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Afep Pigeon
The afep pigeon (''Columba unicincta''), also known as the African woodpigeon or grey woodpigeon, is a member of the family Columbidae, native to the African tropical rainforest from Sierra Leone east to Uganda. Taxonomy The afep pigeon was described by the American ornithologist John Cassin in 1860 from a specimen collected in West Africa from the Ogooué River, Gabon. He coined the binomial name ''Columba unicincta''. The specific epithet combines the Latin ''uni-'' "one-" and ''cinctus'' "banded". The English name "afep" is the word for a pigeon in the Bulu language of Cameroon. The species is monotypic. Its genetic relationship to other species in the genus has not yet been tested; morphological traits suggest it belongs to the woodpigeon group comprising the common wood pigeon ''C. palumbus'', Bolle's pigeon ''C. bollii'', and Trocaz pigeon ''C. trocaz''. Description The afep pigeon is length and weighs between . The sexes are similar. It has a pale grey hind neck, pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cassin
John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithology, ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and vice president at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification of the academy's extensive collection of birds. He was one of the founders of the Delaware County Institute of Science and published several books describing 194 new species of birds. Five species of North American birds, a cicada, and a mineral are named in his honor. Early life and education Cassin was born in Upper Providence Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Upper Providence Township, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1813. He was educated at the Westtown School in Westtown Township, Pennsylvania. His great Uncle, John Cassin (naval officer), John Cassin, was a commodore in the U.S. Navy and served in the War of 1812. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was held prisoner in the infamous Confederate Libb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolle's Pigeon
Bolle's pigeon, Bolle's laurel pigeon or dark-tailed laurel pigeon (''Columba bollii'') is a species of the genus Columba of family Columbidae, doves and pigeons, endemic to the Canary Islands, Spain. This bird is named after the German naturalist Carl Bolle, who was the first to distinguish it from the laurel pigeon. This wood pigeon is endemic to the laurel forest habitat. Description Larger than the common pigeon, a length of 36 cm to 38 cm. It is a large dark grey pigeon. At 37–40 cm, it looks like a very dark wood pigeon. Its dark grey, rather than brown, plumage and the dark bands on the grey tail distinguish it from the other pigeon endemic to the Canary Islands, the laurel pigeon. It is a basically dark grey bird, with a pinkish breast. It lacks any white markings, which together with its darker plumage distinguishes it from the other species. With red beak, most intense at the tip. Head relatively large, slate grey, in males, with bluish or greenish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columba (genus)
The bird genus ''Columba'' comprises a genus of medium to large pigeons. The terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used indiscriminately for smaller and larger Columbidae, respectively. ''Columba'' species are mostly termed "pigeons", and in many cases "wood pigeons", but some (including the type species of the genus), are termed "doves". The rock dove (''C. livia'') has given rise to the majority of domesticated pigeon breeds, such as the racing pigeon and the fantail pigeon, some of which have become feral. Meanwhile, "wood pigeon" by itself usually means the common wood pigeon (''C. palumbus''). This genus as understood today is native to the Old World, but some (notably the domestic and feral rock dove) have been introduced outside their natural range, for example in the Americas. Etymology The term ''columba'' comes from the Latin ''columba'', "a dove", the feminine form of ''columbus'', "a male dove", itself the latinisation of the Greek κόλυμβος (''kolumbos''), "dive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornell Lab Of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary. Approximately 250 scientists, professors, staff, and students work in a variety of programs devoted to the Lab's mission: interpreting and conserving the Earth's biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Work at the Lab is supported primarily by its 100,000 members and supporters. The Cornell Lab produces a quarterly publication, ''Living Bird'' magazine, and an electronic newsletter delivered twice per month. It manages numerous participatory science projects and websites, including the Webby Award-winning ''All About Birds''. History The Cornell Lab of Ornithology was founded by Arthur Augustus Allen, Arthur A. Allen, who had lobbied for the creation of the country's first graduate progra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of countries and dependencies by population, population and is the List of African countries by area, seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an Enclave and exclave, exclave province, the province of Cabinda Province, Cabinda, that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city is Luanda. Angola has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, Paleolithic Age. After the Bantu expansion reached the region, states were formed by the 13th century and organised into confederations. The Kingdom of Kongo ascended to achieve hegemony among the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of and a population of million people. There are coastal plains, mountains (the Crystal Mountains (Africa), Cristal Mountains and the Chaillu Massif in the centre), and a savanna in the east. Libreville is the country's capital and largest city. Gabon's original inhabitants were the African Pygmies, Bambenga. In the 14th century, Bantu expansion, Bantu migrants also began settling in the area. The Kingdom of Orungu was established around 1700. France colonised the region in the late 19th century. Since its independence from France in 1960, Gabon has had four President of Gabon, presidents. In the 1990s, it introduced a multi-party system and a democratic constitution that aimed for a more tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crop Milk
Crop milk is a secretion from the lining of the crop of parent birds in some species that is regurgitated to young birds. It is found among all pigeons and doves where it is also referred to as pigeon milk. Crop milk is also secreted from the crop of flamingos and the male emperor penguin, suggesting independent evolution of this trait. Unlike in mammals where typically only females produce milk, crop milk is produced by both males and females in pigeons and flamingos; and in penguins, only by the male. Lactation in birds is controlled by prolactin, which is the same hormone that causes lactation in mammals. Crop milk is a holocrine secretion non- sex specific in response to brooding unlike in mammals where milk is an apocrine secretion. Crop milk contains both fat and protein, as with mammalian milk, but unlike mammalian milk, it contains no carbohydrates. Pigeon milk Crop milk bears little physical resemblance to mammalian milk, though in pigeons it is compositionally s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Termite
Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are distinguished by their moniliform antennae and the soft-bodied, unpigmented worker caste for which they have been commonly termed "white ants"; however, they are not ants but highly Apomorphy and synapomorphy, derived cockroaches. About 2,997 extant species are currently described, 2,125 of which are members of the family Termitidae. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the Taxonomic rank#All ranks, epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattodea (the cockroaches). Termites were once classified in a separate Order (biology), order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches, as they are deeply nested within the group, and the sister group to wood-eating cockroaches of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea, and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Cameroon's population of nearly 31 million people speak 250 native languages, in addition to the national tongues of English and French, or both. Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon), Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese discoveries, Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area ''Rio dos Camarões'' (''Shrimp River''), which became ''C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dahomey Gap
In West Africa, the Dahomey Gap refers to the portion of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic that extends all the way to the coast in Benin, Togo, and Ghana, thus separating the forest zone that covers much of the south of the region into two separate parts. The forest region west of the gap is called the Upper Guinean forests or Guinean forest zone, and the portion east of the gap is called the Lower Guinean forests, Lower Guinean-Congolian forests, or Congolian Forest Zone. The major cities in the Gap are Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Porto-Novo. Several other cities, such as Kumasi, exist on the fringe of the Gap. Causes of dryness The dryness of the Dahomey Gap is unusual, given that it lies surrounded by a very wet monsoon belt on all sides, without mountains to block moisture. Yet, Accra, which is in the heart of the Gap, receives only of rainfall per year — less than half the amount needed to sustain tropical rainforest (which would be expected at a latitude of 6° N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trocaz Pigeon
The trocaz pigeon, Madeira laurel pigeon or long-toed pigeon (''Columba trocaz'') is a pigeon which is endemic to the island of Madeira, Portugal. It is a mainly grey bird with a pinkish breast; its silvery neck patch and lack of white wing markings distinguish it from its close relative and probable ancestor, the common wood pigeon. Its call is a characteristic six-note cooing, weaker and lower-pitched than that of the wood pigeon. Despite its bulky, long-tailed appearance, this pigeon has a fast, direct flight. A scarce resident breeder in laurisilva forests, the trocaz pigeon lays one white egg in a flimsy twig nest. Its numbers fell sharply after human colonisation of the Madeira archipelago, and it vanished altogether from Porto Santo Island. The major cause of its population decline was habitat loss from forest clearance, but hunting and nest predation by introduced rats were also contributory factors. Protection of the laurel forests and a ban on hunting have enabled numb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
