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Española Island
Española Island (Spanish: ''Isla Española'') is part of the Galápagos Islands. The English named it ''Hood Island'' after Viscount Samuel Hood. It is located in the extreme southeast of the archipelago and is considered, along with Santa Fe, one of the oldest, at approximately four million years. A popular tourist stop, Isla Española is the most southerly island in the Galápagos Archipelago. The climate is very dry, like most of the Archipelago. But due to the flatness of the island, it is the driest of these islands, with only a few inches of rain per year. It is about a 10- to 12-hour trip by boat from Isla Santa Cruz. Wildlife Tourists come to see the waved albatrosses (from March to January, almost the entire world population breeds on the island) and the mating dances of blue-footed boobies. Two spots are especially popular with visitors: Bahía Gardner, which has a lovely beach; and Punta Suárez, of interest because of its varied bird-life. This island has its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Española
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the region's second largest in area, after the Geography of Cuba, island of Cuba. The island is Dominican Republic–Haiti border, divided into two separate nations: the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic (48,445 km2, 18,705 sq mi) to the east and the French/Haitian Creole-speaking Haiti (27,750 km2, 10,710 sq mi) to the west. The only other divided island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin (island), Saint Martin, which is shared between France (Collectivity of Saint Martin, Saint Martin) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Netherlands (Sint Maarten). Hispaniola is the site of one of the first European settlements in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), as well as the first proper town, La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallow-tailed Gull
The swallow-tailed gull (''Creagrus furcatus'') is an equatorial seabird in the gull family, Laridae. It is the only species in the genus ''Creagrus'', which derives from the Latin ''Creagra'' and the Greek ''kreourgos'' which means butcher, also from ''kreas'', meat; according to Jobling it would mean "hook for meat" referring to the hooked bill of this species. It was first described by French naturalist and surgeon Adolphe-Simon Neboux in 1846. Its scientific name is originally derived from the Greek word for gull, "Glaros" and via Latin ''Larus'', "gull" and ''furca'' "two-tined fork". It spends most of its life flying and hunting over the open ocean. The main breeding location is in the Galápagos Islands, particularly the rocky shores and cliffs of Hood, Tower and Wolf Islands, with lower numbers on most of the other islands. It is more common on the eastern islands where the water is warmer. It is the only fully nocturnal gull and seabird in the world, preying on squid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islands Of The Galápagos Islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago. There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental and oceanic. There are also artificial islands, which are man-made. Etymology The word ''island'' derives from Middle English ''iland'', from Old English ''igland'' (from ''ig'' or ''ieg'', similarly meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning; cf. Dutch ''eiland'' ("island"), German ''Eiland'' ("small island")). However, the spelling of the wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival. History ''Slant Magazine'' was launched in 2001. On January 21, 2010, it was relaunched and absorbed the entertainment blog ''The House Next Door'', founded by Matt Zoller Seitz, a former ''New York Times'' and ''New York Press'' writer, and maintained by Keith Uhlich, former '' Time Out New York'' film critic, who was the blog's editor until 2012. In the media ''Slant''s reviews, which A. O. Scott of ''The New York Times'' has described as "passionate and often prickly", have occasionally been the source of debate and discourse online and in the media. Ed Gonzalez's review of Kevin Gage's 2005 film '' Chaos'' sparked some controversy when Roger Ebert quoted it in his review of the film for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the horror film ''Beast from Haunted Cave'' (1959), produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother. He would later gain critical recognition for the Westerns '' The Shooting'' and ''Ride in the Whirlwind'' (both 1966) starring Jack Nicholson, and the independent road movie ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' (1971) starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson. His later directorial work included the 1989 slasher film '' Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!'' and the independent thriller '' Road to Nowhere'' (2010). Early life Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to Gertrude (née Edelstein) and Fred Himmelbaum, who were vacationing in New York at the time of his birth. The family ended up settling in Albany, New York, be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iguana (film)
''Iguana'' is a 1988 American adventure crime film directed by Monte Hellman and starring Everett McGill in the main role. It is based on the novel by Spanish author Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa, itself based on the life of a real Irish sailor called Patrick Watkins. The movie was mainly shot on location in Lanzarote. Monte Hellman won Bastone Bianco Award (Special Mention) for this movie on the Venice Film Festival in 1988. ''Iguana'' premiered in theaters on April 1, 1988, and was released on DVD on January 30, 2001 via Anchor Bay Entertainment. The film ends with the titles "For Warren" as Hellman dedicated the film to his friend Warren Oates. Plot The film takes place at the beginning of the 19th century. Oberlus (Everett McGill), a harpooner on a whaling ship, is regularly subjected to ridicule and abuse by other sailors. The right half of his face is bizarrely disfigured and covered with hummocky outgrowths, which leads him to being nicknamed Iguana. One night, after a brutal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa
Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa (born 11 October 1936 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands) is a Spanish novelist, inventor and industrialist. His novels have sold over 25 million copies worldwide. He is the owner of A.V.F.S.L, a desalinization company that uses a method of desalinization by pressure, invented by himself. Biography Vázquez-Figueroa and his family fled from the Canary Islands to Africa during the Spanish Civil War. Since his youth, he visited the Sahara and described the culture of the desert region. He also worked as a teacher of submarine and diving techniques on the school boat "Cruz del Sur" of the oceanologist Jacques Cousteau He attended the studios of the in a part of 1962 and worked in the Destino specials. He was a war correspondent in La Vanguardia, for TVE (Televisión Española) and for the program ' with de la Cuadra Salcedo and Silva. As a correspondent, he documented revolutionary wars in countries such as Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Encantadas, Or Enchanted Isles
"The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles" is a novella by American author Herman Melville. First published in ''Putnam's Magazine'' in 1854, it consists of ten philosophical "Sketches" on the Encantadas, or Galápagos Islands. It was collected in ''The Piazza Tales'' in 1856. ''The Encantadas'' was a success with the criticsBranch, ''Herman Melville, the Critical Heritage.'' p. 35. and contains some of Melville's "most memorable prose". Plot An anonymous narrator unites the ten disparate "Sketches", each of which begin with a few lines of poetry, mostly taken from Edmund Spenser's ''The Faerie Queene''. All of the stories are replete with symbolism reinforcing the cruelty of life on the Encantadas. "Sketch First" is a description of the islands; though they are the Enchanted Isles they are depicted as desolate and hellish. "Sketch Second" is a meditation on the narrator's encounter with ancient Galápagos tortoises, while "Sketch Third" concerns the narrator's trip up the enormous tower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herman Melville
Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and '' Billy Budd, Sailor'', a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival, and ''Moby-Dick'' grew to be considered one of the great American novels. Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler ''Acushnet'', but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. ''Typee'', his first book, and its sequel, '' Omoo'' (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diego (tortoise)
Diego is a Hood Island giant tortoise. Thought to have been hatched on Española Island, Galápagos, he was captured as a young adult and shipped to the United States where he was exhibited at zoos. By the late 1940s he was at San Diego Zoo, California, though his species was not known. A captive breeding effort for the critically endangered Hood Island tortoises was set up in 1976, by which time only 15 individuals were known to survive. Diego was identified as a Hood Island tortoise by DNA testing and was sent to Santa Cruz Island to join the program. Diego fathered more than 900 offspring who were released on Española which helped to increase the wild population to more than 2,000. The breeding program ended in January 2020 and Diego is officially retired, and was released into the wild in June 2020. Early life Diego is thought to have been hatched on Española Island, one of the Galápagos Islands, before 1920. He was captured and transported to the United States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Tortoise
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger'') is a species of very large tortoise in the genus ''Chelonoidis'' (which also contains three smaller species from mainland South America). It comprises 15 subspecies (13 extant and 2 extinct). It is the largest living species of tortoise, with some modern Galápagos tortoises weighing up to . With lifespans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates. Captive Galapagos tortoises can live up to 177 years. For example, a captive individual, Harriet, lived for at least 175 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish '' galápago'', meaning "tortoise". Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. Shell size and shape vary between subspecies and populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks; on islands with dry lowlands, the tort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Sea Lion
The Galápagos sea lion (''Zalophus wollebaeki'') is a species of sea lion that lives and breeds on the Galápagos Islands and, in smaller numbers, on Isla de la Plata (Ecuador). Being fairly social, they are often spotted sun-bathing on sandy shores or rock groups, or gliding through the surf. They are the smallest sea lion species. Taxonomy This species was first described by E. Sivertsen in 1953. It has been considered a subspecies of ''Zalophus californianus'' (called ''Z. c. wollebaeki'') by many authors. But recent genetic data supports ''Z. wollebaeki'' as a separate species. The species belongs to the family Otariidae and genus ''Zalophus''. Physical characteristics Slightly smaller than their Californian relatives, Galápagos sea lions range from in length and weigh between , with the males averaging larger than females. Adult males also tend to have a thicker, more robust neck, chest, and shoulders in comparison to their slender abdomen. Females, by contras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
