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Dibeen Forest Reserve
Dibeen Forest Reserve is a nature reserve located in the north-west of Jordan. It is situated just south of the Roman site of Jerash and covers an area of of rolling hills covered with pine–oak habitat. This area houses the largest Aleppo Pines one of the oldest and naturally grown habitats in Jordan. It also is the home to 17 endangered species such as the Persian Squirrel. The area was protected as a nature reserve in 2004 under the initiative of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. Geology and climate The forest is known as the driest places in the region and ranges over 60 km and is changing in altitude of 500m to 1000m above sea level. The rock within the reserve is a mixture of limestone and chalky limestone, which has been formed into steep slopes. The average rainfall is per year. Within the forest, there is a variety of moisture conditions, with wadis giving different regimes from those found on the steep slopes. The Royal Society for the Conserva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jordan Times
''The Jordan Times'' is an English-language daily newspaper based in Amman, Jordan. History Established in 1975, ''The Jordan Times'' is owned by the Jordan Press Foundation, a shareholding company which also runs the Arabic-language daily '' Al Ra'i'', the kingdom's best-selling newspaper. The Jordan Press Foundation has been majority government-owned since its inception, but it is unclear how much the government's stake has fallen since 2000, when a plan to sell some of the Foundation's shares was announced. ''The Jordan Times'' maintains editorial independence from its sister daily '' Al Ra'i''. Content and profile The newspaper includes two main sections: * News: Covers local, regional, and world news, and includes subsections on business and sports. * Opinions: Features opinion commentary and analysis by Jordanian, Arab, and international writers. The paper's website was the 31st most visited website in the Arab world in 2013. Alumni Notable journalists who have worked a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyenas
Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliformia, feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family (taxonomy), family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems. Although phylogenetics, phylogenetically closer to Felidae, felines and Viverridae, viverrids, as part of suborder Feliformia, hyenas are behaviourally and Morphology (biology), morphologically similar to canidae, canids in several elements due to convergent evolution; both hyenas and canines are non-arboreal, cursorial hunters that catch prey with their teeth rather than claws. Both eat food quickly and may store it, and their calloused feet with large, blunt, nonretractable claws are adapted for running and making sharp turns. However, hyenas' grooming, scent marking, defecation habits, mating and par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly understood, comprise wild subspecies. The wolf is the largest extant member of the family Canidae. It is also distinguished from other ''Canis'' species by its less pointed ears and muzzle, as well as a shorter torso and a longer tail. The wolf is nonetheless related closely enough to smaller ''Canis'' species, such as the coyote and the golden jackal, to produce fertile hybrids with them. The banded fur of a wolf is usually mottled white, brown, gray, and black, although subspecies in the arctic region may be nearly all white. Of all members of the genus ''Canis'', the wolf is most specialized for cooperative game hunting as demonstrated by its physical adaptations to tackling large prey, its more social nature, and its highly advance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Squirrel
The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus '' Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers have decreased drastically in recent years. This decline is associated with the introduction by humans of the eastern grey squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis'') from North America. However, the population in Scotland is stabilising due to conservation efforts, awareness and the increasing population of the pine marten, a European predator that selectively controls grey squirrels. Description The red squirrel has a typical head-and-body length of , a tail length of , and a mass of . Males and females are the same size. The red squirrel is somewhat smaller than the eastern grey squirrel which has a head-and-body length of and weighs between . The long tail helps the squirrel to balance and steer when jumping from tree to tree and runn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Understory
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations. Many ...), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but above the forest floor. Only a small percentage of light penetrates the canopy so understory vegetation is generally shade-tolerant. The understory typically consists of trees stunted through lack of light, other small trees with low light requirements, saplings, shrubs, vines and undergrowth. Small trees such as holly and dogwood are understory specialists. In Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest, temperate deciduous forests, many understory plants start into growth earlier in the year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olive Tree
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'Montra', dwarf olive, or little olive. The species is cultivated in all the countries of the Mediterranean, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and South Africa. ''Olea europaea'' is the type species for the genus '' Olea''. The olive's fruit, also called an "olive", is of major agricultural importance in the Mediterranean region as the source of olive oil; it is one of the core ingredients in Mediterranean cuisine. The tree and its fruit give their name to the plant family, which also includes species such as lilac, jasmine, forsythia, and the true ash tree. Thousands of cultivars of the olive tree are known. Olive cultivars may be used primarily for oil, eating, or both. Olives cultivated for consumption are gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pistachio
The pistachio (, ''Pistacia vera''), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food. ''Pistacia vera'' is often confused with other species in the genus '' Pistacia'' that are also known as pistachio. These other species can be distinguished by their geographic distributions (in the wild) and their seeds which are much smaller and have a soft shell. Etymology Pistachio is from late Middle English ''pistace'', from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian ''pistacchio'', via Latin from Greek ''pistákion'', and from Middle Persian ''pistakē''. History The pistachio tree is native to regions of Central Asia, including present-day Iran and Afghanistan. Archaeology shows that pistachio seeds were a common food as early as 6750 BC. So far, the earliest evidence of pistachio consumption goes back to the Bronze Age Central Asia and comes from Djarkut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arbutus Andrachne
''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands and North America. The name ''Arbutus'' was taken from Latin, where it referred to ''Arbutus unedo''. Description ''Arbutus'' are small trees or shrubs with red flaking bark and edible red berries.Mabberley, D. J. 1997. ''The plant book: A portable dictionary of the vascular plants''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Fruit development is delayed for about five months after pollination, so that flowers appear while the previous year's fruit are ripening. Peak flowering for the genus is in April with peak fruiting in October. History The smooth wood of the tree is mentioned by Theophrastus in his ''Enquiry into Plants'' (''Historia Plantarum'') as formerly being used to make weaving spindles. An article on Arbutus tree cultivatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. (See ''External links'' below). The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species is nearly equal to the number of bony fishes, more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family encompasses about 6–11% of all species of seed plants. The largest genera are '' Bulbophyllum'' (2,000 species), '' Epidendrum'' (1,500 species), '' Dendrobium'' (1,400 species) and '' Pleurothallis'' (1,000 species). It also includes '' Vanilla'' (the genus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Infectoria
''Quercus infectoria'' or the Aleppo oak is a species of oak well known for producing galls (called manjakani in Malaysia, majuphal in India) that have been traditionally used for centuries in Asia medicinally while also used in softening leather and in making black dye and ink. Description ''Quercus infectoria'' is a small tree, growing to in height. The stems are crooked, shrubby looking with smooth and bright-green leaves borne on short petioles of long. The leaves are bluntly mucronate, rounded, smooth, unequal at the base and shiny on the upper side. The galls arise on young branches of the tree when gall wasps sting the oak tree and deposit their larvae. The chemical reaction causes an abnormality in the tree, causing hard balls to be formed. They are corrugated in appearance. Gall chemistry The galls from ''Quercus infectoria'' contain the highest naturally occurring level of tannin, approximately 50–70%, as well as syringic acid, β-sitosterol, amentoflavone, hexame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palestine Oak
''Quercus calliprinos'' is an oak classified as part of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus growing in the Mediterranean climate zone, mainly on limestone, in mid-elevations, often dominating the flora, alongside terebinths (''Pistacia terebinthus'').Zohary, M. "The maquis of Quercus calliprinos in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan." Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel 9.2 (1960): 51-72.. It is native to eastern Mediterranean region and southwest Asia, and grows in the Levant, North Africa to Anatolia and further eastwards. In Israel it is called the common oak (, ) or the Palestine oak. ''Quercus calliprinos'' was described by Webb in 1838. The name ''calliprinos'' derives from Ancient Greek, and means ‘beautiful oak’: κάλλος (''kallos'') = beauty + πρῖνος (''prinos'') a name for Holm Oak (''Q. ilex''). The common name Sindian Oak derives from the local Palestinian name (Stapf 1920). Description ''Quercus calliprinos'' is a small to medium-sized tree or la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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