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North American Least Shrew
The North American least shrew (''Cryptotis parvus'') is one of the smallest mammals, growing to be only up to 3 inches long. It has a long pointed snout and a tail never more than twice the length of its hind foot. The dense fur coat is either grayish-brown or reddish-brown with a white belly. Its fur becomes lighter in the summer and darker in the winter. Although similar in appearance to several species of rodents, all shrews are members of the order Eulipotyphla and should not be mistaken for a member of the order Rodentia. The North American least shrew's eyes are small and its ears are completely concealed within its short fur, giving it very poor eyesight and hearing. Distribution It is found from the grasslands of southern Canada through the eastern and central United States and Mexico. In Canada, only a small population of this animal has been found at Long Point in Ontario. The North American least shrew mostly dwells in mesic grasslands, marshes, and meadows. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Say
Thomas Say (June 27, 1787 – October 10, 1834) was an American entomologist, conchologist, and herpetologist. His studies of insects and shells, numerous contributions to scientific journals, and scientific expeditions to Florida, Georgia, the Rocky Mountains, Mexico, and elsewhere made him an internationally known naturalist. Say has been called the father of American descriptive entomology and American conchology. He served as librarian for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, curator at the American Philosophical Society (elected in 1817), and professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia into a prominent Quaker family, Thomas Say was the great-grandson of John Bartram, and the great-nephew of William Bartram. His father, Dr. Benjamin Say, was brother-in-law to another Bartram son, Moses Bartram. The Say family had a house, "The Cliffs" at Gray's Ferry, adjoining the Bartram family farms in Kinges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beehive (beekeeping)
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature distinguishes ''nest'' from ''hive''. ''Nest'' is used to discuss colonies that house themselves in natural or artificial cavities or are hanging and exposed. ''Hive'' is used to describe an artificial/man-made structure to house a honey bee nest. Several species of ''Apis'' live in colonies, but for honey production the western honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') and the eastern honey bee (''Apis cerana'') are the main species kept in hives. The nest's internal structure is a densely packed group of hexagonal prismatic cells made of beeswax, called a honeycomb. The bees use the cells to store food ( honey and pollen) and to house the brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae). Beehives serve several purposes: production of honey, pollination of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crocidurinae
The white-toothed shrews or Crocidurinae are one of three subfamilies of the shrew family Soricidae. The outer layer of these shrews' teeth is white, unlike that of the red-toothed shrews. These species are typically found in Africa and southern Europe and Asia. This subfamily includes the largest shrew, the Asian house shrew, ''Suncus murinus'', at about 15 cm in length, and the smallest, the Etruscan shrew, ''Suncus etruscus'', at about 3.5 cm in length and 2 grams in weight. The latter is possibly the world's smallest extant mammal, although some give this title to the bumblebee bat. ''Crocidura'' contains the most species of any mammal genus. When young must be moved before they are independent, mother and young form a chain or "caravan" where each animal hangs on to the rear of the one in front. This behaviour has also been observed in some ''Sorex'' species. List of species Subfamily Crocidurinae *Genus ''Crocidura'' (white-toothed shrews) ** Mysterious shrew, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soricinae
The red-toothed shrews of the subfamily Soricinae are one of three living subfamilies of shrews, along with Crocidurinae (white-toothed shrews) and Myosoricinae (African white-toothed shrews). In addition, the family contains the extinct subfamilies Limnoecinae, Crocidosoricinae, Allosoricinae and Heterosoricinae. These species are typically found in North America, northern South America, Europe and northern Asia. The enamel of the tips of their teeth is reddish due to iron pigment. The iron deposits serve to harden the enamel and are concentrated in those parts of the teeth most subject to wear. The list of species is: * Tribe Anourosoricini ** Genus '' Anourosorex'' (Asian mole shrews) *** Assam mole shrew, ''A. assamensis'' *** Giant mole shrew, ''A. schmidi'' *** Chinese mole shrew, ''A. squamipes'' *** Taiwanese mole shrew, ''A. yamashinai'' * Tribe Blarinellini ** Genus ''Blarinella'' (Asiatic short-tailed shrews) *** Indochinese short-tailed shrew, ''B. griselda'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " dawn") and (''kainós'', "new") and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. The end is set at a major extinction event called the ''Grande Coupure'' (the "Great Break" in continuity) or the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay. As with other geologic periods, the strata that define the start and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''olígos'', "few") and (''kainós'', "new"), and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period. The Oligocene is often considered an important time of transition, a link between the archaic world of the tropical Eocene and the more modern ecosystems of the Miocene. Major changes during the Oligocene included a global expansi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nearctic
The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America that are not in the Nearctic realm are Eastern Mexico, Southern Florida, coastal Central Florida, Central America, and the Caribbean islands, which, together with South America, are part of the Neotropical realm. Major ecological regions The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) divides the Nearctic into four bioregions, defined as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)." Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield bioregion extends across the northern portion of the continent, from the Aleutian Islands to Newfoundland. It includes the Nearctic's Arctic Tundra and Boreal forest ecoregions. In terms of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venom
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a stinger, in a process called envenomation. Venom is often distinguished from poison, which is a toxin that is passively delivered by being ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin, and toxungen, which is actively transferred to the external surface of another animal via a physical delivery mechanism. Venom has evolved in terrestrial and marine environments and in a wide variety of animals: both predators and prey, and both vertebrates and invertebrates. Venoms kill through the action of at least four major classes of toxin, namely necrotoxins and cytotoxins, which kill cells; neurotoxins, which affect nervous systems; myotoxins, which damage muscles; and haemotoxins, which disrupt blood clotting. Venomous animals cause tens of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skunk
Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or ginger colored, but all have warning coloration. While related to polecats and other members of the weasel family, skunks have as their closest relatives the Old World stink badgers. Taxonomy In alphabetical order, the living species of skunks are: * Family Mephitidae ** Genus: '' Conepatus'' *** ''Conepatus chinga'' – Molina's hog-nosed skunk *** ''Conepatus humboldtii'' – Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk *** ''Conepatus leuconotus'' – American hog-nosed skunk *** ''Conepatus semistriatus'' – striped hog-nosed skunk ** Genus: '' Mephitis'' *** ''Mephitis macroura'' – hooded skunk *** ''Mephitis mephitis'' – striped skunk ** Genus: '' Spilogale'' *** ''Spilogale angustifrons'' – southern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
