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Nutcracker (bird)
The nutcrackers (''Nucifraga'') are a genus of three species of passerine bird, in the family Corvidae, related to the jays and crows. The genus ''Nucifraga'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the spotted nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes'') as the type species. The genus name is a New Latin translation of German ''Nussbrecher'', "nut-breaker". Extant species The genus contains three species: The most important food resources for these species are the seeds (pine nuts) of various pines (''Pinus'' sp.), principally the cold-climate (far northern or high altitude) species of white pine (''Pinus'' subgenus ''Strobus'') with large seeds: ''P. albicaulis, P. armandii, P. cembra, P. flexilis, P. koraiensis, P. parviflora, P. peuce, P. pumila, P. sibirica'' and ''P. wallichiana'', and also the pinyon and lacebark pines. In some regions, where none of these pines occur, the seeds of spruce (''Picea'' sp.) and hazelnuts (''Corylus'' ...
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Mathurin Jacques Brisson
Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published works in this field included ''Le Règne animal'' (1756) and the highly regarded ''Ornithologie'' (1760). As a young man, he was a disciple and assistant of René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur. For a period of time he was an instructor of physical sciences and natural history to the family of the monarch. He held the chair of physics at the College of Navarre, and from 1759 was a member of the Academy of Sciences. A significant work involving the "specific weight of bodies" was his ''Pesanteur Spécifique des Corps'' (1787). In his investigations of electricity, Brisson was opposed to the theories of Priestley and Franklin.
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Large-spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga Multipunctata) (48701225987)
The Kashmir nutcracker or large-spotted nutcracker (''Nucifraga multipunctata'') is a passerine bird related to the spotted nutcracker. Until recently, it was considered a subspecies. It is found in the western Himalayas. Taxonomy and systematics The Kashmir nutcracker is closely related to the Eurasian nutcracker (''N. caryocatactes'') and has only been split from it recently. Some authorities still treat these forms as conspecific. The two species are similar in appearance, though the Kashmir nutcracker in distinguished by a more whitish general appearance, along with a contrasting blackish crown, wing, and base of tail. It also has bold white spots on the base of its tail, with a relatively slimmer tail, and longer tail. It is monotypic. Description It is a distinctive corvid with heavily streaked and spotted plumage. They are usually in length. They have a wing length of , with a weight of for females and for males. It has a blackish crown and nape, with the sides ...
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Insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Their blood is not totally contained in vessels; some circulates in an open cavity known as the haemocoel. Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; In: potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans, which recent research has indicated insects are nested within. Nearly all insects hatch f ...
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Forest Fire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire( in Australia), desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or veld fire. Some natural forest ecosystems depend on wildfire. Wildfires are distinct from beneficial human usage of wildland fire, called controlled burning, although controlled burns can turn into wildfires. Fossil charcoal indicates that wildfires began soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants approximately 419 million years ago during the Silurian period. Earth's carbon-rich vegetation, seasonally dry climates, atmospheric oxygen, and widespread lightning and volcanic ignitions create favorable conditions for fires. The occurrence of wildfires throughout the history of terrestrial life invites conjecture that ...
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Hazelnuts
The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to species. Hazelnuts are used in baking and desserts, confectionery to make praline, and also used in combination with chocolate for chocolate truffles and products such as chocolate bars, hazelnut cocoa spread such as Nutella, and Frangelico liqueur. Hazelnut oil, pressed from hazelnuts, is strongly flavored and used as a cooking oil. Turkey and Italy are the world's two largest producers of hazelnuts. Description A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about long and in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell, while a filbert is more elongated, being about twice as long as its diameter. The nut falls out of the husk when ripe, about seven to eight months after pollination. The kernel of the seed is edible and ...
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Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Piceoideae. Spruces are large trees, from about 20 to 60 m (about 60–200 ft) tall when mature, and have whorled branches and conical form. They can be distinguished from other members of the pine family by their needles (leaves), which are four-sided and attached singly to small persistent peg-like structures ( pulvini or sterigmata) on the branches, and by their cones (without any protruding bracts), which hang downwards after they are pollinated. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pegs. In other similar genera, the branches are fairly smooth. Spruce are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, such as the eastern spruce bu ...
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Lacebark Pine
''Pinus bungeana'' (English: Bunge's pine or lacebark pine or white-barked pine; Chinese: 白皮松 Japanese: シロマツ, ) is a pine tree native to northeastern and central China. It is a slow-growing tree that can grow to heights of 15–25m and is frost hardy down to below -26 °C. Its smooth, grey-green bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, e ... gradually sheds in round scales to reveal patches of pale yellow, which turn olive-brown, red and purple on exposure to light. Distribution and habitat ''Pinus bungeana'' is native to mountains of China, but is widely cultivated as an ornamental, especially for its attractive metallic bark. It has naturalized in the Sierra de la Ventana of eastern Argentina. Uses It is grown as an ornamental tree in c ...
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Pinyon Pine
The pinyon or piñon pine group grows in southwestern North America, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. The trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple food of Native Americans, and widely eaten as a snack and as an ingredient in New Mexican cuisine. The name comes from the Spanish ''pino piñonero'', a name used for both the American varieties and the stone pine common in Spain, which also produces edible nuts typical of Mediterranean cuisine. Harvesting techniques of the prehistoric American Indians are still used today to collect the pinyon seeds for personal use or for commercialization. The pinyon nut or seed is high in fats and calories. Pinyon wood, especially when burned, has a distinctive fragrance, making it a common wood to burn in chimeneas. Pinyon pine trees are also known to influence the soil in which they grow by increasing concentrations of both macronutrients and micronutrients. Some of the species are known to hybridize, the most notable ones be ...
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Pinus Classification
''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further divided into sections based on chloroplast DNA sequencing and whole plastid genomic analysis. Older classifications split the genus into three subgenera – subgenus ''Pinus'', subgenus ''Strobus'', and subgenus ''Ducampopinus'' ( pinyon, bristlecone and lacebark pines) – based on cone, seed and leaf characteristics. DNA phylogeny has shown that species formerly in subgenus ''Ducampopinus'' are members of subgenus ''Strobus'', so ''Ducampopinus'' is no longer used. The species of subgenus ''Ducampopinus'' were regarded as intermediate between the other two subgenera. In the modern classification, they are placed into subgenus ''Strobus'', yet they did not fit entirely well in either so they were classified in a third subgenu ...
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Pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts 187 species names of pines as current, together with more synonyms. The American Conifer Society (ACS) and the Royal Horticultural Society accept 121 species. Pines are commonly found in the Northern Hemisphere. ''Pine'' may also refer to the lumber derived from pine trees; it is one of the more extensively used types of lumber. The pine family is the largest conifer family and there are currently 818 named cultivars (or trinomials) recognized by the ACS. Description Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs) growing tall, with the majority of species reaching tall. The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon, and the tallest is an tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregon's Rogue River- ...
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Pine Nut
Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally owing to their seed size being large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines, the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of notable value as a human food. Species and geographic spread In Asia, two species in particular are widely harvested: Korean pine (''Pinus koraiensis'') in northeast Asia (the most important species in international trade) and chilgoza pine (''Pinus gerardiana'') in the western Himalaya. Four other species, Siberian pine (''Pinus sibirica''), Siberian dwarf pine (''Pinus pumila''), Chinese white pine (''Pinus armandii'') and lacebark pine (''Pinus bungeana''), are also used to a lesser extent. Russia is the largest producer of ''Pinus sibirica'' nuts in the world, foll ...
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North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Plate, North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as a part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about , about 16.5% of Earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the list of continents and continental subregions by population, fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in List of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population. In Americas (terminology)#Human ge ...
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