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Scrubtit
The scrubtit (''Acanthornis magna'') is a species of bird in the thornbill family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to Tasmania and King Island in Australia. Its natural habitat is the temperate rainforest, ''Nothofagus'' beech forest and eucalypt woodland. It is a small species that resembles the '' Sericornis'' scrubwrens (with which it was once placed). Taxonomy The scrubtit belongs to the monotypic genus ''Acanthornis''. A 2017 genetic study using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found the ancestor of the scrubtit diverged from that of the three whitefaces of the genus ''Aphelocephala'' around 7 million years ago. The combined lineage had diverged from the thornbill lineage around 13 million years ago. Description The scrubtit is long and weighs around . The plumage consists of a white throat and belly, a brown back, crown, flank and tail, black wings and grey on the face. The eye is pale and the bill is short, black and slightly curved. The species is often silent, but make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Vincent Legge
Colonel William Vincent Legge (2 September 1841 – 25 March 1918) was an Australian soldier and an ornithologist who documented the birds of Sri Lanka. Legge's hawk-eagle is named after him as is Legge's flowerpecker and Legges Tor, the second highest peak in Tasmania. Biography Legge was born at Cullenswood, Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land). His father, Robert Vincent Legge had moved from Ireland to Tasmania in 1827 along with his sisters and was married to Eliza Graves (née de Lapenotierre). He was granted 1200 acres (486 ha) which he named "Cullenswood" after his home in Ireland. William was sent to study at Bath after which he continued studies in France and Germany, picking up several languages before joining the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. In 1862 he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, serving first in Bath, England, and then in Melbourne for several years. From Melbourne his battery was transferred to Colombo, Ceylon, where he was stationed 1869–1877. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mixed-species Feeding Flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are different from feeding aggregations, which are congregations of several species of bird at areas of high food availability. While it is currently unknown how mixed-species foraging flocks originate, researchers have proposed a few mechanisms for their initiation. Many believe that nuclear species play a vital role in mixed-species flock initiation. Additionally, the forest structure is hypothesized to play a vital role in these flocks' formation. In Sri Lanka, for example, vocal mimicry by the greater racket-tailed drongo might have a key role in the initiation of mixed-species foraging flocks, while in parts of the American tropics packs of foraging golden-crowned warblers might play the same role. Composition Mixed-species foraging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Tasmania
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. Bird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Conservation Biology
''Pacific Conservation Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing and dedicated to conservation and wildlife management in the Pacific region. It publishes original research, reviews, perspectives and book reviews. ''Pacific Conservation Biology'' was established in June 1993 by Surrey Beatty & Sons, a private independent publisher. The Society for Conservation Biology Board of Governors approved a Memorandum of Understanding promoting collaboration due to the similar interest of their organisation and Surrey Beatty. The journal was taken over by CSIRO Publishing in 2015. The current editor-in-chief is Mike Calver ( Murdoch University). Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Embiology, GEOBASE, Scopus Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCN's mission is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable". Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to sustainable development in its projects. IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation. It tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice and through building partnerships. The organization is best known to the wider p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Threatened
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensation'', a mathematical measure of biomass related to population growth rate. This quantitative metric is one method of evaluating the degree of endangerment. IUCN definition The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories, depending on the degree to which they are threatened: *Vulnerable species * Endangered species * Critically endangered species Less-than-threatened categories are near threatened, least concern, and the no longer assigned category of conservation dependent. Species which have not been evaluated (NE), or do not have sufficient data ( data deficient) also are not conside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quoll
Quolls (; genus ''Dasyurus'') are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Another two species are known from fossil remains in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits in Queensland. Genetic evidence indicates that quolls evolved around 15 million years ago in the Miocene, and that the ancestors of the six species had all diverged by around four million years ago. The six species vary in weight and size, from to . They have brown or black fur and pink noses. They are largely solitary, but come together for a few social interactions such as mating which occurs during the winter season. A female gives birth to up to 18 pups, of which only six survive because she only has six teats with which to feed them. They have a life span from 2 to 4 years. Quolls eat smaller mammals, small birds, lizards, and insects. All species have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shining Bronze-cuckoo
The shining bronze cuckoo (''Chrysococcyx lucidus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae, found in Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. It was previously also known as ''Chalcites lucidus''. It is a very small cuckoo, being only in length, and parasitises chiefly dome-shaped nests of various ''Gerygone'' species, having a range that largely corresponds with the distribution of that genus. It may also parasitise other Acanthizidae species, and is also the most southerly ranging brood parasitic bird species in the world, extending to at least 46°S in New Zealand. Taxonomy The shining bronze cuckoo was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the genus '' Cuculus'' and coined the binomial name ''Cuculus lucidus''. Gmelin based his description on the ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
The fan-tailed cuckoo (''Cacomantis flabelliformis'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Taxonomy Six subspecies have been recognised: * ''Cacomantis flabelliformis excitus'' ( Rothschild & Hartert, 1907) – Mountains of New Guinea. * ''Cacomantis flabelliformis flabelliformis'' ( Latham, 1802) – Eastern Australia from Cape York through to southern South Australia; south-western Western Australia. * ''Cacomantis flabelliformis meeki'' (Rothschild & Hartert, 1902) – Solomon Islands including Santa Isabel, Kolombangara, Guadalcanal and Bellona. Originally designated ''Cacomantis meeki''. * ''Cacomantis flabelliformis pyrrhophanus'' ( Vieillot, 1817) – New Caledonia including the Loyalty Islands. * ''Cacomantis flabelliformis schistaceigularis'' (Sharpe, 1900) – Vanuatu. * ''Cacomantis flabelliformis simus'' ( Peale, 1848) – Fiji. Description The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brood Parasitism
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The evolutionary strategy relieves the parasitic parents from the investment of rearing young. This benefit comes at the cost of provoking an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve: many hosts have developed strong defenses against brood parasitism, such as recognizing and ejecting parasitic eggs, or abandoning parasitized nests and starting over. It is less obvious why most hosts do care for parasite nestlings, given that for example cuckoo chicks differ markedly from host chicks in size and appearance. One explanation, the mafia hypothesis, proposes that parasitic adults retaliate by destroying host nests where rejection has occurred; there ... [...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] |
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