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Whooper swan
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The Whooper Swan, pronounced hooper swan, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, francis Willughby and John Ray’s Ornithology of 1676 referred to this swan as “the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan”. The scientific name is from cygnus, the Latin for “swan”, the whooper swan is similar in appearance to the Bewicks swan. It is larger, however, at a length of 140–165 cm, weight typically is in the range of 7. 4–14 kg, with an average of 9. 8–11.4 kg for males and 8. 2–9.2 kg for females. The verified record mass was 15.5 kg for a male from Denmark. It is considered to be amongst the heaviest flying birds, among standard measurements, the wing chord is 56. 2–63.5 cm, the tarsus is 10. 4–13 cm and the bill is 9. 2–11.6 cm. It has an angular head shape and a more variable bill pattern that always shows more yellow than black. Like their close relatives, whooper swans are vocal birds with a similar to the trumpeter swan. Whooper swans require large areas of water to live in, especially when they are still growing, the whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom. Whooper swans have a deep honking call and, despite their size, are powerful fliers, Whooper swans can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles to their wintering sites in southern Europe and eastern Asia. They breed in subarctic Eurasia, further south than Bewicks in the taiga zone. They are rare breeders in northern Scotland, particularly in Orkney, and no more than five pairs have bred there in recent years and this bird is an occasional vagrant to the Indian Subcontinent and western North America. Icelandic breeders overwinter in the United Kingdom and Ireland, especially in the nature reserves of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Wildfowl. Whooper swans pair for life, and their cygnets stay with them all winter and their preferred breeding habitat is wetland, but semi-domesticated birds will build a nest anywhere close to water. Both the male and female build the nest, and the male will stand guard over the nest while the female incubates. The female will usually lay 4–7 eggs, the cygnets hatch after about 36 days and have a grey or brown plumage. The cygnets can fly at an age of 120 to 150 days, when whooper swans prepare to go on a flight as a flock, they use a variety of signaling movements to communicate with each other. These movements include head bobs, head shakes, and wing flaps and influence whether the flock will take flight and if so, Whooper swans that signaled with these movements in large groups were found to be able to convince their flock to follow them 61% of the time
2.
Cygnus (genus)
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Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus. The swans close relatives include the geese and ducks, Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a subfamily, Cygninae. There are six or seven species of swan in the genus Cygnus, in there is another species known as the coscoroba swan. Swans usually mate for life, though divorce does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight. The English word swan, akin to the German Schwan, Dutch zwaan, an adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe, an adult female is a pen. Swans are the largest extant members of the waterfowl family Anatidae, the largest species, including the mute swan, trumpeter swan, and whooper swan, can reach a length of over 1.5 m and weigh over 15 kg. Their wingspans can be over 3.1 m, compared to the closely related geese, they are much larger and have proportionally larger feet and necks. Adults also have a patch of unfeathered skin between the eyes and bill, the sexes are alike in plumage, but males are generally bigger and heavier than females. The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white plumage but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black, the Australian black swan is completely black except for the white flight feathers on its wings, the chicks of black swans are light grey. The South American black-necked swan has a body with a black neck. The legs of swans are normally a dark grey colour. Bill colour varies, the four species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow. The mute swan and black-necked swan have lumps at the base of their bills on the upper mandible, Swans are generally found in temperate environments, rarely occurring in the tropics. A group of swans is called a bevy or a wedge in flight, four species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, one species is found in Australia and New Zealand and one species is distributed in southern South America. They are absent from tropical Asia, Central America, northern South America, one species, the mute swan, has been introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand. Several species are migratory, either wholly or partly so, the mute swan is a partial migrant, being resident over areas of Western Europe but wholly migratory in Eastern Europe and Asia. The whooper swan and tundra swan are wholly migratory, and the swans are almost entirely migratory
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Species
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In biology, a species is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. While this definition is often adequate, looked at more closely it is problematic, for example, with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, or in a ring species, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear. Other ways of defining species include similarity of DNA, morphology, all species are given a two-part name, a binomial. The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs, the second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet. For example, Boa constrictor is one of four species of the Boa genus, Species were seen from the time of Aristotle until the 18th century as fixed kinds that could be arranged in a hierarchy, the great chain of being. In the 19th century, biologists grasped that species could evolve given sufficient time, Charles Darwins 1859 book The Origin of Species explained how species could arise by natural selection. Genes can sometimes be exchanged between species by horizontal transfer, and species may become extinct for a variety of reasons. In his biology, Aristotle used the term γένος to mean a kind, such as a bird or fish, a kind was distinguished by its attributes, for instance, a bird has feathers, a beak, wings, a hard-shelled egg, and warm blood. A form was distinguished by being shared by all its members, Aristotle believed all kinds and forms to be distinct and unchanging. His approach remained influential until the Renaissance, when observers in the Early Modern period began to develop systems of organization for living things, they placed each kind of animal or plant into a context. Many of these early delineation schemes would now be considered whimsical, animals likewise that differ specifically preserve their distinct species permanently, one species never springs from the seed of another nor vice versa. In the 18th century, the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus classified organisms according to shared physical characteristics and he established the idea of a taxonomic hierarchy of classification based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural relationships. At the time, however, it was widely believed that there was no organic connection between species, no matter how similar they appeared. However, whether or not it was supposed to be fixed, by the 19th century, naturalists understood that species could change form over time, and that the history of the planet provided enough time for major changes. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, in his 1809 Zoological Philosophy, described the transmutation of species, proposing that a species could change over time, in 1859, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace provided a compelling account of evolution and the formation of new species. Darwin argued that it was populations that evolved, not individuals and this required a new definition of species. Darwin concluded that species are what appear to be, ideas
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Genus
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A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms in biology. In the hierarchy of classification, genus comes above species. In binomial nomenclature, the name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. Felis catus and Felis silvestris are two species within the genus Felis, Felis is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist, the standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. Moreover, genera should be composed of units of the same kind as other genera. The term comes from the Latin genus, a noun form cognate with gignere, linnaeus popularized its use in his 1753 Species Plantarum, but the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort is considered the founder of the modern concept of genera. The scientific name of a genus may be called the name or generic epithet. It plays a role in binomial nomenclature, the system of naming organisms. The rules for the names of organisms are laid down in the Nomenclature Codes. The standard way of scientifically describing species and other lower-ranked taxa is by binomial nomenclature, the generic name forms its first half. For example, the gray wolfs binomial name is Canis lupus, with Canis being the name shared by the wolfs close relatives. The specific name is written in lower-case and may be followed by names in zoology or a variety of infraspecific names in botany. Especially with these names, when the generic name is known from context. Because animals are typically only grouped within subspecies, it is written as a trinomen with a third name. Dog breeds, meanwhile, are not scientifically distinguished, there are several divisions of plant species and therefore their infraspecific names generally include contractions explaining the relation. For example, the genus Hibiscus includes hundreds of other species apart from the Rose of Sharon or common garden hibiscus, Rose of Sharon doesnt have subspecies but has cultivars that carry desired traits, such as the bright white H. syriaca Diana. Hawaiian hibiscus, meanwhile, includes several separate species, since not all botanists agree on the divisions or names between species, it is common to specify the source of the name using author abbreviations
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Type (biology)
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In biology, a type is a particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralize the defining features of that particular taxon, in older usage, a type was a taxon rather than a specimen. Types are of significance to biologists, especially to taxonomists. Types are usually physical specimens that are kept in a museum or herbarium research collection, but failing that, describing species and appointing type specimens is part of scientific nomenclature and alpha taxonomy. If there is more than one named type that all appear to be the same taxon, then the oldest name takes precedence, and is considered to be the correct name of the material in hand. If on the hand the taxon appears never to have been named at all, then the scientist or another qualified expert picks a type specimen and publishes a new name. This process is crucial to the science of biological taxonomy, peoples ideas of how living things should be grouped change and shift over time. How do we know that what we call Canis lupus is the thing, or approximately the same thing. Depending on the nomenclature applied to the organism in question, a type can be a specimen, a culture. Some codes consider a subordinate taxon to be the type, for example, in the research collection of the Natural History Museum in London, there is a bird specimen numbered 1886.6.24.20. This is a specimen of a kind of commonly known as the spotted harrier. This particular specimen is the holotype for that species, the name Circus assimilis refers, by definition and that species was named and described by Jardine and Selby in 1828, and the holotype was placed in the museum collection so that other scientists might refer to it as necessary. Note that at least for type specimens there is no requirement for an individual to be used. The usage of the type is somewhat complicated by slightly different uses in botany. In the PhyloCode, type-based definitions are replaced by phylogenetic definitions, in some older taxonomic works the word type has sometimes been used differently. … Après avoir étudié ces diverses formes, jen arrivai à les considérer comme appartenant à un seul et même type spécifique, translation, This single character permits distinguish this type from all other species of the section. After studying the diverse forms, I came to them as belonging to the one. In botanical nomenclature, a type, is that element to which the name of a taxon is permanently attached, in botany a type is either a specimen or an illustration
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Botanical nomenclature
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Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy, plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants, botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus Species Plantarum of 1753. Botanical nomenclature is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, fossil plants are also covered by the code of nomenclature. Botanical nomenclature has a history, going back beyond the period when Latin was the scientific language throughout Europe, to Theophrastus, Dioscorides. Many of these works have come down to us in Latin translations, the principal Latin writer on botany was Pliny the Elder. From Mediaeval times, Latin became the scientific language in Europe. Most written plant knowledge was the property of monks, particularly Benedictine, and it would require the invention of the printing press to make such information more widely available. Leonhart Fuchs, a German physician and botanist is often considered the originator of Latin names for the increasing number of plants known to science. For instance he coined the name Digitalis in his De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes, a key event was Linnaeus’ adoption of binomial names for plant species in his Species Plantarum. In the nineteenth century it became clear that there was a need for rules to govern scientific nomenclature. These were published in more sophisticated editions. For plants, key dates are 1867 and 1906, the most recent is the Melbourne Code, adopted in 2011. Another development was the insight into the delimitation of the concept of plant, gradually more and more groups of organisms are being recognised as being independent of plants. Nevertheless, the names of most of these organisms are governed by the. Some protists that do not fit easily into either plant or animal categories are treated under either or both of the ICN and the ICZN, a separate Code was adopted to govern the nomenclature of Bacteria, the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria. Botanical nomenclature is closely linked to plant taxonomy, and botanical nomenclature serves plant taxonomy, Botanical nomenclature is merely the body of rules prescribing which name applies to that taxon and if a new name may be coined. Plant taxonomy is a science, a science that determines what constitutes a particular taxon
