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African Pitta
The African pitta (''Pitta angolensis'') is an Afrotropical bird of the family Pittidae. It is a locally common to uncommon species, resident and migratory in the west, and an intra-African migrant between equatorial and southeastern Africa. They are elusive and hard to observe despite their brightly coloured plumage, and their loud, explosive calls are infrequently heard. The plump, somewhat thrush-like birds forage on leaf litter under the canopy of riparian or coastal forest and thickets, or in climax miombo forest. They spend much time during mornings and at dusk scratching in leaf litter or around termitaria, or may stand motionless for long periods. Following rains breeding birds call and display from the mid-canopy. Taxonomy The African pitta was described by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816 and given the binomial name ''Pitta angolensis''. Vieillot had introduced the genus ''Pitta'' in another book published in the same year. Three subspecies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot
Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected himself in the West Indies and North America and South American species discovered but not formally named by Félix de Azara and his translator Sonnini de Manoncourt. He was among the first ornithologists to study changes in plumage and one of the first to study live birds. At least 77 of the genera erected by Vieillot are still in use. Biography Vieillot was born in Yvetot. He represented his family's business interests in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) on Hispaniola, but fled to the United States during the Haitian rebellions that followed the French Revolution. On Buffon's advice, he collected material for the ''Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale,'' the first two volumes of which were published in France beginning i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the largest tropical rainforests in the world and is an important source of water used in agriculture and energy generation. The rainforest in the Congo Basin is the largest rainforest in Africa and second only to the Amazon rainforest in size, with 300 million hectares compared to the 800 million hectares in the Amazon. Because of its size and diversity, many experts have characterized the basin's forest as important for mitigating climate change because of its role as a carbon sink. However, deforestation and degradation of the ecology by the impacts of climate change may increase stress on the forest ecosystem, in turn making the hydrology of the basin more variable. A 2012 study found that the variability in precipita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziziphus
''Ziziphus'' is a genus of about 40 species of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, distributed in the warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the world. The leaves are alternate, entire, with three prominent basal veins, and long; some species are deciduous, others evergreen. The flowers are small, inconspicuous yellow-green. The fruit is an edible drupe, yellow-brown, red, or black, globose or oblong, long, often very sweet and sugary, reminiscent of a date in texture and flavour. Etymology The generic name is derived via classical Latin from Hellenistic Greek, where it is presumed to have been borrowed from another language, perhaps from ''zizfum'' or ''zizafun'', the Persian word for '' Z. lotus''. Ecology ''Ziziphus'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including '' Bucculatrix zizyphella'', which feeds exclusively on the genus, and '' Endoclita malabaricus''. Well known species includes ''Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Ataxacantha
''Senegalia ataxacantha'', commonly known as the flame thorn, is an African tree species with conspicuous red pods and numerous hooked prickles. Range It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and in the Transvaal and KwaZulu-Natal. In arid regions it prefers low-lying sites near streams, watercourses and in valleys, but in higher rainfall areas is a common constituent of the bush, often favouring forest margins. Once established, young trees are quite frost-hardy. Description Its normal habit is that of a multi-stemmed, untidy, large shrub with a tendency for the shoots to scramble using their recurved prickles, and often develops into a single-stemmed tree of 5-10m in height and 300mm trunk diameter. The rounded crown of dense, dark green foliage is composed of very small pinnules. Translucent red pods provide a colourful display when backlit. The flaking bark is light grey, splitting longitudinally and tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faune De La Sénégambie, Vertébrés (1883) (14770887764), Pitta Angolensis
The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their chief, the god Faunus. Before their conflation with Greek satyrs, they and Faunus were represented as nude men (e.g. the Barberini Faun). Later fauns, became copies of the satyrs of Greek mythology, who themselves were originally shown as part-horse rather than part-goat. By Renaissance times fauns were depicted as bipedal creatures with the horns, legs, and tail of a goat and the head, torso, and arms of a human; they are often depicted with pointed ears. These late-form mythological creatures borrowed their appearance from the satyrs, who in turn borrowed their appearance from the god Pan of the Greek pantheon. They were symbols of peace and fertility, and their Greek chieftain, Silenus, was a minor deity of Greek mythology. Origins Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reginald Ernest Moreau
Reginald Ernest Moreau, (29 May 1897 – 30 May 1970), was an English civil servant who worked as an accountant in Africa and later contributed to ornithology. He made studies of clutch size in nesting birds, compared the life-histories of birds in different latitudes and was a pioneer in the introduction of quantitative approaches to the study of birds. He was also a long time editor of the ornithological journal ''Ibis''. Early life Moreau was born on 29 May 1897 near Norbiton Gate at Kingston upon Thames. His father worked in the stock exchange while his mother's family ran a baker's business in Kingston. The family name was derived from an ancestral French immigrant who had moved to Bayswater as a bookseller. In his autobiographical note published in the Ibis upon his death, he notes that nobody in his family had any academic interests or an interest in natural history. He went to a local preparatory school and became interested in birds through Cherry Kearton's books ''With Nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reverse Migration (birds)
Reverse migration also called reverse misorientation is a phenomenon in bird migration where a bird flies in the opposite direction of what is typical of its species during the spring or autumn migration. If a bird sets off in the opposite direction, shown by the orange arrow, it will end up in Western Europe instead of South East Asia. This is a mechanism that might lead to birds such as Pallas's leaf warblers turning up thousands of kilometres from where they should be. Keith Vinicombe suggested that birds from east of Lake Baikal in Siberia (circled) could not occur in western Europe because the migration routes were too north–south. Most of these lost young birds perish in unsuitable wintering grounds, but there is some evidence that a few survive, and either re-orient in successive winters, or even return to the same area. Reverse migration is genetic or learned behaviour Some large birds such as swans learn migration routes from their parents. However, in most small spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mufindi
Mufindi, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is a town in Mufindi District in the Iringa Region of the Tanzanian Southern Highlands. It is located in the Boma/Mafinga ward. , the population of the town was about 5,000.Urban/rural population is not broken out in the summary. Notes Populated places in Iringa Region {{Iringa-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pugu, Tanzania
Pugu is a Tanzanian town close to Kisarawe, about 20 km south-west of Dar es Salaam. It is formally an administrative ward of the Ilala District, in the Dar es Salaam Region. At the 2002 census, the ward had a total population of 14,652. Pugu is located in a hilly region called the Pugu Hills. The local population is mostly from the Zaramo ethnic group, with a smaller percentage of Makonde people. The village has a large agriculture cattle market, a school, and a mission. A historical cemetery commemorates the German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ... missionaries that were killed here in the 19th century. References See also * Pugu Hills Forest Reserve Ilala District Wards of Dar es Salaam Region {{DaresSalaam-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rufiji River
The Rufiji River lies entirely within Tanzania. It is also the largest and longest river in the country. The river is formed by the confluence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean opposite Mafia Island across the Mafia Channel, in Pwani Region. Its principal tributary is the Great Ruaha River. It is navigable for approximately . The Rufiji river is approximately south of Dar es Salaam. The river's delta contains the largest mangrove forest in eastern Africa. History A branch of ancient sea routes led down the East African coast called "Azania" by the Greeks and Romans in the 1st century CE as described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (and, very probably, zh, 澤散, Zesan in the 3rd century by the Chinese), at least as far as the port known to the Romans as Rhapta, which was probably located in the delta of the Rufiji River in modern Tanzania. During the First World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rukwa Valley
The Rukwa Valley is a valley located in Rukwa Region, Songwe Region and Katavi Region in southwestern Tanzania. The valley is a part of the Great Rift Valley. Sparsely populated because of its harsh environment, its grassland biodiversity includes thousands of species. Geography The valley lies at an elevation of above sea level. It is located between Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika. Its low southeastern edge includes the shallow, alkaline Lake Rukwa, which is fringed by the North and Central Rukwa plains. The valley is to the northwest of Mbeya, and stretches as far as Karema and the Luakuga Gap. It is bounded to the east and west by high escarpments, apart. The Rukwa Rift is wide and in length. The valley also includes the Kafufu, the Myakaliza, the Magamba, the Ambala and the Luhumuka Rivers. Climate Seasonal differences are extreme. The Rukwa's location within the tropics accounts for its one rainy season. Rainfall occurs during the months of November through April ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minziro Forest Reserve
The Minziro (Nature) Forest Reserve is a conservation area along the Kagera River in Bukoba district of northwestern Tanzania. It protects one of the largest forests in Tanzania, of a forest type that is unique in the country. It was gazetted in 1947 and is situated at an elevation of around . in fairly level terrain. The forest is continuous with the Malabigambo Forest over the nearby Uganda border. The largest part consists of '' Baikiaea''–''Podocarpus'' seasonal swamp forests while the remainder is flooded acacia woodlands. Wildlife The Minziro Forest is similar to forests found in the Congo and Guinea, and consequently it contains flora and fauna that reach their eastern range limits here. Characteristic trees of swamp forests include '' Afrocarpus dawei, Heywoodia lucens, Mussaenda erythrophylla, Cassipourea ruwensorensis, Citropsis articulata, Manilkara obvata, Baikiaea insignis,'' and ''Uncaria africana''.Kamukala, G. L., and S. A. Crafter, eds. (1993). "Wetlands of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
