The platypus
The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is one of the most bizarre, fascinating animals alive. With it's beaver tail and it's duck bill, it continues to baffle scientists with it's uniqueness. The platypus is a warm blooded animal that is native to Australia, they live along the streams of Eastern Australia in burrows they dig for themselves, and are the only mammal to lay eggs. An adult platypus can be from around 16-22 in. long and have a tail about 4-5 in. long, [1] they are born with spurs on the back of each ankle, but the females lose theirs when they are about 1 year old. On the other hand, male platypus' spurs are connected to poison glands that they use for defense, [1] particularly in the mating season when the poison glands enlarge and are used to compete for females. When the platypus mates, the fertilized eggs will stay in the female's body for about 28 days. [5] The female will then lay the eggs in her burrow using her claoca, an organ used for digestion and reproduction usually found in reptiles or birds [1]. After about 10 days, the baby platypus, or...
Burmese pythons (Python molurus) are popular pets in the United States because of their attractive color pattern, reputed docility, and the allure, for some, of owning a giant snake. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approximately 99,000 Burmese pythons were imported to the United States between 1996 and 2006, compared to only 17,000 between 1970 and 1995. The species is classified by the World Conservation Union as “near threatened” in its native range in Southeast Asia due to exportation for the pet trade and hunting for skins. Thousands of pythons are also captive bred each year in the U.S. for sale as pets. An inexperienced snake keeper who takes home a 20-inch hatchling is, within a year, responsible for a brawny eight-foot predator. Unable to
The female moves her head within the avenue walls during the male display, providing her with motion parallax depth cues that will conflict with the false depth cues of forced perspective.
I visited the Oriental Institute of Chicago Museum, which contains various artifacts, I choose a Model Hippopotamus from Egypt. The hippopotamus is dated to Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, circa 1878 BC. According to wall text at the Oriental Institute of Chicago, hippopotamuses in Egyptian culture represented the enemies of the ruler. I was attracted to the Model Hippopotamus based on its size/shape, lines, texture, and the color.
Today we will be taking about the Duck Billed Platypus, we will be seeing that makes them different. The first thing we will start out with is their appearance. The Platypus has brown waterproof fur and a flat tail like a beaver they also have a bill and webbed feet like a duck. They next thing I will talk about a Platypus diet. A Platypus mainly eat insects and larvae, shellfish, and worms but because Platypus have no teeth they use gravel they scoop up to break up there food. Platypus are also Carnivore meaning they only eat meat or flesh. Next we will talk about the Platypus defenses. When swimming the Platypus have folds of skin covering their eyes and ears to prevent water from entering, and the nostrils close with a watertight
At first glance platypuses seem to be an amalgamation of mammals, birds, and everything in between. In fact, their reproduction biology also has much in common with a variety of animals—reptiles, birds, placentals and marsupial mammals. Platypuses belong to a group of animals called monotremes. These egg-laying mammals have been a mystery to researchers since their discovery by Westerners over 200 years ago. The first specimens of platypuses brought back to England were thought to be hoaxes similar to mermaids (Moyal, 2001). Found only in and around Australia, there are only three living species of monotremes: the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and two species of echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus, and Zaglossus bruijni).
“It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony.” –Benjamin Britten music is powerful to all; it affects everyone differently, whether that is positively or negatively. We reminisce on past events through melodies and lyrics. Music has the ability to intensify pleasure and plaster despondency. All musicians have had the ability to impact the history of music and the future implications of music through a personalized method. Not only did the Yardbirds, as a whole, change musical history but also the individual members created an enormous impact on other musicians of their time period, and the way future generations view music in general.
Thanks to evolution, Penguins have evolved into a group of aquatic, fightless birds, that are highly adapted to life in the ocean. This not only makes them one of the divergent and strange species of birds, but also has allowed them to become such a sucessful species. Penguins are mostly located in the Southern hemisphere ranging anywhere from the Galapogos to the Antartic. Throughout their lives, Penguins spend around half their time in the ocean doing things such as catching food and the other half on land raising their young. Their distinct tuxedo-like apperience called countershading camoflages their bodies, protecting them from predators above and below. Through out the “stepping stones”, the penguins grew to have a dense bone containing
Colb, Sherry. "A Response to the Claim That Eating Animals Is Natural." Free From Harm. N.p., 25 July 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
George Bernard Shaw uses many different approaches throughout his many works. In Pygmalion and Androcles and the Lion, he uses two very different paths ending in two different results. For example, in Androcles and the Lion, he show how doing a good deed will result in a reward, but in Pygmalion, someone does a good deed for the main character, and she feels ruined because of it. The motivation for the good deed, the deed itself, and the outcome of the deed are all three different in both of the works.
Modern-day genetic technology has granted mankind with the opportunity to bring back extinct species from the dead. If humans have come to possess the DNA from an extinct animal population, it is possible to create an identical clone of the animal in question, effectively “bringing it back from the dead”. Many ethical dilemmas surround the practice of de-extinction, and rightfully so. Recreating an extinct species could produce groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs, generating exciting opportunities for future genetics-based research. However, there could also be monumental consequences: the newly revived, once-extinct species might destroy the ecological equilibrium of modern Earth
The arctic fox or the Vulpes Lagopus is a very beautiful and majestic animal with many interesting features. This animal can survive extremely frigid arctic temperatures that can drop as low as -50°F. The arctic fox is a very resilient animal. It has furry soles, short ears, and a short muzzle, which are the essentials of what is needed for the animals to adapt to the chilly climate. These foxes usually live in burrows and in emergencies like snowstorms, strong winds or animal conflict, they may tunnel into the snow and create a shelter for them. They have a beautiful white coat that protects them from the hardy weather. Amusingly, when the season changes, the fox changes its coat color making it a unique animal. In winter, their coat is white where as in summer its turns into an orange-red color. This is mostly because it helps them camouflage in the surrounding. These colorings help foxes to effectively hunt rodents, birds, fish and even baby polar bear cubs. But in winter prey can be scarce on the ground. At such times, these animals eat the left over kill of the polar bear. These foxes will also eat berries when they are available. Its coat has been known for its strange adapting qualities, it is a rarity in science today and therefore is highly researched. Not only does it have a thick coat that helps them camouflage and protects them from the cold, but also has the ability to run extremely fast. It is known to be one of the fastest animals in the arctic region.
For my observation I chose to go to the Fort Worth Zoo on October 16th. I was excited to get to go to the zoo as part of a school project. It was a great way to see what we had been learning in person. I got to see how the primates moved and interacted with each other and compare them to human movement and interactions.
Mammals are vertebrates and, unlike other animals, have 3 middle ear bones (the malleus, incus and stapes), have body hair and provide their young with the milk that females produce in mammary glands, which are modified sweat glands. They are endothermic and produce their body heat internally. Most species of mammals give birth to their living young while some, like the platypus, lay leathery, shelled eggs.
7 years), they begin their journey back to their birthing grounds to start reproducing. High water
In our world today we have approximately 26,021 endangered species. Endangered species are organisms that may possible become extinct. The term 'endangered species' refers to all species that fits this description. However some conservation biologists and scientists normally use the term ‘endangered species’ to refer to species that are put on the IUCN(International Union for Conservation of Nature)Red List. Many factors can be looked at when considering the conservation status of a species. Factors such as human threats or environmental threats can cause a species to become endangered.