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Rarotonga Monarch
The Rarotonga monarch (''Pomarea dimidiata''), also known as the Rarotonga flycatcher or ''kakerori'', is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands. Taxonomy and systematics The Rarotonga monarch was originally described in the genus ''Monarcha''. Alternate names include Cook Island flycatcher, Cook Islands monarch, and Rarotonga monarch-flycatcher. Description The Rarotonga monarch is a most unusual bird in a number of ways, including being the only bird known to undergo sequential changes in plumage as it grows. The initial plumage of orange to orange-grey changes to pure grey when maturity is reached after four years. Behaviour and ecology Owing to its tropical oceanic island location, the Rarotonga monarch is exceptionally long-lived for a bird with a mass of only , having an adult survival of between 85 and 89 percent, a life expectancy of seven to nine years, and a maximum lifespan of around 24 years. These figures ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Hartlaub
Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub (8 November 1814 – 29 November 1900) was a German physician and ornithologist. Hartlaub was born in Bremen, and studied at Bonn and Berlin before graduating in medicine at Göttingen. In 1840, he began to study and collect exotic birds, which he donated to the Bremen Natural History Museum. He described some of these species for the first time. In 1852, he set up a new journal with Jean Cabanis, the ''Journal für Ornithologie''. He wrote with Otto Finsch, ''Beitrag zur Fauna Centralpolynesiens: Ornithologie der Viti-, Samoa und Tonga- Inseln''. Halle, H. Schmidt. This 1867 work which has handcoloured lithographs was based on bird specimens collected by Eduard Heinrich Graeffe for Museum Godeffroy. A number of birds were named for him, including Hartlaub's Bustard, Hartlaub's Turaco, Hartlaub's Duck, and Hartlaub's Gull Hartlaub's gull (''Chroicocephalus hartlaubii''), also known as the king gull, it is a small gull. It was formerly sometimes cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helpers At The Nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of dispersing and beginning to reproduce themselves. This phenomenon was first studied in birds where it occurs most frequently, but it is also known in animals from many different groups including mammals and insects. It is a simple form of co-operative breeding. The effects of helpers usually amount to a net benefit, however, benefits are not uniformly distributed by all helpers nor across all species that exhibit this behaviour. There are multiple proposed explanations for the behaviour, but its variability and broad taxonomic occurrences result in simultaneously plausible theories.Dickinson, J. L.; Hatchwell, B. J. (2004) "Fitness consequences of helping" in ''Ecology and evolution of coop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of The Cook Islands
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pomarea
''Pomarea'' is a genus of birds in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. The genus is restricted to the islands of Polynesia. The monarchs of this genus are around 15–19 cm long and most have sexually dimorphic plumage. Taxonomy and systematics Extant species The genus ''Pomarea'' contains six extant species, including one possible extinct: * Rarotonga monarch (''Pomarea dimidiata'') * Tahiti monarch (''Pomarea nigra'') * Marquesan monarch (''Pomarea mendozae'') * Ua Pou monarch (''Pomarea mira'') (Possibly extinct) * Iphis monarch (''Pomarea iphis'') * Fatu Hiva monarch (''Pomarea whitneyi'') Extinct species * †Maupiti monarch (''Pomarea maupitiensis'') * †Nuku Hiva monarch (''Pomarea nukuhivae'') * †Eiao monarch (''Pomarea fluxa'') Former species Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Pomarea'': * Bougainville monarch (as ''Pomarea erythrosticta'') * Chestnut-bellied monarch (ugiensis) (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atiu Island
Atiu, also known as Enuamanu (meaning ''land of the birds''), is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. The island's population has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years. Geography Atiu is a raised volcanic island surrounded by a reef from which rise cliffs of fossilized coral (''makatea''). The makatea cliff forms a ring round the island, creating a virtual plateau. Erosion of the inside of the ring has formed a dip of about into fertile land, which gradually rises again to a central flat-topped hill. The low swampy land consists of taro plantations, marshes and a lake, Tiroto. This fertile area also grows bananas, citrus fruits, pawpaws, breadfruit and coconuts. The island is surrounded by a fringing reef. The ''makatea'' is honeycombed with caves, some of which have been used for burials. History Polynesians are believed to have lived on Atiu since at least ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rarotonga
Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings and Rarotonga International Airport, international airport are on Rarotonga. Rarotonga is a very popular tourist destination with many resorts, hotels and motels. The chief town, Avarua, on the north coast, is the capital of the Cook Islands. Captain John Dibbs, master of the colonial brig ''Endeavour'', is credited as the European discoverer on 25 July 1823, while transporting the missionary Reverend John Williams (missionary), John Williams. Geography Rarotonga is a kidney-shaped volcanic island, in circumference, and wide on its longest (east-west) axis. The island is the summit of an extinct Pliocene or Pleistocene volcano, which rises 5000 meters from the seafloor. The island was formed between 2.3 to 1.6 million years ago, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane (), typhoon (), tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone. A hurricane is a strong tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean or northeastern Pacific Ocean, and a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. In the Indian Ocean, South Pacific, or (rarely) South Atlantic, comparable storms are referred to simply as "tropical cyclones", and such storms in the Indian Ocean can also be called "severe cyclonic storms". "Tropical" refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. "Cyclone" refers to their winds moving in a circle, whirling round ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feral Cat
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become an aggressive local apex predator in urban, savannah and bushland environments. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at socialization, they usually remain aloof and are most active after dusk. Feral cats are devastating to wildlife, and conservation biologists consider them to be one of the worst invasive species on Earth. Attempts to control feral cat populations are widespread but generally of greatest impact within purpose-fenced reserves. Some animal rights groups advocate trap-neuter-return programs to prevent the feral cats from continuing to breed. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that TNR is not effective at controlling f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Rat
The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is now found worldwide. The black rat is black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. It is a generalist omnivore and a serious pest to farmers because it feeds on a wide range of agricultural crops. It is sometimes kept as a pet. In parts of India, it is considered sacred and respected in the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke. Taxonomy ''Mus rattus'' was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the black rat. Three subspecies were once recognized, but today are considered invalid and are now known to be actually color morphs: *''Rattus rattus rattus'' – roof rat *''Rattus rattus alexandrinus'' – Alexandrine rat *''Rattus rattus frugivorus'' – fruit rat Characteristics A typical adult black rat is long, n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical region (which covers most of North America), and Alfred Wallace's Palearctic zoogeographical region (which covers North Africa, and all of Eurasia except for Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the southern Arabian Peninsula). These regions are further subdivided into a variety of ecoregions. Many ecosystems and the animal and plant communities that depend on them extend across a number of continents and cover large portions of the Holarctic realm. This continuity is the result of those regions’ shared glacial history. Major ecosystems Within the Holarctic realm, there are a variety of ecosystems. The type of ecosystem found in a given area depends on its latitude and the local geography. In the far north, a band of Arctic tundra en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Finsch
Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earned him a doctorate. He also wrote on the people of New Guinea and was involved in plans for German colonization in Southeast Asia. Several species of bird (such as ''Oenanthe finschii'', ''Alophoixus finschii'', ''Psittacula finschii'') are named after him as also the town of Finschhafen in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea and a crater on the moon. Biography Finsch was born at Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, Bad Warmbrunn in Silesia to Mortiz Finsch and Mathilde née Leder. His father was in the glass trade and he too trained as a glass painter. An interest in birds led him to use his artistic skills for the purpose. Finsch went to Budapest in 1857 and studied at the Eötvös Loránd University, Royal Hungarian University, earning money by prep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satin Bowerbird
The satin bowerbird (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'') is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia. A rare natural hybrid (biology), intergeneric hybrid between the satin bowerbird and the regent bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's bowerbird. Description Mature males have violet-blue eyes and are uniformly coloured black, however, light diffraction by the surface texture of the feathers results in an almost metallic sheen giving a deep shiny blue appearance. Immature males are coloured and marked the same as females and are often mistaken for them. Females might be mistaken for the green catbird or spotted catbird with distinctively green/brown or otherwise entirely brown upper body and lighter under body with a distinct reticulated or scalloped pattern, but with very striking blue eyes. Distribution The satin bowerbird is common in rainforest and tall wet sclerophyll forest in eastern Australia from southern Queensland to Victoria (Australia), Victoria. There is also an isolated po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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