Overview of the Animals Called Monotremes

Monotremes (monotremata)  are a unique group of mammals that lay eggs, unlike placental mammals and marsupials, who give birth to live young. Monotremes include several species of echidnas and the platypus. Monotremes Most Obvious Differences From Other Mammals The most striking difference from other mammals is that monotremes lay eggs. Similar to other mammals, they do lactate (produce milk). But instead of having nipples like other mammals, monotremes secrete milk through mammary gland openings in the skin. Monotremes are long-lived mammals. They exhibit a low rate of reproduction. Parents take close care  of their young and tend to them for long periods of time before they become independent. Monotremes also differ from other mammals in that they have a single opening for their urinary, digestive, and reproductive tracts. This single opening is known as a cloaca and is similar to the anatomy of reptiles, birds, fish, and amphibians. Differences in Bones and Teeth There are a number of other less salient characteristics that distinguish monotremes from other mammal groups. Monotremes have unique teeth that are thought to have evolved independently of the teeth that placental mammals and marsupials have. Some monotremes have no teeth. Monotreme teeth may be an example of convergent evolutionary adaptation, however, because of similarities to other mammals teeth. Monotremes also have an extra set of bones in their shoulder (the interclavicle and coracoid) which are missing from other mammals. Brain and Sensory Differences Monotremes differ from other mammals in that they lack a structure in their brain called the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum forms a connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Monotremes are the only mammals known to possess electroreception, a sense that enables them to locate prey by the electric fields generated by its muscle contraction. Of all monotremes, the platypus has the most sensitive level of electroreception. Sensitive electroreceptors are located in the skin of the platypuss bill. Using these electroreceptors, the platypus can detect the direction of the source and the strength of the signal. Platypuses swing their head from side to side when hunting in water as a way of scanning for prey. Thus, when feeding, platypuses do not use their sense of sight, smell, or hearing: They rely only on their electroreception. Evolution The fossil record for monotremes is rather sparse. It is thought that monotremes diverged from other mammals early on, before marsupials and placental mammals evolved. A few monotreme fossils from the Miocene epoch are known. Fossil monotremes from the Mesozoic epoch include Teinolophos, Kollikodon, and Steropodon. Classification The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an odd-looking mammal with a broad bill (that resembles the bill of a duck), a tail (that resembles the tail of a beaver), and webbed feet. Another oddity of the platypus is that male platypuses are venomous. A spur on their hind limb delivers a mixture of venoms that are unique to the platypus.  The platypus is the only member of its family.   There are four living species of echidnas, named after a monster of the same name, from Greek mythology. They are the short-beaked echidna, the Sir Davids long-beaked echidna, the eastern long-beaked echidna, and the western long-beaked echidna. Covered with spines and coarse hair, they feed on ants and termites and are solitary animals. Although echidnas resemble hedgehogs, porcupines, and anteaters, they are not closely related to any of these other mammal groups. Echidnas have short limbs that are strong and well-clawed, making them good diggers. They have a small mouth and do not have any teeth. They feed by ripping apart rotten logs and ant nests and mounds, then licking up ants and insects with their sticky tongue.

The Night - Original Writing - 967 Words

It had snowed non-stop all through the day and well into the night. By the time the storm had passed on, it left behind some extremely excited children, some rather annoyed adults who would have to deal with the accumulated snow and a Camelot that looked like it had been painted by Ice Fairies. The once-bare trees were covered with a blanket of white and the peaks and valleys of the Castle roof glittered in the bright sunlight. The large inner courtyard was now a smooth blanket of white, save for the occasional bump where a statue or other decoration was hidden by the enveloping snow. Even the gargoyles on the edge of the roofline seemed to be smiling down on the scene. Merlin and Arthur appeared at the top of the stairs and stopped for a moment to take in the view. It was quiet and calm; for once there were no people bustling across the flagstones, there were no horses waiting patiently for their riders. Even the dogs that could usually be found wandering around the area had taken themselves off to warmer quarters. The two men were heading towards the training ground, for Arthur was determined to get in some practice and nothing Merlin told him would sway him from his decision. I m telling you, Arthur, said Merlin as he turned his gaze back to his companion, there s too much snow. There is no way you are going to be able to train outdoors today, not without risking a broken ankle or worse! Merlin, said Arthur in a rather aggrieved tone, I think I should be theShow MoreRelatedNight Nights - Original Writing845 Words   |  4 Pagesuntil night time. We all would camp out in the living, our parents would tuck us in and then it was off to bed. Sleeping peacefully until one of my cousins woke us all up screaming while she was sleeping. Night after night we had to deal with this. The following year I as well as all of my cousins anticipated the same thing. Peacefully sleeping only to be awaken in the middle of the night by shears of horror. But to all of our surprise my cousin sleep peacefully all the way through the night everyRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing1183 Words   |  5 Pagesfell to the floor convulsing in pain. She was turning and realised that no one could save her. She took her last breath realising she was going to become like him. A vampire. Experiencing the final stages of her turning her back arched. That was the night of her transformation. Read MoreThe Night - Original Writing792 Words   |  4 Pagesenlightning. My parents died. I was six years old. They died, because of me. We got in a reasonable argument about Clifford the Big Red Dog, of all things. I stormed out of the house at 8:00 pm. I remember how glistening the stars were that night, how the colors of purple and dark blue collided in the sky and how the moon was full and shined with what seemed like a never-ending light. I just kept running, laughing like the obnoxious six year I was. They ran after me calling my name, I justRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing1528 Words   |  7 PagesAfter a long restless night, Allie had a servant draw a hot bath for her just after daybreak. She stepped in, sat down, and then let her entire body slip beneath the water. She held her nose as she wet her copper locks and soaped her head. She intended to bring the shine back- she did not like the dull creature that stared back at her from the mirror the night before. The hot water was soothing; it felt good on her tired body. After washing, s he lay there and let the warm water soak the tirednessRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing1580 Words   |  7 PagesEverything was beautiful that night. The sky was as clear as the spring water. The weather was so beautiful that we thought that we were not in the summer. I was sitting outside the house in our garden with my parents. We were having a nice chat after a delicious homemade crispy chicken with fries that my mom usually do. Everything was just perfect until my father received the unexpected call. The call that I wished my father didn’t receive. â€Å"Hello†¦what! What are you saying! Calm down I’m comingRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing906 Words   |  4 PagesEvelyn peeked down the hall from her bedroom making sure the light to her parents’ room was off, indicating that they had gone to sleep. When she saw the darkened hallway she knew that her parents had gone down for the night. Her younger sisters, ages 10 and 8, had been put to sleep a couple hours before. There was no one watching. Evelyn tiptoed down the stairs—thank God they were carpeted, which helped shield the noise of her steps—and she grabbed her mom’s car keys carefully exiting the houseRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing1004 Words   |  5 PagesThe crowd filled out of the arena, the buzz and excitement leaving with them. Dark walls echoed the heavy sounds of the metal equipment as it was scraped across the floor by the road crew. In the absence of the band, the crowd and the music, the atmosphere seemed as ble ak and empty as the crowd floor itself. Suddenly, echoes of past joyous screams were replaced by a single, blood curdling scream coming from the direction of the cloakroom. The sound, filled with fear, tore through the arena and bouncedRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing1332 Words   |  6 Pages Waking up to the smell of strawberry jam and toast coming from the kitchen, Dan looks over at his clock to see that it is 7:30. Forcing himself up, he throws on a set of clothes and tiptoed down the stairs to be sure not to wake up Lisa. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, Dan sees both his parents, father at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, and mother at the counter spreading the jam on the mountain of toast beside her. The quiet morning is comfortable and pleasantRead MoreThe Night - Original Writing723 Words   |  3 PagesDuring the summer you can find the same scene on any Saturday night. I see an elderly man near the entrance setting behind a table covered with stacks of booklets. I can tell he is employed by the park by the dark green polo shirt and tan ball cap he is wearing. Even from a distance I can hear him shout, â€Å"Programs! Get your programs. Three dollars!† As a middle aged man wearing a dark t-shirt and baggy blue jeans wal ks through the door. It becomes obvious that he is experienced with the process.Read MoreThe Night - Original Writing859 Words   |  4 Pagesfriends ran out to see what all the laughing was about. They watched the video and began cracking up too. After, we all went back inside due to the amount of bugs outside. We spent the rest of the night talking and laughing until we all fell asleep at around two in the morning. This was the last night we all spent together before heading off to college. Even though it was in the middle of the summer, life took over and we were all busy on different days. The one way that we were able to keep in contact

Computer-Human Interaction

Question: Discuss about the Computer-Human Interaction. Answer: Introduction Being a prospective health and social care professional, it is vital for me to know how to work as a team. While making the poster of Depression Anxiety impacting the lives of young adults and adolescents'; I have got a chance to work as a team and meet a common goal. In accordance with the Gibbs reflective cycle, I will go to elaborate my experience in the following portion. Gibbs reflective cycle has five steps namely; description, feelings, evaluation, conclusions and actions. Discussion At the very starting when I was introduced to my team members everything was going smooth and in line. When we are given the task to write a poster. I was aware of a Tuckman's stages of group development theory which I able to relete very well. There are four stages of team building process namely, forming storming norming and performing. Our team also went through all these processes. During the introductory phase, we were at a stoming phase when each and everyone is polite (Dourish, 1995). However, I was a bit anxious about the nature of my team member. Working on the treatment practice on adolescents showed that adolescents are restless and have precarious mindsets. The incident that I faced helped in handling the adolescents to get information has helped me to realise the young adolescents espcially boys fail to control their judgment and their culture is to live life on the edge and in case they fail to do that it affects their mind and they go on depression (Finlay, 2008). When we are subjected to choosing the topic; we entered into storming stage where we agreed over the choice. Every person within the team feels that the topic chose by the person is excellent. However, by putting away our ego and focusing on the end goal we were able to come to a common point and agree with each other (Gardner et al. 2006). At this stage, I learnt it is not always about placing my idea as the optimum one but accepting others' idea and working towards it as efficiently as I would do if the idea was originally mine. Evaluating the incident I could say that adolescents are blind talents who are led to sluaghter and hence it is important to porvide them guide which would help them to come back from the depression. Once, we are settled with the topic we entered into norming stage where we decide which part is done by whom and deciding our roles in the project. Then we start performing (Gibbs, 1988). While performing I faced that the boys on our team are too reluctant and we always chase them to get the necessary information. At that time I have felt anxious and angry. We had an approaching deadline and those boys are too relax to perform. Afterwards, when analysing the situation, I get the point that it is not about the fair in work division. In this case, my task is only a poster but in the case of future professionals, it can be a matter of life and death of my service user (Schneider and Whitehead, 2013). Hence, I have not to overwhelmed by my feeling. Moreover, I also need not fight with that rather I have accepted the situation and move forward towards performing my duty. At that stage, I concluded that those people are naturally relaxed and reluctant by characteristics. I accept the fact that not everybody is as serious as I am. Then I decided to accept the people and the situation as they are and move forward. I took over my duty to fulfil the job without losing my temper and patience. Finally, convince those boys to deliver their part of work and compile all the information and crafted the poster (Gardner et al. 2006). The transitional phase of physical development makes them mavericks and they tend to do the unconventional things and hence as a nurse I should understand adolscent psychology to provide them with better care and treatment. Hence as a nurse I will have to be more focused on communicating, being friendly and understanding the mindsets of the adolescents which would help to provide the safe and aware treatment. Conclusion This project not only makes me understand the importance of teamwork, but also the importance of time management. I have learnt how to work under pressure and make mot out of my team. I also noticed some sorts of communication gap which hindered the process. I also perceive that cooperation with my team member is most vital part to make the task going in its direction. In order to make my team working towards a common goal, I have to understand their needs and acknowledge the differences between two team members. It is an important learning for me as i have understood that in oredr to porvide treatment to the adolescents it is important to understand them as well as to implement a freindly culture in the treatment porcdure. References Dourish, P. (1995). Developing a reflective model of collaborative systems.ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI),2(1), 40-63. Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on Reflective practice.PBLB paper,52. Gardner, G. E., Carryer, J., Dunn, S., Gardner, A. (2004).Nurse practitioner standards project: report to Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. Australian Nursing Midwifery Council. Gardner, G., Carryer, J., Gardner, A., Dunn, S. (2006). Nurse practitioner competency standards: findings from collaborative Australian and New Zealand research.International journal of nursing studies,43(5), 601-610. Gibbs, G. (1988). The reflective cycle.Kitchen S (1999) An appraisal of methods of reflection and clinical supervision. Br J Theatre Nurs,9(7), 313-7. Schneider, Z., Whitehead, D. (2013).Nursing and midwifery research: methods and appraisal for evidence-based practice. Elsevier Australia.