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Pink-headed Duck
The pink-headed duck (''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'') is a large diving duck that was once found in parts of the Gangetic plains of India, parts of Maharashtra, Bangladesh and in the riverine swamps of Myanmar but feared extinct since the 1950s. Numerous searches have failed to provide any proof of continued existence. It has been suggested that it may exist in the inaccessible swamp regions of northern Myanmar and some sight reports from that region have led to its status being declared as "Critically Endangered" rather than extinct. The genus placement has been disputed and while some have suggested that it is close to the red-crested pochard ('' Netta rufina''), others have placed it in a separate genus of its own. It is unique in the pink colouration of the head combined with a dark body. A prominent wing patch and the long slender neck are features shared with the common Indian spot-billed duck. The eggs have also been held as particularly peculiar in being nearly spherical. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Museum Of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, renamed in 1904, and for the period between 1985 and the merger named the Royal Museum of Scotland or simply the Royal Museum), with international collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world cultures. The two connected buildings stand beside each other on Chambers Street, by the intersection with the George IV Bridge, in central Edinburgh. The museum is part of National Museums Scotland. Admission is free. The two buildings retain distinctive characters: the Museum of Scotland is housed in a modern building opened in 1998, while the former Royal Museum building was begun in 1861 and partially opened in 1866, with a Victorian Venetian Renaissance facade and a gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Houghton Hodgson
Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Himalayas, and several birds were named after him by others such as Edward Blyth. He was a scholar of Newar Buddhism and wrote extensively on a range of topics relating to linguistics and religion. He was an opponent of the British proposal to introduce English as the official medium of instruction in Indian schools. Early life Hodgson was the second of seven children of Brian Hodgson (1766–1858) and his wife Catherine (1776–1851), and was born at Lower Beech, Prestbury, Cheshire. His father lost money in a bad bank investment and had to sell their home at Lower Beech. A great-aunt married to Beilby Porteus, the Bishop of London, helped them but the financial difficulties were great. Hodgson's father worked as a warden of the Martello towe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anas
''Anas'' is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was split into four separate genera. The genus now contains 31 living species. The name ''Anas'' is the Latin for "duck". Systematics The genus ''Anas'' was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae''. ''Anas'' is the Latin word for a duck. The genus formerly included additional species. In 2009 a large molecular phylogentic study was published that compared mitochondrial DNA sequences from ducks, geese and swans in the family Anatidae. The results confirmed some of the conclusions of earlier smaller studies and indicated that the genus as then defined was non-monophyletic. Based on the results of this study, ''Anas'' was split into four proposed monophyletic genera with five ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aythyini
The diving ducks, commonly called pochards or scaups, are a category of duck which feed by diving beneath the surface of the water. They are part of Anatidae, the diverse and very large family that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The diving ducks are placed in a distinct tribe in the subfamily Anatinae, the Aythyini. While morphologically close to the dabbling ducks, there are nonetheless some pronounced differences such as in the structure of the trachea. mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data indicate that the dabbling and diving ducks are fairly distant from each other, the outward similarities being due to convergent evolution. Alternatively, the diving ducks are placed as a subfamily Aythyinae in a subfamily Anatidae which would encompass all duck-like birds except the whistling-ducks. The seaducks commonly found in coastal areas, such as the long-tailed duck (formerly known in the U.S. as oldsquaw), scoters, goldeneyes, mergansers, buffle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mergini
The sea ducks (''Mergini'') are a tribe of the duck subfamily of birds, the Anatinae. The taxonomy of this group is incomplete. Some authorities separate the group as a subfamily, while others remove some genera. Most species within the group spend their winters near coastal waters. Many species have developed specialized salt glands to allow them to tolerate salt water, but these are poorly developed in juveniles. Some of the species prefer riverine habitats. All but two of the 22 species in this group live in far northern latitudes. The fish-eating members of this group, such as the mergansers and smew, have serrated edges to their bills to help them grip their prey and are often known as "sawbills". Other sea ducks forage by diving underwater, taking molluscs or crustaceans from the sea floor. The Mergini take on the eclipse plumage during the late summer and molt into their breeding plumage during the winter. Species There are twenty-two species in ten genera: *Genus ''Clang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Henry Garrod
Alfred Henry Garrod FRS (May 18, 1846 – October 17, 1879) was an English vertebrate zoologist. Garrod was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Alfred Baring Garrod (1819–1907), a physician at King's College Hospital, who discovered the abnormal uric acid metabolism associated with gout. He was also the eldest brother of Archibald Edward Garrod (1857–1936), an English physician who pioneered the field of inborn errors of metabolism. Academic history He attended University College School and King's College London before entering Caius College, Cambridge in 1867. Migrating to St John's College, he gained his B.A. with a first-class in the Natural Sciences Tripos and obtained a college fellowship – the first in his subject – in 1873. From 1874 to 1879, Garrod taught comparative anatomy at King's College London. In 1875, he was nominated as the Fullerian Professor of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at the Royal Institution, a position he held until 1878. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mallard
The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males have purple patches on their wings, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is and the bill is long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing . Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varyi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Mayr
Ernst Walter Mayr (; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher of biology, and History of science, historian of science. His work contributed to the conceptual revolution that led to the Modern synthesis (20th century), modern evolutionary synthesis of Gregor Mendel, Mendelian genetics, systematics, and Charles Darwin, Darwinian evolution, and to the development of the Species, biological species concept. Although Charles Darwin and others posited that multiple species could evolve from a single common ancestor, the mechanism by which this occurred was not understood, creating the ''species problem''. Ernst Mayr approached the problem with a new definition for species. In his book ''Systematics and the Origin of Species'' (1942) he wrote that a species is not just a group of Morphology (biology), morph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Delacour
Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean Pierre Polnareff, a fictional character from ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' Places * Jean, Nevada, USA; a town * Jean, Oregon, USA Entertainment * Jean (dog), a female collie in silent films * "Jean" (song) (1969), by Rod McKuen, also recorded by Oliver * ''Jean Seberg'' (musical), a 1983 musical by Marvin Hamlisch Other uses * JEAN (programming language) * USS ''Jean'' (ID-1308), American cargo ship c. 1918 * Sternwheeler Jean, a 1938 paddleboat of the Willamette River See also *Jehan * * Gene (other) * Jeanne (other) * Jehanne (other) * Jeans (other) * John (other) John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Test ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl Of Derby
Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851), KG, of Knowsley Hall in Lancashire (styled Lord Stanley from 1776 to 1832, known as Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe from 1832-4), was a politician, peer, landowner, builder, farmer, art collector and naturalist. He was the patron of the writer Edward Lear. Origins He was the eldest child and only son and heir of Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752-1834) by his wife Elizabeth Hamilton, a daughter of James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton. Career He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. On 10 November 1796 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and in the same year he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Preston. He held this seat until 1812 and then represented Lancashire until 1832, when he was ennobled as Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe, of Bickerstaffe in the County Palatine of Lancaster. Military career He was commissioned Colonel of the 1st Roya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elijah Impey
Sir Elijah Impey (13 June 17321 October 1809) was a British judge, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, Chief Justice of the Sadr Diwani Adalat and MP for New Romney. Life He was born the youngest son of Elijah Impey and his wife Martha, daughter of James Fraser and was educated at Westminster School with Warren Hastings, who was his intimate friend throughout life. He proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1752, graduating in 1756 as the second Chancellor's classical medallist. Impey was called to the bar in 1756. He was appointed the first chief justice of the new supreme court at Calcutta in March 1774 and knighted later that month. En route to India he learned Bengali and Urdu, and once there studied Persian. With his wife Mary (née Reade), from 1777, he hired local artists to paint the various birds, animals and native plants, life-sized where possible, and in natural surrounds. The collection is often known as the ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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