1.
United Arab Emirates
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In 2013, the UAEs population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. The country is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on 2 December 1971, the constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a monarch, together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates, Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language. The UAEs oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the worlds seventeenth-largest, Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first President of the UAE, oversaw the development of the Emirates and steered oil revenues into healthcare, education and infrastructure. The UAEs economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city, nevertheless, the country remains principally reliant on its export of petroleum and natural gas. The UAE is criticised for its rights record, including the specific interpretations of Sharia used in its legal system. The UAEs rising international profile has led analysts to identify it as a regional. It appears the land of the Emirates has been occupied for thousands of years, there is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time it developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and Iran. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, in ancient times, Al Hasa was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman. Sassanid groups were present on the Batinah coast, in 637, Julfar was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sassanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tuam and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, a monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 AD, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 AD and it forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 AD following trade routes. Certainly, by the 5th century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 AD. This led to a group of travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids. Following the death of Prophet Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. The Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory with the battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost
2.
Conservation status
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The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD, when discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term threatened is a grouping of three categories, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals. Many countries require CITES permits when importing plants and animals listed on CITES, in the European Union, the Birds and Habitats Directives are the legal instruments that evaluate the conservation status within the EU of species and habitats. NatureServe conservation status focuses on Latin America, United States, Canada, and it has been developed by scientists from NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and the network of natural heritage programs and data centers. It is increasingly integrated with the IUCN Red List system and its categories for species include, presumed extinct, possibly extinct, critically imperiled, imperiled, vulnerable, apparently secure, and secure. The system also allows ambiguous or uncertain ranks including inexact numeric ranks, NatureServe adds a qualifier for captive or cultivated only, which has a similar meaning to the IUCN Red List extinct in the wild status. The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation is used within the Russian Federation, in Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 describes lists of threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. The categories resemble those of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories & Criteria, prior to the EPBC Act, a simpler classification system was used by the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. Some state and territory governments also have their own systems for conservation status, in Belgium, the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest publishes an online set of more than 150 nature indicators in Dutch. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is a group of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in danger of disappearing from Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act, it is up to the federal government, in China, the State, provinces and some counties have determined their key protected wildlife species. There is the China red data book, in Finland, a large number of species are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, and through the EU Habitats Directive and EU Birds Directive. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation publishes red lists of endangered species, india has the Wild Life Protection Act,1972, Amended 2003 and the Biological Diversity Act,2002. In Japan, the Ministry of Environment publishes a Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book, in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality publishes a list of threatened species, and conservation is enforced by the Nature Conservation Act 1998. Species are also protected through the Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation publishes the New Zealand Threat Classification System lists
3.
Vulnerable species
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Vulnerability is mainly caused by habitat loss or destruction of the species home. Vulnerable habitat or species are monitored and can become increasingly threatened, some species listed as vulnerable may be common in captivity, an example being the military macaw. There are currently 5196 animals and 6789 plants classified as vulnerable, compared with 1998 levels of 2815 and 3222, practices such as Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources have been enforced in efforts to conserve vulnerable breeds of livestock specifically. The International Union for Conservation of Nature uses several criteria to enter species in this category, a reduction of at least 20%, projected or suspected to be met within the next ten years or three generations, whichever is the longer, based on any of, or above. Population is characterised by a restriction in its area of occupancy or in the number of locations. E) Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 10% within 100 years
4.
IUCN Red List
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, the IUCN Red List is set upon precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world, the aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List. The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, the 1964 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants used the older pre-criteria Red List assessment system. Plants listed may not, therefore, appear in the current Red List, IUCN advise that is best to check both the online Red List and the 1997 plants Red List publication. The 2006 Red List, released on 4 May 2006 evaluated 40,168 species as a whole, plus an additional 2,160 subspecies, varieties, aquatic stocks, on 12 September 2007, the World Conservation Union released the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Russ Mittermeier, chief of Swiss-based IUCNs Primate Specialist Group, stated that 16,306 species are endangered with extinction,188 more than in 2006, the Red List includes the Sumatran orangutan in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean orangutan in the Endangered category. The study shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction, and 836 are listed as Data Deficient. The Red List of 2012 was released 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit, nearly 2,000 species were added, the IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. With 3,947 described as endangered and 5,766 as endangered. At threat are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reef-building corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, the IUCN Red List has listed 132 species of plants and animals from India as Critically Endangered. Extinct – No known individuals remaining, extinct in the wild – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range. Critically endangered – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered – High risk of extinction in the wild. Vulnerable – High risk of endangerment in the wild, near threatened – Likely to become endangered in the near future. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category, widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction, Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria
5.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
6.
Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
7.
Chordate
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Chordates are deuterostomes, as during the embryo development stage the anus forms before the mouth. They are also bilaterally symmetric coelomates, in the case of vertebrate chordates, the notochord is usually replaced by a vertebral column during development, and they may have body plans organized via segmentation. There are also additional extinct taxa, the Vertebrata are sometimes considered as a subgroup of the clade Craniata, consisting of chordates with a skull, the Craniata and Tunicata compose the clade Olfactores. Of the more than 65,000 living species of chordates, the worlds largest and fastest animals, the blue whale and peregrine falcon respectively, are chordates, as are humans. Fossil chordates are known from at least as early as the Cambrian explosion, Hemichordata, which includes the acorn worms, has been presented as a fourth chordate subphylum, but it now is usually treated as a separate phylum. The Hemichordata, along with the Echinodermata, form the Ambulacraria, the Chordata and Ambulacraria form the superphylum Deuterostomia, composed of the deuterostomes. Attempts to work out the relationships of the chordates have produced several hypotheses. All of the earliest chordate fossils have found in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna. Because the fossil record of early chordates is poor, only molecular phylogenetics offers a prospect of dating their emergence. However, the use of molecular phylogenetics for dating evolutionary transitions is controversial and it has also proved difficult to produce a detailed classification within the living chordates. Attempts to produce family trees shows that many of the traditional classes are paraphyletic. While this has been known since the 19th century, an insistence on only monophyletic taxa has resulted in vertebrate classification being in a state of flux. Although the name Chordata is attributed to William Bateson, it was already in prevalent use by 1880, ernst Haeckel described a taxon comprising tunicates, cephalochordates, and vertebrates in 1866. Though he used the German vernacular form, it is allowed under the ICZN code because of its subsequent latinization, among the vertebrate sub-group of chordates the notochord develops into the spine, and in wholly aquatic species this helps the animal to swim by flexing its tail. In fish and other vertebrates, this develops into the spinal cord, the pharynx is the part of the throat immediately behind the mouth. In fish, the slits are modified to form gills, a muscular tail that extends backwards behind the anus. This is a groove in the wall of the pharynx. In filter-feeding species it produces mucus to gather food particles, which helps in transporting food to the esophagus and it also stores iodine, and may be a precursor of the vertebrate thyroid gland
8.
Mammal
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Mammals are any vertebrates within the class Mammalia, a clade of endothermic amniotes distinguished from reptiles by the possession of a neocortex, hair, three middle ear bones and mammary glands. All female mammals nurse their young with milk, secreted from the mammary glands, Mammals include the largest animals on the planet, the great whales. The basic body type is a quadruped, but some mammals are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in trees. The largest group of mammals, the placentals, have a placenta, Mammals range in size from the 30–40 mm bumblebee bat to the 30-meter blue whale. With the exception of the five species of monotreme, all modern mammals give birth to live young, most mammals, including the six most species-rich orders, belong to the placental group. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Soricomorpha, the next three biggest orders, depending on the biological classification scheme used, are the Primates, the Cetartiodactyla, and the Carnivora. Living mammals are divided into the Yinotheria and Theriiformes There are around 5450 species of mammal, in some classifications, extant mammals are divided into two subclasses, the Prototheria, that is, the order Monotremata, and the Theria, or the infraclasses Metatheria and Eutheria. The marsupials constitute the group of the Metatheria, and include all living metatherians as well as many extinct ones. Much of the changes reflect the advances of cladistic analysis and molecular genetics, findings from molecular genetics, for example, have prompted adopting new groups, such as the Afrotheria, and abandoning traditional groups, such as the Insectivora. The mammals represent the only living Synapsida, which together with the Sauropsida form the Amniota clade, the early synapsid mammalian ancestors were sphenacodont pelycosaurs, a group that produced the non-mammalian Dimetrodon. At the end of the Carboniferous period, this group diverged from the line that led to todays reptiles. Some mammals are intelligent, with some possessing large brains, self-awareness, Mammals can communicate and vocalize in several different ways, including the production of ultrasound, scent-marking, alarm signals, singing, and echolocation. Mammals can organize themselves into fission-fusion societies, harems, and hierarchies, most mammals are polygynous, but some can be monogamous or polyandrous. They provided, and continue to provide, power for transport and agriculture, as well as commodities such as meat, dairy products, wool. Mammals are hunted or raced for sport, and are used as model organisms in science, Mammals have been depicted in art since Palaeolithic times, and appear in literature, film, mythology, and religion. Defaunation of mammals is primarily driven by anthropogenic factors, such as poaching and habitat destruction, Mammal classification has been through several iterations since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class. No classification system is accepted, McKenna & Bell and Wilson & Reader provide useful recent compendiums. Though field work gradually made Simpsons classification outdated, it remains the closest thing to a classification of mammals
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Even-toed ungulate
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The even-toed ungulates are ungulates whose weight is borne equally by the third and fourth toes. By contrast, odd-toed ungulates, such as horses, bear their weight primarily on their third toe, the aquatic cetaceans evolved from within even-toed ungulates, and therefore modern taxonomic classification sometimes combines Artiodactyla and Cetacea into Cetartiodactyla. The oldest fossils of even-toed ungulates date back to the early Eocene, since these findings almost simultaneously appeared in Europe, Asia, and North America, it is very difficult to accurately determine the origin of artiodactyls. The fossils are classified as belonging to the family Dichobunidae, their best-known and these were small animals, some as small as a hare, with a slim build, lanky legs, and a long tail. The hind legs were longer than the front legs. The early to middle Eocene saw the emergence of the ancestors of most of todays mammals, two formerly widespread, but now extinct, families of even-toed ungulates were Enteledontidae and Anthracotheriidae. Entelodonts existed from the middle Eocene to the early Miocene in Eurasia and they had a stocky body with short legs and a massive head, which was characterized by two humps on the lower jaw bone. Anthracotheres had a large, porcine build, with short legs and this group appeared in the middle Eocene up until the Pliocene, and spread throughout Eurasia, Africa, and North America. Anthracothereres are thought to be the ancestors of hippos, and, likewise, hippopotamuses appeared in the late Miocene and occupied Africa and Asia – they never got to the Americas. The camels were, during parts of the Cenozoic, limited to North America. Among the North American camels were groups like the stocky, short-legged Merycoidodontidae and they first appeared in the late Eocene and developed a great diversity of species in North America. Only in the late Miocene or early Pliocene did they migrate from North America into Eurasia, the North American varieties became extinct around 10,000 years ago. Suina have been around since the Eocene, in the late Eocene or the Oligocene, two families stayed in Eurasia and Africa, the peccaries, which became extinct in the Old World, exist today only in the Americas. South America was settled by even-toed ungulates only in the Pliocene, with only the peccaries, lamoids, and various species of capreoline deer, South America has comparatively fewer artiodactyl families than other continents. The classification of artiodactyls was hotly debated because the ocean-dwelling cetaceans evolved from the land-dwelling even-toed ungulates, some semiaquatic even-toed ungulates are more closely related to the ocean-dwelling cetaceans than to the other even-toed ungulates. This makes the Artiodactyla as traditionally defined an invalid paraphyletic taxon, since it includes animals descended from a common ancestor, phylogenetic classification only recognizes monophyletic taxa, that is, groups that descend from a common ancestor and include all its descendants. To address this problem, the traditional order Artiodactyla and infraorder Cetacea are sometimes subsumed into the more inclusive Cetartiodactyla taxon, an alternative approach is to include both land-land dwelling even toed ungulates and ocean-dwelling cetaceans in a revised Artiodactyla taxon. Order Artiodactyla/Clade CetartiodactylaSuborder Tylopoda Family †Anoplotheriidae, molecular biology involves sequencing an organisms DNA and RNA and comparing the sequence with that of other living beings – the more similar they are, the more closely they are related
10.
Bovidae
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The Bovidae are the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes bison, African buffalo, water buffalo, antelopes, gazelles, sheep, goats, muskoxen, and domestic cattle. A member of family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, the family Bovidae consists of eight major subfamilies apart from the disputed Peleinae and Pantholopinae, the family evolved 20 million years ago, in the early Miocene. The bovids show great variation in size and pelage colouration, excepting some domesticated forms, all male bovids have two or more horns, and in many species females possess horns, too. Most bovids bear 30 to 32 teeth, social activity and feeding usually peak during dawn and dusk. Bovids typically rest before dawn, during midday, and after dark and they have various methods of social organisation and social behaviour, which are classified into solitary and gregarious behaviour. Bovids use different forms of vocal, olfactory, and tangible communication, most species alternately feed and ruminate throughout the day. While small bovids forage in dense and closed habitat, larger species feed on vegetation in open grasslands. Mature bovids mate at least once a year and smaller species may even mate twice, the greatest diversities of bovids occur in Africa. The maximum concentration of species is in the savannas of eastern Africa, other bovid species also occur in Europe, Asia, and North America. Bovidae includes three of the five domesticated mammals whose use has spread outside their original ranges, namely cattle, sheep, dairy products such as milk, butter, and cheese are manufactured largely from domestic cattle. Bovids also provide leather, meat, and wool, the name Bovidae was given by the British zoologist John Edward Gray in 1821. The word Bovidae is the combination of the prefix bov- and the suffix -idae, the family Bovidae is placed in the order Artiodactyla. It includes 143 extant species, accounting for nearly 55% of the ungulates, molecular studies have supported monophyly in the family Bovidae. The number of subfamilies in Bovidae is disputed, with suggestions of as many as ten, in addition, three extinct subfamilies are known, Hypsodontinae, Oiocerinae and the subfamily Tethytraginae, which contains Tethytragus. In 1992, Alan W. Boodonts have somewhat primitive teeth, resembling those of oxen, a controversy exists about the recognition of Peleinae and Patholopinae, comprising the genera Pelea and Pantholops respectively, as subfamilies. Pantholops, earlier classified in the Antilopinae, was placed in its own subfamily. However, molecular and morphological analysis supports the inclusion of Pantholops in Caprinae, below is a cladogram based on Gatesy et al. and Gentry et al
11.
Oryx
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Oryx is a genus consisting of four large antelope species. Three of them are native to parts of Africa. Their fur is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, the exception is the scimitar oryx, which lacks dark markings on the legs, only has faint dark markings on the head, has an ochre neck, and horns that are clearly decurved. The Arabian oryx was only saved from extinction through a breeding program. The scimitar oryx, which is now listed as Extinct in the Wild, small populations of several oryx species, such as the scimitar oryx, exist in Texas and New Mexico in wild game ranches. Gemsboks were released at the White Sands Missile Range and have become a species of concern at the adjacent White Sands National Monument. The term oryx comes from the Greek word Ὂρυξ, óryx, the Greek plural form is óryges, although oryxes has been established in English. Herodotus mentions a type of gazelle in Libya called Orus, probably related to the verb ¨oruttoo or orussoo, White oryxes are known to dig holes in the sand for the sake of coolness. The Arabian oryx, the smallest species, became extinct in the wild in 1972 from the Arabian Peninsula and it was reintroduced in 1982 in Oman, but poaching has reduced their numbers there. One of the largest populations of Arabian oryx exists on Sir Bani Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates, additional populations have been reintroduced in Qatar, Bahrain, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. As of 2011, the wild population is over 1000. In 2011, the IUCN downgraded its threat category from Extinct in the Wild to Vulnerable, the scimitar oryx, also called scimitar-horned oryx, of North Africa, is now listed as possibly extinct in the wild. Several thousand are held in captivity around the world, the East African oryx inhabits eastern Africa, and the closely related gemsbok inhabits southern Africa. Neither is threatened, though the former is considered Near Threatened by the IUCN, the gemsbok is monotypic, and the East African oryx has two subspecies, East African oryx proper and the fringe-eared oryx. In the past, both were considered subspecies of the gemsbok, all Oryx species prefer near-desert conditions and can survive without water for long periods. They live in herds of up to 600 animals, newborn calves are able to run with the herd immediately after birth. Both males and females possess permanent horns, the horns are narrow, and straight except in the scimitar oryx, where they curve backwards like a scimitar. The horns are lethal — the oryx has been known to kill lions with them, the horns also make the animals a prized game trophy, which has led to the near-extinction of the two northern species
12.
Binomial nomenclature
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
13.
Peter Simon Pallas
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Peter Simon Pallas was a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia. Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery Simon Pallas and he studied with private tutors and took an interest in natural history, later attending the University of Halle and the University of Göttingen. In 1760, he moved to the University of Leiden and passed his doctors degree at the age of 19, Pallas traveled throughout the Netherlands and to London, improving his medical and surgical knowledge. He then settled at The Hague, and his new system of classification was praised by Georges Cuvier. Pallas wrote Miscellanea Zoologica, which included descriptions of several new to science which he had discovered in the Dutch museum collections. A planned voyage to southern Africa and the East Indies fell through when his father recalled him to Berlin, there, he began work on his Spicilegia Zoologica. He explored the Caspian Sea, the Ural and Altai Mountains, the regular reports which Pallas sent to St Petersburg were collected and published as Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. They covered a range of topics, including geology and mineralogy, reports on the native peoples and their religions. In 1776, Pallas was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Pallas settled in St Petersburg, becoming a favourite of Catherine II and teaching history to the Grand Dukes Alexander. He was provided with the plants collected by other naturalists to compile the Flora Rossica, a Russian flora, and started work on his Zoographica Rosso-Asiatica and he also published an account of Johann Anton Güldenstädts travels in the Caucasus. The Empress bought Pallass large natural history collection for 2,000 rubles,500 more than his asking price, during this period, Pallas helped plan the Mulovsky expedition, which was cancelled in October 1787. Between 1793 and 1794, Pallas led an expedition to southern Russia, visiting the Crimea. He was accompanied by his daughter and his new wife, an artist, servants, in February 1793, they travelled to Saratov and then downriver to Tsaritsyn. They spent the spring exploring the country to the east, and in August travelled along the banks of the Caspian Sea, in September, they travelled to the Crimea, wintering in Simferopol. Pallas spent the spring of 1794 exploring to the southeast, and in July travelled up the valley of the Dnieper, Pallas gave his account of the journey in his P. S. Pallas Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in die Südlichen Statthalterschaften des Russischen Reichs. Catherine II gave him an estate at Simferopol, where Pallas lived until the death of his second wife in 1810. He was then granted permission to leave Russia by Emperor Alexander, and returned to Berlin and his grave is preserved in the Protestant Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde in Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of Hallesches Tor
14.
Antelope
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An antelope is a member of a number of even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a wastebasket taxon within the family Bovidae, encompassing those Old World species that are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, a group of antelope is called a herd. It perhaps derives from Greek anthos and ops, perhaps meaning beautiful eye or alluding to the animals long eyelashes and this, however, may be a later folk etymology. The word talopus and calopus, from Latin, came to be used in heraldry, in 1607, it was first used for living, cervine animals. The 91 species, most of which are native to Africa, the classification of tribes or subfamilies within Bovidae is still a matter of debate, with several alternative systems proposed. Antelope are not a cladistic or taxonomically defined group, the term is used to describe all members of the family Bovidae that do not fall under the category of sheep, cattle, or goats. Usually, all species of the Alcelaphinae, Antilopinae, Hippotraginae, Reduncinae, Cephalophinae, many Bovinae, the grey rhebok, and the impala are called antelopes. No antelope species is native to Australasia or Antarctica, nor do any extant species occur in the Americas, North America is currently home to the native pronghorn, which taxonomists do not consider a member of the antelope group, but which is locally referred to as such. More species of antelope are native to Africa than to any other continent, almost exclusively in savannahs, other species occur in Asia, the Arabian Peninsula is home to the Arabian oryx and Dorcas gazelle. India is home to the nilgai, chinkara, blackbuck, Tibetan antelope, and four-horned antelope, while Russia and Central Asia have the Tibetan antelope, many species of antelopes have been imported to other parts of the world, especially the United States, for exotic game hunting. With some species possessing spectacular leaping and evasive skills, individuals may escape, Texas in particular has many game ranches, as well as habitats and climates, that are very hospitable to African and Asian plains antelope species. Accordingly, wild populations of antelope, gemsbok, and nilgai may be found in Texas. Antelope live in a range of habitats. Numerically, most live in the African savannahs, species living in forests, woodland, or bush tend to be sedentary, but many of the plains species undertake long migrations. These enable grass-eating species to follow the rains and thereby their food supply, the gnus and gazelles of East Africa perform some of the most impressive mass migratory circuits of all mammals. For example, a male common eland can measure 178 cm at the shoulder and weigh almost 950 kg, whereas an adult royal antelope may stand only 24 cm at the shoulder and weigh a mere 1.5 kg. Not surprisingly for animals with long, slender yet powerful legs, many antelopes have long strides, some are also adapted to inhabiting rock koppies and crags. Both dibatags and gerenuks habitually stand on their two legs to reach acacia and other tree foliage
15.
Arabian Peninsula
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The Arabian Peninsula, simplified Arabia is a peninsula of Western Asia situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian plate. From a geological perspective, it is considered a subcontinent of Asia and it is the largest peninsula in the world, at 3,237,500 km2. The Arabian Peninsula consists of the countries Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Middle East and the Arab world due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Before the modern era, it was divided into four regions, Hejaz, Najd, Southern Arabia. Hejaz and Najd make up most of Saudi Arabia, Southern Arabia consists of Yemen and some parts of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Eastern Arabia consists of the coastal strip of the Persian Gulf. The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert, but in the southwest there are mountain ranges, harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from the northwestern Arabian Peninsula into Jordan and southern Syria. The peninsulas constituent countries are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the island nation of Bahrain lies off the east coast of the peninsula. Six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council, however, this is a disputed term. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the part of the peninsula. The majority of the population of the live in Saudi Arabia. The peninsula contains the worlds largest reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, a peninsula in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home of the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, though historically lightly populated, political Arabia is noted for a high population growth rate - as the result of both very strong inflows of migrant labor as well as sustained high birth rates. The population tends to be young and heavily skewed gender ratio dominated by males. In many states, the number of South Asians exceeds that of the local citizenry, the four smallest states, which have their entire coastlines on the Persian Gulf, exhibit the worlds most extreme population growth, roughly tripling every 20 years. In 2014, the population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936. Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Arabia Haplogroup J is the most abundant component in the Arabian peninsula and its two main subclades, show opposite latitudinal gradients in the Middle East
16.
Extinct in the wild
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The tortoise was believed to be entirely extinct in the mid-20th century, until Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi spotted Lonesome George on the Galapagos island of Pinta on 1 December 1971. Since then, Lonesome George has been a symbol for conservation efforts in general. With his death on 24 June 2012, the subspecies is believed to be extinct. With the discovery of 17 hybrid Pinta tortoises located at nearby Wolf Volcano a plan has made to attempt to breed the subspecies back into a pure state. Not all species that are extinct in the wild are rare, however, the ultimate purpose of preserving biodiversity is to maintain ecological function. When a species only in captivity, it is ecologically extinct. Reintroduction is the release of species into the wild, from captivity or relocated from other areas where the species survives. This may be an option for certain species that are endangered or extinct in the wild, while conservation efforts may preserve some of the genetics of a species, the species may never fully recover due to the loss of the natural memetics of the species
17.
Arabian oryx reintroduction
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The Arabian oryx, also called the white oryx, was extinct in the wild as of 1972, but was reintroduced to the wild starting in 1982. As of 2009 there have been reintroductions in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, the Arabian oryx was known to be in decline since the early 1900s in the Arabian Peninsula. By the 1930 there were two separate populations isolated from each other, in 1960, Lee Talbot reported that Arabian oryx appeared to be extinct in its former range along the southern edge of Ar-Rub al-Khali. He believed that any oryx still existing would be exterminated within the few years. Operation Oryx was a program of the Phoenix Zoo and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society of London, one of the first captive breeding programs at any zoo, this program had the specific goal of saving and then reintroducing Arabian oryx in the wild. The initial plan of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society was to establish a herd in Kenya where another species of oryx already lived and flourished. The Kenyan plan was dropped because of an outbreak of disease. Although in hindsight we know there were actually quite a few potential Arabian oryx in private collections. There were originally four individuals captured and seven donated for this project, the four were captured in Aden near the border of Oman by an expedition led by the late Major Ian Grimwood, then chief game warden of Kenya, with help from Manahil and Mahra tribesmen. One male from this group later died of capture stress, the seven donated oryx were, one from the London Zoo, two from Sheikh Jaber Abdullah al-Sabah, and two pairs from the collection of King Saud bin Abdul Aziz. One of the oryx from Sheikh Jaber Abdullah al-Sabah died before delivery as well, five Arabian oryx were delivered to the Phoenix Zoo in 1963. A baby was born to the herd in October 1963 from an en route. The four oryx donated by King Saud arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in July 1964, the breeding program at the Phoenix Zoo was very successful, and the zoo celebrated its 225th Arabian oryx birth in 2002. From Phoenix, individuals were sent to zoos and parks to start their herds. Most of the Arabian oryx in the wild today have ancestors from the Phoenix Zoo, reintroductions started in 1982 in Oman. As of 2009 there have been reintroductions in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, at this time, populations in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan are still not considered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List wild oryx count. The population in Oman is still receiving supplementary forage, and the introduction into Jordan was after the last update of the Red List. By 1980 the number of Arabian oryx in captivity had increased to the point that reintroduction to Oman was attempted from the San Diego Wild Animal Park to Jaaluni in the Jiddat al-Harasis
18.
Endangered species
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An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as likely to become extinct. In 2012, the IUCN Red List featured 3079 animal and 2655 plant species as endangered worldwide, the figures for 1998 were, respectively,1102 and 1197. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species, for example, population numbers, trends and species conservation status can be found in the lists of organisms by population. The conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best-known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Over 40% of the species are estimated to be at risk of extinction. Internationally,199 countries have signed an accord to create Biodiversity Action Plans that will protect endangered, in the United States, such plans are usually called Species Recovery Plans. Those species of Near Threatened and Least Concern status have been assessed and found to have relatively robust and healthy populations, though these may be in decline. The IUCN categories, with examples of animals classified by them, include, Extinct Extinct in the wild Captive individuals survive, critically endangered Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Endangered Faces a high risk of extinction in the near future, vulnerable Faces a high risk of endangerment in the medium term. Near-threatened May be considered threatened in the near future, Least concern No immediate threat to species survival. A population size reduction of ≥ 50%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, based on any of to under A1. E) Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations, there is data from the United States that shows a correlation between human populations and threatened and endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, species may be listed as endangered or threatened, the Salt Creek tiger beetle is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA. Some endangered species laws are controversial, also lobbying from hunters and various industries like the petroleum industry, construction industry, and logging, has been an obstacle in establishing endangered species laws. The Bush administration lifted a policy that required federal officials to consult an expert before taking actions that could damage endangered species. Under the Obama administration, this policy has been reinstated, being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers. This effect is potentially reducible, such as in China where commercially farmed turtles may be reducing some of the pressure to poach endangered species. Another problem with the species is its effect of inciting the use of the shoot, shovel
19.
CITES
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CITES is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the convention was opened for signature in 1973 and CITES entered into force on 1 July 1975. In order to ensure that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was not violated, as of 2015, Secretary-General of the CITES Secretariat is John E. Scanlon. CITES is one of the largest and oldest conservation and sustainable use agreements in existence, participation is voluntary, and countries that have agreed to be bound by the Convention are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties, it does not take the place of national laws, rather it provides a framework respected by each Party, which must adopt their own domestic legislation to implement CITES at the national level. Often, domestic legislation is either non-existent, or with penalties with the gravity of the crime, funding for the activities of the Secretariat and Conference of the Parties meetings comes from a Trust Fund derived from Party contributions. Trust Fund money is not available to Parties to improve implementation or compliance and these activities, and all those outside Secretariat activities must find external funding, mostly from donor countries and regional organizations such as the European Union. The Secretariat, when informed of an infraction by a Party, the Secretariat will give the Party time to respond to the allegations and may provide technical assistance to prevent further infractions. Other actions the Convention itself does not provide for but that derive from subsequent COP resolutions may be taken against the offending Party, infractions may include negligence with respect to permit issuing, excessive trade, lax enforcement, and failing to produce annual reports. As of 2013 the demand was massive and had expanded to thousands of species previously considered unremarkable. The text of the Convention was finalized at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington, united States, on 3 March 1973. It was then open for signature until 31 December 1974 and it entered into force after the 10th ratification by a signatory country, on 1 July 1975. Countries that signed the Convention become Parties by ratifying, accepting or approving it, by the end of 2003, all signatory countries had become Parties. States that were not signatories may become Parties by acceding to the Convention, as of October 2016, the Convention has 183 parties, including 182 states and the European Union. The CITES Convention includes provisions and rules for trade with non-Parties, UN observer the Holy See is also not a member. The Faroe Islands, a country in the Kingdom of Denmark, is also treated as a non-Party to CITES. The REIO can vote at CITES meetings with the number of votes representing the number of members in the REIO, at that time it entered into force only for those States that had accepted the amendment. The amended text of the Convention will apply automatically to any State that becomes a Party after 29 November 2013, for States that became party to the Convention before that date and have not accepted the amendment, it will enter into force 60 days after they accept it
20.
2006 Asian Games
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Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games. It was the first time that all 45 member nations of the Olympic Council of Asia took part in this event, also, Eurosport broadcast the event, marking the first time that the European continent could watch this Asian sporting event. The final medal tally was led by China followed by South Korea, several world and Asian records were broken during the games. On November 12,2000, voting for the 2006 venue took place in Busan, the voting involved the 41 members of the Olympic Council of Asia and consisted of three rounds, each round eliminating one of the bidding cities. After the first round, New Delhi was eliminated, with two votes. The second round of voting, with three remaining candidates, gave Doha as the result, under the regulations of the OCA, a candidate which gains half of the available votes will automatically be selected as the host, and the remaining rounds of voting will be cancelled. When Doha gained 22 out of 41 votes this meant they were selected to host the 2006 Asian Games, most of Qatars votes came from the unanimous support from West Asian countries. After the major upset, Malaysia and Hong Kong, China expressed their disappointment, Malaysia said that the selection of Doha was ridiculous and that the selection of Doha was influenced by Qatars economic wealth. The torch relay has been integral to the Asian Games since 1958, the plans for the Doha 2006 torch relay were revealed by the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee on January 20,2006. The relay itself started on October 8,2006 with a ceremony at the Doha Golf Club Flame of Hospitality. With the involvement of over 3000 persons, the torch crossed eight former Asian Games host countries, the first pit stop was in New Delhi on October 11,2006. In total the relay passed through 13 countries and 23 cities, the relay, which has a distance of 50,000 kilometres in 55 days, is the longest relay in the history of the Asian Games. The Doha Asian Games Organising Committee chose Orry, a Qatari Oryx, al-Arabi Sports Club Fencing, football, rugby sevens. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held, the opening ceremony was directed by David Atkins, who conducted the 2000 Summer Olympics opener. The opening ceremony presented the culture of the Arab World as well as other Asian cultures, the ceremony ended with the lighting of the torch on the Aspire Tower. The sport events contested at the 2006 Asian Games are listed below, officially there are 46 disciplines from 38 sports in contention. All events listed started after the opening ceremony except Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Table tennis, and Volleyball, which had preliminaries before the opening ceremony. South Korean equestrian athlete Kim Hyung-chil died after falling off his horse on the morning of December 7 during the cross country competition which took place in the rain, the accident occurred at jump number eight during the cross-country stage of the three-day eventing competition
21.
Doha
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Doha is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Qatar. Doha has a population of 1,351,000 in a city proper with the close to 1.5 million. The city is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the east of the country and it is Qatars fastest growing city, with over 50% of the nations population living in Doha or its surrounding suburbs, and it is also the economic center of the country. Doha was founded in the 1820s as an offshoot of Al Bidda and it was officially declared as the countrys capital in 1971, when Qatar gained independence. As the commercial capital of Qatar and one of the emergent financial centers in the Middle East, Doha is considered a city by the Globalization. Doha accommodates Education City, a devoted to research and education. The city was host to the first ministerial-level meeting of the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization negotiations. It was also selected as host city of a number of sporting events, including the 2006 Asian Games, in December 2011, the World Petroleum Council held the 20th World Petroleum Conference in Doha. Additionally, the city hosted the 2012 UNFCCC Climate Negotiations and is set to host a number of the venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In May 2015, Doha was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, La Paz, Durban, Havana, Beirut, the name Doha may have originated from the Arabic Ad-Dawḥa, the big tree. The reference might be to a prominent tree that stood at the site where the fishing village arose. Alternatively, it may have derived from dohat — Arabic for bay or gulf — referring to the Doha Bay area surrounding the Corniche. The city of Doha was formed after seceding from another local settlement known as Al Bidda, the earliest documented mention of Al Bidda was made in 1681, by the Carmelite Convent, in an account which chronicles several settlements in Qatar. In the record, the ruler and a fort in the confines of Al Bidda are alluded to, carsten Niebuhr, a European explorer who visited the Arabian Peninsula, created one of the first maps to depict the settlement in 1765 in which he labelled it as Guttur. David Seaton, a British political resident in Muscat, wrote the first English record of Al Bidda in 1801 and he refers to the town as Bedih and describes the geography and defensive structures in the area. He stated that the town had recently settled by the Sudan tribe. Seaton attempted to bombard the town with his warship, but returned to Muscat upon finding that the waters were too shallow to position his warship within striking distance. In 1820, British surveyor R. H. Colebrook, who visited Al Bidda and he wrote, The same year, an agreement known as the General Maritime Treaty was signed between the East India Company and the sheikhs of several Persian Gulf settlements
22.
Qatar Airways
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Operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier of Qatar. Qatar Airways Group employs more than 40,000 people, of whom 24,000 work directly for Qatar Airways, the carrier has been a member of the Oneworld alliance since October 2013, the first Gulf carrier to sign with one of the three airline alliances. Qatar Airways was established on November 22,1993, operations started on January 20,1994, amman was first served in May 1994. In April 1995, the airlines CEO was the Sheikh Hamad Bin Ali Bin Jabor Al Thani who employed a staff of 75, during 1995, two ex-All Nippon Airways Boeing 747s were bought from Boeing. The airline acquired a second-hand Boeing 747SP from Air Mauritius in 1996, Services to Athens, Istanbul, Madras and Tunis were suspended in late 1996, whereas Calcutta and Muscat were removed from the route network in January and September 1997, respectively. Flights to London were launched during 1997, the airline also took delivery of two second-hand 231-seater Airbus A300-600R aircraft on lease from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services during the year, they replaced two Boeing 747s. The entering of these two A300s into the fleet also marked the introduction of a new logo, a third A300-600R joined the fleet shortly afterwards, also on lease from AWAS. In July 1998 the carrier placed an order with Airbus for six Airbus A320s. The airline took delivery of the first A320 powered by Aero Engines V2500 on lease from SALE in February 1999, a fourth A300-600R on lease from AWAS joined the fleet in April 2000. In October 2000, Qatar Airways ordered an International Aero Engines V2500-powered Airbus A319CJ, the airline became the Airbus A380s ninth customer in 2001 when two aircraft of the type were ordered, plus two options. Also that year, the airline resumed services to Jakarta, in 2002, the government of Qatar withdrew from Gulf Air. In June 2003, a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 was the first aircraft that resumed the services to Iraq when it flew the Doha–Basra route. Also that month, Qatar Airways incorporated its first dedicated aircraft to the fleet. It was an Airbus A300-600R that was converted to freighter in Germany for US$10 million. Also in June 2003, at the Paris Air Show, the placed a order with Airbus valued at US$5.1 billion for two Airbus A321s,14 Airbus A330s and two Airbus A340-600s. The deal included eight A330-200s and six -300s, it also included options for further six A330-300s, the first aircraft were scheduled to enter the fleet in 2004, with the A340-600 slated for delivery in 2006. During the year the airline started serving the Chinese market with the introduction of flights to Shanghai, also in 2003, the carrier expanded its portfolio of destinations with the commencement of services to Manchester in April, Tripoli in November, and Cebu and Singapore in December. During the 2003 Dubai Air Show the airline firmed up a commitment for two Airbus A380s and took options for another two of these aircraft
23.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
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Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
25.
Common eland
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The common eland, also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus Taurotragus and it was first described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1766. An adult male is around 1.6 metres tall at the shoulder and it is the second largest antelope in the world, being slightly smaller on average than the giant eland. Mainly a herbivore, its diet is grasses and leaves. Common elands form herds of up to 500 animals, but are not territorial, the common eland prefers habitats with a wide variety of flowering plants such as savannah, woodlands, and open and montane grasslands, it avoids dense forests. It uses loud barks, visual and postural movements and the response to communicate. The common eland is used by humans for leather, meat, and rich, nutritious milk, while the common elands population is decreasing, it is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The scientific name of the common eland is Taurotragus oryx, composed of three words, tauros, tragos and oryx, tauros is Greek for a bull or bullock, meaning the same as the Latin taurus. Tragos is Greek for a goat, referring to the tuft of hair that grows in the elands ear. Oryx is Latin and Greek for pickaxe, referring to the horns of North African antelopes like the common eland. The name eland is Dutch for elk or moose and it has a Baltic source similar to the Lithuanian élnis, which means deer. It was borrowed earlier as ellan in the 1610s or Elend, when Dutch settlers came to the Cape Province, they named it after the large, herbivorous moose. In Dutch the animal is called Eland antelope to distinguish it from the moose and they are sexually dimorphic, with females being smaller than the males. Females weigh 300–600 kg, measure 200–280 cm from the snout to the base of the tail, bulls weigh 400–942 kg, are 240–345 cm from the snout to the base of the tail and stand 150–183 cm at the shoulder. The tail is 50–90 cm long, male elands can weigh up to 1,000 kg. Their coat differs geographically, with elands in north Africa having distinctive markings that are absent in the south, apart from a rough mane, the coat is smooth. Females have a tan coat, while the coats of males are darker, bulls may also have a series of vertical white stripes on their sides. As males age, their coat becomes more grey, males also have dense fur on their foreheads and a large dewlap on their throats
26.
Gemsbok
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The gemsbok or gemsbuck is a large antelope in the Oryx genus. It is native to the regions of Southern Africa, such as the Kalahari Desert. Some authorities formerly included the East African oryx as a subspecies, the gemsbok is depicted on the coat of arms of Namibia, where the current population of the species is estimated at 373,000 individuals. The name gemsbok in English is derived from Afrikaans gemsbok, which itself is derived from the Dutch name of the male chamois, although some superficial similarities in appearance are noticed, the chamois and the oryx are not closely related. The usual pronunciation in English is /ˈɡɛmzbɒk/, gemsbok are light brownish-grey to tan in colour, with lighter patches toward the bottom rear of the rump. Their tails are long and black in colour, a blackish stripe extends from the chin down the lower edge of the neck, through the juncture of the shoulder and leg along the lower flank of each side to the blackish section of the rear leg. They have muscular necks and shoulders, and their legs have white socks with a patch on the front of both the front legs, and both genders have long, straight horns. Comparably, the East African oryx lacks a dark patch at the base of the tail, has black on the legs. One very rare condition is the Golden Oryx, in which the Gemsboks black markings are muted, gemsbok are the largest species in the Oryx genus. They stand about 1.2 m at the shoulder, the body length can vary from 190 to 240 cm and the tail measures 45 to 90 cm. Male gemsbok can weigh between 180 and 240 kg, while females weigh 100–210 kg, gemsbok are widely hunted for their spectacular horns that average 85 cm in length. From a distance, the only difference between males and females is their horns, and many hunters mistake females for males each year. In males horns tend to be thicker with larger bases, females have slightly longer, thinner horns. Female gemsbok use their horns to defend themselves and their offspring from predators, gemsbok are one of the few antelope species where female trophies are sometimes more desirable than male ones. A gemsbok horn can be fashioned into a trumpet and, according to some authorities. Gemsbok live in herds of about 10–40 animals, which consist of a dominant male, a few nondominant males and they are mainly desert-dwelling and do not depend on drinking water to supply their physiological needs. They can reach running speeds of up to 60 km/h, in 1969, the New Mexico State Department of Game and Fish decided to introduce gemsbok to the Tularosa Basin in the United States. The introduction was a compromise between those who wanted to preserve nature and those who wanted to use it for profit, ninety-three were released from 1969 to 1977, with the current population estimated to be around 3,000 specimens
27.
Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville
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Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville was a French zoologist and anatomist. Blainville was born at Arques, near Dieppe, as a young man he went to Paris to study art, but ultimately devoted himself to natural history. He attracted the attention of Georges Cuvier, for whom he substituted as lecturer at the Collège de France and at the Athenaeum Club. In 1812 he was aided by Cuvier in acquiring the position of assistant professor of anatomy, eventually, relations between the two men soured, a situation that ended in open enmity. In 1825 Blainville was admitted a member of the French Academy of Sciences, two years later, on the death of Cuvier, he obtained the chair of comparative anatomy, of which he proved himself a worthy successor to his former teacher. In 1837, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. On May 1,1850, he died from an attack of apoplexy in a carriage at the Embarcadère du Havre in Paris. He was the authority of numerous zoological species, extinct and extant, including the eponymous Blainvilles beaked whale. He also described new species of reptiles. It was in 1822 that he coined the term paleontology, sur les ichthyolites, ou, Les poissons fossiles - On ichthyolites, or fossil fish. De lorganisation des animaux, ou Principes danatomie comparée - On the organization of animals, manuel de malacologie et de conchyliologie - Manual of malacology and conchology. Cours de physiologie générale et comparée - Course of general and comparative physiology, manuel dactinologie, ou de zoophytologie - Manual of actinology or zoophytology. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Blainville
28.
Hinrich Lichtenstein
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Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein was a German physician, explorer, botanist and zoologist. Born in Hamburg, Lichtenstein was the son of Anton August Heinrich Lichtenstein and he studied medicine at Jena and Helmstedt. Between 1802 and 1806 he travelled in southern Africa, becoming the personal physician of the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, in 1829, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He died after he had a stroke at sea travelling aboard a steamer from Korsør to Kiel, Lichtenstein was responsible for the creation of Berlins Zoological Gardens in 1841, when he persuaded King Frederick William IV of Prussia to donate the grounds of his pheasantry. He also published Johann Reinhold Forsters manuscripts for Descriptiones animalium in 1844, in the field of herpetology he described many new species of amphibians and reptiles. Among species named by Lichtenstein are included the Australian king parrot, crowned sandgrouse, in 1859 Italian herpetologist, Giorgio Jan, named the forest night adder in honor of Hinrich Lichtenstein, as did the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck with the Lichtensteins sandgrouse. Mit einer Einführung von Wahrhold Drascher, ein Fragment aus dem Tagebuche des Hrn. Dr. Lichtenstein auf der Reise von Amsterdam nach dem Vorgebirge der guten Hofnung 1802, industrie-Comptoirs, Weimar 1806 Über die Beetjuanas. Als Nachtrag und Berichtigung zu Barrows Auszug aus Trüters Tagebuch einer Reise zu den Buschwanas, zur Geschichte der Sing-Akademie in Berlin. Nebst einer Nachricht über das Fest am funfzigsten Jahrestage Ihrer Stiftung und einem alphabetischen Verzeichniss aller Personen, ernst Rudorff, Briefe von Carl Maria von Weber an Hinrich Lichtenstein. Mit drei Porträts, drei Abbildungen und sechs Faksimiles, VIII Seiten,252 Seiten, mit Abb. Wilhelm Bölsche, Neue Welten. Die Eroberung der Erde in Darstellungen großer Naturforscher, thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds
29.
Scimitar oryx
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The scimitar oryx or scimitar-horned oryx, also known as the Sahara oryx, is a species of Oryx once widespread across North Africa which went extinct in the wild in 2000. It has a long history since its discovery in 1816 by Lorenz Oken. This spiral-horned antelope stands a little more than 1 metre at the shoulder, the males weigh 140–210 kg and the females weigh 91–140 kg. The coat is white with a red-brown chest and black markings on the forehead, the calves are born with a yellow coat, and the distinguishing marks are initially absent. The coats change to adult coloration at 3–12 months old, the scimitar oryx formed herds of mixed sexes of up to 70 members, usually guided by the bulls. They inhabited semideserts and deserts and were adapted to live in the heat, with their efficient cooling mechanism. Scimitar oryx feed on foliage, grasses, succulent plants and plant parts during the night or early morning, births peak between March and October. After a gestation of eight to nine months, one calf is born, soon after, the female has a postpartum estrus. The scimitar oryx was once widespread across northern Africa and its decline began as a result of climate change, and later it was hunted extensively for its horns. Today, it is bred in captivity in special reserves in Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal, in 2016 a reintroduction program was launched and currently a small herd has been successfully reintroduced in Chad. The scimitar oryx was domesticated in Ancient Egypt and is believed to have used as food. Wealthy people in Ancient Rome also bred them, the use of their valuable hides began in the Middle Ages. The unicorn myth may have originated from sightings of a scimitar oryx with a broken horn, the scimitar oryx is a member of the genus Oryx and family Bovidae. The German naturalist Lorenz Oken first described it in 1816, naming it Oryx algazel. The nomenclature has undergone various changes since then, with the introduction of names like Oryx tao, O. leucoryx, O. damma, O. dammah, O. bezoarticus, in 1826, Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar used the name Oryx ammah for the species. A year later, the name Orys leucoryx came into use, but as this was a synonym of the Arabian oryx, it was abandoned, over a hundred years later, in 1951, Sir John Ellerman and Terence Morrison-Scott realized the invalidity of the name Oryx algazel. Finally, in January 1956, the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature accepted Oryx dammah as the scientific name, there have been no more changes since then, though many papers published after 1956 created confusion by using names like O. gazella tao. Its scientific name, Oryx dammah, is derived from, Ancient Greek ὄρυξ, meaning a gazelle or antelope, Latin damma, the scimitar oryx is named for its horns, which resemble scimitars
30.
Sudan
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Sudan, also known as North Sudan since South Sudans independence and officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northern Africa. It is the third largest country in Africa, the River Nile divides the country into eastern and western halves. Before the Sudanese Civil War, South Sudan was part of Sudan, Sudan was home to numerous ancient civilizations, such as the Kingdom of Kush, Kerma, Nobatia, Alodia, Makuria, Meroë and others, most of which flourished along the Nile. During the pre-dynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were identical, by virtue of its proximity to Egypt, the Sudan participated in the wider history of the Near East inasmuch as it was Christianized by the 6th century, and Islamized in the 15th. As a result of Christianization, the Old Nubian language stands as the oldest recorded Nilo-Saharan language, Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world until 2011, when South Sudan separated into an independent country, following an independence referendum. Sudan is now the third largest country in Africa and also the third largest country in the Arab world and its capital is Khartoum, the political, cultural and commercial centre of the nation. It is a representative democratic federal republic. The politics of Sudan are regulated by an organization called the National Assembly. The Sudanese legal system is based on Islamic law, the countrys place name Sudan is a name given to a geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to eastern Central Africa. The name derives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān, or the lands of the Blacks, during the fifth millennium BC migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture. The population that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing developed social hierarchy over the centuries become the Kingdom of Kush at 1700 BC. The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient Nubian state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile and White Nile, and the Atbarah River and it was established after the Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, centered at Napata in its early phase. After King Kashta invaded Egypt in the eighth century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt for a century before being defeated and driven out by the Assyrians. At the height of their glory, the Kushites conquered an empire that stretched from what is now known as South Kordofan all the way to the Sinai, pharaoh Piye attempted to expand the empire into the Near East, but was thwarted by the Assyrian king Sargon II. Sennacheribs successor Esarhaddon went further, and invaded Egypt itself, deposing Taharqa, Taharqa fled back to his homeland where he died two years later. Egypt became an Assyrian colony, however, king Tantamani, after succeeding Taharqa, Esarhaddon died while preparing to leave the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in order to eject him. However, his successor Ashurbanipal sent an army into southern Egypt and routed Tantamani. During Classical Antiquity, the Nubian capital was at Meroë, in ancient Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Ethiopia
31.
Germans
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Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans. The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages, before the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Germans constituted the largest divided nation in Europe by far. Ever since the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire, of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, roughly 80 million consider themselves Germans. Thus, the number of Germans lies somewhere between 100 and more than 150 million, depending on the criteria applied. Today, people from countries with German-speaking majorities most often subscribe to their own national identities, the German term Deutsche originates from the Old High German word diutisc, referring to the Germanic language of the people. It is not clear how commonly, if at all, the word was used as an ethnonym in Old High German, used as a noun, ein diutscher in the sense of a German emerges in Middle High German, attested from the second half of the 12th century. The Old French term alemans is taken from the name of the Alamanni and it was loaned into Middle English as almains in the early 14th century. The word Dutch is attested in English from the 14th century, denoting continental West Germanic dialects, while in most Romance languages the Germans have been named from the Alamanni, the Old Norse, Finnish and Estonian names for the Germans were taken from that of the Saxons. In Slavic languages, the Germans were given the name of němьci, originally with a meaning foreigner, the English term Germans is only attested from the mid-16th century, based on the classical Latin term Germani used by Julius Caesar and later Tacitus. It gradually replaced Dutch and Almains, the latter becoming mostly obsolete by the early 18th century, the Germans are a Germanic people, who as an ethnicity emerged during the Middle Ages. Originally part of the Holy Roman Empire, around 300 independent German states emerged during its decline after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War and these states eventually formed into modern Germany in the 19th century. The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe, the early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was significantly increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe, during antiquity these Germanic tribes remained separate from each other and did not have writing systems at that time. In the European Iron Age the area that is now Germany was divided into the La Tène horizon in Southern Germany and the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany. By 55 BC, the Germans had reached the Danube river and had either assimilated or otherwise driven out the Celts who had lived there, and had spread west into what is now Belgium and France. Conflict between the Germanic tribes and the forces of Rome under Julius Caesar forced major Germanic tribes to retreat to the east bank of the Rhine, in Roman-held territories with Germanic populations, the Germanic and Roman peoples intermarried, and Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions intermingled. The adoption of Christianity would later become an influence in the development of a common German identity
32.
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
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Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist, was one of the most famous and productive scientists of his time. The son of a judge, Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg was born in Delitzsch and he first studied theology at the University of Leipzig, then medicine and natural sciences in Berlin and became a friend of the famous explorer Alexander von Humboldt. In 1818, he completed his dissertation on fungi, Sylvae mycologicae Berolinenses. In 1820–1825, on an expedition to the Middle East with his friend Wilhelm Hemprich, he collected thousands of specimens of plants. He investigated parts of Egypt, the Libyan Desert, the Nile valley and the coasts of the Red Sea. Subsequently parts of Syria, Arabia and Abyssinia were examined, some results of these travels and of the important collections that had been made were reported on by Humboldt in 1826. While in Sudan he designed the mansion of the governor of Dongola. After his return, Ehrenberg published several papers on insects and corals and two volumes Symbolae physicae, in many particulars of the mammals, birds, insects. Other observations were communicated to scientific societies, Ehrenberg was appointed professor of medicine at Berlin University in 1827. In 1829 he accompanied Humboldt through eastern Russia to the Chinese frontier, after his return he began to concentrate his studies on microscopic organisms, which until then had not been systematically studied. He was particularly interested in a group of protists called diatoms, but he also studied. Until Ehrenberg took up the study it was not known that considerable masses of rock were composed of forms of animals or plants. He also demonstrated that the phosphorescence of the sea was due to organisms and he was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1836 and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London from 1837. In 1839, he won the Wollaston Medal, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London, Ehrenberg was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1849. He continued until late in life to investigate the microscopic organisms of the deep sea and he died in Berlin on 27 June 1876. After his death in 1876, his collections of organisms were deposited in the Museum für Naturkunde at the University of Berlin. The Ehrenberg Collection includes 40,000 microscope preparations,5,000 raw samples,3,000 pencil and ink drawings and his collection of scorpions, and other arachnids from the Middle East, is also held in the Berlin Museum. He was also the first winner of the Leeuwenhoek Medal in 1877, in his hometown, Delitzsch, the highest A-Level school, the Ehrenberg-Gymnasium is named after him
33.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
34.
Zoological Society of London
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The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. Between 1816 and 1826 discussions between Stamford Raffles, Humphry Davy, Joseph Banks and others led to the idea that London should have an establishment similar to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and it would house a zoological collection which should interest and amuse the public. Raffles was the first chairman and president, but died only a few months in office. It received a Royal Charter from George IV on 27 March 1829, the purpose of the society was to create a collection of animals for study at leisure, an associated museum and library. In April 1828 the Zoological Gardens were opened to members, in 1831 William IV presented the Royal Menagerie to the Zoological Society, and in 1847 the public were admitted to aid funding, and Londoners soon christened the Zoological Gardens the Zoo. London Zoo soon had the most extensive collection of animals in the world, a History of the ZSL, written by Henry Scherren, was published in 1905. The History was criticised as inadequately researched by Peter Chalmers Mitchell in 1929, as the twentieth century began, the need to maintain and research large animals in a more natural environment became clear. Peter Chalmers Mitchell conceived the vision of a new park no more than 70 miles away from London and thus accessible to the public, and at least 200 acres in extent. In 1926, profiting from the depression, the ideal place was found, Hall Farm, near Whipsnade village, was derelict. ZSL bought the farm in December 1926 for £13,480 12s 10d, in 1928 the first animals arrived at the new Whipsnade Park – two Amherst pheasants, a golden pheasant and five red jungle fowl. Others soon followed, including deer, llamas, wombats. In 1931 Whipsnade Park was opened to the public as the worlds first open zoological park, in June 2015 ZSL rebranded, taking on a new tagline - Lets Work for Wildlife. The new brand will be used to boost awareness in the UK and beyond of ZSL’s global conservation programmes, scientific research, fundraising, the Institute of Zoology is the scientific research division of the ZSL. It is a research institute, which specialises in scientific issues relevant to the conservation of species. The Institute of Zoology focuses its research on five areas, evolutionary biology, genetics, ecology, reproductive biology, the Institute of Zoology was graded 4 in the 1997–2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise, and publishes reports annually. From the late 1980s the Institute of Zoology had been affiliated to the University of London, however, in 2000 this was replaced with a partnership with the University of Cambridge. ZSL runs ZSL London Zoo, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and had planned to open an aquarium, the society published the Zoological Record from 1864 to 1980, when the ZR was transferred to BIOSIS. The Society has published the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, now called the Journal of Zoology, since 1998 it has also published Animal Conservation
35.
John Edward Gray
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John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray. Gray was Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum in London from 1840 until Christmas 1874 and he published several catalogues of the museum collections that included comprehensive discussions of animal groups as well as descriptions of new species. He improved the zoological collections to make them amongst the best in the world, Gray was born in Walsall, but his family soon moved to London, where Gray studied medicine. He assisted his father in writing The Natural Arrangement of British Plants, after being blackballed by the Linnean Society he turned his interest from botany to zoology. He began his career by volunteering to collect insects for the British Museum at age 15. He officially joined the Zoological Department in 1824 to help John George Children catalog the reptile collection, in 1840 he took over from Children as Keeper of Zoology, which he continued for 35 years, publishing well over 1000 papers. He named many species, genera, subfamilies, and families. During this period he collaborated with Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, the natural history artist. Knowsley Park, near Liverpool, had been founded by Edward Stanley, Gray married Maria Emma Smith in 1826. She helped him with his work, especially with her drawings. In 1833, he was a founder of what became the Royal Entomological Society of London, during his fifty years employed at the British Museum Gray wrote nearly 500 papers, including many descriptions of species new to science. He was also active in malacology, the study of molluscs, on his death he was buried at St Marys Church, Lewisham. 1821, On the natural arrangement of Vertebrose Animals,1824, A revision of the family Equidae. 1824, On the natural arrangement of the pulmonobranchous Mollusca, annals of Philosophy, new series 8, 107–109. 1825, A list and description of species of shells not taken notice of by Lamarck. 1825, An outline of an attempt at the disposition of the Mammalia into tribes and families with a list of the genera apparently appertaining to each tribe, narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia. Performed between the years 1818 and 1822, with an Appendix, containing various subjects relating to hydrography and natural history
36.
Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
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Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, VA CI GCVO GBE RRC GCStJ was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. King Felipe VI of Spain is her great-great-grandson, Beatrice was the last of Queen Victorias children to die,65 years after the first, her sister Alice. Beatrices childhood coincided with Queen Victorias grief following the death of her husband Albert, as her elder sisters married and left their mother, Queen Victoria came to rely on the company of her youngest daughter, whom she called Baby for most of her childhood. Beatrice was brought up to stay with her mother always and she resigned herself to her fate. Queen Victoria was so set against her youngest daughter marrying that she refused to discuss the possibility and she was attracted to the Prince Imperial and there was talk of a possible marriage, but he was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia von Hauke and brother-in-law of her niece Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Queen Victoria consented on condition that Beatrice and Henry make their home with her, the Prince and Princess had four children, but 10 years into their marriage, on 20 January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria while fighting in the Anglo-Asante War. Beatrice remained at her mothers side until Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Beatrice devoted the next 30 years to editing Queen Victorias journals as her designated literary executor and continued to make public appearances. She died at 87, outliving all her siblings, two of her children, and several nieces and nephews including George V and Wilhelm II, Beatrice was born at Buckingham Palace. She was the daughter and youngest of the nine children of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. The birth caused controversy when it was announced that Queen Victoria would seek relief from the pains of delivery through the use of chloroform administered by Dr John Snow, chloroform was considered dangerous to mother and child and was frowned upon by the Church of England and the medical authorities. Queen Victoria was undeterred and used that blessed chloroform for her last pregnancy, a fortnight later, Queen Victoria reported in her journal, I was amply rewarded and forgot all I had gone through when I heard dearest Albert say Its a fine child, and a girl. She was christened in the chapel at Buckingham Palace on 16 June 1857. Her godparents were the Duchess of Kent, the Princess Royal, from birth, Beatrice became a favoured child. The elder favourite daughter of Prince Albert, the Princess Royal, was about to take up residence in Germany with her new husband, at the same time, the newly arrived Beatrice showed promise. Albert wrote to Augusta, Fritzs mother, that Baby practises her scales like a prima donna before a performance and has a good voice. Although Queen Victoria was known to dislike most babies, she liked Beatrice and this provided Beatrice with an advantage over her elder siblings. Queen Victoria once remarked that Beatrice was a pretty, plump, with fine large blue eyes, pretty little mouth and very fine skin
37.
Oldfield Thomas
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Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas FRS FZS was a British zoologist. Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time and he was appointed to the Museum Secretarys office in 1876, transferring to the Zoological Department in 1878. In 1891 Thomas married Mary Kane, daughter of Sir Andrew Clark, heiress to a small fortune and he also did field work himself in western Europe and South America. His wife shared his interest in history, and accompanied him on collecting trips. In 1896 when William Henry Flower took control of the department he hired Richard Lydekker to rearrange the exhibitions, officially retired from the museum in 1923, he continued his work without interruption. He died by shooting himself with a handgun while sitting at his desk in 1929, aged 71, about a year after the death of his wife. Works written by or about Oldfield Thomas at Wikisource
38.
Arabian wolf
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The Arabian wolf is a small, desert-adapted wolf that stands at around 26 inches shoulder height and weighs an average of 40 pounds. Their ears are larger in relation to body size when compared to other species. Arabian wolves do not usually live in packs, and instead hunt in pairs or in groups of about three or four animals. However, footage of a pack 12 members strong was filmed for the BBC documentary Wild Arabia in 2013 and this subspecies is unusual, as it is not known to howl. Arabian wolves have short, thin fur in summer, though the hair on their backs remains long even in summer and this is thought to be an adaptation against solar radiation. The winter coat is long, though not as long as northern subspecies, the Arabian wolf possesses no sweat glands, like other canines, it controls body temperature by rapid panting which causes evaporation from the lungs. Unlike other grey wolves, the two toes of an Arabian wolfs paws are fused, a trait originally thought unique to the African wild dog. It is distinguished from the Indian wolf by its fur, smaller size. Arabian wolves can attack and eat any domestic animals up to the size of a goat, as a result, farmers will not hesitate to shoot, poison, or trap them. Arabian wolves also feed on hares, rodents, ungulates, Arabian wolves hunt small to medium-sized animals such as cape hares, Dorcas gazelles, and ibexes, though they feed on carrion and livestock when in the vicinity of human settlements. It is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, in Israel, between 100 and 150 Arabian wolves are found all over the Negev and the Arava. In Iraq, wolves are causing a problem to villagers and farmers since their numbers are increasing and more commonly seen in villages. The wolf was frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as an enemy to flocks, and an emblem of treachery and ferocity, the tribe of Benjamin, owing to its warlike character, was often compared to a wolf in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible
39.
Predation
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In an ecosystem, predation is a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey. Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on it, but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey, thus predation is often, though not always, carnivory. Other categories of consumption are herbivory, fungivory, and detritivory, all of these are consumer-resource systems. It can often be difficult to separate various types of feeding behaviors. For example, some parasites prey on their host and then lay their eggs on it, for their offspring to feed on it while it continues to live, the key characteristic of predation is the predators direct impact on the prey population. Selective pressures imposed on one another leads to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations. Ways of classifying predation include grouping by trophic level or diet, by specialization, Predators can be classified by their interactions with their prey. Two factors are considered here, how close the predator and prey are, and whether the prey is killed by the predator. A true predator is one that kills and eats another living thing, Predators may hunt actively for prey in pursuit predation, or sit and wait for prey to approach within striking distance, as in ambush predators. Some predation entails venom that subdues a prey before the predator ingests it, as in the box jellyfish, or disables it, in some cases, the venom contributes to the digestion of the prey, as in rattlesnakes and some spiders. In contrast, baleen whales eat millions of microscopic plankton at once, seed and egg predation are true predation, as seeds and eggs are potential organisms. Predators need not eat prey entirely, for example, some predators cannot digest bones, some may eat only part of an organism, but still consistently cause its death. Grazing organisms do not often kill their prey, while some herbivores like zooplankton live on unicellular phytoplankton and therefore, by the individualized nature of the organism, kill their prey, many others only eat a small part of the plant. Grazing livestock may pull some grass out at the roots, but most is simply grazed upon, kelp is frequently grazed in subtidal kelp forests, but regrows at the base of the blade continuously to cope with browsing pressure. Animals may also be grazed upon, female mosquitos land on hosts briefly to gain sufficient proteins for the development of their offspring, starfish may be grazed on, being capable of regenerating lost arms. Parasites can at times be difficult to distinguish from grazers and their feeding behavior is similar in many ways, however they are noted for their close association with their host species. This close living arrangement may be described by the symbiosis, living together. Parasitic organisms range from the mistletoe, a parasitic plant
40.
Captivity (animal)
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Animals that live under human care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a term to describe the keeping of either domesticated animals or wild animals. This may include, for example, farms, private homes, zoos, keeping animals in human captivity and under human care can thus be distinguished between three primary categories according to the particular motives, objectives and conditions. The domestication of animals is the oldest documented instance of keeping animals in captivity and this process eventually resulted in habituation of wild animal species to survive in the company of, or by the labor of, human beings. Domesticated species are those whose behaviour, life cycle, or physiology has been altered as a result of their breeding and living conditions under human control for multiple generations. Probably the earliest known animal was the dog, likely as early as 15000 BC among hunter-gatherers in several locations. Throughout history not only domestic animals as pets and livestock were kept in captivity and under human care, also, in past times, primarily the wealthy, aristocrats and kings collected wild animals for various reasons. Contrary to domestication, the ferociousness and natural behaviour of the animals were preserved and exhibited. Todays zoos claim other reasons for keeping animals under human care, conservation, education, captive animals, especially those not domesticated, sometimes develop abnormal behaviours. One type of behaviour is stereotypical behaviors, i. e. repetitive. Examples of stereotypical behaviours include pacing, self-injury, route tracing and these behaviors are associated with stress and lack of stimulation. Many who keep animals in captivity attempt to prevent or decrease stereotypical behavior by introducing stimuli, a type of abnormal behavior shown in captive animals is self-injurious behavior. Self-injurious behavior indicates any activity that involves biting, scratching, hitting, hair plucking, although its reported incidence is low, self-injurious behavior is observed across a range of primate species, especially when they experience social isolation in infancy. Self-bite involves biting one’s own body—typically the arms, legs, shoulders, threat bite involves biting one’s own body—typically the hand, wrist, or forearm—while staring at the observer, conspecific, or mirror in a threatening manner. Self-hit involves striking oneself on any part of the body, eye poking is a behavior that presses the knuckle or finger into the orbital space above the eye socket. Hair plucking is a jerking motion applied to one’s own hair with hands or teeth, the proximal causes of self-injurious behavior have been widely studied in captive primates, either social or nonsocial factors can trigger this type of behavior. Social isolation, particularly disruptions of early mother-rearing experiences, is an important risk factor, nonsocial factors include the presence of a small cut, a wound or irritant, cold weather, human contact, and frequent zoo visitors. On top of self inflicted harm, some animals exhibit harm towards others and this can be exhibited in various forma, such as Orca whales, which never have killed a human in the wild, killing two of its own trainers
41.
Drought
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A drought is a period of below-average precipitation in a given region, resulting in prolonged shortages in its water supply, whether atmospheric, surface water or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days and it can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region and harm to the local economy. Annual dry seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing, periods of heat can significantly worsen drought conditions by hastening evaporation of water vapour. Many plant species, such as those in the family Cactaceae, have drought tolerance adaptations like reduced leaf area, some others survive dry periods as buried seeds. Semi-permanent drought produces arid biomes such as deserts and grasslands, prolonged droughts have caused mass migrations and humanitarian crises. Most arid ecosystems have inherently low productivity, the most prolonged drought ever in the world in recorded history occurred in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice. Drought are mainly course by in low rain areas, if these factors do not support precipitation volumes sufficient to reach the surface over a sufficient time, the result is a drought. Once a region is within drought, feedback mechanisms such as local arid air, hot conditions which can promote warm core ridging, within the tropics, distinct, wet and dry seasons emerge due to the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone or Monsoon trough. The dry season greatly increases drought occurrence, and is characterized by its low humidity, with watering holes, because of the lack of these watering holes, many grazing animals are forced to migrate due to the lack of water and feed to more fertile spots. Examples of such animals are zebras, elephants, and wildebeest, because of the lack of water in the plants, bushfires are common. Since water vapor becomes more energetic with increasing temperature, more water vapor is required to increase relative humidity values to 100% at higher temperatures, periods of warmth quicken the pace of fruit and vegetable production, increase evaporation and transpiration from plants, and worsen drought conditions. Drier and hotter weather occurs in parts of the Amazon River Basin, Colombia, winters during the El Niño are warmer and drier than average conditions in the Northwest, northern Midwest, and northern Mideast United States, so those regions experience reduced snowfalls. Conditions are also drier than normal from December to February in south-central Africa, mainly in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Botswana. Direct effects of El Niño resulting in drier conditions occur in parts of Southeast Asia and Northern Australia, increasing bush fires, worsening haze, drier-than-normal conditions are also in general observed in Queensland, inland Victoria, inland New South Wales, and eastern Tasmania from June to August. As warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, it causes extensive drought in the western Pacific. Singapore experienced the driest February in 2014 since records began in 1869, with only 6.3 mm of rain falling in the month, the years 1968 and 2005 had the next driest Februaries, when 8.4 mm of rain fell. Human activity can directly trigger exacerbating factors such as farming, excessive irrigation, deforestation
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Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
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Sinai Peninsula
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The Sinai Peninsula or simply Sinai is a peninsula in Egypt, situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, serving as a land bridge between Asia and Africa. It is the part of Egyptian territory located in Asia. Sinai has an area of about 60,000 km2. The bulk of the peninsula is divided administratively into two of Egypts 27 governorates, the Sinai Peninsula has been a part of Egypt from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. In periods of occupation, the Sinai was, like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and controlled by foreign empires, in more recent history the Ottoman Empire. Israel invaded and occupied Sinai during the Suez Crisis of 1956, on 6 October 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War to retake the peninsula, which was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its setting, rich coral reefs. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant places in Abrahamic faiths, in addition to its formal name, Egyptians also refer to it as Arḍ ul-Fairūz. The ancient Egyptians called it Ta Mefkat, or land of turquoise, Sinai is triangular in shape, with northern shore lying on the southern Mediterranean Sea, and southwest and southeast shores on Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea. It is linked to the African continent by the Isthmus of Suez,125 kilometres wide strip of land, the eastern isthmus, linking it to the Asian mainland, is around 200 kilometres wide. The peninsulas eastern shore separates the Arabian plate from the African plate, the southernmost tip is the Ras Muhammad National Park. Most of the Sinai Peninsula is divided among the two governorates of Egypt, South Sinai and North Sinai, together, they comprise around 60,000 square kilometres and have a population of 597,000. Three more governates span the Suez Canal, crossing into African Egypt, Suez is on the end of the Suez Canal, Ismailia in the centre. The largest city of Sinai is Arish, capital of the North Sinai, other larger settlements include Sharm el-Sheikh and El-Tor, on the southern coast. Inland Sinai is arid, mountainous and sparsely populated, the largest settlements being Saint Catherine, Sinai is one of the coldest provinces in Egypt because of its high altitudes and mountainous topographies. Winter temperatures in some of Sinais cities and towns reach −16 °C, the mines were worked intermittently and on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable and these may be the first historically attested mines. According to the Hebrew Bible, the peninsula was crossed by the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt and this included numerous halts over a 40-year period of travel sometime towards the end of the Bronze Age
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