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Strait Of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the strait is approximately long and wide at its narrowest point. In 1520, the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, after whom the strait is named, became the first Europeans to discover it. Magellan's original name for the strait was ''Estrecho de Todos los Santos'' ("Strait of All Saints"). The King of Spain, Emperor Charles V, who sponsored the Magellan-Elcano expedition, changed the name to the Strait of Magellan in honor of Magellan. The route is difficult to navigate due to frequent narrows and unpredictable winds and currents. Maritime piloting is now compulsory. The strait is shorter and more sheltered than the Drake Passage, the often storm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion of the Americas. South America is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Drake Passage; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. The continent includes twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela; two dependent territory, dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and one administrative division, internal territory: French Guiana. The Dutch Caribbean ABC islands (Leeward Antilles), ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) and Trinidad and Tobago are geologically located on the South-American continental shel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Horn
Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. Cape Horn was identified by mariners and first rounded in 1616 by the Dutchmen Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, who named it after the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands. For decades, Cape Horn was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. The waters around Cape Horn are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs. The need for boats and ships to round Cape Horn was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in August 1914. Sailing around Cape Horn is still widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting. Thus, a few recreational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vicuña
The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', Vicugna, its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine tundra, alpine areas of the Andes; the other camelid is the guanaco, which lives at lower elevations. Vicuñas are relatives of the llama, and are now believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their coats. Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can be shorn only every three years and has to be caught from the wild. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's wool is very soft and warm. The Inca valued vicuñas highly for their wool, and it was against the law for anyone but royalty to wear vicuña garments; today, the vicuña is the national animal of Peru and appears on the Coat of arms of Peru, Peruvian coat of arms. Both under the rule of the Inca and today, vicuñas have been protect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamini
Lamini (members are called ''lamines'') is a tribe of the subfamily Camelinae. It contains one extant genus with four species, all exclusively from South America: llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos. The former two are domesticated species, while the latter two are only found in the wild. None display sexual dimorphism. The four species can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Additionally, there are several extinct genera. The digestive system of lamoids allows them to digest certain toxins. Laminoids also lack a gallbladder. Evolutionary history Lamines originated during the Miocene in North America, and migrated into South America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. Most species of lamines, including the genera '' Hemiauchenia'' and '' Palaeolama'' and all North American species, became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event along with most other large ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dusicyon Avus
''Dusicyon avus'' is an extinct species of canid native to South America during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. It was medium to large, about the size of a German shepherd. It was closely related to the Falkland Islands wolf ''(Dusicyon australis)'', which descended from a population of ''D. avus''. It appears to have survived until very recently, perhaps 400 years ago. Range ''Dusicyon avus'' range extended through the Pampas and Patagonia in the south-central and southern parts of South America, with an estimated range of around 762 351 km². Its fossils have been found in the Luján Formation of Argentina, the Chui Formation of Brazil, the Milodón Cave in Chile and the Sopas Formation of Uruguay. Diet and ecology Its diet seems to have been more carnivorous than extant foxes based on δ13C and δ15N values, probably mostly preying on small mammals but also scavenging on large carcasses. This is in contrast to the warrah, whose diet was restricted to the sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrauchenia
''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is a member of the extinct order Litopterna, a group of South American native ungulates distinct from the two orders which contain all living ungulates which had been present in South America since the early Cenozoic, over 60 million years ago, prior to the arrival of living ungulates in South America around 2.5 million years ago as part of the Great American Interchange. The bodyform of ''Macrauchenia'' has been described as similar to a camel, being one of the largest-known litopterns, with an estimated body mass of around 1 tonne. The genus gives its name to its family, Macraucheniidae, which like ''Macrauchenia'' typically had long necks and three-toed feet, as well as a retracted nasal region, which in ''Macrauchenia'' manifests as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arctotherium
''Arctotherium'' ("bear beast") is an extinct genus of the Pleistocene Tremarctinae, short-faced bears endemic to Central America, Central and South America. ''Arctotherium'' migrated from North America to South America during the Great American Interchange, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the late Pliocene. Evolution Tremarctinae ''Arctotherium'' is part of the Tremarctinae subfamily of bears, otherwise known as the Tremarctinae, short faced bears, which also includes ''Arctodus'' (North American short faced bears) and ''Tremarctos'' (the Tremarctos floridanus, Floridian and modern spectacled bear). Tremarctinae originate with their common ancestor, ''Plionarctos,'' in the Hemphillian, Middle Hemphillian (earliest Late Miocene, ~10 Ma) of North America; ''Plionarctos'' is last recorded in the Blancan, early Blancan (Early Pliocene, ~3.3 Ma). Around the Late Miocene, Miocene-Zanclean, Pliocene boundary (~5 Ma) Tremarctinae, Tremarctines, along with other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panthera Onca Mesembrina
''Panthera onca mesembrina'', also known as the Patagonian panther, is an extinct subspecies of jaguar (''Panthera onca'') that was endemic to southern Patagonia during the late Pleistocene epoch. It is known from several fragmentary specimens, the first of which found was in 1899 at " Cueva del Milodon" in Chile. These fossils were referred to a new genus and species "Iemish listai" by naturalist Santiago Roth, who thought they might be the bones of the mythological iemisch of Tehuelche folklore. A later expedition recovered more bones, including the skull of a large male that was described in detail by Angel Cabrera in 1934. Cabrera created a new name for the giant felid remains, ''Panthera onca mesembrina'', after realizing that its fossils were near-identical to modern jaguars’. ''P. onca mesembrina''s validity is disputed, with some paleontologists suggesting that it is a synonym of '' Panthera atrox''. The bones of ''P. onca mesembrina'' are nearly double the size of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smilodon
''Smilodon'' is an extinct genus of Felidae, felids. It is one of the best known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats, belonging to the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae, with an estimated date of Speciation, divergence from the ancestor of living cats around 20 million years ago. ''Smilodon'' was one of the last surviving machairodonts alongside ''Homotherium''. ''Smilodon'' lived in the Americas during the Pleistocene to early Holocene epoch (2.5 Year#mya, mya – at latest 8,200 years ago). The genus was named in 1842 based on fossils from Brazil; the generic name means or combined with . Three species are recognized today: ''S. gracilis'', ''S. fatalis'', and ''S. populator''. The two latter species were probably descended from ''S. gracilis'', which itself probably evolved from ''Megantereon''. The hundreds of specimens obtained from the La Brea T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mylodon
''Mylodon'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth belonging to the family Mylodontidae, known from southern South America. With a total length of 3 to 4 m and a body mass of 1-2 tonnes, it is one of the largest mylodontids (though it was considerably exceeded in size by the mylodontid '' Lestodon''). The oldest finds probably date to the Lower Pleistocene; however, most of the fossil remains date to the Late Pleistocene. Its distribution ranged from southern Bolivia and the Pampas in the north southwards to the southernmost part of Patagonia at around 52- 53 degrees south, the furthest south of any Pleistocene ground sloth, with some of the best known remains of the species being from the eponymous Cueva del Milodon (cave of ''Mylodon'') in southern Chile. In addition to skeletal remains, ''Mylodon'' is also known from preserved skin and hair. Preserved dung (coprolites) indicates that ''Mylodon'' was a primarily a grazer, feeding on grasses and sedges. ''Mylodon'' has general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippidion
''Hippidion'' (meaning ''little horse'') is an extinct genus of equine that lived in South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian), between 2.5 million and 11,000 years ago. They were one of two lineages of equines native to South America during the Pleistocene epoch, alongside '' Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus''. Taxonomy Evolution Although early ancient DNA analysis studies suggested a close relationship with the wild horse, ''Equus ferus,'' this was later shown to be incorrect, with more complete sequences finding ''Hippidion'' as an outgroup to all living equines and less closely related to living equines than the North American "New World stilt legged horse", '' Haringtonhippus francisci.'' Cladogram shown below: ''Hippidion'' is part of a distinct lineage of equines belonging to the tribe Equini that are suggested to have diverged from the ancestors of living equines of the genus '' Equus'' at least 6 million years ago. The earliest mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Lock (water navigation), Locks at each end lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial fresh water lake Above mean sea level, above sea level, created by damming the Chagres River and Lake Alajuela to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal. Locks then lower the ships at the other end. An average of of fresh water is used in a single passing of a ship. The canal is threatened by low water levels during droughts. The Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage, the Strait of Magellan or the Beagle Channel. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
