1.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
2.
Megaannum
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A year is the orbital period of the Earth moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earths axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by changes in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the globe, four seasons are recognized, spring, summer, autumn. In tropical and subtropical regions several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons, but in the seasonal tropics, a calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earths orbital period as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian, or modern, calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars. For the Gregorian calendar the average length of the year across the complete leap cycle of 400 years is 365.2425 days. The ISO standard ISO 80000-3, Annex C, supports the symbol a to represent a year of either 365 or 366 days, in English, the abbreviations y and yr are commonly used. In astronomy, the Julian year is a unit of time, it is defined as 365.25 days of exactly 86400 seconds, totalling exactly 31557600 seconds in the Julian astronomical year. The word year is used for periods loosely associated with, but not identical to, the calendar or astronomical year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year. Similarly, year can mean the period of any planet, for example. The term can also be used in reference to any long period or cycle, west Saxon ġēar, Anglian ġēr continues Proto-Germanic *jǣran. Cognates are German Jahr, Old High German jār, Old Norse ár and Gothic jer, all the descendants of the Proto-Indo-European noun *yeh₁rom year, season. Cognates also descended from the same Proto-Indo-European noun are Avestan yārǝ year, Greek ὥρα year, season, period of time, Old Church Slavonic jarŭ, Latin annus is from a PIE noun *h₂et-no-, which also yielded Gothic aþn year. Both *yeh₁-ro- and *h₂et-no- are based on verbal roots expressing movement, *h₁ey- and *h₂et- respectively, the Greek word for year, ἔτος, is cognate with Latin vetus old, from the PIE word *wetos- year, also preserved in this meaning in Sanskrit vat-sa- yearling and vat-sa-ras year. Derived from Latin annus are a number of English words, such as annual, annuity, anniversary, etc. per annum means each year, anno Domini means in the year of the Lord. No astronomical year has an number of days or lunar months. Financial and scientific calculations often use a 365-day calendar to simplify daily rates, in the Julian calendar, the average length of a year is 365.25 days. In a non-leap year, there are 365 days, in a year there are 366 days
3.
Precambrian
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The Precambrian is the earliest period of Earths history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is a supereon that is subdivided into three eons of the time scale. It spans from the formation of Earth about 4.6 billion years ago to the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about 541 million years ago, the Precambrian accounts for 89% of geologic time. Relatively little is known about the Precambrian, despite it making up roughly seven-eighths of the Earths history, the Precambrian fossil record is poorer than that of the succeeding Phanerozoic, and fossils from that time are of limited biostratigraphic use. This is because many Precambrian rocks have been metamorphosed, obscuring their origins, while others have been destroyed by erosion. A stable crust was apparently in place by 4,412 Ma, the term Precambrian is recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy as a general term including the Archean and Proterozoic eons. It is still used by geologists and paleontologists for general discussions not requiring the more specific eon names and it was briefly called the Cryptozoic eon. A specific date for the origin of life has not been determined, carbon found in 3.8 billion year old rocks from islands off western Greenland may be of organic origin. Well-preserved microscopic fossils of bacteria older than 3.46 billion years have found in Western Australia. Probable fossils 100 million years older have been found in the same area, there is a fairly solid record of bacterial life throughout the remainder of the Precambrian. The oldest fossil evidence from that era of such complex life comes from the Lantian formation of the Ediacarian period, a very diverse collection of soft-bodied forms is found in a variety of locations worldwide and date to between 635 and 542 Ma. These are referred to as Ediacaran or Vendian biota, hard-shelled creatures appeared toward the end of that time span, marking the beginning of the Phanerozoic era. By the middle of the following Cambrian period, a diverse fauna is recorded in the Burgess Shale. The explosion in diversity of lifeforms during the early Cambrian is called the Cambrian explosion of life, while land seems to have been devoid of plants and animals, cyanobacteria and other microbes formed prokaryotic mats that covered terrestrial areas. Evidence of the details of plate motions and other activity in the Precambrian has been poorly preserved. It is generally believed that small proto-continents existed prior to 4280 Ma, the supercontinent, known as Rodinia, broke up around 750 Ma. A number of glacial periods have been identified going as far back as the Huronian epoch, one of the best studied is the Sturtian-Varangian glaciation, around 850–635 Ma, which may have brought glacial conditions all the way to the equator, resulting in a Snowball Earth. The atmosphere of the early Earth is not well understood, most geologists believe it was composed primarily of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and other relatively inert gases, and was lacking in free oxygen
4.
Cambrian
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The Cambrian Period was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 55.6 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 541 million years ago to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 485.4 mya and its subdivisions, and its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latinised form of Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales, as a result, our understanding of the Cambrian biology surpasses that of some later periods. The rapid diversification of lifeforms in the Cambrian, known as the Cambrian explosion, most of the continents were probably dry and rocky due to a lack of vegetation. Shallow seas flanked the margins of several continents created during the breakup of the supercontinent Pannotia, the seas were relatively warm, and polar ice was absent for much of the period. The United States Federal Geographic Data Committee uses a barred capital C ⟨Є⟩ character similar to the capital letter Ukrainian Ye ⟨Є⟩ to represent the Cambrian Period, the proper Unicode character is U+A792 Ꞓ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH BAR. Despite the long recognition of its distinction from younger Ordovician Period rocks and older Supereon Precambrian rocks, the base of the Cambrian lies atop a complex assemblage of trace fossils known as the Treptichnus pedum assemblage. Pedum in Namibia, Spain and Newfoundland, and possibly, in the western USA, the stratigraphic range of T. pedum overlaps the range of the Ediacaran fossils in Namibia, and probably in Spain. The Cambrian Period followed the Ediacaran Period and was followed by the Ordovician Period, the Cambrian is divided into four epochs and ten ages. Currently only two series and five stages are named and have a GSSP, because the international stratigraphic subdivision is not yet complete, many local subdivisions are still widely used. In some of these subdivisions the Cambrian is divided into three epochs with locally differing names – the Early Cambrian, Middle Cambrian and Furongian, rocks of these epochs are referred to as belonging to the Lower, Middle, or Upper Cambrian. Trilobite zones allow biostratigraphic correlation in the Cambrian, each of the local epochs is divided into several stages. The International Commission on Stratigraphy list the Cambrian period as beginning at 541 million years ago, the lower boundary of the Cambrian was originally held to represent the first appearance of complex life, represented by trilobites. The recognition of small shelly fossils before the first trilobites, and Ediacara biota substantially earlier and this formal designation allowed radiometric dates to be obtained from samples across the globe that corresponded to the base of the Cambrian. Early dates of 570 million years ago quickly gained favour, though the used to obtain this number are now considered to be unsuitable. A more precise date using modern radiometric dating yield a date of 541 ±0.3 million years ago, most continental land was clustered in the Southern Hemisphere at this time, but was drifting north. Large, high-velocity rotational movement of Gondwana appears to have occurred in the Early Cambrian, the sea levels fluctuated somewhat, suggesting there were ice ages, associated with pulses of expansion and contraction of a south polar ice cap. In Baltoscandia a Lower Cambrian transgression transformed large swathes of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain into a epicontinental sea, the Earth was generally cold during the early Cambrian, probably due to the ancient continent of Gondwana covering the South Pole and cutting off polar ocean currents
5.
Ordovician
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The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.2 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 million years ago to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Mya. Lapworth recognized that the fauna in the disputed strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian periods. It received international sanction in 1960, when it was adopted as a period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Geological Congress. Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it did in the earlier Cambrian period, invertebrates, namely molluscs and arthropods, dominated the oceans. The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event considerably increased the diversity of life, fish, the worlds first true vertebrates, continued to evolve, and those with jaws may have first appeared late in the period. Life had yet to diversify on land, about 100 times as many meteorites struck the Earth during the Ordovician compared with today. The Ordovician Period began with a major extinction called the Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event and it lasted for about 42 million years and ended with the Ordovician–Silurian extinction event, about 443.8 Mya which wiped out 60% of marine genera. The dates given are recent radiometric dates and vary slightly from those found in other sources and this second period of the Paleozoic era created abundant fossils that became major petroleum and gas reservoirs. The boundary chosen for the beginning of both the Ordovician Period and the Tremadocian stage is highly significant and it correlates well with the occurrence of widespread graptolite, conodont, and trilobite species. The base of the Tremadocian allows scientists to relate these species not only to each other and this makes it easier to place many more species in time relative to the beginning of the Ordovician Period. A number of terms have been used to subdivide the Ordovician Period. In 2008, the ICS erected an international system of subdivisions. There exist Baltoscandic, British, Siberian, North American, Australian, the Ordovician Period in Britain was traditionally broken into Early, Middle and Late epochs. The corresponding rocks of the Ordovician System are referred to as coming from the Lower, Middle, the Floian corresponds to the lower Arenig, the Arenig continues until the early Darriwilian, subsuming the Dapingian. The Llanvirn occupies the rest of the Darriwilian, and terminates with it at the base of the Late Ordovician. The Sandbian represents the first half of the Caradoc, the Caradoc ends in the mid-Katian, during the Ordovician, the southern continents were collected into Gondwana. Gondwana started the period in equatorial latitudes and, as the period progressed, drifted toward the South Pole, the small continent Avalonia separated from Gondwana and began to move north towards Baltica and Laurentia, opening the Rheic Ocean between Gondwana and Avalonia
6.
Silurian
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The Silurian is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago, to the beginning of the Devonian Period,419.2 Mya. As with other periods, the rock beds that define the periods start and end are well identified. The base of the Silurian is set at a major Ordovician-Silurian extinction event when 60% of marine species were wiped out, a significant evolutionary milestone during the Silurian was the diversification of jawed and bony fish. However, terrestrial life would not greatly diversify and affect the landscape until the Devonian, the Silurian system was first identified by British geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, who was examining fossil-bearing sedimentary rock strata in south Wales in the early 1830s. He named the sequences for a Celtic tribe of Wales, the Silures, inspired by his friend Adam Sedgwick and this naming does not indicate any correlation between the occurrence of the Silurian rocks and the land inhabited by the Silures. As it was first identified, the Silurian series when traced farther afield quickly came to overlap Sedgwicks Cambrian sequence, however, charles Lapworth resolved the conflict by defining a new Ordovician system including the contested beds. An early alternative name for the Silurian was Gotlandian after the strata of the Baltic island of Gotland, the French geologist Joachim Barrande, building on Murchisons work, used the term Silurian in a more comprehensive sense than was justified by subsequent knowledge. He divided the Silurian rocks of Bohemia into eight stages and his interpretation was questioned in 1854 by Edward Forbes, and the later stages of Barrande, F, G and H, have since been shown to be Devonian. Despite these modifications in the groupings of the strata, it is recognized that Barrande established Bohemia as a classic ground for the study of the earliest fossils. The epoch is named for the town of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, the Wenlock, which lasted from 433.4 ±1.5 to 427.4 ±2.8 mya, is subdivided into the Sheinwoodian and Homerian ages. It is named after Wenlock Edge in Shropshire, England, during the Wenlock, the oldest known tracheophytes of the genus Cooksonia, appear. The first terrestrial animals also appear in the Wenlock, represented by air-breathing millipedes from Scotland. The Ludlow, lasting from 427.4 ±1.5 to 423 ±2.8 mya, comprises the Gorstian stage, lasting until 425.6 million years ago, and it is named for the town of Ludlow in Shropshire, England. The Pridoli, lasting from 423 ±1.5 to 419.2 ±2.8 mya, is the final and it is named after one locality at the Homolka a Přídolí nature reserve near the Prague suburb Slivenec in the Czech Republic. Přídolí is the old name of a field area. The high sea levels of the Silurian and the flat land resulted in a number of island chains. The southern continents remained united during this period, the melting of icecaps and glaciers contributed to a rise in sea level, recognizable from the fact that Silurian sediments overlie eroded Ordovician sediments, forming an unconformity. The continents of Avalonia, Baltica, and Laurentia drifted together near the equator and this event is the Caledonian orogeny, a spate of mountain building that stretched from New York State through conjoined Europe and Greenland to Norway
7.
Devonian
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The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic, spanning 60 million years from the end of the Silurian,419.2 million years ago, to the beginning of the Carboniferous,358.9 Mya. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied, the first significant adaptive radiation of life on dry land occurred during the Devonian. Free-sporing vascular plants began to spread across dry land, forming extensive forests which covered the continents, by the middle of the Devonian, several groups of plants had evolved leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants appeared. Various terrestrial arthropods also became well-established, Fish reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to often be dubbed the Age of Fish. The first ray-finned and lobe-finned bony fish appeared, while the placodermi began dominating almost every aquatic environment. The ancestors of all four-limbed vertebrates began adapting to walking on land, as their strong pectoral, in the oceans, primitive sharks became more numerous than in the Silurian and Late Ordovician. The first ammonites, species of molluscs, appeared, trilobites, the mollusk-like brachiopods and the great coral reefs, were still common. The Late Devonian extinction which started about 375 million years ago severely affected marine life, killing off all placodermi, and all trilobites, save for a few species of the order Proetida. The palaeogeography was dominated by the supercontinent of Gondwana to the south, the continent of Siberia to the north, while the rock beds that define the start and end of the Devonian period are well identified, the exact dates are uncertain. According to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the Devonian extends from the end of the Silurian 419.2 Mya, another common term is Age of the Fishes, referring to the evolution of several major groups of fish that took place during the period. Older literature on the Anglo-Welsh basin divides it into the Downtonian, Dittonian, Breconian and Farlovian stages, in the Late Devonian, by contrast, arid conditions were less prevalent across the world and temperate climates were more common. The Devonian Period is formally broken into Early, Middle and Late subdivisions, the rocks corresponding to those epochs are referred to as belonging to the Lower, Middle and Upper parts of the Devonian System. Early Devonian The Early Devonian lasted from 419.2 ±2.8 to 393.3 ±2.5 and began with the Lochkovian stage, which lasted until the Pragian. It spanned from 410.8 ±2.8 to 407.6 ±2.5, and was followed by the Emsian, which lasted until the Middle Devonian began,393. 3±2.7 million years ago. Middle Devonian The Middle Devonian comprised two subdivisions, first the Eifelian, which gave way to the Givetian 387. 7±2.7 million years ago. Late Devonian Finally, the Late Devonian started with the Frasnian,382.7 ±2.8 to 372.2 ±2.5, during which the first forests took shape on land. The first tetrapods appeared in the record in the ensuing Famennian subdivision. This lasted until the end of the Devonian,358. 9±2.5 million years ago, the Devonian was a relatively warm period, and probably lacked any glaciers
8.
Carboniferous
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The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period 358.9 million years ago, to the beginning of the Permian Period,298.9 Mya. The name Carboniferous means coal-bearing and derives from the Latin words carbō and ferō, and was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822. Based on a study of the British rock succession, it was the first of the system names to be employed. The Carboniferous is often treated in North America as two periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later Pennsylvanian. Terrestrial life was established by the Carboniferous period. Amphibians were the dominant land vertebrates, of one branch would eventually evolve into amniotes. Arthropods were also common, and many were much larger than those of today. Vast swaths of forest covered the land, which would eventually be laid down, the atmospheric content of oxygen also reached their highest levels in geological history during the period, 35% compared with 21% today, allowing terrestrial invertebrates to evolve to great size. A major marine and terrestrial extinction event, the Carboniferous rainforest collapse, occurred in the middle of the period, the later half of the period experienced glaciations, low sea level, and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea. In the United States the Carboniferous is usually broken into Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subperiods, the Silesian is roughly contemporaneous with the late Mississippian Serpukhovian plus the Pennsylvanian. In Britain the Dinantian is traditionally known as the Carboniferous Limestone, the Namurian as the Millstone Grit, and the Westphalian as the Coal Measures and Pennant Sandstone. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures, southern Gondwanaland was glaciated throughout the period and these conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush swamps, later to become coal, flourished to within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers. Mid-Carboniferous, a drop in sea level precipitated a major extinction, one that hit crinoids. This sea level drop and the unconformity in North America separate the Mississippian subperiod from the Pennsylvanian subperiod. This happened about 323 million years ago, at the onset of the Permo-Carboniferous Glaciation, the Carboniferous was a time of active mountain-building, as the supercontinent Pangaea came together. The southern continents remained tied together in the supercontinent Gondwana, which collided with North America–Europe along the present line of eastern North America, in the same time frame, much of present eastern Eurasian plate welded itself to Europe along the line of the Ural mountains. Most of the Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangea was now assembled, although North China, the Late Carboniferous Pangaea was shaped like an O. There were two major oceans in the Carboniferous—Panthalassa and Paleo-Tethys, which was inside the O in the Carboniferous Pangaea, other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually closed - Rheic Ocean, the small, shallow Ural Ocean and Proto-Tethys Ocean
9.
Permian
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The Permian is a geologic period and system which spans 46.7 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period 298.9 million years ago, to the beginning of the Triassic Period 252.2 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era, the following Triassic Period belongs to the Mesozoic Era, the concept of the Permian was introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, who named it after the city of Perm. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the early amniotes into the groups of the mammals, turtles, lepidosaurs. The world at the time was dominated by two known as Pangaea and Siberia, surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert within the continental interior, amniotes, who could better cope with these drier conditions, rose to dominance in place of their amphibian ancestors. The Permian ended with the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the largest mass extinction in Earths history, in which nearly 90% of marine species and it would take well into the Triassic for life to recover from this catastrophe. Recovery from the Permian-Triassic extinction event was protracted, on land, the term Permian was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil, the region now lies in the Perm Krai of Russia. This could have in part caused the extinctions of marine species at the end of the period by severely reducing shallow coastal areas preferred by many marine organisms. During the Permian, all the Earths major landmasses were collected into a supercontinent known as Pangaea. The Cimmeria continent rifted away from Gondwana and drifted north to Laurasia, a new ocean was growing on its southern end, the Tethys Ocean, an ocean that would dominate much of the Mesozoic Era. Large continental landmass interiors experience climates with extreme variations of heat and cold, deserts seem to have been widespread on Pangaea. Such dry conditions favored gymnosperms, plants with seeds enclosed in a cover, over plants such as ferns that disperse spores in a wetter environment. The first modern trees appeared in the Permian, the climate in the Permian was quite varied. At the start of the Permian, the Earth was still in an Ice Age, glaciers receded around the mid-Permian period as the climate gradually warmed, drying the continents interiors. In the late Permian period, the drying continued although the temperature cycled between warm and cool cycles, Permian marine deposits are rich in fossil mollusks, echinoderms, and brachiopods. By the close of the Permian, trilobites and a host of other groups became extinct. Terrestrial life in the Permian included diverse plants, fungi, arthropods, the period saw a massive desert covering the interior of Pangaea
10.
Triassic
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The Triassic is a geologic period and system which spans 50.9 million years from the end of the Permian Period 252.17 million years ago, to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.3 Mya. The Triassic is the first period of the Mesozoic Era, both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. Therapsids and archosaurs were the terrestrial vertebrates during this time. A specialized subgroup of archosaurs, called dinosaurs, first appeared in the Late Triassic, the vast supercontinent of Pangaea existed until the mid-Triassic, after which it began to gradually rift into two separate landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. The global climate during the Triassic was mostly hot and dry, however, the climate shifted and became more humid as Pangaea began to drift apart. The end of the period was marked by yet another mass extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. The Triassic is usually separated into Early, Middle, and Late Triassic Epochs, from the east, along the equator, the Tethys sea penetrated Pangaea, causing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean to be closed. Later in the mid-Triassic a similar sea penetrated along the equator from the west, the remaining shores were surrounded by the world-ocean known as Panthalassa. All the deep-ocean sediments laid down during the Triassic have disappeared through subduction of oceanic plates, thus, the supercontinent Pangaea was rifting during the Triassic—especially late in that period—but had not yet separated. In North America, for example, marine deposits are limited to a few exposures in the west, thus Triassic stratigraphy is mostly based on organisms that lived in lagoons and hypersaline environments, such as Estheria crustaceans. At the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, Africa was joined with Earths other continents in Pangaea, Africa shared the supercontinents relatively uniform fauna which was dominated by theropods, prosauropods and primitive ornithischians by the close of the Triassic period. Late Triassic fossils are found throughout Africa, but are common in the south than north. The time boundary separating the Permian and Triassic marks the advent of an event with global impact. At Paleorrota geopark, located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in these formations, one of the earliest dinosaurs, Staurikosaurus, as well as the mammal ancestors Brasilitherium and Brasilodon have been discovered. The Triassic continental interior climate was hot and dry, so that typical deposits are red bed sandstones and evaporites. Pangaeas large size limited the effect of the global ocean, its continental climate was highly seasonal, with very hot summers. The strong contrast between the Pangea supercontinent and the global ocean triggered intense cross-equatorial monsoons, the best studied of such episodes of humid climate, and probably the most intense and widespread, was the Carnian Pluvial Event. On land, the vascular plants included the lycophytes, the dominant cycadophytes, ginkgophyta, ferns, horsetails
11.
Jurassic
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The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that spans 56.3 million years from the end of the Triassic Period 201.3 million years ago to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles, the start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. The Jurassic is named after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, by the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. This created more coastlines and shifted the continental climate from dry to humid, on land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated by both dinosauromorph and crocodylomorph archosaurs, to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first birds also appeared during the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, other major events include the appearance of the earliest lizards, and the evolution of therian mammals, including primitive placentals. Crocodilians made the transition from a terrestrial to a mode of life. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, the chronostratigraphic term Jurassic is directly linked to the Jura Mountains. The name Jura is derived from the Celtic root jor, which was Latinised into juria, the Jurassic period is divided into the Early Jurassic, Middle, and Late Jurassic epochs. The Jurassic System, in stratigraphy, is divided into the Lower Jurassic, Middle, the separation of the term Jurassic into three sections goes back to Leopold von Buch. The Jurassic North Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow, while the South Atlantic did not open until the following Cretaceous period, the Tethys Sea closed, and the Neotethys basin appeared. Climates were warm, with no evidence of glaciation, as in the Triassic, there was apparently no land over either pole, and no extensive ice caps existed. In contrast, the North American Jurassic record is the poorest of the Mesozoic, the Jurassic was a time of calcite sea geochemistry in which low-magnesium calcite was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate. Carbonate hardgrounds were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids, calcitic cements, the first of several massive batholiths were emplaced in the northern American cordillera beginning in the mid-Jurassic, marking the Nevadan orogeny. Important Jurassic exposures are found in Russia, India, South America, Japan, Australasia. As the Jurassic proceeded, larger and more groups of dinosaurs like sauropods and ornithopods proliferated in Africa. Middle Jurassic strata are well represented nor well studied in Africa. Late Jurassic strata are also poorly represented apart from the spectacular Tendaguru fauna in Tanzania, the Late Jurassic life of Tendaguru is very similar to that found in western North Americas Morrison Formation. During the Jurassic period, the primary living in the sea were fish
12.
Cretaceous
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The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 Mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, during this time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta, meaning chalk. The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series, in older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series, Neocomian, Gallic and Senonian. A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide, in many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds of the Cretaceous are well identified. No great extinction or burst of diversity separates the Cretaceous from the Jurassic and this layer has been dated at 66.043 Ma. A140 Ma age for the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary instead of the usually accepted 145 Ma was proposed in 2014 based on a study of Vaca Muerta Formation in Neuquén Basin. Víctor Ramos, one of the authors of the study proposing the 140 Ma boundary age sees the study as a first step toward formally changing the age in the International Union of Geological Sciences, due to the high sea level there was extensive space for such sedimentation. Because of the young age and great thickness of the system. Chalk is a type characteristic for the Cretaceous. It consists of coccoliths, microscopically small calcite skeletons of coccolithophores, the group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Chalk is not easily consolidated and the Chalk Group still consists of sediments in many places. The group also has other limestones and arenites, among the fossils it contains are sea urchins, belemnites, ammonites and sea reptiles such as Mosasaurus. In southern Europe, the Cretaceous is usually a marine system consisting of competent limestone beds or incompetent marls
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Paleogene
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The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 million years ago to the beginning of the Neogene Period 23.03 Mya. It is the beginning of the Cenozoic Era of the present Phanerozoic Eon and this period consists of the Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene epochs. The terms Paleogene System and lower Tertiary System are applied to the rocks deposited during the Paleogene Period. By dividing the Tertiary Period into two periods instead of directly into five epochs, the periods are more comparable to the duration of periods of the preceding Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras. The trend was caused by the formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. During the Paleogene, the continued to drift closer to their current positions. India was in the process of colliding with Asia, subsequently forming the Himalayas, the Atlantic Ocean continued to widen by a few centimeters each year. Africa was moving north to meet with Europe and form the Mediterranean, inland seas retreated from North America early in the period. Australia had also separated from Antarctica and was drifting towards Southeast Asia, mammals began a rapid diversification during this period. Some of these mammals would evolve into forms that would dominate the land, while others would become capable of living in marine, specialized terrestrial. Those that took to the oceans became modern cetaceans, while those that took to the trees became primates, the group to which humans belong. Birds, which were well established by the end of the Cretaceous. In comparison to birds and mammals, most other branches of life remained unchanged during this period. As the Earth cooled, tropical plants became less numerous and were now restricted to equatorial regions, deciduous plants, which could survive through the seasonal climates the world was now experiencing, became more common. The Paleogene is notable in the context of offshore oil drilling, and especially in Gulf of Mexico oil exploration and these rock formations represent the current cutting edge of deep-water oil discovery. Lower Tertiary explorations to date include, Kaskida Oil Field Tiber Oil Field Jack 2 Paleogene Microfossils, 180+ images of Foraminifera
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Neogene
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The Neogene is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period 23.03 million years ago to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period 2.58 Mya. The Neogene is sub-divided into two epochs, the earlier Miocene and the later Pliocene, some geologists assert that the Neogene cannot be clearly delineated from the modern geological period, the Quaternary. During this period, mammals and birds continued to evolve into modern forms. Early hominids, the ancestors of humans, appeared in Africa near the end of the period, some continental movement took place, the most significant event being the connection of North and South America at the Isthmus of Panama, late in the Pliocene. This cut off the ocean currents from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. The global climate cooled considerably over the course of the Neogene, the terms Neogene System and upper Tertiary System describe the rocks deposited during the Neogene Period. The continents in the Neogene were very close to their current positions, the Isthmus of Panama formed, connecting North and South America. The Indian subcontinent continued to collide with Asia, forming the Himalayas, sea levels fell, creating land bridges between Africa and Eurasia and between Eurasia and North America. The global climate became seasonal and continued an overall drying and cooling trend which began at the start of the Paleogene. The ice caps on both poles began to grow and thicken, and by the end of the period the first of a series of glaciations of the current Ice Age began, marine and continental flora and fauna have a modern appearance. The reptile group Choristodera became extinct in the part of the period. Mammals and birds continued to be the dominant terrestrial vertebrates, the first hominids, the ancestors of humans, appeared in Africa and spread into Eurasia. In response to the cooler, seasonal climate, tropical plant species gave way to deciduous ones, grasses therefore greatly diversified, and herbivorous mammals evolved alongside it, creating the many grazing animals of today such as horses, antelope, and bison. The Neogene traditionally ended at the end of the Pliocene Epoch, just before the definition of the beginning of the Quaternary Period. However, there was a movement amongst geologists to also include ongoing geological time in the Neogene, by dividing the Cenozoic Era into three periods instead of seven epochs, the periods are more closely comparable to the duration of periods in the Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras. The International Commission on Stratigraphy once proposed that the Quaternary be considered a sub-era of the Neogene, with a date of 2.58 Ma. In the 2004 proposal of the ICS, the Neogene would have consisted of the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, thus the Neogene Period ends bounding the succeeding Quaternary Period at 2.58 Mya. Digital Atlas of Neogene Life for the Southeastern United States — by San Jose State University via Web Archive
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Eocene
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The Eocene Epoch, lasting from 56 to 33.9 million years ago, is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. As with other periods, the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified. The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς and καινός, the Eocene epoch is conventionally divided into early, middle, and late subdivisions. The corresponding rocks are referred to as lower, middle, the Ypresian stage constitutes the lower, the Priabonian stage the upper, and the Lutetian and Bartonian stages are united as the middle Eocene. The Eocene Epoch contained a variety of different climate conditions that includes the warmest climate in the Cenozoic Era. During this period of time, little to no ice was present on Earth with a difference in temperature from the equator to the poles. Following the maximum was a descent into an icehouse climate from the Eocene Optimum to the Eocene-Oligocene transition at 34 million years ago. During this decrease ice began to reappear at the poles, greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide and methane, played a significant role during the Eocene in controlling the surface temperature. For the early Eocene there is discussion on how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere. This is due to numerous proxies representing different atmospheric carbon dioxide content, for contrast, today the carbon dioxide levels are at 400 ppm or 0. 04%. At about the beginning of the Eocene Epoch the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere more or less doubled. During the early Eocene, methane was another gas that had a drastic effect on the climate. In comparison to carbon dioxide, methane has much effect on temperature as methane is ~34 times more effective per molecule than carbon dioxide on a 100-year scale. Most of the methane released to the atmosphere during this period of time would have been from wetlands, swamps, the atmospheric methane concentration today is 0. 000179% or 1.79 ppmv. Due to the climate and sea level rise associated with the early Eocene, more wetlands, more forests. Comparing the early Eocene production of methane to current levels of atmospheric methane, biogenic production of methane produces carbon dioxide and water vapor along with the methane, as well as yielding infrared radiation
16.
Holocene
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The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years before present. The term Recent has often used as an exact synonym of Holocene. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period and its name comes from the Ancient Greek words ὅλος and καινός, meaning entirely recent. It has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS1, given these, a new term, Anthropocene, is specifically proposed and used informally only for the very latest part of modern history involving significant human impact. It is accepted by the International Commission on Stratigraphy that the Holocene started approximately 11,700 years ago, the epoch follows the Pleistocene and the last glacial period. The Holocene can be subdivided into five time intervals, or chronozones, based on climatic fluctuations, Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal and they find a general correspondence across Eurasia and North America, though the method was once thought to be of no interest. The scheme was defined for Northern Europe, but the changes were claimed to occur more widely. The periods of the include a few of the final pre-Holocene oscillations of the last glacial period. Paleontologists have not defined any faunal stages for the Holocene, if subdivision is necessary, periods of human technological development, such as the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age, are usually used. However, the time periods referenced by these terms vary with the emergence of those technologies in different parts of the world, climatically, the Holocene may be divided evenly into the Hypsithermal and Neoglacial periods, the boundary coincides with the start of the Bronze Age in Europe. According to some scholars, a division, the Anthropocene, has now begun. Continental motions due to plate tectonics are less than a kilometre over a span of only 10,000 years, however, ice melt caused world sea levels to rise about 35 m in the early part of the Holocene. The sea level rise and temporary land depression allowed temporary marine incursions into areas that are now far from the sea, Holocene marine fossils are known, for example, from Vermont and Michigan. Other than higher-latitude temporary marine incursions associated with depression, Holocene fossils are found primarily in lakebed, floodplain. Holocene marine deposits along low-latitude coastlines are rare because the rise in sea levels during the period exceeds any likely tectonic uplift of non-glacial origin, post-glacial rebound in the Scandinavia region resulted in the formation of the Baltic Sea. The region continues to rise, still causing weak earthquakes across Northern Europe, the equivalent event in North America was the rebound of Hudson Bay, as it shrank from its larger, immediate post-glacial Tyrrell Sea phase, to near its present boundaries. Climate has been stable over the Holocene. It appears that this was influenced by the glacial ice remaining in the Northern Hemisphere until the later date
17.
Canidae
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The biological family Canidae /ˈkænᵻdiː/ is a lineage of carnivorans that includes domestic dogs, wolves, foxes, jackals, dingoes, and many other extant and extinct dog-like mammals. A member of family is called a canid. The cat-like feliforms and dog-like caniforms emerged within the Carnivoramorpha 43 million years before present, the caniforms included the fox-like Leptocyon genus whose various species existed from 34 million years before present before branching 11.9 million YBP into Vulpini and Canini. Canids are found on all continents except Antarctica, having arrived independently or accompanied human beings over extended periods of time, canids vary in size from the 2-m-long gray wolf to the 24-cm-long fennec fox. The body forms of canids are similar, typically having long muzzles, upright ears, teeth adapted for cracking bones and slicing flesh, long legs and they are mostly social animals, living together in family units or small groups and behaving cooperatively. Typically, only the dominant pair in a group breeds, canids communicate by scent signals and by vocalizations. One canid, the dog, long ago entered into a partnership with humans. In the history of the carnivores, the family Canidae is represented by the two extinct subfamilies designated as Hesperocyoninae and Borophaginae, and the extant subfamily Caninae and this subfamily includes all living canids and their most recent fossil relatives. The fox-like canids, which include the kit fox, red fox, Cape fox, Arctic fox, the South American canids, including the bush dog, hoary fox, crab-eating fox and maned wolf. Various monotypic taxa, including the bat-eared fox, gray fox, DNA analysis shows that the first three form monophyletic clades. The wolf-like canids and the South American canids together form the tribe Canini, molecular data imply a North American origin of living Canidae some ten million years ago and an African origin of wolf-like canines, with the jackals being the most basal of this group. The South American clade is rooted by the wolf and bush dog. The grey fox and island fox are basal to the other clades, the cladogram below is based on the phylogeny of Lindblad-Toh et al, modified to incorporate recent findings on Canis and Vulpes species. The Canidae today includes a group of some 34 species ranging in size from the maned wolf with its long limbs to the short-legged bush dog. Modern canids inhabit forests, tundra, savannahs and deserts throughout tropical, in some species, genetic divergence has been suppressed by the high level of gene flow between different populations and where the species have hybridized, large hybrid zones exist. Carnivorans evolved from miacoids about 55 million years ago during the late Paleocene, some five million years later, the carnivorans split into two main divisions, caniforms and feliforms. By 40 Mya, the first member of the dog family proper had arisen, called Prohesperocyon wilsoni, its fossilized remains have been found in what is now the southwestern part of Texas. The chief features which identify it as a canid include the loss of the third molar
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Bear
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Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails. While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, with the exception of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They may be diurnal or nocturnal and have an excellent sense of smell, despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they are adept runners, climbers, and swimmers. Bears use shelters, such as caves and logs, as their dens, most species occupy their dens during the winter for a period of hibernation. Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur, they have used for bear-baiting and other forms of entertainment. With their powerful physical presence, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, in modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats and illegal trade in bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six species as vulnerable or endangered, and even least concern species. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, Bear taxon names such as Ursidae and Ursus come from Latin Ursus/Ursa, he-bear/she-bear. The female first name Ursula, originally derived from a Christian saints name, in Switzerland, the male first name Urs is especially popular, while the name of the canton and city of Bern is derived from Bär, German for bear. The Germanic name Bernard means bear-brave, bear-hardy, or bold bear, the Old English name Beowulf is a kenning, bee-wolf, for bear, in turn meaning a brave warrior. The family Ursidae is one of nine families in the suborder Caniformia, or doglike carnivorans, Bears closest living relatives are the pinnipeds, canids, and musteloids. Modern bears comprise eight species in three subfamilies, Ailuropodinae, Tremarctinae, and Ursinae, the earliest members of Ursidae belong to the extinct subfamily Amphicynodontinae, including Parictis and the slightly younger Allocyon, both from North America. These animals looked very different from bears, being small and raccoon-like in overall appearance. Parictis does not appear in Eurasia and Africa until the Miocene, european genera morphologically are very similar to Allocyon, and to the much younger American Kolponomos, are known from the Oligocene, including Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon. The raccoon-sized, dog-like Cephalogale is the member of the subfamily Hemicyoninae. The subfamily includes the younger genera Phoberocyon, and Plithocyon, a Cephalogale-like species gave rise to the genus Ursavus during the early Oligocene, this genus proliferated into many species in Asia and is ancestral to all living bears
19.
Procyonidae
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Procyonidae is a New World family of the order Carnivora. It includes the raccoons, coatis, kinkajous, olingos, olinguitos, ringtails, procyonids inhabit a wide range of environments and are generally omnivorous. Procyonids are relatively small animals, with slender bodies and long tails. Many procyonids have banded tails, and distinctive facial markings – these are visible in the raccoons. Like bears, procyonids are plantigrade, walking on the soles of their feet, because of their general build, the Procyonidae are often popularly viewed as smaller cousins of the bear family. This is apparent in their German names, a raccoon is called a Waschbär, dutch follows suit, calling the animals wasbeer, neusbeer and rolstaartbeer respectively. However, it is now believed that procyonids are more related to mustelids than to bears. Due to their omnivorous diet, procyonids have lost some of the adaptations for flesh-eating found in their carnivorous relatives, while they do have carnassial teeth, these are poorly developed in most species, especially the raccoons. Apart from the kinkajou, procyonids have the formula, for a total of 40 teeth. The kinkajou has one premolar in each row, for a total of 36 teeth. While coatis are diurnal, all other procyonids are nocturnal and they are mostly solitary animals, and the mother raises litters of up to four young on her own. Procyonid fossils once believed to belong to the genus Bassariscus, which includes the modern ringtail and cacomistle, have identified from the Miocene epoch. It has been suggested that early procyonids were an offshoot of the canids that adapted to an omnivorous diet. Genetic studies have shown that kinkajous are a group to all other extant procyonids. The clades leading to coatis and olingos on one hand, and to ringtails and raccoons on the other, the divergence between olingos and coatis is estimated to have occurred about 10.2 Ma ago, at about the same time that ringtails and raccoons parted ways. There has been considerable uncertainty over the correct classification of several members. The red panda was previously classified in family, but it is now classified it in its own family. The status of the various olingos was disputed, some regarded them all as subspecies of Bassaricyon gabbii before DNA sequence data demonstrated otherwise, the traditional classification scheme shown below on the left predates the recent revolution in our understanding of procyonid phylogeny based on genetic sequence analysis
20.
Ailuridae
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Ailuridae is a family in the mammal order Carnivora. The family consists of the red panda and its extinct relatives, frédéric Georges Cuvier first described Ailurus as belonging to the raccoon family in 1825, this classification has been controversial ever since. It was classified in the family because of morphological similarities of the head, colored ringed tail. Somewhat later, it was assigned to the bear family, an in-depth mitochondrial DNA population analysis study stated, “According to the fossil record, the Red Panda diverged from its common ancestor with bears about 40 million years ago. This underestimation is probably due to recurrent mutations as the divergence between the red panda and the raccoon is extremely deep. ”The most recent molecular-systematic DNA research places the red panda into its own independent family. Red pandas have no living relatives, and their nearest fossil ancestors, Parailurus. The red panda may be the surviving species - a specialized offshoot surviving the Ice Age in a Chinese mountain refuge. In addition to Ailurus, the family Ailuridae includes eight extinct genera, Ailurinae †Magerictis †Magerictis imperialis †Pristinailurus †Pristinailurus bristoli †Parailurus †Parailurus sp. - Včeláre Panda †Parailurus hungaricus †Parailurus anglicus †Parailurus baikalicus †Parailurus sp, - American Panda Ailurus Ailurus fulgens - Red Panda Davis, Davis D. “The Giant Panda, A Morphological Study of Evolutionary Mechanisms. “ Zoology Memoirs, “Phylogenetic Analysis of Recent Procyonid Genera. “ Journal of Mammalogy. Flynn, J. J. and G. D. Wesley Hunt, “Carnivora. “ in The Rise of Placental Mammals, Origin, Timing and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades, by D. Archibold and K. Rose. ISBN 0-8018-8022-X Flynn, John J. et al, “Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora, ASS-ASS the impact of increased sampling to on resolving enigmatic relationships. “ Systematic Biology. Flynn, John J. Flynn, Michael A. Nedbal, J. W. Dragoo, and R. L. Honeycutt. “The Red Panda, Olingos, Coatis, Raccoons, and their Relatives, Status survey and conservation plan for Procyonids and Ailurids. ”IUCN/SSC Mustelid, Viverrid. “On the Phylogenetic Relationships of the Giant Panda to other Arctoid Carnivores. “ American Museum Novitates, hu, J. C. “Proceedings of studies of the red panda. ”Wilson, Don E. and DeeAnn M. Reeder. Mammal of Species of the World
21.
Mustelidae
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The Mustelidae are a family of carnivorous mammals, including the weasel, badger, otter, marten, ferret, mink, stoat, and wolverine. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, the internal classification is still disputed, with rival proposals containing between two and eight subfamilies. One study, published in 2008, questions the long-accepted Mustelinae subfamily, mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The least weasel is not much larger than a mouse, while the giant otter can measure up to 1.7 m in length and sea otters can exceed 45 kg in weight. The wolverine can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow, the sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. The marten is largely arboreal, while the badger digs extensive networks of tunnels, some mustelids have been domesticated, the ferret and the tayra are kept as pets, or as working animals for hunting or vermin control. Others have been important in the fur trade—the mink is often raised for its fur, as well as being one of the most species-rich families in the order Carnivora, the family Mustelidae is one of the oldest. Mustelid-like forms first appeared about 40 million years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of rodents, the direct ancestors of the modern mustelids first appeared about 15 million years ago. Within a large range of variation, the mustelids exhibit some common characteristics and they are typically small animals with short legs, short, round ears, and thick fur. Most mustelids are solitary, nocturnal animals, and are active year-round, with the exception of the sea otter, they have anal scent glands that produce a strong-smelling secretion the animals use for sexual signaling and for marking territory. Most mustelid reproduction involves embryonic diapause, the embryo does not immediately implant in the uterus, but remains dormant for some time. No development takes place as long as the embryo remains unattached to the uterine lining, as a result, the normal gestation period is extended, sometimes up to a year. This allows the young to be born under more favorable environmental conditions, reproduction has a large energy cost and it is to a females benefit to have available food and mild weather. The young are likely to survive if birth occurs after previous offspring have been weaned. Mustelids are predominantly carnivorous, although some eat vegetable matter at times, while not all mustelids share an identical dentition, they all possess teeth adapted for eating flesh, including the presence of shearing carnassials. With variation between species, the most common formula is 3.1.3.13.1.3.2. Several members of the family are aquatic to varying degrees, ranging from the semiaquatic mink, to the river otters, the sea otter is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to use a tool while foraging. It uses anvil stones to open the shellfish that form a significant part of its diet
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Mephitidae
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Skunks are mammals known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong odor. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown or cream colored, 1630s, squunck, from a southern New England Algonquian language seganku, from Proto-Algonquian */šeka, kwa/, from */šek-/ to urinate + */-a, kw/ fox. Skunk has historic use as an insult, attested from 1841, skunk cabbage is attested from 1751, earlier skunkweed. In 1634, a skunk was described in the Jesuit Relations, The other is a low animal, I mention it here, not on account of its excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or four of them and it has black fur, quite beautiful and shining, and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and tail, making an oval which adds greatly to their grace. The tail is bushy and well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox and it is more white than black, and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it walks, that it ought to be called Jupiters little dog. But it is so stinking, and casts so foul an odor, no sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have believed it if I had not smelled it myself, I believe the sin smelled by Saint Catherine de Sienne must have had the same vile odor. Skunk species vary in size from about 15.6 to 37 in long and they have moderately elongated bodies with relatively short, well-muscled legs and long front claws for digging. Although the most common fur color is black and white, some skunks are brown or grey, all skunks are striped, even from birth. They may have a thick stripe across back and tail. Some also have stripes on their legs, skunks are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal material and changing their diets as the seasons change. They eat insects and larvae, earthworms, grubs, rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles and they also commonly eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi and nuts. In settled areas, skunks also seek garbage left by humans, less often, skunks may be found acting as scavengers, eating bird and rodent carcasses left by cats or other animals. Pet owners, particularly those of cats, may experience a skunk finding its way into a garage or basement where pet food is kept, skunks commonly dig holes in lawns in search of grubs and worms. Skunks are one of the predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the guard bees that come out to investigate, mother skunks are known to teach this behavior to their young. Skunks are crepuscular and solitary animals when not breeding, though in the parts of their range
23.
Eared seal
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An eared seal or otariid or otary is any member of the marine mammal family Otariidae, one of three groupings of pinnipeds. They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera and are known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals. Otariids are adapted to a lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern Oceans and they are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic. The words otariid and otary come from the Greek otarion meaning little ear, referring to the small but visible external ear flaps, along with the Phocidae and Odobenidae, the two other members of Pinnipedia, Otаriidae are descended from a common ancestor most closely related to modern bears. Debate remains as to whether the phocids diverged from the otariids before or after the walrus, Otariids arose in the Miocene in the North Pacific, diversifying rapidly into the Southern Hemisphere, where most species now live. The earliest known fossil osariid is Eotaria crypta from southern California, while the genus Callorhinus has the oldest fossil record of any living otariid and it probably arose from the extinct fur seal genus Thalassoleon. Traditionally, otariids had been subdivided into the fur seal and sea lion subfamilies, recent analyses of the genetic evidence suggests that Callorhinus ursinus is in fact more closely related to several sea lion species. In light of evidence, the subfamily separation has been removed entirely. Nonetheless, because of morphological and behavioral similarities among the fur seals and sea lions and they are generally considered to be less adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, since they breed primarily on land and haul out more frequently than true seals. However, they can attain bursts of speed and have greater maneuverability in the water. Their swimming power derives from the use of flippers more so than the sinuous whole-body movements typical of phocids, Otariids are further distinguished by a more dog-like head, sharp, well-developed canines, and the aforementioned visible external pinnae. Their postcanine teeth are simple and conical in shape. The dental formula for eared seals is,3.1.4. 1-32.1.4.1, Sea lions are covered with coarse guard hairs, while fur seals have a thick underfur, which has historically made them the objects of commercial exploitation. Male otariids range in size from the 70-kg Galápagos fur seal, smallest of all pinnipeds, to the over 1, 000-kg Steller sea lion. Mature male otariids weigh two to six times as much as females, with larger heads, necks, and chests. All otariids breed on land during well-defined breeding seasons, except for the Australian sea lion, which has an atypical 17.5 month breeding cycle, they form strictly annual aggregations on beaches or rocky substrates, often on islands. All species are polygynous, i. e. successful males breed with several females, in most species, males arrive at breeding sites first and establish and maintain territories through vocal and visual displays and occasional fighting
24.
Odobenidae
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Odobenidae is a family of pinnipeds. The only living species is the walrus, in the past, however, the group was much more diverse, and includes more than ten fossil genera. All genera, except Odobenus, are extinct, william F. Perrin, Bernd Würsig, J. G. M. Thewissen Marine Mammals, Evolutionary Biology, 2nd ed
25.
Earless seal
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The earless seals or true seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae /ˈfoʊsᵻdiː/ and they are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae. Seals live in the oceans of both hemispheres and, with the exception of the more tropical monk seals, are confined to polar, subpolar. The Baikal seal is the species of exclusively freshwater seal. Adult phocids vary from 1.17 m in length and 45 kg in weight in the seal to 4.9 m and 2,400 kg in the southern elephant seal. Phocids are more specialized for life than otariids. They lack external ears and have sleek, streamlined bodies, retractable nipples, internal testicles, and an internal penile sheath provide further streamlining. A smooth layer of blubber lies underneath the skin, phocids are able to divert blood flow to this layer to help control their temperatures. Their fore flippers are used primarily for steering, while their flippers are bound to the pelvis in such a way that they cannot bring them under their bodies to walk on them. They are more streamlined than fur seals and sea lions, so can swim more effectively over long distances, however, because they cannot turn their hind flippers downward, they are very clumsy on land, having to wriggle with their front flippers and abdominal muscles. Phocids have fewer teeth than land-based members of the Carnivora, although they retain powerful canines. The dental formula is, 2-3.1.4. 0-21-2.1.4. 0-2 Phocid respiratory and circulatory systems are adapted to allow diving to considerable depths, and they can spend a long time underwater between breaths. Air is forced from the lungs during a dive and into the respiratory passages. This helps protect the seal from the bends, the middle ear is also lined with blood sinuses that inflate during diving, helping to maintain a constant pressure. While otariids are known for speed and maneuverability, phocids are known for efficient and this allows most phocids to forage far from land to exploit prey resources, while otariids are tied to rich upwelling zones close to breeding sites. Phocids swim by sideways movements of their bodies, using their flippers to fullest effect. Unlike otariids, true seals do not communicate by barking, instead, they communicate by slapping the water and grunting. Phocids spend most of their time at sea, although they return to land or pack ice to breed, pregnant females spend long periods foraging at sea, building up fat reserves, and then return to the breeding site to use their stored energy to nurse pups
26.
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
27.
Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
28.
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
29.
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
30.
Carnivora
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Carnivora is a diverse scrotiferan order that includes over 280 species of placental mammals. Its members are referred to as carnivorans, whereas the word carnivore can refer to any meat-eating organism.9 m in length. Some carnivorans, such as cats and pinnipeds, depend entirely on meat for their nutrition, carnivorans have teeth and claws adapted for catching and eating other animals. Many hunt in packs and are social animals, giving them an advantage over larger prey, carnivorans are split into two suborders, feliforms and caniforms. Carnivorans all share the same arrangement of teeth in which the last upper premolar, carnivorans have had this arrangement for over 60 million years with many adaptions, and these dental adaptions help identify carnivoran species and groupings of species. Carnivorans evolved in North America out of members of the family Miacidae about 42 million years ago and they soon split into cat-like and dog-like forms. Their molecular phylogeny shows the extant Carnivora are a monophyletic group, the last premolar of the upper jaw and first molar of the lower are termed the carnassials or sectorial teeth. These blade-like teeth occlude with an action for shearing and shredding meat. Carnassials are most highly developed in the Felidae and the least developed in the Ursidae, carnivorans have six incisors and two conical canines in each jaw. The only two exceptions to this are the sea otter, which has four incisors in the jaw, and the sloth bear. The number of molars and premolars is variable between species, but all teeth are deeply rooted and are diphyodont. Incisors are retained by carnivorans and the incisor is commonly large. Carnivorans have either four or five digits on each foot, with the first digit on the forepaws, also known as the dew claw, being vestigial in most species and absent in some. Most species are plain in coloration, lacking the flashy spotted or rosetted coats like many species of felids and viverrids have. This is because Canoidea tend to range in the temperate and subarctic biomes, most are terrestrial, although a few species, like procyonids, are arboreal. All families except the Canidae and a few species of Mustelidae are plantigrade, diet is varied and most tend to be omnivorous to some degree, and thus the carnassial teeth are less specialized. Canoidea have more premolars and molars in an elongated skull and this is because these species tend to range in tropical habitats, although a few species do inhabit temperate and subarctic habitats. Many are arboreal or semiarboreal, and the majority are digitigrade, diet tends to be more strictly carnivorous, especially in the family Felidae
31.
Bear dog
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Amphicyonids are often colloquially referred to as bear-dogs, but are more closely related to true dogs than to bears. The family was erected by Haeckel and it is uncertain where Amphicyonids, often referred to as bear dogs, originated. As these are of North American origin, but appear to be early amphicyonids, the New World amphicyonids include the oldest known amphicyonid, Daphoenus and the subfamily Temnocyoninae. These coexisted with their Old World counterparts, including Ysengrinia, Cynelos, there is often some confusion with the similar looking dog-bears, which are members of the family Hemicyonidae. Amphicyonids ranged in size from as small as 5 kg and as large as 100 to 600 kg, early amphicyonids, such as Daphoenodon, possessed a digitigrade posture and locomotion, while many of the later and larger species were plantigrade or semiplantigrade. The amphicyonids were obligate carnivores, unlike the Canidae, which are hypercarnivores or mesocarnivores, while amphicyonids were previously thought to be closely related to ursids, there is increasing evidence that they may be basal caniforms. During the early Miocene, a number of large amphicyonids are thought to have migrated from Eurasia into North America and these taxa belong to the Old World amphicyonid subfamily Amphicyoninae. The earliest to appear is the large bear dog Ysengrinia Ginsburg, followed by Cynelos Jourdan, New World daphoenines and temnocyonines coexisted with Old World amphicyonines 23. 7-17.5 million years ago. These are the largest terrestrial carnivorans 50 to 200 kg to have evolved on the North American continent up to this time, Amphicyonids began to decline in the late Miocene, and largely disappeared in the Pliocene. The reasons for this are unclear, possibly it was due to competition with other carnivorans, reappraisal of the Middle to Late Eocene ‘Miacis’ from Texas, USA, and the origin of Amphicyonidae
32.
Enaliarctos
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Enaliarctos is an extinct genus of pinniped. It had a tail and developed limbs with webbed feet. Unlike modern sea lions, it had a set of slicing carnassials, still, Enaliarctos had some sea lion-like characteristics, such as large eyes, sensitive whiskers, and a specialized inner ear for hearing underwater. Enaliarctos has been heralded as the ancestor of all pinnipeds, including the families Otariidae, Desmatophocidae, Phocidae. Investigations of the biomechanics of Enaliarctos indicate that it used both its forelimbs and hindlimbs during swimming. Modern fur seals and sea lions use their forelimbs, while true seals primarily use their hindlimbs for aquatic propulsion, lastly. This is significant because there has been debate as to whether pinnipeds share common ancestry. Interpretation of Enaliarctos indicates that all share a common ancestor Enaliarctos emlongi is represented by fossils from coastal Oregon. It existed between 13 and 20 million years ago, during the Hemingfordian age of the Oligocene epoch and it was named for renowned fossil collector Douglas Emlong in 1991 by paleontologist Annalisa Berta
33.
Phocidae
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The earless seals or true seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae /ˈfoʊsᵻdiː/ and they are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae. Seals live in the oceans of both hemispheres and, with the exception of the more tropical monk seals, are confined to polar, subpolar. The Baikal seal is the species of exclusively freshwater seal. Adult phocids vary from 1.17 m in length and 45 kg in weight in the seal to 4.9 m and 2,400 kg in the southern elephant seal. Phocids are more specialized for life than otariids. They lack external ears and have sleek, streamlined bodies, retractable nipples, internal testicles, and an internal penile sheath provide further streamlining. A smooth layer of blubber lies underneath the skin, phocids are able to divert blood flow to this layer to help control their temperatures. Their fore flippers are used primarily for steering, while their flippers are bound to the pelvis in such a way that they cannot bring them under their bodies to walk on them. They are more streamlined than fur seals and sea lions, so can swim more effectively over long distances, however, because they cannot turn their hind flippers downward, they are very clumsy on land, having to wriggle with their front flippers and abdominal muscles. Phocids have fewer teeth than land-based members of the Carnivora, although they retain powerful canines. The dental formula is, 2-3.1.4. 0-21-2.1.4. 0-2 Phocid respiratory and circulatory systems are adapted to allow diving to considerable depths, and they can spend a long time underwater between breaths. Air is forced from the lungs during a dive and into the respiratory passages. This helps protect the seal from the bends, the middle ear is also lined with blood sinuses that inflate during diving, helping to maintain a constant pressure. While otariids are known for speed and maneuverability, phocids are known for efficient and this allows most phocids to forage far from land to exploit prey resources, while otariids are tied to rich upwelling zones close to breeding sites. Phocids swim by sideways movements of their bodies, using their flippers to fullest effect. Unlike otariids, true seals do not communicate by barking, instead, they communicate by slapping the water and grunting. Phocids spend most of their time at sea, although they return to land or pack ice to breed, pregnant females spend long periods foraging at sea, building up fat reserves, and then return to the breeding site to use their stored energy to nurse pups
34.
Suborder
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In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, an immediately higher rank, superorder, may be added directly above order, while suborder would be a lower rank. A taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank, in that case the plural is orders. Example, The Juglans and Hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, what does and does not belong to each order is determined by a taxonomist, as is whether a particular order should be recognized at all. Often there is no agreement, with different taxonomists each taking a different position. There are no rules that a taxonomist needs to follow in describing or recognizing an order. Some taxa are accepted almost universally, while others are recognised only rarely, for some groups of organisms, consistent suffixes are used to denote that the rank is an order. The Latin suffix -formes meaning having the form of is used for the name of orders of birds and fishes. The suffix -ales is for the name of orders of plants, fungi, for some clades covered by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a number of additional classifications are sometimes used, although not all of these are officially recognised. In their 1997 classification of mammals, McKenna and Bell used two levels between superorder and order, grandorder and mirorder. Michael Novacek inserted them at the same position, michael Benton inserted them between superorder and magnorder instead. This position was adopted by Systema Naturae 2000 and others, in botany, the ranks of subclass and suborder are secondary ranks pre-defined as respectively above and below the rank of order. Any number of further ranks can be used as long as they are clearly defined, the superorder rank is commonly used, with the ending -anae that was initiated by Armen Takhtajans publications from 1966 onwards. Carl Linnaeus was the first to apply it consistently to the division of all three kingdoms of nature in his Systema Naturae, for plants, Linnaeus orders in the Systema Naturae and the Species Plantarum were strictly artificial, introduced to subdivide the artificial classes into more comprehensible smaller groups. In French botanical publications, from Michel Adansons Familles naturelles des plantes and until the end of the 19th century, some of the plant families still retain the names of Linnaean natural orders or even the names of pre-Linnaean natural groups recognised by Linnaeus as orders in his natural classification. Such names are known as family names. In zoology, the Linnaean orders were used more consistently and that is, the orders in the zoology part of the Systema Naturae refer to natural groups. Some of his names are still in use
35.
Feliformia
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Feliformia is the name of a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of cat-like carnivorans, including cats, hyenas, mongooses, civets, and related taxa. Feliformia stands in contrast to the suborder of Carnivora, Caniformia. The separation of the Carnivora into the groups of feliforms and caniforms is widely accepted. The classification of feliforms as part of the Feliformia suborder or under separate groupings continues to evolve, systematic classifications dealing with only extant taxa include all feliforms into the Feliformia suborder, though variations exist in the definition and grouping of families and genera. Indeed, molecular phylogenies suggest that all extant Feliformia are monophyletic, the extant families as reflected in the taxa chart at right and the discussions in this article reflect the most contemporary and well-supported views. Systematic classifications dealing with both extant and extinct taxa vary more widely, some separate the feliforms as, Aeluroidea and Feliformia. Others include all feliforms into the Feliformia suborder, recent studies suggest this inclusion of possible ancestors into Feliformia may be spurious. The extinct families as reflected in the chart are the least problematic in terms of their relationship with extant feliforms. All extant feliforms share a common attribute, their auditory bullae and this is a key diagnostic in classifying species as feliform versus caniform. In feliforms, the auditory bullae are double-chambered, composed of two joined by a septum. Caniforms have single-chambered or partially divided auditory bullae, composed of a single bone and this feature, however, is problematic for the classification of the extinct Nimravidae as feliforms. Nimravid fossils show ossified bullae with no septum, or no trace at all of the entire bulla and it is assumed that they had a cartilaginous housing of the ear mechanism. The specific characteristics of extant feliform bullae suggest a common ancestor, there are other characteristics that differentiate feliforms from caniforms and probably existed in their stem taxa. But, due to speciation, these do not apply unambiguously to all extant species, Feliforms tend to have shorter rostrums than caniforms, fewer teeth, and more specialized carnassials. Feliforms tend to be carnivorous and are generally ambush hunters. Caniforms tend more toward omnivorous and opportunity-based feeders, many feliforms have retractile or semi-retractile claws and many are arboreal or semi-arboreal. Feliforms also tend to be more digitigrade, in contrast, most caniforms are terrestrial, have non-retractile claws and tend to be plantigrade. There are seven extant families, twelve subfamilies,56 genera and 114 species in the Feliformia suborder and they range natively across all continents except Australia and Antarctica
36.
Pinniped
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Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, there are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage. Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and musteloids, Seals range in size from the 1 m and 45 kg Baikal seal to the 5 m and 3,200 kg southern elephant seal, which is also the largest carnivoran. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers, though not as fast in the water as dolphins, seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids use their front limbs primarily to themselves through the water, while phocids. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body, by comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have a tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape predators, like sharks. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates, but a few, like the seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks, male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female, although the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a number of females than those of ice- or water-breeding species. Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating, pups are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea, Seals produce a number of vocalizations, notably the barks of California sea lions, the gong-like calls of walruses and the complex songs of Weddell seals
37.
Walrus
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The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the living species in the family Odobenidae. Adult walruses are easily recognized by their prominent tusks, whiskers, adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kg and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and they are considered to be a species in the Arctic marine regions. The walrus has played a prominent role in the cultures of many indigenous Arctic peoples, who have hunted the walrus for its meat, fat, skin, tusks, and bone. During the 19th century and the early 20th century, walruses were widely hunted and killed for their blubber, walrus ivory, the population of walruses dropped rapidly all around the Arctic region. Their population has rebounded somewhat since then, though the populations of Atlantic and Laptev walruses remain fragmented, the origin of the word walrus is thought by J. R. R. Tolkien to derive from a Germanic language, and it has been attributed largely to either the Dutch language or Old Norse and its first part is thought to derive from a word such as Dutch walvis whale. Its second part has also hypothesized to come from the Old Norse word for horse. For example, the Old Norse word hrossvalr means horse-whale and is thought to have passed in an inverted form to both Dutch and the dialects of northern Germany as walros and Walross. An alternate theory is that is comes from the Dutch words wal shore, the species name rosmarus is Scandinavian. The Norwegian manuscript Konungsskuggsja, thought to date from around AD1240, refers to the walrus as rosmhvalr in Iceland and rostungr in Greenland. Several place names in Iceland, Greenland and Norway may originate from sites, Hvalfjord, Hvallatrar and Hvalsnes to name some. The archaic English word for walrus—morse—is widely thought to have come from the Slavic languages, compare морж in Russian, mursu in Finnish, morša in Northern Saami, and morse in French. The coincidental similarity between morse and the Latin word morsus supposedly contributed to the reputation as a terrible monster. The compound Odobenus comes from odous and baino, based on observations of walruses using their tusks to pull out of the water. The term divergens in Latin means turning apart, referring to their tusks, the walrus is a mammal in the order Carnivora
38.
Sea lion
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Sea lions are sea mammals characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short, thick hair, big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they comprise the family Otariidae, eared seals and their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean. They have a lifespan of 20–30 years. A male California sea lion weighs on average about 300 kg and is about 8 ft long, the largest sea lion is Stellers sea lion, which can weigh 1,000 kg and grow to a length of 10 ft. Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their weight at a single feeding. Together with the fur seals, they constitute the family Otariidae, until recently, sea lions were grouped under a single subfamily called Otariinae, whereas fur seals were grouped in the subfamily Arcocephalinae. This division was based on the most prominent common feature shared by the fur seals and absent in the sea lions, namely the dense underfur characteristic of the former. Recent genetic evidence, however, strongly suggests Callorhinus, the genus of the fur seal, is more closely related to some sea lion species than to the other fur seal genus, Arctocephalus. Therefore, the fur seal/sea lion subfamily distinction has been eliminated from many taxonomies, Sea lions are related to the walrus and the seal. Nonetheless, all fur seals have certain features in common, the fur, generally smaller sizes, farther and longer foraging trips, smaller and more abundant prey items, and greater sexual dimorphism. All sea lions have certain features in common, in particular their coarse, short fur, greater bulk, for these reasons, the distinction remains useful. The family Otariidae contains the 14 extant species of fur seals and this is consistent with the fossil record which suggests that this genus diverged from the line leading to the remaining fur seals and sea lions about 6 million years ago. The phylogenetic relationships within the family and the distances among some taxa highlight inconsistencies in the current taxonomic classification of the family. Arctocephalus is characterized by ancestral character states such as dense underfur and it was from this basal line that both the sea lions and the remaining fur seal genus, Callorhinus, are thought to have diverged. Physiology dictates thermoregulation, osmoregulation, reproduction, metabolic rate, and many other aspects on sea lion ecology including but not limited to their ability to dive to great depths. The sea lions bodies control heart rate, gas exchange, digestion rate, the high pressures associated with deep dives cause gases such as nitrogen to build up in tissues which are then released upon surfacing, possibly causing death. One of the sea lions deal with the extreme pressures is by limiting the amount of gas exchange that occurs when diving. The sea lion allows the alveoli to be compressed by the water pressure thus forcing the surface air into cartilage lined airway just before the gas exchange surface
39.
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
40.
Eurasia
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Eurasia /jʊˈreɪʒə/ is a combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia. The term is a portmanteau of its constituent continents, in geology, Eurasia is often considered as a single rigid megablock. However, the rigidity of Eurasia is debated based on the paleomagnet data, Eurasia covers around 55,000,000 square kilometres, or around 36. 2% of the Earths total land area. The landmass contains around 5.0 billion people, equating to approximately 70% of the human population, humans first settled in Eurasia between 60,000 and 125,000 years ago. Physiographically, Eurasia is a single continent, the concepts of Europe and Asia as distinct continents date back to antiquity and their borders are geologically arbitrary. Eurasia is connected to Africa at the Suez Canal, and Eurasia is sometimes combined with Africa as the largest contiguous landmass on Earth called Afro-Eurasia. Eurasia formed 375 to 325 million years ago with the merging of Siberia, Kazakhstania, and Baltica, chinese cratons collided with Siberias southern coast. Eurasia has been the host of ancient civilizations, including those based in Mesopotamia. In the Axial Age, a belt of civilizations stretched through the Eurasian subtropical zone from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This belt became the mainstream of world history for two millennia, originally, “Eurasia” is a geographical notion, in this sense, it is simply the biggest continent, the combined landmass of Europe and Asia. However, geopolitically, the word has different meanings, reflecting the specific geopolitical interests of each nation. “Eurasia” is one of the most important geopolitical concepts, as Zbigniew Brzezinski observed, how America manages Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates “Eurasia” would control two of the three most advanced and economically productive regions. About 75 per cent of the people live in “Eurasia”. “Eurasia” accounts for about three-fourths of the known energy resources. ”At the moment one of the most prominent projects of the European Union is the Russia - EU Four Common Spaces Initiative. A political and economic union of former Soviet states named the Eurasian Economic Union was established in 2015, the Russian concept of “Eurasia” corresponded initially more or less to the land area of Imperial Russia in 1914, including parts of Eastern Europe. One of Russias main geopolitical interests lies in ever closer integration with those countries that it considers part of “Eurasia. ”Every two years since 1996 a meeting of most Asian and European countries is organised as the Asia-Europe Meeting. In ancient times, the Greeks classified Europe and Asia as separate lands, where to draw the dividing line between the two regions is still a matter of discussion
41.
Feliforms
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Feliformia is the name of a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of cat-like carnivorans, including cats, hyenas, mongooses, civets, and related taxa. Feliformia stands in contrast to the suborder of Carnivora, Caniformia. The separation of the Carnivora into the groups of feliforms and caniforms is widely accepted. The classification of feliforms as part of the Feliformia suborder or under separate groupings continues to evolve, systematic classifications dealing with only extant taxa include all feliforms into the Feliformia suborder, though variations exist in the definition and grouping of families and genera. Indeed, molecular phylogenies suggest that all extant Feliformia are monophyletic, the extant families as reflected in the taxa chart at right and the discussions in this article reflect the most contemporary and well-supported views. Systematic classifications dealing with both extant and extinct taxa vary more widely, some separate the feliforms as, Aeluroidea and Feliformia. Others include all feliforms into the Feliformia suborder, recent studies suggest this inclusion of possible ancestors into Feliformia may be spurious. The extinct families as reflected in the chart are the least problematic in terms of their relationship with extant feliforms. All extant feliforms share a common attribute, their auditory bullae and this is a key diagnostic in classifying species as feliform versus caniform. In feliforms, the auditory bullae are double-chambered, composed of two joined by a septum. Caniforms have single-chambered or partially divided auditory bullae, composed of a single bone and this feature, however, is problematic for the classification of the extinct Nimravidae as feliforms. Nimravid fossils show ossified bullae with no septum, or no trace at all of the entire bulla and it is assumed that they had a cartilaginous housing of the ear mechanism. The specific characteristics of extant feliform bullae suggest a common ancestor, there are other characteristics that differentiate feliforms from caniforms and probably existed in their stem taxa. But, due to speciation, these do not apply unambiguously to all extant species, Feliforms tend to have shorter rostrums than caniforms, fewer teeth, and more specialized carnassials. Feliforms tend to be carnivorous and are generally ambush hunters. Caniforms tend more toward omnivorous and opportunity-based feeders, many feliforms have retractile or semi-retractile claws and many are arboreal or semi-arboreal. Feliforms also tend to be more digitigrade, in contrast, most caniforms are terrestrial, have non-retractile claws and tend to be plantigrade. There are seven extant families, twelve subfamilies,56 genera and 114 species in the Feliformia suborder and they range natively across all continents except Australia and Antarctica
42.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
43.
South Asia
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Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, the current territories of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka form the countries of South Asia. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is an economic cooperation organisation in the region which was established in 1985, South Asia covers about 5.1 million km², which is 11. 51% of the Asian continent or 3. 4% of the worlds land surface area. The population of South Asia is about 1.749 billion or about one fourth of the worlds population, overall, it accounts for about 39. 49% of Asias population and is home to a vast array of peoples. The area of South Asia and its extent is not clear cut as systemic. Aside from the region of South Asia, formerly part of the British Empire, there is a high degree of variation as to which other countries are included in South Asia. Modern definitions of South Asia are consistent in including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar is included by some scholars in South Asia, but in Southeast Asia by others. Some do not include Afghanistan, others question whether Afghanistan should be considered a part of South Asia or the Middle East, the mountain countries of Nepal and Bhutan, and the island countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives are generally included as well. Myanmar is often added, and by various deviating definitions based on often substantially different reasons, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the common concept of South Asia is largely inherited from the administrative boundaries of the British Raj, with several exceptions. The Aden Colony, British Somaliland and Singapore, though administered at various times under the Raj, have not been proposed as any part of South Asia. Additionally Burma was administered as part of the Raj until 1937, the 562 princely states that were protected by but not directly ruled by the Raj became administrative parts of South Asia upon joining Union of India or Dominion of Pakistan. China and Myanmar have also applied for the status of members of SAARC. This bloc of countries include two independent countries that were not part of the British Raj – Nepal, and Bhutan, Afghanistan was a British protectorate from 1878 until 1919, after the Afghans lost to the British in the Second Anglo-Afghan war. The United Nations Statistics Divisions scheme of sub-regions include all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia, population Information Network includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as part of South Asia. Maldives, in view of its characteristics, was admitted as a member Pacific POPIN subregional network only in principle, the Hirschman–Herfindahl index of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region includes only the original seven signatories of SAARC. The British Indian Ocean Territory is connected to the region by a publication of Janes for security considerations, the inclusion of Myanmar in South Asia is without consensus, with many considering it a part of southeast Asia and others including it within South Asia. Afghanistan was of importance to the British colonial empire, especially after the Second Anglo-Afghan War over 1878–1880, Afghanistan remained a British protectorate until 1919, when a treaty with Vladimir Lenin included the granting of independence to Afghanistan. Following Indias partition, Afghanistan has generally included in South Asia
44.
Fisher (animal)
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The fisher is a small carnivorous mammal native to North America. It is a member of the family and a part of the marten genus. The fisher is closely related to but larger than the American marten, the fisher is a forest-dwelling creature whose range covers much of the boreal forest in Canada to the northern United States. Names derived from aboriginal languages include pekan, pequam, wejack and it is also called a fisher cat, although it is not a feline. Adult males are 90 to 120 cm long and weigh 3.5 to 6 kilograms, adult females are 75 to 95 cm long and weigh 2 to 2.5 kg. The fur of the fisher varies seasonally, being denser and glossier in the winter, during the summer, the color becomes more mottled, as the fur goes through a moulting cycle. The fisher prefers to hunt in full forest, though an agile climber, it spends most of its time on the forest floor, where it prefers to forage around fallen trees. An omnivore, the fisher feeds on a variety of small animals and occasionally on fruits. It prefers the snowshoe hare and is one of the few able to prey successfully on porcupines. Despite its common name, the fisher seldom eats fish, the reproductive cycle of the fisher lasts almost a year. Female fishers give birth to a litter of three or four kits in the spring and they nurse and care for their kits until late summer, when they are old enough to set out on their own. Females enter estrus shortly after giving birth and leave the den to find a mate, implantation of the blastocyst is delayed until the following spring, when they give birth and the cycle is renewed. Fishers have few predators besides humans and they have been trapped since the 18th century for their fur. Their pelts were in demand that they were extirpated from several parts of the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Conservation and protection measures have allowed the species to rebound, in the 1920s, when pelt prices were high, some fur farmers attempted to raise fishers. However, their unusual delayed reproduction made breeding difficult, when pelt prices fell in the late 1940s, most fisher farming ended. While fishers usually avoid human contact, encroachments into forest habitats have resulted in some conflicts, There are anecdotal reports of fishers attacking pets and, in a 2009 case in Rhode Island, a 6-year-old boy. In 2014, a 12-year-old boy was attacked by what was believed to be a fisher in Massachusetts, despite the name fisher, the animal is not known to eat fish
45.
Marten
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The martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in the family Mustelidae. Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigas and they have bushy tails, and large paws with partially retractible claws. The fur varies from yellowish to brown, depending on the species. Martens are omnivorous animals related to wolverines, minks, badgers, ferrets and their diet consists of squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds, fish, insects, and eggs, and they will also eat fruit and nuts when these are available. Martens are solitary animals, meeting only to breed in spring or early summer. Litters of up to five blind and nearly hairless kits are born in early spring and they are weaned after around two months, and leave the mother to fend for themselves at about three to four months of age. The genus first evolved up to seven years ago during the Miocene epoch. During the fur trade, commissioned by the Hudson Bay Company in the 17th and 18th century, the marten is still traded locally. The locals place a value on this pelt, typically trading it for chips, pop. In the Middle Ages, marten pelts were highly valued goods used as a form of payment in Slavonia, the Croatian Littoral, the banovac, a coin struck and used between 1235 and 1384, included the image of a marten. This is one of the reasons why the Croatian word for marten, a marten is depicted on the obverse of the 1-, 2-, and 5-kuna coins, minted since 1993, and on the reverse of the 25-kuna commemorative coins. A running marten is shown on the coat of arms of Slavonia, the official seal of the Croatian Sabor from 1497 until the late 18th century had a similar design. The Finnish communications company Nokia derives its name, via the river Nokianvirta, data related to Martes at Wikispecies Media related to Martes at Wikimedia Commons
46.
Red panda
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The red panda, also called the lesser panda, the red bear-cat, and the red cat-bear, is a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and it is arboreal, feeds mainly on bamboo, but also eats eggs, birds, and insects. It is an animal, mainly active from dusk to dawn. The red panda is the living species of the genus Ailurus. It is not closely related to the giant panda, the head and body length of a red panda measures 50 to 64 cm, and its tail is 28 to 59 cm. Males weigh 3.7 to 6.2 kg and females 3 to 6.0 kg and they have long, soft, reddish-brown fur on the upper parts, blackish fur on the lower parts, and a light face with tear markings and robust cranio dental features. The light face has white badges similar to those of a raccoon and their roundish heads have medium-sized upright ears, black noses, and blackish eyes. Their long, bushy tails with six alternating transverse ochre rings provide balance and excellent camouflage against their habitat of moss-, the legs are black and short with thick fur on the soles of the paws. This fur serves as thermal insulation on snow-covered or icy surfaces and conceals scent glands, the red panda is specialized as a bamboo feeder with strong, curved and sharp semi-retractile claws standing inward for grasping narrow tree branches, leaves, and fruit. Like the giant panda, it has a “false thumb” which is an extension of the wrist bone, when descending a tree head-first, the red panda rotates its ankle to control its descent, one of the few climbing species to do so. The red panda is endemic to the forests of the Himalayas. Its easternmost limit is the Qinling Mountains of the Shaanxi Province in China and it may also live in south-west Tibet and northern Arunachal Pradesh, but this has not been documented. Locations with the highest density of red pandas include an area in the Himalayas that has been proposed as having been a refuge for a variety of species in the Pleistocene. The distribution range of the red panda should be considered disjunct, a disjunct population inhabits the Meghalaya Plateau of north-eastern India. During a survey in the 1970s, signs of red pandas were found in Nepals Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve and their presence was confirmed in spring 2007 when four red pandas were sighted at elevations ranging from 3,220 to 3,610 m. The species westernmost limit is in Rara National Park located farther west of the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve and their presence was confirmed in 2008. The red panda lives between 2,200 and 4,800 m altitude, inhabiting areas of moderate temperature between 10 and 25 °C with little annual change and it prefers mountainous mixed deciduous and conifer forests, especially with old trees and dense understories of bamboo. The red panda population in Sichuan Province is larger and more stable than the Yunnan population, the red panda has become extirpated from the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Qinghai
47.
Ring-tailed cat
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The ringtail is a mammal of the raccoon family, native to arid regions of North America. It is also known as the cat, ring-tailed cat, miners cat or bassarisk. The ringtail is sometimes called a cacomistle, though this seems to be more often used to refer to Bassariscus sumichrasti. The ringtail is buff to brown in color with white underparts and a black and white ringed tail that has 14–16 white and black stripes. The claws are short, straight, and semi-retractable, the eyes are large and black, each surrounded by a patch of light fur. It is smaller than a cat and is one of the smallest extant procyonids. It measures 30–42 cm long to the base of the tail with the tail adding another 31–44 cm and it can weigh from 0.7 to 1.5 kg. Ringtails have occasionally hunted for their pelts, but the fur is not especially valuable. Typically weighing around three pounds, ringtails possess superb hearing and eyes allow them to move about at night. A nocturnal creature, the large eyes and upright ears make it easier for it to move about in the dark. Its fur ranges in coloring from tawny to grayish, and a muzzle with long whiskers resembles that of a fox - which is appropriate in that its very name means ‘clever little fox’. Its tail is about a long, with seven to nine black rings and is about the same length as the animals body. Like its namesake, the ringtail uses this tail for balancing when moving about its habitat, the tail also serves another purpose, acting as a distraction for potential predators. The white rings provide predators with an other than the ringtail itself, by grabbing the tail rather than the body. Additionally, their claws and long tail provide the ringtail with tools ideal for climbing. In areas with a source of water, as many as 50 ringtails/sq. Ranging from 50 to 100 acres, the territories of male ringtails occasionally intersect with several females It has been suggested that ringtails utilize feces as a way to mark territory, ringtails prefer a solitary existence but may share a den or be found mutually grooming one another. They exhibit limited interaction except during the season, which occurs in the early spring
48.
Plantigrade
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In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground. It is one of three forms of locomotion adopted by terrestrial mammals, the leg of a plantigrade mammal includes the bones of the upper leg and lower leg. The leg of a digitigrade mammal also includes the metatarsals/metacarpals, the bones that in a human compose the arch of the foot, the leg of an unguligrade mammal also includes the phalanges, the finger and toe bones. Among extinct animals, most early mammals such as pantodonts were plantigrade, a plantigrade foot is the primitive condition for mammals, digitigrade and unguligrade locomotion evolved later. Among archosaurs, the pterosaurs were partially plantigrade, walking on the whole of the hind foot, the primary disadvantage of a plantigrade foot is speed. With more bones and joints in the foot, the leg is shorter and heavier at the far end, which makes it difficult to move rapidly. Plantigrade foot occurs normally in humans in static postures of standing and sitting and it should also occur normally in gait. This would be evident by the observable heel rise
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