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Stoat In New Zealand
The stoat (''Mustela erminea'') was introduced species, introduced into New Zealand to control introduced rabbits and hares, but is now a major threat to the native bird population. The natural range of the stoat is limited to parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Immediately before human settlement, New Zealand did not have any land-based mammals apart from bats, but Polynesians, Polynesian and European settlers introduced a wide variety of animals. Rarely, in Southland, New Zealand, Southland, the fur of stoats has been reported to turn white, being the fur known as ermine, which adorns royal robes. Introductions of stoats The rabbit was introduced by European settlers as a food and game animal, and by the 1870s it was becoming a serious threat to the newly developed farming economy. Farmers began demanding the introduction of mustelids (including stoats) to control the rabbit plague. Warnings about the dangers to bird life from stoats were given by scientists in New Zealand and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mustela
Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers, otters, and wolverines), is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest species, the least weasel (''M. nivalis''), the smallest carnivoran species. Least weasels vary in length from , females being smaller than the males, and usually have red or brown upper coats and white bellies; some populations of some species moult to a wholly white coat in winter. They have long, slender bodies, which enable them to follow their prey into burrows. Their tails may be from long. Weasels feed on small mammals and have from time to time been considered vermin because some species took poultry from farms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Chalky Island (New Zealand)
Chalky Island or Te Kākahu-o-Tamatea is an island in the southwest of New Zealand, and is part of Fiordland National Park. It lies at the entrance to Taiari / Chalky Inlet, next to Rakituma / Preservation Inlet, at the southwestern tip of the South Island, northwest of Puysegur Point, southeast of West Cape, and west of Invercargill. Chalky Island is one of the predator-free islands that is part of the Fiordland Islands restoration programme. The programme's focus is to eradicate pests and translocate native species. The island was known to Māori as ''te kākahu-o-Tamatea (''the cloak of Tamatea), as, according to oral tradition, it was the place where the explorer Tamatea spread his cloak out to dry after being drenched by the sea. It was first charted by Captain James Cook in 1773, and was a base for sealers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1999, Chalky Island became the first nearshore island from which stoats were successfully eradicated by the Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fecundity
Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the capability to produce offspring, measured by the number of gametes (eggs), seed set, or asexual propagules. Human demography Human demography considers only human fecundity, at its culturally differing rates, while population biology studies all organisms. The term ''fecundity'' in population biology is often used to describe the rate of offspring production after one time step (often annual). In this sense, fecundity may include both birth rates and survival of young to that time step. While levels of fecundity vary geographically, it is generally a consistent feature of each culture. ''Fecundation'' is another term for fertilization. In obstetrics and gynecology, fecund-ability is the probability of being pregnant in a single menstrual cycle, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Dead Stoat, Trapped In Fiordland National Park
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose shortly after death. Some organisms, such as ''Turritopsis dohrnii'', are biologically immortal; however, they can still die from means other than aging. Death is generally applied to whole organisms; the equivalent for individual components of an organism, such as cells or tissues, is necrosis. Something that is not considered an organism, such as a virus, can be physically destroyed but is not said ''to die'', as a virus is not considered alive in the first place. As of the early 21st century, 56 million people die per year. The most common reason is aging, followed by cardiovascular disease, which is a disease that affects the heart or blood vessels. As of 2022, an estimated total of almost 110 billion humans have died, or roughly 94% of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
