Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the family genus Odobenus; this species is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic walrus which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific walrus which lives in the Pacific Ocean, O. r. laptevi, which lives in the Laptev Sea of the Arctic Ocean. Adult walrus are recognized by their prominent tusks and bulk. Adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kg and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walruses live in shallow waters above the continental shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are long-lived, social animals, they are considered to be a "keystone species" in the Arctic marine regions; the walrus has played a prominent role in the cultures of many indigenous Arctic peoples, who have hunted the walrus for its meat, skin and bone.
During the 19th century and the early 20th century, walruses were hunted and killed for their blubber, walrus ivory, meat. The population of walruses dropped all around the Arctic region, their population has rebounded somewhat since though the populations of Atlantic and Laptev walruses remain fragmented and at low levels compared with the time before human interference. The origin of the word walrus is thought by J. R. R. Tolkien to derive from a Germanic language, it has been attributed to either the Dutch language or Old Norse, its first part is thought to derive from a word such as Dutch walvis'whale'. Its second part has been hypothesized to come from the Old Norse word for'horse'. For example, the Old Norse word hrossvalr means'horse-whale' and is thought to have been passed in an inverted form to both Dutch and the dialects of northern Germany as walros and Walross. An alternative theory is that it comes from the Dutch words wal'shore' and reus'giant'; the species name rosmarus is Scandinavian.
The Norwegian manuscript Konungsskuggsja, thought to date from around AD 1240, refers to the walrus as "rosmhvalr" in Iceland and "rostungr" in Greenland. Several place names in Iceland and Norway may originate from walrus sites: Hvalfjord and Hvalsnes to name some, all being typical walrus breeding grounds; the archaic English word for walrus—morse—is thought to have come from the Slavic languages, which in turn borrowed it from Finno-Ugric languages. Compare морж in Russian, mursu in Finnish, morša in Northern Saami, morse in French. Olaus Magnus, who depicted the walrus in the Carta Marina in 1539, first referred to the walrus as the ros marus a Latinization of morž, this was adopted by Linnaeus in his binomial nomenclature; the coincidental similarity between morse and the Latin word morsus contributed to the walrus's reputation as a "terrible monster". The compound Odobenus comes from odous and baino, based on observations of walruses using their tusks to pull themselves out of the water.
The term divergens in Latin means ` referring to their tusks. The walrus is a mammal in the order Carnivora, it is the sole surviving member of the family Odobenidae, one of three lineages in the suborder Pinnipedia along with true seals and eared seals. While there has been some debate as to whether all three lineages are monophyletic, i.e. descended from a single ancestor, or diphyletic, recent genetic evidence suggests all three descended from a caniform ancestor most related to modern bears. Recent multigene analysis indicates the odobenids and otariids diverged from the phocids about 20–26 million years ago, while the odobenids and the otariids separated 15–20 million years ago. Odobenidae was once a diverse and widespread family, including at least twenty species in the subfamilies Imagotariinae and Odobeninae; the key distinguishing feature was the development of a squirt/suction feeding mechanism. Two subspecies of walrus are recognized: the Atlantic walrus, O. r. rosmarus and the Pacific walrus, O. r. divergens.
Fixed genetic differences between the Atlantic and Pacific subspecies indicate restricted gene flow, but recent separation, estimated at 500,000 and 785,000 years ago. These dates coincide with the hypothesis derived from fossils that the walrus evolved from a tropical or subtropical ancestor that became isolated in the Atlantic Ocean and adapted to colder conditions in the Arctic. From there, it recolonized the North Pacific Ocean during high glaciation periods in the Pleistocene via the Central American Seaway. An isolated population in the Laptev Sea is considered by some authorities, including many Russian biologists and the canonical Mammal Species of the World, to be a third subspecies, O. r. laptevi, is managed as such in Russia. Where the subspecies separation is not accepted, whether to consider it a subpopulation of the Atlantic or Pacific subspecies remained under debate until 2009, when multiple lines of molecular evidence showed it to represent the westernmost population of the Pacific walrus.
While some outsized Pacific males can weigh as much as 2,000 kg, most weigh between 800 and 1,700 kg. An occasiona
Chess set
A chess set has thirty-two chess pieces in two colours and a chessboard used to play chess. Chess is played by two players, each starting with one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. Chess equipment accompanying a chess set are a chess box, chess clock and chess table. Chess sets are made in a wide variety of styles for ornamental rather than practical purposes. For tournament play, the Staunton chess set is required. Dubrovnik chess set Gökyay Association Chess Museum
Toothed whale
The toothed whales are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whales and sperm whales. Seventy-three species of toothed whales are described, they are one of two living groups of cetaceans, the other being the baleen whales, which have baleen instead of teeth. The two groups are thought to have diverged around 34 million years ago. Toothed whales range in 120 lb vaquita to the 20 m and 55 t sperm whale. Several species of odontocetes exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that there are size or other morphological differences between females and males, they have two limbs that are modified into flippers. Some can travel at up to 20 knots. Odontocetes have conical teeth designed for catching squid, they have well-developed hearing, well adapted for both air and water, so much so that some can survive if they are blind. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. All have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, with the exception of river dolphins.
Toothed whales consist of some of the most widespread mammals, but some, as with the vaquita, are restricted to certain areas. Odontocetes feed on fish and squid, but a few, like the killer whale, feed on mammals, such as pinnipeds. Males mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years, making them polygynous. Calves are born in the spring and summer, females bear the responsibility for raising them, but more sociable species rely on the family group to care for calves. Many species dolphins, are sociable, with some pods reaching over a thousand individuals. Once hunted for their products, cetaceans are now protected by international law; some species are attributed with high levels of intelligence. At the 2012 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, support was reiterated for a cetacean bill of rights, listing cetaceans as nonhuman persons. Besides whaling and drive hunting, they face threats from bycatch and marine pollution; the baiji, for example, is considered functionally extinct by the IUCN, with the last sighting in 2004, due to heavy pollution to the Yangtze River.
Whales feature in literature and film, as in the great white sperm whale of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Small odontocetes dolphins, are kept in captivity and trained to perform tricks. Whale watching has become a form of tourism around the world. In Aristotle's time, the fourth century BC, whales were regarded as fish due to their superficial similarity. Aristotle, could see many physiological and anatomical similarities with the terrestrial vertebrates, such as blood, lungs and fin anatomy, his detailed descriptions were assimilated by the Romans, but mixed with a more accurate knowledge of the dolphins, as mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural history. In the art of this and subsequent periods, dolphins are portrayed with a high-arched head and a long snout; the harbor porpoise is one of the most accessible species for early cetologists, because it could be seen close to land, inhabiting shallow coastal areas of Europe. Many of the findings that apply to all cetaceans were therefore first discovered in the porpoises.
One of the first anatomical descriptions of the airways of the whales on the basis of a harbor porpoise dates from 1671 by John Ray. It referred to the porpoise as a fish. Toothed whales, as well as baleen whales, are descendants of land-dwelling mammals of the artiodactyl order, they are related to the hippopotamus, sharing a common ancestor that lived around 54 million years ago. The primitive cetaceans, or archaeocetes, first took to the sea 49 mya and became aquatic by 5–10 million years later; the adaptation of echolocation and enhanced fat synthesis in blubber occurred when toothed whales split apart from baleen whales, distinguishes modern toothed whales from aquatic archaeocetes. This happened around 34 mya. Unlike toothed whales, baleen whales do not have wax ester deposits nor branched fatty chain acids in their blubber. Thus, more recent evolution of these complex blubber traits occurred after baleen whales and toothed whales split, only in the toothed whale lineage. Modern toothed. Echolocation allowed toothed whales to dive deeper in search of food, with light no longer necessary for navigation, which opened up new food sources.
Toothed whales echolocate by creating a series of clicks emitted at various frequencies. Sound pulses are emitted through their melon-shaped foreheads, reflected off objects, retrieved through the lower jaw. Skulls of Squalodon show evidence for the first hypothesized appearance of echolocation. Squalodon lived from the early to middle Oligocene around 33-14 mya. Squalodon featured several commonalities with modern Odontocetes; the cranium was well compressed, the rostrum telescoped outward, giving Squalodon an appearance similar to that of modern toothed whales. However, it is thought unlikely. Parvorder Odontoceti: toothed whales Superfamily Delphinoidea: dolphins and relatives Family Delphinidae: oceanic dolphins Subfamily Delphininae Genus Delphinus Short-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus delphis Long-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus capensis Gen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king; because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases. In the game shatranj, the ancestor of chess that included only male figures, the closest thing to the queen was the ferz, a weak piece only able to move or capture one step diagonally and not at all in any other direction; the modern chess queen gained power in the 15th century. In most languages the piece is known as "queen" or "lady". Asian and Eastern European languages tend to refer to it as minister or advisor. In Polish it is known as the hetman – the name of a major historical military-political office, while in Estonian it is called lipp; the white queen starts on d1, while the black queen starts on d8. With the chessboard oriented the white queen starts on a white square and the black queen starts on a black square—thus the mnemonics "queen gets her color", "queen on color", or "the dress matches the shoes ".
The queen can be moved any number of unoccupied squares in a straight line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, thus combining the moves of the rook and bishop. The queen captures by occupying the square. Although both players start with one queen each, a pawn can be promoted to any of several types of pieces, including a queen, when the pawn is moved to the player's furthest rank; such a queen created by promotion can be an additional queen, or if the player's queen has been captured, a replacement queen. Pawn promotion to a queen is colloquially called queening, by far the most common type of piece a pawn is promoted to due to the relative power of a queen. Ordinarily, the queen is stronger than a rook and a bishop together, while less strong than two rooks, it is always disadvantageous to exchange the queen for a single piece other than the enemy's queen. The reason that the queen is stronger than a combination of a rook and bishop though they control the same number of squares, is twofold.
First, the queen is more mobile than the rook and the bishop, as the entire power of the queen can be transferred to another location in one move, while transferring the entire firepower of a rook and bishop requires two moves, the bishop always being restricted to squares of one color. Second, the queen is not hampered by the bishop's inability to control squares of the opposite color to the square on which it stands. A factor in favor of the rook and bishop is that they can attack a square twice, while a queen can only do so once. However, experience has shown that this factor is less significant than the points favoring the queen; the queen is strongest when the board is open, when the enemy king is poorly defended, or when there are loose pieces in the enemy camp. Because of her long range and ability to move in multiple directions, the queen is well equipped to execute forks. Compared to other long range pieces, the queen is stronger in closed positions. Beginners develop the queen early in the game, hoping to plunder the enemy position and deliver an early checkmate such as Scholar's mate.
This can expose the harassed queen to attacks by weaker pieces causing the player to lose time. Experienced players prefer to delay developing the queen, instead develop minor pieces in the opening. Early queen attacks are rare in high level chess, but there are some openings with early queen development that are used by high level players. For example, the Scandinavian Defense, which features queen moves by Black on the second and third moves is considered sound, has been played at the world championship level; some less common examples have been observed in high-level games. The Danvers Opening, characterized as a beginner's opening, has been played by the strong American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. A queen exchange marks the beginning of the endgame, but there are queen endgames, sometimes queens are exchanged in the opening, long before the endgame. A common goal in the endgame is to promote a pawn to a queen; as the queen has the largest range and mobility and king vs. lone king is an easy win when compared to some other basic mates.
A queen sacrifice is the deliberate sacrifice of a queen in order to gain a more favorable tactical position. The queen was the counsellor or prime minister or vizier, its only move was one square diagonally. Around 1300 CE its move was enhanced to allow it to move two squares with jump onto a same-colored square for its first move, to help the sides to come into contact sooner; the fers changed into the queen over time. The first surviving mention of this piece as a queen or similar was "regina" in the Einsiedeln Poem, written in Latin around 997 and preserved in a monastery at Einsiedeln in Switzerland; some surviving early medieval pieces depict the piece as a queen, the word fers became grammatically feminized in several languages, for example alferza in Spanish and fierce or fierge in French, before it was replaced with names such as reine or dame. The Carmina Burana refer to the queen as femina and coniunx, the name Amazon has sometimes been seen. In Russian it keeps its Persian name of ferz.
Ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks and teeth of animals, that consists of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is the same, regardless of the species of origin; the trade in certain teeth and tusks other than elephant is widespread. It has been valued since ancient times in art or manufacturing for making a range of items from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans and joint tubes. Elephant ivory is the most important source, but ivory from mammoth, hippopotamus, sperm whale, killer whale and wart hog are used as well. Elk have two ivory teeth, which are believed to be the remnants of tusks from their ancestors; the national and international trade in ivory of threatened species such as African and Asian elephants is illegal. The word ivory derives from the ancient Egyptian âb, âbu, through the Latin ebor- or ebur. Both the Greek and Roman civilizations practiced ivory carving to make large quantities of high value works of art, precious religious objects, decorative boxes for costly objects.
Ivory was used to form the white of the eyes of statues. There is some evidence of either walrus ivory used by the ancient Irish. Solinus, a Roman writer in the 3rd century claimed that the Celtic peoples in Ireland would decorate their sword-hilts with the'teeth of beasts that swim in the sea'. Adomnan of Iona wrote a story about St Columba giving a sword decorated with carved ivory as a gift that a penitent would bring to his master so he could redeem himself from slavery; the Syrian and North African elephant populations were reduced to extinction due to the demand for ivory in the Classical world. The Chinese have long valued ivory for utilitarian objects. Early reference to the Chinese export of ivory is recorded after the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian ventured to the west to form alliances to enable the eventual free movement of Chinese goods to the west. Southeast Asian kingdoms included tusks of the Indian elephant in their annual tribute caravans to China. Chinese craftsmen carved ivory to make everything from images of deities to the pipe stems and end pieces of opium pipes.
The Buddhist cultures of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, traditionally harvested ivory from their domesticated elephants. Ivory was prized for containers due to its ability to keep an airtight seal, it was commonly carved into elaborate seals utilized by officials to "sign" documents and decrees by stamping them with their unique official seal. In Southeast Asian countries, where Muslim Malay peoples live, such as Malaysia and the Philippines, ivory was the material of choice for making the handles of kris daggers. In the Philippines, ivory was used to craft the faces and hands of Catholic icons and images of saints prevalent in the Santero culture. Tooth and tusk ivory can be carved into a vast variety of objects. Examples of modern carved ivory objects are okimono, jewelry, flatware handles, furniture inlays, piano keys. Additionally, warthog tusks, teeth from sperm whales and hippos can be scrimshawed or superficially carved, thus retaining their morphologically recognizable shapes.
Ivory usage in the last thirty years has moved towards mass production of souvenirs and jewelry. In Japan, the increase in wealth sparked consumption of solid ivory hanko – name seals – which before this time had been made of wood; these hanko can be carved out in a matter of seconds using machinery and were responsible for massive African elephant decline in the 1980s, when the African elephant population went from 1.3 million to around 600,000 in ten years. Prior to the introduction of plastics, ivory had many ornamental and practical uses because of the white color it presents when processed, it was used to make cutlery handles, billiard balls, piano keys, Scottish bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items. Synthetic substitutes for ivory in the use of most of these items have been developed since 1800: the billiard industry challenged inventors to come up with an alternative material that could be manufactured. Ivory can be taken from dead animals – however, most ivory came from elephants that were killed for their tusks.
For example, in 1930 to acquire 40 tons of ivory required the killing of 700 elephants. Other animals which are now endangered were preyed upon, for example, which have hard white ivory prized for making artificial teeth. In the first half of the 20th century, Kenyan elephant herds were devastated because of demand for ivory, to be used for piano keys. During the Art Deco era from 1912 to 1940, dozens of European artists used ivory in the production of chryselephantine statues. Two of the most frequent users of ivory in their sculptured artworks were Ferdinand Preiss and Claire Colinet. Owing to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of ivory in many countries is banned or restricted. In the ten years preceding a decision in 1989 by CITES to ban international trade in African elephant ivory, the population of African elephants declined from 1.3 million to around 600,000. It was found by investigators from the Environmental Investigation Agency that CITES sales of stockpiles from Singapore and
Walrus ivory
Walrus tusk ivory comes from two modified upper canines. It is known as morse; the tusks of a Pacific walrus may attain a length of one meter. Walrus teeth are commercially carved and traded; the average walrus tooth has a rounded, irregular peg shape and is 5 cm in length. The tip of a walrus tusk has an enamel coating, worn away during the animal's youth. Fine longitudinal cracks, which appear as radial cracks in cross-section, originate in the cementum and penetrate the dentine; these cracks can be seen throughout the length of the tusk. Whole cross-sections of walrus tusks are oval with spaced indentations; the dentine is composed of two types: secondary dentine. Primary dentine has a classical ivory appearance. Secondary dentine looks oatmeal-like. Walrus ivory carving and engraving has been an important folk art for people of the Arctic since prehistoric times, among them the Inuit and Yupik of Greenland and North America and the Chukchi and Koryak of Russia; the Chukchi and Bering Sea Yupik in particular continue to produce ivory.
The folk art of walrus ivory carving has been popular in European Russia since the Middle Ages, with notable schools of walrus ivory carving in Kholmogory and Tobolsk. During Soviet times, several walrus carving collectives were established in villages in Chukotka, notably Uelen. International trade is, somewhat restricted by the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species. In the Early Medieval period, when supplies of elephant ivory reaching Europe reduced or ceased after the Muslim conquests, walrus ivory began to be traded by Vikings into northern Europe as a replacement. King Alfred the Great of Wessex records that he was presented with walrus tusks by the Viking trader Ohthere of Hålogaland in about 890, which may mark the start of this trade. Nearly all ivories in Anglo-Saxon art use walrus, most northern European ivories of the 11th and 12th centuries. Large walrus herds were found much further south than is the case today, it is that their hunting for ivory impacted on populations.
Around 1160 northern European ivory carving was reduced, which may well be because the material was less available. Around 1260, at the start of the Gothic period, elephant ivory began to reach Europe again, the industry increased; the Norse carved items in walrus ivory, notably the Lewis chessmen. Ivory trade Scrimshaw Webster, Anglo-Saxon Art, 2012, British Museum Press, ISBN 9780714128092 Williamson, Paul. An Introduction to Medieval Ivory Carvings, 1982, HMSO for V&A Museum, ISBN 0112903770 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. "Pipe #1926-37-61". Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Retrieved 10 October 2012
National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities and history, the adjacent Royal Museum, with collections covering science and technology, natural history, world cultures. The two connected buildings stand beside each other on Chambers Street, by the intersection with the George IV Bridge, in central Edinburgh; the museum is part of National Museums Scotland. Admission is free; the two buildings retain distinctive characters: the Museum of Scotland is housed in a modern building opened in 1998, while the former Royal Museum building was begun in 1861, opened in 1866, with a Victorian Venetian Renaissance facade and a grand central hall of cast iron construction that rises the full height of the building. This building underwent a major refurbishment and reopened on 29 July 2011 after a three-year, £47 million project to restore and extend the building led by Gareth Hoskins Architects along with the concurrent redesign of the exhibitions by Ralph Appelbaum Associates.
The National Museum incorporates the collections of the former National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. As well as the national collections of Scottish archaeological finds and medieval objects, the museum contains artefacts from around the world, encompassing geology, natural history, technology and world cultures; the 16 new galleries reopened in 2011 include 8,000 objects, 80 per cent of which were not on display. One of the more notable exhibits is the stuffed body of Dolly the sheep, the first successful clone of a mammal from an adult cell. Other highlights include Ancient Egyptian exhibitions, one of Elton John's extravagant suits, the Jean Muir Collection of costume and a large kinetic sculpture named the Millennium Clock. A Scottish invention, a perennial favourite with school parties is The Maiden, an early form of guillotine. In 2017, the museum received 2,165,601 visitors, making it Scotland's most popular visitor attraction that year; the history of the museum can be said to begin in 1780 with the foundation of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which still continues, but whose collection of archaeological and other finds was transferred to the government in 1858 as the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, based in Queen Street in the New Town, Edinburgh.
In 1861 construction of the Industrial Museum of Scotland began, with Prince Albert laying the foundation stone. In 1866, renamed the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, the eastern end and the Grand Gallery were opened by Prince Alfred. In 1888 the building was finished and in 1904 the institution was renamed the Royal Scottish Museum; the organizational merger of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Museum took place in 1985, but the two collections retained separate buildings until 1995 when the Queen Street building closed, to reopen as the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In 1998 the new Museum of Scotland building opened, adjacent to the Royal Museum building, connected to it; the masterplan to redevelop the Victorian building and further integrate the architecture and collections was launched in 2004, in 2006 the two museums were formally merged as the National Museum of Scotland. The old Royal Museum building closed for redevelopment in 2008, before reopening in July 2011.
The Royal Scottish Museum displayed prank exhibits on April Fool's Day on at least one occasion. In 1975, a fictitious bird called; the exhibit included photos of blurry birds flying away. To make the exhibit more convincing, a mount of the bird was sewn together by a taxidermist from various scraps of real birds, including the head of a carrion crow, the body of a plover, the feet of an unknown waterfowl; the bare front was composed of wax. Staff at the museum took several days of strike action at points during 2015 and 2016, called by the Public and Commercial Services Union. Construction was started in 1861 and proceeded in phases, with some sections opening before others had begun construction; the original extent of the building was completed in 1888. It was designed by civil engineer Captain Francis Fowke of the Royal Engineers, responsible for the Royal Albert Hall; the exterior, designed in a Venetian Renaissance style, contrasts with the light-flooded main hall or Grand Gallery, inspired by The Crystal Palace.
Numerous extensions at the rear of the building in the 1930s, extended the museum greatly. 1998 saw the opening of the Museum of Scotland, linked internally to the Royal Museum building. The major redevelopment completed in 2011 by Gareth Hoskins Architects uses former storage areas to form a vaulted Entrance Hall of 1400 sq M at street level with visitor facilities; this involved lowering the floor level by 1.2 metres. Despite being a Class A listed building, it was possible to add escalators; the building is made up of geometric, Corbusian forms, but has numerous references to Scotland, such as brochs and castellated, defensive architecture. It is clad in golden Moray sandstone, which one of its architects, Gordon Benson, has called "the oldest exhibit in the building", a reference to Scottish geology; the building was a 1999 Stirling Prize nominee. The galleries in the newer building present Scottish history in an chronological arrangement, beginning at the lowest level with prehistory to the early medieval period, with periods on the higher levels.
The Victorian building, as reopened in 2011, contains four zones, covering nat
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