|
Red-cheeked Dunnart
The red-cheeked dunnart (''Sminthopsis virginiae'') is an Australasian marsupial so called because of the distinctive red hair on its cheek. Its total length is ; its average body length is with a tail of . Ear length is . Its weight varies between . Its tail is thin and pale pink. Distribution and habitat The red-cheeked dunnart is distributed in Australia and New Guinea. The nominate subspecies ''S. v. virginiae'' occurs in the Queensland around the North Gulf, NE coasts, Mackay to Cape York. Subspecies ''S. v. nitela'' inhabits the Kimberley's to the top of Northern Territory. Habitat includes woodlands, open rocky forests, savannah grasslands, swamps, soaks and margins of tropical forests. Social organisation and breeding The behaviour of the red-cheeked dunnart, like most '' Sminthopsis'' species, is not well known. They breed from October to March. Young are gestated for 15 days and weaned at 65–70 days with maturity by 4–6 months. Diet Its typical diet incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soakage
A soakage, or soak, is a source of water in Australian deserts. It is called thus because the water generally seeps into the sand, and is stored below, sometimes as part of an ephemeral river or creek. Aboriginal water source Soakages were traditionally important sources of water for Aboriginal Australians in the desert, being the most dependable source in times of drought in Australia. Aboriginal peoples would scoop out the sand or mud using a coolamon or woomera, often to a depth of several metres, until clean water gathered in the base of the hole. Knowing the precise location of each soakage was extremely valuable knowledge. It is also sometimes called a native well. Anthropologist Donald Thomson wrote: Cleaning and maintaining the well Wells were covered to keep them free from fouling by animals. This involved blocking the well with dead branches and uprooted trees. When the wells fell into disrepair, people would bail the well, using the coolamon to throw slush aga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsupials Of Australia
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch on their mother's abdomen. Extant marsupials encompass many species, including kangaroos, koalas, opossums, possums, Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies, and bandicoots. Marsupials constitute a clade stemming from the last common ancestor of extant Metatheria, which encompasses all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. The evolutionary split between placentals and marsupials occurred 125-160 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous period. Presently, close to 70% of the 334 extant marsupial species are concentrated on the Australian continent, including mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and nearby islands. The remainin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammals Of The Northern Territory
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles, middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors Genetic divergence, diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 Neontology#Extant taxon, extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 Order (biology), orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy. The largest orders of mammals, by number of species, are the rodents, bats, and eulipotyphlans (including hedgehogs, Mole (animal), moles and shrews). The next three are the primates (including humans, monkeys and lemurs), the Artiodactyl, even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, and whales), and the Carnivora (including Felidae, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammals Of Papua New Guinea
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy. The largest orders of mammals, by number of species, are the rodents, bats, and eulipotyphlans (including hedgehogs, moles and shrews). The next three are the primates (including humans, monkeys and lemurs), the even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, and whales), and the Carnivora (including cats, dogs, and seals). Mammals are the only living members of Synapsida; this clade, together with Sauropsida (reptiles and birds), constitutes the lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasyuromorphs
Dasyuromorphia (, meaning "hairy tail" in Greek) is an order comprising most of the Australian carnivorous marsupials, including quolls, dunnarts, the numbat, the Tasmanian devil, and the extinct thylacine. In Australia, the exceptions include the omnivorous bandicoots (order Peramelemorphia) and the marsupial moles (which are insectivorous but are very different and are now accorded an order of their own, Notoryctemorphia). Numerous South American species of marsupials (orders Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, and Microbiotheria) are also carnivorous, as were some extinct members of the order Diprotodontia, including extinct kangaroos (such as '' Ekaltadeta'' and '' Propleopus)'' and thylacoleonids, and some members of the partially extinct clade Metatheria and all members of the extinct superorder Sparassodonta. The order contains four families: one, the Myrmecobiidae, with just a single living species (the numbat), two with only extinct species (including the thy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cane Toad
The cane toad (''Rhinella marina''), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, Terrestrial animal, terrestrial true toad native to South America, South and mainland Central America, but which has been Introduced species, introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean, as well as Northern Australia. It is a member of the genus ''Rhinella'', which includes many true toad species found throughout Central and South America, but it was formerly assigned to the genus ''Bufo''. A fossil toad (specimen UCMP 41159) from the La Venta (Colombia), La Venta fauna of the late Miocene in Colombia is morphologically indistinguishable from modern cane toads from northern South America. It was discovered in a floodplain deposit, which suggests the ''R. marina'' habitat preferences have long been for open areas. The cane toad is a prolific breeder; females lay single-clump spawn (biology), spawns with thousands of egg (biology), eggs. Its reproducti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sminthopsis
A dunnart (from Noongar ''donat'') is a narrow-footed marsupial the size of a European mouse, of the genus ''Sminthopsis''. Dunnarts have a largely insectivorous diet. Taxonomy The genus name ''Sminthopsis'' was published by Oldfield Thomas in 1887, the author noting that the name '' Podabrus'' that had previously been used to describe the species was preoccupied as a genus of beetles. The type species is '' Phascogale crassicaudata'', published by John Gould in 1844. There are 19 species, all of them in Australia or New Guinea: * Genus ''Sminthopsis'' ** ''S. crassicaudata'' species-group *** Fat-tailed dunnart, '' Sminthopsis crassicaudata'' ** ''S. macroura'' species-group *** Kakadu dunnart, '' Sminthopsis bindi'' *** Carpentarian dunnart, '' Sminthopsis butleri'' *** Julia Creek dunnart, '' Sminthopsis douglasi'' *** Stripe-faced dunnart, '' Sminthopsis macroura'' *** Red-cheeked dunnart, '' Sminthopsis virginiae'' ** ''S. granulipes'' species-group *** White-ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Forest
Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical forest types are difficult to categorize. While forests in temperate climate, temperate areas are readily categorized on the basis of tree canopy density, such schemes do not work well in tropical forests. There is no single scheme that defines what a forest is, in tropical regions or elsewhere.Anatoly Shvidenko, Charles Victor Barber, Reidar Persson et al. 2005 "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment." Ecosystems and human wellbeing: a framework for assessment Washington, DC: Island Press Because of these difficulties, information on the extent of tropical forests varies between sources. However, tropical forests are extensive, making up just under half the world's forests. The tropical domain has the largest proportion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
