It is estimated that between 200 and 2,000 extinctions of wild creatures become extinct every year. What a tragedy that the world is facing the extinction of many more creatures. Wild and exotic creatures are nearing extinction because of poaching, logging and…
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The phylum annelida is made up of a great variety of different species of segmented worms. Indeed there are over 17,000 such annelid species currently known. This includes very familiar examples such as the common earthworm and the leech, as…
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Koalas are, as most of us know, a marsupial and are native to Australia. They range from Central Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria and into South Australia. Their habitat varies from sub tropical forest to the temperate woodlands…
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Echinoderm: the name means spiny skin but we aren’t talking about porcupines, unless we rename sea urchins the porcupines of the sea. Sea urchins are the spiniest members of the marine phylum Echinodermata. Other echinoderms are starfish, brittle stars, the…
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The Greek philosopher, Aristotle took a significant step in the development of zoology as a science when he complied his “History of animals” somewhere around 350 BC. He was the first to classify animals and he did this by dividing…
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Giraffes are the tallest animals that exist today. Male giraffes can reach about 19 feet in height. Their necks are about 1/4 of their body size, yet only have 7 vertebrae, the same as you and I! The main reason…
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Recently, I was reading and interviewing and looking through microscopes to find out about acarology, the scientific study of ticks and mites. As part of my study, I was peering down at a tiny, elongated creature at the nether end…
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There are two basic types of branches of zoology: Specialization by types of animals, and specialization by processes or functions of animals. Specializations across types of animals may be broad categorizations of animals, or may become very specialized to just…
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My brother and I constantly hear from others that we are “obviously related.” We do have similar features, yes, and sometimes we act alike, but is there really a way to be “obviously related?” With the exception of identical twins,…
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Elephants have long roamed the earth, as mastodon, as wooly mammoth, hunted by man, praised by man, servant to man. The long memory of the elephant stretches far back into time, farther than that of man’s. The centuries have not…
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