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Project Isabela
The Project Isabela ( es, Proyecto Isabela) was an environmental restoration project in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador that took place between 1997 and 2006, initiated by the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galápagos National Park. Species introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries to the islands, mainly goats and some donkeys and pigs, brought ecological devastation to the islands and posed as a threat to the Galápagos tortoise that was by the 1990s near extinction. By 1997, plans had been officially implemented to eradicate these introduced species in northern Isabela, Santiago, and Pinta islands. Skilled park rangers used helicopters to hunt and sterilized Judas goats, fitted with radio collars to track down the feral goats. The initiative was brought into action in 1999, and by 2006, 150,000 goats alone were eradicated. As of 2011, the project was the world's largest ecological island restoration effort ever. See also * List of animals in the Galápagos Islands T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
(Chelonoidis Nigra) El Chato Reserve Galápagos Tortoise
''Chelonoidis'' is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies. The multiple subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise are among the largest extant terrestrial chelonians. Giant members of the genus, such as Lutz's giant tortoise (''C. lutzae'') were also present in mainland South America and the West Indies during the Pleistocene. Taxonomy They were formerly assigned to ''Geochelone'', but a 2006 genetic analysis indicated that they were actually most closely related to hingeback tortoises. However, a more recent genetic analysis of mtDNA has found that they are actually most closely related to the lineage containing ''Centrochelys'' and ''Geochelone''. Their ancestors apparently floated across the Atlantic from Africa to South America in the Oligocene. This crossing was made possible by their ability to float with their head ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Tortoise
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger'') is a species of very large tortoise in the genus ''Chelonoidis'' (which also contains three smaller species from mainland South America). It comprises 15 subspecies (13 Extant taxon, extant and 2 extinct). It is the largest living species of tortoise, with some modern Galápagos tortoises weighing up to . With lifespans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates. Captive Galapagos tortoises can live up to 177 years. For example, a captive individual, Harriet (tortoise), Harriet, lived for at least 175 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish ''wikt:en:galápago#Spanish, galápago'', meaning "tortoise". Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. Turtle shell, Shell size and shape vary between subspecies and populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Conservation In Ecuador
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-So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Animals In The Galápagos Islands
This is a list of animals that live in the Galápagos Islands. The fauna of the Galápagos Islands include a total of 9,000 confirmed species. Of them, none have been introduced by humans, and seventeen are endemic. Mammals Rodents * Galápagos rice rat, (''Aegialomys galapagoensis'') Pinnipeds *Galápagos fur seal, (''Arctocephalus galapagoensis'') *Galápagos sea lion, (''Zalophus wollebaeki'') Bats *Hoary bat, (''Lasiurus cinereus'') Cetaceans * Blainville's beaked whale, (''Mesoplodon densirostris'') *Common bottlenose dolphin, (''Tursiops truncatus'') *Cuvier's beaked whale, (''Ziphius cavirostris'') Reptiles *Galápagos tortoise * Green sea turtle *Marine iguana *Galápagos land iguana * Galápagos pink land iguana * Santa Fe land iguana * Lava lizard *Galapagos racer *Yellow-bellied sea snake Birds *American flamingo *American yellow warbler * Blue-footed booby *Brown noddy *Brown pelican *Cattle egret *Darwin's finches *Flightless cormorant *Galápagos dove *Galápago ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judas Goat
A Judas goat is a trained goat used in general animal herding. The Judas goat is trained to associate with sheep or cattle, leading them to a specific destination. In stockyards, a Judas goat will lead sheep to slaughter, while its own life is spared. Judas goats are also used to lead other animals to specific pens and onto trucks. They have fallen out of use in recent times, but can still be found in various smaller slaughterhouses in some parts of the world, as well as conservation projects. Cattle#Domestication and husbandry, Cattle herders may use a Judas steer to serve the same purpose as a Judas goat. The technique, and the term, originated from cattle drives in the United States in the 1800s. The term is a reference to Judas Iscariot, an apostle of Jesus Christ who betrayed Jesus in the Bible. Project Isabela in the Galàpagos Islands Project Isabela was a goat extermination initiative in the Galápagos Islands that started in 1997 and ended in 2006. Approximately 140, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinta Island
Pinta Island (Spanish: ''Isla Pinta''), also known as Abingdon Island, after the Earl of Abingdon, is an island located in the Galápagos Islands group, Ecuador. It has an area of and a maximum altitude of . Pinta was the original home to Lonesome George, perhaps the most famous tortoise in the Galápagos Islands. He was the last known representative of the subspecies ''Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii''. Pinta Island is also home to swallow-tailed gulls, marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, Galapagos fur seals and a number of other birds and mammals. The most northern major island in the Galápagos, at one time Isla Pinta had a thriving tortoise population. The island's vegetation was devastated over several decades by introduced feral goats, thus diminishing food supplies for the native tortoises. A prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta was completed in 1990, and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state. The elongated island of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santiago Island (Galápagos)
Santiago Island () is one of the Galápagos Islands. It is also known as San Salvador, named after the first island discovered by Columbus in the Caribbean Sea (see San Salvador Island), or as James Island. The island, which consists of two overlapping volcanoes, has an area of and a maximum altitude of , atop the northwestern shield volcano. The volcano in the island's southeast erupted along a linear fissure, and is much lower. The oldest lava flows on the island date back to 750,000 years ago. Geology Santiago Island was formed from a shield volcano eponymously named Santiago. The low, flat summits of the volcano allowed the low-viscosity lava to flow for large distances from the source vents. The volcanic origin of the island has led it to be dotted with holocene pyroclastic rock that can be found across the island. On the eastern and western sides of the island, tuff cones, formed from the rapid interaction of hot lava and water, are visible. The summit of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isabela Island (Galápagos)
Isabela Island () is the largest island of the Galápagos Islands, Galápagos with an area of and length of , almost four times larger than Santa Cruz, the second largest of the archipelago. Isabela Island is larger than every other island in the Galápagos combined. It was named after Queen Isabella I of Castile. The island straddles the equator. This island was originally named Albemarle Island for the Duke of Albemarle by Ambrose Cowley, one of the first Europeans to set foot on the islands, in 1684. Geology One of the youngest islands, Isabela is located on the western edge of the archipelago near the Galápagos hotspot. At approximately 1 million years old, the seahorse-shaped island was formed by the merger of six shield volcanoes; Alcedo Volcano, Alcedo, Cerro Azul (Ecuador volcano), Cerro Azul, Darwin, Volcán Ecuador, Ecuador, Sierra Negra (Galápagos), Sierra Negra, and Volcán Wolf, Wolf. All of these volcanoes except Ecuador are still active, making it one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinction
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecological Devastation
Ecological health is a term that has been used in relation to both human health and the condition of the environment. *In medicine, ecological health has been used to refer to multiple chemical sensitivity, which results from exposure to synthetic chemicals (pesticides, smoke, etc.) in the environment, hence the term ecological. *The term has also been used in medicine with respect to management of environmental factors (taxes, health insurance surcharges) that may reduce the risk of unhealthy behavior such as smoking. *As an urban planning term, ecological health refers to the "greenness" of cities, meaning composting, recycling, and energy efficiency. *With respect to broader environmental issues, ecological health has been defined as "the goal for the condition at a site that is cultivated for crops, managed for tree harvest, stocked for fish, urbanized, or otherwise intensively used." KARR, J. R., (1996). "Ecological integrity and ecological health are not the same." Pp. 97-1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Environmental Restoration
Environmental restoration is closely allied with (or perhaps sometimes used interchangeably with) ecological restoration or environmental remediation. In the U.S., remediation is the term used more in the realms of industry, public policy, and civil services. Environmental restoration is a term common in the citizens’ environmental movement. In the 1987 edition of his book ''Restoring the Earth: How Americans are Working to Renew our Damaged Environment'', scientific editor and writer John J. Berger defined environmental restoration (or “natural resource restoration”) as follows: ''"… A process in which a damaged resource is renewed. Biologically. Structurally. Functionally."'' Natural environment The ongoing growth of the human population in the world and its associated impacts, mean that the need for ecological restoration has become increasingly clear. The old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" points to the fact that ecological restoration ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pigs
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus scrofa'' (the wild boar or Eurasian boar) or a distinct species. The pig's head-plus-body length ranges from , and adult pigs typically weigh between , with well-fed individuals even exceeding this range. The size and weight of hogs largely depends on their breed. Compared to other artiodactyls, a pig's head is relatively long and pointed. Most even-toed ungulates are herbivorous, but pigs are omnivores, like their wild relative. Pigs grunt and make snorting sounds. When used as livestock, pigs are farmed primarily for the production of meat, called pork. A group of pigs is called a ''passel'', a ''team'', or a ''sounder''. The animal's bones, hide, and bristles are also used in products. Pigs, especially miniature breeds, are kept as pets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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