Question: What is the objective of this object?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Heat engine. expressed in absolute temperature.The efficiency of various heat engines proposed or used today has a large range:3% (97 percent waste heat using low quality heat) for the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) ocean power proposal25% for most automotive gasoline engines49% for a supercritical coal-fired power station such as the Avedøre Power Station60% for a combined cycle gas turbineThe efficiency of these processes is roughly proportional to the temperature drop across them. Significant energy may be consumed by auxiliary equipment, such as pumps, which effectively reduces efficiency.## Examples.It is important to note that although some cycles have a typical combustion location.

Heat engine. the simple conversion of work into heat (either through friction or electrical resistance). Refrigerators remove heat from within a thermally sealed chamber at low temperature and vent waste heat at a higher temperature to the environment and heat pumps take heat from the low temperature environment and 'vent' it into a thermally sealed chamber (a house) at higher temperature.In general heat engines exploit the thermal properties associated with the expansion and compression of gases according to the gas laws or the properties associated with phase changes between gas and liquid states.## Earth's heat engine.Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere—Earth's heat engine—are coupled.


Question: Which city or region does this facility locate in?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Quay with Sphinxes. Quay with Sphinxes (Sphinxes at the Universitetskaya Embankment) is a quay at the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Petersburg, in front of the Imperial Academy of Arts. It is remarkable for the two ancient sphinxes that were brought from Egypt to Russia at the height of Egyptomania in 1832. The quay was completed in 1834.## History.The acquisition of sphinxes at the University embankment in front of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg is credited to Andrei Muravyov, who in 1830 was going on a pilgrimage to holy places. In Alexandria he saw the sphinxes, which were brought for sale. The.

Quay with Sphinxes. ancient sculptures impressed so much that he immediately sent a letter to the Russian Ambassador, in which he proposed to acquire them. From the Embassy the letter was directed to St. Petersburg. There its receiver, Nicholas I, redirected the message to the Russian Academy of Arts. In the end, such a purchase was deemed expedient, but by the time these bureaucratic complications were resolved, the owner had already sold the sphinxes to France. Only because of the French Revolution they at last arrived in Saint Petersburg in 1832.The first two years they spent in the courtyard of the Russian Academy.

Quay with Sphinxes. of Arts. This time was spent on the creation of a pier made of syenite at the embankment nearby, which was designed by the architect Konstantin Thon. The sphinxes took their places on the waterfront in 1834.## Description.The Saint Petersburg Sphinxes are about 3500 years old. They are made from Aswan granite and initially were in front of a magnificent temple, which was built in Egypt near Thebes (Luxor) for the 18th dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III. Their faces are portraits of Amenhotep III and the shape of their headwear (crowns "pa shemti") indicate that he was the ruler of two.

Quay with Sphinxes. kingdoms—the Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The sphinxes weigh about 23 tons each. Universitetskaya Embankment Egyptian Bridge Cultural heritage of Russia, monument #7810705002, Пристань со сфинксами фараона Аменхотепа III «Петербургские сфинксы. Солнце Египта на берегах Невы»—СПб.: Издательство «Журнал “Нева”», 2005,—304 с., ил.


Question: What water body does the street in the image drain to?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Oudegracht. early canal (app. 1000) connecting the Rhine section to the river Vecht. The southern part was started in 1122, after the water level of the Rhine in Utrecht dropped because of the new dam at Wijk bij Duurstede. The ground excavated was used to raise the sides of the canal, to reduce the chance of flooding. When the city's system of locks was finished in 1275 the water level was constant, enabling the creation of permanently dry cellars and new quays at water level, hence the typical wharfs () below street level. Warehouses used to line the canal. Today many.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this plant?

Instruction: You have to find a Wikipedia segment that answers the question about the displayed image.

Nepenthes. Nepenthes () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mostly liana-forming plants of the Old World tropics, ranging from South China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines; westward to Madagascar (two species) and the Seychelles (one); southward to Australia (four) and New Caledonia (one); and northward to India (one) and Sri Lanka (one). The greatest diversity occurs on Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines, with many endemic species. Many are plants of hot, humid,.

Nepenthes. × "N. ampullaria")"N." 'D'amato' ("N. lowii" × "N. ventricosa")"N." × "mixta" ("N. northiana" × "N. maxima")"N." 'Syurga' ("N. ventricosa" × "N. northiana")"N." 'Menarik' ("N. rafflesiana" × "N. veitchii")"N." 'Emmarene' ("N. khasiana" × "N. ventricosa")"N." 'Judith Finn' ("N. spathulata" × "N. veitchii") "Nepenthes" classification "Nepenthes" infauna List of "Nepenthes" endophyte species Danser's Monograph on "Nepenthes" (covers species from Malaysia, Indonesia and New Guinea, but not elsewhere) Nepenthaceae in: Watson, L., and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants. Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, Information Retrieval. Beaver, R.A. 1983. The communities living in "Nepenthes" pitcher plants: fauna and food webs. In:.


Question: In which year was this item invented or discovered?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Solar cell. 1839, at age 19, he built the world's first photovoltaic cell in his father's laboratory. Willoughby Smith first described the "Effect of Light on Selenium during the passage of an Electric Current" in a 20 February 1873 issue of Nature. In 1883 Charles Fritts built the first solid state photovoltaic cell by coating the semiconductor selenium with a thin layer of gold to form the junctions; the device was only around 1% efficient. Other milestones include: 1888 – Russian physicist Aleksandr Stoletov built the first cell based on the outer photoelectric effect discovered by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. 1905 –.


Question: Which place is this plant endemic to?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Metrosideros polymorpha. Metrosideros polymorpha, the ōhia lehua, is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii. It is a highly variable tree, being 20 - 25 (m) tall in favorable situations, and a much smaller prostrate shrub when growing in boggy soils or directly on basalt. It produces a brilliant display of flowers, made up of a mass of stamens, which can range from fiery red to yellow. Many native Hawaiian traditions refer to the tree and the forests it forms as sacred to Pele, the volcano goddess, and.

Metrosideros polymorpha. to Laka, the goddess of hula. Ōhia trees grow easily on lava, and are usually the first plants to grow on new lava flows.It is a common misconception that the word "ōhia" is used to refer to the tree and that the word "lehua" refers only to its flowers. "The Hawaiian Dictionary" (Pukui and Elbert 1986: 199) defines "lehua" with these words: "The flower of the "ōhia" tree... "also the tree itself" [emphasis added]." Thus the "Metrosideros polymorpha" may be referred to correctly as a "lehua" tree, or as an "ōhia lehua", or simply an "ōhia".## Distribution."Metrosideros polymorpha" is the.

Metrosideros polymorpha. most common native tree in the Hawaiian Islands, tolerating a wide range of soil conditions, temperature, and rainfall. It grows from sea level right up to the tree line at elevations of 2500 (m) and is commonly found in moist and dry forests, high shrublands, and is a colonizer of recent lava flows. It is relatively slow growing. Dominant in cloud forests above 400 (m), the tree is also common in seasonally wet forests, where it may be dominant or form mixtures with the native "Acacia koa".## Habitat."Metrosideros polymorpha" may occur as a tall tree or a prostrate shrub, and.

Metrosideros polymorpha. stomata of the leaves are able to close up in the presence of harmful gases, which gives it an advantage over many non-native trees.## Uses.The reddish brown heartwood of "M. polymorpha" is very hard, fine textured, and has a specific gravity of 0.7. In native Hawaiian society, it is used in house and "heiau" construction, as well as to make "papa kui ai" (poi boards), weapons, tool handles, "hohoa" (round "kapa" beaters), and "kii" (statues and idols). Although the trunk of "ōhia" is not used to make the "kaele" (hull) of "waa" (outrigger canoes), it was used for their "nohona.

Metrosideros polymorpha. waa" (seats), "pale" (gunwales), and "pola" (decking). "Wae" (spreaders) were made from the curved stilt roots of "ōhia". "Pā" (fencing) was made from the wood due to its availability; "kauila" ("Colubrina oppositifolia" or "Alphitonia ponderosa"), more durable woods when in contact with soil, was rarer. As the wood burns hot and cleanly, it is excellent "wahie" (firewood). The "lehua" (flowers) and "liko lehua" (leaf buds) are used in making "lei". The flowers were used medicinally to treat pain experienced during childbirth.Ōhia lehua is one of the few honey plants that is native to the Hawaiian Islands.## Similar species.There are about.

Metrosideros polymorpha. 50 species in the genus "Metrosideros" in Southeast Asia and the Pacific and as well one species in South Africa. The Hawaiian Islands are home to five species of "Metrosideros" that are "endemic" to the islands, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world. These are: Metrosideros polymorpha, "M. macropus", "M. rugosa", "M. tremuloides", and "M. waialealae". The species are readily distinguished from one another by the characteristics of their leaves."Metrosideros kermadecensis", from the Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand, has recently become naturalized on Maui and may become a pest species. Several cultivars of "M. excelsa", the pohutukawa.

Metrosideros polymorpha. tree of New Zealand, have been sometimes planted as ornamentals in Hawaii but are not reported to have naturalized. "Metrosideros polymorpha" was originally classified as a variety of "M. collina", native to Rarotonga, Tahiti, and other islands of Polynesia, but now is generally accepted as a distinct Hawaiian endemic species.## Conservation."Metrosideros polymorpha" forests in Hawaii have been invaded by myriad alien species. In the wet forests these include the strawberry guava ("Psidium littorale"), albizia ("Falcataria moluccana"), and "purple plague" ("Miconia calvescens"). In drier areas, problematic invaders include faya tree ("Myrica faya") and Christmasberry ("Schinus terebinthifolius"). Alien grasses such as meadow.

Metrosideros polymorpha. 'many forms', is very appropriate, since individuals of this species exhibit many different morphologies and inhabit a broad range of ecological situations. The Hawaiian language word "ōhia" is thought to have been derived from the ancestral Proto-Oceanic word, "*kafika." Throughout Oceania, there are many similar-sounding words that were also derived from the same ancestral protoform and, in most cases, they are names for the "mountain apple", or "Malay apple" tree, "Syzygium malaccense." In the Hawaiian Islands, however, the word "ōhia" is not only used to refer to "Syzygium malaccense", but also to other species of "Syzygium" and "Metrosideros" that occur.

Metrosideros polymorpha. there.The derivation of the word "lehua" is more obscure, and while there are many opinions regarding its origin, there has been, to date, no historical linguistic study of the word to provide convincing evidence for any particular etymology.## Mythology.In Hawaiian mythology, Ōhia and Lehua were two young lovers. The volcano goddess Pele fell in love with the handsome Ōhia and approached him, but he turned down her advances. In a fit of jealousy, Pele transformed Ōhia into a tree. Lehua was devastated by this transformation and out of pity the other gods turned her into a flower and placed her.

Metrosideros polymorpha. upon the ōhia tree. Other versions say that Pele felt remorseful but was unable to reverse the change, so she turned Lehua into a flower herself. It is said that when a "lehua" flower is plucked from an "ōhia" tree, the sky will fill with rain representing the separated lovers' tears. Medeiros, A.C., C.F. Davenport, and C.G. Chimera, "Auwahi: Ethnobotany of a Hawaiian Dryland Forest". URL:Ethnobotany of Auwahi.pdf, accessed 3 January 2007. Simpson, P., 2005. "Pōhutukawa & Rātā: New Zealand's Iron-Hearted Trees". Te Papa Press. 346 pp. Starr, F., K. Starr, and L.L. Loope. New plant records from the Hawaiian.


Question: Where do you usually find this animal?

Instruction: You have to find a Wikipedia segment that answers the question about the displayed image.

Wolf. habitat.Wolves occur across Eurasia and North America. However, deliberate human persecution because of livestock predation and fear of attacks on humans has reduced the wolf's range to about one-third of its historic range; the wolf is now extirpated (locally extinct) from much of its range in Western Europe, the United States and Mexico, and completely in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Japan. In modern times, the wolf occurs mostly in wilderness and remote areas. The wolf can be found between sea level and 3000 (m). Wolves live in forests, inland wetlands, shrublands, grasslands (including Arctic tundra), pastures, deserts, and rocky.

Wolf. are nocturnal predators. During the winter, a pack will commence hunting in the twilight of early evening and will hunt all night, traveling tens of kilometres. Sometimes hunting large prey occurs during the day. During the summer, wolves generally tend to hunt individually, ambushing their prey and rarely giving pursuit.When hunting large gregarious prey, wolves will try to isolate an individual from its group. If successful, a wolf pack can bring down game that will feed it for days, but one error in judgement can lead to serious injury or death. Most large prey have developed defensive adaptations and behaviours.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this animal?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Mexican free-tailed bat. The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat ("Tadarida brasiliensis") is a medium-sized bat native to the Americas, regarded as one of the most abundant mammals in North America. Its proclivity towards roosting in huge numbers at relatively few locations makes it vulnerable to habitat destruction in spite of its abundance. It has been claimed to have the fastest horizontal speed (as opposed to stoop diving speed) of any animal, reaching top ground speeds over 162 (km/h); its actual air speed has not been measured. The Texas Legislature designated the Mexican free-tailed bat the state mammal (flying) in 1995.## Taxonomy.The.

Mexican free-tailed bat. Mexican free-tailed bat was described as a new species in 1824 by French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Geoffroy placed it in the now-defunct genus "Nyctinomus" with a binomial name of "Nyctinomus brasiliensis".The holotype had been collected in Brazil.Molecular sequence data indicate "T. brasiliensis"'s closest relatives are the sister species "Sauromys petrophilus" of South Africa and "Tadarida aegyptiaca" of Africa and South Asia. These three species form a clade believed to be about 18 million years old.## Physical description.Mexican free-tailed bats are typically 9 (cm) in length and weigh around 7-12 ( g) with females tending to be slightly heavier than.

Mexican free-tailed bat. males by 1-2 grams for increased fat storage to use during gestation and nursing. Their tails are almost half their total length and stretch beyond the uropatagium, giving them the name "free-tailed" bats. Their ears are wide, rounded, and large compared to their heads, nearly meeting at the front of the face, but distinctly not joined at the midline and projecting anterodorsally from just before the muzzle to the back of the head. They use their large ears to help them find prey using echolocation. "T. brasiliensis" is distinguished among North American" Tadarida" bats in possessing deep wrinkles on the.

Mexican free-tailed bat. upper lip and in having a Z-shaped upper third molar, which is used for grinding insects. These individuals possess canines which are larger in males than in females. The wings are elongated and narrow with pointed tips, making them well-equipped for quick, straight flight patterns. Their fur color ranges from dark brown to gray. The Mexican free-tailed bat's large feet have distinct long, white bristles.The dental formula of "Tadarida brasiliensis" is .## Range and ecology.The Mexican free-tailed bat ranges from the southern half of the continental United States through most of Mexico, and through most of Central America into South.

Mexican free-tailed bat. there. Preserving the land around Bracken Cave was important, as it is home to the world's largest bat colony, and any human encroachment would be detrimental to their population. BCI also protects the land from artificial light pollution, which can distress the bats. Bat bomb, an experimental incendiary weapon that used Mexican free-tailed bats as a dispersal mechanism Bat Conservation International: Mexican free-tailed bats webpage Animal Diversity – "Tadarida brasiliensis" ARKive.org: Images/videos of the Brazilian free-tailed bat "(Tadarida brasiliensis)" Washington Post.com: "Mexican Bats Find Cross-Border Benefactors" Untamed Science interview with a bat specialist at the Congress Street Bridge Colony Bat.


Question: What is the oldest age of this animal?

Instruction: You have to find a Wikipedia segment that answers the question about the displayed image.

Jungle cat. explored in 1768–1775 on behalf of Catherine II of Russia. He described this specimen in 1776 under the name "Chaus".In 1778, Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber used "chaus" as the species name and is therefore considered the binomial authority.Paul Matschie in 1912 and Joel Asaph Allen in 1920 challenged the validity of Güldenstädt's nomenclature, arguing that the name "Felis auriculis apice nigro barbatis" was not a binomen and therefore improper, and that "chaus" was used as a common name rather than as part of the scientific name.In the 1820s, Eduard Rüppell collected a female jungle cat near Lake Manzala in.

Jungle cat. ones from Cutch to Bengal under "F. c. kutas", and the tawnier ones from Burma under "F. c. fulvidina". He newly described six larger skins from Sind as "F. c. prateri", and skins with shorter coats from Sri Lanka and southern India as "F. c. kelaarti".## Classification.In 2005, the authors of Mammal Species of the World recognized 10 subspecies as valid taxa. Since 2017, the Cat Specialist Group considers only three subspecies as valid. Geographical variation of the jungle cat is not yet well understood and needs to be examined.The following table is based on the classification of the species.

Jungle cat. provided in "Mammal Species of the World". It also shows the synonyms used in the revision of the Cat Classification Task Force:## Phylogeny.In 2006, the phylogenetic relationship of the jungle cat was described as follows:The jungle cat is a member of the genus "Felis" within the family Felidae.Results of an mtDNA analysis of 55 jungle cats from various biogeographic zones in India indicate a high genetic variation and a relatively low differentiation between populations. It appears that the central Indian "F. c. kutas" population separates the Thar "F. c. prateri" populations from the rest and also the south Indian "F.

Jungle cat. in the region of the zygomatic arch; hence the head of this cat appears relatively rounder.The coat, sandy, reddish brown or grey, is uniformly coloured and lacks spots; melanistic and albino individuals have been reported from the Indian subcontinent. White cats observed in the coastline tracts of the southern Western Ghats lacked the red eyes typical of true albinos. A 2014 suggested that their colouration could be attributed to inbreeding. Kittens are striped and spotted, and adults may retain some of the markings. Dark-tipped hairs cover the body, giving the cat a speckled appearance. The belly is generally lighter than.

Jungle cat. the Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho and Jerusalem Governorates in the West Bank during surveys carried out between 2012 and 2016.In Iran, it inhabits a variety of habitat types from plains and agriculture lands to mountains ranging from altitudes of 45 to 4178 (m) in at least 23 of 31 provinces of Iran.In Pakistan, it was photographed in Haripur, Dera Ismail Khan, Sialkot Districts and Langh Lake Wildlife Sanctuary.In India, it is the most common small wild cat.In Nepal, it was recorded in alpine habitat at elevations of 3000-3300 (m) in Annapurna Conservation Area between 2014 and 2016.In Malaysia, it was recorded.

Jungle cat. in a highly fragmented forest in the Selangor state in 2010.A few jungle cat mummies were found among the cats in ancient Egypt.## Ecology and behaviour.The jungle cat is typically diurnal and hunts throughout the day. Its activity tends to decrease during the hot noon hours. It rests in burrows, grass thickets and scrubs. It often sunbathes on winter days. Jungle cats have been estimated to walk 3 – 6 (km) at night, although this likely varies depending on the availability of prey. The behaviour of the jungle cat has not been extensively studied. Solitary in nature, it does not.

Jungle cat. at 10 to 13 days of age and are fully weaned by around three months. Males usually do not participate in the raising of kittens; however, in captivity, males appear to be very protective of their offspring. Kittens begin to catch their own prey at around six months and leave the mother after eight or nine months. The lifespan of the jungle cat in captivity is 15 to 20 years; this is possibly higher than that in the wild.Generation length of the jungle cat is 5.2 years.## Threats.Major threats to the jungle cat include habitat loss such as the destruction.


Question: What is the vertex figure of this object?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Hexagon. of the circumscribed circle or circumcircle, which equals formula_1 times the apothem (radius of the inscribed circle). All internal angles are 120 degrees. A regular hexagon has six rotational symmetries ("rotational symmetry of order six") and six reflection symmetries ("six lines of symmetry"), making up the dihedral group D6. The longest diagonals of a regular hexagon, connecting diametrically opposite vertices, are twice the length of one side. From this it can be seen that a triangle with a vertex at the center of the regular hexagon and sharing one side with the hexagon is equilateral, and that the regular hexagon.

Hexagon. adding alternating squares and equilateral triangles around it. This pattern repeats within the rhombitrihexagonal tiling.## Self-crossing hexagons.There are six self-crossing hexagons with the vertex arrangement of the regular hexagon:## Hexagonal structures.From bees' honeycombs to the Giant's Causeway, hexagonal patterns are prevalent in nature due to their efficiency. In a hexagonal grid each line is as short as it can possibly be if a large area is to be filled with the fewest hexagons. This means that honeycombs require less wax to construct and gain much strength under compression.Irregular hexagons with parallel opposite edges are called parallelogons and can also tile.

Hexagon. the plane by translation. In three dimensions, hexagonal prisms with parallel opposite faces are called parallelohedrons and these can tessellate 3-space by translation.## Tesselations by hexagons.In addition to the regular hexagon, which determines a unique tessellation of the plane, any irregular hexagon which satisfies the Conway criterion will tile the plane.## Hexagon inscribed in a conic section.Pascal's theorem (also known as the "Hexagrammum Mysticum Theorem") states that if an arbitrary hexagon is inscribed in any conic section, and pairs of opposite sides are extended until they meet, the three intersection points will lie on a straight line, the "Pascal line.

Hexagon. of that configuration.## Cyclic hexagon.The Lemoine hexagon is a cyclic hexagon (one inscribed in a circle) with vertices given by the six intersections of the edges of a triangle and the three lines that are parallel to the edges that pass through its symmedian point.If the successive sides of a cyclic hexagon are "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", then the three main diagonals intersect in a single point if and only if .If, for each side of a cyclic hexagon, the adjacent sides are extended to their intersection, forming a triangle exterior to the given side, then the segments.

Hexagon. connecting the circumcenters of opposite triangles are concurrent.If a hexagon has vertices on the circumcircle of an acute triangle at the six points (including three triangle vertices) where the extended altitudes of the triangle meet the circumcircle, then the area of the hexagon is twice the area of the triangle.## Hexagon tangential to a conic section.Let ABCDEF be a hexagon formed by six tangent lines of a conic section. Then Brianchon's theorem states that the three main diagonals AD, BE, and CF intersect at a single point.In a hexagon that is tangential to a circle and that has consecutive sides.

Hexagon. "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", and "f",formula_16## Equilateral triangles on the sides of an arbitrary hexagon.If an equilateral triangle is constructed externally on each side of any hexagon, then the midpoints of the segments connecting the centroids of opposite triangles form another equilateral triangle.## Skew hexagon.A skew hexagon is a skew polygon with six vertices and edges but not existing on the same plane. The interior of such an hexagon is not generally defined. A "skew zig-zag hexagon" has vertices alternating between two parallel planes.A regular skew hexagon is vertex-transitive with equal edge lengths. In three dimensions it will be.


Question: What is the length of the wingspan in metre of this bird?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Wandering albatross. Good Hope. "Diomedea" refers to Diomedes whose companions turned to birds, and "exulans" or "exsul" are Latin for "exile" or "wanderer" referring to its extensive flights. The type locality has been restricted to South Georgia.Some experts considered there to be four subspecies of "D. exulans", which they elevated to species status, and use the term "wandering albatross" to refer to a species complex that includes the proposed species "D. antipodensis", "D. dabbenena", "D. exulans", and "D. gibsoni".## Description.The wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of any living bird, typically ranging from 2.51 to 3.5 (m), with a mean span of.

Wandering albatross. 3.1 (m) in the Bird Island, South Georgia colony and an average of exactly 3 (m) in 123 birds measured off the coast of Malabar, New South Wales. On the Crozet Islands, adults averaged 3.05 (m) in wingspan. The longest-winged examples verified have been about 3.7 (m). Even larger examples have been claimed, with two giants reportedly measuring 4.22 (m) and 5.3 (m) but these reports remain unverified. As a result of its wingspan, it is capable of remaining in the air without flapping its wings for several hours at a time (travelling 22 m for every metre of drop).

Wandering albatross. The length of the body is about 107 to 135 (cm) with females being slightly smaller than males. Adults can weigh from 5.9 to 12.7 (kg), although most will weigh 6.35 to 11.91 (kg). On Macquarie Island, three males averaged 8.4 (kg) and three females averaged 6.2 (kg). In the Crozet Islands, males averaged 9.44 (kg) while females averaged 7.84 (kg). However, 10 unsexed adults from the Crozets averaged 9.6 (kg). On South Georgia, 52 males were found to average 9.11 (kg) while 53 females were found to average 7.27 (kg). Immature birds have been recorded weighing as much as.

Wandering albatross. until 11 to 15 years. About 31.5% of fledglings survive. ## Relationship with humans.Sailors used to capture the birds for their long wing bones, from which they made tobacco-pipe stems. The early explorers of the great Southern Sea cheered themselves with the companionship of the albatross in their dreary solitudes; and the evil fate of him who shot with his cross-bow the "bird of good omen" is familiar to readers of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The metaphor of "an albatross around his neck" also comes from the poem and indicates an unwanted burden causing anxiety or hindrance.

Wandering albatross. as vulnerable status. Adult mortality is 5% to 7.8% per year as of 2003. It has an occurrence range of 64700000 (km2), although its breeding range is only 1900 (km2).In 2007, there were an estimated 25,500 adult birds, broken down to 1,553 pairs on South Georgia Island, 1,850 pairs on Prince Edward Island, 1,600 on Marion Island, 2,000 on Crozet Islands, 1,100 on the Kerguelen Islands, and 12 on Macquarie Island for a total of 8,114 breeding pairs.The South Georgia population is shrinking at 1.8% per year. The levels of birds at Prince Edward and the Crozet Islands seem to.

Wandering albatross. which contain the heaviest living flying birds "Pelagornis sandersi", the largest flying bird ever to liveLindsey, T.R. 1986. "The Seabirds of Australia". Angus and Robertson, and the National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife Sydney.Marchant, S. and Higgins, P.J. (eds) 1993. "Handbook of Australian New Zealand And Antarctic Birds" Vol. 2: (Raptors To Lapwings). Oxford University Press, Melbourne.Parmelee, D.F. 1980. "Bird Island in Antarctic Waters". University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Species factsheet – BirdLife InternationalFact file – ARKiveVideo, photos and sounds – Internet Bird CollectionHolotype photos – Collections Online, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaDo albatrosses have personalities? – Video, Te.


Question: Which location has this insect invaded?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Western conifer seed bug. herbivores, it might be that in evolving its ability to overcome these defenses, "L. occidentalis" actually became somewhat dependent on such compounds.Its host plants in the native range include conifers such as Douglas-fir ("Pseudotsuga menziesii"), ponderosa pine ("Pinus ponderosa"), lodgepole pine ("Pinus contorta"), and white spruce ("Picea glauca"). Outside the native range, it is found on species such as eastern white pine ("P. strobus") and red pine ("P. resinosa") in eastern North America and Europe, and mountain pine ("P. mugo"), black pine ("P. nigra"), Scots pine ("P. sylvestris") and pistachio ("Pistacia vera") in Europe.The eggs are laid in small groups.

Western conifer seed bug. of this species arrived on the south coast of England, indicating natural immigration from continental Europe. In late 2009, a large group of western conifer seed bugs invaded Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey. The same thing happened in October 2012 in most of the cities of the French Alps, like Moûtiers. In 2017 it appears for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere, with several records from Chile.It was also first recorded from Tokyo, Japan in 2008, and some additional records from Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture have been added until 2009.In 2010 the first detection was made in Ukraine, in.

Western conifer seed bug. Dniprorudne, and the next year in Russia, in Rostov-on-Don.In 2020 it was first reported in Finland.On October 21, 2020 the first sighting in Andorra was posted to iNaturalist, and in September this species was found in Kozhukhovka in Kyiv region, Ukraine.In June 2021 Agence France Presse carried a report into devastation caused by the bug in the Qsaybeh pine forest east of Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in the collapse of pine nut production."This article draws heavily on the in the Italian-language Wikipedia." Stages of metamorphosis Status of "L. occidentalis" in Britain Western Conifer Seed Bug.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this animal?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Ruminant. clade that includes "Bos taurus" (cow) and "Tragulus napu" (mouse deer)". Ruminantiamorpha is a higher-level clade of artiodactyls, cladistically defined by Spaulding et al. as "Ruminantia plus all extinct taxa more closely related to extant members of Ruminantia than to any other living species." This is a stem-based definition for Ruminantiamorpha, and is more inclusive than the crown group Ruminantia. As a crown group, Ruminantia only includes the last common ancestor of all extant (living) ruminants and their descendants (living or extinct), whereas Ruminantiamorpha, as a stem group, also includes more basal extinct ruminant ancestors that are more closely related.

Ruminant. to living ruminants than to other members of Artiodactyla. When considering only living taxa (neontology), this makes Ruminantiamorpha and Ruminantia synonymous, and only Ruminantia is used. Thus, Ruminantiamorpha is only used in the context of paleontology. Accordingly, Spaulding grouped some genera of the extinct family Anthracotheriidae within Ruminantiamorpha (but not in Ruminantia), but placed others within Ruminantiamorpha's sister clade, Cetancodontamorpha.Ruminantia's placement within Artiodactyla can be represented in the following cladogram:Within Ruminantia, the Tragulidae (mouse deer) are considered the most basal family, with the remaining ruminants classified as belonging to the infraorder Pecora. Until the beginning of the 21st century it.


Question: How many offspring can this bird produce at the same time?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Shoebill. of 21.7 to 25.5 (cm). The shoebill's feet are exceptionally large, with the middle toe reaching 16.8 to 18.5 (cm) in length, likely assisting the species in its ability to stand on aquatic vegetation while hunting. The neck is relatively shorter and thicker than other long-legged wading birds such as herons and cranes. The wings are broad, with a wing chord length of 58.8 to 78 (cm), and well-adapted to soaring.The plumage of adult birds is blue-grey with darker slaty-grey flight feathers. The breast presents some elongated feathers, which have dark shafts. The juvenile has a similar plumage colour, but.

Shoebill. eggs to hatch around the beginning of the following wet season. Both parents engage in building the nest on a floating platform after clearing out an area of approximately 3 (m) across. The large, flattish nesting platform is often partially submerged in water and can be as much as 3 (m) deep. The nest itself is about 1 to 1.7 (m) wide. Both the nest and platform are made of aquatic vegetation. From one to three white eggs are laid. These eggs measure 80 to 90 (mm) high by 56 to 61 (mm) and weigh around 164 (g). Incubation lasts.


Question: In which year was this vehicle invented or discovered?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Steam locomotive. another trio of locomotives, concluding with the "Catch Me Who Can" in 1808.In 1812, Matthew Murray's successful twin-cylinder rack locomotive "Salamanca" first ran on the edge-railed rack-and-pinion Middleton Railway. Another well-known early locomotive was "Puffing Billy", built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley. It was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display at the Science Museum, London.## George Stephenson.George Stephenson, a former miner working as an engine-wright at Killingworth Colliery, developed up to sixteen Killingworth locomotives, including "Blücher" in 1814, another in 1815, and a (newly.


Question: What is the closest upper taxonomy of this plant?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Linum. Linum (flax) is a genus of approximately 200 species in the flowering plant family Linaceae. They are native to temperate and subtropical regions of the world. The genus includes the common flax ("L. usitatissimum"), the bast fibre of which is used to produce linen and the seeds to produce linseed oil.The flowers of most species are blue or yellow, rarely red, white, or pink, and some are heterostylous. There is an average of 6 to 10 seeds per boll."Linum" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the cabbage moth, the nutmeg, the setaceous.


Question: What is the spore print color of this plant?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Amanita citrina. Amanita citrina (synonym "Amanita mappa"), commonly known as the false death cap or citron amanita, is a basidiomycotic mushroom, one of many in the genus "Amanita". It grows in silicate soil in the summer and autumn months. It bears a pale yellow or sometimes white cap, with white stem, ring and volva. Though not deadly, it is inedible and often confused for the lethal death cap ("Amanita phalloides").## Description.This mushroom has a fleshy pale yellow, or sometimes white, cap from 4 – 10 (cm) across, covered in irregular patches. The gills and flesh are white. There is a large volva.


Question: What is the basionym of this plant?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Pontederia crassipes. Pontederia crassipes (formerly "Eichhornia crassipes"), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range. It is the sole species of the subgenus "Oshunae" within the genus "Pontederia". Anecdotally, it is known as the "terror of Bengal" due to its invasive growth tendencies.## Description.Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant (or hydrophyte) native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 (m) in height. The leaves.

Pontederia crassipes. are 10–20 (cm) across on a stem which is floating by means of buoyant bulb-like nodules at its base above the water surface. They have long, spongy and bulbous stalks. The feathery, freely hanging roots are purple-black. An erect stalk supports a single spike of 8–15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals. When not in bloom, water hyacinth may be mistaken for frog's-bit ("Limnobium spongia") or Amazon frogbit ("Limnobium laevigatum").One of the fastest-growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, which eventually form daughter plants. Each plant additionally can.

Pontederia crassipes. produce thousands of seeds each year, and these seeds can remain viable for more than 28 years. The common water hyacinth ("Pontederia crassipes") are vigorous growers and mats can double in size in one to two weeks. And in terms of plant count rather than size, they are said to multiply by more than a hundredfold in number, in a matter of 23 days.In their native range, these flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees and they can reproduce both sexually and clonally. The invasiveness of the hyacinth is related to its ability to clone itself and large patches are likely.

Pontederia crassipes. to all be part of the same genetic form.Water hyacinth has three flower morphs and is termed "tristylous". The flower morphs are named for the length of their pistil: long, medium and short. Tristylous populations are however limited to the native lowland South America range of water hyacinth; in the introduced range, the M-morph prevails, with the L-morph occurring occasionally and the S-morph is absent altogether. This geographical distribution of the floral morphs indicates that founder events have played a prominent role in the species' worldwide spread.## Habitat and ecology.Its habitat ranges from tropical desert to subtropical or warm temperate.

Pontederia crassipes. desert to rainforest zones. The temperature tolerance of the water hyacinth is the following; its minimum growth temperature is 12 (C); its optimum growth temperature is 25 - 30 (C); its maximum growth temperature is 33 - 35 (C), and its pH tolerance is estimated at 5.0–7.5. Leaves are killed by frost and plants do not tolerate water temperatures > 34 (C). Water hyacinths do not grow where the average salinity is greater than 15% that of sea water (around 5 g salt per kg). In brackish water, its leaves show epinasty and chlorosis, and eventually die. Rafts of harvested.

Pontederia crassipes. water hyacinth have been floated to the sea where it is killed."Azotobacter chroococcum", a species of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, is probably concentrated around the bases of the petioles, but the bacteria do not fix nitrogen unless the plant is suffering extreme nitrogen deficiency.Fresh plants contain prickly crystals. This plant is reported to contain hydrogen cyanide, alkaloids, and triterpenoids, and may induce itching. Plants sprayed with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid may accumulate lethal doses of nitrates, and other harmful elements in polluted environments.## Invasive species.Water hyacinth grows and reproduces quickly, so it can cover large portions of ponds and lakes. Particularly vulnerable are bodies.

Pontederia crassipes. of water that have already been affected by human activities, such as artificial reservoirs or eutrophied lakes that receive large amounts of nutrients. It outcompetes native aquatic plants, both floating and submerged. In 2011, Wu Fuqin et al. tracked the results of Yunnan Dianchi Lake and also showed that water hyacinth could affect the photosynthesis of phytoplankton, submerged plants and algae by water environment quality and inhibit its growth. The decay process depletes dissolved oxygen in the water, often killing fish.Water hyacinth can absorb a large amount of harmful heavy metals and other substances. After death, it will rot and.

Pontederia crassipes. sink to the bottom of the water, causing secondary pollution to the water body, destroying the natural water quality, and may even affect the quality of residents' drinking water in severe cases. Water where water hyacinth grows heavily is often a breeding place for disease vectors (e.g. mosquitoes and snails) and harmful pathogens, posing a potential threat to the health of local residents. On the other hand, water hyacinth can also provide a food source for goldfish, keep water clean and help to provide oxygen.The invasion of water hyacinth also has socioeconomic consequences. Since water hyacinth is comprised up of.

Pontederia crassipes. 95% water, the evapotranspiration rate is high. As such, small lakes that have been covered with the species can dry out and leave communities without adequate water or food supply. In some areas, dense mats of water hyacinth prevents the use of a waterway, leading to the loss of transportation (both human and cargo) as well as a loss of fishing possibilities. Large sums of money are allocated to the removal of water hyacinth from the water bodies as well as figuring out how to destroy the remains harvested. Harvesting water hyacinth mechanically requires a lot of effort. A million.

Pontederia crassipes. tons of fresh biomass would require 75 trucks with a capacity of 40m^3, per day, for 365 days to get rid of a million tons of water hyacinth. The water hyacinth would then be transferred to a dumping site and allowed to decompose which releases CO2, CH4 and nitrogen oxides which would all negatively impact the air quality and contribute to global warming.Water hyacinth has been widely introduced in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and New Zealand. In many areas, it has become an important and pernicious invasive species. In New Zealand, it is listed on the National Pest.

Pontederia crassipes. Plant Accord, which prevents it from being propagated, distributed, or sold. In large water areas such as Louisiana, the Kerala Backwaters in India, Tonlé Sap in Cambodia, and Lake Victoria, it has become a serious pest. The common water hyacinth has become an invasive plant species on Lake Victoria in Africa after it was introduced into the area in the 1980s.## United States.## Introduction into the U.S..Various accounts are given as to how the water hyacinth was introduced to the United States.The claim that the water hyacinth was introduced to the U.S. in 1884 at the World's Fair in New.

Pontederia crassipes. Orleans, also known as the World Cotton Centennial, has been characterized as the "first authentic account", as well as "local legend".At some time, versions of the "legend" asserted that the plants had been given away as a gift by a Japanese delegation at the fair. This claim is absent in a pertinent article published in a military engineer's trade journal dating to 1940, but appears in a piece penned in 1941 by the director of the wildlife and fisheries division at the Louisiana Department of Conservation, where the author writes, "the Japanese government maintained a Japanese building" at the fair,.

Pontederia crassipes. and the "Japanese staff imported from Venezuela considerable numbers of water hyacinth, which were given away as souvenirs". The claim has been repeated by later writers, with various shifts in the details. Thus NAS fellow Noel D. Vietmeyer (1975) wrote that "Japanese entrepreneurs" introduced the plant into the U.S., and the plants had been "collected from the Orinoco River in Venezuela", and the claim was echoed along the same gist by a pair of NASA researchers (), who asserted that the souvenir plants were carelessly dumped in various waterways. Canadian biologist Spencer C. H. Barrett (2004) meanwhile favored the theory.

Pontederia crassipes. they were first cultivated in garden ponds, after which they multiplied and escaped to the environs. The account gains a different detail as told by children's story-teller Carole Marsh (1992), who says "Japan gave away water hyacinth seeds" during the exposition, and another Southern raconteur, Gaspar J. "Buddy" Stall (1998) assured his readership that the Japanese gave each family a package of those seeds.One paper has also inquired into the role which catalog sales of seeds and plants may have played in the dissemination of invasive plants. It has been found that "P. crassipes" was offered in the 1884 issue.

Pontederia crassipes. of Bordentown, New Jersey-based Edmund D. Sturtevant's "Catalogue of rare water lilies and other choice aquatic plants", and of Germany has offered the plant since 1864 (since the firm was founded). By 1895, it was offered by seed-purveyors in the states of NJ, NY, California, and Florida.The "Harper's Weekly" magazine (1895) printed an anecdotal account stating that a certain man from New Orleans collected and brought home water hyacinths he collected from Colombia, c. 1892, and the plant proliferated in a matter of 2 years.## Infestation and control in the Southeast.As the hyacinths multiply into mats, they eliminate the presence.

Pontederia crassipes. of fish, and choke waterways for boating and shipping. This effect was well taking hold in the state of Louisiana by the turn of the 20th century.The plant invaded Florida in 1890, and an estimated 50 kg/m2 of the plant mass choked Florida's waterways. The clogging of the St. Johns River was posing a serious threat, and in 1897 the government dispatched a task force of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to solve the water hyacinth problem plaguing the Gulf states such as Florida and Louisiana.Thus in the early 20th century, the U.S. War Department (i.e., the Army.

Pontederia crassipes. Corps of Engineers) tested various means of eradicating the plants, including the jet-streaming of steam and hot water, application of various strong acids, and application of petroleum followed by incineration. Spraying with saturated salt solution (but not dilute solutions) effectively killed the plants; unfortunately this was considered prohibitively expensive, and the engineers selected Harvesta brand herbicide, whose active ingredient was arsenic acid, as the optimal cost-effective tool for eradication. This herbicide was used until 1905, when it was substituted with a different, white arsenic based compound. An engineer charged with the spraying did not think the poison to be a.

Pontederia crassipes. matter of concern, stating that the crew of the spraying boat would routinely catch fish from their working areas and consume them. However, spraying had little hope of completely eradicating the water hyacinth, due to the vastness of escaped colonies and the inaccessibility of some of the infested areas, and the engineer suggested that some biological means of control may be needed. In 1910, a bold solution was put forth by the New Foods Society. Their plan was to import and release hippopotamus from Africa into the rivers and bayous of Louisiana. The hippopotamus would then eat the water hyacinth.

Pontederia crassipes. and also produce meat to solve another serious problem at the time, the American meat crisis.Known as the American Hippo bill, H.R. 23621 was introduced by Louisiana Congressman Robert Broussard and debated by the Agricultural Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. The chief collaborators in the New Foods Society and proponents of Broussard's bill were Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated American Scout, and Captain Fritz Duquesne, a South African Scout who later became a notorious spy for Germany. Presenting before the Agricultural Committee, Burnham made the point that none of the animals that Americans ate, chickens, pigs, cows,.

Pontederia crassipes. sheep, lambs, were native to the U.S.; all had been imported by European settlers centuries before, so why should Americans hesitate to introduce hippopotamus and other large animals into the American diet? Duquesne, who was born and raised in South Africa, further noted that European settlers on that continent commonly included hippopotamus, ostrich, antelope, and other African wildlife in their diets and suffered no ill effects. The American Hippo bill nearly passed, but fell one vote short.Water hyacinths have also been introduced into waters inhabited by manatees in Florida, for the purpose of bioremediation (cf. §Phytoremediation below) of the waters.

Pontederia crassipes. that have become contaminated and fallen victim to algal blooming. The manatees include the water hyacinth in their diet, but it may not be the food of first choice for them.## Legality of sale and shipment in the United States.In 1956 "E. crassipes" was banned for sale or shipment in the United States, subject to a fine and/or imprisonment. This law was repealed by HR133 [116th Congress (2019-2020)] on 12/27/2020.## Africa.The water hyacinth may have been introduced into Egypt in the late 18th to early 19th century during Muhammad Ali of Egypt's era, but was not recognized as an invasive.

Pontederia crassipes. threat until 1879. The invasion into Egypt is dated between 1879 and 1892 by Brij Gopal. Gopal; Junk; Davis (2000) ", Biodiversity in Wetlands" 2p. 109.</ref>The plant (Afrikaans: "waterhiasint") arguably invaded South Africa in 1910, although earlier dates have been claimed.The plant was introduced by Belgian colonists to Rwanda to beautify their holdings. It then advanced by natural means to Lake Victoria where it was first sighted in 1988. There, without any natural enemies, it has become an ecological plague, suffocating the lake, diminishing the fish reservoir, and hurting the local economies. It impedes access to Kisumu and other harbors.The.

Pontederia crassipes. water hyacinth has also appeared in Ethiopia, where it was first reported in 1965 at the Koka Reservoir and in the Awash River, where the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority has managed to bring it under moderate control at considerable cost of human labor. Other infestations in Ethiopia include many bodies of water in the Gambela Region, the Blue Nile from Lake Tana into Sudan, and Lake Ellen near Alem Tena. By 2018, it has become a serious problem on Lake Tana in Ethiopia.The water hyacinth is also present on the Shire River in the Liwonde National Park in.

Pontederia crassipes. Malawi.## Asia.Water hyacinth was introduced to North America in 1884 and later to Asia, Africa, and Australia. Since there are no natural enemies in the new location, it can multiply quickly and cause disaster.The water hyacinth was introduced to Bengal, India because of its beautiful flowers and shapes of leaves, but turned out to be an invasive weed draining oxygen from the water bodies and resulted in devastation of fish stock. The water hyacinth was referred to as the "(Beautiful) Blue Devil" in Bengal, and "Bengal Terror" elsewhere in India; it was called "German weed" (Bengali: "Germani pana") in Bangladesh.

Pontederia crassipes. out of belief the German Kaiser submarine mission was involved in introducing them at the outbreak of World War I; and called "Japanese trouble" in Sri Lanka, due to the rumor that the British had planted them in order to entice Japanese aircraft to land on the insecure pads.In Bangladesh, projects have begun to utilize water hyacinth for the construction of floating vegetable gardens.Water hyacinth has also invaded the Tonlé Sap lake in Cambodia. An Osmose project in Cambodia is trying to fight it by having local people make baskets from it.The plant entered Japan in 1884 for horticultural appreciation,.

Pontederia crassipes. according to conventional wisdom, but a researcher devoted to the study of the plant has discovered that ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kunisada (aka Utagawa Toyokuni III, d. 1865) produced a wood-block print featuring the water hyacinth, goldfish, and beautiful women, dated to 1855. The plant is floated on the water surface of filled (glassware) fishbowls, or glazed earthenware waterlily pots (hibachi pots serving as substitute).In the 1930s, water hyacinth was introduced into China as a feed, ornamental plant and sewage control plant, and it was widely planted in the south as an animal feed. Beginning in the 1980s, with the rapid.

Pontederia crassipes. development of China's inland industry, the eutrophication of inland waters has intensified. With the help of its efficient asexual reproduction and environmental adaptation mechanisms, water hyacinth has begun to spread widely in the river basin. The hyacinths blocked the river and hindered the internal water traffic. For example, many waterways in Zhejiang and other provinces were blocked by the rapidly growing water hyacinth. In addition, a large number of water hyacinths floating in the water will block sunlight from entering the water, and its decay consumes a lot of dissolved oxygen in the water, pollutes the water quality, and can.

Pontederia crassipes. kill other aquatic plants. The outbreak of water hyacinth has seriously affected the biodiversity of the local ecosystem and threatened the production, life and health of community residents.In Iraq, water hyacinth which was imported in the 1990s as a decorative plant, caused major problems for water supply systems and fishermen at the Euphrates.## Europe.In 2016, the European Union banned any sales of the water hyacinth in the EU. The species features on the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union Concern. This means that not only the sales but also importation, cultivation, or intentional release into the environment are forbidden.

Pontederia crassipes. in the whole of the European Union.## Oceania.In Papua New Guinea, water hyacinth blocked sunlight to other aquatic organisms, created habitat for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, clogged waterways to the point that boats could not get through and reduced the quality of water for purposes such as cooking, washing and drinking. People have lost income or even died due to being unable to travel to get food or medical care, or due to diseases from contaminated water or mosquitoes.## Control.Control depends on the specific conditions of each affected location such as the extent of water hyacinth infestation, regional climate, and proximity to.

Pontederia crassipes. human and wildlife.## Chemical control.Chemical control is the least used out of the three controls of water hyacinth, because of its long-term effects on the environment and human health. The use of herbicides requires strict approval from governmental protection agencies of skilled technician to handle and spray the affected areas. The use of chemical herbicides is only used in case of severe infiltration of water hyacinth. However, the most successful use of herbicides is when it is used for smaller areas of infestation of water hyacinth. This is because in larger areas, more mats of water hyacinths are likely to.

Pontederia crassipes. survive the herbicides and can fragment to further propagate a large area of water hyacinth mats. In addition, it is more cost-effective and less laborious than mechanical control. Yet, it can lead to environmental effects as it can penetrate into the ground water system and can affect not only the hydrological cycle within an ecosystem but also negatively affect the local water system and human health. It is also notable that the use of herbicides is not strictly selective of water hyacinths; keystone species and vital organisms such as microalgae can perish from the toxins and can disrupt fragile food.

Pontederia crassipes. webs.The chemical regulation of water hyacinths can be done using common herbicides such as 2,4-D, glyphosate, and diquat. The herbicides are sprayed on the water hyacinth leaves and leads to direct changes to the physiology of the plant. The use of the herbicide known as 2,4-D leads to the death of water hyacinth through inhibition of cell growth of new tissue and cellular apoptosis. It can take almost a two-week period before mats of water hyacinth are destroyed with 2, 4-D. Between 75000 and 150000 (acre) of water hyacinth and alligator weed are treated annually in Louisiana.The herbicide known as.

Pontederia crassipes. diquat is a liquid bromide salt that can rapidly penetrate the leaves of the water hyacinth and lead to immediate inactivity of plant cells and cellular processes. For the herbicide glyphosate, it has a lower toxicity than the other herbicides; therefore, it takes longer for the water hyacinth mats to be destroyed (about three weeks). The symptoms include steady wilting of the plants and a yellow discoloration of the plant leaves that eventually leads to plant decay.## Physical control.Physical control is performed by land-based machines such as bucket cranes, draglines, or boom or by water based machinery such as aquatic.

Pontederia crassipes. weed harvesters, dredges, or vegetation shredder. Mechanical removal is seen as the best short-term solution to the proliferation of the plant. A project on Lake Victoria in Africa used various pieces of equipment to chop, collect, and dispose of 1500 (ha) of water hyacinth in a 12-month period. It is, however, costly and requires the use of both land and water vehicles, but it took many years for the lake to become in poor condition and reclamation will be a continual process.It can have an annual cost from $6 million to $20 million and is only considered a short-term solution.

Pontederia crassipes. to a long-term problem. Another disadvantage with mechanical harvesting is that it can lead to further fragmentation of water hyacinths when the plants are broken up by spinning cutters of the plant-harvesting machinery. The fragments of water hyacinth that are left behind in the water can easily reproduce asexually and cause another infestation.However, transportation and disposal of the harvested water hyacinth is a challenge because the vegetation is heavy in weight. The harvested water hyacinth can pose a health risk to humans because of the plant's propensity for absorbing contaminants, and it is considered toxic to humans. Furthermore, the practice.

Pontederia crassipes. of mechanical harvesting is not effective in large-scale infestations of the water hyacinth, because this aquatic invasive species grows much more rapidly than it can be eliminated. Only 1 to 2 (acre) of water hyacinth can be mechanically harvested daily because of the vast amounts of water hyacinths in the environment. Therefore, the process is very time-intensive.## Biological control.As chemical and mechanical removal is often too expensive, polluting, and ineffective, researchers have turned to biological control agents to deal with water hyacinth. The effort began in the 1970s when USDA researchers released into the United States three species of weevil.

Pontederia crassipes. known to feed on water hyacinth, "Neochetina bruchi", "N. eichhorniae", and the water hyacinth borer "Sameodes albiguttalis". The weevil species were introduced into the Gulf Coast states, such as Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, where thousands of acres were infested by water hyacinth. It was found that a decade later in the 1980s that there was a decrease in water hyacinth mats by as much as 33%. However, because the life cycle of the weevils is ninety days, it puts a limitation on the use of biological predation to efficiently suppress water hyacinth growth. These organisms regulate water hyacinth by limiting.

Pontederia crassipes. water hyacinth size, its vegetative propagation, and seed production. They also carry microorganisms that can be pathological to the water hyacinth. These weevils eat stem tissue, which results in a loss of buoyancy for the plant, which will eventually sink. Although meeting with limited success, the weevils have since been released in many other countries. However, the most effective control method remains the control of excessive nutrients and prevention of the spread of this species.In May 2010, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service released "Megamelus scutellaris" as an additional biological control insect for the invasive water hyacinth species. "Megamelus scutellaris" is.

Pontederia crassipes. a small planthopper insect native to Argentina. Researchers have been studying the effects of the biological control agent in extensive host-range studies since 2006 and concluded that the insect is highly host-specific and will not pose a threat to any other plant population other than the targeted water hyacinth. Researchers also hope that this biological control will be more resilient than existing biological controls and the herbicides that are already in place to combat the invasive water hyacinth.Another insect being considered as a biological control agent is the semi-aquatic grasshopper "Cornops aquaticum". This insect is specific to the water hyacinth.

Pontederia crassipes. and its family, and besides feeding on the plant, it introduces a secondary pathogenic infestation. This grasshopper has been introduced into South Africa in controlled trials.The introduction of manatees into waterways was reportedly successful in controlling the plant's growth in Guyana.The Rhodes University Centre for Biological Control is rearing "Megamelus scutellaris" and the water hyacinth weevils "Neochetina eichhorniae" and "Neochetina bruchi" en masse for biological control at dams in South Africa; of importance is the Hartbeespoort Dam.The moth "Niphograpta albiguttalis" (Warren) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) has been introduced to North America, Africa and Australia. Larvae of this moth bore in the stems.

Pontederia crassipes. and flower buds of water hyacinth.## Uses.Since water hyacinth is so prolific, harvesting it for various uses also serves as a means of environmental control.## Bioenergy.Because of its extremely high rate of development, "Pontederia crassipes" is an excellent source of biomass. 1 (ha) of standing crop thus produces more than 70000 (m3/ha) of biogas (70% , 30% ). According to Curtis and Duke, 1 (kg) of dry matter can yield 370 (l) of biogas, giving a heating value of 22000 (kJ/m3) compared to pure methane (895 Btu/ft3)Wolverton and McDonald report approximately 0.2 (m3/kg) methane, indicating biomass requirements of 350 (t/ha).

Pontederia crassipes. to attain the 70000 (m3/ha ) yield projected by the National Academy of Sciences (Washington). Ueki and Kobayashi mention more than 200 (t/ha) per year. Reddy and Tucker found an experimental maximum of more than 1/2 (t/ha) per day.Bengali farmers collect and pile up these plants to dry at the onset of the cold season; they then use the dry water hyacinths as fuel. The ashes are used as fertilizer. In India, 1 (t) of dried water hyacinth yields about 50 liters ethanol and 200 kg residual fiber (7,700 Btu). Bacterial fermentation of 1 (t) yields 26,500 ft3 gas (600.

Pontederia crassipes. Btu) with 51.6% methane (), 25.4% hydrogen (), 22.1% carbon dioxide (), and 1.2% oxygen (). Gasification of 1 (t) dry matter by air and steam at high temperatures (800 (C)) gives about 40,000 ft3 (1,100 m3) natural gas (143 Btu/ft3) containing 16.6% , 4.8% , 21.7% (carbon monoxide), 4.1% , and 52.8% (nitrogen). The high moisture content of water hyacinth, adding so much to handling costs, tends to limit commercial ventures. A continuous, hydraulic production system could be designed, which would provide a better utilization of capital investments than in conventional agriculture, which is essentially a batch operation.The labor.

Pontederia crassipes. involved in harvesting water hyacinth can be greatly reduced by locating collection sites and processors on impoundments that take advantage of prevailing winds. Wastewater treatment systems could also favorably be added to this operation. The harvested biomass would then be converted to ethanol, biogas, hydrogen, gaseous nitrogen, and/or fertilizer. The byproduct water can be used to irrigate nearby cropland.## Phytoremediation, waste water treatment.Water hyacinth removes arsenic from arsenic-contaminated drinking water. It may be a useful tool in removing arsenic from tube well water in Bangladesh.Water hyacinth is also observed to enhance nitrification in wastewater treatment cells of living technology. Their.

Pontederia crassipes. root zones are superb micro-sites for bacterial communities.Water hyacinth is a common fodder plant in the third world especially Africa though excessive use can be toxic. It is high in protein (nitrogen) and trace minerals and the goat feces are a good source of fertilizer as well.Water hyacinth is reported for its efficiency to remove about 60–80% nitrogen and about 69% of potassium from water. The roots of water hyacinth were found to remove particulate matter and nitrogen in a natural shallow eutrophicated wetland.The plant is extremely tolerant of, and has a high capacity for, the uptake of heavy metals,.

Pontederia crassipes. including cadmium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, lead, and mercury, which could make it suitable for the biocleaning of industrial wastewater.The roots of "Pontederia crassipes" naturally absorb some organic compounds believed to be carcinogenic, in concentrations 10,000 times that in the surrounding water. Water hyacinths can be cultivated for waste water treatment (especially dairy waste water).In addition to heavy metals, "Pontederia crassipes" can also remove other toxins, such as cyanide, which is environmentally beneficial in areas that have endured gold-mining operations.Water hyacinth can take in and degrade ethion, a phosphorus pesticide.## Agriculture.In places where water hyacinth is invasive, overabundant, and in need.

Pontederia crassipes. of clearing away, these traits make it free for the harvesting, which makes it very useful as a source of organic matter for composting in organic farming. It is used internationally for fertilizer and as animal feed and silage for cattle, sheep, geese, pigs, and other livestock.In Bengal, India the "kachuri-pana" has been used primarily for fertilizer, compost or mulch, and secondarily as fodder for livestock and fish. In Bangladesh, farmers in the southwestern region cultivate vegetables on "floating gardens" usually with a bamboo-built frame base, with dried mass of water hyacinth covered in soil as bedding. As a large.

Pontederia crassipes. portion of cultivable land goes under water for months during monsoon in this low-lying region, farmers have grown this method for many decades now. The method of this agriculture is known by many names including "dhap chash" and "vasoman chash".In Kenya, East Africa, it has been used experimentally as organic fertilizer, although there is controversy stemming from the high alkaline pH value of the fertilizer.## Other uses.In various places in the world, the plant is used for making furniture, handbags, baskets, rope, and household goods/interior products (lampshades, picture frames) by businesses launched by NGOs and entrepreneurs.## Woven products.American-Nigerian Achenyo Idachaba.

Pontederia crassipes. has won an award for showing how this plant can be exploited for profit as woven procuts in Nigeria.## Paper.Though a study found water hyacinths of very limited use for paper production, they are nonetheless being used for paper production on a small scale. Goswami pointed out in his article that water hyacinth has the potential to make tough and strong paper. He found that adding water hyacinth pulp to the raw material of bamboo pulp for anti-grease paper can increase the physical strength of paper.## Edibility.The plant is used as a carotene-rich table vegetable in Taiwan. Javanese sometimes cook.

Pontederia crassipes. and eat the green parts and inflorescence. Vietnamese also cook the plant and sometimes add its young leaves and flower to their salads.## Medicinal use.In Kedah (Malaysia), the flowers are used for medicating the skin of horses. The species is a "tonic".## Potential as bioherbicidal agent.Water hyacinth leaf extract has been shown to exhibit phytotoxicity against another invasive weed "Mimosa pigra". The extract inhibited the germination of "Mimosa pigra" seeds in addition to suppressing the root growth of the seedlings. Biochemical data suggested that the inhibitory effects may be mediated by enhanced hydrogen peroxide production, inhibition of soluble peroxidase activity,.

Pontederia crassipes. and stimulation of cell wall-bound peroxidase activity in the root tissues of "Mimosa pigra". (Complete List of References) "Eichhornia crassipes"Species Profile – Water Hyacinth ("Eichhornia crassipes"), National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library. Lists general information and resources for Water Hyacinth.Eichhornia crassipes Israel Wildflowers and native plantsPractical uses of Water HyacinthIUCN Leaflet on "E. crassipes" in the context of Lake Tanganyika"Water hyacinth", AquaPlant Profile.


Question: What is the closest parent taxonomy of this plant?

Instruction: Determine the Wikipedia snippet that matches the question of this image.

Gymnocarpium robertianum. Gymnocarpium robertianum, the limestone fern or scented oakfern, is a fern of the family Cystopteridaceae.## Description."Gymnocarpium robertianum" has small (10–50 cm), deltate, two- to three-pinnate fronds. Fronds arise from creeping rhizomes and have long, delicate rachis. The sori are borne in round clumps on the underside of the blade and lack an indusium. This species differs from the closely related "G. dryopteris" in having a densely glandular rachis as well as a more sparsely glandular underside to the blade."Gymnocarpium robertianum" is thought to hybridise with "G. appalachianum" giving rise to "Gymnocarpium" × "heterosporum" . This hybrid was only known from.

Gymnocarpium robertianum. Pennsylvania where it has now been eradicated. The hybrid between "G. robertianum" and "G. dryopteris" is called "Gymnocarpium" × "achriosporum" his taxon is known from Sweden and Quebec.## Distribution and habitat."Gymnocarpium robertianum" is a circumboreal species with populations in Europe, North America and the Caucasus Mountains.This species is protected in Illinois and Michigan and is protected under the Flora Protection Order in Ireland.This species is a calcicole and as such is restricted to alkaline rich areas. In the British Isles its preferential habitat is grykes in limestone pavement. In Michigan the species is most frequent in Thuja occidentalis swamps."Gymnocarpium robertianum.

Gymnocarpium robertianum. at Flora of North America Distribution of "Gymnocarpium robertianum" in the British Isles at BSBI maps "Gymnocarpium robertianum" at Hardy Fern Library.


Question: Who is the creator of this building?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Jeanne d'Arc (Frémiet). Jeanne d'Arc is an 1874 French gilded bronze equestrian sculpture of Joan of Arc by Emmanuel Frémiet. The outdoor statue is prominently displayed in the Place des Pyramides in Paris. == History == The original statue was commissioned by the French government after the defeat of the country in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. It is the only public commission of the state from 1870 to 1914, called the Golden Age of statuary in Paris, the other statues were funded by private subscriptions. The sculptor took as his model Aimée Girod (1856–1937), a young woman from Domrémy, Joan of Arc's village.


Question: What is the closest parent taxonomy of this plant?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Schizachyrium scoparium. Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a species of North American prairie grass native to most of the contiguous United States (except California, Nevada, and Oregon) as well as a small area north of the Canada–US border and northern Mexico. It is most common in the Midwestern prairies and is one of the most abundant native plants in Texas grasslands.Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass and is prominent in tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem ("Andropogon gerardi"), indiangrass ("Sorghastrum nutans") and switchgrass ("Panicum virgatum"). It is a warm-season species, meaning it employs the C4 photosynthetic.

Schizachyrium scoparium. pathway.## Description.Little bluestem grows to become an upright, roundish mound of soft, bluish-green or grayish-green blades in May and June that is about two to three feet high. In July, it initiates flowering stalks, which reach four to five feet in height. In fall, it displays a coppery or mostly orange color with tints of red or purple. Sometimes it displays in some places, as in sandy soils, a redder fall color. It becomes a more orangish-bronze in winter until early spring, when it becomes more tan.## Cultivation.It is recommended for USDA zones 3 to 10.The plant grows best in.

Schizachyrium scoparium. full sun and on well-drained soils. It can be dug up and divided in spring, as many other perennials, for propagation or to reduce the size of an old, big plant. It can be burned in late winter or early spring in a prairie or meadow before new growth, like many American prairie grasses (big bluestem, Indian-grass, and switchgrass), which burn quickly and cleanly.## Cultivars.A number of cultivars have been developed. 'Carousel' is a compact form with especially good fall color developed by Chicagoland Grows. 'The Blues' is a selection that has bluer foliage. 'Standing Ovation' is a tight, upright.

Schizachyrium scoparium. form with bluer and thicker blades and sturdier stems.## Subdivisions.One variety, var. "littorale", is native to the eastern and southern coastal strip of the United States, as well as the shores of the Great Lakes. It is adapted to sand dune habitat, and is sometimes considered a separate species, "S. littorale".## Culture.Little bluestem is the official state grass of Nebraska and Kansas.## Ecology.Little bluestem is drought tolerant, and is a larval host to the cobweb skipper, common wood nymph, crossline skipper, Dakota skipper, dusted skipper, Indian skipper, Leonard's skipper, Ottoe skipper, and swarthy skipper.Missouri Botanical Garden's Kemper Center for Home.

Schizachyrium scoparium. GardeningLittle Bluestem on Kansas Native Plant Society.


Question: In which year was this place invented or discovered?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Pulsar. on August 6, 1967 from a newly commissioned radio telescope that she helped build. Initially dismissed as radio interference by her supervisor, Antony Hewish, developer of the telescope, the fact that the signals always appeared at the same declination and right ascension soon ruled out a terrestrial source. On November 28, 1967, Bell and Hewish using a fast recorder resolved the signals as a series of pulses, evenly spaced every 1.33 seconds. No astronomical object of this nature had ever been observed before. On December 21, Bell discovered a second pulsar, quashing speculation that these might be signals beamed at.

Pulsar. name for intelligent beings of extraterrestrial origin).It was not until a second pulsating source was discovered in a different part of the sky that the "LGM hypothesis" was entirely abandoned. Their pulsar was later dubbed CP 1919, and is now known by a number of designators including PSR B1919+21 and PSR J1921+2153. Although CP 1919 emits in radio wavelengths, pulsars have subsequently been found to emit in visible light, X-ray, and gamma ray wavelengths.The word "pulsar" first appeared in print in 1968: The existence of neutron stars was first proposed by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky in 1934, when they.

Pulsar. argued that a small, dense star consisting primarily of neutrons would result from a supernova. Based on the idea of magnetic flux conservation from magnetic main sequence stars, Lodewijk Woltjer proposed in 1964 that such neutron stars might contain magnetic fields as large as 1014 to 1016 gausses (=1010 to 1012 teslas). In 1967, shortly before the discovery of pulsars, Franco Pacini suggested that a rotating neutron star with a magnetic field would emit radiation, and even noted that such energy could be pumped into a supernova remnant around a neutron star, such as the Crab Nebula. After the discovery.

Pulsar. of the first pulsar, Thomas Gold independently suggested a rotating neutron star model similar to that of Pacini, and explicitly argued that this model could explain the pulsed radiation observed by Bell Burnell and Hewish. In 1968, Richard V. E. Lovelace with collaborators discovered period formula_1 ms of the Crab Nebula pulsar using Arecibo Observatory.The discovery of the Crab pulsar provided confirmation of the rotating neutron star model of pulsars. The Crab pulsar 33-millisecond pulse period was too short to be consistent with other proposed models for pulsar emission. Moreover, the Crab pulsar is so named because it is located.

Pulsar. as a system of Galactic clocks. Disturbances in the clocks will be measurable at Earth. A disturbance from a passing gravitational wave will have a particular signature across the ensemble of pulsars, and will be thus detected.## Significant pulsars.The pulsars listed here were either the first discovered of its type, or represent an extreme of some type among the known pulsar population, such as having the shortest measured period. The first radio pulsar "CP 1919" (now known as PSR B1919+21), with a pulse period of 1.337 seconds and a pulse width of 0.04-second, was discovered in 1967. The first binary.


Question: Where is this animal native to?

Instruction: I want to find a paragraph from Wikipedia that answers my question about this image.

Pantherophis alleghaniensis. Pantherophis alleghaniensis, commonly called the eastern ratsnake, is a nonvenomous colubrid species endemic to North America.## Common names.Additional common names for the eastern rat snake include black rat snake, pilot snake, pilot black snake, chicken snake; and in Florida, yellow rat snake and Everglades rat snake.## Geographic range."Pantherophis alleghaniensis" is found in the United States east of the Apalachicola River in Florida, east of the Chattahoochee River in Georgia, east of the Appalachian Mountains, north to southeastern New York and western Vermont, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, south to the Florida Keys. In the Florida Panhandle, it.

Pantherophis alleghaniensis. forests, isolated urban woodlots and backyards that support populations of prey species. Eastern rat snakes do especially well in early successional and edge habitats. An arboreal species, the snakes can get into human residences, where they may live in attics undetected. At the northern limits of their range, distribution appears to be restricted by the availability of suitable hibernating sites. In these climates, the snakes require southern exposures to receive maximal thermal benefit from the winter sun and to provide basking areas in early spring and late fall.The three U.S populations located more northerly (Illinois at 378N, Kansas at 388,Maryland.

Pantherophis alleghaniensis. juveniles.## Taxonomy."Pantherophis alleghaniensis" has sometimes been considered a subspecies of "Pantherophis obsoletus", to which it is closely related.This species has often been placed in the genus "Elaphe", but recent phylogenetic analyses have resulted in its transfer to "Pantherophis".Holbrook JE (1836). "North American Herpetology; or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. I." Philadelphia: J. Dobson. 120 pp. ("Coluber alleghaniensis", new species, pp. 111–112 + Plate XX).Jan G, (1867). "Iconographie générale des Ophidiens: Vingt-quatrième livraison." Paris: Baillière. Index + Plates I-VI. ("Elaphis alleghaniensis", Plate II, Figure 1 [adult], Figure 2 [juvenile]). (in French).


Question: Which place is this animal endemic to?

Instruction: Retrieve a Wikipedia paragraph that provides an answer to the given query about the image.

Common brushtail possum. The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus "Phalangista") is a nocturnal, semiarboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, native to Australia and naturalised in New Zealand, and the second-largest of the possums.Like most possums, the common brushtail possum is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. In most Australian habitats, eucalyptus leaves are a significant part of the diet, but rarely the sole item eaten. Its tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. The.

Common brushtail possum. four colour variations are silver-grey, brown, black, and gold.It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city dwellers, as it is one of few that thrive in cities and a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids.The common brushtail possum was introduced to New Zealand in the 1850s to establish a fur industry, but in the mild subtropical climate of New Zealand, and with few to no natural predators, it thrived to the extent that it became a.

Common brushtail possum. and ecology.## Range and habitat.The common brushtail possum is perhaps the most widespread marsupial of Australia. It is found throughout the eastern and northern parts of the continent, as well as some western regions, Tasmania and a number of offshore islands, such as Kangaroo Island and Barrow Island. It is also widespread in New Zealand since its introduction in 1850. The common brushtail possum can be found in a variety of habitats, such as forests, semi-arid areas and even cultivated or urban areas. It is mostly a forest inhabiting species, however it is also found in treeless areas. In New.

Common brushtail possum. Zealand, possums favour broadleaf-podocarp near farmland pastures. In southern beech forests and pine plantations, possums are less common. Overall, brushtail possums are more densely populated in New Zealand than in their native Australia. This may be because Australia has more fragmented eucalypt forests and more predators. In Australia, brushtail possums are threatened by humans, tiger quolls, dogs, foxes, cats, goannas, carpet snakes, and powerful owls. In New Zealand, brushtail possums are threatened only by humans and cats. The IUCN highlight the population trend in Australia as decreasing.## Food and foraging.The common brushtail possum can adapt to numerous kinds of vegetation.

Common brushtail possum. New Zealand use many more den sites than those from Australia. Brushtail possums compete with each other and other animals for den spaces, and this contributes to their mortality. This is likely another reason why brushtail possum population densities are smaller in Australia than in New Zealand. Brushtail possums are usually not aggressive towards each other and usually just stare with erect ears. They vocalise with clicks, grunts, hisses, alarm chatters, guttural coughs, and screeching.## Reproduction and life history.The common brushtail possum can breed at any time of the year, but breeding tends to peak in spring, from September to.

Common brushtail possum. November, and in autumn, from March to May, in some areas. Mating is promiscuous and random; some males can sire several young in a season, while over half sire none. In one Queensland population, males apparently need a month of consorting with females before they can mate with them. Females have a gestation period of 16–18 days, after which they give birth to single young. A newborn brushtail possum is only 1.5 cm long and weighs only 2 g. As usual for marsupials, the newborn may climb, unaided, through the female's fur and into the pouch and attach to a.

Common brushtail possum. from which they may be forcibly ejected. In New Zealand's Ōrongorongo population, female young have been found to continue to associate with their mothers after weaning, and some inherit the prime den sites. A possible competition exists between mothers and daughters for dens, and daughters may be excluded from a den occupied by the mother. In forests with shortages of den sites, females apparently produce more sons, which do not compete directly for den sites, while in forests with plentiful den sites, female young are greater in number.## Relationship with humans.The common brushtail possum is considered a pest in some.

Common brushtail possum. areas, as it is known to cause damage to pine plantations, regenerative forest, flowers, fruit trees, and buildings. Like other possums, it is rather tolerant of humans and can sometimes be hand fed, although it is not encouraged, as their claws are quite sharp and can cause infection or disease to humans if scratched. It is a traditional food source for some indigenous Australians.## Australia.Its fur has been considered valuable and has been harvested. Although once hunted extensively for its fur in Australia, the common brushtail possum is now protected in mainland states, but it has only been partially protected.

Common brushtail possum. South Australia, they are fully protected and permits are required for trapping possums in human residences or for keeping or rescuing sick or injured wild possums and other native animals. In Queensland, they can only be trapped by licensed commercial relocators who must release possums within 25 metres of the point of capture to ensure that an animal is not released into another possum's home range (possums are less likely to survive if they are released into a new area where they do not have access to a den or must compete with a neighbouring possum for den space).## New.

Common brushtail possum. Zealand.Since its introduction from Australia by European settlers in the 1850s, the common brushtail possum has become a major threat to New Zealand native forests and birds. It is also a host for the highly contagious bovine tuberculosis. (This is not an issue in Australia, where the disease has been eradicated.)By the 1980s, the peak population had reached an estimated 60–70 million, but is now down to an estimated 30 million due to control measures. The New Zealand Department of Conservation controls possum numbers in many areas via the aerial dropping of 1080-laced bait. Hunting is not restricted, but the.

Common brushtail possum. population seems to be stable despite the annual killing of thousands of the animals.Marsh, K. J., Wallis, I. R., & Foley, W. J. (2003). The effect of inactivating tannins on the intake of Eucalyptus foliage by a specialist Eucalyptus folivore ("Pseudocheirus peregrinus") and a generalist herbivore ("Trichosurus vulpecula"). "Australian Journal of Zoology, 51", 41–42.Blog.forestandbird.org.nzBrushtail possumLandcare Research NZCommon brushtail possum ("Trichosurus vulpecula") at ARKivePossumBase.