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Pinta Island Tortoise
The Pinta Island tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger ''), also known as the Pinta giant tortoise, Abingdon Island tortoise, or Abingdon Island giant tortoise, was a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise native to Ecuador's Pinta Island. The subspecies was described by Albert Günther in 1877 after specimens arrived in London. By the end of the 19th century, most of the Pinta Island tortoises had been wiped out due to hunting. By the mid-20th century, the subspecies was assumed to be extinct until a single male was discovered on the island in 1971. Efforts were made to mate the male, named Lonesome George, with other subspecies, but no viable eggs resulted. Lonesome George died on 24 June 2012, and the subspecies was believed to have become extinct with his death. However, 17 first-generation hybrids were reported in 2012 from Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island during a trip by Yale University researchers. As these specimens were juveniles, their parents might still be alive. The subspecies is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonesome George
Lonesome George ( es, Solitario George or , 1910 – June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger abingdonii'') and the last known individual of the subspecies. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George serves as an important symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos Islands and throughout the world. Discovery George was first seen on the island of Pinta on November 1, 1971, by Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi. The island's vegetation had been devastated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous ''C. n. abingdonii'' population had been reduced to a single individual. It is thought that he was named after a character played by American actor George Gobel. He was relocated for his own safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, where he spent his life under the care of Fausto Llerena, for whom the tortoise breeding center is named. It was hoped that more Pinta Islan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synonym (taxonomy)
The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name (under the currently used system of scientific nomenclature) to the Norway spruce, which he called ''Pinus abies''. This name is no longer in use, so it is now a synonym of the current scientific name, ''Picea abies''. * In zoology, moving a species from one genus to another results in a different binomen, but the name is considered an alternative combination rather than a synonym. The concept of synonymy in zoology is reserved for two names at the same rank that refers to a taxon at that rank - for example, the name ''Papilio prorsa'' Linnaeus, 1758 is a junior synonym of ''Papilio levana'' Linnaeus, 1758, being names for different seasonal forms of the species now referred to as ''Araschnia le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Darwin Research Station
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "free man". The Old English descendant of this word was '' Ċearl'' or ''Ċeorl'', as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as ''Karolus'' (as in ''Vita Karoli Magni''), later also as '' Carolus''. Some Germanic languages, for example Dutch and German, have retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the given name, whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man". Etymology The name's etymology is a Common Germanic noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as churl (< Old English ''ċeorl''), which developed its depr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malacologist
Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, and cephalopods, along with numerous other kinds, many of which have shells. One division of malacology, conchology, is devoted to the study of mollusk shells. Malacology derives . Fields within malacological research include taxonomy, ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ... and evolution. Applied malacology studies medical, veterinary, and agricultural applications; for example, mollusks as vectors of disease, as in schistosomiasis. Archaeology employs malacology to understand the evolution of the climate, the biota ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endling
An endling is the last known individual of a species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct. The word was coined in correspondence in the scientific journal ''Nature''. Alternative names put forth for the last individual of its kind include ender and terminarch. The word relict may also be used, but usually refers to a population, rather than an individual, that is the last of a species. Usage The 4 April 1996 issue of ''Nature'' published a correspondence in which commentators suggested that a new word, ''endling'', be adopted to denote the last individual of a species. The 23 May issue of ''Nature'' published several counter-suggestions, including ''ender'', ''terminarch'', and ''relict''. The word ''endling'' appeared on the walls of the National Museum of Australia in ''Tangled Destinies'', a 2001 exhibition by Matt Kirchman and Scott Guerin, about the relationship between Australian peoples and their land. In the exhibition, the definition, as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonesome George
Lonesome George ( es, Solitario George or , 1910 – June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger abingdonii'') and the last known individual of the subspecies. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George serves as an important symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos Islands and throughout the world. Discovery George was first seen on the island of Pinta on November 1, 1971, by Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi. The island's vegetation had been devastated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous ''C. n. abingdonii'' population had been reduced to a single individual. It is thought that he was named after a character played by American actor George Gobel. He was relocated for his own safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, where he spent his life under the care of Fausto Llerena, for whom the tortoise breeding center is named. It was hoped that more Pinta Islan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whaler
A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japan, still dedicates a single factory ship for the industry. The vessels used by aboriginal whaling communities are much smaller and are used for various purposes over the course of the year. The ''whale catcher'' was developed during the age of steam, and then driven by diesel engines throughout much of the twentieth century. It was designed with a harpoon gun mounted at its bow and was fast enough to chase and catch rorquals such as the fin whale. At first, whale catchers either brought the whales they killed to a whaling station, a settlement ashore where the carcasses could be processed, or to its factory ship anchored in a sheltered bay or inlet. With the later development of the slipway at the ship's stern, whale catchers were able ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buccaneer
Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from Stuart Restoration, the Restoration in 1660 until about 1688, during a time when governments were not strong enough and did not consistently attempt to suppress them. Originally the name applied to the landless hunters of wild boars and cattle in the largely uninhabited areas of Tortuga (Haiti), Tortuga and Hispaniola. The meat they caught was smoked over a slow fire in little huts the French called ''boucans'' to make ''viande boucanée'' – ''jerked meat'' or ''jerky'' – which they sold to the French corsairs, corsairs who preyed on the (largely Spanish) shipping and settlements of the Caribbean. Eventually the term was applied to the corsairs and (later) privateers themselves, also known as the Brethren of the Coast. Though corsairs, also known as ''filibusters'' or ''freeb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems, functioning in healthy relationships, offer such things as natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, and human mental and physical well-being. Collectively, these benefits are becoming known as ecosystem services, and are often integral to the provision of food, the provisioning of clean drinking water, the decomposition of wastes, and the resilience and productivity of food ecosystems. While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in the early 2000s popularized this concept. There, ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories: ''provisioning'', such as the production of food and water; ''regul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geochelone Chilensis
The Chaco tortoise (''Chelonoidis chilensis''), also known commonly as the Argentine tortoise, the Patagonian tortoise, or the southern wood tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to South America. Geographic range The Chaco tortoise is mainly found in Argentina, but also in Bolivia and Paraguay, mainly within the Chaco and Monte ecoregions. Its distribution is mainly limited by temperature-related variables, and precipitation in the reproductive period. Taxonomy The scientific name for this species, ''Chelonoidis chilensis'', is misleading because it is not native to Chile. It occurs mainly in Argentina, Bolivia and neighboring Paraguay. When the species was first described by Gray in 1870, he mistakenly thought that Mendoza was in Chile instead of Argentina ( the city was transfer in 1776), thus the misnomer. Sclater corrected Gray's mistake in the same year. However, the rules of nomenclature give precedence to the name ''chile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geochelone Carbonaria
The red-footed tortoise (''Chelonoidis carbonarius'') is a species of tortoise from northern South America. These medium-sized tortoises generally average as adults, but can reach over . They have dark-colored, loaf-shaped carapaces (back shell) with a lighter patch in the middle of each scute (scales on the shell), and dark limbs with brightly colored scales that range from pale yellow to dark red. Recognized differences are seen between red-footed tortoises from different regions. They are closely related to the yellow-footed tortoise (''C. denticulatus'') from the Amazon Basin. They are popularly kept as pets, and over-collection has caused them to be vulnerable to extinction.The species name has often been misspelled as ''carbonaria'', an error introduced in the 1980s when ''Chelonoidis'' was elevated to genus and mistakenly treated as feminine, an error recognized and fixed in 2017. Their natural habitat ranges from savannah to forest edges around the Amazon Basin. They a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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