1.
Conservation status
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The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Various systems of conservation status exist and are in use at international, multi-country, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD, when discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term threatened is a grouping of three categories, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category, Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals. Many countries require CITES permits when importing plants and animals listed on CITES, in the European Union, the Birds and Habitats Directives are the legal instruments that evaluate the conservation status within the EU of species and habitats. NatureServe conservation status focuses on Latin America, United States, Canada, and it has been developed by scientists from NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and the network of natural heritage programs and data centers. It is increasingly integrated with the IUCN Red List system and its categories for species include, presumed extinct, possibly extinct, critically imperiled, imperiled, vulnerable, apparently secure, and secure. The system also allows ambiguous or uncertain ranks including inexact numeric ranks, NatureServe adds a qualifier for captive or cultivated only, which has a similar meaning to the IUCN Red List extinct in the wild status. The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation is used within the Russian Federation, in Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 describes lists of threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. The categories resemble those of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories & Criteria, prior to the EPBC Act, a simpler classification system was used by the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992. Some state and territory governments also have their own systems for conservation status, in Belgium, the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest publishes an online set of more than 150 nature indicators in Dutch. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is a group of experts that assesses and designates which wild species are in danger of disappearing from Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act, it is up to the federal government, in China, the State, provinces and some counties have determined their key protected wildlife species. There is the China red data book, in Finland, a large number of species are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, and through the EU Habitats Directive and EU Birds Directive. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation publishes red lists of endangered species, india has the Wild Life Protection Act,1972, Amended 2003 and the Biological Diversity Act,2002. In Japan, the Ministry of Environment publishes a Threatened Wildlife of Japan Red Data Book, in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality publishes a list of threatened species, and conservation is enforced by the Nature Conservation Act 1998. Species are also protected through the Wild Birds and Habitats Directives, in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation publishes the New Zealand Threat Classification System lists
2.
Endangered species
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An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as likely to become extinct. In 2012, the IUCN Red List featured 3079 animal and 2655 plant species as endangered worldwide, the figures for 1998 were, respectively,1102 and 1197. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species, for example, population numbers, trends and species conservation status can be found in the lists of organisms by population. The conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best-known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Over 40% of the species are estimated to be at risk of extinction. Internationally,199 countries have signed an accord to create Biodiversity Action Plans that will protect endangered, in the United States, such plans are usually called Species Recovery Plans. Those species of Near Threatened and Least Concern status have been assessed and found to have relatively robust and healthy populations, though these may be in decline. The IUCN categories, with examples of animals classified by them, include, Extinct Extinct in the wild Captive individuals survive, critically endangered Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Endangered Faces a high risk of extinction in the near future, vulnerable Faces a high risk of endangerment in the medium term. Near-threatened May be considered threatened in the near future, Least concern No immediate threat to species survival. A population size reduction of ≥ 50%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, based on any of to under A1. E) Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations, there is data from the United States that shows a correlation between human populations and threatened and endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, species may be listed as endangered or threatened, the Salt Creek tiger beetle is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA. Some endangered species laws are controversial, also lobbying from hunters and various industries like the petroleum industry, construction industry, and logging, has been an obstacle in establishing endangered species laws. The Bush administration lifted a policy that required federal officials to consult an expert before taking actions that could damage endangered species. Under the Obama administration, this policy has been reinstated, being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers. This effect is potentially reducible, such as in China where commercially farmed turtles may be reducing some of the pressure to poach endangered species. Another problem with the species is its effect of inciting the use of the shoot, shovel
3.
IUCN Red List
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, the IUCN Red List is set upon precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world, the aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List. The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, the 1964 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants used the older pre-criteria Red List assessment system. Plants listed may not, therefore, appear in the current Red List, IUCN advise that is best to check both the online Red List and the 1997 plants Red List publication. The 2006 Red List, released on 4 May 2006 evaluated 40,168 species as a whole, plus an additional 2,160 subspecies, varieties, aquatic stocks, on 12 September 2007, the World Conservation Union released the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Russ Mittermeier, chief of Swiss-based IUCNs Primate Specialist Group, stated that 16,306 species are endangered with extinction,188 more than in 2006, the Red List includes the Sumatran orangutan in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean orangutan in the Endangered category. The study shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction, and 836 are listed as Data Deficient. The Red List of 2012 was released 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit, nearly 2,000 species were added, the IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. With 3,947 described as endangered and 5,766 as endangered. At threat are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reef-building corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, the IUCN Red List has listed 132 species of plants and animals from India as Critically Endangered. Extinct – No known individuals remaining, extinct in the wild – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range. Critically endangered – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered – High risk of extinction in the wild. Vulnerable – High risk of endangerment in the wild, near threatened – Likely to become endangered in the near future. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category, widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction, Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria
4.
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
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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
6.
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
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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
8.
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
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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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Canis
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Canis is a genus of canids containing multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs and coyotes. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and dentition, long legs, the generic name Canis means dog in Latin. The term canine comes from the form, caninus, from which the term canine tooth is also derived. The canine family has prominent canine teeth, used for killing their prey, the word canis is cognate to the Greek word kūon, which means dog, as well as English hound. Immature males or females are referred to as puppies, a group of puppies from the same gestation period is referred to as a litter. The genus Canis was published in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae and included the dog-like carnivores, all species within the Canis genus are phylogenetically closely related with 78 chromosomes and can potentially interbreed. The fossil record shows that Feliforms and Caniforms emerged within the super-family Carnivoramorpha 43 million YBP, the caniforms included the fox-like Leptocyon genus whose various species existed from 34 million YBP before branching 11.9 million YBP into vulpes and canini. The jackal-sized Eucyon existed in North America from 10 million YBP, in North America it gave rise to early Canis which first appeared in the Miocene in south-western USA and Mexico. By 5 million YBP the larger Canis lepophagus appeared in the same region, the position of the canids would change with the arrival of Canis to become a dominant predator across the Holarctic. The wolf-sized C. chihilensis appeared in northern China in the Mid-Pliocene around 4-3 million YBP and this was followed by an explosion of Canis evolution across Eurasia in the Early Pleistocene around 1.8 million YBP in what is commonly referred to as the Wolf event. It is associated with the formation of the Mammoth steppe and continental glaciation, Canis spread to Europe in the forms of C. arnensis, C. eutruscus, and C. falconeri. See further, Evolution of the canids Wolves, dogs, and dingoes are subspecies of Canis lupus. The original referent of the English word wolf, the Eurasian wolf, is called C. l. lupus to distinguish it from other subspecies, such as the Indian wolf. Some experts have suggested some subspecies of C. lupus be considered Canis species distinct from C. lupus and these include Central Asias Himalayan wolf, and the Indian wolf, as well as the North Americas red wolf and eastern wolf. The dingo, from Australasia, and the dog are also considered subspecies of C. lupus. One of these, the dire wolf, has gained fame from the thousands of specimens found and displayed at the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Canis species that are too small to attract the word wolf are called coyotes in the Americas, while North America has only one small-sized species, the coyote, it has become very widespread, moving into areas once occupied by wolves. Mitochondrial genome sequences indicated the Ethiopian wolf diverged from the wolf/coyote lineage slightly prior to that
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Binomial nomenclature
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Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
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Synonym (taxonomy)
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For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms
13.
Ge'ez script
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Geez is a script used as an abugida for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It originated as an abjad and was first used to write Geez, now the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is often called fidäl, the Geez script has been adapted to write other, mostly Semitic, languages, particularly Amharic in Ethiopia, and Tigrinya in both Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is also used for Sebatbeit, Meen, and most other languages of Ethiopia, in Eritrea it is used for Tigre, and it has traditionally been used for Blin, a Cushitic language. Tigre, spoken in western and northern Eritrea, is considered to resemble Geez more than do the other derivative languages, some other languages in the Horn of Africa, such as Oromo, used to be written using Geez, but have migrated to Latin-based orthographies. For the representation of sounds, this uses a system that is common among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages. This differs somewhat from the conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet, see the articles on the individual languages for information on the pronunciation. The earliest inscriptions of Semitic languages in Eritrea and Ethiopia date to the 9th century BC in Epigraphic South Arabian, after the 7th and 6th centuries BC, however, variants of the script arose, evolving in the direction of the Geez abugida. This evolution can be seen most clearly in evidence from inscriptions in Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, at least one of Wazebas coins from the late 3rd or early 4th century contains a vocalized letter, some 30 or so years before Ezana. It has been argued that the marking pattern of the script reflects a South Asian system. On the other hand, emphatic P̣ait ጰ, a Geez innovation, is a modification of Ṣädai ጸ, while Pesa ፐ is based on Tawe ተ. Thus, there are 24 correspondences of Geez and the South Arabian alphabet, Many of the names are cognate with those of Phoenician. Two alphabets were used to write the Geez language, an abjad and later an abugida. The abjad, used until c.330 AD, had 26 consonantal letters, h, l, ḥ, m, ś, r, s, ḳ, b, t, ḫ, n, ʾ, k, w, ʿ, z, y, d, g, ṭ, p̣, ṣ, ṣ́, f, p Vowels were not indicated. Modern Geez is written left to right. The Geez abugida developed under the influence of Christian scripture by adding obligatory vocalic diacritics to the consonantal letters. The diacritics for the vowels, u, i, a, e, ə, o, were fused with the consonants in a recognizable but slightly irregular way, the original form of the consonant was used when the vowel was ä, the so-called inherent vowel. The resulting forms are shown below in their traditional order, for some consonants, there is an eighth form for the diphthong -wa or -oa, and a ninth for -yä
14.
Specials (Unicode block)
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Specials is a short Unicode block allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 codepoints, five are assigned as of Unicode 9, U+FFFD � REPLACEMENT CHARACTER used to replace an unknown, unrecognized or unrepresentable character U+FFFE <noncharacter-FFFE> not a character. FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the sense. They can be used to guess a texts encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by not a correctly encoded Unicode text. The replacement character � is a found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol and it is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character, Consider a text file containing the German word für in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. This file is now opened with an editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this, f�r, a poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form, the text file data will then look like this, 0x66 0xEF 0xBF 0xBD 0x72, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as f�r. Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character, a better design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when displaying the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence and it has become increasingly common for software to interpret invalid UTF-8 by guessing the bytes are in another byte-based encoding such as ISO-8859-1. This allows correct display of both valid and invalid UTF-8 pasted together, Unicode control characters UTF-8 Mojibake Unicodes Specials table Decodeunicodes entry for the replacement character
15.
Ethiopian Highlands
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The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, situated in the Horn region in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its altitude in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1500 m and it is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, in the southern parts of the Ethiopian Highlands once was located the Kingdom of Kaffa, a medieval early modern state, whence the coffee plant was exported to the Arabian peninsula. The land of the kingdom is mountainous with stretches of forest. The land is fertile, capable of three harvests a year. The term coffee derives from the Arabic qahwah and is traced to Kaffa, the Highlands are divided into northwestern and southeastern portions by the Main Ethiopian Rift, which contains a number of salt lakes. The northwestern portion, which covers the Tigray and Amhara Regions, includes the Semien Mountains and its highest peak, Ras Dashan, is the highest peak in Ethiopia. Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, also lies in the portion of the Ethiopian Highlands. The southeastern portions highest peaks are located in the Bale Zone of Ethiopias Oromia Region, the Bale Mountains, also designated a national park, are nearly as high as those of Semien. The range includes peaks of over 4000 m, among these are Mount Tullu Demtu, which is the second-highest peak in Ethiopia, and Mount Batu. Most of the major cities are located at elevations of around 2, 000–2,500 m above sea level, including historic capitals such as Gondar. The Ethiopian Highlands began to rise 75 million years ago, as magma from the Earths mantle uplifted a broad dome of the ancient rocks of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. Around 30 million years ago, a basalt plateau began to form. Most of the flows were tholeiitic, save for a layer of alkali basalts and minor amounts of felsic volcanic rocks. In the waning stages of the flood basalt episode, large explosive caldera-forming eruptions also occurred, the Ethiopian Highlands were eventually bisected by the Great Rift Valley as the African continental crust pulled apart. This rifting gave rise to large alkaline basalt shield volcanoes beginning about 30–31 million years ago, the predominant climate type of the Ethiopian Highlands is tropical monsoon, and have a climate which is generally considerably cooler than other regions at similar proximity to the Equator. Because the highlands elevate Ethiopia, located close to the equator, further, these mountains catch the precipitation of the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean, resulting in a rainy season that lasts from June until mid-September. These heavy rains cause the Nile to flood in the summer, the habitats are somewhat different on either side of the Great Rift Valley that splits the highlands
16.
Coyote
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The coyote is a canid native to North America. It is smaller than its relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than its other close relatives, the eastern wolf. It fills much of the ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia, though it is larger. The species is versatile and able to adapt to environments modified by humans, as human activity has altered the landscape, the coyotes range has expanded. In 2013, coyotes were sighted in eastern Panama for the first time, the coyote is more closely related to the common ancestor of wolves and other canids than the gray wolf. As of 2005,19 coyote subspecies are recognized, the average male coyote weighs 8 to 20 kg and the average female 7 to 18 kg. Their fur color is light gray and red or fulvous interspersed with black and white. It is highly flexible in organization, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals. The coyotes characteristic vocalization is a made by solitary individuals. Humans aside, cougars and gray wolves are the only serious enemies. Nevertheless, coyotes do sometimes mate with gray, eastern, or red wolves, Most recent studies show that most wolves contain some level of coyote DNA. As with other figures, the coyote uses deception and humor to rebel against social conventions. The animal was especially respected in Mesoamerican cosmology as a symbol of military might, after the European colonization of the Americas, it was reviled in Anglo-American culture as a cowardly and untrustworthy animal. Unlike wolves, which have undergone an improvement of their public image, Coyote males average 8 to 20 kg in weight, while females average 7 to 18 kg, though size varies geographically. Northern subspecies, which average 18 kg, tend to larger than the southern subspecies of Mexico. Body length ranges on average from 1.0 to 1.35 m, the largest coyote on record was a male killed near Afton, Wyoming, on November 19,1937, which measured 1.5 m from nose to tail, and weighed 34 kg. Scent glands are located at the side of the base of the tail and are a bluish-black color. The color and texture of the fur varies somewhat geographically
17.
Generalist and specialist species
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A generalist species is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources. A specialist species can thrive only in a range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet. Most organisms do not all fit neatly into either group, however, some species are highly specialized, others less so, and some can tolerate many different environments. In other words, there is a continuum from highly-specialized to broadly-generalist species, herbivores are often specialists, but those that eat a variety of plants may be considered generalists. A well-known example of a specialist animal is the koala, which subsists almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves. The raccoon is a generalist because it has a range that includes most of North and Central America. Monophagous organisms feed exclusively, or nearly so, on a single other species, the distinction between generalists and specialists is not limited to animals. For example, some require a narrow range of temperatures, soil conditions. A cactus could be considered a specialist species and it will die during winters at high latitudes or if it receives too much water. When body weight is controlled for, specialist feeders such as insectivores and frugivores have larger ranges than generalists like some folivores. Because their food source is abundant, they need a bigger area for foraging. An example comes from the research of Tim Clutton-Brock, who found that the black and white colobus, on the other hand, the more specialized red colobus monkey has a home range of 70 ha, which it requires to find patchy shoots, flowers and fruit. When environmental conditions change, generalists are able to adapt, for example, if a species of fish were to go extinct, any specialist parasites would also face extinction. On the other hand, a species with a specialized ecological niche is more effective at competing with other organisms. This tends to drive the speciation of more specialized species provided conditions remain relatively stable and this involves niche partitioning as new species are formed, and biodiversity is increased. Fitness landscape List of feeding behaviours
18.
Afromontane
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Afromontane communities occur above 1, 500–2,000 metres elevation near the equator, and as low as 300 metres elevation in the Knysna-Amatole montane forests of South Africa. Afromontane forests are cooler and more humid than the surrounding lowlands. Other Afromontane regions include the Drakensberg range of southern Africa, the Cameroon Highlands, and the Cameroon Line volcanoes, including Mount Cameroon, Bioko, and São Tomé. Although some Afromontane enclaves are widely separated, they share a similar mix of plant species which are distinct from the surrounding lowland regions. Podocarps, of genera Podocarpus and Afrocarpus, are a tree, along with Prunus africana, Hagenia abyssinica, Juniperus procera. In the higher mountains, the Afromontane forest or woodland zone transitions to a higher Afroalpine zone of grasslands, shrublands, the plant families Curtisiaceae and Oliniaceae are Afromontane endemics and family Barbeyaceae is a near-endemic. In South Africa, Afromontane forests cover only 0. 5% of the land area. The Afromontane forests occur along the arc of the Drakensberg Range. The Afromontane forests generally occur in well-watered areas, including ravines, the Afromontane forests are intolerant of fire, and the frequent fires of the surrounding fynbos, savanna, and grassland limit the expansion of the forests. Despite their small area, the Afromontane forests of South Africa produce valuable timber, particularly the real yellowwood, Outeniqua yellowwood, the vegetation of Africa, a descriptive memoir to accompany the UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation map of Africa by F. White. & Linder, H. P. Geographical affinities of the Cape flora, Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot Eastern Afromontane, from Hotspots Revisited
19.
Rodent
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Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all species are rodents, they are found in vast numbers on all continents except Antarctica. They are the most diversified mammalian order and live in a variety of terrestrial habitats, Species can be arboreal, fossorial, or semiaquatic. Well-known rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, hamsters, and capybaras. Other animals such as rabbits, hares, and pikas, whose incisors also grow continually, were included with them, but are now considered to be in a separate order. Nonetheless, Rodentia and Lagomorpha are sister groups, sharing a most recent common ancestor, most rodents are small animals with robust bodies, short limbs, and long tails. They use their incisors to gnaw food, excavate burrows. Most eat seeds or other plant material, but some have more varied diets and they tend to be social animals and many species live in societies with complex ways of communicating with each other. Mating among rodents can vary from monogamy, to polygyny, to promiscuity, many have litters of underdeveloped, altricial young, while others are precocial at birth. The rodent fossil record back to the Paleocene on the supercontinent of Laurasia. Rodents greatly diversified in the Eocene, as spread across continents. Rodents reached both South America and Madagascar from Africa, and were the only placental mammals to reach. Rodents have been used as food, for clothing, as pets, some species, in particular the brown rat, the black rat, and the house mouse, are serious pests, eating and spoiling food stored by humans, and spreading diseases. The distinguishing feature of the rodents is their pairs of continuously growing and these incisors have thick layers of enamel on the front and little enamel on the back. Because they do not stop growing, the animal must continue to wear them down so that they do not reach and pierce the skull. As the incisors grind against each other, the softer dentine on the rear of the teeth wears away, most species have up to 22 teeth with no canines or anterior premolars. A gap, or diastema, occurs between the incisors and the teeth in most species. This allows rodents to suck in their cheeks or lips to shield their mouth and throat from wood shavings and other inedible material, chinchillas and guinea pigs have a high-fiber diet, their molars have no roots and grow continuously like their incisors
20.
Range (biology)
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In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density, many terms are used to describe the new range, such as non-native, naturalized, introduced, transplanted, invasive, or colonized range. Introduced typically means that a species has been transported by humans across a geographical barrier. For species found in different regions at different times of year, terms such as summer range, for species for which only part of their range is used for breeding activity, the terms breeding range and non-breeding range are used. For mobile animals, the natural range is often used. Geographic or temporal qualifiers are added, for example, British range or pre-1950 range. A second example, some species of bird depend on water, usually a river, swamp, etc. or water related forest, a further example of a bird wildlife corridor would be a mountain range corridor. Bird species in these corridors are connected to a range for the species or are in an isolated geographic range. Biological dispersal Colonisation Human–wildlife conflict Occupancy-abundance relationship Species distribution
21.
Bale Mountains
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The Bale Mountains, in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia, south of the Awash River, are part of the Ethiopian Highlands. They include Tullu Demtu, the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia, the Weyib River, a tributary of the Jubba River, rises in these mountains east of Goba. The Bale Mountains National Park covers 2,200 square kilometers of these mountains, the main attractions of the park are the wild alpine scenery, and the relative ease with which visitors can see unique birds and mammals. The Bale Mountains are home to many of Ethiopias endemic animals, notably the Ethiopian wolf, besides wildlife, the National Park offers trekking opportunities from the park headquarters at Dinsho. The largest group of Ethiopian wolves is found here, other characteristic large mammals are mountain nyalas, Meneliks bushbucks, warthogs, and bohor reedbucks. The Juniper-Hagenia forests lie between 2,500 and 3,300 m and are found on the northern slopes. An unusual plant of the Dinsho area is the white-flowered Abyssinian rose, the alpine moorland of the Saneti Plateau is covered in heath-like vegetation broken by heather plants and stands of giant lobelia which grow up to 6 meters high. One of the most common and distinctive plants throughout the Bale region is the red-hot poker, an aloe which can be identified by its orange spear-shaped flowers
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International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
23.
Habitat
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A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. The term typically refers to the zone in which the organism lives and it is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population. Every organism has certain habitat needs for the conditions in which it will thrive, habitat types include polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. The terrestrial vegetation type may be forest, steppe, grassland, the word habitat has been in use since about 1755 and derives from the Latin third-person singular present indicative of habitāre, to inhabit, from habēre, to have or to hold. Habitat can be defined as the environment of an organism. It is similar in meaning to a biotope, an area of environmental conditions associated with a particular community of plants. Generally speaking, animal communities are reliant on specific types of plant communities, some plants and animals are generalists, and their habitat requirements are met in a wide range of locations. The small white butterfly for example is found on all the continents of the world apart from Antarctica and its larvae feed on a wide range of Brassicas and various other plant species, and it thrives in any open location with diverse plant associations. Disturbance is important in the creation of biodiverse habitats, in the absence of disturbance, a climax vegetation cover develops that prevents the establishment of other species. Lightning strikes and toppled trees in tropical forests allow species richness to be maintained as pioneering species move in to fill the gaps created. Similarly coastal habitats can become dominated by kelp until the seabed is disturbed by a storm, another cause of disturbance is when an area may be overwhelmed by an invasive introduced species which is not kept under control by natural enemies in its new habitat. Terrestrial habitat types include forests, grasslands, wetlands and deserts, within these broad biomes are more specific habitats with varying climate types, temperature regimes, soils, altitudes and vegetation types. Many of these habitats grade into each other and each one has its own communities of plants. A habitat may suit a particular species well, but its presence or absence at any particular location depends to some extent on chance, on its dispersal abilities, freshwater habitats include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes and bogs. Although some organisms are found across most of these habitats, the majority have more specific requirements, similarly, aquatic plants can be floating, semi-submerged, submerged or grow in permanently or temporarily saturated soils besides bodies of water. Marine habitats include brackish water, estuaries, bays, the sea, the intertidal zone. Further variations include rock pools, sand banks, mudflats, brackish lagoons, sandy and pebbly beaches, the benthic zone or seabed provides a home for both static organisms, anchored to the substrate, and for a large range of organisms crawling on or burrowing into the surface. A desert is not the kind of habitat that favours the presence of amphibians, with their requirement for water to keep their skins moist, nevertheless, some frogs live in deserts, creating moist habitats underground and hibernating while conditions are adverse
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Overgrazing
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Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves and it can also be caused by immobile, travel restricted populations of native or non-native wild animals. The only thing to stop overgrazing is to limit the space to roam around. Cows are the things that causes overgrazing and overgrazing can lead to desertification. It reduces the usefulness, productivity, and biodiversity of the land and is one cause of desertification and erosion, Overgrazing is also seen as a cause of the spread of invasive species of non-native plants and of weeds. Sustainable grassland production is based on grass and grassland management, land management, animal management, grazing management, with sustainable agriculture and agroecology practices, is the foundation of grassland-based livestock production since it affects both animal and plant health and productivity. In some regions of the United States under continuous grazing, overgrazed pastures are predominated by short-grass species such as bluegrass, in all cases, palatable tall grasses such as orchard grass are sparse or non-existent. Under rotational grazing, overgrazed plants do not have time to recover to the proper height between grazing events. The animals resume grazing before the plants have restored carbohydrate reserves, another indicator of overgrazing in some parts of North America is that livestock run out of pasture, and hay needs to be fed early in the fall. In contrast, most areas of the world do not experience the climatic regime as the continental United States. Overgrazing is also indicated in livestock performance and condition, cows having inadequate pasture immediately following their calfs weaning may have poor body condition the following season. This may reduce the health and vigor of cows and calves at calving, also, cows in poor body condition do not cycle as soon after calving, which can result in delayed breeding. This can result in a long calving season, with good cow genetics, nutrition, ideal seasons and controlled breeding 55% to 75% of the calves should come in the first 21 days of the calving season. Poor weaning weights of calves can be caused by insufficient pasture, when cows give less milk, reduction in soil depth, soil organic matter and soil fertility impair the lands future natural and agricultural productivity. Soil fertility can sometimes be mitigated by applying the appropriate lime, however, the loss of soil depth and organic matter takes centuries to correct. Their loss is critical in determining the soils water-holding capacity and how well pasture plants do during dry weather, native plant grass species, both individual bunch grasses and in grasslands, are especially vulnerable. In the continental United States, to prevent overgrazing, match the forage supplement to the herds requirement and this means that a buffer needs to be in the system to adjust for the fastest growth of forages. Another potential buffer is to plant warm-season perennial grasses such as switchgrass and this reduces the area that the livestock can use early in the season, making it easier for them to keep up with the cool-season grasses
25.
Dog
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The domestic dog is a member of genus Canis that forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant carnivore. The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa, with modern wolves not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated, the dog was the first domesticated species and has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Their long association with humans has led dogs to be attuned to human behavior. Dogs vary widely in shape, size and colours, dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This influence on society has given them the sobriquet mans best friend. The term domestic dog is used for both domesticated and feral varieties. The English word dog comes from Middle English dogge, from Old English docga, the term may possibly derive from Proto-Germanic *dukkōn, represented in Old English finger-docce. The word also shows the familiar petname diminutive -ga also seen in frogga frog, picga pig, stagga stag, wicga beetle, worm, the term dog may ultimately derive from the earliest layer of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary. In 14th-century England, hound was the word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype of hound. It is believed this dog type was so common, it became the prototype of the category hound. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, the word hound is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *kwon-, dog. This semantic shift may be compared with in German, where the corresponding words Dogge, a male canine is referred to as a dog, while a female is called a bitch. The father of a litter is called the sire, and the mother is called the dam, the process of birth is whelping, from the Old English word hwelp, the modern English word whelp is an alternate term for puppy. A litter refers to the offspring at one birth which are called puppies or pups from the French poupée, doll. The term dog typically is applied both to the species as a whole, and any male member of the same. An adult female is a bitch, in some countries, especially in North America, dog is used instead due to the vulgar connotation of bitch. An adult male capable of reproduction is a stud, an adult female capable of reproduction is a brood bitch, or brood mother. Immature males or females are pups or puppies, a group of pups from the same gestation period is a litter
26.
University of Oxford
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The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris, after disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two ancient universities are frequently referred to as Oxbridge. The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges, All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it not have a main campus, instead, its buildings. Oxford is the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the worlds oldest and most prestigious scholarships, the university operates the worlds oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in Britain. Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 28 Nobel laureates,27 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in form as early as 1096. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris, the historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, the university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, the students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two nations, representing the North and the South. In later centuries, geographical origins continued to many students affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. At about the time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses. In 1333–34, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III. Thereafter, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, even in London, thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, the new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the English Reformation and the breaking of communion with the Roman Catholic Church, recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, as a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxfords reputation declined in the Age of Enlightenment, enrolments fell and teaching was neglected
27.
Red fox
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It is listed as least concern by the IUCN. Its range has increased alongside human expansion, having introduced to Australia. Due to its presence in Australia, it is included among the list of the worlds 100 worst invasive species, the red fox originated from smaller-sized ancestors from Eurasia during the Middle Villafranchian period, and colonised North America shortly after the Wisconsin glaciation. Among the true foxes, the red fox represents a progressive form in the direction of carnivory. Apart from its size, the red fox is distinguished from other fox species by its ability to adapt quickly to new environments. Despite its name, the species often produces individuals with other colourings, including albinos, forty-five subspecies are currently recognised, which are divided into two categories, the large northern foxes, and the small, basal southern foxes of Asia and North Africa. Red foxes are usually together in pairs or small groups consisting of families, such as a pair and their young. The young of the pair remain with their parents to assist in caring for new kits. The species primarily feeds on rodents, though it may also target rabbits, game birds, reptiles, invertebrates. Fruit and vegetable matter is also eaten sometimes, the species has a long history of association with humans, having been extensively hunted as a pest and furbearer for many centuries, as well as being represented in human folklore and mythology. Because of its distribution and large population, the red fox is one of the most important furbearing animals harvested for the fur trade. Too small to pose a threat to humans, it has colonised many suburban areas. Females are called vixens, and young cubs, pups, or kits, the word fox comes from Old English, which derived from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz. Compare with West Frisian foks, Dutch vos, and German Fuchs and this, in turn, derives from Proto-Indo-European *puḱ- ‘thick-haired, tail. Compare to the Hindi pū̃ch ‘tail, Tocharian B päkā ‘tail, chowrie, the bushy tail also forms the basis for the foxs Welsh name, llwynog, literally ‘bushy, from llwyn ‘bush. Likewise, Portuguese, raposa from rabo ‘tail, Lithuanian uodẽgis from uodegà ‘tail, and Ojibwa waagosh from waa, the scientific term vulpes derives from the Latin word for fox, and gives the adjectives vulpine and vulpecular. It is, however, not as adapted for a carnivorous diet as the Tibetan fox. The species is Eurasian in origin, and may have evolved from either Vulpes alopecoides or the related Chinese V. chikushanensis, the earliest fossil specimens of V. vulpes were uncovered in Baranya, Hungary dating from 3. 4-1.8 million years ago
28.
Amharic
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Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Semitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by the Amhara in Ethiopia, the language serves as the official working language of Ethiopia, and is also the official or working language of several of the states within the federal system. Amharic is the second-most widely spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic and it is written using Amharic Fidel, ፊደል, which grew out of the Geez abugida—called, in Ethiopian Semitic languages, ፊደል fidel and አቡጊዳ abugida. There is no agreed way of transliterating Amharic into Roman characters, the Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common, though not universal, among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic is spoken by 22 million native speakers in Ethiopia and 15 million secondary speakers in Ethiopia, additionally,3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic, in Washington DC, Amharic became one of the six non-English languages in the Language Access Act of 2004, which allows government services and education in Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered a language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. It is the most widely spoken language in the Horn of Africa, the Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic emphatic consonants, usually transcribed with a dot below the letter. The consonant and vowel tables give these symbols in parentheses where they differ from the standard IPA symbols, the Amharic script is an abugida, and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidel. Each character represents a sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters, /ʔ/, /s/, /sʼ/ and this is because these fidel originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the form, i. e. the first column of the fidel. The Amharic script is included in Unicode, and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems, as in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages, gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another, for example, alä he said, allä there is, yǝmätall he hits, gemination is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages. Punctuation includes the following, ፠ section mark ፡ word separator ። full stop ፣ comma ፤ semicolon ፥ colon ፦ Preface colon, question mark ፨ paragraph separator Simple Amharic sentences One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate. Here are a few sentences, ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪቃ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfriqa wǝsṭ nat Ethiopia is in Africa. Lǝǧu is the boy The boy is asleep, አየሩ ደስ ይላል Ayyäru däss yǝlall
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Anno Domini
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The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
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British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
31.
Ethiopian Empire
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The Ethiopian Empire, also known as Abyssinia, was a kingdom that spanned a geographical area covered by the northern half of the current state of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 1137 until 1974, when the Solomonic dynasty was overthrown in a coup détat, the country was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. It was the second-to-last country in Africa to use the title of Emperor, the one later was the Central African Empire. Ethiopias human occupation began early, as evidenced by the findings and it is believed that the ancient Egyptians claimed that Punt, known as gold country, was in Ethiopia in 980 BC, according to the report of the Kebra Nagast Menelik I founded the Ethiopian empire. In the 1st century BC. settled the Axumite empire that existed from the 7th century and this kingdom was founded in the 4th century with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the state religion and was thus one of the first Christian states. After the conquest of Aksum by Queen Gudit or Yodit, a period began which some refer to as the Ethiopian Dark Ages. According to Ethiopian tradition, she ruled over the remains of the Aksumite Empire for 40 years before transmitting the crown to her descendants, very little is known about the queen or the state, if indeed there even was one she set up. What is evident, however, is that her reign marked the end of Aksumite control in Ethiopia, the last of Queen Yodits successors were overthrown by Mara Takla Haymanot. He founded the Zagwe dynasty in 1137, and married a descendant of the last Aksumite emperor to stake his claim as the legitimate heir to the long dead empire. The kingdoms capital was at Adafa, not far from modern day Lalibela in the Lasta mountains, the Zagwe continued the Christianity of Aksum and constructed many rock-hewn churches such as those at Lalibela. The dynasty would last until its overthrow by a new regime claiming descent from the old Aksumite kings, in 1270 the Zagwe dynasty was overthrown by a king claiming lineage from the Aksumite kings and, hence, Solomon. The thus-named Solomonic dynasty was founded and ruled by the Habesha, the Habesha reigned with only a few interruptions from 1270 until the late 20th century. It was under this dynasty that most of Ethiopias modern history occurred, during this time, the empire conquered and incorporated virtually all the peoples within modern Ethiopia. They successfully fought off Italian, Arab and Turkish armies and made contacts with some European powers. In 1529 Adal forces, led by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, during the conflict, Adal employed cannons provided by the Ottoman Empire. In the aftermath of the war, Adal annexed Ethiopia, uniting it with territories in what is now Somalia, in 1543, with the help of the Portuguese Empire, the Solomonic dynasty was restored. From 1769 to 1855 the Ethiopian empire was passed through the period of Princes Era and this was a period of Ethiopian history with numerous conflicts between the ras the emperor had a limited power, only dominated the area around the former capital of Gondar. Both the development of society and culture stagnated in this period, religious conflicts, both within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Muslims were often used as a pretext for mutual strife
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Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
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Hypothesis
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A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the scientific theories. Even though the hypothesis and theory are often used synonymously. A working hypothesis is a provisionally accepted hypothesis proposed for further research, P is the assumption in a What If question. Remember, the way that you prove an implication is by assuming the hypothesis, --Philip Wadler In its ancient usage, hypothesis referred to a summary of the plot of a classical drama. The English word hypothesis comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόθεσις word hupothesis, in Platos Meno, Socrates dissects virtue with a method used by mathematicians, that of investigating from a hypothesis. In this sense, hypothesis refers to an idea or to a convenient mathematical approach that simplifies cumbersome calculations. In common usage in the 21st century, a hypothesis refers to an idea whose merit requires evaluation. For proper evaluation, the framer of a hypothesis needs to define specifics in operational terms, a hypothesis requires more work by the researcher in order to either confirm or disprove it. In due course, a hypothesis may become part of a theory or occasionally may grow to become a theory itself. Normally, scientific hypotheses have the form of a mathematical model, in entrepreneurial science, a hypothesis is used to formulate provisional ideas within a business setting. The formulated hypothesis is then evaluated where either the hypothesis is proven to be true or false through a verifiability- or falsifiability-oriented Experiment, any useful hypothesis will enable predictions by reasoning. It might predict the outcome of an experiment in a setting or the observation of a phenomenon in nature. The prediction may also invoke statistics and only talk about probabilities, other philosophers of science have rejected the criterion of falsifiability or supplemented it with other criteria, such as verifiability or coherence. The scientific method involves experimentation, to test the ability of some hypothesis to adequately answer the question under investigation. In contrast, unfettered observation is not as likely to raise unexplained issues or open questions in science, a thought experiment might also be used to test the hypothesis as well. In framing a hypothesis, the investigator must not currently know the outcome of a test or that it remains reasonably under continuing investigation, only in such cases does the experiment, test or study potentially increase the probability of showing the truth of a hypothesis
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Greyhound
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The Greyhound is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing game and Greyhound racing. Since the rise in adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgence in popularity as a family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed whose combination of long, powerful legs, deep chest, flexible spine and slim build allows it to reach average race speeds exceeding 64 kilometres per hour. The Greyhound can reach a speed of 70 kilometres per hour within 30 metres, or six strides from the boxes. Males are usually 71 to 76 centimetres tall at the withers, females tend to be smaller, with shoulder heights ranging from 68 to 71 centimetres and weights from less than 27 to 34 kilograms. Greyhounds have very short fur, which is easy to maintain, there are approximately thirty recognized color forms, of which variations of white, brindle, fawn, black, red and blue can appear uniquely or in combination. Greyhounds are dolichocephalic, with a skull which is long in comparison to its breadth. Greyhounds can be aloof and indifferent to strangers, but are affectionate with their own pack and they are generally docile, lazy, easy-going, and calm. Greyhounds wear muzzles during racing, which can lead some to believe they are aggressive dogs, contrary to popular belief, adult Greyhounds do not need extended periods of daily exercise, as they are bred for sprinting rather than endurance. Greyhound puppies that have not been taught how to utilize their energy, however, can be hyperactive and destructive if not given an outlet, Greyhound owners and adoption groups consider Greyhounds wonderful pets. Greyhounds are quiet, gentle and loyal to owners and they are very loving, and enjoy the company of their humans and other dogs. Whether a Greyhound will enjoy the company of other animals, such as cats. Greyhounds will typically chase small animals, those lacking a high prey drive will be able to coexist happily with toy dog breeds and/or cats, many owners describe their Greyhounds as 45-mile-per-hour couch potatoes. Greyhounds live most happily as pets in quiet environments and they do well in families with children, as long as the children are taught to treat the dog properly with politeness and appropriate respect. Greyhounds have a nature, and gentle commands work best as training methods. A very common misconception regarding Greyhounds is that they are hyperactive and this is usually not the case with retired racing Greyhounds. Greyhounds can live comfortably as apartment dogs, as they do not require much space, due to their calm temperament, Greyhounds can make better apartment dogs than smaller, more active breeds. At most race tracks, Greyhounds are housed in crates, most such animals know nothing other than being in a crate for the majority of the day
35.
Bale Mountains National Park
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Bale Mountains National Park is a national park of Ethiopia. The park encompasses an area of approximately 2,150 square kilometres in the Bale Mountains, the parks Afromontane habitats have one of the highest incidences of animal endemicity of any terrestrial habitat in the world. The park was nominated to the World Heritage Tentative List in 2009, Bale Mountains National Park is located in southeastern Ethiopia,400 km southeast of Addis Ababa and 150 km east of Shashamene in the Oromia Region National State. The boundary of the BMNP lies within five woredas, Adaba, Dinsho, Goba, Delo-Mena-Angetu, the park area is encompassed within geographical coordinates of 6º29 – 7º10N and 39º28 – 39º57E. The Bale Mountains are part of the Bale-Arsi massif, which forms the western section of the southeastern Ethiopian Highlands. The Bale Mountains were formed prior to the formation of the Great Rift Valley, the rocks of the volcanic outpourings are predominantly trachytes, but also include rhyolites, basalts, and associated agglomerates and tuffs. The main Bale highlands consist of the vast lava Sanetti Plateau, with at least six volcanic cones, each more than 4,200 meters high and considerably flattened by repeated glaciations. There have been at least two periods in the history of the mountains and they were glaciated as little as 2,000 years ago. During the Last ice age, the Bale Mountains were one of the most extensively glaciated areas in present day Ethiopia, with a total area of ice in Bale of approximately 180 km2. There was a 30 km2 ice cap around the peak of Tulu Dimtu on the Sanetti Plateau, as a consequence, the landscape as we see it today is the lava outpourings much modified by over 20 million years of erosion by water, wind and ice. There are certain features that remain an enigma to geologists and glaciologists such as the striations that appear on shallow hillsides on the Sanetti Plateau. Until the beginning of deglaciation the snowline was at 3,700 meters, fluctuations in climate over the last historical period, including the last 3,000 years, have dramatically affected the vegetation and other biodiversity in the highlands. The Bale Mountains play a role in climate control of the region by attracting large amounts of orographic rainfall. A total of 40 rivers rise in the BMNP area, contributing to five major rivers, additionally, the Bale massif is the source for many springs in the lowlands, which are of paramount importance as they are the only source of water year-round. People living south of the park are completely dependent on good management of the water resources from the highland areas. If such a situation arises, the dry season range of the people and their livestock reduces dramatically and it is widely recognized that such uneven distribution of people and livestock leads to rapid and lasting degradation. The people are, therefore, likely to become increasingly food-aid dependent if the catchment areas of the Bale Mountains are insufficiently protected. There is already evidence that over abstraction of water in the Bale Mountains is occurring, furthermore, two rivers emanating from Bale, the Wabe Shebele and Yadot, have hydroelectric schemes
36.
Ethiopian Civil War
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The Ethiopian Civil War began on 12 September 1974 when the Marxist Derg staged a coup détat against Emperor Haile Selassie. The civil war lasted until the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, the war left at least 1.4 million dead. In March 1975, revolutionaries abolished the monarchy, the Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen went into exile in London, where several other members of the Imperial family lived. The other members who were still in Ethiopia at the time of the revolution were imprisoned, in 1975 his father, Emperor Haile Selassie, died in detention. In 1977 his daughter, Princess Ijigayehu, died in detention, members of the Imperial family remained imprisoned until 1988 and 1989. Like the Derg, it was Marxist, brutal tactics were used by both sides, including executions, assassinations, torture and the imprisonment of tens of thousands without trial, most of whom were innocent. The Ethiopian Red Terror was the urban guerrilla chapter of the brutal war, at the same time the Derg faced an invasion from Somalia in 1977, which sought to annex the eastern parts of Ethiopia, predominantly inhabited by Somalis. The Ethiopian army was able to defeat the Somali army, though only with military assistance from the Soviet Union. Most industries and private urban real-estate holdings were nationalized by the Derg in 1975, during the revolution the Derg fulfilled its main slogan of Land to the Tiller by redistributing land that once belonged to landlords to the peasant tilling the land. Insurrections against Derg rule sprang up particularly in the regions of Tigray. Hundreds of thousands were killed as a result of the Red Terror, the Derg continued its attempts to end the rebellions with military force. There was some fear that Mengistu would fight to the end for the capital, but after diplomatic intervention by the United States, he fled to asylum in Zimbabwe. The EPRDF immediately disbanded the Workers Party of Ethiopia and arrested almost all of the prominent Derg officials shortly afterwards, in December 2006,72 officials of the Derg were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court,14 others died during the process and 25. The Derg recognized and acknowledged that the TPLF was gaining supporters and strength, which was a direct threat to its regime. So, in an attempt to undermine TPLF support, the Derg began restricting the sale of agricultural implements to peasants in an effort to cut food production. )This plan ended up backfiring, causing harm to the military which forced the Derg to drop the practice. Peasants coming from areas of TPLF strength ran the risk of imprisonment for being suspected Front supporters, for those who remained in the Derg-garrisoned towns, life was difficult, particularly for women who were frequently the victims of assault and rape. Explaining the conditions under the regime, a Maichew resident said and it was a soldiers government and you had to give soldiers food, tej, whatever they wanted
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Simien Mountains
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The Semien Mountains, in northern Ethiopia, north east of Gondar, are part of the Ethiopian Highlands. They are a World Heritage Site and include the Semien Mountains National Park, the mountains consist of plateaus separated by valleys and rising to pinnacles. The tallest peak is Ras Dashen, other notable heights include Mounts Biuat, because of their geological origins the mountains are almost unique, with only South Africas Drakensberg having been formed in the same manner and thus appearing similar. Notable animals in the include the walia ibex, gelada. There are a few Ethiopian wolves, the Semiens are remarkable as being one of the few spots in Africa where snow regularly falls. First mentioned in the Monumentum Adulitanum of the 4th century AD, despite their ruggedness and altitude, the mountains are dotted with villages linked by tracks. Towards the end of the Zemene Mesafint, Dejazmach Wube Haile Mariam maintained his arsenal and treasury on Mount Hai
38.
Gojjam
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Gojjam was a kingdom in the north-western part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. This region is distinctive for lying entirely within the bend of the Abbay River from its outflow from Lake Tana to the Sudan. Gojjamis believe that they are the people mentioned in the Bible as the river Guihon/Gihon encircling the land of Cush extending to the ancient kingdom of Meroe. At the fall of Meroe to the Axumite King Ezana, Gojjam became a kingdom and later joined the rest of the kingdom of Ethiopia having their own kingship up to the coming of Menlike II of Shoa in the late 19th century, who reduced it to a province. Gojjams earliest western boundary extended up unto the triangle to ancient Meroe in Sudan, by 1700, Gojjams western neighbors were Agawmeder in the southwest and Qwara in the northwest. Gubba acknowledged its dependence to Emperor Menelik II in 1898, dek Island in Lake Tana was administratively part of Gojjam until 1987. The ancient history of Gojjam is mostly associated with religion, during the pre-Christianity era Mertule Mariam and Gish Abay -in the eastern and central parts of Gojjam respectively- were places of worship. Along with Tana Qirqos on Lake Tana, the Axum Tsion in the Tigray, Gish Abay is also considered a sacred place for being the source of the Abay River, also called Felege Ghion in Geez. Ghion is believed to be the Biblical name of the Abay River that is mentioned in the Book of Genesis as one of the four rivers flow out of Eden. Considering its location within the bend of the Abay River, the province of Gojjam is also referred to, especially by the church community, as Ghion or Felege Ghion. The first church in Gojjam was built at Mertule Mariam, which became the church in Ethiopia, next to Axum Tsion. Tradition relates that Christianity then spread from Tana Qirqos, Gish Abay, Gojjam then became home to some of the finest liturgical schools in Ethiopia. Other schools worthy of mention include Washera Mariam, Dima Giorgis, Debre Elias, Debre Werq, Amanuel, Tsilalo and these schools are generally credited for developing a sophisticated genre of expression called Semna Worq which is distinctive to Ethiopia. It was also referenced on the Egyptus Novello map, where it is described as a kingdom, Emperor Lebna Dengel, in his letter to the King of Portugal, also described Gojjam as a kingdom but one that was part of his empire. At least as early as Empress Eleni, Gojjam provided the revenues of the Empress until the Zemene Mesafint, when authority was weak. Gojjam then became a base for a series of warlords at least as late as Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot. During the Italian occupation, Gojjam came to be the home of armed bands who resisted the Italian occupiers, whose leaders included Belay Zelleke, Mengesha Jemberie, Negash Bezabih and Hailu Belew. These resistance fighters, known as arbegnoch, limited the Italians to only the areas around heavily fortified towns like Debre Markos
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Local extinction
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Local extinction, or extirpation, is the condition of a species that ceases to exist in the chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions, local extinctions may be followed by a replacement of the species taken from other locations, wolf reintroduction is an example of this. Local extinctions mark a change in the ecology of an area, the area of study chosen may reflect a natural subpopula, political boundaries, or both. The Cetacean Specialist Group of the IUCN has assessed the threat of an extinction of the Black Sea stock of Harbour Porpoise that touches six different countries. COSEWIC, by contrast, investigates wildlife only in Canada, so only the risk of a Canadian local extinction even for species that cross into the United States or other countries. Other subpopulations may be divided by political or country boundaries. Many crocodilian species have experienced localized extinction, particularly the saltwater crocodile, which has been extirpated from Vietnam, Thailand, Java, often a subpopulation of a species will also be a subspecies. However, similar studies are not carried out where a population is at risk. In all,119 stocks or subpopulations across 69 species have been assessed by the IUCN in 2006, no plant or fungi subpopulations have been assessed by the IUCN. Major environmental events, such as volcanic eruptions, may lead to large numbers of local extinctions, such as with the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, extinction List of extinct animals Threatened species Genocide
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Gray wolf
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The gray wolf or grey wolf, also known as the timber wolf or western wolf, is a canine native to the wilderness and remote areas of Eurasia and North America. It is the largest extant member of its family, with males averaging 43–45 kg, like the red wolf, it is distinguished from other Canis species by its larger size and less pointed features, particularly on the ears and muzzle. Its winter fur is long and bushy, and predominantly a mottled gray in color, although pure white, red. As of 2005,37 subspecies of C. lupus are recognised by MSW3 and it is nonetheless closely related enough to smaller Canis species, such as the eastern wolf, coyote, and golden jackal to produce fertile hybrids. It is an animal, travelling in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair. The gray wolf is typically an apex predator throughout its range, with only humans and it feeds primarily on large ungulates, though it also eats smaller animals, livestock, carrion, and garbage. The gray wolf is one of the worlds best known and well researched animals, although the fear of wolves is pervasive in many human societies, the majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to animals suffering from rabies. The English wolf stems from the Old English wulf, which is thought to be derived from the Proto-Germanic *wulfaz. The Latin lupus is a Sabine loanword, both derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *wlqwos/*lukwos. The species Canis lupus was first recorded by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758, the thirty-seven subspecies of Canis lupus are listed under the designated common name of wolf in Mammal Species of the World third edition that was published in 2005. The nominate subspecies is the Eurasian wolf, also known as the common wolf, the subspecies includes the domestic dog, dingo, eastern wolf and red wolf, but lists C. l. italicus and C. l. communis as synonyms of C. l. lupus. However, the classification of several as either species or subspecies has recently been challenged, ecological factors including habitat type, climate, prey specialization and predatory competition will greatly influence the wolfs genetic population structure and cranio-dental plasticity. The domestic dog is the most widely abundant large carnivore and a descendant from one of those now-extinct wolf populations, in 2013, a genetic study found that the wolf population in Europe was divided along a north-south axis and formed five major clusters. Three clusters were identified occupying southern and central Europe in Italy, the Carpathians, another two clusters were identified occupying north-central Europe and the Ukrainian steppe. The Italian wolf consisted of a population with low genetic diversity. Wolves from Croatia, Bulgaria, and Greece formed the Dinaric-Balkans cluster, the wolves from the Carpathians were more similar to the wolves from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe than they were to wolves from north-central Europe. These clusters may have been the result of expansion from glacial refugia, an adaptation to environments, and landscape fragmentation. These six wolf ecotypes were named West Forest, Boreal Forest, Arctic, High Arctic, Baffin, the studies found that precipitation and mean diurnal temperature range were the most influential variables
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. PMID 20237475.
