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The Wildclickers Trivia thread (# 70)

 
 
Amigo
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Apr, 2006 05:37 pm
Stradee wrote:
Hi Andrew T! Very Happy

A. The Spine-Tailed swift is the fastest flying bird in the world.

http://www.4to40.com/images/qa/fastest_animal.gif


Hey! My book has a differant answer.

A: The peregrine falcon, found world wide mostly in coastal regions, has been estimated to reach speeds between 100-275 mph while diving. That makes it not only the fastest bird but also the fastest animal.

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/wildlife/photolib/peregrine_falcon.jpg
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Apr, 2006 06:22 pm
aktbird57 - You and your 294 friends have supported 2,349,114.0 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 108,886.4 square feet.

American Prairie habitat supported: 51,311.7 square feet.

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,188,915.9 square feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2349114.0 square feet is equal to 53.93 acres
0 Replies
 
AaTruly
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Apr, 2006 08:48 pm
danon5,

So perhaps Texas was considered the lowest of the lower 48?
(though I think the southernmost point of those 48 states might be Florida, perhaps Key West)
0 Replies
 
AaTruly
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Apr, 2006 09:00 pm
The coastline of one of the United States is being damaged by a particular animal. Which animal, which state?
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 08:07 am
How about Florida and that non-native lizard-type thing?

Now that we know how to stalk a wild rabbit, can anyone tell me how to stalk the wild asparagus? <hehehe>
0 Replies
 
danon5
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 09:38 am
Aa, you are right, Key West is approx 100 miles closer to the equator that the tip of Texas.

Also, May you be referring to the moles in Washington state?? They habitually cause land slides along the coastline. They are really big animals - about the size of a football or basketball.

Yeah, sumac, that's what people get for having baby iguanas and then releasing them. The same is happening in Florida with boa constrictors. The babies get unmanageable and then it's off to the wilds.

Well, all clicked................................... :wink:
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 09:55 am
Q - What is the highest town in the contiguous US? (controversial)
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 09:56 am
I guess this is intuitive, but still very interesting.

http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060425_letter_shapes.html

"Letters in All Writing Systems Traced Back to Nature
By Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
posted: 25 April 2006
07:49 am ET



The shapes of letters in all languages are derived from common forms in nature, according to a new hypothesis.

The idea, in some ways seemingly obvious and innately human, arose however from a study of how robots see the world.

Robots employ object recognition technology to navigate a room by recognizing contours. A corner is seen as a "Y," for example, and a wall is recognized by the L-shape it makes where it meets the floor.

"It struck me that these junctions are typically named with letters, such as 'L,' 'T,' 'Y,' 'K,' and 'X,' and that it may not be a coincidence that the shapes of these letters look like the things they really are in nature," said Mark Changizi, a theoretical neurobiologist at the California Institute of Technology.

Changizi and his colleagues think letters and symbols in Chinese, Latin, Persian, and all 97 of the other writing systems that have been used through the ages have shapes that humans are good at seeing.

"Evolution has shaped our visual system to be good at seeing the structures we commonly encounter in nature, and culture has apparently selected our writing systems and visual signs to have these same shapes," Changizi said.

The idea is put forth in The American Naturalist magazine.

Changizi notes that a basic shape such as "L" can be easily bent to form a "V." He found 36 shapes that require just two or three contours, and he then correlated these shapes to common scenes in nature and in ancient architecture.

"So the figures we use in symbolic systems and writing systems seem to be selected because they are easy to see rather than easy to write," he concludes. "They're for the eye."

Even graphic art that is not necessarily alphabet-based conforms to the idea.

"Company logos, for example, are meant to be recognized, and we found that logos have a high correlation," Changizi said. "Shorthand systems, which are meant to give a note-taker speed at the expense of a commonly recognizable system of symbols, do not." "
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 09:59 am
Are we surprised?

http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3752037


"Feds: No charges against Yucca scientists

By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors will not file charges against several scientists who were accused of falsifying documents relating to water in the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada.
The Energy Department's Inspector General Gregory Friedman reported Tuesday that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada had declined on Monday to file charges in the case.
"Nonetheless, the actions of those involved - which have been described by observers as irresponsible and reckless - have had the effect of undermining public confidence in the quality of the science associated with the Yucca Mountain Project," the report said.
The memorandum said it is unusual to disclose the outcome of such investigations publicly, but the inspector general chose to do so because of public interest in the issue.
Last year, the department found that a series of e-mails between U.S. Geological Survey employees between 1998 and 2000 suggested that government hydrologists had falsified dates and other documentation as part of their review of technical data before the Energy Department sought a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Energy Department is re-creating technical work done by the USGS, and is also reviewing some 14 million e-mails to ensure there are no other problems to be found, a labor-intensive process, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Repeating the work has led to lengthy, costly delays in the Energy Department's submission of a license application, the GAO said Tuesday.
Yucca Mountain was supposed to open in 1998, but the department still has not submitted a license application. The application is expected to be finished sometime next year, although it remains unclear when the site - 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and upwind of southern Utah communities - might actually open.
Most members of Utah's congressional delegation have joined with colleagues from Nevada in opposing the site. The Nevada leaders say it will never open.
"The science that DOE claims is supporting Yucca Mountain is sloppy, and in some cases it's actually false," said Reid. "That's a much bigger concern than whether a couple of employees will go to jail. The Yucca Mountain project is a complete failure. It has failed every legitimate health, safety and scientific test. I'm going to continue working to stop Yucca Mountain altogether."
Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, said the episode shows that the entire process is in "tatters."
"Although these workers will not face criminal charges, this decision by no means erases the long list of scientific problems still facing Yucca Mountain, nor does it excuse the negligence of those in charge of the project," said Berkley.
Yucca Mountain is now slated to contain 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, although the Bush administration is pushing to remove that cap.
The White House's proposed legislation would also make a number of other changes to accelerate the Yucca construction. "
0 Replies
 
Stradee
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 10:29 am
Amigo wrote:
Stradee wrote:
Hi Andrew T! Very Happy

A. The Spine-Tailed swift is the fastest flying bird in the world.

http://www.4to40.com/images/qa/fastest_animal.gif


Hey! My book has a differant answer.

A: The peregrine falcon, found world wide mostly in coastal regions, has been estimated to reach speeds between 100-275 mph while diving. That makes it not only the fastest bird but also the fastest animal.

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/wildlife/photolib/peregrine_falcon.jpg


Amigo, the peregirn falcon dives at record speeds.
The Spine-Tailed swift is the fastest flying bird in the world. Very Happy
0 Replies
 
AaTruly
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 01:37 pm
sumac & danon5, thanks for the informative posts about which of the United States has a coastline being damaged by an animal.


My source of information relates that the coypu (more commonly known as the nutria) is causing severe damage to the coastline of Louisiana.
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/factshts/020-00.pdf

sumac, thanks so much for the article about the origin (or ur-history, if you will) of writing systems and letter shapes. As a long-ago calligraphy student, I find that area of study to be especially compelling.

New question, among geographic superlatives:

Which country in the Western Hemisphere contains a freshwater lake in which sharks live?
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 02:42 pm
Could be Nicaragua.

http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/color_illos/bull_shark_c.gif

Not as uncommon as you might think.

"Freshwater Sharks and Rays

Although most people think of sharks and rays as exclusively saltwater inhabitants, quite a few species actually make use of freshwater living spaces. In a 1995 paper, elasmobranch systematist Leonard Compagno and shark fisheries biologist Sid Cook surveyed the diversity and distribution of freshwater sharks and rays. Compagno and Cook reported that some 43 species of elasmobranch in 10 genera and four families penetrate freshwater environments in Australia, Southeast Asia, western Africa, eastern South America, Central America, and southeastern parts of North America. Coastal elasmobranchs, including some skates (family Rajidae), smooth dogfishes (Triakidae), pajama catsharks (Poroderma spp.), and Sandbar Sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) regularly enter estuaries to feed or give birth to young. More impressive yet are stingrays (Dasyatidae, Potamotrygonidae, and others), sawfishes (Pristidae), and the notorious Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas), all of which penetrate far up freshwater rivers - the Bull Shark has been recorded some 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometres) from the mouth of the Amazon River - and some even complete their life cycles in freshwater. Yet, in theory, it should be next to impossible for a 'saltier than seawater' elasmobranch to survive in fresh water. How do these freshwater sharks and rays manage this osmoregulatory feat?

Pioneer studies by ichthyologist Thomas Thorson on Bull Sharks of Lake Nicaragua have revealed much about this species' ability to osmoregulate in freshwater habitats. Thorson discovered that Bull Sharks - traditionally thought to be a distinct, land-locked species - readily traverse the rapid-laden Rio San Juan that connects Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean Sea. Thorson and his co-workers tested the blood and other body fluids of Bull Sharks caught in the river mouth on the Caribbean side and found that their internal concentration of solutes (sodium, chloride, urea and TMAO) are identical to those of Bull Sharks from full-strength seawater elsewhere. Bull Sharks caught in the Lake, however, had a total osmotic pressure about two-thirds that of marine values. Thorson and his co-workers found that the loss of osmotic pressure is due to a 20 percent reduction of bodily sodium and chloride (excreted via the rectal gland) and a more than 50 percent reduction of urea. Bull Sharks therefore adapt to freshwater by reducing the concentration gradients of solutes that favor the uptake of water and the loss of salts and urea to the environment.

Despite a reduced solute concentration in freshwater, Lake Nicaragua Bull Sharks still have body fluids more than twice as 'salty' as typical freshwater fishes. They must, therefore, experience a massive influx of water. This water influx is almost certainly dealt with by the kidneys, resulting in copious excretion of dilute urine. An early measurement of urine production by a freshwater sawfish indicated a daily flow rate of about a cup (250 millilitres) per kilogram of body mass -- more than 20 times that of a typical marine elasmobranch. Suck kidney activity must be energetically expensive. Yet tagging studies by Thorson and his co-workers has demonstrated that Bull Sharks can survive in Lake Nicaragua for prolonged periods, with records of four to six years for some individuals. Bull Sharks do not, however, appear to reproduce in Lake Nicaragua or other freshwater habitats. Instead, this species seems to return to brackish water for courtship, mating, and bearing young. Bull Shark pups may not be able to meet the high metabolic cost of osmoregulating in fresh water.

When living tissues of elasmobranchs are isolated for study, urea must be present in the solutions bathing them. Otherwise the urea-deprived cells do not seem to function properly. Thus, shark and ray cells are so adapted to urea that they cannot survive without it. This is probably why elasmobranchs like Bull Sharks and sawfishes that are able to tolerate a wide range of salinities do not completely lose their urea after entering fresh water. But one group of elasmobranchs has lost its dependence on urea. These are the South American river stingrays of the family Potamotrygonidae. This group of about 26 closely related species inhabits at least seven freshwater drainage systems on the South American continent. Their ancestors were marine and most likely trapped on the shallow western side of South America when the tectonic uplift of the Andes Mountains occurred in the early-to-middle Cretaceous Period (about 100 million years ago). By the close of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago), their isolation and freshening of their waters by runoff were complete.

Today the potamotrygonid stingrays have an osmotic physiology distinctly different from all other elasmobranchs. Their blood solute concentration measures about half that of freshwater-tolerant elasmobranchs and roughly equals that of freshwater teleosts. Moreover, the body fluids of these river stingrays have very low levels of urea. While they do have rectal glands, this organ is greatly reduced in size and apparently does not excrete salts. Experiments attempting to acclimate potamotrygonids to oceanic salinities have failed, the upper limit of their salt tolerance being about 50 percent that of seawater. At this salinity, the body fluids of these rays are almost in osmotic equilibrium due to the uptake of sodium and chloride by diffusion and a slight increase in urea retention. While the river stingrays have retained the ability to manufacture urea, they have lost the ability to concentrate it and other solutes at levels enabling them to function in the sea. Thus the potamotrygonid rays are prisoners in fresh water, trapped by their highly specialized osmoregulatory physiology.

The infamous White Shark has never been recorded from fresh or brackish waters. Despite its reputation for toughness, the mighty Great White may be just as osmotically helpless in freshwater as the potamotrygonid stingrays are in salt. Yet it may be premature to conclude that White Sharks cannot tolerate reduced salinities: in January 1997, a juvenile Porbeagle (Lamna nasus) - a close relative of the Great White - was captured in brackish water at the mouth of the Mar Chiquita Lagoon, Argentina."

I forgot to pick up the source. Sorry.
0 Replies
 
danon5
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 03:07 pm
Good going sumac - here is a source = http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/topics/p_fw_rays.htm

Stradee, thanks for clearing up the streaker.

Aa, that's interesting re the nutria. Those little buggers were everywhere around here - NE TX - when I was a kid. But, now there aren't as many. I think that is due to the influx of predators following the resurgence of game after WWII and the Depression of the thirties. Those two things depleted the wild game in this area because humans were in the wild hunting them. Now, thanks to our super markets, the game is back and so are the predators - thus fewer nutria. I have seen coyote and wolf here recently - I named the wolf, Amadeus and the coyote - of course - Wylie.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 04:31 pm
grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Quote:
Friends:

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Our engineers are working to bring the site back online as quick as possible.

We estimate the site will be back online within the next 15 minutes -- please try again soon!
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don't they understand how my lifestyle works around this?

Evil or Very Mad
0 Replies
 
danon5
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 05:09 pm
Ok, ehBeth, I have a question = "do you still have the 'Quick Reply' box at the bottom of the postings???"

Mine sort of disappeared a couple of days ago........... I must have missed something that said it would not be available. Is there something I missed?? At about the same time there was a series of warnings that I had "email postings" that would not post. Hmmmm. I don't know about "email" things on this site. OH, well, things could be worse I guess.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Apr, 2006 05:15 pm
Danon, Craven removed the Quick Reply while he was doing some work on the site on the weekend.

The email message we were all getting was an 'in progress' kinda glitch.

Hopefully, the site is safer from spammers now than it was in past weeks. It should make it faster for all of us.
0 Replies
 
Stradee
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Apr, 2006 10:04 am
Interesting q&a's wildclickers!

Q What is the deepest lake in the world named and where is it located?

http://www.wnights.de/img/baikal/big/lake_baikal.jpg
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Apr, 2006 10:17 am
Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

At least that is one thing Putin is doing right - keeping pipelines away from it.

http://www.irkutsk.org/baikal/
0 Replies
 
Stradee
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Apr, 2006 02:09 pm
sue, that's the place! An ecological wonder...

The following quote by Erdeni Ulanov, the Director of the Buryat National Section of the UNESCO-sponsored, Along the Routes of Great Migrations of Mankind International Association, is an except from the Russian magazine, International Affairs, May, 1993 issue.


"Baikal is not just a lake, but something greater and deeper. It is bottomless and majestic, but not an ocean or sea in which man loses all his visible bearings. There we sense the greatness of nature, feeling at one with it, not alienated from it, which is a rare phenomenon in developed countries. Baikal is a bridge to space. You must see Baikal to be able to say what it is like"...
0 Replies
 
sumac
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Apr, 2006 02:24 pm
It sounds as if it is fantastic. I SO wish that I could see places like this.
0 Replies
 
 

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