Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the scientific name of the european polecat?
As well as the several indigenous names referring to smell (see above), the scientific name "Mustela putorius" is also derived from this species' foul smell. The Latin "putorius" translates to "stench" or "stink" and is the origin of the English word "putrid".
Micropterix tuscaniensis is a species of moth belonging to the family Micropterigidae. It was described by Heath in 1960. It is only known from central and southern Italy, where it has been found in the provinces of Tuscany, Calabria, Apulia and Basilicata. However, it is probably distributed throughout the whole of mainland Italy, except for the Alps.
The yellow-billed oxpecker eats insects and ticks. Both the English and scientific names arise from this species' habit of perching on large wild and domesticated mammals such as cattle and eating arthropod parasites. It will also perch on antelopes such as wildebeest. In a day an adult will take more than 100 engorged female "Boophilus decoloratus" ticks or 13,000 larvae.
A disputing view of the cat's hunting technique and ability is presented by C. K. Brain in "The Hunters or the Hunted?" in which he attributes the cat's prey-killing abilities to its large neck muscles rather than its jaws. Large cats use both the upper and lower jaw to bite down and bring down the prey. The strong bite of the jaw is accredited to the strong temporalis muscle that attach from the skull to the coronoid process of the jaw. The larger the coronoid process, the larger the muscle that attaches there, so the stronger the bite. As C.K. Brain points out, the saber-toothed cats had a greatly reduced coronoid process and therefore a disadvantageously weak bite. The cat did, however, have an enlarged mastoid process, a muscle attachment at the base of the skull, which attaches to neck muscles. According to C.K. Brain, the saber-tooth would use a "downward thrust of the head, powered by the neck muscles" to drive the large upper canines into the prey. This technique was "more efficient than those of true cats".
The park contains a wide variety of orchids and birds as well as natural hot springs. At least 57 species of mammal recorded in the reserve and include tapir, ocelots, sloths, howler monkeys, deer and at least 22 species of bats. Over 233 species of birds, resident and migratory have been recorded including the national bird of Costa Rica the clay-coloured robin. Endangered species found on the park include the quetzal, curassow, red brocket deer, and black guan.
There are over 100 species of birds, of which ten are endemic. Many birds are passing vagrants, such as the great cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo"). Others, like the lesser frigatebird ("Fregata ariel"), are more regular visitors. Bird populations are threatened due to the invasive yellow crazy ant, and reports have suggested that the ant has attacked hatchlings and harassed adults in their nests. All endemic bird species have been placed on the critically endangered list.
The dot-winged crake ("Porzana spiloptera") is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. Despite its morphological similarities, the assignment to the genus "Porzana" is not correct. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA placed it in the predominantly South American clade "Laterallus", and further analyses revealed that it is the sister species of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island rail ("Atlantisia rogersi"). Stervander et al. (2019) proposed that the dot-winged crake should be referred to as "Laterallus spilopterus".
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects. Four species have been recorded in Washington.Order: PasseriformesFamily: Aegithalidae
"Pteranodon" was the first pterosaur found outside of Europe. Its fossils first were found by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1870, in the Late Cretaceous Smoky Hill Chalk deposits of western Kansas. These chalk beds were deposited at the bottom of what was once the Western Interior Seaway, a large shallow sea over what now is the midsection of the North American continent. These first specimens, YPM 1160 and YPM 1161, consisted of partial wing bones, as well as a tooth from the prehistoric fish "Xiphactinus", which Marsh mistakenly believed to belong to this new pterosaur (all known pterosaurs up to that point had teeth). In 1871, Marsh named the find ""Pterodactylus oweni"", assigning it to the well-known (but much smaller) European genus "Pterodactylus". Marsh also collected more wing bones of the large pterosaur in 1871. Realizing that the name he had chosen had already been used for Harry Seeley's European pterosaur species "Pterodactylus oweni" in 1864, Marsh re-named his giant North American pterosaur Pterodactylus occidentalis, meaning "Western wing finger," in his 1872 description of the new specimen. He also named two additional species, based on size differences: Pterodactylus ingens (the largest specimen so far), and Pterodactylus velox (the smallest).
The only other bear similar in size to the polar bear is the Kodiak bear, which is a subspecies of brown bear. Adult male polar bears weigh and measure in total length. Around the Beaufort Sea, however, mature males reportedly average . Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh , measuring in length. Elsewhere, a slightly larger estimated average weight of was claimed for adult females. When pregnant, however, females can weigh as much as . The polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic of mammals, surpassed only by the pinnipeds such as elephant seals. The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing , was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960. This specimen, when mounted, stood tall on its hindlegs. The shoulder height of an adult polar bear is . While all bears are short-tailed, the polar bear's tail is relatively the shortest amongst living bears, ranging from in length.
This subspecies eats geckos, house mice, birds, and marsupials, including the Tammar wallaby.
The young of brooding red-eared firetails, "Stagonopleura oculata", were taken from a nest being observed.
The red pileated finch ("Coryphospingus cucullatus"), also known as the red-crested finch, is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, on the eastern side of the Andes. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. This is a common species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "least concern".
Michigan State University, Kellogg Biological Station: Eminent Ecologist (1992)
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 42 species in 15 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of the sexually dimorphic species (the majority), in particular the highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail or head. For the most part they are confined to dense rainforest habitat. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a variety of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-type polygamy.
The smooth newt, also known as the common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris; formerly Triturus vulgaris) is a species of amphibian, the most common newt of the genus "Lissotriton". It is found throughout Europe, except the far north, areas of Southern France and the Iberian Peninsula.
Predators of the water rail include a number of mammals and large birds. The American mink was partly responsible for the extinction of the Icelandic population, and cats and dogs have also been recorded as killing this species. At least locally, otters will also eat rails and other water birds. The Eurasian bittern, another reed bed bird, will consume rails, as will grey herons. Water rails are particularly vulnerable to the heron when forced out of the cover of the reeds by very high tides. Wetland-hunting harriers are predictable predators, but more unusually, the rail has also been recorded as a prey item of the tawny owl, short-eared owl, Eurasian eagle-owl, greater spotted eagle, common kestrel, and night-hunting peregrine falcons.
Even those near the northern limits of their range, where winters are harsh and likely to bear little in food, the eagle-owl does not leave its native range. There are cases from Russia of Eurasian eagle-owls moving south for the winter, as the icebound, infamously harsh climate there is too severe even for these hardy birds and their prey. Similarly, Eurasian eagle-owls living in the Tibetan highlands and Himalayas may in some cases vacate their normal territories when winter hits and move south. Even in those two examples, there is no evidence of consistent, annual migration by Eurasian eagle-owls and the birds may eke out a living on their normal territories even in the sparsest times.
Present-day Poland is a country with favorable agricultural prospects, and over two million private farms. It is the leading producer of potatoes and rye in Europe, the world's largest producer of triticale, and one of the more important producers of barley, oats, sugar beets, flax, and various fruits. It is also the European Union's fourth largest supplier of pig meat after Germany, Spain and France.
Foxes are often considered pests or nuisance creatures for their opportunistic attacks on poultry and other small livestock. Fox attacks on humans are not common.
Many foxes adapt well to human environments, with several species classified as "resident urban carnivores" for their ability to sustain populations entirely within urban boundaries. Foxes in urban areas can live longer and can have smaller litter sizes than foxes in non-urban areas. Urban foxes are ubiquitous in Europe, where they show altered behaviors compared to non-urban foxes, including increased population density, smaller territory, and pack foraging. Foxes have been introduced in numerous locations, with varying effects on indigenous flora and fauna.
The Arctic fox ("Vulpes lagopus"), are also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, that is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in cold environments, and is best known for its thick, warm fur that is also used as camouflage. On average, Arctic foxes only live 3–4 years in the wild. Its body length ranges from , with a generally rounded body shape to minimize the escape of body heat.
Tradescantia pallida is a species of spiderwort (a genus of New World plants) more commonly known as wandering jew or walking jew, a name it shares with the closely related species "T. fluminensis" and "T. zebrina". Other common names include purple secretia, purple-heart, and purple queen. It is native to the Gulf Coast region of eastern Mexico. Edward Palmer collected the type specimen near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas in 1907.
The earliest true polecat was "Mustela stromeri", which appeared during the late Villafranchian period. It was considerably smaller than the present form, thus indicating polecats evolved at a relatively late period. The oldest modern polecat fossils occur in Germany, Britain and France, and date back to the Middle Pleistocene. The European polecat's closest relatives are the steppe polecat and black-footed ferret, with which it is thought to have shared "Mustela stromeri" as a common ancestor. The European polecat is, however, not as maximally adapted in the direction of carnivory as the steppe polecat, being less specialised in skull structure and dentition. The European polecat likely diverged from the steppe polecat 1.5 million years ago based on IRBP, though cytochrome b transversions indicate a younger date of 430,000 years. It is also closely related to the European mink, with which it can hybridise.
A 2002 article in The Mammal Society's "Mammal Review" contested the European polecat's status as an animal indigenous to the British Isles on account of a scarce fossil record and linguistic evidence. Unlike most native British mammals, the polecat's Welsh name ("ffwlbart", derived from the Middle English "foulmart") is not of Celtic origin, much as the Welsh names of invasive species such as the European rabbit and fallow deer ("cwningen", derived from the Middle English "konyng" and "danas", derived from the Old French "dain", respectively) are of Middle English or Old French origin. Polecats are not mentioned in Anglo-Saxon or Welsh literature prior to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, with the first recorded mention of the species in the Welsh language occurring in the 14th century's "Llyfr Coch Hergest" and in English in Chaucer’s "The Pardoner’s Tale" (1383). In contrast, attestations of the Welsh word for pine marten ("bele"), date back at least to the 10th century Welsh Laws and possibly much earlier in northern England.
In Britain, the European polecat was regarded as a serious poultry predator prior to the introduction of wire netting, therefore eliminating it was considered the only option to protect stock. This extreme enmity does not appear to have been universal however. Speaking of Merioneth (Gwynedd) Peter Hope Jones reported that "for a county supposedly well-placed within the known past distribution of this species, Merioneth has relatively very few records of Polecats amongst its parish bounty payments. Perhaps this animal was not generally considered to be an important pest, but whatever the real reason, in only two parishes are direct references made to this species by the name by which we know it today. In the four years 1729-1732 about twenty were killed in Towyn parish, where 2/6 was paid for a full-grown Polecat and half this sum for a young 'kittin'. Records for Llanfor... show that only 42 were killed in the 39-year period 1720-1758, the payment being exactly half the going rate for a Fox, i.e. 2/6 for a full-grown Polecat, and 1/3 for a young animal". Polecats survived in Wales whlst it became extinct in England. It has now spread back into England.
Polecat is the common name for mammals in the order Carnivora and subfamily Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank; the name is applied to several species broadly similar to European polecats, the only species native to the British Isles.