Portal:Biology
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Blue has been chosen as the colour for this portal to emphasise that life on Earth relies on the unique chemistry of water. A photo of Darlingtonia californica, the cobra lily, was chosen as the portal icon because of this species' dependency on a humid habitat, as well as illustrating both autotrophy (in this case, photosynthesis) and carnivory. Finally, it superficially resembles young shoots, with their tips curved in, symbolising growth, a feature of all life.
The cougar (Puma concolor), also known as puma, mountain lion, mountain cat, catamount or panther, depending on the region, is a mammal of the family Felidae, native to the Americas. This large, solitary cat has the greatest range of any large, wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes of South America. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in every major American habitat type. It is the second heaviest cat in the American continents after the jaguar. Although large, the cougar is most closely related to smaller felines.
A capable stalk-and-ambush predator, the cougar pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources include ungulates such as deer, elk, moose, and bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horses and sheep, particularly in the northern part of its range. It will also hunt species as small as insects and rodents. This cat prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but it can also live in open areas. The cougar is territorial and persists at low population densities. Individual territory sizes depend on terrain, vegetation, and abundance of prey. While it is a large predator, it is not always the dominant species in its range, as when it competes for prey with other predators such as the jaguar, grey wolf, American Black Bear, and the grizzly bear. It is a reclusive cat and usually avoids people. Attacks on humans remain rare, despite a recent increase in frequency.
Due to excessive hunting following the European colonization of the Americas and the continuing human development of cougar habitat, populations have dropped in most parts of its historical range. In particular, the cougar was extirpated in eastern North America, except for an isolated sub-population in Florida; there are many sightings that claim the animal is recolonizing parts of its former eastern territory, such as Maine and northern Michigan where there have been recent sightings. In North America, the cougar is native to Western Canada (primarily British Columbia and Yukon), Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Oregon alone is home to more than 5,000 cougars, with the highest densities in the Blue Mountains in the northeastern part of the state and in the southwestern Cascade Mountains. Their primary food source here is deer, but they will also consume elk, raccoons, bighorn sheep, and other mammals and birds.
Cougars are territorial animals and maintain home ranges of up to 100 miles. Most active at dawn and dusk, they are lone hunters. They are generally solitary animals, except for mothers who remain with kittens for about two years. While actual cougar sightings have increased, coyotes, bobcats, and dogs are often mistaken for cougars. A cougar can be identified by its large size, cat-like appearance, consistent tan or tawny body color, and long tail. An adult cougar's tail is nearly three feet long and can be a third to a half of its total length. Cougar tracks can be differentiated from dog tracks by paying attention to detail. The cougar has recently made a comeback in the state of Wyoming, where it presently has the largest population in North America.
Louis Pasteur (27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of disease. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease, also reducing mortality from puerperal fever (childbed), and he created the first vaccine for rabies. He was best known to the general public for inventing a method to stop milk and wine from causing sickness - this process came to be called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. He is also credited with dispelling the theory of spontaneous generation with his experiment employing chicken broth and a goose neck flask. He also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the asymmetry of crystals.1 He is buried beneath the Institut Pasteur, an incredibly rare honor in France, where being buried in a cemetery is mandatory save for the fewer than 300 "Great Men" who are entombed in the Panthéon.
- ...that there are ten times as many microbial cells in your body than there are human cells and that the sum of their genomes is 100 times greater than yours?
- ...that a prokaryotic cytoskeleton has been found in prokaryote organisms by recent advances in visualization technology?
- ...that the Champawat tigress and the Tsavo lions had suffered injuries that disabled them from pursuing their natural prey, leading them to become man-eaters?
- ...that the aphid Brevicoryne brassicae has been called a "walking mustard oil bomb" due to its use of glucosinolates as a chemical defense mechanism against predators?
- ...that Florida has over 20 official state symbols, including a state soil and a state wildflower?
- ...that Adenovirus serotype 14 is an emerging virus, related to the common cold, that has recently caused 10 deaths in the United States, including at least one healthy young adult?
- ...that three out of every seventy-seven rainbow runners (pictured) have five spines rather than the normal six?
- ...that prokaryotic genome does not contains any sort of basic histone proteins (Rajib Roychowdhury)
WikiProjects connected with biology:
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- Ecoregions
- Evolutionary biology
- Genetics
- History of Science
- Marine life
- Medicine
- Microbiology
- Molecular and Cellular Biology
- Neuroscience
- Tree of Life
A complete list of scientific WikiProjects can be found here. See also Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to classification of biological species.
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Phylogenetics - Physiology - Systems biology - Taxonomy - Toxicology - Virology - Zoology
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