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King's Skink
King's skink (''Egernia kingii)'' is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Etymology The specific name, ''kingii'', is in honor of Australian Phillip Parker King, who explored the coast of Australia while he was an officer in the Royal Navy. Geographic range King's skink is native to coastal regions of south-western Australia. It is common on Rottnest Island and Penguin Island and some coastal areas with open forest and open heath. Description King's skink is a large, heavy-bodied black skink that can reach a total length (including tail) of with a mass of . Diet King's skink is omnivorous and consumes mostly softer plant matter from the range of local vegetation, but supplements its diet with insects and birds' eggs. As prey King's skink is prey for many animals including tiger snakes ('' Notechis'' spp.). History A traditional name for King's skink is ''wandy'', given by the Nyungar people of south-west Western A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albany, Western Australia
Albany ( ; ) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King George Sound. The central business district is bounded by Mount Clarence to the east and Mount Melville to the west. The city is in the local government area of the City of Albany. While it is the oldest colonial, although not European, settlement in Western Australia — predating Perth and Fremantle by over two years — it was a semi-exclave of New South Wales for over four years until it was made part of the Swan River Colony. The settlement was founded on 26 December 1826 as a military outpost of New South Wales for the purpose of forestalling French ambitions in the region. To that end, on 21 January 1827, the commander of the outpost, Major Edmund Lockyer, formally took possession for the British Crown of the portion of New Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penguin Island (Western Australia)
Penguin Island is a island off the coast near Perth, approximately from Shoalwater. It was found to be home to a colony of 120 little penguins in 2024. Since 2007, the island has experienced a 92 percent decline in penguin numbers, from a peak of 1,600 that year. The waters surrounding the island make up the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park. Additionally, the island is also protected by the Penguin Island Conservation Park, which was established in 1918 and has a size of . The island is closed to the public during winter, from June to September. Visiting the island Regular ferries carry tourists to and from the island and other marine-park sights, the journey taking 5 minutes from Mersey point. The island can also be reached by private boat, kayaking, swimming, or walking across a sandbar, most of which is under varying depths of water. The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPAW) advises against the sandbar walk, as weather conditions can change quickly making the cros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skinks Of Australia
Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Skinks are characterized by their smaller legs in comparison to typical lizards and are found in different habitats except arctic and subarctic regions. Etymology The word ''skink'', which entered the English language around 1580–1590, comes from classical Greek and Latin , names that referred to various specific lizards. Description Skinks look like lizards of the family Lacertidae (sometimes called ''true lizards''), but most species of skinks have no pronounced neck and relatively small legs. Several genera (e.g., '' Typhlosaurus'') have no limbs at all. This is not true for all skinks, however, as some species such as the red-eyed crocodile skink have a head that is very distinguished from the body. These lizards also hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptiles Of Western Australia
Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocephalia. About 12,000 living species of reptiles are listed in the Reptile Database. The study of the traditional reptile orders, customarily in combination with the study of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. Reptiles have been subject to several conflicting taxonomic definitions. In Linnaean taxonomy, reptiles are gathered together under the class Reptilia ( ), which corresponds to common usage. Modern cladistic taxonomy regards that group as paraphyletic, since genetic and paleontological evidence has determined that birds (class Aves), as members of Dinosauria, are more closely related to living crocodilians than to other reptiles, and are thus nested among reptiles from an evolutionary perspective. Many cladistic systems therefore redefine Reptilia as a clad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egernia
''Egernia'' is a genus of skinks (family (biology), family Scincidae) that occurs in Australia. These skinks are ecologically diverse omnivores that inhabit a wide range of habitats. However, in the loose delimitation (which incorporates about 30 species) the genus is not monophyletic but an evolutionary grade, as has long been suspected due to its lack of characteristic apomorphies. Some of the skinks traditionally placed in ''Egernia'' appear to be among the most intelligent squamates. They have been shown to be kin recognition, able to distinguish between relatives and unrelated conspecifics, and can recognize relatives individually. Several species form Monogamy in animals, monogamous pair-bonds. For instance, the black rock skink is a species who can perform kin discrimination based on scent and form monogamous pair-bonds and a nuclear family structure. Most of these species belong to ''Egernia sensu stricto'', and similar behaviour is also known in the related Solomon Islan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Albert Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses. Life Boulenger was born in Brussels, Belgium, the only son of Gustave Boulenger, a Belgian public notary, and Juliette Piérart, from Valenciennes. He graduated in 1876 from the Free University of Brussels (1834–1969), Free University of Brussels with a degree in natural sciences, and worked for a while at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, as an assistant naturalist studying amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. He also made frequent visits during this time to the ''National Museum of Natural History (France), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle'' in Paris and the Natural History Museum, London, British Museum in London. Boulenger develop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gestation
Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time, for example in a multiple birth. The time interval of a gestation is called the '' gestation period''. In obstetrics, '' gestational age'' refers to the time since the onset of the last menses, which on average is fertilization age plus two weeks. Mammals In mammals, pregnancy begins when a zygote (fertilized ovum) implants in the female's uterus and ends once the fetus leaves the uterus during labor or an abortion (whether induced or spontaneous). Humans In humans, pregnancy can be defined clinically, biochemically or biologically. Clinically, pregnancy starts from first day of the mother's last period. Biochemically, pregnancy starts when a woman's human chorionic gonado ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viviparity
In animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, with the maternal circulation providing for the metabolic needs of the embryo's development, until the mother gives birth to a fully or partially developed juvenile that is at least metabolically independent. This is opposed to oviparity, where the embryos develop independently outside the mother in eggs until they are developed enough to break out as hatchlings; and ovoviviparity, where the embryos are developed in eggs that remain carried inside the mother's body until the hatchlings emerge from the mother as juveniles, similar to a live birth. Etymology The term "viviparity" and its adjective form "viviparous" both derive from the Latin ''vivus'', meaning "living"; and ''pario'', meaning "give birth to". Reproductive mode Five modes of reproduction have been differentiated in animals based on relations between zygote and parents. The five include two nonviviparous modes: ovulipari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Flinders
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland (Australia), New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to utilise the name ''Australia'' to describe the entirety of that continent including Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), a title he regarded as being "more agreeable to the ear" than previous names such as ''Terra Australis''. Flinders was involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, the most famous of which are the circumnavigation of Australia and an earlier expedition when he and George Bass confirmed that Van Diemen's Land was an island. While returning to Britain in 1803, Flinders was arrested by the French at the colony of Isle de France (Mauritius), Isle de France. Although Britain and France were at war, Flinders thought t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand Bauer
Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (20 January 1760 – 17 March 1826) was an Austrian botanical illustrator who travelled on Matthew Flinders' expedition to Australia. Biography Early life and career Bauer was born in Feldsberg in 1760, the youngest son of Lucas Bauer (?–1761) – court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein – but was left fatherless in his first year of life. The eldest son was the successor to their father's position. Together with two of his brothers, Joseph Anton and Franz Andreas, he was placed in the custody of Norbert Boccius (1729–1806), a physician and botanist who was Prior of the monastery at Feldsberg. Under the guidance of Boccius, Bauer became an astute observer of nature and was just 15 when he began to contribute miniature drawings to Boccius' collection. In 1780, Franz and Ferdinand were sent to Vienna to work under the direction of Nikolaus von Jacquin, an eminent botanist and Director of the Royal Botanical Garden at Schönbrunn Palace. There, B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyungar
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. There are 14 different groups in the Noongar cultural bloc: Amangu, Ballardong, Yued, Kaneang, Koreng, Mineng, Njakinjaki, Njunga, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Wadandi, Whadjuk, Wiilman and Wudjari. The Noongar people refer to their land as . The members of the collective Noongar cultural bloc descend from people who spoke several languages and dialects that were often mutually intelligible. What is now classified as the Noongar language is a member of the large Pama–Nyungan language family. Contemporary Noongar speak Australian Aboriginal English (a dialect of the English language) laced with Noongar words and occasionally inflected by its grammar. Most contemporary Noongar trace their ancestry to one or more of these g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notechis
The tiger snake (''Notechis scutatus'') is a large and highly venomous snake of southern Australia, including its coastal islands and Tasmania. These snakes are often observed and locally well known by their banding, black and yellow like a tiger, although the species can be highly variable in colouration and patterning. All populations are classified within the genus ''Notechis'' (Elapidae). Their diverse characteristics have been classified either as distinct species or by subspecies and regional variation. While tiger snakes are usually ground-dwelling, they are able to swim as well as climb into trees and buildings. Taxonomy The genus ''Notechis'' is in the elapid family, venomous snakes with fixed front fangs. The classification of this genus is given as a single and highly variable species, ''Notechis scutatus'', or a second species '' Notechis ater'', and by an arrangement of subspecies or regional morphs. A 2016 genetic analysis showed that the closest relative of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
