The common wombat (''Vombatus ursinus''), also known as the bare-nosed wombat, is a marsupial, one of three extant species of wombats and the only one in the genus ''Vombatus''. It has three subspecies: ''Vombatus ursinus hirsutus'', found on the Australian mainland; ''Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis'' (Tasmanian wombat), found in Tasmania; and ''Vombatus ursinus ursinus'' (Bass Strait wombat), found on Flinders Island and Maria Island in the Bass Strait. The mainland subspecies is the largest of the three, with its largest specimens measuring up to and . The common wombat is herbivorous, mainly nocturnal, and lives in burrows. Being a marsupial, its joeys inhabit a pouch on the mother for around five months after birth. Taxonomy The common wombat was first described by George Shaw in 1800. There are three extant subspecies of the common wombat, confirmed in 2019: *Bass Strait (common) wombat, also written "Common Wombat (Bass Strait)" Text may have been copied from this s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoological Society Of London
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Zoo. History On 29 November 1822, the birthday of John Ray, "the father of modern zoology", a meeting held in the Linnean Society in Soho Square led by Rev. William Kirby (entomologist), William Kirby, resolved to form a "Zoological Club of the Linnean Society of London". Between 1816 and 1826, discussions between Stamford Raffles, Humphry Davy, Joseph Banks and others led to the idea that London should have an establishment similar to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It would house a zoological collection "which should interest and amuse the public." The society was founded in April 1826 by Stamford Raffles, Sir Stamford Raffles, the Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Marquess of Lansdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
