Living Beings _ Last Letter

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The term anatomically modern humans (AMH) or anatomically modern
Homo sapiens (AMHS)
refers in paleoanthropology to individual members of the species Homo sapiens with an appearance consistent with the range of phenotypes in modern humans.
Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic Homo sapiens in the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago. The emergence of anatomically modern human marks the dawn of the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens,http://www.sat-universe.com/redirec...g/wiki/Anatomically_modern_humans#cite_note-4 i.e. the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes all modern humans. The oldest fossil remains of anatomically modern humans are the Omo remains, which date to 195,000 (±5,000) years ago and include two partial skulls as well as arm, leg, foot and pelvis bones.http://www.sat-universe.com/redirec...g/wiki/Anatomically_modern_humans#cite_note-6
Other fossils include the proposed Homo sapiens idaltu from Herto in Ethiopia that are almost 160,000 years oldhttp://www.sat-universe.com/redirec...natomically_modern_humans#cite_note-White03-7 and remains from Skhul in Israel that are 90,000 years old. The oldest human fossil from which an entire genome has been extracted belongs to a man who lived about 45,000 years ago in Western Siberia.

 

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The Saiga (Saiga tatarica) is a critically endangered antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Today, the nominate subspecies (S. t. tatarica) is only found in one location in Russia (steppes of the northwest Precaspian region) and three areas in Kazakhstan (the Ural, Ustiurt and Betpak-dala populations). A proportion of the Ustiurt population migrates south to Uzbekistan and occasionally Turkmenistan in winter. It is extinct in China and southwestern Mongolia. The Mongolian subspecies (S. t. mongolica) is found only in western Mongolia. Some sources consider the Mongolian subspecies to be a distinct species, the Mongolian saiga (Saiga borealis).

 

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Sessilia is an order of barnacles, comprising the barnacles without stalks, or acorn barnacles. They form a monophyletic group and are probably derived from stalked barnacles. The order is divided into three suborders. Brachylepadomorpha contains a single family, Neobrachylepadidae, while Verrucomorpha contains two families, Verrucidae and Neoverrucidae. The remaining twelve families are in the suborder Balanomorpha.

 

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Sandpiper Sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders or shorebirds. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe.

 

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Cnemidophorus is a genus of lizards which belong to the family of Teiidae, which are commonly referred to as whiptail lizard(s) or racerunner(s). Note that the nomenclature for this genus has recently been re-examined by T. W. Reeder et al. in 2002. Many species that were Cnemidophorus should now likely be considered Aspidoscelis based upon divergent characters between the two groups.

 

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Rock Hyrax are thought to be most closely related to much larger animals including the Elephant and the Manatee.

 

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Pristella maxillaris, the only species in the genus Pristella, is commonly known as the golden pristella tetra or X-ray tetra because of its highly transparent body. It is a widely distributed and adaptable fish, being found in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, as well as coastal rivers in the Guianas in both acidic and alkaline waters. Unlike most other characins, it is tolerant of (and sometimes found in) slightly brackish water. It is small (up to around 5 cm or 2.0 in in length) and lives in large groups, and males can be distinguished by being smaller and thinner than the females. Like most other tetras, it feeds primarily on small insects and planktonic animals.

 

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Abyssinian is a breed of domestic shorthaired cat with a distinctive "ticked" tabby coat, in which individual hairs are banded with different colors.

 

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The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), sometimes called nilgau, is the largest Asian antelope. It is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India, often seen in farmland or scrub forest. The mature male appears ox-like and is also known as the blue bull. A blue bull is called a nil gai or nilgai in India, from nil meaning blue and gai meaning a bovine animal (literally 'cow'). It is also present in parts of southern Nepal and eastern Pakistan. The species has become extinct in Bangladesh. It was known as the nilghor (nil = blue, ghor = horse) during the rule of Aurangzeb in the Mughal era. It is the only member of genus Boselaphus.

 

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Iguana is a genus of herbivorous lizards native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

 

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Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm petrels and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. They are absent from the North Atlantic, although fossil remains show they once occurred there and occasional vagrants are found. Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses (genus Diomedea) have the largest wingspans of any extant birds, reaching up to 12 feet (3.7 m). The albatrosses are usually regarded as falling into four genera, but there is disagreement over the number of species.

 

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Sagebrush vole (Lemmiscus curtatus) is a tiny vole found in western North America

 

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The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is a canid native to the Ethiopian Highlands. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, and is distinguished by its long and narrow skull, and its red and white fur. Unlike most large canids, which are widespread, generalist feeders, the Ethiopian wolf is a highly specialised feeder of Afroalpine rodents with very specific habitat requirements. It is one of the world's rarest canids, and Africa's most endangered carnivore.

 

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Flying squirrel (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe of 44 species of squirrels (family Sciuridae).

 

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Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. All species occur in the Old World, and in northern and eastern Australia. Only one, the horned lark, is also found in North America. Habitats vary widely, but many species live in dry regions.

 

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kangaroo /ˌkæŋɡəˈruː/ is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot').

 

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The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of different families of saltwater clams, bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all, oysters are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.

 

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Rhinoceros often abbreviated as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae.

 

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Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus. The swans' close relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae. There are six or seven species of swan in the genus Cygnus; in addition there is another species known as the coscoroba swan, although this species is no longer considered one of the true swans. Swans usually mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure. And if a mate dies, or is killed by a predator, the remaining mate will take up with another; however, if all goes well in the pairing, they indeed will stay together for life. The number of eggs in each clutch ranges from three to eight.

 

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Numbat also known as the banded anteater, marsupial anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites.