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Sugarglider
The sugar glider (''Petaurus breviceps'') is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. They have very similar habits and appearance to the flying squirrel, despite not being closely related—an example of convergent evolution. The scientific name, ''Petaurus breviceps'', translates from Latin as "short-headed rope-dancer", a reference to their canopy acrobatics. The sugar glider is characterised by its pair of gliding membranes, known as patagia, which extend from its forelegs to its hindlegs. Gliding serves as an efficient means of reaching food and evading predators. The animal is covered in soft, pale grey to light brown fur which is countershaded, being lighter in colour on its underside. The sugar glider, as strictly defined in a recent analysis, is only native to a small portion of southeastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krefft's Glider
Krefft's glider (''Petaurus notatus'') is a species of Arboreal locomotion, arboreal nocturnal gliding possum, a type of small marsupial. It is native to most of eastern mainland Australia and has been introduced to Tasmania. Populations of ''Petaurus'' from New Guinea and Indonesia previously classified under ''P. breviceps'' are also tentatively classified under ''P. notatus'' by the American Society of Mammalogists, but likely represent a complex of distinct species. As most captive gliders referred to as "Sugar glider, sugar gliders" in at least the United States are thought to originate from West Papua (province), West Papua, this likely makes them Krefft's gliders, at least tentatively. Taxonomy It is closely allied with the sugar glider (''P. breviceps''), with which it was long taxonomically confused. A 2020 study partially clarified the taxonomy of the sugar glider and split it into three species: the savanna glider (''P. ariel''), the sugar glider (''P. breviceps sensu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neville William Cayley
Neville William Cayley (1886–1950) was an Australian writer, artist and ornithologist. He produced Australia's first comprehensive bird field guide ''What Bird is That?''. In 1960 it was rated the all-time best seller in Australian natural history and remains a classic birding reference to this day. Early years Born in Yamba, New South Wales, in January 1886, he was the son of ornithologist and bird artist Neville Henry Cayley born Caley, and consequently signed his name as Neville W. Cayley in his professional years. Cayley's family moved to Sydney in the mid-1890s, where he studied art and was a pivotal member in the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club. In 1918, his first work, the booklet ''Our Birds'' was published. ''Our Flowers'' and ''The Tale of Bluey Wren'' followed, both published in 1926. In the same period (1925–26), Cayley began illustrating birds’ eggs for the ''Australian Encyclopaedia''. Groundbreaking work Cayley's big breakthrough came in 1931 when he publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flying Squirrel
Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe (biology), tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family (biology), family Squirrel, Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they are able to gliding flight, glide from one tree to another with the aid of a patagium, a furred skin membrane that stretches from wrist to ankle. Their long tails also provide stability as they glide. Anatomically they are very similar to other squirrels with a number of adaptations to suit their lifestyle; their limb bones are longer and their hand bones, foot bones, and distal vertebrae are shorter. Flying squirrels are able to steer and exert control over their glide path with their limbs and tail. Molecular studies have shown that flying squirrels are Monophyly, monophyletic (having a common ancestor with no non-flying descendants) and originated some 18–20 million years ago. The genus ''Par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exotic Pet
An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a Wild animal, wild species rather than as a Domesticated animal, domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as animals become firmly enough established in the world of animal fancy, they may no longer be considered ''exotic''. Definitions The definition is an evolving one; fish, rabbits, and some rodents and birds have become firmly enough established in the world of animal fancy as to no longer be considered exotic in general usage, though they may still be classed as exotic in veterinary practice. Sometimes any unique or wild-looking pet (including common domestic animals such as the ferret and the fancy rat, rat) is considered an exotic pet. "Exotic" often refers to a species which is not native or indigenous to the owner's locale, and "pet" is a companion animal living with people. However, many use the term to include native species as well (e. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Mainland Australia, Australia by the wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the perceived resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the Guinea (region), African region of Guinea. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Pap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughly parallel to the east coast of Australia and forms the fifth-longest land-based mountain chain in the world, and the longest entirely within a single country. It is mainland Australia's most substantial topographic feature and serves as the definitive watershed for the river systems in eastern Australia, hence the name. The Great Dividing Range stretches more than from Dauan Island in the Torres Strait off the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through Queensland and New South Wales, then turning west across Victoria before finally fading into the Wimmera plains as rolling hills west of the Grampians region. The width of the Range varies from about to over .Shaw, John H., ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral Sea, Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. The Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory are Enclave and exclave, enclaves within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. , the population of New South Wales was over 8.3 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Almost two-thirds of the state's population, 5.3 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. The Colony of New South Wales was founded as a British penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised more than half of the Australian mainland with its Western Australia border, western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825. The colony then also includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south, respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean; to the state's north is the Torres Strait, separating the Australian mainland from Papua New Guinea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria to the north-west. With an area of , Queensland is the world's List of country subdivisions by area, sixth-largest subnational entity; it List of countries and dependencies by area, is larger than all but 16 countries. Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, and include tropical rainforests, rivers, coral reefs, mountain ranges and white sandy beaches in its Tropical climate, tropical and Humid subtropical climate, sub-tropical c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countershaded
Countershading, or Thayer's law, is a method of camouflage in which an animal's coloration is darker on the top or upper side and lighter on the underside of the body. This pattern is found in many species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and insects, both in predators and in prey. When light falls from above on a uniformly coloured three-dimensional object such as a sphere, it makes the upper side appear lighter and the underside darker, grading from one to the other. This pattern of light and shade makes the object appear solid, and therefore easier to detect. The classical form of countershading, discovered in 1909 by the artist Abbott Handerson Thayer, works by counterbalancing the effects of self-shadowing, again typically with grading from dark to light. In theory this could be useful for military camouflage, but in practice it has rarely been applied, despite the best efforts of Thayer and, later, in the Second World War, of the zoologist Hugh Cott. The precise fun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patagia
The patagium (: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flying. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, theropod dinosaurs (including birds and some dromaeosaurs), pterosaurs, gliding mammals, some flying lizards, and flying frogs. The patagium that stretches between an animal's hind limbs is called the uropatagium (especially in bats) or the interfemoral membrane. Bats In bats, the skin forming the surface of the wing is an extension of the skin of the abdomen that runs to the tip of each digit, uniting the forelimb with the body. The patagium of a bat has four distinct parts: #Propatagium: the patagium present from the neck to the first digit. #Dactylopatagium: the portion found within the digits. #Plagiopatagium: the portion found between the last digit and the hindlimbs. #Uropatagium: the posterior portion of the flap between the two hindlimbs. Pterosaurs In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrobatics
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance (ability), balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sports, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro dance, circus, gymnastics, and freerunning and to a lesser extent in other athletic activities including ballet, slacklining and Diving (sport), diving. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance, the term is used to describe other types of performance, such as aerobatics. History Acrobatic traditions are found in many cultures, and there is evidence that the earliest such traditions occurred thousands of years ago. For example, Minoan civilization, Minoan art from contains depictions of bull-leaping, acrobatic feats on the backs of bulls. Ancient Greeks practiced acrobatics, and the noble court displays of the European Middle Ages would often include acrobatic performances that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
