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Fauna of Asia
JOrnitho: Since there is topic for the other continents, I thought about making one for Asia too. Here is some descriptions of birds for this continent. [more]Golden Fenghuang (Fenghuang aurata) In the Holocene, some pheasant’s species are among the most beautiful birds, with males having vivid colors. In the Neocene the pheasants continued with their beautiful colors, an example is the golden fenghuang (fenghuang in mythology is the name of the Chinese phoenix), a descendant of the golden pheasant. Living in the forests of Far East, the male golden fenghuang have a length of 195 cm from the beak to their long tail and the female have 87 cm. The males have a golden erectile crest, which is usually left flat, giving a hammerhead shape to head. During the courtship, the male open their crests like a fan and start to display to the female, standing in front of them with their crest raised and wings outstretched, vocalizing. When raised, the crest displays a remarkable combination of scarlet and yellow. They form leks of close related males. At a lek, the males maintain small territories next to each other. Besides the crest, the males have more colorful plumage in their bodies. Their face, throat, chin, and the sides of neck are orange. The wattles and orbital skin are both yellow in color. The upper back is green and the rest of the back and rump is golden-yellow. The tertiaries are metallic blue whereas the scapulars are metallic red. Their long central tail feathers are reddish golden with black spots. The upper tail coverts are the same color as the central tail feathers. The male also has a scarlet breast, and scarlet and light yellow flanks and underparts. The females have a duller mottled brown plumage all over and their tail is short (50 cm) if compared to the males (100 cm). In both sexes the beaks, legs and feet are a dull yellow. They eat berries, grubs, seeds and invertebrates. The golden fenghuang is polygamous, the male will mate with several females. The nest is a shallow scrape in the ground lined with leaves, sticks and other debris. The female lay 7 to 12 eggs and are incubated only by her for 24-28 days. The chicks are nidifugous and follow the mother around after hatching, staying with the female for two months. The young males are similar to the female until they reach their sexual maturity with six months, at this time they acquire the plumage of the male. Their lifespan is of 27 years. Another species, the Silver fenghuang (Fenghuang argentata) lives in the montane forests near the Himalayas. Their main features of the males are the metallic white crest and white central tail feathers with black spots. The females are similar to the golden species. The males have 120 cm and the females 79 cm. Red-headed shelduck (Tadorna rubrocephala) The red-headed shelduck is a member of the Genus Tadorna, a descendant of the ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea). This duck lives on the Baikal Lake and Siberia wetlands, in the winter they migrate to the marshes of Southeastern Asian. The red-headed shelduck grows to a length of 60 cm and has a 124 cm wingspan. The male has white body plumage, a chestnut breast and a bright red neck and head, separated from the neck by a narrow black collar. The rump, flight feathers, tail-coverts and tail feathers are black and there are iridescent green speculum feathers on the inner surfaces of the wings. Both upper and lower wing-coverts are orange-brown, this feature being particularly noticeable in flight but hardly visible when the bird is at rest. The bill is and legs are dark grey. The female is similar but has a pale red head and neck and lacks the black collar, and in both sexes, the color of the head fades as the feathers age. It is omnivorous and feeds on grasses, the young shoots of plants, grain and water plants as well as both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. On land it grazes on the foliage, in the water it dabbles in the shallows, and at greater depths, it up-ends, but it does not dive. There is a strong pair bond between the male and female and they pair for life. During the breeding, the birds are very aggressive towards their own kind and towards other species. The female in particular approaches intruders with head lowered and neck outstretched, uttering anger calls. If the intruder stands its ground, the female returns to the male and runs round him, inciting him to attack. He may or may not do so. Mating takes place on the water after a brief courtship ritual involving neck stretching, head dipping and tail rising. The nesting site is often far away from water in a hole, a crevice in a cliff, among sand-dunes or in an animal burrow. The nest is constructed by the female using feathers and down and some grasses. The female lay 6-12 creamy-white eggs. Incubation is done by the female while the male stands in attendance nearby. The eggs hatch after about 27 days and both parents care for the young, which fledge in a further 53 days. After breeding the adults moult, losing the power of flight for about a month while they do so. Before moulting they move to large water bodies where they can more easily avoid predation while they are flightless. The family may stay together as a group for some time, joining the flocks during the migration. The young reach sexual maturity in their second year, when the males acquire the bright red head and neck of the adults. Their lifespan is of 28 years. White-headed scoter (Melanitta leucocephala) A descendant of white-winged scoter, the white-headed scoter breeds in the Baikal Lake and winters in the coastal areas of the Sea of Japan, with the entire population of the species forming a large flock during migration. The white-headed scoter is a large duck; the males have 65 cm of length and the females 58 cm of length, their wingspan is of 135 cm. The males have a black body plumage and a white head. The females and juveniles are brown with pale head patches. Both sexes have bulky shape and large bill, which is yellow with a black knob in the base. Their legs are dark grey. When in the lake, they eat insects and crustaceans, with the amphipods being the most eat prey. During the winter at the sea, the white-headed scoter eats crustaceans and mollusks. Both in freshwater and in saltwater, they dive in search of their prey. The males perform a display, the body is low in the water and the head is tilted forward and downward, after chose the female will mimic the male. Pair-bonds are normally renewed each year, with pair-forming behavior beginning on wintering areas. Males leave their mates during early stages of incubation and make extensive flights to their feeding areas in the lake. The lined nest is built on the ground close to the lake and 6–12 pinkish eggs are laid. The incubation period can range from 25 to 30 days. After about 21 days, neighboring females may start to behave aggressively towards other nesting females, resulting in confusion and mixing of broods. By the time she is done brooding, a female may be tending to as much as 40 offspring due to the mixing from these conflicts. The female will tend to her brood for up to 3 weeks and then abandon them, but the young will usually stay together from another 3 weeks. Flight capacity is thought to be gained at 63 to 77 days of age. The young reach the sexual maturity with 2 years, at this age the young males acquire their characteristic white head.[/more]
Îòâåòîâ - 9
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho OK, thanks for opening another topic!
JOrnitho: I finished the description for the Japanese rodent. I'm in doubt which family they could be part. Honshu mausu (Mausu tarsipoides) The human actions during the Holocene caused the decline of many species. However some species survived and in the Neocene they gave rise to new species. One of these new species is the Honshu mausu. The word mausu is used in Japan for rats. This small rodent is the type species of the Genus Mausu and inhabits the temperate forests and woodlands of Honshu Island. During winter, these animals hibernate, a trait shared by all members of this Genus. The Honshu mausu has 11 cm of length and a semi-prehensile tail of 13 cm. Their fur is short and dense with a brown coloration with a prominent mid-dorsal dark brown stripe, and their underside is cream. Their tails are furless and scally and are used by them to help move through the branches of trees. Their small furred ears are well-rounded and their rostrums are elongated. They have a relatively long tongue, which is used to collect nectar and pollen. These rodents are opportunistic omnivores with nocturnal habits. Their diet changes according to the disponibility of food during the change of the seasons. During spring, these animals feed mostly on nectar and pollen. In the summer, insects become the most consumed item. During the autumn, they start to eat fruits and seeds. When the winter arrives, the mausu will need to have accumulated enough fat to survive the hibernation. During most of the year, these rodents are solitary, with only mothers and pups being seen together. The males and females only meet during the breeding season, which starts two weeks after they wake up from hibernation. The female has a gestation of 20 days and females can remate while still feeding the previous litter. A litter of young is born in a nesting chamber in a hollow tree lined with dry plant material and consists of two to eleven altricial young born naked, blind and helpless. The eyes of the young open after two weeks and their dorsal stripes are visible by then as pale gray. They are weaned at about eighteen days old. If they are born early in the year, they may start breeding in the same year, but most of the young become sexually mature in the following spring. Even those that are old enough to leave their mother, will usually stay close to the territory that she is using. Before the middle of the autumn, the female will have at least three litters. During hibernation, they will make nests inside hollowed trees. Usually, females will use the same one that she used to give birth to her litter. Sexual mature males hibernate in groups of three and four males, while the females hibernate with their pups of the litters of the year that didn’t leave her territory or that didn't start to breed. This strategy helps them to stay warmer while they hibernate. The lifespan of this species is 3 years. The genus Mausu has another representative, the Shikoku mausu (Mausu rufus), which lives on the island of the same name. They have 9 cm of length, with a tail of 10 cm. This small mammal has reddish brown fur with a golden-brown lower part.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho Good one! By the way, it would be reasonable to give systematics of proposed species, at the level of order and family (for all kingdoms of organisms), as can be seen elsewhere throughout the project.
JOrnitho: I was thinking in some other species for Japan, this time a descendant of the introduced coypu or of the muskrat that could be an analogue to the beavers. I also was thinking if the Indian peafowl could have survived in one of the areas where it was introduced, such as in Japan or the Adaman Islands. Or even in the continent.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho I think nutrias (Myocastor) and muskrats (Ondatra) have a good chance to survive. But peacocks are too few in numbers and lack proper niches, so their survival to neocene is questionable.
Àâòîð: JOrnitho ïèøåò: a descendant of the introduced coypu or of the muskrat that could be an analogue to the beavers. This beast already exists - the Japanese ratbeaver (in Russian part of the "Bestiary" - here: http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/mammals.htm#pseudocastor_ergaster_ru)
JOrnitho: Ok! I didn’t saw in the English bestiary, so I didn’t know that it existed. By the way, is there any descriptions of species living in the Andaman and Nicobar islands? I had some ideas.
JOrnitho: I found this description of parrots for Asia that I made sometime ago. Blue-throated parrot (Paramazona cyanoguttur) Through the history of evolution, many species developed analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in their last common ancestor; this occurrence is named convergent evolution. In the Neocene, the blue-throated parrot is a case this. They are birds of the Genus Paramazona, descendants of Loriculus parrots, which through convergent evolution acquired physical characteristics similar to that of the modern Genus Amazona. This new species lives in the tropical forests of Indian subcontinent. The blue-throated parrot has 35 cm of length and 84 cm of wingspan. They have large heads, broad and rounded wings. The tail is short, rounded or square. The beak is robust and the area around the eye is devoid of feathers. Most of the body is covered with green plumage, however the male have vivid blue feathers in the throat and red in the mantle and rump, while the females have faint shades of blue in their throat and lacks the red rump. Immature birds have a duller rump and lack the throat patch. Like their Loriculus ancestors, they are capable to sleep upside down. It is a gregarious species, continuously chattering with a range of whistling and squawking calls. They eat fruits, seeds, flowers, nuts and leaves. It roosts communally in trees, and large numbers can be seen at the roost sites at dawn and dusk. Blue-throated parrots nest in holes in trees, usually laying three to four white eggs. The eggs are incubated by the female, starting after the second egg has been laid, for about 27 to 28 days. Newly hatched chicks have a sparse white down and they do not open their eyes until about two to three weeks after hatching. They are dependent on the female for food and warmth who remains in the nest most of the time until about four weeks after hatching when the chicks have enough feathers for heat insulation. During this time the male brings food for the female and chicks, and guards the nest site. From about two to four weeks after hatching the female also begins to collect food for the chicks. The chicks fly out of the nest at about 9 weeks and they become independent from their parents at about 12 weeks after hatching They reaches sexual maturity with 5 years, when the young male acquire adult colors. A monogamous species, the pair will mate for life. The lifespan of this species is of 35 years. Other members of the Genus Paramazona are: Himalayan parrot (Paramazona himalayana) The smallest member of the Genus, with only 28 cm of length. The male Himalayan parrot has bright blue feathers in their cheeks and a bright red plumage in their rump and mantle. The female lacks the red plumage and their face is faint blue. They live in the forests at the foothills of the Himalaya and descend to the valleys in winter. Blue-chested parrot (Paramazona cyanopectus) With 38 cm, this species is the largest of the Genus. The male has a characteristic bright blue plumage in the chest, which is absent in females. Both sexes have the predominance of green feathers, there is also the presence of red rumps, but in the female the color is duller. The blue-chested parrot lives in the forests of South-Eastern Asia. Blue-diademed parrot (Paramazona diademata) This species is endemic to the tropical forests of Borneo. With 30 cm of length, the male has a distinctive blue circle in his head, which is absent in the female. Both sexes are mostly green with an orange colored rump, which is duller in the female. Red-winged parrot (Paramazona sundaica) Living in the Jakarta Coast, this bird has 36 cm of length. They have a bright red plumage in their rump, mantle and wings. In the female the red plumage is dull. The rest of their bodies is green, but the male has blue plumage in their forehead. Green-bellied parrot (Paramazona meganesiana) Living in the tropical forests of Northern Meganesia, this species is very similar in size (36 cm) and color to the red-winged parrot, the difference is that the males of the green-bellied parrot don’t have the blue plumage in their forehead.
Áèîëîã: JOrnitho Good parrot.
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