1.
Perdix
–
Perdix is a genus of Galliform gamebirds known collectively as the true partridges. The genus name is the Latin for partridge, and is derived from Ancient Greek perdix. These birds are unrelated to the species that have been named after the partridge due to similar size. There are representatives of Perdix in most of temperate Europe and Asia, one member of the genus, the grey partridge, has been introduced to the United States and Canada for the purpose of hunting. The nest is a scrape in or near cover. They feed on a variety of seeds and some insect food. These are medium-sized partridges with dull-coloured bills and legs, streaked brown upperparts, neither sex has spurs on the legs, and the only plumage distinction is that females tend to be duller in appearance. Grey and Daurian partridges are very closely related and similar in appearance, Tibetan partridge has a striking black and white face pattern, black breast barring and 16 tail feathers instead of the 18 of the other species. None of the species is threatened on a scale. The grey partridge has been affected by agricultural changes. The Tibetan partridge seems secure in its extensive and often inaccessible range on the Tibetan plateau, the bird shares its name with the nephew of Daedalus of Greek mythology, who was transformed into the bird when his uncle murdered him in jealousy. He was killed when thrown headlong down from the hill of Minerva, so, mindful of his fall. Perdix is the given to Autonomous Drones, designed/developed for military use. Developed by 20-30 somethings at MIT Lincoln Labs, grey partridge, Perdix perdix Daurian partridge, Perdix dauurica Tibetan partridge, Perdix hodgsoniae A prehistoric species only known from fossils was described as Perdix palaeoperdix. Occurring all over southern Europe during the Early–Late Pleistocene, it was a food of the Cro-Magnons. Madge, Steve, McGowan, Philip J. K. & Kirwan, Guy M. Pheasants, partidges and grouse, a guide to the pheasants, partridges, quails, grouse, guineafowl, buttonquails and sandgrouse of the world
Perdix
–
Perdix
2.
Crested wood partridge
–
It is the only member of the genus Rollulus. This small partridge is a resident breeder in lowland rainforests in south Burma, south Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and its nest is a ground scrape lined with leaves, which is concealed under a heap of leaf litter. Five or six eggs are incubated for 18 days. Unusually for a species, the young are fed bill-to-bill by both parents instead of pecking from the ground, and although precocial, they roost in the nest while small. Crested partridge is a rotund short-tailed bird,25 cm in length, with the male marginally larger than the female, both sexes have a scarlet patch of bare skin around the eye and red legs without a spur or hind toe. The male is green above with glossy dark blue underparts. The head is adorned with a red crest, a white forehead spot. The female has pea-green body plumage apart from the wing coverts. She has a head with the bristles but no spot or crest. Young birds are duller versions of the adult of the same sex, the song is a mournful whistled si-ul. The crested partridge is usually seen singly or in pairs as it uses its feet to probe the forest floor for fruit, seeds, when disturbed, it prefers to run but if necessary it flies a short distance on its rounded wings. There is some concern about the effect of habitat destruction on this bird, however, it seems to be somewhat more adaptable than other southeast Asian pheasants. The crested wood partridge is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and it is listed on Appendix III of CITES. Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 ARKive - images and movies of the Crested Wood Partridge BirdLife Species Factsheet Red Data Book
Crested wood partridge
–
Crested partridge
Crested wood partridge
–
captive red crested male with two females
Crested wood partridge
–
Male at Toronto Zoo
Crested wood partridge
–
Male at
Toronto Zoo, Canada
3.
Taxonomy (biology)
–
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
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Title page of
Systema Naturae, Leiden, 1735
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Evolution of the
vertebrates at class level, width of spindles indicating number of families. Spindle diagrams are typical for
Evolutionary taxonomy
Taxonomy (biology)
–
The same relationship, expressed as a
cladogram typical for
cladistics
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Type specimen for
Nepenthes smilesii, a tropical
pitcher plant.
4.
Animal
–
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
Animal
–
Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of modern
taxonomy
Animal
–
Had'n
Animal
–
The use of
love darts by the land snail
Monachoides vicinus is a form of
sexual selection
Animal
–
A
newt lung cell stained with
fluorescent dyes undergoing the early
anaphase stage of
mitosis
5.
Chordate
–
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
Chordate
Chordate
–
Craniate:
Hagfish
Chordate
–
Tunicates: sea squirts
Chordate
–
Cephalochordate:
Lancelet
6.
Bird
–
Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at ten thousand. As a subgroup of Reptilia, birds are the closest living relatives of crocodilians, while birds, the fossil record indicates that birds are also the last surviving representatives of dinosauria, having evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, dNA-based evidence finds that birds diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event which killed off all other dinosaur lineages. Birds, especially those in the continents, survived this event. Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species, the digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have evolved for swimming. Many species annually migrate great distances, Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous or, rarely, Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents, most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano is harvested for use as a fertiliser, Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry, the first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae. Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use, Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda, Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria
Bird
–
Archaeopteryx lithographica is often considered the oldest known true bird.
Bird
Bird
–
Confuciusornis sanctus, a Cretaceous bird from China
Bird
–
The range of the
house sparrow has expanded dramatically due to human activities.
7.
Galliformes
–
The name derives from gallus, Latin for cock or rooster. Common names are gamefowl or gamebirds, landfowl, gallinaceous birds, wildfowl or just fowl are also often used for the Galliformes, but usually these terms also refer to waterfowl, and occasionally to other commonly hunted birds. This group has about 290 species, one or more of which are found in every part of the worlds continents. They are rarer on islands, and in contrast to the closely related waterfowl, are absent from oceanic islands—unless introduced there by humans. Several species have been domesticated during their long and extensive relationships with humans and this order contains five families, Phasianidae, Odontophoridae, Numididae, Cracidae, and Megapodiidae. They are important as seed dispersers and predators in the ecosystems they inhabit, many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species are more colorful than the females, males often have elaborate courtship behaviors that include strutting, fluffing of tail or head feathers, and vocal sounds. The living Galliformes were once divided into seven or more families, despite their distinctive appearance, grouse and turkeys probably do not warrant separation as families due to their recent origin from partridge- or pheasant-like birds. The turkeys became larger after their ancestors colonized temperate and subtropical North America, the ancestors of grouse, though, adapted to harsh climates and could thereby colonize subarctic regions. Consequently, the Phasianidae are expanded in current taxonomy to include the former Tetraonidae and Meleagrididae as subfamilies, the Anseriformes and the Galliformes together make up the Galloanserae. They are basal among the living birds, and normally follow the Paleognathae in modern bird classification systems. This was first proposed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy and has been the one major change of that proposed scheme that was almost universally adopted. However, the Galliformes as they were traditionally delimited are called Gallomorphae in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy and this is not a natural group, however, but rather an erroneous result of the now-obsolete phenetic methodology employed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Phenetic studies do not distinguish between plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters, which leads to basal lineages appearing as monophyletic groups, historically, the buttonquails, mesites and the hoatzin were placed in the Galliformes, too. The former are now known to be adapted to an inland lifestyle, whereas the mesites are probably closely related to pigeons. The relationships of the hoatzin are entirely obscure, and it is treated as a monotypic order Opisthocomiformes to signify this. The earliest galliform-like fossils hail from the Late Cretaceous, most notably those of Austinornis lentus and its partial left tarsometatarsus was found in the Austin Chalk near Fort McKinney, Texas, dating to about 85 million years ago. This bird was quite closely related to Galliformes, but whether it was a part of these or belongs elsewhere in the little-known galliform branch of Galloanserae is not clear
Galliformes
Galliformes
–
Despite its distinct appearance, the
wild turkey is actually a very close relative of
pheasants
Galliformes
–
Palaeortyx skeleton,
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris
Galliformes
–
Female (left) and male
common pheasants:
Sexual dimorphism is conspicuous in this species, one of the most
apomorphic gamefowl
8.
Phasianidae
–
The Phasianidae are a family of heavy, groundliving birds which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular gamebirds, the family is a large one, and is occasionally broken up into two subfamilies, the Phasianinae, and the Perdicinae. Sometimes, additional families and birds are treated as part of this family, for example, the American Ornithologists Union includes Tetraonidae, Numididae, and Meleagrididae as subfamilies in Phasianidae. They range in weight from 43 g in the case of the quail to 6 kg in the case of the Indian peafowl. If turkeys are included, rather than classified as a separate family, then the considerably heavier wild turkey reaches a maximum weight of more than 17 kg. Length in this family can vary from 12.5 cm in the king quail up to 300 cm in green peafowl. There is generally sexual dimorphism in size, with males tending to be larger than females and they are generally plump, with broad relatively short wings and strong legs. Many have a spur on their legs, a feature shared only with guineafowl, the bill is short and generally strong, particularly in species that dig for food. Males of the species often have brightly coloured plumage as well as facial ornaments such as wattles or crests. Phasianidae is mostly an Old World family, with a distribution that includes most of Europe and Asia, all of Africa except the driest deserts and down into much of eastern Australia, meleagridinae are native to the New World, while Tetraoninae are circumpolar. The greatest diversity of species is in Southeast Asia and Africa, the Congo peacock is specific to the African Congo. The subfamily Perdicinae has a more widespread distribution. Within their range they occupy almost every habitat except for the boreal forests. The family is generally sedentary and resident, although some quails undertake long migrations, several species in the family have been widely introduced around the world, particularly pheasants which have been introduced to Europe, Australia and the Americas, specifically for hunting purposes. Captive populations of peacocks and chickens have also escaped and become feral, most species either specialise in feeding on plant matter or are predatory, although the chicks of most species are insectivorous. In addition to the variation in diet there is an amount of variation in breeding strategies among the Phasianidae. Compared to birds in general there is a number of species that do not engage in monogamy. Nesting usually occurs on the ground, only the tragopans nest higher up in stumps of bushes, nests can vary from mounds of vegetation to slight scrapes in the ground
Phasianidae
9.
Thomas Horsfield
–
Thomas Horsfield M. D. was an American physician and naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the East India Company Museum in London, Horsfield was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr. who was born in Liverpool, moving in 1725 to New York, he and his brother Isaac ran a butcher shop. The Horsfield family converted from the Church of England to Moravianism, in 1748 he applied for permission to reside in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He however moved only his family to Bethlehem and joined them the next year, when Northampton County was created in 1752, he was made a justice of peace by Governor Hamilton. In 1763 he was commissioned a colonel in the defending the frontiers against Indian raids. One of the sons, Joseph Horsfield was a delegate in the Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Federal Constitution, grandfather Horsfield was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and finds mention in the latters autobiography. Horsfields father was Timothy Horsfield, Jr. and he married Juliana Sarah Parsons of Philadelphia in 1738, Thomas Horsfield was born in Bethlehem on May 12,1773. He went to school at the Moravian schools in Bethlehem and Nazareth and he took an interest in biology and took a pharmacy course under a Dr Otto. In 1798 he graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1790 he accepted a post as surgeon on the vessel China, a merchant vessel that was to sail to Java. He passed through Batavia and took a great interest in plants of medicinal value, in 1801 he applied as a surgeon with the Dutch Colonial Army in Batavia. Taking up appointment here, he took an interest in the flora, fauna, the East India Company took control of the island from the Dutch in 1811, and Horsfield began to collect plants and animals on behalf of the governor and friend Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. In 1816 Java was restored to the Dutch and Horsfield moved east to Sumatra, in 1819 he was forced to leave the island due to ill health and returned to London on board the Lady Raffles. He stayed in position, later as a curator, until his death on July 24,1859. Horsfield took an interest in geology, botany, zoology as well as entomology and he was influenced by William Sharp Macleay and his quinarian system of classification. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London and a fellow of the Linnean Society, Horsfield was appointed assistant secretary of the Zoological Society of London at its formation in 1826. In 1833, he was a founder of what became the Royal Entomological Society of London and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1828. In 1838 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, Horsfield died at his home in Camden Town and was buried at the Moravian cemetery in Chelsea
Thomas Horsfield
–
Portrait by J. Erxleben
Thomas Horsfield
–
Writing on Horsfield's Catalogue of the mammals in the East India Company Museum on a copy to
Theodore Edward Cantor
10.
Perdicinae
–
Perdicinae is a subfamily of birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae, regrouping the partridges, Old World quails, and francolins. For example, some partridges are more affiliated to pheasants, whereas Old World quails. Perdicinae is a non-migratory Old World group and these are medium-sized birds, and are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The subfamily includes the partridges, the snowcocks, the francolins, the spurfowl and the Old World quail
Perdicinae
–
Perdicinae
11.
Alectoris
–
The genus Alectoris is a well-defined group of partridge species of the order Galliformes, allied with coturnix and snowcocks and also related to partridge-francolins and junglebush quail. They are known collectively as rock partridges, the genus name is from Ancient Greek alektoris a farmyard chicken. Their fossils date back to the early Pleistocene, with extant representatives in southern Europe, North Africa and Arabia and these are non-migratory birds of dry, open and often hilly country. They nest in a lined ground scrape laying up to 20 eggs. They feed on a variety of seeds and vegetation. The face is white or whitish with a dark gorget and their specialized flank coverts give them the appearance of being more rotund than they actually are. Alectoris exhibit rufous-streaked flanks and red legs armed with well-developed, ball hammer like spurs, when disturbed they run very rapidly, often uphill. When pressed, rock partridges take to the wing and their wings are long and fairly sharp, shaped rather like those of the ptarmigan and spruce grouse, suggesting that the birds sustain themselves in flight over substantial distances to find food. This probably occurs most often during winter, members of the genus, notably the chukar and red-legged partridge, have been introduced to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Another one, A. baryosefi, has been described from Early Pleistocene fossils found at El-Ubeidiya, Israel
Alectoris
–
Alectoris
12.
Ammoperdix
–
Ammoperdix is a small genus in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes. Both are resident breeders in dry, open country, often in hill areas, both partridges in this genus are 22–25 cm long, rotund birds. They are mainly brown, with wavy white and brown stripes on their flanks. The males have distinctively-patterned grey heads, but the females are very washed-out in comparison, when disturbed, Ammoperdix partridges prefer to run rather than take to the air, but if necessary they will fly a short distance on rounded wings. Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0
Ammoperdix
–
Ammoperdix
13.
Lerwa
–
The snow partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae found widely distributed across the high-altitude Himalayan regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal and China. It is the species within its genus. The species is found in pastures and open hillside above the treeline. Males and females similar in plumage but males have a spur on their tarsus. This partridge appears grey above and chestnut below with bright red bill and legs, in flight the pattern of dark brown primaries and secondaries with a narrow trailing white margin make them somewhat like the much larger Tibetan snowcock. The 14-feathered tail is dark and barred in white, there is variation in the shade and some birds have a nearly black crown. The primaries and secondaries are brown and the breast is deep chestnut, the abdomen has more white and the lower flanks and feathers around the vent are barred brown and white. The under-tail coverts are chestnut with black streaks and white tips. Young birds have the lower parts mottled and the less distinct. The tarsus is feathered on the front of the leg half-way to the toes and it measures 38–40 cm in length. Females weigh 450–580 g, males, 550–700 g, sexes are similar in plumage, female lacks spurs on the tarsus while the male has a blunt spur and sometimes a second incipient spur. Downy chicks have a resemblance to the chicks of the blood pheasant, chicks are born with the tarsi feathered and the nostril opening is covered by feathers. This species was first described by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1833, Hodgson initially placed it in the genus Perdix calling it Perdix lerwa. A subspecies, L. l. major was described by Richard Meinertzhagen from Szechuan while L. l. callipygia from south Kansu was noted by Stegmann in 1938, but these are not usually recognized. The species has been retained in this genus due to various peculiarities including the tarsus feathering. Snow partridge is found in the Himalayas from Pakistan to Arunachal Pradesh along the higher ranges and it is found above the tree line but not on as bare and stony terrain as the snowcocks. Although said to be found in Afghanistan, there is no evidence, the species is found over a large area is generally considered to be of low conservation concern. It is hunted to some extent, due to its habit of being more approachable than snowcock and has declined in population in some areas, the usual habitat is alpine pastures, open grassy hillsides with grass, lichens, moss, ferns and rhododendrons
Lerwa
–
Snow partridge
Lerwa
–
Head showing barring and curved beak
Lerwa
–
Illustration from
Hume and
Marshall 's Game birds of India (1890)
14.
Rollulus
–
It is the only member of the genus Rollulus. This small partridge is a resident breeder in lowland rainforests in south Burma, south Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and its nest is a ground scrape lined with leaves, which is concealed under a heap of leaf litter. Five or six eggs are incubated for 18 days. Unusually for a species, the young are fed bill-to-bill by both parents instead of pecking from the ground, and although precocial, they roost in the nest while small. Crested partridge is a rotund short-tailed bird,25 cm in length, with the male marginally larger than the female, both sexes have a scarlet patch of bare skin around the eye and red legs without a spur or hind toe. The male is green above with glossy dark blue underparts. The head is adorned with a red crest, a white forehead spot. The female has pea-green body plumage apart from the wing coverts. She has a head with the bristles but no spot or crest. Young birds are duller versions of the adult of the same sex, the song is a mournful whistled si-ul. The crested partridge is usually seen singly or in pairs as it uses its feet to probe the forest floor for fruit, seeds, when disturbed, it prefers to run but if necessary it flies a short distance on its rounded wings. There is some concern about the effect of habitat destruction on this bird, however, it seems to be somewhat more adaptable than other southeast Asian pheasants. The crested wood partridge is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and it is listed on Appendix III of CITES. Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 ARKive - images and movies of the Crested Wood Partridge BirdLife Species Factsheet Red Data Book
Rollulus
–
Crested partridge
Rollulus
–
captive red crested male with two females
Rollulus
–
Male at Toronto Zoo
Rollulus
–
Male at
Toronto Zoo, Canada
15.
Tetraophasis
–
Tetraophasis is a genus of Galliform in the family Phasianidae, which includes pheasants, Perdixs, grouse, turkeyss, tragopan, and koklass. Monal-partridge are close relatives of monals and more related to tragopan. They are boreal adapted species of high altitudes, like monals they dig in alpine biomes for tubers, rhizomes and invertebrates as well as rodent pups and voles. Monal-partridges are important prey species for raptors, owls and yellow-throated martens, like monals, monal-partridges are strictly monogamous. The female incubates the eggs until the last 48 hours when the male may take over night time nest brooding and this is a habit documented in blood pheasants, tragopans and monals. Both sexes rear the chicks, which are not fully mature until their second year, unlike monals the sexes do not separate during winter. They evidently compete with koklass as the two are rarely to be heard or seen in the same valleys
Tetraophasis
–
Tetraophasis
16.
Game (hunting)
–
Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world, in some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, as either small game or large game. Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food, the term game arises in medieval hunting terminology by the late 13th century and is particular to English, from the generic meaning of Old English gamen joy, amusement, sport, merriment. Small game includes animals, such as rabbits, pheasants. Large game includes animals like deer and bear, big game is a term sometimes used interchangeably with large game although in other contexts it refers to large, typically African, mammals which are hunted mainly for trophies in safaris. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world and this is influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted views about what can or cannot be legitimately hunted. Sometimes a distinction is made between varieties and species of a particular animal, such as wild turkey and domestic turkey. Fish caught for sport are referred to as game fish, the flesh of the animal, when butchered for consumption is often described as having a gamey flavour. This difference in taste can be attributed to the diet of the animal. In some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, a single small game licence may cover all small game species and be subject to yearly bag limits. Large game are often subject to individual licensing where a licence is required for each individual animal taken. In some parts of Africa, wild animals hunted for their meat are called bushmeat, see article for more detailed information on how this operates within the economy. In Africa, animals hunted for their pelts or ivory are sometimes referred to as the big game, also see the legal definition of game in Swaziland. South Africa has 62 species of gamebirds, including guineafowl, francolin, partridge, quail, sandgrouse, duck, geese, snipe, bustard, of the remaining 41 species,24 have shown an increase in numbers and distribution range in the last 25 years or so. The status of 14 species appears unchanged, with insufficient information being available for the three species. S. and Canada, deer are the most commonly hunted big game. Other game species include, In the PRC there is a special category called ye wei. In the UK game is defined in law by the Game Act 1831 and it is illegal to shoot game on Sundays or at night. Other that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife, the ban is generally considered voluntary on private lands, and few birds live away from RSPB or Forestry Commission land allegedly
Game (hunting)
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Common pheasant, widely introduced and hunted as game
Game (hunting)
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An
African buffalo bull
Game (hunting)
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Bobwhite quail, an important North American gamebird
Game (hunting)
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White-tailed deer
17.
Old World
–
The Old World consists of Africa, Europe, and Asia, regarded collectively as the part of the world known to Europeans before contact with the Americas. It is used in the context of, and contrast with and these regions were connected via the Silk Road trade route, and they have a pronounced Iron Age period following the Bronze Age. The concept of the three continents in the Old World, viz. Asia, Africa, and Europe, goes back to classical antiquity and their boundaries as defined by Ptolemy and other geographers of antiquity were drawn along the Nile and Don rivers. This definition remained influential throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, the Old world has areas of North Africa, Eurasia, parts of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The mainland of Afro-Eurasia has been referred to as the World Island, the term may have been coined by Sir Halford John Mackinder in The Geographical Pivot of History. The equivalent of the Old World had names in some of its ancient cultures, including Midgard in Germanic cosmology, synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures Afro-Eurasia
Old World
–
Map of the "Old World" (the
Ptolemy world map in a 15th-century copy)
18.
Taxon
–
In biology, a taxon is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is known by a particular name and given a particular ranking, especially if. It is not uncommon, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon, if a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping. Many modern systematists, such as advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature, use cladistic methods that require taxa to be monophyletic and their basic unit, therefore, is the clade rather than the taxon. Similarly, among those contemporary taxonomists working with the traditional Linnean nomenclature, an example of a well-established taxon that is not also a clade is the class Reptilia, the reptiles, birds are descendants of reptiles but are not included in the Reptilia. The term taxon was first used in 1926 by Adolf Meyer-Abich for animal groups, for plants, it was proposed by Herman Johannes Lam in 1948, and it was adopted at the VII International Botanical Congress, held in 1950. The Glossary of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature defines a taxon, a taxon encompasses all included taxa of lower rank and individual organisms. A taxon can be assigned a rank, usually when it is given a formal name. Phylum applies formally to any domain, but traditionally it was always used for animals, whereas Division was traditionally often used for plants, fungi. A prefix is used to indicate a ranking of lesser importance, the prefix super- indicates a rank above, the prefix sub- indicates a rank below. In zoology the prefix infra- indicates a rank below sub-, for instance, among the additional ranks of class are superclass, subclass and infraclass. Rank is relative, and restricted to a particular systematic schema, for example, liverworts have been grouped, in various systems of classification, as a family, order, class, or division. Many cladists do not see any need to depart from traditional nomenclature as governed by the ICZN, ICN, etc
Taxon
–
African elephants form the
genus Loxodonta, a widely accepted taxon.
19.
Pheasant
–
Pheasants are birds of several genera within the subfamily Phasianinae, of the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. The familys native range is restricted to Asia, Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly decorated with bright colors and adornments such as wattles. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails, males play no part in rearing the young. Pheasants typically eat seeds and some insects, the best-known is the common pheasant, which is widespread throughout the world in introduced feral populations and in farm operations. Various other pheasant species are popular in aviaries, such as the golden pheasant and this list is ordered to show presumed relationships between species. Madge and McGowan, Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 Videos of pheasants in the Internet Bird Collection
Pheasant
–
Phasianinae
Pheasant
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Cheer pheasant pair in Himalaya, India
Pheasant
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Poultry and game
Pheasant
20.
Junglefowl
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Junglefowl are the four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the Gallinaceous bird order, which occur in India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. These are large birds, with colourful male plumage, but are difficult to see in the dense vegetation they inhabit. As with many birds in the pheasant family, the male takes no part in the incubation of the egg or rearing of the precocial young and these duties are performed by the drab and well-camouflaged female. The junglefowl are seed-eaters, but insects are taken, particularly by the young birds. The Sri Lankan junglefowl is the bird of Sri Lanka. Gallus imereticus Gallus meschtscheriensis Gallus georgicus Gallus sp, steve Madge, Philip J. K. McGowan, Guy M. Kirwan. Pheasants, Partidges and Grouse, A Guide to the Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, Grouse, Guineafowl, Buttonquails and Sandgrouse of the World
Junglefowl
–
Junglefowl Temporal range:
Late Miocene -
Holocene
21.
Quail
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Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New World quail are placed in the family Odontophoridae, the species of buttonquail are named for their superficial resemblance to quail, and form the family Turnicidae in the order Charadriiformes. The king quail, an Old World quail, often is sold in the pet trade, in 2007,40 million quail were produced in the U. S. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey or bevy
Quail
–
Quail
22.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
–
A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
–
Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
23.
Asia
–
Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
Asia
–
Two-point equidistant projection of Asia and surrounding landmasses.
Asia
–
Asia
Asia
–
The racial diversity of Asia's peoples,
Nordisk familjebok (1904)
Asia
–
Ptolemy's Asia
24.
Africa
–
Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
Africa
–
Map of Africa
Africa
–
Africa
Africa
–
Lucy, an
Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered on November 24, 1974, in the
Awash Valley of
Ethiopia 's
Afar Depression
Africa
–
Colossal statues of
Ramesses II at
Abu Simbel, Egypt, date from around 1400 BC.
25.
Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
Middle East
–
The
Temple Mount in
Jerusalem
Middle East
–
Map of the Middle East (green).
Middle East
–
The
Kaaba, located in
Mecca,
Saudi Arabia
Middle East
–
Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East. Here, Muslim men are
prostrating during prayer in a mosque.
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