1.
IUCN
–
The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
IUCN
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Julian Huxley, the first Director General of UNESCO, took the initiative to set up IUCN
IUCN
IUCN
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Africa was the first regional focus of IUCN conservation action
IUCN
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Stopping illegal trade of wildlife is one of IUCN's priorities
2.
National park
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A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
National park
–
An elephant safari through the
Jaldapara National Park in
West Bengal,
India
National park
–
The
Teide National Park in
Tenerife,
Spain
National park
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Manuel Antonio National Park in
Costa Rica was listed by
Forbes as one of the world's 12 most beautiful national parks.
National park
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A
salt marsh in
Schiermonnikoog National Park,
Netherlands
3.
South Dakota
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South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, South Dakota is the 17th most expansive, but the 5th least populous and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Once the southern portion of the Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2,1889, Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 171,000, is South Dakotas largest city. South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, the state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as East River and West River. Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the states population, West of the Missouri, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are located in West River, the Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, are located in the southwest part of the state. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is located there, South Dakota experiences a temperate continental climate, with four distinct seasons and precipitation ranging from moderate in the east to semi-arid in the west. The ecology of the state features species typical of a North American grassland biome, humans have inhabited the area for several millennia, with the Sioux becoming dominant by the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, European-American settlement intensified after a rush in the Black Hills. Encroaching miners and settlers triggered a number of Indian wars, ending with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, historically dominated by an agricultural economy and a rural lifestyle, South Dakota has recently sought to diversify its economy in areas to attract and retain residents. South Dakotas history and rural character still strongly influence the culture of the state, South Dakota is situated in the north-central United States, and is considered a part of the Midwest by the U. S. Census Bureau, it is also part of the Great Plains region. The culture, economy, and geography of western South Dakota have more in common with the West than the Midwest, South Dakota has a total area of 77,116 square miles, making the state the 17th largest in the Union. Black Elk Peak, formerly named Harney Peak, with an elevation of 7,242 ft, is the states highest point, while the shoreline of Big Stone Lake is the lowest, with an elevation of 966 ft. South Dakota is bordered to the north by North Dakota, to the south by Nebraska, to the east by Iowa and Minnesota, the geographical center of the U. S. is 17 miles west of Castle Rock in Butte County. The North American continental pole of inaccessibility is located between Allen and Kyle,1,024 mi from the nearest coastline, the Missouri River is the largest and longest river in the state. Other major South Dakota rivers include the Cheyenne, James, Big Sioux, Eastern South Dakota has many natural lakes, mostly created by periods of glaciation. Additionally, dams on the Missouri River create four large reservoirs, Lake Oahe, Lake Sharpe, Lake Francis Case, South Dakota can generally be divided into three regions, eastern South Dakota, western South Dakota, and the Black Hills. The Missouri River serves as a boundary in terms of geographic, social, at times the Black Hills are combined with the rest of western South Dakota, and people often refer to the resulting two regions divided by the Missouri River as West River and East River
South Dakota
–
Much of western South Dakota is covered by grasslands and features
buttes such as
Thunder Butte, shown above.
South Dakota
–
Flag
South Dakota
–
Badlands National Park
South Dakota
–
The
Black Hills, a low mountain range, is located in southwestern South Dakota.
4.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
–
Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
–
Flag
United States
–
The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
–
The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
5.
Rapid City, South Dakota
–
Rapid City is the second-largest city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, on which the city is established, the population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Known as the Gateway to the Black Hills and the City of Presidents, Ellsworth Air Force Base is located on the outskirts of the city. Camp Rapid, a part of the South Dakota Army National Guard, is located in the part of the city. The historic Old West town of Deadwood is nearby, in the neighboring Black Hills are the popular tourist attractions of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, and Wind Cave National Park. The public discovery of gold in 1874 by the Black Hills Expedition brought an influx of settlers into the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Rapid City was founded, and originally known as Hay Camp, in 1876 by a group of disappointed miners, who promoted their new city as the Gateway to the Black Hills. John Richard Brennan and Samuel Scott, with a group of men, laid out the site of the present Rapid City in February 1876. A square mile was measured off and the six blocks in the center were designated as a business section, committees were appointed to bring in prospective merchants and their families to locate in the new settlement. The city soon began selling supplies to miners and pioneers and its location on the edge of the Plains and Hills and its large river valley made it the natural hub of railroads arriving in the late 1880s from both the south and east. By 1900, Rapid City had survived a boom and bust and was establishing itself as an important regional center for the upper midwest. The work was halted due to leading to the US entry into World War II. The city benefited greatly from the opening of Rapid City Army Air Base, later Ellsworth Air Force Base, as a result, the population of the area nearly doubled between 1940 and 1948, from almost 14,000 to nearly 27,000 people. Military families and civilian personnel soon took every available living space in town, Rapid City businesses profited from the military payroll. During the Cold War, missile installations proliferated in the area, in the early 60s the construction of three Titan missile launch sites containing a total of nine Titan I missiles in the general vicinity of Rapid City took place. A construction boom continued into the 1950s, growth slowed in the 1960s, but the worst natural disaster in South Dakota history, the Black Hills Flood, led to another building boom a decade later. On June 9,1972, heavy rains caused flooding of the Rapid Creek. More than 250 people lost their lives and more than $100 million in property was destroyed, new homes and businesses were constructed to replace those that had been destroyed
Rapid City, South Dakota
–
Downtown Rapid City
Rapid City, South Dakota
–
Panoramic view of Sixth and Main Streets in Rapid City, ca. 1912
Rapid City, South Dakota
–
Debris along Rapid Creek after 1972 flood.
Rapid City, South Dakota
–
Cars jumbled together by the 1972 flood.
6.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
7.
National Park Service
–
It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
National Park Service
–
In 1916, a portfolio of nine major parks was published to generate interest. Printed on each brochure was a map showing the parks and principal railroad connections.
National Park Service
–
National Park Service Arrowhead
National Park Service
–
In 1934, a series of ten postage stamps were issued to commemorate the reorganization and expansion of the National Park Service.
National Park Service
–
Grand Canyon National Park, south rim of canyon.
8.
Black Hills
–
The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to 7,244 feet, is the ranges highest summit, the Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest. The name Black Hills is a translation of the Lakota Pahá Sápa, the hills were so-called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they were covered in trees. Native Americans have a history in the Black Hills. After conquering the Cheyenne in 1776, the Lakota took over the territory of the Black Hills, however, when settlers discovered gold there in 1874, as a result of George Armstrong Custers Black Hills Expedition, miners swept into the area in a gold rush. As the economy of the Black Hills has shifted from natural resources since the late 20th century, locals tend to divide the Black Hills into two areas, The Southern Hills and The Northern Hills. Attractions in the Northern Hills include Spearfish Canyon, historic Deadwood, the first Rally was held on August 14,1938 and the 75th Rally in 2015 saw more than 1 million bikers visit the Black Hills. Devils Tower National Monument, located in the Wyoming Black Hills, is an important nearby attraction and was the United States first national monument. Scientists have been able to utilize carbon-dating to evaluate the age of tools found in the area, stratigraphic records indicate environmental changes in the land, such as flood and drought patterns. For example, large-scale flooding of the Black Hill basins occurs at a probability rate of 0.01, however, during The Medieval Climate Anomaly, or the Medieval Warm Period, flooding increased in the basins. The Arikara arrived by AD1500, followed by the Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, the Lakota arrived from Minnesota in the 18th century and drove out the other tribes, who moved west. They claimed the land, which they called Ȟe Sápa, the mountains commonly became known as the Black Hills. François and Louis de La Vérendrye probably travelled near the Black Hills in 1743, fur trappers and traders had some dealings with the Native Americans. European Americans increasingly encroached on Lakota territory, in this treaty, they protected the Black Hills forever from European-American settlement. Both the Sioux and Cheyenne also claimed rights to the land, saying that in their cultures, it was considered the axis mundi, an official announcement of gold was made by the newspaper reporters accompanying the expedition. The following year, the Newton-Jenney Party conducted the first detailed survey of the Black Hills, the surveyor for the party, Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy, was the first European American to ascend to the top of Black Elk Peak. This highest point in the Black Hills is 7,242 feet above sea level, during the 1875–1878 gold rush, thousands of miners went to the Black Hills, in 1880, the area was the most densely populated part of the Dakota Territory. Three large towns developed in the Northern Hills, Deadwood, Central City, around these were groups of smaller gold camps, towns, and villages
Black Hills
–
The Black Hills, South Dakota, United States
Black Hills
Black Hills
Black Hills
9.
Mount Rushmore
–
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore, a batholith in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota, United States. The memorial park covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level, robinsons initial idea was to sculpt the Needles, however, Gutzon Borglum rejected the Needles because of the poor quality of the granite and strong opposition from Native American groups. They settled on Mount Rushmore, which also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure. Robinson wanted it to feature American West heroes like Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud, and Buffalo Bill Cody, after securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of Mount Rushmores great political patron, U. S. Senator Peter Norbeck, construction on the began in 1927. Upon Gutzon Borglums death in March 1941 his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction, each president was originally to be depicted from head to waist. Lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941, Mount Rushmore has become an iconic symbol of the United States, and it has appeared in works of fiction, as well as being discussed or depicted in other popular works. It attracts over two million visitors annually, originally known to the Lakota Sioux as The Six Grandfathers, the mountain was renamed after Charles E. Rushmore, a prominent New York lawyer, during an expedition in 1885. At first, the project of carving Rushmore was undertaken to increase tourism in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, after long negotiations involving a Congressional delegation and President Calvin Coolidge, the project received Congressional approval. The carving started in 1927 and ended in 1941 with no fatalities, as Six Grandfathers, the mountain was part of the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area. Among American settlers, the peak was known variously as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain and it was named Mount Rushmore during a prospecting expedition by Charles Rushmore, David Swanzey, and Bill Challis. Historian Doane Robinson conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in 1923 to promote tourism in South Dakota, in 1924, Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum to travel to the Black Hills region to ensure the carving could be accomplished. The original plan was to make the carvings in granite pillars known as the Needles, however, Borglum realized that the eroded Needles were too thin to support sculpting. He chose Mount Rushmore, a location, partly because it faced southeast. Borglum said upon seeing Mount Rushmore, America will march along that skyline, Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission on March 3,1925. President Coolidge insisted that, along with Washington, two Republicans and one Democrat be portrayed and these presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory. The carving of Mount Rushmore involved the use of dynamite, followed by the process of honeycombing, in total, about 450,000 short tons of rock were blasted off the mountainside
Mount Rushmore
–
Sculptures of
George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson,
Theodore Roosevelt and
Abraham Lincoln (left to right)
Mount Rushmore
–
Mount Rushmore before construction, circa 1905.
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore
10.
Crazy Horse Memorial
–
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills, in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse, the memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski. It is operated by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, a private non-profit organization, the memorial consists of the mountain carving, the Indian Museum of North America, and the Native American Cultural Center. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain, on land considered sacred by some Oglala Lakota, the sculptures final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet wide and 563 feet high. The head of Crazy Horse will be 87 feet high, by comparison, the monument has been in progress since 1948 and is far from completion. If completed, it may become the worlds largest sculpture as well as the first non-religious statue to hold this record since 1967, Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U. S. Federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and his most famous actions against the U. S. military included the Fetterman Fight and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He surrendered to U. S. troops under General Crook in May 1877 and was wounded by a military guard. He ranks among the most notable and iconic of Native American tribal members and was honored by the U. S. Postal Service in 1982 with a 13¢ postage stamp, that is part of its Great Americans series. In October 1931, Luther Standing Bear, Henrys older brother, wrote sculptor Gutzon Borglum, Luther suggested that it would be most fitting to have the face of Crazy Horse sculpted there. Crazy Horse is the real patriot of the Sioux tribe and the one worthy to place by the side of Washington. Thereafter, Henry Standing Bear began a campaign to have Borglum carve an image of Crazy Horse on Mt. Rushmore, on November 7,1939, Henry Standing Bear wrote to the Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on Mount Rushmore under Gutzon Borglum. He informed the sculptor, My fellow chiefs and I would like the man to know that the red man has great heroes. The government responded positively, and the National Forest Service, responsible for the land, agreed to grant a permit for the use of the land, with a commission to oversee the project. Standing Bear chose not to government funds and relied instead upon influential Americans interested in the welfare of the American Indian to privately fund the project. In the spring of 1940, Ziolkowski spent three weeks with Standing Bear at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, discussing land issues and learning about Crazy Horse. According to Ziolkowski, Standing Bear grew very angry when he spoke of the broken Treaty of Fort Laramie and that was the one Id read about in which the President promised the Black Hills would belong to the Indians forever. I remember how his old eyes flashed out of dark mahogany face, then he would shake his head
Crazy Horse Memorial
–
A model of the planned statue, with the Crazy Horse Memorial in the background.
Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse Memorial
–
Korczak Ziolkowski and
Henry Standing Bear at Ziolkowski's home in
New Haven, Connecticut, 1947.
11.
Needles (Black Hills)
–
The Needles of the Black Hills of South Dakota are a region of eroded granite pillars, towers, and spires within Custer State Park. Popular with rock climbers and tourists alike, the Needles are accessed from the Needles Highway, the Needles were the original site proposed for the Mount Rushmore carvings. The location was rejected by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum owing to the quality of the granite. The Needles attract approximately 300,000 people annually, the area has a rich history of bold climbing by greatest climbers of their era, and has long been known for its purist ethics. In 1936 Fritz Wiessner climbed the Totem Pole and in 1937 Khayyam Spire with Bill House, in 1947 Jan and Herb Conn moved to the area and over the next couple decades put up over 220 first ascents. In 1952 Fred Beckey and John Dudra climbed Rubaiyat Spire and Khayyam Spire, in the 1960s climbers such as Royal Robbins, and Henry Barber put up many bold routes. In 1961 John Gill made free solo ascent of 5. 12a route on The Thimble which is considered one of the first climbs at that grade, in 1991 John Sherman also made a free solo ascent of Gills Route. Today climbers still hold true to the ground up ethics put in place in the late 80s, bold new routes are still being added
Needles (Black Hills)
–
The Needles
Needles (Black Hills)
–
Map of the Needles
Needles (Black Hills)
Needles (Black Hills)
12.
Devils Tower
–
Devils Tower is a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Mountains near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, the summit is 5,112 feet above sea level. Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24,1906, the Monuments boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres. In recent years, about 1% of the Monuments 400,000 annual visitors climbed Devils Tower, the name Devils Tower originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, when his interpreter reportedly misinterpreted a native name to mean Bad Gods Tower. All information signs in that use the name Devils Tower. Native American names for the monolith include, Bears House or Bears Lodge, Aloft on a Rock, Tree Rock, Great Gray Horn, and Brown Buffalo Horn. In November 2014, one Arvol Looking Horse again proposed renaming the geographical feature Bear Lodge, a second proposal was submitted to request that the US acknowledge the offensive mistake and to rename the monument and sacred site Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark. The formal public comment period ended in fall 2015, local state senator Ogden Driskill opposed the change. The landscape surrounding Devils Tower is composed mostly of sedimentary rocks, the oldest rocks visible in Devils Tower National Monument were laid down in a shallow sea during the Triassic period,225 to 195 million years ago. This dark red sandstone and maroon siltstone, interbedded with shale, oxidation of iron minerals causes the redness of the rocks. This rock layer is known as the Spearfish Formation, above the Spearfish formation is a thin band of white gypsum, called the Gypsum Springs Formation. This layer of gypsum was deposited during the Jurassic period,195 to 136 million years ago, created as sea levels and climates repeatedly changed, gray-green shales were interbedded with fine-grained sandstones, limestones, and sometimes thin beds of red mudstone. This composition, called the Stockade Beaver member, is part of the Sundance Formation, the Hulett Sandstone member, also part of the Sundance formation, is composed of yellow fine-grained sandstone. Resistant to weathering, it forms the vertical cliffs which encircle the Tower itself. During the Paleocene Epoch,56 to 66 million years ago, the Rocky Mountains, magma rose through the crust, intruding into the existing sedimentary rock layers. Geologists Carpenter and Russell studied Devils Tower in the late 19th century, modern geologists agree that it was formed by the intrusion of igneous material, but not on exactly how that process took place. Several believe the molten rock comprising the Tower might not have surfaced, in 1907, scientists Darton and OHarra decided that Devils Tower must be an eroded remnant of a laccolith. A laccolith is a mass of igneous rock which is intruded through sedimentary rock beds without reaching the surface
Devils Tower
–
Devils Tower, 2005
Devils Tower
Devils Tower
Devils Tower
–
Devils Tower in geological context. The oval-shaped mesa around the Tower suggests the old volcano's shape. The red rock is the Permian-Triassic Spearfish Formation, and above that is the younger, white
Gypsum Springs Formation. Aerial photo, 2010.
13.
Bear Butte
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Bear Butte is a geological laccolith feature located near Sturgis, South Dakota, United States, that was established as a State Park in 1961. An important landmark and religious site for the Plains Indians tribes long before Europeans reached South Dakota, Bear Butte is called Mathó Pahá, or Bear Mountain, by the Lakota, or Sioux. The mountain is sacred to many peoples, who make pilgrimages to leave prayer cloths. Other offerings are left at the top of the mountain. The site is associated with religious ceremonies throughout the year. The mountain is a place of prayer, meditation, and peace, the park includes a campsite south of South Dakota Highway 34 where horseback riding, fishing, and boating are permitted. On the summit side of Highway 34, a moderately sized herd of buffalo roams the base of the mountain, an education center and a summit trail are available. Official park policy advises visitors to Bear Butte to respect worshipers, Park fees are waived for those undertaking religious activities. This would cost more than $1 million, but would prevent development of businesses on ranch land near the mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills. Bear Butte is not strictly a butte, but a laccolith, a body of igneous rock, uplifting the earlier sedimentary layers. This is the result of the entry of magma into cooler crustal rock in the Black Hills area during the Eocene Epoch. In this, Bear Butte shares a similar history with other formations in the region, including the Black Hills, Devils Tower, the Missouri Buttes. It is possible that when the intrusion was emplaced, some magma may have breached the surface, forming a volcano, however, the peak rises 1,253.5 feet above the surrounding plain and is 4,426 feet above sea level. Human artifacts have been found on or near Bear Butte that date back 10,000 years, indicating a long, the Cheyenne and Lakota people have maintained a spiritual interest in Bear Butte from their earliest recorded history. Notable visitors like Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull made pilgrimages to the site, in 1857, a council of many Indian nations gathered at Bear Butte to discuss the growing presence of white settlers in the Black Hills. Violating a treaty of 1868, George Armstrong Custer led an expedition to the Black Hills region in 1874, and according to custom he camped near Bear Butte. Custer verified the rumors of gold in the Black Hills, Indian reaction to the illegal movements of whites into the area was intense and hostile. Ultimately the government reneged on its treaty obligations regarding the Black Hills, Ezra Bovee homesteaded on the southern slopes of the mountain, and by the time of World War II, he and his family were the legal owners of the site
Bear Butte
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Bear Butte
Bear Butte
Bear Butte
14.
Spearfish Canyon
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Spearfish Canyon is a deep but narrow gorge carved by Spearfish Creek just south of Spearfish, South Dakota in the U. S. It is located on the edge of Black Hills National Forest. Many tourists drive through the canyon, drawn to the due to its wide range of plant and wildlife, geology, rock formations. Spearfish Creek holds populations of rainbow and brown trout and is dammed in several spots, stocking of trout in Spearfish Creek was discontinued in the 1970s and all trout in the creek today are wild. In addition, remnants of Spearfish Canyons active mining history are still found in some locations. Approximately 600 million years ago in the Precambrian, the area was covered by a sea, as waters subsided and land masses began to appear 60 to 30 million years ago, drainages such as Spearfish Canyon formed as softer rock was eroded away. Today, a National Scenic Byway, U. S. Highway 14A and this area is truly a crossroads, and trees and plants from Rocky Mountains, eastern woodlands, northern forests, and the Great Plains areas can be found here. Of the 1,585 plant species found in South Dakota,1,260 species are in the Black Hills, ponderosa pines are the most prominent vegetation in the Black Hills. As for bird species, turkeys, bluejays, woodpeckers, cliff swallows, chickadees, the canyon supports a cross-section of four-footed animal life. White-tail and mule deer can be throughout the drive. Porcupines, raccoons, squirrels, and chipmunks might be spotted as well as a bobcat or a yellow-bellied marmot and it is often studied by geologists due to the extreme old age of the Precambrian rocks exposed by the creek bed. The canyons high walls are of three dominant rock types, the Cambrian to Ordovician Deadwood Shale at the bottom lies on an unconformity above Precambrian rock and can be identified by its brown color. It is multi-layered in appearance and ranges from 10 to 400 feet thick, englewood Limestone in the middle is pink to red colored and is 30 to 60 feet thick. The Paleogene Paha Sapa Limestone, the top layer, is the thickest and is colored and weathered gray in appearance. Caves and fossils are found in the Paha Sapa Limestone. Basic information and pictures of Spearfish Canyon and tourism info Geologic information and pictures of Spearfish Canyon Information about the Scenic Byway
Spearfish Canyon
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Spearfish Creek
Spearfish Canyon
Spearfish Canyon
15.
Wind Cave National Park
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Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park 10 miles north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the seventh U. S. National Park, the cave is notable for its displays of the calcite formation known as boxwork. Approximately 95 percent of the worlds discovered boxwork formations are found in Wind Cave, Wind Cave is also known for its frostwork. The cave is considered a three-dimensional maze cave, recognized as the densest cave system in the world. The cave is currently the sixth-longest in the world with 140.47 miles of explored cave passageways, above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States. The first documented discovery of the cave by White Americans was in 1881, according to the story, when Tom looked into the hole, the wind blew his hat off of his head. The caves found in the park are said to breathe, that is, air moves into or out of a cave, equalizing the atmospheric pressure of the cave. When the air pressure is higher outside the cave than in it, air flows into the cave, when the air pressure inside the cave is higher than outside it, air flows out of it, lowering the air pressure within the cave. A large cave with only a few small openings will breathe more obviously than a cave with many large openings. Rapid weather changes, accompanied by rapid changes, are a feature of Western South Dakota weather. From 1881 to 1889, few people ventured far into Wind Cave, then in 1889 the South Dakota Mining Company hired Jesse D. McDonald to oversee their mining claim on the cave site, the South Dakota Mining Company may have hoped to find minerals of value, or it may from the start have had commercial development of the cave in mind. No valuable mineral deposits were found, and the McDonald family began developing the cave for tourism, Jesse initially hired his son Alvin and, beginning in 1891, Alvins brother Elmer, to explore and help develop the cave. Alvin fell in love with the cave and kept a cave diary, others who worked at Wind Cave and helped explore it between 1890 and 1903 include Katie Stabler, Emma McDonald, Inez McDonald, and Tommy McDonald. By February 1892 the cave was open for visitors, the standard tour fee was apparently $1.00, tourists, with their guide, explored the cave by candlelight. These early tours were physically demanding and sometimes involved crawling through narrow passages, like the nearby Jewel Cave National Monument, currently the third longest cave, Herb and Jan Conn played an important role in cave exploration during the 1960s. Wind Cave National Park protects an ecosystem with eastern and western plant. Many visible animals inhabit this park include raccoons, elk, bison, coyotes, skunks, badgers, ermines, black-footed ferrets, cougars, bobcats, red foxes, minks, pronghorn and prairie dogs
Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park
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Calcite
boxwork from Wind Cave. This boxwork is the result of differential dissolution of intensely fractured and veined
limestone during cave formation.
16.
Jewel Cave National Monument
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Jewel Cave National Monument contains Jewel Cave, currently the third longest cave in the world, with 181.89 miles of mapped passageways. It is located approximately 13 mi west of the town of Custer in South Dakotas Black Hills and it became a national monument in 1908. Frank and Albert Michaud, two prospectors, discovered the cave in 1900, when they felt cold air blowing out of a small hole in a canyon. It is unknown whether any previous inhabitants of the area were aware of the cave opening. After enlarging the cave entrance with dynamite, the Michauds found a cavern lined with calcite crystals, the brothers tried to capitalize on the discovery, widening the opening, building walkways inside, and opening it to tourists. Although their venture was unsuccessful, news of the discovery eventually reached Washington, president Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Jewel Cave a National Monument on February 7,1908. The area around the entrance to the cave was further developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The National Park Service assumed management of the monument in 1933, as recently as 1959, less than 2 miles of passageway had been discovered. That year, however, Herb and Jan Conn, local climbers, began exploring. Much of the new discoveries lay outside the boundaries of the monument, the two agencies performed a land swap in 1965, establishing the present boundaries of the park, and enabling the development of a new part of the cave. The Park Service sunk a 300 feet elevator shaft to a remote cave area. The Scenic Tour was opened in 1972, most modern-day visitors tour that part of the cave. In August 2000, an 83,000 acres forest fire burned 90% of the monument, the visitor center and historic buildings were spared. By 1979, Herb and Jan Conn had discovered, named, although they largely retired from caving by the early 1980s, exploration has continued unabated. Because the areas being explored take many hours to reach, explorers now sometimes camp in the cave during expeditions of as long as four days, the cave is mapped by traditional survey techniques, using compass, clinometer and today with lasers instead of tape measures. Its 181.89 mi of mapped passageway make Jewel Cave the third longest cave in the world, after Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky and Sistema Sac Actun at the Yucatán Peninsula, at 198 mi. The discovered areas in the account for only about 3 to 5% of the estimated total air volume of the cave. The cave volume is estimated by measuring the amount of air that the cave exhales when the air pressure drops
Jewel Cave National Monument
Jewel Cave National Monument
Jewel Cave National Monument
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Calcite crystals in Jewel Cave
17.
Custer State Park
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Custer State Park is a state park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota, USA. The park is South Dakotas largest and first state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, the area originally started out as sixteen sections, but was later changed into one block of land because of the challenges of the terrain. The park began to grow rapidly in the 1920s and gained new land, during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps built miles of roads, laid out parks and campgrounds, and built three dams that set up a future of water recreation at the park. In 1964 an additional 22,900 acres were added to the park, the park covers an area of over 71,000 acres of hilly terrain and is home to many wild animals. The park is home to a herd of 1500 free roaming bison. Elk, coyotes, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, river otters, pronghorn, cougars, the park is famous for its scenery, its scenic drives, with views of the bison herd and prairie dog towns. This park is accessible by road from Rapid City. Other nearby attractions are Wind Cave National Park, Mount Rushmore, Jewel Cave National Monument, Crazy Horse Memorial, the annual roundups began in 1965, more than 10,000 people now attend each one. The Peter Norbeck Center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, exhibits focus on the parks natural history and cultural heritage, and include wildlife dioramas, a CCC bunkhouse and a gold prospecting display. The center is named for South Dakota Governor and Senator Peter Norbeck, many of the parks naturalist programs begin at the center. Badger Hole, also known as Badger Clark Historical Site, was the home of Charles Badger Clark, the house is maintained as it was when Clark lived there. Visitors can tour the home and hike the adjacent Badger Clark Historic Trail, Begging Burros is a name used to refer to the donkeys in Custer State Park. For many years, these donkeys have earned this nickname as they approach various passing cars through the park begging for food, after earning this reputation, the burros have become famous now garnering the attention of most travelers through the park inside and outside of cars. Many people bring food to the park specifically for the purpose of feeding these animals, the Begging Burros inhabit one area of the park upon a hill where approximately 50 of them try to obtain any food they can. Custer State Parks roadway is blocked off by these animals so use caution, Custer State Park Tatanka, The 2011 Guide to Custer State Park Badger Clark Memorial Society
Custer State Park
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American bison at the Wildlife Loop Road
Custer State Park
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Pronghorn at the Wildlife loop road
Custer State Park
Custer State Park
18.
Black Hills National Forest
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Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres and is managed by the Forest Service, Forest headquarters are located in Custer, South Dakota. There are local district offices in Custer, Rapid City, and Spearfish in South Dakota. Predominantly ponderosa pine, the forest also includes hard woods like aspen, bur oak, the lower elevations include grassland prairie, but the National Forest System lands encompass most of the mountainous region known as the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. Within the forest is Black Elk Peak which is the tallest mountain in South Dakota, after a series of devastating wildfires in 1893, U. S. President Grover Cleveland created the Black Hills Forest Reserve on February 22,1897. Upon the creation of the Forest Service in 1905, the reserve was transferred to the new agency under the United States Department of Agriculture, lakota words pahá sápa meaning hills that are black may be one of the factors in the regions naming. Early settlers and explorers called the Laramie Range the Black Hills prior to Lt. G. K. Warrens expedition in 1857. Prior to explorations by the La Verendrye brothers in 1742, many tribes frequented the Black Hills including Ponca, Kiowa Apache, Arapaho, Kiowa and Cheyenne for at least the past 10,000 years. The smallpox epidemics of 1771 to 1781 broke the will of the Arikara who prior to that held the Sioux east of the Missouri. American Horses winter count of 1775-76 is interpreted as depicting the Sioux discovery of the Black Hills, the forest is located in parts of seven counties in South Dakota and Wyoming. In descending order of forestland area they are Pennington, Custer, Lawrence, Crook, Fall River, Meade, the Forest is located immediately west and south of Rapid City and can be accessed from Interstate 90. The forest headquarters is located in Custer, South Dakota, although surrounded by Black Hills National Forest, both Jewel Cave National Monument and Mount Rushmore National Memorial are separate areas administered by the National Park Service. Wind Cave National Park, which is another area administered by the National Park Service, Black Elk Wilderness is a wilderness within the Forest and no motorized transport is permitted. Outside of the wilderness, mining, logging, and ranching are permitted on public lands through land leases with companies and private parties, referred to as permittees. The Black Hills National Forest encompasses three distinct mountain ranges, the Black HIlls and the Elk Mountains in South Dakota as well as the Bear Lodge Mountains in Wyoming, the Black Hills are by far the largest of the three ranges. While ponderosa pine is the most common species found in the forest. Elk, mule deer, pronghorn and white-tailed deer are commonly seen, Black bears have been spotted in the Black Hills. Cougars are increasing dramatically as a result of prolific herds of deer, coyotes, bighorn sheep and mountain goats are also frequently seen by visitors
Black Hills National Forest
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The Needles from Harney Peak in Black Hills National Forest
Black Hills National Forest
Black Hills National Forest
Black Hills National Forest
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Fire tower atop Harney Peak
19.
Black Elk Wilderness
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The Black Elk Wilderness is located in the U. S. state of South Dakota. The wilderness was designated by an act of Congress in 1980, managed by the U. S. Forest Service, Black Elk Wilderness is part of Black Hills National Forest. This 13,426 acre region is considered sacred to Native Americans, especially the Sioux and is named after Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux holy man. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is immediately to the north and much of the rest of the wilderness is bordered by other protected land under the jurisdiction of state and federal agencies. Black Elk Peak, which at 7,242 feet is the tallest mountain in South Dakota, is located in the wilderness, craggy peaks and rocky slopes mixed with ponderosa pine, spruce and fir trees make for a varied ecosystem. Mountain goats and bighorn sheep inhabit the more rugged mountain slopes, while deer, elk. A sizeable population of hawks and falcons inhabit the wilderness. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles, although camping and fishing are allowed with proper permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no logging or mining, in compliance with the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas also allow hunting in season, by 2010,80 percent of the trees in the wilderness had been killed by the Mountain pine beetle. Wilderness Areas Wilderness Act Black Elk Speaks Official website Black Elk Wilderness, Wilderness Legislation, The Wilderness Act of 1964
Black Elk Wilderness
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View looking towards the Black Elk Wilderness. Horsethief Lake, on the edge of the wilderness area, is seen in the foreground.
Black Elk Wilderness
Black Elk Wilderness
20.
Buffalo Gap National Grassland
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Buffalo Gap National Grassland is a National Grassland located primarily in southwestern South Dakota, United States. It is also the second largest National Grassland, after Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota, characteristics of the grasslands include mixed prairie and chalky badlands. The grassland is managed by the U. S. Forest Service and is a division of Nebraska National Forest, in descending order of land area it is located in parts of Fall River, Pennington, Jackson, and Custer counties. There are local district offices located in Hot Springs and Wall. It also surrounds Badlands National Park and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, the act would allow the continuation of grazing and hunting on the land and would create the first national grassland wilderness in the country. 2013, Charmaine White Face raised concerns about exposure of South Dakota Army National Guard soldiers in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. The National Grasslands Visitor Center in Wall, South Dakota is part of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland – Wall Ranger District, the center features exhibits about grassland wildlife and plants, grazing management and the history of the Great Plains. There is also a theater with a video about the grasslands, restrooms, media related to Buffalo Gap National Grassland at Wikimedia Commons Buffalo Gap National Grassland – Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands National Grasslands Visitor Center
Buffalo Gap National Grassland
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Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Buffalo Gap National Grassland
21.
Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)
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Sylvan Lake, known as the crown jewel of Custer State Park, is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch, it offers picnic areas, rock climbing, small boats, swimming. It is also popular as a point for excursions to Black Elk Peak. A hotel was operated on the shore of the lake in the early 20th century, the lake was featured in Disneys 2007 film National Treasure, Book of Secrets. The film made the lake appear to be located directly behind Mount Rushmore when in reality it is five miles southwest of Mount Rushmore
Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)
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Rock formations near lake
Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)
Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)
Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)
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Paddleboats are available to rent at Sylvan Lake.
22.
Pactola Lake
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Pactola Lake is the largest reservoir in the Black Hills of South Dakota and is created by the Pactola Dam. It was started on 25 November 1952, contrary to popular belief there is no town at the bottom of Pactola Lake. The Bureau of Reclamation clear cut and cleaned the bottom before it filled. The few buildings still there by the time the dam was finished on August 15,1956 were moved or auctioned off, the only structure under the water is the old Civilian Conservation Corp camp dynamite bunker. The lake is located on Rapid Creek in Pennington County, South Dakota, the lake provides the water supply for the Rapid City Metro Area. Boating and fishing are popular, with a walk-in fly fishing area located on Rapid Creek below the dam. In the summer, the USFS operates a center on the dam. Pactola Lake is accessible via US Highway 385 north from Hill City, South Dakota and Sheridan Lake Forks or south from Lead and Deadwood, or via the Rimrock Highway, from Rapid City, fees are charged in summertime for all facilities. Boating, fishing, swimming, and other activities are popular in the summer, in wintertime, ice-fishing, ice-skating. List of South Dakota lakes List of lakes Pactola
Pactola Lake
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Pactola Lake
Pactola Lake
Pactola Lake
23.
U.S. National Park
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The United States has 59 protected areas known as national parks that are operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks must be established by an act of the United States Congress. The first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875, many current National Parks had been previously protected as National Monuments by the President under the Antiquities Act before being upgraded by Congress. Criteria for the selection of National Parks include natural beauty, unique features, unusual ecosystems. National Monuments, on the hand, are frequently chosen for their historical or archaeological significance. Fourteen national parks are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while twenty one are designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, twenty-seven states have national parks, as do the territories of American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands. California has the most, followed by Alaska, Utah, the largest national park is Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska, at over 8 million acres, it is larger than each of the nine smallest states, the next three largest parks are also in Alaska. The smallest park is Hot Springs, Arkansas, at less than 6 thousand acres. The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.2 million acres, for an average of 885 thousand acres but a median of only 236 thousand acres at Mount Rainier, the 30th largest park. The most-visited national park is Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee, with over 11.3 million visitors in 2016, followed by Arizonas Grand Canyon, in contrast, only 10,047 people visited the remote Gates of the Arctic in Alaska in the same year. A few former national parks are no longer designated as such, other units of the National Park Service are broadly referred to as national parks, they are listed here. S
U.S. National Park
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1938 poster for
Yellowstone National Park
U.S. National Park
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Acadia
U.S. National Park
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American Samoa
U.S. National Park
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Arches
24.
Erosion
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In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earths crust, then transport it away to another location. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, the rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Feedbacks are also possible between rates of erosion and the amount of eroded material that is carried by, for example. Processes of erosion that produce sediment or solutes from a place contrast with those of deposition, while erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. At well-known agriculture sites such as the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices have caused erosion up to 100x the speed of the rate of erosion in the region. Excessive erosion causes both on-site and off-site problems, on-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads. Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion, however, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils. Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four types of soil erosion, splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the erosion process. In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a crater in the soil. The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m vertically and 1.5 m horizontally on level ground. If the soil is saturated, or if the rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles down the slope, sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow. Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes, generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimetres or less and this means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers. Gully erosion occurs when water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow
Erosion
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An actively eroding
rill on an
intensively-farmed field in
eastern Germany
Erosion
–
A
natural arch produced by the wind erosion of differentially weathered rock in Jebel Kharaz,
Jordan.
Erosion
–
A wave-like sea cliff produced by
coastal erosion, in Jinshitan Coastal National Geopark,
Dalian,
Liaoning Province,
China.
Erosion
–
Soil and water being
splashed by the impact of a single
raindrop.
25.
Butte
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A butte /bjuːt/ is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top, buttes are smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landforms. The word butte comes from a French word meaning hill, its use is prevalent in the Western United States. Because of their shapes, buttes are frequently landmarks in plains. In differentiating mesas and buttes, geographers use the rule of thumb that a mesa has a top that is wider than its height, the Mitten Buttes of Monument Valley in Arizona are two of the most distinctive and widely recognized buttes. Monument Valley and the Mittens provided backgrounds in scenes from many western-themed films, the Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming is a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock rather than sandstone, limestone or other sedimentary rocks. Among the well-known non-flat-topped buttes in the United States are Bear Butte, South Dakota, Black Butte, Oregon, in many cases, buttes have been given other names that do not use the word butte, for example, Courthouse Rock, Nebraska. Also, some large hills that are technically not buttes have names using the word butte, examples of which are Kamiak Butte, Buttes form by weathering and erosion when hard caprock overlies a layer of less resistant rock that is eventually worn away. The harder rock on top of the butte resists erosion, the caprock provides protection for the less resistant rock below from wind abrasion which leaves it standing isolated. As the top is further eroded by abrasion and weathering, the material that falls off adds to the scree or talus slope around the base. On a much smaller scale, the process forms hoodoos. Media related to Buttes at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of butte at Wiktionary Butte
Butte
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The Mittens and
Merrick Butte in
Monument Valley,
Arizona
Butte
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Devils Tower in
Wyoming
Butte
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Black Butte, near
Sisters, Oregon
Butte
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Courthouse Butte near
Sedona, Arizona
26.
Grass
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Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
Grass
–
Grass
Grass
–
Zoysia grass flower
Grass
–
A
kangaroo eating grass
Grass
–
Wind-blown grass in the
Valles Caldera in
New Mexico
27.
Prairie
–
Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay as well as the steppes of Eurasia. Lands typically referred to as prairie tend to be in North America, the Central Valley of California is also a prairie. The Canadian Prairies occupy vast areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prairie is the French word for meadow, but the ultimate root is the Latin pratum. The formation of the North American Prairies started with the upwelling of the Rocky Mountains near Alberta, the mountains created a rain shadow that resulted in lower precipitation rates downwind, creating an environment in which most tree species will not tolerate. The parent material of most prairie soil was distributed during the last glacial advance that began about 110,000 years ago, the glaciers expanding southward scraped the landscape, picking up geologic material and leveling the terrain. As the glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago, it deposited this material in the form of till, wind based loess deposits also form an important parent material for prairie soils. Tallgrass Prairie evolved over tens of thousands of years with the disturbances of grazing, native ungulates such as bison, elk, and white-tailed deer, roamed the expansive, diverse, plentiful grassland before European colonization of the Americas. For 10, 000-20,000 years native people used fire annually as a tool to assist in hunting, transportation, evidence of ignition sources of fire in the tallgrass prairie are overwhelmingly human as opposed to lightning. Humans, and grazing animals, were participants in the process of prairie formation. Fire has the effect on prairies of removing trees, clearing dead plant matter, fire kills the vascular tissue of trees, but not prairie, as up to 75% of the total plant biomass is below the soil surface and will re-grow from its deep roots. Without disturbance, trees will encroach on a grassland, cast shade, Prairie and widely spaced oak trees evolved to coexist in the oak savanna ecosystem. In spite of long recurrent droughts and occasional torrential rains, the grasslands of the Great Plains were not subject to soil erosion. The root systems of native prairie grasses firmly held the soil in place to prevent run-off of soil, when the plant died, the fungi, bacteria returned its nutrients to the soil. These deep roots also helped native prairie plants reach water in even the driest conditions, the native grasses suffered much less damage from dry conditions than the farm crops currently grown. Prairie in North America is usually split into three groups, wet, mesic, and dry and they are generally characterized by tallgrass prairie, mixed, or shortgrass prairie, depending on the quality of soil and rainfall. In wet prairies the soil is very moist, including during most of the growing season. The resulting stagnant water is conducive to the formation of bogs, wet prairies have excellent farming soil. The average precipitation amount is 10-30 inches a year, mesic prairie /ˈmiːzɪk/ has good drainage, but good soil during the growing season
Prairie
–
Prairie,
Badlands National Park,
South Dakota, USA, is in the mixed grasslands region containing some species of
tall grass and some of
short grass
Prairie
–
Tallgrass prairie flora (
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie)
Prairie
–
Prairie grasses
Prairie
–
Prairie Homestead, Milepost 213 on I-29, South Dakota (May 2010).
28.
Badlands Wilderness
–
The Badlands Wilderness is located in the U. S. state of South Dakota. Entirely within Badlands National Park, the wilderness was designated by Congress in 1976, Badlands Wilderness, in southeastern Pennington County, includes 64,144 acres of the most pristine sections of the National Park. Within this wilderness, buffalo still roam free and visitors can also find bighorn sheep, coyotes, there are no designated trails and camping is permitted anywhere in what is considered to be the largest undisturbed mixed-prairie rangeland remaining in the U. S. As this wilderness is managed by the National Park Service, hunting is not permitted, Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles. Although camping and fishing are allowed with permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no logging or mining. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas also allow hunting in season, Wilderness Areas Wilderness Act Badlands Wilderness. USGS Imlay SE Topo Map Quad, Wilderness Legislation, The Wilderness Act of 1964. Archived from the original on 11 September 2006
Badlands Wilderness
–
False-color satellite image of the park
29.
Black-footed ferret
–
The black-footed ferret, also known as the American polecat or prairie dog hunter, is a species of mustelid native to central North America. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN, because of its very small, first discovered by Audubon and Bachman in 1851, the species declined throughout the 20th century, primarily as a result of decreases in prairie dog populations and sylvatic plague. It was declared extinct in 1979 until Lucille Hoggs dog brought a dead black-footed ferret to her door in Meeteetse and that remnant population of a few dozen ferrets lasted there until the animals were considered extinct in the wild in 1987. However, a breeding program launched by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in its reintroduction into eight western states. There are now over 1,000 mature, wild-born individuals in the wild across 18 populations, with four self-sustaining populations in South Dakota, Arizona and Wyoming. The black-footed ferret is roughly the size of a mink, in contrast, differences between the black-footed ferret and the steppe polecat of Asia are slight, to the point where the two species were once thought to be conspecific. The only noticeable differences between the black-footed ferret and the steppe polecat are the much shorter and coarser fur, larger ears. It is largely nocturnal and solitary, except when breeding or raising litters, up to 91% of its diet is composed of prairie dogs. Like its close cousin, the Asian steppe polecat, the ferret represents a more progressive form than the European polecat in the direction of carnivory. The black-footed ferrets most likely ancestor was Mustela stromeri, which originated in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene, molecular evidence indicates that the steppe polecat and black-footed ferret diverged from Mustela stromeri sometime between 500,000 and 2,000,000 years ago, perhaps in Beringia. The species appeared in the Great Basin and the Rockies by 750,000 years ago, the oldest recorded fossil find originates from Cathedral Cave, White Pine County, Nevada, and dates back to 750, 000–950,000 years ago. Prairie dog fossils have found in six sites where ferrets are yielded. This suggests that the ferret and prairie dogs did not historically have an obligate predator-prey relationship. The species has always been rare, and the modern black-footed ferret represents a relic population. The earliest reported occurrence of the species is from a late Illinoian deposit in Clay County, Nebraska, fossils have also been found in Alaska dating from the Pleistocene. The black-footed ferret has a body and a blunt head. The forehead is arched and broad, and the muzzle is short and it has few whiskers, and its ears are triangular, short, erect and broad at the base. The neck is long and the short and stout
Black-footed ferret
–
Black-footed ferret
Black-footed ferret
–
Black-footed ferret at the
Louisville Zoo
Black-footed ferret
–
Black-footed ferret performing a
weasel war dance
Black-footed ferret
–
Black-footed ferret kits
30.
Endangered species
–
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
Endangered species
–
by
IUCN Red List category
Endangered species
–
The
Siberian tiger is an Endangered (EN)
tiger subspecies. Three tiger subspecies are already extinct (see
List of carnivorans by population).
Endangered species
–
Blue-throated macaw, an endangered species
Endangered species
–
Brown spider monkey, an endangered species
31.
Mammal
–
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
Mammal
–
Goat kids will stay with their mother until they are weaned.
Mammal
32.
North America
–
North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
North America
–
Map of North America, from 1621.
North America
–
North America
North America
–
The
El Castillo pyramid, at
Chichén Itzá, Mexico.
North America
–
Benjamin West 's
The Death of General Wolfe (1771) depicting the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
33.
Oglala Lakota
–
The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Nakota and Dakota, make up the Great Sioux Nation. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the Oglala are a federally recognized tribe whose official title is the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Of note, however, some Oglala reject the term Sioux because it was a name give to them by the Chippewa Nation, the term means snake and, as such, is seen as a slur. Oglala elders relate stories about the origin of the name Oglala and their emergence as a distinct group, in the early 1800s, whites passed through Lakota territory in greater and greater numbers. They sought furs, especially beaver fur at first, and later buffalo fur, the trade in fur changed the Oglala economy and way of life. 1868 brought the Fort Laramie Treaty, and in its wake the Oglala became increasingly polarized over this question, some bands turned to the Indian agencies—forerunners to the Indian reservations—where they received beef and other rations from the U. S. government. Other bands held fast to traditional ways of life, many bands moved between these two extremes, coming in to the agencies during the winter and joining their relatives in the north each spring. These challenges further split the various Oglala bands, after being moved several times during the 1870s after the Great Sioux Reservation was broken up into five portions, the Red Cloud Agency was relocated in 1878 and renamed the Pine Ridge Reservation. By 1890, the reservation included 5,537 people, divided into a number of districts that included some 30 distinct communities, without that aim and the constant struggle to attain it, the people would no longer be Dakotas in truth. They would no longer even be human and this strong and enduring connection between related families profoundly influenced Oglala history. Dr. John J. Saville, the U. S. Indian agent at the Red Cloud Agency, each of these bands are subdivided into smaller parties, variously named, usually designated by the name of their chief or leader. As the Oglala were settled on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the late 1870s, their communities probably looked something like this, other members include, Black Elk Wakaŋ Makaicu Oglala Tiyośpaye True Oglala Caŋkahuȟaŋ. Other members include, Short Bull, Amos Bad Heart Bull, hokayuta Huŋkpatila Iteśica Payabya Wagluȟe Kiyaksa Tiyošpaye True Kiyaksa Kuinyan Tapišleca By 1830, the Oglala had around 3,000 members. In the 1820s and 1830s, the Oglala, along with the Brulé, another Lakota band and this Alliance attacked surrounding tribes for territorial and hunting reasons. Historically, women have been critical to the life, making almost everything used by the family. Women have historically controlled the food, resources and movable property, typically, in the Oglala Lakota society, the men are in charge of the politics of the tribe. The men are usually the chiefs for political affairs, war leaders and warriors, traditionally, when a man marries, he goes to live with his wife with her people. In addition to men and feminine women, the Lakota also recognize feminine men
Oglala Lakota
–
Kevin Pourier is an Oglala Lakota jeweler and sculptor whose medium is buffalo horn.
Oglala Lakota
–
The Wake Singers, band of Oglala Lakota musicians
Oglala Lakota
–
Luther Standing Bear was taught to be brave and unafraid to die, and left the reservation to attend Carlisle and do some brave deed to bring honor to his family. In 1902, with his wife Nellie and their children, Standing Bear joined
Buffalo Bill's Wild West and traveled through England for eleven months. Luther was hired as an interpreter and chaperon for seventy-five Indians, and also performed as a skilled horseback rider and dancer.
Oglala Lakota
–
American Horse "The Younger"
34.
Ghost Dance
–
The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement incorporated into numerous American Indian belief systems. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California, as the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Indian tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. The Ghost Dance was associated with Wilsons prophecy of an end to white expansion while preaching goals of living, an honest life. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act, in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, U. S. Army forces killed at least 153 Miniconjou and Hunkpapa from the Lakota people. The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilsons original teachings, the Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today. The Northern Paiutes living in Mason Valley, in what is now the U. S. state of Nevada, were known collectively as the Tövusi-dökadö at the time of European contact. The Northern Paiute community at time was thriving upon a subsistence pattern of fishing, hunting wild game. The Tövusi-dökadö during this period lacked any permanent political organization or officials, community events centered on the observance of seasonal ceremonies such as harvests or hunting. In 1869, Hawthorne Wodziwob, a Paiute man, organized a series of community dances to announce a vision and he spoke of a journey to the land of the dead and of promises made to him by the souls of the recently deceased. They promised to return to their loved ones within a period of three to four years, Wodziwobs peers accepted this vision, likely due to his reputable status as a healer. He urged the populace to dance the common circle dance as was customary during a time of celebration and he continued preaching this message for three years with the help of a local weather doctor named Tavibo, father of Jack Wilson. Prior to Wodziwobs religious movement, a typhoid epidemic struck in 1867. This and other European diseases killed approximately one-tenth of the total population, the disruption brought disorder to the economic system and society. Many families were prevented from continuing their nomadic lifestyle, a round dance is a circular community dance held, usually around an individual who leads the ceremony. Round dances may be ceremonial or purely social, usually the dancers are accompanied by a group of singers who may also play hand drums in unison. The dancers join hands to form a large circle, the dancers move to their left with a side-shuffle step to reflect the long-short pattern of the drum beat, bending their knees to emphasize the pattern. Spier studied peoples of the Columbia plateau, Jack Wilson, the prophet formerly known as Wovoka, was believed to have had a vision during a solar eclipse on January 1,1889. It was reportedly not his first time experiencing a vision, but as an adult, he claimed that he was then better equipped, spiritually
Ghost Dance
–
Cyperus esculentus
Ghost Dance
–
The Ghost Dance by the
Oglala Lakota at Pine Ridge. Illustration by
Frederic Remington, 1890.
Ghost Dance
–
Wovoka—
Paiute spiritual leader and creator of the Ghost Dance
35.
United States Air Force
–
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
United States Air Force
–
First
F-35 Lightning II of the
33rd Fighter Wing arrives at
Eglin AFB
United States Air Force
–
Seal of the Department of the Air Force (
United States Air Force portal)
United States Air Force
–
U.S. Air Force airmen from the 720th STG jumping out of a
C-130J Hercules aircraft during water rescue training in the
Florida panhandle
United States Air Force
–
Combat Controllers participating in
Operation Enduring Freedom provide air traffic control to a
C-130 taking off from a remote airfield.
36.
Red Shirt Table
–
Red Shirt Table is a table mountain in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The parks highest point is located at the end of the table at 3,340 feet. The top surface of the table slopes gently downhill as it extends northward and it drops off steeply from almost all sides, up to 300. French Creek flows to the northeast, and the intermittent Cedar Creek drains the entire east side of the table, Red Shirt Table is one of many tables in the White River Badlands, others include Cuny Table, Sheep Mountain Table, and Heck Table. The Oglala Lakota community of Red Shirt, located below the end of the table, is the village of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation closest to Rapid City
Red Shirt Table
–
Topographic outline of Red Shirt Table
37.
U.S. national park
–
The United States has 59 protected areas known as national parks that are operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks must be established by an act of the United States Congress. The first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875, many current National Parks had been previously protected as National Monuments by the President under the Antiquities Act before being upgraded by Congress. Criteria for the selection of National Parks include natural beauty, unique features, unusual ecosystems. National Monuments, on the hand, are frequently chosen for their historical or archaeological significance. Fourteen national parks are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while twenty one are designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, twenty-seven states have national parks, as do the territories of American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands. California has the most, followed by Alaska, Utah, the largest national park is Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska, at over 8 million acres, it is larger than each of the nine smallest states, the next three largest parks are also in Alaska. The smallest park is Hot Springs, Arkansas, at less than 6 thousand acres. The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.2 million acres, for an average of 885 thousand acres but a median of only 236 thousand acres at Mount Rainier, the 30th largest park. The most-visited national park is Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee, with over 11.3 million visitors in 2016, followed by Arizonas Grand Canyon, in contrast, only 10,047 people visited the remote Gates of the Arctic in Alaska in the same year. A few former national parks are no longer designated as such, other units of the National Park Service are broadly referred to as national parks, they are listed here. S
U.S. national park
–
1938 poster for
Yellowstone National Park
U.S. national park
–
Acadia
U.S. national park
–
American Samoa
U.S. national park
–
Arches
38.
Mission 66
–
When the National Park Service was created in 1916, long-distance travel in North America was typically accomplished by train. There was no road system, and airline travel was in its infancy. With the development of the US highway system as a works project during the Great Depression, many previously remote parks became accessible via good roads. The explosion in prosperity following World War II brought a tide of automobile-borne tourists that the parks were ill-equipped to receive, by the mid-1950s it was apparent that massive investment in park infrastructure was required. Mission 66 was conceived as the means to accommodate increased visitor numbers, while Mission 66 involved a variety of infrastructure projects such as roads, utilities and employee housing, the most visible components were the interpretational facilities, or visitor center. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Park Service came under increasing criticism for neglect of the park system, an essay by Bernard DeVoto in Harpers Magazine proposed that the national parks should be closed until they were funded appropriately. While this had little effect, it highlighted an increasing level of concern about the state. In 1955, Park Service Director Conrad Wirth proposed a program of capital improvement. The expressed aim was to complete the upgrades in time for the Park Services 50th anniversary in 1966, in early parks, visitor orientation facilities were built on a relatively small scale, often in the form of trailside museums for visitor edification. As a new feature, visitor centers had to be built quickly, managers such as Thomas Chalmers Vint, the Park Service director of design and construction, made a conscious decision to employ a more streamlined modern style of design for Mission 66 facilities. The simpler, cleaner design philosophy was faster and less expensive to implement, Mission 66 also involved substantial re-planning of entire park infrastructures, with entirely new developments reaching the proportions of new towns. The similar Wuksachi Village in Sequoia National Park was planned to replace the Giant Forest, colter Bay Village in Grand Teton National Park included the relocation of cabins from guest ranches displaced by the expansion of the park into Jackson Hole. While a large portion of the funding for Mission 66 was devoted to visitor facilities, much of the existing housing was built by the CCC and amounted to little more than cabins. Using the model of military housing, a series of standard designs was developed. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the St. Louis, Missouri riverfront entailed the demolition of forty blocks of the city to create a new park at the feet of Gateway Arch. The old warehouse district had been targeted for demolition by the city to eradicate urban blight, and the arch and its park were seen as a means to this end, ironically, much of the exploration and expansion the new project commemorated had originated from the demolished riverfront district. In Philadelphia, the development of Independence National Historical Park involved the creation of Independence Mall, the mall was designed to provide a vista of Independence Hall, necessitating the demolition of numerous 19th-century buildings. While Mission 66 is most frequently associated with improvements, it also funded a number of continuing programs
Mission 66
–
Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center,
Dinosaur National Monument, prior to 2009
Mission 66
–
First Day cover of 50th Anniversary and completion of Mission 66
Mission 66
–
Wright Brothers National Memorial visitor center, shortly after completion
Mission 66
–
Salt Pond Visitor Center,
Cape Cod National Seashore
39.
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
–
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established in 1999 to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile development. This National Historic Site preserves the last remaining Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States, the silo, known as launch facility Delta Nine was constructed in 1963. It occupies 1.6 acres nearly one-half mile southwest of Interstate 90 at Exit 116 and six miles from the town of Wall, South Dakota, in eastern Pennington County. It consists of a launch tube 12 feet in diameter and 80 feet deep. An unarmed missile is on display inside, the launch tubes 90-ton cover has been rolled partly away and welded to the rails it rides on. The launch tube was covered with a glass viewing enclosure. Because the only way to get to the part of the site is by a ladder 30 feet long. Visitors can conduct self-guided tours of the site during the day by calling a number on their phones and walking around the site. The launch control facility, known as Delta One, is about 10.5 miles away and it occupies approximately six acres about 1.7 miles north of I-90 at Exit 127. It consists of a building containing a kitchen, sleeping quarters, offices. Below this building is the launch control center, buried 31 feet deep. Guided tours are conducted here, but are limited to six people at a time due to the very small underground launch control center and are a half-hour long. Self-guided tours are not possible here, the gate for the fence around D-01 is always locked, the sprawling missile complex, one of six located in the central United States, was built as a deterrent to a nuclear first strike by the Soviet Union. Under the terms of the treaty, the missiles in this complex were removed from their silos, all sites in the complex, except D-01 and D-09, have been destroyed. The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was the subject of a 2013 federal law – Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act – which granted the additional land. SD-50, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Delta Flight,10 mile radius around Exit 127 off Interstate 90, Interior vicinity, Jackson County, SD HAER No. SD-50-A, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Delta Flight, Launch Control Facility, County Road CS23A, North of Exit 127, Interior vicinity, Jackson County, SD, the Delta launch control center HAER No. SD-50-C, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Delta Flight, Launch Facility, On County Road T512, south of Exit 116 off I-90, Interior vicinity, Jackson, SD, the Delta-Nine silo
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
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Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
40.
Alligator
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An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. The two living species are the American alligator and the Chinese alligator, in addition, several extinct species of alligator are known from fossil remains. Alligators first appeared during the Paleocene epoch about 37 million years ago, the name alligator is probably an anglicized form of el lagarto, the Spanish term for the lizard, which early Spanish explorers and settlers in Florida called the alligator. Later English spellings of the name included allagarta and alagarto, an average adult American alligators weight and length is 360 kg and 4.0 m, but they sometimes grow to 4.4 m long and weigh over 450 kg. The largest ever recorded, found in Louisiana, measured 5.84 m, the Chinese alligator is smaller, rarely exceeding 2.1 m in length. In addition, it considerably less, with males rarely over 45 kg. Adult alligators are black or dark olive-brown with white undersides, while juveniles have strongly contrasting white or yellow marks which fade with age, no average lifespan for an alligator has been measured. In 1937, a specimen was brought to the Belgrade Zoo in Serbia from Germany. It is now at least 80 years old, although no valid records exist about its date of birth, this alligator, officially named Muja, is considered the oldest alligator living in captivity. Alligators are native only to the United States and China, according to the 2005 Scholastic Book of World Records, Louisiana has the largest alligator population. The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each state, southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side. American alligators live in environments, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, lakes. When they construct alligator holes in the wetlands, they increase plant diversity and they are, therefore, considered an important species for maintaining ecological diversity in wetlands. Further west, in Louisiana, heavy grazing by coypu and muskrat are causing damage to coastal wetlands. Large alligators feed extensively on coypu, and provide a vital ecological service by reducing coypu numbers. The Chinese alligator currently is only in the Yangtze River valley and parts of adjacent provinces and is extremely endangered. Indeed, far more Chinese alligators live in zoos around the world than can be found in the wild, rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in southern Louisiana has several in captivity in an attempt to preserve the species. Miami MetroZoo in Florida also has a pair of Chinese alligators
Alligator
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Head
Alligator
Alligator
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Alligator eggs and young
Alligator
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Alligator juveniles
41.
Crocodilian
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Crocodilia is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles. Crocodilians appeared 83.5 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period and are the closest living relatives of birds, members of the orders total group, the clade Pseudosuchia, appeared about 250 million years ago in the Early Triassic period, and diversified during the Mesozoic era. The order Crocodilia includes the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans, although the term crocodiles is sometimes used to refer to all of these, a less ambiguous vernacular term for this group is crocodilians. Large, solidly built, lizard-like reptiles, crocodilians have flattened snouts, laterally compressed tails, and eyes, ears. They swim well and can move on land in a high walk and their skin is thick and covered in non-overlapping scales. They have conical, peg-like teeth and a powerful bite and they have a four-chambered heart and, somewhat like birds, a unidirectional looping system of airflow within the lungs, but like other non-avian reptiles they are ectotherms. Crocodilians are found mainly in lowlands in the tropics, but alligators also live in the southeastern United States, Crocodilians are typically solitary and territorial, though cooperative feeding does occur. During breeding, dominant males try to monopolise available females, females lay eggs in holes or in mounds and, unlike most other reptiles, care for their hatched young. Eight species of crocodilians are known to have attacked humans, the largest number of attacks comes from the Nile crocodile. Artistic and literary representations of crocodilians have appeared in cultures around the world since at least Ancient Egypt. Crocodilia and Crocodylia have been used interchangeably for decades starting with Schmidts redescription of the group from the defunct term Loricata. Schmidt used the older term Crocodilia, based on Owens original name for the group, shortly after, Wermuth opted for Crocodylia as the proper name for this redescribed group, basing it on the type genus Crocodylus. Dundee—in a revision of many reptilian and amphibian names—argued strongly for Crocodylia to be the spelling for the group, however, it was not until the advent of cladistics and phylogenetic nomenclature that a more solid justification for assuming one spelling over the other was proposed. Prior to 2003, Crocodilia/Crocodylia was a group that encompassed the modern-day animals as well as their distant relatives now in the larger groups called Crocodylomorpha. Under its current definition Crocodylia is restricted to only the most recent ancestor of todays modern-day crocodilians and this distinction is more important for paleontologists studying crocodilian evolution. As such, the alternate spellings Crocodilia and Crocodylia are still used interchangeably in the neontological literature, Crocodilia appears to be a Latinizing of the Greek κροκόδειλος, which means both lizard and Nile crocodile. Crocodylia, as coined by Wermuth, in regards to the genus Crocodylus appears to be derived from the ancient Greek κρόκη —meaning shingle or pebble—and δρîλος or δρεîλος for worm, the name may refer to the animals habit of basking on the pebbled shores of the Nile. They tend to be sexually dimorphic, with much larger than females
Crocodilian
Crocodilian
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Mounted skeleton and taxidermy of Nile crocodile
Crocodilian
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Crocodilians, like this
spectacled caiman, can hide in water with only their nostrils, eyes and ears at the surface.
Crocodilian
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Nile crocodile swimming. Sequence runs from right to left.
42.
Archaeotherium
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Archaeotherium is an extinct genus of entelodont artiodactyl endemic to North America during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs, existing for approximately 6 million years. Archaeotherium was about 1. 2m tall at the shoulder and around 2m long and weighing around 270 kg, although superficially pig-like, Archaeotherium, along with all other entelodonts, was more closely related to anthracotheres, hippopotamuses, and whales. Evidence from the Wyoming Dinosaur Center suggests that the omnivorous Archaeotherium, like many modern predatory mammals and it was synonymized subjectively with Entelodon by Joseph Leidy and synonymized subjectively with Elotherium by Leidy. It was assigned to Entelodontidae by Leidy, Peterson, Scott, Galbreath, Russell, Carroll, in life, Archaeotherium probably resembled a large, fanged, cow-sized peccary with bumps projecting from the side of its head. It had high shoulders, presumably to carry strong neck muscles to support the heavy head, the brain was tiny, but had relatively large olfactory lobes, suggesting that the animal had a keen sense of smell. The largest species, A. mortoni was a cow-sized predator, rhino jaws and other mammal bones have been found with bite marks on them that match the large canines of A. mortoni. In leaner times, it is suggested that Archaeotherium dug for roots and tubers, as with other pig-like mammals
Archaeotherium
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Archaeotherium Temporal range: Late
Eocene to Early
Oligocene
Archaeotherium
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Archaeotherium eating a root
43.
Entelodont
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The Entelodontidae were named by Richard Lydekker and assigned to Nonruminantia by Gregory. They were then assigned to Artiodactyla by Lucas et al. and to Entelodontoidea by Carroll, while entelodonts have long been classified as members of the Suina, Spaulding et al. have found them to be closer to whales and hippos than to pigs. Entelodonts are an group of rather pig-like omnivorous mammals with bulky bodies, but short, slender legs. The largest were the North American Daeodon shoshonensis, and the Eurasian Paraentelodon intermedium, standing up to 2.1 m tall at the shoulder, with brains the size of an orange. A single specimen recorded by M. Mendoza, C. M. Janis, entelodonts had full sets of teeth, including large canines, heavy incisors, and relatively simple, yet powerful, molars. These features suggest a diet, similar to that of modern pigs. Like many other artiodactyls, they had hooves, with two toes touching the ground, and the remaining two being vestigial. The most distinguishing characteristic of the animals, however, would have been the heavy, bony lumps on either side of their heads, which are similar to a warthogs. Some of these may have attachment points for powerful jaw muscles. They would have hunted large animals, like the cow-sized artiodactyl Eporeodon major, some fossil remains of these other animals have been found with the bite marks of entelodonts on them. Like modern-day pigs, they were omnivores, eating meat and plants, but their adaptations show a bias towards live prey and carrion. They were most likely opportunists, mainly eating live animals, but not rejecting carrion and roots, some entelodonts even exhibited caching behavior, as is shown in a discovered Archaeotheriums cache, which contained the remains of several early camels. The same creatures appear in another BBC production, the 2001 remake of The Lost World, entelodonts were also the main focus of episode 4 of National Geographic Channels show Prehistoric Predators in an episode titled Killer Pig. The episode featured Archaeotherium as being the top predator of the American Badlands, museum display of Entelodont skeleton, Geoscience Slides
Entelodont
Entelodont
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Archaeotherium mortoni skull
Entelodont
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Entelodon by
Charles R. Knight
44.
Dinictis
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Dinictis is a genus of the Nimravidae, an extinct family of feliform mammalian carnivores, also known as false saber-toothed cats. Assigned to the subfamily Nimravinae, Dinictis was endemic to North America from the Late Eocene to Early Miocene epochs, Dinictis was named by American paleontologist Joseph Leidy in 1854. It was assigned to Nimravidae by Leidy, and to Nimravinae by Flynn and Galiano, Bryant, in a 2016 study, the genus was found to contain only the species Dinictis felina. Dinictis had a sleek body 1.1 metres long, short legs 0.6 metres high with only incompletely retractable claws, powerful jaws, and it was very similar to its close relative, Hoplophoneus. The shape of its skull is reminiscent of a felid skull rather than of the short skull of the Machairodontinae. Compared with those of the more recent machairodonts, its upper canines were relatively small, below the tips of the canines, its lower jaw spread out in the form of a lobe. Dinictis walked plantigrade, unlike modern felids and it looked like a small leopard and evidently its mode of life was similar to that of a leopard. It was probably not so particular about its food as its descendants, since the reduction of its teeth was still in the early stages, despite this, in its own environment it would have been a powerful predator. It lived in the plains of North America with fossils found in Saskatchewan, Canada and Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Dinictis likely evolved from an early Miacis-like ancestor that lived in the Paleocene
Dinictis
Dinictis
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Restoration of D. felinae
Dinictis
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Skeleton of D. felina in the
Field Museum of Natural History.
Dinictis
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Restoration of Dinictis and Protoceras by Charles R. Knight
45.
Nimravid
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Nimravidae is an extinct family of mammalian carnivores, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, whose fossils are found in North America, and Eurasia. Not considered to belong to the cats, the nimravids are generally considered closely related and classified as a distinct family in the suborder Feliformia. Fossils have been dated from the Middle Eocene through the Late Miocene epochs, the barbourofelids were once previously classified as a subfamily of Nimravidae, in 2004, but were reassigned to their own distinct family Barbourofelidae. Most nimravids had muscular, low-slung, cat-like bodies, with shorter legs, unlike extant Feliformia, the nimravids had a different bone structure in the small bones of the ear. The middle ear of true cats is housed in a structure called an auditory bulla. Nimravid remains show ossified bullae with no septum, or no trace at all of the entire bulla and it is assumed that they had a cartilaginous housing of the ear mechanism. Although some nimravids physically resembled the sabre-toothed cats of the genus Smilodon, they were not closely related and they possessed synapomorphies with the barbourofelids in the cranium, mandible, dentition, and postcranium. They also had a flange on the front of the mandible, not as prominent as those on Thylacosmilus, that projected downward as long as the canine tooth. The ancestors of nimravids and felids diverged from a common ancestor soon after the Caniformia-Feliformia split, in the middle Eocene about 50 million years ago, with a minimum constraint of 43 mya. Recognizable nimravid fossils date from the late Eocene, from the Chadronian White River Formation at Flagstaff Rim, Wyoming, nimravid diversity appears to have peaked about 28 mya. Nimravidae was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1880, the family was assigned to Fissipedia by Cope, to Caniformia by Flynn and Galiano, to Aeluroidea by Carroll, to Feliformia by Bryant, and to Carnivoramorpha, by Wesley-Hunt and Werdelin. Nimravids are placed in tribes by some authors to reflect relationships in genera within the family. Some nimravids evolved into large toothed, cat-like forms with massive flattened upper canines, some had dentition similar to felids, or modern cats, with smaller canines. Others had moderately increased canines in a more intermediate relationship between the cats and felids. The upper canines were not only shorter, but also more conical and these nimravids are referred to as false sabre-tooths. Not only did nimravids exhibit diverse dentition, but they showed the same diversity in size. Nimravids appeared in the middle of the Eocene epoch, about 40 mya, in North America, the global climate at this time was warm and wet, but was trending cooler and drier toward the late Eocene. The lush forests of the Eocene were transforming to scrub and open woodland and this climatic trend continued in the Oligocene, and nimravids evidently flourished in this environment
Nimravid
Nimravid
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Restoration of Dinictis and Protoceras by Charles R. Knight
46.
Eporeodon
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Eporeodon is an extinct genus of oreodont belonging to the subfamily Eporeodontinae during the Oligocene and early Miocene epoch existing for approximately 12.7 million years. The species of the genus are among the largest members of the family Merycoidontidae, about the size of a cow, its fossils are some of the largest found in the Badlands. It was much larger than Merycoidodon and Miniochoerus, its contemporaries in the Late Oligocene, on the other hand, Eporeodon was a rare oreodont, as its fossils only make up about one percent of all oreodont fossils found in the Badlands. It was synonymized subjectively with Eucrotaphus by Cope and it was assigned to Merycoidodontidae by Marsh, Scott, Thorpe, Thorpe, Stevens and Stevens and Lander. Its synonymized with Hypselochoerus and Pseudodesmatochoerus, Eporeodon was a tremendous oreodont, growing to be about cow sized. Their skulls were much shorter and squatter than those of Merycoidodon, a single specimen was examined by M. Mendoza for body mass and estimated to have a weight of 118.3 kg. E. occidentalis, E. pygmyus
Eporeodon
Eporeodon
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Restoration of Eporeodon major
Eporeodon
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Eporeodon occidentalis skull
47.
Oreodont
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Merycoidodontoidea, sometimes called oreodonts, or ruminating hogs, is an extinct superfamily of prehistoric cud-chewing artiodactyls with short faces and fang-like canine teeth. Oreodont means mountain teeth, referring to the appearance of the molars, most oreodonts were sheep-sized, though some genera grew to the size of cattle. They were heavy-bodied, with short four-toed hooves and comparatively long tails, the animals would have looked rather pig- or sheep-like, but features of their teeth indicate they were more closely related to camelids. They were most likely woodland and grassland browsers, and were widespread in North America during the Oligocene and Miocene, later forms diversified to suit a range of different habitats. For example, Promerycochoerus had adaptations suggesting a semiamphibious lifestyle, similar to that of modern hippos, the two families of oreodonts are the Merycoidodontidae which contains all of the advanced species, and the Agriochoeridae, smaller, primitive oreodonts. Together they form the now-extinct suborder Oreodonta, oreodonts may have been distantly related to pigs, hippopotamuses, and the pig-like peccaries. Indeed, some scholars place Merycoidodontidae within the pig-related suborder Suina, other scholars place oreodonts closer to camels in the suborder Tylopoda. Still other experts put the oreodonts together with the short-lived cainotheres in the taxonomic suborder Ancodonta comprising these two groups of extinct ancodonts, all scholars agree, however, that the oreodont was an early form of even-toed ungulate, belonging to the order Artiodactyla. Today, most evidence points towards the oreodonts being tylopods, along with camels, xiphodonts, over 50 genera of Oreodonta have been described in the paleozoological literature. However, oreodonts are widely considered to be taxonomically oversplit, the last researchers to fully review oreodont taxonomy, C. Researchers are beginning to restudy oreodonts and synonymize many genera, and this diverse group of stocky prehistoric mammals grazed amid the grasslands, prairies, or savannas of North and Central America throughout much of the Cenozoic era. Today, fossil jaws and teeth of the Oreodonta are commonly found amid the Oreodon beds of the White River badlands in South Dakota, Nebraska, many oreodont bones have also been reported at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. Some oreodonts have been found at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, in Oligocene/Miocene Florida, oreodonts are surprisingly rare. Instead of the swarms found elsewhere, only six genera of oreodonts are known to have ranged there, and only one, Mesoreodon, is known from a single, good skeleton
Oreodont
Oreodont
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Agriochoerus antiquus
Oreodont
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Merycoidodon from the Oligocene of Nebraska
48.
Eusmilus
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Eusmilus is a prehistoric genus of nimravid that lived in Europe during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene epochs. There are two species of Eusmilus, E. bidentatus and E. villebramarensis. Ekgmoiteptecela MacDonald,1963 was synonymized with Eusmilus by some authors, one study performed in 2016 suggests that Eusmilus is a non-valid genus, and moved all North American species to Hoplophoneus. Eusmilus had a body and was about as tall as a leopard. It had developed long saber teeth and looked like a saber-toothed cat, most were leopard-sized and rather long-bodied and short-legged compared to modern leopards. Eusmilus had lost many other teeth, possessing only 26 instead of the 44 usually seen in carnivore mammals and its mouth could open to an angle of 90 degrees, allowing the creature to properly use its saber teeth. Bony flanges projected from Eusmilus lower jaw to protect the sabers, there is fossil evidence of conflict between Eusmilus and Nimravus, another genus of nimravid. The milk teeth of Eusmilus, upon their eruption, were enough to allow it to hunt effectively
Eusmilus
Eusmilus
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Restoration of Eusmilus (in a tree) and other animals from the Turtle Cove Formation
Eusmilus
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E. olsontau
49.
Hoplophoneus
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In 2016, all North American species of Eusmilus were placed in Hoplophoneus by Paul Z. Barrett. Hoplophoneus, though not a cat, was similar to cats in outward appearance, though with a robust body. The largest known specimen was examined by Sorkin for body mass and was estimated to have a weight of 160 kg, Hoplophoneus occidentalis was about the size of a large leopard and had canine teeth of only moderately-larger size. The larger H. sicarius and H. mentalis had very large upper canines, from examination of the wounds, it was found that the animal had been wounded by its rivals saber-teeth. Regrowth of bone around the shows that the nimravid survived the attack. Similar finds also reveal that such fights were likely commonplace among nimravids and that they would often aim for the back of the skulls and eyes of their opponents
Hoplophoneus
Hoplophoneus
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Hoplophoneus primaevus skull,
Munich Paleontological Museum
Hoplophoneus
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Reconstruction of Hoplophoneus by
W.B. Scott (1913)
50.
Hyaenodon
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Some species of this genus were among the largest terrestrial carnivorous mammals of their time, others were only of the size of a marten. Hyaenodon is one of the longest lived genera of Hyaenodontidae, and is known from the Late Eocene to Early Miocene, remains of many species are known from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Typical of early mammals, individuals of Hyaenodon had a very massive skull. The skull is long with a narrow snout - much larger in relation to the length of the skull than in canine carnivores, the neck was shorter than the skull, while the body was long and robust and terminated in a long tail. The average weight of adult or subadult H. horridus, the largest North American species, is estimated to about 40 kilograms, H. gigas, the largest Hyaenodon species was much larger, being 500 kilograms and around 10 feet. H. crucians from the early Oligocene of North America is estimated to only 10 to 25 kilograms, H. microdon and H. mustelinus from the late Eocene of North America were even smaller and weighed probably about 5 kilograms. Compared to the generally larger Hyainailouros, the dentition of Hyaenodon was geared more towards shearing meat, studies on juvenile Hyaenodon specimens show that the animal had a very unusual system of tooth replacement. Juveniles took about 3–4 years to complete the stage of eruption. In North American forms, the first upper premolar erupts before the first upper molar, in North America the last Hyaenodon disappeared along with species like H. brevirostris in the late Oligocene. In Europe they had already vanished earlier in the Oligocene, from the Miocene in Africa there are three species known, but none of these reached the dimensions of Asian species like H. gigas and H. weilini
Hyaenodon
Hyaenodon
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Reconstruction by
Heinrich Harder, c. 1920
Hyaenodon
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H. horridus skull
Hyaenodon
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H. horridus and
Leptomeryx
_Eocene.JPG)
Media from Commons
Travel guide from Wikivoyage
Badlands National Park travel guide from Wikivoyage
