The African clawless otter known as the Cape clawless otter or groot otter, is the second-largest freshwater species of otter. African clawless otters are found near permanent bodies of water in savannah and lowland forest areas, they range except for the Congo River basin and arid areas. They are characterized by webbed and clawless feet, from which their name is derived; the word aonyx derived from the prefix a - and onyx. Aonyx capensis is a member of the weasel family and of the order Carnivora; the earliest known species of otter, Potamotherium valetoni, occurred in the upper Oligocene of Europe: A. capensis first appears in the fossil record during the Pleistocene. Aonyx is related to the extinct giant Sardinian otter, Megalenhydris. Mammal Species of the World lists six subspecies of Aonyx capensis: A. c. capensis A. c. hindei A. c. meneleki A. c. congicus A. c. microdon A. c. philippsi However, some authorities consider the Congo/Cameroon clawless otter to be a separate species. Under this view, only the first three of the above list would be subspecies of A. capensis.

African clawless otters have thick, smooth fur with silky underbellies. Chestnut in color, they are characterized by white facial markings that extend downward towards their throat and chest areas. Paws are webbed with five fingers, no opposable thumbs. All lack claws except for digits 2, 3, 4 of the hind feet, their large skulls are broad and flat, with small orbits and short rostra. Molars are flat, used for crushing of prey. Male otters are larger than females on average. Adults are 113 -- 163 cm including their tails that comprised about a third of their length. Weights can range with most otters averaging between 12 and 21 kg. Despite being related to the oriental small-clawed otter, the African clawless otter is twice as massive as that diminutive mustelid. African clawless otters can be found anywhere from open coastal plains, to semiarid regions, to densely forested areas. Surviving in southern Africa, the otters live in areas surrounding permanent bodies of water surrounded by some form of foliage.

Logs and loose foliage appeal to the otter as this provides shelter and great rolling opportunities. Slow and rather clumsy on land, they build burrows in banks near water, allowing for easier food access and a quick escape from predators. In the False Bay area of the Cape Peninsula, they have been observed scavenging along beaches and rocks and hunting in shallow surf for mullet, they are nocturnal in urban areas and lie up during the day in quiet, bushy areas. Females give birth to litters containing two to five young around early spring. Mating takes place in short periods throughout the rainy season in December. Afterwards, both males and females go their separate ways and return to their solitary lives once more. Young are raised by the females. Gestation lasts around two months. Weaning takes place between 45 and 60 days, with the young reaching full maturity around one year of age; the diet of Aonyx capensis includes water-dwelling animals, such as crabs, fish and worms. They dive after prey to catch it swim to shore again, where they eat.

Their fore paws come in handy as searching devices and are great tools for digging on the muddy bottoms of ponds and rivers, picking up rocks and looking under logs. Sensitive whiskers are used as sensors in the water to pick up the movements of potential prey. Though solitary animals, African clawless otters will live in neighboring territories of family groups of up to five individuals; each still having its own range within that territory, they keep to themselves unless seeking a mate. Territories are marked using a pair of anal glands; each otter is territorial over its particular range. The African clawless otter spends its days catching food, they leaves. Aquatic creatures, their tails are used for locomotion and propel them through the water, they are used for balance when walking or sitting upright. Quick in the water and burrowing on land, A. capensis does not have many predators. Its greatest threat comes from the python, which will lay and wait near or in the water. Other predators would include the fish eagles.

If threatened, a high-pitched scream is emitted to confuse a predator. Living in Africa, environments can become hot. Staying cool means spending time in the water, using burrows as a way to escape the highest temperatures of the day. To stay warm, on the other hand, the otters depend on their thick fur. Guard hairs cover the body. Since the otter lacks an insulating layer of body fat, its only means of warmth is provided by its thick coat of fur; the biggest threat to African clawless otters comes from humans. Aonyx specimens will forage in man-made fisheries and may be hunted or become entangled in nets. Overfishing by humans may reduce the food supply available to otters, they are sometimes hunted for their soft pelts, which humans use in forms of clothing. In forested areas, logging may be a major threat, since erosion leads to increased turbidity in rivers which can in turn reduce the populations of fish on which the otters depend; this may well be a far greater threat to otters than hunting.

The Otter Tr

The High Point Panthers women's lacrosse team is a NCAA Division I college lacrosse team representing High Point University as part of the Big South Conference. They play their home games at Vert Stadium in North Carolina. In September 2008, High Point athletics director Craig Keilitz announced the formation of a women's lacrosse team. A nationwide search was conducted for its first head coach, Lyndsey Boswell was hired the following summer. Boswell was a 2005 graduate of Pfeiffer, where she was a two-time IWLCA All-American and was the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference player of the year in 2004. Boswell set program records in goals and points, she was an assistant coach at Pfeiffer from 2005-06, before landing her first head coaching job at St. Andrews in 2007. From 2007-09, she coached the Knights to an increasing number of wins each year, culminating in 11 in 2009. In June 2009, Boswell became head coach at High Point, after a year and a half of recruiting, the Panthers' first Division I season was in spring 2011.

Through the 2018 season, Boswell has led the team to a 108-46 record, including a 39-4 mark in the Big South. The program has had a successful existence, having reached the conference tournament championship game in either the National Lacrosse Conference or the Big South Conference every year except for 2015; the team won a conference tournament in 2011 and a regular-season championship in 2012 in the National Lacrosse Conference before the league folded. In 2013 the Big South Conference began sponsoring women's lacrosse and was granted an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament; the Panthers joined the new league and have won the conference tournament in 2013, 2014, 2017. In 2013, after an 8-8 regular season, High Point won the Big South tournament title, but lost 18-7 to Loyola in the NCAA tournament. In 2014, for the second straight year, the Panthers scheduled four eventual tournament teams. While they lost all four, the stiff competition prepared them well for the Big South, where they swept the rest of the teams en route to another NCAA tournament appearance, an 18-4 loss to Notre Dame.2015 was a rebuilding year for the Panthers, who won just one game on the road en route to an 8-10 record.

The team finished fourth in the Big South Conference and lost to Winthrop in the conference tournament semifinal. In 2016, the Panthers finished 13-6, with a quality 15-9 win over No. 21 James Madison, but again ran into Winthrop in the conference tournament championship, losing 10-7.2017 saw the Panthers get off to a rough start, falling to eventual NCAA Tournament teams North Carolina and James Madison. However, the Panthers regained their footing by winning their last six nonconference games. Led by five players who scored 38+ goals, the Panthers swept through the Big South regular season and captured the conference tournament championship, outscoring every opponent by 7+ goals; the program garnered its first NCAA tournament win by defeating Towson, 21-15. The team faced top-seeded Maryland, where it lost 21-6, ending a team record 16-game win streak. In 2018, led by Tewaaraton Award Watch List nominee Erica Perrotta, freshman Abby Hormes, who scored 59 goals, the Panthers returned to the NCAA tournament.

After two early losses to eventual top-3 seeds UNC and James Madison, the Panthers rattled off sixteen straight wins, including triumphs over Notre Dame and Duke. The Panthers rose as high as #16 in the national rankings before a 19-10 first-round defeat to Denver in the NCAA tournament; the team partners with the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, "an organization created to encourage NCAA athletic programs to sponsor pediatric brain tumor patients". Each April since 2013, the team has held a charity 5K to raise money for the foundation. Big South Offensive Player of the Year Mackenzie Carroll - 2014 Samantha Brown - 2017Big South Defensive Player of the Year Jasmine Jordan - 2013, 2014 Christina Del Sesto - 2017 Erica Perrotta - 2018Big South Coach of the Year Lyndsey Boswell - 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year Jasmine Jordan - 2014Big South Tournament MVP Jasmine Jordan - 2013 Christina Del Sesto - 2017 Samantha Herman - 2018 Reference: The Panthers have appeared in four NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship tournaments.

Their record is 1–4

Star Rangers was a four-issue American science-fiction comic-book series created by writer Mark Ellis and artist Jim Mooney, following the adventures of a military spaceship crew in a 25th-century controlled by corporations. Star Rangers, released by the independent comics company Adventure Publications, ran four issue cover-dated October 1987 to February 1988, it was created by artist Jim Mooney. Scott Behnke edited the series. Mooney was a longtime industry veteran of The Amazing Spider-Man and other series who had ended a contract with Marvel Comics to enter semi-retirement. In a 2007 interview, Ellis recalled that... I had been asked to write/create the Star Rangers series for Adventure Publications. I asked Jim if he was interested in working on the series with me and he agreed, much to my relief. Although we created Star Rangers, by the time editorial hands had been laid on our original concept, the series itself didn’t reflect our combined vision of a "Lonesome Dove in Space." Although the actual process of collaborating with Jim was fun, we both were a little disgruntled and disheartened by the way our concept had been jerked around with.

Set in the 25th century, the series revolved around the crew of the Sabre, the last ship in the Frontier Battalion of the once-fearsome Star Rangers Corps. In both Star Rangers and its companion series Death Hawk, the era is a dystopia of solar system-spanning corporations that held the true power behind the centralized government of the Sol 9 Commonwealth. By the time of the series, the Star Rangers Corps has been reorganized into a token peacekeeping force while the corporations maintain their own security divisions, such as the Sol 9 Shogunate's Tigers of Heaven; as such, all Star Rangers ships and weaponry are outdated, making it difficult for Sabre crew to perform its duties. The ship patrols Sectors Four through Nine of the Orion Spur; the crew consists of: Commander Jon Blake Aristo the reptilian medic Ahrikeem, master of combat from the Vholon Empire Radac, the ship's synthetic human engineer Maya Lucas, an embittered pilot who has little use for men. They report to Commodore Nyota M'membe.

The story arc of the four-issue series dealt with the Rangers uncovering a conspiracy between two corporations and the criminal empire of Lord Rogue on the Freeworld of Amicus, finding themselves branded criminals by their own organization. The character Death Hawk appeared as a back-up feature by writer Ellis and penciler Adam Hughes in issues #2-3. Plans were made for a second Star Rangers series and a crossover with Death Hawk, but Adventure Publications dissolved in the interim. MarkEllisInk.com Deathhawk.com