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Fauna. Simplified schematic of an island's fauna – all its animal species, highlighted in boxes. Fauna (pl.: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are flora and funga, respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred ...
A species (pl.: species) is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. [ 1 ] It is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity.
Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft).
Fauna of the United States. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States and appears on its Great Seal. The bald eagle's range includes all of the contiguous United States and Alaska. The fauna of the United States of America is all the animals living in the Continental United States and its surrounding seas and islands, the ...
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. [1] Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted for sport. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems.
Megafauna. The African bush elephant (foreground), Earth's largest extant land animal, and the Masai ostrich (background), one of Earth's largest extant birds. In zoology, megafauna (from Greek μέγας megas "large" and Neo-Latin fauna "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common ...
Wildlife of Antarctica. Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are the only animals to breed on mainland Antarctica during the winter. The wildlife of Antarctica are extremophiles, having adapted to the dryness, low temperatures, and high exposure common in Antarctica. The extreme weather of the interior contrasts to the relatively mild ...
Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, pollution, climate change ...