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Mascarene Parrot
The Mascarene parrot or mascarin (''Mascarinus mascarinus'') is an Extinction, extinct species of parrot that was endemic to the Mascarene Islands, Mascarene island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. The Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic relationships of this species have been subject to debate; it has historically been grouped with either the Psittaculini parrots or the vasa parrots, with the latest genetic study favouring the former group. The Mascarene parrot was in length with a large red Beak, bill and long, rounded Flight feather, tail feathers. Its legs were red, and it had naked red skin around the eyes and nostrils. It had a black facial mask and partially white tail feathers, but the colouration of the body, wings and head in the living bird is unclear. Descriptions from life indicate the body and head were ash grey, and the white part of the tail had two dark central feathers. In contrast, stuffed specimens and old descriptions based on them indicate that the body ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gerrard Keulemans
Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. Biography Keulemans was born in Rotterdam. As a young man he collected animal specimens for museums such as the Natural History Museum in Leiden, whose director, Hermann Schlegel, encouraged Keulemans and sent him on the 1864 expedition to West Africa. In 1869, he was persuaded by Richard Bowdler Sharpe to illustrate his '' Monograph of the Alcedinidae, or Family of Kingfishers'' (1868-1871) and to move to England, where he lived for the rest of his life. He was married twice, and had eight children by his first wife and seven children by his second wife. Only nine of his children reached adulthood. He also wrote topics on spirituality, and claimed he had a premonition at the moment of death of one of his sons. He died in Ilford, Essex (now part of Greater Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Travel Literature
The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a 1st century CE work; authorship is debated), Pausanias' ''Description of Greece'' in the 2nd century CE, '' Safarnama'' (Book of Travels) by Nasir Khusraw (1003-1077), the '' Journey Through Wales'' (1191) and '' Description of Wales'' (1194) by Gerald of Wales, and the travel journals of Ibn Jubayr (1145–1214), Marco Polo (1254–1354), and Ibn Battuta (1304–1377), all of whom recorded their travels across the known world in detail. As early as the 2nd century CE, Lucian of Samosata discussed history and travel writers who added embellished, fantastic stories to their works. The travel genre was a fairly common genre in medieval Arabic literature. In China, 'travel record literature' () became popular during the Song ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sieur Dubois
Sieur Dubois () or Sieur D. B. was a French traveller who reached the islands of Madagascar and Réunion at the time of early colonization by France. He wrote a book in French, published in 1674, about his journeys and the wildlife he saw including details of several species of birds endemic to Réunion that have since become extinct, such as the Réunion ibis The Réunion ibis or Réunion sacred ibis (''Threskiornis solitarius'') is an list of extinct birds, extinct species of ibis that was endemic to the volcanic island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The first subfossil remains were found in 1974 ..., Réunion swamphen, and Réunion rail.Dubois (1674) Captain Samuel Pasfield Oliver translated and edited the original French version into an English version, which was published in 1897.Dubois (translated and edited by Oliver) (1897). Editor's preface References Cited texts * * 17th-century French explorers French travel writers French naturalists 17th-century ps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. Its larger metropolitan area has a population of nearly 2.9 million, representing nearly one-third of the country's population. Vienna is the Culture of Austria, cultural, Economy of Austria, economic, and Politics of Austria, political center of the country, the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fifth-largest city by population in the European Union, and the most-populous of the List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. The city lies on the eastern edge of the Vienna Woods (''Wienerwald''), the northeasternmost foothills of the Alps, that separate Vienna from the more western parts of Austria, at the transition to the Pannonian Basin. It sits on the Danube, and is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captivity (animal)
Animal captivity is the confinement of domestic and wild animals. More specifically, animals that are held by humans and prevented from escaping are said to be in captivity. The term animal captivity is usually applied to wild animals that are held in confinement, but this term may also be used generally to describe the keeping of domesticated animals such as livestock or pets. This may include, for example, animals in farms, private homes, zoos, aquariums, public aquariums and laboratories. Animal captivity may be categorized according to the particular motives, objectives, and conditions of the confinement. History All throughout history, domestic animals like pets and livestock were kept in captivity and tended by humans. However, pets and livestock were not the only animals to be put in captivity and receive human care because wild animals had this as well. Despite the fact that wild animals have been harbored by humans for thousands of years, this captivity has not always ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. Europe is commonly considered to be Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe, separated from Asia by the Drainage divide, watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural (river), Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus, Bosporus Strait. "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles." Europe covers approx. , or 2% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface (6.8% of Earth's land area), making it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flight Feather
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail are called rectrices ( or ), singular rectrix (). The primary function of the flight feathers is to aid in the generation of both thrust and lift, thereby enabling flight. The flight feathers of some birds perform additional functions, generally associated with territorial displays, courtship rituals or feeding methods. In some species, these feathers have developed into long showy plumes used in visual courtship displays, while in others they create a sound during display flights. Tiny serrations on the leading edge of their remiges help owls to fly silently (and therefore hunt more successfully), while the extra-stiff rectrices of woodpeckers help them to brace against tree trunks as they hammer on them. Even flightless birds still r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and carrying objects, killing prey, or fighting), preening, courtship, and feeding young. The terms ''beak'' and '' rostrum'' are also used to refer to a similar mouth part in some ornithischians, pterosaurs, cetaceans, dicynodonts, rhynchosaurs, anuran tadpoles, monotremes (i.e. echidnas and platypuses, which have a bill-like structure), sirens, pufferfish, billfishes, and cephalopods. Although beaks vary significantly in size, shape, color and texture, they share a similar underlying structure. Two bony projections–the upper and lower mandibles–are covered with a thin keratinized layer of epidermis known as the rhamphotheca. In most species, two holes called ''nares'' lead to the respiratory system. Etymology Although the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vasa Parrot
:''The name vasa parrot is also used for the greater vasa parrot.'' The vasa parrots that form the genus ''Coracopsis'' are four species of parrot in the Old World parrot family Psittaculidae that are endemic to Madagascar and other islands in the western Indian Ocean. Some taxonomists formerly placed the species in the genus in '' Mascarinus'', but this is now thought to be based on the results of a heavily flawed, later-debunked genetic study. Taxonomy The genus '' Coracopsis'' was introduced in 1832 by the German ornithologist Johann Georg Wagler. The type species was designated as the lesser vasa parrot by George Robert Gray in 1840. Species The genus contains four species: Phylogeny A 2011 genetic study found the Mascarene parrot from Réunion to be nested among the subspecies of the lesser vasa parrot from Madagascar and nearby islands, and therefore not related to the ''Psittacula'' parrots. It also found that the Mascarene parrot line diverged 4.6 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psittaculini
Psittaculini is a tribe of parrots of the family Psittaculidae. The subdivisions within the tribe are controversial. Tribe Psittaculini * Genus '' Psittinus'' ** Blue-rumped parrot, ''Psittinus cyanurus'' ** Simeulue parrot, ''Psittinus abbotti'' * Genus '' Geoffroyus'' ** Red-cheeked parrot, ''Geoffroyus geoffroyi'' ** Blue-collared parrot, ''Geoffroyus simplex'' ** Song parrot, ''Geoffroyus heteroclitus'' ** Rennell parrot, ''Geoffroyus hyacinthinus'' * Genus '' Prioniturus'' ** Montane racket-tail, ''Prioniturus montanus'' ** Mindanao racket-tail, ''Prioniturus waterstradti'' ** Blue-headed racket-tail, ''Prioniturus platenae'' ** Green racket-tail, ''Prioniturus luconensis'' ** Blue-crowned racket-tail, ''Prioniturus discurus'' ** Blue-winged racket-tail, ''Prioniturus verticalis'' (also known as Sulu Racquet-tail) ** Yellow-breasted racket-tail, ''Prioniturus flavicans'' ** Golden-mantled racket-tail, ''Prioniturus platurus'' ** Buru racket-tail, ''Prionituru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
