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Giant Rat Of Sumatra
The Giant Rat of Sumatra is a fictional giant rat, first mentioned by Arthur Conan Doyle in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire". As part of the tale, the protagonist, Sherlock Holmes, declares that there is a "story" connected with this rat, presumably a detective case he has handled. The name of the rat and its implied unpublished history were later used in works by many other writers. Original reference In "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", first published in the January 1924 issues of ''The Strand Magazine'' in London and ''Hearst's International Magazine'' in New York, Doyle has Sherlock Holmes declare, as an aside, to Dr. Watson: :Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, ... It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared. How the ship, the mammal, and the Indonesian island are associated is not specified. Rats commonly colonize ships, and so there is an obvious line of speculation. Anot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, " J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the ''Mary Celeste''. Name Doyle is often referred to as "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" or "Conan Doyle", implying that "Conan" is part of a compound surname rather than a middle name. His baptism entry in the register of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, gives "Arth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norway Rat
The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a head and body length of up to long, and a tail slightly shorter than that. It weighs between . Thought to have originated in northern China and neighbouring areas, this rodent has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, and is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America. With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas. Selective breeding of the brown rat has produced the fancy rat (rats kept as pets), as well as the laboratory rat (rats used as model organisms in biological research). Both fancy rats and laboratory rats are of the domesticated subspecies ''Rattus norvegicus domestica''. Studies of wild rats in New York City have shown that populations livin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherlockiana
Sherlockiana is a term which has been used to refer to various categories of materials and content related to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The word "Sherlockiana" has been used for literary studies and scholarship concerning Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes pastiches in print and other media such as films, and memorabilia associated with Sherlock Holmes. Sherlockiana may be defined as "anything about, inspired by, or tangentially concerning" Sherlock Holmes. Fiction Non-canonical works of fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes, by creators other than Arthur Conan Doyle, have been referred to as examples of "Sherlockiana". Charles Spencer, former theatre critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'', used the term to refer to the 2009–12 releases of the novel '' The House of Silk'', the television series '' Sherlock'', and two Sherlock Holmes films, ''Sherlock Holmes'' and its sequel '' Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows'', as representative of a "golden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coryphomys
''Coryphomys'' is an extinct genus of rats, known from sub-fossils found on Timor. Its name is Greek for "top-of-the-head mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ..." or "summit mouse". Species include '' Coryphomys buhleri'' and '' Coryphomys musseri''. Archaeological research on East Timor has revealed the bones of rats weighing up to 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds) when adult. They seem to have died out between 1000 and 2000 years ago, perhaps due to large-scale forest clearance for farming. In 2015, the discovery of fossils of "seven new species of giant rat", including the "largest rat ever" on the island of East Timor was announced. The biggest of these rats was described as weighing "five kilos (11 pounds), the size of a small dog," and was referred to as the "Giant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years old to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foja Mountains
The Foja Mountains (Foja Range, Foya Mountains) ( id, Pegunungan Foja) are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometers of old growth tropical rainforest in the interior part of the range. The Foja forest tract covers 9,712 square kilometers and is the largest tropical forest without roads in the Asia Pacific region. The Foja Range languages are spoken within the mountain range and nearby areas. Geography The Foja Mountains are cooler than the lowlands below because of their elevation, but January and July temperatures still average . The rainy season is from December to March, but the area can receive rain throughout the year. In a typical year, the range receives more than of precipitation. Relative humidity ranges from 73 to 87%. The nearest villages include Sragafareh, Jomen, Beggensabah, Aer Mati, and Dabra. History The mountains have no record of visitors prior to 1979 (Stattersfield et al. 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mallomys
''Mallomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae. The name of the genus is formed from the Greek μαλλός, ''mallos'', wool, and μῦς, ''mus'', mouse/rat. These very large rats weigh between and are native to highlands in New Guinea.Flannery, T. (1995). Mammals of New Guinea. Pp. 284-291. Little is known about their behavior, but they are believed to feed on leaves, grasses and other plant material. It contains the following species: * De Vis's woolly rat (''Mallomys aroaensis'') * Alpine woolly rat (''Mallomys gunung'') * Subalpine woolly rat (''Mallomys istapantap'') * Rothschild's woolly rat (''Mallomys rothschildi'') * Bosavi woolly rat (''Mallomys'' sp. nov.) * Arfak woolly rat (''Mallomys'' sp. nov.) * Foja woolly rat (''Mallomys'' sp. nov.) Conservation International (CI) and the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI) discovered two possibly undescribed mammals upon visit of the Foja Mountains in June 2007: a ''Cercartetus'' pygmy possum, one of the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penicillium Marneffei
''Talaromyces marneffei'', formerly called ''Penicillium marneffei'', was identified in 1956. The organism is endemic to southeast Asia where it is an important cause of opportunistic infections in those with HIV/AIDS-related immunodeficiency. Incidence of ''T. marneffei'' infections has increased due to a rise in HIV infection rates in the region. When it was classified as a ''Penicillium'', it was the only known thermally dimorphic species of that genus that caused a lethal systemic infection (talaromycosis), with fever and anaemia similar to disseminated cryptococcosis. This contrasted with related ''Penicillium'' species that are usually regarded as unimportant in terms of causing human disease. Epidemiology There is a high incidence of talaromycosis in AIDS patients in SE Asia; 10% of patients in Hong Kong get talaromycosis as an AIDS-related illness. Cases of ''T. marneffei'' human infections (talaromycosis) have also been reported in HIV-positive patients in Australia, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mold
A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not all fungi form molds. Some fungi form mushrooms; others grow as unicellular organism, single cells and are called microfungi (for example yeasts). A large and taxonomy (biology), taxonomically diverse number of fungal species form molds. The growth of hypha, hyphae results in discoloration and a fuzzy appearance, especially on food. The network of these tubular branching hyphae, called a mycelium, is considered a single organism. The hyphae are generally transparent, so the mycelium appears like very fine, fluffy white threads over the surface. Cross-walls (septa) may delimit connected compartments along the hyphae, each containing one or multiple, genetically identic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Large Bamboo Rat
The large bamboo rat, Sumatran rat, or Indomalayan rat (''Rhizomys sumatrensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae found in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is one of four species of bamboo rat. Individuals can reach lengths of nearly with a tail, and weigh up to . Their typical diet includes bamboo roots, but they also feed on cultivated tapioca and sugarcane. They are, in turn, hunted as food by human beings. The species is a natural host for the disease-causing mold, ''Penicillium marneffei''. It is one of several species of large rats that have been identified by scholars of Sherlockiana as the original model for the mysterious Giant Rat of Sumatra alluded to in a fictional story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four nov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burkholderia Pseudomallei
''Burkholderia pseudomallei'' (also known as ''Pseudomonas pseudomallei'') is a Gram-negative, bipolar, aerobic, motile rod-shaped bacterium. It is a soil-dwelling bacterium endemic in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, particularly in Thailand and northern Australia. It was reported in 2008 that there had been an expansion of the affected regions due to significant natural disasters, and it could be found in Southern China, Hong Kong, and countries in America. ''B. pseudomallei'', amongst other pathogens, has been found in monkeys imported into the United States from Asia for laboratory use, posing a risk that the pathogen could be introduced into the country. Although it is mainly a soil-dwelling bacteria, a study performed by Apinya Pumpuang and others showed that ''Burkholderia pseudomallei'' survived in distilled water for 16 years, demonstrating that it is capable of living in water if a specific environment is provided. It is resistant to a variety of harsh condit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacterium
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
