Animals.json

{
    "animals": {
        "0": {
            "common": "Aardwolf",
            "family": "Proteles cristatus",
            "id": 0,
            "text": "The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is a small, insectivorous mammal, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means \"earth wolf\" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called \"maanhaar jackal\" (Afrikaans for \"mane jackal\") or civet hyena, based on its habit of secreting substances from its anal gland, a characteristic shared with the civet. The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyena. Unlike many of its relatives in the order Carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals. It eats insects, mainly termites \u2013 one aardwolf can eat about 250,000 termites during a single night, using its long, sticky tongue to capture them. The aardwolf lives in the shrublands of eastern and southern Africa \u2013 open lands covered with stunted trees and shrubs. It is nocturnal, resting in burrows during the day and emerging at night to seek food. Its diet consists mainly of termites and insect larvae.\nThe aardwolf is the only surviving species in the mammalian subfamily Protelinae. There is disagreement as to whether the species is monotypic. or can be divided into subspecies P. c. cristatus of Southern Africa and P. c. septentrionalis of East Africa. Recent studies have shown that the aardwolf probably broke away from the rest of the hyena family early on; however, how early is still unclear, as the fossil record and genetic studies disagree by 10 million years. The aardwolf is generally classified with the Hyaenidae, though it was formerly placed into the family Protelidae. Early on, scientists felt that it was merely mimicking the striped hyena, which subsequently led to the creation of Protelidae.\nThe generic name proteles comes from two words both of Greek origin, protos and teleos which combined means \"complete in front\" based on the fact that they have five toes on their front feet and four on the rear. The specific name, cristatus, comes from Latin and means \"provided with a comb\", relating to their mane.\nThe aardwolf resembles a very thin striped hyena, but with a more slender muzzle, black vertical stripes on a coat of yellowish fur, and a long, distinct mane down the midline of the neck and back. It also has one or two diagonal stripes down the fore- and hind-quarters, along with several stripes on its legs. The mane is raised during confrontations to make the aardwolf appear larger. It is missing the throat spot that others in the family have. Its lower leg (from the knee down) is all black, and its tail is bushy with a black tip. The aardwolf is about long, excluding its bushy tail, which is about  long, and stands about  tall at the shoulders. An adult aardwolf weighs approximately, sometimes reaching . The aardwolves in the south of the continent tend to be smaller (about ), whereas the eastern version weighs more (around ). The front feet have five toes each, unlike the four-toed hyena. The teeth and skull are similar to those of other hyenas, though smaller, and its cheek teeth are specialised for eating insects. It does still have canines, but, unlike other hyenas, these teeth are used primarily for fighting and defense. Its ears, which are large, are very similar to those of the striped hyena. As an aardwolf ages, it will normally lose some of its teeth, though this has little impact on its feeding habits due to the softness of the insects that it eats.\nAardwolves live in open, dry plains and bushland, avoiding mountainous areas. Due to their specific food requirements, they are only found in regions where termites of the family Hodotermitidae occur. Termites of this family depend on dead and withered grass and are most populous in heavily grazed grasslands and savannahs, including farmland. For most of the year, aardwolves spend time in shared territories consisting of up to a dozen dens, which are occupied for six weeks at a time. There are two distinct populations: one in Southern Africa, and another in East and Northeast Africa. The species does not occur in the intermediary miombo forests. An adult pair, along with their most recent offspring, occupies a territory of .\nAardwolves are shy and nocturnal, sleeping in underground burrows by day. They will, on occasion during the winter, become diurnal feeders. This happens during the coldest periods as they then stay in at night to conserve heat. They have often been mistaken for solitary animals. In fact, they live as monogamous pairs with their young. If their territory is infringed upon, they will chase the intruder up to or to the border. If the intruder is caught, which rarely happens, a fight will occur, which is accompanied by soft clucking, hoarse barking, and a type of roar. The majority of incursions occur during mating season, when they can occur once or twice per week. When food is scarce, the stringent territorial system may be abandoned and as many as three pairs may occupy a \"single territory\". The territory is marked by both sexes, as they both have developed anal glands from which they extrude a black substance that is smeared on rocks or grass stalks in -long streaks. They often mark near termite mounds within their territory every 20 minutes or so. If they are patrolling their territorial boundaries, the marking frequency increases drastically, to once every . At this rate, an individual may mark 60 marks per hour, and upwards of 200 per night. An aardwolf pair may have up to 10 dens, and numerous middens, within their territory. When they deposit feces at their middens, they dig a small hole and then cover it with sand. Their dens are usually abandoned aardvark, springhare, or porcupine dens, or on occasion they are crevices in rocks. They will also dig their own dens, or enlarge dens started by springhares. They typically will only use one or two dens at a time, rotating through all of their dens every six months. During the summer, they may rest outside their den during the night, and sleep underground during the heat of the day. Aardwolves are not fast runners nor are they particularly adept at fighting off predators. Therefore, when threatened, the aardwolf may attempt to mislead its foe by doubling back on its tracks. If confronted, it may raise its mane in an attempt to appear more menacing. It also emits a foul-smelling liquid from its anal glands.\nThe aardwolf feeds primarily on termites and more specifically on Trinervitermes. This genus of termites has different species throughout the aardwolf's range. In East Africa, they eat T. bettonianus, and in central Africa, they eat T. rhodesiensis, and finally in southern Africa, they eat T. trinervoides. Their technique consists of licking them off the ground as opposed to the aardvark, which digs into the mound. They locate their food by sound and also from the scent secreted by the soldier termites. An aardwolf may consume up to 250,000 termites per night using its sticky, long tongue. They do not destroy the termite mound or consume the entire colony, thus ensuring that the termites can rebuild and provide a continuous supply of food. They often memorize the location of such nests and return to them every few months. During certain seasonal events, such as the onset of the rainy season and the cold of midwinter, the primary termites become scarce, so the need for other foods becomes pronounced. During these times, the southern aardwolf will seek out Hodotermes mossambicus, a type of harvester termite active in the afternoon, which explains some of their diurnal behavior in the winter. The eastern aardwolf, during the rainy season, subsists on termites from the genera Odontotermes and Macrotermes. They are also known to feed on other insects, larvae, eggs, and, some sources say, occasionally small mammals and birds, but these constitute a very small percentage of their total diet. Unlike other hyenas, aardwolves do not scavenge or kill larger animals. Contrary to popular myths, aardwolves do not eat carrion, and if they are seen eating while hunched over a dead carcass, they are actually eating larvae and beetles. Also, contrary to some sources, they do not like meat, unless it is finely ground or cooked for them. The adult aardwolf was formerly assumed to forage in small groups, but more recent research has shown that they are primarily solitary foragers, necessary because of the scarcity of their insect prey. Their primary source, Trinervitermes, forages in small but dense patches of . While foraging, the aardwolf can cover about per hour, which translates to  per summer night and  per winter night.\nThe breeding season varies depending on location, but normally takes place during autumn or spring. In South Africa, breeding occurs in early July. During the breeding season, unpaired male aardwolves search their own territory, as well as others, for a female to mate with. Dominant males also mate opportunistically with the females of less dominant neighboring aardwolves, which can result in conflict between rival males. Dominant males even go a step further and as the breeding season approaches, they make increasingly greater and greater incursions onto weaker males' territories. As the female comes into oestrus, they add pasting to their tricks inside of the other territories, sometimes doing so more in rivals' territories than their own. Females will also, when given the opportunity, mate with the dominant male, which increases the chances of the dominant male guarding \"his\" cubs with her. Gestation lasts between 89 and 92 days, producing two to five cubs (most often two or three) during the rainy season (November\u2013December), when termites are more active. They are born with their eyes open, but initially are helpless, and weigh around . The first six to eight weeks are spent in the den with their parents. The male may spend up to six hours a night watching over the cubs while the mother is out looking for food. After three months, they begin supervised foraging, and by four months are normally independent, though they often share a den with their mother until the next breeding season. By the time the next set of cubs is born, the older cubs have moved on. Aardwolves generally achieve sexual maturity at one and a half to two years of age.\nThe aardwolf has not seen decreasing numbers and they are relatively widespread throughout eastern Africa. They are not common throughout their range, as they maintain a density of no more than 1 per square kilometer, if the food is good. Because of these factors, the IUCN has rated the aardwolf as least concern. In some areas, they are persecuted by man because of the mistaken belief that they prey on livestock; however, they are actually beneficial to the farmers because they eat termites that are detrimental. In other areas, the farmers have recognized this, but they are still killed, on occasion, for their fur. Dogs and insecticides are also common killers of the aardwolf.\nAardwolfs are common sights at zoos. Frankfurt Zoo in Germany was home to the oldest recorded aardwolf in captivity at 18 years and 11 months.\n"
        },
        "10": {
            "common": "African clawless otter",
            "family": "Aonyx capensis",
            "id": 10,
            "text": "The African clawless otter (Aonyx capensis), also known as the Cape clawless otter or groot otter, is the second-largest freshwater species of otter. African clawless otters are found near permanent bodies of water in savannah and lowland forest areas. They range through most of sub-Saharan Africa, except for the Congo River basin and arid areas. They are characterized by partly webbed and clawless feet, from which their name is derived.\nAonyx capensis is a member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) and of the order Carnivora. The earliest known species of otter, Potamotherium valetoni, occurred in the upper Oligocene of Europe: A. capensis first appears in the fossil record during the Pleistocene. Aonyx is closely related to the extinct giant Sardinian otter, Megalenhydris.\nMammal Species of the World lists six subspecies of Aonyx capensis: However, some authorities consider the Congo/Cameroon clawless otter to be a separate species (A. congicus). Under this view, only the first three of the above list would be subspecies of A. capensis.\nAfrican clawless otters have thick, smooth fur with almost silky underbellies. Chestnut in color, they are characterized by white facial markings that extend downward towards their throat and chest areas. Paws are partially webbed with five fingers, and no opposable thumbs. All lack claws except for digits 2, 3, and 4 of the hind feet. Their large skulls are broad and flat, with relatively small orbits and short rostra. Molars are large and flat, used for crushing of prey. Male otters are slightly larger than females on average. Adults are 113\u2013163 cm (45\u201364 in) in length, including their tails that comprised about a third of their length. Weights can range from 10\u201336 kg (22-80 lbs), with most otters averaging between 12 and 21 kg (26-46 lbs). Despite being closely related to the oriental small-clawed otter, the African clawless otter is often twice as massive as that relatively diminutive mustelid.\nAfrican clawless otters can be found anywhere from open coastal plains, to semiarid regions, to densely forested areas. Surviving mostly in southern Africa, the otters live in areas surrounding permanent bodies of water, usually surrounded by some form of foliage. Logs, branches, and loose foliage greatly appeal to the otter as this provides shelter, shade, and great rolling opportunities. Slow and rather clumsy on land, they build burrows in banks near water, allowing for easier food access and a quick escape from predators. In the False Bay area of the Cape Peninsula, they have been observed scavenging along beaches and rocks and hunting in shallow surf for mullet. They are mainly nocturnal in urban areas and lie up during the day in quiet, bushy areas.\nFemales give birth to litters containing two to five young around early spring. Mating takes place in short periods throughout the rainy season in December. Afterwards, both males and females go their separate ways and return to their solitary lives once more. Young are raised solely by the females. Gestation lasts around two months (63 days). Weaning takes place between 45 and 60 days, with the young reaching full maturity around one year of age.\nThe diet of Aonyx capensis primarily includes water-dwelling animals, such as crabs, fish, frogs and worms. They dive after prey to catch it, then swim to shore again, where they eat. Their fore paws come in handy as searching devices and are great tools for digging on the muddy bottoms of ponds and rivers, picking up rocks and looking under logs. Extremely sensitive whiskers (vibrissae) are used as sensors in the water to pick up the movements of potential prey.\nThough mostly solitary animals, African clawless otters will live in neighboring territories of family groups of up to five individuals. Each still having its own range within that territory, they mostly keep to themselves unless seeking a mate. Territories are marked using a pair of anal glands which secrete a particular scent. Each otter is very territorial over its particular range. Awkward on land but acrobats in the water, these animals spend their days swimming and catching food. They return to underground burrows (holts) for safety, cooling or a rubdown using grasses and leaves. Mainly aquatic creatures, their tails are used for locomotion and propel them through the water. They are also used for balance when walking or sitting upright.\nQuick in the water and burrowing on land, A. capensis does not have many predators. Its greatest threat comes from the python, which will often lay in wait near or in the water. Other predators would include the crocodile and fish eagles. If threatened, a high-pitched scream is emitted to warn neighboring otters and confuse a predator.\nLiving in Africa, environments can become very hot. Staying cool means spending time in the water, and using burrows as a way to escape the highest temperatures of the day. To stay warm, on the other hand, the otters depend solely on their thick fur. Guard hairs cover the body, acting as insulation. Since the otter lacks an insulating layer of body fat, its only means of warmth is provided by its thick coat of fur.\nThe biggest threat to African clawless otters comes from humans. Aonyx specimens will often forage in man-made fisheries and may be hunted or become entangled in nets. Overfishing by humans may reduce the food supply available to otters. They are sometimes hunted for their thick, soft pelts, which humans use in forms of clothing. In forested areas, logging may be a major threat, since erosion leads to greatly increased turbidity in rivers which can in turn greatly reduce the populations of fish on which the otters depend. This may well be a far greater threat to otters than hunting. The Otter Trail is a hiking trail in South Africa named after the African clawless otter, which is found in this area. Otters along the trail are protected, as it falls within the Tsitsikamma National Park.\n"
        },
        "100": {
            "common": "Arboral spiny rat",
            "family": "Echimys chrysurus",
            "id": 100,
            "text": "The white-faced spiny tree-rat, Echimys chrysurus, is a spiny rat species from South America. It is found in Brazil, French Guyana, Guyana and Suriname.\n"
        },
        "1000": {
            "common": "Falcon, peregrine",
            "family": "Falco peregrinus",
            "id": 1000,
            "text": "The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. As is typical of bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, females being considerably larger than males. The peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over during its characteristic hunting stoop (high speed dive), making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV programme, the highest measured speed of a peregrine falcon is . The peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. This makes it the world's most widespread raptor and one of the most widely found bird species. In fact, the only land-based bird species found over a larger geographic area is not always naturally occurring but one widely introduced by humans, the rock pigeon, which in turn now supports many peregrine populations as a prey species. Both the English and scientific names of this species mean \"wandering falcon\", referring to the migratory habits of many northern populations. Experts recognize 17 to 19 subspecies which vary in appearance and range; there is disagreement over whether the distinctive Barbary falcon is represented by two subspecies of Falco peregrinus, or is a separate species, F. pelegrinoides. The two species' divergence is relatively recent, during the time of the last ice age, therefore the genetic differential between them (and also the difference in their appearance) is relatively small. It has been determined that they are only approximately 0.6\u20130.8% genetically differentiated. While its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles, or even insects. Reaching sexual maturity at one year, it mates for life and nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, on tall human-made structures. The peregrine falcon became an endangered species in many areas because of the widespread use of certain pesticides, especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the early 1970s, populations have recovered, supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild. The peregrine falcon is a well respected falconry bird due to its strong hunting ability, high trainability, versatility, and in recent years availability via captive breeding. It is effective on most game bird species from small to large.\nThe peregrine falcon has a body length of and a wingspan from . The male and female have similar markings and plumage, but as in many birds of prey the peregrine falcon displays marked sexual dimorphism in size, with the female measuring up to 30% larger than the male. Males weigh and the noticeably larger females weigh . In most subspecies, males weigh less than and females weigh more than, with cases of females weighing about 50% more than their male breeding mates not uncommon. The standard linear measurements of peregrines are: the wing chord measures, the tail measures and the tarsus measures . The back and the long pointed wings of the adult are usually bluish black to slate grey with indistinct darker barring (see \"Subspecies\" below); the wingtips are black. The white to rusty underparts are barred with thin clean bands of dark brown or black. The tail, coloured like the back but with thin clean bars, is long, narrow, and rounded at the end with a black tip and a white band at the very end. The top of the head and a \"moustache\" along the cheeks are black, contrasting sharply with the pale sides of the neck and white throat. The cere is yellow, as are the feet, and the beak and claws are black. The upper beak is notched near the tip, an adaptation which enables falcons to kill prey by severing the spinal column at the neck. The immature bird is much browner with streaked, rather than barred, underparts, and has a pale bluish cere and orbital ring.\nFalco peregrinus was first described under its current binomial name by English ornithologist Marmaduke Tunstall in his 1771 work Ornithologia Britannica. The scientific name Falco peregrinus is a Medieval Latin phrase that was used by Albertus Magnus in 1225. The specific name taken from the fact that juvenile birds were taken while journeying to their breeding location rather than from the nest, as falcon nests were difficult to get at. The Latin term for falcon, falco, is related to falx, the Latin word meaning sickle, in reference to the silhouette of the falcon's long, pointed wings in flight. The peregrine falcon belongs to a genus whose lineage includes the hierofalcons and the prairie falcon (F. mexicanus). This lineage probably diverged from other falcons towards the end of the Late Miocene or in the Early Pliocene, about 5\u20138 million years ago (mya). As the peregrine-hierofalcon group includes both Old World and North American species, it is likely that the lineage originated in western Eurasia or Africa. Its relationship to other falcons is not clear, as the issue is complicated by widespread hybridization confounding mtDNA sequence analyses. For example, a genetic lineage of the saker falcon (F. cherrug) is known which originated from a male saker producing fertile young with a female peregrine ancestor, and the descendants further breeding with sakers. Today, peregrines are regularly paired in captivity with other species such as the lanner falcon (F. biarmicus) to produce the \"perilanner\", a somewhat popular bird in falconry as it combines the peregrine's hunting skill with the lanner's hardiness, or the gyrfalcon to produce large, strikingly coloured birds for the use of falconers. As can be seen, the peregrine is still genetically close to the hierofalcons, though their lineages diverged in the Late Pliocene (maybe some 2.5\u20132 mya in the Gelasian).\nNumerous subspecies of Falco peregrinus have been described, with 19 accepted by the 1994 Handbook of the Birds of the World,  which considers the Barbary falcon of the Canary Islands and coastal north Africa to be two subspecies (pelegrinoides and babylonicus) of Falco peregrinus, rather than a distinct species, F. pelegrinoides. The following map shows the general ranges of these 19 subspecies:\nTwo of the subspecies listed above (Falco peregrinus pelegrinoides and F. p. babylonicus) are often instead treated together as a distinct species, Falco pelegrinoides (the Barbary falcon), although they were included within F. peregrinus in the 1994 Handbook of the Birds of the World. These birds inhabit arid regions from the Canary Islands along the rim of the Sahara through the Middle East to Central Asia and Mongolia. Barbary falcons have a red neck patch but otherwise differ in appearance from the peregrine proper merely according to Gloger's Rule, relating pigmentation to environmental humidity. The Barbary falcon has a peculiar way of flying, beating only the outer part of its wings like fulmars sometimes do; this also occurs in the peregrine, but less often and far less pronounced. The Barbary falcon's shoulder and pelvis bones are stout by comparison with the peregrine, and its feet are smaller. Barbary falcons breed at different times of year than neighboring peregrine falcon subspecies,      but they are capable of interbreeding. There is a 0.6\u20130.7% genetic distance in the peregrine-Barbary falcon (\"peregrinoid\") complex. Another subspecies of Falco peregrinus, madens, has also sometimes been treated instead within a separately recognized F. pelegrinoides.\nThe peregrine falcon lives mostly along mountain ranges, river valleys, coastlines, and increasingly in cities. In mild-winter regions, it is usually a permanent resident, and some individuals, especially adult males, will remain on the breeding territory. Only populations that breed in Arctic climates typically migrate great distances during the northern winter. The peregrine falcon reaches faster speeds than any other animal on the planet when performing the stoop, which involves soaring to a great height and then diving steeply at speeds of over, hitting one wing of its prey so as not to harm itself on impact. The air pressure from such a dive could possibly damage a bird's lungs, but small bony tubercles on a falcon's nostrils guide the powerful airflow away from the nostrils, enabling the bird to breathe more easily while diving by reducing the change in air pressure. To protect their eyes, the falcons use their nictitating membranes (third eyelids) to spread tears and clear debris from their eyes while maintaining vision. A study testing the flight physics of an \"ideal falcon\" found a theoretical speed limit at for low-altitude flight and  for high-altitude flight. In 2005, Ken Franklin recorded a falcon stooping at a top speed of . The life span of peregrine falcons in the wild is up to 15.5 years. Mortality in the first year is 59\u201370%, declining to 25\u201332% annually in adults. Apart from such anthropogenic threats as collision with human-made objects, the peregrine may be killed by larger hawks and owls. The peregrine falcon is host to a range of parasites and pathogens. It is a vector for Avipoxvirus, Newcastle disease virus, Falconid herpesvirus 1 (and possibly other Herpesviridae), and some mycoses and bacterial infections. Endoparasites include Plasmodium relictum (usually not causing malaria in the peregrine falcon), Strigeidae trematodes, Serratospiculum amaculata (nematode), and tapeworms. Known peregrine falcon ectoparasites are chewing lice, Ceratophyllus garei (a flea), and Hippoboscidae flies (Icosta nigra, Ornithoctona erythrocephala).\nThe peregrine falcon feeds almost exclusively on medium-sized birds such as pigeons and doves, waterfowl, songbirds, and waders. Worldwide, it is estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 bird species (up to roughly a fifth of the world's bird species) are predated somewhere by these falcons. In North America, prey has varied in size from hummingbirds (Selasphorus and Archilochus ssp.) to a  sandhill crane (killed in Alaska by a peregrine in a stoop), although most prey taken by peregrines weigh from  (small passerines) to  (such as ducks and gulls). The peregrine falcon takes the most diverse range of bird species of any raptor in North America, with more than 300 species having fallen victim to the falcon, including nearly 100 shorebirds. Smaller hawks and owls are regularly predated, mainly smaller falcons such as the American kestrel, merlin and sharp-shinned hawks. In urban areas, the main component of the peregrine's diet is the rock or feral pigeon, which comprise 80% or more of the dietary intake for peregrines in some cities. Other common city birds are also taken regularly, including mourning doves, common wood pigeons, common swifts, northern flickers, common starlings, American robins, common blackbirds, and corvids (such as magpies or carrion, house, and American crows). Other than bats taken at night, the peregrine rarely hunts mammals, but will on occasion take small species such as rats, voles, hares, shrews, mice and squirrels. Coastal populations of the large subspecies pealei feed almost exclusively on seabirds. In the Brazilian mangrove swamp of Cubat\u00e3o, a wintering falcon of the subspecies tundrius was observed while successfully hunting a juvenile scarlet ibis. Insects and reptiles make up a small proportion of the diet, which varies greatly depending on what prey is available. The peregrine falcon hunts most often at dawn and dusk, when prey are most active, but also nocturnally in cities, particularly during migration periods when hunting at night may become prevalent. Nocturnal migrants taken by peregrines include species as diverse as yellow-billed cuckoo, black-necked grebe, virginia rail, and common quail. The peregrine requires open space in order to hunt, and therefore often hunts over open water, marshes, valleys, fields, and tundra, searching for prey either from a high perch or from the air. Large congregations of migrants, especially species that gather in the open like shorebirds, can be quite attractive to hunting peregrines. Once prey is spotted, it begins its stoop, folding back the tail and wings, with feet tucked. Prey is typically struck and captured in mid-air; the peregrine falcon strikes its prey with a clenched foot, stunning or killing it with the impact, then turns to catch it in mid-air. If its prey is too heavy to carry, a peregrine will drop it to the ground and eat it there. If they miss the initial strike, peregrines will chase their prey in a twisting flight. Although previously thought rare, several cases of peregrines contour-hunting, i.e. using natural contours to surprise and ambush prey on the ground, have been reported and even rare cases of prey being pursued on foot. In addition, peregrines have been documented preying on chicks in nests, from birds such as kittiwakes. Prey is plucked before consumption. A recent study showed the presence of peregrines benefits non-preferred species while at the same time causing a decline in its preferred prey.\nThe peregrine falcon is sexually mature at one to three years of age, but in healthy populations they breed after two to three years of age. A pair mates for life and returns to the same nesting spot annually. The courtship flight includes a mix of aerial acrobatics, precise spirals, and steep dives. The male passes prey it has caught to the female in mid-air. To make this possible, the female actually flies upside-down to receive the food from the male's talons. During the breeding season, the peregrine falcon is territorial; nesting pairs are usually more than apart, and often much farther, even in areas with large numbers of pairs. The distance between nests ensures sufficient food supply for pairs and their chicks. Within a breeding territory, a pair may have several nesting ledges; the number used by a pair can vary from one or two up to seven in a 16-year period. The peregrine falcon nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges. The female chooses a nest site, where she scrapes a shallow hollow in the loose soil, sand, gravel, or dead vegetation in which to lay eggs. No nest materials are added. Cliff nests are generally located under an overhang, on ledges with vegetation. South-facing sites are favoured. In some regions, as in parts of Australia and on the west coast of northern North America, large tree hollows are used for nesting. Before the demise of most European peregrines, a large population of peregrines in central and western Europe used the disused nests of other large birds. In remote, undisturbed areas such as the Arctic, steep slopes and even low rocks and mounds may be used as nest sites. In many parts of its range, peregrines now also nest regularly on tall buildings or bridges; these human-made structures used for breeding closely resemble the natural cliff ledges that the peregrine prefers for its nesting locations. The pair defends the chosen nest site against other peregrines, and often against ravens, herons, and gulls, and if ground-nesting, also such mammals as foxes, wolverines, felids, bears, wolves, and mountain lions. Both nests and (less frequently) adults are predated by larger-bodied raptorial birds like eagles, large owls, or gyrfalcons. The most serious predators of peregrine nests in North America and Europe are the great horned owl and the Eurasian eagle owl. When reintroductions have been attempted for peregrines, the most serious impediments were these two owls routinely picking off nestlings, fledglings and adults by night. Peregrines defending their nests have managed to kill raptors as large as golden eagles and bald eagles (both of which they normally avoid as potential predators) that have come too close to the nest by ambushing them in a full stoop. In one instance, when a snowy owl killed a newly fledged peregrine, the larger owl was in turn killed by a stooping peregrine parent. The date of egg-laying varies according to locality, but is generally from February to March in the Northern Hemisphere, and from July to August in the Southern Hemisphere, although the Australian subspecies macropus may breed as late as November, and equatorial populations may nest anytime between June and December. If the eggs are lost early in the nesting season, the female usually lays another clutch, although this is extremely rare in the Arctic due to the short summer season. Generally three to four eggs, but sometimes as few as one or as many as five, are laid in the scrape. The eggs are white to buff with red or brown markings. They are incubated for 29 to 33 days, mainly by the female, with the male also helping with the incubation of the eggs during the day, but only the female incubating them at night. The average number of young found in nests is 2.5, and the average number that fledge is about 1.5, due to the occasional production of infertile eggs and various natural losses of nestlings. After hatching, the chicks (called \"eyases\" ) are covered with creamy-white down and have disproportionately large feet. The male (called the \"tiercel\") and the female (simply called the \"falcon\") both leave the nest to gather prey to feed the young. The hunting territory of the parents can extend a radius of from the nest site. Chicks fledge 42 to 46 days after hatching, and remain dependent on their parents for up to two months.\nThe peregrine falcon is a highly admired falconry bird, and has been used in falconry for more than 3,000 years, beginning with nomads in central Asia. Its advantages in falconry include not only its athleticism and eagerness to hunt, but an equitable disposition that leads to it being one of the easier falcons to train. The peregrine falcon has the additional advantage of a natural flight style of circling above the falconer (\"waiting on\") for game to be flushed, and then performing an effective and exciting high speed diving stoop to take the quarry. The speed and energy of the stoop allows the falcon to catch fast flying birds, and to deliver a knock out blow with a fist-like clenched talon against game that may be much larger than itself. Additionally the versatility of the species, with agility allowing capture of smaller birds and a strength and attacking style allowing capture of game much larger than themselves, combined with the wide size range of the many peregrine subspecies, means there is a subspecies suitable to almost any size and type of game bird. This size range, evolved to fit various environments and prey species, is from the larger females of the largest subspecies to the smaller males of the smallest subspecies, approximately five to one (approximately 1500 g to 300 g). The males of smaller and medium-sized subspecies, and the females of the smaller subspecies, excel in the taking of swift and agile small game birds such as dove, quail, and smaller ducks. The females of the larger subspecies are capable of taking large and powerful game birds such as the largest of duck species, pheasant, and grouse. Peregrine falcons handled by falconers are also occasionally used to scare away birds at airports to reduce the risk of bird-plane strikes, improving air-traffic safety. They were also used to intercept homing pigeons during World War II. Peregrine falcons have been successfully bred in captivity, both for falconry and for release back into the wild. Until 2004 nearly all peregrines used for falconry in the US were captive-bred from the progeny of falcons taken before the US Endangered Species Act was enacted and from those few infusions of wild genes available from Canada and special circumstances. Peregrine falcons were removed from the United States' endangered species list in 1999. The successful recovery program was aided by the effort and knowledge of falconers \u2013 in collaboration with The Peregrine Fund and state and federal agencies \u2013 through a technique called hacking. Finally, after years of close work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a limited take of wild peregrines was allowed in 2004, the first wild peregrines taken specifically for falconry in over 30 years. The development of captive breeding methods has led to peregrines being commercially available for falconry use, thus mostly eliminating the need to capture wild birds for support of falconry. The main reason for taking wild peregrines at this point is to maintain healthy genetic diversity in the breeding lines. Hybrids of peregrines and gyrfalcons are also available that can combine the best features of both species to create what many consider to be the ultimate falconry bird for the taking of larger game such as the sage-grouse. These hybrids combine the greater size, strength, and horizontal speed of the gyrfalcon with the natural propensity to stoop and greater warm weather tolerance of the peregrine.\nThe peregrine falcon became an endangered species over much of its range because of the use of organochlorine pesticides, especially DDT, during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Pesticide biomagnification caused organochlorine to build up in the falcons' fat tissues, reducing the amount of calcium in their eggshells. With thinner shells, fewer falcon eggs survived to hatching. In several parts of the world, such as the eastern United States and Belgium, this species became extirpated (locally extinct) as a result. An alternate point of view is that populations in the eastern North America had vanished due to hunting and egg collection.\nPeregrine falcon recovery teams breed the species in captivity. The chicks are usually fed through a chute or with a hand puppet mimicking a peregrine's head, so they cannot see to imprint on the human trainers. Then, when they are old enough, the rearing box is opened, allowing the bird to train its wings. As the fledgling gets stronger, feeding is reduced, forcing the bird to learn to hunt. This procedure is called hacking back to the wild. To release a captive-bred falcon, the bird is placed in a special cage at the top of a tower or cliff ledge for some days or so, allowing it to acclimate itself to its future environment. Worldwide recovery efforts have been remarkably successful. The widespread restriction of DDT use eventually allowed released birds to breed successfully. The peregrine falcon was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species list on August 25, 1999. Some controversy has existed over the origins of captive breeding stock used by The Peregrine Fund in the recovery of peregrine falcons throughout the contiguous United States. Several peregrine subspecies were included in the breeding stock, including birds of Eurasian origin. Due to the extirpation of the eastern anatum (Falco peregrinus anatum), the near extirpation of the anatum in the Midwest, and the limited gene pool within North American breeding stock, the inclusion of non-native subspecies was justified to optimize the genetic diversity found within the species as a whole. Since peregrine eggs and chicks are still often targeted by illegal collectors, it is common practice not to publicize unprotected nest locations.\nPopulations of the peregrine falcon have bounced back in most parts of the world. In Britain, there has been a recovery of populations since the crash of the 1960s. This has been greatly assisted by conservation and protection work led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The RSPB has estimated that there are 1,402 breeding pairs in the UK. Peregrines now breed in many mountainous and coastal areas, especially in the west and north, and nest in some urban areas, capitalising on the urban feral pigeon populations for food. In Southampton, a nest prevented restoration of mobile telephony services for several months, after Vodafone engineers despatched to repair a faulty transmitter mast discovered a nest in the mast, and were prevented by the Wildlife and Countryside Act, on pain of a possible prison sentence, from proceeding with repairs until the chicks fledged. In many parts of the world peregrine falcons have adapted to urban habitats, nesting on cathedrals, skyscraper window ledges, tower blocks, and the towers of suspension bridges. Many of these nesting birds are encouraged, sometimes gathering media attention and often monitored by cameras. From an ecological perspective, raptor populations in urban areas are highly beneficial. Compared with Europe where pigeon populations have exploded to the point they are both a tourist attraction and a public nuisance. Their faeces are highly acidic causing damage to historic buildings and statues made of soft stone. They nest in bridges where it compiles and damages iron work causing rust and corrosion. In the United States, falcon and other raptors are in numbers high enough to ward off pigeon nest building in major highrises.\nDue to its striking hunting technique, the peregrine has often been associated with aggression and martial prowess. Native Americans of the Mississippian culture (c. 800\u20131500) used the peregrine, along with several other birds of prey, in imagery as a symbol of \"aerial (celestial) power\" and buried men of high status in costumes associating to the ferocity of \"raptorial\" birds. In the late Middle Ages, the Western European nobility that used peregrines for hunting, considered the bird associated with princes in formal hierarchies of birds of prey, just below the gyrfalcon associated with kings. It was considered \"a royal bird, more armed by its courage than its claws\". Terminology used by peregrine breeders also used the Old French term gentil, \"of noble birth; aristocratic\", particularly with the peregrine. The peregrine falcon is the national animal of the United Arab Emirates. Since 1927, the peregrine falcon has been the official mascot of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. The 2007 U.S. Idaho state quarter features a peregrine falcon. The peregrine falcon has been designated the official city bird of Chicago. The Peregrine, by J. A. Baker, is widely regarded as one of the best nature books in English written in the twentieth century. Admirers of the book include Robert Macfarlane, Mark Cocker, who regards the book as \"one of the most outstanding books on nature in the twentieth century\" and Werner Herzog, who called it \"the one book I would ask you to read if you want to make films,\" and said elsewhere \"... it has prose of the calibre that we have not seen since Joseph Conrad.\" In the book, Baker recounts, in diary form, his detailed observations of peregrines (and their interaction with other birds) near his home in Chelmsford, Essex, over a single winter from October to April.\n"
        },
        "1002": {
            "common": "Falcon, prairie",
            "family": "Falco mexicanus",
            "id": 1002,
            "text": "The prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus) is a medium-large sized falcon of western North America. It is about the size of a peregrine falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm (16 in), wingspan of approximately 1 meter (40 in), and average weight of 720 g (1.6 lb). As in all falcons, females are noticeably bigger than males. Though a separate species from the peregrine, the prairie falcon is basically an arid environment adaptation of the early peregrine falcon lineage, able to subsist on less food than the peregrine, and generally lighter in weight than a peregrine of similar wing span. Having evolved in a harsh desert environment with low prey density, the prairie falcon has developed into an aggressive and opportunistic hunter of a wide range of both mammal and bird prey. It will regularly take prey from the size of sparrows to approximately its own weight, and occasionally much larger. It is the only larger falcon native only to North America. It is resident from southern Canada, through western United States, and into northern Mexico. The prairie falcon is popular as a falconry bird, where with proper training it is regarded as being as effective as the more well known peregrine falcon.\nMale prairie falcons are 37 to 38 cm in length (~15 inches) and weigh 500 to 635g (1.1 to 1.4 lbs). Females are about 45 cm in length (17.7 inches) and weigh 762 to 970g (1.7 to 2.1 lbs). A large female can be nearly twice the size of a small male, with wingspan reaching to 1.1 meters (3.5 feet), and tends to hunt significantly larger prey. Plumage is warm gray-brown (sometimes called \"sandy\") above and pale with more or less dark mottling below. The darkest part of the upper side is the primary wing feathers; the lightest is the rump and tail, particularly the outer tail feathers. The head has a \"moustache\" mark like a peregrine falcon's but narrower, and a white line over the eye. A conspicuous character is that the axillars (\"wingpits\") and underwing coverts are black, except along the leading edge of the wing. This creates an effect of \"struts\" from the body along each wing. Juveniles resemble adults except that they have dark streaks on the breast and belly and darker, less grayish upperparts. Calls, heard mostly near the nest, are described as repetitive kree kree kree\u2026, kik kik kik\u2026, and the like, similar to the peregrine's but higher-pitched. Experts can separate a distant prairie falcon from a peregrine (generally the only similar species in its range) by its shape and flight style. The prairie falcon has a longer tail in proportion to its size; a more tubular, less stocky body; and the wing joint farther from the body. Its wingbeats are described as strong and shallow like the peregrine's and having the same quick cadence, but stiffer and more mechanical.\nThe prairie falcon outwardly resembles the peregrine as well as the Old World \"hierofalcons\", especially the saker falcon. It was previously often considered the only New World member of the hierofalcon subgenus, but in recent decades this assumption has been disproven by genetic analysis. DNA studies beginning in the 1980s have shown the prairie falcon to be closer to the peregrine than to the hierofalcons. It now is considered an early aridland offshoot of the peregrine falcon lineage, much as the hierofalcons represent a later separate divergence that similarly adapted to arid habitat. Thus, the similarities between the prairie falcon and the hierofalcons are a good example of convergent evolution, with the prairie falcon and similar looking and behaving Old World forms such as the saker and lanner falcons not being the closest of related species, but instead ecological equivalents. However, \"closely related\" is a relative term here, since most or all the members of the genus falco are closely enough related that they can produce hybrid offspring via artificial insemination. But, only the most closely related of these species will produce fertile or partially fertile offspring. The karyological data of Schmutz and Oliphant provided early scientific evidence of the unexpectedly close relationship between the peregrine and prairie falcons. Wink and Sauer-G\u00fcrth later estimated using molecular systematics that the prairie falcon diverged about 3 to 5 million years ago from an archaic peregrine ancestor, assuming a molecular clock calibration of 2% sequence divergence per 1 million years. The prairie falcon then evolved from its peregrine stock forbears in a process of parapatric speciation based on partially separated environments where different selective pressures lead to separate genetic drift and eventually to separate species. This process has led to the prairie falcon having enhanced survivability in the sparse arid environment that dominates the interior of the American west. This enhanced competitiveness in this environment is based on superior energy efficiency (being no larger than the prey base and competition with other raptors requires), and versatility in the utilization of a wider range of prey. Moderately lower weight than the muscular peregrine for similar wingspan not only allows lower food and energy requirements by the simple expedient of less muscle to support, but also allows a lighter wing loading (weight per square unit of wing area) that allows more distance to be covered per calorie consumed when hunting over prey sparse terrain. The lighter wing loading also allows greater maneuverability, which is valuable in the pursuit of agile lightly wing loaded prey and rapidly dodging ground prey. When the prairie falcon locates needed prey, it is relentless in its pursuit. Quoting from the book The Prairie Falcon, \"Because they evolved in the harsh western environment, prairie falcons have the stamina to out-fly the strongest quarry. They have the spirit to crash through dense cover when attacking prey, something peregrines seldom attempt.\" In the longer distance lower prey density American west, the prairie falcon also has evolved eyes that are proportionally larger relative to head size than the already large eyes of other falcons. The specialization of the prairie falcon to this particular environment is also reflected by the fact that there are no subspecies of the prairie falcon evolved to fit other environments, and that it seldom strays far outside the native range to which it is most suited and within which it has competitive advantages over the peregrine falcon. Though they are separate species after several million years of mostly separate evolution, prairie falcons are known to still occasionally interbreed with peregrines in the wild. The male offspring of these crossings may be fertile, and provide an avenue for at least some gene flow to possibly still occur between the species. Such gene flow in the past may have contributed to the continuing genetic closeness of the two species today.\nThe natural habitat of the prairie falcon is open country, especially arid, in summer including alpine tundra to shortgrass prairie and high desert. In winter it is more widespread, ranging to low deserts and occasionally to towns. It breeds from southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and south-central British Columbia south through the western United States\u2013roughly between the eastern edge of the Mountain Time Zone and the Cascade Mountains, as well as the Central Valley of California\u2013to the Mexican states of Baja California, Durango, and northern San Luis Potos\u00ed. It is much less migratory than the other North American falcons, but in winter it does withdraw somewhat from the northernmost and highest-elevation parts of its breeding range and spreads west to the deserts and Pacific coast of California, east to about the 100th meridian, and south to Baja California Sur, Jalisco, and Hidalgo. The prairie falcon eats mostly small mammals (especially in summer) and small to medium-sized birds caught in flight, though as an opportunistic predator it will occasionally take larger birds. Though accounts of the prairie falcon taking prey as large as geese are verifiable (a prey that may be over 5 times heavier than a large female prairie falcon), it usually takes prey smaller than itself that it may safely subdue and which can be carried to the nest or to a safe perch to consume. The majority of prey is 150g or less, a weight that even the smaller tiercel (male) can carry long distances back to the nest. Most prey is thus 30% or less of the weight of the tiercel, which is a common prey size fraction across numerous species of falcons where the males do the majority of the hunting during the nesting season. However, over shorter distances wildlife biologists have documented prairie falcons carrying up to about 60-70% of their body weight. Common mammalian prey for prairie falcons includes squirrels, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, gophers, and rabbits of various species. Reptiles are also sometimes taken. Bird prey commonly includes sparrows, starlings, grackles, doves, quail, meadow larks, pigeons, coots, teal, and mallards\u2014virtually any bird of up to approximately the falcon\u2019s own size and occasionally significantly larger. However, the need to feed their young focuses them on prey they can carry during nesting season, and the reproductive success of the prairie falcon depends upon such smaller prey being available. In keeping with the needs of a predator living in a prey-sparse desert environment, the prairie falcon has developed a wide range of hunting and flight styles. Like the Merlin, it often hunts by flying fast and low, at a height of only a few meters or so, hoping to find surprised prey as it comes over the terrain or around bushes. Its cruising speed is estimated at 72 km/h (45 mph) and it accelerates in the chase. A variation on this method is for the falcon to stoop down from altitude and then level out near the ground, initially traveling at more than 100 mph at altitudes of a meter or two, sometimes gliding for more than a kilometer this way. If the rapidly approaching falcon flushes bird prey, the falcon has the speed advantage and may rapidly close with the prey. Another variation on these low attacks is using terrain as cover to approach beneath a flock of birds, then using its speed to perform a rapid climbing surprise attack into the flock. It also pursues prey sighted from a perch in the manner of the short-winged accipiter hawks, again often flying low and using its speed to close with the prey in a tail-chase. Prairie falcons may even deliberately emulate the flight style of other birds in order to deceive potential prey and allow a surprise attack by the falcon. The dramatic high speed diving stoop from high altitude in the manner of the peregrine falcon, allowing overtaking the swiftest of birds or delivering a knock-out blow to large prey, is also a very natural part of the hunting repertoire of the prairie falcon. At impact the prey is hit with a closed foot or feet, or swiped with an open foot armed with talons. High-speed films have shown that this second method is the more common, with the toes closed into a \u201cfist\u201d immediately after striking. The claw on the hind toe, or hallux, is particularly effective and deadly in raking the prey. When the closed foot strike is used it is typically directed against the head or wing of the prey, and if it does not outright kill, the prey is often rendered unconscious or unable to fly. These strikes are often accompanied by an explosion of feathers and an audible impact that may be heard from the ground hundreds of feet away. They have been known to be so forceful they can literally separate the head from the body of the prey. Territories of mated pairs in nesting season range from under 200 to over 400 square kilometers. Smaller territories where prey does not have to be carried as far enhances reproductive success. This species nests on cliff ledges, so breeding adults are local during the breeding season. The clutch averages four eggs, which are subelliptical and pinkish with brown, reddish-brown, and purplish dots. As part of their adaptation to hotter and lower humidity desert climates, the eggs of the prairie falcon are less porous and retain water better than those of their peregrine falcon cousins, leading to a higher hatching rate under these conditions. The incubation period is 31 days, beginning with the 2nd to last or last egg laid. Incubation becomes more intense after later eggs are laid, somewhat evening out hatching times. As is typical for falcons, the female does most of the incubating and brooding, and the male brings most of the food, with the female also hunting after the young are 12 to 14 days old. The young fledge (first fly) from 36 to 41 days after hatching. They continue to be supported by their parents while learning to fly and hunt, with the parents gradually winding down the amount of food they provide as the youngsters' hunting skills improve. At approximately 65 days of age they are ready to be self-sufficient, and disperse from their natal area. In its range the prairie falcon must compete for food and space with other often larger raptors including the peregrine falcon, red tailed hawk, Harris's hawk, ferruginous hawk, great horned owl, and golden eagle. The large, powerful, and surprisingly agile golden eagle is the apex avian predator in this range, and is generally willing and able to attack and kill any of these other raptors. Under the right circumstances all these species are capable of sometimes displacing and occasionally killing the prairie falcon. However, the prairie falcon will aggressively defend its territory against any of them, with male and female often mounting a coordinated attack, and often turns the tables on these larger raptors. Wildlife biologists report numerous observations of prairie falcons successfully driving away and sometimes killing raptors larger than themselves. When a prairie falcon kills a larger raptor, it usually does so in a diving stoop with striking methods similar to what it uses against prey much larger than itself. It may use a foot with talons clinched like a fist to make a high energy strike against the head or wing of its opponent, or use an extended talon in a rapier like thrust to create a fatal wound. However, it is not a given that prairie falcons will always be in conflict with nearby raptors. In years when food is plentiful, prairie falcons have been known to nest within a few hundred meters of great horned owls, peregrine falcons, red-tailed hawks, and golden eagles, with both sets of parents successfully rearing their young. As of 2006, the population of prairie falcons was estimated to be stable or increasing at over 5,000 pairs, with perhaps 200 pairs breeding at the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Idaho. By contrast, in the years before DDT contamination extirpated the eastern U.S. peregrine falcon population in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of eastern peregrines in the United States had already dropped to about 350 pairs. It is thought the prairie falcon mostly avoided the population loss suffered by the peregrine from DDT induced egg shell thinning due to its more remote environment partly insulating it from pesticide contamination. The loss of peregrine population allowed the expansion of prairie falcon range to cliff nesting sites in areas formerly occupied by peregrines moderately outside historic prairie falcon territory. The successful reintroduction of peregrines to eastern and central United States brought peregrine and prairie falcons back into competition in these areas. The reintroduction program led by the Peregrine Fund bred and released more than 4,000 peregrine falcons from 1974 to 1997. The program necessarily made use of available captive bred peregrine stock with a strong genetic influence from larger bodied peregrine subspecies. The created strain of mixed subspecies peregrine tends to be heavier and stronger than the prairie falcon, and where they conflict over nesting sites they often displace prairie falcons. However, these reintroduced peregrines are little threat to prairie falcon populations within their natural range, as the prairie falcon with its greater heat tolerance, lower daily food requirement, and wider prey base has the survival advantage in the harsh high desert environment in which it has evolved to prosper.\nThis species is often used in falconry. It is the most popular falcon captured from the wild for falconry purposes in the United States, due to its abundance and relative ease to acquire. It is valued for its aggressiveness, agility, and determination to bring down game. Although some falconers considered the prairie falcon hard to train and unpredictable, others note that with proper training taking into account its impatient nature it may be as effective as the peregrine falcon. In his book The Hunting Falcon, biologist and falconer Bruce Haak states \"In the field, the prairie falcon leaves no doubt that it can hold its own against the peregrine as a stylish and dedicated hunting companion.\" The smaller and more agile males are particularly effective in the taking of small game birds such as dove, quail, and smaller ducks, while the larger and more powerful females reliably take larger game up through the size of large ducks and even pheasants. Some prairie falcons will strike still larger game such as geese and greater sage-grouse, but their willingness to do so runs the risk of injury to the falcon. The sage-grouse in particular is difficult game, with the males weighing as much as 8 lbs, and being so hard-muscled that inexperienced falcons can easily be injured in striking them in a high-speed stoop. It takes a skilled falcon that knows how to forcefully but carefully and accurately strike them in the head or wing to bring them down cleanly. For this difficult prey experienced falconers usually prefer larger peregrine females, gyrfalcons, or gyr-peregrine hybrids, though some female prairie falcons do master the art of bringing down larger game. Proper training for prairie falcons includes providing abundant food when raising them (to avoid them developing the habit of screaming for food), and extensive \"manning\" (close contact and handling) when training them. Unlike the peregrine, they do not respond well to training with the swung lure, as missing the lure brings out their impatience. Teaching prairie falcons to climb and \u201cwait on\u201d to stoop on game is best accomplished by a reward system of flushing game or serving live birds such as pigeons for the falcon to chase when the falcon has assumed the proper position several hundred feet or more above the falconer. The prairie falcon\u2019s eagerness to hunt and chase requires that it be patiently taught that when it assumes the proper waiting on position the falconer can be trusted to reliably flush game. As the falcon comes to understand this, it learns to hunt as an effective team with the falconer. The availability of commercially bred falcons has in recent years reduced the need to capture falcons from the wild for use in falconry. The prairie falcon along with the peregrine and gyrfalcon is now often available via captive breeding. The prairie falcon is also sometimes hybridized with the peregrine falcon or gyrfalcon to create a falcon combining the aggressiveness and heat tolerance of the prairie falcon with the easier trainability and slightly greater strength of the larger peregrine subspecies, or the greater horizontal speed and significantly larger size and strength of the gyrfalcon.\n"
        },
        "1006": {
            "common": "Feathertail glider",
            "family": "Acrobates pygmaeus",
            "id": 1006,
            "text": "The feathertail glider (Acrobates pygmaeus), also known as the pygmy gliding possum, pygmy glider, pygmy phalanger, flying phalanger and flying mouse, is a species of marsupial native to eastern Australia. It is the world's smallest gliding mammal and is named for its long feather-shaped tail.\nAt just in head-and-body length and weighing about, the feathertail glider is only around the size of a small mouse, and is the world's smallest gliding mammal. The fur is soft and silky, and is a uniform greyish brown on the upper body, and white on the underside. There are rings of dark fur around the eyes, the rhinarium is hairless and deeply cleft, and the ears are moderately large and rounded. The glider also has an unusually large number of whiskers, sprouting from the snout and cheeks, and from the base of each ear. Like other gliding mammals, the feathertail glider has a patagium stretching between the fore and hind legs. Only reaching the elbows and knees, this is smaller than that of the petaurid gliding possums, although the presence of a fringe of long hairs increases its effective area. The tail is about the same length as the head and body combined, oval in cross-section, only slightly prehensile, and has very short fur except for two distinctive rows of long, stiff hairs on either side. This gives the tail the appearance of a feather or a double-sided comb. The hindfeet possess enlarged, opposable first digits, which unlike all the other toes on both fore and hind feet, lack claws. The tongue is long and thin, reaching as much as, and has numerous long papillae that give it a brush-like appearance. This improves the animal's ability to collect pollen and consume semi-liquid food. The structure of the ear is also unusual, since the animal possesses a unique bony disc with a narrow crescent-shaped slit just in front of the eardrum. The function of this bone is unclear, but it may act as a Helmholtz resonator and enhance sensitivity to certain frequencies of sound. The brain has been recorded as weighing . The female has two vaginae, which merge into a single sinus before opening into a cloaca together with the rectum. The pouch opens towards the front, as is common in diprotodont marsupials, and contains four teats.\nFeathertail gliders are found across the eastern seaboard of continental Australia, from northern Queensland to Victoria and extreme south-eastern South Australia. There are no recognised subspecies. They inhabit a wide range of forest types across the region, from sea level to at least Fossils belonging to the genus Acrobates have been identified from deposits in Queensland dating back to 0.5 million years ago, during the late Pleistocene.\nFeathertail gliders are omnivorous, feeding on nectar, pollen, and arthropods such as moths, ants, and termites. They are arboreal, and although they do occasionally descend to the ground to forage, they spend as much as 87% of their time over above the ground, partcularly in eucalyptus trees. They are nocturnal, spending the day resting in nests in tree hollows, lines with leaves or shredded bark. They are social animals, and up to five may share a single nest, especially during the breeding season. They are highly adept climbers, able to cling to the smooth trunks of eucalyptus trees. In experiments, they have even proved able to climb vertical panes of glass, a feat that is due to a combination of fine skin ridges and sweat that allow their feet to function as suction cups. Movement through the trees is aided by their gliding ability; they are able to glide as far as, and typically do so three to five times every hour through the night. Feathertail gliders do not hibernate as such, but are capable of entering torpor during cold weather at any time of the year. Torpor can last for several days, during which time the animal's body temperature can drop to as low as and oxygen consumption to just 1% of normal. Torpid gliders curl into a ball, wrapping their tail around themselves and folding their ears flat, and often huddling together with up to four other individuals to reduce heat loss and conserve energy. The breeding season lasts from July to January in Victoria, and may be longer further to the north. Females typically give birth to two litters of up to four young in a season, and are able to mate again shortly after the first litter is born. The second litter then enters embryonic diapause, and is not born until the first litter has finished weaning at about 105 days. Multiple paternity is common, even within litters, as the females are sexually promiscuous. The young remain in the pouch for the first 65 days of life, and the maximum lifespan is about five years.\nThe New Zoo in Pozna\u0144, Poland, was the first European zoo to breed feathertail gliders in 1999 (their animals originated from Sydney's Taronga Zoo). Some of the feathertail gliders born in Pozna\u0144 have been sent to other European zoos, meaning that the entire European captive population is of Pozn\u00e1n descent. Australia's Taronga Zoo was the first zoo to breed feathertail gliders in captivity.\nA Feathertail glider was featured on the reverse of the Australian 1-cent coin until 1991.\n"
        },
        "1008": {
            "common": "Feral rock pigeon",
            "family": "Columba livia",
            "id": 1008,
            "text": "The rock dove or rock pigeon ( also ; Columba livia) is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, this bird is often simply referred to as the \"pigeon\". The species includes the domestic pigeon, including the fancy pigeon. Escaped domestic pigeons have given rise to populations of feral pigeons around the world. Wild rock doves are pale grey with two black bars on each wing, while domestic and feral pigeons are very variable in colour and pattern. There are few visible differences between males and females. The species is generally monogamous, with two squabs (young) per brood. Both parents care for the young for a time. Habitats include various open and semi-open environments. Cliffs and rock ledges are used for roosting and breeding in the wild. Originally found wild in Europe, North Africa, and western Asia, pigeons have become established in cities around the world. The species is abundant, with an estimated population of 17 to 28 million feral and wild birds in Europe.\nThe rock dove was first described by Gmelin in 1789. The genus name Columba is the Latin word meaning \"pigeon, dove\", whose older etymology comes from the Ancient Greek \u03ba\u03cc\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2 (kolumbos), \"a diver\", from \u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03c9 (kolumbao), \"dive, plunge headlong, swim\". Aristophanes (Birds, 304) and others use the word \u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03af\u03c2 (kolumbis), \"diver\", for the name of the bird, because of its swimming motion in the air. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin livor, \"bluish\". Its closest relative in the Columba genus is the hill pigeon, followed by the other rock pigeons: the snow, speckled and white-collared pigeons. The species is also known as the rock pigeon or blue rock dove, the former being the official name from 2004 to 2011, at which point the IOC changed their official listing to its original British name of rock dove (styled as Rock Dove). In common usage, this bird is still often simply referred to as the \"pigeon\". Pigeon chicks are called squabs.\nThere are 12 subspecies recognised by Gibbs (2000); some of these may be derived from feral stock.\nThe adult of the nominate subspecies of the rock dove is long with a  wingspan. Weight for wild or feral rock doves ranges from, though overfed domestic and semi-domestic individuals can exceed normal weights. It has a dark bluish-grey head, neck, and chest with glossy yellowish, greenish, and reddish-purple iridescence along its neck and wing feathers. The iris is orange, red or golden with a paler inner ring, and the bare skin round the eye is bluish-grey. The bill is grey-black with a conspicuous off-white cere, and the feet are purplish-red. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is typically around, the tail is , the bill is around and the tarsus is . The adult female is almost identical to the male, but the iridescence on the neck is less intense and more restricted to the rear and sides, while that on the breast is often very obscure. The white lower back of the pure rock dove is its best identification character; the two black bars on its pale grey wings are also distinctive. The tail has a black band on the end and the outer web of the tail feathers are margined with white. It is strong and quick on the wing, dashing out from sea caves, flying low over the water, its lighter grey rump showing well from above. Young birds show little lustre and are duller. Eye colour of the pigeon is generally orange but a few pigeons may have white-grey eyes. The eyelids are orange in colour and are encapsulated in a grey-white eye ring. The feet are red to pink. When circling overhead, the white underwing of the bird becomes conspicuous. In its flight, behaviour, and voice, which is more of a dovecot coo than the phrase of the wood pigeon, it is a typical pigeon. Although it is a relatively strong flier, it also glides frequently, holding its wings in a very pronounced V shape as it does. Though fields are visited for grain and green food, it is often not plentiful enough as to be a viewed as pest. Pigeons feed on the ground in flocks or individually. They roost together in buildings or on walls or statues. When drinking, most birds take small sips and tilt their heads backwards to swallow the water. Pigeons are able to dip their bills into the water and drink continuously without having to tilt their heads back. When disturbed, a pigeon in a group will take off with a noisy clapping sound. Pigeons, especially homing or carrier breeds, are well known for their ability to find their way home from long distances. Despite these demonstrated abilities, wild rock doves are sedentary and rarely leave their local areas.\nThe rock dove has a restricted natural resident range in western and southern Europe, North Africa, and into South Asia. The rock dove is often found in pairs in the breeding season but is usually gregarious. The species (including ferals) has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of . It has a large global population, including an estimated 17\u201328 million individuals in Europe. Fossil evidence suggests the rock dove originated in southern Asia and skeletal remains unearthed in Israel confirm their existence there for at least three hundred thousand years. However, this species has such a long history with humans that it is impossible to tell exactly where the species' original range was. Its habitat is natural cliffs, usually on coasts. Its domesticated form, the feral pigeon, has been widely introduced elsewhere, and is common, especially in cities, over much of the world. A rock pigeon's lifespan is anywhere from 3\u20135 years in the wild to 15 years in captivity, though longer-lived specimens have been reported. The main causes of mortality in the wild are predators and persecution by humans. The species was first introduced to North America in 1606 at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.\nThe rock dove breeds at any time of the year, but peak times are spring and summer. In India, they breed in February. Nesting sites are along coastal cliff faces, as well as the artificial cliff faces created by apartment buildings with accessible ledges or roof spaces. The nest is a flimsy platform of straw and sticks, laid on a ledge, under cover, often on the window ledges of buildings. Two white eggs are laid; incubation is shared by both parents lasting from seventeen to nineteen days. The newly hatched squab (nestling) has pale yellow down and a flesh-coloured bill with a dark band. For the first few days, the baby squab is tended and fed (through regurgitation) exclusively on \"crop milk\" (also called \"pigeon milk\" or \"pigeon's milk\"). The pigeon milk is produced in the crops of both parents in all species of pigeons and doves. The fledging period is about 30 days.\nWith only its flying abilities protecting it from predation, rock pigeons are a favourite almost around the world for a wide range of raptorial birds. In fact, with feral pigeons existing in almost every city in the world, they may form the majority of prey for several raptor species who live in urban areas. Peregrine falcons and Eurasian sparrowhawks are natural predators of pigeons that are quite adept at catching and feeding upon this species. Up to 80% of the diet of peregrine falcons in several cities that have breeding falcons is composed of feral pigeons. Some common predators of feral pigeons in North America are opossums, raccoons, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, eastern screech owls and Accipiters. The birds that prey on pigeons in North America can range in size from American kestrels to golden eagles and can even include gulls, crows, and ravens. On the ground the adults, their young and their eggs are at risk from feral and domestic cats. Doves and pigeons are considered to be game birds as many species have been hunted and used for food in many of the countries in which they are native.\nPigeons may harbour a diverse parasite fauna. They often host the intestinal helminths Capillaria columbae and Ascaridia columbae. Their ectoparasites include the Ischnoceran lice Columbicola columbae, Campanulotes bidentatus compar, the Amblyceran lice Bonomiella columbae, Hohorstiella lata, Colpocephalum turbinatum, the mites Tinaminyssus melloi, Dermanyssus gallinae, Dermoglyphus columbae, Falculifer rostratus, and Diplaegidia columbae. The hippoboscid fly Pseudolynchia canariensis is a typical blood-sucking ectoparasite of pigeons, found only in tropical and sub-tropical regions.\nPigeons have been falsely associated with the spread of human diseases. Contact with pigeon droppings poses a minor risk of contracting histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis, and exposure to both droppings and feathers can produce bird fancier's lung. Pigeons are not a major concern in the spread of West Nile virus; though they can contract it, they do not appear to be able to transmit it. Pigeons are, however, at potential risk for carrying and spreading avian influenza. One study has shown that adult pigeons are not clinically susceptible to the most dangerous strain of avian influenza, the H5N1, and that they did not transmit the virus to chickens. Other studies have presented evidence of clinical signs and neurological lesions resulting from infection, but found that the pigeons did not transmit the disease to chickens reared in direct contact with them. Pigeons were found to be \"resistant or minimally susceptible\" to other strains of avian influenza, such as the H7N7.\nRock doves have been domesticated for several thousand years, giving rise to the domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica). As well as food and pets, domesticated pigeons are used as homing pigeons. They were in the past also used as carrier pigeons, and so-called war pigeons have played significant roles during wartime, with many pigeons having received bravery awards and medals for their services in saving hundreds of human lives: including, notably, the British pigeon Cher Ami who received the Croix de Guerre for her heroic actions during World War I, and the Irish Paddy and the American G.I. Joe, who both received the Dickin Medal, amongst 32 pigeons to receive this medallion, for their gallant and brave actions during World War II. There are numerous breeds of fancy pigeons of all sizes, colours and types.\nMany domestic birds have escaped or been released over the years, and have given rise to the feral pigeon. These show a variety of plumages, although some have the blue barred pattern as does the pure rock dove. Feral pigeons are found in large numbers in cities and towns all over the world. The scarcity of the pure wild species is partly due to interbreeding with feral birds.\nWater is taken in by the Columba livia directly by drinking water or indirectly from the food they ingest. They drink water through a process called double-suction mechanism. The daily diet of the pigeon places many physiological challenges that it must overcome through osmoregulation. Protein intake for example causes an excess of toxins of amine groups when it is broken down for energy. To regulate this excess and secrete these unwanted toxins the Columba livia must remove the amine groups as uric acid. Nitrogen excretion through uric acid can be considered an advantage because it does not require a lot of water and is not very soluble, but producing it takes more energy because of its complex molecular composition. The danger of desiccation is a major threat to animals living on land. Water is lost in urine and feces, but evaporation is the principal route of water loss. Water lost must be replaced by drinking and water in food. Dehydration or salt-loading decreases the filtration rate primarily by the shutting down of the nephrons, which is controlled by an antidiuretic hormone, arginine vasotocin. Pigeons adjust their drinking rates and food intake in parallel, and when adequate water is unavailable for excretion, food intake is limited to maintain water balance. As Columba livia inhabit arid environments, research attributes this to their strong flying capabilities to reach the available water sources, not because of exceptional potential for water conservation. Columba livia kidneys, like mammalian kidneys, are capable of producing urine hyperosmotic to the plasma utilizing the processes of, reabsorption and secretion. The medullary cones function as countercurrent units that achieve the production of hyperosmotic urine. Hyperosmotic urine can be understood in light of the law of diffusion and osmolarity.\nUnlike a number other bird species which have the salt gland as the primary osmoregulatory organ, Columba livia does not use its salt gland even though it exists. Columba livia uses the function of their kidneys to maintain homeostatic balance of ions such as sodium and potassium while preserving water quantity in the body. of the blood, reabsorption of ions and water, and secretion of uric acid are all components of the kidney's process. The kidneys of Columba livia are located in its pelvic region. Columba livia has two kidneys that are coupled, each having three partially separate lobes; the posterior lobe is the largest in size. Like mammalian kidneys, the avian kidney contains a medullary region and a cortical region. Peripherally located around the cortical region, the collecting ducts gather into cone-like ducts, medullary cones, which converge into the ureters. There are two types of nephrons in the kidney; nephrons that are located in the cortex and do not contain the loop of Henle are called loopless nephrons, the other type is called looped or mammalian nephrons. Looped nephrons contain the loop of Henle that continue down into the medulla then enter the distal tubule drain towards the ureter. Mammals generally have a more vascularised glomeruli than the nephrons in birds. The nephrons of avian species can not produce urine that is hyperosmotic to the blood, but, the loop of Henle utilises countercurrent multiplication which allows it to become hyperosmotic in the collecting duct. This alternation of permeability between different sections of the ascending and descending loop allows for the elevation of the urine osmotic pressure 2.5 times above the blood osmotic pressure.\nThe integumentary system functions in osmoregulation by acting as a barrier between the extracellular compartment and the environment to regulate water gain and loss, as well as solute flux. The permeability of the integument to water and solutes varies from animal to animal. The excretory system is responsible for regulating water and solute levels in the body fluids. Pigeons can produce hyperosmotic urine but their renal system is different from other animals. They do not produce concentrated urine to reduce water loss but produce a whitish part called urate. It is considered as uric acid solid crystals and it is less toxic than urea. The wastes move from the blood of the peritubular capillaries passes through the tubule cells and into the collecting ducts and transported as urate (uric acid). Urate is then transported to the cloaca and from there to the large intestine where uric acid particle and water and solutes in the urine can be reabsorbed and balanced. Thus this allows them to save their body water instead of excreting large volume of dilute urea. Cells of the proximal tubule have numerous microvilli and mitochondria which provide surface area and energy to the proximal tubule cells. The blood pH is regulated by the A and B types of cells located in distal tubule and collecting duct. The A type cells are acid secreting cells that have a proton ATPase in the apical membrane and a Cl-/ HCO3- exchange system in the basolateral membrane whereas, the B type cells are base secreting cells, which secrete bicarbonate into the lumen of the tubule in exchange for chloride ions. The regulation of pH in blood determines whether bicarbonate is reabsorbed or secreted.\nThe contains lots of important substances. In the proximal tubules of the Columba livia kidney, substances that are needed, such as vitamins and glucose are reabsorbed into the blood. Their kidney has a variety of ion channels involved in salt and water transport. Water is reabsorbed through aquaporins which are present in the lumen of proximal tubule, basolateral membrane, and blood vessel near proximal tubule. Water flows from the epithelial cells into the blood via osmosis. Since osmosis occurs, the osmolarity of the filtrate remains isotonic. Sodium/Potassium/ATPase transporter is located in the basolateral membrane of the epithelial cell, which is opposite of the lumen of proximal tubule, and actively pumps sodium out of the cell into the blood.\nGas exchange across eggshells results in water loss from the egg. However, the egg must retain enough water to hydrate the embryo. As a result, changing temperatures and humidity can affect the eggshell's architecture. Behavioral adaptations in Columba livia and other birds, such as the incubation of their eggs, can help with the effects of these changing environments. It was found that eggshell architecture undergoes selection decoupled from behavioural effects, and that humidity may be a driving selective pressure. Low humidity requires enough water to keep the embryo from desiccation, and high humidity needs enough water loss to facilitate the initiation of pulmonary respiration. The water loss from the eggshell is directly linked to the growth rate of the species. The ability of the embryo to tolerate extreme water loss is due to the parental behaviour in species colonising in different environments. Studies have been done showing that wild habitats of Columba livia and other birds have a higher rate tolerance of various humidity levels, but Columba livia do prefer areas where the humidity closely matched their native breeding conditions. The pore areas of the shells allow water to diffuse in and out of the shell, preventing the possible harming of the embryo due to the high rates of water retention. If an eggshell is thinner, it can cause a decrease in pore length, and an increase in conductance and pore area. A thinner eggshell can also cause a decrease in mechanical restriction of the embryo.\n"
        },
        "1010": {
            "common": "Ferret, black-footed",
            "family": "Mustela nigripes",
            "id": 1010,
            "text": "The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), also known as the American polecat or prairie dog hunter, is a species of mustelid native to central North America. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN, because of its very small and restricted populations. First discovered by Audubon and Bachman in 1851, the species declined throughout the 20th century, primarily as a result of decreases in prairie dog populations and sylvatic plague. It was declared extinct in 1979 until Lucille Hogg's dog brought a dead black-footed ferret to her door in Meeteetse, Wyoming in 1981. That remnant population of a few dozen ferrets lasted there until the animals were considered extinct in the wild in 1987. However, a captive breeding program launched by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in its reintroduction into eight western states and Mexico from 1991 to 2008. There are now over 1,000 mature, wild-born individuals in the wild across 18 populations, with four self-sustaining populations in South Dakota (two), Arizona and Wyoming. The black-footed ferret is roughly the size of a mink, and differs from the European polecat by the greater contrast between its dark limbs and pale body and the shorter length of its black tail-tip. In contrast, differences between the black-footed ferret and the steppe polecat of Asia are slight, to the point where the two species were once thought to be conspecific. The only noticeable differences between the black-footed ferret and the steppe polecat are the former's much shorter and coarser fur, larger ears, and longer postmolar extension of the palate. It is largely nocturnal and solitary, except when breeding or raising litters. Up to 91% of its diet is composed of prairie dogs.\nLike its close cousin, the Asian steppe polecat (with which it was once thought to be conspecific), the black-footed ferret represents a more progressive form than the European polecat in the direction of carnivory. The black-footed ferret's most likely ancestor was Mustela stromeri (from which the European and steppe polecat are also derived), which originated in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene. Molecular evidence indicates that the steppe polecat and black-footed ferret diverged from Mustela stromeri sometime between 500,000 and 2,000,000 years ago, perhaps in Beringia. The species appeared in the Great Basin and the Rockies by 750,000 years ago. The oldest recorded fossil find originates from Cathedral Cave, White Pine County, Nevada, and dates back to 750,000\u2013950,000 years ago. Prairie dog fossils have been found in six sites where ferrets are yielded, thus indicating that the association between the two species is an old one. Anecdotal observations and 42% of examined fossil records indicated that any substantial colony of medium- to large-sized colonial ground squirrels, such as Richardson's ground squirrels, may provide a sufficient prey base and a source of burrows for black-footed ferrets. This suggests that the black-footed ferret and prairie dogs did not historically have an obligate predator-prey relationship. The species has likely always been rare, and the modern black-footed ferret represents a relic population. The earliest reported occurrence of the species is from a late Illinoian deposit in Clay County, Nebraska, and is further recorded from Sangamonian deposits in Nebraska and Medicine Hat. Fossils have also been found in Alaska dating from the Pleistocene.\nThe black-footed ferret has a long body and a blunt head. The forehead is arched and broad, and the muzzle is short. It has few whiskers, and its ears are triangular, short, erect and broad at the base. The neck is long and the legs short and stout. The toes are armed with sharp, very slightly arched claws. The feet on both surfaces are covered in hair, even to the soles, thus concealing the claws. It combines several physical features common in both members of the subgenus Gale (least, short-tailed and long-tailed weasels) and Putorius (European and steppe polecats). Its skull resembles that of polecats in its size, massiveness and the development of its ridges and depressions, though it is distinguished by the extreme degree of constriction behind the orbits where the width of the cranium is much less than that of the muzzle. Though similar in size to polecats, its attenuate body, long neck, very short legs, slim tail, large orbicular ears and close-set pelage is much closer in conformation to weasels and stoats. The dentition of the black-footed ferret closely resembles that of the European and steppe polecat, though the back lower molar is vestigial, with a hemispherical crown which is too small and weak to develop the little cusps which are more apparent in polecats. Males measure in body length and  in tail length, thus constituting 22\u201325% of its body length. Females are typically 10% smaller than males. It weighs . Captive-bred ferrets used for the reintroduction projects were found to be smaller than their wild counterparts, though these animals rapidly attained historical body sizes once released. The base color is pale yellowish or buffy above and below. The top of the head and sometimes the neck is clouded by dark-tipped hairs. The face is crossed by a broad band of sooty black, which includes the eyes. The feet, lower parts of the legs, the tip of the tail and the preputial region are sooty-black. The area midway between the front and back legs is marked by a large patch of dark umber-brown, which fades into the buffy surrounding parts. A small spot occurs over each eye, with a narrow band behind the black mask. The sides of the head and the ears are dirty-white in color.\nThe black-footed ferret is solitary, except when breeding or raising litters. It is nocturnal and primarily hunts for sleeping prairie dogs in their burrows. It is most active above ground from dusk to midnight and 4 a.m. to mid-morning. Aboveground activity is greatest during late summer and early autumn when juveniles become independent. Climate generally does not limit black-footed ferret activity, but it may remain inactive inside burrows for up to 6 days at a time during winter. Female black-footed ferrets have smaller home ranges than males. Home ranges of males may sometimes include the home ranges of several females. Adult females usually occupy the same territory every year. A female that was tracked from December to March occupied . Her territory was overlapped by a resident male that occupied during the same period. The average density of black-footed ferrets near Meeteetse, Wyoming, is estimated at 1 black-footed ferret /99 to . As of 1985, 40 to 60 black-footed ferrets occupied a total of of white-tailed prairie dog habitat. From 1982 to 1984, the average year-round movement of 15 black-footed ferrets between white-tailed prairie dog colonies was 1.6 miles/night (2.5 km) (with a spread of 1.1 miles or 1.7 km). Movement of black-footed ferrets between prairie dog colonies is influenced by factors including breeding activity, season, sex, intraspecific territoriality, prey density, and expansion of home ranges with declining population density. Movements of black-footed ferrets have been shown to increase during the breeding season; however, snow-tracking from December to March over a 4-year period near Meeteetse, Wyoming revealed that factors other than breeding were responsible for movement distances. Temperature is positively correlated with distance of black-footed ferret movement. Snow-tracking from December to March over a 4-year period near Meeteetse, Wyoming, revealed that movement distances were shortest during winter and longest between February and April, when black-footed ferrets were breeding and white-tailed prairie dogs emerged from hibernation. Nightly movement distance of 170 black-footed ferrets averaged (range 0.001 to 6.91 miles (0.002\u201311.12 km)). Nightly activity areas of black-footed ferrets ranged from ), and were larger from February to March () than from December to January (). Adult females establish activity areas based on access to food for rearing young. Males establish activity areas to maximize access to females, resulting in larger activity areas than those of females. Prey density may account for movement distances. Black-footed ferrets may travel up to to seek prey, suggesting that they will interchange freely among white-tailed prairie dog colonies that are less than  apart. In areas of high prey density, black-footed ferret movements were nonlinear in character, probably to avoid predators. From December to March over a 4-year study period, black-footed ferrets investigated 68 white-tailed prairie dog holes per of travel/night. Distance traveled between white-tailed prairie dog burrows from December to March averaged over 149 track routes.\nThe reproductive physiology of the black-footed ferret is similar to that of the European polecat and the steppe polecat. It is probably polygynous, based on data collected from home range sizes, skewed sex ratios, and sexual dimorphism. Mating occurs in February and March. When a male and female in estrus encounter each other, the male sniffs the genital region of the female, but does not mount her until after a few hours have elapsed, which is contrast to the more violent behavior displayed by the male European polecat. During copulation, the male grasps the female by the nape of the neck, with the copulatory tie lasting from 1.5\u20133 hours. Unlike other mustelids, the black-footed ferret is a habitat specialist with low reproductive rates. In captivity, gestation of black-footed ferrets lasts 42\u201345 days. Litter size ranges from 1\u20135 kits. Kits are born in May and June in prairie dog burrows. Kits are altricial and are raised by their mother for several months after birth. Kits first emerge above ground in July, at 6 weeks old. They are then separated into individual prairie dog burrows around their mother's burrow. Kits reach adult weight and become independent several months following birth, from late August to October. Sexual maturity occurs at one year of age. Intercolony dispersal of juvenile black-footed ferrets occurs several months after birth, from early September to early November. Dispersal distances may be short or long. Near Meeteetse, Wyoming, 9 juvenile males and 3 juvenile females dispersed 1 to 4 miles (1\u20137 km) following litter breakup. Four juvenile females dispersed a short distance (<0.2 miles (0.3 km)) but remained on their natal area.\nUp to 90% of the black-footed ferret's diet is composed of prairie dogs. The diet of the black-footed ferret varies depending on geographic location. In western Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, black-footed ferrets historically associated with white-tailed prairie dogs and were forced to find alternate prey when white-tailed prairie dogs entered their four-month hibernation cycle. In Wyoming, alternate prey items consumed during white-tailed prairie dog hibernation included voles (Microtus spp.) and mice (Peromyscus spp. and Mus spp.) found near streams. In South Dakota, black-footed ferrets associate with black-tailed prairie dogs. Because black-tailed prairie dogs do not hibernate, little seasonal change in black-footed ferret diet is necessary. In Mellette County, South Dakota, black-tailed prairie dog remains occurred in 91% of 82 black-footed ferret scats. Mouse remains occurred in 26% of scats. Mouse remains could not be identified to species; however, deer mice, northern grasshopper mice, and house mice were captured in snap-trap surveys. Potential prey items included thirteen-lined ground squirrels, plains pocket gophers, mountain cottontails, upland sandpipers, horned larks, and western meadowlarks. Based on 86 black-footed ferret scats found near Meeteetse, Wyoming, 87% of black-footed ferret diet was composed of white-tailed prairie dogs. Other food items included deer mice, sagebrush voles, meadow voles, mountain cottontails, and white-tailed jackrabbits. Water is obtained through consumption of prey. A study published in 1983 modeling metabolizable energy requirements estimated that one adult female black-footed ferret and her litter require approximately 474 to 1,421 black-tailed prairie dogs per year or 412 to 1,236 white-tailed prairie dogs per year for sustenance. They concluded that this dietary requirement would require protection of 91 to 235 acres (37\u201395 ha) of black-tailed prairie dog habitat or 413 to 877 acres (167\u2013355 ha) of white-tailed prairie dog habitat for each female black-footed ferret with a litter.\nThe historical range of the black-footed ferret was closely correlated with, but not restricted to, the range of prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.). Its range extended from southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan south to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. As of 2007, the only known wild black-footed ferret population was located on approximately 6,000 acres (2,428 ha) in the western Big Horn Basin near Meeteetse, Wyoming. Since 1990, black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced to the following sites: Shirley Basin, Wyoming; UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge and Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Montana; Conata Basin/Badlands, Buffalo Gap National Grassland, and the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota; Aubrey Valley, Arizona; Wolf Creek, Colorado; Coyote Basin, straddling Colorado and Utah, northern Chihuahua, Mexico, and Grasslands National Park, Canada Historical habitats of the black-footed ferret included shortgrass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, desert grassland, shrub steppe, sagebrush steppe, mountain grassland, and semi-arid grassland. Black-footed ferrets use prairie dog burrows for raising young, avoiding predators, and thermal cover. Six black-footed ferret nests found near Mellette County, South Dakota, were lined with buffalo grass, prairie threeawn, sixweeks grass, and cheatgrass. High densities of prairie dog burrows provide the greatest amount of cover for black-footed ferrets. Black-tailed prairie dog colonies contain a greater burrow density per acre than white-tailed prairie dog colonies, and may be more suitable for the recovery of black-footed ferrets. The type of prairie dog burrow may be important for occupancy by black-footed ferrets. Black-footed ferret litters near Meeteetse, Wyoming, were associated with mounded white-tailed prairie dog burrows, which are less common than non-mounded burrows. Mounded burrows contain multiple entrances and probably have a deep and extensive burrow system that protects kits. However, black-footed ferrets used non-mounded prairie dog burrows (64%) more often than mounded burrows (30%) near Meeteetse, Wyoming.\nPrimary causes of mortality include habitat loss, human-introduced diseases, and indirect poisoning from prairie-dog control measures. Annual mortality of juvenile and adult black-footed ferrets over a 4-year period ranged from 59% to 83% (128 individuals) near Meeteetse, Wyoming. During fall and winter, 50% to 70% of juveniles and older animals perish. Average lifespan in the wild is probably only one year but may be up to five years. Males have higher rates of mortality than females because of longer dispersal distances when they are most vulnerable to predators. Given an obligate-dependence of black-footed ferrets on prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets are extremely vulnerable to prairie dog habitat loss. Habitat loss results from agriculture, livestock use, and other development. Black-footed ferrets are susceptible to numerous diseases. They are fatally susceptible to canine distemper virus, introduced by striped skunks, common raccoons, red foxes, coyotes, and American badgers. A short-term vaccine for canine distemper is available for captive black-footed ferrets, but no protection is available for young born in the wild. Black-footed ferrets are also susceptible to rabies, tularemia, and human influenza. They can directly contract Sylvatic plague (Yersinia pestis), and epidemics in prairie dog towns may completely destroy the ferrets' prey base. Predators of black-footed ferrets include golden eagles, great horned owls, coyotes, American badgers, bobcats, prairie falcons, ferruginous hawks, and prairie rattlesnakes. Oil and natural gas exploration and extraction can have detrimental impacts on prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets. Seismic activity collapses prairie dog burrows. Other problems include potential leakages and spills, increased roads and fences, increased vehicle traffic and human presence, and an increased number of raptor perching sites on power poles. Traps set for coyotes, American mink, and other animals may harm black-footed ferrets.\nNative American tribes, including the Crow, Blackfoot, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Pawnee, used black-footed ferrets for religious rites and for food. The species was not encountered during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, nor was it seen by Nuttall or Townsend, and it was not until it was first described in Audubon and Bachman's Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America in 1851 that it became known to the scientific world.\nFor a time, the black-footed ferret was harvested for the fur trade, with the American Fur Company having received 86 ferret skins from Pratt, Chouteau, and Company of St. Louis in the late 1830s. During the early years of predator control, black-footed ferret carcasses were likely discarded, as their fur was of low value. This likely continued after the passing of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, for fear of reprisals. The large drop in black-footed ferret numbers began during the 1800s through to the 1900s, as prairie dog numbers declined because of control programs and the conversion of prairies to croplands. Sylvatic plague, a disease caused by Yersinia pestis introduced into North America, also contributed to the prairie dog die-off, though ferret numbers declined proportionately more than their prey, thus indicating other factors may have been responsible. Plague was first detected in South Dakota in a coyote in 2004, and then in ~50,000 acres of prairie dogs on Pine Ridge Reservation in 2005. Thereafter 7,000 acres of prairie dog colonies were treated with insecticide (DeltaDust) and 1,000 acres of black-footed ferret habitat were prophylactically dusted in Conata Basin in 2006\u20132007. Nevertheless, plague was proven in ferrets in May 2008. Since then each year 12,000 acres of their Conata Basin habitat is dusted and about 50\u2013150 ferrets are immunized with plague vaccine. Inbreeding depression may have also contributed, as studies on black-footed ferrets from Meeteetse, Wyoming revealed low levels of genetic variation. Canine distemper devastated the Meeteetse ferret population in 1985. A live virus vaccine originally made for domestic ferrets killed large numbers of black-footed ferrets, thus indicating that the species is especially susceptible to distemper.\nThe black-footed ferret is an example of a species which benefits from strong reproductive science. A captive-breeding program was initiated in 1987, capturing 18 living individuals and using artificial insemination. This is one of the first examples of assisted reproduction contributing to conservation of an endangered species in nature. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), state and tribal agencies, private landowners, conservation groups, and North American zoos, have actively reintroduced ferrets back into the wild since 1991. Beginning in Shirley Basin in Eastern Wyoming, reintroduction expanded to Montana, 6 sites in South Dakota in 1994, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Saskatchewan, Canada and Chihuahua, Mexico. The Toronto Zoo has bred hundreds, most of which were released into the wild. Several episodes of Zoo Diaries show aspects of the tightly controlled breeding. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the black-footed ferret as being an extirpated species in Canada. A population of 35 animals was released into Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan on October 2, 2009, and a litter of newborn kits was observed in July 2010. Reintroduction sites have experienced multiple years of reproduction from released individuals. The black-footed ferret was first listed as endangered in 1967 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act, and was relisted on January 4, 1974, under the Endangered Species Act. In September 2006, South Dakota's ferret population was estimated to be around 420, with 250 (100 breeding adults consisting of 67 females and 33 males) in Eagle Butte, South Dakota which is 100,000 acres, less than 3 percent of the public grasslands in South Dakota, 70 miles East of Rapid City, South Dakota in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland bordering Badlands National Park, 130 ferrets northeast of Eagle Butte, SD on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and about 40 ferrets on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Arizona's Aubrey Valley ferret population was well over 100 and a second reintroduction site with around 50 animals is used. An August 2007 report in the journal Science counted a population of 223 in one area of Wyoming (the original number of reintroduced ferrets, most of which died, was 228), and an annual growth rate of 35% from 2003\u20132006 was estimated. This rate of recovery is much faster than for many endangered species, and the ferret seems to have prevailed over the previous problems of disease and prey shortage that hampered its improvement. As of 2007, the total wild population of black-footed ferrets in the U.S. was well over 650 individuals, plus 250 in captivity. In 2008, the IUCN reclassified the species as \"globally endangered\", a substantial improvement since the 1996-assessment, when it was considered extinct in the wild, as the species was indeed only surviving in captivity. As of 2013, about 1,200 ferrets are thought to live in the wild. Conservation efforts have been opposed by stock growers / ranchers, who have traditionally fought prairie dogs. In 2005, the U.S. Forest Service began poisoning prairie dogs in private land buffer zones of the Conata Basin of Buffalo Gap National Grassland, SD. Because 10\u201315 ranchers complained the measure was inadequate, the forest service advised by Mark Rey, then Undersecretary of Agriculture, expanded its \"prairie-dog management\" in September 2006 to all of South Dakota's Buffalo Gap and the Fort Pierre National Grassland, and also to the Oglala National Grassland in Nebraska, against opinions of biologists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Following exposure by conservation groups including the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance and national media public outcry and a lawsuit mobilized federal officials, and the poisoning plan was revoked. The contradictory mandates of the two federal agencies involved, the USFWS and the U.S. Forest Service are exemplified in what the Rosebud Sioux tribe experienced: The ferret was reintroduced by the USFWS, which according to the tribe promised to pay more than $1 million a year through 2010. On the other hand, the tribe was also contracted for the U.S. forest service prairie dog poisoning program. The increasing numbers of ferrets led to conflicts between the tribe's Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Game, Fish and Parks Department and the Tribal Land Enterprise Organization. When the federal government started an investigation of the tribe's prairie dog management program, threatening to prosecute tribal employees or agents carrying out the management plan in the ferret reintroduction area, the tribal council passed a resolution in 2008, asking the two federal agencies to remove ferrets, and reimburse the tribe for its expenses for the ferret recovery program.\n"
        },
        "1012": {
            "common": "Ferruginous hawk",
            "family": "Buteo regalis",
            "id": 1012,
            "text": "The ferruginous hawk (ferruginous = from Latin ferrum \u2013 iron, ferrugin-, iron rust, iron-rust color \u2013 reddish-brown), Buteo regalis (Latin, royal hawk), is a large bird of prey and belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. An old colloquial name is ferrugineous rough-leg, due to its similarity to the closely related rough-legged hawk (B. lagopus). This species is a large, broad-winged hawk of the open, arid grasslands, prairie and shrub steppe country; it is endemic to the interior parts of North America. It is used as a falconry bird in its native range.\nThis is the largest of the North American Buteos and is often mistaken for an eagle due to its size, proportions, and behavior. Among all the nearly thirty species of Buteo in the world, only the upland buzzard (B. hemilasius) of Asia averages larger in length and wingspan. The weight of the upland buzzard and ferruginous broadly overlaps and which of these two species is the heaviest in the genus is debatable. As with all birds of prey, the female ferruginous hawk is larger than the male, but there is some overlap between small females and large males in the range of measurements. Length in this species ranges from with an average of, wingspan from , with an average of about , and weight from . Weight varies in the species relatively restricted breeding range. In the southern reaches of the species breeding range, i.e. Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, males average and females average . In the northern stretches of the breeding range, in southern Canada, Washington, Idaho and North Dakota, the hawks are heavier averaging in males and  in females. Adults have long broad wings and a broad gray, rusty, or white tail. The legs are feathered to the talons, like the rough-legged hawk. There are two color forms: There are no subspecies.\nThe voice is not well-described in literature. Alarm calls consist of kree \u2013 a or ke \u2013 ah and harsh kaah, kaah calls, the latter resembling some vocalizations of the herring gull. One description referred to the \"wavering\" alarm call and \"breathy\" notes, while other authors describe screams similar to those of the red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis).\nThe male and female have identical markings. The main difference is size, with the female being somewhat larger. Perched birds have a white breast and body with dark legs. The back and wings are a brownish rust color. The head is white with a dark streak extending behind the eye. The wing tips almost reach the tip of the tail. The underside is primarily light colored with the dark legs forming a \"V\" shape. The reddish upper-back color extends to the inner wing coverts or \"shoulders.\" The primary remiges (pinions) are dark gray with conspicuous light \"windows\" in the inner primaries. Three prominent light areas on the upper surface stand out as two \"windows\" on the outer wings and a rufous rump mark, perhaps the most signature feature of a flying ferruginous hawk. The underwings are whitish overall with rufous markings, particularly in the patagial area. This gives a smudgy appearance to the wings, but less dark than in a red-tailed hawk. The ferruginous hawk is noticeably longer winged than a red-tailed hawk, although the wings appear slenderer than the latter species the total wing area of the ferruginous is considerably more. However, the Red-tail can be nearly as bulky and heavy. Dark \"comma\"-shaped markings are prominent at the wrists. The ferruginous hawk is one of the only two hawks that have feathers that cover their legs down to their toes, like the golden eagle. The other is the rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus). The pale morph of the closely related but more slender rough-legged species is best distinguished by its darker coloration, with a broad black tail band and a dark band across the chest. The dark morph Rough-leg is more a slaty coloration than the more brownish dark morph ferruginous. Swainson's hawks and especially rough-legged buzzards can be nearly as long-winged but are less bulky and heavily built than the ferruginous. Among the normal standard measurements, the wing chord measures, the tarsus measures and the tail measures . Additionally, the grasp is and the third toe, indicating that the ferruginous hawks has the largest and most robust feet of any of the world's Buteos. Compared to other Buteos, the ferruginous has a larger bill, at, with a much wider gape when the bill is opened, at . In flight, these birds soar with their wings in a dihedral.\nThe preferred habitat for ferruginous hawks are the arid and semiarid grassland regions of North America. The countryside is open, level, or rolling prairies; foothills or middle elevation plateaus largely devoid of trees; and cultivated shelterbelts or riparian corridors. Rock outcrops, shallow canyons, and gullies may characterize some habitats. These hawks avoid high elevations, forest interiors, narrow canyons, and cliff areas. During the breeding season, the preference is for grasslands, sagebrush, and other arid shrub country. Nesting occurs in the open areas or in trees including cottonwoods, willows, and swamp oaks along waterways. Cultivated fields and modified grasslands are avoided during the breeding period. The density of ferruginous hawks in grasslands declines in an inverse relationship to the degree of cultivation of the grasslands. However, high densities have been reported in areas where nearly 80% of the grassland was under cultivation. The winter habitat is similar to that used during the summer. However, cultivated areas are not necessarily avoided, particularly when the crops are not plowed under after harvest. The standing stubble provides habitat for the small-mammal prey base needed by ferruginous and other hawks. One requisite of the habitat is perches such as poles, lone trees, knolls, rocky outcrops or large boulders. Ferruginous hawks nest in trees if they are available, including riparian strips, but the presence of water does not appear to be critical to them. The ferruginous hawk maintains minimum distances from other nesting raptors but will nest closer than necessary, suggesting that the distance is not fixed. The \"nearest neighbor\" distance has varied from less than to as much as  with an average of . Nests facing different hunting territories are tolerated much closer than nests facing the same hunting territory. The minimum distance between nests is probably about one half mile on densely occupied areas. Nesting densities in several studies have varied from one pair per four to 2,450 square miles (10.4 to 6,346 square km). In Alberta, on one study site, there was a stable density of one pair per four square miles (10.4 square km), on average with little deviation from this mean. In Idaho, the average home range for four pairs of ferruginous hawk in the Snake River area was slightly over two square miles (5.2 square km).\nThe flight of the ferruginous hawk is active, with slow wing beats much like that of a small eagle. Soaring with the wings held in a strong dihedral has been noted, as well as gliding with the wings held flat, or in a modified dihedral. Hovering and low cruising over the ground are also used as hunting techniques. The wing beat has been described as \"fluid\" by some observers. Conflicts over territories, food and nest-defense have been reported with several other large species of raptor, such as the great horned (Bubo virginianus) and short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), red-tailed and Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsonii), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), accipiters (Accipiter), ravens (Corvus), and magpies (Pica). Among native raptorial birds, only larger eagles and similarly sized great horned owls can regularly outmatch this large and powerful hawk. While bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) normally only harass ferruginous hawks to pirate food from them, the golden eagle can be a serious killer (in potential territorial or defensive conflicts) and predator of the ferruginous. Although they may be attracted to similar nesting habitat, in a local comparison in northwestern Texas, southwestern Oklahoma and northeastern Arizona, the typical prey taken by Swainson's hawks was quite different, being about half the weight of that of the ferruginous hawk and more focused on insects rather than mammals. However, in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, the prey taken by red-tailed hawks and ferruginous hawks was almost exactly the same, both in terms of species and body size. The prey species hunted by golden eagles are often similar, but the ferruginous hawk is locally less of lagomorph specialist where it co-exists with eagles and takes typically smaller prey, such as pocket gophers, which are generally ignored by the eagles. It seems to be quite tolerant of conspecifics from adjacent territories.\nThe ferruginous hawk primarily hunts small to medium-sized mammals but will also take birds, reptiles, and some insects. Mammals generally comprise 80\u201390% of the prey items or biomass in the diet with birds being the next most common mass component. The diet varies somewhat geographically, depending upon the distribution of prey species, but where the range of the ferruginous hawk overlaps, the black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) is a major food species along with ground squirrels and pocket gophers. Depending upon the relative abundance of jackrabbits and ground squirrels, the latter could become the major food source. Mammalian prey can range in size from tiny pocket mice to the white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii), weighing about twice as much as a ferruginous hawk, and avian prey can range in size from western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) to the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Common prey items are: Rodents: Other mammals: Birds: Reptiles: Insects: These birds search for prey while flying over open country or from a perch. They may also wait in ambush outside the prey's burrow. Hunting may occur at any time of the day depending upon the activity patterns of the major prey species. A bimodal pattern of early morning and late afternoon hunting may be common. The hunting tactics can be grouped into seven basic strategies: In its \"strike, kill, and consume\" type of predation, the prey is seized with the feet and a series of blows may be meted out, including driving the rear talon into the body to puncture vital organs. Biting with the beak may also take place. Before bringing prey to the nest, the adults will often eat the head. At the nest, birds are plucked and mammals torn into pieces before being fed to the young. Food caching has been noted, but not generally near the nest.\nCopulation occurs during and after nest building. The egg-laying period varies with latitude, weather, and possibly food supply. In the Canadian parts of the range, laying occurs from the latter part of April through late June, whereas farther south laying occurs from about March 20 through mid May. The earliest recorded clutch was in January in Utah and laying could occur as late as July 3 in Canada. Egg-laying occurs at two-day intervals with incubation starting when the first egg is laid. Incubation is shared by both sexes with each taking approximately the same number of shifts during the 32-day average incubation period. Replacement clutches following failure appears to be rare. Courtship flights seem to be limited in the accepted sense. Both sexes engage in high, circling flight but literature details are sketchy. Soaring activities may primarily be variations on territorial defense flights as opposed to courtship per se. The \"flutter-glide\" flight consists of a series of shallow, rapid wing beats interspersed with brief glides and may serve to advertise the territory. The \"sky-dance\" is stimulated by an intruder and consists of slow flight with deep, labored wing beats with irregular yawing and pitching that may terminate in steep dives. In the \"follow-soar\" maneuver, the male ferruginous hawk will fly below an intruder and escort it out of the territory. High perching occurs from prominent places around the nest, particularly early in the breeding cycle. Aggressive actions such as attacking, talon-grasping, and pursuit have been noted by some observers. Copulation begins before construction of the new nest, and increases in frequency until the start of egg laying. The passing of food may occur before the activity. The duration of copulation is from four to 18 seconds. The ferruginous hawk is one of the most adaptable nesters of the raptors, and will use trees, ledges, rock or dirt outcrops, the ground, haystacks, nest platforms, power poles, and other man-made structures. Within some broad categories such as cliffs, the variety includes clay, dirt and rock substrates. Tree nests are typically in isolated trees or isolated clumps of trees in exposed locations. Authors differ as to whether ground nests are more successful than tree nests, but they are more susceptible to mammalian predation. Nest locations are reused frequently, but several nests may be built in an area. Typically, one or two alternate nests may exist but up to eight have been found on some territories. The nests are made of ground debris such as sticks, branches, and cattails. Old nests will be refurbished, or nests of other species may be taken over and refurbished with sticks being added on top of the old nests. Odd items such as paper, rubbish, barbed wire, cornstalks, plastic and steel cable have been incorporated into nests. Bark from trees and shrubs will be used for lining along with grasses and cow dung. Bits and pieces of greenery are often added to the nest. Prior to the removal of the bison from this bird's range, nesting material often included bison bones, fur and dung. Both sexes are involved with building the nests and bringing materials, but the male seems to be more involved in retrieving materials while the female arranges them in the structure. Clutch size varies from one to eight and is likely linked to food supply. The average clutch is three to four eggs, each long and  wide. They are smooth, non-glossy and whitish in color, irregularly spotted or speckled and blotched with reddish-brown markings. There may be a concentration of darker pigments at the small end of the egg. Occasionally, the eggs are almost unmarked or have faint scribblings on them. The nestling period varies from 38 to 50 days with brooding primarily by the female. Males fledge at 38 to 40 days and the females as late as 50 days after hatching, or 10 days later than their male siblings as they take longer to develop. Nestlings lie or sit for the first two weeks, stand at about three weeks and walk soon after. By 16 or 18 days, they are able to feed on their own. Wing flapping starts about day 23 and by day 33 the young are capable of vigorous flapping and \"flap jumps.\" The nestlings are sensitive to high temperatures and seek shade however possible in the nest. Initial movement out of the nest is felt to be a response to heat stress as the young quickly move towards shade. The initial flight for the males is taken at 38 to 40 days while the slower-developing females fly about 10 days later. Post-fledging dependency upon the parents may last for several weeks. During the first four weeks after fledging, the young patrol increasingly large areas around the nest as they learn to hunt. Young hawks have killed prey as early as four days after fledging. The ferruginous hawk is single-brooded, and as in so many raptors, the number of young reared is tied closely to food supply. In areas where jackrabbit populations are the principal food source, the initial clutch sizes and the number of reared young vary closely with variations in the number of jackrabbits. Fifty percent loss of young has been reported in low jackrabbit years. Fledging rates of 2.7 to 3.6 young per nest have been reported during years of abundant food supply. The high potential clutch size allows for a quick response to increases in the prey base. Ferruginous hawks have been known to live for 20 years in the wild, but most birds probably die within the first five years. The oldest banded birds were recovered at age 20. First-year mortality has been estimated at 66% and the adult mortality at 25%. The reasons for mortality include illegal shooting, loss of a satisfactory food supply, harassment, predation, and starvation of nestlings during times of low food supply. Ground nests are susceptible to predation by coyotes, and nestlings may be preyed upon by great horned owls and golden eagles.\nAt times the ferruginous hawk has been considered threatened, endangered, or of concern on various threatened species lists but recent population increases in local areas, coupled with conservation initiatives, have created some optimism about the bird's future. It was formerly classified as a Near Threatened species by the IUCN, but new research has confirmed that the Ferrugineous hawk is common and widespread again. Consequently, it was downlisted to Least Concern status in 2008. Declines are mostly due to loss of quality habitat. Although flexible in choosing a nest site and exhibiting a high reproductive potential, this bird's restriction to natural grasslands on the breeding grounds and specialized predation on mammals persecuted on rangelands may make conservation a continuous concern. Historically, the birds entirely disappeared from areas where agriculture displaced the natural flora and fauna; for example it was noted in 1916 that the species was \"practically extinct\" in San Mateo County, California. Studies have found that prairie dogs can be a main prey item for ferruginous hawks, linking them to the populations of prairie dog towns in the mid-west and southwestern United States, which have been declining in recent years. This bird may also be sensitive to the use of pesticides on farms; they are also frequently shot. Threats to the overall population include: The ferruginous hawk was on the National Audubon Society's \"Blue List\" of species felt to be declining. From 1971 to 1981 it retained its \"blue\" status, and from 1982 to 1986 it was listed as a species of \"Special Concern.\" The United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed it in a category of \"undetermined\" in 1973, and various states have placed it in categories of \"Threatened\" or \"Endangered.\" In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada considered this species \"Threatened\" in 1980. Across the Canadian prairies, the range was diminishing up until 1980, and at that time, birds were felt to be occupying 48% of its original range. Numbers were generally felt to be diminishing and a total Canadian population was estimated at 500 to 1000 pairs. By 1987, population increases were being noted, and the Alberta population alone was estimated at 1,800 pairs. The upswing was likely due to a greater availability of food on the wintering grounds, making the birds more likely to breed when they returned to Canada. In the United States, there has been a history of concern for this species in many states with declines noted, but in 1988, one study suggested that the population in California and locally elsewhere may have increased significantly. The wintering population north of Mexico was estimated at 5,500 birds in 1986. In 1984, the population estimate for North America was between 3,000 and 4,000 pairs, and in 1987, it was 14,000 individuals. Toxic chemicals have not been suggested as a significant threat to the ferruginous hawk. Management strategies must include the retention or reclamation of native grasslands for breeding as well as on the wintering grounds. Maintenance of high populations of prey species in wintering areas seems critical to the hawks' abilities to move onto the summer range in breeding condition. The integration of agricultural practices and policies into the management strategies is a crucial component of any overall scheme for conservation. The provision of nesting platforms has had positive effects and should be a part of local strategies. Public education and the elimination of persecution and human disturbance must be an important part of the overall conservation program.\nThe ferruginous hawk is a well-regarded falconry bird, though not recommended for beginners due to its large size, power, and aggressive personality. For the experienced falconer it offers an opportunity to experience the nearest equivalent to hunting with the golden eagle with much lower risk of injury to the falconer by the hawk. Faster and stronger than the red-tailed hawk, the ferruginous hawk is effective in pursuit of larger hares and jackrabbits that are difficult prey for the red-tailed hawk and Harris's hawk, and with its agility is also more effective on large bird species than is the golden eagle.\n"
        },
        "1014": {
            "common": "Field flicker",
            "family": "Colaptes campestroides",
            "id": 1014,
            "text": "The pampas flicker (Colaptes campestroides) is a woodpecker in the Picidae family, formerly considered conspecific with the campo flicker (Colaptes campestris). It is found in south-eastern Brazil, central and southern Paraguay, Uruguay and north-western and western Argentina.\n"
        },
        "1016": {
            "common": "Finch, common melba",
            "family": "Pytilia melba",
            "id": 1016,
            "text": "The green-winged pytilia (Pytilia melba) is a common species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of . It is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, though it is more rarely seen in central, far southern and coastal western parts of the continent. It has two subspecies groups, nominate melba in the south and the northerly citerior, which are sometimes treated as separate species. Usually, additional subspecies are recognized within these two groups.\nOrigin and phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al. Estrildinae may have originated in India and dispersed thereafter (towards Africa and Pacific Ocean habitats).\n"
        },
        "1018": {
            "common": "Fisher",
            "family": "Martes pennanti",
            "id": 1018,
            "text": "The fisher (Martes pennanti) is a small carnivorous mammal native to North America. It is a member of the mustelid family (commonly referred to as the weasel family) and a part of the marten genus. The fisher is closely related to but larger than the American marten (Martes americana). The fisher is a forest-dwelling creature whose range covers much of the boreal forest in Canada to the northern United States. Names derived from aboriginal languages include pekan, pequam, wejack, and woolang. It is also called a fisher cat, although it is not a feline. Males and females look similar. Adult males are long and weigh . Adult females are long and weigh . The fur of the fisher varies seasonally, being denser and glossier in the winter. During the summer, the color becomes more mottled, as the fur goes through a moulting cycle. The fisher prefers to hunt in full forest. Though an agile climber, it spends most of its time on the forest floor, where it prefers to forage around fallen trees. An omnivore, the fisher feeds on a wide variety of small animals and occasionally on fruits and mushrooms. It prefers the snowshoe hare and is one of the few animals able to prey successfully on porcupines. Despite its common name, the fisher seldom eats fish. The reproductive cycle of the fisher lasts almost a year. Female fishers give birth to a litter of three or four kits in the spring. They nurse and care for their kits until late summer, when they are old enough to set out on their own. Females enter estrus shortly after giving birth and leave the den to find a mate. Implantation of the blastocyst is delayed until the following spring, when they give birth and the cycle is renewed. Fishers have few predators besides humans. They have been trapped since the 18th century for their fur. Their pelts were in such demand that they were extirpated from several parts of the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Conservation and protection measures have allowed the species to rebound, but their current range is still reduced from its historic limits. In the 1920s, when pelt prices were high, some fur farmers attempted to raise fishers. However, their unusual delayed reproduction made breeding difficult. When pelt prices fell in the late 1940s, most fisher farming ended. While fishers usually avoid human contact, encroachments into forest habitats have resulted in some conflicts. There are anecdotal reports of fishers attacking pets and, in a 2009 case in Rhode Island, a 6-year-old boy. In 2014, a 12-year-old boy was attacked by what was believed to be a fisher in Massachusetts.\nDespite the name fisher, the animal is not known to eat fish. The name comes from colonial Dutch fisse or visse due to its resemblance to the European polecat (Mustela putorius). In the French language, the pelt of a polecat is also called fiche or fichet. In some regions, the fisher is known as a pekan, derived from its name in the Abenaki language. Wejack is an Algonquian word (cf. Cree wuchak, otchock, Ojibwa ojiig) borrowed by fur traders. Other American Indian names for the fisher are Chipewyan thacho and Carrier chunihcho, both meaning \"big marten\", and Wabanaki uskool.\nThe Latin specific name pennanti is named for Thomas Pennant, who described the fisher in 1771. Buffon had first described the creature in 1765, calling it a pekan. Pennant examined the same specimen but called it a fisher, unaware of Buffon's earlier description. Other 18th-century scientists gave it similar names, such as Schreber, who named it Mustela canadensis, and Boddaert, who named it Mustela melanorhyncha. The fisher was eventually placed in the genus Martes by Smith in 1843. Members of the genus Martes are distinguished by their four premolar teeth on the upper and lower jaws. Its close relative Mustela has just three. The fisher has 38 teeth. The dentition formula is:\nThere is evidence that ancestors of the fisher migrated to North America during the Pliocene era between 2.5 and 5 million years ago. Two extinct mustelids, M. palaeosinensis and M. anderssoni, have been found in eastern Asia. The first true fisher, M. divuliana, has only been found in North America. There are strong indications that M. divuliana is related to the Asian finds, which suggests a migration. M. pennanti has been found as early as the Late Pleistocene era, about 125,000 years ago. There are no major differences between the Pleistocene fisher and the modern fisher. Fossil evidence indicates that the fisher's range extended farther south than it does today. Three subspecies were identified by Goldman in 1935, M.p. columbiana, M.p. pacifica, and M.p. pennanti. Later research has debated whether these subspecies could be positively identified. In 1959, E.M. Hagmeier concluded that the subspecies are not separable based on either fur or skull characteristics. Although some debate still exists, in general it is recognized that the fisher is a monotypic species with no extant subspecies.\nFishers are a medium-sized mammal, comparable in size to the domestic cat, and the largest species in the marten genus. Their bodies are long, thin, and low to the ground. The sexes have similar physical features but they are sexually dimorphic in size, with the male being much larger than the female. Males are in length and weigh . Females measure and weigh . The largest male fisher ever recorded weighed . The fisher's fur changes with the season and differs slightly between sexes. Males have coarser coats than females. In the early winter, the coats are dense and glossy, ranging from on the chest to  on the back. The color ranges from deep brown to black, although it appears to be much blacker in the winter when contrasted with white snow. From the face to the shoulders, fur can be hoary-gold or silver due to tricolored guard hairs. The underside of a fisher is almost completely brown except for randomly placed patches of white or cream-colored fur. In the summer, the fur color is more variable and may lighten considerably. Fishers undergo moulting starting in late summer and finishing by November or December. Fishers have five toes on each foot, with unsheathed, retractable claws. Their feet are disproportionately large for their legs, making it easier for them to move on top of snow packs. In addition to the toes, there are four central pads on each foot. On the hind paws there are coarse hairs that grow between the pads and the toes, giving them added traction when walking on a variety of surfaces. Fishers have highly mobile ankle joints that can rotate their hind paws almost 180 degrees, allowing them to maneuver well in trees and climb down head-first. The fisher is one of relatively few mammalian species with the ability to descend trees head-first. A circular patch of hair on the central pad of their hind paws marks plantar glands that give off a distinctive odor. Since these patches become enlarged during breeding season, they are likely used to make a scent trail to allow fishers to find each other so that they can mate.\nFishers are generalist predators. Although their primary prey is snowshoe hare and porcupine, they are also known to supplement their diet with insects, nuts, berries, and mushrooms. Since they are solitary hunters, their choice of prey is limited by their size. Analyses of stomach contents and scat have found evidence of birds, small mammals, and even moose and deer. The latter food sources shows that they are not averse to eating carrion. Fishers have been observed to feed on the carcasses of deer left by hunters. While uncommon, fishers have been found to kill larger animals, such as wild turkey, bobcat and lynx. Fishers are one of the few predators that seek out and kill porcupines. There are stories in popular literature that fishers can flip a porcupine onto its back and \"scoop out its belly like a ripe melon\". This was identified as an exaggerated misconception as early as 1966. Observational studies show that fishers will make repeated biting attacks on the face of a porcupine and kill it after about 25\u201330 minutes.\nThe female fisher begins to breed at about one year of age and her reproductive cycle is an almost year-long event. Mating takes place in late March to early April. Blastocyst implantation is then delayed for 10 months until mid-February of the following year when active pregnancy begins. After gestating for about 50 days, the female gives birth to one to four kits. The female then enters estrus 7\u201310 days later and the breeding cycle begins again. Females den in hollow trees. Kits are born blind and helpless. They are partially covered with fine hair. Kits begin to crawl after about 3 weeks. After about 7 weeks they open their eyes. They start to climb after 8 weeks. Kits are completely dependent on their mother's milk for the first 8\u201310 weeks, after which they begin to switch to a solid diet. After 4 months, kits become intolerant of their litter mates, and at 5 months, the mother pushes them out on their own. After one year, juveniles will have established their own range.\nFishers are generally crepuscular, being most active at dawn and dusk. They are active year-round. Fishers are solitary, associating with other fishers only for mating purposes. Males become more active during mating season. Females are least active during pregnancy and gradually increase activity after birth of their kits. A fisher's hunting range varies from in the summer to  in the winter. Ranges of up to in the winter are possible depending on the quality of the habitat. Male and female fishers have overlapping territories. This behavior is imposed on females by males due to dominance in size and a male desire to increase mating success.\nParasites of fishers include Baylisascaris devosi, Taenia sibirica, nematode Physaloptera sp., Alaria mustelae, trematode Metorchis conjunctus, nematode Trichinella spiralis and Molineus sp.\nAlthough fishers are competent tree climbers, they spend most of their time on the forest floor and prefer continuous forest to other habitats. Fishers have been found in extensive conifer forests typical of the boreal forest but are also common in mixed hardwood and conifer forests. Fishers prefer areas with continuous overhead cover with greater than 80% coverage and will avoid areas with less than 50% coverage. Fishers are more likely to be found in old-growth forests. Since female fishers require moderately large trees for denning, forests that have been heavily logged and have extensive second growth appears to be unsuitable for their needs. Another factor that fishers select for are forest floors that have large amounts of coarse woody debris. In western forests, where fire regularly removes understorey debris, fishers show a preference for riparian woodland habitat. Fishers tend to avoid areas with deep snow. Habitat is also affected by snow compaction and moisture content.\nFishers are widespread throughout the northern forests of North America. They are found from Nova Scotia in the east to the Pacific shore of British Columbia and Alaska. They can be found as far north as Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories and as far south as the mountains of Oregon. There are isolated populations in the Sierra Nevada of California and the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia In the late 19th century and early 20th century, fishers were virtually eliminated from the southern and eastern parts of their range including most American states and eastern Canada including Nova Scotia. Over-trapping and loss of forest habitat were the reasons for the decline. Most states had placed restrictions on fisher trapping by the 1930s, coincidental with the end of the logging boom. A combination of forest regrowth in abandoned farmlands and improved forest management practices increased available habitat and allowed remnant populations to recover. Populations have since recovered sufficiently that the species is no longer endangered. Increasing forest cover in eastern North America means that fisher populations will remain sufficiently robust for the near future. Between 1955 and 1985, some states had allowed limited trapping to resume. In areas where fishers were eliminated, porcupine populations subsequently increased. Areas with a high density of porcupines were found to have extensive damage to timber crops. In these cases, fishers were reintroduced by releasing adults relocated from other places into the forest. Once the fisher populations became reestablished, porcupine numbers returned to natural levels. In Washington State, fisher sightings were reported into the 1980s, but an extensive survey in the 1990s did not locate any. Scattered fisher populations now exist in the Pacific Northwest. In 1961, fishers from British Columbia and Minnesota were re-introduced in Oregon to the southern Cascades near Klamath Falls and also to the Wallowa Mountains near La Grande. From 1977\u20131980, fishers were introduced to the region around Crater Lake. Starting in January 2008, fishers were reintroduced into Washington State. The initial reintroduction was on the Olympic peninsula (90 animals), with subsequent reintroductions into the south Cascade mountains. The reintroduced animals are monitored by radio collars and remote cameras, and have been shown to be reproducing. From 2008 to 2011, about 40 fishers were re-introduced in the northern Sierra Nevada near Stirling City, complementing fisher populations in Yosemite National Park and along California's northern boundary between the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. Fishers are a protected species in Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. In Idaho and California, fishers are protected through a closed trapping season, but they are not afforded any specific protection; however, it is expected that in California the fisher will probably be granted listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2014. In June 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that fishers be removed from the endangered list in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It also recommended further study to ensure that current populations are managed properly. Recent studies, as well as anecdotal evidence, show that fishers have begun making inroads into suburban backyards, farmland, and periurban areas in several US states and eastern Canada, as far south as most of northern Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and even rural New Jersey. Some reports have shown that populations have begun even on Cape Cod, although the populations are likely smaller than the populations in the western part of New England.\nFishers have had a long history of contact with humans, but most of it has been to the detriment of fisher populations. Unprovoked attacks on humans are extremely rare, but fishers will attack if they feel threatened or cornered. In one case, a fisher was blamed for an attack on a six-year-old boy. In another case, a fisher is believed to be responsible for an attack on a twelve-year-old boy. In 2003, a new minor league baseball team based in Manchester, New Hampshire held a \"Name The Team\" contest; the name New Hampshire Fisher Cats was chosen by the public from a list of suggestions reflecting the local culture and environment.\nFishers have been trapped since the 18th century. They have been popular with trappers due to the value of their fur, which has been used for scarves and neck pieces. The best pelts are from winter trapping with secondary quality pelts from spring trapping. The lowest-quality furs come from out-of-season trapping when fishers are moulting. They are easily trapped, and the value of their fur was a particular incentive for catching this species. Prices for pelts have varied considerably over the past 100 years. They were highest in the 1920s and 1930s, when average prices were about $100 US. In 1936, pelts were being offered for sale in New York City for $450\u2013750 per pelt. Prices declined through the 1960s but picked up again in the late 1970s. In 1979, the Hudson's Bay Company paid $410 for one female pelt. In 1999, 16,638 pelts were sold in Canada for $449,307 (CAN) at an average price of $27. Between 1900 and 1940, fishers were threatened with near-extinction in the southern part of their range due to overtrapping and alterations to their habitat. In New England, fishers, along with most other furbearers, were nearly exterminated due to unregulated trapping. Fishers became extirpated in many northern U.S. states after 1930, but were still abundant enough in Canada to maintain a harvest of over 3,000 fishers per year (see figure). Limited protection was afforded in the early 20th century, but it was not until 1934 that total protection was finally given to the few remaining fishers. Closed seasons, habitat recovery, and reintroductions have restored fishers to much of their original range. Trapping resumed in the U.S. after 1962 once numbers had recovered to sufficient numbers. During the early 1970s, the value of fisher pelts soared, leading to another population crash in 1976. After a couple of years of closed seasons, fisher trapping re-opened in 1979 with a shortened season and restricted bag limits. The population has steadily increased since then, with steadily increasing numbers of trapped animals, despite a much lower pelt value.\nFishers have been captured live for fur farming, zoo specimens, and scientific research. From 1920\u20131946, pelt prices averaged about $137 CAN. Since pelts were relatively valuable, attempts were made to raise fishers on farms. Fur farming was popular with other species such as mink and ermine, so it was thought that the same techniques could be applied to fishers. However, farmers found it difficult to raise fishers due to their unusual reproductive cycle. In general, knowledge of delayed implantation in fishers was unknown at the time. Farmers noted that females mated in the spring but did not give birth. Due to declining pelt prices, most fisher farms closed operations by the late 1940s. Fishers have also been captured and bred by zoos, but they are not a common zoo species. Fishers are poor animals to exhibit because, in general, they hide from visitors all day. Some zoos have had difficulty keeping fishers alive since they are susceptible to many diseases in captivity. Yet there is at least one example of a fisher kept in captivity that lived to be ten years old, and one case of a fisher living to be approximately 14 years old, well beyond its natural lifespan of 7 years. In 1974, R.A. Powell raised two fisher kits for the purpose of performing scientific research. His primary interest was an attempt to measure the activity of fishers in order to determine how much food the animals required to function. He did this by running them through treadmill exercises that simulated activity in the wild. He compared this to their food intake and used the data to estimate daily food requirements. The research lasted for two years. After one year, one of the fishers died due to unknown causes. The second was released back into the wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.\nIn some areas, fishers can become pests to farmers when they raid chicken coops. There have been a few instances of fishers preying on cats and small dogs;    but in general, the evidence suggests these attacks are rare. A 1979 study examined the stomach contents of all fishers trapped in the state of New Hampshire; cat hairs were found in only 1 of over 1,000 stomachs. More recent studies in suburban upstate New York and Massachusetts found no cat remains in 24 and 226 fisher diet samples (scat and stomach contents) respectively. While there is popular belief for more frequent attacks on pets, zoologists suggest bobcats or coyotes are more likely to prey upon domestic cats and chickens.\nIn 2012, a study conducted by Integral Ecology Research Center, UC Davis, US Forest Service, and the Hoopa Tribe showed that fishers in California were exposed to and killed by anticoagulant rodenticides associated with marijuana cultivation. In this study, 79% of fishers that were tested in California were exposed to an average of 1.61 different anticoagulant rodenticides and four fishers died directly attributed to these toxicants. A 2015 follow-up study building on this data determined that the trend of exposure and mortality from these toxicants increased to 85%, that California fishers were now exposed to an average of 1.73 different anticoagulant rodenticides, and that nine more fishers died, bringing the total to 13. The extent of marijuana cultivation within fishers' home ranges was highlighted in a 2013 study focusing on fisher survival and impacts from marijuana cultivation within the Sierra National Forest.<ref name=\":0\"> Research showed that fishers had an average of 5.3 individual grow sites within their home range. One fisher had 16 individual grow sites within its territory.\nOne of the first mentions of fishers in literature occurred in The Audubon Book of True Nature Stories. Robert Snyder relates a tale of his encounter with fishers in the woods of the Adirondack Mountains of New York. He recounts three sightings, including one where he witnessed a fisher attacking a porcupine. In Winter of the Fisher, Cameron Langford relates a fictional encounter between a fisher and an aging recluse living in the forest. The recluse frees the fisher from a trap and nurses it back to health. The fisher tolerates the attention, but being a wild animal, returns to the forest when well enough. Langford uses the ecology and known habits of the fisher to weave a tale of survival and tolerance in the northern woods of Canada. Fishers are mentioned in several other books including The Blood Jaguar (an animal shaman), ''Ereth's Birthday (a porcupine hunter) and in The Sign of the Beaver'', where a fisher is thought to have been caught in a trap.\n"
        },
        "102": {
            "common": "Arctic fox",
            "family": "Alopex lagopus",
            "id": 102,
            "text": "The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in cold environments. It has a deep thick fur which is brown in summer and white in winter. Its body length ranges from, with a generally rounded body shape to minimize the escape of body heat. The Arctic fox preys on any small creatures such as: lemmings, voles, ringed seal pups, fish, waterfowl, and seabirds. It also eats carrion, berries, seaweed, insects, and other small invertebrates. Arctic foxes form monogamous pairs during the breeding season and they stay together to raise their young in complex underground dens. Occasionally, other family members may assist in raising their young.\nThe Arctic fox lives in some of the most frigid extremes on the planet but does not start to shiver until the temperature drops to . Among its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage, which provides excellent insulation, a system of countercurrent heat exchange in the circulation within the paws to retain core temperature, and a good supply of body fat. The fox has a low surface area to volume ratio, as evidenced by its generally compact body shape, short muzzle and legs, and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the Arctic cold, less heat escapes from its body. Its paws have fur on the soles for additional insulation and to help it walk on ice. Its fur changes color with the seasons: in most populations it is white in the winter to blend in with snow, while in the summer it is greyish-brown or darker brown. In some populations, however, it is a steely bluish-gray in the winter and a paler bluish-gray in summer. The fur of the Arctic fox provides the best insulation of any mammal. The Arctic fox has such keen hearing, it can determine exactly where a small animal is moving under the snow. When it has located its prey, it pounces and punches through the snow to catch its victim.\nArctic foxes do not hibernate and are active all year round. They build up their fat reserves in the autumn, sometimes increasing their body weight by more than 50%. This provides greater insulation during the winter and a source of energy when food is scarce. They live in large dens in frost-free, slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels covering as much as and are often in eskers, long ridges of sedimentary material deposited in formerly glaciated regions. They have multiple entrances and may have been in existence for many decades and used by many generations of foxes. Arctic foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season and maintain a territory around the den. Breeding usually takes place in April and May, and the gestation period is about 52 days. Litters tend to average five to eight kits, but exceptionally contain as many as 25 (the largest litter size in the order Carnivora). Both the mother and father help to raise the young which emerge from the den when 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age.\nArctic foxes generally eat any small animal they can find, including lemmings, voles, other rodents, hares, birds, eggs, fish, and carrion. They scavenge on carcasses left by larger predators such as wolves and polar bears, and in times of scarcity even eat their feces. In areas where they are present, lemmings are their most common prey, and a family of foxes can eat dozens of lemmings each day. In some locations in northern Canada, a high seasonal abundance of migrating birds that breed in the area may provide an important food source. On the coast of Iceland and other islands, their diet consists predominantly of birds. During April and May, the Arctic fox also preys on ringed seal pups when the young animals are confined to a snow den and are relatively helpless. They also consume berries and seaweed, so they may be considered omnivores. This fox is a significant bird-egg predator, consuming eggs of all except the largest tundra bird species. When food is overabundant, the Arctic fox buries (caches) the surplus as a reserve.\nThe average head-and-body length of the male is, with a range of , while the female averages with a range of . In some regions, no difference in size is seen between males and females. The tail is about long in both sexes. The height at the shoulder is . On average males weigh, with a range of , while females average , with a range of .\nVulpes lagopus is a 'true fox' belonging to the genus Vulpes of the fox tribe Vulpini. It is classified under the subfamily Caninae of the canid family Canidae. Although it has previously been assigned to its own monotypic genus Alopex, recent genetic evidence now places it in the genus Vulpes along with the majority of other foxes. <ref name=complete> It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758 as Canis lagopus. The type specimen was recovered from Lapland, Sweden. The generic name vulpes is Latin for \"fox\". The specific name lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek \u03bb\u03b1\u03b3\u03ce\u03c2 (lagos, \"hare\") and \u03c0\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2 (pous, \"foot\"), referring to the hair on its feet similar to those found in cold-climate species of hares.\nBesides the nominate subspecies, V. l. lagopus, four other subspecies of this fox are described:\nThe Arctic fox has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Arctic tundra habitats in northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and other islands in the Barents Sea, northern Russia, islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska, and Canada as far south as Hudson Bay. In the late 19th century, it was introduced into the Aleutian Islands southwest of Alaska. It mostly inhabits tundra and pack ice, but is also present in boreal forests in Canada and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. They are found at elevations up to above sea level and have been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. The Arctic fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland. It came to the isolated North Atlantic island at the end of the last ice age, walking over the frozen sea. The Arctic Fox Center in S\u00fa\u00f0av\u00edk contains an exhibition on the Arctic fox and conducts studies on the influence of tourism on the population. Its range during the last ice age was much more extensive than it is now, and fossil remains of the Arctic fox have been found over much of northern Europe and Siberia.\nThe conservation status of the species is in general good and several hundred thousand individuals are estimated to remain in total. The IUCN has assessed it as being of \"least concern\". However, the Scandinavian mainland population is acutely endangered, despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals. As a result, the populations of arctic fox have been carefully studied and inventoried in places such as the Vindelfj\u00e4llens Nature Reserve (Sweden), which has the arctic fox as its symbol. The abundance of the Arctic fox tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings and voles (a 3- to 4-year cycle). The populations are especially vulnerable during the years when the prey population crashes, and uncontrolled trapping has almost eradicated two subpopulations. The pelts of Arctic foxes with a slate-blue coloration\u2014an expression of a recessive gene\u2014were especially valuable. They were transported to various previously fox-free Aleutian Islands during the 1920s. The program was successful in terms of increasing the population of blue foxes, but their predation of Aleutian Canada geese conflicted with the goal of preserving that species. The Arctic fox is losing ground to the larger red fox. This has been attributed to climate change\u2014the camouflage value of its lighter coat decreases with less snow cover. Red foxes dominate where their ranges begin to overlap by killing Arctic foxes and their kits. An alternate explanation of the red fox's gains involves the gray wolf. Historically, it has kept red fox numbers down, but as the wolf has been hunted to near extinction in much of its former range, the red fox population has grown larger, and it has taken over the niche of top predator. In areas of northern Europe, programs are in place that allow the hunting of red foxes in the Arctic fox's previous range. As with many other game species, the best sources of historical and large-scale population data are hunting bag records and questionnaires. Several potential sources of error occur in such data collections. In addition, numbers vary widely between years due to the large population fluctuations. However, the total population of the Arctic fox must be in the order of several hundred thousand animals. The world population of Arctic foxes is thus not endangered, but two Arctic fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island (Commander Islands, Russia), which was reduced by some 85\u201390%, to around 90 animals, as a result of mange caused by an ear tick introduced by dogs in the 1970s. The population is currently under treatment with antiparasitic drugs, but the result is still uncertain. The other threatened population is the one in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kola Peninsula). This population decreased drastically around the start of the 20th century as a result of extreme fur prices, which caused severe hunting also during population lows. The population has remained at a low density for more than 90 years, with additional reductions during the last decade. The total population estimate for 1997 is around 60 adults in Sweden, 11 adults in Finland, and 50 in Norway. From Kola, there are indications of a similar situation, suggesting a population of around 20 adults. The Fennoscandian population thus numbers around 140 breeding adults. Even after local lemming peaks, the Arctic fox population tends to collapse back to levels dangerously close to nonviability. The Arctic fox is classed as a \"prohibited new organism\" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country.\n"
        },
        "1020": {
            "common": "Flamingo, chilean",
            "family": "Phoenicopterus chilensis",
            "id": 1020,
            "text": "The Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) is a large species of flamingo at closely related to American flamingo and greater flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific. The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. It breeds in South America from Ecuador and Peru to Chile and Argentina and east to Brazil; it has been introduced into Germany and the Netherlands (colony on the border, Zwillbrocker Venn). There was also a small population in Utah and California. Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.\nThe plumage is pinker than the slightly larger greater flamingo, but less so than Caribbean flamingo. It can be differentiated from these species by its greyish legs with pink joints (tibio-tarsal articulation), and also by the larger amount of black on the bill (more than half). Young chicks may have no sign of pink coloring whatsoever, but instead remain grey.\nThe Chilean flamingo's bill is equipped with comb-like structures that enable it to filter food\u2014mainly algae and plankton\u2014from the water of the coastal mudflats, estuaries, lagoons and salt lakes where it lives.\nChilean flamingos live in large flocks in the wild and require crowded conditions to stimulate breeding. During breeding season, males and females display a variety of behaviors to attract mates, including head flagging\u2014swiveling their heads from side-to-side in tandem\u2014and wing salutes, where the wings are repeatedly opened and closed. Males and females cooperate in building a pillar-shaped mud nest, and both incubate the egg laid by the female. Upon birth, the chicks have gray plumage; they don't gain the typical pink adult coloration for two-three years. Both male and female flamingos can produce a nutritious milk-like substance in their crop gland to feed their young.\nThe first flamingo hatched in a European zoo was a Chilean flamingo at Zoo Basel (Switzerland) in 1958. In 1988, a Chilean flamingo that lived in the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City, Utah had mistakenly not received his routine wing clipping. The flamingo escaped, and became a local legend in the Greater Salt Lake area known as 'Pink Floyd the Flamingo'. Pink Floyd came to Utah in the winters to eat the brine shrimp that lives in the Great Salt Lake and flew north to Idaho and Montana in the spring and summer. Pink Floyd became a popular tourist attraction and local icon until his disappearance and presumed death after he flew north to Idaho one spring in 2005 and was never seen again.\n"
        },
        "1022": {
            "common": "Flamingo, greater",
            "family": "Phoenicopterus ruber",
            "id": 1022,
            "text": "The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greater flamingo, but that treatment is now widely viewed (e.g. by the American and British Ornithologists' Unions) as incorrect due to a lack of evidence. It is also known as the Caribbean flamingo although it is present in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. In Cuba it is also known as the greater flamingo. It is the only flamingo that naturally inhabits North America.\nThe American flamingo breeds in the Gal\u00e1pagos, coastal Colombia, Venezuela and nearby islands, Trinidad and Tobago, along the northern coast of the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula, Cuba, Hispaniola, The Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The population in Galapagos differs genetically from that in the Caribbean, and the Galapagos flamingos are statistically smaller, exhibit differences in body shape sexual dimorphism, and lay smaller eggs. The American flamingo was also found in southern Florida, but since the arrival of Europeans it has been all but eradicated there, sightings today are usually considered to be escapees, although at least one bird banded as a chick in the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula has been sighted in Everglades National Park, and others may be vagrant birds from Cuba . From a distance, untrained eyes can also confuse it with the roseate spoonbill. Its preferred habitats are similar to that of its relatives: saline lagoons, mudflats, and shallow brackish coastal or inland lakes. An example habitat is the Petenes mangroves ecoregion of the Yucat\u00e1n.\nThe American flamingo is a large wading bird with reddish-pink plumage. Like all flamingos, it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound, between May and August; incubation until hatching takes from 28 to 32 days; both parents brood the young for a period of up to 6 years when they reach sexual maturity. Their life expectancy of 40 years is one of the longest in birds. Adult American flamingos are smaller on average than greater flamingos but are the largest flamingos in the Americas. They measure from tall. The males weigh an average of, while females average . Most of its plumage is pink, giving rise to its earlier name of rosy flamingo and differentiating adults from the much paler greater flamingo. The wing coverts are red, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink and white with an extensive black tip. The legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.\nMating and bonding behaviors of \"Phoenicopterus ruber\" individuals have been extensively studied in captivity. The American flamingo is usually monogamous when selecting a nest site, incubating and raising young; however, extra-pair copulations are frequent. While males usually initiate courtship, females control the process. If there is mutual interest, a female will walk by the male, and if the male is receptive he will walk with her. Both parties will make synchronized movements until one member aborts this process. For low-intensity courtships, males and females will walk in unison with their heads raised. In high-intensity courtships, males and females will walk at a quick pace with their heads dropped in a false feeding posture. This high-intensity courtship will stop at any point if either bird turns and the other does not follow, the heads are raised, unison movements are stopped, or the pace of movement is slowed. If the female is ultimately receptive to copulation, she will stop walking and present for the male. Long-term pairs do not frequently engage in courtship behaviors or in-group display. Pairs often stand, sleep, and eat in close proximity. Courtship is most often seen among individuals that change partners often or are promiscuous. There is a spectrum of pairing relationships. Some birds have a long-term partner throughout the year; others form pairs during periods of courtship and nest attendance. How long a relationship lasts is affected by many factors, including addition and removal of adults, maturation of juveniles, and occurrence of trios and quartets. In most pairs, both individuals usually construct and defend the nest site. In rare cases, one individual will undertake both duties. Within trios, the dominant pair begins the nesting process by choosing and then defending the site. For trios with one male and two females, the subordinate female is tolerated by the male, but often fights with the dominant female. If two females share a nest and both lay an egg, one female will try to destroy the other egg or roll it out of the nest. For trios with 2 males and 1 female, the subordinate male is tolerated by both individuals and will often become the primary incubator and caregiver of the chicks. For quartets, the dominant male and two females take care of the nest, while the subordinate male remains around the periphery, never gaining access to the nest. Less animosity is observed between the dominant and subordinate females in quartets compared to trios. The egg is attended constantly and equally by alternating parents. Chicks at the nest are attended constantly by alternating parents, up to 7\u201311 days of age. Most attentive periods during incubation and brooding last 21\u201360 hours, both in the case where the \u2018off-duty\u2019 parents remain in the same lagoon to feed, or (when breeding occurs in lagoons deficient in food), they fly to other lagoons to feed. Nest reliefs during incubation take place predominantly in late afternoon, or early morning. The amount of time receiving food from parents decreases from hatching to c. 105 days, and the decrease is greatest after the chicks have left the nest at 7\u201311 days to band into cr\u00e8ches. The frequency and the duration of feeds by male and female partners does not differ significantly. After chicks have left the nest, feeds are predominantly nocturnal.\nThe American flamingo has adapted to its shallow water environment in several ways. It has evolved long legs and large webbed feet in order to wade and stir up the bottom of the water bed to bring up their food source to then be retrieved. In order to feed, it has evolved a specialized beak which is hooked downward and features marginal lamellae on the upper mandible, and inner and outer lamellae on both the upper and lower mandibles. These are adapted for filtering out different sized food from water. Depending on the food source in their area, will depend on the exact morphology of their beaks on what can and cannot be strained out of them. It submerges its head under water to retrieve its food, and may have its head under water for large amounts of time, which requires it to hold its breath. Factors which affect the habitat choice of American flamingos are environmental temperatures, water depth, food source, accessibility of an area and the presence of vegetation beds in feeding areas. If available food items don't meet the needs of the flamingo or the temperature is not appropriate to their requirements, they will move to a better feeding or more temperate area.\nThe role of osmoregulation\u2014the maintenance of a precise balance of solute and water concentrations within the body\u2014is performed by a number of bodily functions working together. In Phoenicopterus ruber, the kidney, the lower gastrointestinal tract and the salt glands work together to maintain the homeostasis between ions and fluids. In mammals, the kidneys and urinary bladder are the primary organs used in osmoregulation. Birds, however, lack a urinary bladder and must compensate using these three organs. Phoenicopterus ruber are salt water birds that ingest food with a high salt content and mostly drink salt water (with an osmolarity of usually 1000), hyperosmotic to the bodies cells . As well, though not commonly, they can drink fresh water at near boiling temperatures from geysers. From their high salt diet, they would lose more water and have a greater salt uptake. One way in which they have adapted to osmoregulate is through the use of a salt gland, which is found in their beaks. This salt gland helps emit excess salt from the body through the nasal openings in the flamingo's beaks. When these birds consume salt, the osmolarity increases in the blood plasma through the gut. This causes water to move out of the cells, increasing extracellular fluids. Both these changes in turn activate the salt glands of the bird, but before any activity occurs in the salt glands the kidney has to reabsorb the ingested sodium from the small intestine. As seen in other saltwater birds, the fluid that is excreted has been seen to have an osmolarity greater than that of the salt water, but this varies with salt consumption and body size. As food and saltwater is ingested, sodium and water absorption begins in the gut. It is absorbed through the walls of the gut and into the extracellular fluid. Sodium is then circulated to the kidney where the plasma undergoes filtration by the renal glomerulus. Although bird's kidneys tend to be larger in size they are inefficient in producing concentrated urine that is significantly hyperosmotic to their blood plasma. This form of secretion would cause dehydration from water loss. Therefore, sodium and water are reabsorbed into the plasma by renal tubules. This increase in osmotic plasma levels causes extracellular fluid volume to increase which triggers receptors in both the brain and heart. These receptors then stimulate salt gland secretion and sodium is able to efficiently leave the body through the nares while maintaining a high body water level. Flamingos, like many other marine birds, have a high saline intake, yet even with this in mind, the glomular filtration rate (GFR) remains unchanged. This is because of the salt glands; high concentrations of sodium are present in the renal filtrate but can be reabsorbed almost completely where it is excreted in high concentrations in the salt glands. Renal reabsorption can be increased through the output of the antidiuretic hormone called arginine vasotacin (AVT). AVT opens protein channels in the collection ducts of the kidney called aquaporins. Aquaporins increase the membrane permeability to water, as well as causes less water to move from the blood and into the kidney tubules.\nThe salt gland used by the American flamingo has two segments, a medial and lateral segment. These segments are tube shaped glands that consist of two cell types. The first is the cuboidal \u2013 peripheral cells which are small, triangular shaped cells which have only a few mitochondria. The second specialized cells are the principal cells which are found down the length of the secretory tubules, and are rich in mitochondria. These cells are similar to the mitochondria rich cells found in teleost fish. These cells within the salt gland employ several types of transport mechanisms that respond to osmoregulatory loads. Sodium-Potassium ATPase works with a Sodium-Chloride cotransporter (also known as the NKCC), and a basal potassium channel to secrete salt (NaCl) into secretory tubes. The ATPase uses energy from ATP to pump three sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium ions into the cell. The potassium channel allows potassium ions to diffuse out of the cell. The cotransporter pumps one sodium, potassium and two chloride ions into the cell. The chloride ion diffuses through the apical membrane into the secretory tube and the sodium follows via a paracellular route. This is what forms the hyperosmotic solution within the salt glands.\nAlthough there has been little investigation on the specific circulatory and cardiovascular system of the phoenicopteridae, they possess the typical features of an avian circulatory system. As is seen in other aves, the flamingo's circulatory system is closed maintaining a separation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. This maximizes their efficiency to meet their high metabolic needs during flight. Due to this need for increased cardiac output, the avian heart tends to be larger in relation to body mass than what is seen in most mammals.\nThe avian circulatory system is driven by a four-chambered, myogenic heart contained in a fibrous pericardial sac. This pericardial sac is filled with a serous fluid for lubrication. The heart itself is divided into a right and left half, each with an atrium and ventricle. The atrium and ventricles of each side are separated by atrioventricular valves which prevent back flow from one chamber to the next during contraction. Being myogenic, the hearts pace is maintained by pacemaker cells found in the sinoatrial node, located on the right atrium. The sinoatrial node uses calcium to cause a depolarizing signal transduction pathway from the atrium through right and left atrioventricular bundle which communicates contraction to the ventricles. The avian heart also consists of muscular arches that are made up of thick bundles of muscular layers. Much like a mammalian heart, the avian heart is composed of endocardial, myocardial and epicardial layers. The atrium walls tend to be thinner than the ventricle walls, due to the intense ventricular contraction used to pump oxygenated blood throughout the body.\nSimilar to the atrium, the arteries are composed of thick elastic muscles to withstand the pressure of the ventricular constriction, and become more rigid as they move away from the heart. Blood moves through the arteries, which undergo vasoconstriction, and into arterioles which act as a transportation system to distribute primarily oxygen as well as nutrients to all tissues of the body. As the arterioles move away from the heart and into individual organs and tissues they are further divided to increase surface area and slow blood flow. Travelling through the arterioles blood moves into the capillaries where gas exchange can occur. Capillaries are organized into capillary beds in tissues, it is here that blood exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide waste. In the capillary beds blood flow is slowed to allow maximum diffusion of oxygen into the tissues. Once the blood has become deoxygenated it travels through venules then veins and back to the heart. Veins, unlike arteries, are thin and rigid as they do not need to withstand extreme pressure. As blood travels through the venules to the veins a funneling occurs called vasodilation bringing blood back to the heart. Once the blood reaches the heart it moves first into the right atrium, then the left ventricle to be pumped through the lungs for further gas exchange of carbon dioxide waste for oxygen. Oxygenated blood then flows from the lungs through the left atrium to the left ventricle where it is pumped out to the body. With respect to thermoregulation, the American flamingo has highly vascularized feet that use a countercurrent exchange system in there legs and feet. This method of thermoregulation keeps a constant gradient between the veins and arteries that are in close proximity in order to maintain heat within the core and minimize heat loss or gain in the extremities. Heat loss is minimized while wading in cold water, while heat gain is minimized in the hot temperatures during rest and flight.\nAvian hearts are generally larger than mammalian hearts when compared to body mass. This adaptation allows more blood to be pumped to meet the high metabolic need associated with flight. Birds, like the flamingo, have a very efficient system for diffusing oxygen into the blood; birds have a ten times greater surface area to gas exchange volume than mammals. As a result, birds have more blood in their capillaries per unit of volume of lung than a mammal. The American flamingo's four-chambered heart is myogenic, meaning that all the muscle cells and fibers have the ability to contract rhythmically. The rhythm of contraction is controlled by the pace maker cells which have a lower threshold for depolarization. The wave of electrical depolarization initiated here is what physically starts the heart's contractions and begins pumping blood. Pumping blood creates variations in blood pressure and as a result, creates different thicknesses of blood vessels. The Law of LaPlace can be used to explain why arteries are relatively thick and veins are thin.\nIt was widely thought that avian blood had special properties which attributed to a very efficient extraction and transportation of oxygen in comparison to mammalian blood. This of course is not true; there is no real difference in the efficiency of the blood, and both mammals and birds use a hemoglobin molecule as the primary oxygen carrier with little to no difference in oxygen carrying capacity. Captivity and age have been seen to have an effect on the blood composition of the American flamingo. A decrease in white blood cell numbers was predominate with age in both captive and free living flamingos, but captive flamingos showed a higher white blood cell count than free living flamingos. One exception occurs in free living flamingos with regards to white blood cell count. The number of eosinophils in free living birds are higher because these cells are the ones that fight off parasites with which a free living bird may have more contact than a captive one. Captive birds showed higher hematocrit and red blood cell numbers than the free living flamingos, and a blood hemoglobin increase was seen with age. An increase in hemoglobin would correspond with an adults increase in metabolic needs. A smaller mean cellular volume recorded in free living flamingos coupled with similar mean hemoglobin content between captive and free living flamingos could show different oxygen diffusion characteristics between these two groups. Plasma chemistry remains relatively stable with age but lower values of protein content, uric acid, cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids were seen in free living flamingos. This trend can be attributed to shortages and variances in food intake in free living flamingos.\nAvian erythrocytes (red blood cells) have been shown to contain approximately ten times the amount of taurine (an amino acid) than mammal erythrocytes. Taurine has a fairly large list of physiological functions; but in birds, it can have an important influence on osmoregulation. It helps the movement of ions in erythrocytes by altering the permeability of the membrane and regulating osmotic pressure within the cell. The regulation of osmotic pressure is achieved by the influx or efflux of taurine relative to changes in the osmolarity of the blood. In a hypotonic environment, cells will swell and eventually shrink; this shrinkage is due to efflux of taurine. This process also works in the opposite way in hypertonic environments. In hypertonic environments cells tend to shrink and then enlarge; this enlargement is due to an influx in taurine, affectively changing the osmotic pressure. This adaptation allows the flamingo to regulate between differences in salinity.\nRelatively few studies have focused on the flamingo respiratory system, however little to no divergences from the standard avian anatomical design have occurred in their evolutionary history. Nevertheless, some physiological differences do occur in the flamingo and structurally similar species. The respiratory system is not only important for efficient gas exchange, but for thermoregulation and vocalization. Thermoregulation is important for flamingos as they generally live in warm habitats and their plush plumage increases body temperature. Heat loss is accomplished through thermal polypnea (panting), that is an increase in respiratory rate. It has been seen that the medulla, hypothalamus and mid-brain are involved in the control of panting, as well through the Hering-Breuer reflex that uses stretch receptors in the lungs, and the vagus nerve. This effect of the panting is accelerated by a process called gular fluttering; rapid flapping of membranes in the throat which is synchronized with the movements of the thorax. Both of these mechanisms promote evaporative heat loss, which allows for the bird to push out warm air and water from the body. Increases in respiratory rate would normally cause respiratory alkalosis because carbon dioxide levels are rapidly dropping in the body, but the flamingo is able to bypass this, most likely through a shunt mechanism, which allow it to still maintain a sustainable partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the blood. Since the avian integument is not equipped with sweat glands, cutaneous cooling is minimal. Because the flamingo's respiratory system is shared with multiple functions, panting must be controlled to prevent hypoxia. For a flamingo, having such a long neck means adapting to an unusually long trachea. Tracheas are an important area of the respiratory tract; aside from directing air in and out of the lungs, it has the largest volume of dead space in the tract. Dead space in avians is around 4.5 times higher in mammals of roughly the same size. In particular, flamingos have a trachea that is longer than its body length with 330 cartilaginous rings. As a result, they have a calculated dead space twice as high as another bird of the same size. To compensate for the elongation, they usually breathe in deep, slow patterns. One hypothesis for the bird's adaptation to respiratory alkalosis is tracheal coiling. Tracheal coiling is an overly long extension of the trachea and can often wrap around the bird's body. When faced with a heat load, birds often use thermal panting and this adaptation of tracheal coiling allows ventilation of non-exchange surfaces which can enable the bird to avoid respiratory alkalosis. The flamingo uses a \"flushout\" pattern of ventilation where deeper breaths are essentially mixed in with shallow panting to flush out carbon dioxide and avoid alkalosis. The increased length of the trachea provides a greater ability for respiratory evaporation and cooling off without hyperventilation.\nFurther reading: Thermoregulation in birds and mammals Thermoregulation is a matter of keeping a consistent body temperature regardless of the surrounding ambient temperature. Flamingos require both methods of efficient heat retention and release. Even though the American flamingo resides mainly close to the equator where there is relatively little fluctuation in temperature, seasonal and circadian variations in temperature must be accounted for. Like all animals, flamingos maintain a relatively constant basal metabolic rate (BMR); the metabolic rate of an animal in its thermoneutral zone (TNZ) while at rest. The BMR is a static rate which changes depending on factors such as the time of day or seasonal activity. Like most other birds, basic physiological adaptations control both heat loss in warm conditions and heat retention in cooler conditions. Using a system of countercurrent blood flow, heat is efficiently recycled through the body rather than being lost through extremities such as the legs and feet. Living in the equatorial region of the world, the American flamingo has little variation in seasonal temperature changes. However, as a homeothermic endotherm it is still faced with the challenge of maintaining a constant body temperature while being exposed to both the day (light period) and night (dark period) temperatures of its environments. Phoenicopterus ruber have evolved a number of thermoregulatory mechanisms to keep itself cool during the light period and warm during the dark period without expending too much energy. The American flamingo has been observed in a temperature niche between . In order to prevent water loss through evaporation when temperatures are elevated the flamingo will employ hyperthermia as a nonevaporative heat loss method keeping its body temperature between . This allows heat to leave the body by moving from an area of high body temperature to an area of a lower ambient temperature. Flamingos are also able to use evaporative heat loss methods such as, cutaneous evaporative heat loss and respiratory evaporative heat loss. During cutaneous heat loss, Phoenicopterus ruber relies on evaporation off of the skin to reduce its body temperature. This method is not very efficient as it requires evaporation to pass through the plumage. A more efficient way to reduce its body temperature is through respiratory evaporative heat loss, where the flamingo engages in panting to expel excessive body heat. During the dark period the flamingos tend to tuck their heads beneath their wing to conserve body heat. They may also elicit shivering as a means of muscular energy consumption to produce heat as needed. One of the most distinctive attribute of P. ruber is its unipedal stance, or the tendency to stand on one leg. While the purpose of this iconic posture remains ultimately unanswered, strong evidence supports its function in regulating body temperature. Like most birds, the largest amount of heat is lost through the legs and feet; having long legs can be a major disadvantage when temperatures fall and heat retention is most important. By holding one leg up against the ventral surface of the body, the flamingo lowers the surface area by which heat exits the body. Moreover, it has been observed that during periods of increased temperatures such as mid-day, flamingos will stand on both legs. Holding a bipedal stance multiplies the amount of heat lost from the legs and further regulates body temperature.\nLike other flamingo species, American flamingos will migrate short distances to ensure that they get enough food or because their current habitat has been disturbed in some way. One habitat disturbance that has been observed to cause flamingos to leave their feeding grounds is elevated water levels. These conditions make it difficult for Phoenicopterus ruber to wade, hindering their ability to access food. The flamingos will then abandon their feeding grounds in search of an alternate food source. While the flights are not as long as other migratory birds, flamingos still fly for periods without eating.\nFor the most part flamingos are not all that different from other salt water wading birds. They will fast when migrating to a new habitat or the chicks may not receive food daily depending on food availability.\n"
        },
        "1024": {
            "common": "Flamingo, lesser",
            "family": "Phoeniconaias minor",
            "id": 1024,
            "text": "The lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa with another population in India. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered vagrants. Until 2014, it was classified in genus Phoenicopterus but is now classified as the only species in the genus Phoeniconaias, the only monotypic genus of flamingo.\nThe lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall and large bird by most standards. The species can weigh from . The standing height is around . The total length (from beak to tail) and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from . Most of the plumage is pinkish white. The clearest difference between this species and the greater flamingo, the only other Old World species of flamingo, is the much more extensive black on the bill. Size is less helpful unless the species are together, since the sexes of each species also differ in height. The lesser flamingo may be the most numerous species of flamingo, with a population that (at its peak) probably numbers up to two million individual birds. This species feeds primarily on Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes. Presence of flamingo herds near water bodies is indication of sodic alkaline water which is not suitable for irrigation use. Although blue-green in colour, the algae contain the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their pink colour. Their deep bill is specialised for filtering tiny food items. The lesser flamingo also feeds on shrimp. Lesser flamingos are prey to a variety of species, including marabou storks, baboons, African fish eagles, and wildcats.\nIn Africa, where they are most numerous, the lesser flamingos breed principally on the highly caustic Lake Natron in northern Tanzania. Their other African breeding sites are at Etosha Pan, Sua Pan and Kamfers Dam. The last confirmed breeding at Aftout es Saheli in coastal Mauritania was in 1965. Breeding occurred at Lake Magadi in Kenya in 1962 when Lake Natron was unsuitable due to flooding. In the early 20th century, breeding was also observed at Lake Nakuru. The species also breeds in southwestern and southern Asia. In 1974, they bred at the Rann of Kutch, but since then only at the Zinzuwadia and Purabcheria salt pans in north-western India. There is some amount of movement of individuals between Africa and India. Like all flamingos, they lay a single chalky white egg on a mound they build of mud. Chicks join creches soon after hatching, sometimes numbering over a hundred thousand individuals. The creches are marshalled by a few adult birds who lead them by foot to fresh water, a journey that can reach over .\nDespite being the most numerous species of flamingo, it is classified as near-threatened due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites, some of which are threatened by human activities.<ref name=\"Save\" The population in the two key east African lakes, Nakuru and Bogoria, have been adversely affected in recent years by suspected heavy metal poisoning, while its primary African breeding area in Lake Natron is currently under threat by a proposed soda ash plant by Tata Chemicals. The only breeding site in South Africa, situated at Kamfers Dam, is threatened by pollution and encroaching development. The lesser flamingo is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.\n"
        },
        "1026": {
            "common": "Flamingo, roseat",
            "family": "Phoenicopterus ruber",
            "id": 1026,
            "text": "The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greater flamingo, but that treatment is now widely viewed (e.g. by the American and British Ornithologists' Unions) as incorrect due to a lack of evidence. It is also known as the Caribbean flamingo although it is present in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. In Cuba it is also known as the greater flamingo. It is the only flamingo that naturally inhabits North America.\nThe American flamingo breeds in the Gal\u00e1pagos, coastal Colombia, Venezuela and nearby islands, Trinidad and Tobago, along the northern coast of the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula, Cuba, Hispaniola, The Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The population in Galapagos differs genetically from that in the Caribbean, and the Galapagos flamingos are statistically smaller, exhibit differences in body shape sexual dimorphism, and lay smaller eggs. The American flamingo was also found in southern Florida, but since the arrival of Europeans it has been all but eradicated there, sightings today are usually considered to be escapees, although at least one bird banded as a chick in the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula has been sighted in Everglades National Park, and others may be vagrant birds from Cuba . From a distance, untrained eyes can also confuse it with the roseate spoonbill. Its preferred habitats are similar to that of its relatives: saline lagoons, mudflats, and shallow brackish coastal or inland lakes. An example habitat is the Petenes mangroves ecoregion of the Yucat\u00e1n.\nThe American flamingo is a large wading bird with reddish-pink plumage. Like all flamingos, it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound, between May and August; incubation until hatching takes from 28 to 32 days; both parents brood the young for a period of up to 6 years when they reach sexual maturity. Their life expectancy of 40 years is one of the longest in birds. Adult American flamingos are smaller on average than greater flamingos but are the largest flamingos in the Americas. They measure from tall. The males weigh an average of, while females average . Most of its plumage is pink, giving rise to its earlier name of rosy flamingo and differentiating adults from the much paler greater flamingo. The wing coverts are red, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink and white with an extensive black tip. The legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.\nMating and bonding behaviors of \"Phoenicopterus ruber\" individuals have been extensively studied in captivity. The American flamingo is usually monogamous when selecting a nest site, incubating and raising young; however, extra-pair copulations are frequent. While males usually initiate courtship, females control the process. If there is mutual interest, a female will walk by the male, and if the male is receptive he will walk with her. Both parties will make synchronized movements until one member aborts this process. For low-intensity courtships, males and females will walk in unison with their heads raised. In high-intensity courtships, males and females will walk at a quick pace with their heads dropped in a false feeding posture. This high-intensity courtship will stop at any point if either bird turns and the other does not follow, the heads are raised, unison movements are stopped, or the pace of movement is slowed. If the female is ultimately receptive to copulation, she will stop walking and present for the male. Long-term pairs do not frequently engage in courtship behaviors or in-group display. Pairs often stand, sleep, and eat in close proximity. Courtship is most often seen among individuals that change partners often or are promiscuous. There is a spectrum of pairing relationships. Some birds have a long-term partner throughout the year; others form pairs during periods of courtship and nest attendance. How long a relationship lasts is affected by many factors, including addition and removal of adults, maturation of juveniles, and occurrence of trios and quartets. In most pairs, both individuals usually construct and defend the nest site. In rare cases, one individual will undertake both duties. Within trios, the dominant pair begins the nesting process by choosing and then defending the site. For trios with one male and two females, the subordinate female is tolerated by the male, but often fights with the dominant female. If two females share a nest and both lay an egg, one female will try to destroy the other egg or roll it out of the nest. For trios with 2 males and 1 female, the subordinate male is tolerated by both individuals and will often become the primary incubator and caregiver of the chicks. For quartets, the dominant male and two females take care of the nest, while the subordinate male remains around the periphery, never gaining access to the nest. Less animosity is observed between the dominant and subordinate females in quartets compared to trios. The egg is attended constantly and equally by alternating parents. Chicks at the nest are attended constantly by alternating parents, up to 7\u201311 days of age. Most attentive periods during incubation and brooding last 21\u201360 hours, both in the case where the \u2018off-duty\u2019 parents remain in the same lagoon to feed, or (when breeding occurs in lagoons deficient in food), they fly to other lagoons to feed. Nest reliefs during incubation take place predominantly in late afternoon, or early morning. The amount of time receiving food from parents decreases from hatching to c. 105 days, and the decrease is greatest after the chicks have left the nest at 7\u201311 days to band into cr\u00e8ches. The frequency and the duration of feeds by male and female partners does not differ significantly. After chicks have left the nest, feeds are predominantly nocturnal.\nThe American flamingo has adapted to its shallow water environment in several ways. It has evolved long legs and large webbed feet in order to wade and stir up the bottom of the water bed to bring up their food source to then be retrieved. In order to feed, it has evolved a specialized beak which is hooked downward and features marginal lamellae on the upper mandible, and inner and outer lamellae on both the upper and lower mandibles. These are adapted for filtering out different sized food from water. Depending on the food source in their area, will depend on the exact morphology of their beaks on what can and cannot be strained out of them. It submerges its head under water to retrieve its food, and may have its head under water for large amounts of time, which requires it to hold its breath. Factors which affect the habitat choice of American flamingos are environmental temperatures, water depth, food source, accessibility of an area and the presence of vegetation beds in feeding areas. If available food items don't meet the needs of the flamingo or the temperature is not appropriate to their requirements, they will move to a better feeding or more temperate area.\nThe role of osmoregulation\u2014the maintenance of a precise balance of solute and water concentrations within the body\u2014is performed by a number of bodily functions working together. In Phoenicopterus ruber, the kidney, the lower gastrointestinal tract and the salt glands work together to maintain the homeostasis between ions and fluids. In mammals, the kidneys and urinary bladder are the primary organs used in osmoregulation. Birds, however, lack a urinary bladder and must compensate using these three organs. Phoenicopterus ruber are salt water birds that ingest food with a high salt content and mostly drink salt water (with an osmolarity of usually 1000), hyperosmotic to the bodies cells . As well, though not commonly, they can drink fresh water at near boiling temperatures from geysers. From their high salt diet, they would lose more water and have a greater salt uptake. One way in which they have adapted to osmoregulate is through the use of a salt gland, which is found in their beaks. This salt gland helps emit excess salt from the body through the nasal openings in the flamingo's beaks. When these birds consume salt, the osmolarity increases in the blood plasma through the gut. This causes water to move out of the cells, increasing extracellular fluids. Both these changes in turn activate the salt glands of the bird, but before any activity occurs in the salt glands the kidney has to reabsorb the ingested sodium from the small intestine. As seen in other saltwater birds, the fluid that is excreted has been seen to have an osmolarity greater than that of the salt water, but this varies with salt consumption and body size. As food and saltwater is ingested, sodium and water absorption begins in the gut. It is absorbed through the walls of the gut and into the extracellular fluid. Sodium is then circulated to the kidney where the plasma undergoes filtration by the renal glomerulus. Although bird's kidneys tend to be larger in size they are inefficient in producing concentrated urine that is significantly hyperosmotic to their blood plasma. This form of secretion would cause dehydration from water loss. Therefore, sodium and water are reabsorbed into the plasma by renal tubules. This increase in osmotic plasma levels causes extracellular fluid volume to increase which triggers receptors in both the brain and heart. These receptors then stimulate salt gland secretion and sodium is able to efficiently leave the body through the nares while maintaining a high body water level. Flamingos, like many other marine birds, have a high saline intake, yet even with this in mind, the glomular filtration rate (GFR) remains unchanged. This is because of the salt glands; high concentrations of sodium are present in the renal filtrate but can be reabsorbed almost completely where it is excreted in high concentrations in the salt glands. Renal reabsorption can be increased through the output of the antidiuretic hormone called arginine vasotacin (AVT). AVT opens protein channels in the collection ducts of the kidney called aquaporins. Aquaporins increase the membrane permeability to water, as well as causes less water to move from the blood and into the kidney tubules.\nThe salt gland used by the American flamingo has two segments, a medial and lateral segment. These segments are tube shaped glands that consist of two cell types. The first is the cuboidal \u2013 peripheral cells which are small, triangular shaped cells which have only a few mitochondria. The second specialized cells are the principal cells which are found down the length of the secretory tubules, and are rich in mitochondria. These cells are similar to the mitochondria rich cells found in teleost fish. These cells within the salt gland employ several types of transport mechanisms that respond to osmoregulatory loads. Sodium-Potassium ATPase works with a Sodium-Chloride cotransporter (also known as the NKCC), and a basal potassium channel to secrete salt (NaCl) into secretory tubes. The ATPase uses energy from ATP to pump three sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium ions into the cell. The potassium channel allows potassium ions to diffuse out of the cell. The cotransporter pumps one sodium, potassium and two chloride ions into the cell. The chloride ion diffuses through the apical membrane into the secretory tube and the sodium follows via a paracellular route. This is what forms the hyperosmotic solution within the salt glands.\nAlthough there has been little investigation on the specific circulatory and cardiovascular system of the phoenicopteridae, they possess the typical features of an avian circulatory system. As is seen in other aves, the flamingo's circulatory system is closed maintaining a separation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. This maximizes their efficiency to meet their high metabolic needs during flight. Due to this need for increased cardiac output, the avian heart tends to be larger in relation to body mass than what is seen in most mammals.\nThe avian circulatory system is driven by a four-chambered, myogenic heart contained in a fibrous pericardial sac. This pericardial sac is filled with a serous fluid for lubrication. The heart itself is divided into a right and left half, each with an atrium and ventricle. The atrium and ventricles of each side are separated by atrioventricular valves which prevent back flow from one chamber to the next during contraction. Being myogenic, the hearts pace is maintained by pacemaker cells found in the sinoatrial node, located on the right atrium. The sinoatrial node uses calcium to cause a depolarizing signal transduction pathway from the atrium through right and left atrioventricular bundle which communicates contraction to the ventricles. The avian heart also consists of muscular arches that are made up of thick bundles of muscular layers. Much like a mammalian heart, the avian heart is composed of endocardial, myocardial and epicardial layers. The atrium walls tend to be thinner than the ventricle walls, due to the intense ventricular contraction used to pump oxygenated blood throughout the body.\nSimilar to the atrium, the arteries are composed of thick elastic muscles to withstand the pressure of the ventricular constriction, and become more rigid as they move away from the heart. Blood moves through the arteries, which undergo vasoconstriction, and into arterioles which act as a transportation system to distribute primarily oxygen as well as nutrients to all tissues of the body. As the arterioles move away from the heart and into individual organs and tissues they are further divided to increase surface area and slow blood flow. Travelling through the arterioles blood moves into the capillaries where gas exchange can occur. Capillaries are organized into capillary beds in tissues, it is here that blood exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide waste. In the capillary beds blood flow is slowed to allow maximum diffusion of oxygen into the tissues. Once the blood has become deoxygenated it travels through venules then veins and back to the heart. Veins, unlike arteries, are thin and rigid as they do not need to withstand extreme pressure. As blood travels through the venules to the veins a funneling occurs called vasodilation bringing blood back to the heart. Once the blood reaches the heart it moves first into the right atrium, then the left ventricle to be pumped through the lungs for further gas exchange of carbon dioxide waste for oxygen. Oxygenated blood then flows from the lungs through the left atrium to the left ventricle where it is pumped out to the body. With respect to thermoregulation, the American flamingo has highly vascularized feet that use a countercurrent exchange system in there legs and feet. This method of thermoregulation keeps a constant gradient between the veins and arteries that are in close proximity in order to maintain heat within the core and minimize heat loss or gain in the extremities. Heat loss is minimized while wading in cold water, while heat gain is minimized in the hot temperatures during rest and flight.\nAvian hearts are generally larger than mammalian hearts when compared to body mass. This adaptation allows more blood to be pumped to meet the high metabolic need associated with flight. Birds, like the flamingo, have a very efficient system for diffusing oxygen into the blood; birds have a ten times greater surface area to gas exchange volume than mammals. As a result, birds have more blood in their capillaries per unit of volume of lung than a mammal. The American flamingo's four-chambered heart is myogenic, meaning that all the muscle cells and fibers have the ability to contract rhythmically. The rhythm of contraction is controlled by the pace maker cells which have a lower threshold for depolarization. The wave of electrical depolarization initiated here is what physically starts the heart's contractions and begins pumping blood. Pumping blood creates variations in blood pressure and as a result, creates different thicknesses of blood vessels. The Law of LaPlace can be used to explain why arteries are relatively thick and veins are thin.\nIt was widely thought that avian blood had special properties which attributed to a very efficient extraction and transportation of oxygen in comparison to mammalian blood. This of course is not true; there is no real difference in the efficiency of the blood, and both mammals and birds use a hemoglobin molecule as the primary oxygen carrier with little to no difference in oxygen carrying capacity. Captivity and age have been seen to have an effect on the blood composition of the American flamingo. A decrease in white blood cell numbers was predominate with age in both captive and free living flamingos, but captive flamingos showed a higher white blood cell count than free living flamingos. One exception occurs in free living flamingos with regards to white blood cell count. The number of eosinophils in free living birds are higher because these cells are the ones that fight off parasites with which a free living bird may have more contact than a captive one. Captive birds showed higher hematocrit and red blood cell numbers than the free living flamingos, and a blood hemoglobin increase was seen with age. An increase in hemoglobin would correspond with an adults increase in metabolic needs. A smaller mean cellular volume recorded in free living flamingos coupled with similar mean hemoglobin content between captive and free living flamingos could show different oxygen diffusion characteristics between these two groups. Plasma chemistry remains relatively stable with age but lower values of protein content, uric acid, cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids were seen in free living flamingos. This trend can be attributed to shortages and variances in food intake in free living flamingos.\nAvian erythrocytes (red blood cells) have been shown to contain approximately ten times the amount of taurine (an amino acid) than mammal erythrocytes. Taurine has a fairly large list of physiological functions; but in birds, it can have an important influence on osmoregulation. It helps the movement of ions in erythrocytes by altering the permeability of the membrane and regulating osmotic pressure within the cell. The regulation of osmotic pressure is achieved by the influx or efflux of taurine relative to changes in the osmolarity of the blood. In a hypotonic environment, cells will swell and eventually shrink; this shrinkage is due to efflux of taurine. This process also works in the opposite way in hypertonic environments. In hypertonic environments cells tend to shrink and then enlarge; this enlargement is due to an influx in taurine, affectively changing the osmotic pressure. This adaptation allows the flamingo to regulate between differences in salinity.\nRelatively few studies have focused on the flamingo respiratory system, however little to no divergences from the standard avian anatomical design have occurred in their evolutionary history. Nevertheless, some physiological differences do occur in the flamingo and structurally similar species. The respiratory system is not only important for efficient gas exchange, but for thermoregulation and vocalization. Thermoregulation is important for flamingos as they generally live in warm habitats and their plush plumage increases body temperature. Heat loss is accomplished through thermal polypnea (panting), that is an increase in respiratory rate. It has been seen that the medulla, hypothalamus and mid-brain are involved in the control of panting, as well through the Hering-Breuer reflex that uses stretch receptors in the lungs, and the vagus nerve. This effect of the panting is accelerated by a process called gular fluttering; rapid flapping of membranes in the throat which is synchronized with the movements of the thorax. Both of these mechanisms promote evaporative heat loss, which allows for the bird to push out warm air and water from the body. Increases in respiratory rate would normally cause respiratory alkalosis because carbon dioxide levels are rapidly dropping in the body, but the flamingo is able to bypass this, most likely through a shunt mechanism, which allow it to still maintain a sustainable partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the blood. Since the avian integument is not equipped with sweat glands, cutaneous cooling is minimal. Because the flamingo's respiratory system is shared with multiple functions, panting must be controlled to prevent hypoxia. For a flamingo, having such a long neck means adapting to an unusually long trachea. Tracheas are an important area of the respiratory tract; aside from directing air in and out of the lungs, it has the largest volume of dead space in the tract. Dead space in avians is around 4.5 times higher in mammals of roughly the same size. In particular, flamingos have a trachea that is longer than its body length with 330 cartilaginous rings. As a result, they have a calculated dead space twice as high as another bird of the same size. To compensate for the elongation, they usually breathe in deep, slow patterns. One hypothesis for the bird's adaptation to respiratory alkalosis is tracheal coiling. Tracheal coiling is an overly long extension of the trachea and can often wrap around the bird's body. When faced with a heat load, birds often use thermal panting and this adaptation of tracheal coiling allows ventilation of non-exchange surfaces which can enable the bird to avoid respiratory alkalosis. The flamingo uses a \"flushout\" pattern of ventilation where deeper breaths are essentially mixed in with shallow panting to flush out carbon dioxide and avoid alkalosis. The increased length of the trachea provides a greater ability for respiratory evaporation and cooling off without hyperventilation.\nFurther reading: Thermoregulation in birds and mammals Thermoregulation is a matter of keeping a consistent body temperature regardless of the surrounding ambient temperature. Flamingos require both methods of efficient heat retention and release. Even though the American flamingo resides mainly close to the equator where there is relatively little fluctuation in temperature, seasonal and circadian variations in temperature must be accounted for. Like all animals, flamingos maintain a relatively constant basal metabolic rate (BMR); the metabolic rate of an animal in its thermoneutral zone (TNZ) while at rest. The BMR is a static rate which changes depending on factors such as the time of day or seasonal activity. Like most other birds, basic physiological adaptations control both heat loss in warm conditions and heat retention in cooler conditions. Using a system of countercurrent blood flow, heat is efficiently recycled through the body rather than being lost through extremities such as the legs and feet. Living in the equatorial region of the world, the American flamingo has little variation in seasonal temperature changes. However, as a homeothermic endotherm it is still faced with the challenge of maintaining a constant body temperature while being exposed to both the day (light period) and night (dark period) temperatures of its environments. Phoenicopterus ruber have evolved a number of thermoregulatory mechanisms to keep itself cool during the light period and warm during the dark period without expending too much energy. The American flamingo has been observed in a temperature niche between . In order to prevent water loss through evaporation when temperatures are elevated the flamingo will employ hyperthermia as a nonevaporative heat loss method keeping its body temperature between . This allows heat to leave the body by moving from an area of high body temperature to an area of a lower ambient temperature. Flamingos are also able to use evaporative heat loss methods such as, cutaneous evaporative heat loss and respiratory evaporative heat loss. During cutaneous heat loss, Phoenicopterus ruber relies on evaporation off of the skin to reduce its body temperature. This method is not very efficient as it requires evaporation to pass through the plumage. A more efficient way to reduce its body temperature is through respiratory evaporative heat loss, where the flamingo engages in panting to expel excessive body heat. During the dark period the flamingos tend to tuck their heads beneath their wing to conserve body heat. They may also elicit shivering as a means of muscular energy consumption to produce heat as needed. One of the most distinctive attribute of P. ruber is its unipedal stance, or the tendency to stand on one leg. While the purpose of this iconic posture remains ultimately unanswered, strong evidence supports its function in regulating body temperature. Like most birds, the largest amount of heat is lost through the legs and feet; having long legs can be a major disadvantage when temperatures fall and heat retention is most important. By holding one leg up against the ventral surface of the body, the flamingo lowers the surface area by which heat exits the body. Moreover, it has been observed that during periods of increased temperatures such as mid-day, flamingos will stand on both legs. Holding a bipedal stance multiplies the amount of heat lost from the legs and further regulates body temperature.\nLike other flamingo species, American flamingos will migrate short distances to ensure that they get enough food or because their current habitat has been disturbed in some way. One habitat disturbance that has been observed to cause flamingos to leave their feeding grounds is elevated water levels. These conditions make it difficult for Phoenicopterus ruber to wade, hindering their ability to access food. The flamingos will then abandon their feeding grounds in search of an alternate food source. While the flights are not as long as other migratory birds, flamingos still fly for periods without eating.\nFor the most part flamingos are not all that different from other salt water wading birds. They will fast when migrating to a new habitat or the chicks may not receive food daily depending on food availability.\n"
        },
        "1028": {
            "common": "Flicker, campo",
            "family": "Colaptes campestroides",
            "id": 1028,
            "text": "The pampas flicker (Colaptes campestroides) is a woodpecker in the Picidae family, formerly considered conspecific with the campo flicker (Colaptes campestris). It is found in south-eastern Brazil, central and southern Paraguay, Uruguay and north-western and western Argentina.\n"
        },
        "1030": {
            "common": "Flicker, field",
            "family": "Colaptes campestroides",
            "id": 1030,
            "text": "The pampas flicker (Colaptes campestroides) is a woodpecker in the Picidae family, formerly considered conspecific with the campo flicker (Colaptes campestris). It is found in south-eastern Brazil, central and southern Paraguay, Uruguay and north-western and western Argentina.\n"
        },
        "1032": {
            "common": "Flightless cormorant",
            "family": "Nannopterum harrisi",
            "id": 1032,
            "text": "The flightless cormorant (Phalacrocorax harrisi), also known as the Galapagos cormorant, is a cormorant native to the Galapagos Islands, and an example of the highly unusual fauna there. It is unique in that it is the only cormorant that has lost the ability to fly. Once it was placed in its own genus, Nannopterum or Compsohalieus, although current taxonomy places it in the genus with most of the other cormorants, Phalacrocorax.\nLike all cormorants, this bird has webbed feet and powerful legs that propel it through ocean waters as it seeks its prey of fish, eels, small octopuses, and other small creatures. They feed near the sea floor and no more than 200 metres offshore. The flightless cormorant is the largest extant member of its family, in length and weighing, and its wings are about one-third the size that would be required for a bird of its proportions to fly. The keel on the breastbone, where birds attach the large muscles needed for flight, is also greatly reduced. The flightless cormorants look slightly like a duck, except for their short, stubby wings. The upperparts are blackish and the underparts are brown. The long beak is hooked at the tip and the eye is turquoise. Like all members of the cormorant family, all four toes are joined by webbed skin. Males and females are similar in appearance, although males are larger and ca. 35% heavier. Juveniles are generally similar to adults but differ in that they are glossy black in colour with a dark eye. Adults produce low growling vocalizations. Like other cormorants, this bird's feathers are not waterproof, and they spend time after each dive drying their small wings in the sunlight. Their flight and contour feathers are much like those of other cormorants, but their body feathers are much thicker, softer, denser, and more hair-like. They produce very little oil from their preen gland; it is the air trapped in their dense plumage that prevents them from becoming waterlogged.\nThis unique cormorant is endemic to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, where it has a very restricted range. It is found on just two islands; Fernandina, and the northern and western coasts of Isabela. Distribution associates with the seasonal upwelling of the eastward flowing Equatorial Undercurrent (or Cromwell Current) which provides cold nutrient rich water to these western islands of the archipelago. The population has undergone severe fluctuations; the 1983 an El Ni\u00f1o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event resulted in a 50% reduction of the population to just 400 individuals. The population recovered quickly, however, and was estimated to number 900 individuals by 1999. This species inhabits the rocky shores of the volcanic islands on which it occurs. It forages in shallow coastal waters, including bays and straits. Flightless cormorants are extremely sedentary, remaining most or all of their lives, and breeding, on local stretches of coast-line several hundred metres long. Their sedentary nature is reflected in a genetic differentiation between the main colonies, and particularly between Fernandina and Isabela Island.\nNesting tends to take place during April&ndash;October, when sea surface temperatures are coldest resulting in an abundance of marine food, and the risk of heat stress to the chicks is decreased. At this time, breeding colonies consisting of up to about 12 pairs form. The courtship behavior of this species begins in the sea; the male and female swim around each other with their necks bent into a snake-like position. They then move onto land. Items of seaweed (and also flotsam e.g. rope fragments) are brought predominantly by the male and gifted to the female to be woven into a bulky nest, just above high water mark. The female generally lays three whitish eggs per clutch, though usually only one chick survives. Both male and female share equally in incubation. Once the eggs have hatched, both parents continue to share responsibilities of brooding (protecting the chicks from exposure to heat and cold, and predation) and feeding the offspring, although the female provides 40-50% more food items than her partner. As the chicks approach independence at 70 days old and if food supplies are plentiful, the female will desert the offspring leaving the male to carry out further parenting, and she will re-partner and breed with a new mate. Thus, females, but not males, can raise several broods in a single season, although studies over a decade indicate that environmental conditions allowing sufficient food availability for this, occur infrequently. Annual survival of both sexes is ca. 90%, and longevity is ca. 13 years. Recruitment into the population by breeding is sufficient to maintain a stable population.\nThese cormorants evolved on an island habitat that was free of predators. Having no enemies, taking its food primarily through diving along the food-rich shorelines, and not needing to travel to breeding grounds, the bird eventually became flightless. Indeed, wings trapping air among flight feathers are likely to have been a disadvantage to the cormorants which dive from the surface. However, since their discovery by man, the islands have not remained free of predators: cats, dogs, and pigs have been introduced to the islands over the years. In addition, these birds have no fear of humans and can easily be approached and picked up. In the past, introduced feral dogs were a great threat to the species on Isabela, but they have since been eradicated from the island. Future introduction of rats or cats to Fernandina is a huge potential threat to the species. Fishing with nets poses a current threat to the species; this not only reduces the availability of the cormorant's food, but also often results in birds becoming caught in the nets and killed. Seasonal cold water has shaped the breeding strategy of flightless cormorants. A rise of several degrees of sea surface temperature during the breeding season or persisting throughout the breeding season (i.e. during ENSO events) results in low breeding success. ENSO events appears to have increased in frequency and severity in recent decades, possibly associated with climate change. A large oil spill would pose a threat. However, although the Flightless Cormorant population is small and its range limited, the ability of the species to breed quickly can allow it to recover from disasters as long as the population remains above a critical level. The flightless cormorant is one of the world's rarest birds. A survey carried out by the Charles Darwin Research Station in 2004 indicated that the species has a population of about 1,500 individuals. In 2009, BirdLife International set the number of individuals of the flightless cormorant at only 900 individuals, although a more recent estimate in 2011 was 1679 individuals. It was formerly classified as Endangered by the IUCN, but recent research shows that it is not as rare as previously believed and that its population has stabilized. Consequently, it was downlisted to Vulnerable in 2011. All populations of this species are found within the Galapagos National Park and Marine Reserve; furthermore, the archipelago was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1978. The Charles Darwin Research Station has monitored the species regularly to keep track of fluctuations in numbers over time. Conservation proposals include the continuation of annual monitoring programs, restriction on human visitation within the species range, and the prevention of fishing with nets in the bird's foraging range.\n"
        },
        "1034": {
            "common": "Flycatcher, tyrant",
            "family": "Myiarchus tuberculifer",
            "id": 1034,
            "text": "The dusky-capped flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer) is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in forest and other woodland from southern Arizona, as well as the Chisos Mountains, Texas, south to northern Argentina and on Trinidad. It is resident in most of its range, but American breeders retreat to Mexico in winter. Adult dusky-capped flycatchers are long and weigh . The upperparts are brown, with a blackish head and short crest. The breast is grey and the belly is bright yellow. The brown tail feathers and wings have paler outer webs. The sexes are similar, but young birds have rufous edgings to the wings and tail. The dusky-capped flycatcher is best separated from other confusingly similar Myiarchus species by its smaller size, blackish head, and its call, a sorrowful, descending, whistled peeur or wheeeeeu. This species is insectivorous and catches its prey by flycatching amongst the middle branches of trees. Fruits such as from gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), and less frequently from Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae) are sometimes also eaten, particularly in winter. The nest is built in a tree cavity, and the normal clutch is three brown-marked buff eggs. The young fledge 13 days after hatching.\n"
        },
        "1036": {
            "common": "Flying fox",
            "family": "Pteropus",
            "id": 1036,
            "text": "Bats of the genus Pteropus, belonging to the megabat suborder, Megachiroptera, are the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as the fruit bats or flying foxes among other colloquial names. They live in the tropics and subtropics of Asia (including the Indian subcontinent), Australia, East Africa, and a number of remote oceanic islands in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans. At least 60 extant species are in this genus. The oldest ancestors of the genus Pteropus to be unearthed appear in the fossil record almost exactly as they are today, the only notable differences being early flight adaptations such as a tail for stabilizing. The oldest megachiropteran is dated about 35 million years ago, but the preceding gap in the fossil record makes their true lineage unknown. Recent genetic studies, however, have supported the argument that Old World bats, such as Pteropus, share lineage with New World bats (those found in the Americas). Characteristically, all species of flying foxes only feed on nectar, blossoms, pollen, and fruit, which explains their limited tropical distribution. They do not possess echolocation, a feature which helps the other suborder of bats, the microbats, locate and catch prey such as insects in midair. Instead, smell and eyesight are very well-developed in flying foxes. Feeding ranges can reach up to 40 miles. When it locates food, the flying fox \"crashes\" into foliage and grabs for it. It may also attempt to catch hold of a branch with its hind feet, then swing upside down; once attached and hanging, the fox draws food to its mouth with one of its hind feet or with the clawed thumbs at the top of its wings.\nMany species are threatened today with extinction, and in particular in the Pacific, a number of species have died out as a result of overharvesting for human consumption. In the Marianas, flying fox meat is considered a delicacy, which led to a large commercial trade. Human consumption of flying fox meat in Guam is hypothesized to have led to an increase of human neurodegenerative illness. In 1989, all species of Pteropus were placed on Appendix II of CITES and at least seven on Appendix I, which restricts international trade. The subspecies P. hypomelanus maris of the Maldives is considered endangered due to limited distribution and excessive culling. The commerce in fruit bats continues either illegally or because of inadequate restrictions. Local farmers may also attack the bats because they feed in their plantations, and in some cultures, their meat is believed to cure asthma. Nonhuman predators include birds of prey, snakes, and other mammals. The spectacled flying fox, native to Australia, is threatened by the paralysis tick, which carries paralyzing toxins.\nThe large flying fox (P. vampyrus) is generally reported as the largest Pteropus, but a few other species may match it, at least in some measurements. The large flying fox has a wingspan up to and five individuals weighed . Even greater weights, up to and, have been reported for the Indian flying fox (P. giganteus) and great flying fox (P. neohibernicus), respectively. The black-bearded flying fox (P. melanopogon) is massive and may be heavier than all other megabats, but exact weight data are not available. Comparably, no full wingspan measurements are available for the great flying fox (P. neohibernicus), but with a forearm length up to, it may even surpass the large flying fox (P. vampyrus) where the forearm is up to . Outside this genus, the giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) is the only bat with similar dimensions. Most flying fox species are considerably smaller and generally weigh less than . The smallest, the masked flying fox (P. personatus), Temminck's flying fox (P. temminckii), Guam flying fox (P. tokudae), and dwarf flying fox (P. woodfordi), all weigh less than . The pelage is long and silky with a dense underfur. No tail is present. As the name suggests, the head resembles that of a small fox because of the small ears and large eyes. Females have one pair of mammae located in the chest region. Ears are simple (long and pointed) with the outer margin forming an unbroken ring (a defining characteristic of megabats). The toes have sharp, curved claws.\nSome scientists have proposed that flying foxes are descended from primates rather than bats and that mammalian flight ability has evolved more than once. This theory is not accepted by most modern zoologists and is contrary to DNA evidence.\nGenus Pteropus \u2013 flying foxes\n"
        },
        "1038": {
            "common": "Fork-tailed drongo",
            "family": "Dicrurus adsimilis",
            "id": 1038,
            "text": "The fork-tailed drongo, also called the common drongo, African drongo, or savanna drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), is a species of drongo in the family Dicruridae, which are medium-sized passerine birds of the Old World. It is native to the tropics, subtropics and temperate zones of the Afrotropics. Its range was formerly considered to include Asia, but the Asian species is now called the black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus).\nThe fork-tailed drongo is a common and widespread resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush, and are tolerant of arid climates.\nThe fork-tailed drongo is 25 cm long and has short legs. Males are mainly glossy black, although their wings are duller. Females are similar but less glossy. It is large-headed with well-developed rictal and nasal bristles, which are used as sensory organs. The rectrices curve outwards, forming the forked tail for which the species is named. The hooked bill is black and heavy, and the eye is red.\nThe call is a metallic strink-strink. The fork-tailed drongo in Africa are capable of using deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food from birds and animals such as meerkats. Vocal at dawn and dusk.\nThey still-hunt by sitting very upright on a prominent perch, much like a shrike. They are usually solitary and form monogamous breeding pairs. They are aggressive and fearless, regularly mobbing or attacking much larger species, including birds of prey, if their nest or young are threatened or their territory is compromised. They also join mixed foraging bird parties, and will initiate mobbing of common enemies. To maintain their plumage condition they may rain-bathe, foliage-bathe or plunge-dive into water. Terrestrial foragers like babblers may use the drongo as a sentry.\nThey are almost exclusively carnivorous, but may take nectar when available. They flycatch or take prey from the ground, and are attracted to bush fires. They also utilize disturbance caused by animals, and may perch on their backs. At times they catch ectoparasites on mammals, plunge-dive to catch fish, or kleptoparasitise mammals or birds.\nObservations show that the fork-tailed drongo in Africa are capable of using deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food from birds like pied babblers and animals such as meerkats. Tom Flower observed that fork-tailed drongos spend a quarter of their time following other animals. Drongos sometimes act as sentries when a predator is approaching, warning their neighbours with genuine alarm calls. But drongos also earn a quarter of their daily calories by sounding a false alarm when another animal finds food. When the meerkats and babblers flee from the non-existent predator, the drongo steals their food. Though in doubt, researchers have considered the possibility that these drongos possess theory of mind, not fully shown in any animal other than humans.\nTwo to four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a fork high in a tree. The African cuckoo exclusively parasitizes this species.\nIts populations are genetically highly structured,<ref name=\"fitz2009\"> and four races are accepted. The races D. a. modestus (Pr\u00edncipe) together with D. a. coracinus and D. a. atactus (Bioko to west and central mainland Africa, from Guinea east to western Kenya and south to Angola) are usually split as a separate species, the velvet-mantled drongo, D. modestus (Hartlaub, 1849).\n"
        },
        "104": {
            "common": "Arctic ground squirrel",
            "family": "Spermophilus parryii",
            "id": 104,
            "text": "The Arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic. People in Alaska, particularly around the Aleutians, refer to them as \"Parka\" (pronounced \"par'kee\") squirrels, most likely because their pelt is good for the ruff on parkas and for clothing.\nListed alphabetically.\nThe diurnal Arctic ground squirrel lives on the tundra and is prey to the Arctic fox, the red fox, wolverine, lynx, the grizzly bear, and eagles. It is one of the few Arctic animals, along with their close relatives the marmots and the un-related little brown bat that hibernate. In the summer it forages for tundra plants, seeds, and fruit to increase body fat for its winter hibernation. By late summer the male Arctic ground squirrel begins to store food in its burrow so that in the spring it will have edible food until the new vegetation has grown. The burrows are lined with lichens, leaves, and muskox hair. During hibernation, its brain temperature drops to just above freezing, its core body temperature reaches temperatures down to -2.9 \u00b0C and its heart rate drops to ~1BPM. Peripheral, colonic, and blood temperatures become subzero.\nThe Arctic ground squirrel has a beige and tan coat with a white-spotted back. This squirrel has a short face, small ears, a dark tail and white markings around its eyes. Arctic ground squirrels undergo a coat change from summer to winter. Summer coats include red/yellow colorations along the cheeks and sides of the animal. In fall, these red patches are replaced with silvery fur. The average length of an Arctic ground squirrel is approximately . Since Arctic ground squirrels undergo drastic seasonal changes in body mass, it is difficult to give an average mass, but for adult females it is close to, however, males generally are around  heavier than females.\nThe Arctic ground squirrel can be found in regions of Northern Canada ranging from the Arctic Circle to northern British Columbia, and down to the southern border of the Northwest Territories, as well as Alaska and Siberia. The Arctic ground squirrel is native to the North American Arctic tundra, where its main habitats are on mountain slopes, river flats, banks, lakeshores and tundra ridges of the arctic tundra. Ground squirrels live in sandy soil due to easy digging and good drainage. Arctic ground squirrels make shallow burrows in areas where the permafrost does not prevent them from digging. The Arctic ground squirrel inhabits dry Arctic tundra and open meadows in the most southern habitats of this species.\nArctic ground squirrels live individually in burrow systems. Mating occurs between mid-April and mid-May (depending on latitude) after winter hibernation. Mating includes male-male competition for access to females, and litters are typically sired by multiple males. Gestation is approximately 25 days, and results in a litter of 5 to 10, hairless pups. After 6 weeks the pups are weaned and this is followed by rapid growth to prepare for the upcoming winter.\nThe Arctic ground squirrel hibernates over winter from early August to late April in adult females and from late September to early April for adult males, at which time it can reduce its body temperatures from 37 C to as little as . In the warmer months, the squirrel is active during the day time. During the mating season, males engage in male-male aggressive encounters for the mating rights. Communication between squirrels is done through both vocal and physical means. When they meet, nose to nose contact is made or other body parts are pressed together. The \"tsik-tsik\" calls are made in response to threats and vary as between different predators. Deep guttural sounds are used to indicate land-based predators while short \"band whistle\" chatter indicates danger from the air.\nThis squirrel feeds on grasses, sedges, mushrooms, bog rushes, bilberries, willows, roots, stalks, leaves, leaf buds, flowers, catkins, and seeds. They will also eat insects, and occasionally they will even feed on carrion (such as mice, snowshoe hares and caribou) as well as juvenile Arctic ground squirrels. Sometimes these squirrels carry food back to their den in their cheeks.\nAlthough Environment Yukon has not estimated their population size, their conservation status is currently said to be \"secure\" (Environment Yukon 2013). The Arctic ground squirrel is classified as least concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (Arkive 2013).\n"
        },
        "1040": {
            "common": "Four-horned antelope",
            "family": "Tetracerus quadricornis",
            "id": 1040,
            "text": "The four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis), or chousingha, is a small antelope found in India and Nepal. This antelope has four horns, which distinguish it from most other bovids, which have two horns (sparing a few such as the Jacob sheep). The sole member of the genus Tetracerus, the species was first described by French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1816. Three subspecies are recognised. The four-horned antelope stands nearly at the shoulder and weighs nearly . Slender with thin legs and a short tail, the four-horned antelope has a yellowish brown to reddish coat. One pair of horns is located between the ears, and the other on the forehead. The posterior horns are always longer than the anterior horns, which might be mere fur-covered studs. While the posterior horns measure, the anterior ones are long. The four-horned antelope is diurnal (active mainly during the day). Though solitary by nature, four-horned antelopes may form loose groups of three to five \u2013with one or more adults, sometimes accompanied by juveniles. This elusive antelope feeds on grasses, herbs, shrubs, foliage, flowers and fruits. It needs to drink water frequently; as such it stays in places near water sources. The breeding behaviour of the four-horned antelope has not been well studied. The age at which they reach sexual maturity and the season when mating occurs have not been understood well. Gestation lasts about eight months, following which one or two calves are born. They are kept concealed for the first few weeks of their birth. The young remain with the mother for about a year. Four-horned antelopes tend to inhabit areas with significant grass cover or heavy undergrowth, and avoid human settlements. Earlier common throughout deciduous forests in India, the antelope now occurs in widely disjunct, small populations. Most of the populations are in India, and lower numbers can be found in adjoining Nepal. The four-horned antelope is threatened by the loss of its natural habitat due to agricultural expansion. Moreover, the unusual four-horned skull and the horns have been a popular target for trophy hunters. The four-horned antelope is classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).\nThe scientific name of the four-horned antelope is Tetracerus quadricornis. The generic name Tetracerus is the combination of two Greek words: tetra (\"four\") and ceros (\"horned\"). The specific name quadricornis is derived from two Latin words: quadri (\"four\") and cornu (\"horned\"). The four-horned antelope is known by several vernacular names: chausingha, chowsingha, chousingha (Hindi for \"four horns\"), doda, ghutri (mainly in central India) (Hindi); kondu kuri (Kannada); chauka (Nepalese); nari komboo marn (Tamil).\nThe four-horned antelope is the sole member of the genus Tetracerus, and is placed under the family Bovidae. The species was first described by French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1816. The four-horned antelope has only one other relative in the tribe Boselaphini, the nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus). The Boselaphini have the horns with a keel on the front and lack rings as found in other antelope groups. The authority for Tetracerus is variously indicated according to interpretations of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The name was first published in an 1825 publication by English naturalist Thomas Hardwicke but cited the English zoologist William Elford Leach \u2013 probably by an editor \u2013 as the authority in a footnote at the end of the publication. Philip Sclater and Oldfield Thomas listed Hardwicke as the genus authority by virtue of his being the author of the publication. However, Leach is now identified as the appropriate authority based on Article 50.1.1 of the Zoological Code. A 1992 phylogenetic study showed a strong possibility of a clade consisting of Boselaphini, Bovini and Tragelaphini. Bovini consists of the genera Bubalus, Bos, Pseudoryx (saola), Syncerus (African buffalo), Bison and the extinct Pelorovis. Tragelaphini consists of two genera: Taurotragus (eland) and Tragelaphus. Boselaphini and Tragelaphini were predicted to be close; this was seconded by a similar study in 1999. The following cladogram is based on the 1992 study: Colin Groves (2003) recognizes three subspecies of the four-horned antelope on the basis of distribution and physical characteristics such as coat colour, body size and the number of horns:\nThough Boselaphini has no African representation today, fossil evidence supports its presence in the continent during as early as the late Miocene \u2013 the two living antelopes of this tribe, in fact, have been found to have a closer relationship with the earliest bovids (like Eotragus species) than do the other bovids. This tribe originated at least 8.9 Mya, in much the same area where the four-horned antelope occurs today, and may represent the most \"primitive\" of all living bovids, having changed the least since the origins of the family. The extant and extinct boselaphine forms show similar development of the horn cores (the central bony part of the horn). It is thought that ancestral bovids had a diploid chromosome number of 58 which has reduced in Tetracerus to 38 through a process of concatenation of some chromosomes. Fossils of Protragoceros labidotus and Sivoreas eremita dating back to the late Miocene have been discovered in the Ngorora formation (Kenya). fossils from the same period have also been excavated in the eastern Mediterranean region. Other Miocene fossils of boselaphines discovered are of Miotragocerus, Tragocerus and Tragoportax. Fossils of Miotragoceros are not apparent in Africa (only M. cyrenaicus has been reported from the continent), but have significant presence in the Shiwalik Hills in India and Pakistan, as do several Tragoportax species. A 2005 study suggested the migration of Miotragoceros to eastern Asia around 8 Mya. Alan W. Gentry of the Natural History Museum reported the presence of another boselaphine, Mesembriportax, from Langebaanweg (South Africa). Evidence of early humans hunting four-horned antelope during the Mesolithic period (5,000 to 8,000 years ago) have been found in the Kurnool caves of southern India and similar evidence has been found from the Chalcolithic period (3,000 years ago) in Orissa, eastern India.\nThe four-horned antelope is one of the smallest Asian bovids. The number of its horns distinguishes it from most of the other bovids, that have two horns (sparing a few such as the Jacob sheep). The four-horned antelope stands at the shoulder and weighs ; the head-and-body length is typically between . Sexual dimorphism is not very notable, though only males possess horns. Slender with thin legs and a short tail, the four-horned antelope has a yellowish brown to reddish coat. The underparts and the insides of the legs are white. Facial features include black markings on the muzzle and behind the ears. A black stripe marks the outer surface of each leg. Females have four teats far back on the abdomen. The hair feels coarse, more like that of a deer than the glossy hair typical of antelopes. The fetlocks are marked with white patches. One pair of horns is located between the ears, and the other on the forehead. The posterior horns are always longer than the anterior horns, which might be mere fur-covered studs. While the posterior horns each measures, the anterior ones measure . Horns emerge at 10 to 14 months. According to Groves, anterior horns show the poorest development in the subspecies T. q. subquadricornutus. These horns measure nearly in T. q. quadricornis, and nearly  in T. q. iodes. The posterior horn lengths for the subspecies recorded by him were: for T. q. quadricornis,  in T. q. iodes and  in T. q. subquadricornutus. The four-horned antelope differs greatly from the nilgai in colour, is much smaller and has an extra pair of horns. The nilgai is nearly nine times heavier and two times taller than the four-horned antelope. Two deer species, the Indian muntjac and the hog deer, can be confused with this antelope. The four-horned antelope, however, lacks their antlers. The chinkara, a gazelle, can be told apart by its light brown coat and larger, ringed horns.\nThe four-horned antelope is diurnal (active mainly during the day), though it mainly rests or ruminates in dense undergrowth at noon. Though solitary by nature, the four-horned antelope may form loose groups of three to five. Groups consist of one or more adults, sometimes accompanied by juveniles. Males and females hardly interact, except in the mating season. The antelope is shy and elusive. When alarmed, it stands motionless and may nervously leap away from the danger or even sprint. It often conceals itself in tall grasses to escape predators. The use of alarm calls to alert others is not common because the antelope tries to avoid the attention of predators. However, in extreme cases, these calls may be used to warn predators that they have been identified. Adults mark vegetation in their territories with a colourless secretion of preorbital glands, that soon condenses to form a white film. They maintain multiple latrine sites where piles of their pellet droppings are formed by regular use. Latrine sites can be confused with those of the barking deer but the pellets are longer and larger in four-horned antelopes. Submissive display consists of shrinking the body, lowering the head and pulling the ears back. Predators of four-horned antelopes include tigers, leopards, and dholes.\nThe four-horned antelope feeds on grasses, herbs, shrubs, foliage, flowers and fruits. A study in Mudumalai National Park (Tamil Nadu, India) showed that the antelope prefers grass species of the family Cyperaceae; genera Axonopus, Cynodon, Digitaria, Echinochloa, Panicum, Sehima and Sporobolus; and the species Imperata cylindrica, Ottochloa nodosa, Pseudanthistria umbellata and Themeda cymbaria. The shrub Grewia hirsuta is frequently eaten. Preferred herbs include Helichrysum, Indigofera and Tinospora species and Leucas aspera. The four-horned antelope feeds on the leaves of trees such as Cordia wallichii, Emblica officinalis, Randia dumetorum and Zizyphus xylopyrus. Grasses comprise nearly 29 percent of the diet, followed by foliage from trees (nearly nine percent). Grass and browse were consumed in nearly equal proportions. A study in the Panna National Park (Madhya Pradesh, India) showed preference for Zizyphus mauritiana, Acacia nilotica, A. leucophloea and A. catechu. Babool flowers were frequently eaten. The antelope often associates with langurs under fruiting trees, just as chital frequently do. Interaction with chital, a sympatric species, was infrequent. The antelope is wary when feeding, often raising its head and looking about its vicinity. The four-horned antelope needs to drink water frequently; as such it stays in places near water sources.\nBreeding behaviour of the four-horned antelope has not been well studied. The age at which sexual maturity is gained is doubted; two captive females had their first parturition at less than two years. The breeding season in Panna National Park probably lasts from May to July, and from June to August in Mudumalai National Park. The male approaches the female in a relaxed gait, giving out low coughs. The two may kneel and push against each other with the necks intertwined. The male makes a few short mounting attempts; the female may be foraging all the while without any reaction. Gestation lasts about eight months, followed by the birth of one or two calves. The newborn has a head-and-body length of, and weighs . Juveniles are kept concealed for the first few weeks of birth. Births in Mudumalai National Park peak from February to April. Juveniles remain with their mothers for about a year.\nThe four-horned antelope inhabits areas with significant cover from grasses or heavy undergrowth, and close to water bodies. It generally keeps away from human-inhabited areas. Though they are habitat generalists, four-horned antelopes mostly occur in open, dry, deciduous forests in hilly terrain. Earlier common throughout deciduous forests in India, four-horned antelopes are now found in low numbers. Their numbers were estimated at slightly above 10,000 in 2001, and are feared to be decreasing. In Mudumalai National Park, the populations are low and scattered. Their numbers in Gir National Park were estimated at 256 individuals in 1974; later estimates at waterholes in the same location put them a little above 1000. Densities of above 0.7 individuals per km 2 have been considered as being healthy. Presently the four-horned antelope is confined to the Indian subcontinent, occurring widely in disjunct and small populations. The range in India covers a vast expanse, from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Most of the existing populations are in India, and lower numbers in adjoining Nepal.\nThe four-horned antelope is threatened by the loss of its natural habitat due to agricultural expansion. Moreover, the unusual four-horned skull and the horns have been a popular target for trophy hunters. In India, the species is protected under Schedule I the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and the Nepalese population is listed in CITES Appendix III. The four-horned antelope is classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Major protected areas across India where four-horned antelopes occur include: Gir National Park (Gujarat); Bandhavgarh National Park, Bori Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanha National Park, Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve, Panna Tiger Reserve, Pench Tiger Reserve, Sanjay National Park, Satpura National Park (Madhya Pradesh); Tadoba Andhari Reserve (Maharashtra); Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Ranthambore National Park, Rangayyanadurga wildlife sanctuary (Karnataka), and Sariska Tiger Reserve (Rajasthan).\n"
        },
        "1042": {
            "common": "Four-spotted skimmer",
            "family": "Libellula quadrimaculata",
            "id": 1042,
            "text": "The four-spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata), known in North America as the four-spotted skimmer, is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae found frequently throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. The adult stage is found between April to early September in the United Kingdom, and from mid-May to mid-August in Ireland. Larvae have a two-year developmental cycle. Adults feed predominantly on mosquitoes, gnats and midges; the larvae feed primarily on other aquatic insect larvae and on tadpoles. There is a variant form, praenubila Newman, which has exaggerated wing spots. This is believed to be related to water temperatures during larval development, and appears to be more common in Europe than in the Americas. The four-spotted skimmer is the state insect of Alaska.\nThis active dragonfly mainly lives by ponds, vernal pools, and slow flowing rivers; they are most common in June and July.\nThe brown colour and the four spots on the wings make them unmistakable.\nThe male is considered to be highly aggressive and will defend a given territory from incursions from other males of the species. The male is known to form preferences for prominent perches and will often return to the same perches around the margins of pools and ponds whilst it patrols for intruders. Males have a favourable view of the sky during perching. They look toward a section of the sky away from the sun, with less radiation but a higher UV and blue-violet saturation. Thus, the fovea of the eyes, which is sensitive to blue and UV radiation, is optimally suited to the detection of flying insects against the blue sky. Both sexes are prolific fliers and mating takes place in the air, rather than on perches or amongst the vegetation. The female lays her eggs on floating vegetation. They tend to be easier to approach than Broad-bodied Chasers.\nThe larger emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) is one predator of this species. Another is the green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris).\n"
        },
        "1044": {
            "common": "Four-striped grass mouse",
            "family": "Rhabdomys pumilio",
            "id": 1044,
            "text": "The four-striped grass mouse or four-striped grass rat (Rhabdomys pumilio) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found throughout the southern half of Africa up to above sea level, extending as far north as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its natural habitats are savannas, shrublands, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, hot deserts, arable land, rural gardens, and urban areas.\n"
        },
        "1046": {
            "common": "Fowl, helmeted guinea",
            "family": "Numida meleagris",
            "id": 1046,
            "text": "The helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) is the best known of the guineafowl bird family, Numididae, and the only member of the genus Numida. It is native to Africa, mainly south of the Sahara, and has been widely introduced into the West Indies, Brazil, Australia and Europe (e.g. southern France).\nIn the early days of the European colonisation of North America, the native wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was confused with this species. This led to the English name of the American bird, since Turkey and Guinea were equally far-off and exotic places. The word meleagris, Greek for guineafowl, is also shared in the scientific names of the two species, although for the guineafowl it is the species name, whereas for the turkey, it is the name of the genus and (in an altered state) the family.\nThere are nine recognized subspecies:\nThe helmeted guineafowl is a large (53\u201358 cm) bird with a round body and small head. They weigh about 1.3 kg. The body plumage is gray-black spangled with white. Like other guineafowl, this species has an unfeathered head, in this case decorated with a dull yellow or reddish bony knob, and red and blue patches of skin. The wings are short and rounded, and the tail is also short. Various sub-species are proposed, differences in appearance being mostly a large variation in shape, size and colour of the casque and facial wattles.\nThis is a gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of about 25 birds that also roost communally. Guineafowl are particularly well-suited to consuming massive quantities of ticks, which might otherwise spread lyme disease. These birds are terrestrial, and prone to run rather than fly when alarmed. Like most gallinaceous birds, they have a short-lived explosive flight and rely on gliding to cover extended distances. Helmeted guineafowl are great runners, and can walk 10 km and more in a day. They make loud harsh calls when disturbed. Their diet consists of a variety of animal and plant food; seeds, fruits, greens, snails, spiders, worms and insects, frogs, lizards, small snakes and small mammals. Guineafowl are equipped with strong claws and scratch in loose soil for food much like domestic chickens, although they seldom uproot growing plants in so doing. As with all of the numididae, they have no spurs. Males often show aggression towards each other, and will partake in aggressive fighting which may leave other males bloodied and otherwise injured. They will attempt to make themselves look more fearsome by raising their wings upwards from their sides and bristling their feathers across the length of the body, and they may also rush towards their opponent with a gaping beak. The nest is a well-hidden, generally unlined scrape and a clutch is normally 6\u201312 eggs which the female incubates for 26\u201328 days. Nests containing larger numbers of eggs are generally believed to be the result of more than one hen using the nest; eggs are large and an incubating bird could not realistically cover significantly more than a normal clutch. Domestic birds at least, are notable for producing extremely thick-shelled eggs that are reduced to fragments as the young birds, known as keets, hatch rather than leaving two large sections and small chips from where any keet has removed the end of the egg. It has been noted that domesticated guineafowl hens are not the best of mothers, and will often abandon their nests. The keets are cryptically coloured and rapid wing growth enables them to flutter onto low branches barely a week after hatching. They may live for up to 12 years in the wild.\nHelmeted guinea fowl are seasonally reproducing birds. Summer is the peak breeding season in which testes could weigh up to 1.6 gm while during winter no breeding activity takes place. Serum testosterone level is up to 5.37 ng/ ml during breeding season.\nIt breeds in warm, fairly dry and open habitats with scattered shrubs and trees such as savanna or farmland. Flocks of guineafowl have flourished in recent years in the Northern and Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, where they seem to have adapted remarkably well. The flocks move slowly along the quieter suburban roads, looking for food on the grassy 'pavements' and in gardens where the fence is low enough for some to enter without feeling separated from the flock. They often roost at night on the roofs of bungalows. While residents generally appreciate the local wildlife, it can be a nuisance, obstructing traffic and making a lot of noise in the early morning. Their success is probably due to the large but cautious flock \u2013 they can fend off cats, do not enter gardens with dogs, and are visible enough in the quiet roads in which they live to avoid being run over. Although many young guineafowl manage to fall down drains (and are left behind by the flock), it is not enough to restrain their numbers. Adult birds are sometimes caught and eaten by the homeless.\nHelmeted guineafowl are often domesticated, and it is this species that is sold in Western supermarkets.\n"
        },
        "1048": {
            "common": "Fox, arctic",
            "family": "Alopex lagopus",
            "id": 1048,
            "text": "The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in cold environments. It has a deep thick fur which is brown in summer and white in winter. Its body length ranges from, with a generally rounded body shape to minimize the escape of body heat. The Arctic fox preys on any small creatures such as: lemmings, voles, ringed seal pups, fish, waterfowl, and seabirds. It also eats carrion, berries, seaweed, insects, and other small invertebrates. Arctic foxes form monogamous pairs during the breeding season and they stay together to raise their young in complex underground dens. Occasionally, other family members may assist in raising their young.\nThe Arctic fox lives in some of the most frigid extremes on the planet but does not start to shiver until the temperature drops to . Among its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage, which provides excellent insulation, a system of countercurrent heat exchange in the circulation within the paws to retain core temperature, and a good supply of body fat. The fox has a low surface area to volume ratio, as evidenced by its generally compact body shape, short muzzle and legs, and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the Arctic cold, less heat escapes from its body. Its paws have fur on the soles for additional insulation and to help it walk on ice. Its fur changes color with the seasons: in most populations it is white in the winter to blend in with snow, while in the summer it is greyish-brown or darker brown. In some populations, however, it is a steely bluish-gray in the winter and a paler bluish-gray in summer. The fur of the Arctic fox provides the best insulation of any mammal. The Arctic fox has such keen hearing, it can determine exactly where a small animal is moving under the snow. When it has located its prey, it pounces and punches through the snow to catch its victim.\nArctic foxes do not hibernate and are active all year round. They build up their fat reserves in the autumn, sometimes increasing their body weight by more than 50%. This provides greater insulation during the winter and a source of energy when food is scarce. They live in large dens in frost-free, slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels covering as much as and are often in eskers, long ridges of sedimentary material deposited in formerly glaciated regions. They have multiple entrances and may have been in existence for many decades and used by many generations of foxes. Arctic foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season and maintain a territory around the den. Breeding usually takes place in April and May, and the gestation period is about 52 days. Litters tend to average five to eight kits, but exceptionally contain as many as 25 (the largest litter size in the order Carnivora). Both the mother and father help to raise the young which emerge from the den when 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age.\nArctic foxes generally eat any small animal they can find, including lemmings, voles, other rodents, hares, birds, eggs, fish, and carrion. They scavenge on carcasses left by larger predators such as wolves and polar bears, and in times of scarcity even eat their feces. In areas where they are present, lemmings are their most common prey, and a family of foxes can eat dozens of lemmings each day. In some locations in northern Canada, a high seasonal abundance of migrating birds that breed in the area may provide an important food source. On the coast of Iceland and other islands, their diet consists predominantly of birds. During April and May, the Arctic fox also preys on ringed seal pups when the young animals are confined to a snow den and are relatively helpless. They also consume berries and seaweed, so they may be considered omnivores. This fox is a significant bird-egg predator, consuming eggs of all except the largest tundra bird species. When food is overabundant, the Arctic fox buries (caches) the surplus as a reserve.\nThe average head-and-body length of the male is, with a range of , while the female averages with a range of . In some regions, no difference in size is seen between males and females. The tail is about long in both sexes. The height at the shoulder is . On average males weigh, with a range of , while females average , with a range of .\nVulpes lagopus is a 'true fox' belonging to the genus Vulpes of the fox tribe Vulpini. It is classified under the subfamily Caninae of the canid family Canidae. Although it has previously been assigned to its own monotypic genus Alopex, recent genetic evidence now places it in the genus Vulpes along with the majority of other foxes. <ref name=complete> It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758 as Canis lagopus. The type specimen was recovered from Lapland, Sweden. The generic name vulpes is Latin for \"fox\". The specific name lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek \u03bb\u03b1\u03b3\u03ce\u03c2 (lagos, \"hare\") and \u03c0\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2 (pous, \"foot\"), referring to the hair on its feet similar to those found in cold-climate species of hares.\nBesides the nominate subspecies, V. l. lagopus, four other subspecies of this fox are described:\nThe Arctic fox has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Arctic tundra habitats in northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and other islands in the Barents Sea, northern Russia, islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska, and Canada as far south as Hudson Bay. In the late 19th century, it was introduced into the Aleutian Islands southwest of Alaska. It mostly inhabits tundra and pack ice, but is also present in boreal forests in Canada and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. They are found at elevations up to above sea level and have been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. The Arctic fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland. It came to the isolated North Atlantic island at the end of the last ice age, walking over the frozen sea. The Arctic Fox Center in S\u00fa\u00f0av\u00edk contains an exhibition on the Arctic fox and conducts studies on the influence of tourism on the population. Its range during the last ice age was much more extensive than it is now, and fossil remains of the Arctic fox have been found over much of northern Europe and Siberia.\nThe conservation status of the species is in general good and several hundred thousand individuals are estimated to remain in total. The IUCN has assessed it as being of \"least concern\". However, the Scandinavian mainland population is acutely endangered, despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals. As a result, the populations of arctic fox have been carefully studied and inventoried in places such as the Vindelfj\u00e4llens Nature Reserve (Sweden), which has the arctic fox as its symbol. The abundance of the Arctic fox tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings and voles (a 3- to 4-year cycle). The populations are especially vulnerable during the years when the prey population crashes, and uncontrolled trapping has almost eradicated two subpopulations. The pelts of Arctic foxes with a slate-blue coloration\u2014an expression of a recessive gene\u2014were especially valuable. They were transported to various previously fox-free Aleutian Islands during the 1920s. The program was successful in terms of increasing the population of blue foxes, but their predation of Aleutian Canada geese conflicted with the goal of preserving that species. The Arctic fox is losing ground to the larger red fox. This has been attributed to climate change\u2014the camouflage value of its lighter coat decreases with less snow cover. Red foxes dominate where their ranges begin to overlap by killing Arctic foxes and their kits. An alternate explanation of the red fox's gains involves the gray wolf. Historically, it has kept red fox numbers down, but as the wolf has been hunted to near extinction in much of its former range, the red fox population has grown larger, and it has taken over the niche of top predator. In areas of northern Europe, programs are in place that allow the hunting of red foxes in the Arctic fox's previous range. As with many other game species, the best sources of historical and large-scale population data are hunting bag records and questionnaires. Several potential sources of error occur in such data collections. In addition, numbers vary widely between years due to the large population fluctuations. However, the total population of the Arctic fox must be in the order of several hundred thousand animals. The world population of Arctic foxes is thus not endangered, but two Arctic fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island (Commander Islands, Russia), which was reduced by some 85\u201390%, to around 90 animals, as a result of mange caused by an ear tick introduced by dogs in the 1970s. The population is currently under treatment with antiparasitic drugs, but the result is still uncertain. The other threatened population is the one in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kola Peninsula). This population decreased drastically around the start of the 20th century as a result of extreme fur prices, which caused severe hunting also during population lows. The population has remained at a low density for more than 90 years, with additional reductions during the last decade. The total population estimate for 1997 is around 60 adults in Sweden, 11 adults in Finland, and 50 in Norway. From Kola, there are indications of a similar situation, suggesting a population of around 20 adults. The Fennoscandian population thus numbers around 140 breeding adults. Even after local lemming peaks, the Arctic fox population tends to collapse back to levels dangerously close to nonviability. The Arctic fox is classed as a \"prohibited new organism\" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country.\n"
        },
        "1050": {
            "common": "Fox, asian red",
            "family": "Vulpes vulpes",
            "id": 1050,
            "text": "The red fox (Vulpes vulpes), largest of the true foxes, has the greatest geographic range of all members of the Carnivora family, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, North America and Eurasia. It is listed as least concern by the IUCN. Its range has increased alongside human expansion, having been introduced to Australia, where it is considered harmful to native mammals and bird populations. Due to its presence in Australia, it is included among the list of the \"world's 100 worst invasive species\". The red fox originated from smaller-sized ancestors from Eurasia during the Middle Villafranchian period, and colonised North America shortly after the Wisconsin glaciation. Among the true foxes, the red fox represents a more progressive form in the direction of carnivory. Apart from its large size, the red fox is distinguished from other fox species by its ability to adapt quickly to new environments. Despite its name, the species often produces individuals with other colourings, including albinos and melanists. Forty-five subspecies are currently recognised, which are divided into two categories: the large northern foxes, and the small, basal southern foxes of Asia and the Middle East. Red foxes are usually together in pairs or small groups consisting of families, such as a mated pair and their young, or a male with several females having kinship ties. The young of the mated pair remain with their parents to assist in caring for new kits. The species primarily feeds on small rodents, though it may also target rabbits, game birds, reptiles, invertebrates and young ungulates. Fruit and vegetable matter is also eaten sometimes. Although the red fox tends to kill smaller predators, including other fox species, it is vulnerable to attack from larger predators, such as wolves, coyotes, golden jackals and medium- and large-sized felines. The species has a long history of association with humans, having been extensively hunted as a pest and furbearer for many centuries, as well as being represented in human folklore and mythology. Because of its widespread distribution and large population, the red fox is one of the most important furbearing animals harvested for the fur trade. Too small to pose a threat to humans, it has successfully colonised many suburban areas.\nFemales are called vixens, and young cubs, pups, or kits. Although the Arctic fox has a small native population in northern Scandinavia, while the corsac fox's range extends into European Russia, the red fox is the only fox native to Western Europe, and so is simply called \"the fox\" in colloquial British English. The word \"fox\" comes from Old English, which derived from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz. Compare with West Frisian foks, Dutch vos, and German Fuchs. This, in turn, derives from Proto-Indo-European *pu\u1e31- \u2018thick-haired; tail'. Compare to the Hindi p\u016b\u0303ch \u2018tail', Tocharian B p\u00e4k\u0101 \u2018tail; chowrie', and Lithuanian paust\u00ecs \u2018fur'. The bushy tail also forms the basis for the fox's Welsh name, llwynog, literally \u2018bushy', from llwyn \u2018bush'. Likewise, from rabo \u2018tail', Lithuanian uod\u1ebdgis from uodeg\u00e0 \u2018tail', and Ojibwa waagosh from waa, which refers to the up and down \"bounce\" or flickering of an animal or its tail. The scientific term vulpes derives from the Latin word for fox, and gives the adjectives vulpine and vulpecular.\nThe red fox is considered a more specialised form of Vulpes than the Afghan, corsac and Bengal foxes in the direction of size and adaptation to carnivory; the skull displays much fewer neotenous traits than in other species, and its facial area is more developed. It is, however, not as adapted for a purely carnivorous diet as the Tibetan fox.\nThe species is Eurasian in origin, and may have evolved from either Vulpes alopecoides or the related Chinese V. chikushanensis, both of which lived during the Middle Villafranchian. The earliest fossil specimens of V. vulpes were uncovered in Baranya, Hungary dating from 3.4-1.8 million years ago. The ancestral species was likely smaller than the current one, as the earliest red fox fossils are smaller than modern populations. The earliest fossil remains of the modern species date back to the mid-Pleistocene in association with the refuse of early human settlements. This has led to the theory that the red fox was hunted by primitive humans as both a source of food and pelts.\nRed foxes colonised the North American continent in two waves: during or before the Illinoian glaciation, and during the Wisconsinan glaciation. Gene mapping demonstrates that red foxes in North America have been isolated from their Old World counterparts for over 400,000 years, thus raising the possibility that speciation has occurred, and that the previous binomial name of Vulpes fulva may be valid.<ref name=\"statham2014\"> In the far north, red fox fossils have been found in Sangamonian deposits in the Fairbanks District and Medicine Hat. Fossils dating from the Wisconsian are present in 25 sites in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. Although they ranged far south during the Wisconsinan, the onset of warm conditions shrank their range toward the north, and have only recently reclaimed their former American ranges because of human-induced environmental changes. Genetic testing indicates two distinct red fox refugia exist in North America, which have been separated since the Wisconsinan. The northern (or boreal) refugium occurs in Alaska and western Canada, and consists of the large subspecies V. v. alascensis, V. v. abietorum, V. v. regalis, and V. v. rubricosa. The southern (or montane) refugium occurs in the subalpine parklands and alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada. It encompasses the subspecies V. v. macroura, V. v. cascadensis, and V. v. necator. The latter clade has been separated from all other red fox populations since the last glacial maximum, and may possess unique ecological or physiological adaptations. Although European foxes were introduced to portions of the United States in the 1900s recent genetic investigation indicates an absence of European fox haplotypes in any North American populations. Also, introduced eastern red foxes have colonized southern California, the San Joaquin Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area, but appear to have mixed with the Sacramento Valley red fox V. v. patwin only in a narrow hybrid zone. In addition, no evidence is seen of interbreeding of eastern red foxes in California with the montane Sierra Nevada red fox V. v. necator or other populations in the Intermountain West (between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges to the west.\n, 45 subspecies are recognised. In 2010, another distinct subspecies, which inhabits the grasslands of the Sacramento Valley, V. v. patwin, was identified through mitochondrial haplotype studies. Substantial gene pool mixing between different subspecies is known; British red foxes have crossbred extensively with foxes imported from Germany, France, Belgium, Sardinia, and possibly Siberia and Scandinavia. However, genetic studies suggest very little differences between red foxes sampled across Europe. Lack of genetic diversity is consistent with the red fox being a highly vagile species, with one red fox covering in under a year's time. Red fox subspecies in Eurasia and North Africa are divided into two categories: Red foxes living in Middle Asia show physical traits intermediate to the northern and southern forms. {| class=\"wikitable collapsible collapsed\" style=\"width:100%;\" !Subspecies !Trinomial authority !Description !Range !Synonyms (Nominate subspecies) communis (Burnett, 1829) lineatus (Billberg, 1827) nigro-argenteus (Nilsson, 1820) nigrocaudatus (Billberg, 1827) septentrionalis (Brass, 1911) variegates (Billberg, 1827) vulgaris (Oken, 1816) beringensis (Merriam, 1902) kamtschadensis (Brass, 1911) kamtschatica (Dybowski, 1922) schantaricus (Yudin, 1986) cinera (Bechstein, 1801) diluta (Ognev, 1924) europaeus (Kerr, 1792) hellenica (Douma-Petridou and Ondrias, 1980) hypomelas (Wagner, 1841) lutea (Bechstein, 1801) melanogaster (Bonaparte, 1832) meridionalis (Fitzinger, 1855) nigra (Borkhausen, 1797) stepensis (Brauner, 1914) V. v. hoole V. v. indutus V. v. japonica V. v. karagan melanotus (Pallas, 1811) pamirensis (Ognev, 1926) tarimensis (Matschie, 1907) V. v. kenaiensis himalaicus (Ogilby, 1837) ladacensis (Matschie, 1907) nepalensis (J. E. Gray, 1837) waddelli (Bonhote, 1906) anubis (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833) vulpecula (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833) V. v. ochroxantha persicus (Blanford, 1875) deletrix (Bangs, 1898) rubricos (Churcher, 1960) vafra (Bangs, 1897) crymensis (Brauner, 1914)\nThe red fox has an elongated body and relatively short limbs. The tail, which is longer than half the body length (70 per cent of head and body length), is fluffy and reaches the ground when in a standing position. Their pupils are oval and vertically oriented. Nictitating membranes are present, but move only when the eyes are closed. The forepaws have five digits, while the hind feet have only four and lack dewclaws. They are very agile, being capable of jumping over 2-m-high fences, and swim well. Vixens normally have four pairs of teats, though vixens with seven, nine, or ten teats are not uncommon. The testes of males are smaller than those of Arctic foxes. Their skulls are fairly narrow and elongated, with small braincases. Their canine teeth are relatively long. Sexual dimorphism of the skull is more pronounced than in corsac foxes, with female red foxes tending to have smaller skulls than males, with wider nasal regions and hard palates, as well as having larger canines. Their skulls are distinguished from those of dogs by their narrower muzzles, less crowded premolars, more slender canine teeth, and concave rather than convex profiles.\nRed foxes are the largest species of the genus Vulpes. However, relative to dimensions, red foxes are much lighter than similarly sized dogs of the genus Canis. Their limb bones, for example, weigh 30 percent less per unit area of bone than expected for similarly sized dogs. They display significant individual, sexual, age and geographical variation in size. On average, adults measure high at the shoulder and  in body length with tails measuring . The ears measure 7.7\u201312.5 cm (3\u20135 in) and the hind feet 12\u201318.5 cm (5\u20137 in). Weights range from, with vixens typically weighing 15\u201320% less than males. Adult red foxes have skulls measuring, while those of vixens measure . The forefoot print measures in length and  in width, while the hind foot print measures  long and  wide. They trot at a speed of 6\u201313 km/h, and have a maximum running speed of 50 km/h. They have a stride of when walking at a normal pace. North American red foxes are generally lightly built, with comparatively long bodies for their mass and have a high degree of sexual dimorphism. British red foxes are heavily built, but short, while continental European red foxes are closer to the general average among red fox populations. The largest red fox on record in Great Britain was a 17.2 kg (38.1 lbs), long male, killed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in early 2012.\nThe winter fur is dense, soft, silky and relatively long. For the northern foxes, the fur is very long, dense and fluffy, but is shorter, sparser and coarser in southern forms. Among northern foxes, the North American varieties generally have the silkiest guard hairs, while most Eurasian red foxes have coarser fur. There are three main colour morphs; red, silver/black and cross (see Mutations). In the typical red morph, their coats are generally bright reddish-rusty with yellowish tints. A stripe of weak, diffuse patterns of many brown-reddish-chestnut hairs occurs along the spine. Two additional stripes pass down the shoulder blades, which, together with the spinal stripe, form a cross. The lower back is often a mottled silvery colour. The flanks are lighter coloured than the back, while the chin, lower lips, throat and front of the chest are white. The remaining lower surface of the body is dark, brown or reddish. During lactation, the belly fur of vixens may turn brick red. The upper parts of the limbs are rusty reddish, while the paws are black. The frontal part of the face and upper neck is bright brownish-rusty red, while the upper lips are white. The backs of the ears are black or brownish-reddish, while the inner surface is whitish. The top of the tail is brownish-reddish, but lighter in colour than the back and flanks. The underside of the tail is pale grey with a straw-coloured tint. A black spot, the location of the supracaudal gland, is usually present at the base of the tail. The tip of the tail is white.\nAtypical colourations in red foxes usually represent stages toward full melanism, and mostly occur in cold regions.\nRed foxes have binocular vision, but their sight reacts mainly to movement. Their auditory perception is acute, being able to hear black grouse changing roosts at 600 paces, the flight of crows at and the squeaking of mice at about 100 m. They are capable of locating sounds to within one degree at 700\u20133,000 Hz, though less accurately at higher frequencies. Their sense of smell is good, but weaker than that of specialised dogs.\nRed foxes have a pair of anal sacs lined by sebaceous glands, both of which open through a single duct. The anal sacs act as fermentation chambers in which aerobic and anaerobic bacteria convert sebum into odorous compounds, including aliphatic acids. The oval-shaped caudal gland is long and  wide, and reportedly smells of violets. The presence of foot glands is equivocal. The interdigital cavities are deep, with a reddish tinge and smell strongly. Sebaceous glands are present on the angle of the jaw and mandible.\nRed foxes either establish stable home ranges within particular areas or are itinerant with no fixed abode. They use their urine to mark their territories. A male fox raises one hind leg and his urine is sprayed forward in front of him, whereas a female fox squats down so that the urine is sprayed in the ground between the hind legs. Urine is also used to mark empty cache sites, used to store found food, as reminders not to waste time investigating them. The use of up to 12 different urination postures allows them to precisely control the position of the scent mark. Red foxes live in family groups sharing a joint territory. In favourable habitats and/or areas with low hunting pressure, subordinate foxes may be present in a range. Subordinate foxes may number one or two, sometimes up to eight in one territory. These subordinates could be formerly dominant animals, but are mostly young from the previous year, who act as helpers in rearing the breeding vixen's kits. Alternatively, their presence has been explained as being in response to temporary surpluses of food unrelated to assisting reproductive success. Non-breeding vixens will guard, play, groom, provision and retrieve kits, an example of kin selection. Red foxes may leave their families once they reach adulthood if the chances of winning a territory of their own are high. If not, they will stay with their parents, at the cost of postponing their own reproduction.\nRed foxes reproduce once a year in spring. Two months prior to oestrus (typically December), the reproductive organs of vixens change shape and size. By the time they enter their oestrus period, their uterine horns double in size, and their ovaries grow 1.5\u20132 times larger. Sperm formation in males begins in August\u2013September, with the testicles attaining their greatest weight in December\u2013February. The vixen's oestrus period lasts three weeks, during which the dog-foxes mate with the vixens for several days, often in burrows. Copulation is accompanied by a copulatory tie, which may last for more than an hour. The copulatory tie occurs when the male's bulbus glandis enlarges. The gestation period lasts 49\u201358 days. Though foxes are largely monogamous, DNA evidence from one population indicated large levels of polygyny, incest and mixed paternity litters. Subordinate vixens may become pregnant, but usually fail to whelp, or have their kits killed postpartum by either the dominant female or other subordinates. The average litter size consists of four to six kits, though litters of up to 13 kits have occurred. Large litters are typical in areas where fox mortality is high. Kits are born blind, deaf and toothless, with dark brown fluffy fur. At birth, they weigh and measure  in body length and  in tail length. At birth, they are short-legged, large-headed and have broad chests. Mothers remain with the kits for 2\u20133 weeks, as they are unable to thermoregulate. During this period, the fathers or barren vixens feed the mothers. Vixens are very protective of their kits, and have been known to even fight off terriers in their defence. If the mother dies before the kits are independent, the father takes over as their provider. The kits' eyes open after 13\u201315 days, during which time their ear canals open and their upper teeth erupt, with the lower teeth emerging 3\u20134 days later. Their eyes are initially blue, but change to amber at 4\u20135 weeks. Coat colour begins to change at three weeks of age, when the black eye streak appears. By one month, red and white patches are apparent on their faces. During this time, their ears erect and their muzzles elongate. Kits begin to leave their dens and experiment with solid food brought by their parents at the age of 3\u20134 weeks. The lactation period lasts 6\u20137 weeks. Their woolly coats begin to be coated by shiny guard hairs after 8 weeks. By the age of 3\u20134 months, the kits are long-legged, narrow-chested and sinewy. They reach adult proportions at the age of 6\u20137 months. Some vixens may reach sexual maturity at the age of 9\u201310 months, thus bearing their first litters at one year of age. In captivity, their longevity can be as long as 15 years, though in the wild they typically do not survive past 5 years of age.\nOutside the breeding season, most red foxes favour living in the open, in densely vegetated areas, though they may enter burrows to escape bad weather. Their burrows are often dug on hill or mountain slopes, ravines, bluffs, steep banks of water bodies, ditches, depressions, gutters, in rock clefts and neglected human environments. Red foxes prefer to dig their burrows on well drained soils. Dens built among tree roots can last for decades, while those dug on the steppes last only several years. They may permanently abandon their dens during mange outbreaks, possibly as a defence mechanism against the spread of disease. In the Eurasian desert regions, foxes may use the burrows of wolves, porcupines and other large mammals, as well as those dug by gerbil colonies. Compared to burrows constructed by Arctic foxes, badgers, marmots and corsac foxes, red fox dens are not overly complex. Red fox burrows are divided into a den and temporary burrows, which consist only of a small passage or cave for concealment. The main entrance of the burrow leads downwards (40\u201345\u00b0) and broadens into a den, from which numerous side tunnels branch. Burrow depth ranges from, rarely extending to ground water. The main passage can reach in length, standing an average of . In spring, red foxes clear their dens of excess soil through rapid movements, first with the forepaws then with kicking motions with their hind legs, throwing the discarded soil over from the burrow. When kits are born, the discarded debris is trampled, thus forming a spot where the kits can play and receive food. They may share their dens with woodchucks or badgers. Unlike badgers, which fastidiously clean their earths and defecate in latrines, red foxes habitually leave pieces of prey around their dens. > The average sleep time of a captive red fox is 9.8 hours per day.\nRed fox body language consists of movements of the ears, tail and postures, with their body markings emphasising certain gestures. Postures can be divided into aggressive/dominant and fearful/submissive categories. Some postures may blend the two together. Inquisitive foxes will rotate and flick their ears whilst sniffing. Playful individuals will perk their ears and rise on their hind legs. Male foxes courting females, or after successfully evicting intruders, will turn their ears outwardly, and raise their tails in a horizontal position, with the tips raised upward. When afraid, red foxes grin in submission, arching their backs, curving their bodies, crouching their legs and lashing their tails back and forth with their ears pointing backwards and pressed against their skulls. When merely expressing submission to a dominant animal, the posture is similar, but without arching the back or curving the body. Submissive foxes will approach dominant animals in a low posture, so that their muzzles reach up in greeting. When two evenly matched foxes confront each other over food, they approach each other sideways and push against each other's flanks, betraying a mixture of fear and aggression through lashing tails and arched backs without crouching and pulling their ears back without flattening them against their skulls. When launching an assertive attack, red foxes approach directly rather than sideways, with their tails aloft and their ears rotated sideways. During such fights, red foxes will stand on each other's upper bodies with their forelegs, using open mouthed threats. Such fights typically only occur among juveniles or adults of the same sex.\nRed foxes have a wide vocal range, and produce different sounds spanning five octaves, which grade into each other. Recent analyses identify 12 different sounds produced by adults and 8 by kits. The majority of sounds can be divided into \"contact\" and \"interaction\" calls. The former vary according to the distance between individuals, while the latter vary according to the level of aggression. Another call that does not fit into the two categories is a long, drawn out, monosyllabic \"waaaaah\" sound. As it is commonly heard during the breeding season, it is thought to be emitted by vixens summoning males. When danger is detected, foxes emit a monosyllabic bark. At close quarters, it is a muffled cough, while at long distances it is sharper. Kits make warbling whimpers when nursing, these calls being especially loud when they are dissatisfied.\nRed foxes are omnivores with a highly varied diet. In the former Soviet Union, up to 300 animal and a few dozen plant species are known to be consumed by them. They primarily feed on small rodents like voles, mice, ground squirrels, hamsters, gerbils, woodchucks, pocket gophers and deer mice. Secondary prey species include birds (with passeriformes, galliformes and waterfowl predominating), leporids, porcupines, raccoons, opossums, reptiles, insects, other invertebrates and flotsam (marine mammals, fish and echinoderms). On very rare occasions, foxes may attack young or small ungulates. They typically target mammals up to about in weight, and they require 500 g of food daily. Red foxes readily eat plant material, and in some areas fruit can amount to 100% of their diet in autumn. Commonly consumed fruits include blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, persimmons, mulberries, apples, plums, grapes, and acorns. Other plant material includes grasses, sedges and tubers. Red foxes are implicated in the predation of game and song birds, hares, rabbits, muskrats, and young ungulates, particularly in preserves, reserves, and hunting farms where ground nesting birds are protected and raised, as well as in poultry farms. While the popular consensus is that olfaction is very important for hunting, two studies that experimentally investigated the role of olfactory, auditory, and visual cues found that visual cues are the most important ones for hunting in red foxes and coyotes. Red foxes prefer to hunt in the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening. Although they typically forage alone, they may aggregate in resource-rich environments. When hunting mouse-like prey, they first pinpoint their prey's location by sound, then leap, sailing high above their quarry, steering in mid-air with their tails, before landing on target up to 5 m away. They typically only feed on carrion in the late evening hours and at night. They are extremely possessive of their food and will defend their catches from even dominant animals. Red foxes may occasionally commit acts of surplus killing; during one breeding season, four foxes were recorded to have killed around 200 black-headed gulls each, with peaks during dark, windy hours when flying conditions were unfavorable. Losses to poultry and penned game birds can be substantial because of this. Red foxes seem to dislike the taste of moles but will nonetheless catch them alive and present them to their kits as playthings. A 2008\u20132010 study of 84 red foxes in the Czech Republic and Germany found that successful hunting in long vegetation or under snow appeared to involve an alignment of the fox with the Earth's magnetic field.\nRed foxes typically dominate other fox species. Arctic foxes generally escape competition from red foxes by living farther north, where food is too scarce to support the larger-bodied red species. Although the red species' northern limit is linked to the availability of food, the Arctic species' southern range is limited by the presence of the former. Red and Arctic foxes were both introduced to almost every island from the Aleutian Islands to the Alexander Archipelago during the 1830s\u20131930s by fur companies. The red foxes invariably displaced the Arctic foxes, with one male red fox having been reported to have killed off all resident Arctic foxes on a small island in 1866. Where they are sympatric, Arctic foxes may also escape competition by feeding on lemmings and flotsam, rather than voles, as favoured by red foxes. Both species will kill each other's kits, given the opportunity. Red foxes are serious competitors of corsac foxes, as they hunt the same prey all year. The red species is also stronger, is better adapted to hunting in snow deeper than and is more effective in hunting and catching medium to large-sized rodents. Corsac foxes seem to only outcompete red foxes in semi-desert and steppe areas. In Israel, Blanford's foxes escape competition with red foxes by restricting themselves to rocky cliffs and actively avoiding the open plains inhabited by red foxes. Red foxes dominate kit and swift foxes. Kit foxes usually avoid competition with their larger cousins by living in more arid environments, though red foxes have been increasing in ranges formerly occupied by kit foxes due to human-induced environmental changes. Red foxes will kill both species, and compete for food and den sites. Grey foxes are exceptional, as they dominate red foxes wherever their ranges meet. Historically, interactions between the two species were rare, as grey foxes favoured heavily wooded or semiarid habitats as opposed to the open and mesic ones preferred by red foxes. However, interactions have become more frequent due to deforestation allowing red foxes to colonise grey fox-inhabited areas. Wolves may kill and eat red foxes in disputes over carcasses. In areas in North America where red fox and coyote populations are sympatric, fox ranges tend to be located outside coyote territories. The principal cause of this separation is believed to be active avoidance of coyotes by the foxes. Interactions between the two species vary in nature, ranging from active antagonism to indifference. The majority of aggressive encounters are initiated by coyotes, and there are few reports of red foxes acting aggressively toward coyotes except when attacked or when their kits were approached. Foxes and coyotes have sometimes been seen feeding together. In Israel, red foxes share their habitat with golden jackals. Where their ranges meet, the two canids compete due to near identical diets. Foxes ignore jackal scents or tracks in their territories, and avoid close physical proximity with jackals themselves. In areas where jackals become very abundant, the population of foxes decreases significantly, apparently because of competitive exclusion. Red foxes dominate raccoon dogs, sometimes killing their kits or biting adults to death. Cases are known of foxes killing raccoon dogs entering their dens. Both species compete for mouse-like prey. This competition reaches a peak during early spring, when food is scarce. In Tartaria, red fox predation accounted for 11.1% of deaths among 54 raccoon dogs, and amounted to 14.3% of 186 raccoon dog deaths in north-western Russia. Red foxes may kill small mustelids like weasels, stone martens, pine martens, stoats, kolonoks, polecats and young sables. Eurasian badgers may live alongside red foxes in isolated sections of large burrows. It is possible that the two species tolerate each other out of mutualism; foxes provide badgers with food scraps, while badgers maintain the shared burrow's cleanliness. However, cases are known of badgers driving vixens from their dens and destroying their litters without eating them. Wolverines may kill red foxes, often while the latter are sleeping or near carrion. Foxes in turn may kill unattended young wolverines. Red foxes may compete with striped hyenas on large carcasses. Red foxes may give way to hyenas on unopened carcasses, as the latter's stronger jaws can easily tear open flesh that is too tough for foxes. Foxes may harass hyenas, using their smaller size and greater speed to avoid the hyena's attacks. Sometimes, foxes seem to deliberately torment hyenas even when there is no food at stake. Some foxes may mistime their attacks, and are killed. Fox remains are often found in hyena dens, and hyenas may steal foxes from traps. In Eurasia, red foxes may be preyed upon by leopards, caracals and Eurasian lynxes. The lynxes chase red foxes into deep snow, where their longer legs and larger paws give them an advantage over foxes, especially when the depth of the snow exceeds one metre. In the Velikoluki district in Russia, red foxes are absent or are seen only occasionally where lynxes establish permanent territories. Researchers consider lynxes to represent considerably less danger to red foxes than wolves do. North American felid predators of red foxes include cougars, Canadian lynxes and bobcats. Occasionally, large raptors such as Eurasian eagle owls will prey on young foxes, while golden eagles have been known to kill adults.\nRed foxes are wide-ranging animals, whose range covers nearly 70 million km 2 (27 million mi 2 ). They are distributed across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and Asia. They are absent in Iceland, the Arctic islands, some parts of Siberia, and in extreme deserts. Red foxes are not present in New Zealand and are classed as a \"prohibited new organism\" under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing them from being imported.\nIn Australia, 2012 estimates indicate that there are more than 7.2 million red foxes with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland. The species became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s in the British colonies of Van Diemen's Land (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (as early as 1845) for the purpose of the traditional English sport of fox hunting. A permanent fox population was not established on the island of Tasmania and it is widely held that they were outcompeted by the Tasmanian devil. On the mainland, however, the species was successful as an apex predator. It is generally less common in areas where the dingo is more prevalent, however it has, primarily through its burrowing behaviour, achieved niche differentiation with both the feral dog and the feral cat. As such it has become one of the continent's most invasive species. The red fox has been implicated in the extinction and decline of several native Australian species, particularly those of the family Potoroidae including the desert rat-kangaroo. The spread of red foxes across the southern part of the continent has coincided with the spread of rabbits in Australia and corresponds with declines in the distribution of several medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals, including brush-tailed bettongs, burrowing bettongs, rufous bettongs, bilbys, numbats, bridled nailtail wallabys and quokkas. Most of these species are now limited to areas (such as islands) where red foxes are absent or rare. Local eradication programs exist, although eradication has proven difficult due to the denning behaviour and nocturnal hunting, so the focus is on management with the introduction of state bounties. According to the Tasmanian government, red foxes were introduced to the previously fox-free island of Tasmania in 1999 or 2000, posing a significant threat to native wildlife including the eastern bettong, and an eradication program conducted by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water has been established.\nThe origin of the Sardinian ichnusae subspecies is uncertain, as it is absent from Pleistocene deposits in their current homeland. It is possible it originated during the Neolithic following its introduction to the island by humans. It is likely then that Sardinian fox populations stem from repeated introductions of animals from different localities in the Mediterranean. This latter theory may explain the subspecies' phenotypic diversity.\nRed foxes are the most important rabies vector in Europe. In London, arthritis is not uncommon in foxes, being particularly frequent in the spine. Foxes may be infected with leptospirosis and tularemia, though they are not overly susceptible to the latter. They may also fall ill from listeriosis and spirochetosis, as well as acting as vectors in spreading erysipelas, brucellosis and tick-born encephalitis. A mysterious fatal disease near Lake Sartlan in the Novosibirsk Oblast was noted among local red foxes, but the cause was undetermined. The possibility was considered that it was caused by an acute form of encephalomyelitis, which was first observed in captive bred silver foxes. Individual cases of foxes infected with Yersinia pestis are known. Red foxes are not readily prone to infestation with fleas. Species like Spilopsyllus cuniculi are probably only caught from the fox's prey species, while others like Archaeopsylla erinacei are caught whilst travelling. Fleas that feed on red foxes include Pulex irritans, Ctenocephalides canis and Paraceras melis. Ticks such as Ixodes ricinus and I. hexagonus are not uncommon in foxes, and are typically found on nursing vixens and kits still in their earths. The louse Trichodectes vulpis specifically targets foxes, but is found infrequently. The mite Sarcoptes scabiei is the most important cause of mange in red foxes. It causes extensive hair loss, starting from the base of the tail and hindfeet, then the rump before moving on to the rest of the body. In the final stages of the condition, foxes can lose most of their fur, 50% of their body weight and may gnaw at infected extremities. In the epizootic phase of the disease, it usually takes foxes four months to die after infection. Other endoparasites include Demodex folliculorum, Notoderes, Otodectes cynotis (which is frequently found in the ear canal), Linguatula serrata (which infects the nasal passages) and ringworms. Up to 60 helminth species are known to infect foxes in fur farms, while 20 are known in the wild. Several coccidian species of the genera Isospora and Eimeria are also known to infect them. The most common nematode species found in fox guts are Toxocara canis and Uncinaria stenocephala, Capillaria aerophila and Crenosoma vulpis, the latter two infect their lungs. Capillaria plica infect the fox's bladder. Trichinella spiralis rarely affects them. The most common tapeworm species in foxes are Taenia spiralis and T. pisiformis. Others include Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis. Eleven trematode species infect red foxes, including ''Metorchis conjunctus.\nRed foxes feature prominently in the folklore and mythology of human cultures with which they are sympatric. In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox or Cadmean vixen, was a gigantic fox that was destined never to be caught. The fox was one of the children of Echidna. In Celtic mythology, the red fox is a symbolic animal. In the Cotswolds, witches were thought to take the shape of foxes to steal butter from their neighbours. In later European folklore, the figure of Reynard the Fox symbolises trickery and deceit. He originally appeared (then under the name of \"Reinardus\") as a secondary character in the 1150 poem \"Ysengrimus\". He reappeared in 1175 in Pierre Saint Cloud's Le Roman de Renart, and made his debut in England in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Nun's Priest's Tale''. Many of Reynard's adventures may stem from actual observations on fox behaviour; he is an enemy of the wolf and has a fondness for blackberries and grapes. Chinese folk tales tell of fox-spirits called huli jing that may have up to nine tails, or kumiho as they are known in Korea. In Japanese mythology, the kitsune are fox-like spirits possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others, other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. In Arab folklore, the fox is considered a cowardly, weak, deceitful, and cunning animal, said to feign death by filling its abdomen with air to appear bloated, then lies on its side, awaiting the approach of unwitting prey. The animal's cunning was noted by the authors of the Bible, and applied the word \"fox\" to false prophets (Ezekiel 13:4) and the hypocrisy of Herod Antipas (Luke 13:32). The cunning Fox is commonly found in Native American mythology, where it is portrayed as an almost constant companion to Coyote. Fox, however, is a deceitful companion that often steals Coyote's food. In the Achomawi creation myth, Fox and Coyote are the co-creators of the world, that leave just before the arrival of humans. The Yurok tribe believed that Fox, in anger, captured the sun, and tied him to a hill, causing him to burn a great hole in the ground. An Inuit story tells of how Fox, portrayed as a beautiful woman, tricks a hunter into marrying her, only to resume her true form and leave after he offends her. A Menominee story tells of how Fox is an untrustworthy friend to the Wolf.\nThe earliest historical records of fox hunting come from the fourth century BC; Alexander the Great is known to have hunted foxes and a seal dated from 350 BC depicts a Persian horseman in the process of spearing a fox. Xenophon, who viewed hunting as part of a cultured man's education, advocated the killing of foxes as pests, as they distracted hounds from hares. The Romans were hunting foxes by 80 AD. During the Dark Ages in Europe, foxes were considered secondary quarries, but gradually grew in importance. Cnut the Great reclassed foxes as Beasts of the Chase, a lower category of quarry than Beasts of Venery. Foxes were gradually hunted less as vermin and more as Beasts of the Chase, to the point that by the late 1200s, Edward I had a royal pack of foxhounds and a specialised fox huntsman. In this period, foxes were increasingly hunted above ground with hounds, rather than underground with terriers. Edward, Second Duke of York assisted the climb of foxes as more prestigious quarries in his The Master of Game. By the Renaissance, fox hunting became a traditional sport of the nobility. After the English Civil War caused a drop in deer populations, fox hunting grew in popularity. By the mid-1600s, Britain was divided into fox hunting territories, with the first fox hunting clubs being formed (the first was the Charlton Hunt Club in 1737). The popularity of fox hunting in Britain reached a peak during the 1700s. Although already native to North America, red foxes from England were imported for sporting purposes to Virginia and Maryland in 1730 by prosperous tobacco planters. These American fox hunters considered the red species more sporting than grey species. Red foxes are still widely persecuted as pests, with human-caused deaths among the highest causes of mortality in the species. Annual fox kills are: UK 21,500\u201325,000 (2000); Germany 600,000 (2000\u20132001); Austria 58,000 (2000\u20132001); Sweden 58,000 (1999\u20132000); Finland 56,000 (2000\u20132001); Denmark 50,000 (1976\u20131977); Switzerland 34,832 (2001); Norway 17,000 (2000\u20132001); Saskatchewan (Canada) 2,000 (2000\u20132001); Nova Scotia (Canada) 491 (2000\u20132001); Minnesota (US) 4,000-8,000 (average annual trapping harvest 2002-2009); New Mexico (US) 69 (1999\u20132000).\nRed foxes are among the most important furbearing animals harvested by the fur trade. Their pelts are used for trimmings, scarfs, muffs, jackets and coats. They are principally used as trimming for both cloth coats and fur garments, including evening wraps. The pelts of silver-morph foxes are popular as capes, while cross foxes are mostly used for scarves and rarely for trimming. The number of sold fox scarves exceeds the total number of scarves made from other furbearers. However, this amount is overshadowed by the total number of fox pelts used for trimming purposes. The silver morphs are the most valued by furriers, followed by the cross and red morphs respectively. > In the early 1900s, over 1,000 American fox skins were imported to Britain annually, while 500,000 were exported annually from Germany and Russia. The total worldwide trade of wild red foxes in 1985\u201386 was 1,543,995 pelts. Foxes amounted to 45% of US wild-caught pelts worth $50 million. Pelt prices are increasing, with 2012 North American wholesale auction prices averaging $39, and 2013 prices averaging $65.78. North American red foxes, particularly those of northern Alaska, are the most valued for their fur, as they have guard hairs of a silky texture, which, after dressing, allow the wearer unrestricted mobility. Red foxes living in southern Alaska's coastal areas and the Aleutian Islands are an exception, as they have extremely coarse pelts that rarely exceed one-third of the price of their northern Alaskan cousins. Most European peltries have coarse-textured fur compared to North American varieties. The only exceptions are the Nordic and Far Eastern Russian peltries, but they are still inferior to North American peltries in terms of silkiness.\nRed foxes may on occasions prey on lambs. Usually, lambs targeted by foxes tend to be physically weakened specimens, but not invariably. Lambs belonging to small breeds, such as Blackface, are more vulnerable than larger breeds such as Merino. Twins may be more vulnerable to foxes than singlets, as ewes cannot effectively defend both simultaneously. Crossbreeding small, upland ewes with larger, lowland rams can cause difficult and prolonged labour for ewes due to the heaviness of the resulting offspring, thus making the lambs more at risk to fox predation. Lambs born from gimmers (ewes breeding for the first time) are more often killed by foxes than those of experienced mothers, who stick closer to their young. Red foxes may prey on domestic rabbits and guinea pigs if they are kept in open runs or are allowed to range freely in gardens. This problem is usually averted by housing them in robust hutches and runs. Urban foxes frequently encounter cats and may feed alongside them. In physical confrontations, the cats usually have the upper hand. Authenticated cases of foxes killing cats usually involve kittens. Although most foxes do not prey on cats, some may do so, and may treat them more as competitors rather than food.\nIn their unmodified wild state, red foxes are generally unsuitable as pets. Many supposedly abandoned kits are adopted by well-meaning people during the spring period, though it is unlikely that vixens would abandon their young. Actual orphans are rare, and the ones that are adopted are likely kits that simply strayed from their den site. Kits require almost constant supervision; when still suckling, they require milk at four-hour intervals day and night. Once weaned, they may become destructive to leather objects, furniture and electric cables. Though generally friendly toward people when young, captive red foxes become fearful of humans, save for their handlers, once they reach 10 weeks of age. They maintain their wild counterpart's strong instinct of concealment, and may pose a threat to domestic birds, even when well fed. Although suspicious of strangers, they can form bonds with cats and dogs, even ones bred for fox hunting. Practical uses for tame foxes are few, though they can be encouraged to kill rats and mice in granaries. Tame foxes were once used to draw ducks close to hunting blinds. A strain of truly domesticated red foxes was introduced by Russian geneticist Dmitry Konstantinovich Belyaev who, over a 40-year period, bred several generations of silver morph foxes on fur farms, selecting only those individuals that showed the least fear of humans. Eventually, Belyaev's team selected only those that showed the most positive response to humans, thus resulting in a population of foxes whose behaviour and appearance was significantly changed. After about ten generations of controlled breeding, these foxes no longer showed any fear of humans, and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. These behavioural changes were accompanied by physical alterations, which included piebald coats, floppy ears in pups, and curled tails, similar to traits that distinguish domestic dogs from wolves.\nRed foxes have been successful in colonising built-up environments, especially lower-density suburbs. Throughout the twentieth century, they established themselves in many Australian, European, Japanese, and North American cities. The species first colonised British cities during the 1930s, entering Bristol and London during the 1940s, and later established themselves in Cambridge and Norwich. In Australia, red foxes were recorded in Melbourne as early as the 1930s, while in Zurich, Switzerland, they only starting appearing in the 1980s. Urban red foxes are most common in residential suburbs consisting of privately owned, low-density housing. They are rare in areas where industry, commerce or council-rented houses predominate. In these latter areas, the distribution is of a lower average density because they rely less on human resources; the home range of these foxes average from 80 to 90 hectares, whereas those in more residential areas average from 25 to 40 hectares. In 2006 it was estimated that there were 10,000 foxes in London. City-dwelling foxes may have the potential to consistently grow larger than their rural counterparts, as a result of abundant scraps and a relative dearth of predators. In cities foxes may scavenge food from litter bins and bin bags, although much of their diet will be similar to rural foxes.\nUrban red foxes are most active at dusk and dawn, doing most of their hunting and scavenging at these times. It is uncommon to spot them during the day, but they can be caught sunbathing on roofs of houses or sheds. Foxes will often make their homes in hidden and undisturbed spots in urban areas as well as on the edges of a city, visiting at night for sustenance. While foxes will scavenge successfully in the city (and the foxes tend to eat anything that the humans eat) some urban residents will deliberately leave food out for the animals, finding them endearing. Doing this regularly can attract foxes to one's home; they can become accustomed to human presence, warming up to their providers by allowing themselves to be approached and in some cases even played with, particularly young cubs.\nUrban foxes can cause problems for local residents. Foxes have been known to steal chickens, disrupt rubbish bins and damage gardens. Most complaints about urban foxes made to local authorities occur during the breeding season in late January/early February or from late April to August, when the new cubs are developing. In the UK, hunting foxes in urban areas is banned, and shooting them in an urban environment is not suitable. One alternative to hunting urban foxes has been to trap them, which appears to be a more viable method. However, killing foxes has little effect on the population in an urban area; those that are killed are very soon replaced, either by new cubs during the breeding season or by other foxes moving into the territory of those that were killed. A more effective method of fox control is to deter them from the specific areas they inhabit. Deterrents such as creosote, diesel oil, or ammonia can be used. Cleaning up and blocking access to den locations can also discourage a fox's return.\nIn January 2014 it was reported that \"Fleet\", a relatively tame urban fox tracked as part of a wider study by the University of Brighton in partnership with the BBC's Winterwatch, had unexpectedly travelled 195 miles in 21 days from his neighbourhood in Hove, at the western edge of East Sussex, across rural countryside as far as Rye, at the eastern edge of the county. He was still continuing his journey when the GPS collar stopped transmitting, due to suspected water damage. Along with setting a record for the longest journey undertaken by a tracked fox in the United Kingdom, his travels have highlighted the fluidity of movement between rural and urban fox populations.\n"
        },
        "1052": {
            "common": "Fox, bat-eared",
            "family": "Otocyon megalotis",
            "id": 1052,
            "text": "The bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) is a species of fox found on the African savanna, named for its large ears, which are used for thermoregulation. Fossil records show this canid first appeared during the middle Pleistocene, about 800,000 years ago. It is considered a basal canid species, resembling ancestral forms of the family. The bat-eared fox (also referred to as big-eared fox, black-eared fox, cape fox, and Delalande\u2019s fox) has tawny fur with black ears, legs, and parts of the pointed face. It averages 55 cm in length (head and body), with ears 13 cm long. It is the only species in the genus Otocyon. The name Otocyon is derived from the Greek words otus for ear and cyon for dog, while the specific name megalotis comes from the Greek words mega for large and otus for ear.\nTwo allopatric populations (subspecies) occur in Africa. O. m. virgatus occurs from Ethiopia and southern Sudan to Tanzania. The other population, O. m. megalotis, occurs in the southern part of Africa. It ranges from southern Zambia and Angola to South Africa, and extends as far east as Mozambique and Zimbabwe, spreading into the Cape Peninsula and toward Cape Agulhas. Home ranges vary in size from 0.3 to 3.5 km 2 .\nThe bat-eared fox commonly occurs in short grasslands, as well as the more arid regions of the savanna. It prefers bare ground and areas where grass is kept short by grazing ungulates. It tends to hunt in these short grass and low shrub habitats. However, it does venture into areas with tall grasses and thick shrubs to hide when threatened. In addition to raising their young in dens, bat-eared foxes use self-dug dens for shelter from extreme temperatures and winds. They also lie under acacia trees in South Africa to seek shade during the day.\nThe bat-eared fox is predominantly an insectivore that uses its large ears to locate its prey. About 80&ndash;90% of their diet is harvester termites (Hodotermes mossambicus). When this particular species of termite is not available, they feed on other species of termites and have also been observed consuming other arthropods such as ants, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, millipedes, moths, scorpions, spiders, and rarely birds, small mammals, reptiles, and fungi (the desert truffle Kalaharituber pfeilii ). The insects they eat fulfill the majority of their water intake needs. The bat-eared fox refuses to feed on snouted harvester termites, likely because it is not adapted to tolerate termites\u2019 chemical defense.\nThe teeth of the bat-eared fox are much smaller and reduced in shearing surface formation than teeth of other canid species. This is an adaptation to its insectivorous diet. Due to its unusual teeth, the bat-eared fox was once considered as a distinct subfamily of canids (Otocyoninae). However, according to more recent examinations, it is more closely related to the true foxes of the genus Vulpes. Other research places the genus as an outgroup which is not very closely related to foxes. The bat-eared fox is an old species that was widely distributed in the Pleistocene era. The teeth are not the bat-eared fox's only morphological adaptation for its diet. The lower jaw has a step-like protrusion called the subangular process, which anchors the large muscle to allow for rapid chewing. The digastric muscle is also modified to open and close the jaw five times per second.\nIndividuals usually hunt in groups, mostly in pairs and groups of three. Individuals forage as singles after family groups break in June or July and during the months after cub birth. Prey is located primarily by auditory means, rather than by smell or sight. Foraging patterns vary between seasons and coincide with termite availability. In the midsummer, individuals begin foraging at sunset, continuing throughout the night, and fading into the early morning; foraging is almost exclusively diurnal during the winter. Foraging usually occurs in patches, which match the clumped prey resources, such as termite colonies, that also occur in patches. Groups are able to forage on clumps of prey in patches because they do not fight each other for food due to their degree of sociality and lack of territoriality.\nIn the more northern areas of its range (around Serengeti), they are nocturnal 85% of the time. However, around South Africa, they are nocturnal only in the summer and diurnal during the winter. Bat-eared foxes are highly social animals. They often live in pairs or groups of up to 15 individuals, and home ranges of groups either overlap substantially or very little. Individuals forage, play, and rest together in a group, which helps in protection against predators. Social grooming occurs throughout the year, mostly between mature adults, but also between young adults and mature adults. Visual displays are very important in communication among bat-eared foxes. When they are looking intently at something, the head is held high, eyes are open, ears are erect and facing forward, and the mouth is closed. When an individual is in threat or showing submission, the ears are pulled back and lying against the head and the head is low. The tail also plays a role in communication. When an individual is asserting dominance or aggression, feeling threatened, playing, or being sexually aroused, the tail is arched in an inverted U shape. Individuals can also use piloerection, which occurs when individual hairs are standing straight, to make it appear larger when faced with extreme threat. When running, chasing, or fleeing, the tail is straight and horizontal. The bat-eared fox can recognize individuals up to 30 m away. The recognition process has three steps: First they ignore the individual, then they stare intently, and finally they either approach or attack without displays. When greeting another, the approaching individual shows symbolic submission which is received by the other individual with a high head and tail down. Few vocalizations are used for communication, but contact calls and warning calls are used, mostly during the winter. Glandular secretions and scratching, other than for digging, are absent in communication.\nThe bat-eared fox is predominantly socially monogamous, although it has been observed in polygynous groups. In contrast to other canids, the bat-eared fox has a reversal in parental roles, with the male taking on the majority of the parental care behavior. Females gestate for 60\u201370 days and give birth to litters consisting of one to six kits. Beyond lactation, which lasts 14 to 15 weeks, males take over grooming, defending, huddling, chaperoning, and carrying the young between den sites. Additionally, male care and den attendance rates have been shown to have a direct correlation with cub survival rates. The female forages for food, which she uses to maintain milk production, on which the pups heavily depend. Food foraged by the female is not brought back to the pups or regurgitated to feed the pups. Pups in the Kalahari region are born September\u2013November and those in the Botswana region are born October\u2013December. Young bat-eared foxes disperse and leave their family groups at 5\u20136 months old and reach sexual maturity at 8\u20139 months.\nThe bat-eared fox has some commercial use for humans. They are important for harvester termite population control, as the termites are considered pests. They have also been hunted for their fur by Botswana natives. Additional threats to populations include disease and drought that can harm populations of prey; however, no major threats to bat-eared fox populations exist.\n"
        },
        "1054": {
            "common": "Fox, blue",
            "family": "Alopex lagopus",
            "id": 1054,
            "text": "The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in cold environments. It has a deep thick fur which is brown in summer and white in winter. Its body length ranges from, with a generally rounded body shape to minimize the escape of body heat. The Arctic fox preys on any small creatures such as: lemmings, voles, ringed seal pups, fish, waterfowl, and seabirds. It also eats carrion, berries, seaweed, insects, and other small invertebrates. Arctic foxes form monogamous pairs during the breeding season and they stay together to raise their young in complex underground dens. Occasionally, other family members may assist in raising their young.\nThe Arctic fox lives in some of the most frigid extremes on the planet but does not start to shiver until the temperature drops to . Among its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage, which provides excellent insulation, a system of countercurrent heat exchange in the circulation within the paws to retain core temperature, and a good supply of body fat. The fox has a low surface area to volume ratio, as evidenced by its generally compact body shape, short muzzle and legs, and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the Arctic cold, less heat escapes from its body. Its paws have fur on the soles for additional insulation and to help it walk on ice. Its fur changes color with the seasons: in most populations it is white in the winter to blend in with snow, while in the summer it is greyish-brown or darker brown. In some populations, however, it is a steely bluish-gray in the winter and a paler bluish-gray in summer. The fur of the Arctic fox provides the best insulation of any mammal. The Arctic fox has such keen hearing, it can determine exactly where a small animal is moving under the snow. When it has located its prey, it pounces and punches through the snow to catch its victim.\nArctic foxes do not hibernate and are active all year round. They build up their fat reserves in the autumn, sometimes increasing their body weight by more than 50%. This provides greater insulation during the winter and a source of energy when food is scarce. They live in large dens in frost-free, slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels covering as much as and are often in eskers, long ridges of sedimentary material deposited in formerly glaciated regions. They have multiple entrances and may have been in existence for many decades and used by many generations of foxes. Arctic foxes tend to form monogamous pairs in the breeding season and maintain a territory around the den. Breeding usually takes place in April and May, and the gestation period is about 52 days. Litters tend to average five to eight kits, but exceptionally contain as many as 25 (the largest litter size in the order Carnivora). Both the mother and father help to raise the young which emerge from the den when 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age.\nArctic foxes generally eat any small animal they can find, including lemmings, voles, other rodents, hares, birds, eggs, fish, and carrion. They scavenge on carcasses left by larger predators such as wolves and polar bears, and in times of scarcity even eat their feces. In areas where they are present, lemmings are their most common prey, and a family of foxes can eat dozens of lemmings each day. In some locations in northern Canada, a high seasonal abundance of migrating birds that breed in the area may provide an important food source. On the coast of Iceland and other islands, their diet consists predominantly of birds. During April and May, the Arctic fox also preys on ringed seal pups when the young animals are confined to a snow den and are relatively helpless. They also consume berries and seaweed, so they may be considered omnivores. This fox is a significant bird-egg predator, consuming eggs of all except the largest tundra bird species. When food is overabundant, the Arctic fox buries (caches) the surplus as a reserve.\nThe average head-and-body length of the male is, with a range of , while the female averages with a range of . In some regions, no difference in size is seen between males and females. The tail is about long in both sexes. The height at the shoulder is . On average males weigh, with a range of , while females average , with a range of .\nVulpes lagopus is a 'true fox' belonging to the genus Vulpes of the fox tribe Vulpini. It is classified under the subfamily Caninae of the canid family Canidae. Although it has previously been assigned to its own monotypic genus Alopex, recent genetic evidence now places it in the genus Vulpes along with the majority of other foxes. <ref name=complete> It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758 as Canis lagopus. The type specimen was recovered from Lapland, Sweden. The generic name vulpes is Latin for \"fox\". The specific name lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek \u03bb\u03b1\u03b3\u03ce\u03c2 (lagos, \"hare\") and \u03c0\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2 (pous, \"foot\"), referring to the hair on its feet similar to those found in cold-climate species of hares.\nBesides the nominate subspecies, V. l. lagopus, four other subspecies of this fox are described:\nThe Arctic fox has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Arctic tundra habitats in northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Jan Mayen and other islands in the Barents Sea, northern Russia, islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska, and Canada as far south as Hudson Bay. In the late 19th century, it was introduced into the Aleutian Islands southwest of Alaska. It mostly inhabits tundra and pack ice, but is also present in boreal forests in Canada and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. They are found at elevations up to above sea level and have been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. The Arctic fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland. It came to the isolated North Atlantic island at the end of the last ice age, walking over the frozen sea. The Arctic Fox Center in S\u00fa\u00f0av\u00edk contains an exhibition on the Arctic fox and conducts studies on the influence of tourism on the population. Its range during the last ice age was much more extensive than it is now, and fossil remains of the Arctic fox have been found over much of northern Europe and Siberia.\nThe conservation status of the species is in general good and several hundred thousand individuals are estimated to remain in total. The IUCN has assessed it as being of \"least concern\". However, the Scandinavian mainland population is acutely endangered, despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals. As a result, the populations of arctic fox have been carefully studied and inventoried in places such as the Vindelfj\u00e4llens Nature Reserve (Sweden), which has the arctic fox as its symbol. The abundance of the Arctic fox tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings and voles (a 3- to 4-year cycle). The populations are especially vulnerable during the years when the prey population crashes, and uncontrolled trapping has almost eradicated two subpopulations. The pelts of Arctic foxes with a slate-blue coloration\u2014an expression of a recessive gene\u2014were especially valuable. They were transported to various previously fox-free Aleutian Islands during the 1920s. The program was successful in terms of increasing the population of blue foxes, but their predation of Aleutian Canada geese conflicted with the goal of preserving that species. The Arctic fox is losing ground to the larger red fox. This has been attributed to climate change\u2014the camouflage value of its lighter coat decreases with less snow cover. Red foxes dominate where their ranges begin to overlap by killing Arctic foxes and their kits. An alternate explanation of the red fox's gains involves the gray wolf. Historically, it has kept red fox numbers down, but as the wolf has been hunted to near extinction in much of its former range, the red fox population has grown larger, and it has taken over the niche of top predator. In areas of northern Europe, programs are in place that allow the hunting of red foxes in the Arctic fox's previous range. As with many other game species, the best sources of historical and large-scale population data are hunting bag records and questionnaires. Several potential sources of error occur in such data collections. In addition, numbers vary widely between years due to the large population fluctuations. However, the total population of the Arctic fox must be in the order of several hundred thousand animals. The world population of Arctic foxes is thus not endangered, but two Arctic fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island (Commander Islands, Russia), which was reduced by some 85\u201390%, to around 90 animals, as a result of mange caused by an ear tick introduced by dogs in the 1970s. The population is currently under treatment with antiparasitic drugs, but the result is still uncertain. The other threatened population is the one in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kola Peninsula). This population decreased drastically around the start of the 20th century as a result of extreme fur prices, which caused severe hunting also during population lows. The population has remained at a low density for more than 90 years, with additional reductions during the last decade. The total population estimate for 1997 is around 60 adults in Sweden, 11 adults in Finland, and 50 in Norway. From Kola, there are indications of a similar situation, suggesting a population of around 20 adults. The Fennoscandian population thus numbers around 140 breeding adults. Even after local lemming peaks, the Arctic fox population tends to collapse back to levels dangerously close to nonviability. The Arctic fox is classed as a \"prohibited new organism\" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country.\n"
        },
        "1056": {
            "common": "Fox, cape",
            "family": "Vulpes chama",
            "id": 1056,
            "text": "The Cape fox (Vulpes chama), also called the cama fox or the silver-backed fox, is a small fox. It has black or silver gray fur with flanks and underside in light yellow. The tip of its tail is always black. The Cape fox tends to be long, not including a  tail. It is tall at the shoulder, and usually weighs from .\nIt inhabits mainly open country, from open grassland plains with scattered thickets to arid to semi desert scrub, and also extending into fynbos. It is widespread in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa, occurring in most parts of the Western and Northern Cape provinces, the Eastern Cape (excluding the southeastern side), the Free State, western and northwestern KwaZulu-Natal and the North-West province. It also occurs in Lesotho, a high mountainous region.\nThe Cape fox is nocturnal and most active just before dawn or after dusk; it can be spotted during the early mornings and early evenings. During the day, it typically shelters in burrows underground, holes, hollows, or dense thickets. It is an active digger that will excavate its own burrow, although it generally modifies an abandoned burrow of another species, such as the springhare, to its specific requirements. They are solitary creatures, and although they form mated pairs, the males and females are often found alone, as they tend to forage separately. They are not especially territorial but will mark their territories with a pungent scent. Although a normally silent fox, the Cape fox is known to communicate with soft calls, whines or chirps. However, it will utter a loud bark when alarmed. When in an aggressive mood, the Cape fox is known to growl and spit at its attacker. To show its excitement, the fox lifts its tail, the height of the tail often indicating the measure of excitement.\nCape foxes are omnivorous and will eat plants or animals. Although they prefer invertebrates and small mammals such as rodents, they are opportunists and known to hunt and eat reptiles, rabbits, spiders, birds, and young hares. They will also eat eggs, beetle larvae, and carrion, as well as most insects or fruits. Cape foxes have been reported to be able to kill lambs up to three months of age, although this is a rare occurrence.\nTypical of most Canid species, Cape foxes will mate for life. They are capable of breeding all year long, unlike the red fox, although they typically have offspring in the months from October to January. The female Cape fox has a gestation period of 51 to 53 days and gives birth to a litter of one to six cubs (or kits). Reared underground in burrows, the cubs will stay close to the den until they are about four months old. They are weaned at around six to eight weeks of age, but do not begin to forage until they are four months old. Cubs usually become independent at five months of age, at which point they will disperse (typically in June or July). They typically weigh from at birth. Both parents will care for the young, with the male also providing for the female during the first two weeks. A family group usually consists of the parents and their offspring, but different family groups sometimes mix during feeding. Multiple litters are possible and have been observed; however, the female usually chases out the cubs from the last litter when she is expecting another one. Cape foxes are fully grown within about a year, with both the female and the male reaching sexual maturity at 9 months. The Cape fox has a life expectancy of about six years, but can live for up to 10 years.\nThe Cape fox is thought to help regulate populations of small mammals. Predators of the Cape fox include hawks and owls, as well as caracal, leopard, hyena, and lion. They often succumb to diseases such as rabies and canine distemper, and in more recent times have started to become victims of traps set out for problem animals. A large number of Cape foxes are killed on the road by vehicles. Many are hunted and persecuted as vermin. Some may be mistaken for jackals and held responsible for livestock losses. About 2,500 individuals are killed yearly; this is about 16% of the total Cape fox population. Nonetheless, the cape fox is not regarded as a threatened species.\n"
        },
        "106": {
            "common": "Arctic hare",
            "family": "Lepus arcticus",
            "id": 106,
            "text": "The Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus), or polar rabbit, is a species of hare which is highly adapted to living in the artic tundra, and other icy biomes.. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, body fat that makes up 20% of its body, and a thick coat of fur. It usually digs holes in the ground or under snow to keep warm and sleep. Arctic hares look like rabbits but have shorter ears, are taller when standing, and, unlike rabbits, can thrive in extreme cold. They can travel together with many other hares, sometimes huddling with dozens or more, but are usually found alone, taking, in some cases, more than one partner. The Arctic hare can run up to .\nKnown predators of the Arctic hare are the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), gray wolf (Canis lupus), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), ermine (Mustela erminea), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus), and humans (Homo sapiens). The Arctic wolf is probably the most successful predator of the Arctic hare, and even young wolves in their first autumn can catch adult hares. Arctic foxes and ermines, which are smaller, typically prey on young hares. Gyrfalcon carry hares to their nests, cutting them in half first; gyrfalcons use hare bones and feet in the structure of their nests on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) also prey on Arctic hares in the southern end of the hares' range. The Snowy owls mainly targets young hare; the French common name of the species derives from Anglo-Saxon harfang (\"hare-catcher\"). Four groups of parasites have been known to use Arctic hares as a host: protozoans (Eimeria exigua, E. magna, E. perforans, and E. sculpta); nematodes (including and Oxyuris ambigua); lice (including Haemodipsus lyriocephalus and H. setoni) and fleas (including Hoplopsyllus glacialis, Euhoplopsyllus glacialis, and Megabothris groenlandicus. Fleas are more common than parasitic worms.\nThe Arctic hare is distributed over the northernmost regions of Greenland, the Canadian arctic islands and Northern Canada, including Ellesmere Island, and further south in Labrador and Newfoundland. The Arctic hare is well-adapted to the conditions found in the tundras, plateaus and treeless coasts of this region, including cold weather and frozen precipitation. The Arctic hare may be found at elevations between 0 (sea level) and 900 m. In Newfoundland and southern Labrador, the Arctic hare changes its coat colour, moulting and growing new fur, from brown or grey in the summer to white in the winter, like some other arctic animals including ermine and ptarmigan, enabling it to remain camouflaged as their environments change. However, the Arctic hares in the far north of Canada, where summer is very short, remain white all year round.\nThe Arctic hare is one of the largest living lagomorphs. On average, this species measures from long, not counting a tail length of . The body mass of this species is typically between, though large individuals can weigh up to . The Arctic hare is a herbivore, and specifically a folivore. Arctic hares feed primarily on woody plants, and willow constitutes 95 percent of their diet year-round. Arctic hares predominantly consume such as saxifrage, crowberry, and dwarf willow, but can also eat a variety of other foods, including lichens and mosses, blooms, other species' leaves, twigs and roots, mountain sorrel and macroalgae (seaweed). Arctic hare diets are more diverse in summer, but still primarily consists of willow, dryas and grasses. Arctic hare have been reported to occasionally eat meat, including fish and the stomach contents of eviscerated caribou. They eat snow to get water. Female hares can have up to eight baby hares called leverets. The leverets stay within the mother's home range until they are old enough to survive on their own. There is little information on the lifespan of Arctic hare. Some anecdotal evidence suggests they live three to five years in the wild. Arctic hare do not survive well in captivity, living only a year and a half at most.\nThere are four subspecies of this hare:\n"
        },
        "1062": {
            "common": "Fox, north american red",
            "family": "Vulpes vulpes",
            "id": 1062,
            "text": "The red fox (Vulpes vulpes), largest of the true foxes, has the greatest geographic range of all members of the Carnivora family, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, North America and Eurasia. It is listed as least concern by the IUCN. Its range has increased alongside human expansion, having been introduced to Australia, where it is considered harmful to native mammals and bird populations. Due to its presence in Australia, it is included among the list of the \"world's 100 worst invasive species\". The red fox originated from smaller-sized ancestors from Eurasia during the Middle Villafranchian period, and colonised North America shortly after the Wisconsin glaciation. Among the true foxes, the red fox represents a more progressive form in the direction of carnivory. Apart from its large size, the red fox is distinguished from other fox species by its ability to adapt quickly to new environments. Despite its name, the species often produces individuals with other colourings, including albinos and melanists. Forty-five subspecies are currently recognised, which are divided into two categories: the large northern foxes, and the small, basal southern foxes of Asia and the Middle East. Red foxes are usually together in pairs or small groups consisting of families, such as a mated pair and their young, or a male with several females having kinship ties. The young of the mated pair remain with their parents to assist in caring for new kits. The species primarily feeds on small rodents, though it may also target rabbits, game birds, reptiles, invertebrates and young ungulates. Fruit and vegetable matter is also eaten sometimes. Although the red fox tends to kill smaller predators, including other fox species, it is vulnerable to attack from larger predators, such as wolves, coyotes, golden jackals and medium- and large-sized felines. The species has a long history of association with humans, having been extensively hunted as a pest and furbearer for many centuries, as well as being represented in human folklore and mythology. Because of its widespread distribution and large population, the red fox is one of the most important furbearing animals harvested for the fur trade. Too small to pose a threat to humans, it has successfully colonised many suburban areas.\nFemales are called vixens, and young cubs, pups, or kits. Although the Arctic fox has a small native population in northern Scandinavia, while the corsac fox's range extends into European Russia, the red fox is the only fox native to Western Europe, and so is simply called \"the fox\" in colloquial British English. The word \"fox\" comes from Old English, which derived from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz. Compare with West Frisian foks, Dutch vos, and German Fuchs. This, in turn, derives from Proto-Indo-European *pu\u1e31- \u2018thick-haired; tail'. Compare to the Hindi p\u016b\u0303ch \u2018tail', Tocharian B p\u00e4k\u0101 \u2018tail; chowrie', and Lithuanian paust\u00ecs \u2018fur'. The bushy tail also forms the basis for the fox's Welsh name, llwynog, literally \u2018bushy', from llwyn \u2018bush'. Likewise, from rabo \u2018tail', Lithuanian uod\u1ebdgis from uodeg\u00e0 \u2018tail', and Ojibwa waagosh from waa, which refers to the up and down \"bounce\" or flickering of an animal or its tail. The scientific term vulpes derives from the Latin word for fox, and gives the adjectives vulpine and vulpecular.\nThe red fox is considered a more specialised form of Vulpes than the Afghan, corsac and Bengal foxes in the direction of size and adaptation to carnivory; the skull displays much fewer neotenous traits than in other species, and its facial area is more developed. It is, however, not as adapted for a purely carnivorous diet as the Tibetan fox.\nThe species is Eurasian in origin, and may have evolved from either Vulpes alopecoides or the related Chinese V. chikushanensis, both of which lived during the Middle Villafranchian. The earliest fossil specimens of V. vulpes were uncovered in Baranya, Hungary dating from 3.4-1.8 million years ago. The ancestral species was likely smaller than the current one, as the earliest red fox fossils are smaller than modern populations. The earliest fossil remains of the modern species date back to the mid-Pleistocene in association with the refuse of early human settlements. This has led to the theory that the red fox was hunted by primitive humans as both a source of food and pelts.\nRed foxes colonised the North American continent in two waves: during or before the Illinoian glaciation, and during the Wisconsinan glaciation. Gene mapping demonstrates that red foxes in North America have been isolated from their Old World counterparts for over 400,000 years, thus raising the possibility that speciation has occurred, and that the previous binomial name of Vulpes fulva may be valid.<ref name=\"statham2014\"> In the far north, red fox fossils have been found in Sangamonian deposits in the Fairbanks District and Medicine Hat. Fossils dating from the Wisconsian are present in 25 sites in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. Although they ranged far south during the Wisconsinan, the onset of warm conditions shrank their range toward the north, and have only recently reclaimed their former American ranges because of human-induced environmental changes. Genetic testing indicates two distinct red fox refugia exist in North America, which have been separated since the Wisconsinan. The northern (or boreal) refugium occurs in Alaska and western Canada, and consists of the large subspecies V. v. alascensis, V. v. abietorum, V. v. regalis, and V. v. rubricosa. The southern (or montane) refugium occurs in the subalpine parklands and alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada. It encompasses the subspecies V. v. macroura, V. v. cascadensis, and V. v. necator. The latter clade has been separated from all other red fox populations since the last glacial maximum, and may possess unique ecological or physiological adaptations. Although European foxes were introduced to portions of the United States in the 1900s recent genetic investigation indicates an absence of European fox haplotypes in any North American populations. Also, introduced eastern red foxes have colonized southern California, the San Joaquin Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area, but appear to have mixed with the Sacramento Valley red fox V. v. patwin only in a narrow hybrid zone. In addition, no evidence is seen of interbreeding of eastern red foxes in California with the montane Sierra Nevada red fox V. v. necator or other populations in the Intermountain West (between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges to the west.\n, 45 subspecies are recognised. In 2010, another distinct subspecies, which inhabits the grasslands of the Sacramento Valley, V. v. patwin, was identified through mitochondrial haplotype studies. Substantial gene pool mixing between different subspecies is known; British red foxes have crossbred extensively with foxes imported from Germany, France, Belgium, Sardinia, and possibly Siberia and Scandinavia. However, genetic studies suggest very little differences between red foxes sampled across Europe. Lack of genetic diversity is consistent with the red fox being a highly vagile species, with one red fox covering in under a year's time. Red fox subspecies in Eurasia and North Africa are divided into two categories: Red foxes living in Middle Asia show physical traits intermediate to the northern and southern forms. {| class=\"wikitable collapsible collapsed\" style=\"width:100%;\" !Subspecies !Trinomial authority !Description !Range !Synonyms (Nominate subspecies) communis (Burnett, 1829) lineatus (Billberg, 1827) nigro-argenteus (Nilsson, 1820) nigrocaudatus (Billberg, 1827) septentrionalis (Brass, 1911) variegates (Billberg, 1827) vulgaris (Oken, 1816) beringensis (Merriam, 1902) kamtschadensis (Brass, 1911) kamtschatica (Dybowski, 1922) schantaricus (Yudin, 1986) cinera (Bechstein, 1801) diluta (Ognev, 1924) europaeus (Kerr, 1792) hellenica (Douma-Petridou and Ondrias, 1980) hypomelas (Wagner, 1841) lutea (Bechstein, 1801) melanogaster (Bonaparte, 1832) meridionalis (Fitzinger, 1855) nigra (Borkhausen, 1797) stepensis (Brauner, 1914) V. v. hoole V. v. indutus V. v. japonica V. v. karagan melanotus (Pallas, 1811) pamirensis (Ognev, 1926) tarimensis (Matschie, 1907) V. v. kenaiensis himalaicus (Ogilby, 1837) ladacensis (Matschie, 1907) nepalensis (J. E. Gray, 1837) waddelli (Bonhote, 1906) anubis (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833) vulpecula (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833) V. v. ochroxantha persicus (Blanford, 1875) deletrix (Bangs, 1898) rubricos (Churcher, 1960) vafra (Bangs, 1897) crymensis (Brauner, 1914)\nThe red fox has an elongated body and relatively short limbs. The tail, which is longer than half the body length (70 per cent of head and body length), is fluffy and reaches the ground when in a standing position. Their pupils are oval and vertically oriented. Nictitating membranes are present, but move only when the eyes are closed. The forepaws have five digits, while the hind feet have only four and lack dewclaws. They are very agile, being capable of jumping over 2-m-high fences, and swim well. Vixens normally have four pairs of teats, though vixens with seven, nine, or ten teats are not uncommon. The testes of males are smaller than those of Arctic foxes. Their skulls are fairly narrow and elongated, with small braincases. Their canine teeth are relatively long. Sexual dimorphism of the skull is more pronounced than in corsac foxes, with female red foxes tending to have smaller skulls than males, with wider nasal regions and hard palates, as well as having larger canines. Their skulls are distinguished from those of dogs by their narrower muzzles, less crowded premolars, more slender canine teeth, and concave rather than convex profiles.\nRed foxes are the largest species of the genus Vulpes. However, relative to dimensions, red foxes are much lighter than similarly sized dogs of the genus Canis. Their limb bones, for example, weigh 30 percent less per unit area of bone than expected for similarly sized dogs. They display significant individual, sexual, age and geographical variation in size. On average, adults measure high at the shoulder and  in body length with tails measuring . The ears measure 7.7\u201312.5 cm (3\u20135 in) and the hind feet 12\u201318.5 cm (5\u20137 in). Weights range from, with vixens typically weighing 15\u201320% less than males. Adult red foxes have skulls measuring, while those of vixens measure . The forefoot print measures in length and  in width, while the hind foot print measures  long and  wide. They trot at a speed of 6\u201313 km/h, and have a maximum running speed of 50 km/h. They have a stride of when walking at a normal pace. North American red foxes are generally lightly built, with comparatively long bodies for their mass and have a high degree of sexual dimorphism. British red foxes are heavily built, but short, while continental European red foxes are closer to the general average among red fox populations. The largest red fox on record in Great Britain was a 17.2 kg (38.1 lbs), long male, killed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in early 2012.\nThe winter fur is dense, soft, silky and relatively long. For the northern foxes, the fur is very long, dense and fluffy, but is shorter, sparser and coarser in southern forms. Among northern foxes, the North American varieties generally have the silkiest guard hairs, while most Eurasian red foxes have coarser fur. There are three main colour morphs; red, silver/black and cross (see Mutations). In the typical red morph, their coats are generally bright reddish-rusty with yellowish tints. A stripe of weak, diffuse patterns of many brown-reddish-chestnut hairs occurs along the spine. Two additional stripes pass down the shoulder blades, which, together with the spinal stripe, form a cross. The lower back is often a mottled silvery colour. The flanks are lighter coloured than the back, while the chin, lower lips, throat and front of the chest are white. The remaining lower surface of the body is dark, brown or reddish. During lactation, the belly fur of vixens may turn brick red. The upper parts of the limbs are rusty reddish, while the paws are black. The frontal part of the face and upper neck is bright brownish-rusty red, while the upper lips are white. The backs of the ears are black or brownish-reddish, while the inner surface is whitish. The top of the tail is brownish-reddish, but lighter in colour than the back and flanks. The underside of the tail is pale grey with a straw-coloured tint. A black spot, the location of the supracaudal gland, is usually present at the base of the tail. The tip of the tail is white.\nAtypical colourations in red foxes usually represent stages toward full melanism, and mostly occur in cold regions.\nRed foxes have binocular vision, but their sight reacts mainly to movement. Their auditory perception is acute, being able to hear black grouse changing roosts at 600 paces, the flight of crows at and the squeaking of mice at about 100 m. They are capable of locating sounds to within one degree at 700\u20133,000 Hz, though less accurately at higher frequencies. Their sense of smell is good, but weaker than that of specialised dogs.\nRed foxes have a pair of anal sacs lined by sebaceous glands, both of which open through a single duct. The anal sacs act as fermentation chambers in which aerobic and anaerobic bacteria convert sebum into odorous compounds, including aliphatic acids. The oval-shaped caudal gland is long and  wide, and reportedly smells of violets. The presence of foot glands is equivocal. The interdigital cavities are deep, with a reddish tinge and smell strongly. Sebaceous glands are present on the angle of the jaw and mandible.\nRed foxes either establish stable home ranges within particular areas or are itinerant with no fixed abode. They use their urine to mark their territories. A male fox raises one hind leg and his urine is sprayed forward in front of him, whereas a female fox squats down so that the urine is sprayed in the ground between the hind legs. Urine is also used to mark empty cache sites, used to store found food, as reminders not to waste time investigating them. The use of up to 12 different urination postures allows them to precisely control the position of the scent mark. Red foxes live in family groups sharing a joint territory. In favourable habitats and/or areas with low hunting pressure, subordinate foxes may be present in a range. Subordinate foxes may number one or two, sometimes up to eight in one territory. These subordinates could be formerly dominant animals, but are mostly young from the previous year, who act as helpers in rearing the breeding vixen's kits. Alternatively, their presence has been explained as being in response to temporary surpluses of food unrelated to assisting reproductive success. Non-breeding vixens will guard, play, groom, provision and retrieve kits, an example of kin selection. Red foxes may leave their families once they reach adulthood if the chances of winning a territory of their own are high. If not, they will stay with their parents, at the cost of postponing their own reproduction.\nRed foxes reproduce once a year in spring. Two months prior to oestrus (typically December), the reproductive organs of vixens change shape and size. By the time they enter their oestrus period, their uterine horns double in size, and their ovaries grow 1.5\u20132 times larger. Sperm formation in males begins in August\u2013September, with the testicles attaining their greatest weight in December\u2013February. The vixen's oestrus period lasts three weeks, during which the dog-foxes mate with the vixens for several days, often in burrows. Copulation is accompanied by a copulatory tie, which may last for more than an hour. The copulatory tie occurs when the male's bulbus glandis enlarges. The gestation period lasts 49\u201358 days. Though foxes are largely monogamous, DNA evidence from one population indicated large levels of polygyny, incest and mixed paternity litters. Subordinate vixens may become pregnant, but usually fail to whelp, or have their kits killed postpartum by either the dominant female or other subordinates. The average litter size consists of four to six kits, though litters of up to 13 kits have occurred. Large litters are typical in areas where fox mortality is high. Kits are born blind, deaf and toothless, with dark brown fluffy fur. At birth, they weigh and measure  in body length and  in tail length. At birth, they are short-legged, large-headed and have broad chests. Mothers remain with the kits for 2\u20133 weeks, as they are unable to thermoregulate. During this period, the fathers or barren vixens feed the mothers. Vixens are very protective of their kits, and have been known to even fight off terriers in their defence. If the mother dies before the kits are independent, the father takes over as their provider. The kits' eyes open after 13\u201315 days, during which time their ear canals open and their upper teeth erupt, with the lower teeth emerging 3\u20134 days later. Their eyes are initially blue, but change to amber at 4\u20135 weeks. Coat colour begins to change at three weeks of age, when the black eye streak appears. By one month, red and white patches are apparent on their faces. During this time, their ears erect and their muzzles elongate. Kits begin to leave their dens and experiment with solid food brought by their parents at the age of 3\u20134 weeks. The lactation period lasts 6\u20137 weeks. Their woolly coats begin to be coated by shiny guard hairs after 8 weeks. By the age of 3\u20134 months, the kits are long-legged, narrow-chested and sinewy. They reach adult proportions at the age of 6\u20137 months. Some vixens may reach sexual maturity at the age of 9\u201310 months, thus bearing their first litters at one year of age. In captivity, their longevity can be as long as 15 years, though in the wild they typically do not survive past 5 years of age.\nOutside the breeding season, most red foxes favour living in the open, in densely vegetated areas, though they may enter burrows to escape bad weather. Their burrows are often dug on hill or mountain slopes, ravines, bluffs, steep banks of water bodies, ditches, depressions, gutters, in rock clefts and neglected human environments. Red foxes prefer to dig their burrows on well drained soils. Dens built among tree roots can last for decades, while those dug on the steppes last only several years. They may permanently abandon their dens during mange outbreaks, possibly as a defence mechanism against the spread of disease. In the Eurasian desert regions, foxes may use the burrows of wolves, porcupines and other large mammals, as well as those dug by gerbil colonies. Compared to burrows constructed by Arctic foxes, badgers, marmots and corsac foxes, red fox dens are not overly complex. Red fox burrows are divided into a den and temporary burrows, which consist only of a small passage or cave for concealment. The main entrance of the burrow leads downwards (40\u201345\u00b0) and broadens into a den, from which numerous side tunnels branch. Burrow depth ranges from, rarely extending to ground water. The main passage can reach in length, standing an average of . In spring, red foxes clear their dens of excess soil through rapid movements, first with the forepaws then with kicking motions with their hind legs, throwing the discarded soil over from the burrow. When kits are born, the discarded debris is trampled, thus forming a spot where the kits can play and receive food. They may share their dens with woodchucks or badgers. Unlike badgers, which fastidiously clean their earths and defecate in latrines, red foxes habitually leave pieces of prey around their dens. > The average sleep time of a captive red fox is 9.8 hours per day.\nRed fox body language consists of movements of the ears, tail and postures, with their body markings emphasising certain gestures. Postures can be divided into aggressive/dominant and fearful/submissive categories. Some postures may blend the two together. Inquisitive foxes will rotate and flick their ears whilst sniffing. Playful individuals will perk their ears and rise on their hind legs. Male foxes courting females, or after successfully evicting intruders, will turn their ears outwardly, and raise their tails in a horizontal position, with the tips raised upward. When afraid, red foxes grin in submission, arching their backs, curving their bodies, crouching their legs and lashing their tails back and forth with their ears pointing backwards and pressed against their skulls. When merely expressing submission to a dominant animal, the posture is similar, but without arching the back or curving the body. Submissive foxes will approach dominant animals in a low posture, so that their muzzles reach up in greeting. When two evenly matched foxes confront each other over food, they approach each other sideways and push against each other's flanks, betraying a mixture of fear and aggression through lashing tails and arched backs without crouching and pulling their ears back without flattening them against their skulls. When launching an assertive attack, red foxes approach directly rather than sideways, with their tails aloft and their ears rotated sideways. During such fights, red foxes will stand on each other's upper bodies with their forelegs, using open mouthed threats. Such fights typically only occur among juveniles or adults of the same sex.\nRed foxes have a wide vocal range, and produce different sounds spanning five octaves, which grade into each other. Recent analyses identify 12 different sounds produced by adults and 8 by kits. The majority of sounds can be divided into \"contact\" and \"interaction\" calls. The former vary according to the distance between individuals, while the latter vary according to the level of aggression. Another call that does not fit into the two categories is a long, drawn out, monosyllabic \"waaaaah\" sound. As it is commonly heard during the breeding season, it is thought to be emitted by vixens summoning males. When danger is detected, foxes emit a monosyllabic bark. At close quarters, it is a muffled cough, while at long distances it is sharper. Kits make warbling whimpers when nursing, these calls being especially loud when they are dissatisfied.\nRed foxes are omnivores with a highly varied diet. In the former Soviet Union, up to 300 animal and a few dozen plant species are known to be consumed by them. They primarily feed on small rodents like voles, mice, ground squirrels, hamsters, gerbils, woodchucks, pocket gophers and deer mice. Secondary prey species include birds (with passeriformes, galliformes and waterfowl predominating), leporids, porcupines, raccoons, opossums, reptiles, insects, other invertebrates and flotsam (marine mammals, fish and echinoderms). On very rare occasions, foxes may attack young or small ungulates. They typically target mammals up to about in weight, and they require 500 g of food daily. Red foxes readily eat plant material, and in some areas fruit can amount to 100% of their diet in autumn. Commonly consumed fruits include blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, persimmons, mulberries, apples, plums, grapes, and acorns. Other plant material includes grasses, sedges and tubers. Red foxes are implicated in the predation of game and song birds, hares, rabbits, muskrats, and young ungulates, particularly in preserves, reserves, and hunting farms where ground nesting birds are protected and raised, as well as in poultry farms. While the popular consensus is that olfaction is very important for hunting, two studies that experimentally investigated the role of olfactory, auditory, and visual cues found that visual cues are the most important ones for hunting in red foxes and coyotes. Red foxes prefer to hunt in the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening. Although they typically forage alone, they may aggregate in resource-rich environments. When hunting mouse-like prey, they first pinpoint their prey's location by sound, then leap, sailing high above their quarry, steering in mid-air with their tails, before landing on target up to 5 m away. They typically only feed on carrion in the late evening hours and at night. They are extremely possessive of their food and will defend their catches from even dominant animals. Red foxes may occasionally commit acts of surplus killing; during one breeding season, four foxes were recorded to have killed around 200 black-headed gulls each, with peaks during dark, windy hours when flying conditions were unfavorable. Losses to poultry and penned game birds can be substantial because of this. Red foxes seem to dislike the taste of moles but will nonetheless catch them alive and present them to their kits as playthings. A 2008\u20132010 study of 84 red foxes in the Czech Republic and Germany found that successful hunting in long vegetation or under snow appeared to involve an alignment of the fox with the Earth's magnetic field.\nRed foxes typically dominate other fox species. Arctic foxes generally escape competition from red foxes by living farther north, where food is too scarce to support the larger-bodied red species. Although the red species' northern limit is linked to the availability of food, the Arctic species' southern range is limited by the presence of the former. Red and Arctic foxes were both introduced to almost every island from the Aleutian Islands to the Alexander Archipelago during the 1830s\u20131930s by fur companies. The red foxes invariably displaced the Arctic foxes, with one male red fox having been reported to have killed off all resident Arctic foxes on a small island in 1866. Where they are sympatric, Arctic foxes may also escape competition by feeding on lemmings and flotsam, rather than voles, as favoured by red foxes. Both species will kill each other's kits, given the opportunity. Red foxes are serious competitors of corsac foxes, as they hunt the same prey all year. The red species is also stronger, is better adapted to hunting in snow deeper than and is more effective in hunting and catching medium to large-sized rodents. Corsac foxes seem to only outcompete red foxes in semi-desert and steppe areas. In Israel, Blanford's foxes escape competition with red foxes by restricting themselves to rocky cliffs and actively avoiding the open plains inhabited by red foxes. Red foxes dominate kit and swift foxes. Kit foxes usually avoid competition with their larger cousins by living in more arid environments, though red foxes have been increasing in ranges formerly occupied by kit foxes due to human-induced environmental changes. Red foxes will kill both species, and compete for food and den sites. Grey foxes are exceptional, as they dominate red foxes wherever their ranges meet. Historically, interactions between the two species were rare, as grey foxes favoured heavily wooded or semiarid habitats as opposed to the open and mesic ones preferred by red foxes. However, interactions have become more frequent due to deforestation allowing red foxes to colonise grey fox-inhabited areas. Wolves may kill and eat red foxes in disputes over carcasses. In areas in North America where red fox and coyote populations are sympatric, fox ranges tend to be located outside coyote territories. The principal cause of this separation is believed to be active avoidance of coyotes by the foxes. Interactions between the two species vary in nature, ranging from active antagonism to indifference. The majority of aggressive encounters are initiated by coyotes, and there are few reports of red foxes acting aggressively toward coyotes except when attacked or when their kits were approached. Foxes and coyotes have sometimes been seen feeding together. In Israel, red foxes share their habitat with golden jackals. Where their ranges meet, the two canids compete due to near identical diets. Foxes ignore jackal scents or tracks in their territories, and avoid close physical proximity with jackals themselves. In areas where jackals become very abundant, the population of foxes decreases significantly, apparently because of competitive exclusion. Red foxes dominate raccoon dogs, sometimes killing their kits or biting adults to death. Cases are known of foxes killing raccoon dogs entering their dens. Both species compete for mouse-like prey. This competition reaches a peak during early spring, when food is scarce. In Tartaria, red fox predation accounted for 11.1% of deaths among 54 raccoon dogs, and amounted to 14.3% of 186 raccoon dog deaths in north-western Russia. Red foxes may kill small mustelids like weasels, stone martens, pine martens, stoats, kolonoks, polecats and young sables. Eurasian badgers may live alongside red foxes in isolated sections of large burrows. It is possible that the two species tolerate each other out of mutualism; foxes provide badgers with food scraps, while badgers maintain the shared burrow's cleanliness. However, cases are known of badgers driving vixens from their dens and destroying their litters without eating them. Wolverines may kill red foxes, often while the latter are sleeping or near carrion. Foxes in turn may kill unattended young wolverines. Red foxes may compete with striped hyenas on large carcasses. Red foxes may give way to hyenas on unopened carcasses, as the latter's stronger jaws can easily tear open flesh that is too tough for foxes. Foxes may harass hyenas, using their smaller size and greater speed to avoid the hyena's attacks. Sometimes, foxes seem to deliberately torment hyenas even when there is no food at stake. Some foxes may mistime their attacks, and are killed. Fox remains are often found in hyena dens, and hyenas may steal foxes from traps. In Eurasia, red foxes may be preyed upon by leopards, caracals and Eurasian lynxes. The lynxes chase red foxes into deep snow, where their longer legs and larger paws give them an advantage over foxes, especially when the depth of the snow exceeds one metre. In the Velikoluki district in Russia, red foxes are absent or are seen only occasionally where lynxes establish permanent territories. Researchers consider lynxes to represent considerably less danger to red foxes than wolves do. North American felid predators of red foxes include cougars, Canadian lynxes and bobcats. Occasionally, large raptors such as Eurasian eagle owls will prey on young foxes, while golden eagles have been known to kill adults.\nRed foxes are wide-ranging animals, whose range covers nearly 70 million km 2 (27 million mi 2 ). They are distributed across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and Asia. They are absent in Iceland, the Arctic islands, some parts of Siberia, and in extreme deserts. Red foxes are not present in New Zealand and are classed as a \"prohibited new organism\" under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing them from being imported.\nIn Australia, 2012 estimates indicate that there are more than 7.2 million red foxes with a range extending throughout most of the continental mainland. The species became established in Australia through successive introductions by settlers in 1830s in the British colonies of Van Diemen's Land (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (as early as 1845) for the purpose of the traditional English sport of fox hunting. A permanent fox population was not established on the island of Tasmania and it is widely held that they were outcompeted by the Tasmanian devil. On the mainland, however, the species was successful as an apex predator. It is generally less common in areas where the dingo is more prevalent, however it has, primarily through its burrowing behaviour, achieved niche differentiation with both the feral dog and the feral cat. As such it has become one of the continent's most invasive species. The red fox has been implicated in the extinction and decline of several native Australian species, particularly those of the family Potoroidae including the desert rat-kangaroo. The spread of red foxes across the southern part of the continent has coincided with the spread of rabbits in Australia and corresponds with declines in the distribution of several medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals, including brush-tailed bettongs, burrowing bettongs, rufous bettongs, bilbys, numbats, bridled nailtail wallabys and quokkas. Most of these species are now limited to areas (such as islands) where red foxes are absent or rare. Local eradication programs exist, although eradication has proven difficult due to the denning behaviour and nocturnal hunting, so the focus is on management with the introduction of state bounties. According to the Tasmanian government, red foxes were introduced to the previously fox-free island of Tasmania in 1999 or 2000, posing a significant threat to native wildlife including the eastern bettong, and an eradication program conducted by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water has been established.\nThe origin of the Sardinian ichnusae subspecies is uncertain, as it is absent from Pleistocene deposits in their current homeland. It is possible it originated during the Neolithic following its introduction to the island by humans. It is likely then that Sardinian fox populations stem from repeated introductions of animals from different localities in the Mediterranean. This latter theory may explain the subspecies' phenotypic diversity.\nRed foxes are the most important rabies vector in Europe. In London, arthritis is not uncommon in foxes, being particularly frequent in the spine. Foxes may be infected with leptospirosis and tularemia, though they are not overly susceptible to the latter. They may also fall ill from listeriosis and spirochetosis, as well as acting as vectors in spreading erysipelas, brucellosis and tick-born encephalitis. A mysterious fatal disease near Lake Sartlan in the Novosibirsk Oblast was noted among local red foxes, but the cause was undetermined. The possibility was considered that it was caused by an acute form of encephalomyelitis, which was first observed in captive bred silver foxes. Individual cases of foxes infected with Yersinia pestis are known. Red foxes are not readily prone to infestation with fleas. Species like Spilopsyllus cuniculi are probably only caught from the fox's prey species, while others like Archaeopsylla erinacei are caught whilst travelling. Fleas that feed on red foxes include Pulex irritans, Ctenocephalides canis and Paraceras melis. Ticks such as Ixodes ricinus and I. hexagonus are not uncommon in foxes, and are typically found on nursing vixens and kits still in their earths. The louse Trichodectes vulpis specifically targets foxes, but is found infrequently. The mite Sarcoptes scabiei is the most important cause of mange in red foxes. It causes extensive hair loss, starting from the base of the tail and hindfeet, then the rump before moving on to the rest of the body. In the final stages of the condition, foxes can lose most of their fur, 50% of their body weight and may gnaw at infected extremities. In the epizootic phase of the disease, it usually takes foxes four months to die after infection. Other endoparasites include Demodex folliculorum, Notoderes, Otodectes cynotis (which is frequently found in the ear canal), Linguatula serrata (which infects the nasal passages) and ringworms. Up to 60 helminth species are known to infect foxes in fur farms, while 20 are known in the wild. Several coccidian species of the genera Isospora and Eimeria are also known to infect them. The most common nematode species found in fox guts are Toxocara canis and Uncinaria stenocephala, Capillaria aerophila and Crenosoma vulpis, the latter two infect their lungs. Capillaria plica infect the fox's bladder. Trichinella spiralis rarely affects them. The most common tapeworm species in foxes are Taenia spiralis and T. pisiformis. Others include Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis. Eleven trematode species infect red foxes, including ''Metorchis conjunctus.\nRed foxes feature prominently in the folklore and mythology of human cultures with which they are sympatric. In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox or Cadmean vixen, was a gigantic fox that was destined never to be caught. The fox was one of the children of Echidna. In Celtic mythology, the red fox is a symbolic animal. In the Cotswolds, witches were thought to take the shape of foxes to steal butter from their neighbours. In later European folklore, the figure of Reynard the Fox symbolises trickery and deceit. He originally appeared (then under the name of \"Reinardus\") as a secondary character in the 1150 poem \"Ysengrimus\". He reappeared in 1175 in Pierre Saint Cloud's Le Roman de Renart, and made his debut in England in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Nun's Priest's Tale''. Many of Reynard's adventures may stem from actual observations on fox behaviour; he is an enemy of the wolf and has a fondness for blackberries and grapes. Chinese folk tales tell of fox-spirits called huli jing that may have up to nine tails, or kumiho as they are known in Korea. In Japanese mythology, the kitsune are fox-like spirits possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others, other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. In Arab folklore, the fox is considered a cowardly, weak, deceitful, and cunning animal, said to feign death by filling its abdomen with air to appear bloated, then lies on its side, awaiting the approach of unwitting prey. The animal's cunning was noted by the authors of the Bible, and applied the word \"fox\" to false prophets (Ezekiel 13:4) and the hypocrisy of Herod Antipas (Luke 13:32). The cunning Fox is commonly found in Native American mythology, where it is portrayed as an almost constant companion to Coyote. Fox, however, is a deceitful companion that often steals Coyote's food. In the Achomawi creation myth, Fox and Coyote are the co-creators of the world, that leave just before the arrival of humans. The Yurok tribe believed that Fox, in anger, captured the sun, and tied him to a hill, causing him to burn a great hole in the ground. An Inuit story tells of how Fox, portrayed as a beautiful woman, tricks a hunter into marrying her, only to resume her true form and leave after he offends her. A Menominee story tells of how Fox is an untrustworthy friend to the Wolf.\nThe earliest historical records of fox hunting come from the fourth century BC; Alexander the Great is known to have hunted foxes and a seal dated from 350 BC depicts a Persian horseman in the process of spearing a fox. Xenophon, who viewed hunting as part of a cultured man's education, advocated the killing of foxes as pests, as they distracted hounds from hares. The Romans were hunting foxes by 80 AD. During the Dark Ages in Europe, foxes were considered secondary quarries, but gradually grew in importance. Cnut the Great reclassed foxes as Beasts of the Chase, a lower category of quarry than Beasts of Venery. Foxes were gradually hunted less as vermin and more as Beasts of the Chase, to the point that by the late 1200s, Edward I had a royal pack of foxhounds and a specialised fox huntsman. In this period, foxes were increasingly hunted above ground with hounds, rather than underground with terriers. Edward, Second Duke of York assisted the climb of foxes as more prestigious quarries in his The Master of Game. By the Renaissance, fox hunting became a traditional sport of the nobility. After the English Civil War caused a drop in deer populations, fox hunting grew in popularity. By the mid-1600s, Britain was divided into fox hunting territories, with the first fox hunting clubs being formed (the first was the Charlton Hunt Club in 1737). The popularity of fox hunting in Britain reached a peak during the 1700s. Although already native to North America, red foxes from England were imported for sporting purposes to Virginia and Maryland in 1730 by prosperous tobacco planters. These American fox hunters considered the red species more sporting than grey species. Red foxes are still widely persecuted as pests, with human-caused deaths among the highest causes of mortality in the species. Annual fox kills are: UK 21,500\u201325,000 (2000); Germany 600,000 (2000\u20132001); Austria 58,000 (2000\u20132001); Sweden 58,000 (1999\u20132000); Finland 56,000 (2000\u20132001); Denmark 50,000 (1976\u20131977); Switzerland 34,832 (2001); Norway 17,000 (2000\u20132001); Saskatchewan (Canada) 2,000 (2000\u20132001); Nova Scotia (Canada) 491 (2000\u20132001); Minnesota (US) 4,000-8,000 (average annual trapping harvest 2002-2009); New Mexico (US) 69 (1999\u20132000).\nRed foxes are among the most important furbearing animals harvested by the fur trade. Their pelts are used for trimmings, scarfs, muffs, jackets and coats. They are principally used as trimming for both cloth coats and fur garments, including evening wraps. The pelts of silver-morph foxes are popular as capes, while cross foxes are mostly used for scarves and rarely for trimming. The number of sold fox scarves exceeds the total number of scarves made from other furbearers. However, this amount is overshadowed by the total number of fox pelts used for trimming purposes. The silver morphs are the most valued by furriers, followed by the cross and red morphs respectively. > In the early 1900s, over 1,000 American fox skins were imported to Britain annually, while 500,000 were exported annually from Germany and Russia. The total worldwide trade of wild red foxes in 1985\u201386 was 1,543,995 pelts. Foxes amounted to 45% of US wild-caught pelts worth $50 million. Pelt prices are increasing, with 2012 North American wholesale auction prices averaging $39, and 2013 prices averaging $65.78. North American red foxes, particularly those of northern Alaska, are the most valued for their fur, as they have guard hairs of a silky texture, which, after dressing, allow the wearer unrestricted mobility. Red foxes living in southern Alaska's coastal areas and the Aleutian Islands are an exception, as they have extremely coarse pelts that rarely exceed one-third of the price of their northern Alaskan cousins. Most European peltries have coarse-textured fur compared to North American varieties. The only exceptions are the Nordic and Far Eastern Russian peltries, but they are still inferior to North American peltries in terms of silkiness.\nRed foxes may on occasions prey on lambs. Usually, lambs targeted by foxes tend to be physically weakened specimens, but not invariably. Lambs belonging to small breeds, such as Blackface, are more vulnerable than larger breeds such as Merino. Twins may be more vulnerable to foxes than singlets, as ewes cannot effectively defend both simultaneously. Crossbreeding small, upland ewes with larger, lowland rams can cause difficult and prolonged labour for ewes due to the heaviness of the resulting offspring, thus making the lambs more at risk to fox predation. Lambs born from gimmers (ewes breeding for the first time) are more often killed by foxes than those of experienced mothers, who stick closer to their young. Red foxes may prey on domestic rabbits and guinea pigs if they are kept in open runs or are allowed to range freely in gardens. This problem is usually averted by housing them in robust hutches and runs. Urban foxes frequently encounter cats and may feed alongside them. In physical confrontations, the cats usually have the upper hand. Authenticated cases of foxes killing cats usually involve kittens. Although most foxes do not prey on cats, some may do so, and may treat them more as competitors rather than food.\nIn their unmodified wild state, red foxes are generally unsuitable as pets. Many supposedly abandoned kits are adopted by well-meaning people during the spring period, though it is unlikely that vixens would abandon their young. Actual orphans are rare, and the ones that are adopted are likely kits that simply strayed from their den site. Kits require almost constant supervision; when still suckling, they require milk at four-hour intervals day and night. Once weaned, they may become destructive to leather objects, furniture and electric cables. Though generally friendly toward people when young, captive red foxes become fearful of humans, save for their handlers, once they reach 10 weeks of age. They maintain their wild counterpart's strong instinct of concealment, and may pose a threat to domestic birds, even when well fed. Although suspicious of strangers, they can form bonds with cats and dogs, even ones bred for fox hunting. Practical uses for tame foxes are few, though they can be encouraged to kill rats and mice in granaries. Tame foxes were once used to draw ducks close to hunting blinds. A strain of truly domesticated red foxes was introduced by Russian geneticist Dmitry Konstantinovich Belyaev who, over a 40-year period, bred several generations of silver morph foxes on fur farms, selecting only those individuals that showed the least fear of humans. Eventually, Belyaev's team selected only those that showed the most positive response to humans, thus resulting in a population of foxes whose behaviour and appearance was significantly changed. After about ten generations of controlled breeding, these foxes no longer showed any fear of humans, and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. These behavioural changes were accompanied by physical alterations, which included piebald coats, floppy ears in pups, and curled tails, similar to traits that distinguish domestic dogs from wolves.\nRed foxes have been successful in colonising built-up environments, especially lower-density suburbs. Throughout the twentieth century, they established themselves in many Australian, European, Japanese, and North American cities. The species first colonised British cities during the 1930s, entering Bristol and London during the 1940s, and later established themselves in Cambridge and Norwich. In Australia, red foxes were recorded in Melbourne as early as the 1930s, while in Zurich, Switzerland, they only starting appearing in the 1980s. Urban red foxes are most common in residential suburbs consisting of privately owned, low-density housing. They are rare in areas where industry, commerce or council-rented houses predominate. In these latter areas, the distribution is of a lower average density because they rely less on human resources; the home range of these foxes average from 80 to 90 hectares, whereas those in more residential areas average from 25 to 40 hectares. In 2006 it was estimated that there were 10,000 foxes in London. City-dwelling foxes may have the potential to consistently grow larger than their rural counterparts, as a result of abundant scraps and a relative dearth of predators. In cities foxes may scavenge food from litter bins and bin bags, although much of their diet will be similar to rural foxes.\nUrban red foxes are most active at dusk and dawn, doing most of their hunting and scavenging at these times. It is uncommon to spot them during the day, but they can be caught sunbathing on roofs of houses or sheds. Foxes will often make their homes in hidden and undisturbed spots in urban areas as well as on the edges of a city, visiting at night for sustenance. While foxes will scavenge successfully in the city (and the foxes tend to eat anything that the humans eat) some urban residents will deliberately leave food out for the animals, finding them endearing. Doing this regularly can attract foxes to one's home; they can become accustomed to human presence, warming up to their providers by allowing themselves to be approached and in some cases even played with, particularly young cubs.\nUrban foxes can cause problems for local residents. Foxes have been known to steal chickens, disrupt rubbish bins and damage gardens. Most complaints about urban foxes made to local authorities occur during the breeding season in late January/early February or from late April to August, when the new cubs are developing. In the UK, hunting foxes in urban areas is banned, and shooting them in an urban environment is not suitable. One alternative to hunting urban foxes has been to trap them, which appears to be a more viable method. However, killing foxes has little effect on the population in an urban area; those that are killed are very soon replaced, either by new cubs during the breeding season or by other foxes moving into the territory of those that were killed. A more effective method of fox control is to deter them from the specific areas they inhabit. Deterrents such as creosote, diesel oil, or ammonia can be used. Cleaning up and blocking access to den locations can also discourage a fox's return.\nIn January 2014 it was reported that \"Fleet\", a relatively tame urban fox tracked as part of a wider study by the University of Brighton in partnership with the BBC's Winterwatch, had unexpectedly travelled 195 miles in 21 days from his neighbourhood in Hove, at the western edge of East Sussex, across rural countryside as far as Rye, at the eastern edge of the county. He was still continuing his journey when the GPS collar stopped transmitting, due to suspected water damage. Along with setting a record for the longest journey undertaken by a tracked fox in the United Kingdom, his travels have highlighted the fluidity of movement between rural and urban fox populations.\n"
        },
        "1064": {
            "common": "Fox, pampa gray",
            "family": "Pseudalopex gymnocercus",
            "id": 1064,
            "text": "The pampas fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus), also known as grey pampean fox, aguar\u00e1 cha\u00ed, aguarachay, '''Azara's fox, or Azara's zorro''', is a medium-sized zorro, or \"false\" fox, native to the South American pampas. The alternative common names are references to Spanish naturalist F\u00e9lix de Azara.\nThe pampas fox resembles the culpeo or Andean fox in appearance and size, but has a proportionately wider snout, reddish fur on the head and neck, and a black mark on the muzzle. It has short, dense fur that is grey over most of the body, with a black line running down the back and onto the tail, and pale, almost white, underparts. The ears are triangular, broad and relatively large, and are reddish on the outer surface and white on the inner surface. The inner surfaces of the legs are similar in color to the underparts, while the outer surface is reddish on the forelimbs, and grey on the hindlimbs; the lower hindlimb also bears a distinctive black spot. Adults range from in body length, and weigh ; males are approximately 10% heavier than females. In the northern part of its range, the pampas fox is more richly colored than in the southern part.\nThe pampas fox can be found in northern and central Argentina, Uruguay, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. It prefers open pampas habitats, often close to agricultural land, but can also be found in montane or chaco forest, dry scrubland, and wetland habitats. It is most common below 1000 m elevation, but can inhabit puna grasslands up to 3500 m. Five subspecies are currently recognised, although the geographic range of each is unclear, and the type localities of three of them lie outside the present-day range of the species: Fossils of this species are known from the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene of Argentina.\nIn the Spanish-speaking areas of its habitat, the pampas fox is known by the common names of zorro de las pampas or zorro gris pampeano. In Portuguese-speaking Brazil, it is called by the common names of graxaim or sorro.\nThe pampas foxes mostly live a solitary life, but come together as monogamous pairs in the breeding season to raise their young. They are mainly nocturnal, becoming active at dusk, although it may also be active during the day. They den in any available cavity, including caves, hollow trees, and the burrows of viscachas or armadillos. Even when raising young together, adult foxes generally hunt alone, marking their territory by defecating at specific latrine sites. Although there is considerable variation, the home range of a typical pampas fox has been estimated at around 260 ha. Pampas foxes are more omnivorous than most other canids, and have a varied and opportunistic diet. Their primary prey consists of birds, rodents, hares, fruit, carrion, and insects, although they will also eat lizards, armadillos, snails and other invertebrates, lambs, and the eggs of ground-nesting birds. Their primary predators are pumas and domestic dogs.\nPampas foxes breed in the early spring, with the female coming into heat just once each year. After a gestation period of 55 to 60 days, the mother gives birth to a litter of up to eight kits. The young are born between September and December, and are weaned at around two months of age. Females reach sexual maturity in their first year, and animals have lived for up to 14 years in captivity. Pups will hunt with parents when they are 3 months old. The males bring food to their females who stay at the den with kits.\nThe main threats to the pampas fox comes from humans hunting them for their fur, to prevent them from attacking livestock, and may be affected by the loss of its natural habitat, although, because they remain common in most areas where it has been studied, the pampas fox is not presently considered a threatened species.\n"
        },
        "1068": {
            "common": "Fox, silver-backed",
            "family": "Vulpes chama",
            "id": 1068,
            "text": "The Cape fox (Vulpes chama), also called the cama fox or the silver-backed fox, is a small fox. It has black or silver gray fur with flanks and underside in light yellow. The tip of its tail is always black. The Cape fox tends to be long, not including a  tail. It is tall at the shoulder, and usually weighs from .\nIt inhabits mainly open country, from open grassland plains with scattered thickets to arid to semi desert scrub, and also extending into fynbos. It is widespread in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa, occurring in most parts of the Western and Northern Cape provinces, the Eastern Cape (excluding the southeastern side), the Free State, western and northwestern KwaZulu-Natal and the North-West province. It also occurs in Lesotho, a high mountainous region.\nThe Cape fox is nocturnal and most active just before dawn or after dusk; it can be spotted during the early mornings and early evenings. During the day, it typically shelters in burrows underground, holes, hollows, or dense thickets. It is an active digger that will excavate its own burrow, although it generally modifies an abandoned burrow of another species, such as the springhare, to its specific requirements. They are solitary creatures, and although they form mated pairs, the males and females are often found alone, as they tend to forage separately. They are not especially territorial but will mark their territories with a pungent scent. Although a normally silent fox, the Cape fox is known to communicate with soft calls, whines or chirps. However, it will utter a loud bark when alarmed. When in an aggressive mood, the Cape fox is known to growl and spit at its attacker. To show its excitement, the fox lifts its tail, the height of the tail often indicating the measure of excitement.\nCape foxes are omnivorous and will eat plants or animals. Although they prefer invertebrates and small mammals such as rodents, they are opportunists and known to hunt and eat reptiles, rabbits, spiders, birds, and young hares. They will also eat eggs, beetle larvae, and carrion, as well as most insects or fruits. Cape foxes have been reported to be able to kill lambs up to three months of age, although this is a rare occurrence.\nTypical of most Canid species, Cape foxes will mate for life. They are capable of breeding all year long, unlike the red fox, although they typically have offspring in the months from October to January. The female Cape fox has a gestation period of 51 to 53 days and gives birth to a litter of one to six cubs (or kits). Reared underground in burrows, the cubs will stay close to the den until they are about four months old. They are weaned at around six to eight weeks of age, but do not begin to forage until they are four months old. Cubs usually become independent at five months of age, at which point they will disperse (typically in June or July). They typically weigh from at birth. Both parents will care for the young, with the male also providing for the female during the first two weeks. A family group usually consists of the parents and their offspring, but different family groups sometimes mix during feeding. Multiple litters are possible and have been observed; however, the female usually chases out the cubs from the last litter when she is expecting another one. Cape foxes are fully grown within about a year, with both the female and the male reaching sexual maturity at 9 months. The Cape fox has a life expectancy of about six years, but can live for up to 10 years.\nThe Cape fox is thought to help regulate populations of small mammals. Predators of the Cape fox include hawks and owls, as well as caracal, leopard, hyena, and lion. They often succumb to diseases such as rabies and canine distemper, and in more recent times have started to become victims of traps set out for problem animals. A large number of Cape foxes are killed on the road by vehicles. Many are hunted and persecuted as vermin. Some may be mistaken for jackals and held responsible for livestock losses. About 2,500 individuals are killed yearly; this is about 16% of the total Cape fox population. Nonetheless, the cape fox is not regarded as a threatened species.\n"
        },
        "1070": {
            "common": "Francolin, coqui",
            "family": "Francolinus coqui",
            "id": 1070,
            "text": "The Coqui francolin (Peliperdix coqui) is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is mainly found in Africa's southern half but is also sparsely present in the western Sahel and Ethiopia. It mainly inhabits grasslands, steppes, savannas and dry scrubland, but also bright forest and grain fields. On high plateaus it lives up to 2000 meters high. It is believed to be the most widespread francolin in Africa but is mostly resident throughout its range.\n"
        },
        "1072": {
            "common": "Francolin, swainson's",
            "family": "Francolinus swainsonii",
            "id": 1072,
            "text": "The '''Swainson's spurfowl, Swainson's francolin or chikwari' (Pternistis swainsonii'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In the Shona language in Zimbabwe this bird is called the chikwari and is considered a delicacy by outdoor and hunting enthusiasts. Swainson's francolin was named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist.\n"
        },
        "1074": {
            "common": "Frilled dragon",
            "family": "Chlamydosaurus kingii",
            "id": 1074,
            "text": "The frilled-neck lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii ), also known as the frilled lizard, frilled dragon or frilled agama, is a species of lizard which is found mainly in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. This species is the only member of the genus Chlamydosaurus. Its common name comes from the large frill around its neck, which usually stays folded against the lizard's body. C. kingii is largely arboreal, spending the majority of the time in the trees. The lizard's diet consists mainly of insects and small vertebrates. The frill-necked lizard is a relatively large lizard, averaging in total length (including tail) and is kept as an exotic pet. Because of its unusual appearance, it is a popular subject in animation.\nBritish zoologist John Edward Gray described the frill-necked lizard in 1825 as Clamydosaurus Kingii, from a specimen collected by an expedition conducted by Captain Phillip Parker King from the HMS Mermaid. The generic name (Chlamydosaurus) is derived from the Ancient Greek Chlamydo (\u03c7\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03cd\u03c2) meaning \"cloaked\" or \"mantled\" and saurus (sauros) meaning \"lizard\". Its specific name is a Latinized form of Phillip Parker King's last name. It is the only member of this genus. King's specimen was obtained by his ship's botanist, Allan Cunningham at Careening Bay off the Northwest Coast of Australia. In the Jawoyn language of the Katherine area, it is known as leliyn.\nThe frill-necked lizard is a relatively large member of the agamid family, growing up to . It is capable of bipedal locomotion and has been described as regularly moving in this manner with a purposeful stride at times by naturalists. Coloration tends to be brown or gray with spots and blotches of darker colors mixed in a mottled fashion to give the appearance of tree bark. There is not one standard colour: rather, colouration varies according to the lizard's environment. For example, a lizard found in a dryer, clay filled environment will most likely have a collage of oranges, reds, and browns; whereas a lizard found in a damper, more tropical region will tend to show darker browns and greys. This suggests they are adapted to their habitats; their colors are a form of camouflage. The most distinct feature of these lizards is the large ruff of skin which usually lies folded back against its head and neck. The neck frill is supported by long spines of cartilage which are connected to the jaw bones. When the lizard is frightened, it produces a startling deimatic display: it gapes its mouth, exposing a bright pink or yellow lining; it spreads out its frill, displaying bright orange and red scales; raises its body; and sometimes holds its tail above its body. This reaction is used for territorial displays, to discourage predators, and during courtship. The bones of the frill are modified elongate hyoid types that form rods which expand the frill. Secondarily the frill can serve as a form of camouflage when relaxed; there is no standard coloration to the body, but it is usually darker than the frill.\nThe frilled-neck lizard is found mainly in the northern regions of Australia and southern New Guinea. The lizard on rare occasions is found in the lower desert regions of Australia but primarily inhabits humid climates such as those in the tropical savannah woodlands. It tends to be an arboreal lizard, meaning it spends a majority of its time in the trees. The lizard ventures to the floor only in search of food, or to engage in territorial conflicts. The arboreal habitat may be a product of the lizard's diet, which consists mainly of small arthropods and vertebrates (usually smaller lizards). However, the trees are most importantly used for camouflage.\nLike many lizards, frill-necked lizards are carnivores, feeding on cicadas, beetles, termites, and mice. They especially favor butterflies, moths and their larvae. Though insects are their primary source of food, they also consume spiders and occasionally other lizards. Like most members of the agamids (dragons), frill-necked lizards employ an ambush method of hunting, lying in wait for their prey. When the lizards eat, they eat in abundance; these binge periods usually occur during the wet season, when they ingest hundreds to thousands of alate (flying) ants or termites.\nThe frilled-neck lizard is ectothermic and maintains its body temperature by basking briefly to achieve an average of 2\u20133 \u00b0C above the surrounding temperature. Weather conditions, including sunlight, are the main factors regulating the lizards\u2019 temperature. This basking period usually occurs in the morning to early afternoon to ensure maximum exposure to sunlight. However, the lizard's final internal temperature depends mainly on the ambient temperature of the surrounding environment. The lizard's frill was once thought to aid in thermoregulation, but this has been found without merit.\nThe frilled-neck lizard is sexually dimorphic; meaning that there are physical differences between male and females. This dimorphism is apparent in the length of the lizard; the male is generally larger than the female. There is little to no dimorphism in the color of the lizard. Frilled-necked lizards breed in the early wet season from September to October. Adult males fight for mates, displaying their frills and biting each other. One to two clutches of 6\u201325 eggs are laid from early to mid-wet season from November to February. The eggs are laid in a nest 5\u201320 cm below ground, and usually in sunny areas. Incubation takes two to three months. Gender is partly temperature determined, with extreme temperatures producing exclusively females, and intermediate temperatures (29 to 35 \u00b0C) producing equal numbers of males and females. Their eggs are soft-shelled.\nThe species' main predators are eagles, owls, larger lizards, snakes, dingoes and quolls.\nA frill-necked lizard was featured on the reverse of the Australian 2-cent coin until 1991. A frill-necked lizard, known as \"Lizzie,\" was the mascot for the 2000 Paralympic Games. The emblem of the Australian Army's Regional Force Surveillance Unit, NORFORCE (North-West Mobile Force) of the Kimberleys and Northern Territory is the frill-necked lizard. Because of its unique appearance and behavior, the frill-necked lizard is commonly used in film and television. A frill-necked lizard named Frank appears in the Disney film The Rescuers Down Under. In the film Jurassic Park, the dinosaur Dilophosaurus was portrayed with a fictional neck frill, which was raised during attack, similar to that of a frilled-neck lizard. The movie generated an increase in demand for frill-necked lizards as pets. In the CGI animated film Blinky Bill the Movie Jacko a frill-necked lizard wears a black t-shirt voiced by David Wenham.\n"
        },
        "1076": {
            "common": "Frilled lizard",
            "family": "Chlamydosaurus kingii",
            "id": 1076,
            "text": "The frilled-neck lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii ), also known as the frilled lizard, frilled dragon or frilled agama, is a species of lizard which is found mainly in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. This species is the only member of the genus Chlamydosaurus. Its common name comes from the large frill around its neck, which usually stays folded against the lizard's body. C. kingii is largely arboreal, spending the majority of the time in the trees. The lizard's diet consists mainly of insects and small vertebrates. The frill-necked lizard is a relatively large lizard, averaging in total length (including tail) and is kept as an exotic pet. Because of its unusual appearance, it is a popular subject in animation.\nBritish zoologist John Edward Gray described the frill-necked lizard in 1825 as Clamydosaurus Kingii, from a specimen collected by an expedition conducted by Captain Phillip Parker King from the HMS Mermaid. The generic name (Chlamydosaurus) is derived from the Ancient Greek Chlamydo (\u03c7\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03cd\u03c2) meaning \"cloaked\" or \"mantled\" and saurus (sauros) meaning \"lizard\". Its specific name is a Latinized form of Phillip Parker King's last name. It is the only member of this genus. King's specimen was obtained by his ship's botanist, Allan Cunningham at Careening Bay off the Northwest Coast of Australia. In the Jawoyn language of the Katherine area, it is known as leliyn.\nThe frill-necked lizard is a relatively large member of the agamid family, growing up to . It is capable of bipedal locomotion and has been described as regularly moving in this manner with a purposeful stride at times by naturalists. Coloration tends to be brown or gray with spots and blotches of darker colors mixed in a mottled fashion to give the appearance of tree bark. There is not one standard colour: rather, colouration varies according to the lizard's environment. For example, a lizard found in a dryer, clay filled environment will most likely have a collage of oranges, reds, and browns; whereas a lizard found in a damper, more tropical region will tend to show darker browns and greys. This suggests they are adapted to their habitats; their colors are a form of camouflage. The most distinct feature of these lizards is the large ruff of skin which usually lies folded back against its head and neck. The neck frill is supported by long spines of cartilage which are connected to the jaw bones. When the lizard is frightened, it produces a startling deimatic display: it gapes its mouth, exposing a bright pink or yellow lining; it spreads out its frill, displaying bright orange and red scales; raises its body; and sometimes holds its tail above its body. This reaction is used for territorial displays, to discourage predators, and during courtship. The bones of the frill are modified elongate hyoid types that form rods which expand the frill. Secondarily the frill can serve as a form of camouflage when relaxed; there is no standard coloration to the body, but it is usually darker than the frill.\nThe frilled-neck lizard is found mainly in the northern regions of Australia and southern New Guinea. The lizard on rare occasions is found in the lower desert regions of Australia but primarily inhabits humid climates such as those in the tropical savannah woodlands. It tends to be an arboreal lizard, meaning it spends a majority of its time in the trees. The lizard ventures to the floor only in search of food, or to engage in territorial conflicts. The arboreal habitat may be a product of the lizard's diet, which consists mainly of small arthropods and vertebrates (usually smaller lizards). However, the trees are most importantly used for camouflage.\nLike many lizards, frill-necked lizards are carnivores, feeding on cicadas, beetles, termites, and mice. They especially favor butterflies, moths and their larvae. Though insects are their primary source of food, they also consume spiders and occasionally other lizards. Like most members of the agamids (dragons), frill-necked lizards employ an ambush method of hunting, lying in wait for their prey. When the lizards eat, they eat in abundance; these binge periods usually occur during the wet season, when they ingest hundreds to thousands of alate (flying) ants or termites.\nThe frilled-neck lizard is ectothermic and maintains its body temperature by basking briefly to achieve an average of 2\u20133 \u00b0C above the surrounding temperature. Weather conditions, including sunlight, are the main factors regulating the lizards\u2019 temperature. This basking period usually occurs in the morning to early afternoon to ensure maximum exposure to sunlight. However, the lizard's final internal temperature depends mainly on the ambient temperature of the surrounding environment. The lizard's frill was once thought to aid in thermoregulation, but this has been found without merit.\nThe frilled-neck lizard is sexually dimorphic; meaning that there are physical differences between male and females. This dimorphism is apparent in the length of the lizard; the male is generally larger than the female. There is little to no dimorphism in the color of the lizard. Frilled-necked lizards breed in the early wet season from September to October. Adult males fight for mates, displaying their frills and biting each other. One to two clutches of 6\u201325 eggs are laid from early to mid-wet season from November to February. The eggs are laid in a nest 5\u201320 cm below ground, and usually in sunny areas. Incubation takes two to three months. Gender is partly temperature determined, with extreme temperatures producing exclusively females, and intermediate temperatures (29 to 35 \u00b0C) producing equal numbers of males and females. Their eggs are soft-shelled.\nThe species' main predators are eagles, owls, larger lizards, snakes, dingoes and quolls.\nA frill-necked lizard was featured on the reverse of the Australian 2-cent coin until 1991. A frill-necked lizard, known as \"Lizzie,\" was the mascot for the 2000 Paralympic Games. The emblem of the Australian Army's Regional Force Surveillance Unit, NORFORCE (North-West Mobile Force) of the Kimberleys and Northern Territory is the frill-necked lizard. Because of its unique appearance and behavior, the frill-necked lizard is commonly used in film and television. A frill-necked lizard named Frank appears in the Disney film The Rescuers Down Under. In the film Jurassic Park, the dinosaur Dilophosaurus was portrayed with a fictional neck frill, which was raised during attack, similar to that of a frilled-neck lizard. The movie generated an increase in demand for frill-necked lizards as pets. In the CGI animated film Blinky Bill the Movie Jacko a frill-necked lizard wears a black t-shirt voiced by David Wenham.\n"
        },
        "108": {
            "common": "Arctic lemming",
            "family": "Dicrostonyx groenlandicus",
            "id": 108,
            "text": "The northern collared lemming or Nearctic collared lemming (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus), sometimes called the Peary Land collared lemming in Canada, is a small North American lemming. At one time, it was considered to be a subspecies of the Arctic lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus). Some sources believe several other species of collared lemmings found in North America are actually subspecies of D. groenlandicus. It has a short chunky body covered with thick grey fur with a thin black stripe along its back and light grey underparts. It has small ears, short legs and a very short tail. It has a pale brown collar across its chest. In winter, its fur turns white (believed to be the only rodent to do so), and it has large digging claws on its front feet. It is 14 cm long with a 1.5 cm tail and weighs about 40 g. This animal is found in the tundra of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. It feeds on grasses, sedges and other green vegetation in summer, and twigs of willow, aspen and birches in winter. Predators include snowy owls, gulls, wolverines, the Arctic fox and the polar bear. Female lemmings have two or three litters of four to eight young in a year. The young are born in a nest in an underground burrow or concealed in vegetation. It is active year-round, day and night. It makes runways through the surface vegetation and also digs underground burrows above the permafrost. It burrows under the snow in winter. Lemming populations go through a three- or four-year cycle of boom and bust. When their population peaks, lemmings disperse from overcrowded areas.\n"
        },
        "1082": {
            "common": "Frogmouth, tawny",
            "family": "Podargus strigoides",
            "id": 1082,
            "text": "The tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a species of frogmouth native to Australia that is found throughout the Australian mainland and Tasmania. Tawny frogmouths are big-headed stocky birds often mistaken for owls due to their nocturnal habits and similar colouring. The tawny frogmouth is sometimes incorrectly referred to as \"mopoke\", a common name for the southern boobook whose call is often confused for the tawny frogmouth's.\nThe tawny frogmouth was first described in 1801 by English naturalist John Latham. Its specific epithet is derived from the Latin strix meaning \"owl\" and oides meaning \"form\". Tawny frogmouths belong to the frogmouth genus Podargus which includes the two other species of frogmouths found within Australia, the marbled frogmouth and the Papuan frogmouth. The frogmouths form a well-defined group within the order Caprimulgiformes. Although related to owls, their closest relatives are the oilbirds, potoos, owlet-nightjars, and true nightjars. The earliest fossil evidence of frogmouths are from the Eocene and imply that they diverged from their closest relatives during the early Tertiary. Three subspecies of the tawny frogmouth are currently recognised:\nTawny frogmouths are large, big-headed birds that can measure from long. Weights have been recorded of up to in the wild (and perhaps even more in captivity) but these are exceptionally high. In the nominate race, 55 males were found to weigh a mean of while 39 females weighed a mean of, with a range between both of . Among the subspecies P. s. brachypterus, 20 unsexed birds were found to average with a range of . In P. s. phalaenoides, a weight range of was reported. Thus, in terms of average if not maximal body mass, the tawny is a bit smaller than its cousin, the Papuan frogmouth. Tawny frogmouths are stocky and compact with rounded wings and short legs. They have wide, heavy olive-grey to blackish bills that are hooked at the tip and topped with distinctive tufts of bristles. Their eyes are large, yellow, and frontally placed, a trait shared by owls. Tawny frogmouths have three distinct colour morphs, grey being the most common in both sexes. Males of this morph have silver-grey upperparts with black streaks and slightly paler underparts with white barring and brown to rufous mottling. Females of this morph are often darker with more rufous mottling. Females of the subspecies strigoides have a chestnut morph and females of the subspecies phalaenoides have a rufous morph. Leucistic or albinistic all-white aberrant plumage for this species has been documented.\nOne of the best examples of cryptic plumage and mimicry in Australian birds is seen in the tawny frogmouth who perch low on tree branches during the day camouflaged as part of the tree. Their silvery-grey plumage patterned with white, black, and brown streaks and mottles allows them to freeze into the form of a broken tree branch and become practically invisible in broad daylight. The tawny frogmouth will often choose a broken part of a tree branch and perch upon it with its head thrust upwards at an acute angle using its very large, broad beak to emphasise the resemblance. Often a pair will sit together and point their heads upwards, only breaking cover if approached closely to take flight or warn off predators. When threatened, adult tawny frogmouths will make an alarm call that signals to chicks to remain silent and immobile ensuring that the natural camouflage provided by the plumage is not broken.\nTawny frogmouths and owls both have mottled patterns, wide eyes, and anisodactyl feet. However, owls possess strong legs, powerful talons, and toes with a unique flexible joint as they use their feet to catch prey. Tawny frogmouths prefer to catch their prey with their beaks and have fairly weak feet. Tawny frogmouths roost out in the open relying on camouflage for defence and build their nests in tree forks whereas owls roost hidden in thick foliage and build their nests in tree hollows. Tawny frogmouths have wide forward facing beaks for catching insects whereas owls have narrow downwards facing beaks used to tear prey apart. The eyes of tawny frogmouths are to the side of the face while the eyes of owls are fully forward on the face. Furthermore, owls have full or partial face discs and large asymmetrical ears while tawny frogmouths do not.\nTawny frogmouths are a widespread species found throughout most of the Australian mainland except in far western Queensland, the central Northern Territory, and most of the Nullabor Plain. In Tasmania, they are common throughout the northern and eastern parts of the state. Tawny frogmouths can be found in almost any habitat type including forests and woodlands, scrub and heathland vegetation, and savannahs. However, they do not occur in heavy rainforests and treeless deserts. They are seen in large numbers in areas that are populated with many river gums and casuarinas and can be found along river courses if these areas are timbered. Tawny frogmouths are common in suburbs, having adapted to human presence. They have been reported nesting in parks and gardens with trees.\nTawny frogmouths are carnivorous and are considered to be among Australia's most effective pest control birds as their diet consists largely of species regarded as vermin or pests in houses, farms, and gardens. The bulk of their diet is composed of large nocturnal insects such as moths, as well as spiders, worms, slugs, and snails but also includes a variety of bugs, beetles, wasps, ants, centipedes, millipedes, and scorpions. Large numbers of invertebrates are consumed in order to make up sufficient biomass. Small mammals, reptiles, frogs and birds are also eaten. During daylight hours, healthy tawny frogmouths generally do not actively look for food though they may sit with their mouths open, snapping it shut when an insect enters. As dusk approaches, they begin actively searching for food. Tawny frogmouths feed mainly by pouncing from a tree or other elevated perch to take large insects or small vertebrates from the ground using their beaks with great precision. Some smaller prey, such as moths, can be caught in flight. Foraging flights consist of short snatching flights to foliage, branches, or into the air. Tawny frogmouths do not consume prey collected on the ground or in flight on the spot unless it is very small. The captured prey is held in the tip of the beak and taken to a nearby branch where it is then processed. Insects are generally pulped at the rim of the beak before being swallowed and larger prey such as lizards or mice are generally killed before consumption by being bashed against a branch with great force.\nTawny frogmouths form partnerships for life and once established, pairs will usually stay in the same territory for a decade or more. Establishing and maintaining physical contact is an integral part of the lifelong bond. During breeding season, tawny frogmouth pairs roost closely together on the same branch, often with their bodies touching. The male will carry out grooming by gently stroking through the plumage of the female with his beak in sessions that can last for ten minutes or more. The breeding season of tawny frogmouths is from August to December, however individuals in arid areas are known to breed in response to heavy rains. Males and females both share in the building of nests by collecting twigs and mouthfuls of leaves and dropping them into position. Nests are usually placed on horizontal forked tree branches and can reach up to 30 cm in diameter. Loose sticks are piled together and leaf litter and grass stems are placed to soften the centre. The nests are very fragile and can disintegrate easily. The clutch size of the tawny frogmouth is one to three eggs. Both sexes share incubation of the eggs during the night whilst during the day, males incubate the eggs. For the duration of the incubation period, the nest is rarely left unattended. One partner will roost on a nearby branch and provide food for the brooding partner. Once hatched, both parents cooperate in the supply of food to the young. The fledging period of the tawny frogmouth is 25 \u2013 35 days during which they develop half their adult mass.\nTawny frogmouths have a wide range of vocalisations that can signal information about sex, territory, food, or predators. They generally use low amplitude and low frequency sounds to communicate though some of their warning screams can be heard for miles. Nestlings make a number of unique calls expressing distress, hunger, and fear. Juveniles retain this range while developing a loud call for begging. Nestlings, juveniles, and adults all use a low amplitude annoyance call meant for family members. When disturbed during rest, tawny frogmouths can emit a soft warning buzz that sounds similar to a bee and when threatened, they can make a loud hissing noise and produce clacking sounds with their bill. At night, tawny frogmouths emit a deep and continuous \"oom-oom-oom\" grunting at a frequency of about 8 calls in 5 seconds. The steady grunts are often repeated a number of times throughout the night. Tawny frogmouths also make a soft, breathy \"whoo-whoo-whoo\" call at night of lower intensity but at the same frequency. Before and during breeding season, males and females perform duets consisting of call sequences that either alternate between partners or are performed simultaneously. Tawny frogmouths also make distinctive drumming noises during breeding season.\nThe wide distribution range of the tawny frogmouth includes areas of the Australian continent where winter night temperatures regularly approach 8 \u00b0C and warm summers can see extremes of up to 40 \u00b0C. The high temperatures in summer months and cold temperatures in winter months provide a thermoregulatory challenge for tawny frogmouths who roost all day out in the open. Significant differences in the orientation of tawny frogmouths on branches has been observed during winter and summer months. During summer when light intensity is at maximum strength, they tend to choose positions on branches that do not have all day exposure to sunlight. Physiological testing has shown that tawny frogmouths are able to triple their breathing rate without the need to open their beaks. However, when their body temperature rises by as much as four to five degrees they will begin to pant. Faced with further heat stress, tawny frogmouths will engorge the blood vessels in the mouth to increase the flow of blood to the buccal area and produce a mucus that helps to cool air as it is inhaled and hence cool the body. During winter, tawny frogmouths choose northerly oriented positions on branches that are more exposed to sunlight in order to increase body heat. Pair roosting and huddling to share body warmth is also common during winter months. During daylight hours, tawny frogmouths sometimes perch on the ground to sunbathe, remaining motionless for up to five minutes. During this time, the birds open their beaks wide, close their eyes, and move their head to the side to allow sunrays to penetrate beneath the thick layer of feathers.\nDuring winter, the food supply shrinks drastically and pre-winter body fat stores can only provide a limited supply of energy. Tawny frogmouths are unable to survive the winter months without spending much of their days and nights in torpor. Torpor results in energy conservation by significantly slowing down heart-rate and metabolism which lowers body temperature. Torpor is different from hibernation in that it only lasts for relatively short periods of time, usually a few hours. Shallow torpor lasts for several hours and is a regular, daily occurrence in the months of winter. Dawn torpor bouts are shorter and temperature reduction may be as small as 0.5 to 1.5 \u00b0C while night torpor bouts last for several hours and can reduce body temperature by up to 10 \u00b0C.\nThe conservation status of tawny frogmouths is \"Least Concern\" due to their widespread distribution. However, there are a number of ongoing threats to the health of the population. Many birds and mammalian carnivores are known to prey upon the tawny frogmouth. Native birds including ravens, butcherbirds, and currawongs, may attempt or steal the protein rich eggs to feed their own young. Birds of prey such as hobbies and falcons, as well as rodents and tree climbing snakes also cause major damage to the clutches of tawny frogmouths by taking eggs as well as nestlings. In subtropical areas where food is available throughout the year, tawny frogmouths sometimes start brooding earlier in winter in order to avoid the awakening of snakes after hibernation. Since 1998, there have been a cluster of cases of neurological disease in tawny frogmouths in the Sydney area caused by the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a rat lungworm.\nTawny frogmouths face a number of threats from human activities and pets. Tawny frogmouths are often killed or injured on rural roads during feeding as they fly in front of cars when chasing insects illuminated in the beam of the headlights. Large scale land clearing of eucalypt trees and intense bushfires are serious threats to tawny frogmouth populations as they tend not to move to other areas if their homes are destroyed. Household cats are the most significant introduced predator of the tawny frogmouth, however dogs and foxes are known to also occasionally kill the birds. When tawny frogmouths pounce to catch prey on the ground, they are slow to return to flight and vulnerable to attack from these predators. As they have adapted to live in close proximity to human populations, tawny frogmouths are at high risk of exposure to pesticides. Continued widespread use of insecticides and rodent poisons are hazardous as they remain in the system of the target animal and can be fatal to a tawny frogmouth that eats them. The effect of these toxins are often indirect as they can be absorbed into fatty tissue with the bird experiencing no overt signs of ill health until the winter months when the fat deposits are drawn on and the poison enters the bloodstream.\n"
        },
        "1084": {
            "common": "Galah",
            "family": "Eolophus roseicapillus",
            "id": 1084,
            "text": "The galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) also known as the rose-breasted cockatoo, galah cockatoo, roseate cockatoo or pink and grey, is one of the most common and widespread cockatoos, and it can be found in open country in almost all parts of mainland Australia. It is endemic on the mainland and was introduced to Tasmania, where its distinctive pink and grey plumage and its bold and loud behaviour make it a familiar sight in the bush and increasingly in urban areas. It appears to have benefited from the change in the landscape since European colonisation and may be replacing the Major Mitchell's cockatoo in parts of its range. The term galah is derived from gilaa, a word found in Yuwaalaraay and neighbouring Aboriginal languages.\nGalahs are about long and weigh 270\u2013350 g. They have a pale silver to mid-grey back, a pale grey rump, a pink face and chest, and a light pink mobile crest. They have a bone-coloured beak, and the bare skin of the eye rings is carunculated. They have grey legs. The sexes appear similar, however generally adult birds differ in the colour of the irises; the male has very dark brown (almost black) irises and the female has mid-brown or red irises. The colours of the juveniles are duller than the adults. Juveniles have greyish chests, crowns, and crests, and they have brown irises and whitish bare eye rings, which are not carunculated.\nGalahs are found in all Australian states, and are absent only from the driest areas and the far north of Cape York Peninsula. It is still uncertain whether they are native to Tasmania, though they are locally common today, especially in urban areas. They are common in some metropolitan areas, for example Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne, and common to abundant in open habitats which offer at least some scattered trees for shelter. The changes brought by European settlement, a disaster for many species, have been highly beneficial for the galah because of the clearing of forests in fertile areas and the provision of stock watering points in arid zones. Flocks of galahs will often congregate and forage on foot for food in open grassy areas.\nThe classification of the galah was difficult. It was separated in the monotypic genus Eolophus, but the further relationships were not clear. There are obvious morphological similarities between the galah and the white cockatoos that make up the genus Cacatua and indeed the galah was initially described as Cacatua roseicapilla. Early DNA studies allied the galah with the cockatiel or placed it close to some Cacatua species of completely different appearance. In consequence, it was thought that the ancestors of the galah, the cockatiel and Major Mitchell's cockatoo diverged from the main white cockatoo line at some stage prior to that group's main radiation; this was indeed correct except for the placement of the cockatiel. Ignorance of this fact, however, led to attempts to resolve the evolutionary history and prehistoric biogeography of the cockatoos, which ultimately proved fruitless because they were based on invalid assumptions to start with. It fell to the study of Brown & Toft (1999) to compare research and resolve the issue. Today, the galah is seen, along with Major Mitchell's cockatoo, as an early divergence from the white cockatoo lineage which have not completely lost their ability to produce an overall pink (Major Mitchell's) or pink and grey (galah) body plumage, while already being light in colour and non-sexually dimorphic. The significance of these two (and other) characteristics shared by the Cacatuinae\nThree subspecies are usually recognised. There is slight variation in the colours of the plumage and in the extent of the carunculation of the eye rings among the three subspecies. The south-eastern form, E. r. albiceps, is clearly distinct from the paler-bodied Western Australian nominate subspecies, E. r. roseicapilla, although the extent and nature of the central hybrid zone remains undefined. Most pet birds outside Australia are the south-eastern form. The third form, E. r. kuhli, found right across the northern part of the continent, tends to be a little smaller and is distinguished by differences in the shape and colour of the crest, although its status as a valid subspecies is uncertain.\nThe galah nests in tree cavities. The eggs are white and there are usually two or five in a clutch. The eggs are incubated for about 25 days, and both the male and female share the incubation. The chicks leave the nest about 49 days after hatching.\nLiving in captivity galahs can reach up to 70 to 80 years of age when a good quality diet is strictly followed. The galah socialises adequately and can engage playfully in entertainment activities to support the overall very intelligent nature of the bird. In their natural habitat the galah is unlikely to reach the age of 20 years. The average age of all galahs is about 40 years of age. Like most other cockatoos, galahs create strong lifelong bonds with their partners.\nAviary-bred crosses of galahs and Major Mitchell's cockatoos have been bred in Sydney, with the tapered wings of the galah and the crest and colours of the Major Mitchell's, as well as its plaintive cry. The galah has also been shown to be capable of hybridising with the cockatiel, producing offspring described by the media as 'galatiels'. galahs are known to join flocks of little corellas (Cacatua sanguinea), and are known to breed with them also.. A galah/sulphur-crested cockatoo hybrid which was hatched in 1920 was still living in the Adelaide zoo in the late 1970s, being displayed in a small cage alone near the entrance to an on-site cottage. The back feathers were a patchwork of grey tones and the breast feathers a soft apricot tone and the crest a slightly richer orange. The crest was longer that a galah crest but without the long curl of the sulphur-crested cockatoo. The bird was not significantly larger than a galah.\n\"Galah\" is also derogatory Australian slang, synonymous with 'fool' or 'idiot'. Because of the bird's distinctive bright pink, it is also used for gaudy dress. A detailed, yet comedic description of the Australian slang term can be found in the standup comedy performance of Paul Hogan, titled Stand Up Hoges. Another famous user of the slang \"galah\" is Alf Stewart from Home and Away who is often heard saying \"Flaming galah!\" when he is riled by somebody. The Australian representative team of footballers which played a series of test matches of International rules football against Irish sides in the late 1960s was nicknamed \"The galahs\" (see \"The Australian Football World Tour).\n"
        },
        "1086": {
            "common": "Galapagos albatross",
            "family": "Diomedea irrorata",
            "id": 1086,
            "text": "The waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata), also known as Galapagos albatross, is the only member of the family Diomedeidae located in the tropics. When they forage, they follow a straight path to a single site off the coast of Peru, about to the east. During the non-breeding season, these birds reside primarily on the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts.\nWaved albatrosses are a type of albatross that belong to Diomedeidae family and come from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns, although the nostrils of the albatross are on the sides of the bill. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This is used against predators and as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights. They also have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe. It excretes a high saline solution from their nose.\nThe waved albatross derives its name from the wave-like pattern of the feathers on adult birds.\nThese are medium-sized albatrosses, measuring in length with a wingspan of . They range between in mass, with males averaging significantly heavier than females. They are distinctive for their yellowish-cream neck and head, which contrasts with their mostly brownish bodies. Even more distinctive is the very long, bright yellow bill, which looks disproportionately large in comparison to the relatively small head and long, slender neck. They also have chestnut brown upper parts and underparts, except for the breast, with fine barring, a little coarser on the rump. They have brown upper-wings, back, and tail, along with a whitish breast and underwings. Their axillaries are brown. Finally they have blue feet. Juveniles are similar to adults except for more white on their head. Chicks have brown fluffy feathers. The lifespan of this species may reach 40 to 45 years.\nThe waved albatross breeds primarily on Espa\u00f1ola Island in the Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago; however, there have been sightings of non-breeders and therefore possible small numbers, around 10 to 20, of breeders on Genovesa Island and Isla de la Plata. During non-breeding season they will shift to the east and southeast to the continental shelf region off the coast of Peru and Ecuador. Sometimes they are seen in Colombia.\nThe primary food sources of the waved albatross are fish, squid, and crustaceans, as well as smaller birds. But they have also been observed to scavenge for other food sources, including the regurgitated food of other birds. When foraging, the waved albatross finds places in the ocean where prey will be near this surface; this is the most effective way for the albatross to get its food. The waved albatrosses will forage away from the place where the chicks are nesting to get food for them.\nThe nests are built on areas of lava with boulders and sparse vegetation, or thick brush. The courtship of the waved albatross is a very elusive and spectacular sight. It includes: rapid bill circling and bowing, beak clacking, and an upraised bill to make a whoo hoo sound. The eggs are laid between April and June and incubated for two months. When the eggs hatch, the chicks stay together in small nurseries while the parents go out to the sea for hunting. When the parents return, they may feed the chicks up to of oil. The young reach adult size by December and leave the colony by January. The partners remain mates until one of the partners dies.\nWaved albatross are spectacular flyers, perhaps even the most famous. They can fly for hours without stalling and they do this by dynamic soaring. The wind speed near the surface of the sea is much lower than about in the air. The waved albatross uses this to its advantage by gliding at speed into the wind. As the waved albatross glides higher it loses most of its ground speed because it is gliding into a wind of a higher speed. However, its air speed does not fall, enabling it to glide continuously. However, waved albatrosses do have difficulty in landing due to their high stalling speed, and in taking off due to the challenge of beating their massive wings. To make it easier they sometimes take off from cliffs that are somewhat inland rather than beside the coast.\nThe population of waved albatrosses on the Gal\u00e1pagos is protected by national park personnel, and the island is also categorized as a World Heritage Site. But limited range, bycatch by longline fishing, disturbance via tourism, disease, and the effects of illegal fishing in the nearby waters place them in considerable jeopardy. Longline fishing in particular seems to be having a severe impact on the species, the conservation status of which was upgraded from near threatened to vulnerable by the IUCN in 2000. Despite there still being some 34,700 adult birds in 2001, their numbers have apparently started to decrease at an unknown rate more recently, probably due to longline fishing which also upsets the sex ratio (males being killed more frequently). As the current situation makes the population highly vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse to extinction, it was uplisted to critically endangered status in the 2007 IUCN Red List. The population of 34,700 adult birds was based on a 2001 estimate; however in 1970 and 1971 there were an estimated 24,000, and 1994 saw between 31,200 and 36,400. This species has an occurrence range of, and a breeding range of .\n"
        },
        "1088": {
            "common": "Galapagos dove",
            "family": "Zenaida galapagoensis",
            "id": 1088,
            "text": "The Gal\u00e1pagos dove (Zenaida galapagoensis) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Gal\u00e1pagos, off Ecuador. It is fairly common and is found in a wide range of open and semi-open habitats, especially in the arid lowlands of the archipelago. The Gal\u00e1pagos Dove grows to measure between 18 and 23 centimeters long. An attractive bird, the Gal\u00e1pagos dove has dark reddish-brown upperparts, a pinkish neck and breast, a buffy-coloured belly, and brown wings, streaked with white and black. The long downward curved beaks on the Gal\u00e1pagos Dove helps it feed mostly on seeds and fruits from the ground. Very reluctant to fly in the air, it will only do so as a last resort. Gal\u00e1pagos Doves spend most of their time on the ground or lowlands searching for food, mainly feeding off the Opuntia Cactus and caterpillars. They inhabit rocky lowlands, scattered trees, bushes, and cacti. Due to the scarce number of bees, these doves form similar functions to that of a bee. The softening of the Opuntia Cactus allows these doves to pollinate. In the mid to late 1600s, Gal\u00e1pagos Doves were mainly hunted by sailors, but are now hunted by the feral cats that are present on the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. Other threats to the Gal\u00e1pagos Doves are diseases, pollution, and habitat degradation. Whenever their nests are in danger, the doves will pretend to be hurt or injured and lure the invader away from its nest. Most Gal\u00e1pagos nest are built on the ground, or no more than 30 inches high. The average nest can carry up to two eggs. Results show that seasons and weather have an impact on the breeding habits of Gal\u00e1pagos Doves. Studies show the wet season for the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands being in early January.\nGal\u00e1pagos Doves are a example of how a species adapts to its very own habitat or territory when mankind interacts with the species and its environment. The 1685 Galapagos Island expedition by the British Privateers is where the first interaction of Gal\u00e1pagos Doves and humans took place. The Gal\u00e1pagos main or primary characteristic is its extreme tameness. When British sailors first arrived to the islands, these Doves showed no fear toward the British sailors, coming in flocks, which made easy hunting targets for these British sailors. The flock of Gal\u00e1pagos Doves would approach, and sit on the heads and shoulders of these sailors, eventually leading to the hunting of these particular birds. The flock of doves proved to be an easy hunting tool for the British sailors, but the birds slowly began to dissipate. The birds eventually adapted to the human change by learning to avoid human interaction because of the threat of being killed for food and resources. Due in time, these doves became more frightful of humans. This is an example that Gal\u00e1pagos Doves developed a form of phenotypic recognition of humans. The phrase phenotypic plasticity is used when explaining doves and human interactions. This is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment.Phenotype In this case, the Doves daily lives were altered when the British Privateers discovered the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. This particular model of \u201canimal resistance\u201d to the onset of human existence proves that adaptation took place on the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. These doves acquired the knowledge to avoid danger and altered their behavioral methods towards humans.\n"
        },
        "1090": {
            "common": "Galapagos hawk",
            "family": "Buteo galapagoensis",
            "id": 1090,
            "text": "The Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) is a large hawk endemic to the Galapagos Islands.\nSimilar in size to the red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and the Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) of North America, but the size is variable across the islands as is recorded for many animals native to the Galapagos. The Galapagos hawk can range from in length from beak to tail with a wingspan of . The smallest hawk sizes recorded are on Marchena Island, where males average and females average . Intermediate in size are the hawks of Santiago Island, on which males weigh an average of while females average . Largest known are the hawks on Espa\u00f1ola Island, which are amongst the largest Buteo known anywhere, with males averaging and females averaging . The adult hawk has various colouring within the species. The adult Galapagos hawk is generally a sooty brownish black colour; the crown being slightly blacker than the back. Its feathers of the mantle are partially edged with paler brown, grey, or buff, with their white bases showing to some extent. Their tail coverts are also barred with white.The tail itself is silvery grey above, with about ten narrow black bars; below it is quite pale. The wing feathers are paler on inner webs, barred with white. Below it has indistinct rufous edges to the feathers of the flanks and lower abdomen. The under-tail coverts are barred with white. Under-wing coverts are black, contrasting with the pale bases of the wing quills. The eyes are brown, the beak greyish black, paler at its base which is known as the 'cere', legs and feet are yellow. The male hawk is smaller than the female hawk, as with many birds of prey. The young hawks however, appear quite different from the adults in that they are well camouflaged with an overall brown appearance with varying amounts of striping below and paler mottling above. Their eyes are light grey-brown, and the beak black, blue-grey at its base. The cere is grey-green, the feet pale yellow-green. When the immature plumage becomes badly worn, the pale areas become almost white. The Galapagos hawk has broad wings and a broad tail. It is an apex predator and possesses excellent vision. Their young appear different from adults because they are darker and have camouflage which aid them in remaining protected from potential predators until they are fully grown.\nThis hawk lives mainly on insects such as locusts and giant centipedes, as well as small lava lizards, snakes, and rodents. It is not uncommon for it to take marine and land iguanas, and sea turtle and tortoise hatchlings. This predator has also been spotted near nesting areas of swallow-tailed gulls, where it steals eggs as well as young. Even extremely rancid carrion is picked apart by their sharp, forceful beaks. Their feet and talons are also strong like those of the closely related red-backed hawk and white-tailed hawk. Hunting in groups of two or three, the hawks soar at a height of 50 to 200 meters in the sky. When one of the birds spots prey or a rotting carcass, they signal to the other members. The dominant hawk of the group feeds from the prey until it is satisfied, as the other hawks in the family group submissively wait their turn to feed. It prefers to perch on a lava outcrop or high branch when hunting, yet it also spends some of its time on the ground. Fearless of man, the young especially being quite curious, they often wander around human camps and scavenge for scraps of food. In 1845, Charles Darwin wrote: \"A gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk out of the branch of a tree...\"\nBecause the seasons of the island are unchanging due to the close proximity of the equator, there is no regular mating season. Mating takes place a few times a day on a nearby perch or in flight. It begins when males make fake attacks on the female from behind by dive bombing her, and then the male follows the female as she descends to the trees below. While males tend to be monogamous, the females will mate with up to seven different males during mating season. Throughout the entire nesting period, the female and her males take turns protecting the nest and incubating the eggs, even participating in the feeding. Nests are built low in trees, on lava ledges, or even on the ground at times. Used for many years and nesting periods, they become quite large, sometimes even four feet in diameter. Stick structures are lined with grass, bark, clumps of leaves, or other available soft materials. The mating pair is together the majority of the time at the prime of egg-laying season, and usually stays close to the nesting site. The nest is maintained constantly with fresh, green twigs. Normally one to three eggs are laid, green-white in color, but only one young is reared. Young hawks leave the nest around 50\u201360 days after hatching. Juvenile hawks will not enter the territorial breeding areas until they reach the age of three, becoming sexually mature. Although these birds are generally fearless, they will abandon their nest if it has been tampered with by humans.\nThe call of the Galapagos hawk is a series of short screams similar to the call of the red-shouldered hawk that have been described as a \u201ckeer, keeu,\u201d or an inflected \u201ckwee\u201d. Especially noisy during mating season, their call softens to a \u201ckilp, kilp, kilp\u201d.\nAlthough the exact number of these birds is unknown, there are believed to be only around 150 mating pairs in existence today. This statistic has improved slightly from past years, but it is far from the abundance they were found in on all the islands of Gal\u00e1pagos when they were discovered. Due to human disturbance to their natural habitat, a dwindling food supply because of new predators introduced to the islands, and predation by humans, they are now extinct on the islands of Baltra, Daphne, Floreana, San Cristobal, and Seymour.\nStudy of mtDNA haplotypes (Bollmer et al. 2005) of the Galapagos hawk and its closest relative, Swainson's hawk, indicates that the former's ancestors colonized the islands approximately 300,000 years ago, making the birds the most recent native species arrival known. (Compare to Darwin's finches, which are estimated to have arrived some 2\u20133 million years ago.)\n"
        },
        "1092": {
            "common": "Galapagos mockingbird",
            "family": "Nesomimus trifasciatus",
            "id": 1092,
            "text": "The Floreana mockingbird or Charles mockingbird (Mimus trifasciatus) is a bird species in the family Mimidae. It is endemic to Floreana, one of the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands; but human colonisation from 1832 onwards brought predators such as dogs and cats, and within 50 years the species was extinct on Floreana. It now occurs only on two inaccessible offshore islands, including Gardner. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. The Floreana mockingbird is also known as Darwin's mockingbird, as it was the arguable inspiration for Charles Darwin's work on the origins of species; he noticed distinct differences between them and previous species he had encountered and consequently established the existence of other variants on neighbouring islands. Previously classified as an Endangered species by the IUCN, recent research shows that its numbers are decreasing more and more rapidly, and it is on the brink of extinction. It was consequently uplisted to Critically Endangered status in 2008.\nToday, two small sub-populations are extant on the small satellite islets of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana. They are due to be re-introduced as a third, possibly hybridized population on Floreana (due to genetic compatibility and hybrid viability revealed through analysis of the Darwin-Fitzroy collections).\n"
        },
        "1094": {
            "common": "Galapagos penguin",
            "family": "Spheniscus mendiculus",
            "id": 1094,
            "text": "The Gal\u00e1pagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is a penguin endemic to the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands. It is the only penguin that lives north of the equator in the wild. It can survive due to the cool temperatures resulting from the Humboldt Current and cool waters from great depths brought up by the Cromwell Current. The Gal\u00e1pagos penguin is one of the banded penguins, the other species of which live mostly on the coasts of Africa and mainland South America.\nThe average Gal\u00e1pagos penguin is long and  in weight. It is the second smallest species of penguin after the little penguin. Gal\u00e1pagos penguins have a black head with a white border running from behind the eye, around the black ear-coverts and chin, to join on the throat. They have black-grey upperparts and whitish underparts, with two black bands across the breast, the lower band extending down the flanks to the thigh. Juveniles differ in having a wholly dark head, greyer on side and chin, and no breast-band. The female penguins are smaller than the males.\nThe Gal\u00e1pagos penguin is found primarily on Fernandina Island and the west coast of Isabela Island, but small populations are scattered on other islands in the Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago. While ninety percent of the Gal\u00e1pagos penguins live among the western islands of Fernandina and Isabela, they also occur on Santiago, Bartolom\u00e9, northern Santa Cruz, and Floreana. The northern tip of Isabela crosses the equator, meaning that some Gal\u00e1pagos penguins live the northern hemisphere, the only penguins to do so.\nThe penguins stay in the archipelago. They stay by the Cromwell Current during the day since it is cooler and return to the land at night. They eat small schooling fish, mainly mullet, sardines, and sometimes crustaceans. They search for food only during the day and normally within a few kilometers of their breeding site. They depend on the cold nutrient-rich currents to bring them food. The temperature on the Galapagos Islands stays between 15 and 28 \u00b0C (59\u201382 \u00b0F). During El Ni\u00f1o seasons, the penguins put off breeding, because their food becomes less abundant; this makes the chances of raising offspring successfully unfavorable compared to the chances of dying in the attempt. They usually breed when the sea surface temperature is below 24 \u00b0C (75 \u00b0F) which results in more food for them. The strong sun is the main problem for the penguins. Their primary means of cooling off is going into the water, but they have other behavioral adaptations because of all the time they spend on land. They use two methods of thermoregulation in warmer weather on land. One is by stretching out their flippers and hunching forward to keep the sun from shining on their feet, since they can lose heat from their flippers due to the blood flow there. They also pant, using evaporation to cool the throat and airways. Gal\u00e1pagos penguins protect their eggs and chicks from the hot sun by keeping them in deep crevices in the rocks. The species is endangered, with an estimated population size of around 1,500 individuals in 2004, according to a survey by the Charles Darwin Research Station. The population underwent an alarming decline of over 70% in the 1980s, but is slowly recovering. It is therefore the rarest penguin species (a status which is often falsely attributed to the yellow-eyed penguin). Population levels are influenced by the effects of the El Ni\u00f1o Southern Oscillation, which reduces the availability of shoaling fish, leading to low reproduction or starvation. However, anthropogenic factors (e.g. oil pollution, fishing by-catch and competition) may be adding to the ongoing demise of this species. On Isabela Island, introduced cats, dogs, and rats attack penguins and destroy their nests. When in the water, they are preyed upon by sharks, fur seals, and sea lions.\nThere are fewer than 1000 breeding pairs of Gal\u00e1pagos penguins in the world. Most nests are seen between May and January. The nests are made within of the water on the shore, usually on Fernandina and Isabela Islands. Adults stay near the breeding area during the year with their mate. When the penguins are breeding, incubation takes 38\u201340 days with both parents helping out. The Gal\u00e1pagos penguin mates for life. It lays one or two eggs in places such as caves and crevices, protected from direct sunlight, which can lead to the eggs overheating. One parent will always stay with the eggs or chicks while the other is absent for several days to feed. The parents usually rear only one child. If there is not enough food available, the nest may be abandoned. Thirty days after the chicks hatch, the chicks' feathers are brown above and white below. These feathers are to protect the chicks from the strong sun rather than keep them warm. Bermudian naturalist Louis L. Mowbray was the first to successfully breed the Gal\u00e1pagos penguins in captivity.\nBecause of the Gal\u00e1pagos penguin's smaller size, it has many predators. On land, the penguins are preyed upon by crabs, snakes, rice rats, cats, Galapagos hawks, and short-eared owls. While in the water they are preyed upon by sharks, fur seals, and sea lions. They face many hazards due to humans, as well as the hazards of unreliable food resources and volcanic activity. Illegal fishermen may interrupt the penguins\u2019 nesting, and they are often caught in fishing nets by mistake.\n"
        },
        "1098": {
            "common": "Galapagos tortoise",
            "family": "Geochelone elephantopus",
            "id": 1098,
            "text": "The Gal\u00e1pagos tortoise complex or Gal\u00e1pagos giant tortoise complex (Chelonoidis nigra) are the largest living species of tortoise. Modern Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises can weigh up to . Today, giant tortoises exist only on two remote archipelagos: the Gal\u00e1pagos 1000 km due west of Ecuador, and Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, 700 km east of Tanzania. The Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises are native to seven of the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago about west of the Ecuadorian mainland. With lifespans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates. A captive individual lived at least 170 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish gal\u00e1pago, meaning \"tortoise\". Shell size and shape vary between populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks; on islands with dry lowlands, the tortoises are smaller, with \"saddleback\" shells and long necks. Charles Darwin's observations of these differences on the second voyage of the Beagle in 1835, contributed to the development of his theory of evolution. Tortoise numbers declined from over 250,000 in the 16th century to a low of around 3,000 in the 1970s. This decline was caused by overexploitation of the species for meat and oil, habitat clearance for agriculture, and introduction of non-native animals to the islands, such as rats, goats, and pigs. The extinction of most giant tortoise lineages is thought to have also been caused by predation by humans or human ancestors, as the tortoises themselves have no natural predators. Tortoise populations on at least three islands have become extinct in historical time due to human activities. Specimens of these extinct taxa exist in several museums and also are being subjected to DNA analysis. Ten species of the original 15 survive in the wild; an 11th species (C. n. abingdonii) had only a single known living individual, kept in captivity and nicknamed Lonesome George until his death in June 2012. Conservation efforts, beginning in the 20th century, have resulted in thousands of captive-bred juveniles being released onto their ancestral home islands, and the total number of the species is estimated to have exceeded 19,000 at the start of the 21st century. Despite this rebound, the species as a whole is classified as \"vulnerable\" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.\nThe Gal\u00e1pagos Islands were discovered in 1535, but first appeared on the maps, of Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, around 1570. The islands were named \"Insulae de los Galopegos\" (Islands of the Tortoises) in reference to the giant tortoises found there. Initially, the giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean and those from the Gal\u00e1pagos were considered to be the same species. Naturalists thought that sailors had transported the tortoises there. In 1676, the pre-Linnaean authority Claude Perrault referred to both species as Tortue des Indes. In 1783, Johann Gottlob Schneider classified all giant tortoises as Testudo indica (\"Indian tortoise\"). In 1812, August Friedrich Schweigger named them Testudo gigantea (\"gigantic tortoise\"). In 1834, Andr\u00e9 Marie Constant Dum\u00e9ril and Gabriel Bibron classified the Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises as a separate species, which they named Testudo nigrita (\"black tortoise\").\nThe first systematic survey of giant tortoises was by Albert G\u00fcnther of the British Museum, in 1875. G\u00fcnther identified at least five distinct populations from the Gal\u00e1pagos, and three from the Indian Ocean islands. He expanded the list in 1877 to six from the Gal\u00e1pagos, four from the Seychelles, and four from the Mascarenes. G\u00fcnther hypothesized that all the giant tortoises descended from a single ancestral population which spread by sunken land bridges. This hypothesis was later disproven by the understanding that the Gal\u00e1pagos, Seychelles, and Mascarene islands are all of recent volcanic origin and have never been linked to a continent by land bridges. Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises are now thought to have descended from a South American ancestor, while the Indian Ocean tortoises derived from ancestral populations on Madagascar. At the end of the 19th century, Georg Baur and Walter Rothschild recognised five more populations of Gal\u00e1pagos tortoise. In 1905-06, an expedition by the California Academy of Sciences, with Joseph R. Slevin in charge of reptiles, collected specimens which were studied by Academy herpetologist John Van Denburgh. He identified four additional populations, and proposed the existence of 15 species. Van Denburgh's list still guides the taxonomy of the Gal\u00e1pagos tortoise, though now 10 populations are thought to have existed.\nThe current specific designation of nigra (\"black\" \u2013 Quoy & Gaimard, 1824b ) was resurrected in 1984 after it was discovered to be the senior synonym (an older taxonomic synonym taking historical precedence) for the then commonly used species name of elephantopus (\"elephant-footed\" \u2013 Harlan, 1827 ). Quoy and Gaimard's Latin description explains the use of nigra: \"Testudo toto corpore nigro\" means \"tortoise with completely black body\". Quoy and Gairmard described nigra from a living specimen, but no evidence indicates they knew of its accurate provenance within the Gal\u00e1pagos \u2013 the locality was in fact given as California. Garman proposed the linking of nigra with the extinct Floreana species. Later, Pritchard deemed it convenient to accept this designation, despite its tenuousness, for minimal disruption to the already confused nomenclature of the species. The even more senior species synonym of californiana (\"californian\" \u2013 Quoy & Gaimard, 1824a ) is considered a nomen oblitum (\"forgotten name\"). Previously, the Gal\u00e1pagos tortoise was considered to belong to the genus Geochelone, known as 'typical tortoises' or 'terrestrial turtles'. In the 1990s, subgenus Chelonoidis was elevated to generic status based on phylogenetic evidence which grouped the South American members of Geochelone into an independent clade (branch of the tree of life). This nomenclature has been adopted by several authorities.\nWithin the archipelago, up to 15 species of Galapagos tortoises have been identified, although only 11 survive to this day. Six are found on separate islands; five of them on the volcanoes of Isabela Island. Several of the surviving species are seriously endangered. One of the species, C. abingdonii from Pinta Island, is considered extinct. The last known specimen, named Lonesome George, died in captivity on 24 June 2012; George had been mated with female tortoises of several other species, but none of the eggs from these pairings hatched. The species inhabiting Floreana Island (G. elaphantopus)<ref name=\"Poulakakis et al 2015\"> is thought to have been hunted to extinction by 1850, only 15 years after Charles Darwin's landmark visit of 1835, when he saw shells, but no live tortoises there. The existence of the C. phantastica species of Fernandina Island is disputed, as it was described from a single specimen that may have been an artificial introduction to the island. However, recent DNA testing shows that an intermixed, non-native population currently existing on the island of Isabela is of genetic resemblance to the species native to Floreana, suggesting that G. elephantopus has not gone entirely extinct. Prior to widespread knowledge of the differences between the populations (sometimes called races) from different islands and volcanoes, captive collections in zoos were indiscriminately mixed. Fertile offspring resulted from pairings of animals from different races. However, captive crosses between tortoises from different races have lower fertility and higher mortality than those between tortoises of the same race, <ref name='ReferenceB'> and captives in mixed herds normally direct courtship only toward members of the same race. The valid scientific names of each of the individual populations are not universally accepted,   and some researchers consider each species to be subspecies. The taxonomic status of the various races is not fully resolved. Modern DNA methods have revealed new information on the relationships between the species: The five populations living on the largest island, Isabela, are the ones that are the subject of the most debate as to whether they are true species or just distinct populations or subspecies. It is widely accepted that the population living on the northernmost volcano, Volcan Wolf, is genetically independent from the four populations to the south and is therefore a separate species. It is thought to be derived from a different colonization event than the others. A colonization from the island of Santiago apparently gave rise to the Volcan Wolf species (C. becki) while the four southern populations are believed to be descended from a second colonization from the more southerly island of Santa Cruz. Tortoises from Santa Cruz are thought to have first colonized the Sierra Negra volcano, which was the first of the island's volcanoes to form. The tortoises then spread north to each newly created volcano, resulting in the populations living on Volcan Alcedo and then Volcan Darwin. Recent genetic evidence shows that these two populations are genetically distinct from each other and from the population living on Sierra Negra (C. guentheri) and therefore form the species C. vandenburghi (Alcedo) and C. microphyes (Darwin). The fifth population living on the southernmost volcano (C. vicina) is thought to have split off from the Sierra Negra population more recently and is therefore not as genetically different as the other two. Isabela is the most recently formed island tortoises inhabit, so its populations have had less time to evolve independently than populations on other islands, but according to some researchers, they are all genetically different and should each be considered as separate species. Phylogenetic analysis may help to \"resurrect\" the extinct species of Floreana (C. nigra) \u2013 a species known only from subfossil remains. Some tortoises from Isabela were found to be a partial match for the genetic profile of Floreana specimens from museum collections, possibly indicating the presence of hybrids from a population transported by humans from Floreana to Isabela, resulting either from individuals deliberately transported between the islands, or from individuals thrown overboard from ships to lighten the load. Nine Floreana descendants have been identified in the captive population of the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center on Santa Cruz; the genetic footprint was identified in the genomes of hybrid offspring. This allows the possibility of re-establishing a reconstructed species from selective breeding of the hybrid animals. Furthermore, individuals from the species possibly are still extant. Genetic analysis from a sample of tortoises from Volcan Wolf found 84 first-generation C. nigra hybrids, some less than 15 years old. The genetic diversity of these individuals is estimated to have required 38 C. nigra parents, many of which could still be alive on Isabela Island.<ref name='Garrick 2012'> The Pinta Island species (C. abingdonii, now extinct) has been found to be most closely related to the species on the islands of San Crist\u00f3bal (C. chathamensis) and Espa\u00f1ola (C. hoodensis) which lie over 300 km (190 mi) away, rather than that on the neighbouring island of Isabela as previously assumed. This relationship is attributable to dispersal by the strong local current from San Crist\u00f3bal towards Pinta. This discovery informed further attempts to preserve the C. abingdonii lineage and the search for an appropriate mate for Lonesome George, which had been penned with females from Isabela. Hope was bolstered by the discovery of a C. abingdonii hybrid male in the Volc\u00e1n Wolf population on northern Isabela, raising the possibility that more undiscovered living Pinta descendants exist. Mitochondrial DNA studies of tortoises on Santa Cruz show up to three genetically distinct lineages found in nonoverlapping population distributions around the regions of Cerro Montura, Cerro Fatal, and La Caseta. Although traditionally grouped into a single species (C. porteri), the lineages are all more closely related to tortoises on other islands than to each other: Cerro Montura tortoises are most closely related to G. duncanensis from Pinz\u00f3n, Cerro Fatal to G. chathamensis from San Crist\u00f3bal, and La Caseta to the four southern races of Isabela as well as Floreana tortoises. In 2015, the Cerro Fatal tortoises were described as a distinct taxon, donfaustoi.<ref name=\"Poulakakis2015\"> Prior to the identification of this species through genetic analysis, it was noted that there existed differences in shells between the Cerro Fatal tortoises and other tortoises on Santa Cruz. By classifying the Cerro Fatal tortoises into a new taxon, greater attention can be paid to protecting its habitat, according to Adalgisa Caccone, who is a member of the team making this classification. When it was discovered that the central, small island of Pinz\u00f3n had only 100\u2013200 very old adults and no young tortoises had survived into adulthood for perhaps more than 70 years, the resident scientists initiated what would eventually become the Giant Tortoise Breeding and Rearing Program. Over the next 50 years, this program resulted in major successes in the recovery of giant tortoise populations throughout the archipelago. In 1965, the first tortoise eggs collected from natural nests on Pinz\u00f3n Island were brought to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where they would complete the period of incubation and then hatch, becoming the first young tortoises to be reared in captivity. The introduction of black rats onto Pinz\u00f3n sometime in the latter half of the 19th century had resulted in the complete eradication of all young tortoises. Black rats had been eating both tortoise eggs and hatchlings, effectively destroying the future of the tortoise population. Only the longevity of giant tortoises allowed them to survive until conservation scientists and managers began to focus on Galapagos and the long path back to ecosystem restoration. On the southern island of Espa\u00f1ola, only 14 adult tortoises were found, two males and 12 females. The tortoises apparently were not encountering one another, so no reproduction was occurring. Between 1963 and 1974, all 14 adult tortoises discovered on the island were brought to the tortoise center on Santa Cruz and a tortoise breeding program was initiated. In 1977, a third Espa\u00f1ola male tortoise was returned to Galapagos from the San Diego Zoo and joined the breeding group. After 40 years' work reintroducing captive animals, a detailed study of the island's ecosystem has confirmed it has a stable, breeding population. Where once 15 were known, now more than 1,000 giant tortoises inhabit the island of Espa\u00f1ola. One research team has found that more than half the tortoises released since the first reintroductions are still alive, and they are breeding well enough for the population to progress onward, unaided. Species were described from three other islands, but their existence is based on scant evidence. The purported R\u00e1bida Island species (C. wallacei) was described from a single specimen collected by the California Academy of Sciences in December 1905, which has since been lost. This individual was probably an artificial introduction from another island that was originally penned on R\u00e1bida next to a good anchorage, as no contemporary whaling or sealing logs mention removing tortoises from this island. The C. phantastica species from Fernandina is known from a single specimen \u2014 an old male from the voyage of 1905-06. No other tortoises or remains have been found on the island, suggesting the specimen was an artificial introduction from elsewhere. Fernandina has neither human settlements nor feral mammals, so if this species ever did exist, its extinction must have been by natural means, such as volcanic activity. The Santa Fe species has no binomial name, having been described from the limited evidence of bone fragments (but no shells, the most durable part) of 14 individuals, old eggs, and old dung found on the island in 1905-06. The island has never been inhabited by man nor had any introduced predators. The remains are considered artificial introductions, possibly from camping at the good anchorage on the island.\nAll species of Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises evolved from common ancestors that arrived from mainland South America by overwater dispersal. Genetic studies have shown that the Chaco tortoise of Argentina and Paraguay is their closest living relative. The minimal founding population was a pregnant female or a breeding pair. Survival on the 1000-km oceanic journey is accounted for because the tortoises are buoyant, can breathe by extending their necks above the water, and are able to survive months without food or fresh water. As they are poor swimmers, the journey was probably a passive one facilitated by the Humboldt Current, which diverts westwards towards the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands from the mainland. The ancestors of the genus Chelonoidis are believed to have similarly dispersed from Africa to South America during the Oligocene. The closest living relative (though not a direct ancestor) of the Gal\u00e1pagos giant tortoise is the Chaco tortoise (Chelonoidis chilensis), a much smaller species from South America. The divergence between C. chilensis and C. nigra probably occurred 6\u201312 million years ago, an evolutionary event preceding the volcanic formation of the oldest modern Gal\u00e1pagos Islands 5 million years ago. Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates that the oldest existing islands (Espa\u00f1ola and San Crist\u00f3bal) were colonised first, and that these populations seeded the younger islands via dispersal in a \"stepping stone\" fashion via local currents. Restricted gene flow between isolated islands then resulted in the independent evolution of the populations into the divergent forms observed in the modern species. The evolutionary relationships between the species thus echo the volcanic history of the islands.\nThe tortoises have a large bony carapace (shell) of a dull brown colour. The plates of the shell are fused with the ribs in a rigid protective structure that is integral to the skeleton. Lichens can grow on the shells of these slow-moving animals. Tortoises keep a characteristic scute (shell segment) pattern on their shells throughout life, though the annual growth bands are not useful for determining age because the outer layers are worn off with time. A tortoise can withdraw its head, neck, and fore limbs into its shell for protection. The legs are large and stumpy, with dry, scaly skin and hard scales. The front legs have five claws, the back legs four.\nThe discoverer of the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands, Fray Tom\u00e1s de Berlanga, Bishop of Panama, wrote in 1535 of \"such big tortoises that each could carry a man on top of himself.\" Naturalist Charles Darwin remarked after his trip three centuries later in 1835, \"These animals grow to an immense size ... several so large that it required six or eight men to lift them from the ground\". The largest recorded individuals have reached weights of over and lengths of . Size overlap is extensive with the Aldabra giant tortoise however taken as a species, the Gal\u00e1pagos tortoise seems to average slightly larger, with weights in excess of being slightly more commonplace. Weights in the larger bodied species range from in mature males and from  in adult females. However, the size is variable across the islands and species, those from Pinz\u00f3n Island are relatively small with a maximum known weight of and carapace length of approximately  compared to  range in tortoises from Santa Cruz Island. The tortoises' gigantism was probably a trait useful on continents that was fortuitously helpful for successful colonisation of these remote oceanic islands rather than an example of evolved insular gigantism. Large tortoises would have a greater chance of surviving the journey over water from the mainland as they can hold their heads a greater height above the water level and have a smaller surface area/volume ratio, which reduces osmotic water loss. Their significant water and fat reserves would allow the tortoises to survive long ocean crossings without food or fresh water, and to endure the drought-prone climate of the islands. A larger size allowed them to better tolerate extremes of temperature due to gigantothermy. Fossil giant tortoises from mainland South America have been described that support this hypothesis of gigantism that pre-existed the colonization of islands.\nGalapagos tortoises possess two main shell forms that correlate with the biogeographic history of the species group. They exhibit a spectrum of carapace morphology ranging from \"saddleback\" (denoting upward arching of the front edge of the shell resembling a saddle) to \"domed\" (denoting a rounded convex surface resembling a dome). When a saddleback tortoise withdraws its head and forelimbs into its shell, a large unprotected gap remains over the neck, evidence of the lack of predation during the evolution of this structure. Larger islands with humid highlands over in elevation, such as Santa Cruz, have abundant vegetation near the ground. Tortoises native to these environments tend to have domed shells and are larger, with shorter necks and limbs. Saddleback tortoises originate from small islands less than in elevation with dry habitats (e.g. Espa\u00f1ola and Pinz\u00f3n) that are more limited in food and other resources. Two lineages of Galapagos tortoises possess the Island of Santa Cruz and when observed it is concluded that despite the shared similarities of growth patterns and morphological changes observed during growth, the two lineages and two sexes can be distinguished on the basis of distinct carapace features. Lineages differ by the shape of the vertebral and pleural scutes. Females have a more elongated and wider carapace shape than males. Carapace shape changes with growth, with vertebral scutes becoming narrower and pleural scutes becoming larger during late ontogeny. In combination with proportionally longer necks and limbs, the unusual saddleback carapace structure is thought to be an adaptation to increase vertical reach, which enables the tortoise to browse tall vegetation such as the Opuntia (prickly pear) cactus that grows in arid environments. Saddlebacks are more territorial and smaller than domed varieties, possibly adaptations to limited resources. Alternatively, larger tortoises may be better-suited to high elevations because they can resist the cooler temperatures that occur with cloud cover or fog. A competing hypothesis is that, rather than being principally a feeding adaptation, the distinctive saddle shape and longer extremities might have been a secondary sexual characteristic of saddleback males. Male competition over mates is settled by dominance displays on the basis of vertical neck height rather than body size (see below). This correlates with the observation that saddleback males are more aggressive than domed males. The shell distortion and elongation of the limbs and neck in saddlebacks is probably an evolutionary compromise between the need for a small body size in dry conditions and a high vertical reach for dominance displays. The saddleback carapace probably evolved independently several times in dry habitats, since genetic similarity between populations does not correspond to carapace shape. Saddleback tortoises are, therefore, not necessarily more closely related to each other than to their domed counterparts, as shape is not determined by a similar genetic background, but by a similar ecological one. Sexual dimorphism is most pronounced in saddleback populations in which males have more angled and higher front openings, giving a more extreme saddled appearance. Males of all varieties generally have longer tails and shorter, concave undershells with thickened knobs at the back edge to facilitate mating. Males are larger than females \u2014 adult males weigh around while females are .\nThe tortoises are ectothermic (cold-blooded), so bask for 1\u20132 hours after dawn to absorb the sun's heat through their dark shells before actively foraging for 8\u20139 hours a day. They travel mostly in the early morning or late afternoon between resting and grazing areas. They have been observed to walk at a speed of . On the larger and more humid islands, the tortoises seasonally migrate between low elevations, which become grassy plains in the wet season, and meadowed areas of higher elevation (up to ) in the dry season. The same routes have been used for many generations, creating well-defined paths through the undergrowth known as \"tortoise highways\". On these wetter islands, the domed tortoises are gregarious and often found in large herds, in contrast to the more solitary and territorial disposition of the saddleback tortoises. Tortoises sometimes rest in mud wallows or rain-formed pools, which may be both a thermoregulatory response during cool nights, and a protection from parasites such as mosquitoes and ticks. Parasites are countered by taking dust baths in loose soil. Some tortoises have been noted to shelter at night under overhanging rocks. - others have been observed sleeping in a snug depression in the earth or brush called a \"pallet\". Local tortoises using the same pallet sites, such as on Volc\u00e1n Alcedo, results in the formation of small, sandy pits.\nThe tortoises are herbivores that consume a diet of cacti, grasses, leaves, lichens, berries, melons, oranges, and milkweed. They have been documented feeding on Hippomane mancinella ('poison apple'), the endemic guava Psidium galapageium, the water fern Azolla microphylla, and the bromeliad Tillandsia insularis. Juvenile tortoises eat an average of 16.7% of their own body weight in dry matter per day, with a digestive efficiency roughly equal to that of hindgut-fermenting herbivorous mammals such as horses and rhinos. Tortoises acquire most of their moisture from the dew and sap in vegetation (particularly the Opuntia cactus); therefore, they can survive longer than 6 months without water. They can endure up to a year when deprived of all food and water, surviving by breaking down their body fat to produce water as a byproduct. Tortoises also have very slow metabolisms. When thirsty, they may drink large quantities of water very quickly, storing it in their bladders and the \"root of the neck\" (the pericardium ), both of which served to make them useful water sources on ships. On arid islands, tortoises lick morning dew from boulders, and the repeated action over many generations has formed half-sphere depressions in the rock.\nRegarding their senses, Charles Darwin observed, \"The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf; certainly they do not overhear a person walking near behind them. I was always amused, when overtaking one of these great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead.\" Although they are not deaf, tortoises depend far more on vision and smell as stimuli than hearing.\nTortoises share a mutualistic relationship with some species of Gal\u00e1pagos finch and mockingbirds. Small groups of finches initiate the process by hopping on the ground in an exaggerated fashion facing the tortoise. The tortoise signals it is ready by rising up and extending its neck and legs, enabling the birds to reach otherwise inaccessible spots on the tortoise's body such as the neck, rear legs, cloacal opening, and skin between plastron and carapace. The birds benefit from the food source and the tortoises get rid of irritating ectoparasites. Some tortoises have been observed to insidiously exploit this mutualistic relationship. After rising and extending its limbs, the bird may go beneath the tortoise to investigate, whereupon suddenly the tortoise withdraws its limbs to drop flat and kill the bird. It then steps back to eat the bird, presumably to supplement its diet with protein.\nMating occurs at any time of the year, although it does have seasonal peaks between February and June in the humid uplands during the rainy season. When mature males meet in the mating season, they face each other in a ritualised dominance display, rise up on their legs, and stretch up their necks with their mouths gaping open. Occasionally, head-biting occurs, but usually the shorter tortoise backs off, conceding mating rights to the victor. The behaviour is most pronounced in saddleback species, which are more aggressive and have longer necks. The prelude to mating can be very aggressive, as the male forcefully rams the female's shell with his own and nips her legs. Mounting is an awkward process and the male must stretch and tense to maintain equilibrium in a slanting position. The concave underside of the male's shell helps him to balance when straddled over the female's shell, and brings his cloacal vent (which houses the penis) closer to the female's dilated cloaca. During mating, the male vocalises with hoarse bellows and grunts, described as \"rhythmic groans\". This is one of the few vocalisations the tortoise makes; other noises are made during aggressive encounters, when struggling to right themselves, and hissing as they withdraw into their shells due to the forceful expulsion of air.\nFemales journey up to several kilometres in July to November to reach nesting areas of dry, sandy coast. Nest digging is a tiring and elaborate task which may take the female several hours a day over many days to complete. It is carried out blindly using only the hind legs to dig a -deep cylindrical hole, in which the tortoise then lays up to 16 spherical, hard-shelled eggs ranging from in mass, and the size of a billiard ball. Some observations suggest that the average clutch size for domed populations (9.6 per clutch for C. porteri on Santa Cruz) is larger than that of saddlebacks (4.6 per clutch for C. duncanensis on Pinz\u00f3n). The female makes a muddy plug for the nest hole out of soil mixed with urine, seals the nest by pressing down firmly with her plastron, and leaves them to be incubated by the sun. Females may lay one to four clutches per season. Temperature plays a role in the sex of the hatchlings, with lower-temperature nests producing more males and higher-temperature nests producing more females. This is related closely to incubation time, since clutches laid early incubate during the cool season and have longer incubation periods (producing more males), while eggs laid later incubate for a shorter period in the hot season (producing more females).\nYoung animals emerge from the nest after four to eight months and may weigh only and measure . When the young tortoises emerge from their shells, they must dig their way to the surface, which can take several weeks, though their yolk sac can sustain them up to seven months. In particularly dry conditions, the hatchlings may die underground if they are encased by hardened soil, while flooding of the nest area can drown them. Species are initially indistinguishable as they all have domed carapaces. The young stay in warmer lowland areas for their first 10\u201315 years, encountering hazards such as falling into cracks, being crushed by falling rocks, or excessive heat stress. The Gal\u00e1pagos hawk was formerly the sole native predator of the tortoise hatchlings; Darwin wrote: \"The young tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall prey in great numbers to the buzzard\". The hawk is now much rarer, but introduced feral pigs, dogs, cats, and black rats have become predators of eggs and young tortoises. The adult tortoises have no natural predators apart from humans; Darwin noted: \"The old ones seem generally to die from accidents, as from falling down precipices. At least several of the inhabitants told me, they had never found one dead without some such apparent cause\". Sexual maturity is reached at around 20\u201325 years in captivity, possibly 40 years in the wild. Life expectancy in the wild is thought to be over 100 years, making it one of the longest-lived species in the animal kingdom. Harriet, a specimen kept in Australia Zoo, was the oldest known Gal\u00e1pagos tortoise, having reached an estimated age of more than 170 years before her death in 2006. Chambers notes that Harriet was probably 169 years old in 2004, although media outlets claimed the greater age of 175 at death based on a less reliable timeline.\nCharles Darwin visited the Gal\u00e1pagos for five weeks on the second voyage of HMS Beagle in 1835 and saw Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises on San Cristobal (Chatham) and Santiago (James) Islands. They appeared several times in his writings and journals, and played a role in the development of the theory of evolution. Darwin wrote in his account of the voyage: \"I have not as yet noticed by far the most remarkable feature in the natural history of this archipelago; it is, that the different islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set of beings. My attention was first called to this fact by the Vice-Governor, Mr. Lawson, declaring that the tortoises differed from the different islands, and that he could with certainty tell from which island any one was brought ... The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they can distinguish the tortoises from the different islands; and that they differ not only in size, but in other characters. Captain Porter has described* those from Charles and from the nearest island to it, namely, Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, while the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked.\" The significance of the differences in tortoises between islands did not strike him as important until it was too late, as he continued, \"I did not for some time pay sufficient attention to this statement, and I had already partially mingled together the collections from two of the islands. I never dreamed that islands, about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differently tenanted\". Though the Beagle departed from the Gal\u00e1pagos with over 30 adult tortoises on deck, these were not for scientific study, but a source of fresh meat for the Pacific crossing. Their shells and bones were thrown overboard, leaving no remains with which to test any hypotheses. It has been suggested that this oversight was made because Darwin only reported seeing tortoises on San Crist\u00f3bal (C. chathamensis) and Santiago (C. darwini), both of which have an intermediate type of shell shape and are not particularly morphologically distinct from each other. Though he did visit Floreana, the C. nigra species found there was already nearly extinct and he was unlikely to have seen any mature animals. However, Darwin did have four live juvenile specimens to compare from different islands. These were pet tortoises taken by himself (from San Salvador), his captain FitzRoy (two from Espa\u00f1ola) and his servant Syms Covington (from Floreana). Unfortunately, they could not help to determine whether each island had its own variety because the specimens were not mature enough to exhibit morphological differences. Although the British Museum had a few specimens, their provenance within the Gal\u00e1pagos was unknown. However, conversations with the naturalist Gabriel Bibron, who had seen the mature tortoises of the Paris Natural History Museum confirmed to Darwin that distinct varieties occurred. Darwin later compared the different tortoise forms with those of mockingbirds, in the first tentative statement linking his observations from the Galapagos with the possibility of species transmuting: \"When I recollect the fact that [from] the form of the body, shape of scales and general size, the Spaniards can at once pronounce from which island any tortoise may have been brought; when I see these islands in sight of each other and possessed of but a scanty stock of animals, tenanted by these birds, but slightly differing in structure and filling the same place in nature; I must suspect they are only varieties ... If there is the slightest foundation for these remarks, the zoology of archipelagos will be well worth examining; for such facts would undermine the stability of species.\" His views on the mutability of species were restated in his notebooks: \"animals on separate islands ought to become different if kept long enough apart with slightly differing circumstances. \u2013 Now Galapagos Tortoises, Mocking birds, Falkland Fox, Chiloe fox, \u2013 Inglish and Irish Hare.\" These observations served as counterexamples to the prevailing contemporary view that species were individually created. Darwin also found these \"antediluvian animals\" to be a source of diversion: \"I frequently got on their backs, and then giving a few raps on the hinder part of their shells, they would rise up and walk away;\u2014but I found it very difficult to keep my balance\".\nSeveral waves of human exploitation of the tortoises as a food source caused a decline in the total wild population from around 250,000 when first discovered in the 16th century to a low of 3,060 individuals in a 1974 census. Modern conservation efforts have subsequently brought tortoise numbers up to 19,317 (estimate for 1995\u20132009). The species C. nigra became extinct by human exploitation in the 19th century. Another species, C. abingdonii, became extinct on 24 June 2012 with the death in captivity of the last remaining specimen, a male named Lonesome George, the world's \"rarest living creature\". All the other surviving species are listed by the IUCN as at least \"Vulnerable\" in conservation status, if not worse.\nAn estimated 200,000 animals were taken before the 20th century. The relatively immobile and defenceless tortoises were collected and stored live on board ships, where they could survive for at least a year without food or water (some anecdotal reports suggest individuals surviving two years ), providing valuable fresh meat, while their diluted urine and the water stored in their neck bags could be used as drinking water. The 17th-century British pirate, explorer, and naturalist William Dampier wrote, \"They are so extraordinarily large and fat, and so sweet, that no pullet eats more pleasantly,\" while Captain James Colnett of the British Navy wrote of \"the land tortoise which in whatever way it was dressed, was considered by all of us as the most delicious food we had ever tasted.\" US Navy captain David Porter declared, \"after once tasting the Galapagos tortoises, every other animal food fell off greatly in our estimation ... The meat of this animal is the easiest of digestion, and a quantity of it, exceeding that of any other food, can be eaten without experiencing the slightest of inconvenience.\" Darwin was less enthusiastic about the meat, writing \"the breast-plate roasted (as the Gauchos do \"carne con cuero\"), with the flesh on it, is very good; and the young tortoises make excellent soup; but otherwise the meat to my taste is indifferent.\" In the 17th century, pirates started to use the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands as a base for resupply, restocking on food and water, and repairing vessels before attacking Spanish colonies on the South American mainland. However, the Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises did not struggle for survival at this point because the islands were distant from busy shipping routes and harboured few valuable natural resources. As such, they remained unclaimed by any nation, uninhabited and uncharted. In comparison, the tortoises of the islands in the Indian Ocean were already facing extinction by the late 17th century. Between the 1790s and the 1860s, whaling ships and fur sealers systematically collected tortoises in far greater numbers than the buccaneers preceding them. Some were used for food and many more were killed for high-grade \"turtle oil\" from the late 19th century onward for lucrative sale to continental Ecuador. A total of over 13,000 tortoises is recorded in the logs of whaling ships between 1831 and 1868, and an estimated 100,000 were taken before 1830. Since it was easiest to collect tortoises around coastal zones, females were most vulnerable to depletion during the nesting season. The collection by whalers came to a halt eventually through a combination of the scarcity of tortoises that they had created and the competition from crude oil as a cheaper energy source. Galapagos tortoise exploitation dramatically increased with the onset of the California Gold Rush in 1849. Tortoises and sea turtles were imported into San Francisco, Sacramento and various other Gold Rush towns throughout Alta California to feed the gold mining population. Galapagos tortoise and sea turtle bones were also recovered from the Gold Rush-era archaeological site, Thompson's Cove (CA-SFR-186H), in San Francisco, California. Population decline accelerated with the early settlement of the islands in the early 19th century, leading to unregulated hunting for meat, habitat clearance for agriculture, and the introduction of alien mammal species. Feral pigs, dogs, cats, and black rats have become predators of eggs and young tortoises, whilst goats, donkeys, and cattle compete for grazing and trample nest sites. The extinction of the Floreana species in the mid-19th century has been attributed to the combined pressures of hunting for the penal colony on the relatively small island, the conversion of the grazing highlands into land for farming and fruit plantations, and the introduction of feral mammals. Scientific collection expeditions took 661 tortoises between 1888 and 1930, and more than 120 tortoises have been taken by poachers since 1990. Threats continue today with the rapid expansion of the tourist industry and increasing size of human settlements on the islands. The Tortoises are down from 15 different types of species when Darwin first arrived down to 11. Threats Collection The tortoises of the Gal\u00e1pagos\u2019 island were not only hunted for the oil that they held for fuel but also once they were becoming more and more extinct people began to pay to have them in their collections, as well as being put into museums.\nThe remaining species of tortoise range in IUCN classification from extinct in the wild to vulnerable. Slow growth rate, late sexual maturity, and island endemism make the tortoises particularly prone to extinction without help from conservationists. The Gal\u00e1pagos giant tortoise has become a flagship species for conservation efforts throughout the Gal\u00e1pagos. The Gal\u00e1pagos giant tortoise is now strictly protected and is listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The listing requires that trade in the taxon and its products is subject to strict regulation by ratifying states, and international trade for primarily commercial purposes is prohibited. In 1936, the Ecuadorian government listed the giant tortoise as a protected species. In 1959, it declared all uninhabited areas in the Gal\u00e1pagos to be a national park and established the Charles Darwin Foundation. In 1970, capturing or removing many species from the islands (including tortoises and their eggs) was banned. To halt trade in the tortoises altogether, it became illegal to export the tortoises from Ecuador, captive or wild, continental, or insular in provenance. The banning of their exportation resulted in automatic prohibition of importation to the United States under Public Law 91-135 (1969). A 1971 Ecuadorian decree made it illegal to damage, remove, alter, or disturb any organism, rock, or other natural object in the National Park. With the establishment of the Galapagos National Park and the CDF in 1959, a review of the status of the tortoise populations began. Only 11 of the 14 original populations remained and most of these were endangered if not already on the brink of extinction. The breeding and rearing program for giant tortoises began in response to the condition of the population on Pinz\u00f3n, where fewer than 200 old adults were found. All of the hatchlings had been killed by introduced black rats, for perhaps more than a century. Without help, this population would eventually disappear. The only thing preserving it was the longevity of the tortoise. Its genetic resistance to the negative effects of inbreeding would be another. Breeding and release programs began in 1965 and have successfully brought seven of the eight endangered species up to less perilous population levels. Young tortoises are raised at several breeding centres across the islands to improve their survival during their vulnerable early development. Eggs are collected from threatened nesting sites, and the hatched young are given a head start by being kept in captivity for four to five years to reach a size with a much better chance of survival to adulthood, before release onto their native ranges. The most significant population recovery was that of the Espa\u00f1ola tortoise (C. hoodensis), which was saved from near-certain extinction. The population had been depleted to three males and 12 females that had been so widely dispersed that no mating in the wild had occurred. Fruitless attempts to breed one of the tortoises, Lonesome George for example, is speculated to be attributed to a lack of postnatal cues, and confusion over which would be the most appropriate genetic species would be the most appropriate to mate him with on the islands. The 15 remaining tortoises were brought to the Charles Darwin Research Station in 1971 for a captive breeding program and, in the following 33 years, they gave rise to over 1,200 progeny which were released onto their home island and have since begun to reproduce naturally. The Gal\u00e1pagos National Park Service systematically culls feral predators and competitors. Goat eradication on islands, including Pinta, was achieved by the technique of using \"Judas\" goats with radio location collars to find the herds. Marksmen then shot all the goats except the Judas, and then returned weeks later to find the \"Judas\" and shoot the herd to which it had relocated. Goats were removed from Pinta Island after a 30-year eradication campaign, the largest removal of an insular goat population using ground-based methods. Over 41,000 goats were removed during the initial hunting effort (1971\u201382). This process was repeated until only the \"Judas\" goat remained, which was then killed. Other measures have included dog eradication from San Crist\u00f3bal, and fencing off nests to protect them from feral pigs. Efforts are now underway to repopulate islands formerly inhabited by tortoises to restore their ecosystems (island restoration) to their condition before humans arrived. The tortoises are a keystone species, acting as ecosystem engineers which help in plant seed dispersal and trampling down brush and thinning the understory of vegetation (allowing light to penetrate and germination to occur). Birds such as flycatchers perch on and fly around tortoises to hunt the insects they displace from the brush. In May 2010, 39 sterilised tortoises of hybrid origin were introduced to Pinta Island, the first tortoises there since the evacuation of Lonesome George 38 years before. Sterile tortoises were released so the problem of interbreeding between species would be avoided if any fertile tortoises were to be released in the future. It is hoped that with the recent identification of a hybrid C. abingdonii tortoise, the approximate genetic constitution of the original inhabitants of Pinta may eventually be restored with the identification and relocation of appropriate specimens to this island. This approach may be used to \"retortoise\" Floreana in the future, since captive individuals have been found to be descended from the extinct original stock. The Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Programme is a collaborative project coordinated by Dr Stephen Blake of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. Its goal is to assist the Galapagos National Park to effectively conserve giant tortoises by conducting cutting-edge applied science, and developing an inspirational tortoise-based outreach and education programme. Since 2009, the project team have been analysing the movements of giant tortoises by tracking them via satellite tags. As of November 2014, the team have tagged 83 tortoises from four species on three islands. They have established that giant tortoises conduct migrations up and down volcanoes, primarily in response to seasonal changes in the availability and quality of vegetation. In 2015 they will start to track the movements of hatchling and juvenile tortoises, supported by the UK's Galapagos Conservation Trust.\n"
        },
        "110": {
            "common": "Arctic tern",
            "family": "Sterna paradisaea",
            "id": 110,
            "text": "The Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts). The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates along a convoluted route from its northern breeding grounds to the Antarctic coast for the southern summer and back again about six months later. Recent studies have shown average annual roundtrip lengths of about for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland and c.  for birds nesting in the Netherlands. These are by far the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom. The Arctic tern flies as well as glides through the air. It nests once every one to three years (depending on its mating cycle); once it has finished nesting it takes to the sky for another long southern migration. Arctic terns are medium-sized birds. They have a length of and a wingspan of . They are mainly grey and white plumaged, with a red/orangish beak and feet, white forehead, a black nape and crown (streaked white), and white cheeks. The grey mantle is 305 mm, and the scapulae are fringed brown, some tipped white. The upper wing is grey with a white leading edge, and the collar is completely white, as is the rump. The deeply forked tail is whitish, with grey outer webs. Arctic terns are long-lived birds, with many reaching fifteen to thirty years of age. They eat mainly fish and small marine invertebrates. The species is abundant, with an estimated one million individuals. While the trend in the number of individuals in the species as a whole is not known, exploitation in the past has reduced this bird's numbers in the southern reaches of its range. The Arctic tern was known as sea swallow describing their slender shape as they swoop over the water.\nThe genus name Sterna is derived from Old English \"stearn\", \"tern\". The specific paradisaea is from Late Latin paradisus, \"paradise\". The Scots names picktarnie, tarrock and their many variants are also believed to be onomatopoeic, derived from the distinctive call. Due to the difficulty in distinguishing the two species, all the informal common names are shared with the common tern.\nThe Arctic tern has a continuous worldwide circumpolar breeding distribution; there are no recognized subspecies. It can be found in coastal regions in cooler temperate parts of North America and Eurasia during the northern summer. While wintering during the southern summer, it can be found at sea, reaching the northern edge of the Antarctic ice. The Arctic tern is famous for its migration; it flies from its Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic and back again each year, the shortest distance between these areas being . The long journey ensures that this bird sees two summers per year and more daylight than any other creature on the planet. One example of this bird's remarkable long-distance flying abilities involves an Arctic tern ringed as an unfledged chick on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK, in the northern summer of 1982, which in October 1982, just three months from fledging, reached Melbourne, Australia. Assuming a direct route of flight, the distance covered would have been more than . Another example is that of a chick ringed in Labrador, Canada, on 23 July 1928. It was found in South Africa four months later. A 2010 study using tracking devices attached to the birds showed that the above examples are not unusual for the species. In fact, it turned out, previous research had seriously underestimated the annual distances travelled by the Arctic tern. Eleven birds that bred in Greenland or Iceland covered on average in a year, with a maximum of . The difference from previous estimates is due to the birds' taking meandering courses rather than following a straight route as was previously assumed. The birds follow a somewhat convoluted course in order to take advantage of prevailing winds. The average Arctic tern lives about thirty years, and will, based on the above research, travel some 2.4 million km (1.5 million mi) during its lifetime, the equivalent of a roundtrip from Earth to the Moon over 3 times. A 2013 tracking study of half a dozen Arctic terns breeding in the Netherlands shows average annual migrations of c. . On their way south, these birds roughly followed the coastlines of Europe and Africa. Having rounded the southern tip of Africa, they then turned east, some flying approximately halfway to Australia before again turning south to eventually reach Wilkes Land in the north-eastern Antarctic. One bird flew several hundred kilometres along the south coast of Australia before turning south for the Antarctic, while one flew along the entire south coast of Australia, passing between Australia and Tasmania. Having reached the Melbourne area, it turned south and flew in an arc to Wilkes Land in the north-east Antarctic, passing the south-western tip of New Zealand's South Island en route. Once back in the Netherlands, this bird had journeyed c., the longest migration yet recorded for any animal. Arctic terns usually migrate sufficiently far offshore that they are rarely seen from land outside the breeding season.\nThe Arctic tern is a medium-sized bird around from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. The wingspan is . The weight is . The beak is dark red, as are the short legs and webbed feet. Like most terns, the Arctic tern has high aspect ratio wings and a tail with a deep fork. The adult plumage is grey above, with a black nape and crown and white cheeks. The upperwings are pale grey, with the area near the wingtip being translucent. The tail is white, and the underparts pale grey. Both sexes are similar in appearance. The winter plumage is similar, but the crown is whiter and the bills are darker. Juveniles differ from adults in their black bill and legs, \"scaly\" appearing wings, and mantle with dark feather tips, dark carpal wing bar, and short tail streamers. During their first summer, juveniles also have a whiter forecrown. The species has a variety of calls; the two most common being the alarm call, made when possible predators (such as humans or other mammals) enter the colonies, and the advertising call. The advertising call is social in nature, made when returning to the colony and during aggressive encounters between individuals. It is unique to each individual tern and as such it serves a similar role to the bird song of passerines, identifying individuals. Eight other calls have been described, from begging calls made by females during mating to attack calls made while swooping at intruders. While the Arctic tern is similar to the common and roseate terns, its colouring, profile, and call are slightly different. Compared to the common tern, it has a longer tail and mono-coloured bill, while the main differences from the roseate are its slightly darker colour and longer wings. The Arctic tern's call is more nasal and rasping than that of the common, and is easily distinguishable from that of the roseate. This bird's closest relatives are a group of South Polar species, the South American (Sterna hirundinacea), Kerguelen (S. virgata), and Antarctic (S. vittata) terns. On the wintering grounds, the Arctic tern can be distinguished from these relatives; the six-month difference in moult is the best clue here, with Arctic terns being in winter plumage during the southern summer. The southern species also do not show darker wingtips in flight. The immature plumages of Arctic tern were originally described as separate species, Sterna portlandica and Sterna pikei.\nBreeding begins around the third or fourth year. Arctic terns mate for life and, in most cases, return to the same colony each year. Courtship is elaborate, especially in birds nesting for the first time. Courtship begins with a so-called \"high flight\", where a female will chase the male to a high altitude and then slowly descend. This display is followed by \"fish flights\", where the male will offer fish to the female. Courtship on the ground involves strutting with a raised tail and lowered wings. After this, both birds will usually fly and circle each other. Both sexes agree on a site for a nest, and both will defend the site. During this time, the male continues to feed the female. Mating occurs shortly after this. Breeding takes place in colonies on coasts, islands and occasionally inland on tundra near water. It often forms mixed flocks with the common tern. It lays from one to three eggs per clutch, most often two. It is one of the most aggressive terns, fiercely defensive of its nest and young. It will attack humans and large predators, usually striking the top or back of the head. Although it is too small to cause serious injury to an animal of a human's size, it is still capable of drawing blood, and is capable of repelling many raptorial birds, polar bears and smaller mammalian predators such as foxes and cats. Other nesting birds, such as alcids, often incidentally benefit from the protection provided by nesting in an area defended by Arctic terns. The nest is usually a depression in the ground, which may or may not be lined with bits of grass or similar materials. The eggs are mottled and camouflaged. Both sexes share incubation duties. The young hatch after 22\u201327 days and fledge after 21\u201324 days. If the parents are disturbed and flush from the nest frequently the incubation period could be extended to as long as 34 days. When hatched, the chicks are downy. Neither altricial nor precocial, the chicks begin to move around and explore their surroundings within one to three days after hatching. Usually they do not stray far from the nest. Chicks are brooded by the adults for the first ten days after hatching. Both parents care for hatchlings. Chick diets always include fish, and parents selectively bring larger prey items to chicks than they eat themselves. Males bring more food than females. Feeding by the parents lasts for roughly a month before being weaned off slowly. After fledging, the juveniles learn to feed themselves, including the difficult method of plunge-diving. They will fly south to winter with the help of their parents. Arctic terns are long-lived birds that spend considerable time raising only a few young, and are thus said to be K-selected. The bird has life span that was thought be around 20 years, however National Geographic, The University of Alberta & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, concluded in 2010 that more than 50% of this species will live past their 30th birthday. A study in the Farne Islands estimated an annual survival rate of 82%.\nThe diet of the Arctic tern varies depending on location and time, but is usually carnivorous. In most cases, it eats small fish or marine crustaceans. Fish species comprise the most important part of the diet, and account for more of the biomass consumed than any other food. Prey species are immature (1\u20132-year old) shoaling species such as herring, cod, sandlances, and capelin. Among the marine crustaceans eaten are amphipods, crabs and krill. Sometimes, these birds also eat molluscs, marine worms, or berries, and on their northern breeding grounds, insects. Arctic terns sometimes dip down to the surface of the water to catch prey close to the surface. They may also chase insects in the air when breeding. It is also thought that Arctic terns may, in spite of their small size, occasionally engage in kleptoparasitism by swooping at birds so as to startle them into releasing their catches. Several species are targeted\u2014conspecifics, other terns (like the common tern), and some auk and grebe species. While nesting, Arctic terns are vulnerable to predation by cats and other animals. Besides being a competitor for nesting sites, the larger herring gull steals eggs and hatchlings. Camouflaged eggs help prevent this, as do isolated nesting sites. While feeding, skuas, gulls, and other tern species will often harass the birds and steal their food. They often form mixed colonies with other terns, such as common and Sandwich terns.\nArctic terns are considered threatened or a species of concern in certain states. They are also among the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies. The species reduced population in New England in the late nineteenth-century because of hunting for the millinery trade. Exploitation continues today in western Greenland, where the population of the species has been reduced greatly since 1950. At the southern part of their range, the Arctic tern has been reducing in numbers. Much of this is due to lack of food. However, most of these birds' range is extremely remote, with no apparent trend in the species as a whole. BirdLife International has considered the species to be at lower risk since 1988, believing that there are approximately one million individuals around the world.\nThe Arctic tern has appeared on the postage stamps of several countries and dependent territories. The territories include the \u00c5land Islands, Alderney, and Faroe Islands. Countries include Canada, Finland, Iceland, and Cuba.\n"
        },
        "1100": {
            "common": "Gambel's quail",
            "family": "Callipepla gambelii",
            "id": 1100,
            "text": "The '''Gambel's quail' (Callipepla gambelii'') is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It inhabits the desert regions of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Sonora; also New Mexico-border Chihuahua and the Colorado River region of Baja California. The Gambel's quail is named in honor of William Gambel, a 19th-century naturalist and explorer of the Southwestern United States. The species is not as widely introduced as the related California quail. It was however released on San Clemente Island in 1912 by Charles T. Howland et al., where it is currently still established.\nThe Callipepla gambelii birds are easily recognized by their top knots and scaly plumage on their undersides. Gambel's quail have bluish-gray plumage on much of their bodies, and males have copper feathers on the top of their heads, black faces, and white stripes above their eyes. The bird's average length is with a wingspan of . These birds have relatively short, rounded wings and long, featherless legs. Its diet consists primarily of plant matter and seeds. Gambel's quail can be commonly confused with California quail due to similar plumage. They can usually be distinguished by range, but when this does not suffice, California quail have a more scaly appearance and the black patch on the lower breast of the male Gambel's quail is absent in the California quail. The two species are sister taxa which diverged during the Late Pliocene or Early Pleistocene, 1 to 2 mya.\nThere are two recognized subspecies:\nGambel's quail primarily move about by walking and can move surprisingly fast through brush and undergrowth. They are a non-migratory species and are rarely seen in flight. Any flight is usually short and explosive, with many rapid wingbeats, followed by a slow glide to the ground. In the late summer, fall, and winter, the adults and immature young congregate into coveys of many birds. In the spring, Gambel's quail pair off for mating and become very aggressive toward other pairs. The chicks are decidedly more insectivorous than adults, gradually consuming more plant matter as they mature. Gambel's quail are monogamous and rarely breed in colonies. The female typically lays 10\u201312 eggs in a simple scrape concealed in vegetation, often at the base of a rock or tree. Incubation lasts from 21\u201323 days, usually performed by the female and rarely by the male. The chicks are precocial, leaving the nest with their parents within hours of hatching.\nThere is an annual hunt for this bird in some places. The hunting season usually lasts from October to February.\n"
        },
        "1102": {
            "common": "Gaur",
            "family": "Bos frontalis",
            "id": 1102,
            "text": "The gayal (Bos frontalis), also known as mithun, is a large semi-domesticated bovine distributed in Northeast India, Bangladesh, northern Burma and in Yunnan, China.\nThe gayal differs in several important particulars from the gaur. It is somewhat smaller, with proportionately shorter limbs, and stands much lower at the withers. The ridge on the back is less developed, and bulls have a larger dewlap on the throat. The head is shorter and broader, with a perfectly flat forehead and a straight line between the bases of the horns. The thick and massive horns are less flattened and much less curved than in the gaur, extending almost directly outwards from the sides of the head, and curving somewhat upwards at the tips, but without any inward inclination. Their extremities are thus much farther apart than in the gaur. The female gayal is much smaller than the bull, and has scarcely any dewlap on the throat. The skin colour of the head and body is blackish-brown in both sexes, and the lower portion of the limbs are white or yellowish. The horns are of uniform blackish tint from base to tip. Some domesticated gayals are parti-coloured, while others are completely white.\nGayals are essentially inhabitants of hill-forests. In India, semi-domesticated gayals are kept by several ethnic groups living in the hills of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland. They also occur in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In northern Burma, they occur in the Kachin State, and in adjacent Yunnan are found only in the Trung () and Salween River basins. In Nagaland, the animals are kept semi-wild, and live in herds, being watched over by special caretakers assigned by the villages or the owner of the herd. They respond to a horn kept specially for the individual caretaker or actual owner to call them. From birth until the time of butchering or market, the Mithun remain in the herd, and roam mostly freely throughout the forests. The role of the mithun is central to the lives of many residents of these areas, including transhumant ones who pair mithun management with sago palm harvesting:\nIn his first description of 1804, Aylmer Bourke Lambert applied the binomial Bos frontalis to a domestic specimen probably from Chittagong. In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature fixed the first available specific name based on a wild population that the name for this wild species is valid by virtue of its being antedated by a name based on a domestic form. Most authors have adopted the binomial Bos frontalis for the domestic species as valid for the taxon. Phylogenetic analysis corroborates the taxonomic assessment that the gayal is an independent Bos species originating matrilineally from gaur, zebu and cattle.\nTo the Idu Mishmi, Nyishi people or Adi people (Bangni-Booker Lhobas incl pasi, padam, minyong, Galong now Galo), the possession of gayal is the traditional measure of a family's wealth. Gayal are not milked or put to work but given supplementary care while grazing in the woods, until they are ritually slaughtered or killed for local consumption. Mithun's are wild and each family has a very indigenous marking as a cut on the ear. The gayal is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Gayals play an important role in the social life of the people in Arunachal Pradesh. Marriages are not fixed until the bridegroom's family gives at least one gayal to the bride's household. Gayals are left in the forest, where they usually stay within a small perimeter. Females are usually aggressive when with calves, and there are instances known when people have been severely injured after being gored by one. Male are usually more docile.\nThe National Research centre on Mithun was established at Jharnapani, Dimapur, Nagaland-797106 under Indian Council of Agriculture Research. '''The mandate of the institute was redefined twice in the year 1997 and 2006. Currently, the National Research Centre on Mithun is functioning for developing the scientific and sustainable mithun rearing system and for catering the needs of mithun farmers with the follwing mandates.''' (i) Identification, evaluation and characterization of mithun germplasm available in the country. (ii) Conservation and improvement of mithun for meat and milk . (iii) To act as a repository of germplasm and information centre on mithun.\n"
        },
        "1104": {
            "common": "Gazelle, grant's",
            "family": "Gazella granti",
            "id": 1104,
            "text": "The '''Grant's gazelle' (Nanger granti'') is a species of gazelle distributed from northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the Kenyan coast to Lake Victoria. Its Swahili name is Swala Granti. It was named for a 19th-century Scottish explorer, Lt Col Grant.\nGrant's gazelle is more genetically related to Soemmerring's gazelle (N. soemmerringii) and Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) with Soemmering\u2019s gazelle being the closest relative of the two species. Grant's gazelle shows high genetic variation among its populations, though there is no geographic isolation. The differentiation of the species may have evolved during repeated expansion and contraction of arid habitats during the late Pleistocene era in which populations were possibly isolated. Grant's gazelle was formerly considered a member of the genus Gazella within the subgenus Nanger before Nanger was elevated to genus status.\nListed alphabetically.\nThe Grant's gazelle stands at the shoulder. The females weigh from and males from . Its coat is a beige orange on the back with a white belly. The Grant's gazelle looks similar to a Thomson's gazelle, except it is much larger and has lyre-shaped horns which are stout at the base, clearly ringed, and measuring 45\u201381 cm (18\u201332 in) long. The subspecies are segregated by different morphological characters, such as horn shape and slight differences in coat colour. These differences are not indicative of ecological separation as with some species. Grant's gazelles are extremely fast; they can run, but larger males do not exceed .\nThe Grant's gazelle is found in East Africa and lives in open grass plains and is frequently found in shrublands; it avoids areas with high grass where the visibility of predators is compromised. They also occur in semiarid areas and are relatively well adapted to dry areas, relying on more browse or leafy material during dry seasons to supplement their intake of water. They are migratory animals, but travel in the opposite direction of most of the other ungulates, such as Thomson's gazelles, zebras, and wildebeest, which are more water dependent. They can subsist on vegetation in waterless, semiarid areas, where they face little competition. The most common predators of the Grant's gazelle are cheetahs and wild dogs. Humans also tend to hunt gazelles. In the Serengeti, Grant's gazelle is a prey item for cheetahs, but the Thomson's gazelle is preferred. However, in Nairobi National Park, Grant's gazelle is preferred over Thomson's gazelle, making it an important resource to the cheetah. Jackals are major predators of fawns. The Grant's gazelle is a gregarious, territorial, and migratory species. The home ranges of does overlap with those of the bucks. Only male gazelles are territorial. Male gazelles will herd all females that cross their territories. When the females are in estrus, they are strongly guarded by the dominant male, which prevents other males from mating with them. Any doe that tries to leave is aggressively herded back. Most of the time, the buck\u2019s simple stance in relation to her is enough to keep the female from leaving. Bachelor groups are made up of adolescent and bucks not holding territory. Any new members must perform intimidation displays to enter the group. However, bachelor groups tend to be very loose and members can leave whenever they want. The larger, older males with thick horns have the best chance of establishing a territory. Conflicts between adult males are usually solved with intimidation displays. The bucks circle each other and swing their necks from side to side, displaying their neck power. Neck strength is important in an actual fight and the male that cannot keep up yields. Gazelles of nearly equal neck strength are more likely to engage in actual combat. Fighting occurs in young bucks more often than older ones. Dominant bucks can simply run off subordinates rather than having to display to them.\nGrant\u2019s gazelles are generally mixed feeders that both browse and graze. Their average diet consists of 65.8% browse and 34.3% graze. Rainfall in their habitats seems to be the determinant of their diets. The Grant's gazelle's diet may also be responsible for the slow growth rates in the browsed plots. They get most of their moisture from the plants they eat, so they do not often have to drink water. Thus they can stay on the plains long after the rains end. From July to September, gazelles move deep into dense brush and wait for the next rains. They will eat red oats and small, tough plants, which are avoided by the other ungulates. This allows the gazelles to survive in the brush during the dry season. Grant\u2019s gazelles eat mainly dicotyledons during the dry season and grass in the wet season.\nGrant\u2019s gazelles sexually mature at 18 months. Territory-holding bucks mate more than ones in bachelor groups. The courting ritual begins with a buck following a doe, waiting for her to urinate. When she does, the male does the Flehmen response to determine if she is in estrus. If she is, he will continue to follow her. The female will lift her tail, signaling she is ready to mate, and the male will mount her. The gestation period for the gazelle lasts for 198 days. Births peak in January and February. A doe will leave her herd and find a well-hidden place to give birth. Afterwards, the female eats the afterbirth and other fluids to keep the fawn clean and scentless. Females that have recently given birth will stay together for protection. The does nurse their fawns four times a day. Fawns are immobile for the first few days, so the mother stays close by. When the fawn can walk, it leaves with its mother to find a herd. Around this time, fawns will associate with one another in peer groups. A gazelle is weaned at six months, but will continue to associate with its mother until adolescence.\nThe Grant\u2019s gazelle is still a common species, despite having been eradicated in certain areas. Major threats have been habitat destruction and poaching. The gazelle\u2019s status as an unthreatened species is dependent on protection of the national parks and reserves where it lives, including Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, and Lake Turkana National Parks in Kenya. Estimates of the population range from 140,000 to 350,000. While certain areas have stable populations, overall the population trend is going downward.\n"
        },
        "1108": {
            "common": "Gazer, sun",
            "family": "Cordylus giganteus",
            "id": 1108,
            "text": "The sungazer (Smaug giganteus, syn. Cordylus giganteus), also known as the giant girdled lizard or giant dragon lizard or giant zonure, is the largest species of the Cordylidae, a family of lizards from Sub-Saharan Africa. This threatened species is endemic to Highveld grasslands in the interior of South Africa. In 2011, it was assigned to the new genus Smaug along with seven other species previously belonging to the genus Cordylus, based on a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Cordylidae.\nThe sungazer is a heavily armoured species, with a typical snout\u2013to-vent length of (exceptionally up to ), and is easily distinguishable from other cordylids by the elongated pair of occipital spines and the enlarged keeled caudal spines.\nThe species is known as the sungazer because of its distinctive thermoregulatory behaviour of elevating the anterior parts of the body by extending its forearms, usually near the entrance of its burrow as if looking at the sun. The species is well known throughout its distribution, and goes by several different common names, in different languages. The most common local name is \u2018Ouvolk\u2019, given by Afrikaans landowners who liken the thermoregulatory basking position of the species to retired farmworkers, who spend much of their days sitting in the sunlight. The sungazer is also known ubiquitously as \u2018Pathakalle\u2019 by Sotho speaking people and \u2018Mbedla\u2019 by Zulu speaking people.\nUnlike most other rupicolous (living among rocks) members of the Cordylidae, sungazers live in self-excavated burrows (typically deep, and  long) in the silty soil of the Themeda grassland in South Africa. They are insectivores, but occasionally will eat small vertebrates. These colonial, ovoviviparous lizards reproduce every two to three years, and only produce one or two offspring per breeding cycle. They are long-lived and captives have been recorded surpassing 20 years of age.\nThe decline in sungazer numbers is a result of habitat destruction, and illegal collecting for the pet and traditional medicine trade. Entire colonies can disappear when a patch of native grassland is converted to farmland or otherwise \"developed\". Sungazers are very difficult to breed in captivity, and successes have only been reported by a handful of places worldwide. At least some reports are likely not true captive breeding, but rather pregnant females being caught in the wild and subsequently giving birth in captivity. Wild caught sungazers are therefore imported from South Africa to the USA, Europe and Japan, where they command a very high price. Most of these animals are smuggled out of the country and are not accompanied by the CITES permits required in legal exports/imports of the species. In its native South Africa, it is illegal to possess a sungazer (dead or alive) without a permit. Cordylus tropidosternum and Cordylus jonesii are occasionally marketed as \u201cdwarf sungazers.\u201d\n"
        },
        "1110": {
            "common": "Gecko",
            "family": "Gecko",
            "id": 1110,
            "text": "Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 to 60 cm (0.64 to 24 inches). Most geckos cannot blink, but they often lick their eyes to keep them clean and moist. They have a fixed lens within each iris that enlarges in darkness to let in more light. Geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations. They use chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos. They are the most species-rich group of lizards, with about 1,500 different species worldwide. The New Latin gekko and English \"gecko\" stem from the Indonesian-Malay g\u0113koq, which is imitative of the sound the animals make. All geckos, excluding the Eublepharidae family, lack eyelids and instead have a transparent membrane, which they lick to clean. Nocturnal species have an excellent night vision; their color vision is 350 times more sensitive than human color vision. The nocturnal geckos evolved from diurnal species which had lost the eye rods. The gecko eye therefore modified its cones that increased in size into different types both single and double. Three different photopigments have been retained and are sensitive to UV, blue, and green. They also use a multifocal optical system that allows them to generate a sharp image for at least two different depths. Most gecko species can lose their tails in defense, a process called autotomy. Many species are well known for their specialized toe pads that enable them to climb smooth and vertical surfaces, and even cross indoor ceilings with ease. Geckos are well-known to people who live in warm regions of the world, where several species of geckos make their home inside human habitations. These (for example the house gecko) become part of the indoor menagerie and are often welcomed, as they feed on insects, including moths and mosquitoes. Unlike most lizards, geckos are usually nocturnal. The largest species, the kawekaweau, is only known from a single, stuffed specimen found in the basement of a museum in Marseille, France. This gecko was 60 cm (24 in) long and it was likely endemic to New Zealand, where it lived in native forests. It was probably wiped out along with much of the native fauna of these islands in the late 19th century, when new invasive species such as rats and stoats were introduced to the country during European colonization. The smallest gecko, the Jaragua sphaero, is a mere 1.6 cm long and was discovered in 2001 on a small island off the coast of the Dominican Republic.\nGeckos are selectively bred. Geckos occur in various patterns and colors, and are among the most colorful lizards in the world. Some species can change colour and may be lighter in colour at night. Some species are parthenogenic, which means the female is capable of reproducing without copulating with a male. This improves the gecko's ability to spread to new islands. However, in a situation where a single female gecko populates an entire island, the island will suffer from a lack of genetic variation within the geckos that inhabit it. The gecko's mating call sounds like a shortened bird chirping which attracts males, when they are nearby. Like other reptiles, geckos are ectothermic, producing very little metabolic heat. Essentially a gecko's body temperature is dependent on its environment. Also, in order to accomplish their main functions\u2014such as locomotion, feeding, reproduction, etc.\u2014geckos must have a relatively elevated temperature.\nAll geckos shed their skin at fairly regular intervals, with species differing in timing and method. Leopard geckos will shed at about two- to four-week intervals. The presence of moisture aids in the shedding. When shedding begins, the gecko will speed the process by detaching the loose skin from its body and eating it.\nGecko toes have special adaptations that allow them to adhere to most surfaces without the use of liquids or surface tension. About 60% of gecko species have adhesive toe pads; such pads have been gained and lost repeatedly over the course of gecko evolution. Adhesive toepads evolved independently in about 11 different gecko lineages and were lost in at least 9 lineages. The spatula-shaped setae arranged in lamellae on gecko footpads enable attractive van der Waals' forces between the \u03b2-keratin lamellae/setae/spatulae structures and the surface. <ref name=Santos2007> These van der Waals interactions involve no fluids; in theory, a boot made of synthetic setae would adhere as easily to the surface of the International Space Station as it would to a living-room wall, although adhesion varies with humidity. The setae on the feet of geckos are also self-cleaning and will usually remove any clogging dirt within a few steps. Teflon, which has very low surface energy, is more difficult for geckos to adhere to than many other surfaces. Increasing humidity typically fortifies gecko adhesion,    even on hydrophobic surfaces, yet is reduced if completely immersed in water. The role of water in that system is under discussion, yet recent experiments agree that the presence of molecular water layers (water molecules carry a very large dipole moment) on the setae as well as on the surface increase the surface energy of both, therefore the energy gain in getting these surfaces in contact is enlarged, which results in an increased gecko adhesion force. Moreover, the elastic properties of the b-keratin change with water uptake. Friction experiments with gecko toes\u2014torn parallel to surfaces\u2014have shown to be influenced also by electrostatic forces. Gecko toes seem to be \"double jointed\", but this is a misnomer and is properly called digital hyperextension. Gecko toes can hyperextend in the opposite direction from human fingers and toes. This allows them to overcome the van der Waals force by peeling their toes off surfaces from the tips inward. In essence, by this peeling action, the gecko separates spatula by spatula from the surface, so  for each spatula separation, only some nN are necessary. (The process is similar to removing scotch tape from a surface.) Geckos' toes operate well below their full attractive capabilities most of the time, because the margin for error is great depending upon the surface roughness, and therefore the number of setae in contact with that surface. Use of small van der Waals attraction force requires very large surface areas: every square millimeter of a gecko's footpad contains about 14,000 hair-like setae. Each seta has a diameter of 5 \u03bcm. Human hair varies from 18 to 180 \u03bcm, so a human hair could hold between 12 and 1300 setae. Each seta is in turn tipped with between 100 and 1,000 spatulae. Each spatula is 0.2 \u03bcm long (one five-millionth of a meter), or just below the wavelength of visible light. The setae of a typical mature gecko would be capable of supporting a weight of : each spatula can exert an adhesive force of 5 to 25 nN. The exact value of the adhesion force of a spatula varies with the surface energy of the substrate to which it adheres. Recent studies have moreover shown that the component of the surface energy derived from long-range forces, such as van der Waals forces, depends on the material's structure below the outermost atomic layers (up to 100 nm beneath the surface); taking that into account, the adhesive strength can be inferred. Recent studies have also revealed that apart from the setae, phospholipids\u2014fatty substances produced naturally in their bodies\u2014also come into play. These lipids lubricate the setae and allow the gecko to detach its foot before the next step. The origin of gecko adhesion likely started as simple modifications to the epidermis on the underside of the toes. This was recently discovered in the genus Gonatodes from South America. Simple elaborations of the epidermal spinules into setae have enabled Gonatodes humeralis to climb smooth surfaces and sleep on smooth leaves. Biomimetic technologies designed to mimic gecko adhesion could produce reusable self-cleaning dry adhesives with many applications. Development effort is being put into these technologies, but manufacturing synthetic setae is not a trivial material design task.\nGeckos are polyphyodonts and able to replace each of their 100 teeth every 3 to 4 months. Next to the full grown tooth there is a small replacement tooth developing from the odontogenic stem cell in the dental lamina. The formation of the teeth is pleurodont; they are fused (ankylosed) by their sides to the inner surface of the jaw bones. This formation is common in all species in the order Squamata.\nThe infraorder Gekkota is divided into seven families, containing numerous genera of gecko species.\nMore than 1,650 species of geckos occur worldwide, including these familiar or notable species:\n"
        },
        "1116": {
            "common": "Gecko, Zebra-tailed",
            "family": "Callisaurus",
            "id": 1116,
            "text": "Zebra-tailed lizards (Callisaurus) are a genus of phrynosomatid lizards endemic to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.\nThey live in open desert with fairly hard-packed soil, scattered vegetation and scattered rocks, typically flats, washes and plains.\nThey range in size from in snout-to-vent length. These lizards are grey to sandy brown, usually with series of paired dark gray spots down their backs, becoming black bands on the tails. The underside of tail is white with black bands. Males have a pair of black blotches on their sides, extending to blue patches on their bellies. Females have no blue patches, and the black bars are either faint or completely absent.\nThey are diurnal and alert. They rise early and are active in all but the hottest weather. During the hottest times of day, lizards may stand alternately on two legs, switching to the opposite two as needed in a kind of dance. When threatened they will run swiftly with their toes curled up and tails raised over their backs exposing the stripes. When stopped, they wag their curled tails side-to-side to distract predators. They can even run on their hind legs for short distances. In areas of creosote scrub this lizard seems to reach highest densities, around 4.8 to 6.0 individuals per acre (600 to 800 m\u00b2 per lizard). This lizard burrows into fine sand for retreat at night and usually seeks day shelter in the shade of bushes. They are also known to burrow under sand for safety when being chased by predators.\nIn summer, 2 to 8 eggs are typically laid, hatching anywhere from July to November. However, more than 1 clutch can be laid during a season. Eggs are laid, presumably, in friable, sandy soil. Being a prey species for many animals, including birds, other lizards, and mammals, they have a fairly high reproductive rate.\nIt feeds on a variety of prey from insects, such as moths, ants and bees, as well as spiders and other smaller lizards. Its diet occasionally includes vegetation, such as spring buds and flowers.\nThe zebra-tailed lizard is common and widely distributed throughout the southwestern United States, ranging from the Mojave and Colorado deserts north into the southern Great Basin.\nThe genus Callisaurus is monotypic, containing only one species, Callisaurus draconoides. The numerous subspecies are:\n"
        },
        "1118": {
            "common": "Gecko, tokay",
            "family": "Gekko gecko",
            "id": 1118,
            "text": "The tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) is a nocturnal arboreal gecko in the genus Gekko, the true geckos. It is native to Asia and some Pacific Islands. The tokay gecko is known as a hokkeng in Chakma, takshak in Bengali, hankkok in Manipuri, tuko in the Philippines, tokkae in Malaysia, tokek in Indonesian/Javanese, t\u1eafc k\u00e8 in Vietnamese, kokkek in Zomi, \u0e15\u0e38\u0e4a\u0e01\u0e41\u0e01  in Thai, Sawk-khe in HMAR and awke in Mizo for its characteristic vocalizations.\nThis species occurs in northeast India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Indonesia, and to western New Guinea in Melanesia. Its native habitat is rainforest, where it lives on trees and cliffs, and it also frequently adapts to rural human habitations, roaming walls and ceilings at night in search of insect prey. It is an invasive species in the Florida Keys. Increasing urbanization is reducing its range.\nThe Tokay is a large gecko, reaching up to 35 centimeters in length. It is cylindrical but somewhat flattened in body shape. The eyes have vertical pupils. The skin is soft to the touch and is generally gray with red speckles, but the animal can change the color of its skin to blend into the environment. The species is sexually dimorphic, the males being more brightly colored. The male is territorial, attacking other Tokays and other intruders. The female lays clutches of one or two hard-shelled eggs and guards them until they hatch. The Tokay feeds on insects and small vertebrates. It has strong jaws with which it bites through the exoskeletons of rainforest insects. It is a strong climber with foot pads that can support the entire weight of the body on a vertical surface for a long period of time. Compared to other gecko species, the Tokay has a robust build, with a semi-prehensile tail, a large head and muscular jaws. Though common in the pet trade, the strong bite of the Tokay makes it ill-suited for inexperienced keepers.\nTheir mating call, a loud croak, is variously described as sounding like token, gekk-gekk or poo-kay from which both the common and the scientific name (deriving from onomatopoeic names in Malay, Sundanese,, Thai, or Javanese), as well as the family name Gekkonidae and the generic term gecko come. The call is similar to the call made by Gekko smithii, the large forest gecko. The gecko's call is also responsible for a slang name given to it by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War: the fuck-you lizard. The loud vocalization of a Tokay gecko can be heard 48 minutes into the classic Indian movie Pather Panchali (1955) during a lull following a particularly dramatic scene.\nTokay geckos are culturally significant in many East Asian countries. Regional folklore has attributed supernatural powers to the gecko. In Southeast Asia it is a symbol of good luck and fertility. It is believed to be descended from dragons. This species is poached for the medicinal trades in parts of Asia. The Tokay gecko is an ingredient in Traditional Chinese medicine known as Ge Jie (\u86e4\u86a7). It is believed to nourish the kidneys and lungs, beliefs that are not substantiated by medical science. The animal remains highly sought after in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia with Chinese communities, to the point where unscrupulous merchants have taken to disfiguring monitor lizards with prosthetics to pass them off as colossal Tokay gecko specimens. The Tokay gecko is quickly becoming a threatened species in the Philippines due to indiscriminate hunting. Collecting, transporting and trading in geckos without a license can be punishable by up to twelve years in jail and a fine of up to Php 1,000,000.00 under Republic Act 9147 in addition to other applicable international laws. However, the trade runs unchecked due to the sheer number of illegal traders and reports of lucrative deals. Chinese buyers and other foreign nationals are rumored to pay thousands of dollars for large specimens, because of their alleged medicinal value or as commodities in the illegal wildlife trade. This is an introduced species in some areas outside its native range. It is established in Florida in the United States, Martinique, the islands of Belize, and possibly Hawaii.\nTwo subspecies are currently recognized.\n"
        },
        "112": {
            "common": "Argalis",
            "family": "Ovis ammon",
            "id": 112,
            "text": "The argali, or the mountain sheep (species Ovis ammon) is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of Central Asia (Himalaya, Tibet, Altay).\nIt is the largest species of wild sheep. The North American bighorn sheep may approach comparable weights but is normally considerably outsized by the argali. Argali stand high at the shoulder and measure  long from the head to the base of the tail. The female, or ewe is the smaller sex by a considerable margin, sometimes weighing less than half as much as the male, or ram. The ewes can weigh from and the rams typically from, with a maximum reported mass of . The Pamir argali (also called Marco Polo sheep, for they were first described by that traveler), O. a. polii, is the largest race on average, regularly measuring more than long without the tail, and is less sexually dimorphic in body mass than most other subspecies. The argali has relatively the shortest tail of any wild goat-antelope or sheep, with reported tail lengths of . The general coloration varies between each animal, from a light yellow to a reddish-brown to a dark grey-brown. Argali or nyan from the Himalayas are usually relatively dark, whereas those from Russian ranges are often relatively pale. In summertime, the coat is often lightly spotted with a salt-and-pepper pattern. The back is darker than the sides, which gradually lighten in color. The face, tail and the buttocks are yellowish-white. The male has a whitish neck ruff and a dorsal crest and is usually slightly darker in color than the female. Males have two large corkscrew horns, some measuring in total length and weighing up to . Males use their horns for competing with one another. Females also carry horns, but they are much smaller, usually measuring less than in total length.\nCurrently, 9 subspecies of argali are recognized: Some sources classify mouflon as Ovis ammon musimon, but DNA testing has not supported this. Several subspecies of argali have been genetically tested for mtDNA and one study found the subspecies O. a. ammon, O. a. darwini and the urial subspecies, O. vignei bochariensis grouped closely, while the subspecies O. a. collium and O. a. nigrimontana grouped with the urial subspecies O. vignei arkal.\nArgali range from central Kazakhstan in the west to the Shanxi Province in China in the east and from the Altai Mountains in the north to the Himalayas to the south. They are a species of mountainous areas, living from elevations of . In protected areas, the species generally prefers gently sloping areas with soft broken terrain, although ewes with lambs often take up residence in more precipitous areas, characterized by canyons and jagged rocks. In areas where they are extensively hunted (such as Kazakhstan), they are more likely to be found in forested areas. In parts of China and Russia where they compete for resources with numerous domestic stock, argali more regularly take up residence in precipitous, jagged areas. Argali may search for regions in the mountains where snow cover is not heavy during the winter, following winds that blow snow off the earth. Rams are generally found at higher elevations more regularly than females and stay at higher elevations longer during the winter.\nArgalis live in herds typically numbering between two and 150 animals, segregated by sex, except during breeding season. Most populations show large numbers of adult females, constituting more than half of a local population, against around 20% adult males and a further 20% young argali. Some rams are solitary, but most are seen in small herds numbering between three and 30 individuals. Females and their young live in larger groups, regularly up to 92 individuals and exceptionally to 200 animals. Migrating herds, especially males, have been reported. Most migration appear to be related to seasonally decreased food sources, though an overabundance of biting insects (especially gadflies), severe drought or fires, poaching by humans, and large numbers of domestic livestock may also trigger movements. With their long legs, herds can travel quickly from place to place. Argali tend to live at higher elevations during the summer. Argali reach breeding maturity at two to three years of age. Rutting may occur from October to mid-January, generally lasting longer in lower elevations. In rutting herds, both rams and ewes attack others of their own sex, exerting dominance by ramming each other with their horns. Although such groups engage in lamb-like play, the combat of a pair of mature males is a serious business. The rams slam into each other, with their fore legs up in the air, exerting enough force to be heard up to away. Often, the older males (over six years of age), which are also often the largest, end up the dominant ones and younger males are chased off once the ewes are in estrus. Once dominance is established, the top rams begin approaching ewes and smell their urine to determine their receptiveness. The ram then repeatedly approaches the ewe and forceably mounts her. Mating commences around two to three weeks after the rutting begins. Rams may remain in the company of ewes for up to two months after the rutting period is complete. The gestation period lasts a little over 165 days. Births occur in late March or April, with a variable number of females being barren. Most subspecies give birth to a single lamb, though in some races, twins are not uncommon and even as many as five have been born at once. At birth, the lambs weigh . The newborn lamb and mother ewe stay around where the birth occurs overnight and, on the next day, both usually walk together. Lambs often play in groups, jumping up and down together, sometimes being joined by their mothers. Weight gain is often quite fast and the lambs may weigh 10 times their birth weight by their first birthday. Females often attain their maximum mass by two years of age, but males appear to continue to grow larger and heavier in their third and fourth years. Milk teeth develop around three months of age, with a full set of teeth developing by around six months. By the time their teeth develop, lambs are capable grazers, but the ewes continue nursing them from August to May of the following year. Most argali live five to 10 years, but are capable of living 13 years in the wild. Adult argali eat of food a day. The vegetation preferred by the species varies based on elevation and area. In higher elevations, they predominantly eat grasses, sedges, and forbs. At midelevation habitats, they more regularly feed on bushes and mesophyte grasses. In the lowest ranges and the spurs of deserts, grasses and sedges again predominate, but often of different species than the high-elevation ones. In north-central Kazakhstan, sprouts, leaves, flowers, and fruits are significant to the diet all year, whereas they appear to be a rare dietary supplement over the rest of the range. Water is needed by argali, which is rarely a problem for animals living at high elevation, where melting snow and small waterways are regularly encountered. In drier climes, argali may travel several kilometers in search of water. When available, argali readily consume saline soil. Although they are locally sympatric with Siberian ibex, the two species have differing habitat and pasture preferences, reducing likely competition. In Tibet, the argali must regularly compete with other grazing species for pasture, including Tibetan antelope, bharal, Thorold's deer and wild yaks. Competition is most serious with livestock, especially domestic yak and domestic sheep, with which argali are frequently forced to intermingle and from which they often catch diseases and parasites. The main predator of argali are gray wolves, which often exploit harsh winter conditions (such as deep snow) to capture the wild sheep, though they can and do take specimens of any age or condition year around. Where not locally extirpated, snow leopards and leopards are also predators of argali of any age. Eurasian lynx and wolverines may seldom kill argali to at least the size of winter-weakened ewes. Red foxes and domestic dogs (largely those kept by sheep-herders) will prey on lambs. Cinereous vultures, lammergeiers and golden eagles have been observed circling herds of ewes with lambs in a possibly predatory manner and remains of argali lambs have been observed in golden eagle nests. Smaller predators, such as raptorial birds and smaller mammalian carnivores, are attacked by mother ewes, but in the presence of larger predators, the ewes quickly run away with the lambs following them.\nArgali are considered an endangered or threatened species throughout their entire range, due largely to habitat loss from overgrazing of domestic sheep and hunting. As the world's largest sheep, the lure to gather a trophy specimen is strong among sports-hunters. They are hunted for both their meat and their horns, used in traditional Chinese medicine, and poaching continues to be a major (and difficultly managed) problem. Argali have been extirpated from northeastern China, southern Siberia, and parts of Mongolia. Populations of predators such as gray wolves and snow leopards have appeared to have been negatively affected by the scarcity of argali. In Pakistan-administered Kashmir it is listed as an endangered species.\n"
        },
        "1120": {
            "common": "Gelada baboon",
            "family": "Theropithecus gelada",
            "id": 1120,
            "text": "The gelada (Theropithecus gelada), sometimes called the bleeding-heart monkey or the gelada baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands, with large populations in the Semien Mountains. Theropithecus is derived from the Greek root words for \"beast-ape.\" Like its close relatives the baboons (genus Papio), it is largely terrestrial, spending much of its time foraging in grasslands.\nSince 1979, it has been customary to place the gelada in its own genus (Theropithecus), though some genetic research suggests that this monkey should be grouped with its papionine (baboon) kin;<ref name=Goodman> other researchers have classified the species even farther distant from Papio. While Theropithecus gelada is the only living species of its genus, separate, larger species are known from the fossil record: T. brumpti, T. darti and T. oswaldi, formerly classified under genus Simopithecus. Theropithecus, while restricted at present to Ethiopia, is also known from fossil specimens found in Africa and the Mediterranean into Asia, including South Africa, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Algeria, Morocco, Spain, and India, more exactly at Mirzapur, Cueva Victoria, Pirro Nord, Ternifine, Hadar, Turkana, Makapansgat and Swartkrans. The two subspecies of gelada are:\nThe gelada is large and robust. It is covered with buff to dark brown, coarse hair and has a dark face with pale eyelids. Its arms and feet are nearly black. Its short tail ends in a tuft of hair. Adult males have a long, heavy cape of hair on their backs. The gelada has a hairless face with a short muzzle that is closer to a chimpanzee's than a baboon's. It can also be physically distinguished from a baboon by the bright patch of skin on its chest. This patch is hourglass-shaped. On males, it is bright red and surrounded by white hair; on females, it is far less pronounced. However, when in estrus, the female's patch will brighten, and a \"necklace\" of fluid-filled blisters forms on the patch. This is thought to be analogous to the swollen buttocks common to most baboons experiencing estrus. In addition, females have knobs of skin around their patches. Geladas also have well developed ischial callosities. There is sexual dimorphism in this species: males average 18.5 kg (40.8 lb) while females are smaller, averaging 11 kg (24.3 lb). The head and body length of this species is 50\u201375 cm (19.7\u201329.5 in) for both sexes. Tail length is 30\u201350 cm (11.8\u201319.7 in). The gelada has several adaptations for its terrestrial and graminivorous (grass-eating) lifestyle. It has small, sturdy fingers adapted for pulling grass and narrow, small incisors adapted for chewing it. The gelada has a unique gait, known as the shuffle gait, that it uses when feeding. It squats bipedally and moves by sliding its feet without changing its posture. Because of this gait, the gelada's rump is hidden beneath and so unavailable for display; its bright red chest patch is visible, though.\nGeladas are found only in the high grassland of the deep gorges of the central Ethiopian plateau. They live in elevations 1,800\u20134,400 m above sea level, using the cliffs for sleeping and montane grasslands for foraging. These grasslands have widely spaced trees and also contain bushes and dense thickets. The highland areas where they live tend to be cooler and less arid than lowlands areas. Thus, the geladas usually do not experience the negative effects that the dry season has on food availability. Nevertheless, in some areas, they do experience frost in the dry season, as well as hailstorms in the wet season. Geladas are the only primates that are primarily graminivores and grazers &ndash; grass blades make up to 90% of their diet. They eat both the blades and the seeds of grasses. When both blades and seeds are available, geladas prefer the seeds. They also eat flowers, rhizomes and roots when available, using their hands to dig for the latter two. They also consume herbs, small plants, fruits, creepers, bushes and thistles. Insects can be eaten, but only rarely and only if they can easily be obtained. During the dry season, grasses are eaten less and herbs are preferred. Geladas consume their food more like ungulates than primates, and can chew their food as effectively as zebra. Geladas are primarily diurnal. At night, they sleep on the ledges of cliffs. At sunrise, they leave the cliffs and travel to the tops of the plateaux to feed and socialize. When morning ends, social activities tend to wane and the geladas primarily focus on foraging. They will travel during this time, as well. When evening arrives, geladas exhibit more social activities before descending to the cliffs to sleep.\nGeladas live in a complex multilevel society similar to that of the hamadryas baboon. The smallest and most basic groups are the reproductive units, which are made up of one to twelve females, their young and one to four males, and the all-male units, which are made up of two to fifteen males. The next level of gelada societies are the bands, which are made up of two to twenty-seven reproductive units and several all-male units. Herds consist of up to 60 reproductive units that are sometimes from different bands and last for short periods of time. Communities are made of one to four bands whose home ranges overlap extensively. A gelada can typically live to around 20 years old. Within the reproductive units, the females tend to be closely related and have strong social bonds. Reproductive units split up if they get too large. While females have strong social bonds in the group, a female will only interact with at most three other members of her unit. Grooming and other social interactions among females usually occur between pairs. Females in a reproductive unit exist in a hierarchy, with higher-ranking females have more reproductive success and more offspring than lower-ranking females. Closely related females tend to have a similar hierarchical status. Females generally stay in their natal units for life; cases of females leaving are rare. Aggression within a reproduction unit, which is rare, is usually just between the females. Aggression is more frequent between members of different reproductive units and is usually started by females, but males and females from both sides will join in if the conflict escalates. Males can remain in a reproductive unit for four to five years. While geladas have traditionally been considered to have a male-transfer society, many males appear to be likely to return and breed in their natal bands. Nevertheless, gelada males leave their natal units and try to take over a unit of their own. A male can take over a reproductive unit either through direct aggression and fighting or by joining one as a subordinate and taking some females with him to create a new unit. When more than one male is in a unit, only one of them can mate with the females. The females in the group together can have power over the dominant male. When a new male tries to take over a unit and overthrow the resident male, the females can choose to support or oppose him. The male maintains his relationship with the females by grooming them rather than forcing his dominance, in contrast to the society of the hamadryas baboon. Females accept a male into the unit by presenting themselves to him. Not all the females may interact with the male. Usually, one may serve as his main partner. The male may sometimes be monopolized by this female. The male may try to interact with the other females, but they are usually unresponsive. Most all-male units consist of several subadults and one young adult, led by one male. A member of an all-male unit may spend two to four years in the group before attempting to join a reproductive unit. All-male groups are generally aggressive towards both reproductive units and other all-male units. As in reproductive units, aggression within all-male units is rare. As bands, reproductive units exist in a common home range. Within the band, members are closely related and between the units there is no social hierarchy. Bands usually break apart every eight to nine years as a new band forms in a new home range. Researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa, while observing gelada monkeys during field studies, discovered that the monkeys were capable of 'cheating' on their partners and covering up their 'infidelity'. A non-dominant male would mate surreptitiously with a female, suppressing their normal mating cries so as not to be overheard. If discovered, the dominant male would attack the miscreants in a clear form of punishment. It is the first time that evidence of the knowledge of cheating and fear of discovery has been recorded among animals in the wild. Dr Aliza le Roux of the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the university believes that dishonesty and punishment are not uniquely human traits, and that the observed evidence of this behaviour among gelada monkeys suggests that the roots of the human system of deceit, crime and punishment lie very deep indeed. Mixed-species association was observed between solitary Ethiopian wolves and geladas. According to the study's findings, gelada monkeys would not typically move on encountering Ethiopian wolves, even when they were in the middle of the herd\u201468 percent of encounters resulted in no movement and only 11 percent resulted in a movement of greater than 10 meters. In stark contrast, the geladas always fled great distances to the cliffs for safety whenever they encountered aggressive domestic dogs.\nWhen in estrus, the female points her posterior towards a male and raises it, moving her tail to one side. The male then approaches the female and inspects her chest and genital areas. A female will copulate up to five times per day, usually around midday. Breeding and reproduction can occur at any time of the year, although some areas have birth peaks. Most births occur at night. Newborn infants have red faces and closed eyes, and are covered in black hair. On average, newborn infants weigh 464 g. Females that have just given birth stay on the periphery of the reproductive unit. Other adult females may take an interest in the infants and even kidnap them. An infant is carried on its mother\u2019s belly for the first five weeks, and thereafter on her back. Infants can move independently at around five months old. A subordinate male in a reproductive unit may help care for an infant when it is six months old. When herds form, juveniles and infants may gather into play groups of around 10 individuals. When males reach puberty, they gather into unstable groups independent of the reproductive units. Females sexually mature at around three years, but do not give birth for another year. Males reach puberty at around four or five years, but are usually unable to reproduce because of social constraints and have to wait until they are around eight to 10 years old. Average life span in the wild is 19 years.\nAdult geladas use a diverse repertoire of vocalizations for various purposes, such as: contact, reassurance, appeasement, solicitation, ambivalence, aggression and defense. The level of complexity of these vocalizations is thought to near that of humans. They sit around and chatter at each other, signifying to those around that they matter, in a way, to the individual \"speaking\". To some extent, calls are related to the status of an individual. In addition, females have calls signaling their estrus. Geladas communicate through gestures, as well. They display threats by flipping their upper lips back on their nostrils to display their teeth and gums, and by pulling back their scalps to display the pale eyelids. A gelada submits by fleeing or presenting itself.\nIn 2008, the IUCN assessed the gelada as Least Concern, although their population had reduced from an estimated 440,000 in the 1970s to around 200,000 in 2008. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES. Major threats to the gelada are a reduction of their range as a result of agricultural expansion, and shooting as crop pests. However, threats that once existed but no longer do are trapping for use as laboratory animals and shooting to obtain their capes to make items of clothing. As of 2008, proposals have been made for a new Blue Nile Gorges National Park and Indeltu (Shebelle) Gorges Reserve to protect larger numbers.\n"
        },
        "1122": {
            "common": "Gemsbok",
            "family": "Oryx gazella",
            "id": 1122,
            "text": "The gemsbok or gemsbuck (Oryx gazella) is a large antelope in the Oryx genus. It is native to the arid regions of Southern Africa, such as the Kalahari Desert. Some authorities formerly included the East African oryx as a subspecies. The gemsbok is depicted on the coat of arms of Namibia, where the current population of the species is estimated at 373,000 individuals.\nThe name \"gemsbok\" in English is derived from Afrikaans gemsbok, which itself is derived from the Dutch name of the male chamois, gemsbok. Although some superficial similarities in appearance (especially in the facial pattern) are noticed, the chamois and the oryx are not closely related. The usual pronunciation in English is .\nGemsbok are light brownish-grey to tan in colour, with lighter patches toward the bottom rear of the rump. Their tails are long and black in colour. A blackish stripe extends from the chin down the lower edge of the neck, through the juncture of the shoulder and leg along the lower flank of each side to the blackish section of the rear leg. They have muscular necks and shoulders, and their legs have white 'socks' with a black patch on the front of both the front legs, and both genders have long, straight horns. Comparably, the East African oryx lacks a dark patch at the base of the tail, has less black on the legs (none on the hindlegs), and less black on the lower flanks. One very rare condition is the \"Golden Oryx\", in which the Gemsboks black markings are muted and now appear golden. Gemsbok are the largest species in the Oryx genus. They stand about at the shoulder. The body length can vary from and the tail measures . Male gemsbok can weigh between, while females weigh .\nGemsbok are widely hunted for their spectacular horns that average in length. From a distance, the only outward difference between males and females is their horns, and many hunters mistake females for males each year. In males horns tend to be thicker with larger bases. Females have slightly longer, thinner horns. Female gemsbok use their horns to defend themselves and their offspring from predators, while males primarily use their horns to defend their territories from other males. Gemsbok are one of the few antelope species where female trophies are sometimes more desirable than male ones. A gemsbok horn can be fashioned into a natural trumpet and, according to some authorities, can be used as a shofar.\nGemsbok live in herds of about 10\u201340 animals, which consist of a dominant male, a few nondominant males, and females. They are mainly desert-dwelling and do not depend on drinking water to supply their physiological needs. They can reach running speeds of up to .\nIn 1969, the New Mexico State Department of Game and Fish decided to introduce gemsbok to the Tularosa Basin in the United States. The introduction was a compromise between those who wanted to preserve nature and those who wanted to use it for profit and promotion. Ninety-three were released from 1969 to 1977, with the current population estimated to be around 3,000 specimens. They thrived because their natural predators, including the lion, are not present.\n"
        },
        "1124": {
            "common": "Genet, common",
            "family": "Genetta genetta",
            "id": 1124,
            "text": "The common genet (Genetta genetta), is a small viverrid indigenous to Africa that was introduced to southwestern Europe and the Balearic Islands. As it is widely distributed north of the Sahara, in savanna zones south of the Sahara to southern Africa and along the coast of Arabia, Yemen and Oman, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It has also been recorded in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.\nCommon genets have a slender, cat-like body, in length, and a tail measuring . Males, with an average weight of, are about 10% larger than females. The legs are short, with cat-like feet and semi-retractile claws. They have a small head with a pointed muzzle, large oval ears, large eyes, and well-developed whiskers up to in length. The fur is dense and soft, and the coat is pale grey, with numerous black markings. The back and flanks are marked with about five rows of black spots, and a long black stripe runs along the middle of the back from the shoulders to the rump. There is also a black stripe on the forehead, and dark patches beneath the eyes, which are offset against the white fur of the chin and throat. The tail is striped, with anything from eight to thirteen rings along its length. The Common genet differs from the Cape genet (G.tigrina also known as the large-spotted genet) in that:\nIn North Africa, common genets occur along the western Mediterranean coast, and in a broad band from Senegal and Mauritania in the west throughout the savannah zone south of the Sahara to Somalia and Tanzania in the east. On the Arabian Peninsula, they were recorded in coastal regions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. Another discontinuous population inhabits southern Africa, from southern Angola across Zambia, Zimbabwe to Mozambique. They inhabit a wide range of deciduous and evergreen habitats that provide plentiful shelter such as rocky terrain with caves and dense scrub land, but also come close to settlements and agricultural land. They are common in Morocco, but rare in Libya, Egypt and Zambia. In South Africa, they are common in west-central KwaZulu-Natal, in the Cape Province, and in QwaQwa National Park in the Free State province. They were brought to the Mediterranean region from Maghreb as a domestic animal about 1000 to 1500 years ago, and from the Iberian Peninsula spread to the Balearic Islands and southern France. In Italy, they were sighted in mountainous areas in the Piedmont region and in the Aosta Valley. Individuals sighted in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands are considered to have escaped or been released from captivity. In southwestern Europe, they thrive in oak and pine forests, but also live in olive groves, riparian zones, ash groves, rocky areas, and shrublands. They are rare in open areas, marshes, and cereal croplands. Despite their abundance along watercourses, presence of water is not considered essential. They prefer to live in areas with dense vegetation, such as bushes, thickets, and evergreen oak forests. As resting sites they use trees with dense foliage in the canopy and dense thickets overgrown with climbing plants. In northern areas, they prefer low altitudes with high temperatures and low rainfall. In the Manzanares Park in central Spain, they live foremost in areas of elevation with lots of rocks and shrubs. They tolerate proximity to settlements. Common genets and wood mice share the same habitats and niches, specifically Mediterranean forests.\nCommon genets are solitary. Adults are nocturnal and crepuscular, with their highest levels of activity following sunset and just prior to sunrise; juveniles may be active during the day. They rest during the day in hollow trees or among thickets, and frequently use the same resting sites. In southern Spain, adult individuals occupy home ranges of about in average. The ranges of males and females overlap, but those of members of the same sex do not. In northern Spain, home ranges of three females ranged from . During a study in northeastern Spain, males have been found to be more active than females at night because of their greater size, which indicates that males have greater energy requirements to satisfy their physiological needs. Females typically weigh less, and they have been found to be less active overall. Females' home ranges are also smaller than those of males. Males had a mean annual home range of, and females of . While males have larger home ranges in all seasons, the differences between males' and females' territories are most significant during the winter. Their home ranges are slightly larger during the spring because they are more active, not only nocturnally, but in seeking a mate. Because of their increased activity, they require more energy and are more active to acquire the necessary sustenance. Both male and females scent mark in their home ranges. Females mark their territory using scent glands on their flanks, hind legs, and perineum. Males mark less frequently than females, often spraying urine, rather than using their scent glands, and do so primarily during the breeding season. Scent marks by both sexes allow individuals to identify the reproductive and social status of other genets. Common genets also defecate at specific latrine sites, which are often located at the edge of their territories, and perform a similar function to other scent marks. Five communication calls have been reported. The hiccup call is used by males during the mating period and by females to call the litter. Kits purr during their first week of life and, during their dependent weeks, moan or mew. Kits also growl after the complete development of predatory behavior and during aggressive interactions. Finally, genets utter a \"click\" as a threat. Threatening behavior consists of erection of the dark central dorsal band of hair, an arched-back stance, opening the mouth, and baring the teeth. Common genets have five distinct calls. The \"hiccup\" call is used to indicate friendly interactions, such as between a mother and her young, or between males and females prior to mating. Conversely, clicks, or, in younger individuals, growls, are used to indicate aggression. The remaining two calls, a \"mew\" and a purr, are used only by young still dependant on their mother. Common genets have a varied diet comprising small mammals, lizards, birds, bird eggs, amphibians, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, insects and fruit, including figs and olives. The wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) is a favourite prey item, but genets from the Balearics live chiefly on lizards. As genets are expert climbers, they also prey on red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and dormice (Eliomys quercinus). Genets locate their prey primarily by scent, and kill with a bite to the neck, like cats. Small rodents are captured by the back and killed with a bite at the head, then eaten starting with the head. In Spain, common genets can suffer from infestation of parasitic helminths, as well as ticks, fleas (Hippobosca), and lice. Common genets also host the phthirapteran Eutrichophilus genettae and Lorisicola (Paradoxuroecus) genettae. In Africa, predators include leopard, serval, caracal, ratel and large owl species. Potential predators are also red fox and northern goshawk.\nIn Spain, common genets breed between January and September, with a peak in February and March and another one in the summer. Mating behaviour and development of young has been studied in captive individuals. Copulation lasts about two to three minutes, and is repeated up to five times in the same night. After a gestation period of 10 to 11 weeks, up to four young are born. Newborn common genets weigh . They start eating meat at around seven weeks of age, and are fully weaned at four months of age. When five months old, they are skilled in hunting on their own. When 19 months old, they start marking, and are thought to be sexually mature at the age of two years. Captive common genets have lived up to 13 years.\nNo major threats to common genets are known. In North Africa and some localities in southern Africa, they are hunted for their fur. In Portugal, they get killed in predator traps. On Ibiza, urbanization and development of infrastructure cause loss and fragmentation of habitat.\nGenetta genetta is listed on Appendix III of the Bern Convention and in Annex V of the Habitats and Species Directive of the European Union.\nAlong with other viverrids, genets are among living Carnivorans considered to be the morphologically closest to the extinct common ancestor of the whole order. More than 30 subspecies of the common genet have been described. The following are considered valid: Genetta felina has been reclassified as a species based on morphological diagnoses comparing 5500 Viverrinae specimens in zoological collections.\n"
        },
        "1126": {
            "common": "Genet, small-spotted",
            "family": "Genetta genetta",
            "id": 1126,
            "text": "The common genet (Genetta genetta), is a small viverrid indigenous to Africa that was introduced to southwestern Europe and the Balearic Islands. As it is widely distributed north of the Sahara, in savanna zones south of the Sahara to southern Africa and along the coast of Arabia, Yemen and Oman, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It has also been recorded in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.\nCommon genets have a slender, cat-like body, in length, and a tail measuring . Males, with an average weight of, are about 10% larger than females. The legs are short, with cat-like feet and semi-retractile claws. They have a small head with a pointed muzzle, large oval ears, large eyes, and well-developed whiskers up to in length. The fur is dense and soft, and the coat is pale grey, with numerous black markings. The back and flanks are marked with about five rows of black spots, and a long black stripe runs along the middle of the back from the shoulders to the rump. There is also a black stripe on the forehead, and dark patches beneath the eyes, which are offset against the white fur of the chin and throat. The tail is striped, with anything from eight to thirteen rings along its length. The Common genet differs from the Cape genet (G.tigrina also known as the large-spotted genet) in that:\nIn North Africa, common genets occur along the western Mediterranean coast, and in a broad band from Senegal and Mauritania in the west throughout the savannah zone south of the Sahara to Somalia and Tanzania in the east. On the Arabian Peninsula, they were recorded in coastal regions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. Another discontinuous population inhabits southern Africa, from southern Angola across Zambia, Zimbabwe to Mozambique. They inhabit a wide range of deciduous and evergreen habitats that provide plentiful shelter such as rocky terrain with caves and dense scrub land, but also come close to settlements and agricultural land. They are common in Morocco, but rare in Libya, Egypt and Zambia. In South Africa, they are common in west-central KwaZulu-Natal, in the Cape Province, and in QwaQwa National Park in the Free State province. They were brought to the Mediterranean region from Maghreb as a domestic animal about 1000 to 1500 years ago, and from the Iberian Peninsula spread to the Balearic Islands and southern France. In Italy, they were sighted in mountainous areas in the Piedmont region and in the Aosta Valley. Individuals sighted in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands are considered to have escaped or been released from captivity. In southwestern Europe, they thrive in oak and pine forests, but also live in olive groves, riparian zones, ash groves, rocky areas, and shrublands. They are rare in open areas, marshes, and cereal croplands. Despite their abundance along watercourses, presence of water is not considered essential. They prefer to live in areas with dense vegetation, such as bushes, thickets, and evergreen oak forests. As resting sites they use trees with dense foliage in the canopy and dense thickets overgrown with climbing plants. In northern areas, they prefer low altitudes with high temperatures and low rainfall. In the Manzanares Park in central Spain, they live foremost in areas of elevation with lots of rocks and shrubs. They tolerate proximity to settlements. Common genets and wood mice share the same habitats and niches, specifically Mediterranean forests.\nCommon genets are solitary. Adults are nocturnal and crepuscular, with their highest levels of activity following sunset and just prior to sunrise; juveniles may be active during the day. They rest during the day in hollow trees or among thickets, and frequently use the same resting sites. In southern Spain, adult individuals occupy home ranges of about in average. The ranges of males and females overlap, but those of members of the same sex do not. In northern Spain, home ranges of three females ranged from . During a study in northeastern Spain, males have been found to be more active than females at night because of their greater size, which indicates that males have greater energy requirements to satisfy their physiological needs. Females typically weigh less, and they have been found to be less active overall. Females' home ranges are also smaller than those of males. Males had a mean annual home range of, and females of . While males have larger home ranges in all seasons, the differences between males' and females' territories are most significant during the winter. Their home ranges are slightly larger during the spring because they are more active, not only nocturnally, but in seeking a mate. Because of their increased activity, they require more energy and are more active to acquire the necessary sustenance. Both male and females scent mark in their home ranges. Females mark their territory using scent glands on their flanks, hind legs, and perineum. Males mark less frequently than females, often spraying urine, rather than using their scent glands, and do so primarily during the breeding season. Scent marks by both sexes allow individuals to identify the reproductive and social status of other genets. Common genets also defecate at specific latrine sites, which are often located at the edge of their territories, and perform a similar function to other scent marks. Five communication calls have been reported. The hiccup call is used by males during the mating period and by females to call the litter. Kits purr during their first week of life and, during their dependent weeks, moan or mew. Kits also growl after the complete development of predatory behavior and during aggressive interactions. Finally, genets utter a \"click\" as a threat. Threatening behavior consists of erection of the dark central dorsal band of hair, an arched-back stance, opening the mouth, and baring the teeth. Common genets have five distinct calls. The \"hiccup\" call is used to indicate friendly interactions, such as between a mother and her young, or between males and females prior to mating. Conversely, clicks, or, in younger individuals, growls, are used to indicate aggression. The remaining two calls, a \"mew\" and a purr, are used only by young still dependant on their mother. Common genets have a varied diet comprising small mammals, lizards, birds, bird eggs, amphibians, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, insects and fruit, including figs and olives. The wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) is a favourite prey item, but genets from the Balearics live chiefly on lizards. As genets are expert climbers, they also prey on red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and dormice (Eliomys quercinus). Genets locate their prey primarily by scent, and kill with a bite to the neck, like cats. Small rodents are captured by the back and killed with a bite at the head, then eaten starting with the head. In Spain, common genets can suffer from infestation of parasitic helminths, as well as ticks, fleas (Hippobosca), and lice. Common genets also host the phthirapteran Eutrichophilus genettae and Lorisicola (Paradoxuroecus) genettae. In Africa, predators include leopard, serval, caracal, ratel and large owl species. Potential predators are also red fox and northern goshawk.\nIn Spain, common genets breed between January and September, with a peak in February and March and another one in the summer. Mating behaviour and development of young has been studied in captive individuals. Copulation lasts about two to three minutes, and is repeated up to five times in the same night. After a gestation period of 10 to 11 weeks, up to four young are born. Newborn common genets weigh . They start eating meat at around seven weeks of age, and are fully weaned at four months of age. When five months old, they are skilled in hunting on their own. When 19 months old, they start marking, and are thought to be sexually mature at the age of two years. Captive common genets have lived up to 13 years.\nNo major threats to common genets are known. In North Africa and some localities in southern Africa, they are hunted for their fur. In Portugal, they get killed in predator traps. On Ibiza, urbanization and development of infrastructure cause loss and fragmentation of habitat.\nGenetta genetta is listed on Appendix III of the Bern Convention and in Annex V of the Habitats and Species Directive of the European Union.\nAlong with other viverrids, genets are among living Carnivorans considered to be the morphologically closest to the extinct common ancestor of the whole order. More than 30 subspecies of the common genet have been described. The following are considered valid: Genetta felina has been reclassified as a species based on morphological diagnoses comparing 5500 Viverrinae specimens in zoological collections.\n"
        },
        "1132": {
            "common": "Giant anteater",
            "family": "Myrmecophaga tridactyla",
            "id": 1132,
            "text": "The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), also known as the ant bear, is a large insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters and is classified with sloths in the order Pilosa. This species is mostly terrestrial, in contrast to other living anteaters and sloths, which are arboreal or semiarboreal. The giant anteater is the largest of its family, in length, with weights of  for males and  for females. It is recognizable by its elongated snout, bushy tail, long fore claws, and distinctively colored pelage. The giant anteater can be found in multiple habitats, including grassland and rainforest. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats. It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its fore claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during mother-offspring relationships, aggressive interactions between males, and when mating. Mother anteaters carry their offspring on their backs until weaning them. The giant anteater is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It has been extirpated from many parts of its former range, including nearly all of Central America. Threats to its survival include habitat destruction, fire, and poaching for fur and bushmeat, although some anteaters inhabit protected areas. With its distinctive appearance and habits, the anteater has been featured in pre-Columbian myths and folktales, as well as modern popular culture.\nThe giant anteater got its binomial name from Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Its generic name, Myrmecophaga, and specific name, tridactyla, are both Greek, meaning \"anteater\" and \"three fingers\", respectively. Myrmecophaga jubata was used as a synonym. Three subspecies have been tentatively proposed: M. t. tridactyla (ranging from Venezuela and the Guianas to northern Argentina), M. t. centralis (native to Central America, northwestern Colombia, and northern Ecuador), and M. t. artata (native to northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela). The giant anteater is grouped with the semiarboreal northern and southern tamanduas in the family Myrmecophagidae. Together with the family Cyclopedidae, whose only extant member is the arboreal silky anteater, the two families comprise the suborder Vermilingua. Anteaters and sloths belong to order Pilosa and share superorder Xenarthra with the Cingulata (whose only extant members are armadillos). The two orders of Xenarthra split 66 million years ago (Mya) during the Late Cretaceous epoch. Anteaters and sloths diverged around 55 Mya, between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. The Cyclopes lineage emerged around 30 Mya in the Oligocene epoch, while the Myrmecophaga and Tamandua lineages split 10 Mya in the Late Miocene subepoch. During most of the Cenozoic era, anteaters were confined to South America, which was formerly an island continent. Following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 Mya, anteaters of all three extant genera invaded Central America as part of the Great American Interchange. The fossil record for anteaters is generally sparse. Some known fossils include the Pliocene genus Palaeomyrmidon, a close relative to the silky anteater, Protamandua, the sister taxon to the clade that includes the giant anteater and the tamanduas from the Miocene, and Neotamandua, a sister taxon to Myrmecophaga. Protamandua was larger than the silky anteater, but smaller than a tamandua, while Neotamandua was larger, falling somewhere between a tamandua and a giant anteater. Protamandua did not appear to have feet specialized for terrestrial or arboreal locomotion, but it may have had a prehensile tail. Neotamandua, though, is unlikely to have had a prehensile tail and its feet were intermediate in form between those of the tamanduas and the giant anteater. The species Neotamandua borealis was suggested to be an ancestor of the latter. The giant anteater is the most terrestrial of the living anteater species. Its ancestors may originally have been adapted to arboreal life; the transition to life on the ground could have been aided by the expansion of open habitats such as savanna in South America and the availability there of colonial insects, such as termites, that provided a larger potential food source. Both the giant anteater and the southern tamandua are well represented in the fossil record of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.\nThe giant anteater can be identified by its large size, elongated muzzle, and long bushy tail. It has a total body length of . Males weigh and females weigh, making the giant anteater the largest extant species in its suborder. The head of the giant anteater, at long, is particularly elongated, even when compared to other anteaters. Its tubular snout, which ends in its tiny mouth opening and nostrils, takes up most of its head. Its eyes and ears are relatively small. It has poor eyesight, but its sense of smell is 40 times more sensitive than that of humans. Giant anteaters can live around 16 years in captivity. Even for an anteater, the neck is especially thick compared to the back of the head, and a small hump can be found at the back of the neck. The coat is mostly grey and salted with white. The forelimbs are white, with black bands around the wrists, while the hindlimbs are dark. Thick black bands with white outlines stretch from throat to shoulder, ending in triangular points. The body ends in a brown tail. The coat hairs are long, especially on the tail, which makes the tail look larger than it actually is. A stiff mane stretches along the back. The bold pattern was thought to be disruptive camouflage, but a 2009 study suggests it is warning coloration. While adult males are slightly larger and more muscular than females, with wider heads and necks, visual sex determination can be difficult. The penis and testes are located internally between the rectum and urinary bladder in males, and females have a single pair of mammary glands near the armpits. The giant anteater has broad ribs. Despite its specific name, it has five toes on each foot. Four toes on the front feet have claws, which are particularly elongated on the second and third digits. It walks on its front knuckles, similar to the African apes, specifically gorillas and chimpanzees. Doing this allows the giant anteater to keep its claws out of the way while walking. The middle digits, which support most of its weight, are extended at the metacarpophalangeal joints and bent at the interphalangeal joints. Unlike the front feet, the hind feet have short claws on all five toes and walk plantigrade. As a \"hook-and-pull\" digger, the giant anteater's enlarged supraspinous fossa gives the teres major more leverage\u2014increasing the front limbs' pulling power\u2014and the triceps muscle helps power the flexion of the thickened third digit of the front feet. The giant anteater has a low body temperature for a mammal, about 33 \u00b0C (91 \u00b0F), a few degrees lower than a typical mammalian temperature of 36\u201338 \u00b0C (97-100 \u00b0F). Xenarthrans in general tend to have lower metabolic rates than most other mammals, a trend thought to correlate with their dietary specializations and low mobility.\nThe giant anteater has no teeth and is capable of very limited jaw movement. It relies on the rotation of the two halves of its lower jaw, held together by a ligament at the tip, to open and close its mouth. This is accomplished by its masticatory muscles, which are relatively underdeveloped. Jaw depression creates an oral opening large enough for the slender tongue to flick out. It is typically long and is triangular posteriorly, rounded anteriorly, and ends in a small, rounded tip. The tongue is covered in backward-curving papillae and coated in thick, sticky saliva secreted from its enlarged salivary glands, which allows the giant anteater to collect insects with it. The tube-like rostrum and small mouth opening restrict the tongue to protrusion-retraction movements. During feeding, the tongue moves in and out around 160 times per minute (nearly three times per second). According to biologist Virginia Naples, these movements are powered by the unique musculature of the giant anteater's long, large, and flexible hyoid apparatus. Conversely, biologist Karen Reiss states that the anteater's tongue has no attachments to the hyoid and this is what allows it to flick its tongue at such speeds. The animal relies on the orientation of its head for aim. When fully extended, the tongue can reach, longer than the length of the skull. The buccinators allow it to slide back in without losing attached food and tighten the mouth to prevent food from escaping as it extends. When retracted, the tongue is held in the oropharynx by the secondary palate, preventing it from blocking respiration. This retraction is aided by the long sternoglossus muscle, which is formed by the fusion of the sternohyoid and the hyoglossus, and does not attach to the hyoid. Thus, the tongue is directly anchored to the sternum. Giant anteaters swallow at a much higher rate than most other mammals; when feeding, they swallow almost continuously. Before being swallowed, insects are crushed against the palate. The giant anteater's stomach, similar to a bird's gizzard, has hardened folds and uses strong contractions to grind up the insects. The digestive process is assisted by small amounts of ingested sand and soil. The giant anteater cannot produce stomach acid of its own, but uses the formic acid of its prey for digestion.\nThe giant anteater is native to Central and South America. Its known range stretches from Honduras to northern Argentina, and fossil remains have been found as far north as northwestern Sonora, Mexico. It is largely absent from the Andes and has been extirpated in Uruguay. It may also be extirpated in Belize, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The species can be found in a number of habitats including both tropical rainforests and xeric shrublands, provided enough prey is present to sustain it. The species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, due to the number of regional extirpations, and under Appendix II by CITES, tightly restricting trade in specimens of the animal. Between 2000 and 2010, the total population declined by 30%. In 1994, some 340 giant anteaters died due to wildfires at Emas National Park in Brazil. The animal is particularly vulnerable to fires due to its slow movement and flammable coat. Human-induced threats include collision with vehicles, attacks by dogs, and destruction of habitat. The giant anteater is commonly hunted in Bolivia, both for sport and sustenance. The animal's thick, leathery hide is used to make equestrian equipment in the Chaco. In Venezuela, it is hunted for its claws. Giant anteaters are killed for safety reasons, due to their reputation as dangerous animals. The giant anteater remains widespread. Some populations are stable and the animal can be found in various protected areas in the Amazon and the Cerrado. It is officially protected in some Argentine provinces as a national heritage species.\nThe giant anteater may use multiple habitats. A 2007 study of giant anteaters in the Brazilian Pantanal found the animals generally forage in open areas and rest in forested areas, possibly because forests are warmer than grasslands on cold days and cooler on hot days. Giant anteaters can be either diurnal or nocturnal. A 2006 study in the Pantanal found those anteaters to be mostly nocturnal: they are most active during nighttime and early morning, and retire as the temperature rises. On colder days, they start and end periods of activity earlier, shifting them into daylight hours, and may become diurnal. Diurnal giant anteaters have been observed at Serra da Canastra. Nocturnality in anteaters may be a response to human disturbances. Giant anteaters typically rest in dense brush, but may use tall grass on cooler days. They carve a shallow cavity in the ground for resting. The animal sleeps curled up with its bushy tail folded over its body. The tail serves both to conserve body heat and as camouflage. One anteater was recorded sleeping with its tail stretched out on a sunny morning with an ambient temperature of 17 \u00b0C (63 \u00b0F); possibly it was positioned this way to allow its body to absorb the sun's rays for warmth. Giant anteaters are good swimmers and are capable of moving through wide rivers. They have been observed to bathe. They are also able to climb and have been recorded ascending both termite mounds and trees while foraging. One individual was observed holding onto a branch with its feet just touching the ground.\nGiant anteaters' home ranges vary in size depending on the location. At Serra da Canastra National Park in Brazil, female anteaters have home ranges around, while males live in home ranges of . In other parts of Brazil, anteaters may have ranges. Anteaters from Venezuela have been recorded living in home ranges as large as . Individuals mostly live alone, except for females that nurse their young and males courting females. Anteaters communicate their presence, status, and sexual condition with secretions from their anal glands. They also advertise their presence to other individuals though tree markings and urine. They appear to be able to recognize each other's saliva by scent. Females appear to be more tolerant of females than males are of males, leading to greater overlap in female home ranges. Males are more likely to engage in agonistic behaviors, such as slowly circling each other, chasing, or actual fighting. Circling anteaters may cry a drawn-out \"harrr\". In combat, they slash at each other with their claws and wrestle each other to the ground. Fighting anteaters may emit roars or bellows. Males are possibly territorial.\nThis animal is an insectivore, feeding mostly on ants or termites. In areas that experience seasonal flooding, like the grassy plains of the Venezuelan llanos, anteaters mainly feed on ants, because termites are less available. Conversely, anteaters at Emas National Park eat mainly termites, which occur in high density on the grasslands. At Serra da Canastra, anteaters switch between eating mainly ants during the wet season (October to March) and termites during the dry season (May to September). Anteaters track prey by their scent. After finding a nest, the animal tears it open with its long fore claws and inserts its long, sticky tongue to collect its prey. An anteater spends one minute on average feeding at a nest, visiting up to 200 nests in one day and consuming as many as 30,000 insects. The anteater may be driven away from a nest by the chemical or biting attacks of soldiers. Some termite species rely on their fortified mounds for protection and many individuals escape while the predator digs. These modes of defense prevent the entire colony from being eaten in one anteater attack. Other prey include the larvae of beetles and western honey bees that have located their hives in termite mounds. Anteaters may target termite mounds with bee hives. In captivity, anteaters are fed mixtures made of milk, eggs, mealworms, and ground beef. To drink, an anteater may dig for water when no surface water is available, creating waterholes for other animals. Giant anteaters are prey for jaguars and pumas. They typically flee from danger by galloping, but if cornered, will rear up on their hind legs and slash at the attacker. The giant anteater's front claws are formidable weapons, capable of killing a jaguar. Although they are shy and typically attempt to avoid humans, giant anteaters can inflict severe wounds with their front claws and have been known to seriously injure or kill humans who corner and threaten them. Between 2010 and 2012, two hunters were killed by giant anteaters in Brazil; in both cases, the hunters were agitating and wounding cornered animals and the attacks appeared to be defensive behaviors. In April 2007, an anteater at the Florencio Varela Zoo mauled a zookeeper with its front claws.\nGiant anteaters can mate throughout the year. During courtship, a male consorts with an estrous female, following and sniffing her. Male and female pairs are known to feed at the same insect nest. While mating, the female lies on her side as the male crouches over her. A couple may stay together for up to three days and mate several times during that period. Gestation lasts around 190 days and ends with the birth of a single pup, which typically weighs around . Females give birth standing upright. Pups are born with eyes closed and begin to open them after six days. The mother carries its dependent pup on its back. The pup's black and white band aligns with its mother's, camouflaging it. The young communicate with their mothers with sharp whistles and use their tongues during nursing. After three months, the pup begins to eat solid food and is fully weaned by ten months. The mother grooms her offspring during rest periods lasting up to an hour. Grooming peaks during the first three months and declines as the young reaches nine months of age, ending by ten months. The decline mirrors that of the weakening bond between mother and offspring; young anteaters usually become independent by nine or ten months. Anteaters are sexually mature in 2.5\u20134 years.\nIn the mythology and folklore of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin, the giant anteater is depicted as a trickster foil to the jaguar, as well as a humorous figure due to its long snout. In one Shipib tale, an anteater challenged a jaguar to a breath-holding contest under water, which the jaguar accepted. After the two removed their pelts and submerged, the anteater jumped out of the water and stole the jaguar's pelt, leaving the jaguar with the anteater's pelt. In a Yarabara myth, the evil ogre Ucara is transformed into one by the sun. This myth emphasizes the nearly immobile nature of the anteater's mouth, which was considered a burden. The Kayapo people wear masks of various animals and spirits, including the anteater, during naming and initiation ceremonies. They believe women who touched anteater masks or men who stumbled while wearing them would die or receive some sort of physical disorder. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the giant anteater was one of many native fauna taken to Europe for display. At first, Europeans believed all anteaters were female and mated with their noses, a misconception corrected by naturalist F\u00e9lix de Azara. In the 20th century, Salvador Dal\u00ed wrote imaginatively that the giant anteater \"reaches sizes bigger than the horse, possesses enormous ferocity, has exceptional muscle power, is a terrifying animal.\" Dal\u00ed depicted an anteater in the style of The Great Masturbator. It was used as a bookplate for Andr\u00e9 Breton, who compared the temptations a man experiences in life to what \"the tongue of the anteater must offer to the ant.\" The 1940 Max Fleischer cartoon Ants in the Plants features a colony of ants fighting off a villainous anteater. Released during the Phoney War, the film may have alluded to France's Maginot Line. An anteater is also a recurring character in the comic strip B.C.. This character was the inspiration for Peter the Anteater, the University of California, Irvine team mascot. The Flash cartoon Happy Tree Friends features an anteater named Sniffles. In the Stephen King miniseries Kingdom Hospital, the character Antubis appears in the form of an anteater-like creature with razor-sharp teeth.\n"
        },
        "1134": {
            "common": "Giant armadillo",
            "family": "Priodontes maximus",
            "id": 1134,
            "text": "The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), colloquially tatou, ocarro, tatu-canastra or tat\u00fa carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the glyptodonts, were much larger). It lives in South America, ranging throughout as far south as northern Argentina. This species is considered vulnerable to extinction. The giant armadillo prefers termites and some ants as prey, and often consumes the entire population of a termite mound. It also has been known to prey upon worms, larvae and larger creatures, such as spiders and snakes, and plants. At least one zoo park, in Villavicencio, Colombia \u2013 Los Ocarros \u2013 is dedicated to this animal.\nThe giant armadillo is the largest living species of armadillo, with 11 to 13 hinged bands protecting the body and a further three or four on the neck. Its body is dark brown in color, with a lighter, yellowish band running along the sides, and a pale, yellow-white head. These armadillos have around 80 to 100 teeth, which is more than any other terrestrial mammal. The teeth are all similar in appearance, being reduced premolars and molars, grow constantly throughout life, and lack enamel. They also possess extremely long front claws, including a sickle-shaped third claw, which are proportionately the largest of any living mammal. The tail is covered in small rounded scales and does not have the heavy bony scutes that cover the upper body and top of the head. The animal is almost entirely hairless, with just a few beige colored hairs protruding between the scutes. Giant armadillos typically weigh around when fully grown, however a  specimen has been weighed in the wild and captive specimens have been weighed up to . The typical length of the species is, with the tail adding another .\nGiant armadillos are found throughout much of northern South America east of the Andes, except for eastern Brazil and Paraguay. In the south, they reach the northernmost provinces of Argentina, including Salta, Formosa, Chaco, and Santiago del Estero. There are no recognised geographic subspecies. They primarily inhabit open habitats, with cerrado grasslands covering about 25% of their range, but they can also be found in lowland forests.\nGiant armadillos are solitary and nocturnal, spending the day in burrows. They also burrow to escape predators, being unable to completely roll into a protective ball. Compared with those of other armadillos, their burrows are unusually large, with entrances averaging wide, and typically opening to the west. Giant armadillos use their large front claws to dig for prey and rip open termite mounds. The diet is mainly composed of termites, although ants, worms, spiders and other invertebrates are also eaten. Little is currently known about this species' reproductive biology, and no juveniles have ever been discovered in the field. The average sleep time of a captive giant armadillo is said to be 18.1 hours. Armadillos have not been extensively studied in the wild; therefore, little is known about their natural ecology and behavior. In the only long term study on the species, that started in 2003 in the Peruvian Amazon, dozens of other species of mammals, reptiles and birds were found using the giant armadillos' burrows on the same day, including the rare short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis). Because of this, the species is considered a habitat engineer, and the local extinction of Priodontes may have cascading effects in the mammalian community by impoverishing fossorial habitat. Female giant armadillos have two teats and are thought to normally give birth to only a single young per year. Little is known with certainty about their life history, although it is thought that the young are weaned by about seven to eight months of age, and that the mother periodically seals up the entrance to burrows containing younger offspring, presumably to protect them from predators. Although they have never bred in captivity, a wild-born giant armadillo at San Antonio Zoo was estimated to have been around sixteen years old when it died.\nHunted throughout its range, a single giant armadillo supplies a great deal of meat, and is the primary source of protein for some indigenous peoples. In addition, live giant armadillos are frequently captured for trade on the black market, and invariably die during transportation or in captivity. Despite this species\u2019 wide range, it is locally rare. This is further exacerbated by habitat loss resulting from deforestation. Current estimates indicate the giant armadillo may have undergone a worrying population decline of 30 to 50 percent over the past three decades. Without intervention, this trend is likely to continue.\nThe giant armadillo was classified as vulnerable on the World Conservation Union's Red List in 2002, and is listed under Appendix I (threatened with extinction) of the [[Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna]]. The giant armadillo is protected by law in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname and Peru, and international trade is banned by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, hunting for food and sale in the black market continues to occur throughout its entire range. Some populations occur within protected reserves, including the Parque das Emas in Brazil, and the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a massive 1.6-million-hectare site of pristine rainforest managed by Conservation International. Such protection helps to some degree to mitigate the threat of habitat loss, but targeted conservation action is required to prevent the further decline of this species.\n"
        },
        "1136": {
            "common": "Giant girdled lizard",
            "family": "Cordylus giganteus",
            "id": 1136,
            "text": "The sungazer (Smaug giganteus, syn. Cordylus giganteus), also known as the giant girdled lizard or giant dragon lizard or giant zonure, is the largest species of the Cordylidae, a family of lizards from Sub-Saharan Africa. This threatened species is endemic to Highveld grasslands in the interior of South Africa. In 2011, it was assigned to the new genus Smaug along with seven other species previously belonging to the genus Cordylus, based on a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Cordylidae.\nThe sungazer is a heavily armoured species, with a typical snout\u2013to-vent length of (exceptionally up to ), and is easily distinguishable from other cordylids by the elongated pair of occipital spines and the enlarged keeled caudal spines.\nThe species is known as the sungazer because of its distinctive thermoregulatory behaviour of elevating the anterior parts of the body by extending its forearms, usually near the entrance of its burrow as if looking at the sun. The species is well known throughout its distribution, and goes by several different common names, in different languages. The most common local name is \u2018Ouvolk\u2019, given by Afrikaans landowners who liken the thermoregulatory basking position of the species to retired farmworkers, who spend much of their days sitting in the sunlight. The sungazer is also known ubiquitously as \u2018Pathakalle\u2019 by Sotho speaking people and \u2018Mbedla\u2019 by Zulu speaking people.\nUnlike most other rupicolous (living among rocks) members of the Cordylidae, sungazers live in self-excavated burrows (typically deep, and  long) in the silty soil of the Themeda grassland in South Africa. They are insectivores, but occasionally will eat small vertebrates. These colonial, ovoviviparous lizards reproduce every two to three years, and only produce one or two offspring per breeding cycle. They are long-lived and captives have been recorded surpassing 20 years of age.\nThe decline in sungazer numbers is a result of habitat destruction, and illegal collecting for the pet and traditional medicine trade. Entire colonies can disappear when a patch of native grassland is converted to farmland or otherwise \"developed\". Sungazers are very difficult to breed in captivity, and successes have only been reported by a handful of places worldwide. At least some reports are likely not true captive breeding, but rather pregnant females being caught in the wild and subsequently giving birth in captivity. Wild caught sungazers are therefore imported from South Africa to the USA, Europe and Japan, where they command a very high price. Most of these animals are smuggled out of the country and are not accompanied by the CITES permits required in legal exports/imports of the species. In its native South Africa, it is illegal to possess a sungazer (dead or alive) without a permit. Cordylus tropidosternum and Cordylus jonesii are occasionally marketed as \u201cdwarf sungazers.\u201d\n"
        },
        "114": {
            "common": "Armadillo, common long-nosed",
            "family": "Dasypus novemcinctus",
            "id": 114,
            "text": "The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), or the nine-banded, long-nosed armadillo, is a medium-sized mammal found in North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos. Its ancestors originated in South America, and remained there until the formation of the Isthmus of Panama allowed them to enter North America as part of the Great American Interchange. The nine-banded armadillo is a solitary, mainly nocturnal animal, found in many kinds of habitats, from mature and secondary rainforests to grassland and dry scrub. It is an insectivore, feeding chiefly on ants, termites, and other small invertebrates. The armadillo can jump straight in the air if sufficiently frightened, making it a particular danger on roads. It is the state small mammal of Texas.\nThe nine-banded armadillo evolved in a warm, rainy environment, and is still most commonly found in regions resembling its ancestral home. As a very adaptable animal, though, it can also be found in scrublands, open prairies, and tropical rainforests. It cannot thrive in particularly cold or dry environments, as its large surface area, which is not well insulated by fat, makes it especially susceptible to heat and water loss.\nThe nine-banded armadillo has been rapidly expanding its range both north and east within the United States, where it is the only regularly occurring species of armadillo. The armadillo crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in the late 19th century, and was introduced in Florida at about the same time by humans. By 1995, the species had become well established in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and had been sighted as far afield as Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. A decade later, the armadillo had become established in all of those areas and continued its migration, being sighted as far north as southern Nebraska, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana. The primary cause of this rapid expansion is explained simply by the species having few natural predators within the United States, little desire on the part of Americans to hunt or eat the armadillo, and the animals' high reproductive rate. The northern expansion of the armadillo is expected to continue until the species reaches as far north as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut, and all points southward on the East Coast of the United States. Further northward and westward expansion will probably be limited by the armadillo's poor tolerance of harsh winters, due to its lack of insulating fat and its inability to hibernate. As of 2009, newspaper reports indicated the nine-banded armadillo seems to have expanded its range northward as far as Omaha, Nebraska in the west, and Kentucky Dam and Evansville, Indiana, in the east. In 1995, armadillos were only seen in the southern tip of South Carolina, and within two to three years, they had swept across most of the state. In late 2009, North Carolina began considering the establishment of a hunting season for armadillo, following reports that the species has been moving into the southern reaches of the state (roughly between the areas of Charlotte and Wilmington). Outside the United States, the nine-banded armadillo ranges southward through Central and South America into northern Argentina and Uruguay, where it is still expanding its range.\nNine-banded armadillos are generally insectivores. They forage for meals by thrusting their snouts into loose soil and leaf litter and frantically digging in erratic patterns, stopping occasionally to dig up grubs, beetles (perhaps the main portion of this species' prey selection), ants, termites, and worms, which their sensitive noses can detect through of soil. They then lap up the insects with their sticky tongues. Nine-banded armadillos have been observed to roll about on ant hills to dislodge and consume the resident ants. They supplement their diets with amphibians and small reptiles, especially in more wintery months when such prey tends to be more sluggish, and occasionally bird eggs and baby mammals. Carrion is also eaten, although perhaps the species is most attracted to the maggots borne by carcasses rather than the meat itself. Less than 10% of the diet of this species is composed by nonanimal matter, though fungi, tubers, fruits, and seeds are occasionally eaten.\nNine-banded armadillos generally weigh from, though the largest specimens can scale up to . They are one of the largest species of armadillos. Head and body length is, which combines with the tail, for a total length of . They stand tall at the top of the shell. The outer shell is composed of ossified dermal scutes covered by nonoverlapping, keratinized epidermal scales, which are connected by flexible bands of skin. This armor covers the back, sides, head, tail, and outside surfaces of the legs. The underside of the body and the inner surfaces of the legs have no armored protection. Instead, they are covered by tough skin and a layer of coarse hair. The vertebrae attach to the carapace. The claws on the middle toes of the forefeet are elongated for digging, though not to the same degree as those of the much larger giant armadillo of South America. Their low metabolic rate and poor thermoregulation make them best suited for semitropical environments. Unlike the South American three-banded armadillos, the nine-banded armadillo cannot roll itself into a ball. It is, however, capable of floating across rivers by inflating its intestines, or by sinking and running across riverbeds. The second is possible due to its ability to hold its breath for up to six minutes, an adaptation originally developed for allowing the animal to keep its snout submerged in soil for extended periods while foraging. Although nine is the typical number of bands on the nine-banded armadillo, the actual number varies by geographic range. Armadillos possess the teeth typical of all sloths and anteaters. The teeth are all small, peg-like molars with open roots and no enamel. Incisors do form in the embryos, but quickly degenerate and are usually absent by birth.\nNine-banded armadillos are solitary, largely nocturnal animals that come out to forage around dusk. They are extensive burrowers, with a single animal sometimes maintaining up to 12 burrows on its range. These burrows are roughly wide,  deep, and  long. Armadillos mark their territory with urine, feces, and excretions from scent glands found on the eyelids, nose, and feet. Females tend to have exclusive, clearly defined territories. Males have larger territories, but theirs often overlap, and can coincide with the ranges of several females. Territorial disputes are settled by kicking and chasing. When they are not foraging, armadillos shuffle along fairly slowly, stopping occasionally to sniff the air for signs of danger.\nIf alarmed, nine-banded armadillos can flee with surprising speed. Occasionally, a large predator may be able to ambush the armadillo before it can clear a distance, and breach the hard carapace with a well-placed bite or swipe. If the fleeing escape fails, the armadillo may quickly dig a shallow trench and lodge itself inside. Predators are rarely able to dislodge the animal once it has burrowed itself, and abandon their prey when they cannot breach the armadillo\u2019s armor or grasp its tapered tail. Due to their softer carapaces, juvenile armadillos are more likely to fall victim to natural predation and their cautious behavior generally reflects this. Young nine-banded armadillos tend to forage earlier in the day and are more wary of the approach of an unknown animal (including humans) than are adults. Their known natural predators include cougars (perhaps the leading predator), maned wolves, coyotes, black bears, red wolves, jaguars, alligators, bobcats, and large raptors. By far the leading predator of nine-banded armadillos today is humans, as armadillos are locally harvested for their meat and shells and many thousands fall victim to auto accidents every year.\nMating takes place during a two- to three-month-long mating season, which occurs from July\u2013August in the Northern Hemisphere and November\u2013January in the Southern Hemisphere. A single egg is fertilized, but implantation is delayed for three to four months to ensure the young will not be born during an unfavorable time. Once the zygote does implant in the uterus, a gestation period of four months occurs, during which the zygote splits into four identical embryos, each of which develops its own placenta, so blood and nutrients are not mixed between them. After birth, the quadruplets remain in the burrow, living off the mother\u2019s milk for about three months. They then begin to forage with the mother, eventually leaving after six months to a year. Nine-banded armadillos reach sexual maturity at the age of one year, and reproduce every year for the rest of their 12\u2013 to 15-year lifespans. A single female can produce up to 56 young over the course of her life. This high reproductive rate is a major cause of the species\u2019 rapid expansion.\nThe foraging of nine-banded armadillo can cause mild damage to the root systems of certain plants. Skunks, cotton rats, burrowing owls, pine snakes, and rattlesnakes can be found living in abandoned armadillo burrows. Occasionally, the armadillo may threaten the endangered gopher tortoise by aggressively displacing them from their burrows and claiming the burrows for themselves. Studies have shown the fan-tailed warbler habitually follows armadillos to feed on insects and other invertebrates displaced by them. They are typically hunted for their meat, which is said to taste like pork, but are more frequently killed as a result of their tendency to steal the eggs of poultry and game birds. This has caused certain populations of the nine-banded armadillo to become threatened, although the species as a whole is under no immediate threat. They are also valuable for use in medical research, as they are among the few mammals other than humans susceptible to leprosy. In Texas, nine-banded armadillos are raised to participate in armadillo racing, a small-scale, but well-established sport in which the animals scurry down a 40-foot track.\nDuring the Great Depression, the species was hunted for its meat in East Texas, where it was known as the poor man\u2019s pork, or the \"Hoover hog\" by those who considered President Herbert Hoover to be responsible for the depression. Earlier, German settlers in Texas would often refer to the armadillo as Panzerschwein (\"armored pig\"). In 1995, the nine-banded armadillo was, with some resistance, made the state small mammal of Texas, where it is considered a pest and is often seen dead on the roadside. They first forayed into Texas across the Rio Grande from Mexico in the 19th century, eventually spreading across the southeast United States.\nNorth American subspecies exhibit reduced genetic variability compared with the subspecies of South America, indicating the armadillos of North America are descended from a relatively small number of individuals that migrated from south of the Rio Grande.\n"
        },
        "1140": {
            "common": "Giant otter",
            "family": "Pteronura brasiliensis",
            "id": 1140,
            "text": "The giant otter or giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the Mustelidae, or weasel family, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to 1.7 m (5.6 ft). Atypical of mustelids, the giant otter is a social species, with family groups typically supporting three to eight members. The groups are centered on a dominant breeding pair and are extremely cohesive and cooperative. Although generally peaceful, the species is territorial, and aggression has been observed between groups. The giant otter is diurnal, being active exclusively during daylight hours. It is the noisiest otter species, and distinct vocalizations have been documented that indicate alarm, aggressiveness, and reassurance. The giant otter ranges across north-central South America; it lives mostly in and along the Amazon River and in the Pantanal. Its distribution has been greatly reduced and is now discontinuous. Decades of poaching for its velvety pelt, peaking in the 1950s and 1960s, considerably diminished population numbers. The species was listed as endangered in 1999 and wild population estimates are typically below 5,000. The Guianas are one of the last real strongholds for the species, which also enjoys modest numbers \u2014 and significant protection \u2014 in the Peruvian Amazonian basin. It is one of the most endangered mammal species in the neotropics. Habitat degradation and loss is the greatest current threat. The giant otter is also rare in captivity; in 2003, only 60 animals were being held. The giant otter shows a variety of adaptations suitable to an amphibious lifestyle, including exceptionally dense fur, a wing-like tail, and webbed feet. The species prefers freshwater rivers and streams, which are usually seasonally flooded, and may also take to freshwater lakes and springs. It constructs extensive campsites close to feeding areas, clearing large amounts of vegetation. The giant otter subsists almost exclusively on a diet of fish, particularly characins and catfish, but may also eat crabs, turtles, snakes and small caiman. It has no serious natural predators other than humans, although it must compete with other species, including the neotropical otter and caiman species, for food resources.\nThe giant otter has a handful of other names. In Brazil it is known as ariranha, from the Tup\u00ed word ''ari'ra\u00f1a'', meaning water jaguar (). In Spanish, river wolf () and water dog () are used occasionally, though the latter also refers to several different animals) and may have been more common in the reports of explorers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. All three names are in use in South America, with a number of regional variations. \"Giant otter\" translates literally as nutria gigante and lontra gigante in Spanish and Portuguese, respectively. Among the Achuar people, they are known as wankanim, and among the Sanum\u00e1 as hadami. The genus name, Pteronura, is derived from the Ancient Greek words pteron/\u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd (feather or wing) and ura/\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03ac (tail), a reference to its distinctive, wing-like tail.\nThe otters form the Lutrinae subfamily within the mustelids and the giant otter is the only member of the genus Pteronura. Two subspecies are currently recognized by the canonical Mammal Species of the World, P. b. brasiliensis and P. b. paraguensis. Incorrect descriptions of the species have led to multiple synonyms (the latter subspecies is often P. b. paranensis in the literature). P. b. brasiliensis is distributed across the north of the giant otter range, including the Orinoco, Amazon, and Guianas river systems; to the south, P. b. paraguensis has been suggested in Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina, although it may be extinct in the last three of these four. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers the species' presence in Argentina and Uruguay uncertain. In the former, investigation has shown thinly distributed population remnants. P. b. paraguensis is supposedly smaller and more gregarious, with different dentition and skull morphology. Carter and Rosas, however, rejected the subspecific division in 1997, noting the classification had only been validated once, in 1968, and the P. b. paraguensis type specimen was very similar to P. b. brasiliensis. Biologist Nicole Duplaix calls the division of \"doubtful value\". An extinct genus, Satherium, is believed to be ancestral to the present species, having migrated to the New World during the Pliocene or early Pleistocene. The giant otter shares the South American continent with three of the four members of the New World Lontra genus of otters: the neotropical river otter, the southern river otter, and the marine otter. (The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) is the fourth Lontra member.) The giant otter seems to have evolved independently of Lontra in South America, despite the overlap. The smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) of Asia may be its closest extant relative; similar behaviour, vocalizations, and skull morphology have been noted. Both species also show strong pair bonding and paternal engagement in rearing cubs. Phylogenetic analysis by Koepfli and Wayne in 1998 found the giant otter has the highest divergence sequences within the otter subfamily, forming a distinct clade that split away 10 to 14 million years ago. They noted that the species may be the basal divergence among the otters or fall outside of them altogether, having split even before other mustelids, such as the ermine, polecat, and mink. Later gene sequencing research on the mustelids, from 2005, places the divergence of the giant otter somewhat later, between five and 11 million years ago; the corresponding phylogenetic tree locates the Lontra divergence first among otter genera, and Pteronura second, although divergence ranges overlap.\nThe giant otter is large, gregarious, and diurnal. Early travellers' reports describe noisy groups surrounding explorers' boats, but little scientific information was available on the species until Duplaix's groundbreaking work in the late 1970s. Concern over this endangered species has since generated a body of research.\nThe giant otter is clearly distinguished from other otters by morphological and behavioral characteristics. It has the greatest body length of any species in the mustelid family, although the sea otter may be heavier. Males are between in length from head to tail and females between . The animal's well-muscled tail can add a further to the total body length. Early reports of skins and living animals suggested exceptionally large males of up to ; intensive hunting likely reduced the occurrence of such massive specimens. Weights are between for males and  for females. The giant otter has the shortest fur of all otter species; it is typically chocolate brown, but may be reddish or fawn, and appears nearly black when wet. The fur is extremely dense, so much so that water cannot penetrate to the skin. Guard hairs trap water and keep the inner fur dry; the guard hairs are approximately 8 millimeters (one-third of an inch) in length, about twice as long as the fur of the inner coat. Its velvety feel makes the animal highly sought after by fur traders and has contributed to its decline. Unique markings of white or cream fur color the throat and under the chin, allow individuals to be identified from birth. Giant otters use these marks to recognize one another, and upon meeting other otters, they engage in a behavior known as \"periscoping\", displaying their throats and upper chests to each other. Giant otter muzzles are short and sloping and give the head a ball-shaped appearance. The ears are small and rounded. The nose (or rhinarium) is completely covered in fur, with only the two slit-like nostrils visible. The giant otter's highly sensitive whiskers (vibrissae) allow the animal to track changes in water pressure and currents, which aids in detecting prey. The legs are short and stubby and end in large webbed feet tipped with sharp claws. Well suited for an aquatic life, it can close its ears and nose while underwater. At the time of Carter and Rosas' writing, vision had not been directly studied, but field observations show the animal primarily hunts by sight; above water, it is able to recognize observers at great distances. The fact that it is exclusively active during the day further suggests its eyesight should be strong, to aid in hunting and predator avoidance. In other otter species, vision is generally normal or slightly myopic, both on land and in water. The giant otter's hearing is acute and its sense of smell is excellent.\nThe giant otter is an especially noisy animal, with a complex repertoire of vocalizations. All otters produce vocalizations, but by frequency and volume, the giant otter may be the most vocal. Duplaix identified nine distinct sounds, with further subdivisions possible, depending on context. Quick hah barks or explosive snorts suggest immediate interest and possible danger. A wavering scream may be used in bluff charges against intruders, while a low growl is used for aggressive warning. Hums and coos are more reassuring within the group. Whistles may be used as advance warning of nonhostile intent between groups, although evidence is limited. Newborn pups squeak to elicit attention, while older young whine and wail when they begin to participate in group activities. An analysis published in 2014 cataloged 22 distinct types of vocalization in adults and 11 in neonates.\nThe giant otter is a highly social animal and lives in extended family groups. Group sizes are anywhere from two to 20 members, but likely average between three and eight. (Larger figures may reflect two or three family groups temporarily feeding together.) The groups are strongly cohesive: the otters sleep, play, travel, and feed together. Group members share roles, structured around the dominant breeding pair. The species is territorial, with groups marking their ranges with latrines, gland secretions, and vocalizations. At least one case of a change in alpha relationship has been reported, with a new male taking over the role; the mechanics of the transition were not determined. Duplaix suggests a division between \"residents\", who are established within groups and territories, and nomadic and solitary \"transients\"; the categories do not seem rigid, and both may be a normal part of the giant otter life cycle. One tentative theory for the development of sociality in mustelids is that locally abundant, but unpredictably dispersed, prey causes groups to form. Aggression within the species (\"intraspecific\" conflict) has been documented. Defense against intruding animals appears to be cooperative: while adult males typically lead in aggressive encounters, cases of alpha females guarding groups have been reported. One fight was directly observed in the Brazilian Pantanal in which three animals violently engaged a single individual near a range boundary. In another instance in Brazil, a carcass was found with clear indications of violent assault by other otters, including bites to the snout and genitals, an attack pattern similar to that exhibited by captive animals. While not rare among large predators in general, intraspecific aggression is uncommon among otter species; Ribas and Mour\u00e3o suggest a correlation to the animal's sociability, which is also rare among other otters. A capacity for aggressive behavior should not be overstated with the giant otter. Researchers emphasize that even between groups, conflict avoidance is generally adopted. Within groups, the animals are extremely peaceful and cooperative. Group hierarchies are not rigid and the animals easily share roles.\nGiant otters build dens, which are holes dug into riverbanks, usually with multiple entrances and multiple chambers inside. They give birth within these dens during the dry season. In Cant\u00e3o State Park, otters dig their reproductive dens on the shores of oxbow lakes starting around July, when waters are already quite low. They give birth between August and September, and the young pups emerge for the first time in October and November, which are the months of lowest water and fish concentrations in the dwindling lakes and channels are at their peak. This makes it easier for the adults to catch enough fish for the growing young, and for the pups to learn how to catch fish. The entire group, including nonreproductive adults, which are usually older siblings to that year's pups, collaborates to catch enough fish for the young. Details of giant otter reproduction and life cycle are scarce, and captive animals have provided much of the information. Females appear to give birth year round, although in the wild, births may peak during the dry season. The estrous cycle is 21 days, with females receptive to sexual advances between three and 10 days. Study of captive specimens has found only males initiate copulation. At Tierpark Hagenbeck in Germany, long-term pair bonding and individualized mate selection were seen, with copulation most frequently taking place in water. Females have a gestation period of 65 to 70 days, giving birth to one to five pups, with an average of two. Research over five years on a breeding pair at the Cali Zoo in Colombia found the average interval between litters was six to seven months, but as short as 77 days when the previous litter did not survive. Other sources have found greater intervals, with as long as 21 to 33 months suggested for otters in the wild. Mothers give birth to furred and blind cubs in an underground den near the river shore and fishing sites. Males actively participate in rearing cubs and family cohesion is strong; older, juvenile siblings also participate in rearing, although in the weeks immediately after birth, they may temporarily leave the group. Pups open their eyes in their fourth week, begin walking in their fifth, and are able to swim confidently between 12 and 14 weeks old. They are weaned by nine months and begin hunting successfully soon after. The animal reaches sexual maturity at about two years of age and both male and female pups leave the group permanently after two to three years. They then search for new territory to begin a family of their own. The giant otter is very sensitive to human activity when rearing its young. No institution, for example, has successfully raised giant otter cubs unless parents were provided sufficient privacy measures; the stress caused by human visual and acoustic interference can lead to neglect, abuse and infanticide, as well as decreased lactation. In the wild, it has been suggested, although not systematically confirmed, that tourists cause similar stresses: disrupted lactation and denning, reduced hunting, and habitat abandonment are all risks. This sensitivity is matched by a strong protectiveness towards the young. All group members may aggressively charge intruders, including boats with humans in them. The longest documented giant otter lifespan in the wild is eight years. In captivity, this may increase to 17, with an unconfirmed record of 19. The animal is susceptible to a variety of diseases, including canine parvovirus. Parasites, such as the larvae of flies and a variety of intestinal worms, also afflict the giant otter. Other causes of death include accidents, gastroenteritis, infanticide, and epileptic seizures.\nThe giant otter is an apex predator, and its population status reflects the overall health of riverine ecosystems. It feeds mainly on fish, including cichlids, characins (such as piranha), and catfish. One full-year study of giant otter scats in Amazonian Brazil found fish present in all fecal samples. Fish from the order Perciformes, particularly cichlids, were seen in 97% of scats, and Characiformes, such as characins, in 86%. Fish remains were of medium-sized species that seem to prefer relatively shallow water, to the advantage of the probably visually oriented giant otter. Prey species found were also sedentary, generally swimming only short distances, which may aid the giant otter in predation. Hunting in shallow water has also been found to be more rewarding, with water depth less than having the highest success rate. The giant otter seems to be opportunistic, taking whatever species are most locally abundant. If fish are unavailable, it will also take crabs, snakes, and even small caimans and anacondas. The species can hunt singly, in pairs, and in groups, relying on sharp eyesight to locate prey. In some cases, supposed cooperative hunting may be incidental, a result of group members fishing individually in close proximity; truly coordinated hunting may only occur where the prey cannot be taken by a single giant otter, such as with small anacondas and juvenile black caiman. The giant otter seems to prefer prey fish that are generally immobile on river bottoms in clear water. Prey chase is rapid and tumultuous, with lunges and twists through the shallows and few missed targets. The otter can attack from both above and below, swiveling at the last instant to clamp the prey in its jaws. Giant otters catch their own food and consume it immediately; they grasp the fish firmly between the forepaws and begin eating noisily at the head. Carter and Rosas have found captive adult animals consume around 10% of their body weight daily\u2014about, in keeping with findings in the wild.\nThe species is amphibious, although primarily terrestrial. It occurs in freshwater rivers and streams, which generally flood seasonally. Other water habitats include freshwater springs and permanent freshwater lakes. Four specific vegetation types occur on one important creek in Suriname: riverbank high forest, floodable mixed marsh and high swamp forest, floodable low marsh forest, and grass islands and floating meadows within open areas of the creek itself. Duplaix identified two critical factors in habitat selection: food abundance, which appears to positively correlate to shallow water, and low sloping banks with good cover and easy access to preferred water types. The giant otter seems to choose clear, black waters with rocky or sandy bottoms over silty, saline, and white waters. Giant otters use areas beside rivers for building dens, campsites, and latrines. They clear significant amounts of vegetation while building their campsites. One report suggests maximum areas long and  wide, well-marked by scent glands, urine, and feces to signal territory. Carter and Rosas found average areas a third this size. Giant otters adopt communal latrines beside campsites, and dig dens with a handful of entrances, typically under root systems or fallen trees. One report found between three and eight campsites, clustered around feeding areas. In seasonally flooded areas, the giant otter may abandon campsites during the wet season, dispersing to flooded forests in search of prey. Giant otters may adopt preferred locations perennially, often on high ground. These can become quite extensive, including \"backdoor\" exits into forests and swamps, away from the water. Otters do not visit or mark every site daily, but usually patrol all of them, often by a pair of otters in the morning. Research generally takes place in the dry season and an understanding of the species' overall habitat use remains partial. An analysis of dry season range size for three otter groups in Ecuador found areas between . Utreras presumed habitat requirements and availability would differ dramatically in the rainy season: estimating range sizes of 1.98 to as much as 19.55 square kilometers (0.76 to 7.55 sq mi) for the groups. Other researchers suggest approximately and note a strong inverse correlation between sociality and home range size; the highly social giant otter has smaller home range sizes than would be expected for a species of its mass.<ref name=Johnson00> See figure three for home range size estimate. Population densities varied with a high of reported in Suriname and with a low of  found in Guyana.\nAdult giant otters living in family groups have no known serious natural predators, however there are some accounts of black caimans in Peru and yacare caimans in the Pantanal preying on giant otters. In addition solitary animals and young may be vulnerable to attacks by the jaguar, cougar, and anaconda, but based on historical reports, not direct observation. Pups are more vulnerable, and may be taken by caiman and other large predators, although adults are constantly mindful of stray young, and will harass and fight off possible predators. When in the water, the giant otter faces danger from animals not strictly preying upon it: the electric eel and stingray are potentially deadly if stumbled upon, and piranha may be capable of at least taking bites out of a giant otter, as evidenced by scarring on individuals. Even if without direct predation, the giant otter must still compete with other predators for food resources. Duplaix documented interaction with the neotropical otter. While the two species are sympatric (with overlapping ranges) during certain seasons, there appeared to be no serious conflict. The smaller neotropical otter is far more shy, less noisy, and less social; at about a third the weight of the giant otter, it is more vulnerable to predation, hence, a lack of conspicuousness is to its advantage. The neotropical otter is active during twilight and darkness, reducing the likelihood of conflict with the diurnal giant otter. Its smaller prey, different denning habits, and different preferred water types also reduce interaction. Other species that prey upon similar food resources include the caimans and large fish that are themselves piscivores. Gymnotids, such as the electric eel, and the large silurid catfish are among aquatic competitors. Two river dolphins, the tucuxi and boto, might potentially compete with the giant otter, but different spatial use and dietary preferences suggest minimal overlap. Furthermore, Defler observed associations between giant otters and the Amazon river dolphins, and suggested that dolphins may benefit by fish fleeing from the otters. The spectacled caiman is another potential competitor, but Duplaix found no conflict with the species in Suriname.\nThe IUCN listed the giant otter as \"endangered\" in 1999; it had been considered \"vulnerable\" under all previous listings from 1982 when sufficient data had first become available. It is regulated internationally under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): all trade in specimens and parts is illegal.\nThe animal faces a variety of critical threats. Poaching has long been a problem. Statistics show between 1959 and 1969 Amazonian Brazil alone accounted for 1,000 to 3,000 pelts annually. The species was so thoroughly decimated, the number dropped to just 12 in 1971. The implementation of CITES in 1973 finally brought about significant hunting reductions, although demand did not disappear entirely: in the 1980s, pelt prices were as high as US$250 on the European market. The threat has been exacerbated by the otters' relative fearlessness and tendency to approach human beings. They are extremely easy to hunt, being active through the day and highly inquisitive. The animal's relatively late sexual maturity and complex social life makes hunting especially disastrous. More recently, habitat destruction and degradation have become the principal dangers, and a further reduction of 50% is expected in giant otter numbers within the 20 years after 2004 (about the span of three generations of giant otters). Typically, loggers first move into rainforest, clearing the vegetation along riverbanks. Farmers follow, creating depleted soil and disrupted habitats. As human activity expands, giant otter home ranges become increasingly isolated. Subadults leaving in search of new territory find it impossible to set up family groups. Specific threats from human industry include unsustainable mahogany logging in parts of the giant otter range, and concentrations of mercury in its diet of fish, a byproduct of gold mining. Water pollution from mining, fossil fuel extraction, and agriculture is a serious danger; concentrations of pesticides and other chemicals are magnified at each step in the food chain, and can poison top predators such as the giant otter. Other threats to the giant otter include conflict with fishermen, who often view the species as a nuisance (see below). Ecotourism also presents challenges: while it raises money and awareness for the animals, by its nature it also increases human effect on the species, both through associated development and direct disturbances in the field. A number of restrictions on land use and human intrusion are required to properly maintain wild populations. Schenck et al., who undertook extensive fieldwork in Peru in the 1990s, suggest specific \"no-go\" zones where the species is most frequently observed, offset by observation towers and platforms to allow viewing. Limits on the number of tourists at any one time, fishing prohibitions, and a minimum safe distance of are proposed to offer further protection.\nThe giant otter has lost as much as 80% of its South American range. While still present in a number of north-central countries, giant otter populations are under considerable stress. The IUCN lists Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela as current range countries. Given local extinctions, the species' range has become discontinuous. Total population numbers are difficult to estimate. An IUCN study in 2006 suggested 1,000 to 5,000 otters remain. Populations in Bolivia were once widespread but the country became a \"black spot\" on distribution maps after poaching between the 1940s and 1970s; a relatively healthy, but still small, population of 350 was estimated in the country in 2002. The species has likely been extirpated from southern Brazil, but in the west of the country, decreased hunting pressure in the critical Pantanal has led to very successful recolonization; an estimate suggests 1,000 or more animals in the region. In 2006, most of this species lived in the Brazilian Amazon and its bordering areas. A significant population lives in the wetlands of the central Araguaia River, and in particular within Cant\u00e3o State Park, which, with its 843 oxbow lakes and extensive flooded forests and marshlands, is one of the best habitat patches for this species in Brazil. Suriname still has significant forest cover and an extensive system of protected areas, much of which protects the giant otter. Duplaix returned to the country in 2000 and found the giant otter still present on the Kaburi Creek, a \"jewel\" of biodiversity, although increased human presence and land use suggests, sooner or later, the species may not be able to find suitable habitat for campsites. In a report for World Wildlife Fund in 2002, Duplaix was emphatic about the importance of Suriname and the other Guianas: The three Guianas remain the last stronghold of giant otters in South America, with pristine giant otter habitat on some rivers and good giant otter densities overall\u2014still, but for how long? The survival of the giant otter populations in the Guianas is essential to the survival of this endangered species in South America. Other countries have taken a lead in designating protected areas in South America. In 2004, Peru created one of the largest conservation areas in the world, Alto Pur\u00fas National Park, with an area similar in size to Belgium. The park harbors many endangered plants and animals, including the giant otter, and holds the world record for mammal diversity. Bolivia designated wetlands larger than the size of Switzerland as a freshwater protected area in 2001; these are also home to the giant otter.\nThroughout its range, the giant otter interacts with indigenous groups, who often practice traditional hunting and fishing. A study of five indigenous communities in Colombia suggests native attitudes toward the animal are a threat: the otters are often viewed as a nuisance that interferes with fishing, and are sometimes killed. Even when told of the importance of the species to ecosystems and the danger of extinction, interviewees showed little interest in continuing to coexist with the species. Schoolchildren, however, had a more positive impression of the animal. In Suriname, the giant otter is not a traditional prey species for human hunters, which affords some protection. (One researcher has suggested the giant otter is hunted only in desperation due to its horrible taste.) The animal sometimes drowns in nets set across rivers and machete attacks by fishermen have been noted, according to Duplaix, but \"tolerance is the rule\" in Suriname. One difference in behavior was seen in the country in 2002: the normally inquisitive giant otters showed \"active avoidance behavior with visible panic\" when boats appeared. Logging, hunting, and pup seizure may have led groups to be far more wary of human activity. Local people sometimes take pups for the exotic pet trade or as pets for themselves, but the animal rapidly grows to become unmanageable. Duplaix relates the story of an Arawak Indian who took two pups from their parents. While revealing of the affection held for the animals, the seizure was a profound blow to the breeding pair, which went on to lose their territory to competitors. The species has also appeared in the folklore of the region. It plays an important role in the mythology of the Achuar people, where giant otters are seen as a form of the tsunki, or water spirits: they are a sort of \"water people\" who feed on fish. They appear in a fish poisoning legend where they assist a man who has wasted his sexual energy, creating the anacondas of the world from his distressed and extended genitals. The Boror\u00f3 people have a legend on the origin of tobacco smoking: those who used the leaf improperly by swallowing it were punished by being transformed into giant otters; the Bororo also associate the giant otter with fish and with fire. A Ticuna legend has it that the giant otter exchanged places with the jaguar: the story says jaguar formerly lived in the water and the giant otter came to the land only to eat. The indigenous Kichwa peoples from Amazonian Peru believed in a world of water where Yaku runa reigned as mother of the water and was charged with caring for fish and animals. Giant otters served as Yaku runa's canoes. A Maxacali creation story suggests that the practice of otter fishing may have been prevalent in the past.\n"
        },
        "1142": {
            "common": "Gila monster",
            "family": "Heloderma horridum",
            "id": 1142,
            "text": "The Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) is the most famous of the four species of venomous beaded lizards found principally in Mexico and southern Guatemala. It and its congener the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) are the only lizards known to have evolved an overt venom delivery system. The beaded lizard is larger than the Gila monster, but has duller coloration, black with yellowish bands of differing width depending on the species. As it is a specialized predator that feeds primarily upon eggs, the primary use of its venom is still a source of debate among scientists. However, this venom has been found to contain several enzymes useful for manufacturing drugs in the treatment of diabetes, and research on the pharmacological use of its venom is ongoing. Threatened throughout its range by overcollection and habitat loss, it is a CITES protected species. The Guatemalan beaded lizard (H. charlesborgeti) is one of the rarest lizards in the world, with a wild population of fewer than 200.\nThe beaded lizard has one close living relative, the Gila monster (H. suspectum), as well as many extinct relatives in the Helodermatidae, whose genetic history may be traced back to the Cretaceous period. The genus Heloderma has existed since the Miocene, when H. texana ranged over most of North America. Because the helodermatids have remained relatively unchanged morphologically, they are occasionally regarded as living fossils. Although the beaded lizard appears closely related to the monitor lizards (varanids) of Africa, Asia, and Australia, the wide geographical separation and unique features not found in the varanids indicate the beaded lizard is better placed in a separate family. The species was first described in 1829 by Arend Wiegmann as Trachyderma horridum, but he renamed it Heloderma horridum six months later. Its generic name Heloderma means \"studded skin\", from the Ancient Greek words h\u00ealos (\u1f27\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2)\u2014the head of a nail or stud\u2014and d\u00e9rma (\u03b4\u03ad\u03c1\u03bc\u03b1), meaning skin. Its specific name, horr\u012ddum, is the Latin word meaning rough or rude.\nThe four subspecies of beaded lizard, elevated to full species in 2013, are:\nAdult beaded lizards range from in length. They are substantially larger than the Gila monster, which only reaches lengths of . The snout-to-vent length of a beaded lizard averages . The average body mass of an adult beaded lizard is, about 45% heavier than the average mass of a gila monster, with large specimens exceeding . Maximum weight known is  Although males are slightly larger than females, the lizards are not sexually dimorphic. Both males and females are stocky with broad heads, although the males' tend to be broader. The beaded lizard's scales are small, beadlike, and not overlapping. Except for the lizard's underside, the majority of its scales are underlaid with bony osteoderms. Their base color is black and marked with varying amounts of yellow spots or bands, with the exception of H. alvarezi, which tends to be all black in color. The beaded lizard has a short tail which is used to store fat so it can survive during months of estivation. Unlike many other lizards, this tail does not autotomize and cannot grow back if broken. The beaded lizard has a forked, black tongue which it uses to smell, with the help of a Jacobson's organ; it sticks its tongue out to gather scents and touches it to the opening of the organ when the tongue is retracted.\nThe beaded lizard is found in the Pacific drainages from southern Sonora to southwestern Guatemala and two Atlantic drainages, from central Chiapas to southeastern Guatemala. Their habitats are primarily in the desert, tropical deciduous forests and thorn scrub forests, but are found in pine-oak forests, with elevations from sea level to 1500 m. In the wild, the lizards are only active from April to mid-November, spending about an hour per day above the ground. The Mexican beaded lizard H. horridum is found in Mexico, from Sonora to Oaxaca. The Rio Fuerte beaded lizard (H. exasperatum) is found from southern Sonora to northern Sinaloa. The Chiapan beaded lizard (H. alvarezi) is found in the northern Chiapas and the depression of the R\u00edo Lagartero in Huehuetenango to northwestern Guatemala. The ranges of these three species overlap, making them sympatric. The Guatemalan beaded lizard (H. charlesbogerti) is the only allopatric one, separated from the nearest population (H. alvarezi) by 250 km of unsuitable habitat. The Guatemalan beaded lizard is the most endangered of the species, if not of all lizards; it is found only in the dry valley of the R\u00edo Motagua in northeastern Guatemala; less than 200 are believed to exist in the wild.\nThe beaded lizard is a specialized vertebrate nest predator, feeding primarily on bird and reptile eggs. A semi-arboreal species, it is found climbing deciduous trees in search of prey when encountered above ground. It occasionally preys upon small birds, mammals, frogs, lizards, and insects. Steve Angeli and Robert Applegate, noted captive breeders of the beaded lizard, have remarked that captive specimens do best on a diet of small vertebrates primarily mice and rats. Confiscated wild-caught specimens can be made to feed by using egg on the prey item.\nThe venom glands of the beaded lizard are modified salivary glands located in the reptile's lower jaw. Each gland has a separate duct leading to the base of its grooved teeth. When biting, the beaded lizard hangs on its victim and chews to get its venomous saliva into the wound. Although its jaw grip is strong, its unsocketed teeth are easily broken off at their bases. The beaded lizard's venom is a weak hemotoxin, and although human deaths are rare, it can cause respiratory failure. It consists of a number of components, including L-amino acid oxidase, hyaluronidase, phospholipase A, serotonin, and highly active kallikreins that release vasoactive kinins. The venom contains no enzymes that significantly affect coagulation. Almost all documented human bites (eight in the past century) have resulted from prodding captive lizards with a finger or bare foot. While invertebrates are essentially immune to the effects of this venom, effects on vertebrates are more severe and varied. In mammals such as rats, major effects include a rapid reduction in carotid blood flow followed by a marked fall in blood pressure, respiratory irregularities, tachycardia, and other cardiac anomalies, as well as hypothermia, edema, and internal hemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, eyes, liver, and kidneys. In humans, the effects of bites are associated with excruciating pain that may extend well beyond the area bitten and persist up to 24 hours. Other common effects of bites on humans include local edema (swelling), weakness, sweating, and a rapid fall in blood pressure. Beaded lizards are immune to the effects of their own venom. The compounds in its venom have been studied have pharmacological properties relating to diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and even HIV. This hormone was named exendin-3 and is marketed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals as the drug exenatide. One study reported in 1996 revealed that it binds to cell receptors from breast cancer cells and may stop the growth of lung cancer cells.\nThe beaded lizard becomes sexually mature at six to eight years and mates between September and October. Males engage in ritual combat that often lasts several hours; the victor mates with the female. The female lays her clutch of two to 30 eggs between October and December, the clutch hatching the following June or July. Young lizards are seldom seen. They are believed to spend much of their early lives underground, emerging at two to three years of age after gaining considerable size.\nThe beaded lizard is surrounded by myth and superstition in much of its native range. It is incorrectly believed, for example, to be more venomous than a rattlesnake, can cause lightning strikes with its tail, or make a pregnant woman miscarry by merely looking at her. As a result of this superstition, locals often kill the lizard on sight. The seldom-seen lizard is poached and sold into the illegal exotic animal trade. It does not reproduce well in captivity, and its scarcity means a high price for collectors. As a direct result, the beaded lizard is protected by Mexican law under the category A (Threatened), and it dwells within the range of several protected areas. In Guatemala, it is protected by national legislation, and part of its range is within protected areas. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. Fewer than 200 lizards remain in the dry forest habitat of the Motagua Valley, and this species of beaded lizard (H. charlesbogerti) was facing extinction due to local extermination and loss of habitat for agricultural purposes. A conservation effort has been launched known as Project Heloderma to preserve the semiarid habitat of the Motagua Valley by the Nature Conservancy and partners such as ZOOTROPIC, CONAP, the International Reptile Conservation Foundation, Lincoln Park Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, and the San Diego Zoo. This effort has been successful in getting the Guatemalan government to list the beaded lizard under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species as an Appendix I animal, making it illegal to export the species.\n"
        },
        "1146": {
            "common": "Glider, feathertail",
            "family": "Acrobates pygmaeus",
            "id": 1146,
            "text": "The feathertail glider (Acrobates pygmaeus), also known as the pygmy gliding possum, pygmy glider, pygmy phalanger, flying phalanger and flying mouse, is a species of marsupial native to eastern Australia. It is the world's smallest gliding mammal and is named for its long feather-shaped tail.\nAt just in head-and-body length and weighing about, the feathertail glider is only around the size of a small mouse, and is the world's smallest gliding mammal. The fur is soft and silky, and is a uniform greyish brown on the upper body, and white on the underside. There are rings of dark fur around the eyes, the rhinarium is hairless and deeply cleft, and the ears are moderately large and rounded. The glider also has an unusually large number of whiskers, sprouting from the snout and cheeks, and from the base of each ear. Like other gliding mammals, the feathertail glider has a patagium stretching between the fore and hind legs. Only reaching the elbows and knees, this is smaller than that of the petaurid gliding possums, although the presence of a fringe of long hairs increases its effective area. The tail is about the same length as the head and body combined, oval in cross-section, only slightly prehensile, and has very short fur except for two distinctive rows of long, stiff hairs on either side. This gives the tail the appearance of a feather or a double-sided comb. The hindfeet possess enlarged, opposable first digits, which unlike all the other toes on both fore and hind feet, lack claws. The tongue is long and thin, reaching as much as, and has numerous long papillae that give it a brush-like appearance. This improves the animal's ability to collect pollen and consume semi-liquid food. The structure of the ear is also unusual, since the animal possesses a unique bony disc with a narrow crescent-shaped slit just in front of the eardrum. The function of this bone is unclear, but it may act as a Helmholtz resonator and enhance sensitivity to certain frequencies of sound. The brain has been recorded as weighing . The female has two vaginae, which merge into a single sinus before opening into a cloaca together with the rectum. The pouch opens towards the front, as is common in diprotodont marsupials, and contains four teats.\nFeathertail gliders are found across the eastern seaboard of continental Australia, from northern Queensland to Victoria and extreme south-eastern South Australia. There are no recognised subspecies. They inhabit a wide range of forest types across the region, from sea level to at least Fossils belonging to the genus Acrobates have been identified from deposits in Queensland dating back to 0.5 million years ago, during the late Pleistocene.\nFeathertail gliders are omnivorous, feeding on nectar, pollen, and arthropods such as moths, ants, and termites. They are arboreal, and although they do occasionally descend to the ground to forage, they spend as much as 87% of their time over above the ground, partcularly in eucalyptus trees. They are nocturnal, spending the day resting in nests in tree hollows, lines with leaves or shredded bark. They are social animals, and up to five may share a single nest, especially during the breeding season. They are highly adept climbers, able to cling to the smooth trunks of eucalyptus trees. In experiments, they have even proved able to climb vertical panes of glass, a feat that is due to a combination of fine skin ridges and sweat that allow their feet to function as suction cups. Movement through the trees is aided by their gliding ability; they are able to glide as far as, and typically do so three to five times every hour through the night. Feathertail gliders do not hibernate as such, but are capable of entering torpor during cold weather at any time of the year. Torpor can last for several days, during which time the animal's body temperature can drop to as low as and oxygen consumption to just 1% of normal. Torpid gliders curl into a ball, wrapping their tail around themselves and folding their ears flat, and often huddling together with up to four other individuals to reduce heat loss and conserve energy. The breeding season lasts from July to January in Victoria, and may be longer further to the north. Females typically give birth to two litters of up to four young in a season, and are able to mate again shortly after the first litter is born. The second litter then enters embryonic diapause, and is not born until the first litter has finished weaning at about 105 days. Multiple paternity is common, even within litters, as the females are sexually promiscuous. The young remain in the pouch for the first 65 days of life, and the maximum lifespan is about five years.\nThe New Zoo in Pozna\u0144, Poland, was the first European zoo to breed feathertail gliders in 1999 (their animals originated from Sydney's Taronga Zoo). Some of the feathertail gliders born in Pozna\u0144 have been sent to other European zoos, meaning that the entire European captive population is of Pozn\u00e1n descent. Australia's Taronga Zoo was the first zoo to breed feathertail gliders in captivity.\nA Feathertail glider was featured on the reverse of the Australian 1-cent coin until 1991.\n"
        },
        "1148": {
            "common": "Glider, squirrel",
            "family": "Petaurus norfolcensis",
            "id": 1148,
            "text": "The squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) is a nocturnal gliding possum. The squirrel glider is one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.\nThis species' home range extends from Bordertown near the South Australian/Victorian Border through south-eastern Australia to northern Queensland. This species was thought to be extinct in South Australia since 1939 until a genetic test confirmed their inhabitance in this area. The squirrel glider lives in south-eastern Australia in the dry sclerophyll forest and woodlands. In Queensland, however, they occupy a wetter eucalypt forest. The glider will make a den in the hollow tree and line it with leaves. Here it will sleep and usually lives in groups of one male, 2 females, and offspring.\nLike most of the wrist-winged gliders, the squirrel glider is endemic to Australia. It is about twice the size of the related sugar glider (P. breviceps). Its body is 18\u201323 cm long and its tail measures at 22\u201333 cm long. It weighs about 230g or 0.5 lbs. They have blue-grey or brown-grey fur on their back and a white belly. The end of their tail is black and they have a black stripe from their eyes to the mid-back. They have a flying membrane that extends from their 5th front toe to the back of their foot on both sides. When they glide their prehensile tail can act as a rudder, allowing them to steer which direction they want to go. They can glide up to 50m from tree to tree. They tend not to glide in captivity.\nThe breeding season is between June and January. The gestation/pregnancy of a female is 18 days. The litter sizes are usually one to two offspring a year. The offspring will immediately crawl to the mother's marsupium and anchor itself to a teat where it will stay for about 3 months. The mother will wean off her offspring around 4 months while they stay in the den. The offspring become independent at 10 months and go off on their own. The life expectancy is 4\u20136 years.\nThe squirrel glider eats mostly fruit and insects. It also feeds on tree sap, mainly eucalyptus or red bloodwood trees. In order to get the sap the squirrel glider will pierce the trunk of the tree causing sap to flow out of it. It also eats pollen, nectar, leaves, and bark.\nNatural predators of the squirrel glider include dogs, cats, foxes, and owls, many of which are species that have been introduced into its habitats by humans. Habitat fragmentation and destruction by human agency is also impacting individual populations. However, due to large population sizes and occurrence in several protected areas, the species is currently classified as Least Concern (i.e. not yet threatened) by the IUCN.\nThe squirrel glider's closest relatives come from the same genus, Petaurus, and they include the sugar glider (P. breviceps), mahogany glider (P. gracilis), northern glider (P. abidi), Biak glider (P. biacensis) and yellow-bellied glider (P. australis). It is not yet known which species the gliders diverged from. The squirrel glider most likely evolved from a marsupial like a possum that had membranes for gliding. Other animals that have this same ancestor include Striped possum and Leadbeaters possum.\nSquirrel gliders are often mistaken for flying squirrels of North America. These two species are not related at all. The flying squirrel is a placental mammal and the squirrel glider is a marsupial like koalas and kangaroos. Both have an adaptation for tree living \u2013 Patagia. This is the skin that extends from their front to hind legs allowing them to glide between the trees avoiding predators they might come into contact with on the ground. Because these animals are distantly related we call these characteristics analogous.\nSquirrel gliders are able to curl their tails around branches to hold on. This feature is homologous to the ring tail possum (order of Diprodontia) which use their tail as an extra limb to grab hold of trees. It is longer but the squirrel gliders tail is bushier.\n"
        },
        "1150": {
            "common": "Glider, sugar",
            "family": "Petaurus breviceps",
            "id": 1150,
            "text": "The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its preference for sugary nectarous foods and ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. They have very similar appearance and habits to the flying squirrel despite not being closely related, an example of convergent evolution. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as \"short-headed rope-dancer\", a reference to their canopy acrobatics. Sugar gliders are characterised by their gliding membrane, known as the patagium, which extends from their forelegs to hindlegs. Gliding serves as an efficient means of both reaching food and evading predators. They are covered in soft, pale grey to brown fur, which is lighter in colour on their underside. The sugar glider is endemic to mainland Australia, New Guinea and certain Indonesian islands; and it was introduced to Tasmania, probably in the 1830s.\nThe Petaurus genus likely originated during the early-mid Miocene period (18-24 million years ago), then dispersed from New Guinea to Australia where Australian Petaurus species diverged. The earliest Petaurus species occurred in Australia 4.46 million years ago; and the sugar glider is the only species endemic to both Australia and New Guinea. The species is divided into seven subspecies; three occur in Australia, four in New Guinea, although debate regarding current species delineation continues. These seven subspecies are currently designated by small morphological differences such as colour and body size. However, genetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA indicates that the morphological subspecies may not represent genetically unique populations. Contrary to the current geographic distribution of sugar gliders, two genetically distinct populations in Australia may have arisen due to long term geographical isolation following drying of the Australian continent after the Pliocene and the uplift of the Great Dividing Range. One population is found in coastal New South Wales and southern Queensland; and the other is found in northern Queensland, inland and southern New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Further evidence is required however, to clarify if changes to the current taxonomic divisions are warranted.\nSugar gliders are found throughout the northern and eastern parts of mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and several associated isles, the Bismarck Archipelago, Louisiade Archipelago, and certain isles of Indonesia, Halmahera Islands of the North Moluccas. The earliest Australian sugar glider fossils were found in a cave in Victoria and are dated to 15 000 years ago, at the time of the Pleistocene epoch. The facilitated introduction of the sugar glider to Tasmania in 1835 is supported by the absence of skeletal remains in subfossil bone deposits and the lack of an Aboriginal Tasmanian name for the animal. In Australia, sugar glider distribution corresponds with forests along the southern, eastern and northern coastlines, and extends to altitudes of 2000 m in the eastern ranges. The sugar glider occur in sympatry with the squirrel glider, mahogany glider, and yellow-bellied glider; and their coexistence is permitted through niche partitioning where each species has different patterns of resource use. They have a broad habitat niche, inhabiting rainforests and coconut plantations in New Guinea; and rainforests, wet or dry sclerophyll forest and acacia scrub in Australia; preferring habitats with Eucalpyt and Acacia species. The main structural habitat requirements are a large number of stems within the canopy, and dense mid and upper canopy cover, likely to enable efficient movement through the canopy. Like all arboreal, nocturnal marsupials, sugar gliders are active at night, and shelter in tree hollows lined with leafy twigs during the day. The average home range of sugar gliders is 0.5 hectares, and is largely related to the abundance of food sources; density ranges from 2-6 individuals per hectare. Native owls (Ninox sp.) are their primary predators; others in their range include kookaburras, goannas, snakes, and quolls. Feral cats (Felis catus) also represent a significant threat.\nThe sugar glider has a squirrel-like body with a long, partially (weakly) prehensile tail. The length from the nose to the tip of the tail is about 24 to 30 cm (12\u201313 inches), and males and females weigh 140 grams and 115 grams respectively. Heart rate range is 200-300 beats per minutes, and respiration rate is 16-40 breaths per minute. The sugar glider is a sexually dimorphic species, with males typically larger than females. Sexual dimorphism has likely evolved due to increased mate competition arising through social group structure; and is more pronounced in regions of higher latitude, where mate competition is greater due to increased food availability. The fur coat on the sugar glider is thick, soft, and is usually blue-grey; although some have been known to be yellow, tan or (rarely) albino A black stripe is seen from its nose to midway on its back. Its belly, throat, and chest are cream in colour. Males have four scent glands, located on the forehead, chest, and two paracloacal (associated with, but not part of the cloaca which is the common opening for the intestinal, urinal and genital tracts) that are used for marking of group members and territory. Scent glands on the head and chest of males appear as bald spots. Females also have a paracloacal scent gland, as well as a scent gland in the pouch, but do not have scent glands on the chest or forehead. It is nocturnal, and its large eyes help it to see at night, and its ears swivel to help locate prey in the dark. The eyes of the sugar glider are set far apart, allowing them to triangulate the distance between launch and landing location during gliding. Each foot on the sugar glider has five digits, with an opposable toe on each hind foot. These opposable toes are clawless, and bend in a way that they can touch all the other digits, like a human thumb, allowing the sugar glider to firmly grasp branches. The second and third digits of the hind foot are partially syndactylous (fused together), forming a grooming comb. The fourth digit of the fore foot is sharp and elongated, aiding in extraction of insects under the bark of trees. The gliding membrane extends from the outside of the fifth digit of each forefoot to the first digit of each hindfoot. When the legs are stretched out, this membrane allows the sugar glider to glide a considerable distance. The membrane is supported by well developed tibiocarpalis, humerodorsalis and tibioabdominalis muscles, and its movement is controlled by these supporting muscles in conjunction with trunk, limb and tail movement. Lifespan in the wild is up to 9 years; is typically up to 12 years in captivity, and the maximum reported lifespan is 17.8 years.\nThe sugar glider is one of a number of volplane (gliding) possums in Australia. Gliders glide with the fore- and hind-limbs extended at right angles to their body, with their feet flexed upwards. The animal launches itself from a tree, spreading its limbs to expose the gliding membranes. This creates an aerofoil enabling them to glide 50 metres or more. For every 1.82 m travelled horizontally when gliding, sugar gliders fall 1m. Sugar gliders can steer by moving their limbs and adjusting the tension of their gliding membrane; for example, to turn left, a sugar glider will lower its left forearm below its right. This form of arboreal locomotion is typically used to travel from tree to tree; the species rarely descends to the ground. Gliding provides three dimensional avoidance of arboreal predators, and minimal contact with ground dwelling predators; as well as possible benefits in decreasing time spent foraging for nutrient poor foods that are irregularly distributed. Using gliding as a mode of locomotion may also allow sugar gliders to decrease their energy consumption when searching for food. Young carried in the pouch of females are protected from landing forces by the septum that separates them within the pouch.\nSugar gliders can tolerate ambient air temperatures of up to through behavioural strategies such as licking their coat and exposing the wet area, as well as drinking small quantities of water. In cold weather, sugar gliders will huddle together to avoid heat loss, and will enter torpor to conserve energy. Huddling as an energy conserving mechanism is not as efficient as torpor. Before entering torpor, a sugar glider will reduce activity and body temperature normally in order to lower energy expenditure and avoid torpor. With energetic constraints, the sugar glider will enter into daily torpor for 2\u201323 hours while in rest phase. Torpor differs from hibernation in that torpor is usually a short-term daily cycle, which saves energy for the animal by allowing its body temperature to fall to a minimum of to . When food is scarce, as in winter, heat production is lowered in order to reduce energy expenditure. With low energy and heat production, it is important for the sugar glider to peak its body mass by fat content in the autumn (May/June) in order to survive the following cold season. In the wild, sugar gliders enter into daily torpor more often than sugar gliders in captivity. The use of torpor is most frequent during winter, likely in response to low ambient temperature, rainfall, and seasonal fluctuation in food sources.\nSugar gliders are seasonally adapted omnivores with a wide variety of foods in their diet, and mainly forage in the lower layers of the forest canopy. Sugar gliders may obtain up to half their daily water intake through drinking rainwater, with the remainder obtained through water held in its food. In summer they are primarily insectivorous, and in the winter when insects (and other arthropods) are scarce, they are mostly exudativorous (feeding on acacia gum, eucalyptus sap, manna, honeydew or lerp). To obtain sap and nectar from plants, sugar gliders will strip the bark off trees or open bore holes with their teeth to access stored liquid gum. Little time is spent foraging for insects, as it is an energetically expensive process, and sugar gliders will wait until insects fly into their habitat, or stop to feed on flowers. Gliders consume approximately 11 g of dry food matter per day. This equates to roughly 8% and 9.5% of body weight for males and females, respectively. They are opportunistic feeders and can be carnivorous, preying mostly on lizards and small birds. They eat many other foods when available, such as nectar, acacia seeds, bird eggs, pollen, fungi and native fruits. Pollen can make up a large portion of their diet, therefore sugar gliders are likely to be important pollinators of Banksia species. Sugar gliders have an enlarged caecum to assist in digestion of complex carbohydrates obtained from gum and sap.\nLike most marsupials, female sugar gliders have two ovaries and two uteri; and are polyestrous, meaning they can go into heat several times a year. The female has a marsupium (pouch) in the middle of her abdomen to carry offspring. The pouch opens anteriorly, and two lateral pockets extend posteriorly when young are present. Four nipples are usually present in the pouch, although reports of individuals with two nipples have been recorded. Male sugar gliders have a bifurcated penis to correspond with the two uteri of females. The age of sexual maturity in sugar gliders varies slightly between the males and females. Males reach maturity at 4 to 12 months of age, while females require from 8 to 12 months. In the wild, sugar gliders breed once or twice a year depending on the climate and habitat conditions, while they can breed multiple times a year in captivity as a result of consistent living conditions and proper diet. A sugar glider female gives birth to one (19%) or two (81%) babies (joeys) per litter. The gestation period is 15 to 17 days, after which the tiny joey (0.2 g) will crawl into a mother's pouch for further development. They are born largely undeveloped and furless, with only the sense of smell being developed. They have a continuous arch of cartilage in their shoulder girdle which disappears soon after birth; this supports the forelimbs, assisting the climb into the pouch. Young are completely contained in the pouch for 60 days after birth, eyes first open around 80 days after birth, and young will leave the nest around 110 days after birth. By the time young are weaned, the thermoregulatory system is developed, and in conjunction with a large body size and thicker fur, they are able to regulate their own body temperature. Breeding is seasonal in south east Australia, with young only born from June\u2013November. Further north in Arnhem Land, breeding is not seasonally restricted and young may be born throughout the year. Unlike animals that move along the ground, the sugar glider, and other gliding species, produce fewer, but heavier, offspring per litter; allowing female sugar gliders to retain the ability to glide when pregnant.\nSugar gliders are highly social animals. They live in family groups or colonies consisting of up to seven adults, plus the current season's young. Up to four age classes may exist within each group, although some sugar gliders are solitary, not belonging to a group. They engage in social grooming, which in addition to improving hygiene and health, helps bond the colony and establish group identity. Within social communities, there are two co-dominant males who suppress subordinate males, but show no aggression towards each other. These co-dominant pairs are more related to each other than to subordinates within the group; and share food, nests, mates, and responsibility for scent marking of community members and territories. Territory and members of the group are marked with saliva and a scent produced by separate glands on the forehead and chest. Intruders who lack the appropriate scent marking are expelled violently. Rank is established through scent marking; and fighting does not occur within groups, but does occur when communities come into contact with each other. Within the colony, no fighting typically takes place beyond threatening behaviour. Each colony defends a territory of about where eucalyptus trees provide a staple food source. Male sugar gliders are one of the very few species of mammals that exhibit male parental care. The oldest codominant male in a social community shows a high level of parental care, as he is the most likely father of any offspring due to his social status. This paternal care likely evolved in sugar gliders as young are more likely to survive when parental investment is provided by both parents. In the sugar glider, biparental care allows one adult to huddle with the young and prevent hypothermia while the other parent is out foraging, as young sugar gliders aren\u2019t able to thermoregulate until they are 100 days old (3.5 months). Communication in sugar gliders is achieved through vocalisations, visual signals and complex chemical odours. Chemical odours account for a large part of communication in sugar gliders, similar to many other nocturnal animals. Odours may be used to mark territory, convey health status of an individual, and mark rank of community members. Gliders produce a number of vocalisations including barking and hissing.\nThe sugar glider is not considered endangered, and its conservation rank is \"Least Concern (LC)\" on the IUCN Red List. Despite the loss of natural habitat in Australia over the last 200 years, it is adaptable and capable of living in small patches of remnant bush, particularly if it does not have to cross large expanses of cleared land to reach them. However, several close relatives are endangered, particularly Leadbeater's possum and the mahogany glider. Sugar gliders may persist in areas that have undergone mild-moderate selective logging, as long as three to five hollow bearing trees are retained per hectare. Although not currently threatened by habitat loss, the ability of sugar gliders to forage and avoid predators successfully may be decreased in areas of high light pollution. Conservation in Australia is enacted at the federal, state and local levels, where sugar gliders are protected as a native species. The central conservation law in Australia is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 is an example of conservation law in the state of South Australia, where it is legal to keep (only) one sugar glider without a permit, provided it was acquired legally from a source with a permit. A permit is required to obtain or possess more than one glider, or if one wants to sell or give away any glider in their possession. It is illegal to capture or sell wild sugar gliders without a permit.\nAccording to naturalist Ronald Campbell Gunn, no Petaurus species is indigenous to Tasmania. He concluded that sugar gliders had been brought to Launceston, Tasmania as pets from Port Phillip, Australia (now Melbourne) soon after the founding of the port in 1834. Many sugar gliders had escaped and quickly became established in the area. The species has been identified as a threat to the survival of the Swift parrot which breeds only in Tasmania. Reduction in mature forest cover has left Swift parrot nests highly vulnerable to predation by sugar gliders, and it is estimated that the parrot could be extinct by 2031.\nIn captivity, the sugar glider can suffer from calcium deficiencies if not fed an adequate diet. A lack of calcium in the diet causes the body to leach calcium from the bones, with the hind legs first to show noticeable dysfunction. Calcium to phosphorus ratios should be 2:1 to prevent hypocalcemia, sometimes known as hind leg paralysis (HLP). Their diet should be 50% insects (gut-loaded) or other sources of protein, 25% fruit and 25% vegetables. Some of the more recognised diets are Bourbon's Modified Leadbeaters (BML), High Protein Wombaroo (HPW) and various calcium rich diets with Leadbeaters Mixture (LBM). Plenty of attention and environmental enrichment may be required for this highly social species, especially for those kept as individuals. Inadequate social interaction can lead to depression and behavioural disorders such as loss of appetite, irritability and self-mutilation.\nAround the world, the sugar glider is popular as an exotic pet. It is also one of the most commonly traded wild animals in the illegal pet trade, where animals are taken directly from their natural habitats. In Australia, sugar gliders can be kept in Victoria, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. However, they are not allowed to be kept as pets in Western Australia, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland or Tasmania. Sugar gliders are popular as pets in the United States, where they are bred in large numbers. Most states and cities allow sugar gliders as pets, with some exceptions including California, Hawaii, Alaska, and New York City. In 2014, Massachusetts changed its law, allowing sugar gliders to be kept as pets. Some other states require permits or licensing. Breeders of sugar gliders are regulated and licensed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) through the Animal Welfare Act .\n"
        },
        "1152": {
            "common": "Glossy ibis",
            "family": "Plegadis falcinellus",
            "id": 1152,
            "text": "The glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a wading bird in the ibis family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek plegados and Latin, falcis, both meaning \"sickle\" and referring to the distinctive shape of the bill.\nThis is the most widespread ibis species, breeding in scattered sites in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Atlantic and Caribbean regions of the Americas. It is thought to have originated in the Old World and spread naturally from Africa to northern South America in the 19th century, from where it spread to North America. The glossy ibis was first found in the New World in 1817 (New Jersey). Audubon saw the species just once in Florida in 1832. It expanded its range substantially northwards in the 1940s and to the west in the 1980s. This species is migratory; most European birds winter in Africa, and in North America birds from north of the Carolinas winter farther south. Birds from other populations may disperse widely outside the breeding season. While generally declining in Europe, it has recently established a breeding colony in southern Spain, and there appears to be a growing trend for the Spanish birds to winter in Britain and Ireland, with at least 22 sightings in 2010. In 2014, a pair attempted to breed in Lincolnshire, the first such attempt in Britain A few birds now summer in Ireland, but as yet there is no evidence of breeding there.\nGlossy ibises undertake dispersal movements after breeding and are very nomadic. The more northerly populations are fully migratory and travel on a broad front, for example across the Sahara Desert. Populations in temperate regions breed during the local spring, while tropical populations nest to coincide with the rainy season. Nesting is often in mixed-species colonies. When not nesting, flocks of over 100 individuals may occur on migration, and during the winter or dry seasons the species is usually found foraging in small flocks. Glossy ibises often roost communally at night in large flocks, with other species, occasionally in trees which can be some distance from wetland feeding areas.\nGlossy ibises feed in very shallow water and nest in freshwater or brackish wetlands with tall dense stands of emergent vegetation such as reeds, papyrus or rushes) and low trees or bushes. They show a preference for marshes at the margins of lakes and rivers but can also be found at lagoons, flood-plains, wet meadows, swamps, reservoirs, sewage ponds, paddies and irrigated farmland. It is less commonly found in coastal locations such as estuaries, deltas, salt marshes and coastal lagoons. Preferred roosting sites are normally in large trees which may be distant from the feeding areas.\nThe nests are usually a platform of twigs and vegetation positioned at least above water, sometimes up to  in tall, dense stands of emergent vegetation, low trees or bushes. 3 to 4 eggs (occasionally more) are laid, and are incubated by both male and female  birds for between 20 and 23 days. The young can leave the nest after about 7 days, but the parents continue to feed them for several more weeks. The young fledge in about 28 days.\nThe diet of the glossy ibis is variable according to the season and is very dependent on what is available. Prey includes adult and larval insects such as aquatic beetles, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, crickets, flies and caddisflies, Annelida including leeches, molluscs (e.g. snails and mussels), crustaceans (e.g. crabs and crayfish) and occasionally fish, amphibians, lizards, small snakes and nestling birds.\nThis species is a mid-sized ibis. It is long, averaging around  with an  wingspan. The culmen measures in length, each wing measures, the tail is  and the tarsus measures . The body mass of this ibis can range from . Breeding adults have reddish-brown bodies and shiny bottle-green wings. Non-breeders and juveniles have duller bodies. This species has a brownish bill, dark facial skin bordered above and below in blue-gray (non-breeding) to cobalt blue (breeding), and red-brown legs. Unlike herons, ibises fly with necks outstretched, their flight being graceful and often in V formation. It also has shiny feathers. Sounds made by this rather quiet ibis include a variety of croaks and grunts, including a hoarse grrrr made when breeding.\nThe glossy ibis is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Glossy ibises are threatened by wetland habitat degradation and loss through drainage, increased salinity, groundwater extraction and invasion by exotic plants. The common name black curlew may be a reference to the glossy ibis and this name appears in Anglo-Saxon literature, indicating that it may have bred in early medieval England, but Yalden and Albarella do not mention this species.\n"
        },
        "1154": {
            "common": "Glossy starling",
            "family": "Lamprotornis",
            "id": 1154,
            "text": "Lamprotornis is a large genus of glossy-starlings all of which occur in Africa south of the Sahara. They have glossy blue or green upper parts, which is due to hollow melanin granules arranged in a single layer near the feather barbule's surface. This unique arrangement led to some glossy starlings formerly placed in the genus Spreo being transferred to Lamprotornis, since they shared this feature (but see also below). The under parts of these species lack iridescence. They may be blue, purple, yellow or brown. Most Lamprotornis starlings have striking yellow or red irides and some have long tails. These glossy starlings are found in a variety of habitats from forests to open woodland and gardens. They nest in tree holes, either natural, or made by woodpeckers or barbets, and some will use man-made structures. Most species are resident apart from seasonal or local movement, but Shelley's starling is migratory. Most species are gregarious outside the breeding season. Lamprotornis glossy-starlings are omnivorous and mostly feed on the ground, although they will take fruit from trees. Some will feed on or near large mammals to find insects.\nThe limits of this genus require revision. For example, the black-bellied starling is sometimes placed in a separate genus Notopholia, and it (and possibly others) appears to be indeed well distinct. On the other hand, genera such as Coccycolius, Spreo and Compsarus are sometimes included in Lamprotornis.(Zuccon et al. 2006)\n"
        },
        "1158": {
            "common": "Goanna lizard",
            "family": "Varanus",
            "id": 1158,
            "text": "Monitor lizard is the common name of several large lizard species, comprising the genus Varanus. They are native to Africa, Asia and Oceania, but are now found also in the Americas as an invasive species. A total of 79 species are currently recognized. Monitor lizards have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. The adult length of extant species ranges from in some species, to over  in the case of the Komodo dragon, though the extinct varanid known as megalania (Varanus priscus) may have been capable of reaching lengths of more than . Most monitor species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known. While most monitor lizards are carnivorous, eating eggs, smaller reptiles, fish, birds and small mammals, some also eat fruit and vegetation, depending on where they live.\nThe various species cover a vast area, occurring through Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, to China, down Southeast Asia to Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia and islands of the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea. A large concentration of monitor lizards occurs on Tioman Island and the Perhentian Islands in the Malaysian state of Pahang. Some are now found in South Florida, particularly in the Everglades, and Singapore.\nMonitors lizards are, as a rule, almost entirely carnivorous. However, three arboreal species, Varanus bitatawa, Varanus mabitang, and Varanus olivaceus, are primarily fruit eaters. <ref name=\"Welton2010\">\nThe genus Varanus is considered unique among animals in that its members are relatively morphologically conservative and yet show a range in size that is equivalent to a mouse and an elephant. Finer morphological features such as the shape of the skull and limbs do vary though, and are strongly related to the ecology of each species. Most monitor lizards are carnivorous. Monitor lizards maintain large territories and employ active pursuit hunting techniques that are reminiscent of similar sized mammals. The active nature of monitor lizards has led to numerous studies on the metabolic capacities of these lizards. The general consensus is that monitor lizards have the highest standard metabolic rates of all extant reptiles. Monitor lizards have a high aerobic scope that is afforded, in part, by their heart anatomy. Whereas most reptiles are considered to have three chambered hearts, the hearts of monitor lizards \u2014 as with those of boas and pythons \u2014 have a well developed ventricular septum that completely separates the pulmonary and systemic sides of the circulatory system during systole. This allows monitor lizards to create mammalian-equivalent pressure differentials between the pulmonary and systemic circuits, which in turn ensures that oxygenated blood is quickly distributed to the body without also flooding the lungs with high pressure blood. Anatomical and molecular studies indicate that all varanids (and possibly all lizards) are partially venomous.<ref name =\"Fry2009\"> <ref name=\"Fry2006\"> Monitor lizards are oviparous, laying from 7 to 37 eggs, which they often cover with soil or protect in a hollow tree stump.\nDuring the late Cretaceous era, monitor lizards or their close relatives are believed to have evolved into amphibious and then fully marine forms, the mosasaurs, which reached lengths of up to . Snakes were believed to be more closely related to monitor lizards than any other type of extant reptile; however, it has been more recently proposed that snakes are the sister group of the clade of iguanians and anguimorphs. Like snakes, monitor lizards have forked tongues which they use to sense odors. During the Pleistocene epoch, giant monitor lizards lived in Southeast Asia and Australasia, the best known fossil being the megalania (Varanus priscus, a giant goanna formally known as Megalania prisca). This species is an iconic member of the Pleistocene megafauna of Australia, thought to have survived up until around 50,000 years ago. Some monitor lizards, including the Komodo dragon, are capable of parthenogenesis.\nThe generic name Varanus is derived from the Arabic word waral \u0648\u0631\u0644, (alternative word waran). The name comes from a common Semitic root ouran, waran, or waral, meaning \"dragon\" or \"lizard beast\". The occasional habit of varanids to stand on their two hind legs and to appear to \"monitor\" their surroundings has been suggested to have led to this name, as it was Latinized into Varanus. Its common name is derived from the Latin word monere meaning \"to warn\". In Austronesia, where varanids are common, they are known under a large number of local names. They are usually known as biawak (Malay and Indonesian), bayawak (Filipino), binjawak or minjawak (Javanese), or variations thereof. Other names include hokai (Solomon Islands), bwo or puo (Maluku), halo (Cebu), galuf of kaluf (Micronesia and the Caroline Islands), batua or butaan (Luzon), alu (Bali), hora or ghora (Komodo group of islands), phut (Burmese) and guibang (Manobo). In Tamil and Malayalam, monitor lizards are known as udumbu, ghorpad \u0918\u094b\u0930\u092a\u0921 in Marathi, uda in Kannada, in Sinhalese as kabaragoya, in Telugu as udumu, in Punjabi and Magahi (and other Bihari languages) as \u0917\u094b\u0939 (goh), in Assamese as gui xaap, and in Odia as \u0b17\u0b4b\u0b27\u0b3f (godhi), and in Bengali as \u0997\u09cb\u09b8\u09be\u09aa (goshaap) or \u0997\u09c1\u0987\u09b8\u09be\u09aa (guishaap) and \u0917\u094b\u0939 (goh) in Hindi. Due to confusion with the large New World lizards of the family Iguanidae, the lizards became known as \"goannas\" in Australia. Similarly, in South Africa, they are referred to as leguaan, or likkewaan from the Dutch for iguana. The generic name inspired the name of the Japanese movie monster Varan.\nSome species of varanid lizards can count: studies feeding V. albigularis varying numbers of snails showed that they can distinguish numbers up to six. V. niloticus lizards have been observed to cooperate when foraging: one varanid lures the female crocodile away from her nest, while the other opens the nest to feed on the eggs. The decoy then returns to also feed on the eggs. Komodo dragons, V. komodoensis, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., recognize their keepers and seem to have distinct personalities.\nMonitor lizards have become a staple in the reptile pet trade. The most commonly kept monitors are the savannah monitor and Ackies monitor, due to their relatively small size, low cost, and relatively calm dispositions with regular handling. Among others, black-throated monitors, timor monitors, Asian water monitors, Nile monitors, mangrove monitors, emerald tree monitors, black tree monitors, roughneck monitors, dumeril's monitors, peach-throated monitors, crocodile monitors and Argus monitors have been kept in captivity.\nMonitor lizard meat, particularly the tongue and liver, is eaten in parts of southern India and Malaysia as an alleged aphrodisiac. In parts of Pakistan, different parts of monitor lizards are used for a variety of medical purposes. The flesh is eaten for the relief of rheumatic pain, abdominal fat is used as a salve for skin infections, oil and fat are used to treat hemorrhoids or chronic pain, and the oil is used as an aphrodesiac lubricant (saande kaa tel).<ref name=Hashmi2013>\n\"Large scale exploitation\" of monitor lizards is undertaken for their skins, which are described as being \"of considerable utility\" in the leather industry.\nThe meat of monitor lizards is eaten by some tribes in India, Thailand and in West Africa as a supplemental meat source. The meat of monitor lizards is used in Nepal for medicinal and food purpose.\nThe reproductive organs of monitor lizards are used in black magic in parts of Pakistan.\nThe skin of monitor lizards is used in making a carnatic music percussion instrument called a kanjira.\nAccording to IUCN Red List of threatened species, most of the Monitor lizards species fall in the categories of least concern but the population is decreasing globally. All but five species of monitor lizard are classified by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora under Appendix II, which is loosely defined as species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may become so unless trade in such species is subject to strict regulation order to avoid use incompatible with the survival of the species in the wild. The remaining five species \u2013 V. bengalensis, V. flavescens, V. griseus, V. komodoensis, and V. nebulosus \u2013 are classified under CITES Appendix I, which outlaws international commercial trade in the species. The Yellow Monitor, Varanus flavescens is protected in all range countries except Bhutan; Nepal, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Tamil Nadu and all other parts of South India, catching or killing of monitor lizards is banned under the Protected Species Act.\n'Genus Varanus Subgenus Empagusia': Subgenus Euprepiosaurus: Subgenus Odatria: Subgenus Papusaurus: Subgenus Philippinosaurus: Subgenus Polydaedalus: Subgenus Psammosaurus: Subgenus Soterosaurus: Subgenus \u2020Varaneades: Subgenus Varanus:\n"
        },
        "116": {
            "common": "Armadillo, giant",
            "family": "Priodontes maximus",
            "id": 116,
            "text": "The giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), colloquially tatou, ocarro, tatu-canastra or tat\u00fa carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the glyptodonts, were much larger). It lives in South America, ranging throughout as far south as northern Argentina. This species is considered vulnerable to extinction. The giant armadillo prefers termites and some ants as prey, and often consumes the entire population of a termite mound. It also has been known to prey upon worms, larvae and larger creatures, such as spiders and snakes, and plants. At least one zoo park, in Villavicencio, Colombia \u2013 Los Ocarros \u2013 is dedicated to this animal.\nThe giant armadillo is the largest living species of armadillo, with 11 to 13 hinged bands protecting the body and a further three or four on the neck. Its body is dark brown in color, with a lighter, yellowish band running along the sides, and a pale, yellow-white head. These armadillos have around 80 to 100 teeth, which is more than any other terrestrial mammal. The teeth are all similar in appearance, being reduced premolars and molars, grow constantly throughout life, and lack enamel. They also possess extremely long front claws, including a sickle-shaped third claw, which are proportionately the largest of any living mammal. The tail is covered in small rounded scales and does not have the heavy bony scutes that cover the upper body and top of the head. The animal is almost entirely hairless, with just a few beige colored hairs protruding between the scutes. Giant armadillos typically weigh around when fully grown, however a  specimen has been weighed in the wild and captive specimens have been weighed up to . The typical length of the species is, with the tail adding another .\nGiant armadillos are found throughout much of northern South America east of the Andes, except for eastern Brazil and Paraguay. In the south, they reach the northernmost provinces of Argentina, including Salta, Formosa, Chaco, and Santiago del Estero. There are no recognised geographic subspecies. They primarily inhabit open habitats, with cerrado grasslands covering about 25% of their range, but they can also be found in lowland forests.\nGiant armadillos are solitary and nocturnal, spending the day in burrows. They also burrow to escape predators, being unable to completely roll into a protective ball. Compared with those of other armadillos, their burrows are unusually large, with entrances averaging wide, and typically opening to the west. Giant armadillos use their large front claws to dig for prey and rip open termite mounds. The diet is mainly composed of termites, although ants, worms, spiders and other invertebrates are also eaten. Little is currently known about this species' reproductive biology, and no juveniles have ever been discovered in the field. The average sleep time of a captive giant armadillo is said to be 18.1 hours. Armadillos have not been extensively studied in the wild; therefore, little is known about their natural ecology and behavior. In the only long term study on the species, that started in 2003 in the Peruvian Amazon, dozens of other species of mammals, reptiles and birds were found using the giant armadillos' burrows on the same day, including the rare short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis). Because of this, the species is considered a habitat engineer, and the local extinction of Priodontes may have cascading effects in the mammalian community by impoverishing fossorial habitat. Female giant armadillos have two teats and are thought to normally give birth to only a single young per year. Little is known with certainty about their life history, although it is thought that the young are weaned by about seven to eight months of age, and that the mother periodically seals up the entrance to burrows containing younger offspring, presumably to protect them from predators. Although they have never bred in captivity, a wild-born giant armadillo at San Antonio Zoo was estimated to have been around sixteen years old when it died.\nHunted throughout its range, a single giant armadillo supplies a great deal of meat, and is the primary source of protein for some indigenous peoples. In addition, live giant armadillos are frequently captured for trade on the black market, and invariably die during transportation or in captivity. Despite this species\u2019 wide range, it is locally rare. This is further exacerbated by habitat loss resulting from deforestation. Current estimates indicate the giant armadillo may have undergone a worrying population decline of 30 to 50 percent over the past three decades. Without intervention, this trend is likely to continue.\nThe giant armadillo was classified as vulnerable on the World Conservation Union's Red List in 2002, and is listed under Appendix I (threatened with extinction) of the [[Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna]]. The giant armadillo is protected by law in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname and Peru, and international trade is banned by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, hunting for food and sale in the black market continues to occur throughout its entire range. Some populations occur within protected reserves, including the Parque das Emas in Brazil, and the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a massive 1.6-million-hectare site of pristine rainforest managed by Conservation International. Such protection helps to some degree to mitigate the threat of habitat loss, but targeted conservation action is required to prevent the further decline of this species.\n"
        },
        "1160": {
            "common": "Goat, mountain",
            "family": "Oreamnos americanus",
            "id": 1160,
            "text": "The mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a large hoofed mammal endemic to North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ice. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus that includes all other goats, such as the wild goat, Capra aegagrus, from which the domestic goat is derived.\nThe mountain goat is an even-toed ungulate of the order Artiodactyla and the family Bovidae that includes antelopes, gazelles, and cattle. It belongs to the subfamily Caprinae (goat-antelopes), along with 32 other species including true goats, sheep, the chamois, and the muskox. The mountain goat is the only species in the genus Oreamnos. The name Oreamnos is derived from the Greek term oros (stem ore-) \"mountain\" (or, alternatively, oreas \"mountain nymph\") and the word amnos \"lamb\".\nBoth billy (male) and nanny (female) mountain goats have beards, short tails, and long black horns, in length, which contain yearly growth rings. They are protected from the elements by their woolly white double coats. The fine, dense wool of their undercoats is covered by an outer layer of longer, hollow hairs. Mountain goats molt in spring by rubbing against rocks and trees, with the adult billies shedding their extra wool first and the pregnant nannies shedding last. Their coats help them to withstand winter temperatures as low as and winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h). A billy stands about at the shoulder to the waist and can weigh considerably more than the nanny (around 30% more in some cases). Male goats also have longer horns and longer beards than females. Mountain goats can weigh between, though even billies will often weigh less than . The head-and-body length can range from, with a small tail adding . The mountain goat's feet are well-suited for climbing steep, rocky slopes with pitches exceeding 60\u00b0, with inner pads that provide traction and cloven hooves that can spread apart. The tips of their feet have sharp dewclaws that keep them from slipping. They have powerful shoulder and neck muscles that help propel them up steep slopes.\nThe mountain goat inhabits the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range and other mountain regions of the Western Cordillera of North America, from Washington, Idaho and Montana through British Columbia and Alberta, into the southern Yukon and southeastern Alaska. Its northernmost range is said to be along the northern fringe of the Chugach Mountains in southcentral Alaska. Introduced populations can also be found in such areas as Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, South Dakota, and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Mountain goats are the largest mammals found in their high-altitude habitats, which can exceed elevations of 13,000 feet (4,000 m). They sometimes descend to sea level in coastal areas although they are primarily an alpine and subalpine species. The animals usually stay above the tree line throughout the year but they will migrate seasonally to higher or lower elevations within that range. Winter migrations to low-elevation mineral licks often take them several kilometers through forested areas.\nDaily movements by individual mountain goats are primarily confined to areas on the same mountain face, drainage basin, or alpine opening. Daily movements reflect an individual\u2019s needs for foraging, resting, thermoregulation and security from predators or disturbance. Seasonal movements primarily reflect nutritional needs (e.g., movements to and from mineral licks/salt lick), reproductive needs (i.e., movement of pre-parturient females to \u201ckidding\u201d areas; movement to rutting areas), and climatic influences (i.e., movement to areas in response to foraging conditions). In general, seasonal movements are likely to exhibit a strong elevational component, whereby lower, forested elevations are used during the spring-summer (security cover effects) to access lower elevation mineral licks, and during winter (thermal cover effects) to access forage. The farthest movements are expected to be by dispersing mountain goats. Such movements are likely to involve mountain goats crossing forested valleys as they move between mountain blocks.\nMountain goats are herbivores and spend most of their time grazing. Their diets include grasses, herbs, sedges, ferns, mosses, lichens, and twigs and leaves from the low-growing shrubs and conifers of their high-altitude habitat. In captivity, the mountain goat's diet can also include grain, alfalfa, fruits, and vegetables, and grass.\nIn the wild, mountain goats usually live 12 to 15 years, with their lifespans limited by the wearing down of their teeth. In zoos, however, they can live for 16 to 20 years. Mountain goats reach sexual maturity at about 30 months. Nannies in a herd undergo synchronized estrus in late October through early December, at which time males and females participate in a mating ritual. Mature billies stare at nannies for long periods, dig rutting pits, and fight each other in showy (though occasionally dangerous) scuffles. Young billies sometimes try to participate, but they are ignored by nannies; nannies also sometimes pursue inattentive billies. Both males and females usually mate with multiple individuals during breeding season, although some billies try to keep other males away from certain nannies. After the breeding season is over, males and females move away from each other, with the adult billies breaking up into small bands of two or three individuals. Nannies form loose-knit nursery groups of up to 50 animals. Kids are born in the spring (late May or early June) after a six-month gestation period. Nannies give birth, usually to a single offspring, after moving to an isolated ledge; post partum, they lick the kid dry and ingest the placenta. Kids weigh a little over 3 kg (7 lb) at birth and begin to run and climb (or attempt to do so) within hours. Although they are mostly weaned within one month, kids follow their mothers closely for the first year of life (or until the nanny gives birth again, if this does not occur the next breeding season); nannies protect their young by leading them out of danger, standing over them when faced by predators, and positioning themselves below their kids on steep slopes to stop freefalls.\nNannies can be very competitive and protective of their space and food sources. They fight with one another for dominance in conflicts that can ultimately include all the nannies in the herd. In these battles, nannies circle each other with their heads lowered, displaying their horns. As with fights between billies during breeding season, these conflicts can occasionally lead to injury or death, but are usually harmless. To avoid fighting, an animal may show a posture of nonaggression by stretching low to the ground. In regions below the tree line, nannies use their fighting abilities to protect themselves and their offspring from predators. Predators, including wolves, wolverines, lynxes, and bears, attack goats of most ages given the opportunity. The cougar is perhaps the primary predator, being powerful enough to overwhelm the largest adults and uniquely nimble enough to navigate the rocky ecosystem of the goats. Though their size protects them from most potential predators in higher altitudes, nannies must defend their young from golden eagles, which can be a major predatory threat to kids. Nannies have even been observed trying to dominate the more passive, but often heavier bighorn sheep that share some of their territory. The attack of a mountain goat is known as a \"frolick\". Differing from a prance, a frolick uses the left hoof as a way of diverting attention from the impending attack. The mountain goat often attacks from a well-protected area, using flowers and ferns for camouflage. Mountain goats can occasionally be aggressive towards humans, with at least one reported fatality resulting from an attack by a mountain goat.\nAlthough mountain goats have never been domesticated and commercialized for their wool, pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast did incorporate their wool into their weaving by collecting spring moulted wool left by wild goats.\n"
        },
        "1162": {
            "common": "Godwit, hudsonian",
            "family": "Limosa haemastica",
            "id": 1162,
            "text": "The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) is a large shorebird in the sandpiper family.Scolopacidae. The genus name Limosa is from Latin and means \"muddy\", from limus, \"mud\". The specific haemastica is from Ancient Greek and means \"bloody\". An 18th century name for this bird was red-breasted godwit. The English term \"godwit\" was first recorded in about 1416\u20137 and is believed to imitate the bird's call.\nAdults have long dark legs and a long pink bill with a slight upward curve and dark at the tip. The upper parts are mottled brown and the underparts are chestnut. The tail is black and the rump is white. They show black wing linings in flight. The legs and feet are bluish-grey.\nTheir breeding habitat is the far north near the tree line in northwestern Canada and Alaska, also on the shores of Hudson Bay. They nest on the ground, in a well-concealed location in a marshy area. The female usually lays 4 olive-buff eggs marked with darker splotches. Incubation period is 22 days. Both parents look after the young birds, who find their own food and are able to fly within a month of hatching.\nThey migrate to South America. These birds gather at James Bay before fall migration. In good weather, many birds make the trip south without stopping. They are vagrants to Europe, Australia, and South Africa. They can perhaps be most easily seen in migration on the east coast of North America where they can be plentiful in migration in late July through early August.\nThese birds forage by probing in shallow water. They mainly eat insects and crustaceans.\nTheir numbers were reduced by hunting at the end of the 19th century.\n"
        },
        "1164": {
            "common": "Golden brush-tailed possum",
            "family": "Trichosurus vulpecula",
            "id": 1164,
            "text": "The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for \"furry tailed\" and the Latin for \"little fox\", previously in the genus Phalangista ) is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the second largest of the possums. Like most possums, the common brushtail possum is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. In most Australian habitats, leaves of eucalyptus are a significant part of the diet but rarely the sole item eaten. The tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. There are four colour variations: silver-grey, brown, black, and gold. It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, as it is one of few that thrives in cities, as well as a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids. The common brushtail possum was introduced to New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur industry, but in the mild subtropical climate of New Zealand, and with few to no natural predators, it thrived to the extent that it became a major agricultural and conservation pest.\nThe common brushtail possum has large and pointed ears. It has a bushy tail (hence its name) that is adapted to grasping branches, prehensile at the end with a hairless ventral patch. Its forefeet have sharp claws and the first toe of each hind foot is clawless but has a strong grasp. The possum grooms itself with the third and fourth toes which are fused together. It has a thick and woolly pelage that varies in colour depending on the subspecies. Colour patterns tend to be silver-gray, brown, black, red or cream. The ventral areas are typically lighter and the tail is usually brown or black. The muzzle is marked with dark patches. The common brushtail possum has a head and body length of 32\u201358 cm with a tail length of 24\u201340 cm. It weighs 1.2-4.5 kg. Males are generally larger than females. In addition, the coat of the male tends to be reddish at the shoulders. As with most marsupials, the female brushtail possum has a forward-opening, well-developed pouch. The chest of both sexes has a scent gland that emits a reddish secretion which stains that fur around it. It marks its territory with these secretions.\nThe common brushtail possum is perhaps the most widespread marsupial of Australia. It is found throughout the eastern and northern parts of the continent, as well as some western regions, Tasmania and a number of offshore islands, such as Kangaroo Island and Barrow Island. It is also widespread in New Zealand since its introduction in 1840. The common brushtail possum can be found in a variety of habitats, such as forests, semiarid areas and even cultivated or urban areas. It is mostly a forest inhabiting species, however it is also found in treeless areas. In New Zealand, possums favour broadleaf-podocarp near farmland pastures. In southern beech forests and pine plantations, possums are less common. Overall, brushtail possums are more densely populated in New Zealand than in their native Australia. This may be because Australia has more fragmented eucalypt forests and more predators. In Australia, brushtail possums are threatened by humans, tiger quolls, dogs, foxes, cats, goannas, carpet snakes and powerful owls. In New Zealand, brushtail possums are threatened only by humans and cats.\nThe common brushtail possum can adapt to numerous kinds of vegetation. It prefers Eucalyptus leaves but will also eat flowers, shoots, fruits and seeds. It may also consume animal matter such as insects, birds\u2019 eggs and chicks, and other small vertebrates. Brushtail possums may eat three or four different plant species during a foraging trip, unlike some other arboreal marsupials, such as the koala and the greater glider, which focus on single species. The brushtail possum's rounded molars cannot cut Eucalyptus leaves as finely as more specialised feeders. They are more adapted to crushing their food which enables them to chew fruit or herbs more effectively. The brushtail possums\u2019 caecum lacks internal ridges and cannot separate coarse and fine particles as efficiently as some other arboreal marsupials. The brushtail possum cannot rely on Eucalyptus alone to provide sufficient nitrogen. Its more generalised and mixed diet, however, does provide adequate nitrogen.\nThe common brushtail possum is largely arboreal and nocturnal. It has a mostly solitary lifestyle, and individuals keep their distance with scent markings (urinating) and vocalisations. Brushtail possums usually make their dens in natural places like tree hollows and caves but will also use spaces in the roofs of houses. While they sometimes share dens, brushtails normally sleep in separate dens. Individuals from New Zealand use many more den sites than those from Australia. Brushtail possums compete with each other and other animals for den spaces and this contributes to their mortality. This is likely another reason why brushtail possum population densities are smaller in Australia than in New Zealand. Brushtail possums are usually not aggressive towards each other and usually just stare with erect ears. Brushtail possums vocalise with clicks, grunts, hisses, alarm chatters, guttural coughs and screeching.\nThe common brushtail possum can breed at any time of the year, but breeding tends to peak in spring, from September to November, and in autumn, from March to May, in some areas. Mating is promiscuous and random; some males can sire several young in a season while over half sire none. In one Queensland population, it apparently takes the males one month of consorting with females before they can mate with them. Females have a gestation period of 16\u201318 days, after which they give birth to single young. A newborn brushtail possum is only 1.5 cm long and weighs only 2 g. As usual for marsupials, the newborn brushtail possum may climb, unaided, through the female\u2019s fur and into the pouch and attach to a teat. The young develops and remains inside the mother\u2019s pouch for another four or five months. When older, the young is left in the den or rides on its mother\u2019s back until it is seven to nine months old. Females reach sexual maturity when they are one year old, and males do so at the end of their second year. Female young have a higher survival rate than their male counterparts due to establishing their home ranges closer to their mothers, while males travel farther in search of new nesting sites, encountering pre-established territories from which they may be forcibly ejected. In the Orongorongo population, female young have been found to continue to associate with their mothers after weaning, and some will inherit the prime den sites. There is possible competition between mothers and daughters for dens, and daughters may be excluded from a den occupied by the mother. In forests with shortages of den sites, females apparently produce more sons, which do not compete directly for den sites, while in forests with plentiful den sites, female young are greater in number. Brushtail possums can live up to 13 years in the wild.\nThe common brushtail possum is considered a pest in some areas as it is known to cause damage to pine plantations, regenerating forest, flowers, fruit trees and buildings.\nIts fur has been considered valuable and has been harvested. Although once hunted extensively for its fur in Australia, the common brushtail possum is now protected in mainland states, but only partially protected in Tasmania where there is an annual hunting season. In addition, Tasmania gives Crop Protection Permits to landowners whose property has been damaged. While its populations are declining in some regional areas due to habitat loss, urban populations indicate an adaptation to the presence of humans. In the mainland states, possum trapping is legal when attempting to evict possums from human residences (e.g. roofs), however possums must be released after dusk within 24 hours of capture, no more than 50 metres from the trapping site. In some states e.g. Victoria, trapped possums may be taken to registered veterinarians for euthanasia. In South Australia, they are fully protected and permits are required for trapping possums in human residences or for keeping or rescuing sick or injured wild possums and other native animals.\nIn New Zealand they are considered a major threat to New Zealand native forests and birds. They are a wild species introduced from Australia in the 1850s; by the 1980s the peak population had reached an estimated 60-70 million but is now an estimated 30 million due to control measures. There are no restrictions on hunting but the population seems to be stable despite the annual killing of the animals in the thousands. In addition, in New Zealand (but not Australia where the disease has been eradicated) it is a host for the highly contagious bovine tuberculosis. The New Zealand Department of Conservation controls possum numbers in many areas via the aerial dropping of toxic 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) laced bait.\n"
        },
        "1166": {
            "common": "Golden eagle",
            "family": "Aquila chrysaetos",
            "id": 1166,
            "text": "The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and massive, sharp talons to snatch up a variety of prey (mainly hares, rabbits, marmots and other ground squirrels). Golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as . They build large nests in high places (mainly cliffs) to which they may return for several breeding years. Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Females lay up to four eggs, and then incubate them for six weeks. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months. These juvenile golden eagles usually attain full independence in the fall, after which they wander widely until establishing a territory for themselves in four to five years. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many areas which are now more heavily populated by humans. Despite being extirpated from or uncommon in some of its former range, the species is still fairly ubiquitous, being present in sizeable stretches of Eurasia, North America, and parts of North Africa. It is the largest and least populous of the five species of true accipitrid to occur as a breeding species in both the Palearctic and the Nearctic. For centuries, this species has been one of the most highly regarded birds used in falconry, with the Eurasian subspecies having been used to hunt and kill prey such as gray wolves (Canis lupus) in some native communities. Due to its hunting prowess, the golden eagle is regarded with great mystic reverence in some ancient, tribal cultures. The golden eagle is one of the most extensively studied species of raptor in the world in some parts of its range, such as the Western United States and the Western Palearctic.\nThe golden eagle is a very large, dark brown raptor with broad wings, ranging from in length and from  in wingspan. This species' wingspan is the fifth largest amongst extant eagle species. In the largest race (A. c. daphanea) males and females weigh typically and . In the smallest subspecies, A. c. japonica, males weigh and females . In the species overall, males may average around and females around . The maximum size of this species is a matter of some debate. Large races are the heaviest representatives of the Aquila genus and this species is on average the seventh-heaviest living eagle species. The golden eagle ranks as the second heaviest breeding eagle in North America, Europe and Africa but the fourth heaviest in Asia. For some time, the largest known mass authenticated for a wild female was the specimen from the nominate race which weighed around and spanned  across the wings. American golden eagles are typically somewhat smaller than the large Eurasian races, but a massive female that was banded and released in 2006 around Wyoming\u2019s Bridger-Teton National Forest became the heaviest wild golden eagle on record, at . No comprehensive range of weights are known for the largest subspecies (A. c. daphanea). Captive birds have been measured up to a wingspan of and a mass of  (the latter figure was for an eagle bred for the purposes of falconry which tend to be unnaturally heavy), respectively. The standard measurements of the species include a wing chord length of, a tail length of and a tarsus length of . The culmen reportedly averages around, with a range of and the bill length from the gape measures around . The long, straight and powerful hallux-claw (or hind claw, the equivalent to the big toe) can range from, being about one centimeter more than the hallux-claw of a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and a little more than one cm less than a harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja). The sexes are similar in plumage but are considerably dimorphic in size. Females are rather larger than males with the differences increasing as the body size increases across the races. The large Himalayan golden eagles females are about 37% heavier and nearly 9% longer in wing length than the males of the race compared with the small Japanese golden eagles where females are a relatively modest 26% heavier and around 6% longer in wing length than males. Adults are primarily dark brown in color, with a paler, typically golden color (the source of the species\u2019 common name) on the back of the crown and nape, and some grey on the inner-wing and tail. There are subtle differences in coloration among the races, described below. Unlike in other Aquila species, where the tarsal feathers are typically of a similar color to the rest of the plumage, the tarsal feathers of golden eagles tend to be paler, ranging from light golden to white. In addition, some full-grown birds (especially in North America) have white \"epaulettes\" on the upper part of each scapular feather tract. The bill is dark at the tip, fading to a lighter horn color, with a yellow cere. As in many acciptrids, the bare portion of the feet is yellow. This species moults gradually beginning in March or April until September or October each year. Moulting usually decreases in winter. Moult of the contour feathers begins on the head and neck region and process along the feather tracts in a general anterior-posterior direction. Feathers on head, neck, back and scapulars may be replaced annually. With large feathers of the wing and tail, moult beginning with innermost feather and proceeds outwards in a straightforward manner known as \"descendant\" moult. The juvenile golden eagle is similar to the adult but tends to be darker, appearing black on the back especially in East Asia. Compared to adults, juveniles have a more unfaded color. Young birds are white for about two-thirds of their tail length ending with a broad, black terminal band. Occasionally, juvenile eagles have white patches on the remiges at the bases of the inner primaries and the outer secondaries, forming a crescent marking on the wings which tend to be divided by darker feathers. Rarely, juvenile birds may have only trace amounts of white on the tail. Compared to the relatively consistently white tail, the white patches on the wing are extremely variable and some juveniles have almost no white visible. Juveniles of less than 12 months of age tend to have the most extensive amount of white to the plumage. By their second summer, the white underwing coverts are usually replaced by a characteristic rusty-brown color. By the third summer, the upper-wing coverts are largely replaced by dark brown feathers, however not all feathers moult at once giving many juvenile birds a grizzled pattern. The tail also follows a similar pattern of maturation. Due to the amount of variability in different individuals, juvenile eagles cannot be reliably aged on sight alone. Many golden eagles still have white on the tail during their first attempt at nesting. The final adult plumage is not fully attained until the birds are between 5 and a half and 6 and a half years old.\nWhile many accipitrids are not known for their strong voices, golden eagles have a particular tendency for silence, even while breeding. Some vocalization, however, has been recorded, and these normally are centering on the nesting period. The voice of the golden eagle is considered weak, high and shrill, even being emphatically described as \u201cquite pathetic\u201d and \u201cpuppy-like\u201d, and as somewhat incongruous considering the formidable size and nature of the species. Most known vocalizations seem to function as contact calls between eagles, sometimes adults to their offspring, occasionally territorial birds to intruders and rarely between a breeding pair. In Western Montana, nine distinct calls were noted: a chirp, a seeir, a pssa, a skonk, a cluck, a wonk, a honk and a hiss.\nGolden eagles are sometimes considered the most superlative fliers among eagles and perhaps among all raptorial birds. They are equipped with broad, long wings with somewhat finger-like indentations on the tips of the wing. Golden eagles are unique among their genus in that they often fly in a slight dihedral, which means the wings are often held in a slight, upturned V. When they must engage in flapping flight, golden eagles appear at their most labored but this flight method is generally less common than soaring or gliding flights. Flapping flight usually consists of 6\u20138 deep wing-beats, interspersed with 2 to 3 second glides. While soaring the wings and tail are held in one plane with the primary tips often spread. A typical, unhurried soaring speed in golden eagles is around . When hunting or displaying, the golden eagle is capable of very fast gliding, attaining speeds of up to . When diving (or stooping) in the direction of prey or during territorial displays, the eagle holds its wings tight and partially closed against its body and the legs up against its tail. In a full stoop, a golden eagle can reach spectacular speeds of up to when diving after prey. Although less agile and maneuverable, the golden eagle is apparently quite the equal and possibly even the superior of the peregrine falcon\u2019s stooping and gliding speeds. This places the golden eagle as the one of the two fastest moving living animals on earth. Although most flight in golden eagles has a purpose (e.g., territoriality, hunting, etc.), some flights (such as those by solitary birds or between well-established breeding pairs) seems to function merely as acts of playfulness.\nSize readily distinguishes this species from most other raptors when it is seen well. Most other raptors are considerably smaller. Buteo hawks, which are perhaps most similar to the golden eagle in structure among the species outside of the \u201cbooted eagle\u201d group, are often amongst the larger very common raptors. However, a mid-sized Buteo is dwarfed by a golden eagle, as an adult female eagle has a wingspan of about twice the width and weighs around five times more. Buteos are also usually distinctly paler below, although some species occur in \u201cdark morphs\u201d which can be even darker than a golden eagle. Only some Old World vultures and the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) (among the other raptorial birds this eagle co-exists with) are distinctly larger than the golden eagle, with longer, broader wings, typically held more evenly in a slower, less forceful flight and often have dramatically different color patterns. The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is a potential confusion species in North America from a great distance, as it is a large species that (like the golden eagle) often flies with a pronounced dihedral but is easily separated by its less controlled, forceful flying style and its smaller, thinner body, much smaller head and, at closer range, its slaty black-brown color and silvery wing secondaries. Compared to Haliaeetus eagles, the golden eagle has wings that are only somewhat more slender but are more hawk-like and lack the flat, plank-like wing positioning seen in the other genus. Large northern Haliaeetus usually have a larger bill and larger head which more distinctly protrudes than that of a golden eagle\u2019s in flight. The tail of the golden eagle is longer on average than those of Haliaeetus eagles, appearing to be two or three times the length of the head in soaring flight as opposed to the other eagles where the head is often more than twice the length of the tail. Confusion is most likely between juvenile Haliaeetus and golden eagles since the adult golden has a more solidly golden-brown coloration and all Haliaeetus eagles have obvious distinctive plumages as adults. Haliaeetus eagles are often heavily streaked in their juvenile phase. Juvenile golden eagles can show large patches of white to the wings and tail that are quite different than the random, sometimes large and splotchy-looking distribution of white typical of juvenile Haliaeetus. Distinguishing the golden eagle from other Aquila eagles in Eurasia is potentially a greater identification problem. This identification may rely on the golden's relatively long tail and patterns of white or gray on the wings and tail. Other Aquila eagles do not generally fly in a pronounced dihedral as do golden eagles. At close range, the golden to rufous nape-shawl of the golden eagle is distinctive from other Aquila. Most other Aquila eagles are darker looking in plumage, although the smaller tawny eagle (A. rapax) is often paler than the golden eagle (overlap in range verified only in Bale Mountains, Ethiopia). Among Eurasian Aquila, the adult eastern imperial (A. heliaca) and Spanish imperial eagle (A. adalberti) come closest to attaining similar sizes as golden eagles but this species pair are distinguished by their relatively longer neck, flatter wings in flight, white markings on their shoulder forewing-coverts, paler cream-straw colored nape patch and generally darker coloration. Juvenile imperial eagles are much paler overall (caramel-cream in the Spanish; cream and tawny streaks in the Eastern) and are not likely to be confused. Steppe eagles (A. nipalensis) can also be nearly golden eagle-sized but are more compact and smaller headed than a golden eagle with little color variation to their dark earth-brown plumage but for juvenile birds which have distinctive cream-colored bands running through their coverts and secondaries. Verreaux's eagle (A. verreauxii) are most similar in size and body shape to the golden, with the Verreaux's being slightly longer overall but marginally less heavy and long-winged than the golden eagle. The plumage is very distinctly different, however, as Verreaux's eagles are almost entirely jet-black but for some striking, contrasting white on the wing primaries, shoulders and upper-wing. This closely related species is known to co-occur with the golden eagle only in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia. Other booted eagles in the golden eagle\u2019s range are unlikely to be confused, due to the differences in size and form. Among the Aquila genus, only the long-winged and tailed wedge-tailed eagle (A. audax) of Australasia notably exceeds the golden eagle in average wingspan and length. However, the wedge-tailed eagle is a slightly less heavy bird.\nThis species was first described by Linnaeus in his 1758 Systema naturae as Falco chrysaetos. Since birds were grouped largely on superficial characteristics at that time, many species were grouped by Linnaeus in the Falco genus. The type locality was given simply as \"Europa\"; it was later fixed to Sweden. It was moved to the new genus Aquila by French ornithologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Aquila is Latin for \"eagle\", possibly derived from aquilus, \"dark in colour\" and chrysaetos is  Ancient Greek for the golden eagle from khrusos,  \"gold\" and aetos, \"eagle\". The golden eagle is part of a broad group of raptors called \u201cbooted eagles\u201d which are defined by the feature that all species have feathering over their tarsus, unlike many other accipitrids which have bare legs. Included in this group are all species described as \u201chawk eagles\u201d including the genera Spizaetus and Nisaetus, as well as assorted monotypical genera such as Oroaetus, Lophaetus, Stephanoaetus, Polemaetus, Lophotriorchis and Ictinaetus. The genus Aquila is distributed across every continent but for South America and Antarctica. Up to 20 species have been classified in the genus but the taxonomic placement of some of the traditional species has been questioned as of late. Traditionally, the Aquila eagles have been grouped superficially as largish, mainly brownish or dark-colored booted eagles that vary little in transition from their juvenile to their adult plumages. Genetic research has recently indicated the golden eagle is included in a clade with Verreaux's eagle in Africa as well as the Gurney's eagle (A. gurneyi) and the wedge-tailed eagle (clearly part of an Australasian radiation of the lineage). This identification of this particular clade has long been suspected based on similar morphological characteristics amongst these large-bodied species. More surprisingly, the smaller, much paler-bellied sister species Bonelli's eagle (A. fasciatus) and African hawk-eagle (A. spilogaster), previously included in the Hieraaetus genus, have been revealed to be genetically much closer to the Verreaux's and golden eagle lineage than to other species traditionally included in the Aquila genus. <ref name=\"Helbig\"> Other largish Aquila species, the eastern imperial, the Spanish imperial, the tawny and the steppe eagles, are now thought to be separate, close-knit clade, which attained some similar characteristics to the prior clade via convergent evolution. Genetically, the \u201cspotted eagles\u201d (A. pomarina, hasata & clanga), have been discovered to be more closely related to the long-crested eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis) and the black eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis), and many generic reassignments have been advocated. The Hieraaetus genus, including the booted eagle (H. pennatus), little eagle (H. morphnoides) and Ayres's hawk-eagle (H. ayresii), consists of much smaller species, that are in fact smallest birds called eagles outside of the unrelated Spilornis serpent-eagle genus. This genus has recently been eliminated by many authorities and are now occasionally also included in Aquila, although not all ornithological unions have followed this suit in this re-classification. The small-bodied Wahlberg's eagle (H. wahlbergi) has been traditionally considered a Aquila species due to its lack of change from juvenile to adult plumage and brownish color but it is actually genetically aligned to the Hieraaetus lineage. Cassin's hawk-eagle (H. africanus) is also probably closely related to the Hieraaetus group rather than the Spizaetus/Nisaetus \u201chawk-eagle\u201d group (in which it was previously classified) which is not known to have radiated to Africa.\nThere are six extant subspecies of golden eagle that differ slightly in size and plumage. Individuals of any race are somewhat variable and the differences between subspecies are clinal, especially in terms of body size. Other than these characteristics, there is little variation across the range of the species. Some recent studies have gone so far as to propose that only two subspecies be recognized based on genetic markers: Aquila chrysaetos chrysaetos (including A. c. homeyeri) and A. c. canadensis (including the races A. c. japonica, A. c. daphanea and A. c. kamtschatica). The larger Middle Pleistocene golden eagles of France (and possibly elsewhere) are referred to a paleosubspecies Aquila chrysaetos bonifacti, and the huge specimens of the Late Pleistocene of Liko Cave (Crete) have been named Aquila chrysaetos simurgh (Weesie, 1988). Similarly, an ancestral golden eagle, with a heavier, broader skull, larger wings and shorter legs when compared to modern birds, has been found in the La Brea Tar Pits of southern California.\nGolden eagles are fairly adaptable in habitat but often reside in areas with a few shared ecological characteristics. They are best suited to hunting in open or semi-open areas and search them out year-around. Native vegetation seems to be attractive to them and they typically avoid developed areas of any type from urban to agricultural as well as heavily forested regions. In desolate areas (e.g., the southern Yukon), they can occur regularly at roadkills and garbage dumps. The largest numbers of golden eagles are found in mountainous regions today, with many eagles doing a majority of their hunting and nesting on rock formations. However, they are not solely tied to high elevations and can breed in lowlands if the local habitats are suitable. Below are more detailed description of habitats occupied by golden eagles in both continents where they occur.\nIn the Arctic fringe of the great continent, golden eagles occur along the edge of the tundra and the taiga from the Kola peninsula to Anadyr in eastern Siberia, nesting in forests and hunting over nearby arctic heathland. Typical vegetation is stunted, fragmented larch woodland merging into low birch-willow scrub and various heathland. In the rocky, wet, windy maritime countries of the British Isles and western Scandinavia, the golden eagle is a mountain-dwelling bird. These areas include upland grasslands, blanket bog and sub-Arctic heaths but also fragmented woodland and woodland edge, including boreal forests. In Western Europe, golden eagle habitat is dominated by open, rough grassland, heath and bogs, in places enlivened by rocky ridges, spurs, crags, scree, slopes and grand plateaux. In Sweden, Finland, the Baltic States, Belarus and almost the entire distribution in Russia all the way to the Pacific Ocean, golden eagles occur sparsely in lowland taiga forest. These areas are dominated by stands of evergreens such as pine, larch and spruce, occasionally supplemented by birch and alder stands in southern Scandinavia and the Baltic States. This is largely marginal country for golden eagles and they occur where tree cover is thin and abuts open habitat. Golden eagle taiga habitat usually consists of extensive peatland formations caused by poorly drained soils. In central Europe, golden eagles today occur almost exclusively in the grand mountain ranges, such as Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians and the Caucasus. Here, the species nests near the tree line and hunt subalpine and alpine pastures, grassland and heath above. Golden eagles also occur in moderately mountainous habitat along the Mediterranean Sea, from Iberia and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, to Greece, Turkey and Kurdistan. This area is characterized by low mountains, Mediterranean maquis vegetation and sub-temperate open woodland in various stages of degradation. The local pine-oak vegetation, with a huge variety of Sclerophyllous shrubs are well-adapted to prolonged summer draughts. From Kurdistan and the southern Caspian Sea to the foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan, the typical golden eagle habitat is temperate desert-like mountain ranges surrounded by steppe landscapes interspersed with forest. Here the climate is colder and more continental than around the Mediterranean. Golden eagles occupy the alpine ranges from the Altai Mountains and the Pamir Mountains to Tibet, in the great Himalayan massif, and northwestern China, where they occupy the Tien Shan range. In these mountain ranges, the species often lives at very high elevations, living above tree line at more than, often nesting in rocky scree and hunting in adjacent meadows. In Tibet, golden eagles inhabit high ridges and passes in the Lhasa River watershed, where it regularly joins groups of soaring Himalayan vultures (Gyps himalayensis). One golden eagle was recorded circling at above sea-level in Khumbu in May 1975. In the mountains of Japan and Korea, the golden eagle occupies deciduous scrub woodland and carpet-like stands of Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila) that merge into grasslands and alpine heathland. The golden eagle occurs in mountains from the Adrar Plateau in Mauritania to northern Yemen and Oman where the desert habitat is largely bereft of vegetation but offers many rocky plateaus to support both the eagles and their prey. In Israel, their habitat is mainly rocky slopes and wide wadi areas, chiefly in desert and to a lesser extent in semi-desert and Mediterranean climates, extending to open areas. In Northeastern Africa, the habitat is often of a sparse, desert-like character and is quite similar to the habitat in Middle East and the Arabian peninsula. In Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, where the vegetation is more lush and the climate is clearly less arid than in Northeastern Africa, the golden eagle occupies verdant mountains.\nThe ecozones occupied by golden eagles are roughly concurrent with those of Eurasia. In western and northern Alaska and northern Canada to the Ungava Peninsula in Quebec, the eagles occupy the Arctic fringe of North America (the species does not range into the true high Arctic tundra), where open canopy gives way to dwarf-shrub heathland with cottongrass and tussock tundra. In land-locked areas of the sub-Arctic, golden eagles are by far the largest raptor. From the Alaska Range to Washington and Oregon, it is often found in high mountains above the tree line or on bluffs and cliffs along river valleys below the tree line. In Washington state, golden eagles can be found in clear-cut sections of otherwise dense coniferous forest zones with relatively little annual precipitation. From east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains to the mountains of Labrador, the golden eagle is found in small numbers in boreal forest peatlands and similar mixed woodland areas. In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the United States are plains and prairies where golden eagles are widespread, especially where there's a low human presence. Here, grassland on low rolling hills and flat plains are typical, interrupted only by cottonwood stands around river valleys and wetlands where the eagles may build their nests. Golden eagles also occupy the desert-like Great Basin from southern Idaho to northern Arizona and New Mexico. In this habitat, trees are generally absent other than junipers with vegetation being dominated by sagebrush (Artemisia) and other low shrub species. Although the vegetation varies a bit more, similar habitat is occupied by golden eagles in Mexico. However, golden eagles are typically absent in North America from true deserts, like the Sonora Desert, where annual precipitation is less than . Golden eagles occupy the mountains and coastal areas of California and Baja California in Mexico where hot, dry summers and moist winters are typical. The golden eagles here often nest in chaparral and oak woodland, oak savanna and grassland amongst low rolling hill typified by diverse vegetation. In the Eastern United States, the species once bred widely in the Appalachian Plateau near burns, open marshes, meadows, bogs and lakes. In Eastern North America, the species still breeds on the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. Until 1999, a pair of golden eagles were still known to nest in Maine but they are now believed to be absent as a breeding bird from the Eastern United States. The golden eagles who breed in eastern Canada winter on montane grass and heath fields in the Appalachian Plateau region, especially in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. Most sightings in the Eastern United States recently are concentrated within or along southwestern border of the Appalachian Plateau (30% of records) and within the Coastal Plain physiographic region (33% of records). Though they do regularly nest in the marsh-like peatland of the boreal forest, golden eagles are not generally associated with wetlands and, in fact, they can be found near some of the most arid spots on earth. In the wintering population of Eastern United States, however, they are often associated with steep river valleys, reservoirs, and marshes in inland areas as well as estuarine marshlands, barrier islands, managed wetlands, sounds, and mouths of major river systems in coastal areas. These wetlands are attractive due to a dominance of open vegetation, large concentrations of prey, and the general absence of human disturbance. In the midwestern United States, they are not uncommon during winter near reservoirs and wildlife refuges that provide foraging opportunities at waterfowl concentrations.\nGolden eagles usually hunt during daylight hours, but were recorded hunting from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset during the breeding season in southwestern Idaho. The hunting success rate of golden eagles was calculated in Idaho, showing that, out of 115 hunting attempts, 20% were successful in procuring prey. A fully-grown golden eagle requires about of food per day but in the life of most eagles there are cycles of feast and famine, and eagles have been known to go without food for up to a week and then gorge on up to  at one sitting.\nDespite the dramatic ways in which they attain food and interact with raptors of their own and other species, the daily life of golden eagles is often rather uneventful. In Idaho, adult male golden eagles were observed to sit awake on a perch for an average of 78% of daylight, whereas adult females sat on nest or perched for an average of 85% of the day. During the peak of summer in Utah, hunting and territorial flights occurred mostly between 9:00 and 11:00 am and 4:00 and 6:00 pm, with the remaining 15 or so hours of daylight spent perching or resting. When conditions are heavily anticyclonic, there is less soaring during the day. During winter in Scotland, golden eagles soar frequently in order to scan the environment for carrion. In the more wooded environments of Norway during autumn and winter, much less aerial activity is reported, since the eagles tend to avoid detection by actively contour-hunting rather than looking for carrion. Golden eagles are believed to sleep through much of the night. Although usually highly solitary outside of the bond between breeding pairs, exceptionally cold weather in winter may cause eagles to put their usual guard down and perch together. The largest known congregation of golden eagles was observed on an extremely cold winter\u2019s night in eastern Idaho when 124 individuals were observed perched closely along a line of 85 power poles.\nMost populations of golden eagles are sedentary, but the species is actually a partial migrant. Golden eagles are very hardy species, being well adapted to cold climates, however they cannot abide declining available food sources in the northern stretches of their range. Eagles raised at latitudes greater than 60\u00b0 N are usually migratory, though a short migration may be untaken by those who breed or hatch at about 50\u00b0 N. During migration, they often use soaring-gliding flight, rather than powered flight. In Finland, most banded juveniles move between due south, whereas adults stay locally through winter. Further east, conditions are too harsh for even wintering territorial adults. Golden eagles that breed from the Kola peninsula to Anadyr in the Russian Far East migrate south to winter on the Russian and Mongolian steppes, and the North China Plains. The flat, relatively open landscapes in these regions hold relatively few resident breeding golden eagles. Similarly the entire population of golden eagles from northern and central Alaska and northern Canada migrates south. At Mount Lorette in Alberta, approximately 4,000 golden eagles may pass during the fall, the largest recorded migration of golden eagles on earth. Here the mountain ranges are relatively moderate and consistent, thus being reliable for thermals and updrafts which made long-distance migrating feasible. Birds hatched in Denali National Park in Alaska traveled from to their winter ranges in western North America. These western migrants may winter anywhere from southern Alberta and Montana to New Mexico and Arizona and from inland California to Nebraska. Adults who bred in northeastern Hudson Bay area of Canada reached their wintering grounds, which range from central Michigan to southern Pennsylvania to northeastern Alabama, in 26 to 40 days, with arrival dates from November to early December. The departure dates from wintering grounds are variable. In southwestern Canada, they leave their wintering grounds by April 6 to May 8 (the mean being April 21); in southwestern Idaho, wintering birds leave from March 20 to April 13 (mean of March 29); and in the Southwestern United States, wintering birds may depart by early March. Elsewhere in the species' breeding range, golden eagles (i.e., those who breed in the contiguous Western United States, all of Europe but for Northern Scandinavia, North Africa and all of Asia but for Northern Russia) are non-migratory and tend to remain within striking distance of their breeding territories throughout the year. In Scotland, among all recovered, banded golden eagles (36 out of 1000, the rest mostly died or disappeared) the average distance between ringing and recovery was, averaging in juveniles and  in older birds. In the dry Southwestern United States, golden eagles tend to move to higher elevations once the breeding season is complete. In North Africa, populations breeding at lower latitudes, like Morocco, are mostly sedentary, although some occasionally disperse after breeding to areas outside of the normal breeding range.\nTerritoriality is believed to be the primary cause of interactions and confrontations between non-paired golden eagles. Golden eagles maintain some of the largest known home ranges (or territories) of any bird species but there is much variation of home range size across the range, possibly dictated by food abundance and habitat preference. Home ranges in most of the range can vary from . In San Diego County in California, the home ranges varied from, with an average of . However, some home ranges have been much smaller, such as in southwestern Idaho where, possibly due to an abundance of jackrabbits, home ranges as small as are maintained. The smallest known home ranges on record for golden eagles are in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, where they range from . 46% of undulating displays in Montana occurred shortly after the juvenile eagles left their parents range, suggesting that some residents defend and maintain territories year-round. Elsewhere it is stated that home ranges are less strictly maintained during winter but hunting grounds are basically exclusive. In Israel and Scotland, aggressive encounters peaked from winter until just before egg-laying and were less common during the nesting season. Threat displays include undulating flight and aggressive direct flapping flight with exaggerated downstrokes. Most displays by mature golden eagles (67% for males and 76% for females) occur, rather than around the nest, at the edge of their home ranges. In Western Norway, most recorded undulating flight displays occur during the pre-laying period in late winter/early spring. Display flights seem to be triggered by the presence of other golden eagles. The use of display flights has a clear benefit in that it lessens the need for physical confrontations, which can be fatal. Usually, non-breeding birds are treated aggressively by the golden eagle maintaining their home range, normally being chased to the apparent limit of the range but with no actual physical contact. The territorial flight of the adult golden eagle is sometimes preceded or followed by intense bouts of undulating displays. The invader often responds by rolling over and presenting talons to the aggressor. Rarely, the two eagles will lock talons and tumble through the air; sometimes fall several revolutions and in some cases even tumble to the ground before releasing their grip. In some parts of the Alps, the golden eagle population has reached the saturation point in appropriate habitat and apparently violent confrontations are more common than in other parts of the range. Golden eagles may express their aggression via body language while perched, typically the adult female when confronted by an intruding eagle: the head and body are upright, feathers on head and neck are erect; the wings may be slightly spread and beak open; often accompanied by intense gaze. They then often engage in a similar posture with wings spread wide and oriented toward the threat; sometimes rocking back on tail and even flopping over onto the back with talons extended upward as defense. Such behavior may be accompanied by wing slap against the threatening intruder. When approached by an intruder, the defending eagle turns away, partially spreads tail, lowers head, and remains still; adults on the nest may lower head and \u201cfreeze\u201d when approached by a person or a helicopter. Females in Israel displayed more than males and mostly against interspecific intruders; males apparently displayed primarily as part of courtship. Five of 7 aggressive encounters at carcasses during winter in Norway were won by females; in 15 of 21 conflicts, the younger bird dominated an older conspecific. However, obvious juvenile eagles (apparent to the adult eagles due to the amount of white on their wings and tail) are sometimes allowed to penetrate deeply into a pair\u2019s home range and all parties commonly ignore each other. In North Dakota, it was verified that parent eagles were not aggressive towards their own young after the nesting period and some juveniles stayed on their parents territory until their 2nd spring and then left by their own accord.\nGolden eagles usually mate for life. A breeding pair is formed in a courtship display. This courtship includes undulating displays by both in the pair, with the male bird picking up a piece of rock or a small stick, and dropping it only to enter into a steep dive and catch it in mid-air, repeating the maneuver 3 or more times. The female takes a clump of earth and drops and catches it in the same fashion. Golden eagles typically build several eyries within their territory (preferring cliffs) and use them alternately for several years. Their nesting areas are characterized by the extreme regularity of the nest spacing. Mating and egg-laying timing for golden eagle is variable depending on the locality. Copulation normally lasts 10\u201320 seconds. Mating seems to occur around 40\u201346 days before the initial egg-laying. The golden eagle chick may be heard from within the egg 15 hours before it begins hatching. After the first chip is broken off of the egg, there is no activity for around 27 hours. After this period, the hatching activity accelerates and the shell is broken apart in 35 hours. The chick is completely free in 37 hours. In the first 10 days, chicks mainly lie down on the nest substrate. The eagles are capable of preening on their second day but are continually thermoregulated via brooding by their parents until around 20 days. Within 10 days, the hatchlings grow considerably, weighing around . Around this age, they also start sitting up more. Around 20 days of age, the chicks generally start standing, which becomes the main position over the course of the next 40 days. The whitish down continues until around 25 days of age, at which point it is gradually replaced by dark contour feathers that eclipse the down and the birds attain a general piebald appearance. After hatching, 80% of food items and 90% of food biomass is captured and brought to the nest by the adult male. Fledging occurs at 66 to 75 days of age in Idaho and 70 to 81 days in Scotland. The first attempted flight departure after fledging can be abrupt, with the young jumping off and using a series of short, stiff wing-beats to glide downward or being blown out of nest while wing-flapping. 18 to 20 days after first fledging, the young eagles will take their first circling flight, but they cannot gain height as efficiently as their parents until approximately 60 days after fledging. In Cumbria, young golden eagles were first seen hunting large prey 59 days after fledging. 75 to 85 days after fledging, the young were largely independent of parents. Generally, breeding success seems to be greatest where prey is available in abundance.\nGolden eagles are fairly long-living birds in natural conditions. The survival rate of raptorial birds tends to increase with larger body size, with a 30\u201350% annual loss of population rate in small falcons/accipiters, a 15\u201325% loss of population rate in medium-sized hawks (e.g., Buteos or kites) and a 5% or less rate of loss in eagles and vultures. The oldest known wild golden eagle was a bird banded in Sweden which was recovered 32 years later. The longest-lived known wild golden eagle in North America was 23 years and 10 months. The long-lived known captive golden eagle, a specimen in Europe, survived to 46 years of age. The estimated adult annual survival rate on the Isle of Skye in Scotland is around 97.5%. When this extrapolated into an estimated lifespan this results in 39 and half years as the average for adult golden eagles in this area, which is probably far too high an estimate. Survival rates are usually much lower in juvenile eagles than in adult eagles. In the western Rocky Mountains, 50% of golden eagles banded in the nest died by the time they were 2 and a half years and an estimated 75% died by the time they were 5 years old. Near a wind turbine facility in west-central California, estimated survival rates, based on conventional telemetry of 257 individuals, were 84% for first-year eagles, 79% for 1- to 3-year-olds and adult floaters and 91% for breeders; with no difference in survival rates between sexes. Survival rates may be lower for migrating populations of golden eagles. A 19\u201334% survival rate was estimated for juvenile eagles from Denali National Park in their first 11 months. The average life expectancy of golden eagles in Germany is 13 years, extrapolated from a reported mere 92.5% survival rate.\nNatural sources of mortality are largely reported in anecdotes. On rare occasions, golden eagles have been killed by competing predators or by hunting mammalian carnivores, including the aforementioned wolverine, snow leopard, cougar, brown bear and white-tailed eagle attacks. Most competitive attacks resulting in death probably occur at the talons of other golden eagles. Nestlings and fledglings are more likely to be killed by another predator than free-flying juveniles and adults. It has been suspected that golden eagle nests may be predated more frequently by other predators (especially birds, which are often the only other large animals that can access a golden eagle nest without the assistance of man-made climbing equipment) in areas where golden eagles are regularly disturbed at the nest by humans. Jeff Watson believed that common raven occasionally eats golden eagle eggs but only in situations where the parent eagles have abandoned their nesting attempt. However, there are no confirmed accounts of predation by other bird species on golden eagle nests. Occasionally, golden eagles may be killed by their prey in self-defense. There is an account of a golden eagle dying from the quills of a North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) it had attempted to hunt. On the Isle of R\u00f9m in Scotland, there are few cases of red deer trampling golden eagles to death, probably the result of a hind having intercepted a bird that was trying to kill a fawn. Although usually well out-matched by the predator, occasionally other large birds can put up a formidable fight against a golden eagle. An attempted capture of a great blue heron by a golden eagle resulted in the death of both birds from wounds sustained in the ensuing fight. There is at least one case in Scotland of a golden eagle dying after being \u201coiled\u201d by a northern fulmar, a bird whose primary defense against predators is to disgorge an oily secretion which may inhibit the predator's ability to fly. Of natural sources of death, starvation is probably under-reported. 11 of 16 dead juvenile eagles which had hatched in Denali National Park had died of starvation. Of 36 deaths of golden eagles in Idaho, 55% were possibly attributable to natural causes, specifically 8 (26%) from unknown trauma, 3 (10%) from disease and 6 (19%) from unknown causes. Of 266 golden eagle deaths in Spain, only 6% were from unknown causes that could not directly attributed to human activities. Avian cholera caused by bacteria (Pasteurella multocida) infects eagles that eat waterfowl that have died from the disease. The protozoan Trichomonas sp. caused the deaths of 4 fledglings in a study of wild golden eagles in Idaho. Several further diseases that contribute to golden eagle deaths have been examined in Japan. A captive eagle died from two malignant tumors \u2013 one in the liver and one in the kidney.\nIn December 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed allowing wind-turbine electric generation companies to kill golden eagles without penalty, so long as \"companies take steps to minimize the losses\". If issued, the permits would last 30 years, six times the current 5-year permits.\nSee main article : Golden eagles in human culture. As early as recorded history, mankind was fascinated by the eagle. Most early recorded cultures regarded the golden eagle with reverence. It was only after the Industrial Revolution, when sport-hunting became widespread and commercial stock farming became internationally common, that humans started to widely regard golden eagles as a threat to their livelihoods. This period also brought about the firearm and industrialized poisons, which made it easy for humans to kill the evasive and powerful birds. The following are various reportages of the significance of eagles, many likely pertaining to the golden eagles, in early cultures and older religions as well as national and military insignias.\nSee main article: Status and conservation of the golden eagle At one time, the golden eagle lived in a great majority of temperate Europe, North Asia, North America, North Africa, and Japan. Although widespread and quite secure in some areas, in many parts of the range golden eagles have experienced sharp population declines and have even been extirpated from some areas. The total number of individual golden eagles from around the range is estimated to range somewhere between 170,000 and 250,000 while the estimated total number of breeding pairs ranges from 60,000 to 100,000. Few other eagle species are as numerous, though some species like tawny eagle, wedge-tailed eagle and bald eagle have total estimated populations of a similar size to the golden eagle\u2019s despite having distributions which are more restricted. The world\u2019s most populous eagle may be the African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer), which has a stable total population estimated at 300,000 individuals and is found solely in Africa. On a global scale, the golden eagle is not considered threatened by the IUCN.\n"
        },
        "1168": {
            "common": "Golden jackal",
            "family": "Canis aureus",
            "id": 1168,
            "text": "The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is a canid native to southeastern and central Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East and South Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, due to its widespread range in areas with optimum food and shelter. It is a social species, the basic social unit of which consists of a breeding pair and any offspring it might have. The golden jackal is very adaptable, being able to exploit many foodstuffs, from fruit and insects to small ungulates. As of 2005, MSW3 recognises 13 subspecies, though genetic studies published in 2015 revealed that six supposed golden jackal subspecies living in Africa were members of a separate species, Canis anthus, reducing the number of actual golden jackal subspecies to seven. Although similar to a small grey wolf, the golden jackal is distinguished by a more slender build, a narrower, more pointed muzzle, a shorter tail, and a lighter tread. Its winter fur also differs from a wolf's by its more fulvous-reddish colour. Despite its name, the golden jackal is not closely related to black-backed or side-striped jackals, being instead more closely related to grey wolves, coyotes, and Ethiopian wolves. It is capable of producing fertile hybrids with both grey and African wolves. Golden jackals feature prominently in Middle-Eastern and Asian folklore and literature, where they are often described as tricksters analogous to the fox and coyote for European and North American tales, respectively. In contrast, in Europe it is largely viewed in a negative light as a filthy scavenger, whose presence is indicative of environmental degradation.\nThe word \"jackal\" first appeared in English around 1600, and is derived from the French chacal, itself ultimately traceable to the Sanskrit srgala-s, which means \"the howler.\" Other names for the species include Eurasian golden jackal, common jackal, Asiatic jackal or reed wolf.<ref name=\"toth2009\">\nThe golden jackal is very similar to the grey wolf in general appearance, but is distinguished by its smaller size, lighter weight, shorter legs, more elongated torso and shorter tail. The end of the tail just reaches the heel or slightly below it. The head is lighter than the wolf's, with a less-prominent forehead, and the muzzle is narrower and more pointed. Males measure 71\u201385 cm in body length, with females being somewhat smaller. It stands 44.5\u201350 cm in shoulder height, and weighs around 6\u201314 kg (13\u201331 lbs). Its skull is similar to the wolf's, but is smaller and less massive, with a lower nasal region and shorter facial region. The projections of the skull are strongly developed, but weaker than the wolf's. Its canine teeth are large and strong, but relatively thinner than the wolf's, and its carnassials are weaker. Occasionally, it develops a horny growth on the skull, which is associated with magical powers in southeastern Asia. This horn usually measures half an inch in length, and is concealed by fur. The iris is light or dark brownish. Females have 5 pairs of teats. The fur's base colour is golden, though this varies seasonally from pale creamy yellow to dark tawny. The fur on the back often consists of a mixture of black, brown and white hairs, which sometimes form a dark saddle similar to the black-backed jackal's. Animals from high elevations tend to have buffier coats than their lowland counterparts. The underparts and belly are of a lighter pale ginger to cream colour than the back. Individual specimens can usually be distinguished by light markings on the throat and chest which differ individually. The tail is bushy, and has a tan or black tip. Melanism occasionally occurs, and was once considered \"by no means rare\" in Bengal. Unlike melanistic wolves and coyotes, which historically received their dark pigmentation from interbreeding with domestic dogs, melanism in golden jackals likely stems from an independent mutation, and could be an adaptive trait. An albino specimen was photographed in 2012 in southeastern Iran. The golden jackal moults twice a year, in spring and autumn. In Transcaucasia and Tajikistan, the spring moult begins during mid-late February, while during winter it starts mid-March and ends mid-late May. In healthy specimens, the moult lasts 60\u201365 days. The spring moult begins on the head and limbs, then extends to the flanks, chest, belly and rump, with the tail coming last. The autumn moult occurs from mid-September onward. The shedding of the summer fur and the growth of the winter coat is simultaneous. The development of the autumn coat starts with the rump and tail, spreading to the back, flanks, belly, chest, limbs and head, with full winter fur being attained at the end of November.\nThe golden jackal is scantily represented in the fossil record, and its direct ancestor is unknown; two previous candidates, Canis kuruksaensis and C. arnensis (from Villafranchian Tajikistan and Italy respectively), were demonstrated to be related more closely to coyotes than the jackals. Jackal-like fossils appear in South Africa as late as the Early Pleistocene, though remains identifiable as the golden jackal only appear beginning with the Middle Pleistocene. The absence of jackal fossils in the Caucasus region and Transcaucasia, areas where the species currently resides, indicates that the species is a relatively recent arrival in those places. However, its presence in the Balkan peninsula is probably quite ancient, as fossil finds in Croatia indicate that the species has been established in the Dalmatian Coast since the Late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Jackals likely entered the Balkans during the last glacial maximum via a land bridge across the current Bosphorus strait. According to Juliet Clutton-Brock, golden jackals are the \"most typical\" members of the genus Canis'', being of medium size and not having any outstanding features. Though less basal than the black-backed and side-striped jackals, it is nonetheless a somewhat less specialised species than the grey wolf, as indicated by its relatively short facial region, weaker tooth row and the more weakly developed projections of the skull. These features are related to the jackal's diet of small birds, rodents, small vertebrates, insects and carrion. The characteristics of the golden jackal's skull and genetic composition<ref name=\"lindblad-toh2005\"> indicate a closer affinity to the grey wolf and coyote than to the black-backed and side-striped jackal. Studies on mitochondrial genome sequences and whole genome nuclear sequences of African and Eurasian golden jackals showed that that the African specimens represented a distinct monophyletic lineage that should be recognized as a separate species, Canis anthus (African golden wolf), and that any superficial similarity between the two was due to parallel evolution.<ref name=\"Koepfli2015\"> According to a phylogeny derived from nuclear sequences, the African golden wolf separated from the wolf/coyote clade 1.3 million years ago, while the Eurasian golden jackal, Canis aureus diverged 1.9 million years ago and is more distant from these species than is the Ethiopian wolf, as shown below: Genetic analysis of microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA showed that showed that European jackals have much lower haplotype diversity than those in Israel (where they have admixed with dogs, grey wolves and African wolves), and that they mostly descend from populations originating from the Caucasus. The highest level of haplotype diversity was found in Peloponnesian jackals, which may represent a relict population of Europe's original golden jackals prior to their extirpation elsewhere. Particular attention was paid to the genetics of Baltic jackals, as all Baltic states class the animal as an artificially introduced invasive species subject to extermination. It was found that jackals in Estonia originate from the south-eastern European population, whereas those in Lithuania are of Caucasian origin; this was concluded to render the hypothesis of an artificial introduction unlikely, and that their presence in both states was consistent with the natural northward expansion of both southeastern and eastern European populations. In captivity, golden jackals are capable of hybridising with coyotes, though such hybrids become infertile at the second generation. In contrast, the golden jackal seems to have unlimited fertility with dogs and wolves.<ref name=\"galov2015\"> Because of Egypt's contiguity with Israel, traces of African golden wolf DNA were identified in Israeli golden jackals, thus indicating the presence of a hybrid zone.\nBecause of the species' wide distribution, a large number of local races have been described, though it remains poorly understood in terms of genetics; while the karyotype of Croatian jackals is similar to that of dogs and wolves (2n = 78; NF = 84), that of Indian jackals differs considerably (NF = 80), resulting in the possibility that the golden jackal is in fact an aggregate of poorly defined species. , 13 subspecies of golden jackal were recognised by MSW3. However, a genomic study published during 2015 found that all African taxa previously assigned to C. aureus are more closely related to the grey wolf than they are to the other golden jackal subspecies, with a genetic divergence of around 6.7%. The six African subspecies populations were thus reclassified as African golden wolves (C. anthus), thus reducing the actual number of golden jackal subspecies to seven.\nThe golden jackal is flexible in its sociability, living either alone or in family groups of 4\u20135 individuals. The vocalisations of the golden jackal are similar to those of the domestic dog, though more \"plaintive\". Its howl consists of a wailing \"Ai-yai! Ai-yai!\" sound, with a variant having been transcribed as \"Dead Hindoo, where, where, where?\". Adults howl standing, while young or subordinate specimens do so in a sitting posture, with the frequency of howling increasing during the mating season. The golden jackal has been recorded to howl upon hearing church bells, sirens or the whistles of steam engines and boats. It typically howls at dawn, midday and the evening. When in the vicinity of tigers, leopards or any other cause for alarm, the golden jackal emits a cry that has been variously transliterated as \"pheal\", \"phion\" or \"phnew\". When hunting in a pack, the dominant jackal initiates an attack by repeatedly emitting a sound transliterated as \"okkay!\". Compared to young wolves and dogs, golden jackal pups are much more aggressive and less playful with one another, with interactions frequently escalating into uninhibited fighting.\nGolden jackals are monogamous, with remarkably long courtship periods lasting 26\u201328 days. In Transcaucasia, estrus begins during early February, or occasionally late January during warm winters. Spermatogenesis in males occurs 10\u201312 days before the females enter estrus, which lasts for 3\u20134 days. Females failing to mate during this time will undergo a loss of receptivity which lasts six to eight days. Females undergoing their first estrus are often pursued by several males, which may quarrel amongst themselves. Once a male is selected, he proceeds to lick the female's vulva, and repeatedly mounts her without erection or hip thrusting. Actual copulations begin days later, and continue for about a week. Copulation itself lasts 20\u201345 minutes. In Transcaucasia, pups are usually born from late March to late April, and in northeastern Italy probably during late April, though they are born at any time of year in Nepal. The number of pups in a single litter varies geographically; jackals in Uzbekistan give birth to 2\u20138 pups, in Bulgaria 4\u20137, in Michurinsk only 3\u20135, and in India the average is four. Pups are born with shut eyelids and soft fur, which ranges in colour from light grey to dark brown. At the age of one month, their fur is shed and replaced with a new reddish coloured pelt with black speckles. Their eyes typically open after 8\u201311 days, with the ears erecting after 10\u201313 days. The eruption of adult dentition is completed after five months. The pups have a fast growth rate; at the age of two days, they weigh 201\u2013214 g, 560\u2013726 g at one month, and 2700\u20133250 g at four months. The length of the nursing period varies; in the Caucasus it lasts 50\u201370 days, while in Tajikistan it lasts as long as 90 days. The lactation period ends typically during mid-July, though in some areas it ends during early August. The pups begin to eat solid food at the age of 15\u201320 days. Once the lactation period concludes, the female drives off the pups. Pups born late remain with their mother until early autumn, at which time they leave either singly or in groups of two to four individuals.\nIn the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, female golden jackals usually give birth in burrows dug with the assistance of males, or they occupy derelict fox or badger dens. The burrow is dug a few days before parturition, with both the male and female taking turns digging. The burrow is located either in thick shrubs, on the slopes of gulleys or on flat surfaces. A golden jackal burrow is a simple structure with a single opening. Its length is about 2 metres, while the nest chamber occurs at a depth of 1.0\u20131.4 metres. In Dagestan and Azerbaijan, litters are sometimes located within the hollows of fallen trees, tree roots and under stones on river banks. In Middle Asia, the golden jackal does not dig burrows, but constructs lairs in dense tugai thickets. Jackals in the Vakhsh tugais construct 3-metre-long burrows under tree roots or directly in dense thickets. Jackals in the tugais and cultivated lands of Tajikistan construct lairs in long grass plumes, shrubs and reed openings.\nThe golden jackal rarely hunts in groups, though packs of 8\u201312 jackals consisting of more than one family have been observed in the summer periods in Transcaucasia. When hunting alone, the golden jackal will trot around an area, occasionally stopping to sniff and listen. Once prey is located, it will conceal itself, quickly approach, then pounce. When hunting in pairs or packs, jackals run parallel to their prey and overtake it in unison. When hunting aquatic rodents or birds, they will run along both sides of narrow rivers or streams, driving their prey from one jackal to another.\nThe golden jackal is a generalist that adapts to local food abundances, a trait which allows it to occupy a variety of different habitats and exploit a large number of food resources. Its lithe body and long legs allows it to trot for large distances in search of food. It has the ability to forego liquids, and has been observed on islands with no fresh water. It can survive in temperatures as low as \u221225\u00b0 or \u221235\u00b0, though it is not maximally adapted for living in snowy areas. Its preferred habitats consist of flat shrublands, humid reeded areas and floodplains. Although it generally avoids mountainous forests, it may enter alpine and subalpine areas during dispersal. In Turkey, Caucasus and Transcaucasia, it has been observed at heights of up to 1,000 meters above mean sea level (MAMSL), particularly in areas where the climate forces shrublands into high elevations.\nThe golden jackal is an omnivorous and opportunistic forager; its diet varies according to season and habitat. In Bharatpur, India, over 60% of its diet consists of rodents, birds and fruit, while 80% of its diet consists of rodents, reptiles and fruit in Kanha. In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, golden jackals primarily hunt hares and mouse-like rodents, as well as pheasants, francolins, ducks, coots, moorhens and passerines. Vegetable matter eaten by jackals in these areas includes fruits, such as pears, hawthorn, dogwood and the cones of common medlars. It is implicated in the destruction of grapes, watermelons, muskmelons and nuts. Near the Vakhsh River, the jackal's spring diet consists almost exclusively of plant bulbs and the roots of wild sugar cane, while during winters it feeds on the fruit stones of wild stony olives. In the edges of the Karakum Desert, the golden jackal feeds on gerbils, lizards, snakes, fish and muskrats. Karakum jackals also eat the fruits of wild stony olives, mulberry and dried apricots, as well as watermelons, muskmelons, tomatoes and grapes. In Hungary, its most frequent prey animals are common voles and bank voles. Information on the diet of the golden jackal in northeastern Italy is scant, but it certainly preys on small roe deer and hares. In Dalmatia, mammals (the majority being even-toed ungulates and lagomorphs) comprised 50.3% of the golden jackal's diet, fruit seeds (14% each being common fig and common grape vine, while 4.6% are Juniperus oxycedrus) and vegetables 34.1%, insects (16% orthopteras, 12% beetles, and 3% dictyopteras) 29.5%, birds and their eggs 24.8%, artificial food 24%, and branches, leaves, and grass 24%. In Israel, golden jackals have been shown to be significant predators of snakes, including venomous snakes; an increase of snakebites occurred during a period of a poisoning campaign against golden jackals while a decrease in snakebites occurred when the poisoning ceased.\nGolden jackals tend to dominate smaller canid species. In Israel, red foxes will avoid close physical proximity with jackals, with studies showing that fox populations decrease where jackals are abundant. Conversely, jackals vacate areas inhabited by wolves, which have been known to approach jackal-calling stations at a quick trotting pace, presumably to chase them away. The jackal's recent expansion throughout eastern and western Europe has been attributed to historical decreases of wolf populations. The present diffusion of the golden jackal in the northern Adriatic hinterland seems to be in rapid expansion in various areas where the wolf is absent or very rare. However, some jackals have been observed to follow and feed alongside wolves without evoking any hostility. In South-eastern Asia, golden jackals have been known to hunt alongside dhole packs. In India, lone jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationships with tigers. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will associate themselves with a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills. A kol-bahl will even alert a tiger to a kill with a loud pheal. Tigers have been known to tolerate these jackals, with one report describing how a jackal confidently walked in and out between three tigers walking together a few feet away from each other. Striped hyenas have been known to prey on golden jackals.\nThe jackal's current European range mostly encompasses the Balkan region, where habitat loss and mass poisoning caused it to become extinct in many areas during the 1960s, with core populations only occurring in scattered regions such as Strandja, the Dalmatian Coast, Aegean Macedonia and the Peloponnese. It recolonised its former territories in Bulgaria during 1962, following legislative protection, and subsequently expanded its range into Romania and Serbia. Individual jackals further expanded into Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia during the 1980s, with further range expansion in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Denmark, Poland and the Netherlands occurring during the 1990s\u20132010s. Jackal populations in Albania however are on the verge of extinction with possible occurrence in only three lowland wetland locations along the Adriatic Sea. The golden jackal is listed as an Annex V species in the EU Habitats Directive and as such has legal protection in Estonia, Greece and all other EU member states. To the east, its range is through Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Central Asia, the entire Indian subcontinent, then east and south to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and parts of Indochina. In India, the golden jackal is included in CITES Appendix III, and is featured in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, thus receiving legal protection, albeit at the lowest level. The species occurs in all of India's protected areas, save for those in the higher areas of the Himalayas.\nThe golden jackal can carry diseases and parasites harmful to human health, including rabies and Donovan's Leishmania (which, although harmless to jackals, can cause leishmaniasis in people). Jackals in southwestern Tajikistan have been recorded to carry 16 species of parasitic cestodes, roundworms and acanthocephalans, these being Sparganum mansoni, Diphyllobothrium mansonoides, Taenia hydatigena, T. pisiformis, T. ovis, Hydatigera taeniaeformis, Diphylidium caninum, Mesocestoides lineatus, Ancylostoma caninum, Uncinaria stenocephala, Dioctophyma renale, Toxocara canis, Toxascaris leonina, Dracunculus medinensis, Filariata and Macracanthorhynchus catulinum. Jackals infected with D. medinensis can infect water bodies with their eggs, and cause dracunculiasis in people who drink from them. Jackals may also play a large part in spreading coenurosis in sheep and cattle, and canine distemper in dogs. During July 2006, a jackal in Romania was found to be carrying Trichinella britovi. Jackals consuming fish and molluscs can be infected with metagonimiasis, which was recently diagnosed in a male jackal from northeastern Italy. In Tajikistan, golden jackals carry at least 12 tick species (which include Ixodes, Rhipicephalus turanicus, R. leporis, R. rossicus, R. sanguineus, R. pumilio, R. schulzei, Hyalomma anatolicum, H. scupense and H. asiaticum), four flea species (Pulex irritans, Xenopsylla nesokiae, Ctenocephanlides canis and C. felis) and one species of louse (Trichodectes canis). In northeastern Italy, the species is a carrier of the tick species Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus.\nGolden jackals appear prominently in Indian folklore and ancient texts, such as the Jakatas and Panchatantra, where they are often portrayed as intelligent and wily creatures. One popular Indian saying describes the jackal as \"the sharpest among beasts, the crow among birds, and the barber among men\". To hear a jackal howl when embarking on an early morning journey was considered to be a sign of impending good fortune, as was seeing a jackal crossing a road from the left. In Hinduism, the golden jackal is portrayed as the familiar of several deities, the most common of which being Chamunda, the emaciated, devouring goddess of the cremation grounds. Another deity associated with jackals is Kali, who inhabits the cremation ground and is surrounded by millions of jackals. According to the Tantrasara, when offered animal flesh, Kali appears before the officiant in the form of a jackal. The goddess Shivatudi is depicted with a jackal's head. According to the flood myth of the Kamar people of Raipur, God caused a deluge to dispose of a jackal who had offended him. Jackals are mentioned several times in some Bible translations as howling scavengers inhabiting desolate places. Some authors have stated that because of the general scarcity and elusiveness of foxes in Israel, the author of the Book of Judges may have actually been describing the much more common golden jackals when narrating how Samson tied torches to the tails of 300 foxes to make them destroy the vineyards of the Philistines. In Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories collected in The Jungle Book, the character Tabaqui is a jackal despised by the Sioni wolf pack, due to his mock cordiality, scavenging habits and his subservience to Shere Khan. His name likely stems from tab\u00e1qi k\u016btta, meaning \"dish (licking) dog\".\nThe golden jackal can be a harmful pest, attacking domestic animals such as turkeys, lambs, sheep, goats, and domestic water buffalo calves, and valuable game species like newborn roe deer, hares, coypu, pheasants, francolins, grey partridges, bustards and waterfowl. It destroys many grapes, and eats watermelons, muskmelons and nuts. In Greece, jackals tend not to be as damaging to livestock as wolves and red foxes are, though they can become a serious nuisance to small stock when in great numbers. In southern Bulgaria, 1,053 attacks on small stock, mainly sheep and lambs, were recorded between 1982 and 1987, along with some damages to newborn deer in game farms. Approximately 1.5%\u20131.9% of calves born on the Golan Heights die due to predation, mainly by golden jackals. In both cases, the high predation rate is attributable to a jackal population explosion due to the high availability of food in illegal garbage dumps. Preventive measures to avoid predation were also lacking in both cases. However, even without preventive measures, the greatest damages by jackals from Bulgaria were minimal when compared to the livestock losses to wolves. Golden jackals are extremely harmful to furbearing rodents, such as coypu and muskrats. Coypu can be completely extirpated in shallow water bodies; during the winter of 1948\u201349 in the Amu Darya, muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal faeces contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals, 16% of which froze and became unsuitable for muskrat occupation. Jackals also harm the fur industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry.\nDuring British rule, sportsmen in India and Iraq hunted jackals on horseback with hounds as a substitute for the fox hunting of their native England. Although not considered as beautiful as English red foxes, golden jackals were esteemed for their endurance in the chase: one pursuit lasted 3\u00bd hours. India's weather and terrain added further challenges to jackal hunters not present in England; the hounds of India were rarely in the same good condition as English hounds, and although the golden jackal has a strong odour, the terrain of northern India was not good in retaining scent. Also, unlike foxes, golden jackals sometimes feigned death when caught, and could be ferociously protective of their captured packmates. Jackals were hunted in three ways: with greyhounds, foxhounds and with mixed packs. Hunting jackals with greyhounds offered poor sport, as greyhounds were too fast for jackals, and mixed packs were too difficult to control. British hunters distinguished between three types of jackal: the city scavenger, which was slow and smelly, and which the dogs did not like to follow; the \"village jack\", which was faster, more alert, and less odorous; and the open-country jack, which was still faster, cleaner, and provided better \"sport\". Some indigenous people of India, such as the Kolis and Vaghirs of Gujarat and Rajasthan and the Narikuravas in Tamil Nadu, hunt and eat golden jackals, but the majority of South Asian cultures consider the animal unclean. The orthodox dharma texts forbid the eating of jackals, as they have five nails (panchanakha). In the former Soviet Union, jackals are not actively hunted, and are usually captured incidentally during the hunting of other animals by means of traps or shooting during drives. In the Trans-Caucasus, jackals are captured with large fishing hooks baited with meat, suspended 75\u2013100 cm from the ground with wire. The jackals can only reach the meat by jumping, and are hooked by the lip or jaw.\nIn Russia and other nations of the former Soviet Union, golden jackals are considered furbearers, albeit ones of low quality due to their sparse, coarse and monotonously coloured fur. Asiatic and Near Eastern jackals produce the coarsest pelts, though this can be remedied during the dressing process. As jackal hairs have very little fur fibre, their skins have a flat appearance. The softest furs come from Elburz in northern Iran. Jackals are known to have been hunted for their fur during the 19th century: during the 1880s, 200 jackals were captured annually in Mervsk. In the Zakatal area of the Trans-Caucasus, 300 jackals were captured during 1896. During that period, a total of 10,000 jackals had been taken within Russia, and were sent exclusively to the Nizhegorod fair. During the early 1930s, 20,000\u201325,000 jackal skins were tanned annually in the Soviet Union, though the stocks were significantly underused, as more than triple that amount could have been produced. Before 1949 and the onset of the Cold War, the majority of jackal skins were exported to the United States. Despite their geographical variations, jackal skins are not graded according to a fur standard, and are typically used for the manufacture of cheap collars, women's coats and fur coats.\nThe golden jackal may have once been tamed in Neolithic Turkey 11,000 years ago, as evidenced by a sculpture of a man cradling a jackal found in G\u00f6bekli Tepe. French explorers during the 19th century noted that people in the Levant kept golden jackals in their homes. Golden jackals are present in almost all Indian zoos, with 67 males, 72 females, and 54 unsexed individuals as of March 2000. Outside India, golden jackals are rarely kept in Western zoos, where the more colourful black-backed jackal is mostly exhibited. That golden jackals are capable of hybridising with domestic dogs has long been attested by naturalists. The Kalmyks in particular were known to frequently cross their dogs with jackals, and Balkan shepherds used to cross their sheepdogs with jackals. During 1975, scientists at Russia's DS Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection began a breeding project in which they crossed golden jackals with huskies, to create an improved breed with the jackal's power of scent and the husky's resistance to cold. During recent years, Aeroflot has used one-quarter jackal hybrids, known as Sulimov dogs, to sniff out explosives otherwise undetectable by machinery.\nJackals are responsible for 1.7% of rabies infections in humans in India, coming in third place after foxes (3%) and dogs (96%). During 1998\u20132005, 220 cases of jackal attacks on humans occurred in Chhattisgarh's Marwahi forest division, though none were fatal. The majority of these attacks occurred in villages, followed by forests and crop fields. On 6 October 2008, a rabid jackal attacked 36 people in five villages in Berasia, Bhopal district, four of whom died later. During early 2012, a jackal thought to be non-rabid injured 11 people, three of them seriously in Chincholi, Gulbarga district. There are several reports of jackal attacks on humans in Iran; during 1996, a jackal injured a 10-year-old boy, and during late 1997, a jackal injured a man and mauled his seven-day-old son in Kerman Province.\n"
        },
        "1170": {
            "common": "Golden-mantled ground squirrel",
            "family": "Spermophilus lateralis",
            "id": 1170,
            "text": "The golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis) is a ground squirrel found in mountainous areas of western North America. It is abundant throughout its range and is equally at home in a wide variety of forest habitats, as well as rocky meadows, and even sagebrush flats.\nA typical adult ranges from in length. The golden-mantled ground squirrel can be identified by its chipmunk-like stripes and coloration, but unlike a chipmunk, it lacks any facial stripes. It is commonly found living in the same habitat as Uinta chipmunks. The golden-mantled ground squirrel is similar to a chipmunk in more than just its appearance. Although it is a traditional hibernator, building up its body fat to survive the winter asleep, it is also known to store some food in its burrow, like the chipmunk, for consumption upon waking in the spring. Both the golden-mantled ground squirrel and the chipmunk have cheek pouches for carrying food. Cheek pouches allow them to transport food back to their nests and still run at full speed on all fours. Golden-mantled ground squirrels dig shallow burrows up to in length with the openings hidden in a hollow log or under tree roots or a boulder. The female gives birth to a single litter of four to six young each summer. It eats seeds, nuts, berries, insects, and underground fungi. It is preyed upon by hawks, jays, weasels, foxes, bobcats, and coyotes.\n"
        },
        "1172": {
            "common": "Goldeneye, barrows",
            "family": "Bucephala clangula",
            "id": 1172,
            "text": "The common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. Its closest relative is the similar Barrow's goldeneye. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, \"bullheaded\", from bous, \"bull \" and kephale, \"head\", a reference to the bulbous head shape of the bufflehead. The species name is derived from Latin clangere, \"to resound\".\nAdult males ranges from and from, while females range from  and from . The species is named for its golden-yellow eye. Adult males have a dark head with a greenish gloss and a circular white patch below the eye, a dark back and a white neck and belly. Adult females have a brown head and a mostly grey body. Their legs and feet are orange-yellow.\nTheir breeding habitat is the taiga. They are found in the lakes and rivers of boreal forests across Canada and the northern United States, Scandinavia and northern Russia. They are migratory and most winter in protected coastal waters or open inland waters at more temperate latitudes. Naturally, they nest in cavities in large trees. They will readily use nestboxes, and this has enabled a healthy breeding population to establish in Scotland where they are increasing and slowly spreading with the help of nestboxes. They are usually quite common in winter around lakes of Britain and some are being encouraged to nest in nestboxes which are put up to try to have them there all year round. Occasionally recorded as a vagrant in various parts of the Indian Subcontinent. Often the natural tree cavities are made by broken limbs, unless they are made by pileated woodpeckers or black woodpeckers, the only tree-cavity-making animals who make a cavity large enough to normally accommodate a goldeneye. Average egg size is a breadth of, a length of and a weight of . The incubation period ranges from 28 to 32 days. The female does all the incubating and is abandoned by the male about 1 to 2 weeks into incubation. The young remain in the nest for about 24\u201336 hours. Brood parasitism is quite common both with other common goldeneyes as well as with other duck species, and even tree swallow and European starling eggs have been found mixed with goldeneye eggs. The broods commonly start to mix with other females' broods as they become more independent. Goldeneye young have been known to be competitively killed by other goldeneye mothers, common loons and red-necked grebes. The young are capable of flight at 55\u201365 days of age.\nThese diving birds forage underwater. Year-round, about 32% of their prey is crustaceans, 28% is aquatic insects and 10% is molluscs. Insects are the predominant prey while nesting and crustaceans are the predominant prey during migration and winter. Locally, fish eggs and aquatic plants can be important foods. They themselves may fall prey to various hawks, owls and eagles, while females and their broods have been preyed upon by bears (Ursus spp.), various weasels (Mustela spp.), mink (Mustela vison), raccoons (Procyon lotor) and even northern flickers (Colaptes auratus) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus husonicus).\nThe common goldeneye is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Approximately 188,300 common goldeneyes were killed annually by duck hunters in North America during the 1970s, representing slightly less than 4% of the total waterfowl killed in Canada during that period, and less than 1% of the total waterfowl killed in the US. The rate is probably similar today. Both the breeding and winter habitat of these birds has been degraded by clearance and pollution. However, this is the only duck in North America known to derive short-term benefits from lake acidification.\n"
        },
        "1174": {
            "common": "Goldeneye, common",
            "family": "Bucephala clangula",
            "id": 1174,
            "text": "The common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. Its closest relative is the similar Barrow's goldeneye. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, \"bullheaded\", from bous, \"bull \" and kephale, \"head\", a reference to the bulbous head shape of the bufflehead. The species name is derived from Latin clangere, \"to resound\".\nAdult males ranges from and from, while females range from  and from . The species is named for its golden-yellow eye. Adult males have a dark head with a greenish gloss and a circular white patch below the eye, a dark back and a white neck and belly. Adult females have a brown head and a mostly grey body. Their legs and feet are orange-yellow.\nTheir breeding habitat is the taiga. They are found in the lakes and rivers of boreal forests across Canada and the northern United States, Scandinavia and northern Russia. They are migratory and most winter in protected coastal waters or open inland waters at more temperate latitudes. Naturally, they nest in cavities in large trees. They will readily use nestboxes, and this has enabled a healthy breeding population to establish in Scotland where they are increasing and slowly spreading with the help of nestboxes. They are usually quite common in winter around lakes of Britain and some are being encouraged to nest in nestboxes which are put up to try to have them there all year round. Occasionally recorded as a vagrant in various parts of the Indian Subcontinent. Often the natural tree cavities are made by broken limbs, unless they are made by pileated woodpeckers or black woodpeckers, the only tree-cavity-making animals who make a cavity large enough to normally accommodate a goldeneye. Average egg size is a breadth of, a length of and a weight of . The incubation period ranges from 28 to 32 days. The female does all the incubating and is abandoned by the male about 1 to 2 weeks into incubation. The young remain in the nest for about 24\u201336 hours. Brood parasitism is quite common both with other common goldeneyes as well as with other duck species, and even tree swallow and European starling eggs have been found mixed with goldeneye eggs. The broods commonly start to mix with other females' broods as they become more independent. Goldeneye young have been known to be competitively killed by other goldeneye mothers, common loons and red-necked grebes. The young are capable of flight at 55\u201365 days of age.\nThese diving birds forage underwater. Year-round, about 32% of their prey is crustaceans, 28% is aquatic insects and 10% is molluscs. Insects are the predominant prey while nesting and crustaceans are the predominant prey during migration and winter. Locally, fish eggs and aquatic plants can be important foods. They themselves may fall prey to various hawks, owls and eagles, while females and their broods have been preyed upon by bears (Ursus spp.), various weasels (Mustela spp.), mink (Mustela vison), raccoons (Procyon lotor) and even northern flickers (Colaptes auratus) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus husonicus).\nThe common goldeneye is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Approximately 188,300 common goldeneyes were killed annually by duck hunters in North America during the 1970s, representing slightly less than 4% of the total waterfowl killed in Canada during that period, and less than 1% of the total waterfowl killed in the US. The rate is probably similar today. Both the breeding and winter habitat of these birds has been degraded by clearance and pollution. However, this is the only duck in North America known to derive short-term benefits from lake acidification.\n"
        },
        "118": {
            "common": "Armadillo, nine-banded",
            "family": "Dasypus novemcinctus",
            "id": 118,
            "text": "The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), or the nine-banded, long-nosed armadillo, is a medium-sized mammal found in North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos. Its ancestors originated in South America, and remained there until the formation of the Isthmus of Panama allowed them to enter North America as part of the Great American Interchange. The nine-banded armadillo is a solitary, mainly nocturnal animal, found in many kinds of habitats, from mature and secondary rainforests to grassland and dry scrub. It is an insectivore, feeding chiefly on ants, termites, and other small invertebrates. The armadillo can jump straight in the air if sufficiently frightened, making it a particular danger on roads. It is the state small mammal of Texas.\nThe nine-banded armadillo evolved in a warm, rainy environment, and is still most commonly found in regions resembling its ancestral home. As a very adaptable animal, though, it can also be found in scrublands, open prairies, and tropical rainforests. It cannot thrive in particularly cold or dry environments, as its large surface area, which is not well insulated by fat, makes it especially susceptible to heat and water loss.\nThe nine-banded armadillo has been rapidly expanding its range both north and east within the United States, where it is the only regularly occurring species of armadillo. The armadillo crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in the late 19th century, and was introduced in Florida at about the same time by humans. By 1995, the species had become well established in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and had been sighted as far afield as Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. A decade later, the armadillo had become established in all of those areas and continued its migration, being sighted as far north as southern Nebraska, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana. The primary cause of this rapid expansion is explained simply by the species having few natural predators within the United States, little desire on the part of Americans to hunt or eat the armadillo, and the animals' high reproductive rate. The northern expansion of the armadillo is expected to continue until the species reaches as far north as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut, and all points southward on the East Coast of the United States. Further northward and westward expansion will probably be limited by the armadillo's poor tolerance of harsh winters, due to its lack of insulating fat and its inability to hibernate. As of 2009, newspaper reports indicated the nine-banded armadillo seems to have expanded its range northward as far as Omaha, Nebraska in the west, and Kentucky Dam and Evansville, Indiana, in the east. In 1995, armadillos were only seen in the southern tip of South Carolina, and within two to three years, they had swept across most of the state. In late 2009, North Carolina began considering the establishment of a hunting season for armadillo, following reports that the species has been moving into the southern reaches of the state (roughly between the areas of Charlotte and Wilmington). Outside the United States, the nine-banded armadillo ranges southward through Central and South America into northern Argentina and Uruguay, where it is still expanding its range.\nNine-banded armadillos are generally insectivores. They forage for meals by thrusting their snouts into loose soil and leaf litter and frantically digging in erratic patterns, stopping occasionally to dig up grubs, beetles (perhaps the main portion of this species' prey selection), ants, termites, and worms, which their sensitive noses can detect through of soil. They then lap up the insects with their sticky tongues. Nine-banded armadillos have been observed to roll about on ant hills to dislodge and consume the resident ants. They supplement their diets with amphibians and small reptiles, especially in more wintery months when such prey tends to be more sluggish, and occasionally bird eggs and baby mammals. Carrion is also eaten, although perhaps the species is most attracted to the maggots borne by carcasses rather than the meat itself. Less than 10% of the diet of this species is composed by nonanimal matter, though fungi, tubers, fruits, and seeds are occasionally eaten.\nNine-banded armadillos generally weigh from, though the largest specimens can scale up to . They are one of the largest species of armadillos. Head and body length is, which combines with the tail, for a total length of . They stand tall at the top of the shell. The outer shell is composed of ossified dermal scutes covered by nonoverlapping, keratinized epidermal scales, which are connected by flexible bands of skin. This armor covers the back, sides, head, tail, and outside surfaces of the legs. The underside of the body and the inner surfaces of the legs have no armored protection. Instead, they are covered by tough skin and a layer of coarse hair. The vertebrae attach to the carapace. The claws on the middle toes of the forefeet are elongated for digging, though not to the same degree as those of the much larger giant armadillo of South America. Their low metabolic rate and poor thermoregulation make them best suited for semitropical environments. Unlike the South American three-banded armadillos, the nine-banded armadillo cannot roll itself into a ball. It is, however, capable of floating across rivers by inflating its intestines, or by sinking and running across riverbeds. The second is possible due to its ability to hold its breath for up to six minutes, an adaptation originally developed for allowing the animal to keep its snout submerged in soil for extended periods while foraging. Although nine is the typical number of bands on the nine-banded armadillo, the actual number varies by geographic range. Armadillos possess the teeth typical of all sloths and anteaters. The teeth are all small, peg-like molars with open roots and no enamel. Incisors do form in the embryos, but quickly degenerate and are usually absent by birth.\nNine-banded armadillos are solitary, largely nocturnal animals that come out to forage around dusk. They are extensive burrowers, with a single animal sometimes maintaining up to 12 burrows on its range. These burrows are roughly wide,  deep, and  long. Armadillos mark their territory with urine, feces, and excretions from scent glands found on the eyelids, nose, and feet. Females tend to have exclusive, clearly defined territories. Males have larger territories, but theirs often overlap, and can coincide with the ranges of several females. Territorial disputes are settled by kicking and chasing. When they are not foraging, armadillos shuffle along fairly slowly, stopping occasionally to sniff the air for signs of danger.\nIf alarmed, nine-banded armadillos can flee with surprising speed. Occasionally, a large predator may be able to ambush the armadillo before it can clear a distance, and breach the hard carapace with a well-placed bite or swipe. If the fleeing escape fails, the armadillo may quickly dig a shallow trench and lodge itself inside. Predators are rarely able to dislodge the animal once it has burrowed itself, and abandon their prey when they cannot breach the armadillo\u2019s armor or grasp its tapered tail. Due to their softer carapaces, juvenile armadillos are more likely to fall victim to natural predation and their cautious behavior generally reflects this. Young nine-banded armadillos tend to forage earlier in the day and are more wary of the approach of an unknown animal (including humans) than are adults. Their known natural predators include cougars (perhaps the leading predator), maned wolves, coyotes, black bears, red wolves, jaguars, alligators, bobcats, and large raptors. By far the leading predator of nine-banded armadillos today is humans, as armadillos are locally harvested for their meat and shells and many thousands fall victim to auto accidents every year.\nMating takes place during a two- to three-month-long mating season, which occurs from July\u2013August in the Northern Hemisphere and November\u2013January in the Southern Hemisphere. A single egg is fertilized, but implantation is delayed for three to four months to ensure the young will not be born during an unfavorable time. Once the zygote does implant in the uterus, a gestation period of four months occurs, during which the zygote splits into four identical embryos, each of which develops its own placenta, so blood and nutrients are not mixed between them. After birth, the quadruplets remain in the burrow, living off the mother\u2019s milk for about three months. They then begin to forage with the mother, eventually leaving after six months to a year. Nine-banded armadillos reach sexual maturity at the age of one year, and reproduce every year for the rest of their 12\u2013 to 15-year lifespans. A single female can produce up to 56 young over the course of her life. This high reproductive rate is a major cause of the species\u2019 rapid expansion.\nThe foraging of nine-banded armadillo can cause mild damage to the root systems of certain plants. Skunks, cotton rats, burrowing owls, pine snakes, and rattlesnakes can be found living in abandoned armadillo burrows. Occasionally, the armadillo may threaten the endangered gopher tortoise by aggressively displacing them from their burrows and claiming the burrows for themselves. Studies have shown the fan-tailed warbler habitually follows armadillos to feed on insects and other invertebrates displaced by them. They are typically hunted for their meat, which is said to taste like pork, but are more frequently killed as a result of their tendency to steal the eggs of poultry and game birds. This has caused certain populations of the nine-banded armadillo to become threatened, although the species as a whole is under no immediate threat. They are also valuable for use in medical research, as they are among the few mammals other than humans susceptible to leprosy. In Texas, nine-banded armadillos are raised to participate in armadillo racing, a small-scale, but well-established sport in which the animals scurry down a 40-foot track.\nDuring the Great Depression, the species was hunted for its meat in East Texas, where it was known as the poor man\u2019s pork, or the \"Hoover hog\" by those who considered President Herbert Hoover to be responsible for the depression. Earlier, German settlers in Texas would often refer to the armadillo as Panzerschwein (\"armored pig\"). In 1995, the nine-banded armadillo was, with some resistance, made the state small mammal of Texas, where it is considered a pest and is often seen dead on the roadside. They first forayed into Texas across the Rio Grande from Mexico in the 19th century, eventually spreading across the southeast United States.\nNorth American subspecies exhibit reduced genetic variability compared with the subspecies of South America, indicating the armadillos of North America are descended from a relatively small number of individuals that migrated from south of the Rio Grande.\n"
        },
        "1180": {
            "common": "Goose, andean",
            "family": "Chloephaga melanoptera",
            "id": 1180,
            "text": "The Andean goose (Neochen melanoptera) is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is also known as the Huallata. It is in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. It is resident around lakes and marshes in the high Andes, usually well above 3000 m. It is largely terrestrial and avoids swimming except in emergencies. This heavily built bird has a tiny pink bill and white plumage except for black in the wings and tail. The female is similar to the male, but is smaller. The Andean goose is a grazing species, eating grasses. It nests on the ground in a bare scrape near water, laying 6-10 eggs. It is territorial in the breeding season, but otherwise forms small flocks. It had been considered a member of the genus Chloephaga, but recent studies suggest placement in the genus Neochen.\nAndean geese (N. melanoptera) have developed a mutation in their hemoglobin that has led to a vast increase in hemoglobin-oxygen affinity. More specifically, Hiebl et al. found that N. melanoptera has developed mutations that lead to five amino-acid substitutions in the alpha-chain and five substitutions in the beta-chain of their hemoglobin. A particular substitution the in N. melanoptera beta-chain has led to the elimination of a Van der Waals interaction between the alpha-chain and the beta-chain. This has destabilized the T-state (the deoxygenated state of hemoglobin), which has led to a higher affinity for being in the R-state (oxygenated state of hemoglobin). Overall, this mutation increases the hemoglobin-oxygen affinity of N. melanoptera.\n"
        },
        "1182": {
            "common": "Goose, canada",
            "family": "Branta canadensis",
            "id": 1182,
            "text": "The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is a large wild goose species with a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brown body. Native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, its migration occasionally reaches northern Europe. It has been introduced to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; it tends to be found on or close to fresh water. Extremely successful at living in human-altered areas, Canada geese have proven able to establish breeding colonies in urban and cultivated areas, which provide food and few natural predators, and are well known as a common park species. Their success has led to them often being considered a pest species because of their depredation of crops and issues with their noise, droppings, aggressive territorial behavior, and habit of begging for food, especially in their introduced range. Canada geese are also among the most commonly hunted waterfowl in North America.\nThe Canada goose was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae. It belongs to the Branta genus of geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey species of the Anser genus. Branta is a Latinised form of Old Norse Brandg\u00e1s, \"burnt (black) goose\" and the specific epithet canadensis is a New Latin word meaning \"from Canada\". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation for the 'Canada goose' dates back to 1772. The Canada goose is also colloquially referred to as the \"Canadian goose\". The cackling goose was originally considered to be the same species or a subspecies of the Canada goose, but in July 2004, the American Ornithologists' Union's Committee on Classification and Nomenclature split them into two species, making the cackling goose into a full species with the scientific name Branta hutchinsii. The British Ornithologists' Union followed suit in June 2005. The AOU has divided the many subspecies between the two species. The subspecies of the Canada goose were listed as: The distinctions between the two geese have led to confusion and debate among ornithologists. This has been aggravated by the overlap between the small types of Canada goose and larger types of cackling goose. The old \"lesser Canada goose\" was believed to be a partly hybrid population, with the birds named B. c. taverneri considered a mixture of B. c. minima, B. c. occidentalis, and B. c. parvipes. In addition, the barnacle goose has been determined to be a derivative of the cackling goose lineage, whereas the Hawaiian goose is derived from the Canada goose.\nThe black head and neck with a white \"chinstrap\" distinguish the Canada goose from all other goose species, with the exception of the cackling goose and barnacle goose (the latter, however, has a black breast and gray rather than brownish body plumage). The seven subspecies of this bird vary widely in size and plumage details, but all are recognizable as Canada geese. Some of the smaller races can be hard to distinguish from the cackling goose, which slightly overlap in mass. However, most subspecies of the cackling goose (exclusive of Richardson's cackling goose, B. h. hutchinsii) are considerably smaller. The smallest cackling goose, B. h. minima, is scarcely larger than a mallard. In addition to the size difference, cackling geese also have a shorter neck and smaller bill, which can be useful when small Canada geese comingle with relatively large cackling geese. Of the \"true geese\" (i.e. the genera Anser or Branta), the Canada goose is on average the largest living species, although some other species that are geese in name, if not of close relation to these genera, are on average heavier such as the spur-winged goose and Cape Barren goose. Canada geese range from in length and has a  wingspan. Among standard measurements, the wing chord can range from, the tarsus can range from and the bill can range from . The largest subspecies is the B. c. maxima, or the giant Canada goose, and the smallest (with the separation of the cackling goose group) is B. c. parvipes, or the lesser Canada goose. An exceptionally large male of race B. c. maxima, which rarely exceed, weighed and had a wingspan of . This specimen is the largest wild goose ever recorded of any species. The male Canada goose usually weighs, averaging amongst all subspecies . The female looks virtually identical, but is slightly lighter at, averaging amongst all subspecies , and generally 10% smaller in linear dimensions than the male counterparts. The female also possesses a different, and less sonorous, honk than the male.\nThis species is native to North America. It breeds in Canada and the northern United States in a variety of habitats. The Great Lakes region maintains a very large population of Canada geese. Canada geese occur year-round in the southern part of their breeding range, including most of the eastern seaboard and the Pacific coast. Between California and South Carolina in the southern United States and northern Mexico, Canada geese are primarily present as migrants from further north during the winter. By the early 20th century, overhunting and loss of habitat in the late 19th century and early 20th century had resulted in a serious decline in the numbers of this bird in its native range. The giant Canada goose subspecies was believed to be extinct in the 1950s until, in 1962, a small flock was discovered wintering in Rochester, Minnesota, by Harold Hanson of the Illinois Natural History Survey. In 1964, the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center was built near Jamestown. Its first director, Harvey K. Nelson, talked Forrest Lee into leaving Minnesota to head the center\u2019s Canada goose production and restoration program. Forrest soon had 64 pens with 64 breeding pairs of screened, high-quality birds. The project involved private, state, and federal resources and relied on the expertise and cooperation of many individuals. By the end of 1981, more than 6,000 giant Canada geese had been released at 83 sites in 26 counties in North Dakota. With improved game laws and habitat recreation and preservation programs, their populations have recovered in most of their range, although some local populations, especially of the subspecies B. c. occidentalis, may still be declining. In recent years, Canada goose populations in some areas have grown substantially, so much so that many consider them pests for their droppings, bacteria in their droppings, noise, and confrontational behavior. This problem is partially due to the removal of natural predators and an abundance of safe, man-made bodies of water near food sources, such as those found on golf courses, in public parks and beaches, and in planned communities. Due in part to the interbreeding of various migratory subspecies with the introduced nonmigratory giant subspecies, Canada geese are frequently a year-around feature of such urban environments. Contrary to its normal migration routine, large flocks of Canada geese have established permanent residence in Esquimalt, British Columbia, on Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia's James River regions, and in the Triangle area of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill), and nearby Hillsborough. Some Canada geese have taken up permanent residence as far south as Florida, in places such as retention ponds in apartment complexes. Large resident populations of Canada geese are also present in much of the San Francisco Bay area in Northern California. In 2015, the Ohio population of Canada geese was reported as roughly 130,000, with the number likely to continue increasing. Many of the geese, previously migratory, reportedly had become native, remaining in the state even in the summer. The increase was attributed to a lack of natural predators, an abundance of water, and plentiful grass in manicured lawns in urban areas. Canada geese were eliminated in Ohio following the American Civil War, but were reintroduced in 1956 with 10 pairs. The population was estimated at 18,000 in 1979. The geese are considered protected, though a hunting season is allowed from September 1\u201315, with a daily bag limit of five.\nCanada geese have reached Northern Europe naturally, as has been proved by ringing recoveries. The birds include those of the subspecies B. c. parvipes, and possibly others. These geese are also found naturally on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Siberia, and eastern China. Canada geese have also been introduced in Europe, and have established populations in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Finland. Most European populations are not migratory, but those in more northerly parts of Sweden and Finland migrate to the North Sea and Baltic coasts. Semitame feral birds are common in parks, and have become a pest in some areas. In the early 17th century, explorer Samuel de Champlain sent several pairs of geese to France as a present for King Louis XIII. The geese were first introduced in Britain in the late 17th century as an addition to King James II's waterfowl collection in St. James's Park. They were introduced in Germany and Scandinavia during the 20th century, starting in Sweden in 1929. In Britain, they were spread by hunters, but remained uncommon until the mid-20th century. Their population grew from 2200\u20134000 birds in 1953 to an estimated 82,000 in 1999, as changing agricultural practices and urban growth provided new habitat. European birds are mostly descended from the subspecies B. c. canadensis, likely with some contributions from the subspecies B. c. maxima.\nCanada geese were introduced as a game bird into New Zealand in 1905. They have become a problem in some areas by fouling pastures and damaging crops. They were protected under the Wildlife Act 1953 and the population was managed by Fish and Game New Zealand, which culled excessive bird numbers. In 2011, the government removed the protection status, allowing anyone to kill the birds.\nLike most geese, the Canada goose is naturally migratory with the wintering range being most of the United States. The calls overhead from large groups of Canada geese flying in V-shaped formation signal the transitions into spring and autumn. In some areas, migration routes have changed due to changes in habitat and food sources. In mild climates from California to the Great Lakes, some of the population has become nonmigratory due to adequate winter food supply and a lack of former predators. Males exhibit agonistic behaviour both on and off breeding and nesting grounds. This behavior rarely involves interspecific killing. One documented case involved a male defending his nest from a brant goose that wandered into the area; the following attack lasted for one hour until the death of the brant. The cause of death was suffocation or drowning in mud as a direct result of the Canada goose's pecking the head of the brant into the mud. Researchers attributed it to high hormone levels and the brant's inability to leave the nesting area.\nCanada geese are primarily herbivores, although they sometimes eat small insects and fish. Their diet includes green vegetation and grains. The Canada goose eats a variety of grasses when on land. It feeds by grasping a blade of grass with the bill, then tearing it with a jerk of the head. The Canada goose also eats beans and grains such as wheat, rice, and corn when they are available. In the water, it feeds from silt at the bottom of the body of water. It also feeds on aquatic plants, such as seaweeds. In urban areas, it is also known to pick food out of garbage bins.\nDuring the second year of their lives, Canada geese find a mate. They are monogamous, and most couples stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the other may find a new mate. The female lays from two to nine eggs with an average of five, and both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male. Its nest is usually located in an elevated area near water such as streams, lakes, ponds, and sometimes on a beaver lodge. Its eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down. The incubation period, in which the female incubates while the male remains nearby, lasts for 24\u201328 days after laying. As the annual summer molt also takes place during the breeding season, the adults lose their flight feathers for 20\u201340 days, regaining flight about the same time as their goslings start to fly. As soon as the goslings hatch, they are immediately capable of walking, swimming, and finding their own food (a diet similar to the adult geese). Parents are often seen leading their goslings in a line, usually with one adult at the front, and the other at the back. While protecting their goslings, parents often violently chase away nearby creatures, from small blackbirds to lone humans who approach, after warning them by giving off a hissing sound and then attack with bites and slaps of the wings if the threat does not retreat or has seized a gosling. Canada geese are especially protective animals, and will sometimes attack any animal nearing its territory or offspring, including humans. Most of the species that prey on eggs also take a gosling. Although parents are hostile to unfamiliar geese, they may form groups of a number of goslings and a few adults, called cr\u00e8ches. The offspring enter the fledgling stage any time from 6 to 9 weeks of age. They do not leave their parents until after the spring migration, when they return to their birthplace.\nCanada geese are known for their seasonal migrations. Most Canada geese have staging or resting areas where they join up with others. Their autumn migration can be seen from September to the beginning of November. The early migrants have a tendency to spend less time at rest stops and go through the migration much faster. The later birds usually spend more time at rest stops. Some geese return to the same nesting ground year after year and lay eggs with their mate, raising them in the same way each year. This is recorded from the many tagged geese which frequent the East Coast. Canada geese fly in a distinctive V-shaped flight formation, with an altitude of 1 km (3,000 feet) for migration flight. The maximum flight ceiling of Canada geese is unknown, but they have been reported at 9 km (29,000 feet). Flying in the V formation has been the subject of study by researchers. The front position is rotated since flying in front consumes the most energy. Canada geese leave the winter grounds more quickly than the summer grounds. Elevated thyroid hormones, such as T 3 and T 4, have been measured in geese just after a big migration. This is believed because of the long days of flying in migration the thyroid gland sends out more T 4 which help the body cope with the longer journey. The increased T 4 levels are also associated with increased muscle mass (hypertrophy) of the breast muscle, also because of the longer time spent flying. It is believed that the body sends out more T 4 to help the goose's body with this long task by speeding up the metabolism and lowering the temperature at which the muscles work. Also, other studies show levels of stress hormones such as corticosterone rise dramatically in these birds during and after a migration.\nThe lifespan in the wild of geese that survive to adulthood ranges from 10 to 24 years. The British longevity record is held by a specimen tagged as a nestling, which was observed alive at the University of York at the age of 31.\nKnown predators of eggs and goslings include coyotes, Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus), northern raccoons (Procyon lotor), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), large gulls (Larus species), common ravens (Corvus corax), American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), carrion crows (in Europe, Corvus corone) and both brown (Ursus arctos) and American black bears (Ursus americanus). Once they reach adulthood, due to their large size and often aggressive behavior, Canada geese are rarely preyed on, although prior injury may make them more vulnerable to natural predators. Beyond humans, adults can be taken by coyotes and gray wolves (Canis lupus). Avian predators that are known to kill adults, as well as young geese, include snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and, though rarely on large adult geese, great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), and gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus). Adults are quite vigorous at displacing potential predators from the nest site, with predator prevention usually falling to the larger male of the pair. Males usually attempt to draw attention of approaching predators and toll (mob terrestrial predators without physical contact) often in accompaniment with males of other goose species. Eagles of both species frequently cause geese to fly off en masse from some distance, though in other instances, geese may seem unconcerned at perched bald eagles nearby, seemingly only reacting if the eagle is displaying active hunting behavior. Canada geese are quite wary of humans where they are regularly hunted and killed, but can otherwise become habituated to fearlessness towards humans, especially where they are fed by them. This often leads to the geese becoming overly aggressive towards humans, and large groups of the birds may be considered a nuisance if they are causing persistent issues to humans and other animals in the surrounding area.\nSalinity plays a role in the growth and development of goslings. Moderate to high salinity concentrations without fresh water results in slower development, growth, and saline-induced mortality. Goslings are susceptible to saline-induced mortality before their nasal salt glands become functional, with the majority occurring before the sixth day of life.\nCanada geese are susceptible to avian bird flus, such as H5N1. A study carried out using the HPAI virus, a H5N1 virus, found that the geese were susceptible to the virus. This proved useful for monitoring the spread of the virus through the high mortality of infected birds. Prior exposure to other viruses may result in some resistance to H5N1.\nIn North America, nonmigratory Canada goose populations have been on the rise. The species is frequently found on golf courses, parking lots, and urban parks, which would have previously hosted only migratory geese on rare occasions. Owing to its adaptability to human-altered areas, it has become the most common waterfowl species in North America. In many areas, nonmigratory Canada geese are now regarded as pests by humans. They are suspected of being a cause of an increase in high fecal coliforms at beaches. An extended hunting season, deploying noise makers, and hazing by dogs have been used in an attempt to disrupt suspect flocks. A goal of conservationists has been to focus hunting on the nonmigratory populations (which tend to be larger and more of a nuisance) as opposed to migratory flocks showing natural behavior, which may be rarer. Since 1999, the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agency has been engaged in lethal culls of Canada geese primarily in urban or densely populated areas. The agency responds to municipalities or private land owners, such as golf courses, which find the geese obtrusive or object to their waste. Addling goose eggs and destroying nests are promoted as humane population control methods. Canada geese are protected from hunting and capture outside of designated hunting seasons in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and in Canada under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. In both countries, commercial transactions such as buying or trading are mostly prohibited and the possession, hunting, and interfering with the activity of the animals are subject to restrictions. In the UK, as with native bird species, the nests and eggs of Canada geese are fully protected by law, except when their removal has been specifically licensed, and shooting is generally permitted only during the defined open season. Geese have a tendency to attack humans when they feel themselves or their goslings to be threatened. First, the geese stand erect, spread their wings, and produce a hissing sound. Next, the geese charge. They may then bite or attack with their wings.\nCanada geese have been implicated in a number of bird strikes by aircraft. Their large size and tendency to fly in flocks may exacerbate their impact. In the United States, the Canada goose is the second-most damaging bird strike to airplanes, with the most damaging being turkey vultures. Canada geese can cause fatal crashes when they strike an aircraft's engine. In 1995, a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, struck a flock of Canada geese on takeoff, losing power in both port side engines. It crashed from the runway, killing all 24 crew members. The accident sparked efforts to avoid such events, including habitat modification, aversion tactics, herding and relocation, and culling of flocks. In 2009, a collision with a flock of migratory Canada geese resulted in US Airways Flight 1549 suffering a total power loss after takeoff causing the crew of the aircraft to land the plane on the Hudson River with no loss of life.\nAs a large, common wild bird, the Canada goose is a common target of hunters, especially in its native range. Drake Larsen, a researcher in sustainable agriculture at Iowa State University, described them to Atlantic magazine as \"so yummy...good, lean, rich meat. I find they are similar to a good cut of beef.\" The British Trust for Ornithology, however, has described them as \"reputedly amongst the most inedible of birds.\" The US goose harvest for 2013-14 reported over 1.3 million geese taken. Canada geese are rarely farmed, and sale of wild Canada goose meat is rare due to regulation, and slaughterhouses' lack of experience with wild birds. Geese culled near New York airports have been donated to food banks in Pennsylvania. As of 2011, the sale of wild Canada goose meat was not permitted in the UK; some landowners have lobbied for this ban to be withdrawn to allow them income from sale of game meat.\nIn 2000, the North American population for the geese was estimated to be between 4 million and 5 million birds. A 20-year study from 1983 to 2003 in Wichita, Kansas, found the size of the winter Canada goose population within the city limits increase from 1,600 to over 18,000 birds.\n"
        },
        "1184": {
            "common": "Goose, cape barren",
            "family": "Cereopsis novaehollandiae",
            "id": 1184,
            "text": "The Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) is a large goose resident in southern Australia. The species is named for Cape Barren Island, where specimens were first sighted by European explorers.\nThe Cape Barren goose was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the current binomial name. It is a most peculiar goose of uncertain affiliations (Sraml et al. 1996). It may either belong into the \"true geese\" and swan subfamily Anserinae or into the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae as distinct tribe Cereopsini, or be separated, possibly including the prehistorically extinct flightless New Zealand geese of the genus Cnemiornis, in a distinct subfamily Cereopsinae. Indeed, the first bones of the New Zealand birds to be discovered were similar enough to those of the Cape Barren goose to erroneously refer to them as \"New Zealand Cape Barren goose\" (\"Cereopsis\" novaezeelandiae). The smaller population of Cape Barren goose in Western Australia is described as a subspecies, Cereopsis novaehollandiae grisea, and named for the group of islands known as the Recherche Archipelago.\nThese are bulky geese and their almost uniformly grey plumage, bearing rounded black spots, is unique. The tail and flight feathers are blackish and the legs are pink with black feet. The short, decurved black bill and green cere gives it a very peculiar expression. The Cape Barren goose is long, weighs  and has a  wingspan; males are somewhat larger than females. This bird feeds by grazing and rarely swims.\nTheir ability to drink salt or brackish water allows numbers of geese to remain on offshore islands all year round. They are one of the rarest of the world's geese. They are gregarious outside the breeding season, when they wander more widely, forming small flocks.\nA previous decline in numbers appears to have been reversed as birds in the east at least have adapted to feeding on agricultural land. The breeding areas are grassy islands off the Australian coast, where this species nests on the ground in colonies. It bears captivity well, quite readily breeding in confinement if large enough paddocks are provided. In Australia, 19th-century explorers named a number of islands \"Goose Island\" due to the species' presence there. In 1968, a small number of geese were introduced to Maria Island.\n"
        },
        "1186": {
            "common": "Goose, cereopsis",
            "family": "Cereopsis novaehollandiae",
            "id": 1186,
            "text": "The Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) is a large goose resident in southern Australia. The species is named for Cape Barren Island, where specimens were first sighted by European explorers.\nThe Cape Barren goose was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the current binomial name. It is a most peculiar goose of uncertain affiliations (Sraml et al. 1996). It may either belong into the \"true geese\" and swan subfamily Anserinae or into the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae as distinct tribe Cereopsini, or be separated, possibly including the prehistorically extinct flightless New Zealand geese of the genus Cnemiornis, in a distinct subfamily Cereopsinae. Indeed, the first bones of the New Zealand birds to be discovered were similar enough to those of the Cape Barren goose to erroneously refer to them as \"New Zealand Cape Barren goose\" (\"Cereopsis\" novaezeelandiae). The smaller population of Cape Barren goose in Western Australia is described as a subspecies, Cereopsis novaehollandiae grisea, and named for the group of islands known as the Recherche Archipelago.\nThese are bulky geese and their almost uniformly grey plumage, bearing rounded black spots, is unique. The tail and flight feathers are blackish and the legs are pink with black feet. The short, decurved black bill and green cere gives it a very peculiar expression. The Cape Barren goose is long, weighs  and has a  wingspan; males are somewhat larger than females. This bird feeds by grazing and rarely swims.\nTheir ability to drink salt or brackish water allows numbers of geese to remain on offshore islands all year round. They are one of the rarest of the world's geese. They are gregarious outside the breeding season, when they wander more widely, forming small flocks.\nA previous decline in numbers appears to have been reversed as birds in the east at least have adapted to feeding on agricultural land. The breeding areas are grassy islands off the Australian coast, where this species nests on the ground in colonies. It bears captivity well, quite readily breeding in confinement if large enough paddocks are provided. In Australia, 19th-century explorers named a number of islands \"Goose Island\" due to the species' presence there. In 1968, a small number of geese were introduced to Maria Island.\n"
        },
        "1188": {
            "common": "Goose, egyptian",
            "family": "Alopochen aegyptiacus",
            "id": 1188,
            "text": "The Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) is a member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. It is native to Africa south of the Sahara and the Nile Valley. Egyptian geese were considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians, and appeared in much of their artwork. They have been raised for food and extensively bred in parts of Africa since they were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians. Because of their popularity chiefly as ornamental bird, escapes are common and small feral populations have become established in Western Europe.\nThe Egyptian goose is believed to be most closely related to the shelducks (genus Tadorna) and their relatives, and is placed with them in the subfamily Tadorninae. It is the only extant member of the genus Alopochen, which also contains closely related prehistoric and recently extinct species. mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggest that the relationships of Alopochen to Tadorna need further investigation. The generic name is based on Greek \u1f00\u03bb\u03ce\u03c0\u03b7\u03be (al\u014dp\u0113x), \"fox\", and \u03c7\u03ae\u03bd (ch\u0113n) \"goose\", referring to the ruddy colour of its back. The species name aegyptius is from the Latin Aegyptius, \"Egyptian\".\nIt swims well, and in flight looks heavy, more like a goose than a duck, hence the English name. It is long. The sexes of this species are identical in plumage but the males average slightly larger. There is a fair amount of variation in plumage tone, with some birds greyer and others browner, but this is not sex- or age-related. A large part of the wings of mature birds is white, but in response the white is hidden by the wing coverts. When it is aroused, either in alarm or aggression, the white begins to show. In flight or when the wings are fully spread in aggression, the white is conspicuous. The voices and vocalisations of the sexes differ, the male having a hoarse, subdued duck-like quack which seldom sounds unless it is aroused. The male Egyptian goose attracts its mate with an elaborate, noisy courtship display that includes honking, neck stretching and feather displays. The female has a far noisier raucous quack that frequently sounds in aggression and almost incessantly at the slightest disturbance when tending her young.\nThis species breeds widely in Africa except in deserts and dense forests, and is locally abundant. They are found mostly in the Nile Valley and south of the Sahara. While not breeding, it disperses somewhat, sometimes making longer migrations northwards into arid regions of the Sahel. It has also been introduced elsewhere: Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Germany have self-sustaining populations which are mostly derived from escaped ornamental birds. Escapes have also bred on occasion in other places, such as Florida and New Zealand. The British population dates back to the 18th century, though only formally added to the British list in 1971. In Britain, it is found mainly in East Anglia, in parkland with lakes. It was officially declared a pest in the U.K. in 2009.\nThis is a largely terrestrial species, which will also perch readily on trees and buildings. Egyptian geese typically eat seeds, leaves, grasses, and plant stems. Occasionally, they will eat locusts, worms, or other small animals. Both sexes are aggressively territorial towards their own species when breeding and frequently pursue intruders into the air, attacking them in aerial \"dogfights\". Egyptian geese have been observed attacking aerial objects such as drones that enter their habitat as well. Neighbouring pairs may even kill another's offspring for their own offsprings' survival as well as for more resources. This species will nest in a large variety of situations, especially in holes in mature trees in parkland. The female builds the nest from reeds, leaves and grass, and both parents take turns incubating eggs. Egyptian geese usually pair for life. Both the male and female care for the offspring until they are old enough to care for themselves.\nFile:Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) juvenile.jpg|Juvenile, Norfolk, England File:Alopochen aegyptiacus -GaiaPark Kerkrade Zoo-8a.jpg|Parent and goslings File:Egyptian Goose Ducklings 3.jpg|Gosling File:Yeorit6.JPG|Immature birds File:Alopochen aegyptiacus - Z\u00fcrich Z\u00fcrichhorn IMG 8438.JPG|Three adults at Z\u00fcrichhorn on the shore of Lake Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland File:EgyptianGoose.jpg|A pair in Norwich, East of England File:Egyptian-Goose.jpg|Egyptian goose in flight File:Egyptian geese-4837 3 no-watermark.jpg|One of the several nesting pairs of Egyptian geese in Palm Beach County, Florida File:Egyptian Goose from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg|ID composite Alopochen aegyptiacus - 01.jpg|Head File:Egyptian_goose_kirstenbosch.jpg| Egyptian Goose at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, South Africa\n"
        },
        "1190": {
            "common": "Goose, greylag",
            "family": "Anser anser",
            "id": 1190,
            "text": "The greylag goose (Anser anser) is a bird in the waterfowl family Anatidae. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and legs. A large bird, it measures between in length, with an average weight of . Its distribution is widespread, with birds from the north of its range in Europe and Asia migrating southwards to spend the winter in warmer places. It is the type species of the genus Anser and is the ancestor of the domestic goose, having been domesticated at least as early as 1360 BC. The genus name is from anser, the Latin for \"goose\". Greylag geese travel to their northerly breeding grounds in spring, nesting on moorlands, in marshes, around lakes and on coastal islands. They normally mate for life and nest on the ground among vegetation. A clutch of three to five eggs is laid; the female incubates the eggs and both parents defend and rear the young. The birds stay together as a family group, migrating southwards in autumn as part of a flock, and separating the following year. During the winter they occupy semi-aquatic habitats, estuaries, marshes and flooded fields, feeding on grass and often consuming agricultural crops.\nAnser anser, the greylag goose, is a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It was first described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 as Anas anser, but was transferred two years later to the new genus Anser, erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson, where it is the type species. Two subspecies are recognised; A. a. anser, the western greylag goose, breeds in Iceland and north and central Europe; A. a. rubrirostris, the eastern greylag goose, breeds in Romania, Turkey and Russia eastwards to northeastern China. The two subspecies intergrade where their ranges meet. The greylag goose sometimes hybridises with other species of goose including the barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) and the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), and occasionally with the mute swan (Cygnus olor). The greylag goose was one of the first animals to be domesticated; this happened at least 3000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, the domestic breed being known as A. a. domesticus. As the domestic goose is a subspecies of the greylag goose they are able to interbreed, with the offspring sharing characteristics of both the wild and tame birds.\nThe greylag is the largest and bulkiest of the grey geese of the genus Anser, but is more lightly built and agile than its domestic relative. It has a rotund, bulky body, a thick and long neck, and a large head and bill. It has pink legs and feet, and an orange or pink bill with a white or brown nail (hard horny material at tip of upper mandible). It is long with a wing length of . It has a tail, a bill of long, and a tarsus of . It weighs, with a mean weight of around . The wingspan is . Males are generally larger than females, with the sexual dimorphism more pronounced in the eastern subspecies rubirostris, which is larger than the nominate subspecies on average. The plumage of the greylag goose is greyish-brown, with a darker head and paler breast and belly with a variable amount of black spotting. It has a pale grey fore-wing and rump which are noticeable when the bird is in flight or stretches its wings on the ground. It has a white line bordering its upper flanks, and its wing coverts are light-coloured, contrasting with its darker flight feathers. Its plumage is patterned by the pale fringes of the feathers. Juveniles differ mostly in their lack of black-speckling on the breast and belly and by their greyish legs. The greylag goose has a loud cackling call similar to that of the domestic goose, \"aahng-ung-ung\", uttered on the ground or in flight. There are various subtle variations used under different circumstances, and individual geese seem to be able to identify other known geese by their voices. The sound made by a flock of geese resembles the baying of hounds. Goslings chirp or whistle lightly, and adults hiss if threatened or angered.\nThis species has a Palearctic distribution. The nominate subspecies breeds in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic States, northern Russia, Poland, eastern Hungary and Romania. It also breeds locally in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Macedonia. The eastern race extends eastwards across a broad swathe of Asia to China. European birds migrate southwards to the Mediterranean region and North Africa. Asian birds migrate to Baluchistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, northern India, Bangladesh and eastward to China.> In North America, there are both feral domestic geese, which are similar to greylags, and occasional vagrant greylags. Greylag geese seen in the wild in New Zealand probably originated from the escape of farmyard geese, and a similar thing has happened in Australia where feral birds are now established in the east and southeast of the country. In their breeding quarters, they are found on moors with scattered lochs, in marshes, fens and peat-bogs, besides lakes and on little islands some way out to sea. They like dense ground cover of reeds, rushes, heather, bushes and willow thickets. In their winter quarters, they frequent salt marshes, estuaries, freshwater marshes, steppes, flooded fields, bogs and pasture near lakes, rivers and streams. They also visit agricultural land where they feed on winter cereals, rice, beans or other crops, moving at night to shoals and sand-banks on the coast, mud-banks in estuaries or secluded lakes. Large numbers of immature birds congregate each year to moult on the Rone Islands near Gotland in the Baltic Sea. In Great Britain, their numbers had declined as a breeding bird, retreating north to breed wild only in the Outer Hebrides and the northern mainland of Scotland. However, during the 20th century, feral populations have been established elsewhere, and they have now re-colonised much of England. These populations are increasingly coming into contact.\nGreylag geese are herbivorous and feed chiefly on grasses. Short, actively growing grass is more nutritious and greylag geese are often found grazing in pastures with sheep or cows. Because of its low nutrient status, they need to feed for much of their time; the herbage passes rapidly through the gut and is voided frequently. The tubers of sea clubrush (Bolboschoenus maritimus) are also taken as well as berries and water plants such as duckweed (Lemna) and floating sweetgrass (Glyceria fluitans). In wintertime they eat grass and leaves but also glean grain on cereal stubbles and sometimes feed on growing crops, especially during the night. They have been known to feed on oats, wheat, barley, buckwheat, lentils, peas and root crops. Acorns are sometimes consumed, and on the coast, seagrass (Zostera sp.) may be eaten. In the 1920s in Britain, the pink-footed goose \"discovered\" that potatoes were edible and started feeding on waste potatoes. The greylag followed suit in the 1940s and now regularly searches for tubers on ploughed fields. These geese normally pair for life, so courtship only occurs at the time of first maturity. The nest is on the ground among heather, rushes, dwarf shrubs or reeds, or on a raft of floating vegetation. It is built from pieces of reed, sprigs of heather, grasses and moss, mixed with small feathers and down. A typical clutch is four to six eggs, but fewer eggs or larger numbers are not unusual. The eggs are creamy-white at first but soon become stained, and average . They are mostly laid on successive days and incubation starts after the last one is laid. The female does the incubation, which lasts about twenty-eight days, while the male remains on guard somewhere near. The chicks are precocial and able to leave the nest soon after hatching. Both parents are involved in their care and they soon learn to peck at food and become fully-fledged at eight or nine weeks, about the same time as their parents regain their ability to fly after moulting their main wing and tail feathers a month earlier. Immature birds undergo a similar moult, and move to traditional, safe locations before doing so because of their vulnerability while flightless. Greylag geese are gregarious birds and form flocks. This has the advantage for the birds that the vigilance of some individuals in the group allows the rest to feed without having to constantly be alert to the approach of predators. After the eggs hatch, some grouping of families occur, enabling the geese to defend their young by their joint actions, such as mobbing or attacking predators. After driving off a predator, a gander will return to its mate and give a \"triumph call\", a resonant honk followed by a low-pitched cackle, uttered with neck extended forward parallel with the ground. The mate and even unfledged young reciprocate in kind. Young greylags stay with their parents as a family group, migrating with them in a larger flock, and only dispersing when the adults drive them away from their newly established breeding territory the following year. At least in Europe, patterns of migration are well understood and follow traditional routes with known staging sites and wintering sites. The young learn these locations from their parents which normally stay together for life. Greylags leave their northern breeding areas relatively late in the autumn, for example completing their departure from Iceland by November, and start their return migration as early as January. Birds that breed in Iceland overwinter in the British Isles; those from Central Europe overwinter as far south as Spain and North Africa; others migrate down to the Balkans, Turkey and Iraq for the winter.\nThe greylag was once revered across Eurasia. It was linked with the goddess of healing, Gula, a forerunner of the Sumerian fertility goddess Ishtar, in the cities of the Tigris-Euphrates delta over 5,000 years ago. In Ancient Egypt, geese symbolised the sun god Ra. In Ancient Greece and Rome, they were associated with the goddess of love, Aphrodite, and goose fat was used as an aphrodisiac. Since they were sacred birds, they were kept on Rome's Capitoline Hill, from where they raised the alarm when the Gauls attacked in 390 B.C. The goose's role in fertility survives in modern British tradition in the nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander, which preserves its sexual overtones (\"And in my lady's chamber\"), while \"to goose\" still has a sexual meaning. The tradition of pulling a wishbone derives from the tradition of eating a roast goose at Michaelmas, where the goose bone was once believed to have the powers of an oracle. For that festival, in Thomas Bewick's time, geese were driven in thousand-strong flocks on foot from farms all over the East of England to London's Cheapside market, covering some per day. Some farmers painted the geese's feet with tar and sand to protect them from road wear as they walked. Greylag geese were domesticated by at least 1360 B.C., when images of domesticated birds resembling the Eastern race, Anser anser rubirostris (which like modern farmyard geese, but unlike Western greylags, have a pink beak) were painted in Ancient Egypt. Goose feathers were used as quill pens, the best being the primary feathers of the left wing, whose \"curvature bent away from the eyes of right-handed writers\". The feathers also served to fletch arrows. In ethology, the greylag goose was the subject of Konrad Lorenz's pioneering studies of imprinting behaviour.\n"
        },
        "1194": {
            "common": "Goose, snow",
            "family": "Anser caerulescens",
            "id": 1194,
            "text": "The snow goose (Chen caerulescens), also known as the blue goose, is a North American species of goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The genus of this bird is disputed. The American Ornithologists' Union and BirdLife International place this species and the other \"white geese\" in the Chen genus, while other authorities follow the traditional treatment of placing these species in the \"gray goose\" genus Anser. The scientific name is from the Latin anser, \"goose\", and caerulescens, \"bluish\", derived from caeruleus, \"dark blue\". This goose breeds north of the timberline in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia, and spends winters in warm parts of North America from southwestern British Columbia through parts of the United States to Mexico. They fly as far south as Texas and Mexico during winter, and return to nest on the Arctic tundra each spring. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, but a frequent escape from collections and an occasional feral breeder. Snow geese are visitors to the British Isles where they are seen regularly among flocks of barnacle, Brent and Greenland white-fronted geese. There is also a feral population in Scotland from which many vagrant birds in Britain seem to derive. In Central America, vagrants are frequently encountered during winter.\nThe snow goose has two color plumage morphs, white (snow) or gray/blue (blue), thus the common description as \"snows\" and \"blues\". White-morph birds are white except for black wing tips, but blue-morph geese have bluish-grey plumage replacing the white except on the head, neck and tail tip. The immature blue phase is drab or slate-gray with little to no white on the head, neck, or belly. Both snow and blue phases have rose-red feet and legs, and pink bills with black tomia (\"cutting edges\"), giving them a black \"grin patch\". The colors are not as bright on the feet, legs, and bill of immature birds. The head can be stained rusty-brown from minerals in the soil where they feed. They are very vocal and can often be heard from more than a mile away. White- and blue-morph birds interbreed and the offspring may be of either morph. These two colors of geese were once thought to be separate species; since they interbreed and are found together throughout their ranges, they are now considered two color phases of the same species. The color phases are genetically controlled. The dark phase results from a single dominant gene and the white phase is homozygous recessive. When choosing a mate, young birds will most often select a mate that resembles their parents' coloring. If the birds were hatched into a mixed pair, they will mate with either color phase. The species is divided into two subspecies on the basis of size and geography. Size overlap has caused some to question the division. The smaller subspecies, the lesser snow goose (C. c. caerulescens), lives from central northern Canada to the Bering Straits area. The lesser snow goose stands tall and weighs . The larger subspecies, the greater snow goose (C. c. atlanticus), nests in northeastern Canada. It averages about and, but can weigh up to . The wingspan for both subspecies ranges from . Blue-morph birds are rare among the greater snow geese and among eastern populations of the lesser.\nLong-term pair bonds are usually formed in the second year, although breeding does not usually start until the third year. Females are strongly philopatric, meaning they will return to the place they hatched to breed. Snow geese often nest in colonies. Nesting usually begins at the end of May or during the first few days of June, depending on snow conditions. The female selects a nest site and builds the nest on an area of high ground. The nest is a shallow depression lined with plant material and may be reused from year to year. After the female lays the first of 3 to 5 eggs, she lines the nest with down. The female incubates for 22 to 25 days, and the young leave the nest within a few hours of hatching. The young feed themselves, but are protected by both parents. After 42 to 50 days they can fly, but they remain with their family until they are 2 to 3 years old. Where snow geese and Ross's geese breed together, as at La P\u00e9rouse, they hybridize at times, and hybrids are fertile. Rare hybrids with the greater white-fronted goose, Canada goose, and cackling goose have been observed.\nThe breeding population of the lesser snow goose exceeds 5 million birds, an increase of more than 300% since the mid-1970s. The population is increasing at a rate of more than 5% per year. Non-breeding geese (juveniles or adults that fail to nest successfully) are not included in this estimate, so the total number of geese is even higher. Lesser snow goose population indices are the highest they have been since population records have been kept, and evidence suggests that large breeding populations are spreading to previously untouched sections of the Hudson Bay coastline.\nSnow geese breed from late May to mid August, but they leave their nesting areas and spend more than half the year on their migration to-and-from warmer wintering areas. During spring migration, large flocks of snow geese fly very high along narrow corridors, more than from traditional wintering areas to the tundra. The lesser snow goose travels through the Central Flyway, across some of the richest farmland in America. Traditionally, the geese wintered in coastal marsh areas where they used their short but very strong bills to dig the roots of marsh grasses for dinner. The first transition w