Amorphophallus titanum
Amorphophallus titanum known as the titan arum, is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The titan arum's inflorescence is not as large as that of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, but the inflorescence of the talipot palm is branched rather than unbranched; the species is endemic to Sumatra. Due to its odor, like the smell of a rotting corpse or carcass, the titan arum is characterized as a carrion flower, is known as the corpse flower or corpse plant. For the same reason, the title corpse flower is attributed to the genus Rafflesia. Amorphophallus titanum derives its name from Ancient Greek; the popular name "titan arum" was coined by W. H. Hodge. Amorphophallus titanum is native to western Sumatra, western Java where it grows in openings in rainforests on limestone hills. However, the plant is cultivated by private collectors around the world; the titan arum's inflorescence can reach over 3 metres in height. Like the related cuckoo pint and calla lily, it consists of a fragrant spadix of flowers wrapped by a spathe, which looks like a large petal.
In the case of the titan arum, the spathe is a deep green on the outside and dark burgundy red on the inside, with a furrowed texture. The spadix resembles a large baguette. Near the bottom of the spadix, hidden from view inside the sheath of the spathe, the spadix bears two rings of small flowers; the upper ring bears the male flowers, the lower ring is spangled with bright red-orange carpels. The "fragrance" of the titan arum resembles rotting meat, attracting carrion-eating beetles and flesh flies that pollinate it; the inflorescence's deep red color and texture contribute to the illusion that the spathe is a piece of meat. During bloom, the tip of the spadix is human body temperature, which helps the perfume volatilize. Both male and female flowers grow in the same inflorescence; the female flowers open first a day or two following, the male flowers open. This prevents the flower from self-pollinating. After the flower dies back, a single leaf, which reaches the size of a small tree, grows from the underground corm.
The leaf grows on a somewhat green stalk that branches into three sections at the top, each containing many leaflets. The leaf structure can reach up to 6 metres tall and 5 metres across; each year, the old leaf dies and a new one grows in its place. When the corm has stored enough energy, it becomes dormant for about four months; the process repeats. The corm is the largest known weighing around 50 kilograms; when a specimen at the Princess of Wales Conservatory, Kew Gardens, was repotted after its dormant period, the weight was recorded as 91 kilograms. In 2006, a corm in the Botanical Garden of Bonn, Germany was recorded at 117 kilograms, an A. titanum grown in Gilford, New Hampshire by Dr. Louis Ricciardiello in 2010 weighed 138 kilograms; however the current record is held by a corm grown at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, weighing 153.9 kilograms after 7 years growth from an initial corm the size of an orange. The titan arum grows in the wild only in the equatorial rainforests of Indonesia.
It was first scientifically described in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari. The plant flowers only infrequently in the wild and more when cultivated, it first flowered in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, in 1889, with over 100 cultivated blossoms since then. The first documented flowerings in the United States were at New York Botanical Garden in 1937 and 1939; this flowering inspired the designation of the titan arum as the official flower of the Bronx in 1939, only to be replaced in 2000 by the day lily. The number of cultivated plants has increased in recent years, it is not uncommon for there to be five or more flowering events in gardens around the world in a single year; the titan arum is more available to the advanced gardener due to pollination techniques. In 2003, the tallest bloom in cultivation, some 2.74 m high, was achieved at the Botanical Garden of the University of Bonn in Germany. The event was acknowledged by Guinness World Records. On 20 October 2005, this record was broken at the botanical and zoological garden Wilhelma in Stuttgart, Germany.
The record was broken again by Louis Ricciardiello, whose specimen measured 3.1 m tall on 18 June 2010, when it was on display at Winnipesaukee Orchids in Gilford, New Hampshire, USA. This event, was acknowledged by Guinness World Records. In 2011, Roseville High School in California became the first high school in the world to bring a titan arum to bloom. In cultivation, the titan arum requires 7–10 years of vegetative growth before blooming for the first time. After its initial blooming, there can be considerable variation in blooming frequency; some plants may not bloom again for another 7–10 years while others may bloom every two to three years. There have been documented cases of back-to-back blooms occurring within a year and corms sending up both a leaf and an inflorescence. There has been an occasion when a corm produced multiple simultaneous blooms; the spathe begins to open between mid-afternoon and late evening and remains open all night. At this time, the female flowers are receptive
North America
North America is a continent within the Northern Hemisphere and all within the Western Hemisphere. 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, 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 earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, the fourth by population after Asia and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population, if nearby islands are included. North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge 40,000 to 17,000 years ago; the so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago. The Classic stage spans the 6th to 13th centuries.
The Pre-Columbian era ended in 1492, the transatlantic migrations—the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery and the Early Modern period. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants. Owing to the European colonization of the Americas, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, their culture reflects Western traditions; the Americas are 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 unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a world map, in which he placed the word "America" on the continent of South America, in the middle of what is today Brazil, he explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio:... ab Americo inventore... quasi Americi terram sive Americam.
For Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespucci's name, but in its feminine form "America", following the examples of "Europa", "Asia" and "Africa". Other mapmakers extended the name America to the northern continent, In 1538, Gerard Mercator used America on his map of the world for all the Western Hemisphere; some argue that because the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries, the derivation from "Amerigo Vespucci" could be put in question. In 1874, Thomas Belt proposed a derivation from the Amerrique mountains of Central America. Marcou corresponded with Augustus Le Plongeon, who wrote: "The name AMERICA or AMERRIQUE in the Mayan language means, a country of perpetually strong wind, or the Land of the Wind, and... the can mean... a spirit that breathes, life itself." The United Nations formally recognizes "North America" as comprising three areas: Northern America, Central America, The Caribbean.
This has been formally defined by the UN Statistics Division. The term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with context. In Canadian English, North America refers to the land mass as a whole consisting of Mexico, the United States, Canada, although it is ambiguous which other countries are included, is defined by context. In the United States of America, usage of the term may refer only to Canada and the US, sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands. In France, Portugal, Romania and the countries of Latin America, the cognates of North America designate a subcontinent of the Americas comprising Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Bermuda. North America has been referred to by other names. Spanish North America was referred to as Northern America, this was the first official name given to Mexico. Geographically the North American continent has many subregions; these include cultural and geographic regions. Economic regions included those formed by trade blocs, such as the North American Trade Agreement bloc and Central American Trade Agreement.
Linguistically and culturally, the continent could be divided into Latin America. Anglo-America includes most of Northern America and Caribbean islands with English-speaking populations; the southern North American continent is composed of two regions. These are the Caribbean; the north of the continent maintains recognized regions as well. In contrast to the common definition of "North America", which encompasses the whole continent, the term "North America" is sometimes used to refer only to Mexico, the United States, Greenland; the term Northern America refers to the northern-most countries and territories of North America: the United States, Bermuda, St. Pierre and Miquelon and Greenland. Although the term does not refer to a unifie
Asimina
Asimina is a genus of small trees or shrubs described as a genus in 1763. Asimina has large fruit, it collectively referred to as pawpaw. The genus includes the widespread common pawpaw Asimina triloba, which bears the largest edible fruit indigenous to the continent. Pawpaws are native to 26 states of the U. S. and to Ontario in Canada. The common pawpaw is a patch-forming understory tree found in well-drained, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat. Pawpaws are in the same plant family as the custard-apple, sweetsop and ylang-ylang; the genus name Asimina was first described and named by Michel Adanson, a French naturalist of Scottish descent. The name is adapted from the Native American name assimin through the French colonial asiminier; the common name pawpaw spelled paw paw, paw-paw, papaw derives from the Spanish papaya because of the superficial similarity of their fruits. Pawpaws are shrubs or small trees to 2–12 m tall; the northern, cold-tolerant common pawpaw is deciduous, while the southern species are evergreen.
The leaves are alternate, entire, 20–35 cm long and 10–15 cm broad. The flowers of pawpaws are in clusters of up to eight together; the petal color varies from white to red-brown. The fruit of the common pawpaw is a large edible berry, 5–16 cm long and 3–7 cm broad, weighing from 20–500 g, with numerous seeds, it has a flavor somewhat similar to both banana and mango, varying by cultivar, has more protein than most fruits. Accepted speciesAsimina angustifolia Raf. 1840 not A. Gray 1886. Florida and Georgia. Asimina longifolia Raf. - slimleaf pawpaw. Florida and Alabama. Asimina manasota DeLaney - manasota papaw native to two counties in Florida. - Florida and Georgia. Asimina obovata Nash) - flag-pawpaw or bigflower pawpaw - Florida Asimina parviflora Dunal - smallflower pawpaw. Southern states from Texas to Virginia. Asimina pygmaea Dunal - dwarf pawpaw. Florida and Georgia. Asimina reticulata Shuttlw. Ex Chapman - netted pawpaw. Florida and Georgia. Asimina spatulata D. B. Ward - slim leaf pawpaw. Florida and Alabama Not a valid species Asimina tetramera Small - fourpetal pawpaw.
Florida Asimina triloba Dunal - common pawpaw. Extreme southern Ontario and the eastern United States from New York west to southeast Nebraska, south to northern Florida and eastern Texas; the common pawpaw is native to shady, rich bottom lands, where it forms a dense undergrowth in the forest appearing as a patch or thicket of individual small slender trees. Pawpaw flowers are insect-pollinated, but fruit production is limited since few if any pollinators are attracted to the flower's faint, or sometimes non-existent scent; the flowers produce an odor similar to that of rotting meat to attract blowflies or carrion beetles for cross pollination. Other insects that are attracted to pawpaw plants include scavenging fruit flies, carrion flies and beetles; because of difficult pollination, some believe. Pawpaw fruit may be eaten by foxes, opossums and raccoons. However, pawpaw leaves and twigs are consumed by rabbits or deer; the leaves and bark of the common pawpaw tree contain natural insecticides known as acetogenins.
Larvae of the zebra swallowtail butterfly feed on young leaves of the various pawpaw species, but never occur in great numbers on the plants. Wild-collected fruits of the common pawpaw have long been a favorite treat throughout the tree's extensive native range in eastern North America. Fresh pawpaw fruits are eaten raw; the fruit pulp is often used locally in baked dessert recipes, with pawpaw substituted in many banana-based recipes. Pawpaws have never been cultivated for fruit on the scale of apples and peaches, but interest in pawpaw cultivation has increased in recent decades. However, only frozen fruit will ship well. Other methods of preservation include dehydration, production of jams or jellies, pressure canning; the pawpaw is gaining in popularity among backyard gardeners because of the tree's distinctive growth habit, the appeal of its fresh fruit, its low maintenance needs once established. The common pawpaw is of interest in ecological restoration plantings since this tree grows well in wet soil and has a strong tendency to form well-rooted clonal thickets.
The several other species of Asimina have few economic uses. The earliest documentation of pawpaws is in the 1541 report of the Spanish de Soto expedition, who found Native Americans cultivating it east of the Mississippi River. Chilled pawpaw fruit was a favorite dessert of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson planted it at his home in Virginia, Monticello; the Lewis and Clark Expedition sometimes subsisted on pawpaws during their travels. The common pawpaw was designated as the Ohio state native fruit in 2009. Flora of North America Asimina USDA distribution of Pawpaw Pawpaw Information from Kentuck
Beetle
Beetles are a group of insects that form the order Coleoptera, in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, distinguishing them from most other insects; the Coleoptera, with about 400,000 species, is the largest of all orders, constituting 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms. The largest of all families, the Curculionidae with some 70,000 member species, belongs to this order. Found in every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, eat other invertebrates; some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae eat aphids, scale insects and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Beetles have a hard exoskeleton including the elytra, though some such as the rove beetles have short elytra while blister beetles have softer elytra; the general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform and typical of insects, although there are several examples of novelty, such as adaptations in water beetles which trap air bubbles under the elytra for use while diving.
Beetles are endopterygotes, which means that they undergo complete metamorphosis, with a series of conspicuous and abrupt changes in body structure between hatching and becoming adult after a immobile pupal stage. Some, such as stag beetles, have a marked sexual dimorphism, the males possessing enormously enlarged mandibles which they use to fight other males. Many beetles are aposematic, with bright colours and patterns warning of their toxicity, while others are harmless Batesian mimics of such insects. Many beetles, including those that live in sandy places, have effective camouflage. Beetles are prominent in human culture, from the sacred scarabs of ancient Egypt to beetlewing art and use as pets or fighting insects for entertainment and gambling. Many beetle groups are brightly and attractively coloured making them objects of collection and decorative displays. Over 300 species are used as food as larvae. However, the major impact of beetles on human life is as agricultural and horticultural pests.
Serious pests include the boll weevil of cotton, the Colorado potato beetle, the coconut hispine beetle, the mountain pine beetle. Most beetles, however, do not cause economic damage and many, such as the lady beetles and dung beetles are beneficial by helping to control insect pests; the name of the taxonomic order, comes from the Greek koleopteros, given to the group by Aristotle for their elytra, hardened shield-like forewings, from koleos and pteron, wing. The English name beetle comes from the Old English word bitela, little biter, related to bītan, leading to Middle English betylle. Another Old English name for beetle is ċeafor, used in names such as cockchafer, from the Proto-Germanic *kebrô. Beetles are by far the largest order of insects: the 400,000 species make up about 40% of all insect species so far described, about 25% of all animals. A 2015 study provided four independent estimates of the total number of beetle species, giving a mean estimate of some 1.5 million with a "surprisingly narrow range" spanning all four estimates from a minimum of 0.9 to a maximum of 2.1 million beetle species.
The four estimates made use of host-specificity relationships, ratios with other taxa, plant:beetle ratios, extrapolations based on body size by year of description. Beetles are found in nearly all habitats, including freshwater and coastal habitats, wherever vegetative foliage is found, from trees and their bark to flowers and underground near roots - inside plants in galls, in every plant tissue, including dead or decaying ones; the heaviest beetle, indeed the heaviest insect stage, is the larva of the goliath beetle, Goliathus goliatus, which can attain a mass of at least 115 g and a length of 11.5 cm. Adult male goliath beetles are the heaviest beetle in its adult stage, weighing 70–100 g and measuring up to 11 cm. Adult elephant beetles, Megasoma elephas and Megasoma actaeon reach 50 g and 10 cm; the longest beetle is the Hercules beetle Dynastes hercules, with a maximum overall length of at least 16.7 cm including the long pronotal horn. The smallest recorded beetle and the smallest free-living insect, is the featherwing beetle Scydosella musawasensis which may measure as little as 325 µm in length.
The oldest known fossil insect that unequivocally resembles a Coleopteran is from the Lower Permian Period about 270 million years ago, though these members of the family Tshekardocoleidae have 13-segmented antennae, elytra with more developed venation and more irregular longitudinal ribbing, abdomen and ovipositor extending beyond the apex of the elytra. In the Permian–Triassic extinction event at the end of the Permian, some 30% of all insect species became extinct, so the fossil record of insects only includes beetles from the Lower Triassic 220 mya. Around this time, during the Late Triassic, fungus-feeding species such as Cupedidae appear in the fossil record. In the stages of the Upper Triassic, alga-feeding insects such as Triaplidae and Hydrophilidae begin to appear, alongside predatory water beetles; the first weevils, including the Obrienidae, appear alongside the first rove beetles, which resemb
Spadix (botany)
In botany, a spadix is a type of spike inflorescence having small flowers borne on a fleshy stem. Spadices are typical of the family Araceae, the arums or aroids; the spadix is surrounded by a leaf-like curved bract known as a spathe. For example, the "flower" of the well known Anthurium spp. is a typical spadix with a large colorful spathe. Monoecious aroids have unisexual male and female flowers on the same individual and the spadix is organized with female flowers towards the bottom and male flowers towards the top; the stigmas are no longer receptive when pollen is released which prevents self-fertilization. We have Compound Spadix Inflorescence in which the axis is branched. Whole Inflorescence is covered by a stiff boat shaped path for example- Coconut
Helicodiceros
Helicodiceros muscivorus, the dead horse arum lily, is an ornamental plant native to Corsica and the Balearic Islands. It is the only species in the genus Helicodiceros. Within the Araceae family the plant is part of the Aroideae subfamily; the flowers of H. muscivorus smell like rotting meat, attracting carrion-seeking blow flies which act as pollinators. One of a rare group of thermogenic plants, the dead horse arum can raise its temperature by thermogenesis; this helps to lure flies into the plant to contact its pollen. The plant still is being studied for the way it is able to produce its own heat without being dependent of ambient temperature; the inflorescence of the arum lilies is a three-part spadix which resembles the anal area of a dead mammal. In between is a hairy spathe such as a ‘tail’ running down into the chamber of the flower which bonds with the fertile male and female florets; the appendix and the male florets have different temporal patterns. The exits of the female florets are hindered by spines and filaments which serve to trap the blow flies once inside.
The male florets exhibit independence from the ambient temperatures as heat production depends on the time of the day rather than ambient temperatures. Uncoupling protein was found in both the thermionic male florets and the appendix; the protein is 1178 nucleotide in length in the dead horse arum mRNA excluding the poly-A tail and it is believed to have a protein of 304 amino acids. It possesses three mitochondrial carrier signature domains, six membrane-spanning domains, one nucleotide-binding domain. Potato and rice have been compared to the plant at times due to its typical features of the uncoupling protein. Uncoupling protein plays a role in the production of energy to become heat; the dead horse arum manipulates the heat to release an odor that lures the flies to the structure of the appendix of the flower to begin pollination. This odor is a strong, putrid smell, its composition has a similarity to a real carcass, which flies are not able to distinguish from a real carcass. Blow flies find the horrific smell and the flesh-colored hairy inflorescence of the plant irresistible, such that large numbers of flies are attracted into the plant.
The thermogeny has a direct effect on the pollinators, by altering their behavior. Although male florets of the dead horse arum exhibit some independence from ambient temperature the pattern has shown that heat production depends on time of the day. Pollination occurs in to two days; the highest temperature of the plant was found to peak at noon on day 1. The appendix temperature was 12.4 °C higher than ambient temperature. During day 1, eight flowering plants received a total of 881 fly visits. Thermogeny has been linked to be produced by the uncoupling protein; the result is the creation of more energy which dissipates into heat. The dead horse arum has a two-day process for pollination; the individual flower is able to receive pollen for one day only, that day its male parts are not mature. Although the male part is able to produce pollen the next day, the female part shrivels up and cannot receive it. Both these mechanisms discourage self-pollination; when ready to pollinate, the plant generates a smell like rotting flesh.
This smell attracts. Once the flies are inside, they are trapped in the chamber by spines; the flies, which are carrying pollen from previous visits to other flowers, cover the female floret with that pollen, as they try to find a place to lay their eggs. The flies remain trapped overnight, the spines remain erect until the male florets at the entrance of the chamber start producing pollen, by which time the female florets are no longer receptive. At this point, the spines wilt and the flies are able to leave. Just as the flies leave, they have to pass through the male florets and are coated with pollen that they will transport to another plant. Media related to Helicodiceros muscivorus at Wikimedia Commons Araceum: Helicodiceros muscivorus page International Aroid Soiety: Helicodiceros muscivorus photo Pacific Bulb Society: Helicodiceros muscivorus Dead Horse Arum on www.realmonstrosities.com
Meat
Meat is animal flesh, eaten as food. Humans have killed animals for meat since prehistoric times; the advent of civilization allowed the domestication of animals such as chickens, rabbits and cattle. This led to their use in meat production on an industrial scale with the aid of slaughterhouses. Meat is composed of water and fat, it is edible raw, but is eaten after it has been cooked and seasoned or processed in a variety of ways. Unprocessed meat will spoil or rot within hours or days as a result of infection with and decomposition by bacteria and fungi. Meat is important in economy and culture though its mass production and consumption has been determined to pose risks for human health and the environment. Many religions have rules about which meat may not be eaten. Vegetarians may abstain from eating meat because of concerns about the ethics of eating meat, environmental effects of meat production or nutritional effects of consumption; the word meat comes from the Old English word mete. The term is related to mad in Danish, mat in Swedish and Norwegian, matur in Icelandic and Faroese, which mean'food'.
The word mete exists in Old Frisian to denote important food, differentiating it from swiets and dierfied. Most meat refers to skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may describe other edible tissues such as offal. Meat is sometimes used in a more restrictive sense to mean the flesh of mammalian species raised and prepared for human consumption, to the exclusion of fish, other seafood, poultry, or other animals. In the context of food, meat can refer to "the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering", for example, coconut meat. Paleontological evidence suggests that meat constituted a substantial proportion of the diet of the earliest humans. Early hunter-gatherers depended on the organized hunting of large animals such as bison and deer; the domestication of animals, of which we have evidence dating back to the end of the last glacial period, allowed the systematic production of meat and the breeding of animals with a view to improving meat production.
Animals that are now principal sources of meat were domesticated in conjunction with the development of early civilizations: Sheep, originating from western Asia, were domesticated with the help of dogs prior to the establishment of settled agriculture as early as the 8th millennium BCE. Several breeds of sheep were established in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt by 3500–3000 BCE. Today, more than 200 sheep-breeds exist. Cattle were domesticated in Mesopotamia after settled agriculture was established about 5000 BCE, several breeds were established by 2500 BCE. Modern domesticated cattle fall into the groups Bos taurus and Bos taurus indicus, both descended from the now-extinct aurochs; the breeding of beef cattle, cattle optimized for meat production as opposed to animals best suited for work or dairy purposes, began in the middle of the 18th century. Domestic pigs, which are descended from wild boars, are known to have existed about 2500 BCE in modern-day Hungary and in Troy. Pork sausages and hams were of great commercial importance in Greco-Roman times.
Pigs continue to be bred intensively as they are being optimized to produce meat best suited for specific meat products. Other animals have been raised or hunted for their flesh; the type of meat consumed varies much between different cultures, changes over time, depending on factors such as tradition and the availability of the animals. The amount and kind of meat consumed varies by income, both between countries and within a given country. Horses are eaten in France, Italy and Japan, among other countries. Horses and other large mammals such as reindeer were hunted during the late Paleolithic in western Europe. Dogs are consumed in South Korea and Vietnam. Dogs are occasionally eaten in the Arctic regions. Dog meat has been consumed in various parts of the world, such as Hawaii, Japan and Mexico. Cats are consumed in Southern China and sometimes in Northern Italy. Guinea pigs are raised for their flesh in the Andes. Whales and dolphins are hunted for their flesh, in Japan, Siberia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and by two small communities in Indonesia.
Modern agriculture employs a number of techniques, such as progeny testing, to speed artificial selection by breeding animals to acquire the qualities desired by meat producers. For instance, in the wake of well-publicised health concerns associated with saturated fats in the 1980s, the fat content of United Kingdom beef and lamb fell from 20–26 percent to 4–8 percent within a few decades, due to both selective breeding for leanness and changed methods of butchery. Methods of genetic engineering aimed at improving the meat production qualities of animals are now becoming available. Though it is a old industry, meat production continues to be shaped by the evolving demands of customers; the trend towards selling meat in pre-packaged cuts has increased the demand for larger breeds of cattle, which are better suited to producing such cuts. More animals not exploited for their meat are now being farmed the more agile and mobile species, whose muscles tend to be developed better than those of cattle, sheep or pigs.
Examples are the various antelope species, the zebra, water buffalo and camel, as well as non-
