KEEPING YOUR PRODUCT OFFERING CURRENT

Maintaining awareness of the latest market news, consumer concerns, and cutting-edge technologies will stimulate sales and build a loyal client base. The idea One of the most effective ways to keep your company current and cutting-edge is to cultivate an awareness of changing consumer concerns. Understanding your customer is vital to good business, but clients are not fixed on their desires. 

Their needs and wants change regularly, and for a variety of reasons—to claim you are truly at the forefront of your industry you must maintain knowledge of, and cater to, these changing demands. Subaru’s 2006 marketing strategy is an impressive example of this—every buyer of selected new Impreza, Forester, and Legacy models received £3,000 worth of free fuel vouchers. Customers who purchased any other model in the Subaru range received £1,000 worth of vouchers. 

This deal, not offered by any of its competitors, connects with the widespread global concern about rising fuel prices. Instead of offering a traditional reduction in price to stimulate sales, Subaru understood the changing needs and concerns of its clients and used this to create a truly enticing price incentive. By blending innovation with a willingness to react to the latest market developments, it is possible for businesses to prosper in volatile environments. Talk to your current and potential customers. What do they value? What are their concerns? What do they want?

• Find out what businesses in other industries are doing to attract customers.

• Ask people at all levels of your business, including the “extended family” such as retailers or distributors, how they would keep the product appealing.

• Plan a series of product enhancements and sales initiatives. A constant series of incentives to buy is better than a desperate splurge (or a complacent lack of activity).

• Be prepared to test a range of ideas and initiatives. Find out what works best, where, and why, and see whether it can be replicated elsewhere.

The Roman Ship, "De Meern" is a well-preserved ancient ship

The Roman Ship, "De Meern" is a well-preserved ancient ship that was discovered in the Netherlands. It was discovered in the 1990s during the construction of a housing development near the town of De Meern. The ship is believed to have been built in the 1st or 2nd century AD and was used for transportation and trade. It is considered to be one of the best-preserved ancient ships in the world and provides valuable insight into the maritime culture and technology of the Roman period. The ship is now on display at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands.

Western Bowerbird (Chlamydera guttata)

The Western Bowerbird replaces the Spotted Bowerbird in the desert hills and ranges of central and Western Australia. Bower-building and behavior are similar, although the Western builds its avenue of sticks on a higher platform 150-200 mm above ground level.

There is so much resemblance between them that they have been considered races of the same species. Westerns, however, are much smaller and more colorful than their eastern counterparts. There is a difference in shape between the tail and the bill of this bird. Unlike the Spotted, its crown is scalloped, not streaked, and its mantle patch lacks the plain appearance that is characteristic of the species.

There is no evidence that they intergrade where they almost meet in the northern Simpson Desert. In their range, Western Bowerbirds prefer breaks where there is water for drinking and copses of leafy trees for shelter and food. As the female approaches his bower to inspect, the male calls out, fans his tail, jumps and flicks his wings, and performs ritualized dances. The pink crest on the neck will also be erected, as wall decorations held in the bill and shaken vigorously.
However, they are primarily fruit-eaters, eating drupes of sandalwoods and mistletoe within the crowns of shrubs and trees. Fig trees, Ficus platypoda, are found in pockets in many areas where the bird lives. Guttated Bowerbird is another name for it. Western Bowerbirds are about 250-270 mm long, but females are a bit larger.
Male: This male possesses a broad nape bar of dense lilac plumes over a dusky, closely scalloped ochre crown. There is a fleck of ochre on the tips of all feathers on the mantle as well as the rest of the upper parts, wings, and short tail. In the face and throat, the color is dusky, spotted with ochre. On the flanks and undertail, the color is yellow-cream, slightly barred, and variably washed with russet.
The eyes are brown in color. There is a black bill and a yellow mouth. Olive-grey is the color of the feet. The female has a scalloped crown, a shorter nape bar, a more heavily spotted throat, and a longer tail than the male. MALE: As female; nape bar absent. This bird has a similar call to the Spotted Bowerbird. Francis Gregory collected the species in 1861, and John Gould gave the specimen to him. As a result of its plumage, guttata is named spotted. There is a close similarity between this species and Chlamydera maculata, the spotted bowerbird.
The western bowerbird is polygamous, with males mating with several females over the breeding season and females taking care of nesting, incubation, and chick rearing. September-December is the nesting and breeding season. In trees, nests are made from loose saucers of dry twigs, lined with finer twigs and needles, and placed in horizontal forks. Usually two eggs; pale grey-green, covered with brown scrolls and occasional darker blotches; oval, 32 x 26mm.
From Birksgate, Warburton, Macdonnell, and Jervois Ranges to the edge of Gibson Desert, and south to CueLeonora, WA, the Western Bowerbird is found in central Australian ranges. In addition to the nominated Chlamydera guttatag, and C. guttata cateri, which occurs only in the North West Cape in Western Australia. Rock figs, sandalwood, snake gourd, and mistletoe are among the fruits fed to the western bowerbird. In addition to feeding on cultivated fruits, they will also enter farms to do so. Other items in the diet include nectar, flowers, beetles, grasshoppers, ants, moths, and moth larvae. It is rare to find them far from water as they need to drink regularly.

What is graffiti art definition

Graffiti is a form of visual art that consists of writing or drawings made on public surfaces, typically without permission. It can range from simple text to complex murals and often involves spray paint or markers. Graffiti has a long history, with examples dating back to ancient civilizations, and can be seen as both vandalism and as a form of self-expression and social commentary.

Graffiti art is a form of visual expression that often uses public spaces as a canvas. It is created using a variety of techniques, including spray paint, markers, and stencils, and can take many forms, from simple tags to more elaborate murals. Despite its historical roots and cultural significance, graffiti art remains controversial, with some seeing it as vandalism and others as a legitimate form of artistic expression. Despite this, many cities around the world have embraced graffiti art and created designated spaces for it to be legally practiced.

bullock's oriole vs hooded oriole

 Bullock's Oriole and Hooded Oriole are both species of birds in the family Icteridae. They are found in North America and belong to the same genus (Icterus).

Bullock's Oriole is a large oriole found in western North America, with a range extending from southwestern Canada to Mexico. They have a striking appearance, with a bright yellow head and chest, a black back and tail, and white wing bars.

Hooded Oriole is a smaller oriole, found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. They have a distinctive orange head and chest, a black back and tail, and a white patch on the wings.

Both species feed on nectar, fruit, and insects and are known for their beautiful songs. However, they are easily distinguished by their distinctive plumage, with Bullock's Oriole having a yellow head and Hooded Oriole having an orange head.

Barred Owl Call / Sounds

The barred owl is a powerful vocalist, with an array of calls that are considered "fantastic, loud, and emphatic". Calls probably carry well over 0.8 km. Its usual call is a series of eight accented hoots or the "typical two-phrase hoot" with a downward pitch at the end. 

Due to its best-known call, the barred owl is sometimes colloquially referred to as Old Eight-Hooter. Another call type is the "mumble", a grumbling, slurred, and subtle an up-and-down "twitter" calls at a high pitch. When agitated, this species will make a buzzy, rasping hiss about three times in three seconds, repeating every 10–30 seconds, and will click its beak together forcefully. 

The voice of the two sexes is similar, but the female has a higher-pitched voice with longer terminal notes. While calls are most common at night, the birds do call during the day as well, especially when provoked by human playback or imitation. They are more responsive than any hawk in the east to playback of calls of their own species. 

The barred owl is noisy in most seasons but peak vocalization times for barred owls tend to be between late January and early April. Two seasonal peaks in vocalizations, one right before breeding and another after the young have dispersed, with peak vocalizations on nights with extensive cloud cover. Peak times for vocalizations are between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am, with the least frequent vocalizations around mid-afternoon.

The barred owl also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl, is a North American large species of owl. A member of the true owl family, Strigidae. Barred owls are largely native to eastern North America, but have expanded their range to the west coast of North America where they are considered invasive. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, but this species is an opportunistic predator and is known to prey upon other small vertebrates such as birds, reptiles, and amphibians, as well as a variety of invertebrates. Barred owls are brown to gray overall, with dark striping on the underside. 

Barred owls have typical nesting habits for a true owl, tending to raise a relatively small brood often in a tree hollow or snag (but sometimes also in other nesting sites) in forested areas. As a result of the barred owl's westward expansion, the species has begun to encroach on the range of the related and threatened spotted owl. Evidence shows the assorted threats posed by the invading barred species are only increasing. In response, biologists have recommended culling operations to mitigate the negative effect of the barred on the spotted owl species. 

House Wren

The house wren (Troglodytes aedon) is a very small bird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America and is thus the most widely distributed native bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban areas in its range and it is the single most common wren. 

Adults are 11 to 15 cm long including wingspan and weigh about 10 to 12 g. The subspecies vary greatly, with upper parts ranging from dull greyish-brown to rich rufescent-brown, and the underparts ranging from brown, over buff, and pale grey, to pure white. 

All subspecies have blackish barring to the wings and tail, and some also to the flanks. All subspecies show a faint eye-ring and eyebrow and have a long, thin bill with a blackish upper mandible, and a black-tipped yellowish or pale grey lower mandible. The legs are pinkish or grey. The short tail is typically held cocked.

This bird's rich bubbly song is commonly heard during the nesting season but rarely afterward. There is marked geographical variation in the song, though somewhat more gradual than in the bird's outward appearance that can strikingly differ, e.g., on neighboring islands in the Caribbean. Birds from far north and south of the species' range nonetheless have songs that differ markedly. In North America, the house wren is thought to achieve the highest density in floodplain forests in the western Great Plains where it uses woodpecker holes as nesting sites.

In South and Central America, it can be found in virtually any habitat and is, as indicated by its common name, often associated with humans. North American birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico for winter. Most return to the breeding grounds in late April to May and leave for winter quarters again around September to early October. These birds forage actively in vegetation. They mainly eat insects such as butterfly larvae, beetles, and bugs, also spiders and snails. Southern house wrens rarely attend mixed-species feeding flocks. 

The nest is made from small dry sticks and is usually lined with a variety of different materials. These include feather, hair, wool, spider cocoons, strips of bark, rootlets, moss, and trash. Nest cavities are usually a few meters above ground at most, but occasionally on cliffs as high up as 49 ft and more at least in southern populations. House wrens are feisty and pugnacious animals considering their tiny size. They are known to occasionally destroy the eggs of other birds nesting in their territory by puncturing the eggshell. 

Females thatsang more songs to conspecifics that were simulated by playback lost fewer eggs to ovicide by other wrens. Female bird song in this species is, therefore, thought to have a function in competition and is not only displayed by males. They are also known to fill up other birds' nests within their territory with sticks to make them unusable. 

Depending on the exact population, the house wrens' clutch is usually between two and eight red-blotched cream-white eggs, weighing about 1.4 g each and measuring 17 and 13.4 mm at the widest points. Only the female incubates these, for around 13–19 days, and she will every now and then leave the nest for various reasons. While she is on the nest, the male provisions her with food. The young, who like all passerines hatch almost naked and helpless, take another 15–19 days. 

 or so to fledge. 

western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)

Approximately 8.5 inches (22 cm) long, the western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) is part of the icterid family. North America's western and central grasslands are suitable for its nesting. Bugs are the main food source, but seeds and berries also play a role. In contrast to the closely related eastern meadowlark, the western meadowlark has distinctive calls that are described as watery or flute-like. Besides Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming, the western meadowlark is the state bird of six other states.

Facts of Mourning Dove

The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. 

Mourning Dove Scientific Name

The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. 

Other Names

The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, and the turtle dove, and it was once known as the Carolina pigeon and Carolina turtledove.

Mourning Dove Meaning

While the mourning dove is often a symbol of sorrow and mourning, it symbolizes the same things as its white dove cousin. The mourning dove is, above all other symbolism, a spiritual messenger of peace, love, and faith. A reflection of grief is evoked by their sound.

Mourning Dove Life Spans

It is estimated that between 50-65% of all Mourning Doves die annually. The average life span for an adult Mourning Dove is 1.5 years. The oldest known free-living bird, discovered through bird banding research, was over 31 years old.

Mourning Dove Nest

Typically mourning dove nests made in amid dense foliage on the branch of an evergreen, orchard tree, mesquite, cottonwood, or vine. Also quite commonly nests on the ground, particularly in the West. Unbothered by nesting around humans, Mourning Doves may even nest on gutters, eaves, or abandoned equipment.

Mourning Dove Eggs

A female adult mourning dove lays two plain, white, nondescript eggs per clutch. Both parents incubate the eggs for about 14 days. The parents may go on to have up to five or six broods of baby mourning doves in one season.

Mourning Dove Male vs Female

The female mourning dove has a rounder head compared to the male. The male also has a more intense and vivid coloration than the female. The male mourning dove has a peculiar bluish-gray crown, light pink breast area, and bright purple-pink patches on the sides of the neck.

Mourning Dove Behaviour 

Mourning doves sunbathe or rain bathe by lying on the ground or a flat tree limb, leaning over, stretching one wing, and keeping this posture for up to twenty minutes. These birds can also water bathe in shallow pools or birdbaths. Dustbathing is common as well. 

During sleep, the head rests between the shoulders, close to the body; it is not tucked under the shoulder feathers as in many other species. During the winter in Canada, roosting flights to the roosts in the evening, and out of the roosts in the morning, are delayed on colder days.

Mourning Dove Migration

Most mourning doves migrate along flyways over land. Birds in Canada migrate the farthest, probably wintering in Mexico or further south. Those that spend the summer further south are more sedentary, with much shorter migrations. At the southern part of their range, Mourning Doves are present year-round.  

Spring migration north runs from March to May. Fall migration south runs from September to November, with immatures moving first, followed by adult females and then by adult males. Migration is usually during the day, in flocks, and at low altitudes.

Population

The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. Every year hunters harvest more than 20 million, but the Mourning Dove remains one of our most abundant birds with a U.S. population estimated at 350 million.

Cuckoo–hawk mimicry? An experimental test

We found clear differences in tit responses depending on the mounted species to which they were exposed. During the presentations of the two harmless controls, a familiar collared dove and a novel teal, the tits often continued to visit the feeders, and afterward their attendance returned to pre-exposure levels. By contrast, they avoided the feeders during and after both sparrowhawk and cuckoo presentations. The most striking result from experiment 1 was that the response was similar to sparrowhawks and cuckoos, even though cuckoos are of no threat to adult tits. 

The plumage manipulations in experiment 2 suggested that the strong alarm response to cuckoos depended on their resemblance to hawks because when their hawk-like underpart barring was obscured, the tits treated them as no more of a threat than doves. This supports the idea that the evolution of barring in parasitic cuckoos, revealed by the comparative analysis (Payne 1967; Kru¨ger et al. 2007), enhances their resemblance to hawks. 

However, underpart barring cannot be the only feature inducing an alarm response because the tits showed equally strong alarm to barred and unbarred hawks. Furthermore, little alarm was shown to barred doves. Therefore, the underpart barring must combine with other cuckoo features, for example, their grey upperparts and elongated wings and tail, to cause hawk resemblance. We found no significant effect of the specimen, which suggests that these results cannot be attributed to any peculiarities of the particular mounts we used. 

We also found no effect of the study site, so the tits on Wicken Fen, which would have experienced daily encounters with cuckoos during the previous summer, had equally strong responses to cuckoos as the tits in Cambridge and Madingley Wood, which were unlikely to have encountered cuckoos. This suggests that the strong effect of the cuckoo at both sites was not simply one of alarm to a novel stimulus. Tits attending rich food sources are especially vulnerable to attack because sparrowhawks learn that these are good locations for finding prey (Hinsley et al. 1995). 

Because sparrowhawks make surprise attacks (Newton 1986; Cresswell 1996), alarm to any hawk-like stimuli is likely to be adaptive, despite the loss of feeding time from frequent false alarms. Nevertheless, the 5 min exposure of the specimens gave the tits ample opportunity for close inspection, so it is remarkable that a cuckoo caused a strong alarm response, given that it lacks a hawk’s lethal weapons, namely talons and a hooked beak. If the inspection of a potentially dangerous predator is costly, then even a slight resemblance through shape, grey upperparts, and underpart barring may be sufficient to deter approach. 

Other studies have shown that mimics do not have to resemble the model perfectly to gain protection, especially when signal receivers regard the model as highly noxious or dangerous, or if the model is relatively common (Ruxton et al. 2004). Perhaps the tits’ response depends not only on the stimulus but also on the context; cuckoos are absent in winter so hawk-like stimuli at this time are more likely to be hawks. 

The motivation of the signal receiver (value of the resource it is exploiting) may also influence responses to models and potential mimics (Barnett et al. 2007; Cheney & Coˆ te´ 2007). For example, it may pay a more hungry tit to risk a closer inspection of hawk-like stimuli when there is the potential for the stimulus to be a harmless mimic. Previous work on egg discrimination has shown that both great and blue tits, like other species with no history of cuckoo parasitism, will accept eggs unlike their own. This suggests that the egg rejection exhibited by cuckoo hosts has evolved specifically in response to cuckoo parasitism (Davies & Brooke 1989; Moksnes et al. 1991). 

Our results here show that, at least in one context, great and blue tits respond to adult cuckoos as if they were hawks. This raises the possibility that the discrimination by cuckoo hosts of the adult cuckoo as an enemy distinct from hawks, which can be attacked (Moksnes et al. 1991; Duckworth 1991;Welbergen & Davies in press), is also an evolved response to cuckoo parasitism. 

Experiments have revealed that in response to brood parasitism, hosts pay closer attention to the features of their own eggs so they are better able to discriminate against foreign eggs (Rothstein 1982; Lotem et al. 1995). Similarly, hosts may pay closer attention to multiple features of hawks so they can better discriminate cuckoos. Further studies are now needed to test the features used by cuckoo hosts to distinguish cuckoos from hawks and to test whether, despite some host discrimination, parasitic cuckoos still gain from hawk resemblance. Just as host improvements in egg discrimination have been selected for better cuckoo egg mimicry (Brooke & Davies 1988), so perhaps have improvements in their plumage discrimination selected for better cuckoo–hawk mimicry. 

The study followed the guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioral research and teaching (Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour). The mounted specimens were obtained from licensed taxidermists. We thank Chris Thorne and the Wicken Fen Group, Nancy Harrison, Julia Mackenzie, and Camilla Hinde for color-ringing tits; Jan Davies for making the barred/unbarred underparts for the mounts; John Parker, the director, for permission to work in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden; two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and the Natural Environment Research Council for funding.

N. B. Davies* and J. A. Welbergen

GIANT GROUND SLOTH

GIANT GROUND SLOTH Giant Ground Sloth—The human silhouette in this picture gives an idea of how huge these extinct sloths were. They could even rear up on their hind legs to reach lofty food. (Natural History Museum at Tring) Giant Ground Sloth—The ground sloths were perhaps the most impressive of all the extinct South American mammals. 

Scientific name: Megatherium americanum

Scientific classification:

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Pilosa

Family: Megatheriidae

When did it become extinct? The last giant ground sloths are thought to have died out

around 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Where did it live? The giant ground sloths were found throughout South America.

The largest species (Megatherium americanum), the one depicted here, was about the same size as a fully grown elephant. South America is probably the most biodiverse landmass on earth, yet, many thousands of years ago, the fauna of this continent was even more remarkable. A perfect example of this long-gone South American fauna is a ground-dwelling sloth that was the same size as an elephant. This was the giant ground sloth, and it was an immense and unusual animal. 

Fully grown, the giant ground sloth was about 6 m long and estimated of its weight range between 4 and 5 tonnes. Several skeletons (real and copies) of this animal are to be found in museum collections around the world, and one of the most astonishing things about these remains is the size of the bones. The limb bones and their supporting structures are massive and give an impression of a heavy, powerful animal. In life, the digits of the animal were tipped with long claws, which may have been used to grab plant food or even as weapons. 

We know from the skeletons of this animal that the bones of the hind feet were arranged in a very peculiar way, making it impossible for the living animal to place its feet flat on the ground. The animal could certainly rear up onto its hind legs, and perhaps even manage to amble around in this posture, using its thick tail as a strong prop, but it had to shuffle around on the outside of its feet with the long claws pointing inward. The giant ground sloth may have been able to make better progress on all fours, possibly reserving its two-legged stance for feeding or defense. 

As the giant ground sloth is related to the living sloths, it was always assumed that they were gentle plant-eating animals, but some recent, controversial scientific research has shed some light on how this massive beast used its forelimbs. These studies suggest the forelimbs of a giant ground sloth were adapted for fast movement. Such an ability was of little use to a plant-nibbling animal that needed a strong, sustained pull to bring tasty leaf-bearing branches within reach of its mouth. The research suggests that the muscles of the forelimbs were used to power the large claws into other animals, and maybe not only in defense. 

The animal’s teeth also give intriguing insights into the way it fed. They are not the normal grinding blocks that are found in the mouths of plant-feeding mammals. Th ey and the jaws they sit in appear to be adapted for slicing, much like the jaws and teeth of meat-eating animals. The claws and teeth of this giant mammal have led some people to suggest that the giant ground sloth was not a plant feeder at all, but a scavenging animal that used its size to drive predatory animals from their kill before digging into the carcass. 

The image of a 5-tonne brute ambling over to a group of dire wolves, scaring them off, and then devouring their kill is quite fantastic. Regardless of this research, it is decidedly unlikely that this giant lived in this way, and like its living relatives, the giant ground sloth was probably a herbivore, but it may have been able to use its forelimbs and teeth to defend itself. As with almost all of the long-dead animals that once roamed South America, we cannot be certain what brought about the demise of the giant ground sloth. It has been speculated that the arrival of modern humans, with spears and arrows, led to their extinction, but it is reasonable to assume that there was something much more far-reaching happening at the time that wiped these animals out. 

Climate change is one of the usual suspects, and we know that the earth’s habitats were going through some massive changes at the time these animals went extinct. Global temperatures were changing, and land-dwelling animals everywhere were being affected. Hunting may have had an effect, but it may have been minor compared to the ravages of climate change. Today, there are still vast areas of South America where people rarely venture, and some people believe that a species of giant ground sloth may have somehow survived the events that wiped out its relatives and is alive and well in these remote areas. 

Local inhabitants call the beast the mapinguary, and it is said to rear up on its back legs and emit a foul-smelling odor from a gland in its abdomen—not only that but the creature is said to be impervious to bullets and arrows, thanks to some very tough skin on its belly and back. Without a specimen or an excellent photograph, it is difficult to take these stories seriously, but it is worth remembering that previously unknown species of mammal are discovered fairly regularly, and some of them are surprisingly large. If a live giant ground sloth was found today, it would be the zoological story of all time. 

• It is thought that there were around four species of giant ground sloth. The species mentioned here (Megatherium americanum) was by far the biggest. The closest living relatives of these extinct animals are the anteaters, armadillos, and tree sloths. The biggest of these, the giant anteater, would be dwarfed by even the smallest giant ground sloth.

• In 1895, a rancher by the name of Eberhardt found some hide in a cave in Patagonia that turned out to be giant ground sloth skin. The skin was in very good condition, and some people believed that it was from an animal that died relatively recently. When techniques became available to age the skin, it was found to be several thousand years old—it was just that the very dry conditions in the cave had prevented it from rotting. Interestingly, the mummified skin was studded with bony nodules, which probably gave the animal excellent protection from the teeth and claws of predators, and perhaps even the spears and arrows of early humans. 

• It would be fantastic if a species of giant ground sloth had somehow survived into the modern-day, but accounts of the mapinguary may be due to confusion with other animals or derived from folk memories of when humans encountered these animals thousands of years ago.

CATNIP (Nepeta cataria)

Labiatae (Lamiaceae; mint family)

Also known as Catmint, catnep, catrup, catwort, English catnip, field balm, nep, nip

DESCRIPTION

• Catnip, a hardy perennial that grows 0.6 to 1 m (2 to 3 feet) tall, is native from the eastern Mediterranean region to the western Himalayas, central Asia, southern Siberia, and China. Most cats love catnip and purr contentedly, tear delightedly, and roll in ecstasy on its crushed leaves. The generic name Nepeta comes from the Italian town Nepete, where catnip was once cultivated.

• Light green, scalloped, opposite leaves have heart-shaped bases, pointed tips, and velvety, grayish-white undersides. The edible leaves, which have a strong mint-like, warm, pungent, bitterish fragrance and flavor, grow in massed profusion before the plant flowers. After the blossoms appear, the leaves become more sparse.

• Catnip has erect, square, branching stems that are covered in soft hairs. The root becomes quite woody and branched with age. Each spring the root sends up an increasing number of new items, many of which are rather close together.

• Produces spikes of small whitish or pinkish, purple- or red-dotted flowers in midsummer.

• May be grown indoors for winter use.

• Catnip is an excellent honey plant.

CULTIVATION NOTES

• Catnip grows bushiest in well-drained, moderately rich soil, although it also grows well in dry, sandy soil. Add a light layer of compost to the top of the soil before planting. Recommended pH range is 4.9 to 7.5.

Culinary Herbs for Short-Season Gardeners

Thrives in partial shade, but can be grown in full sun.

• Grows easily from seed, which should be started indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before your last spring frost date. Sow seeds no more than 6 mm (¼ inch) deep. Seedlings usually emerge in 8 to 10 days.

• Space transplanted seedlings 30 cm (12 inches) apart.

• Can also be propagated by dividing the roots in the spring or fall, or from softwood or stem tip cuttings. Cuttings from young plants tend to root more quickly, often in just a week. Stem cuttings should be about 10 cm (4 inches) long. Grow rooted cuttings to about 15 cm (6 inches) in a moist medium before you transplant them to the garden.

• Catnip self-sows easily, so be prepared to remove unwanted plants. Weed as Required.

• For bushier plants, pinch flower buds as they appear.

• Usually pest-free, but susceptible to rust and root rot.

• Cats are the biggest problem confronting catnip gardeners. Give young plants a chance to get established by enclosing them in a sturdy chicken wire cage, which will protect them from enthusiastic felines. Cats are drawn to catnip only when the branches are broken or the leaves are bruised, thereby releasing the attractant chemicals, so if the plants aren’t damaged, cats will probably leave them alone.

• Overwinters outdoors up to zone 3.

• Indoor plants should be potted in moist, but not soggy soil that is supplemented with lime. Plants need at least 5 hours of direct sunlight daily. Prune as required, as plants are inclined to become scraggly.

HARVESTING NOTES

• Pick leaves for fresh use at any time throughout the summer, although the taste is milder if you pick the leaves before the plant flowers. Collect the leaves in the morning, after the dew has evaporated.

• To dry catnip, harvest complete stems, including the flowering head and the tender leaves. Cut stems about 5 cm (2 inches) from the ground, and hang upside down in a shady location. When dry, strip off the leaves, crumble them, and store in airtight jars out of the light.

CULINARY USES

• Catnip was a familiar herb in English kitchen gardens as far back as the 13th century. Catnip leaves were once used for rubbing meats before they were cooked, and were chopped and sprinkled into green salads. Snip a few leaves into your salads and see how you like it.

• Add fresh or dried leaves to soups, stews, and hearty sauces.

 

HARVESTING NOTES

• Pick leaves for fresh use at any time throughout the summer, although the taste is milder if you pick the leaves before the plant flowers. Collect the leaves in the morning, after the dew has evaporated.

• To dry catnip, harvest complete stems, including the flowering head and the tender leaves. Cut stems about 5 cm (2 inches) from the ground, and hang upside down in a shady location. When dry, strip off the leaves, crumble them, and store in airtight jars out of the light.

CULINARY USES

• Catnip was a familiar herb in English kitchen gardens as far back as the 13th century. Catnip leaves were once used for rubbing meats before they were cooked, and were chopped and sprinkled into green salads. Snip a few leaves into your salads and see how you like it.

• Add fresh or dried leaves to soups, stews, and hearty sauces. Make a refreshing, soothing cup of tea by pouring 250 mL (1 cup) of boiling water over

15 mL (3 teaspoons) of fresh leaves or 5 mL (1 teaspoon) of dried leaves. Alternatively, add dried catnip leaves, along with dried mint or dried lemon balm, to your favorite black tea.

CRAFT USES

• Sew cat toys and stuff them with uncrushed dry leaves for all your favorite felines.

MEDICINAL USES

• In traditional folk medicine, catnip was used to treat everything from cancer, insanity, nervousness, nightmares, scurvy, and tuberculosis, to colic, diarrhea, flatulence, hiccups, whooping cough, the common cold, measles, asthma, yellow fever, scarlet fever, smallpox, and jaundice. Catnip poultices were applied to hives, and to the sore breasts of nursing mothers.

• Catnip does have sedative qualities and is occasionally used in herbal medicine as a calmative and to treat insomnia.

• Catnip is not used in modern Western medicine.

CAUTIONS

• Catnip has some capacity to cause uterine contractions and stimulate menstruation, so you should avoid it if you are pregnant or suffering from menstrual disorders.

• While a cup of catnip tea is helpful if you don’t sleep well at night, the herb’s diuretic properties mean that your peaceful sleep may be disturbed by an urgent need to go to the bathroom.

• It has been said that catnip may be smoked like marijuana; however, there is no proof that this herb has the intoxicating effects of marijuana. Nevertheless, your suspicions may be justified if young people of your acquaintance seem unusually interested in your catnip plants.

• Bees like catnip, so make sure there are none in the flowers that you pick.

CULTIVARS AND RELATIVES

Here’s a cultivar you won’t have to fight over with your cats quite so much.

• Lemon catnip (N. cataria var. citriodora). Has an appealingly mild lemon aroma, which you may prefer over regular catnip Makes a delicious tea. When candied with egg white and sugar, the leaves make a refreshing after-dinner mint. In the belief that catnip roots made even the kindest person mean, early American hangmen used to eat the roots before executions to harden themselves for their work. While most cats are affected by catnip, not all felines are “nipaholics.” Apparently, a dominant gene is responsible for inheriting the euphoric response. It also appears that cats do not react in their customary delighted way to catnip until they are 3 months old.

Horned Turtle

Scientific name: Meiolania sp.

Scientific classification:

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Sauropsida

Order: Testudines

Family: Meiolaniidae

When did it become extinct? The last of these turtles are thought to have become extinct about 2,000 years ago.

Where did it live? The bones of these extinct turtles have been found on Lord Howe Island, 600 km from mainland Australia and the islands of New Caledonia.

Horned Turtle with their spiked heads and tails, the horned turtles are among the largest and most bizarre turtles ever to have lived. There would be very few people who would fail to recognize a turtle; such is the familiarity of these unusual reptiles. Although the fossil record is full of peculiar beasts, it has been said that the turtles are among the oldest vertebrates to have ever lived.

 Although their skeleton has the same bones like any other vertebrate, they are put together in a very different way. Their body is protected by a bony shell, which is, essentially, a hugely modified rib cage. The strength of this external carapace depends on the species, but it ranges from the leathery dome of the soft-shelled turtles to the almost impregnable shell of the giant tortoises. Also unique is the position of the hip and shoulder girdles, as they are found inside the rib cage. 

These animals are most familiar with being able to withdraw their heads and legs into the safe confines of their shells. The way they withdraw their head allows scientists to identify two groups of turtles: the cryptodires and the pleurodires. The latter is often called side-necked turtles because they bend their long necks into an S shape to keep their heads out of harm’s way. The turtles that people often keep as pets fall in the first group, the cryptodires, and these can pull their heads right into their shells by bending their necks below the spine. 

There’s no doubt that some turtles, especially the land-dwelling species, are very slow, lumbering creatures, characteristics that are often linked to evolutionary failure and poor adaptability. However, nothing could be farther from the truth for the turtles. These shelled reptiles are a successful group of animals that have been around since the Triassic—at least 215 million years (and probably considerably longer)—which makes them much older than the lizards and snakes. Not only are they ancient, but they are among the very few living reptiles that have become almost completely amphibious, only leaving the water to lay eggs (some species of snake also only leave the water to lay eggs). 

Today, there are around 300 turtle species, ranging from tiny, 8-cm tortoises all the way up to the oceangoing giant, the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), which can be 3 m long and weigh 900 kg. Even though some truly bizarre turtles are still with us today, they pale in insignificance compared to an immense, land-living turtle that only became extinct in the last couple of thousand years. 

This was the horned turtle, and in life it must have been an astonishing animal. The horned turtle was around 2.5 m long, and it must have weighed in the region of 500 to 700 kg. By comparison, the largest living land-dwelling turtle is the Galápagos tortoise (Geochelonenigra) at about 300 kg and 1.2 m long. Imagine a horned turtle alongside a Galápagos tortoise and you get an idea of the size of this extinct beast. Not only was the horned turtle big, but it also had a very bizarre appearance. Sprouting from its skull were large horns and spikes, the longest of which grew from toward the back of the head and could reach a span of 60 cm. 

This formidable forward armory was combined with the typical tortoise carapace and a heavily protected tail that also sported spines. The horns of this extinct turtle made it impossible for the head to be pulled into the shell during times of danger. It is possible that these horns were used by the turtle to defend itself, but we don’t know what predators lurked on the islands where these extinct reptiles lived. Male giant turtles can be quite aggressive to one another during the breeding season, and maybe the extinct giant used its horns and tail spikes to fight other males for the right to mate. 

As with other island animals, the horned turtles may have grown to great size because there was very little in the way of threats in their isolated home terrain. Alternatively, great size is a simple yet effective defense against many predators. The truth is that we’ll never know the evolutionary force behind the incredible size and appearance of these turtles. What we can be surer of is their diet. Large land-dwelling turtles are slow, heavy animals, so fast-moving animal prey is out of the question. 

We know that the Galápagos tortoise and other terrestrial giant turtles are herbivores that eat a wide range of plant matter. The horned turtle was obviously unsuited to climbing trees or rearing up on its back legs to reach lofty vegetation, so it must have been dependent on the unique, low-growing plants that grow on New Caledonia and the surrounding islands. 

All living turtles lay eggs, and we can assume that the horned turtle was no different, but how it laid them and where will never be known for certain. Perhaps it excavated a pit before laying its eggs and forgetting about them. It is amazing to think that these giant, bizarre turtles roamed some of the isolated islands of the western Pacific into very recent geological times, but exactly why they died out is another mystery. 

We do know that island animals have suffered badly at the hands of humans, and we can be almost certain that the first thing to spring to the mind of the first human who saw these shelled giants was, “Can I eat it?” A slow-moving turtle, regardless of its size, is no match for humans and their various weapons. Lord Howe Island and New Caledonia are small areas of land, and they could never have supported large populations of such big animals; therefore it is very likely that when humans did discover the horned turtle, they wiped them out in a matter of centuries, or possibly even decades. 

• Apart from the way that living turtles bend their necks to hide their heads, we can divide them another way into three groups: there are marine forms, with legs modified into flippers, for example, the leatherback turtle; terrestrial forms, with thick, pillar-like legs, for example, the Galápagos tortoises; and semi-aquatic forms, for example, terrapins and snapping turtles. • 

Many of the living species of turtle may soon follow the horned giant to extinction as they are incredibly endangered. Some of the very rare species only survive in small populations on isolated islands, while the oceangoing species are at risk from fishing hooks, drift nets, and direct hunting. Without complete and active protection, it is very likely that some of the most amazing turtles could be extinct within 30 years. 

• As turtles lead such slow lives, they are among the most long-lived of all the vertebrates. The Galápagos tortoise can live to be at least 150 years old. One famous, long-lived radiated tortoise (Geochelone radiate) was presented to the Tongan royal family in 1777 by none other than Captain Cook. Known as Tu’iMalila, this tortoise died in 1965, at age 188. The longevity of an immense turtle like the horned giant can only be guessed. 

• Further back in the fossil record, in the age of the dinosaurs, there were other extinct turtles that were truly enormous. One of these, Archelon, is only known from 70-million year- old fossils. It was about 4 m long, and the span of its flippers was around 4.5 m. fully grown, Archelon probably weighed in the region of 2 to 3 tonnes. Its large head and powerful bite appear to be suited to eating shelled mollusks such as the extinct ammonites.

Powers of attorney

Around the late-60s, many perfectly fit men and women wondered whether it might be sensible to give power of attorney to someone they trust. This involves authorizing another person to take business and other financial decisions on their behalf, on the basis that any such decisions would reflect the action that they themselves would have taken. Until a few years ago, the power could only be used where the individual was unwilling rather than incapable of acting for him/herself. So in effect, just at the time when the power was most needed, it ceased to exist. Thanks to a law known as the Enduring Powers of Attorney Act 1985, and the more recent Lasting Powers of Attorney an enduring power is not automatically revoked by any subsequent mental incapacity, but can now continue, regardless of any decline, throughout the individual’s life. 

(NB: An ordinary power of attorney would be revoked by subsequent mental incapacity.) To protect the donor and the nominated attorney, the Act clearly lays down certain principles that must be observed, with both sides signing a declaration that they understand the various rights and duties involved. The Act furthermore calls for the power to be formally registered with the Public Trust Office in the event of the donor being, or becoming, mentally incapable. As stated above, the Enduring Powers of Attorney have been replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA), to coincide with the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. 

In effect, LPAs enable individuals to give their attorney power to make decisions about their personal welfare, including health care, when they lack the capacity to make such decisions themselves. Enduring Powers of Attorney, set up before October 2007, are still effective. However, if you have not yet set one up but are planning to do so, you will now need to apply for the new LPA instead. As any lawyer would explain, the right time to give power of attorney is when the individual is in full command of his/her faculties, so that potential situations that would require decisions can be properly discussed and the donor’s wishes made clear. For the Lasting Power of Attorney to be valid, the donor must in any event be capable of understanding what he/she is agreeing to at the time of making the power.

brown-backed shrike

Contemporaneous eggs of different color types of brown-backed shrike can be smooth in the interference experiment The fertile eggs are hatched, but the out-of-phase eggs are rejected, and the basis for the judgment of the parent birds may be Egg color. There are two possible reasons for this phenomenon: one is two-color types Brown-backed shrike can distinguish out-of-phase eggs, but due to differences in the timing of ovulation Largely causes hatching and energy investment contradictions in the allocation of feeding time The second is that the two-color brown-backed shrike uses the out-of-phase eggs as parasites Egg rejection. 

Moskat & Fuisz (1999) put fake cuckoo eggs (blue Eggs with better color and imitation) are placed in red eggs during laying and early hatching. Among the back shrike nests, the coping strategies shown by the red-backed shrike include driving Eggs from abroad (71.2%), abandonment of original nests (19.2%), acceptance of foreign eggs Come eggs (9.6%), and the rejection rate of blue eggs is higher than that of eggs with better imitation; In the laying period, the eggs with better imitation are mainly abandoned, and in the incubation period.

The foreign eggs are expelled. The results of this experiment showed a phenomenon of abandoning the nest, and the performance of heterochromatic and homochromatic types is more consistent. brown-backed shrike pair nest Insensitivity to the number of mid-eggs, increased contemporaneous homochromatic eggs, or intentional or unintentional Reducing the number of eggs will not affect their nesting. But at the same time, the brown-backed shrike nest will be abandoned in the case of strong human disturbance. 

According to local villagers, the Brown-backed shrike is seen navigating the transfer of chicks in old nests during brooding to the new nest. Judging from the current situation, the white spots or white edges on both sides of the wings of birds are not It is easy to be found by natural enemies or predators, and it is easier to appear white above and below It was discovered by natural enemies, so white spots and white borders on the side of the body may play a role in the individual The effect of recognition, especially the recognition of the parent by the offspring during the feeding period. 

Book The experimental foster child chicks were nurtured normally in the foster parent's nest, and after development Follow the activities of the righteous parent and learn their behavior, its later spread and the relationship with the righteous parent The relationship needs to be further studied in the future. The sexual selection hypothesis suggests that plumage polymorphism may be due to female Preference for salient morphologies and predation pressure favoring concealed morphologies produced and maintained. In this case, the plume polymorphism reflects the relative dominance of the individual, which is correlated with the expression of bodily signals Consistent, that is, the degree of pigmentation represents different status, such as health and nutritional status. 

However, prominent patterns favorable to sexual selection may be due to high predation risk or used to produce and maintain significantly high color energy expenditure and balance with non-salient forms (Endle, 1980). A total of 21 brown type, 9 black type, and heterozygous type were found in the plot. 10, including 10 heterozygous nests, 6 black-type females, many The species-colored brown-backed shrike breeds synchronously, and there is no preference for the same species of shrike The opposite sex is paired. In summary, we included in 2006-2008 The 44 nesting birds found in the plot were brown and black broodstock. 

In the breeding nest, the ratio of black-type females to brown-type females was 20:24. From the perspective of the sexual selection ratio, the ratio is similar, and there is no large ratio. That is, females show no preference for males of different color types. from reproduction From a physical point of view, we have not been able to determine the brown-backed shrike feather machine control, maybe plumage polymorphism is not related to selection, it may be simply a neutral relationship to a physiological or ecological characteristic or non-adaptive traits (Galeotti, 2003) Both color types are absent in both reproduction and brooding during the reproductive process Isolation occurs. 

The generally accepted concept of species holds that a species is Nature is able to mate, produce fertile offspring, and exist with its population reproductively isolated groups. Integrated reproductive isolation and morphological traits, behavior Evidence of differentiation, we support that black shrike is just one of the brown-backed shrikes Chromotype, rather than an independent species point of view. About Black Type Source and Feather Color Genetic laws and other issues still need to be investigated in the future for more different types of brown. 

The accumulation of research on Shrike individuals, from morphological, ecological, genetic Comprehensive research in multiple disciplines such as science and geography. Acknowledgments: Jiang Yanqiong assisted in the completion of the control experiment of easy eggs and easy chicks work, the Guangdong Haifeng Bird Nature Reserve provided the Thank you for your help!

Bird that sounds like a turkey?

Please write an article about what bird sounds like a turkey. A lot of people think that turkeys sound like they’re gobbling or clucking but there are actually many different types of birds that sound like turkeys. Some birds have a deep voice while others have a high pitched one. There are also some birds that sound more like ducks than turkeys. You can learn more about these birds by writing an article on them.

The blackbird is a songbird, which means it sings and makes music. It is found in most parts of the world except Antarctica. Its name comes from its black coloration. They live in trees and bushes. Their songs are often described as “liquid notes” because of their musical quality.

The great tit is a common European passerine bird. It is a member of the family Paridae. It is known for being very social, and will often form flocks. This bird is named after the great tit (Parus major). Great tits are native to Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America.

The blue jay is a large American crow-like corvid. It is a common species throughout much of Canada and the United States. Blue jays are omnivorous, eating both plant material and animal matter. They are highly intelligent, and have complex communication systems.

The cuckoo is a brood parasite. Cuckoos lay eggs in other birds' nests, where they hatch out and raise the young as if they were their own. In return, the host parents feed and protect the cuckoo's offspring until they fledge. The term "cuckoo" comes from the Old English cucu, meaning "rooster."

The domestic chicken is a domesticated fowl, descended from the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), which is itself a domesticated subspecies of the grey junglefowl (G. g. murghi) of Southeast Asia. Domestic chickens are raised primarily for meat, although egg production is another important factor. Chickens are commonly kept as pets, especially in urban areas.

The domestic duck is a domesticated version of the mallard. Ducks are popular as waterfowl due to their ability to swim well and dive. They are usually kept as pets, but may be hunted as gamebirds.

The domestic goose is a domesticated version, or variant, of the Anatolian landrail. Geese are usually kept as pets; however, they may be hunted as game.

The domestic pigeon is a domesticated version or variant of the rock dove. Pigeons are usually kept as pets. However, they may be hunted for sport.

The domestic quail is a domesticated version (variant) of the bobwhite quail. Quails are usually kept as pets and eaten as food.

The domestic rabbit is a domesticated version/variant of the hares. Rabbits are usually kept as pets or used for hunting.

The domestic turkey is a domesticated version and variant of the Meleagris gallopavo. Turkeys are usually kept as pets but may be hunted as food.

The European starling is a domesticated version. Starlings are usually kept as pets though may be hunted as game birds.

The guinea pig is a domesticated version that originated in South America. Guinea pigs are usually kept as pets although they may be hunted as food animals.

The kookaburra is a domesticated version originating in Australia. Kookaburras are usually kept as pets whereas they may be hunted as prey.

The ostrich is a domesticated version originally from southern Africa. Ostrichs are usually kept as pets with some individuals being hunted as food.

The domestic dog is a domesticated version derived from wolves. Dogs are usually kept as pets as well as used for hunting.

 

Questions

Questions used across top search results:

• How can you tell a male from a female wild turkey?

A male has a redhead and neck, while a female has a grayish-brown head and neck. Males also have a black tail tip, while females do not.

What does a turkey call sound like?

A turkey gobbles when it wants to attract mates. A turkey will make this noise by opening its mouth wide and making a loud “gub” sound. This sound is made by forcing air through the nasal cavity.

How long does it take for a turkey to reach sexual maturity?

It takes about two years for a turkey to mature sexually.

How old is a wild turkey?

Wild turkeys live up to 20 years old.

Where did the name turkey come from?

Turkeys were first called turkies because they were thought to be related to the Turdus genus of thrushes. In 1580, the English word turke was used to refer to 

Dark-throated Oriole (Oriolus xanthomas)

 Size: About that of the Myna.

Field Characters:

Dark-throated Oriole is a species of family Oriolidae. The brilliant golden-yellow bird has a jet-black head, throat, and upper breast. It has black in wings and tail, as sexes alike. It is found singly or in pairs, arboreal, in wooded country.

Distribution:

The whole of the Indian empire expected the arid portions west of a line from Kathiawar through Mount Aboo to the Sutlej Kiver. In the Himalayas, the bird can be found up to about 4,000 ft. Three races are recognized for differences in size and details of coloration, viz., the largest northern xanthornus, the intermediate peninsular maderaspatanus, and the smallest Ceylonese ceylonensis. It is resident over the greater part of its range but also moves about locally to some extent.

Habits:

This oriole, like the last, is a bird of well-wooded country and groves of large trees, often in the neighborhood of human habitations. It has a variety of loud melodious calls which in general are very like those of the Indian Oriole. A harsh monosyllabic note commonly uttered is mistaken for one of the Tree-Pie's. Otherwise, there is no appreciable difference between the habits of the two species. The natural habitat of this oriole is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Nesting:

The principal months in India are from April to July, but in Ceylon, it apparently breeds from October to May. The structure and size of the nest do not differ from those of the Indian Oriole, but the eggs are somewhat smaller, pinker, and less glossy. Orioles of both species, along with such other mild-mannered birds as doves and babblers, often build in the same tree as holds a nest of the Black Drongo.

That this is by design rather than accident can scarcely be doubted considering how frequent the occurrence is. It is certain also that the birds must thereby enjoy a degree of protection against marauders like crows and tree-pies. King Crow will tolerate the proximity of his harmless dependents with complacence, but a crow has only to show himself in the precincts of the nest tree to be furiously set upon and beaten off by the valiant kotwal and his wife.

Other Names

The other names of Dark-throated oriole are black-throated oriole, black-headed oriole, and Malaysian oriole. Also, the black-headed oriole shouldn’t be confused with the species of a similar name, (Oriolus larvatus).