|
Sungrebe
The sungrebe or American finfoot (''Heliornis fulica'') is a small aquatic gruiform found in the tropical and subtropical Americas from northeastern Mexico to central Ecuador and southern Brazil.Luo, Miles. K. (2009, October 16). ''Heliornis fulica'' (T. S. Schulenberg, Ed.). Retrieved 10 December 2012 from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=142196 It is the only living member of the genus ''Heliornis''. The family Heliornithidae, to which it belongs, contains just two other species: the African finfoot, ''Podica senegalensis'', found in the Afrotropics from Sub-saharan West Africa and the Congo Basin through the Great Lakes' western shores to Southeast Africa, and the Asian or masked finfoot ''Heliopais personatus'', found from eastern Indomalaya down through Sundaland to the Wallace Line. These waterfowl have broad lobes on their feet, convergent to that of grebes or coots, that they use to propel the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliornithidae
The Heliornithidae are a small family of tropical birds with webbed lobes on their feet like those of grebes and coots. The family overall are known as finfoots, although one species is known as a sungrebe. The family is composed of three species in three genera. Description Finfoots resemble rails; they have long necks, slender bodies, broad tails, and sharp, pointed bills. They have a diverse range of calls, but do not call frequently. Their legs and feet are brightly coloured and, unlike grebes, they are capable of walking well and even moving quickly on land. Habitat Finfoots are found in numerous habitats in the tropics as long as there is water and cover. It is uncertain why cover is so essential to finfoots, but they are extremely secretive and often overlooked. Their ranges extend from coastal creeks to fast-moving mountain streams, most commonly being found in large slow-moving bodies of water. They also use swamps, reed beds, mangroves, and forest. Finfoots are territ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masked Finfoot
The masked finfoot or Asian finfoot (''Heliopais personatus'') is a highly endangered aquatic bird that was formerly distributed throughout the fresh and brackish wetlands of the eastern Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia and Indonesia. Like the rest of the family, the African finfoot and the sungrebe, the relationship to other birds is poorly understood. Evolution Unusually, phylogenetic evidence indicates that the masked finfoot is closely related to the Neotropical realm, Neotropical sungrebe, despite the African finfoot being geographically closer to both of them than either the sungrebe or masked finfoot are to each other. This suggests that the common ancestor of ''Heliopais'' and ''Heliornis'' diverged in the Old World during the mid-Tertiary period, Tertiary, with the ancestral ''Heliornis'' colonizing the Americas via Beringia. Finfoots appear to have poor dispersal capabilities over marine habitats, which may explain why such a complex process was needed to colon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gruiformes
The Gruiformes ( ) are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like". Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that did not seem to belong to any other order were classified together as Gruiformes. These include 15 species of large cranes, about 145 species of smaller crakes and rails, as well as a variety of families comprising one to three species, such as the Heliornithidae, the limpkin, or the Psophiidae. Other birds have been placed in this order more out of necessity to place them ''somewhere''; this has caused the expanded Gruiformes to lack distinctive apomorphies. Recent studies indicate that these "odd Gruiformes" are if at all only loosely related to the cranes, rails, and relatives ("core Gruiformes"). Systematics There are only two suprafamilial clades (natural groups) among the birds traditionally classified as Gruiformes. Rails ( Ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Finfoot
The African finfoot or Peter’s finfoot (''Podica senegalensis'') is an aquatic bird from the family Heliornithidae (the finfoots and sungrebe). The species lives in the rivers and lakes of western, central, and southern Africa. Description The African finfoot is an underwater specialist with a long neck, a striking sharp beak, and bright red, lobed feet. The plumage varies by race, generally pale underneath and darker on top. The males are usually darker than the females. It superficially resembles South America's torrent duck. Habits and range The African finfoot can be found in a range of habitats across Africa, in areas where there are rivers, streams, and lakes with good cover on the banks. This range includes forest, wooded savannah, flooded forest, and even mangrove swamps. The finfoot feeds on aquatic invertebrates, including both adults and larval mayflies, dragonflies, crustaceans, also snails, fish and amphibians. They are thought to be highly opportunistic and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grebe
Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes (). Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Most grebes fly, although some flightless species exist, most notably in stable lakes. The order contains a single family (biology), family, the Podicipedidae, which includes 22 species in six extant genus, genera. Although, superficially, they resemble other diving birds such as loons and coots, they are most closely related to flamingos, as supported by morphology (biology), morphological, molecular and paleontology, paleontological data. Many species are monogamy in animals, monogamous and are known for their courtship displays, with the pair performing synchronized dances across the water's surface. The birds build floating vegetative nests where they lay several eggs. About a third of the world's grebes are listed at various levels of conservatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Fulica'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The genus name is the Latin word for a Eurasian coot. The name was used by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1555. The type species is the Eurasian coot. A group of coots is referred to as a ''covert'' or ''cover''. Species The genus contains 10 extant species and one which is now extinct. Extinct species Recently extinct species * ''Fulica newtonii'' Milne-Edwards, 1867 – Mascarene coot (extinct, c. 1700) Late Quaternary species * ''Fulica chathamensis'' Forbes, 1892 – Chatham Island coot ( early Holocene of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anhinga
The anhinga (; ''Anhinga anhinga''), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word ''anhinga'' comes from ''a'ñinga'' in the Brazilian Tupi language and means "devil bird" or "snake bird". The origin of the name is apparent when swimming: only the neck appears above water, so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. They do not have external nares (nostrils) and breathe solely through their epiglottis. The anhinga is placed in the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to Indian darter, Indian (''Anhinga melanogaster''), African darter, African (''Anhinga rufa''), and Australian darter, Australian (''Anhinga novaehollandiae'') darters. Like other darters, the anhinga hunts by spearing fish and other small prey using its sharp, slender beak. Distribution and migration Members of the ''Darter, Anhinga'' genus live in warm, shallow waters and swamplands worldwide. The American anhin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now called the Jardin des plantes. Buffon's works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent French scientists Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes of his ''Histoire Naturelle'' during his lifetime, with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death. Ernst Mayr wrote that "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century".Mayr, Ernst 1981. ''The Growth of Biological Thought''. Cambridge: Harvard. p 330 Credited with being one of the first naturalists to recognize ecological succession, he was forced by the theology committee at the University of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cayenne
Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "fert aurum industria", which means "work brings wealth". Cayenne is the largest Francophone city of the South American continent. In the 2021 census, there were 151,103 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Cayenne (as defined by INSEE), 63,468 of whom lived in the city (communes of France, commune) of Cayenne proper. History Ignored by Spanish explorers who found the region too hot and poor to be claimed, the region was not colonized until 1604, when the French founded a settlement. However, it was soon destroyed by the Portugal, Portuguese, determined to enforce the Treaty of Tordesillas. French colonists returned in 1643 and founded Cayenne, but were forced to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago) to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma. During this period, a sharp drop in global temperatures took place. This event is known as the Middle Miocene disruption, Middle Miocene Climatic Transition. For the purpose of establishing European land mammal ages, this sub-epoch is equivalent to the Astaracian age. References External links GeoWhen Database - Middle Miocene Miocene, .02 Miocene geochronology, 02 Langhian, * Serravallian, * {{geochronology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves, the clade consisting of all other modern birds except the galliformes and paleognaths. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed. Evolution Anseriformes are one of only two types of modern bird to be confirmed present during the Mesozoic alongside the other dinosaurs, and in fact were among the very few birds to survive their extinction, along with their cousins, the Galliformes. These two groups only occupied two ecological niches during the Mesozoic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Guiana
French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west and Brazil to the east and south, French Guiana covers a total area of and a land area of . As of January 2025, it is home to 292,354 people. French Guiana is the second-largest Regions of France, region in France, being approximately one-seventh the size of metropolitan France, European France, and the largest Special member state territories and the European Union, outermost region within the European Union. It has a very low population density, with only . About half of its residents live in its capital, Cayenne. Approximately 98.9% of French Guiana is covered by forests, much of it Old-growth forest, primeval Tropical rainforest, rainforest. Guiana Amazonian Park, the largest national park in the European Union covers 41% of French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
