Flora Of The Gambia
Wildlife of the Gambia is dictated by several habitat zones over its total land area of about 10,000 km2. It is bound in the south by the savanna and on the north by the Sudanian woodlands. The habitats host abundant indigenous plants and animals, in addition to migrant species and newly planted species. They vary widely and consist of the marine system, coastal zone, estuary with mangrove vegetation coupled with Banto Faros (barren hypersaline flats), river banks with brackish and fresh water zones, swamps covered with forests and many wetlands.Penney, pp. 5–7 According to the Government of the Gambia, about 3.7% of the land area of the country has been brought under national parks or reserves, and the present wildlife policy is to extend this coverage to 5%. The seven areas included in the protected list are the Niumi National Park, Kiang West National Park, River Gambia National Park, Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve, Abuko Nature Reserve, Tanbi Wetland Complex and the Tanji ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Gallery Forest
A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above the river. Defined as long and narrow forest vegetation associated with rivers, gallery forests are structurally and floristically heterogeneous. The habitats of these forests differ from the surrounding landscapes because they are, for example, more nutrient-rich or moister and/or there is less chance of fires. The forests are sometimes only a few meters wide, because they depend on the water they lie along. Ecology characteristics The riparian zones in which they grow offer greater protection from fire which would kill tree seedlings. In addition, the alluvial soils of the gallery habitat are often of higher fertility and have better drainage than the soils of the surrounding landscape with a more reliable water supply at depth. As a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kaur
Kaur ( pa, ਕੌਰ (Gurmukhi), pa, کور (Shahmukhi) en, crown prince) (sometimes spelled as ''Kour''), is a surname or a part of a personal name primarily used by the Sikh and Hindu women of Punjab region. "Kaur" is also sometimes translated as "lioness", not because this meaning is etymologically derived from the name, but as a parallel to the Sikh male name "Singh," which means "lion." "Kaur" is recognized as “Princess” or "Spiritual Princess". It also goes back to Sanskrit word "Kumari" meaning girl or daughter, which was abridged to "Kuar" and then changed into "Kaur" by metathesis. Etymologically it derived from the Rajput term Kanwar/Kunwar or prince and was used for persons of status. History The tenth guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, introduced ''Kaur'' and ''Singh'' when he administered Amrit to both male and female Sikhs; all female Sikhs were asked to use the name ''Kaur'' after their forename, and male Sikhs were to use the name ''Singh''. The adopti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mangrove Swamp
Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand freezing temperatures. There are about 80 different species of mangroves, all of which grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate.What is a mangrove forest? National Ocean Service, NOAA. Updated: 25 March 2021. Retrieved: 4 October 2021. Many mangrove forests can be recognised by their dense tangle of prop roots that make the trees appear to be standing on stilts above the water. This tangle of roots allows the trees to handle the daily rise and fall of tides, which means that most mangroves get flooded at least twice per day. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Monachus Monachus
The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Aegean Sea, the archipelago of Madeira and the Cabo Blanco area in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is believed to be the world's rarest pinniped species. This is the only species in the genus ''Monachus''. Description This species of seal grows from approximately long at birth up to an average of as adults, females slightly shorter than males. Males weigh an average of and females weigh , with overall weight ranging from . They are thought to live up to 45 years old; the average life span is thought to be 20 to 25 years old and reproductive maturity is reached at around age four. The monk seals' pups are about long and weigh around , their skin being covered by 1–1.5 centimeter-long, dark brown to black hair. On their bellies, th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mediterranean Monk Seal
The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Aegean Sea, the archipelago of Madeira and the Cabo Blanco area in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is believed to be the world's rarest pinniped species. This is the only species in the genus ''Monachus''. Description This species of seal grows from approximately long at birth up to an average of as adults, females slightly shorter than males. Males weigh an average of and females weigh , with overall weight ranging from . They are thought to live up to 45 years old; the average life span is thought to be 20 to 25 years old and reproductive maturity is reached at around age four. The monk seals' pups are about long and weigh around , their skin being covered by 1–1.5 centimeter-long, dark brown to black hair. On their bellies, th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Balaenoptera Acutorostrata
''Balaenoptera'' () is a genus of rorquals containing eight extant species. ''Balaenoptera'' comprises all but two of the extant species in its family (the humpback whale and gray whale); the genus is currently polyphyletic, with the two aforementioned species being phylogenetically nested within it. This genus is known in the fossil records from the Neogene to the Quaternary (13.65 million years ago to the present). Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Balaenoptera'' contains the following extant species and subspecies: * Common minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') ** North Atlantic minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata'') ** North Pacific minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata scammoni'') * Antarctic minke whale (''Balaenoptera bonaerensis'') * Sei whale (''Balaenoptera borealis'') ** Northern sei whale (''Balaenoptera borealis borealis'') ** Southern sei whale (''Balaenoptera borealis schlegelii'') * Bryde's whale (''Balaenoptera edeni'') * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Minke Whales
The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish naturalist Otto Fabricius in 1780, who assumed it must be an already known species and assigned his specimen to ''Balaena rostrata'', a name given to the northern bottlenose whale by Otto Friedrich Müller in 1776. In 1804, Bernard Germain de Lacépède described a juvenile specimen of ''Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata''. The name is a partial translation of Norwegian ''minkehval'', possibly after a Norwegian whaler named Meincke, who mistook a northern minke whale for a blue whale. Taxonomy Most modern classifications split the minke whale into two species; * Common minke whale or northern minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') :and *Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale (''Balaenoptera bonaerensis''). Taxonomists further catego ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dolphins
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the brackish dolphins), and the extinct Lipotidae (baiji or Chinese river dolphin). There are 40 extant species named as dolphins. Dolphins range in size from the and Maui's dolphin to the and orca. Various species of dolphins exhibit sexual dimorphism where the males are larger than females. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Though not quite as flexible as seals, some dolphins can briefly travel at speeds of per hour or leap about . Dolphins use their conical teeth to capture fast-moving prey. They have well-developed hearing which is adapted for both air and water. It is so well developed that some can survive even if they are blind. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chelonia Mydas
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black. The Dorsoventral#Dorsal and ventral, dorsoventrally flattened body of ''C. mydas'' is covered by a large, teardrop-shaped carapace; it has a pair of large, paddle-like flipper (anatomy), flippers. It is usually lightly colored, although in the eastern Pacific populations, parts of the carapace can be almost black. Unlike other members of its family, such as the hawksbill sea turtle, ''C. mydas'' is mostly h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Green Sea Turtle
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black. The dorsoventrally flattened body of ''C. mydas'' is covered by a large, teardrop-shaped carapace; it has a pair of large, paddle-like flippers. It is usually lightly colored, although in the eastern Pacific populations, parts of the carapace can be almost black. Unlike other members of its family, such as the hawksbill sea turtle, ''C. mydas'' is mostly herbivorous. The adults usually inhabit shallow lagoons, feeding mostly on various ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |