Here comes the big question; How did the family Boidae reach all the way from areas of Asia, the island of Madagascar and Africa to the Americas? It is not entirely possible to give an accurate or complete sequence of events for the Boidae family, but the relationship between all of the snake families and their distributions can help to fill in some of the gaps that are missing. Many hypotheses have been created without much evidence to try to understand this distribution of the boids. The first hypothesis stated that these particular snakes reached Madagascar from the African mainland before the Mozambique Channel was formed. On a related note, the presence of Boas on Madagascar shows us that this family of snakes had already evolved before
This chapter, or in this case the introduction, is exactly what it is labeled as; an introduction. The main ideas of this introduction are more or less used to explain the goals of this book and also used to familiarize the reader with what is to come. Throughout the introduction, the author, David Quammen refers to a wide variety of unique and unheard of organisms that exist in nature. Not only do these organisms sound weird, but many often behave in unordinary ways. The okapi, the Xylocaris, the chambered nautilus, and the plant that eats frogs are just examples of the many different organisms Quammen talks about. The reason for Quammen’s use of such organisms is not to scare readers away from nature, but to actually lure them in. The main idea of Quammen’s whole introduction is basically to show readers that nature is not a freak show, but to show simply nature itself. At first this whole idea may seem a little cloudy and vague, but as you read on, one will start to understand what Quammen is really striving for. Quammen uses animals and plants as examples to show the very intricacies of nature and the natural world. One example that he uses that has helped my understanding of this idea was the black widow spider. Quammen tells us of his strong fear of spiders and he goes on telling us how the black widow is very poisonous and menacing, yet possesses an undeniable beauty. He also states the black widow as being dangerous but not malicious, and gorgeous or hideous depending upon how we see it. Quammen’s point is that no matter how you see the spider, it is still part of nature.
“Snakes” is a short story written by Danielle Evans. In this selection, a young girl visits her white grandmother during the summer, while her parents are in Brazil. There were many problems with race in this story since Tara, the key character and narrator, is mixed. Her Caucasian mother has trouble combing her hair and her grandmother was uncomfortable with her skin color. All the characters in this story have good intentions but have no idea how to deal with certain situations, which ends up with them having disastrous outcomes, such as Tara’s mother, Amanda, making her stay with her mother, Lydia but no understanding that she would be treated poorly, Lydia was responsible for the children but had no clue how to manage them, and lastly, Tara wanted to be with her mother but didn’t have any way to get back with her.
Nomads of the Rainforest is a film which focuses on a tribe in Ecuador called the Waorani. The purpose of this documentary is to discover how this culture has maintained their cultural identity amidst Western culture and remained an enigma. The Waorani were known as savages and likely to attack any outside influence indiscriminately. These people were a mystery due to the fact that their savagery was brushed against the landscape of an egalitarian society in which all people were equal and must contribute to their society. The message of the film is to describe the Waorani lifestyle and how the rainforest is critical to their maintaining their nomadic lifestyle that has been a part of their culture for centuries.
There are invaders among us, they are not alien or human, but Burmese Pythons. Arguably one of the most beautiful and unique parts of nature remaining in the United States is rapidly being destroyed by the Burmese Python. It has enormously impacted the Everglades in a negative way. The beautiful indigenous animals have quickly disappeared and new predators surface as we dig deeper into the Everglades. This fierce animal is a constrictor, squeezing the life out of its prey. The Pythons tight grip sucks the life out of its prey and swallows it whole. “It sounded like a joke when news reported Burmese Pythons were invading the Everglades in 2000” states USA Today. Pythons are slithering their way through the Florida Everglades with a big appetite and a similar habitat as their original home in Asia. Now, they have marked their territory permanently and there may be nothing scientists can do in order to prevent this issue.
Paul, Gregory S. (2002). "Looking for the True Bird Ancestor". Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 171–224. ISBN 0-8018-6763-0.
Erika Lopez’s chapter on the Canadian Johns is the longest chapter in her novel, Flaming Iguanas, possibly because it displays an empowering moment for Jolene, wherein Lopez’s protagonist undergoes a masculine sensation that fulfills her own needs and desires as an independent woman on the road. She meets the Canadian Johns, middle-aged bikers from Canada, who help her get her broken bike fixed. She uses one of the Canadian Johns for a thrilling ride on his motorcycle, and for a place to stay for a night. Jolene imagines herself riding the motorcycle and puts herself in the Canadian Johns’ place: “I only want to have sex with this Canadian guy when we’re going seventy miles around curves, not when he turns around” (Lopez 125). When she realizes
Exotic snakes such as the python, boa constrictors and anaconda as well as the Monitor and Tegu lizard are taking over central and southern Florida and pose an extreme threat to the eco- system and to the families that are residing there.
The Yanomamo’s or also referred as Yanomami and Yanomama, are a group of nearly 35,000 indigenous people who live in some approximately 200 villages in the Amazon rainforest of South America between Venezuela and Brazil. Like most other tribes the Yanomamo migrated across the passages between Asia and America about 15,000 years ago making their way down to South America and is one of the last ancient cultures still remaining. The meaning of Yanomamo is “Human Being.” The Yanomamo are made up of four subdivisions within their tribe and have their own language which consists of: The Sanema which live in the Northern Sector, the Ninam which live in the southeastern sector, the Yanomam that live in the southeastern part, and the Yanomamo which live in the southwestern part of Yanomami area. The Yanomamo were one of the tribes that remained unknown until the 1960’s who were discovered by anthropologists, Napoleon Chagnon and which his first impressions described them as fierce people.
Majungatholus atopus roamed the plains of northwestern Madagascar about 70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous (Perkins, 2003; Rogers et al, 2003). The discovery of 21 tooth-marked elements originating from two Majungatholus atopus individuals suggests evidence that the dinosaur supplemented its diet by feeding on its own dead or hunting them (Rogers et al, 2003). It cannot be confirmed whether they were purely scavengers, hunters, or both. Scientists are certain that the marks are not the doing of any other predator because the teeth marks are not consistent with any other known species that lived in the area. Only one other theropod that inhabited the area during the time Majungatholus atopus did, Masiakasaurus knopfleri, had teeth and bite marks too small to have caused these markings. Two large crocodile species also shared the same ecosystem but their teeth were “too blunt and too irregularly spaced to have produced the narrow grooves found on the Majungatholus bones”(Perkins, 2003). The tooth marks on at least nine Majungatholus elements attest to intertooth spacing in the perpetrators jaw and denticle drag patterns consistent enough to make a compelling case for Majungatholus feeding on other Majungatholus (Rogers et al, 2003).
When Columbus and the first landed in the Americas, he was confronted with a totally new world. This was not just new in the sense of people and land, but also in an ecological one as well. Columbus had stumbled across a land that, although already populated by people, was basically untouched. The people who lived in these new lands were completely in sync with nature. They valued the land for what it was worth and as such, they preserved it.
Author of “The Negro Family”, E. Franklin Frazier believed that the centrality of the bible, structure of Black worship, and notion of God that evolved from the invisible institution to the Black Church was confirmation of the power of white influence . These tactics and different developments were merely adaptive methods used by slaves in order to worship freely in a confined space. Frazier’s beliefs were undermined by author Gayraud S. Wilmore’s description of Vodun in his book Black Religion and Black Radicalism. Frazier’s contention that black religion was evidence of white influence assumes a blank and passive slate. While Vodun in West Africa did have organization that was probably “infiltrated by Roman Catholicism” the goal of New World Africans was to adapt and understand their lives (Wilmore 43). Although white influence was forced upon New World Africans, slaves did not accept this influence but rather interpreted it to create a new, place-based Vodun religion. Vodun adapted to New World conditions, functioned as a coping mechanism, and possessed evolutionary qualities.
The Boli, or altar, figure from the Bamana peoples of Mali is a unique piece of art not based on what an individual knows about the figure, but rather what it doesn’t. The Boli has a secretive quality that harness energy from the community and peoples reactions to the Boli can fluctuate based on their interpretations on the object. The Boli is made of materials ranging from human bodily fluid to sticks and string. The figure is generally made to resemble an animal, typically a hippopotamus or cow, but over time with sacrificial material covering the figure it can become somewhat unclear. The Bamana peoples have an obscure relationship with the Boli for many reasons that could sprout from the materials it is made from, its uses in the society, and its extremely secretive nature.
Reptiles, one the most widely spread animal group throughout the world. They can live almost everywhere because they adapt so well. Reptiles also come in a lot of shapes, sizes and colors. So let's explore the wonder of these scaly creatures.
Nature is a balancing act. When a certain balance of a simple, natural ecosystem is disrupted, it becomes dangerously unstable. This is exactly what happened, and is currently happening, to the island of Guam. This two hundred and nine square mile island has a very simple ecosystem. The only native mammal here is the Mariana fruit bat (Miller). Consequently, when human development started on Guam its animal kingdom started to become quite unstable. For example, the brown tree snake has wiped out half of the bird population and is currently downsizing the population of rats. With no birds to eat the fruits of the trees, the forests’ seeds do not get distributed through their waste as they fly around, therefore hurting the growth of Guam’s forests (Miller). Guam’s biggest insect influence to date is the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle.
Reptiles are vertebrate, or backboned animals constituting the class Reptilia and are characterized by a combination of features, none of which alone could separate all reptiles from all other animals.The characteristics of reptiles are numerous, therefore can not be explained in great detail in this report. In no special order, the characteristics of reptiles are: cold-bloodedness; the presence of lungs; direct development, without larval forms as in amphibians; a dry skin with scales but not feathers or hair; an amniote egg; internal fertilization; a three or four-chambered heart; two aortic arches (blood vessels) carrying blood from the heart to the body, unlike mammals and birds that only have one; a metanephric kidney; twelve pairs of cranial nerves; and skeletal features such as limbs with usually five clawed fingers or toes, at least two spinal bones associated with the pelvis, a single ball-and-socket connection at the head-neck joint instead of two, as in advanced amphibians and mammals, and an incomplete or complete partition along the roof of the mouth, separating the food and air passageways so that breathing can continue while food is being chewed. These and other traditional defining characteristics of reptiles have been subjected to considerable modification in recent times. The extinct flying reptiles, called pterosaurs or pterodactyls, are now thought to have been warm-blooded and covered with hair. Also, the dinosaurs are also now considered by many authorities to have been warm-blooded. The earliest known bird, archaeopteryx, is now regarded by many to have been a small dinosaur, despite its covering of feathers The extinct ancestors of the mammals, the therapsids, or mammallike reptiles, are also believed to have been warm-blooded and haired.