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Ascension Night Heron
The Ascension night heron (''Nycticorax olsoni'') is an extinct night heron species from the genus ''Nycticorax'' endemic to the South Atlantic island of Ascension. It is predominantly known from the bone fragments of six specimens found in guano deposits and caves on Ascension Island and described by Philip Ashmole, Kenneth Edwin Laurence Ryder Simmons, and William Richmond Postle Bourne in 2003. The Ascension night heron disappeared in the 16th century. Its scientific name commemorates Storrs L. Olson. A possible report on the Ascension night heron is found in the chapter "''D'une isle nommte I'Ascention''" in the travel report ' by André Thévet. Given that Thévet alludes to a flightless bird named ''Aponar'' in 1555, it could be quite possible that he was referring to the Ascension night heron. The English translation of Thévet's notice about the ''Aponar'' (sometimes also written ''Aponat'' or ''Aponard'') is stated as:Jeremy Gaskell: Who killed the Great Auk. Oxford ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named Name of Canada, "The Country of Canadas" after the Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona, Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (village), Hochelaga (Montreal Island).. Early life Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in Saint-Malo, the port on the north-east coast of Brittany. Cartier, who was a respectable Sailor, mariner, improved his social status in 1520 by marrying Mary Catherine des Granches, member of a leading aristocratic family. His good name in Saint-Malo is recognized by its frequent appearance in baptismal registers as godfather or witness. First voyage (1534) In 1534, two years after the Duchy of Brittany was formally united with the French crown in the Union between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Described In 2003
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 furth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct Flightless Birds
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its last member. A taxon may become functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to reproduce and recover. As a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. Over five billion species are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryotes globally, possibly many times more if microorganisms are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and mammoths. Through evolution, species arise through the process of speciation. Species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Banks
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordfish, haddock and capelin, as well as shellfish, seabirds and sea mammals. Significance The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a group of underwater plateaus south-east of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from in depth. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream here, often causing extreme foggy conditions. The mixing of these waters and the shape of the ocean bottom lifts nutrients to the surface. These conditions helped to create one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. Fish species include Atlantic cod, swordfish, haddock and capelin; shellfish include scallop and lobster. The area also supports large colonies of seabirds such as northern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, allopatric speciation, isolation and habitat species-area curve, area. Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals. Mycogeography is the branch that studies distribution of fungi, such as mushrooms. Knowledge of spatial variation in the numbers and types of organisms is as vital to us today as it was to our early human ancestors, as we adapt to heterogeneous but geographically predictable Natural environment, environments. Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology, taxonomy (bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Auk
The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''), also known as the penguin or garefowl, is an Extinction, extinct species of flightless bird, flightless auk, alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and Bird extinction, became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It was not closely related to the Penguin, penguins of the Southern Hemisphere, which were named for their resemblance to this species. It bred on rocky, remote islands with easy access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for the great auks. During the non-breeding season, the auk foraged in the waters of the North Atlantic, ranging as far south as northern Spain and along the coastlines of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain. The bird was tall and weighed about , making it the largest alcid to survive into the modern era, and the second-largest member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flightless Bird
Flightless birds are birds that cannot Bird flight, fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowary, cassowaries, Rhea (bird), rheas, and Kiwi (bird), kiwis) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail (length 12.5 cm, weight 34.7 g). The largest (both heaviest and tallest) flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird in general, is the common ostrich (2.7 m, 156 kg). Many domesticated birds, such as the domestic chicken and domestic duck, have lost the ability to fly for extended periods, although their ancestral species, the red junglefowl and mallard, respectively, are capable of extended flight. A few particularly bred birds, such as the Broad Breasted White turkey, have become totally flightless as a result of selective breeding; the birds were bred to grow massive breast meat that weighs too much for the bird's wings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nycticorax
''Nycticorax'' is a genus of night herons. The name ''Nycticorax'' means "night raven" and derives from the Ancient Greek νύκτος, ''nuktos'' "night" and κοραξ, ''korax'', "raven". It refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the black-crowned night heron. These are medium-sized herons which often are migratory in the colder parts of their ranges. Adults are short-necked, relatively short-legged and stout herons; the two extant species both have a black crown and a whitish belly, while the wings, chest, neck and auriculars are grey or rufous depending on the species. Young birds are brown, flecked with white and grey, and are quite similar to each other in the extant species. At least some of the extinct Mascarenes taxa appear to have retained this juvenile plumage in adult birds. Night herons nest in colonies on platforms of sticks in a group of trees, or on the ground in p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Thévet
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal, Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries. It is a variation of the Greek name ''Andreas'', a short form of any of various compound names derived from ''andr-'' 'man, warrior'. The name is popular in Norway and Sweden. Cognate names Cognate names are: * Bulgarian: Andrei, |
Storrs L
Storrs may refer to: * Storrs (surname) * Storrs, Connecticut Storrs ( ) is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the New England town, town of Mansfield, Connecticut, Mansfield in eastern Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The village is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, ..., a village where the main campus of the University of Connecticut is located ** Charles and Augustus Storrs, founders of the University of Connecticut and namesakes of the village * Storrs Township, Hamilton County, Ohio * Storrs, South Yorkshire, a rural hamlet within the City of Sheffield, England * Storrs, Cumbria See also * Storrs Hall, a listed building in Cumbria, England * Yealand Storrs, a hamlet in the English county of Lancashire * Storr {{disambiguation, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
