SSCI 110 November 2011 Yosemite Introduction Yosemite National Park is without a doubt, one of America’s most beautiful and well-known parks. Due to the diversity of attractions the park offers, including high Sierra Peaks, the highest highway pass in California called the Tioga Pass, the Yosemite Valley, the Merced River, acres of high altitude backcountry, waterfalls, and some of the largest living things on earth in the sequoia groves tourists from all over the world visit. The most famous section in the park is Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, and other places to explore nature’s beauty lie. Yosemite Geography Yosemite National Park is located in the Central of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range
One in five of all the birds in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon. The Amazon water lily is the biggest flower in the world with a diameter of two metres. The Caranguejeira spider is bigger than a baseball and one species of monkey weighing 130 grams is about the size of a toothbrush. There are about 30 times more fish species in the Amazon than in all European rivers. The Amazon River contains over 3000 rare aquatic species including two types of river dolphins, the giant otter, turtles and alligators.
Magma can complaetely crystallize into a crystal or even a diamond. Ten basic igneous rocks are obsidian, pumice, rhyolite, andesite, basalt, granite, diorite, gabbro, porphyry, and pegmatite. There are two different types of igneous rocks. They are intrusive and extrusive. All igneous rocks are made from magma.
As a result of the island's long isolation from neighboring continents, Madagascar is home to a vast array of plants and animals, many found nowhere else on Earth. [17] Approximately 80% of all plant and animal species found in Madagascar are endemic, including the lemur infraorder of primates, the carnivorous fossaand three avian families. [18] This distinctive ecology has led some ecologists to refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent",[19] and the island has been classified by Conservation International as a biodiversity hotspot. [17] Over 10,000 plant species are native to Madagascar, of which 90% are found nowhere else in the world. [20]Seven plant families are only found here, the highest number of any biodiversity hotspot in the world.
The Andes Mountains also consist of fauna, being that the Andes is a habitat for numerous species. Another interesting fact about the Andes Mountains is that it is home to an anthropological discovery of the legendary Plomo Children, which is exhibited in the Museum of National History of Chile. Andes Mountains Location of the landform and Characteristics of the landform The Andes Mountains are located in South America, running north to south along the western coast of the continent. The latitude is 10° N. to 57° S. The longitude is 70° W. to 80° E. The Andes Mountains are the longest and one of the highest mountain ranges in the world. They are located in South America and stretch 4,500 miles from north to south, along the west coast of the continent.
Pablo Neruda’s poem is a very vivid statement against the multinational company, United Fruit Company -- to which the author names the poem itself. He begins with a sardonic tone mocking the Creation, as God purposely bestowing the earth to multinational companies like Coca-Cola Inc and Anaconda Mining: “When the trumpet sounded, it was/ All prepared on the earth, /And Jehovah parceled out the earth” (1-3) Notice how the word “earth” is in small letter ‘e’ which pertains to land, as oppose to world. Neruda goes on to accuse United Fruit Company of neocolonialism—acquiring bountiful portions of his “own land” (8), Latin America, by hiding behind the term “Banana Republics”—seemingly helping the impoverished countries but is truly a self-serving entity that bred the rise of “flies”, the dictators such as Rafael Trujillo, Maximiliano Martinez and Jorge Ubico; and even those “damp flies of modest blood and marmalade” pertaining, perhaps, to the corruption of the common people as well. (6-24) He alludes to the process as a “comic opera” (16), a humorous musical drama or show implying that it is all just a façade; and calling it as such reverts to the ironic tone of the poem. The poem ends with the death of the Indian, referred to by Neruda as “a thing” and “a fallen cipher” (38-39).
Rainforest Facts • Rainforests are home to more species of plants and animals than the rest of the world put together. • An astounding number of fruits (bananas, citrus), vegetables (peppers, okra), nuts (cashews, peanuts), drinks (coffee, tea, cola), oils (palm, coconut), flavourings (cocoa, vanilla, sugar, spices), and other foods (beans, grains, fish) come from rainforests. • We lose between 50 and 130 species every day – 2 to 5 species per hour are being lost forever due to tropical deforestation. • Tropical rainforests act as a global air conditioner - by storing and absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, storing the carbon, and releasing fresh, clean oxygen. • Over 2000 tropical forest plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties.
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about 6,915,000 km2(2,670,000 sq mi), or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru,Suriname and Venezuela. [2] Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon rainforest, also known as Amazonia. With a 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world. Plant life As much of the Amazon is unexplored, many of its indigenous plants and animals are unknown.
Tropical rainforests are some of the most diverse places on earth. Tropical rainforests house more than fifty percent of the earth’s animal species (Michael). This biome is also the home to a wide variety of plant species, and many insects flourish in this type of environment. The tropical rainforest is the epitome of a utopia for equatorial species. The great diversity of the tropical rainforest provides great services to the earth’s human population.
The Karoo plateau actually covers a massive 15% of South Africa's total land mass and form the second largest plateau region outside of Asia. The Karoo desert is the largest ecosystem in South Africa, being home to a fascinating diversity of life, all having to adjust to the harsh conditions of the Karoo. It is home to some 9,000 species of succulents. Wildlife is also abundant in the Karoo and a wide variety of mammal, bird and reptile species have their home here. The main economic activity of the Karoo is sheep farming.