|
Clutch (eggs)
A clutch of eggs is the group of eggs produced by birds, amphibians, or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest. In birds, destruction of a clutch by predators (or removal by humans, for example the California condor breeding program) results in ''double-clutching''. The technique is used to double the production of a species' eggs, in the California condor case, specifically to increase population size. Size Clutch size differs greatly between species, sometimes even within the same genus. It may also differ within the same species due to many factors including habitat, health, nutrition, predation pressures, and time of year. Clutch size variation can also reflect variation in optimal reproduction effort. In birds, clutch size can vary within a species due to various features (age and health of laying female, ability of male to supply food, and abundance of prey), while some species are determinant layers, laying a species-specific number of egg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parent–offspring Conflict
Parent–offspring conflict (POC) is an expression coined in 1974 by Robert Trivers. It is used to describe the evolutionary conflict arising from differences in optimal parental investment (PI) in an offspring from the standpoint of the parent and the offspring. PI is any investment by the parent in an individual offspring that decreases the parent's ability to invest in other offspring, while the selected offspring's chance of surviving increases. POC occurs in sexually reproducing species and is based on a genetic conflict: Parents are equally related to each of their offspring and are therefore expected to equalize their investment among them. Offspring are only half or less related to their siblings (and fully related to themselves), so they try to get more PI than the parents intended to provide even at their siblings' disadvantage. However, POC is limited by the close genetic relationship between parent and offspring: If an offspring obtains additional PI at the expense of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Breeding
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 common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings 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 fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings 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 Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Dusky Salamander
Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a range of hills in Trinidad * Northern State (Sudan), one of the 18 wilayat (states) of Sudan Schools * Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School (NCIVS), a school in Sarnia, Canada * Northern Secondary School, Toronto, Canada * Northern Secondary School (Sturgeon Falls), Ontario, Canada * Northern University (other), various institutions * Northern Guilford High School, a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina Companies * Arriva Rail North, a former train operating company in northern England * Chemins de fer du Nord (Northern Railway Company), a former rail transport company in northern France * Nord-Aviation (Northern Aviation), a former state-owned French aircraft manufacturer. * Compañía de los Caminos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Goldfinch
The European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch (''Carduelis carduelis'') is a small passerine bird in the finch Family (biology), family that is native to the Palearctic zone in Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. It has been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay and the United States. The breeding male has a red face with black markings around the eyes, and a black-and-white head. The back and flanks are buff or chestnut brown. The black wings have a broad yellow bar. The tail is black and the rump is white. Males and females are very similar, but females have a slightly smaller area of red on the face. The goldfinch is often depicted in Italian Renaissance paintings of the Madonna (art), Madonna and Child. Taxonomy The European goldfinch was one of the birds described and illustrated by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in his ''Historiae animalium (Gessner), Historiae animalium'' of 1555. The first Species description, formal description w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Starling
The common starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, and as European starling in North America, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of the year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the ''Mabinogion'' and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. The common starling has about 12 subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to western Mongolia, and it has been introduced as an invasive species to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji. This bird is resident in western and southern Europe and southwestern Asia, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feral Pigeon
Feral pigeons are birds derived from domesticated populations of the rock dove ''Columba livia'', descendants that have escaped and are living independently from (and often unwanted by) humans, having gone "feral". They are sometimes given the scientific names "''Columba livia domestica''" or "''C. l. urbana''", but neither of these subspecific names is accepted by any of the ornithological authorities like the IOC World Bird List or BirdLife International. They are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons,Nagy, Kelsi, and Johnson, Phillip David. ''Trash animals: how we live with natures filthy, feral, invasive, and unwanted species''. Minneapolis (Minn.), University of Minnesota Press, 2013. and (locally, in Britain), skemmies ( skemmy). Wild rock doves, domestic pigeons, and feral pigeons are all the same species and will readily interbreed. Many domestic birds have been lost, escaped or been released over the years, and these gave rise to populations of fer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lesser Spotted Eagle
The lesser spotted eagle (''Clanga pomarina'') is a large Eastern European bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The typical eagles are often united with the buteos, sea eagles, and other more heavy-set Accipitridae, but more recently it appears as if they are less distinct from the more slender accipitrine hawks than believed. Description This is a medium-sized eagle, about in length and with a wingspan of . Its head and wing coverts are pale brown and contrast with the generally dark plumage. The head and bill are small for an eagle. Usually, a white patch occurs on the upper wings, and even adults retain a clearly marked white "V" on the rump; the wing markings are absent and the white "V" is not well-defined in the greater spotted eagle. The juvenile has less contrast in the wings, but the remiges bear prominent white spots. It differs from greater spotted eagle juveniles by a lack of wing covert spotting and the presence of a cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Moorhen
The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen, is a bird species in the Rail (bird), rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, across Africa, Europe, and Asia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. The species is not found in the polar regions or many tropical rainforests; generally it is one of the commonest Old World rail species, together with the Eurasian coot in some regions. Taxonomy The common moorhen was Species description, formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus ''Fulica (genus), Fulica'' and coined the binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Fulica chloropus''. The common moorhen is now one of five extant species placed in the genus ''Gallinula'' that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The genus name is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masked Lapwing
The masked lapwing (''Vanellus miles'') is a large, common and conspicuous bird native to Australia (particularly the northern and eastern parts of the continent), New Zealand and New Guinea. It spends most of its time on the ground searching for food such as insects and worms, and has several distinctive calls. It is common in Australian fields and open land, and is known for its defensive swooping behaviour during the nesting season. Despite the species being also known as the masked plover and often called the spur-winged plover or just plover in its native range, lapwings are classified to their own subfamily, Vanellinae, and not to the closely related plover subfamily, Charadriinae. There are two subspecies: the nominate subspecies and the southern ''novaehollandiae''. The latter has distinctive black markings on the shoulder and side of the chest, and is sometimes recognized as a separate species: the black-shouldered lapwing (''Vanellus novaehollandiae''). Taxonomy Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Black-backed Gull
The great black-backed gull (''Larus marinus'') is the largest member of the gull family. It is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger which breeds on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic in northern Europe and northeastern North America. Southern populations are generally sedentary, while those breeding in the far north (northern Norway, northwest Russia) move farther south in winter. A few also move inland to large lakes and reservoirs. The adult has a white head, neck and underparts, dark blackish-grey wings and back, pink legs and the bill yellow with a red spot. Taxonomy The great black-backed gull was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', and it still bears its original name of ''Larus marinus''. The scientific name is from Latin. ''Larus'' appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific name ''marinus'' means "marine", or when t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
