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Piccaninny Plains Sanctuary
Piccaninny Plains Wildlife Sanctuary is a 1700 km² nature reserve on the Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. A former cattle station adjacent to Oyala Thumotang National Park, it is managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). It is jointly owned by The Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, by which it was purchased in 2008. Landscape and climate The location of Piccaninny Plains in the middle of the Cape York Peninsula between national park and Aboriginal land forms a habitat corridor that helps link the east and west coasts of the Peninsula. The property contains several diverse ecosystems such as gallery rainforest, tropical grasslands, wetlands and floodplains. The Archer and Wenlock Rivers flow through the property. The climate is tropical monsoonal, with most rain falling in the wet season, December to April. Rainfall averages 1600 mm annually. Fauna Animals found on Piccaninny Plains includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archer River
The Archer River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The headwaters of the river rise in the McIlwraith Range and it flows west, traversing tropical savanna plains and wetlands, flowing through Piccaninny Plains Sanctuary and Oyala Thumotang National Park, and enters the Archer Bay in the Gulf of Carpentaria on the western side of the peninsula near the town of Aurukun along with the Watson River and the Ward River. The catchment area for the Archer River is . During the wet season between November and April, the river floods, replenishing over a million hectares of wetlands. The Coen River is a tributary of the Archer River. The river remains in a natural state with very little development and just one small dam that supplies water for the town of Coen. On 3 April 2009, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the Archer River would be included under the ''Wild Rivers Act, 2005'' (Qld). The declaration means ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Reserves In Queensland
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the Old French ''nature'' and is derived from the Latin word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''physis'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spotted Cuscus
The common spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus maculatus''), also known as the white cuscus, is a cuscus, a marsupial that lives in the Cape York region of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands. Names It is known as aklang or gabi in the Kalam language of Papua New Guinea.Pawley, Andrew and Ralph Bulmer. 2011. ''A Dictionary of Kalam with Ethnographic Notes''. Canberra. Pacific Linguistics. Description The common spotted cuscus is about the size of a common house cat, weighing , body size about long, and a tail long. It has a round head, small hidden ears, thick fur, and a prehensile tail to aid in climbing. Its eyes range in colour from yellows and oranges to reds, and are slit much like a snake's. All four of its limbs have five digits and strong, curved claws, except the first digit on each foot. The second and third digits of the hind foot are partly syndactylous: they are united by skin at the top joint, but divide at the claws. These smaller claws can serve as ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-billed Kingfisher
The yellow-billed kingfisher (''Syma torotoro'') is a medium-sized tree kingfisher. Taxonomy Three subspecies are recognised: *''Syma torotoro torotoro'' (Lesson, 1827) found in West Papuan islands, lowland New Guinea, Yapen Island and Aru *''S. t. flavirostris'' (Gould, 1850) found in Cape York Peninsula in northeastern Australia *''S. t. ochracea'' (Rothschild and Hartert, 1901) found in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands of eastern Papua New Guinea Description The yellow-billed kingfisher is long, with a wingspan of , and it weighs . Its orange colouring and yellow bill are distinctive; it has an orange head and neck with a black nape patch and white throat. Adult females also have a black crown patch. The upper mantle is blackish grading to olive green on the back, blue-green on rump and with a blue tail. The upperwing is dull green-blue with dark olive-black flight feathers. The underparts are pale orange-grey. The bill is orange-yellow in adults, dark grey in juveniles. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trumpet Manucode
The trumpet manucode (''Phonygammus keraudrenii'')'' is a species of bird in the family Paradisaeidae. The trumpet manucode is named after its powerful and loud trumpeting calls. The specific name, ''keraudrenii'', commemorates French Navy physician Pierre François Keraudren (1769-1858). The trumpet manucode is widely distributed throughout lowland rainforests of New Guinea, northern Cape York Peninsula, the Aru Islands, and the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, though certain subspecies are geographically distinct. This species is monogamous. Widespread and common throughout its large habitat range, the trumpet manucode is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. Description The trumpet manucode is approximately long. It has elongated horn-like head tufts and loose neck feathers. The plumage is of an iridescent blackish glossed blue, green and purple. It has a red iris, long coiled trachea, and blackish bill, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palm Cockatoo
The palm cockatoo (''Probosciger aterrimus''), also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black parrot of the cockatoo family native to New Guinea, Aru Islands, and Cape York Peninsula. It has a very large black beak and prominent red cheek patches. Taxonomy The palm cockatoo was originally described by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788 as ''Psittacus aterrimus''. Its specific name, ''Probosciger aterrimus'', is from Latin ''proboscis'', long thin nose + ''-ger'', carry, and Latin superlative adjective for ''ater'', black, hence a "black irdwith a long thin nose (beak)". The only member of the monotypic genus, ''Probosciger'', the palm cockatoo is a member of the white cockatoo subfamily Cacatuinae. Earlier limited genetic studies found it to be the earliest offshoot from the ancestors of what have become the cockatoo family. Four subspecies are recognized, three poorly differentiated and one distinctive. The Cape Yo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wet Season
The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least a month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics. Under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is or more. In contrast to areas with savanna climates and monsoon regimes, Mediterranean climates have wet winters and dry summers. Dry and rainy months are characteristic of tropical seasonal forests: in contrast to tropical rainforests, which do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year.Elisabeth M. Benders-Hyde (2003)World Climates.Blue Planet Biomes. Retr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) between its limits to the north and south of the equator. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term is also sometimes used to describe locally heavy but short-term rains. The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the West African, Asia–Australian, the North American, and South American monsoons. The term was first used in English in British India and neighboring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area. Etymology The etymology of the word monsoon is not wholl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone (see geographical zone). In terms of climate, the tropics receive sunlight that is more direct than the rest of Earth and are generally hotter and wetter as they aren't affected as much by the solar seasons. The word "tropical" sometimes refers to this sort of climate in the zone rather than to the geographical zone itself. The tropical zone includes deserts and snow-capped mountains, which are not tropical in the climatic sense. The tropics are distinguished from the other climatic and biomatic regions of Earth, which are the middle latitudes and the polar regions on either side of the equatorial zone. The tropics constitute 40% of Earth's surface area and contain 36% of Earth's landmass. , the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wenlock River
The Wenlock River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river rises on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range below Jacks Knob, west of Nundah homestead. The river flows generally north-west through tropical savanna plains and wetlands, joined by fifteen minor tributaries, before reaching its mouth and joining with the Ducie River on the western side of the peninsula at Port Musgrave, just north of Mapoon. Finally, the Wenlock River enters the Gulf of Carpentaria and descends over its course. The total catchment size is . The river has no water storage facilities built on it and there is little development within the drainage basin, resulting in a low population. In 2010, the Queensland Government declared the river a 'wild river', one of thirteen Queensland rivers that are free of dams, weirs, irrigation schemes and industrial development, and remain largely intact. Much of the river is border ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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