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Greater Blue-eared Starling
The greater blue-eared starling or greater blue-eared glossy-starling (''Lamprotornis chalybaeus'') is a bird that breeds from Senegal east to Ethiopia and south through eastern Africa to northeastern South Africa and Angola. It is a very common species of open woodland bird, and undertakes some seasonal migration. Subspecies There are four accepted subspecies: * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus chalybaeus'' — Sahel region * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus cyaniventris'' — northeastern Africa * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus nordmanni'' — southern Africa * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus scyobius'' — central and East Africa Description The greater blue-eared starling is a 22 cm long, short tailed bird. This starling is glossy blue-green with a purple-blue belly and blue ear patch. Its iris is bright yellow or orange. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is duller and has blackish brown underparts. The populations from southern Kenya southwards are smaller than northern birds and are sometim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926. It is part of Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated as a biosphere reserve. History Conservation Pre-Game Reserve (1867-1898) A Game Commission was established in 1891 with J.M. Malan of Rustenberg as chairperson which resulted in the establishment of the game law of 1891 It must be noted that there were already individual farmers as far back as 1867 who published notices in the ''Staatscourant'' to prohibit hunting and so try preserve the game on their own land. In total 200 owners protected game on about 300 farms between 1867 and 1881 in this manner. One o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Spotted Cuckoo
The great spotted cuckoo (''Clamator glandarius'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. It is widely spread throughout Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. It is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of corvids, in particular the Eurasian magpie. Taxonomy In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the great spotted cuckoo in the second volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The Great Spotted Cuckow". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been shot in Gibraltar and sent to the English naturalist Mark Catesby in London. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''Systema Naturae'' for the tenth edition, he placed the great spotted cuckoo with the other cuckoos in the genus ''Cuculus''. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Described In 1828
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 furt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Sub-Saharan Africa
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, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamprotornis
''Lamprotornis'' is a large genus of glossy starlings all of which occur in Africa south of the Sahara. They have glossy blue or green upper parts, which is due to hollow melanin granules arranged in a single layer near the feather barbule's surface. This unique arrangement led to some glossy starlings formerly placed in the genus ''Spreo'' being transferred to ''Lamprotornis'', since they shared this feature (but see also below). The genus ''Lamprotornis'' was introduced by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1820. The type species was subsequently designated as the long-tailed glossy starling. The under parts of these species lack iridescence. They may be blue, purple, yellow or brown. Most ''Lamprotornis'' starlings have striking yellow or red irides and some have long tails. These glossy starlings are found in a variety of habitats from forests to open woodland and gardens. They nest in tree holes, either natural, or made by woodpeckers or barbets, and some wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitism
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson characterised parasites' way of feeding as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the broomrapes. There are six major parasitic strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), vector-transmitted parasitism, parasitoidism, and micropredation. One major axis of classification concerns invasiveness: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ficus
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (''F. carica'') is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region (from Afghanistan to Portugal), which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses. Description ''Ficus'' is a pantropical genus of trees, shrubs, and vines occupying a wide variety of ecological niches; most a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate subphylum Vertebrata, i.e. vertebrates. Well-known Phylum, phyla of invertebrates include arthropods, molluscs, annelids, echinoderms, flatworms, cnidarians, and sponges. The majority of animal species are invertebrates; one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxon, taxa have a greater number and diversity of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Invertebrates vary widely in size, from 10 Micrometre, μm (0.0004 in) myxozoans to the 9–10 m (30–33 ft) colossal squid. Some so-called invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata, are actually sister chordate subphyla to Vertebrata, being more closely related to vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the "invertebrates" para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omnivore
An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutrients and energy of the sources absorbed. Often, they have the ability to incorporate food sources such as algae, fungi, and bacteria into their diet. Omnivores come from diverse backgrounds that often independently evolved sophisticated consumption capabilities. For instance, dogs evolved from primarily carnivorous organisms (Carnivora) while pigs evolved from primarily herbivorous organisms (Artiodactyla). Despite this, physical characteristics such as tooth morphology may be reliable indicators of diet in mammals, with such morphological adaptation having been observed in bears. The variety of different animals that are classified as omnivores can be placed into further sub-categories depending on their feeding behaviors. Frug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Australasia, but is now reserved for species mainly from Australia, with others from New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean. The genus name is Neo-Latin, borrowed from Koine Greek (), a term used in antiquity to describe a preparation extracted from '' Vachellia nilotica'', the original type species. Several species of ''Acacia'' have been introduced to various parts of the world, and two million hectares of commercial plantations have been established. Description Plants in the genus ''Acacia'' are shrubs or trees with bipinnate leaves, the mature leaves sometimes reduced to phyllodes or rarely absent. There are 2 small stipules at the base of the leaf, but sometimes fall off as the leaf matures. The flowers are borne in spik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater Honeyguide
The greater honeyguide (''Indicator indicator'') is a bird in the family honeyguide, Indicatoridae, Floristic kingdom#Paleotropical Kingdom, paleotropical near passerine birds related to the woodpeckers. Its English language, English and scientific names refer to its habit of guiding people to bee colonies. Claims that it also guides non-human animals are disputed. The greater honeyguide is a resident breeder in sub-Saharan Africa. It is found in a variety of habitat (ecology), habitats that have trees, especially dry open woodland, but not in the West African rain forest, jungle. Description The greater honeyguide has bold white patches on the sides of the tail and is about long and weighs about . The male has a black throat, pink bill, dark grey-brown upperparts and white underparts. The wings are streaked whitish, and the shoulder patch is yellow. The female is duller, has a blackish bill, and her throat is black. Immature birds have olive-brown upperparts with a white rump ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brood Parasite
Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest brood, which emerges on a 17-year cycle ** Brood XIII, a brood centered on Northern Illinois and its surrounding area, which also emerges on a 17-year cycle ** Brood XIX, a large brood in the Southern United States which emerges on a 13-year cycle People with the surname * Herman Brood (1946–2001), Dutch musician, painter, actor, poet and media personality * Philippe Brood (1964–2000), Dutch politician Entertainment * '' The Brood'', a 1979 horror film directed by David Cronenberg * Brood (comics), an alien species from the Marvel Comics universe * The Brood (professional wrestling) The Brood was a List of professional wrestling terms#Stable, stable known for its time in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) duri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
