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Salvator (lizard)
''Salvator'' is a genus of lizards known as tegus which belong to the family Teiidae. Description Tegus are large reptiles, with some species reaching a total length of around , and a weight of approximately . These opportunistic, wide-ranging lizards can be found in a variety of habitats, from swamps to rain forests to savannas and cities. Although terrestrial, they are capable swimmers, able to remain submerged for up to 22 minutes and having even been caught in gill nets set at sea. Biomechanical studies have shown that tegus have stronger limb bones than comparably-sized mammals or birds, a trait that may be inherent to amphibians and reptiles. They exhibit social and maternal behaviour; female tegus construct burrows to lay their eggs in, and will protect their brood until they hatch. Up to 35 eggs are produced in a clutch. Tegus will hibernate together in groups, though males exhibit territorial behavior towards each other. Tegus exhibit sexual dimorphism. Males disp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argentine Black And White Tegu
The Argentine black and white tegu (''Salvator merianae''), also known as the Argentine giant tegu, the black and white tegu, the huge tegu, is a species of lizard in the Family (biology), family Teiidae. The species is the largest of the "tegu lizards". It is an omnivorous species which inhabits the tropical rain forests, savannas and semi-deserts of eastern and central South America. Tegus are sometimes kept as pets by humans. They are notable for their unusually high intelligence and can also be Housebreaking, housebroken. Like other reptiles, tegus go into brumation in autumn when the temperature drops. They exhibit a high level of activity during their wakeful period of the year. They are the only known reptiles to be partly endothermic. Tegus fill ecological niches similar to those of monitor lizards, but are only distantly related to them; the similarities are an example of convergent evolution. Etymology The Specific name (zoology), specific name, ''merianae'', is in hon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutrients and energy of the sources absorbed. Often, they have the ability to incorporate food sources such as algae, fungi, and bacteria into their diet. Omnivores come from diverse backgrounds that often independently evolved sophisticated consumption capabilities. For instance, dogs evolved from primarily carnivorous organisms (Carnivora) while pigs evolved from primarily herbivorous organisms (Artiodactyla). Despite this, physical characteristics such as tooth morphology may be reliable indicators of diet in mammals, with such morphological adaptation having been observed in bears. The variety of different animals that are classified as omnivores can be placed into further sub-categories depending on their feeding behaviors. Frugivores ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvator Duseni
''Salvator duseni'' is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is sometimes known commonly as the yellow tegu. It is native to South America. Etymology ''S. duseni'' is named after Swedish botanist Per Karl Hjalmar Dusén who collected the holotype. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Tupinambis duseni'', p. 78). Geographic range ''S. duseni'' is found in Brazil and Paraguay. In Brazil it is found in Bahia, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, and Tocantins. Habitat The preferred natural habitat of ''S. duseni'' is savanna. Description ''S. duseni'' can grow to in snout-to-vent length (SVL). Behavior ''S. duseni'' is diurnal and terrestrial. Diet An omnivore, ''S. duseni'' eats plants, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. Reproduction ''S. duseni'' is oviparous. Clutch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seed Dispersal
In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, such as the wind, and living ( biotic) vectors such as birds. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the dispersal mechanism and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as migration patterns and species interactions. There are five main modes of seed dispersal: gravity, wind, ballistic, water, and by animals. Some plants are serotinous and only disperse their seeds in response to an environmental stimulus. These modes are typically inferred based on adaptations, such as wings or fleshy fruit. However, this simplified view may ignor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Crocodile
The American crocodile (''Crocodylus acutus'') is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela. The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas. It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands. Other crocodiles also have tolerance to saltwater due to salt glands underneath the tongue, but the American crocodile is the only species other than the saltwater crocodile to commonly live and thrive in saltwater. They can be found on beaches and small island formations without any freshwater source, such as many cays and islets across the Caribbean. They are also found in hypersaline lakes; one of the largest known populations inhabits Lago Enriq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Key Largo Woodrat
The Key Largo woodrat (''Neotoma floridana smalli''), a subspecies of the eastern woodrat (''Neotoma floridana''), is a medium-sized rat found on less than 2,000 acres (~8.09 square kilometers) of the northern area of Key Largo, Florida, in the United States. It is currently on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species. Only 6500 animals were thought to remain in North Key Largo in the late 1980s. Taxonomy Although a 1923 article described woodrat nests on Key Largo, the form was not scientifically described until 1955, when H.B. Sherman described it as ''Neotoma floridana smalli'', a subspecies of the widespread eastern woodrat. In 1987, Lazell suggested that it is distinct enough to be considered a separate species, but this proposal has not been accepted. The mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Alligator
The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the genus ''Alligator'', and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator. Adult male American alligators measure in length, and can weigh up to , with unverified sizes of up to and weights of making it one of the largest members of the family Alligatoridae, alongside the black caiman. Females are smaller, measuring in length. The American alligator inhabits subtropical and tropical freshwater wetlands, such as marshes and cypress swamps, from southern Texas to North Carolina. It is distinguished from the sympatric American crocodile by its broader snout, with overlapping jaws and darker coloration, and is less tolerant of saltwater but more tolerant of cooler climates than the American crocodile, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasive Species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food webfor example the purple sea urchin (''Strongylocentrotus purpuratus'') which has decimated kelp forests along the northern California coast due to overharvesting of its natural predator, the California sea otter (''Enhydra lutris''). Since the 20th century, invasive species have become a serious economic, social, and environmental threat. Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crocodilian
Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria. Members of the order's total group, the clade Pseudosuchia, appeared about 250 million years ago in the Early Triassic period, and diversified during the Mesozoic era. The order Crocodilia includes the true crocodiles (family Crocodylidae), the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), and the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae). Although the term 'crocodiles' is sometimes used to refer to all of these, crocodilians is a less ambiguous vernacular term for members of this group. Large, solidly built, lizard-like reptiles, crocodilians have long flattened snouts, laterally compressed tails, and eyes, ears, and nostrils at the top o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the first crops. By the time of early civilisations such as ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms. Major changes took place in the Columbian exchange, when Old World livestock were brought to the New World, and then in the British Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century, when livestock breeds like the Dishley Longhorn cattle and Lincoln Longwool sheep were rapidly improved by agriculturalists, such as Robert Bakewell, to yield more meat, milk, and wool. A wide range of other species, such as horse, water buffalo, llama, rabbit, and guinea pig, are used as livestock in some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facultative Biped
A facultative biped is an animal that is capable of walking or running on two legs (bipedal), as a response to exceptional circumstances ( facultative), while normally walking or running on four limbs or more. In contrast, obligate bipedalism is where walking or running on two legs is the primary method of locomotion. Facultative bipedalism has been observed in several families of lizards and multiple species of primates, including sifakas, capuchin monkeys, baboons, gibbons, gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees. Different facultatively bipedal species employ different types of bipedalism corresponding to the varying reasons they have for engaging in facultative bipedalism. In primates, bipedalism is often associated with food gathering and transport. In lizards, it has been debated whether bipedal locomotion is an advantage for speed and energy conservation or whether it is governed solely by the mechanics of the acceleration and lizard's center of mass. Facultative bipedalism is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
