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Deer

Deer

:Stag redirects here. For other senses of that word, see stag (disambiguation).
Capreolinae
Cervinae
Hydropotinae
Muntiacinae A deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. A number of broadly similar animals, from related families within the order Artiodactyla, are often also called deer. Artiodactyla Depending on the species, male deer are called stags, harts, bucks or bulls, and females are called hinds, does or cows. Young deer are called calves or fawns (not to be confused with fauns, a kind of nature spirit). Hart is an expression for a stag, particularly a Red Deer stag past its fifth year. It is not commonly used, but an example is in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" when Tybalt refers to the brawling Montagues and Capulets as hartless hinds. "The White Hart" and "The Red Hart" are common English pub names. Deer are widely distributed, with representatives in all continents except Australia, Antarctica, and Africa. Australia does have six introduced species of deer that have established sustainable wild populations from Acclimatisation Society releases in the 19th Century. These are Fallow Deer, Red Deer, Sambar Deer, Hog Deer, Rusa deer, and Chital Deer[http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/rabbits/wildanim.html]. Although exotic to the continent, environmental factors restrict their ranges to habitable patches, thereby preventing any one species from becoming a serious pest. Red Deer introduced into New Zealand in early 1900s (a gift from United States President Theodore Roosevelt) have been largely domesticated in deer farms since the late 1960s and are common farm animals there now. Deer differ from other ruminants in that they have antlers instead of horns. Antlers are bony growths that develop each year (usually in summer) and, in general, it is only male deer that develop them (although there are exceptions). A young buck's first pair of antlers grow from two tiny bumps on their head that they have had from birth. The antlers grow wrapped in a thick layer of velvet and remain that way for one month, until the bone inside is hard; later the velvet is shed. During the mating season, bucks use their antlers to fight one another for mates. The two bucks circle each other, bend back their legs, lower their heads, and charge. A doe usually has one or two fawns at a time. Most fawns are born with their fur covered with white spots, though they lose their spots once they get older (excluding the Fallow Deer who keeps its spots for life). In the first twenty minutes of a fawn's life, the fawn begins to take its first steps. Its mother licks it clean until it is almost free of scent, so predators will not find it. Its mother leaves often, and the fawn does not like to be left behind. Sometimes its mother must gently push it down with her foot. The fawn stays hidden in the grass for one week until it is strong enough to walk with its mother. After two days, a fawn is able to walk, and by three weeks it can run and jump. The fawn and its mother stay together for about one year. They then go their seperate ways. A male usually never sees his mother again, but females sometimes come back with their own fawns and form small herds. horn horn There are about 34 species of deer worldwide, divided into two broad groups: the old world group includes the subfamilies Muntiacinae and Cervinae; the new world deer the subfamilies Hydropotinae and Capreolinae. Note that the terms indicate the origin of the groups, not their modern distribution: the Water Deer, for example, is a new world species but is found only in China and Korea. It is thought that the new world group evolved about 5 million years ago in the forests of North America and Siberia, the old world deer in Asia. The family Cervidae is organized as follows:
- Subfamily Hydropotinae
  - Chinese Water Deer (Hydroptes inermis)
- Subfamily Muntiacinae (mostly Muntjacs)
  - Bornean Yellow Muntjac (Muntiacus atherodes)
  - Black Muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons)
  - Fea's Muntjac (Muntiacus feae)
  - Gongshan Muntjac (Muntiacus gongshanensis)
  - Indian Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac)
  - Leaf Muntjac (Muntiacus putaoensis)
  - Reeves' Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi)
  - Truong Son Muntjac (Muntiacus trungsonensis)
  - Giant Muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis)
  - Tufted Deer (Elaphodus cephalophus)
- Subfamily Cervinae
  - White-lipped Deer or Thorold's Deer (Cervus albirostris)
  - Philippine Spotted Deer or Visayan Spotted Deer (Cervus alfredi)
  - Barasingha (Cervus duvaucelii)
  - Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) -- called elk or wapiti in America
  - Thamin (Cervus eldii)
  - Philippine Sambar or Philippine Brown Deer (Cervus mariannus)
  - Sika Deer (Cervus nippon)
  - Sunda Sambar or Rusa deer (Cervus timorensis)
  - Sambar Deer (Cervus unicolor)
  - Chital (Axis axis)
  - Calamian Deer (Axis calamianensis)
  - Bawean Deer (Axis kuhlii)
  - Hog Deer (Axis porcinus)
  - Père David's Deer (Elaphurus davidianus)
  - Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
  - Persian Fallow Deer (Dama mesopotamica)
- Subfamily Odocoilinae
  - Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)
  - Moose (Alces alces)
  - Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)
  - White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
  - Pampas Deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus)
  - Red Brocket (Mazama americana)
  - Merioa Brocket (Mazama bricenii)
  - Dwarf Brocket (Mazama chunyi)
  - Grey Brocket (Mazama gouazoupira)
  - Pygmy Brocket (Mazama nana)
  - Yucatan Brown Brocket (Mazama pandora)
  - Little Red Brocket (Mazama rufina)
  - Northern Pudu (Pudu mephistophiles)
  - Southern Pudu (Pudu pudu)
  - Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus)
  - Peruvian Guemal or North Andean Deer (Hippocamelus antisensis)
  - Chilean Huemul or South Andean Deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus)
  - Caribou/Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) Deer are selective feeders. They feed on leaves. They have small, unspecialised stomachs by herbivore standards, and high nutrition requirements: ingesting sufficient minerals to grow a new pair of antlers every year is a significant task. Rather than attempt to digest vast quantities of low-grade, fibrous food as, for example, sheep and cattle do, deer select easily digestible shoots, young leaves, fresh grasses, soft twigs, fruit, fungi, and lichens. Deer have long had economic significance to humans. While they are generally not as easily domesticated as sheep, goats, pigs, and even cattle, the association between people and deer is very old. Deer meat, for which they are hunted and farmed, is called venison. venison

Hybrid deer

In Origin of Species (1859) Charles Darwin wrote "Although I do not know of any thoroughly well-authenticated cases of perfectly fertile hybrid animals, I have some reason to believe that the hybrids from Cervulus vaginalis and Reevesii [...] are perfectly fertile." These two varieties of muntjac are currently considered the same species. A number of deer hybrids are bred to improve meat yield in farmed deer. Once considered separate species because of the great differences between them, American Elk (or Wapiti) and Red Deer from the Old World can produce fertile offspring, and are now considered one species. (The European Elk is a different species and is known as Moose in the USA.) The hybrids are about 30% more efficient in producing antler by comparing velvet to body weight. Wapiti have been introduced into some European Red Deer herds to improve the Red Deer type, but not always with the intended improvement. In New Zealand, where deer are introduced species, there are hybrid zones between Red Deer and North American Wapiti populations and also between Red Deer and Sika Deer populations. In New Zealand Red Deer have been artificially hybridized with Pere David Deer in order to create a farmed deer which gives birth in spring. The initial hybrids were created by artificial insemination and back-crossed to Red Deer. In Canada, the farming of European Red Deer and Red Deer hybrids is considered a threat to native Wapiti. In Britain, the introduced Sika Deer is considered a threat to native Red Deer. Initial Sika Deer/Red Deer hybrids occur when young Sika stags expand their range into established red deer areas and have no Sika hinds to mate with. They mate instead with young Red hinds and produce fertile hybrids. These hybrids mate with either Sika or Red Deer (depending which species is prevalent in the area), resulting in mongrelization. Many of the Sika Deer which escaped from British parks were probably already hybrids for this reason. In captivity, Mule Deer have been mated to White-tail Deer. Both male Mule Deer/female White-tail and male White-tail/female Mule deer matings have produced hybrids. Less than 50% of the hybrid fawns survived their first few months. Hybrids have been reported in the wild but are disadvantaged because they don't properly inherit survival strategies. Mule Deer bound (all 4 hooves hit the ground at once, called "stotting") to escape predators. Stotting is so specialized that only 100% genetically pure Mule Deer seem able to do it. In captive hybrids, even a one-eighth White-tail/seven-eighths Mule Deer hybrid has an erratic escape behaviour and would be unlikely to survive to breeding age. Hybrids do survive on game ranches where both species are kept and where predators are controlled by man.

Fictional deer

Moose Moose]
- For role of deer in mythology, see deer in mythology.
- In Christmas lore (such as in the narrative poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas"), reindeer are believed to pull the sleigh of Santa Claus.
- One famous fictional deer is Bambi. Contrary to what most people believe, in the Disney movie Bambi, he is a white-tailed deer, while in Felix Salten's original book Bambi, A Life in the Woods, he is a roe deer.
- In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a white stag, said to grant one wish to the one who catches him, misleads the Pevensie children in the forest. Lost, they stumble back through the wardrobe to return to our world, ending their adventure.
- Saint Hubertus saw a stag with a crucifix between its antlers while hunting on Good Friday and was converted to Christianity by the vision.
- In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Patronus Charm that Harry Potter conjures up to scare away the Dementors is a silver stag. James Potter, Harry's father, had an Animagus form as a stag.
- On the television series Angel, one episode depicts the hart as the last of three animals symbolically representing the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart.
- In one of the stories of Baron Munchhausen, the baron encounters a stag while eating cherries and without ammunition. He fires the cherry-pits at the stag with his musket, but it escapes. The next year, the baron encounters a stag with a cherry tree growing from its head; presumably this is the animal he had shot at the previous year.
- A Samurai warrior named Honda Tadakatsu famously adorned deer antlers on his helmet.
- Deer has been a subject in Chinese painting numerous times as a tranquility symbol. Category:Even-toed ungulates Category:Deer ko:사슴 ms:Rusa sambar ja:シカ th:กวาง

Stag (disambiguation)

Stag can mean:
- A deer
- An animal castrated after maturity, especially cattle.
- Stag (album)
- For the term stag film, see pornography.
- The Triumph Stag automobile
- The Society for the Transmundane And Gifted (STAG), a small-scale parapsychology organization.

Ruminant

Antilocapridae
Bovidae
Cervidae
Giraffidae
Moschidae
Tragulidae
A ruminant is any hooved animal that digests its food in two steps, first by eating the raw material and regurgitating a semi-digested form known as cud, then eating the cud, a process called ruminating. Ruminants include cows, goats, sheep, camels, llamas, giraffes, bison, buffalos, deer, wildebeest, and antelope. The suborder Ruminantia includes all those except the camels and llamas, which are Tylopoda. Ruminants also share another anatomical feature in that they all have an even number of toes. Ruminants have a stomach with four chambers, which are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. In the first two chambers, the rumen and the reticulum, the food is mixed with saliva and separates into layers of solid and liquid material. Solids clump together to form the cud (or bolus). The cud is then regurgitated, chewed slowly to completely mix it with saliva, which further breaks down fibers. Fiber, especially cellulose, is broken down into glucose in these chambers by symbiotic bacteria and protozoa. The broken-down fiber, which is now in the liquid part of the contents, then passes through the rumen into the next stomach chamber, the omasum, where water is removed. After this the digesting food is moved to the last chamber, the abomasum. The food in the abomasum is digested much like it would be in the human stomach. It is finally sent to the small intestine, where the absorption of the nutrients occurs. It is interesting to note that almost all glucose produced by the breaking down of cellulose is used by the symbiotic bacteria. Ruminants get their energy from the volatile fatty acids produced by these bacteria: acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid.

Trivia


- One of the requirements of kashrut for a land animal is that the animal chews its cud.
- Termites are also able to digest cellulose in a similar way to ruminants.

Other uses

The verb "to ruminate" has extended metaphorically to mean "to thoughtfully ponder" or "to meditate" on some topic. Similarly, ideas may be "chewed on" or "digested".

External links


- [http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/herbivores/index.html Digestive Physiology of Herbivores] - Colorado State University Category:Even-toed ungulates ja:反芻

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is one of the most important ranks, next only to species and genus. See:
- rank (botany)
- rank (zoology)
- Virus classification rank13 rank13 rank13 als:Familie (Biologie) ms:Famili



Buck

Buck may refer to any of the following:
- The male of various species of animal, including:
  - some species of deer — see also blackbuck
  - rabbits
  - squirrels
  - Tyrannosaurus rex (this use of the term buck for a male Tyrannosaurus rex was first used in the Jurassic Park series and is currently gaining popularity)
- A slang term for:
  - a man (usually a young, sexually adventurous one)
  - an African American man (not in common use)
  - a dollar (paticularly in the United States and Canada)
  - a repetition of an old joke, story, or fact, especially by email
  - a chicken (bucker), from the sound a chicken makes
- A marker or button that indicates the dealer in the card game Poker
- Buck, the main character in The Call of the Wild
- Pearl S. Buck was an American novelist who won the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature
- Buck Rogers is a science fiction hero from the 1930s
- Buck Williams is a character in the Left Behind series.

Bull

Bull or bull has various meanings:
- The uncastrated male of cattle. This is the origin of most of the other meanings.
- A male of various other animal species, including buffalo, elephant, whale. In English, the word "bull" alone is usually spoken to refer specifically to male cattle, with terms such as "bull elephant" disambiguating the term for other species. See also cow.
- Gerald Bull was an engineer developing long range artillery.
- Groupe Bull is a computer company.
- The character of Bull, played by Richard Moll, on the comedy series Night Court
- A share-trading term. See Bull market
- A slang word for police officers, especially prison guards.
- In homomasculine slang, a large stocky male who displays aggressive dominant behavior. See also "Bear".
- Short for bullshit. (slang)
- In the British Army, and sometimes elsewhere, "bull" is slang for drill and equipment-cleaning that the men consider to be excessive. This usage may derive from a type of Army issue boot polish that was said to look like cattle excrement, thus "bullshit".
- A papal bull is a written communication from the Vatican, bearing the papal seal. This meaning came from Latin bulla = seal.
- Golden Bull: a kind of legal document in history

Doe

Doe is the term used for the females of various species of animal, including:
- some species of deer
- rabbits
- squirrels In job and classified ads, DOE is an acronym for "Depending On Experience" and usually indicated in pay rates. DoE is also an abbreviation for Department of Energy (United States).

COW


- COW is an acronym for a number of things:
  - Can of worms
  - The COW programming language, an esoteric programming language.
  - Casualty of War
  - Cell On Wheels
  - City of Westminster
  - Cluster of Workstations
  - Coalition of the Willing
  - Computer Originated World, referring to the globe ID the BBC1 TV network used from 1985 to 1991
  - Code Optimization Ware, as used in the game Tron 2.0
  - Cold worked
  - College of Wooster
  - Commanding Officer's Wife
  - Copy-on-write
  - Cost of war
  - Crude oil washing

Calf

For the anatomical feature, see calf muscle. calf muscle Calves are young animals. The term is mainly used for cattle, although deer, whales and elephants also have calves. A cattle calf is a child of a cow and a bull and a calf that has lost its mother is referred to as a dogie. The plural is calves. With respect to cattle calves, calf meat is called veal; fine calf skin used for pages in early codexes is called pergamon. Calves feed from their mother's udders for a few weeks before eating solid food. pergamon

Faun

In Roman mythology, fauns were place-spirits (genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Dionysus. However, fauns and satyrs were originally quite discrete creatures. Both had horns and both resembled goats below the waist, humans above; but originally satyrs had human feet, fauns goatlike hooves. The Romans also had a god named Faunus and a goddess Fauna, who, like the fauns, were goat-people. The Barberini Faun (Glyptothek, Munich, Germany) is a Hellenistic marble, c. 200 BC that was found in the Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian (the Castel Sant'Angelo) and installed at Palazzo Barberini by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII), the patron of Bernini, who heavily restored and refinished it, so that its present 'Hellenistic baroque' aspect may be enhanced. The Marble Faun (1860) is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne set in Rome. The faun of the title epitomizes the natural, carefree Count Donatello: "Our friend Donatello is the very Faun of Praxiteles. Is it not true, Hilda?" is the opening remark as four young art-minded friends gather in the sculpture-gallery in the Capitoline Museums at Rome. "In truth, allowing for the difference of costume, and if a lion's skin could have been substituted for his modern talma, and a rustic pipe for his stick, Donatello might have figured perfectly as the marble Faun, miraculously softened into flesh and blood," Hawthorne allows. Later, Donatello's murderous crime of passion will destroy him and transform the other characters. (The "Faun of Praxiteles", as Hawthorne describes it, is an imaginary sculpture loosely based on Praxiteles' Hermes.) Category:Roman mythology

Red Deer

:This article is about the animal; for other uses of the name, see Red deer (disambiguation).
Numerous - see text. Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), known as elk or wapiti in North America, are the second largest species of deer in the world, after Alces alces (the moose or, in Europe, elk). Cervus elaphus has twenty subspecies in Europe, including some on the endangered species list:
- Bactrian deer (C. e. bactrianus),
- Barbary deer (C. e. barbarus),
- Corsican red deer (C. e. corsicanus),
- Asiatic hangul or Kashmir deer (C. e. hanglu),
- Isyubra deer/Manchurian red deer/Izubr stag (C. e. xanthopygos),
- Szechuan red deer or McNeill's red deer (C. e. macneilli),
- Shou (C. e. affims) and
- Yarkand deer (C. e. yarkandanseis).
- Alshansk or Ala-Shan red deer (C. e. alshanicus),
- Altai red deer (C. e. asiaticus or sibiricus),
- Balkan red deer (C. e. hippelaphus),
- Kansu red deer (C. e. kansuensis),
- Maral (C. e. sibiricus),
- Norwegian red deer (C. e. atlanticus),
- Scottish red deer (C. e. scoticus),
- Shingielt red deer (C. e. wachei),
- Spanish red deer (C. e. hispanicus),
- Swedish red deer (C. e. elaphus),
- Tien-Shan red deer (C. e. songaricus), and
- Wallich's deer (C. e. Wallichii). Four of six subspecies of elk in North America survive, with an estimated population of about ten million:
- Rocky Mountain elk or Yellowstone elk (C. e. nelsoni),
- Manitoba elk (C. e. manatobensis),
- Roosevelt elk or Olympic elk (C. e. roosevelti), and
- Tule elk (C. e. nannodes) still survive. The Eastern elk (C. e. canadensis) and Merriam's elk (C. e. merriami) are considered extinct.

In Europe

The red deer is Britain's largest native land mammal, and can reach 1.5m (5 ft) at the shoulder. Apart from man, bears, wolves and lynxes prey on red deer in Europe, though all of these natural predators are extinct in Britain.

History

Red Deer first appear in fossil records around 13 million years ago in Eurasia. For centuries, the wild deer of Britain were reserved exclusively for royalty to hunt. William I of England introduced the death penalty for killing a deer, and a sentence of maiming for attempting to kill a deer. These harsh penalties were abolished during the reign of Henry III, although deer were still preserved by law for the sport of the monarch until the 19th century.

In North America

Elk (also known as Wapiti, a Shawnee name meaning 'white rump') are an Old World deer species that originated in Eurasia and spread to North America, crossing the Bering Land Bridge during the ice age. North American elk were once considered a separate species, and the Eurasian red deer another species. Scientists now consider the North American Elk and Eurasian red deer to be the same, though distinctions between the two live in in the language. European red deer will interbreed with American elk, when penned together, and the offspring are fertile. Elk weigh 230 to 450 kg (500 to 1,000 lbs.) and stand 0.75-1.5 m (2.5-5 ft.) high at the shoulder. Their antlers usually measure 1 to 1.5 m across, tip to tip. Males often weigh twice as much as females. North American elk are the largest of the Red Deer, similar in size to, or slightly larger than, the Russian Maral. The American elk terminology is different from the European, as the males are called bulls, the females are called cows, and the offspring are calves, rather than stags, hinds, and fawns, respectively. The vocal apparatus and mating call of the elk is also different from that of the Red Deer, in that the elk "bugle" as opposed to "roaring". This is an adaptation to the more open (less thickly wooded) environment of the elk, allowing high-pitched sounds to travel further. The current elk population of the United States is estimated to be about one-tenth of the historic level. The population along with most other North American game animals reached a low point around 1900. However populations have rebounded with controls on hunting. There were estimated to be 782,500 elk in North America in 1989. About 72,000 then lived in Canada. Some 20,000 are in ranches where they are raised for meat, antlers, or for hunting. One of the most important uses of farmed or ranched elk is production of Velvet antler. Most elk live in the west, especially the Rocky Mountain region. Only 3,500 elk live in the wild in the United States east of the Mississippi River and that population is spread over seven states. The population is similarly small in eastern Canada. However, both areas have in recent years experienced a steady population growth and even dispersal into areas that the elk were not originally transplanted to.

Cultural aspects

The elk is an important totem animal to many American Indian tribes. Among the Oto people Elk is described as cross-dressing in several origin legends and is considered to be the original two-spirit; consequently, two-spirits in this culture always belong to the Elk clan. Black Elk is the name of a famous Lakota shaman.

History

Elk do not appear in the North American fossil records until about 120,000 years ago, when they crossed the Bering land bridge. Once on the North American continent they moved south and east. Around 70,000 years ago they were isolated into four different populations. One of these was found in the Alaska / Yukon region, one in the Washington / Oregon coastal region, another in western California, and the largest population east of the Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, extending to the Appalachian Mountains and into southern Canada and northern Mexico. With the arrival of the Europeans to North America and the migration of man toward the west came the need for food and the hunting of what seemed like unlimited game, mainly buffalo and wapati. Hunting for meat progressed into sport hunting and the wanton slaughter and extinction of the Eastern elk, and the near extinction of the Rocky Mountain elk. Merriam's elk eventually succumbed to extinction after hunting brought the numbers below viable breeding populations. In the early 1900s concerned sportsmen foresaw the eventual demise of many game animals and sought, and implemented, hunting seasons and limits, which saved many species which would have otherwise perished. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt made a gift of elk to New Zealand, where they were released into the southwestern part of the South Island.

North American subspecies

Of the six North American subspecies of elk, two are extinct: the Eastern elk (through hunting, habitat loss and human settlement), and the southwestern or Merriam's elk (through hunting and increased desertification). A population of Merriam's elk existed in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas (present herds of elk in the mountains of Texas were released in 1928 from North Dakota). Of the Eastern elk, the last individual in eastern Tennessee was shot in 1849. The last free elk in Iowa were recorded in 1871. 1871 The Washington / Oregon population later evolved into two different subspecies, the Olympic elk of southwestern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northwestern California; and the Tule elk of central California. As the Wisconsin Glacial age ended around 10,000 years ago, a population of elk was isolated from the large eastern population and became the now extinct Merriam’s Elk of Mexico and the southwestern United States. As the Great Plains evolved the remainder of the eastern populations became separated again. One of these populations may have evolved with the Great Plains to become the Manitoba Elk. At the same time the eastern population was separating into two more groups, those of the eastern deciduous forests became the now extinct Eastern Elk; those of the western coniferous forests became the Rocky Mountain Elk. These six subspecies inhabited most of North America when the Europeans first arrived. According to the Cervid researcher Dr. Valerius Geist, the difference in these subspecies is a result of their environment, the genetic difference being minute. Because of this he says they will all look alike after a few generations if they are kept in captivity under similar conditions. He maintains that while crossbreeding does produce hybrid vigor, in which the offspring are larger than either parent, hybrid vigor lasts for only a few generations.

Distribution

One of the largest North American game animals, they live in open forest and near forest edges in similar environment as deer. In mountain regions, they are known for living in rugged high elevations during the summer, and in winter they gather in lower areas with more shelter. Formerly widespread throughout Siberia and North America, in taiga, temperate forests and grassland, elk are found throughout North America, especially in Rocky Mountain region. Western elk have been brought to several states east of the Mississippi River including the Appalachian area where the now extinct subspecies Eastern elk Cervus elaphus canadensis once lived, most commonly Rocky Mountain or Manitoban elk because of their similar habits and size. In recent years the elk have dispersed steadily from Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee into neighboring areas like Virginia and West Virginia and these herds appear to be growing slowly but steadily in population.

Rocky Mountain Elk

West Virginia West Virginia West Virginia Contrary to popular belief, the Rocky Mountain elk was not an animal of the plains that retreated to the mountains because of the encroachment of man. Elk always lived in the Rocky Mountains. Rocky Mountain elk currently inhabit the Rocky Mountains from central British Columbia and Alberta through Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northeastern Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, the western portions of North and South Dakota. There are scattered populations of transplanted animals in many other states; western Nebraska, northeast Minnesota and northern Michigan among them. The current North American elk population is about 800,000. Rocky Mountain elk bulls weigh 300-370 kg (700-800 lbs) and cows 200-250 kg (450-550 lbs). Bulls may stand five feet at the shoulder, with legs three feet long and body lengths of eight feet. Their coloration is generally tan with dark brown legs, neck, head and belly, with a buff colored rump. Bulls may be lighter colored than cows, appearing silver at times. White and silver colored animals do not appear in the wild. Antlers of mature bulls usually have six or more points per side with main beam lengths of 1.5 m (5 ft), inside spreads may reach 48 inches.

Roosevelt Elk

Roosevelt elk inhabit the northern portion of California and the western portions of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Transplants have been made to Afognak Island in Alaska. Estimates of the total population range from 20,000 to 30,000. Roosevelt Elk are larger and darker than Rocky Mountain elk. Bulls may weigh in excess of 1000 pounds. Their racks often have several points forming a crown or basket at the normal fourth tine, and the beams may be slightly flattened or palmated.

Manitoba Elk

Manitoba elk inhabit central Manitoba, east central Saskatchewan and the badlands of North Dakota. Many of the Canadian elk are found in and near Riding Mountain and Prince Albert National Parks, and Duck Mountain Provincial Park. The coat of the Manitoba elk is darker than the Rocky Mountain elk. It is generally not as tall, but is stockier than the Rocky Mountain elk with similar body weights. Populations are stable at about 10,000 animals.

Tule Elk

Great herds of tule elk formerly inhabited the California Central Valley grasslands and the California Chaparral and Woodlands of central California, but were reduced to near-extinction by hunting and habitat loss, primarily the conversion of grasslands and wetlands to agriculture and pastureland. Cattleman Henry Miller, who owned vast tracts of the southern Central Valley, created a small private preserve in the 1870s in order to save the subspecies. In 1932, the herd was given permanent protection in a 950 acre (3.8 km²) property, now known as Tule Elk State Reserve, near Buttonwillow in central California's Kern County. Tule elk also inhabit adjacent areas of mainly private land. They are smaller than other subspecies, with bulls averaging 500 pounds (230 kg). The current population is about 2000 animals. Hunting on private land has been reopened in recent years, however there are a very limited number or permits (40?) available for both resident and nonresident hunters. Hunt costs are around $13,000 through the services of an outfitter. The world record non-typical scores 340. In 1978 tule elk were reintroduced to Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco. The herd has since grown to over 500 individuals in two herds. Another herd lives in Ohlone Wilderness in Alameda County, California, a preserve maintained by the East Bay Regional Park District.

Predators

The primary predators of adult elk in North America are mountain lions, wolves, and grizzlies. Coyotes and black bears sometimes prey on the fawns. Red deer, like other cervids, are subject to chronic wasting disease, which may be similar to mad cow disease.

Rutting behavior

Adult Red Deer usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year, coming together to mate during October. During the mating ritual, called the rut, mature stags compete for the attentions of the hinds and will then try to defend hinds that they attract. Rival stags challenge opponents by bellowing and walking in parallel. If neither stag backs down a clash of antlers can occur, and stags sometimes sustain serious injuries. Dominant bulls (stags) herd groups of cows (hinds) during the rut, from August into early winter. The bulls may have as many as 50 cows to keep from other less fortunate males. After the rut the stags (bulls) and hinds (cows) separate. The fawns (calves) are born the following June and are usually weaned by eight months, although they may stay with their mother after this time. The newborn fawns are left by their mothers for long periods in long vegetation; their mothers return at intervals to feed them.

External references


- [http://www.workingforwildlife.org.uk/reserves/deer.htm Red Deer at WorkingForWildlife.org.uk]
- [http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=98 Fact Sheet: North American Elk]
- [http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/cervelap.htm Wapiti in Texas.]
- [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/cervus/c._elaphus.html Statistics] from a University of Michigan website Category:Deer Category:Fauna of the Alps

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young lovers. It is, perhaps, the most famous of his plays today. William Shakespeare]

History of the story

The story originates from a 1476 story of Mariotto and Gianozza by Masuccio Salernitano, in Il Novelino. Luigi da Porto's Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti gave the story much of its modern form, renaming the lovers to Romeus and Giulietta and shifting the action from Siena to Verona. Da Porto's story was taken up and included by Matteo Bandello in his Novelle of 1554, and translated to English by Arthur Brooke, whose narrative poem "Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet", written in 1562, was the source for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare enriched its texture through his vivid characterizations of both major and minor characters, in particular the Nurse and Mercutio.

Plot

Mercutio.]] The play begins with a 14-line prologue in the form of a sonnet. The chorus explains to the audience that the story concerns two noble families of Verona, the Montagues and the Capulets, that have feuded for generations. The chorus also tells how the tragic suicide of the lovers "[buries] their parents' strife," ending the conflict.

Act I

The action starts with a typical street-brawl between the two families, started by their servants and put down by the Prince of Verona. The Prince declares that the heads of the two families (known simply as "Montague" and "Capulet") will be held personally accountable (with their lives) for any further breach of the peace, and disperses the crowd. Paris, a young nobleman, talks to Capulet about marrying his thirteen-year-old daughter Juliet. Capulet demurs, citing the girl's tender years, and invites him to attract the attention of Juliet during a ball that the family is to hold a day later. Meanwhile Juliet's mother tries to persuade her young daughter to accept Paris's wooing during their coming ball. Juliet does not want Paris, but, being a dutiful daughter, accedes to her mother's wishes. This scene also introduces Juliet's nurse, the comic relief of the play, who recounts a bawdy anecdote about Juliet at great length and with much repetition. In the meantime, Montague and his wife fret to their nephew Benvolio about their son Romeo, who has long been moping for reasons unknown to them. Benvolio promises Montague that he will try to determine the cause. Benvolio queries Romeo and finds that his melancholy has its roots in his unrequited love for Capulet's niece, a girl named Rosaline (an unseen character). Romeo is infatuated but laments that she will not "ope her lap to saint-seducing gold." Benvolio tries to snap Romeo out of his dark mood, to no avail: despite the good-natured taunts of his fellows, including the witty nobleman Mercutio (who gives his well known Queen Mab speech), Romeo resolves to attend the masque at the Capulet house, relying on not being spotted in his costume, in the hopes of meeting up with Rosaline. Romeo attends the ball as planned, but he does not see Rosaline and falls instead for Juliet. They proclaim their love for one another with their "love sonnet". Tybalt, Juliet's hot-blooded cousin, recognizes Romeo under his disguise and calls for his sword. Capulet, however, speaks kindly of Romeo and, having resolved that his family will not be first to violate the Prince's decree, sternly forbids Tybalt from confronting Romeo. Tybalt stalks off in a huff. Before the ball ends, the Nurse identifies Juliet for Romeo, and (separately) identifies Romeo for Juliet.

Act II

Emboldened, Romeo risks his life by remaining on the Capulet estate after the party breaks up, to catch another glimpse of Juliet at her room, and in the famous balcony scene, the two eloquently declare their love for each other. The young lovers decide to marry without informing their parents, because they would undoubtedly disallow it due to the hate between the clans and the planned union between Paris and Juliet. Juliet sends the nurse to find Romeo. Accompanied by one Peter, who carries her fan, the nurse exchanges some spicy raillery with the bawdy Mercutio. With the help of Juliet's Nurse and the Franciscan priest Friar Lawrence, the two are wedded the next day. Friar Lawrence performs the ceremony, hoping to bring the two families to peace with each other through their mutual union.

Act III

Things take a darker turn in the next Act. Tybalt, still smarting from the incident at the Capulets' ball, meets up with Romeo and attempts to provoke a sword fight. Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt because they are now kinsmen - although Tybalt doesn't know it, as he doesn't yet know that Romeo has married Juliet. Mercutio, who is also unaware of the marriage, is incensed by Tybalt's insolence - and Romeo's seeming indifference - and takes up the challenge himself. In the ensuing swordplay, Romeo attempts to allay Mercutio's anger, momentarily placing his arm around him. By doing so, however, Romeo inadvertently allows Mercutio to be fatally wounded by Tybalt. Mercutio dies, wishing "a plague on both your houses." Romeo, in his anger, slays Tybalt. Although under the Prince of Verona's proclamation Romeo (and Montague and Capulet, as well) would be subject to the death penalty, the Prince instead fines the head of each house, and reduces Romeo's punishment to exile in recognition that Tybalt had killed Mercutio, who had not only been Romeo's friend but a relative of the Prince. Romeo flees to Mantua after making love to Juliet. Just after Romeo leaves Juliet's bedroom unseen, Capulet breaks the news to his daughter Juliet that he has agreed to fix the date of Paris and Juliet's wedding as three days hence. Unwilling to enter this arranged marriage, telling her parents that she will not marry, and when she does, "it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate." Capulet flies into a rage.

Act IV

Friar Lawrence, a dabbler in herbal medicines and potions, gives Juliet a potion and a plan: the potion will put her in a death-like coma for two and forty hours; she is to take it before her marriage day, and when discovered dead, she will be laid in the family crypt. Meanwhile, the Friar will send a messenger to inform Romeo, so that he can rejoin her when she awakes. The two can then leave for Mantua and live happily ever after. Juliet takes the potion, and things proceed as planned.

Act V

The Friar's messenger is unable to reach Romeo due to Mantua being under quarantine, and Romeo learns only of Juliet's supposed "death" through a family servant. Grief-stricken, he buys some strong poison, returns to Verona in secret, and proceeds to the Capulets' crypt, determined to join Juliet in death. Upon arrival he encounters Paris, who has also come to mourn privately for his lost love. After killing Paris in a duel, Romeo drinks the poison after seeing Juliet one last time, exclaiming: "O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.." (Act 5. Scene III) Friar Lawrence then arrives and, entering upon the room, finds the dead bodies of Romeo and Paris. It is at this point that Juliet awakes and, seeing the surrounding death, seeks answers. Friar Laurence, afraid of being apprehended by the city guards, urges Juliet to flee with him. Knowing all is lost, she replies to the Friar's offer with "Go, get thee hence, for I will not away." (Act 5. Scene III) Juliet cannot imagine a rewarding life without Romeo and so she stabs herself fatally with his dagger. The two lovers lie dead side by side, devoted until the last breath of life. Romeo, Juliet, and Paris are found dead shortly thereafter by a squire, who runs off to alert others. As word spreads throughout Verona about the deaths, the two feuding families and the Prince converge upon the tomb. They are horrified to find Romeo, Juliet, and Paris all lying dead, and Friar Laurence (who has hurried to the crypt but is too late to prevent the tragedy) reveals to them the love and secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud, as explained by the prologue. The play ends with the Prince saying, "A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished; For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

Commentary

Like most of Shakespeare's plays, the greater part of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter. However, the play is also notable for its copious use of rhymed verse, notably in the sonnet contained in Romeo and Juliet's dialogue in the scene where they first meet. This sonnet figures Romeo as a blushing pilgrim (palmer) praying before an image of the Virgin Mary, as many persons in early-sixteenth-century England did at shrines such as the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.[http://www.galbithink.org/sense-s5.htm] Because of its use of rhyme, its extravagant expressions of love, its Italian theme, and its implausible plot, Romeo and Juliet is considered to belong to Shakespeare's "lyrical period", along with the similarly poetic plays A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard II. Romeo and Juliet is one of the earlier works in the Shakespearean canon, and while it is often classified as a tragedy, it does not bear the hallmarks of the 'great tragedies' like Hamlet and Macbeth. Some argue that Romeo and Juliet's demise does not stem from their own individual flaws, but from the actions of others or from accidents. Unlike the great tragedies, Romeo and Juliet is more a tragedy of mistiming and ill fate. However, others consider rashness and youth to be the tragic flaws of Romeo and Juliet. The play's most famous line is widely misunderstood. The word "wherefore" means "why", not "where", so when Juliet calls from the balcony, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" she is asking why his name (by implication, his family's name) makes him an enemy of her family, as the next lines make clear: "Deny thy father, and refuse thy name ... that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." (This instance has led to a more widespread misuse of "wherefore".)

Farce

It has been noted that the plot of Romeo and Juliet is more that of a farce or comedy of errors than a tragedy, except that it lacks the vital last-minute save and everyone dies at the end instead of living happily ever after. It can also be argued that not all is woe at the end. A long-running feud is ended, although at the price of the two lovers' lives, thus, no doubt, future deaths have been prevented.

Italy

In this pre-modern time Italy did not yet exist and its warring Communes stood divided, many of them against the interests of the Catholic Church - particularly in the Verona and Venice areas, (Venice would become known as a thorn in the side of the Church in the 1500s). The play attacks the Catholic Church (largely to please Queen Elizabeth).

Adaptations

There have been quite a few adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, created for many media.

Plays

Other versions of the Romeo and Juliet play had been made, which had the "culture" of where the play was made as the "setting". For instance, a version of the play which had Romeo as a Palestinian and Juliet as a Jew in Israel and the Palestinian territories was made, which criticizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An updated version of Romeo and Juliet called [http://homepage.mac.com/christolley/RJR Romeo/Juliet Remixed] (or R0M30/JUL137 R3M1X3D) is set to a rave dance floor background with a kick-boxing Juliet and an Ecstasy taking Romeo. Before the play begins, this interactive show features your choice of glowsticks (pink if you choose to be a Montague, yellow if you choose to be a Capulet,) an escort to a mock dance club called "Club Verona" where you dance and mingle with the cast and other audience members as well as cheer on your crew of breakdancing Montagues or Capulets, and a chance to be on the venue's big screen. Romeo and Juliet communicate via cell phone and text messaging.

Opera

The story was converted into the opera Roméo et Juliette by Charles François Gounod in 1867 with a libretto written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. The Romeo and Juliet story was also the subject of Vincenzo Bellini's opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi, although Bellini and his librettist, Felice Romani, worked from Italian sources, and these were only distantly related to Shakespeare's work.

Ballet

Several ballet adaptations of the story have been made, the first written in the 18th century. The best known feature music by Sergei Prokofiev, and a variety of choreographers have used this music. The first version featuring Prokofiev's music was performed in 1938. See: Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)

Musical

The musical West Side Story, also made into a film, is based on Romeo and Juliet but updates the story to mid-20th century New York City and the warring families to ethnic gangs. Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour, a musical by Gérard Presgurvic, premiered on January 19, 2001 in the Palais de Congrès in Paris, France. It attracted already (2005) six million people. The song "Exit Music (For a Film)" by Radiohead was made for the 1996 movie version (see below) of Romeo and Juliet and is sung from the point of view of someone waking up his lover and inviting them to join them in escaping from the oppression of their respective families through suicide.

Instrumental Music

Among the instrumental pieces inspired by the play are Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Fantasty Overture after Shakespeare and Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette "Symphonie dramatique", although the latter does have substantial vocal parts. Prokofiev also created three orchestra suites and a piano suite, Romeo and Juliet: Ten Pieces for Piano, based on the music from his ballet.

Movie versions

There have been over forty movie versions of the tale, with the first in 1900. Some of the more notable adaptations include: ;1936 - Romeo and Juliet, produced by Irving Thalberg and directed by George Cukor :The 1936 screen version was one of the more notable of Classical Hollywood. Thalberg spared no expense, and showcased his wife, Norma Shearer, in the lead role. Romeo was played by Leslie Howard, John Barrymore was Mercutio, and Andy Devine was Peter, the servant to Juliet's nurse. However, the film was criticized because Howard and Shearer were both far too old for the roles. :Academy Awards nominations: :
- Best Picture - Irving Thalberg, producer :
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Basil Rathbone - as Tybalt :
- Best Actress - Norma Shearer :
- Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope and Edwin B. Willis ;1954 - Romeo and Juliet directed by Renato Castellani. :A notable Italian production with a strong cast and a colourful setting. The cast includes Galina Ulanova, Laurence Harvey, Bolshoi Ballet, Mervyn Johns, Flora Robson, Yuri Zhdanov and Susan Shentall. ;1968 - Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli :Filmed in Italy, the performance of the young Olivia Hussey as Juliet has been considered truly inspired by some, as weak by others. It won Oscars for best cinematography and best costume design, and was nominated for Best Director. It also starred Leonard Whiting as Romeo - he was seen as 'the next big thing' in film at the time, but his career did not match up to expectations. This version is often considered the definitive one, if measured only by viewing in American high schools. ;1978 - Romeo and Juliet, directed by Alvin Rakoff :for the BBC Television Shakespeare series. This production is generally unregarded due to its inexperienced stars and low production values, although Alan Rickman's Tybalt is watchable. ;1983 - Romeo and Juliet, directed by William Woodman :This film features an excellent set of costumes. The cast includes Alex Hyde-White, Blanche Baker, Esther Rolle, Dan Hamilton, and Frederic Hehne. ;1996 - Romeo + Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrmann :Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles, Luhrmann gave the famous tale a modern setting. This radical interpretation of the play is either loved or loathed by filmgoers, but its art direction and cinematography are undeniably impressive. :At the Berlin International Film Festival 1997, it won: :
- Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) :
- Alfred Bauer Prize :Academy Awards 1996 nominations: :
- Best Art Direction (Catherine Martin) :
- Set Decoration (Brigitte Broch) ;1996 - Tromeo and Juliet, directed by Lloyd Kaufman :The Troma team put their own inimitable spin on the story, setting it in Manhattan in a punk milieu. Lemmy from Motörhead narrates. ;2005 - Romeo & Juliet directed by Dave LaChapelle :Featuring Tamyra Gray as Juliet, Gus Carr as Romeo, and Mary J. Blige, this is a 10 minute promotional advertisement for the H&M clothing company. Released in September 2005, this commercial was shown online ([http://www.hm.com/corporate/inspiration/campaigns/denim/index.jsp?clang=us&version=2005-44b H&M website]) and during the trailers of certain theatrical films, and featured the new & denim selection. In this musical remake which features background music provided by Mary J. Blige, Romeo is gunned down in a drive-by shooting and Juliet sings over his body while he bleeds to death on the street. Due to many complaints that the commercial glamorized gang violence and was H&M's attempt to use gun culture to sell their jeans to teenagers, H&M subsequently withdrew the ad from Canadian & U.S. markets and issued an apology. The film West Side Story set in 1960's New York City was based on the story of Romeo and Juliet, with Capulet and Montague exchanged for the Jets and Sharks. Shakespeare in Love is a fictional account of how Shakespeare writes the play against the clock inspired by his love of an upper-class woman.

Allusions


- Dire Straits' 1980 album Making Movies had a hit song "Romeo and Juliet", in which the lovestruck singer imagines himself in Romeo's image, as his girlfriend's parents disapprove of him. The Indigo Girls covered this song on their album Rites of Passage.
- The 2003 musical remake of Reefer Madness featured a song "Romeo and Juliet" in which a pair of young lovers compare themselves to Romeo and Juliet, having only read the first half of the play, and mistakenly assuming the ending to be happy.
- The Arctic Monkeys song I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor mentions the Montagues and Capulets.
- The Blue Öyster Cult song "Don't Fear the Reaper" mentions Romeo and Juliet.

External links


- [http://www.italicon.it/index_biblio.asp?MNUEICON=04&Lettera=M&autore=34&titolo=51 Romeo and Juliet] - The electronic text in Italian of the original story
- [http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/shakespeare/romeo_juliet.asp Search and analyze Romeo and Juliet on-line or in a downloadable eBook.]
- [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1112 Romeo and Juliet] - plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg
- [http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Romeo_and_Juliet/ Romeo and Juliet] - searchable, indexed version from shakespeare-literature.com
- [http://william-shakespeare.classic-literature.co.uk/romeo-and-juliet/ Romeo and Juliet] - HTML version of this title.
- [http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/romeo_juliet/full.html Romeo and Juliet] - HTML version at MIT
- [http://www.bookrags.com/notes/rj/ Study guide of the play]
- [http://www.operaworld.com/belcanto/capsrome.shtml The history of the story] at OperaWorld.com
- [http://www.mondophoto.net/europe/italy/verona/verona01.html Mondophoto.net] - 212 photos of Verona Category:English Renaissance plays Category:Shakespearean tragedies ja:ロミオとジュリエット simple:Romeo and Juliet

Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The current population of around 20.4 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Origin and history of the name

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern. Legends of an "unknown southern land" (terra australis incognita) date back to the Roman times and were commonplace in mediæval geography, but they were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The Dutch adjectival form Australische ("Australian," in the sense of "southern") was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south as early as 1638. The first English language writer to use the word "Australia" was Alexander Dalrymple in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, published in 1771. He used the term to refer to the entire South Pacific region, not specifically to the Australian continent. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland." New Holland was established on this site.]] The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England. In 1817 he recommended that it be officially adopted. In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.

History

England, claiming the land for Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988 for Australia's bicentenary.]] The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The first Australians were the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day India or Southeast Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; they possess distinct cultural practices and practised subsistence agriculture. The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian continent was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Jansz, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there following the loss of the American colonies that had previously filled that role. penal colony was Australia's largest penal colony.]] The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. Britain formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1863 as part of the Province of South Australia. Victoria and South Australia were founded as "free colonies"—that is, they were never penal colonies, although the former did receive some convicts from Tasmania. Western Australia was also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts due to an acute labour shortage. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease, and forced migration, the removal of children and other colonial government policies, that some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by today's understanding. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius at the time of European occupation. terra nullius ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Ceremonies such as this are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.]] A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854 was an early expression of nationalist sentiment. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia was born, as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was formed from New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the capital from 1901 to 1927). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I; many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action. Much like Gallipoli the Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as a nation defining battle from World War II. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and Britain, but Australia did not adopt the Statute until 1942. The shock of Britain's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged mass immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and image of itself were radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and Britain ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council. Although Australian voters rejected a move to become a republic in 1999 by a 55% majority, Australia's links to its British past are increasingly tenuous. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the nation's future as a part of the Asia-Pacific region.

Politics

Whitlam Government was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.]] The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy and has a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Queen is nominally represented by the Governor-General; although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975. There are three branches of government.
- The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate (the Red house), and the House of Representatives (the Green house); the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, who in practice exercises little or no power over the Parliament.
- The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the executive councillors); in practice, the councillors are the prime minister and ministers of state, whose advice the Governor-General accepts, with rare exceptions.
- The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. The State courts became formally independent from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when the Australia Act was passed in 1986. The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population. In the Senate, each state, regardless of population, is represented by 12 senators, with the ACT and the NT each electing two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years; typically only half of the Senate seats are put to each election, because senators have overlapping six-year terms. The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms Government, with its leader becoming Prime Minister. There are three major political parties: the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens, Family First and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses, although their influence has been marginal. Since the 1996 election, the Liberal/National Coalition led by the Prime Minister, John Howard, has been in power in Canberra. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate, the first time that a party (or coalition of governing parties) has done so while in government in more than 20 years. The Labor Party is in power in every state and territory. Voting is compulsory in each state and territory and at the federal level.

States and territories

Voting is compulsory Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government. Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles. Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Foreign relations and military

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States, through the ANZUS pact and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Much of Australia's diplomatic energy is focused on international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the US–Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5bn for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current chief is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In 2005–06, the defence budget is A$17.5bn.

Geography and climate

Angus Houston Australia's 7,686,850 km² (2,967,909 mi²) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 25,760 km (16,007 mi) of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 km² or 3,146,057 mi² (excluding the Australian Antarctic Territory). Climate is highly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, the flattest, and has the oldest and least fertile soils. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. The northern part of the country, with a tropical climate, has a vegetation consisting of rainforest, woodland, grassland and desert. The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 km (1,250 mi). The world's two largest monoliths are located in Australia, Mount Augustus in Western Australia is the largest and Uluru in central Australia is the second largest. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at 2,745 m (9,006 ft).

Flora and fauna

Heard Island of the wallaby is currently being sequenced; when the sequencing is completed, it will be a major contribution to marsupial biology.]] Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework used for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created to protect and preserve Australia's unique ecosystems, 64 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the World on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. Environmental Sustainability Index.]] Most Australian plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including the eucalypts and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna), and a host of marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, wombat, and birds such as the emu, cockatoo, and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people that traded with Indigenous Australians around 4000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; many more have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).

Economy