1.
Rattus Norvegicus (album)
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Rattus Norvegicus is the debut studio album by the Stranglers, released on 17 April 1977. It was one of the albums of the punk era in Britain. Two of its tracks, Peaches and Grip, were released as 7 singles in the UK, the album was originally to be entitled Dead on Arrival but was changed at the last minute. The released title is the name for the common Brown Rat. The album was produced in one week by Martin Rushent, and was a snapshot of the live set at the time. The album peaked at No.4 in the UK Albums Chart, the first 10,000 copies of the original vinyl release included a free 7 single, containing Peasant in the Big Shitty and Choosey Susie. Two singles were taken from the album, Grip, and Peaches, a remastered version of the album was reissued on CD in 2001, including these three additional tracks. The album launch party was held in Chelseas Water Rat pub and it was ranked at No.10 among the top Albums of the Year for 1977 by NME, with Peaches ranked at No.18 among the years top tracks. NME later ranked it at No.196 in its 2014 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and it was included in Robert Dimerys 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. All songs credited as written by the Stranglers, sometimes Written by Hugh Cornwell, describes a violent argument with a girlfriend. The same girlfriend is the subject of Strange Little Girl which was written earlier by Cornwell, goodbye Toulouse Music by Cornwell, lyrics by Burnel. Describes the destruction of Toulouse predicted by Nostradamus, London Lady Music by Cornwell, lyrics by Burnel. Loosely based on a female journalist. Princess of the Streets Written in 6/8 time, music and lyrics by Burnel, hanging Around Music by Burnel, lyrics by Cornwell. Describes the characters found in the London pubs that the band played live at, Grip Music and lyrics by Cornwell. Based on band life in their Chiddingfold squat, featured Eric Clarke, ugly Music and lyrics by Burnel. Described as abstract psychedelia by Cornwell, the poem Ozymandias is featured, down in the Sewer Has four sections, Falling/Down In The Sewer/Trying To Get Out Again/Rats Rally. Music by Burnel, lyrics by Cornwell, Peasant in the Big Shitty – live 2
2.
Raptor Attack
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Raptor Attack is an enclosed steel roller coaster at the Lightwater Valley theme park in North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. In 1987 Lightwater Valley constructed an Anton Schwarzkopf Wildcat roller coaster, the ride was constructed inside a warehouse-type building which is hidden by trees and embankments. This gives the illusion that the ride is actually underground, at opening, the ride was known as Rat Ride and themed around sewer rats. The entry and exit corridors accurately replicated a real sewer and the vehicles were giant rat models. The ride took place in complete making it thrilling as riders could not predict the upcoming direction of travel. Rat Ride closed in October 2009 at the end of the season, on 3 April 2010, the ride reopened under a new name and theme. The ride is operating as Raptor Attack. The ride is now themed on an old abandoned mine shaft, upon entry, riders walk through a series of tunnels and descend down a spiralling staircase between which water is falling from overhead. An abandoned office features blood-spattered equipment including a monitor which shows footage of a distressed miner and this footage originally had sound, with the miner calling out a warning that there is something moving down there and not to send anyone else down the mine. However the sound was removed partway through the season, as younger children thought that the footage was real and were becoming distressed, riders then continue onto the boarding station where four-seater mine trains await. Ride operators are dressed in themed miner clothing with hard hats, the train leaves the station into an area of total darkness and ascends a chain-driven climb. A series of drops follows interlinked between sudden appearances of animatronic velociraptors and sound designed to startle the riders. The roller coaster system and layout remains the same as the original Rat Ride but the appearances of the dinosaurs, when the car returns to the station and riders disembark, they pass a steel door from behind which something begins to suddenly bang very loudly. This is another feature designed to startle departing riders and is activated via motion sensor, riders then continue on through the tunnels, passing a hydraulic piston in a pool of water and human bones. The piston suddenly discharges a blast of air from beneath the water, creating a loud noise, a staircase is then ascended, another tunnel passed during which sound effects of dinosaur roars and groans play and the surface is reached. In the immediate area outside the exit is the raptor paintball range
3.
Conservation status
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The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD, when discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term threatened is a grouping of three categories, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals. Many countries require CITES permits when importing plants and animals listed on CITES, in the European Union, the Birds and Habitats Directives are the legal instruments that evaluate the conservation status within the EU of species and habitats. NatureServe conservation status focuses on Latin America, United States, Canada, and it has been developed by scientists from NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and the network of natural heritage programs and data centers. It is increasingly integrated with the IUCN Red List system and its categories for species include, presumed extinct, possibly extinct, critically imperiled, imperiled, vulnerable, apparently secure, and secure. The system also allows ambiguous or uncertain ranks including inexact numeric ranks, NatureServe adds a qualifier for captive or cultivated only, which has a similar meaning to the IUCN Red List extinct in the wild status. The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation is used within the Russian Federation, in Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 describes lists of threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. The categories resemble those of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories & Criteria, prior to the EPBC Act, a simpler classification system was used by the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. Some state and territory governments also have their own systems for conservation status, in Belgium, the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest publishes an online set of more than 150 nature indicators in Dutch. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is a group of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in danger of disappearing from Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act, it is up to the federal government, in China, the State, provinces and some counties have determined their key protected wildlife species. There is the China red data book, in Finland, a large number of species are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, and through the EU Habitats Directive and EU Birds Directive. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation publishes red lists of endangered species, india has the Wild Life Protection Act,1972, Amended 2003 and the Biological Diversity Act,2002. In Japan, the Ministry of Environment publishes a Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book, in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality publishes a list of threatened species, and conservation is enforced by the Nature Conservation Act 1998. Species are also protected through the Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation publishes the New Zealand Threat Classification System lists
4.
Least Concern
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A least concern species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as evaluated but not qualified for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, near threatened, species cannot be assigned the Least Concern category unless they have had their population status evaluated. That is, adequate information is needed to make a direct, or indirect, since 2001 the category has had the abbreviation LC, following the IUCN2001 Categories & Criteria. However, around 20% of least concern taxa in the IUCN database use the code LR/lc, prior to 2001 least concern was a subcategory of the Lower Risk category and assigned the code LR/lc or. While least concern is not considered a red listed category by the IUCN, the number of animal species listed in this category totals 14033. There are also 101 animal subspecies listed and 1500 plant taxa, there are also two animal subpopulations listed, the Australasian and Southern African subpopulations of spiny dogfish. No fungi or protista have the classification, though only four species in those kingdoms have been evaluated by the IUCN, humans qualify for this category, and in 2008 were formally assessed as such by the IUCN
5.
IUCN Red List
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, the IUCN Red List is set upon precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world, the aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List. The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, the 1964 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants used the older pre-criteria Red List assessment system. Plants listed may not, therefore, appear in the current Red List, IUCN advise that is best to check both the online Red List and the 1997 plants Red List publication. The 2006 Red List, released on 4 May 2006 evaluated 40,168 species as a whole, plus an additional 2,160 subspecies, varieties, aquatic stocks, on 12 September 2007, the World Conservation Union released the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Russ Mittermeier, chief of Swiss-based IUCNs Primate Specialist Group, stated that 16,306 species are endangered with extinction,188 more than in 2006, the Red List includes the Sumatran orangutan in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean orangutan in the Endangered category. The study shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction, and 836 are listed as Data Deficient. The Red List of 2012 was released 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit, nearly 2,000 species were added, the IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. With 3,947 described as endangered and 5,766 as endangered. At threat are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reef-building corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, the IUCN Red List has listed 132 species of plants and animals from India as Critically Endangered. Extinct – No known individuals remaining, extinct in the wild – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range. Critically endangered – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered – High risk of extinction in the wild. Vulnerable – High risk of endangerment in the wild, near threatened – Likely to become endangered in the near future. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category, widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction, Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria
6.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
7.
Animalia
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
8.
Chordate
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Chordates are deuterostomes, as during the embryo development stage the anus forms before the mouth. They are also bilaterally symmetric coelomates, in the case of vertebrate chordates, the notochord is usually replaced by a vertebral column during development, and they may have body plans organized via segmentation. There are also additional extinct taxa, the Vertebrata are sometimes considered as a subgroup of the clade Craniata, consisting of chordates with a skull, the Craniata and Tunicata compose the clade Olfactores. Of the more than 65,000 living species of chordates, the worlds largest and fastest animals, the blue whale and peregrine falcon respectively, are chordates, as are humans. Fossil chordates are known from at least as early as the Cambrian explosion, Hemichordata, which includes the acorn worms, has been presented as a fourth chordate subphylum, but it now is usually treated as a separate phylum. The Hemichordata, along with the Echinodermata, form the Ambulacraria, the Chordata and Ambulacraria form the superphylum Deuterostomia, composed of the deuterostomes. Attempts to work out the relationships of the chordates have produced several hypotheses. All of the earliest chordate fossils have found in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna. Because the fossil record of early chordates is poor, only molecular phylogenetics offers a prospect of dating their emergence. However, the use of molecular phylogenetics for dating evolutionary transitions is controversial and it has also proved difficult to produce a detailed classification within the living chordates. Attempts to produce family trees shows that many of the traditional classes are paraphyletic. While this has been known since the 19th century, an insistence on only monophyletic taxa has resulted in vertebrate classification being in a state of flux. Although the name Chordata is attributed to William Bateson, it was already in prevalent use by 1880, ernst Haeckel described a taxon comprising tunicates, cephalochordates, and vertebrates in 1866. Though he used the German vernacular form, it is allowed under the ICZN code because of its subsequent latinization, among the vertebrate sub-group of chordates the notochord develops into the spine, and in wholly aquatic species this helps the animal to swim by flexing its tail. In fish and other vertebrates, this develops into the spinal cord, the pharynx is the part of the throat immediately behind the mouth. In fish, the slits are modified to form gills, a muscular tail that extends backwards behind the anus. This is a groove in the wall of the pharynx. In filter-feeding species it produces mucus to gather food particles, which helps in transporting food to the esophagus and it also stores iodine, and may be a precursor of the vertebrate thyroid gland
9.
Mammal
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Mammals are any vertebrates within the class Mammalia, a clade of endothermic amniotes distinguished from reptiles by the possession of a neocortex, hair, three middle ear bones and mammary glands. All female mammals nurse their young with milk, secreted from the mammary glands, Mammals include the largest animals on the planet, the great whales. The basic body type is a quadruped, but some mammals are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in trees. The largest group of mammals, the placentals, have a placenta, Mammals range in size from the 30–40 mm bumblebee bat to the 30-meter blue whale. With the exception of the five species of monotreme, all modern mammals give birth to live young, most mammals, including the six most species-rich orders, belong to the placental group. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Soricomorpha, the next three biggest orders, depending on the biological classification scheme used, are the Primates, the Cetartiodactyla, and the Carnivora. Living mammals are divided into the Yinotheria and Theriiformes There are around 5450 species of mammal, in some classifications, extant mammals are divided into two subclasses, the Prototheria, that is, the order Monotremata, and the Theria, or the infraclasses Metatheria and Eutheria. The marsupials constitute the group of the Metatheria, and include all living metatherians as well as many extinct ones. Much of the changes reflect the advances of cladistic analysis and molecular genetics, findings from molecular genetics, for example, have prompted adopting new groups, such as the Afrotheria, and abandoning traditional groups, such as the Insectivora. The mammals represent the only living Synapsida, which together with the Sauropsida form the Amniota clade, the early synapsid mammalian ancestors were sphenacodont pelycosaurs, a group that produced the non-mammalian Dimetrodon. At the end of the Carboniferous period, this group diverged from the line that led to todays reptiles. Some mammals are intelligent, with some possessing large brains, self-awareness, Mammals can communicate and vocalize in several different ways, including the production of ultrasound, scent-marking, alarm signals, singing, and echolocation. Mammals can organize themselves into fission-fusion societies, harems, and hierarchies, most mammals are polygynous, but some can be monogamous or polyandrous. They provided, and continue to provide, power for transport and agriculture, as well as commodities such as meat, dairy products, wool. Mammals are hunted or raced for sport, and are used as model organisms in science, Mammals have been depicted in art since Palaeolithic times, and appear in literature, film, mythology, and religion. Defaunation of mammals is primarily driven by anthropogenic factors, such as poaching and habitat destruction, Mammal classification has been through several iterations since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class. No classification system is accepted, McKenna & Bell and Wilson & Reader provide useful recent compendiums. Though field work gradually made Simpsons classification outdated, it remains the closest thing to a classification of mammals
10.
Rodent
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Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all species are rodents, they are found in vast numbers on all continents except Antarctica. They are the most diversified mammalian order and live in a variety of terrestrial habitats, Species can be arboreal, fossorial, or semiaquatic. Well-known rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, hamsters, and capybaras. Other animals such as rabbits, hares, and pikas, whose incisors also grow continually, were included with them, but are now considered to be in a separate order. Nonetheless, Rodentia and Lagomorpha are sister groups, sharing a most recent common ancestor, most rodents are small animals with robust bodies, short limbs, and long tails. They use their incisors to gnaw food, excavate burrows. Most eat seeds or other plant material, but some have more varied diets and they tend to be social animals and many species live in societies with complex ways of communicating with each other. Mating among rodents can vary from monogamy, to polygyny, to promiscuity, many have litters of underdeveloped, altricial young, while others are precocial at birth. The rodent fossil record back to the Paleocene on the supercontinent of Laurasia. Rodents greatly diversified in the Eocene, as spread across continents. Rodents reached both South America and Madagascar from Africa, and were the only placental mammals to reach. Rodents have been used as food, for clothing, as pets, some species, in particular the brown rat, the black rat, and the house mouse, are serious pests, eating and spoiling food stored by humans, and spreading diseases. The distinguishing feature of the rodents is their pairs of continuously growing and these incisors have thick layers of enamel on the front and little enamel on the back. Because they do not stop growing, the animal must continue to wear them down so that they do not reach and pierce the skull. As the incisors grind against each other, the softer dentine on the rear of the teeth wears away, most species have up to 22 teeth with no canines or anterior premolars. A gap, or diastema, occurs between the incisors and the teeth in most species. This allows rodents to suck in their cheeks or lips to shield their mouth and throat from wood shavings and other inedible material, chinchillas and guinea pigs have a high-fiber diet, their molars have no roots and grow continuously like their incisors
11.
Muridae
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The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing over 700 species found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae comes from the Latin mus, meaning mouse, Murids are found nearly everywhere in the world, though many subfamilies have narrower ranges. Murids are not found in Antarctica or many Oceanic Islands, although none of them are native to the Americas, a few species, notably the house mouse and black rat have been introduced worldwide. Murids occupy a range of ecosystems from tropical forests to tundras. There are fossorial, arboreal, and semi-aquatic murid species, though most are terrestrial, the extensive list of niches filled by murids helps to explain their relative abundance. Most genera consume plant matter and small invertebrates, often storing seeds, Murids have sciurognathous jaws and a diastema is present. There are generally three molars and the nature of the molars varies by genera and feeding habits, some murids are highly social while others are solitary. It is common for females to produce several litters annually, in warm regions, breeding may occur year-round. This is often seen in a three to four-year cycle, the murids are small mammals, typically around 10 cm long excluding the tail, but ranging from 4.5 to 8 cm in the African pygmy mouse to 48 cm in Cumings slender-tailed cloud rat. They typically have slender bodies with a tail longer than the body, and pointed snouts with prominent whiskers. They are most commonly some shade of brown in colour, although many have black, grey, Murids generally have excellent senses of hearing and smell. They live in a range of habitats from forest to grassland. A number of species, especially the gerbils, are adapted to desert conditions and they consume a wide range of foods depending on the species, with the aid of powerful jaw muscles and gnawing incisors that grow throughout life. The dental formula of murids is 1.0.0. 1-31.0.0. 1-3, Murids breed frequently, often producing large litters several times per year. They typically give birth between 20 and 40 days after mating, although this varies greatly between species, the young are typically born blind, hairless, and helpless, although there are exceptions, such as in spiny mice. As with many small mammals, the evolution of the murids is not well known. They probably evolved from animals in tropical Asia some time in the early Miocene. They have become common worldwide during the Holocene, as a result of hitching a ride commensally with human migrations
12.
Rat
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Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. True rats are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, many members of other rodent genera and families are also referred to as rats, and share many characteristics with true rats. Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size, generally, when someone discovers a large muroid rodent, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is smaller, the name includes the term mouse. The muroid family is broad and complex, and the common terms rat, scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera, for example, the pack rat and cotton mouse. The best-known rat species are the black rat and the brown rat, the group is generally known as the Old World rats or true rats, and originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than most Old World mice, which are their relatives, the term rat is also used in the names of other small mammals which are not true rats. Examples include the North American pack rats, a number of species loosely called kangaroo rats, Rats such as the bandicoot rat are murine rodents related to true rats, but are not members of the genus Rattus. Male rats are called bucks, unmated females are called does, pregnant or parent females are called dams, a group of rats is referred to as a mischief. The common species are opportunistic survivors and often live with and near humans, therefore and they may cause substantial food losses, especially in developing countries. However, the distributed and problematic commensal species of rats are a minority in this diverse genus. Many species of rats are island endemics and some have become endangered due to loss or competition with the brown. Wild rodents, including rats, can carry many different zoonotic pathogens, such as Leptospira, Toxoplasma gondii, another zoonotic disease linked to the rat is the foot-and-mouth disease. The average lifespan of any given rat depends on species is being discussed. The black and brown rats diverged from other Old World rats during the beginning of the Pleistocene in the forests of Asia, specially bred rats have been kept as pets at least since the late 19th century. Pet rats are typically variants of the brown rat, but black rats. Pet rats behave differently from their wild counterparts depending on how many generations they have kept as pets. Pet rats do not pose any more of a risk than pets such as cats or dogs. Tamed rats are generally friendly and can be taught to perform selected behaviors, in 1895, Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts established a population of domestic albino brown rats to study the effects of diet and for other physiological studies
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Binomial nomenclature
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
14.
John Berkenhout
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John Berkenhout was an English physician, naturalist and miscellaneous writer. Berkenhout was the son of John Berkenhout Snr, a Dutch merchant who had settled in Yorkshire, and Anne Kitchingman. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and served in the Prussian and English armies before finishing his education at Edinburgh University and Leyden, while at Edinburgh he published Clavis Anglicae Linguae Botanicae. He published several works on history, including Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland and Synopsis of the Natural History of Great Britain. It was in works that Berkenhout, not Linnaeus as is often claimed, named the brown rat as the Norway Rat. He served as a British agent in the colonies during the American Revolution, Berkenhout was born about 1730 at Leeds and attended Leeds Grammar School. His father intended him for a career, and sent him to Germany to study languages. After spending some years in Germany he accompanied some English noblemen on a tour through Europe, on returning to Berlin he stayed with his fathers relative Baron de Bielfeld. Berkenhout became a cadet in a Prussian infantry regiment, where he was promoted to the rank of ensign, in 1756, at the start of the Seven Years War, he left the Prussian service, and received a commission in an English regiment. In 1760 he entered Edinburgh University as a medical student, from Edinburgh he went to the University of Leyden, where he took his degree of doctor of physic on 13 May 1765. On his return to England he settled at Isleworth in Middlesex, in 1778 Berkenhout was sent by the government with the Carlisle Peace Commission to America, quite covertly. The Continental Congress would not allow the Commission to go beyond New York and he knew Arthur Lee, and through him contacted Richard Henry Lee. Suspicion arose in September that he was corrupting leading citizens, and he was detained and questioned, there Timothy Matlack and Benjamin Rush visited him, and verbal fencing ensued. In the end Berkenhout was paroled, and rejoined the commissioners at New York on 19 September and he came back to England, and was rewarded with a pension for his services. Berkenhout died on 3 April 1791 at Besselsleigh near Oxford, while a student at Edinburgh Berkenhout published in 1762 a botanical lexicon, Clavis Anglica Linguæ Botanicæ Linnæi, second edition 1764, and third edition 1766. For his M. D. he wrote Dissertatio Medica inauguralis de Podagra, in 1766 he published Pharmacopoeia Medici. In 1769 appeared the first volume of Berkenhouts Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain, the volume followed in 1770. It was republished in 1773, and an edition in two volumes appeared in 1788 as A Synopsis of the Natural History of Great Britain
15.
Muroidea
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The Muroidea are a large superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, gerbils, and many other relatives. They occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except Antarctica, some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to difficulties in determining how the subfamilies are related to one another. The following taxonomy is based on recent well-supported molecular phylogenies, the muroids are classified in six families,19 subfamilies, around 280 genera, and at least 1300 species. The following phylogeny of more than 70 Muroidea genera, based on phylogenetic analysis of the Interphotoreceptor Retinoid Binding Protein gene, is from Jansa & Weksler. Although Platacanthomyidae was not analyzed by Jansa & Weksler, a study by Fabre et al.2012 suggests that it is the most basal lineage of Muroidea, Jansa, S. A. Giarla, T. C. The Phylogenetic Position of the Rodent Genus Typhlomys and the Geographic Origin of Muroidea, Jansa, S. A. Weksler, M. Phylogeny of muroid rodents, relationships within and among major lineages as determined by IRBP gene sequences. Michaux, J. Reyes, A. Catzeflis, F. Evolutionary history of the most speciose mammals, musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. Pp. 501–755 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Mammal Species of the World, A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, norris, R. W. Zhou, K. Zhou, C. The phylogenetic position of the zokors and comments on the families of muroids
16.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
17.
Continent
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A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in size to smallest, they are, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, in geology, areas of continental crust include regions covered with water. Islands are frequently grouped with a continent to divide all the worlds land into geopolitical regions. Under this scheme, most of the countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form a geopolitical region called Oceania. By convention, continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, many of the seven most commonly recognized continents identified by convention are not discrete landmasses separated completely by water. Earths major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean, the most restricted meaning of continent is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. From this perspective the edge of the shelf is the true edge of the continent. In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia, as a cultural construct, the concept of a continent may go beyond the continental shelf to include oceanic islands and continental fragments. In this way, Iceland is considered part of Europe and Madagascar part of Africa, extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australasian continental plate with other islands in the Pacific into one continent called Oceania. This divides the land surface of Earth into continents or quasi-continents. The ideal criterion that each continent be a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions, of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as more or less discrete masses of land, Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and North and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. In both cases, there is no separation of these landmasses by water. Both these isthmuses are very narrow compared to the bulk off the landmasses they unite, North America and South America are treated as separate continents in the seven-continent model. However, they may also be viewed as a continent known as America or the Americas. This viewpoint was common in the United States until World War II and this remains the more common vision in Latin American countries, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece, where they are taught as a single continent. The criterion of a landmass is completely disregarded if the continuous landmass of Eurasia is classified as two separate continents, Europe and Asia
18.
Antarctica
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It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, however, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north. For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer
19.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
20.
North America
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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
21.
Human
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Modern humans are the only extant members of Hominina tribe, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes. Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of Eurasia and they began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago. In several waves of migration, anatomically modern humans ventured out of Africa, the spread of humans and their large and increasing population has had a profound impact on large areas of the environment and millions of native species worldwide. Humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression and the exchange of ideas. Humans create complex structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals. These human societies subsequently expanded in size, establishing various forms of government, religion, today the global human population is estimated by the United Nations to be near 7.5 billion. In common usage, the word generally refers to the only extant species of the genus Homo—anatomically and behaviorally modern Homo sapiens. In scientific terms, the meanings of hominid and hominin have changed during the recent decades with advances in the discovery, there is also a distinction between anatomically modern humans and Archaic Homo sapiens, the earliest fossil members of the species. The English adjective human is a Middle English loanword from Old French humain, ultimately from Latin hūmānus, the words use as a noun dates to the 16th century. The native English term man can refer to the species generally, the species binomial Homo sapiens was coined by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th century work Systema Naturae. The generic name Homo is a learned 18th century derivation from Latin homō man, the species-name sapiens means wise or sapient. Note that the Latin word homo refers to humans of either gender, the genus Homo evolved and diverged from other hominins in Africa, after the human clade split from the chimpanzee lineage of the hominids branch of the primates. The closest living relatives of humans are chimpanzees and gorillas, with the sequencing of both the human and chimpanzee genome, current estimates of similarity between human and chimpanzee DNA sequences range between 95% and 99%. The gibbons and orangutans were the first groups to split from the leading to the humans. The splitting date between human and chimpanzee lineages is placed around 4–8 million years ago during the late Miocene epoch, during this split, chromosome 2 was formed from two other chromosomes, leaving humans with only 23 pairs of chromosomes, compared to 24 for the other apes. There is little evidence for the divergence of the gorilla, chimpanzee. Each of these species has been argued to be an ancestor of later hominins
22.
Laboratory rat
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A laboratory rat is a rat of the species Rattus norvegicus which is bred and kept for scientific research. While less commonly used for research than mice, rats have served as an important animal model for research in psychology, laboratory rats share origins with their cousins in domestication, the fancy rats. In 18th century Europe, wild Brown rats ran rampant and this fueled the industry of rat-catching. Rat-catchers would not only make money by trapping the rodents, but also by selling them for food, or more commonly, rat-baiting was a popular sport which involved filling a pit with rats and timing how long it took for a terrier to kill them all. Over time, breeding the rats for these contests may have produced variations in color, notably the albino, the first time one of these albino mutants was brought into a laboratory for a study was in 1828, in an experiment on fasting. Over the next 30 years rats were used for several more experiments, the rat found early use in laboratory research in five areas, W. S. Small suggested that the rate of learning could be measured by rats in a maze, watson for his Ph. D. dissertation in 1903. The reproductive function of rats was studied at Institute for Experimental Biology at University of California, Berkeley by Herbert McLean Evans, the genetics of rats was studied by William Ernest Castle at the Bussey Institute of Harvard University until it closed in 1994. And rats have long used in cancer research, for instance at Crocker Institute for Cancer Research. The historical importance of species to scientific research is reflected by the amount of literature on it. Laboratory rats are frequently subject to dissection or microdialysis to study effects on organs. Laboratory rats not sacrificed may be euthanized or, in some cases, scientists have bred many strains or lines of rats specifically for experimentation. Most are derived from the albino Wistar rat, which is widely used. Other common strains are the Sprague Dawley, Fischer 344, Holtzman albino strains, the Long-Evans, as a result, many have been forced to study questions in mice that might be better pursued in rats. In October 2003, however, researchers succeeded in cloning two laboratory rats by nuclear transfer, so rats may begin to see more use as genetic research subjects. Much of the genome of Rattus norvegicus has been sequenced, a 1972 study compared neoplasms in “Sprague-Dawley” rats from six different commercial suppliers and found highly significant differences in the incidences of endocrine and mammary tumors. There were even significant variations in the incidences of adrenal medulla tumors among rats from the same source raised in different laboratories, all but one of the testicular tumors occurred in the rats from a single supplier. The researchers found that the incidence of tumors in Sprague-Dawley rats from different commercial sources varied as much each other as from the other strains of rats
23.
Model organism
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Model organisms are in vivo models and are widely used to research human disease when human experimentation would be unfeasible or unethical. This strategy is made possible by the descent of all living organisms. Studying model organisms can be informative, but care must be taken when extrapolating from one organism to another, in researching human disease, model organisms allow for better understanding the disease process without the added risk of harming an actual human. The species chosen will usually meet a determined taxonomic equivalency to humans, although biological activity in a model organism does not ensure an effect in humans, many drugs, treatments and cures for human diseases are developed in part with the guidance of animal models. There are three types of disease models, homologous, isomorphic and predictive. Homologous animals have the same causes, symptoms and treatment options as would humans who have the same disease, isomorphic animals share the same symptoms and treatments. Predictive models are similar to a human disease in only a couple of aspects. The use of animals in research dates back to ancient Greece, with Aristotle, research using animal models has been central to most of the achievements of modern medicine. It has contributed most of the knowledge in fields such as human physiology and biochemistry. For example, the results have included the near-eradication of polio and the development of organ transplantation, from 1910 to 1927, Thomas Hunt Morgans work with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster identified chromosomes as the vector of inheritance for genes. Drosophila became one of the first, and for some time the most widely used, model organisms, D. melanogaster remains one of the most widely used eukaryotic model organisms. The mouse has since been used extensively as an organism and is associated with many important biological discoveries of the 20th. In the late 19th century, Emil von Behring isolated the diphtheria toxin and he went on to develop an antitoxin against diphtheria in animals and then in humans, which resulted in the modern methods of immunization and largely ended diphtheria as a threatening disease. The diphtheria antitoxin is famously commemorated in the Iditarod race, which is modeled after the delivery of antitoxin in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The success of animal studies in producing the diphtheria antitoxin has also attributed as a cause for the decline of the early 20th-century opposition to animal research in the United States. This led to the 1922 discovery of insulin and its use in treating diabetes, modern general anaesthetics, such as halothane and related compounds, were also developed through studies on model organisms, and are necessary for modern, complex surgical operations. In the 1940s, Jonas Salk used rhesus monkey studies to isolate the most virulent forms of the polio virus, the vaccine, which was made publicly available in 1955, reduced the incidence of polio 15-fold in the United States over the following five years. It has been estimated that developing and producing the vaccines required the use of 100,000 rhesus monkeys, models are those organisms with a wealth of biological data that make them attractive to study as examples for other species and/or natural phenomena that are more difficult to study directly
24.
Fancy rat
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The fancy rat is a domesticated brown rat, which is the most common type of pet rat. The name fancy rat derives from the idea of animal fancy or the phrase to fancy, Fancy rats have their origins as the targets for blood sport in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. Specially bred as pets since then, fancy rats now come in a variety of colors. Fancy rats are sold as pets in stores and by breeders. For example, domesticated brown rats are not considered a disease threat, Fancy rats experience different health risks from their wild counterparts, and thus are less likely to succumb to many of the same illnesses as wild rats. Fancy rats care for themselves, and are very affordable compared to even other small pets. This is one of the biggest draws to them, additionally, fancy rats are quite independent, loyal and easily trained, earning them comparison to both cats and dogs. This comparison is merited given fancy rats are considered more intelligent than any other domesticated rodent, the origin of the modern fancy rat begins with the rat-catchers of the 18th and 19th centuries who trapped rats throughout Europe. These rat-catchers would then kill the rats, or, more likely. Rat-baiting was a sport until the beginning of the 20th century. It involved filling a pit with rats and then placing bets on how long it would take a terrier to kill them all. It is believed that both rat-catchers and sportsmen began to keep certain, odd-colored rats during the height of the sport, eventually breeding them and then selling them as pets. The two men thought to have formed the basis of rat fancy are Jack Black, rat-catcher to Queen Victoria and these two men are responsible for beginning many of the color varieties present today. Black, specifically, was known for taming the prettier rats of unusual color, decorating them with ribbons and her black-and-white hooded rat won Best in Show and ignited interest in the area. After Douglas death in 1921, rat fancy soon began to back out of fashion. The hobby was revived in 1976 with the formation of the English National Fancy Rat Society, pet rats are now commonly available in stores and from breeders, and there exist several rat fancier groups worldwide. While domesticated rats are not removed enough from their counterparts to justify a distinct subspecies, there are significant differences that set them apart. Random color mutations may occur in the wild, but these are rare, most wild R. norvegicus are a dark brown color, while fancy rats may be anything from white to cinnamon to blue
25.
House of Hanover
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Upon Victorias death, the British throne passed to her eldest son Edward VII, a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha through his father. The House of Hanover was formally named the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Hanover line, the senior branch became extinct in 1884, and the House of Hanover is now the only surviving branch of the House of Welf, which is the senior branch of the House of Este. The current head of the House of Hanover is Ernst August, George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, is considered the first member of the House of Hanover. When the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg was divided in 1635, George inherited the Principality of Calenberg and his son, Christian Louis inherited the Principality of Lüneburg from Georges brother. Calenberg and Lüneburg were then shared between Georges sons until united in 1705 under his grandson, also called George, who subsequently became George I of Great Britain, all held the title Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. George died in 1641 and was succeeded by, Christian Louis, 1st son of Duke George, Prince of Calenberg and he relinquished Calenburg when he became Prince of Lüneburg. George William, 2nd son of Duke George, Prince of Calenberg and he relinquished Calenburg when he became Prince of Lüneburg on the death of his brother, Christian Louis. John Frederick, 3rd son of Duke George, Prince of Calenberg, Ernest Augustus, 4th son of Duke George, Prince of Calenberg. He became Prince of Calenberg on the death of his brother John Frederick and he was elevated to prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. Ernest Augustuss wife, Sophia of the Palatinate, was declared heiress of the throne of England by the Act of Settlement of 1701, Sophia was at that time the senior eligible Protestant descendant of James I of England. George Louis, son of Duke Ernest Augustus and Sophia, became Elector and Prince of Calenberg in 1698 and he inherited his mothers claim to the throne of Great Britain when she died in 1714. George Louis became the first British monarch of the House of Hanover as George I in 1714, George I, George II, and George III also served as electors and dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, informally, Electors of Hanover. From 1814, when Hanover became a kingdom, the British monarch was also King of Hanover, in 1837, however, the personal union of the thrones of the United Kingdom and Hanover ended. After the death of William IV in 1837, the kings of Hanover continued the dynasty. The 1866 rift between the House of Hanover and the House of Hohenzollern was settled only by the 1913 marriage of Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick. At the end of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia awarded the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück alternately to a Catholic bishop, since the treaty gave cadets priority over heirs and reigning princes, Osnabrück became a form of appanage of the House of Hanover. In 1884, the branch of the House of Welf became extinct. By a law of 1879, the Duchy of Brunswick established a council of regency to take over at the Dukes death
26.
Binomial name
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
27.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
28.
William the Conqueror
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William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward, after a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by Roberts mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, during his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047 William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy and his marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointments of his supporters as bishops and his consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and by 1062 William was able to secure control of the neighbouring county of Maine. In the 1050s and early 1060s William became a contender for the throne of England, then held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. There were other claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson. William argued that Edward had previously promised the throne to him, William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. After further military efforts William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066 and he made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 Williams hold on England was mostly secure, Williams final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his eldest son, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1086 William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a listing all the landholders in England along with their holdings. William died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France and his reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, the settling of a new Norman nobility on the land, and change in the composition of the English clergy. He did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire, Williams lands were divided after his death, Normandy went to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and his second surviving son, William Rufus, received England. Norsemen first began raiding in what became Normandy in the late 8th century, permanent Scandinavian settlement occurred before 911, when Rollo, one of the Viking leaders, and King Charles the Simple of France reached an agreement surrendering the county of Rouen to Rollo. The lands around Rouen became the core of the duchy of Normandy. Normandy may have used as a base when Scandinavian attacks on England were renewed at the end of the 10th century. In an effort to improve matters, King Æthelred the Unready took Emma of Normandy, sister of Duke Richard II, as his second wife in 1002
29.
Charles Dickens
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Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the worlds best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era and his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity, born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors prison. Dickenss literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the publication of narrative fiction. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audiences reaction, and he modified his plot. For example, when his wifes chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities and his plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the poor chipped in hapennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age and his 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also adapted, and, like many of his novels. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London, Dickens has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of depth, loose writing. The term Dickensian is used to something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport in Portsea Island and his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. He asked Christopher Huffam, rigger to His Majestys Navy, gentleman, Huffam is thought to be the inspiration for Paul Dombey, the owner of a shipping company in Dickenss eponymous Dombey and Son. In January 1815 John Dickens was called back to London, when Charles was four, they relocated to Sheerness, and thence to Chatham, Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early life seems to have been idyllic, though he himself a very small. Charles spent time outdoors but also read voraciously, including the novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding, as well as Robinson Crusoe
30.
Lemming
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A lemming is a small rodent usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. They make up the subfamily Arvicolinae together with voles and muskrats, which part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats, mice, hamsters. Lemmings weigh from 30 to 110 g and are about 7 to 15 cm long and they generally have long, soft fur, and very short tails. They are herbivorous, feeding mostly on leaves and shoots, grasses, and sedges in particular, at times, they will eat grubs and larvae. Like other rodents, their incisors grow continuously, allowing them to exist on much tougher forage than would otherwise be possible, Lemmings do not hibernate through the harsh northern winter. They remain active, finding food by burrowing through the snow and they are solitary animals by nature, meeting only to mate and then going their separate ways, but like all rodents, they have a high reproductive rate and can breed rapidly when food is plentiful. It is not known why lemming populations fluctuate with such great variance roughly every four years, Lemming behavior and appearance are markedly different from those of other rodents, which are inconspicuously colored and try to conceal themselves from their predators. Lemmings, by contrast, are colored and behave aggressively towards predators. The lemming defense system is thought to be based on aposematism, misconceptions about lemmings go back many centuries. In the 1530s, geographer Zeigler of Strasbourg proposed the theory that the creatures fell out of the sky during stormy weather, Lemmings have become the subject of a widely popular misconception that they commit mass suicide when they migrate by jumping off cliffs. It is in not a mass suicide but the result of their migratory behavior. Driven by strong biological urges, some species of lemmings may migrate in groups when population density becomes too great. They can swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat, in such cases, many may drown if the body of water is so wide as to stretch their physical capabilities to the limit. This fact and the fluctuations in the population of Norwegian lemmings gave rise to the misconception. The misconception of lemming mass suicide is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors and it was well enough known to be mentioned in The Marching Morons, a 1951 short story by Cyril M. Kornbluth. In 1955, Disney Studio illustrator Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title The Lemming with the Locket and this comic, which was inspired by a 1953 American Mercury article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs. Lemmings also appear in Arthur C, clarkes 1953 short story The Possessed, where their suicidal urges are attributed to the lingering consciousness of an alien group mind which had inhabited the species in the prehistoric past. In a 2010 board game by GMT games, Leaping Lemmings, players must maneuver lemmings across a board while avoiding hazards, the 1994 short film Lemming Aid portrayed a group of misfits attempting to save lemmings from mass suicide
31.
Alfred Henry Miles
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He was Guardian of the Poor for six years and a member of the London Borough of Lewisham from 1904-06. He was editor of The Fifty-two Library, a series of adventure stories published by Hutchinson & Co. He compiled some fifty volumes that appeared at five shillings apiece, then heres to the pride of the ocean. Heres to the pearl of the sea, heres to the land of the heart and the hand That fight for the right of the free. Heres to the spirit of duty, Bearing her banners along-- Peacefully furled in the van of the world Or waving and braving the wrong, new York Times Rochester Library Works by Alfred Henry Miles at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Alfred Henry Miles at Internet Archive
32.
Black rat
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The black rat, also known as the ship rat, roof rat, house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae. The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and they are serious pests to farmers as they eat a wide range of agricultural crops. The black rat was one of the species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae. It is the species of the genus Rattus. A typical adult black rat is 12.75 to 18.25 cm long, not including a 15 to 22 cm tail, despite its name, the black rat exhibits several colour forms. It is usually black to brown in colour with a lighter underside. In England during the 1920s, several variations were bred and shown alongside domesticated brown rats and this included an unusual green tinted variety. The black rat also has a coat of black fur. Rattus rattus bone remains that date back to the Norman Period have been discovered in Britain, evidence also suggests that R. rattus existed in prehistoric Europe as well as the Levant during post-glacial periods. The specific origin of the rat is uncertain due to the rats disappearance. Evidence such as DNA and bone fragments suggests that the rats did not originally come from Europe. Rats are resilient vectors for many diseases because of their ability to hold so many infectious bacteria in their blood, Rats played a primary role in spreading bacteria, such as Yersinia pestis, which is responsible for the Justinianic plague and bubonic plague. A recent study indicates that other Asiatic rodents served as reservoirs, from which infections spread as far west as Europe via trade routes. The modern black rat was probably spread across Europe in the wake of the Roman conquest and arose from an ancestor that originated in southeast Asia, the Mediterranean black rats differ genetically from their southeast Asian ancestors by having 38 instead of 42 chromosomes. Therefore, it seems that speciation could have occurred when the rats colonized southwest India, because Rattus rattus is a passive traveler, they could have easily traveled to Europe during the trading between Rome and southwestern Asian countries. Evidence also suggests that, in 321–331 BC, Egyptian birds were preying on Mediterranean rats, Black rats are considered omnivores and eat a wide range of foods, including seeds, fruit, stems, leaves, fungi, and a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates. They are generalists, and thus not very specific in their preferences, which is indicated by their tendency to feed on any meal provided for cows, swine, chickens, cats. They are similar to the squirrel in their preference of fruits and nuts
33.
Fur
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Fur is used in reference to the hair of non-human mammals, particularly those with extensive body hair coverage that is generally soft and thick, as opposed to the stiffer bristles on most pigs. The term pelage – first known use in English c.1828 – is sometimes used to refer to the hair of an animal as a complete coat. Fur is also used to refer to animal pelts which have been processed into leather with the still attached. The words fur or furry are also used, more casually, to refer to hair-like growths or formations, particularly when the subject being referred to exhibits a dense coat of fine, soft hairs. If layered, rather than grown as a coat, it may consist of short down hairs, long guard hairs. Mammals with reduced amounts of fur are called naked, as with the naked mole-rat, or hairless. An animal with commercially valuable fur is known within the fur industry as a furbearer and its principal function is thermoregulation, it maintains a layer of dry air next to the skin and repels water, thus providing thermal insulation. Guard hair — the top consisting of longer, generally coarser. The distal ends of the guard hairs provide the externally visible layer of the coat of most mammals with well-developed fur and this layer of the coat displays the most marked pigmentation and gloss, including coat patterns adapted to display or camouflage. It is also adapted to shedding water and blocking sunlight, protecting the undercoat and skin from external factors such as rain, many animals, such as domestic cats, erect their guard hairs as part of their threat display when agitated. Mammals with well-developed down and guard hairs also usually have numbers of awn hairs. These begin their growth much as guard hairs do, but change their mode of growth and this portion of the hair is called awn. The rest of the growth is thin and wavy, much like down hair, in many species of mammals, the awn hairs comprise the bulk of the visible coat. Hair is one of the characteristics of mammals, however. These are often called naked or hairless, some mammals naturally have reduced amounts of fur. Some semiaquatic or aquatic mammals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds and hippopotamuses have evolved hairlessness, the naked mole-rat has evolved hairlessness, perhaps as an adaptation to their subterranean life-style. Two of the largest extant mammals, the elephant and the rhinoceros, are largely hairless. The hairless bat is mostly hairless but does have short bristly hairs around its neck, on its front toes, most hairless animals cannot go in the sun for long periods of time, or stay in the cold for too long
34.
House mouse
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The house mouse is a small mammal of the order Rodentia, characteristically having a pointed snout, small rounded ears, and a long naked or almost hairless tail. It is one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus, although a wild animal, the house mouse mainly lives in association with humans. The house mouse has been domesticated as the pet or fancy mouse, and as the laboratory mouse, the complete mouse reference genome was sequenced in 2002. Laboratory mice derived from the mouse are by far the most common mammalian species used in genetically engineered models for scientific research. House mice have an body length of 7. 5–10 cm. The weight is typically 40–45 g, in the wild they vary in colour from light to dark agouti, but domesticated fancy mice and laboratory mice are produced in many colors ranging from white to champagne to black. They have short hair and some, but not all, sub-species have a light belly, the ears and tail have little hair. The hind feet are short compared to Apodemus mice, only 15–19 mm long, the voice is a high-pitched squeak. House mice thrive under a variety of conditions, they are found in and around homes and commercial structures, as well as in open fields, newborn males and females can be distinguished on close examination as the anogenital distance in males is about double that of the female. From the age of about 10 days, females have five pairs of mammary glands, when sexually mature, the most striking and obvious difference is the presence of testicles on the males. These are large compared to the rest of the body and can be retracted into the body, tail length varies according to the environmental temperature of the mouse during postnatal development, so mice living in colder regions tend to have shorter tails. In addition to the regular pea-sized thymus organ in the chest, mice are mammals of the Glires clade, which means they are amongst the closest relatives of humans other than lagomorphs, treeshrews, flying lemurs and other primates. Some populations are hybrids of different subspecies, including the Japanese house mouse, mice are good jumpers, climbers, and swimmers, and are generally considered to be thigmotactic, i. e. usually attempts to maintain contact with vertical surfaces. Mice are mostly crepuscular or nocturnal, they are averse to bright lights, the average sleep time of a captive house mouse is reported to be 12.5 hours per day. They live in a variety of hidden places near food sources. Mice are territorial, and one dominant male usually lives together with several females, dominant males respect each others territories and normally enter anothers territory only if it is vacant. If two or more males are housed together in a cage, they become aggressive unless they have been raised together from birth. House mice primarily feed on plant matter, but are omnivorous and they eat their own faeces to acquire nutrients produced by bacteria in their intestines
35.
Coypu
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The coypu, also known as the river rat or nutria, is a large, omnivorous, semiaquatic rodent and the only member of the family Myocastoridae. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia, although it is still valued for its fur in some regions, its destructive feeding and burrowing behaviors make this invasive species a pest throughout most of its range. Coypus live in burrows alongside stretches of water and they feed on river plant stems. Two names are used in English for Myocastor coypus. The name nutria is generally used in North America, Asia, and throughout countries of the former Soviet Union, however, in Spanish-speaking countries, to avoid this ambiguity, the name coypu is used in Latin America and Europe. In France, the coypu is known as a ragondin, in Dutch, it is known as beverrat. In German, it is known as Nutria, Biberratte or Sumpfbiber, in Italy, instead, the popular name is, as in North America and Asia, nutria, but it is also called castorino, by which its fur is known in Italy. In Swedish, the animal is known as sumpbäver, in Brazil, the animal is known as ratão-do-banhado, nútria, or caxingui. The coypu was first described by Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782 as Mus coypus, the genus Myocastor, assigned in 1792 by Robert Kerr, is derived from the Greek mys and kastor, or mouse-beaver. Geoffroy, independently of Kerr, named the species Myopotamus coypus, the coypu somewhat resembles a very large rat, or a beaver with a small tail. Adults are typically 4–9 kg in weight, and 40–60 cm in length, with a 30- to 45-cm tail. It is possible for coypu to weigh up to 16 to 17 kg and they have coarse, darkish brown outer fur with soft dense grey under fur, also called the nutria. Three distinguishing features are a white patch on the muzzle, webbed hind feet, the nipples of female coypu are high on her flanks, to allow their young to feed while the female is in the water. A coypu is often mistaken for a muskrat, another widely dispersed, the muskrat, however, is smaller and more tolerant of cold climates, and has a laterally flattened tail it uses to assist in swimming, whereas the tail of a coypu is round. It can also be mistaken for a beaver, as beavers. However, beavers tails are flat and paddle-like, as opposed to the tails of coypus. Male coypus reach sexual maturity as early as four months, once a female is pregnant, gestation lasts 130 days, and she may give birth to as few as one or as many as 13 offspring. Baby coypus are precocial, born fully furred and with open eyes, a female coypu can become pregnant again the day after she gives birth to her young
36.
Muskrat
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The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food, the muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as rats in a sense because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle. They are not, however, members of the genus Rattus, the muskrats name probably comes from a word of Algonquian origin, muscascus, or from the Abenaki native word mòskwas, as seen in the archaic English name for the animal, musquash. Similarly, its specific name zibethicus means ‘musky’, being the adjective of zibethus ‘civet musk, the genus name comes from the Huron word for the animal, ondathra, and entered New Latin as Ondatra via French. An adult muskrat is about 40–70 cm long, half of that is the tail, Muskrats are much smaller than beavers, with which they often share their habitat. Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur which is medium to dark brown or black in color, with the belly a bit lighter, as the age increases, the fur has two layers, which helps protect them from the cold water. They have long tails covered with rather than hair, and to aid them in swimming, are slightly flattened vertically. When they walk on land, their tails drag on the ground, Muskrats spend much of their time in the water and are well suited for their semiaquatic life. They can swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes and their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can close off their ears to keep the water out and their hind feet are semiwebbed, although in swimming, their tails are their main means of propulsion. Muskrats are found over most of Canada and the United States and they were introduced to Europe in the beginning of the 20th century and have become an invasive species in northwestern Europe. They mostly inhabit wetlands, areas in or near saline and freshwater wetlands, rivers, lakes and they are not found in Florida, where the round-tailed muskrat, or Florida water rat, fills their niche. Their populations naturally cycle, in areas where they become abundant and they are thought to play a major role in determining the vegetation of prairie wetlands in particular. They also selectively remove preferred plant species, thereby changing the abundance of plant species in many kinds of wetlands, species commonly eaten include cattail and yellow water lily. Alligators are thought to be an important natural predator, and the absence of muskrats from Florida may in part be the result of alligator predation and they are able to live alongside streams which contain the sulfurous water that drains away from coal mines. Fish and frogs perish in such streams, yet muskrats may thrive, Muskrats also benefit from human persecution of some of their predators. The muskrat is classed as a new organism under New Zealands Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996
37.
Hearing
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Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations, changes in the pressure of the surrounding medium through time, through an organ such as the ear. Sound may be heard through solid, liquid, or gaseous matter and it is one of the traditional five senses, partial or total inability to hear is called hearing loss. Like touch, audition requires sensitivity to the movement of molecules in the world outside the organism, both hearing and touch are types of mechanosensation. There are three components of the human ear, the outer ear, the middle ear. The outer ear includes the pinna, the part of the ear, as well as the ear canal which terminates at the eardrum. The pinna serves to focus sound waves through the ear canal toward the eardrum, because of the asymmetrical character of the outer ear of most mammals, sound is filtered differently on its way into the ear depending on what vertical location it is coming from. This gives these animals the ability to localize sound vertically, the eardrum is an airtight membrane, and when sound waves arrive there, they cause it to vibrate following the waveform of the sound. The middle ear consists of a small air-filled chamber that is located medial to the eardrum, within this chamber are the three smallest bones in the body, known collectively as the ossicles which include the malleus, incus and stapes. They aid in the transmission of the vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear, the purpose of the middle ear ossicles is to overcome the impedance mismatch between air and water, by providing impedance matching. Also located in the ear are the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles which protect the hearing mechanism through a stiffening reflex. The stapes transmits sound waves to the ear through the oval window. The round window, another flexible membrane, allows for the displacement of the inner ear fluid caused by the entering sound waves. The inner ear consists of the cochlea, which is a spiral-shaped, fluid-filled tube and it is divided lengthwise by the organ of Corti, which is the main organ of mechanical to neural transduction. Inside the organ of Corti is the membrane, a structure that vibrates when waves from the middle ear propagate through the cochlear fluid – endolymph. The basilar membrane is tonotopic, so that frequency has a characteristic place of resonance along it. Characteristic frequencies are high at the entrance to the cochlea. Basilar membrane motion causes depolarization of the cells, specialized auditory receptors located within the organ of Corti. While the hair cells do not produce action potentials themselves, they release neurotransmitter at synapses with the fibers of the auditory nerve, which does produce action potentials
38.
Ultrasound
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Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is no different from normal sound in its physical properties and this limit varies from person to person and is approximately 20 kilohertz in healthy, young adults. Ultrasound devices operate with frequencies from 20 kHz up to several gigahertz, Ultrasound is used in many different fields. Ultrasonic devices are used to detect objects and measure distances, Ultrasound imaging or sonography is often used in medicine. In the nondestructive testing of products and structures, ultrasound is used to detect invisible flaws, industrially, ultrasound is used for cleaning, mixing, and to accelerate chemical processes. Animals such as bats and porpoises use ultrasound for locating prey, scientist are also studying ultrasound using graphene diaphragms as a method of communication. Acoustics, the science of sound, starts as far back as Pythagoras in the 6th century BC, echolocation in bats was discovered by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1794, when he demonstrated that bats hunted and navigated by inaudible sound and not vision. The first technological application of ultrasound was an attempt to detect submarines by Paul Langevin in 1917, the piezoelectric effect, discovered by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880, was useful in transducers to generate and detect ultrasonic waves in air and water. Ultrasound is defined by the American National Standards Institute as sound at frequencies greater than 20 kHz, in air at atmospheric pressure ultrasonic waves have wavelengths of 1.9 cm or less. The upper frequency limit in humans is due to limitations of the middle ear, auditory sensation can occur if high‐intensity ultrasound is fed directly into the human skull and reaches the cochlea through bone conduction, without passing through the middle ear. Children can hear some high-pitched sounds that older adults cannot hear, the Mosquito is an electronic device that uses a high pitched frequency to deter loitering by young people. Bats use a variety of ultrasonic ranging techniques to detect their prey and they can detect frequencies beyond 100 kHz, possibly up to 200 kHz. Many insects have good hearing and most of these are nocturnal insects listening for echolocating bats. This includes many groups of moths, beetles, praying mantids, upon hearing a bat, some insects will make evasive manoeuvres to escape being caught. Ultrasonic frequencies trigger an action in the noctuid moth that cause it to drop slightly in its flight to evade attack. Tiger moths also emit clicks which may disturb bats echolocation, dogs and cats hearing range extends into the ultrasound, the top end of a dogs hearing range is about 45 kHz, while a cats is 64 kHz. The wild ancestors of cats and dogs evolved this higher hearing range to hear sounds made by their preferred prey. A dog whistle is a whistle that emits ultrasound, used for training and calling dogs, porpoises have the highest known upper hearing limit, at around 160 kHz
39.
Olfactory sense
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Olfaction, also known as olfactics, is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized cells, called olfactory receptors. In humans, olfaction – the detection of smells – occurs when odorant molecules bind to sites on these receptors. These receptors come together at the glomerulus, a structure that transmits signals to the olfactory bulb, many vertebrates, including most mammals and reptiles, have two distinct olfactory systems—the main olfactory system, and the accessory olfactory system. For air-breathing animals, the olfactory system detects volatile chemicals. Olfaction, along with taste, is a form of chemoreception, the chemicals that activate the olfactory system, generally at very low concentrations, are called odorants. Although taste and smell are separate sensory systems in land animals, volatile small molecule odorants, non-volatile proteins, and non-volatile hydrocarbons may all produce olfactory sensations. Some animal species are able to smell carbon dioxide in minute concentrations, in vertebrates, smells are sensed by olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium. The olfactory epithelium is made up of at least six morphologically and biochemically different cell types, the proportion of olfactory epithelium compared to respiratory epithelium gives an indication of the animals olfactory sensitivity. Humans have about 10 cm2 of olfactory epithelium, whereas some dogs have 170 cm2, a dogs olfactory epithelium is also considerably more densely innervated, with a hundred times more receptors per square centimeter. This may occur by diffusion or by the binding of the odorant to odorant-binding proteins, the mucus overlying the epithelium contains mucopolysaccharides, salts, enzymes, and antibodies. This mucus acts as a solvent for odor molecules, flows constantly, in insects, smells are sensed by olfactory sensory neurons in the chemosensory sensilla, which are present in insect antenna, palps, and tarsa, but also on other parts of the insect body. Odorants penetrate into the pores of chemosensory sensilla and get in contact with insect odorant-binding proteins or Chemosensory proteins. The binding of the ligand to the leads to an action potential in the receptor neuron, via a second messenger pathway. In mammals, the odorants stimulate adenylate cyclase to synthesize cAMP via a G protein called Golf, CAMP, which is the second messenger here, opens a cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel, producing an influx of cations into the cell, slightly depolarising it. The Ca2+ in turn opens a Ca2+-activated chloride channel, leading to efflux of Cl−, further depolarizing the cell, Ca2+ is then extruded through a sodium-calcium exchanger. A calcium-calmodulin complex also acts to inhibit the binding of cAMP to the cAMP-dependent channel and this mechanism of transduction is somewhat unusual, in that cAMP works by directly binding to the ion channel rather than through activation of protein kinase A. There are also similarities in the immediate processing of stimuli by lateral inhibition
40.
Heart rate
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Heart rate is the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions of the heart per minute. The heart rate can vary according to the physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen. It is usually equal or close to the pulse measured at any peripheral point, activities that can provoke change include physical exercise, sleep, anxiety, stress, illness, and ingestion of drugs. Many texts cite the normal resting adult heart rate range from 60–100 bpm. Tachycardia is a fast heart rate, defined as above 100 bpm at rest, bradycardia is a slow heart rate, defined as below 60 bpm at rest. Several studies, as well as expert consensus indicates that the normal resting heart rate is probably closer to a range between 50–90 bpm. During sleep a slow heartbeat with rates around 40–50 bpm is common and is considered normal, when the heart is not beating in a regular pattern, this is referred to as an arrhythmia. Abnormalities of heart rate sometimes indicate disease, while heart rhythm is regulated entirely by the sinoatrial node under normal conditions, heart rate is regulated by sympathetic and parasympathetic input to the sinoatrial node. Therefore, stimulation of the accelerans nerve increases heart rate, while stimulation of the nerve decreases it. Due to individuals having a constant blood volume, one of the ways to deliver more oxygen to an organ is to increase heart rate to permit blood to pass by the organ more often. Normal resting heart rates range from 60–100 bpm, bradycardia is defined as a resting heart rate below 60 bpm. However, heart rates from 50 to 60 bpm are common among healthy people, tachycardia is defined as a resting heart rate above 100 bpm, though persistent rest rates between 80–100 bpm, mainly if they are present during sleep, may be signs of hyperthyroidism or anemia. Central nervous system such as substituted amphetamines increase heart rate. Central nervous system depressants or sedatives decrease the heart rate, there are many ways in which the heart rate speeds up or slows down. Most involve stimulant-like endorphins and hormones being released in the brain, many of which are those that are forced/enticed out by the ingestion and this section discusses target heart rates for healthy persons and are inappropriately high for most persons with coronary artery disease. The heart rate is generated by the sinoatrial node. It is also influenced by central factors through sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves, nervous influence over the heartrate is centralized within the two paired cardiovascular centres of the medulla oblongata. During rest, both centers provide slight stimulation to the heart, contributing to autonomic tone and this is a similar concept to tone in skeletal muscles
41.
Visual acuity
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Visual acuity commonly refers to the clarity of vision. A common cause of low visual acuity is refractive error, or errors in how the light is refracted in the eyeball, causes of refractive errors include aberrations in the shape of the eyeball, the shape of the cornea, and reduced flexibility of the lens. Too high or too low refractive error is the cause of nearsightedness or farsightedness, other optical causes are astigmatism or more complex corneal irregularities. These anomalies can mostly be corrected by optical means, neural factors that limit acuity are located in the retina or the brain. Examples for the first are a detached retina and macular degeneration, another common impairment, amblyopia, is caused by the visual brain not having developed properly in early childhood. In some cases, low visual acuity is caused by brain damage, when optical factors are corrected for, acuity can be considered a measure of neural well-functioning. Visual acuity is measured while fixating, i. e. as a measure of central vision. However, acuity in vision can be of equal importance in everyday life. Acuity declines towards the periphery in an inverse-linear fashion, visual acuity is a measure of the spatial resolution of the visual processing system. Optotypes are represented as black symbols against a white background, the distance between the persons eyes and the testing chart is set so as to approximate optical infinity in the way the lens attempts to focus, or at a defined reading distance.75 mm apart. Vision of 6/12 corresponds to lower, vision of 6/3 to better performance, normal individuals have an acuity of 6/4 or better. Thus, 6/12 means that a person with 6/6 vision would discern the same optotype from 12 meters away and this is equivalent to saying that with 6/12 vision, the person possesses half the spatial resolution and needs twice the size to discern the optotype. A simple and efficient way to state acuity is by solving the fraction to a decimal number, 6/6 then corresponds to an acuity of 1.0. 6/3 corresponds to 2.0, which is attained by well-corrected healthy young subjects with binocular vision. Stating acuity as a number is the standard in European countries. The precise distance at which acuity is measured is not important as long as it is far away. That size is specified as an angle, which is the angle, at the eye. For 6/6 =1.0 acuity, the size of a letter on the Snellen chart or Landolt C chart is an angle of 5 arc minutes
42.
Morphine
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Morphine is a pain medication of the opiate type which is found naturally in a number of plants and animals. It acts directly on the nervous system to decrease the feeling of pain. It can be taken for both pain and chronic pain. Morphine is frequently used for pain from myocardial infarction and during labour and it can be given by mouth, by injection into a muscle, by injecting under the skin, intravenously, into the space around the spinal cord, or rectally. Maximum effect is around 20 min when given intravenously and 60 min when given by mouth while duration of effect is three and seven hours. Potentially serious side effects include a decreased respiratory effort and low blood pressure, morphine has a high potential for addiction and abuse. If the dose is reduced after long-term use, withdrawal may occur, common side effects include drowsiness, vomiting, and constipation. Caution is advised when used during pregnancy or breast feeding, as morphine will affect the baby, morphine was first isolated between 1803 and 1805 by Friedrich Sertürner. This is generally believed to be the first isolation of an ingredient from a plant. Merck began marketing it commercially in 1827, morphine was more widely used after the invention of the hypodermic syringe in 1853–1855. Sertürner originally named the substance morphium after the Greek god of dreams, the primary source of morphine is isolation from poppy straw of the opium poppy. In 2013, an estimated 523,000 kilograms of morphine were produced, about 45,000 kilograms were used directly for pain, an increase over the last twenty years of four times. Most use for this purpose was in the developed world, about 70% of morphine is used to make other opioids such as hydromorphone, oxycodone and heroin. It is a Schedule II drug in the United States, Class A in the United Kingdom and it is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. Morphine is sold under trade names. Morphine is used primarily to treat both acute and chronic severe pain and it is also used for pain due to myocardial infarction and for labor pains. Its duration of analgesia is about three to seven hours, however, concerns exist that morphine may increase mortality in the setting of non ST elevation myocardial infarction. Morphine has also traditionally used in the treatment of acute pulmonary edema
43.
Laughter
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Laughter is a physical reaction in humans and some other species of primate, consisting typically of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to external or internal stimuli. Laughter can arise from activities as being tickled, or from humorous stories or thoughts. Most commonly, it is considered an expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, relief. On some occasions, however, it may be caused by emotional states such as embarrassment, apology. Age, gender, education, language, and culture are all factors as to whether a person will experience laughter in a given situation. Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain, helping humans clarify their intentions in social interaction, Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group—it signals acceptance and positive interactions with others. Laughter is sometimes seen as contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback and this may account in part for the popularity of laugh tracks in situation comedy television shows. The study of humor and laughter, and its psychological and physiological effects on the body, is called gelotology. Laughter might be thought of as an expression or appearance of excitement. It may ensue from jokes, tickling, and other completely unrelated to psychological state. Laughter researcher Robert Provine said, Laughter is a mechanism everyone has, there are thousands of languages, hundreds of thousands of dialects, but everyone speaks laughter in pretty much the same way. Babies have the ability to laugh before they ever speak, children who are born blind and deaf still retain the ability to laugh. Provine argues that Laughter is primitive, an unconscious vocalization, Provine argues that it probably is genetic. They reported this even though both had been brought together by their adoptive parents, who they indicated were undemonstrative and dour. He indicates that the twins inherited some aspects of their sound and pattern, readiness to laugh. Norman Cousins developed a program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope. I made the discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect
44.
Bat detector
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There are other types of detector which record bat calls so that they can be analysed afterwards, but these are more commonly referred to by their particular function. Bats emit calls from about 12 kHz to 160 kHz, many bat detectors are limited to around 15 kHz to 125 kHz at best. Bat detectors are available commercially and also can be self-built, Bat detectors are used to detect the presence of bats and also help form conclusions about their species. Some bat calls are distinct and easy to recognise such as the Horseshoe bats, while bats can vary their calls as they fly and hunt, the ear can be trained to recognise species according to the frequency ranges and repetition rates of the echolocation calls. Bats also emit social calls at ultrasound frequencies, a major limitation of acoustic bat detectors is their range, which is limited by the absorption of ultrasound in air. At mid range frequencies around 50 kHz, the range is only about 25 to 30 metres in average atmospheric conditions when bats fly. Some bat calls have components around 20 kHz or even lower, however, only the lower frequency components will be detected at a distance. The usable range of bat detectors decreases with humidity and in misty conditions the maximum range can be very low and it is important to recognise three types of bat echolocation call, frequency modulation, constant frequency, and composite calls with both FM and CF components. The following illustrates a bat making an FM type call followed by a bat which uses a CF type call, The FM call is heard as rapid dry clicks and these vary in frequency due to the Doppler effect as the bat flies past. A heterodyne bat detector exaggerates the Doppler effect, as the bat making the CF calls flies toward the detector, the pitch falls. Several species of bat use a composite FM and CF call starting with a rapid falling FM call which slows to become a CF call at the end and this makes the call sound different on a bat detector, This gives a much wetter sound that the pure FM call. Pipistrelles generally use the hockey stick call for general echolocation, the end frequencies for the Common Pipistrelle and the Soprano Pipistrelle are around 45 kHz and 55 kHz respectively, but these frequencies can vary widely. There are three types of real time audio bat detector in common use, the heterodyne, frequency division, some bat detectors combine two or all three types. Heterodyne detectors are the most commonly used, and most self-build detectors are of this type, a heterodyne function is often also built into the other types of detector. A heterodyne bat detector simply shifts all the ultrasound frequencies downwards by an amount so we can hear them. A heterodyne is a beat frequency such as can be heard when two close musical notes are sounded together, a heterodyne bat detector combines the bat call with a constant internal frequency so that sum and difference frequencies are generated. For instance a bat call at 45 kHz and a frequency of 43 kHz produces output frequencies of 2 kHz and 88 kHz. The 88 kHz frequency is inaudible and is filtered out and the 2 kHz frequency is fed to a loudspeaker or headphones, the internal frequency is displayed on a dial or on a display
45.
Scrambled eggs
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Scrambled eggs is a dish made from whites and yolks of eggs stirred or beaten together in a pan while being gently heated, typically with salt and butter and variable other ingredients. The mixture can be poured into a hot pan containing melted butter or oil, the heat is turned down and the eggs are stirred as they cook. This creates small, soft curds of egg, unlike pancake or omelette scrambled egg is virtually never browned. A thin pan is preferable to prevent browning, with continuous stirring, and not allowing the eggs to stick to the pan, the eggs themselves will maintain the pan temperature at about the boiling point of water, until they coagulate. A thick pan will not allow the eggs to regulate the pan temperature, once the liquid has mostly set, additional ingredients such as ham, herbs, cheese or cream may be folded in over low heat, just until incorporated. The eggs are usually slightly undercooked when removed from heat, since the eggs continue to set. If any liquid is seeping from the eggs, this is a sign of undercooking, overcooking or adding undercooked high-moisture vegetables. In the classic French cooking method, Escoffier describes using a double boiler as the heating source, the eggs are directly placed in the cooker and mixed during the heating and not before. Cooking by this method prevents the eggs from browning while being cooked, Scrambled eggs à larlésienne - with zucchini pulp and a concentrated garlic-flavored tomato fondue served in hollowed-out courgettes and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Scrambled eggs à laméricaine - with pan-fried smoked bacon, garnished with slices of broiled bacon, egg bhurji - Indian variant of scrambled eggs. Additions include onions, green chili, chopped ginger, turmeric powder, sprinkled with chopped green coriander and eaten with roti. Another variant of egg bhurji is the Parsi akuri, scotch woodcock - British variant of scrambled eggs, served over toast that has been spread with Gentlemans Relish. Soy scrambled eggs - mixed with soy sauce and often eaten with congee, onions and scrambled eggs - another variant of scrambled eggs eaten in the Philippines. The onions are fried first then the egg mixture is poured over them to cook, or the onions are mixed with the egg mixture. Scrambled eggs with sucuk or pastırma, sucuklu yumurta and pastırmalı yumurta respectively - Scrambled eggs are mixed with Turkish beef sausages and it is cooked in a sahan with butter or olive oil. In Turkey and Egypt it is regularly for breakfast. Scrambled eggs with digüeñes - a variation from Chilean cuisine in which the eggs are fried together with the native fungus Cyttaria espinosae, migas - a Tex-Mex dish consisting of scrambled eggs augmented with strips of corn tortilla, to which vegetables and meat may be added. Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs - a very common main course in China and it is quickly and easily prepared, and so is a favourite among teens and university students
. PMID 11007336.
