Отправлено: 18.03.12 11:51. Заголовок: Перевод на английский
Предлагаю создать тему для перевода неоцена на английский. Для начала - перевод описания малого соломенного зимородка из главы "Тростниковый бастион". Если что - перевод сделан в основном через translate.ru, так что сильно тапками не бить
Small straw halcyon (Micralcyone scirpophyla) Order: Coraciiformes Family: River kingfishes (Alcedinidae) Habitat: lower reaches of the Threerivers, Fourseas fluxes, the Kara Kum beach and Ust'-yurt island . Reed thickets –area fine place for reproduction of various fishes and other water inhabitants. Here they find food and set of shelters. And also here are no large predators. But all the same they can't feel in safety – them hunts one of the smallest birds of fluxes, a small straw halcyon. This tiny bird, the descendant of an ordinary halcyon (Alcedo atthis), has a size less than sparrow. At it short wings and a tail, but a large head and a sharp beak. The small straw halcyon is perfectly adapted for life in reeds. It's main color islight yellow, and wings, a tail and top of a head which at its ancestor sparkled an azure, have got brownish color with gray longitudinal strips. With such coloring the bird is invisible to the predators occasionally visiting these places. A beak is black, but pads and eyelids of males are bright red (of females they have dim-orange color). On behavior this species is very similar to the ancestor, but it nests not in the holes which have been dug out in steep river bank, but in cavities of trunks of papyrian reed mace. Because the halcyon isn't able to peck a hollow in strong trunks of reed mace, it very much depends on activity of other bird – tiny cane pecker. It happens that a couple of halcyons ready to reproduction expels peckers from a hollow and destroys their laying, or expects, while birds will peck a hollow at once to occupy it. If there are lot of peckers, halcyons peacefully adjoin to them, occupying their last year's nests. Often halcyons suit a nest in the broken trunks huge reed mace. In the absence of a suitable hollow of a bird can dig out a hole in sandy steep (mainly this do the birds from Ust'-yurt island). The small straw halcyon eats small fishes and invertebrates, tracking down them from a reed trunk, or hanging in air, as if the humming-bird. During this moment its wings make up to 20 waves in a second, but the bird quickly is tired and can't long track down fish, flying in such way. But «weeds of the humming-bird» - an important point of marriage ritual of these birds. The pair is formed for one season. In a laying are 4 – 5 eggs, the laying repeats twice within summer and if the first laying was lost at an early stage of incubation, birds have time to make the third laying and will grow up baby birds. The growt of baby birds takes about 5 weeks, from them last week parents finish feeding the youngs which have already left a nest.
This species of birds has been described by Simon, the member of the forum.
Отправлено: 23.03.12 20:35. Заголовок: Что-то та тема подза..
Что-то та тема подзаглохла. да и удобней будет искать перевод в этой
Вот перевод описания древесной микропанголы, опять же с помощью транслейта
Tree micropangola, "walking pinecone" (Micropangola scandens) Order: Pangolina (Pholidota) Family: Pangolina (Manidae) Habitat: tropical rainforests of Hindustan, South East Asia, tree cones. The order Pholidota was never especially numerous and various. At the beginning of the evolution these animals have adapted to feed on insects, having become ecological analogues of anteaters in the Old World. This specialization caused their conservatism and imposed certain restrictions on the sizes of a body and a way of life, having allowed animals to vary in quite narrow limits. The upper limit of the body sizes of the pangolins is rather rigidly limited, but the bottom limit is limited by nothing, and it shows one of Neocene's species of pangolins – the tree micropangola. This species is adapted to life in a tropical rainforest where it occupies the most wealth of life place – tree canopy. That it became possible, the animal had to offer in the sizes and physical power. From their relatives tree micropangola differs in the small sizes and the truncated snout. The length of a body of this animal is about a half a meter, and a half of this length takes a wide brawny tail. The body of micropangola is covered by horny scales, as at its ancestor. But the scales are rather thick and strong, and the scales along the spine have sharpen tips. On the head and paws the scales actually turn into the horn scutes located closely to each other. Primary color of scales is reddish-brown, The sides of the head are is a little more light. This animal has short snout, but the tongue is long and flexible. Its base is shifted far back and attached to a chest bone. Due to elasticity of fibers lthe tongue can be put out from a mouth on the distance equal to double length of the head. Ears and eyes of the animal are small, and sight is bad. But it is compensated very much by keen sense of smell and touch which are used by food search. The being fed animal constantly taps on a tree with claws and by type of wood vibration determines existence of cavities in the wood mass – the tunnels and the chambers pierced by insects. Having felt their presence, it breaks wood by claws and thrusts the tongue into the opened tunnels, licking insects. Paws of the tree micropangola are adapted for grab of the branches. On forepaws are strong, slightly bent claws, nestling on a palm, form strong grap, allowing an animal to cling even to thin branches. Feet of hinder legs are covered with the horny combs allowing more strongly to cling to a bark and branches. The end of a tail of the animal is expanded, and scales along the body edges are strong and peaked - it is an additional adaptation for fixing on a trunk and branches. A usual pose of a being fed animal is sitting a tail down. Thus scales at back edge of a tail are stuck in a bark and take up weight of an animal. The main protective adaptation at this species are the strong horny scales. They defend tree micropangola from birds and small wood predators. Being defended, a micropangola sits across a branch, envelopes themself with tail as a ring, and covers with a tail tip the head. Due to strong muscles the animal can keep such pose about one hour. If the predator doesn't stop attempts of attack or is too strong, the tree micropangola can defend themself actively, offering it near battle which can end with serious injuries for the attacker. Thus, having grab a branch by hinder legs and having clasped it by the tail, the animal sharply throws up a body, strikes to the enemy some fast blows with large claws of forepaws, and then again clasps a branch and hides the head under a tail tip. The seasonality in reproduction of this speciees isn't expressed, but in areas with monsoonal climate most of all youngs appears by a season of rains.The mating games of tree micropangola are primitive and are reduced to chase of a female by a male. After pairing the animals abandon each other. The young is always one; it keeps together with mother to three-months age then starts to lead a independent life. Life expectancy doesn't exceed 12 years.
The idea about existence of this species of mammals was suggested by Simon, the member of a forum.
Отправлено: 24.03.12 11:22. Заголовок: Перевод описания тау..
Перевод описания тауровиса
Order: Even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) Family: Bovidae Habitat: marshy plains and bushes of New Zealand in the zone of a temperate climate. Up the time of colonization of New Zealand by Europeans the first settlers of these islands already have eliminated the huge wingless moa birds occupying ecological niches of herbivore mammals. The ecological niches which have become empty as a result of unlimited hunting of native people, were empty rather not for long: after disappearance of the human they were occupied by his life's companions – the run wild domestic animals. The role of herbivorous animals in various places was occupied by descendants of domestic sheep – fertile and quickly adapting animals. One of descendants of sheep turned into very remarkable animal, a mighty constitution reminding bulls. Taurovis, "bull-sheep" - so is called this creature. This is very large animal, biggest of the New Zealand herbivorous animals: it's height in shoulders is to 1,7 m and length of a body is up to 3,5 m. It has massive body, rather short thick feet, and the a large head. The neck of an animal is short and is covered with a mane of long hair. The body is covered with short brown wool with dark "spectacles" round eyes and "stockings" on the legs. The wool of males on the body is darken, than at females. «The strike surface» of heads of mature males is trapeziform, flat, formed by a forehead and the wide bases of short thick horns, covered with the hairless horny skin. The ends of horns are sliden apart and even a little down. Horns serve these animals rather for demonstration, rather than for the intended purpose: them it is impossible to conduct power fight, at butting each other animals the horns don't adjoin at all. At females of taurovises horns are underdeveloped, and represent bone bumps on each side of skull, and a forehead is more bulging, than at males. Edges of a forehead hang over the eyes, forming the peculiar bone "peaks" protecting eyes from casual damages by branches of bushes. Taurovises live on shrubby plains of New Zealand, often coming on bogs. For walking on a swampy bog this animal has a special adaptation: hoofs standing wide also can be moved apart, increasing the bearing area. Besides, these animals perfectly float, and are often fed on the rivers, thinning out thickets of a reed and other marsh plants. In a heat animals spend all day in the river, going on the coast in the evenings. Near the rivers of these large animals one trouble waits: in water breed masses of mosquitoes, midges and other blood-sicking insects. They in masses attack warm-blooded animals, exhausting them by stings. Taurovises are able to resist to this misfortune: they bathe in the river, or roll in coastal dirt. Dirt, drying up, unpleasantly smells partly masking a smell of animals. Besides, it sticks together wool of animals in the real armor, impenetrable for stings of mosquitoes. In places where taurovises are regularly fed, bushes don't form a continuous cover: big animals trample down and constantly renew tracks on which they walk. It expands their food supply: among bushes there are clearings where cereals and the different grassy plants giving food to taurovises and other local herbivorous animals plentifully develop. Taurovises live in herds: one male, some females and youngs of the first two years of life. Each herd has the territory which borders are marked with dunghills. These dunghills are regularly renewed, and at times reach a meter height. The herd has some main routes of movement on the territory. Within a year they are used with different frequency: in the summer animals spend time near the rivers or lakes, and in the winter – in thickets of bushes more often. Once a year the female gives birth to a large young. Three-four hours later after the birth he rises to the feet and learns to walk, and for the second day of life freely follws the herd. The young is covered with more light wool, than adult animals: it is straw-colored with brown legs. The first two years young taurovis spends in parental herd. But with age, when coloring of wool becomes more and more similar on adult, young animals are compelled to leave herd – adult animals show aggression to young, seeing in them competitors. Young females bring posterity since four-year age.
Отправлено: 01.04.12 16:54. Заголовок: перевод описания ман..
перевод описания мангровой вороны
Mangrove crow (Subcorvus arafurensis) Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Habitat: Meganesia, Arafura lake and surrounding mangrove woods. Corvidae are considered as one of tops of bird's evolution. Possessing good intelligence and flexible behavior, they easily adapt to changing conditions of dwelling. During the age of the human some representatives of corvidaes reached big successes in fight for existence. Destruction of natural commonwealths during the age of the human led to considerable decrease in a specific variety of birds. Appearance in early neocene of new ecological niches allowed corvidaes to expand considerably an area and among them have evolved the species adapted for life in new conditions. The mangrove crow is the typical representative of family, the inhabitant of the mangrove woods in Meganesia's northern part became one of such types. This bird species differs not much a shape of the body from typical crows of age of human. Mangrove crow is a bird witht 70 cm wingspread and weight up to 1 kg. Appearance of a bird carriess some traits of suitability to life in damp habitats. Cheeks, throat and a forward part of a neck of this bird are deprived of feathers and covered with light gray skin. A beak of a mangrove crow is higher and compressed from sides, rather than at the similar species living in the woods. Such beak is well suitable for opening the shells of bivalve mollusks which this bird eats especially willingly. The plumage of a mangrove crow is lead-colored which passes into bluish on a back and the top of the neck. With gray plumage on a neck contrasts a "hat" of almost white color on a darkness and a nape . Beak and feet of a bird black. Mangrove crow – a sociable bird; out of the nesting period these birds gather small flights and in common wander on mangrove thickets in search of a forage. Thus they constantly keep in touch with relatives by means of abrupt croak. In the "language" of these birds is to 20 various sound signals. In flight single birds find a pair to themselves, and adult birds keep in common and don't leave. The nesting season in tropics isn't expressed, and pair ready to nesting, simply leaves flight and occupies a certain territory in the wood. This species nests in pairs which remain on all life. The nest of a mangrove crow is open, weaved from thin twigs and arranged in the places which are badly appreciable from air. In a laying is to 4 eggs with a spotty gray shell. Hatches (within 22 days) mainly a female, but baby birds is brought up by both parents. Young birds leave a nest at the age of 2 months and become mature at the age of 1 year. This bird species is omnivorous, but prefers food of an animal origin. A mangrove crow pecks up the snails, openly settling bivalve mollusks and «shipworms» drilling a tree on the roots of mangrove trees. Also this bird hunts on crabs and catches fishes in ebb pools. Often mangrove crow is fed together with larger animals; when brontohelix turtles living in the Arafura lake turn out mangrove trees with roots, these birds extract the invertebrates who seeking safety in flight or have clung to roots. Also mangrove crows often attack other animals fishing or hunting on small animals, and the attacks compel them to give up prey.
Отправлено: 03.04.12 02:54. Заголовок: Что ж, если эта тема..
Что ж, если эта тема специально для перевода на английский, то вот для разнообразия перевод морского кокоса из первой главы о Гавайях:
Sea coconut (Cocos maritima) Order: Arecales Family: palm-trees (Arecaceae) Habitat: Hawaii, other islands of Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia, seacoasts. In the antiquity, in the human epoch, “sea coconut” (“coco de of mar”) was the name of the gigantic nuts of the Seychelles coco palm (Lodoicea), which were rarely found on the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Since for a long time no one saw a living palm of that species, a legend grew about it that it grows on the bottom of the ocean. Then the palm of this species was discovered, and the legend remained a legend. But in the Neocene this legend appears to have come alive: one of the species of plants has practically “personified” it into life. In the Holocene, the coco palm was the most characteristic inhabitant of the coasts of tropical seas. Where its present native land was located is possible only to guess, since mankind has substantially enlarged the place of its habitat, and it is complicated to say unambiguously, whether the tall coco palm grew on some of its territory always, or if it was the descendant of feral plants, initially planted by people. Seacoasts proved to be very convenient places to live: because of the salt, contained in the oceanic water, few plants grew there, capable of competing with the coco palm. Because of endurance, this species successfully survived the glacial period, although the area of its habitat was substantially reduced, and even decomposed into isolated regions. Apparently, on the atolls of Pacific Ocean, one of the populations of the coco palm was forced to make a step towards the ocean. The corals, which construct islands, began to die out everywhere because of the catastrophic change in the conditions of their habitat, and some islands were washed away by the ocean. In order to survive, the coco palms began to adapt to new conditions: they began to conquer the oceanic shallows. The plants, at first, simply “lay down” stem-first into water, and endured only short-term flooding. Then some of them began to develop a new adaptation: thick-stilted roots, upon which the stem could remain on surface of water, and be even above it. Gradually, the nature of growth changed: the lower part of the stem began to die off, and the plant remained standing only on its extra, stilted roots. Gradually such palms, after “detaching” from the place where they grew, began “to crawl” further into the sea, forming unique associations in the shallows. Thus the new species of the palms, the sea coconut, appeared. The sea coconut is characterized by one other special feature, untypical for the palms: this plant forms additional buds on the stem, from which new shoots germinate. So, one palm can form sufficiently large brushwood, which successfully opposes the sea surf. The older the plant gets, the greater is its crowns, and further it goes into the sea. The sea coconut preserved the recognizable appearance of the representatives of its kind. This palm has long (up to 4 - 5 meters and more) featherlike leaves. On the edges of leaves special salt glands appeared, which release the surplus of salts, which penetrate the plant through its roots. Thick brine manifests on the tips of the leaflets and it dries-out in the form of semi-transparent clusters. When the wind swings the tree, the clusters of salt fall off from the leaves, and they simply fall into the water. The flowers of the sea coconut are small and are unprepossessing as in the other palms. The fruits have the characteristic “nut-like” appearance. They ripen in large clusters - by ten and more. “The nuts” of the sea coconut are similar to the real coconuts, but are smaller than they are (in size they are not larger than an apple), covered by a durable shell with a felt fibrous surface, which makes it possible for them to float longer over the surface of water. Sometimes, the fruit even germinates, while floating in the sea and during a storm an already finished “seedling” of the palm is ejected onto the coast. The young plant is very hardy: it can endure flooding by tidal waves. Some nuts, after being tangled in the stilted roots of the adult palms, germinate there, and develop normally, taking root on the sea floor, enduring the tides and by its growth, it strengthens the palm-tree “groves” in the sea. The sea coconut begins to flower and to bear fruits approximately at the ten years of age, and it can live up to 200 years. Usually, the old palms perish during the storms and the tsunamis.
Отправлено: 23.04.12 02:43. Заголовок: И вот ещё один перев..
И вот ещё один перевод (одной из моих птиц):
Black and white lovebirds (Agapornis chiaroscuro) Order: Parrots (Psittaciformes) Family: True parrots (Psittacidae) Habitat: the savannah of southwestern Africa. After the mass extinction on the border of Holocene and Neocene, when many species of large mammals, reptiles and birds died out, the empty niches ended up occupied by the descendants of their smaller neighbors. So it was on Madagascar, where a group of the parrots called the lovebirds gave rise to some of the largest parrots of the Neocene, the pseudo-macaws. But this did not occur everywhere: on mainland Africa, where enough of the large species of birds survived, the lovebirds remained comparatively small birds, and the black and white lovebirds are among their number. The black and white lovebirds are birds of an average size: about 30 cm long, of which 6 cm belong to the wide and blunted tail. Actually, this is the very large representative of its kind, which already had existed in the Holocene epoch. The females of this species are somewhat larger than the males, and this is the only feature of sexual dimorphism. The basic coloration of the body is a speckled, greenish-gray color. Because of this color, the bird is hidden from its’ possible predators. But head is colored much more noticeably: the forehead is black, and the cheeks and the throat are white (hence the bird’s name). Also, the tail of this species is covered with transverse stripes of black and white. The beak of the bird is also black in color, and its’ eyelids are white. These birds dwell in the savannahs with the traces of forests and scrubland in the southwest Africa, sometimes even not far from the seacoast. The mating period begins at the end of the dry season and the beginning of wet season, when the males and the females begin to call each other by the loud grumbling cries. A pair remains together for many years, but during the mating period the birds behave, as if a pair was formed for the first time. After several weeks of sitting in a rough nest made out of the branches and bast, the females lay from 2 to 8 eggs, which they incubate for about three weeks. The nestlings, covered with a down of a greenish color, hatch from the eggs. 3 months after hatching, the nestlings are covered with feathers, and by 5 months of age they leave their nest, but they remain with their parents prior to the beginning of the next year. Outside of the mating season the family groups gather into flocks and roam between the forest parts of the savannah. In the next year, the young birds participate in the mating for the first time. The black and white lovebirds feed on berries, seeds and cereals. It is not interested in the food of animal origin and itself becomes prey for different carnivorous birds and snakes. Their maximum lifespan is 9 or 10 years.
Отправлено: 01.08.12 16:41. Заголовок: Муравьиный лемур из ..
Муравьиный лемур из главы "Саванны Лемурии":
Ant lemur (Myrmelemur pumilis) Order: Primates (Primates) Family: Dwarfish lemurs (Cheirogalidae) Habitat: Madagascar, light forests and shrubby savannas. Strangely enough, there is some advantage in the phenomenon of mass extinction for certain representatives of fauna and flora. When the great number of live beings extincts, the survived species have a possibility to occupy the become empty ecological niches and to begin active speciation. After the extinction which has occurred at the boundary of holocene and the neocene, among animals of Madagascar this process actively started, and the forests of the island were again filled with life. In twilight and at sunrise among bushes in Madagascar light forests it is possible to see one of representatives of new fauna of this island: the small animal climbs among branches, from time to time tearing off pieces of bark and raking foliage in search of insects. Especially it interests for the nests of social insects – termites or ants. Having found such nest, the small animal stops fussy movements and starts to be fed slowly: having risen on hinder legs, it digs out the dwelling of insects, and quickly pinches his inhabitants. This animal, the direct descendant of representatives of native fauna of Madagascar, is called an ant lemur. It is a small species of primates: length of the body is to 15 cm, the tail – to 20 cm. The ant lemur is adapted for a food by insects. Its tongue is a little extended and covered with the sticky saliva which is exuded from large salivary glands. On fore- and third fingers of this primate the main tool for destruction of nests of insects grows: big claws. Fingers are joined into the common cover of skin, and look as one thick finger with a double claw. Bones of these fingers are thick – thanks to such fingers the ant lemur ruins even strong nests of termites. If fingers can't cope with a nest of insects, to a course there are teeth: forward cutters on the top and bottom jaws are very large, a little similar to cutters of rodents. The ant lemur conducts mainly climbing way of life though often could be found on the earth. Because of very large claws the ant lemur moves on the ground on two feet, holding forepaws suspended. Forepaws of this lemur kept characteristic ability for primacies to a prehension. The thumb is opposed to the fourth finger and to a little finger, forming strong capture. Fore- and third fingers during the climbing rise, and don't prevent to clasp a branch. Hands are covered with dark wool. Hinder legs of this animal are not so specialised, but the thumb is opposed to the rest fingers. The head of an ant lemur is roundish, with the flattened face and a short muzzle. Canines are very short, and premolars have keen cutting edge. The face is covered with dense short fur of black color. Eyes are large, iris of the eye is brown. Ears are short. Hair of a male is bright red, at a female – straw-colored. The tail is long, is used as the balance weight during the climbing. On the end of the tail grows the bright black-and-white brush. A threat sign at ant lemurs – small vibrating tail lifted up. Once a year the female gives birth only to one young. It is covered with dark wool, and gets coloring of adult animals only at maturity. The first two months of life it sits on a back of mother, being gradually trained to climb on trees and to get a forage. It is kept by large fingers for wool of the mother. When claws start to grow strongly and cause to his mother pain, she allows it to travel astride herself less often. About five months the young keeps about mother, then leaves it and conducts lonely life. Social insects are a specific food resource: their nests are located rather seldom. Because of it ant lemurs keep one by one; only the female and a young meet together. The ant lemur marks the territory with urine, regularly updating the marks. This small animal carefully protects the territory from relatives. If on border of possession two ant lemurs meet, they start to declare the rights to the territory: having lifted up tails, they show black-and-white brushes and thus stridently squeal and grin. Only the female ready to pairing allows a male on the territory, but at once after pairing banishes him. Day and night this lemur spends in shelters – usually in hollows or hollow trunks of trees. The most active time of feeding – at sunrise when night predators already leave to sleep, and day didn't wake up yet. In the evening this lemur also leaves to be fed, but then it is more careful. As at all small animals, life expectancy of ant lemurs is insignificant: no more than 10 years. Their natural enemies – snakes and birds of prey. Young animals occasionally perish, without having distinguished dangerous species of ants: they h sting them to the death.
Stick-agama (Bacillisaura tenuissima) Order: Sqamata (Squamata), Suborder: Lizards (Lacertilia) Family Agamidae (Agamidae) Habitats: savannas of North Africa (the plain to the North from Sakhara’s Nile), high herbage. Family Agamidae is one of the most progressive families of lizards during a holocene age. They successfully mastered both the woods and savannas, and desert districts. The last quality allowed these reptiles to endure successfully ice age when the considerable areas which have been earlier covered with the woods, turned into deserts. During the period when the extreme climate of a glacial era was replaced by soft and favorable climate the neocene, agamidaes roughly evolved and formed the new species adapted for the most different habitats. In the savannas of North Africa stretched on a place of Sahara, among thickets of high herbs, one of unusual species of this family – a fragile and graceful stick-agama lives. It is a small species of lizards – the length of it’s body together with a tail reaches only 20 cm. This agama has very thin body and rather long, pointed head with prominent eyes. Paws arerather long, prehensile, adapted for climbing. The tail is thin, makes about a half of length of a reptile. Coloring of a body of a stick-agama is the camouflage: thin brown longitudinal strips on a yellowish background of a body, like a color of a dry grass. One dark strip passes through an eye, masking it. During a season of rains when the fresh grass grows, color of a background changes with yellow on green, and the lizard keeps possibility to mask. A pupil of the eye is slit-like, horizontal (at a sitting lizard, thus, the crack of a eye pupil settles down vertically, improving the circular view). Eye iris is brown. Stick-agama on a way of life something reminds the corresponding insect. It lives on plants on the same way, in everything hoping for the protective coloring and a form. This lizard keeps on stalks of cereals. In rest it sits along a stalk and holds a trunk vertically. In such situation the lizard can get with ease on the next stalks, and even does jumps sideways, at the same time making a start a front and a hinder leg of one part of a body. In case of danger it tries to mask, hides under leaves or nestles on stalks, and remains motionless until the last minute. At emergency the reptile seeks safety in flight, but at the first possibility tries to hide again. Stick-agama eats only insects whom catches a short rush when they will creep up rather close. This lizard drinks, pinching in the mornings the dew settling on stalks of herbs. It can not drink a long time, being content with the moisture received from food. Being a predator, it protects a fodder site from relatives whom pushes out sideways out of territory limits. Males clash only with males, and females – with females. As a whole the territories of individuals of opposite sexes can be overlapped completely. Marriage season of stick-agamas will stretch practically for all year, interrupting only before a drought which happens on northern border of their area. Males notify neighbors that the territory is occupied, publishing the characteristic sounds similar to a crash of the broken branch. When the female comes nearer to a male, it determines her readiness for pairing by a smell. If the female shows submission (occupies on a stalk situation below, than a male), the male starts courtings. It opens a throat bag on which there is appreciable a bright red middle fold, and starts to shake small the head up-down. He goes down to a female and there is a side to a side with it. After fast pairing animals disperse. In a laying are only 2-3 rather large eggs of very elongated form, but the laying can repeat every month almost all the year round, interrupting only for the period of a severe drought. The female lays eggs in the middle of a large bush of a cereal, in depth where they will be protected from casual damage. The incubation lasts about a month. Young lizards on a way of life don't differ from adults, only keep on plants near bushes where it is easier to take cover from the hot sun, and it is possible to find small insects. At one-year-old age they become adults. The cannibalism isn't characteristic for these lizards.
Morning honey bird (Melisugornis aurorae) Order: Passerines (Passeriformes) Family: Hawaiian honey birds (Melisugornitidae) Habitat: Hawaii, high-mountainous «silver woods». Before colonization of the Hawaiian Islands by the man their fauna was represented mainly by birds and insects. Among the Hawaiian birds there was a special family of the Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanididae) which has a great importance for flora of islands. Different species of these birds were connected by the symbiotic relations with plants of islands: many species of local trees were pollinated by these birds, and often only by them. Therefore extinction of the Hawaiian honeycreepers led to that a number of species of plants also has disappeared. The flora of the Hawaiian Islands of the neocene is represented by descendants of species, dropped off in former times, and isn't successive in relation to primary which existed here before man. But separate regularities in wildlife tend to repeat, and in new Hawaiian flora also there were symbiotic relations of some species of plants with birds. The place of the Hawaiian honeycreepers that have completely disappeared by neocene, occupied other family of birds, descends from taken to Hawaii Zosterops (Zosterops). They showed such inclinations for type of a food during an era of the man, and in the neocene this feature developed to a condition of deep specialization. The Hawaiian honey birds represent accurately mounted family of the birds eating nectar. They live in the woods of different type – from high-mountainous to low-lying damp tropical. The just one limiting factor for them – permanent existence of blossoming plants. For the Hawaiian honey birds rather small sizes of a body are characteristic: the largest species has a size of a starling, and other – even more small. All the species have rather bright coloring including different shades of yellow and green color, supplemented by metal shine and separate bright spots. One more characteristic sign of family – rings of naked white skin round eyes, heritage from the ancestor. Wings of all honey birds are peaked, and tails are wide. At some species steering feathers of a tail have the elongated locks of feathers. Flight of these birds is fast and flexible. Honey birds of large species during feeding sit down on branches, and small species simply flit round a flower, as a humming-bird. Usually each species of honey birds is connected with a certain set of species of plants, feeding on them, and at the same time making pollination. Voices of all species of cretaceous birds represent more or less long ringing trill. Different species prefer to sing at different times of the day - it helps to avoid mistakes at recognition of representatives of their species. At all species of honey birds the nest represents a small basket skillfully twisted from vegetative fibers and suspended on the thinnest branches. Such feature is connected with that in the woods of the Hawaiian Islands of an era the neocene there were numerous mammals, descendants of the species dropped off by the man who can ruin nests of birds. In a laying are usually 4-5 eggs (at large species – 3-4) with a dark shell. Hatching lasts about 10 days. Baby birds develop quickly: in three weeks they grow, become fledged and leave the nest. In a year the laying can repeat three times (at small species – to 4 times). Young birds are capable to nest already in six-month-old age. The morning honey bird lives in the rain woods of low-lying sites of islands. It is a species of the average sizes: in size of a sparrow, without considering a long beak. It is painted in bright yellow color, only on a back there is a site of the extended feathers of green color. During a marriage season males of this species show it to females, lifting back feathers vertically. Besides, over sites of the bared skin round eyes this species has "eyebrows" of the black feathers, allowing to recognize relatives visually. Beak of this bird has white color, rather long: exceeds length of the head. Birds eat nectar of tubular flowers, including species of a treelike datura. Usually they sit down on a branch of a fodder plant, but if necessary are able to drink nectar hurriedly. Also these birds eat small insects, pecking them from branches or out of the flower. This species have got the name that sings before all other species: since the earliest morning before sunrise. A voice of these birds is the long buzzing trill alternated with separate ringing shouts.
Falkland Xenolagus (Xenolagus subantarcticus) Order: Lagomorpha (Lagomorpha) Family: Hares (Leporidae) Habitat: Falkland Islands, flat and mountain sites overgrown with grassy vegetation. Studying of the biosphere of Earth of the neocene shows that in various places of the planet there are animal species which couldn't appear a natural way in this district. Their existence is result of activity of the man on a casual or purposeful introduction of species. Actually, activity of the man broke natural isolation of these or those districts and changed a course of evolution of the species making ecosystems. On the Falkland Islands during the historical era there were no large herbivorous mammals, and on islands the special type of tall grassy vegetation – tussock developed. In the neocene the vegetation of islands looks otherwise: the grassy cover doesn't reach big height and forms continuous extended turf. It is connected with that on islands the large descendant of the delivered rabbit – Falkland xenolagus lives. Xenolagus is very large species of the lagomorphes: its weight reaches 30 kg and more. Xenolagus has a massive constitution: this four-footed animal with the large head and rather short plantigrade legs. Unlike a rabbit, xenolagus isn't able to jump, and in case of need runs gallop, rising on finger-tips. The body of the animal is covered with dense fur which changes color on seasons. In summer the body coloring of xenolagus is grayish-brown with the dark chestnut strip stretching on the head, a neck and along a back. The throat of an animal is white, white coloring sometimes stretches for a breast and a stomach. In winter fur hair of an animal are longer and more light. Life in Subantarctic's cool climate led to reduction of the sizes of projecting parts of a body of the animal. Xenolagus has the short roundish ears, capable to turn diversely. The outer side of ears is black, on the base of ears is a white strip. The ears lifted up become appreciable is an alarm signal. The tail of the animal is also short, covered with fluffy wool, white from the bottom side. Xenolaguses are the sociable animals who are lodging and being fed in common. Because of the large sizes these animals needed the considerable territory for feeding therefore settlements of xenolaguses include no more than four-five pairs adult animals and their posterity. For housing xenolagus digs wide holes depth to 5 meters, coming to the end with the nested chamber. In holes of these animals often lodge non-flying sea birds cavescares which dig for itself the lateral tunnels opening in the main tunnel. Holes of representatives of one colony are in the neighbourhood, at distance of several meters between them. Animals from different pairs know each other on a smell and treat to «friends» rather tolerantly. Pair at this species is formed for one season of reproduction and breaks up by the next marriage season; the hole is in possession of a female. Often happens so that males of different pairs during a new marriage season simply pass to other hole within the colony. The newcomer from outside should be grazed any time together with representatives of a colony that they got used to its smell and presence. Usually young males pass from a colony to a colony whereas the females born in a colony, dig the holes near parental or occupy the released holes in a colony. Due to the integration of the sizes and increase of survival rate of posterity rate of reproduction of xenolaguses became much more slowly, than at their ancestors. The female of this species gives rise to once a year to a brood from 4-6 cubs. The newborn xenolagus weighs about 300 grams, but quickly puts on weight and in two weeks weighs about one kg. The newborn individual is covered with wool, but eyes and ears open only by the end of the first week of life. The young animal starts to pass gradually to an adult diet at the age of 3-4 weeks, but stops to be fed with milk only at two-month age. The sexual maturity comes in the first year of life; in a brood of a young female happens only 1-2 cub. Life expectancy reaches 20 years.
Desert Australian rabbit (Australagus lepoides). This species living in droughty areas of a southwest part of the continent, in many respects reminds hares, especially because of the harmonous constitution and long ears. This form is adapted for extreme conditions of the desert. It has rather long legs for run on sand. Quite long ears (to 20 cm) are penetrated by a network of blood vessels; they serve for radiation of superfluous heat. Fur is short and velvety, painted in very light yellow color. Such coloring helps both to mask against a landscape, and to reflect an intensive sunlight, thus rescuing from an overheat. The unique dark stains in coloring – two specks over eyes and the outer side of ears. Design on the ear is quite simplified: there are some simple faltering strips and the extended red spotted blot. It eats mainly herbs and roots, but during a severe drought it can survive, gnawing round thin dry branches and even picking carrion. Colonies of this species are not quite numerous, consist less, than of ten individuals.
Antarctic carancho (Carancho antarctophron) Order: Falconiformes (Falconiformes) Family: Falconidae (Falconidae) Habitat: Antarctica, winters in South America. At the end of the era of the man the family Falconidae sustained heavy losses: large species of the true falcons disappeared because of destruction of their habitats, concern and direct prosecution from the man. But in the New World escaped and even achieved a certain prosperity other representatives of family – caracaras. After disappearance of the man they expanded an area and became one of the main feathery predators in new ecosystems. In South America caracaras meet in the South of the continent, in the field of a temperate climate. And it was the important circumstance which further has allowed these birds to occupy the new continent, Antarctica. Meadows and bushes of Antarctica occupies a special species of caracaras – antarctic carancho. This bird is similar on South American caracaras from which occurs, but differs a number of unique features. Wingspan of antarctic carancho reaches one and a half meters, and weight of the adult bird – about three kilograms. In a cold climate these birds had more dense and thick plumage in comparison with ancestors. By antarctic carancho it is painted in ash-gray color with white flight feathers and black "hat" on the head. The ends of tail feathers are also black. The winter plumage is much more dense than the summer. The skin area about eyes and in the base of a beak is covered with small feathers. Some extended feathers on a nape form similarity of a crest. Their fans are strong untwisted, and cores of these feathers are very elastic. Legs of these birds arelong, with rather short fingers. Distinctive feature of antarctic carancho is that feet of this bird are fledged almost to fingers (fingers are naked). Fingers are rather short, and claws are blunt therefore the bird can't tear them prey. Antarctic carancho well and long walks on the ground and often looks for prey – small animals and carrion. In the spring after flood of the rivers antarctic carancho explores the pools which have remained in flood plains of the rivers, and catches the small fish which has got to these traps. Also these birds lodge near colonies of sea birds and select victims of baby birds or the prey dropped or belched by adult birds. The head of this bird is more extended in comparison with ancestors. A beak isshort, black color, very sharp, with cutting edges and the hooked tip, adapted for a breaking of skin of large animals. Antarctic carancho is the main deathbird of Antarctica and often wanders on an ocean coast, searching and eating large fishes and other sea animals that have been thrown out by a storm. Development of sense organs in this species is peculiar: as at New World vultures, at antarctic carancho sense of smell is well developed. It is connected with need of search of food: in the conditions of Antarctica ascending streams of the air, allowing to soar at big height, aren't formed. Therefore birds are compelled to use other ways of search of a feed, and the main thing among them is recognition of smells. Due to the secondary development of olfactory parts the head of a bird has more extended form, than at sibling species from South America. Pairs at antarctic carancho are formed for one season of nesting. Courting begins in the spring when snow thaws and the grass starts to grow. The male chooses a place for nesting – on the earth among a bush. It feet scatters the earth away, forming the nest basis, and pulls down in a being formed pole a last year's grass. During the lekking the male loudly claps wings and makes some circles over the nested territory, letting out the cries similar to a crash. When the female flies to examine the territory of a male, he shows her himself, walking up and down round the female with the semi-opened wings and the raised crest. From time to time the lekked male gives to a female a blade of grass, and then again puts it to a nest. If pair was created, partners in common complete the nest. In a laying at this species are two eggs. Parents in common bring up posterity, but more often they manage to grow up to a departure from a nest of only one baby bird during the season. If for any reasons a laying or baby birds were lost, birds don't nest in the current year, and pair breaks up. Young antarctic carancho differ from adult birds by one-colour gray plumage of more dark shade, than at adult birds, and lack of black marks on plumage. Only the horny cover of a beak is distinguished against their plumage. The next year young birds gain the color of plumage typical for this species. The sexual maturity at these birds comes at one-year-old age though birds more successfully nest is more senior than two years. Life expectancy of this species makes till thirty years. Antarctic carancho is a bird of passage. However, it flies away to wintering places late enough, with the first snow and even at appearance of a steady snow cover. These birds overcome Drake Strait and migrate to the north along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South America. Many birds it is necessary to winter on Tierra del Fuego, and separate individuals arrive to the Falkland Islands.
The idea about existence of this species was stated by Simon, the member of a forum.
Вараха: Varaha (Barodeinaper waraha) Order: Even-toed ungulate (Artiodactyla) Family: Predatory boars (Carnoporcidae) Habitat: Southern and South East Asia, Hindustan; woods of various types and shrubby thickets. The family of pigs is among champions on a survival. These animals, easily growing wild and easily adapting to various conditions, fully used opened after disappearance of the man possibilities on development of new habitats. In the course of evolution the North of Eurasia was occupied by trunk boars, and in Africa and on Zindzh land there were horned forms of pigs. For Asia the special family of predatory boars is endemic – a peculiar attempt of pigs to become carnivorous as it made entelodons in the tertiary period. In temperate areas of Asia the hyena-like deinaper (Deinaper crocutoides) – the carnivorous species being ecological analog of hyenas is widespread. To the south of the Himalayas it is replaced by a species of a close genus – varaha. In comparison with a deinaper varaha is larger species adapted for life in a rainforest. It’s growth in shoulders is about one and a half meters, length to 2 meters, weight is about 400 kg. At varaha’s powerful jaws and the extended wedge-shaped muzzle which ended with the small snout. Skull bones are quite massive – in case of need varaha strikes to competitors blows with a forehead. Canines of an animal are well developed and inflexed, but are only a little placed sideways therefore don't hamper the movement of the animal through a dense underbrush. The main purpose of canines is to be the duel weapon. During a marriage season males are coupled by canines as hooks, and try to tumble down each other, using strong muscles of a neck and shoulders. Wide ears are used for heatreturn though in a heat varaha more often simply looks for a reservoir where has a rest during the hottest time of day. On a neck and shoulders of the animal is developed the standing bristly mane similar to a mane of wild horses and creating illusion of larger size, than is in fact. Skin on a neck and shoulders of varaha is very thick and strong – it hardly bites through even a large predator. For fastening of the muscles supporting the head, at an animal the top awned shoots on cervical and chest vertebras are well developed. Because of it the back of an animal is sloping a little. Legs of varaha short, but strong, with two well developed hooves on the 3rd and 4th fingers. the 2nd and 5th fingers are developed very poorly, their hooves are appreciable in the form of small bumps on each side of fore- and hind legs of the animal. Unlike the spotty northern relative, varaha has longitudinally striped coloring. The main background of coloring is reddish-brown, on the back stretch narrow longitudinal strips of black color. With color of a trunk coloring of the top part of the head of an animal – black with two large white spots under eyes sharply contrasts. This coloring has obvious warning character – varaha possesses aggressive temper and can easily rush on the competitor, driving away it from food. Lower part of the head isbrown, and mane is black. Varaha eats mainly a forage of an animal origin. This animal often eats carrion which searches, using a keen sense of smell. Also varaha attacks small animals whom tramples or bites to death, and then eats together with bones. If necessary varaha can beat off prey of predators – it attacks and tries to bite a predator or to hook it on canines. Thanks to skin "armour" and a powerful skull it easily bears blows of predators and more often gains over them top, forcing out them from prey or to wait, while varaha will be sated. Bumps on teeth of an animal have sharp tops and cutting edges. The varaha’s female gives birth once a year to three cubs. The first two weeks pigs spend in a den built in a secluded place, and then leave it and lead nomadic life, keeping near mother. At the age of about 5 months between them the competition becomes aggravated and they start to lead independent life. The sexual maturity at them comes at the age of 2 years, but males receive real possibility to participate in reproduction not earlier than 4-year age. Life expectancy reaches 30 years.
Drying-up toad (Xerobufo xeroderma) Order: Anura (Anura) Family: Toads (Bufonidae) Habitat: mountain "oases" of the Mediterranean hollow on a place of Cyprus island. The habitat, than the Mediterranean hollow is difficult to find less suitable for amphibians. Almost constant day heat, layers of salts at the bottom of the dried sea, salt reservoirs – all this is hardly suitable for the majority of amphibians, owners of damp skin and almost deprived adaptations for moisture retention in the organism. And certainly, in such conditions there can't live their larvae at all – tadpoles. Nevertheless, one specimen of the amphibians could be found even in this severe desert. More precisely, it is the inhabitant of "oases", the former islands, and nowadays simply mountains rising from a bottom of the sea. Mountains serve as peculiar catchers and stores of moisture which can support life of the amphibious. The inhabitant of the Mediterranean hollow is a drying-up toad. Dry skin of this creature allows to be some time in the sun though the drying-up toad spends considerable part of time in karst cracks. This is a light gray toad of typical shape, up to 8 cm long. It has bumpy skin and the large parotid glands containing strong poison, causing long irritation of mucous membranes of the predator which has grabbed this amphibian. Membranes on paws are strongly reduced, and the bottom surface of paws is covered with the become horny callosities, allowing to climb on stones and to maintain heat from a heated surface of the soil. Without possessing remarkable appearance, this toad strongly differs from the relatives by features of physiology. It as the camel, can lose a large amount of liquids from tissues of a body and is capable to dry more strongly than other amphibians, without losing viability. In the most extreme cases the amphibian loses to a half of the water containing in a body in norm, and turns into the real live skeleton capable, nevertheless, to move and breathe. Skin of a drying-up toad possesses the developed system of capillaries, especially on a belly. It allows to absorb moisture, including dew quickly. At big losses of moisture, however, this toad falls into a peculiar catalepsy: the body shrinks in a lump, paws are drawn in under it, and all vital processes in such condition are the extremely braked. Having felt the moisture presence, the drying-up toad becomes animated. It creeps in the direction of bigger concentration of water vapor in air and in such a way finds a water source – usually dew on stones or a stream among a karst. Having found the water, the drying-up toad starts filling up internal stocks of moisture. For this purpose it simply lays down in water and absorbs it through skin capillaries. On the stones covered with dew, it dexterously climbs by means of tenacious paws. The most vulnerable place in life cycle of this species is a larval stage which development surely requires water. Because of it the drying-up toad breeds very irregularly, one time in some years when in karstic reservoirs a few of water after a rain remains. At this time all individuals of this species direct to the reservoirs formed among a karst where arrange active marriage games. Male override females in a characteristic manner for toads and drive away rivals from the chosen female, biting them and making abrupt roaring sounds. In a laying about one hundred eggs usually is. In dry years some females, having found a water source, do "fast" layings of 20 – 30 eggs which fully develop. Tadpoles eat any food of the suitable size – in the beginning microscopic algas and protozoa, then larvaes of insects and the one another. Cannibalism outbreaks at tadpoles of this species usually happen shortly before a metamorphosis. Within about one month tadpoles grow, pass metamorphoses, turn in small toads and pass to life on a land. They keep in karstic labyrinths where it is easier to find a shadow and the damp soil.
Burying turtle (Terrachelonia semiglobosa) Group: Turtles (Testudinata) Family: Pelomedusidae Habitat: the woods and bushes of New Tortuga, except for districts with the stony soil. In fauna of turtles of New Tortuga there are the specialized herbivorous form, a predator, water, and even climbing species. "Intervals" between their ecological niches, however, aren't empty. There is on the island one more species of the terrestial turtles which hasn't been specialized in the relation of a diet, and meets practically in all available habitats. This is the burying turtle, one of small species of the turtles living on New Tortuga. The shape of this reptile gives out in it the typical land inhabitant. The flattened shell of natatorial ancestors at this specimen got a dome-shaped form (almost semi-spherical), having kept smoothness of outlines. Length of the shell of this species is about 40 cm. It is linked to features of protective strategy of this species of reptiles. Among predators dangerous to an adult turtle, on the island only sluggish cheloniraptor is found. His jaws are rather strong to bite off the head or a paw to a turtle of the small size. However the burying turtle escapes from it rather simply – it simply starts being dug in to the earth, and before approach of a predator manages to bury so deeply that on a surface of the earth there is only a dome of its shell. Shell surface is smooth, and it doesn't allow a predator to strike a bite – jaws of a predatory turtle simply slide on the shell. In attempt to dig out or turn it the burying turtle only is dug in and "anchored" in the earth by paws more deeply. On a way of protection this turtle is similar to armadillos and echidnas of an era of the man, but digs the earth much more slowly. On paws of this turtle grow thick claws, and bones of extremities are reinforced, with large crests and poles for a muscles attachment. The head on a short neck is wide and flat. The shell of a burying turtle is painted in light yellow color with a black pattern in the form of dispersing beams on each mail. The burying turtle doesn't compete with other species of turtles of the island thanks to the "specializations to not specialization". It is an omnivorous reptile which eats any food of a vegetable or animal origin. It eats mushrooms, sprouts of grassy plants, leaves. Often this reptile digs out juicy and nutritious rhizomes of perennial herbs. Among food of an animal origin the burying turtle eats drop. Also it is the largest species on the island which can ruin nests of other species of turtles. If opportunity is represented, this reptile ruins nests of the birds nesting on the ground. Two times a year the female lays in a deep nest to 8 – 11 spherical eggs. Adult animals don't care of posterity, and young turtles independently dig an exit outside from depth of 30 - 40 cm. Thanks to such depth of a nest of a laying of a burying turtle remain much better. Young turtles reach a sexual maturity at the age of 12 – 14 years. Life expectancy of these reptiles reaches 100 – 120 years.
Goliath spalax (Megaspalax goliath) Order: Rodents (Rodentia) Family: Slepysha (Spalacidae) Habitat: Three-river steppes, along the rivers and about standing reservoirs. Spalaxes – specialized digging animals of the Holocene. With distribution in the ice age of rather dry plains which have been grassed, they could expand their area and outlive the glaciation, having kept a specific variety. In the neocene when the steppe vegetation became more plentiful and more various, on the life arena there was appeared a peculiar, huge species of spalaxes, by right bearing a name of goliath spalax. This is a large subterrain animal of the size of a badger, the descendant of common spalax. Anatomic it doesn't differ almost from typical representatives of the family, known to the man. It has the same strong rolled body, short powerful paws, eyes completely are lacking. The dense fur of the animal is short, velvety, is a little similar to fur of a mole, painted in pale-yellow-gray color. His skull became the real tool of the drift miner – bones grew together, the frontal bone turned into the thick integral roof outside covered with becomes horny skin. The main digging tool of goliath spalax – huge incisors of yellow color with which the animal bites off the soil, digging itself a course. This animal builds huge adits, sometimes pulling down the cities of souslik dogs and other underground rodents. Diameter of holes of goliath spalax can reach 40 – 50 cm. It builds a network of fodder passages, often using as a basis the tunnels which have been dug through by souslik dogs and other animals. Goliath spalaxes are the single animals meeting only for the time of pairing. Each animal out of a season of reproduction watches territory borders, marking them with urine. This species eats various roots and tubers, generally a potato woundwort – a tuberous plant of family labiates. For the winter goliath spalax reserves roots and tubers of plants, putting them in special "storerooms" at a depth up to 3 - 4 meters. It carefully marks "storeroom" with the smell, and the entrance to it blocks with the soil. It makes for protection of stocks from other subterrain rodents whom it often plunders. At an opportunity goliath spalax can simply eat other rodent who has got to his passage. In the winter the animal is so active, as in the summer, only at a cold spell becomes more sluggish, spending more time in a hole. Sometimes this rodent creeps out on a surface. It differs curious feature of behavior: despite a total blindness, it is able to float and dive. At night goliath spalaxess leave the holes, and go down to basins, using the marked tracks. Using sense of smell, they find and dig out edible herbs. The part from them is eaten at once, and the part gets to "storerooms". Diving, goliath spalaxes are fed with water plants. On an earth surface this rodent could easily fall prey of predators, but he is rescued by sensitive sense of smell and touch. Soles of paws of goliath spalax are supplied with special receptors thanks to which the animal feels soil concussions from steps of an animal. The scared animal easily and precisely finds a hole by the sense of smell. Taken unawares, goliath spalax turns into the dangerous opponent: it strikes to a predator blows with the armor head, and bites huge cutters. Reproduction happens since early spring to the beginning of fall. The female gives birth to 2 - 3 large cubs the size approximately about a guinea pig. About a month they sit in a lair, further begin vagrant life together with mother. When young animals become rather independent (at the age of about 3 months), the female banishes them. Usually at this time the female already bears new cubs. In a year there are 2 broods. Young animals are settled, usually along river valleys and coast of lakes. They spend day in holes, and at night move, finding suitable territories. The young animal becomes an adult at the age of about a year, and life expectancy reaches 17 – 20 years.
This look was open by Simon, the participant of a forum
Отправлено: 01.08.13 18:48. Заголовок: Учитывая, что сегодн..
Учитывая, что сегодня начало августа, перевёл одного из своих старых зверей в Бестиарии:
The striped tree porcupine (Bradycoendu lanceolatus) Order: Rodents (Rodentia) Family: New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) Habitat: open forests of South America.
At the dawn of the Holocene and Neocene, when much of the jungle of South America disappeared as a result of global cooling and a dry climate, many tropical rainforest animals died out or were forced to change their way of life to survive. Among them were the various arboreal porcupines of South America, quite unusual rodents, which felt safe from the many enemies due to their quills.
Among mammals, the rodents show a very wide adaptability, and have adapted to live everywhere, from the slopes of the mountains to fresh water. Some of their Neocene descendants even became marine animals, but the evolution of South American porcupines do not reach to such extremes. Most of them (for example, the quill-sided porcupine) remained tree-dewelling animals, but there are exceptions in any rule, and the striped tree porcupine is one of these animal exceptions.
The striped tree porcupine is a relative of quill-sided porcupine and is a relatively large rodent, reaching almost 1.5 m in length and weighing up to 15 kg. It is covered with brown fur, from which protrude some very brightly colored quills; the contrast combination between colour of the quills and fur creates a striped pattern like that of the zebra, which makes this porcupine less noticeable among vegetation. The quills of this animal are longer than those of its Holocene predecessors. This species has a short strong tail that serves as support when climbing trees and digging the ground.
Unlike their relatives, the striped tree porcupine is rather ponderous and spends only part of its life in the trees. It often comes down to earth, where it searches for some edible plants, takes dust baths and escapes from enemies (mostly birds of prey). This lifestyle has developed in connection with the fact that this rodent is one of the most southerly species of its family, and is found not in rainforest, where it is humid year-round, and the land is often waterlogged, but much further south, where the climate is drier, with pronounced seasonality, and drought can occur in summer. As a result, the ancestors of this animal had to learn a new way of life.
The food of this animal includes various fruits and lush greens of ground-dwelling plants. In the dry season the striped charcoal porcupine eats roots, which it digs out of the ground with powerful claws. It supplements this diet with cockroaches and beetle larvae, which the porcupine finds on the ground and among the fallen leaves.
In autumn the mating season of this species begins and the females loudly call out to the males reminiscent of meowing cats. If several of males gather around a single female, they will begin to push each other away from the female, until the most powerful and enduring male remains. From that point on, the male porcupine continually remains next with the female. The male mates with the female porcupine until the latter is ready to accept the male’s advances, and it also drives away other males from the female. While the female is pregnant, the male stays close – this species forms a family while the kits are young and growing.
1 – 2 well-developed kits with open eyes are born to the females in three months. The babies are cared for by both parents, when even carry them (sometimes taking turns) on the backs. Unlike the quill-sided porcupine, this species’ quills grow both on the sides and on the middle part of the back. Only the hind part of the back and the base of the tail do not have any quills. The kits sit on that part of the adults, and the adult animal covers them up with its tail, curving it upwards. There are long and moveable quills around that part of the porcupine’s body. In case of danger they lock over the kits, protecting them.
The young of this species grow rapidly, and by the following year they becoming fully independent. They become capable of reproduction at the age of two years.
The maximum life span of the striped tree porcupine is up to 20 years, but most animals survive only up to 10-12 years.
Отправлено: 22.09.13 11:56. Заголовок: Перевод описания гор..
Перевод описания горной сони:
Mountain dormouse, chinchilla-dormouse (Raptoglis chinchilloides) Order: Rodents (Rodentia) Family: Dormouses (Gliridae) Habitat: mountains of the Caucasian peninsula, Middle East. In early neocene rodents have an opportunity to prove once again the evolutionary success. They quickly evolved, taking all suitable habitats for them, and already in early neocene their specific variety was comparable with that in a pliocene and an early pleistocene, before the age of anthropogenous pressure. In the neocene rodents are widespread on all Earth, except Antarctica – from the equatorial woods to cold northern meadows and tops of mountains. In Eurasia in the neocene there were some species of dormouses family which use food of an animal extraction much more often than their ancestors. These are the sable dormouse (Raptoglis zibellinus) from Three-Rivers steppes and the otter-dormouse (Glirolutra hamiota) from the rivers of east part of Europe. One more species is close to them, lives to the south of Fourseas, in mountains of the Caucasian peninsula and mountains of the Middle East, is the mountain dormouse called also the chinchilla-dormouse for the dense warm fur. This representative of northern fauna prospers in the south exactly thanks to dwelling in cold highland climate. The mountain dormouse – the large rodent reaching weight about 3 kilograms and of the size of a small cat. Thanks to a tail covered with long wool, the animal seems more largely. The head of this rodent is rounded, with the shortened muzzle and the small ear conches covered outside with wool. The mountain dormouse has large eyes and good sight. This species successfully mastered life in highlands thanks to dense fur which helps to keep heat even in a hard frost or at big height. Summer fur of an animal is reddish-brown, velvety, rather short. On a breast and a throat there is always a white spot, head top is more dark. The winter fur differs by the bigger length and density, and also lighter coloring. Constitution of an animal is tight, paws are short (hinder legs are a little longer than forelegs). Fingers are armed with sharp claws thanks to what the mountain dormouse is capable to climb on almost steep mountainsides and among a bush. This animal can make jumps up to 2 - 3 meters long. Mountain dormouses are almost exceptionally carnivorous, adding to a diet no more than 10% of vegetable food though in case of starvation they can temporarily turn to completely vegetable forage. These rodents often eat drop for which search by a smell. Besides, mountain dormouses readily gnaw even bones. For them is characteristic the habit to search and pull down bones in "bonemill", a special place covered from predators where these animals gnaw their finds. They almost completely assimilate collagen from the eaten bones, and the remains are small. Usual the prey of mountain dormouses are small rodents, birds and their eggs, and in lowlands – reptiles and insects. This species of rodents lives singly and rarely – in couples. The female is more aggressive than the male. The dwelling of this rodent represents the deep hole which has been dug out among stones so that they complicated digging the hole out by predators. Like other representatives of family, mountain dormouses lay down in long hibernation which can last up to half a year with small breaks. Animals are very strongly eaten off to the winter, gaining weight about 4,5 kg. The fur becomes long and more dense. Several times during the winter the animal wakes up to leave the dung, which is at this time very condensed and dry. The posterity is born at the end of spring when there is a lot of forage. In a brood are to 5 cubs who quickly grow and at the age of about two weeks already start tasting meat. Occasionally at the end of summer animals can bring the second brood in which there are rarely more than two cubs. Life expectancy doesn't exceed 5 years.
Отправлено: 24.09.13 19:13. Заголовок: Новый перевод - сент..
Новый перевод - сентябрьский:
Marsupial potto (Neodasyrus auridae) Order: Marsupials (Marsupalia) Family: carnivorous marsupials (Dasyuridae) Habitat: mountain forests of Meganesia. Like the other carnivorous marsupial, the quolls have experienced hard times in the age of the Holocene: their numbers greatly decreased due to anthropogenic pressure and competition with the introduced placental predators. However, unlike their larger relatives, the thylacine and the Tasmanian Devil, the quolls have been able to survive the anthropogenic pressure, more evolutionary advanced animals, climatic disasters and much more. However, such "tests" have not gone unnoticed for the quolls: some of their species became extinct, and the descendants of others sometimes began to develop along quite different evolutionary paths, acquiring completely different features. The marsupial potto is one of such deviating species. Like its placental analog, this is a small animal, about 26-33 centimeters in length, with a short tail. This tail is a legacy of the past: the marsupial potto moves too slowly and does not jump, so it does not really need a tail. The ancestors of the marsupial potto were patchy in coloration, but nocturnal lifestyle made the fur of this animal monochromatic, dark brown with a golden tint. In addition, it has a shorter and broader snout, larger eyes and ears, and longer whiskers. The teeth are small, but strong, able to bite through even a thick bone. The marsupial potto is an active predator that feeds on insects and spiders, slugs and snails, tree frogs and lizards, small animals and birds - everything that it can catch and kill with a strong bite. The dark fur of the animal makes it hard to see at night when it sneaks up onto its prey - the potto’s short legs are poorly adapted for longer jumps or a long chase, but it can very carefully sneak up to sleeping birds. The marsupial potto comes very rarely onto ground - mainly for a drink. But more often the animal finds rosettes of epiphytic plants where water accumulates and so it does not need to descend at all. Twice a year the females begin to call out to males with barking cries, indicating the beginning of the mating season. If two or more males meet at the same female there will be severe fighting, including biting. The victor mates with the female and leaves it – the female of this species raises the young alone. The pouch has only two nipples but the females give birth to 5 offspring – but only those that reach the nipples first survive. When three months old the young begin to leave the pouch and by 8 months they are independent. By that time the female is ready to breed again. If for some reason a female loses its offspring it comes into heat much faster. The life expectancy of the marsupial potto - 8-10 years; the sexual maturity comes at two-and-a-half to three years.
Neopueo (Strigocircus vespertinus) Order: Falconiformes Family: Accipitridae Habitat: Hawaii, woods. In Hawaiian "pueo" means "owl". On Hawaii during an era of the man the marsh owl, obviously, a North American origin lived. It’s descendant during the neocene also remained on islands, but the new Hawaiian predator partly competes with him – the descendant of got to Hawaii harrier, one of recent settlers on islands. This feathery predator – neopueo, the night bird of prey who is very similar to an owl. Probably, otherwise owls simply wouldn't allow to appear to such competitor on islands, but neopueo and owls accurately differ with activity time and therefore not so rigidly compete for prey. Unlike owls, activity peak of neopueo is twice per day: late evening and early in the morning, in the conditions of faint lighting. It is associated with that this bird hunts mainly by means of sight, to a lesser extent relying on hearing. Therefore it spends the most dark night hours in relative rest, and owls hunt just at this time. Neopueo – rather small bird of the size of a pigeon. It hunts on small vertebrate animals and large insects. The nocturnalism made of neopueo a bird, similar by shape to an owl. The head neopueo is roundish, and the feathers growing around eyes, form a characteristic front disk. The head of a bird has dark brown color, and the front disk is white, similar to a mask. The long tail and rather short wide wings allow to maneuver among branches: this predator lives only in the woods. Remiges of neopueo are similar to the owl's: on them there is a set of bristles by vane edge. They extinguish air turbulences at waves of wings because of what flight of a bird becomes almost silent as at the real owls. The body top of neopueo is painted in brown color with dark cross stripes, the stomach is gray. On the head stripes are more frequent and narrow therefore it seems more darkly than a trunk. Remiges are light brown, and long steering feathers of a tail have black tips. One more "heritage" from harrier in shape of neopueo are long legs. Because of it the bird seems slightly more largely, than is actually. Feet of neopueo are covered by smooth small scales of yellowish color, fingers are armed with hooked claws. Neopueo possesses interesting feature which is characteristic for some African birds of prey of the Holocene: it has a joint jointing a tarso-metatarsus and a shin, is exclusively mobile and can be bent not only forward, but also sideways, and even back a little. Thanks to such adaptation neopueo can hunt on small animals who hide in hollows, just pushing a paw in a hollow, and catching the animal who has hidden in it. Neopueo keeps single, only during the mating season a couple of birds builds a nest on high trees and together grows up posterity. Nestbuilding skill of neopueo is developed better, than at other feathery predators. Birds of this species build in branches a big nest of brushwood in the form of a deep bowl though take more often and reorganize already done nest of other birds. The most remarkable trait of the nest of neopueo is that birds complete over the nest a friable roof from brushwood, and because of it a nest of this bird is more similar to that of magpie. In completely finished nest of neopueo there is a through pass, and a bird, having got into a nest on the one side, leaves it on another. And the long tail of a brooding bird sometimes even juts out of pass. There are some advantages in occurrence of the roof on the nest: it perfectly protects from the hot sun, and in the afternoon both birds take cover in the nest. Neopueo has very sensitive eyes, and a daylight irritates them. The female neopueo is larger than a male, and she "inherits" the nest: it settles down in its territory, and males fly for formation of couple from the next sites of the wood. In a laying are 2 - 3 eggs, which in common brood both birds of couple. But, despite such care, up to the departure from a nest lives only 1 - 2 baby birds: at these birds the cannibalism is developed, and the weakest baby bird is sometimes eaten by stronger brothers and sisters. Sometimes already grown up baby bird throws out from a nest or pecks to death another, especially if there is no feed (for example when one bird from couple was lost, and the second can't provide with food of both baby birds).
Отправлено: 04.10.13 19:59. Заголовок: В связи с началом ок..
В связи с началом октября, новый перевод из Бестиария:
Skimmer tortoise (Agrionemys teratognathus) Order: Tortoises (Testudines) Family: Terrestrial tortoises (Testudinidae) Habitat: semi-desert in the Persian mountains. The human era has caused great damage to the detachment of the tortoises – the biggest repre-sentatives of these reptiles died out or became a rarity in the historical era. But the actual nega-tive impact began much earlier: in the Pliocene and the Pleistocene the species diversity of large terrestrial tortoises declined on the background of development and proliferation of the terrestrial hominids: first australopithecines, and then humans. At the end of the historic era, the tortoises in the wild have become exclusively small and me-dium-sized, and the large species remained in a small number almost solely in artificial habitat and under strict protection. After the end of the human epoch and the ice age the tortoises are once again coming back to their lost territories - among them there are many large species that have arisen independently in different places of the Earth. In the semi-deserts, a large species of tortoises can be encountered in the Persian mountains - it is a descendant of the Russian or Central Asian tortoise (Agrionemys horsfieldii). Its peculiar fea-ture is the very large head, which does not fit under the shell and bears its own protective horny scute. A significant part of the head is the huge jaws with sharp edges, similar to the beak of a skimmer bird, for which this tortoise is named. This is a fairly large species of terrestrial reptiles: the length of an adult’s carapace reaches 70-80 cm and it weighs of up to 60-70 kg. The females are larger than males, but the males have a larger head, and the scute on it is covered with lots of bumps on edges and is used as a weapon. The skimmer tortoises have a certain food specialization, allowing them to avoid competition with closely related species and to use a very accessible source of food. These reptiles feed on large hard grasses and on branches of shrubs. Due to the low sensitivity of the alkaloids they eas-ily eat large bulbs of stony onion (Petroallium petrops). The opened jaws of the skimmer tortoise really look like garden shears - the cutting edge of the lower jaw curves up and it looks more massive than the top one. The horny beak’s edges are self-sharpening and do not get blunt when the tortoise is eating solid food. Sometimes these reptiles eat food of animal origin: small verte-brates and carrion. To replenish the calcium in its body the skimmer tortoise gnaws dry bones. If there is water, the tortoises drink it willingly and often. To protect themselves from overheating these reptiles have very light shells: the scutes are grey with a darker centre. The reptile’s dry, wrinkled skin is gray-white. In addition, these tortoises live in places where the ground vegetation are tall herbaceous plants and shrubs. The life of these reptiles exposed to the seasonal rhythm. These animals spend the winter hiber-nating in burrows that they dig with feet and beak. In early spring the tortoises emerge from win-ter shelters and in 10-12 days they are already ready to reproduce. During mating, the males are very active - they quickly pursue each other and bite the legs and edges of the carapace. At the high number of tortoises on their "leks" there are continuous sounds of striking shells (with their armour strikes the males encourage females to mate) and the hoarse rumbling of the males. In May, at the beginning of the dry season, the females lay 2-5 eggs 5 cm long in an underground nest, making three nests in a short time. In October the tortoise eggs hatch and the hatchlings re-main through the winter underground, leaving for the surface only in the spring of the next year. Although they grow up a bit over the winter due to the remnants of egg yolk, their shells are still soft and therefore they are easily vulnerable. By 25 years of age young reptiles reach the average adult size and maturity. Their life expectancy is very great: individuals live up to 125 years.
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