Rock Sparrow
The rock sparrow or rock petronia (''Petronia petronia'') is a small passerine bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. It is the only member of the genus ''Petronia''. It breeds on barren rocky hills from the Iberian Peninsula and western north Africa across southern Europe and through the Palearctic Siberia and north and central China. It is largely resident in the west of its range, but Asian birds migrate to more southerly areas, or move down the mountains. Taxonomy The first formal description of the rock sparrow was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He introduced the binomial name ''Fringilla petronia''. It is now the only species in the genus ''Petronia'' that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829. ''Petronia'' is a local name for the rock sparrow from the Bologna area of Italy. Seven subspecies are recognised: * ''P. p. petronia'' (Linnaeus, 1766) – Madeira and Canary Islands, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Johann Jakob Kaup
Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup is also known for having coined popular prehistoric taxa like ''Pterosauria'', ''Machairodus'', ''Deinotherium'', ''Dorcatherium'', and ''Chalicotherium''. Biography He was born at Darmstadt. After studying at Göttingen and Heidelberg he spent two years at Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, where his attention was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes. He then returned to Darmstadt as an assistant in the grand ducal museum, of which in 1840 he became inspector. In 1829 he published ''Skizze zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der europäischen Thierwelt'', in which he regarded the animal world as developed from lower to higher forms, from the amphibians through the birds to the beasts of prey; but subsequently he repudiated ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Władysław Taczanowski
Władysław Taczanowski (; 17 March 1819, in Jabłonna, Lublin Voivodeship – 17 January 1890, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and collector of natural history who explored the Russian Far East and northern Africa. He specialized mainly in ornithology but also described numerous other taxa including reptiles and arachnids. Life A member of an old noble (''szlachta'') magnate family, Taczanowski, from the Poznań region Władysław studied in Lublin and managed the family farm after the death of his father. He then joined government service and served on special missions of the governor of Radom. He joined the Warsaw University Museum in 1855 and began to travel and train at other museums. In 1865 he joined Benedict Dybowski and Victor Godlewski on expeditions to Eastern Russia. In 1862 he succeeded Feliks Paweł Jarocki as curator. Taczanowski took part in an expedition to Algeria with Antoni Waga, Antoni S. Waga (1866–67) and wrote several significant studies including ''Bi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polyandry In Animals
In behavioral ecology, polyandry is a class of mating system where one female mates with several males in a breeding season. Polyandry is often compared to the polygyny system based on the cost and benefits incurred by members of each sex. Polygyny in nature, Polygyny is where one male mates with several females in a breeding season (e.g., lions, deer, some primates, and many systems where there is an Alpha (biology), alpha male). A common example of polyandrous mating can be found in the field cricket (''Gryllus bimaculatus'') of the insect order Orthoptera (containing crickets, grasshoppers, and groundhoppers). Polyandrous behavior is also prominent in many other insect species, including honeybees, the red flour beetle, the Callosobruchus chinensis, adzuki bean weevil, and the species of spider ''Stegodyphus lineatus''. Polyandry also occurs in some mammals including primates such as marmosets and the marsupial genera ''Antechinus'' and bandicoots, and in around 1% of all bird ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bird Egg
Bird eggs are laid by the females and range in quantity from one (as in condors) to up to seventeen (the grey partridge). Avian clutch size, Clutch size may vary latitudinally within a species. Some birds lay eggs even when the eggs have not been fertilized; it is not uncommon for pet owners to find their lone bird nesting on a clutch of infertile eggs, which are sometimes called wind-eggs. Anatomy All bird eggs contain the following components: * The embryo is the immature developing chick * The amnion is a membrane that initially covers the embryo and eventually fills with amniotic fluid, provides the embryo with protection against shock from movement * The allantois helps the embryo obtain oxygen and handles metabolic waste * The chorion, together with the amnion, forms the amniotic sac and encloses the amnion, vitellus, and the embryo * The Yolk, vitellus, or yolk, is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg, containing most of its fat, minerals, and many of its proteins and bl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west, and Suffolk to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Norwich. The county has an area of and a population of 859,400. It is largely rural with few large towns: after Norwich (147,895), the largest settlements are King's Lynn (42,800) in the north-west, Great Yarmouth (38,693) in the east, and Thetford (24,340) in the south. For local government purposes Norfolk is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts. The centre of Norfolk is gently undulating lowland. To the east are the Broads, a network of rivers and lakes which extend into Suffolk and which are protected by the Broads Authority, which give them a similar status to a National parks of England and Wales, national park. To the west the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cley Next The Sea
Cley next the Sea (, ) is a village and civil parish on the River Glaven in the England, English county of Norfolk, England, Norfolk. Cley next the Sea is located north-west of Holt, Norfolk, Holt and north-west of Norwich. History The village's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for 'clay'. In the Domesday Book, Cley is recorded as a settlement of 38 households located in the Hundred (county division), hundred of Holt, Norfolk, Holt. In 1086, the village formed parts of the East Anglian estates of William the Conqueror, King William I. A ruined building on the marshes is known as Blakeney Chapel; despite its name, it is in Cley parish, and probably never had a religious purpose. It is a listed building, Grade II listed building and scheduled monument which was likely an old iron smeltery. Cley was once one of the busiest ports in England, where grain, malt, fish, spices, coal, cloth, barley and oats were exported or imported. The many Flemish ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carotenoid
Carotenoids () are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, archaea, and fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, corn, tomatoes, canaries, flamingos, salmon, lobster, shrimp, and daffodils. Over 1,100 identified carotenoids can be further categorized into two classes xanthophylls (which contain oxygen) and carotenes (which are purely hydrocarbons and contain no oxygen). All are derivatives of tetraterpenes, meaning that they are produced from 8 isoprene units and contain 40 carbon atoms. In general, carotenoids absorb wavelengths ranging from 400 to 550 nanometers (violet to green light). This causes the compounds to be deeply colored yellow, orange, or red. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species, but many plant colors, especially reds and purples, are due to polyphenols. Carotenoids serve two key roles in p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line that runs across the lores, and continues behind the eye. Where a stripe is present only above the lores, and does not continue behind the eye, it is called a supraloral stripe or simply supraloral. On most species which display a supercilium, it is paler than the adjacent feather tracts. The colour, shape or other features of the supercilium can be useful in bird identification. For example, the supercilium of the dusky warbler, an Old World warbler The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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House Sparrow
The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus ''Passer'', the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introduced species, introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird. The house sparrow is strongly associated with human habitation, and can live in urban or rural settings. Though found in widely varied habitats and climates, it typically avoids extensive woodlands, grasslands, polar regions, and hot, dry deserts far away from human development. For sustenance, the house sparrow routinely feeds at h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Petronia Brachydactyla
The pale rockfinch or pale rock sparrow (''Carpospiza brachydactyla'') is a small sparrow found in the Middle East and Central Asia. It is the only member of the genus ''Carpospiza''. Some authorities include it in the genus ''Petronia''. Others have placed it in the finch family due to some similarities in behaviour and form, but the anatomy of its tongue exhibits characteristic sparrow features. The range of pale rockfinch extends from eastern Turkey to Afghanistan, and south into the Arabian Peninsula and northern Africa as far as Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and temperate grassland. The breeding pattern of the pale rock sparrow is associated with specific aspects of habitat. Presence of this species is associated with temperature, grasshopper and beetle abundance, whereas density is associated with available habitat. Since available habitat plays a role on the density of pale rockfinches, rapidly growing villages and cultivation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |