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Feral Donkeys In Australia
Feral donkeys were first brought to Australia as pack animals to replace horses, which had succumbed to native poisonous plants. Now numbering 5 million, they have been declared a pest, owing to their damage to vegetation and erosion of soil. Culling is mainly carried out by marksmen in helicopters, and experiments are being made in fertility control. History Feral donkeys in Australia (and elsewhere) are donkeys (scientific name ''Equus asinus'') which escaped from captivity, and are living and breeding in the wild. Donkeys originated in Africa and in parts of Asia, and are part of the family Equidae. While donkeys display many horse-like characteristics, they are more closely related to African wild asses. Donkeys were brought to Australia in 1866 for use as pack and haulage animals. Up until that point, the Australians had been using the horse as their main mode of transportation. However, problems arose when the horses used in transportation began to become sickened by some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Ass
''Asinus'' is a subgenus of '' Equus'' that encompasses several subspecies of the Equidae commonly known as wild asses, characterized by long ears, a lean, straight-backed build, lack of a true withers, a coarse mane and tail, and a reputation for considerable toughness and endurance. The common donkey is the best-known domesticated representative of the subgenus, with both domesticated and feral varieties. Among the wild ass species, several never-domesticated species live in Asia and Africa, with the extinct European wild ass species formerly inhabiting Europe. Taxonomy * Genus: ''Equus'' ** Subgenus: ''Asinus'' *** African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'' **** Nubian wild ass, ''Equus africanus africanus'' **** Somali wild ass, ''Equus africanus somaliensis'' **** Atlas wild ass, †''Equus africanus atlanticus'' (extinct 1st millienium AD) **** Donkey, ''Equus africanus asinus'' ***Onager or Asiatic wild ass, ''Equus hemionus'' **** Mongolian wild ass or khulan, ''Equus hemionu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberley (Western Australia)
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory. The region was named in 1879 by government surveyor Alexander Forrest after Secretary of State for the Colonies John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley. History The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of Australia, with the first humans landing about 65,000 years ago. They created a complex culture that developed over thousands of years. Yam (vegetable), Yam (''Dioscorea hastifolia'') agriculture was developed, and rock art suggests that this was where some of the earliest boomerangs were invented. The worship of Wandjina deities was most common in this region, and a complex theology dealing with the transmigration of souls was part of the local people's religi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fauna Naturalised In Australia
Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and ''funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoologists and paleontologists use ''fauna'' to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics. Etymology ''Fauna'' comes from the name Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and ''panis'' is the Modern Greek equivalent of fauna (πανίς or rather πανίδα). ''Fauna'' is also the word for a boo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feral Donkeys
A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species. The removal of feral species is a major focus of island restoration. Animals A feral animal is one that has escaped from a domestic or captive status and is living more or less as a wild animal, or one that is descended from such animals. Other definitions include animals that have changed from being domesticated to being wild, natural, or untamed. Some common examples of animals with feral populations are horses, dogs, goats, cats, rabbits, camels, and pigs. Zoologists generally exclude from the feral category animals that were genuinely wild before they escaped from captivity: neither lions escaped from a zoo nor the white-tailed eagles re-introduced to the UK are regarded as f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Feral Camel
Australian feral camels are introduced populations of dromedary, or one-humped, camel (''Camelus dromedarius''—from the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Subcontinent). Imported to Australia as valuable beasts of burden from British India and Afghanistan during the 19th century (for transport and sustenance during the exploration and colonisation of the Red Centre), many were casually released into the wild after motorised transport negated the use of camels in the early 20th century. This resulted in a fast-growing feral population with numerous ecological, agricultural, and social impacts. By 2008, it was feared that Central Australia's feral camel population had grown to roughly one million animals, and was projected to double every 8 to 10 years. Camels are known to cause serious degradation of local environmental and cultural sites, particularly during dry conditions. They directly compete with endemic animals, such as kangaroos and other marsupials, by eatin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or logical mechanism of action. Some TCM ingredients Traditional Chinese medicine#Safety, are known to be toxic and cause disease, including cancer. Medicine in traditional China encompassed a range of sometimes competing health and healing practices, folk beliefs, Scholar-official, literati theory and Confucianism, Confucian philosophy, Chinese herbology, herbal remedies, Chinese food therapy, food, diet, exercise, medical specializations, and schools of thought. TCM as it exists today has been described as a largely 20th century invention. In the early twentieth century, Chinese cultural and political modernizers worked to eliminate traditional practices as backward and unscientific. Traditional practitioners then selec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donkey-hide Gelatin
Donkey-hide gelatin or ass-hide glue () is gelatin obtained from the skin of the donkey (''Equus asinus'') by soaking and stewing. It is used as an ingredient in the traditional medicine of China, where it is called ejiao (), meaning "gelatin of Dong'e County". The gelatin is produced in several coastal provinces of China, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong. Shandong's Dong'e County is the source of the name "ejiao". According to a ca. 1723 account by the French Jesuit Dominique Parrenin, there was a well in Dong'e which was normally kept closed and sealed, and which was only opened when water was taken to be used in preparation of ''ejiao'' for the emperor's court. (This is a reprint; the original text was published in the first half of the 18th century. ''E xian'' (for Dong'e) and ''Ejiao'' are transcribed ''Ngo-hien'' and ''Ngo-kiao'', under the transcription system then in use). Manufacture Li Shizhen wrote in '' Bencao gangmu'' that ''ejiao'' is originally made f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trafficking
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, social scientists define smuggling as the purposeful movement across a border in contravention to the relevant legal frameworks. There are various motivations to smuggle. These include the participation in illegal trade, such as in the Illegal drug trade, drug trade, illegal weapons trade, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, Theft, heists, chop shops, illegal immigration or illegal emigration, Tax avoidance and tax evasion, tax evasion, import restrictions, export restrictions, providing contraband to prison inmates, or the theft of the items being smuggled. Smuggling is a common theme in literature, from Bizet's opera ''Carmen (opera), Carmen'' to the James Bond spy books (and later films) ''Diamonds Are Forever (novel), Diamonds A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of short take-off and landing (STOL) or short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft cannot perform without a runway. The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was the first successful, practical, and fully controllable helicopter in 1936, while in 1942, the Sikorsky R-4 became the first helicopter to reach full-scale mass production, production. Starting in 1939 and through 1943, Igor Sikorsky worked on the development of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, VS-300, which over four iterations, became the basis for modern helicopters with a single main rotor and a single tail rotor. Although most earlier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muster (horse)
A muster (Au/NZ) or a roundup (US/Ca) is the process of gathering livestock. Musters usually involve cattle, Domestic sheep, sheep or horses, but may also include Domestic goat, goats, Dromedary, camels, American bison, buffalo or other animals. Mustering may be conducted for a variety of reasons including routine livestock health checks and treatments, livestock branding, branding, Sheep shearing, shearing, lamb marking, sale, feeding and transport or droving to another location. Mustering is a long, difficult and sometimes dangerous job, especially on the vast Australian cattle stations of the Top End, 'The Falls' (gorge) country of the Great Dividing Range and the ranches of the western United States. The group of animals gathered in a muster is referred to as a "mob" in Australia and a "herd" in North America. Methods Mustering may be done on foot, with various vehicles, horses or with aircraft. Techniques in mustering cattle or sheep will depend on region, culture, distanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domestication
Domestication is a multi-generational Mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of resources, such as meat, milk, or labor. The process is gradual and geographically diffuse, based on trial and error. Domestication affected genes for behavior in animals, making them less aggressive. In plants, domestication affected genes for morphology, such as increasing seed size and stopping the Shattering (agriculture), shattering of cereal seedheads. Such changes both make domesticated organisms easier to handle and reduce their ability to survive in the wild. The first Domestication of animals, animal to be domesticated by humans was the domestication of the dog, dog, as a Commensalism, commensal, at least 15,000 years ago. Other animals, including goats, sheep, and cows, were domesticated around 11,000 years ago. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, transports it to another location where it is deposit (geology), deposited. Erosion is distinct from weathering which involves no movement. Removal of rock or soil as clastic sediment is referred to as ''physical'' or ''mechanical'' erosion; this contrasts with ''chemical'' erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by Solvation, dissolution. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres. Agents of erosion include rainfall; bedrock wear in rivers; coastal erosion by the sea and Wind wave, waves; glacier, glacial Plucking (glaciation), plucking, Abrasion (geology), abrasion, and scour; areal flooding; Aeolian processes, wind abrasion; groundwater processes; and Mass wastin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
