AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
The adjective that is used to describe something that is like a cow or an ox is "bovine".
The words "cow", "bull" and "calf" are also used to describe some other large animals that are not related to cattle, such as elephants, moose and whales.
Cattle are found all over the world, from as far north as Canada and Russia to the dry inland of Australia. The only continent they are not found on is Antarctica. Different types and breeds of cattle are suited to different environments. "Bos indicus" cattle such as the Brahman breed are suited to subtropical and tropical areas, whereas "Bos taurus" cattle such as Angus cattle are more suited to temperate or colder climates. Their large wide hooves are good in both wet areas and dry grassland. Their hairy coat grows much longer in the winter and has an extra fluffy layer to hold in warmth. They shed this extra layer in springtime in preparation for the hot summer ahead. Most cattle, except those of the "Bos indicus" subspecies do not have sweat glands in their skin, but their wet nose is a useful cooling system. They can also pant like a dog as well.
Cattle can make a range of noises, from a gentle "moo" to a low growl in warning or to attract females, especially among bulls. When they are angry or upset, they can bellow or bawl quite loudly. Calves are said to bawl, cows moo and bulls bellow.
Cattle are herbivorous, meaning that they are plant-eating (primarily grass) animals. Eating grass is called "grazing". They have very strong tongues and strong lower front teeth that help them to graze. Unlike a horse, cattle do not have any upper front teeth. A cow often swallows grass whole. After a cow has eaten its fill and is resting, they return or regurgitate the grass from their stomach to their mouth and rechew it with their very large back teeth to break it down further. This is called "chewing the cud". Other ruminants like deer, sheep and goats also do this. Horses do not. This means that cattle do not need as much food as horses, even though they are about the same size.
Cattle are ruminants which mean they have a stomach with several chambers which helps digest their food more efficiently. A cow's stomach has four chambers called the "reticulum", "rumen", "omasum" and "abomasum". The reticulum is known as the "hardware" stomach because it is mainly used as a storage area for hard things that the cow might accidentally swallow like nails, rocks and other objects. The rumen is the largest chamber in a ruminant's stomach, and in cattle it can hold up to 50 gallons feed. It is the chamber where fermentation takes place to help break down the grass that the cow has eaten. The omasum, also known as "many piles" is a compartment that squeezes or absorbs all the water that has accumulated from the digestion that has gone on in the rumen. The fourth chamber is the abomasum which similar in function to a human's stomach, and so is called the "true stomach."
Cows have "breasts" called "udders" which are joined together in a large sac, often pink in colour, found hanging between the back legs. The udder is divided into four parts, or quarters, each with a large "teat" that the calf is able to grasp with its mouth to suckle from. Cows begin milk production a few days before a calf is born, and can continue to produce milk when bred again and when pregnant with their next calf. Heifers, unless they have given birth to their first calf, do not produce milk. Dairy cows tend to have much larger udders than beef cows, and as such, these type of cows will usually produce more milk than what is needed to feed one calf. "Dairy cows" are female cattle that are raised to produce lots of milk for human consumption. "Beef cows", on the other hand, are female cattle that are used to raise a calf from birth that is used for beef later in its life. Both types of cows will keep producing milk as long as it is demanded, either by the calf, by the milking machine, or by the human that is hand-milking them. When milk from them is no longer needed, they will not explode: they simply "dry up," where the milk they produce is absorbed or taken back in by their bodies. Cows are pregnant for around 9 months, or an average of 280 days.
Bulls can often be fierce and dangerous, especially in the presence of their herd of cows and heifers. In the wild, they will often fight each other over mating rights and their herds of cows and will use their horns to "gore" each other. Some bulls will fight to the death: others will fight until either one of the bulls decides to run off. They also protect the herds from other animals such as wolves, jackals, bears, tigers and lions. On farms, bulls are usually quieter and more docile and can be led by a nose-ring by their owners, but they can be aggressive with other bulls and with strange people or animals who might get too near his herd. Dairy bulls like Jerseys and Holsteins tend to be more aggressive than bulls of beef breeds like Hereford and Angus. Not all cattle have horns. Bulls with no horns fight by head-butting the other's head, neck, side or belly, and will use their heads to push each other around.
For the reasons above, most male cattle are either sent to slaughter while they are still calves or are castrated so that they are much less likely to fight each other, or be aggressive towards the farmer that is raising them, making them safer to handle and keep until it is time to send them to market. Steers have no other purpose except to be raised, sold and slaughtered for beef.
Ever since people started using cattle in prehistoric times, cattle have been a sign of wealth. In many countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, a person's wealth is judged by the number of cattle they own. Different breeds are used differently.
Cattle are very useful animals. Their flesh can be eaten as meat. Their milk can be drunk and turned into cheese and yoghurt. Their skin can be used as leather. They can pull carts and plows. They can make the power to turn flour mills or pump water. The food that they eat is not expensive, and often not in competition with what people eat.
Dairy cattle are kept and raised specially for milking. Herds of cows are kept and are regularly mated with a bull, so that they produce calves. This keeps the milk supply going. However, most commercial dairy farms do not keep bulls because of the concern that such bulls are very dangerous when being handled. Instead, cows are artificially inseminated with bull semen that is stored kept frozen in liquid nitrogen, and is "bred" by a person who artificially inseminates cows for a living.
Some large dairy herds, especially those used to produce organic or "free-range" milk are kept on pasture where there is a good supply of grass and the fields are relatively small, but not so small that they are not able to graze regularly during the season when grass is growing. This is because the cows need to be brought in for milking every day, twice a day, and should not have far to travel.
A number of dairy herds are kept in barns or sheds for most of their lives and are given feed that has been especially made for them. This feed contains grain like corn, hay including grass and alfalfa or clover, and fermented chopped feed called silage that is usually made from corn, wheat or barley. Cows are often kept in stalls where they have enough room to lay down comfortably. Such large dairies must supply straw or saw dust for the cows to rest on without getting sore from the hard concrete floor.
Cows can be milked by hand, but in many countries where there are large dairies, the cows are milked by a "milking machine". The milk is collected in a large stainless steel container where it undergoes pastuerization, a process that heats milk to a very high temperature to kill any bacteria that are living in the milk. The milk is then taken by truck to a milk or dairy factory to be made into the milk we drink by being separated to remove most of the cream. It is then put into bottles or cartons to be sold. Some milk is also turned into cheese, ice cream, butter, cream and even yogurt. All of these dairy products are packaged or put into cartons or bottles and sold.
Many types of cattle are used for milk. They include:
Beef cattle are bred and raised specifically to provide meat or beef. "Steers" are the best type for this purpose because they can be kept in herds without fighting each other. "Heifers" are also often used for beef, especially those that are not suitable to be used in a breeding herd. The cows of beef cattle are used to give birth to and raise calves for meat. They are not usually used for milk, although some types of cattle, such as the Red Poll, Dexter or Red Devon (also known as the North Devon or Devon) are used for both. These type of cattle are called dual purpose breeds.
Beef cattle are often allowed graze over large areas because they do not have to be brought in every day like dairy cattle. The biggest farms in the world are "cattle stations" in Australia, "ranches" in North America and "ranchos" in Latin America where they run beef cattle.
Until the mid 20th century, beef cattle were often sent to market "on the hoof". Cowboys or drovers would herd the cattle along the roads or on trails to the cattle markets in big towns or cities, or to railway stations where they would be loaded and shipped to these towns or cities. In Australia, sometimes the cattle would travel for hundreds of miles along roads known as 'Traveling Stock Routes'. Big herds would have thousands of 'heads of cattle'. (Cattle are counted by the "head".) Nowadays cattle are usually sent to the market in huge lorries known as road-trains. In North America, cattle are sent to auction marts, slaughter plants or other farms or ranches by large semi-trucks called cattle liners.
The meat from a calf is called 'veal' and from an older beast, 'beef'. Meat that is cut into flat pieces for frying or grilling is called 'steak'. Every part of a beast can be used. The skin becomes leather. The meat which is not used by humans becomes pet food and almost everything that is left over becomes garden fertilizer. Many other products can be and are often made from cattle: for example, car tires, home insulation, paint, hand lotion, soap, jello, and many drugs are made from parts of cattle. Cow's blood is often used in special effects in the creation of action or horror movies. Bones from cattle can be made into knife handles or napkin rings. The list is endless.
Types of cattle that are used for beef:
"Oxen" are cattle trained as work animals. The word "ox" is used to describe just one. They are castrated males (steers).
An ox is over four years old and grown to full size when it begins to work. Oxen are used for pulling plows and wagons, for hauling heavy loads like logs or for powering different machines such as mills and irrigation pumps.
Oxen are most often used in teams of two for light work such as plowing. In past days, very large teams of fourteen to twenty oxen were used for heavy work such as logging. The oxen are put into pairs and each pair must work together. A wooden yoke is put about the neck of each pair, so that the work is shared across their shoulders. Oxen are chosen from certain breeds with horns, since the horns hold the yoke in place when the oxen lower their heads, back up or slow down.
Oxen must be trained from a young age. The owner must make or buy as many as a dozen yokes of different sizes as the animals grow. Ox teams are steered by shouted commands, whistles or the noise of a whip crack. Men who drove ox teams were called teamsters in America, wagoners in Britain, or in Australia, "bullockies". Many bullockies and teamsters were famous for their voices and for their foul language.
Oxen can pull harder and longer than horses, especially for very large loads. They are not as fast as horses, but they are less often injured or less likely to startle than horses are. Many oxen are still in use all over the world, especially in poor countries.
Quick may refer to:
Thunder is a very loud sound that is made sometimes during a very big rain storm.
Thunder is so loud, it can be heard from a very far distance.
It can sound like a boom, a crash, or a rumble.
Thunder is made when lightning strikes.
The energy from the lightning heats up the air so much that it makes a kind of explosion.
When lightning is very near, thunder will be heard soon after the lightning flash, and the sound will be very loud. If the lightning is farther away, the thunder will be a few seconds or many seconds after the lightning. People can guess how far away the lightning is by counting the number of seconds between the time they see the lightning and hear the thunder.
The year 1 (I) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The year started on a Monday in the Gregorian calendar. It was the first year of the 1st century and 1st millennium.
At the time, it was known as the "Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Paullus". The denomination 1 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the main method in Europe for naming years. The year before this is 1 BC in the widely used Julian calendar.
The year 2 (II) was a common year that started on Sunday, according to the Julian calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Tuesday.
At the time, it was known as the "Year of the Consulship of Vinicius and Varus". It was the 2nd year of the 1st century.
5 (V) is a common year of the Julian calendar which started on a Thursday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Saturday. It was known as the "Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Cinna". It was the 5th year of the 1st century.
50 (Roman numerals: L) is a common year of the Gregorian calendar. It started on a Saturday.
3 (number)
10 (number)
10 (ten ) is the number that is after nine and before eleven. Most people have ten fingers and ten toes.
Ten is the smallest positive whole number with two digits. Ten is an important number because most people write numbers using multiples of ten. This is called the decimal number system.
In Roman numerals, 10 is written as X.
A man is a male adult human. He is the opposite of a woman. People use the word "man" (one "man", two or more "men") to talk about gender. Manhood is the period in a male's life after he changes from a boy. A boy is a male child; a female child is called a girl. After boys reach maturity, they can be called a man.
Like most other male mammals, a man inherits an X chromosome from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father. The men's rights movement is a group that tries to fight for men's rights and opposes misandry.
Someone who changes gender to male would also be called a man.
Men normally have the same illnesses as women, but there are some sexual illnesses which men have only, or more often.
There are more differences between men and women, not only sexual differences.
Some examples of secondary sexual characteristics in male humans:
Biology is not the only thing which makes people feel they are men, or that other people are men. Perhaps one in 100,000 men were born without a male body. We call these "transgender" or "transsexual" men. Some men can have a hormone or chromosomal difference (for example "androgen insensitivity syndrome"). Some men have other intersex conditions. Some of those intersex people who people said were female (girls) when they were born want to change this later in their lives.
A woman is a female human adult. People use the word "woman" (one woman, two or more women) to talk about biological sex. Sometimes, the term woman is used regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
A woman has a uterus or "womb". A baby develops in the uterus, a sexual organ exclusive to females.
In the 18th century, biologists began using the symbol for the goddess Venus (♀️) as indicating a female plant or animal. It is often used for women.
While women have gained many more rights and freedoms in most of the developed world, especially since the beginning of the 20th century, many women still face discrimination and harassment worldwide. In earlier centuries, women in most of the world did not have rights, including the right to vote, and were treated with even less respect than today.
The Latin "fēmina", whence "female", is likely from the root in "fellāre" (to suck), in reference to breastfeeding.
A transgender is a woman who was born with a male reproductive system and chose to be identified as a woman.
Among hunter-gatherers, women often work at gathering food and looking after children. This especially happened in the past. Many societies have traditionally patriarchal values, where men are considered to be the leader of the family.
In some modern societies, these roles have changed to allow single, career oriented women to become a regular part of society. Feminism has helped make this possible. However, women still face sexism in the industry today, including difference in salary compared to men.
Violence against women is still a problem even in modern society.
Before modern societies, education of women has been limited. In developed countries, most women have access to education, and even perform better than men at many levels. In the United States in 2005 and 2006, women have earned 62% of associate degrees, 58% of bachelor's degrees, 60% of master's degrees, and 50% of doctorates.
The lack of education in women has been decreasing, and more women today have at least completed tertiary education.
Throughout history, women have made contributions to science, literature, and art. There were many female writers, but many published their work under a male name. In music, women have been composers, songwriters, performers, singers, conductors, scholars, teachers, critics and more.
Position is a way to explain where something is. "Position" can also mean other things:
The words which indicate position are called prepositions.
To find which is your left hand side, hold your hands palms down, point your index fingers and stick your thumbs out at right angles. The finger and thumb of your "left" hand will form a capital letter L.
If the letter L you make is reversed, you found your right hand. Left and right are called opposite sides.
Middle is between "up" and "down" and is between "left" and "right".
Middle means the same as "center".
In or inside means that something is protected and surrounded by something else. Out or outside means that it is not inside something else.
Far means that something is a long way away from you. Near means it is "close" to you. Things can also be near and far other persons and other things.
In many sports, the term "position" is used to show what occupation a person has on their team. For example, in baseball, positions include catcher, shortstop and pitcher.
The position of something is where that thing is in space and time. Usually people use Cartesian coordinates to write down a position. So a scientist might say that the balloon was at "x", "y", "z" when it popped at a certain time.
The position of a person is his status or responsibility in a community or group of people. It is called rank in the army.
In a factory the manager is a typical position.
Right might mean:
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends is a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s. The formal title of the group is the Society of Friends or the Religious Society of Friends.
People in the Society of Friends are called "Friends" or Quakers - both mean the same thing. Most Quakers are Christian but the group today includes a few other people. They live all over the world, but the largest groups are in Kenya, the United States of America, Bolivia, Guatemala, the United Kingdom (England), and Burundi.
The Society of Friends began in the 1650s in England. A man named George Fox spent several years struggling to figure out how to be a good Christian. He finally heard God's voice telling him that Christ would make it clear to him what he should do. Fox went around preaching to people. He told them they could talk to God themselves - that they did not need a priest or minister to do it for them. He told them that if they listened within themselves they would hear Christ telling them what to do. Fox found other people who had similar experiences. Together they started a religious movement that later became the Religious Society of Friends.
The government of England did not like this new group; at the time it was against the law not to belong to the Church of England. They put a lot of Friends in jail, or made them pay money as a punishment. At first, the word "Quaker" was a name used to make fun of Friends, but after a while those people came to like it and use it for themselves.
Seeking freedom of religion, some Quakers moved away to places like America. A young Quaker named William Penn started a new colony there. He got the land because King Charles II of England owed his father a lot of money. This new colony was called Pennsylvania, and it was a place where people could belong to any religion. Penn wanted people to be fair to each other, and he called the biggest city in his new colony Philadelphia, which means "The City of Brotherly Love." Soon there were many Quakers in America.
The Quakers were very active in America in the nineteenth century (1800s). Many of the leaders of the abolition and women's rights movements, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, were Quakers.
Today there are about 375,000 Quakers in the world. This number is very small compared to other religious groups. Even so, a lot of people have heard of the Quakers, because they have worked hard to make our world more fair and just.
Quaker worship services are called "meetings for worship". They start with everybody sitting quietly. This is because they are trying to listen to God. Sometimes, a Quaker will feel that God wants him or her to say something. When this happens, the person stands up and tells everyone. Then they all sit quietly again. At some meetings, a many people will speak. At other meetings, nobody speaks. Quakers feel that a meeting for worship helps them to understand what God wants. Usually, worship lasts about an hour.
Anyone can go to a Quaker meeting.
Quakers also have meetings for worship for weddings and funerals—when two people get married, or if someone dies. When two people get married, the meeting is about them and the life that they will live together. When someone has died, the meeting is about remembering things about the person and the life they had.
Many Quakers in North America, South America, and Africa have a different kind of worship service, like other Christian services. They sing hymns and a pastor gives a sermon. They also have a quiet time, but it does not last as long. These Quakers often have strong Christian beliefs.
And at other times these meetings also decide what Quakers should do - these meetings can be called "meetings for business", but other people call them "meetings for worship for business", because they include parts of both worship and business.
Quakers seek religious truth in their inner experiences. They rely on conscience to guide what they do. They emphasise direct experience of God rather than ritual or ceremony. They believe that priests and rituals are unnecessary and can get between the believer and God. What Quakers say matches what they do.
Almost all Quakers share these beliefs:
The size of something is how much space the thing takes. It can also be described as how big or small something is.
Sizes can be measured. When a size is measured, it is given a number.
"Small" and "big" are opposites.
Opposite may refer to:
Direction follows an imaginary line connecting two points.
Something following the line is moving in that "direction". People show directions by pointing.
The word "direction" is made from the root "direct" meaning to guide.
These are words used to talk about a direction:
Starvation is when a person or animal has not eaten food for such a time that they are unable to do things in a normal way.
After the stomach has been left empty for so long the body starts to give up.
There are many effects of starvation. These can include:
The metabolism naturally lowers when a person is starved. This makes weight loss slower.
Consistently not being able to eat enough will lead to permanent damage to the organs. This is the case for humans when they do not eat enough for about 1-2 months. A process called catabolysis will break down body tissues, using them as fuel to keep vital functions (the nervous system and the heart) working. It will first use muscles before it starts destroying fat.
Starvation was also used to inflict a death penalty. People who eat nothing usually die in a few months.
In 1944 Ancel Keys started a scientific experiment about starvation. The participants were all men. They ate 1800 calories a day.
Microsoft Word or MS Word (often called Word) is a graphical word processing program that users can type with. It is made by the computer company Microsoft. Its purpose is to allow users to type and save documents.
Similar to other word processors, it has helpful tools to make documents.
Microsoft Word is a part of Microsoft Office, but can also be bought separately.
The program was first released in 1981.
Many of the ideas and features in Microsoft Word came from Bravo, the first graphical writing program.
Microsoft bought the Bravo program, and changed its name to "Microsoft Word".
When it first came out, it was not very popular, and did not sell as well as other writing programs like WordPerfect.
Although it was not very popular when it came out, it had a feature called "WYSIWYG" (What You See Is What You Get), which meant that people can change the visual style of writing (e.g. bold, italics), by clicking on buttons, when in other programs like WordPerfect, people had to add special 'codes' to change the style of writing. "WYSIWYG" is now a common feature of all computer writing programs.
There are versions for Microsoft Word for other operating systems as well as Microsoft Windows. New versions support fewer operating systems, although they always support Windows.
The program is very popular.
Without configuration the program saved the document in a proprietary file format, so other programs could not open it. When the user sent his document to a friend, the friend needed a copy of Microsoft Word to read the document. Then that friend would probably also save documents in the same secret format of Word. This gave Microsoft Word a dominant position.
Ants are a kind of insect that lives together in large colonies. They are the family Formicidae.
Ants are a lot like wasps and bees. They all came from the same kind of animal a long time ago, but now they are different. There are about 22,000 different kinds of ants, but we only know of 12,500 for sure. Every kind of ant has a thin part in the middle of their body and two long body parts on their heads called antennae.
Ants live in groups that can be big or small. Some kinds of ants live in small groups and eat other animals. Some ants work together in very big groups. These groups can have millions of ants in them that travel outside every day in a big area. Ants are small, but they are very strong. Some ants are strong enough to carry things that are as heavy as 20 ants. Some ants are called workers. Workers dig tunnels and carry food back to the colony so that other ants and the queen ant can eat.
The groups that ants live in are called colonies. A colony has a female ant called a queen which lays eggs. Those eggs will grow into more ants. Big colonies of ants have different kinds of ants that grow from the eggs. These are called different castes of ants. Some are "workers" which do jobs like carrying and digging, and "soldiers" which fight other animals. Worker and solider ants are females. Another type of ant are "drones" which are male ants.
Really big ant colonies are sometimes called "superorganisms". This means the ants work together so well that they are like little parts of one big animal. Ants cannot live by themselves for very long because they need to work with other ants.
Ants have colonies almost everywhere on planet Earth. Antarctica lacks ants because it's very cold and there's not much food. Small islands may not have ants.
The family Formicidae belongs to the order Hymenoptera, which also includes sawflies, bees and wasps. Ants evolved from a lineage within the vespoid wasps.
Phylogenetic analysis suggests that ants arose in the Lower Cretaceous period about 110 to 130 million years ago, or even earlier. One estimate from DNA studies places the origin of ants at ≈140 million years ago (mya). Another study puts it in the Jurassic at 185 ± 36 mya (95% confidence limits).
After the rise of flowering plants about 100 million years ago ants diversified. They became ecologically dominant about 60 million years ago.
In 1966 E.O. Wilson and his colleagues identified the fossil remains of an ant ("Sphecomyrma freyi") from the Cretaceous period. The specimen, trapped in amber dating back to more than 80 million years ago, has features of both ants and wasps. "Sphecomyrma" was probably a ground forager but some suggest that primitive ants were likely to have been predators underneath the surface of the soil.
During the Cretaceous period, a few species of primitive ants ranged widely on the Laurasian super-continent (the northern hemisphere). They were scarce in comparison to other insects, representing about 1% of the insect population.
Ants became dominant after adaptive radiation at the beginning of the Cainozoic. By the Oligocene and Miocene ants had come to represent 20-40% of all insects found in major fossil deposits. Of the species that lived in the Eocene epoch, approximately one in ten genera survive to the present. Genera surviving today comprise 56% of the genera in Baltic amber fossils (early Oligocene), and 92% of the genera in Dominican amber fossils (apparently early Miocene).
Termites, though sometimes called "white ants", are not ants and belong to the order Isoptera. Termites are actually more closely related to cockroaches and mantids. Termites are eusocial but differ greatly in the genetics of reproduction. The similar social structure is attributed to convergent evolution. Velvet ants look like large ants, but are wingless female wasps.
The life of an ant starts from an egg. If the egg is fertilised, the progeny will be female (diploid); if not, it will be male (haploid). Ants develop by complete metamorphosis with the larval stages passing through a pupal stage before emerging as an adult. The larva is fed and cared for by workers.
Food is given to the larvae by trophallaxis, a process in which an ant regurgitates liquid food held in its crop. This is also how adults share food, stored in the 'social stomach', among themselves.
Larvae may also be given solid food brought back by foraging workers, and may even be taken to captured prey in some species. The larvae grow through a series of moults and enter the pupal stage.
The differentiation into queens and workers (which are both female), and different castes of workers, is influenced in some species by the food the larvae get. Genetic influences, and the control of gene expression by the feeding are complex. The determination of caste is a major subject of research.
A new worker spends the first few days of its adult life caring for the queen and young. It then does digging and other nest work, and later, defends the nest and forages. These changes are sometimes fairly sudden, and define what are called "temporal castes". An explanation for the sequence is suggested by the high casualties involved in foraging, making it an acceptable risk only for ants that are older and are likely to die soon of natural causes.
Most ant species have a system in which only the queen and breeding females can mate. Contrary to popular belief, some ant nests have multiple queens (polygyny). The life history of "Harpegnathos saltator" is
exceptional among ants because both queens and some workers
reproduce sexually.
The winged male ants, called "drones", emerge from pupae with the breeding females (although some species, like army ants, have wingless queens), and do nothing in life except eat and mate.
Most ants produce a new generation each year. During the species specific breeding period, new reproductives, winged males and females leave the colony in what is called a "nuptial flight". Typically, the males take flight before the females. Males then use visual cues to find a common mating ground, for example, a landmark such as a pine tree to which other males in the area converge. Males secrete a mating pheromone that females follow. Females of some species mate with just one male, but in some others they may mate with anywhere from one to ten or more different males. Mated females then seek a suitable place to begin a colony. There, they break off their wings and begin to lay and care for eggs. The females store the sperm they obtain during their nuptial flight to selectively fertilise future eggs.
The first workers to hatch are weak and smaller than later workers, but they begin to serve the colony immediately. They enlarge the nest, forage for food and care for the other eggs. This is how new colonies start in most species. Species that have multiple queens may have a queen leaving the nest along with some workers to found a colony at a new site, a process akin to swarming in honeybees.
A wide range of reproductive strategies have been noted in ant species. Females of many species are known to be capable of reproducing asexually through parthenogenesis, and one species, "Mycocepurus smithii" is known to be all-female.
Ant colonies can be long-lived. The queens can live for up to 30 years, and workers live from 1 to 3 years. Males, however, are more transitory, and survive only a few weeks. Ant queens are estimated to live 100 times longer than solitary insects of a similar size.
Ants are active all year long in the tropics but, in cooler regions, survive the winter in a state of dormancy or inactivity. The forms of inactivity are varied and some temperate species have larvae going into the inactive state (diapause), while in others, the adults alone pass the winter in a state of reduced activity.
It may seem strange that ants have uses, but there are some. Some people use ants for food, medicine and rituals. Some species of ants are used for pest control (they eat pests that destroy food for humans). They can damage crops and enter buildings, though. Some species, like the red imported fire ant, live in places where they came to by complete accident.
Scissors are a tool used for cutting thin material like:
Knives are better than scissors for some uses. Unlike a knife, scissors have two sharp edges.
Some types of scissors, like children's scissors, are not very sharp. Children's scissors are often protected with plastic. These are called "Safety Scissors".
Scissors can be made for left-handed or right-handed people. Using scissors made for the wrong hand is very hard for most people.
There are many kinds of scissors used for cutting different materials and shapes.
Indigo is a shade of blue, more specifically, purplish blue or dark blue.
Isaac Newton named and defined indigo as a spectrum color when he divided up the spectrum into the seven colors of the rainbow. The spectral range of indigo is between 450 and 420 nanometers.
The name of the color indigo originally came from the indigo plant. Indigo is a dye made from the indigo plant, used to dye cloth. Indigo dye also is used to dye denim cloth, which is used to make what are called blue jeans (they should really be called "indigo jeans"). This shade of indigo is called "indigo dye."
The indigo plant originally came from the nation of India. The Ancient Greek language word for the dye is "indikon". The Romans used the term "indicum", which passed into Italian dialect and eventually into English as the word indigo.
These things are colored indigo:
Violet (color)
Violet is the seventh color of the rainbow--it is the color on the inner edge of the rainbow. Violet is the color between blue and purple. The name of the color comes from the violet, which is a small flower grown in most parts of the world.
The first written use of "violet" as a color name in English was in 1370.
Malcolm IV of Scotland
Malcolm IV of Scotland (c. 1141- December 9, 1165) was the grandson of David I of Scotland. He succeeded his grandfather as King of Scotland in 1153. He never married or had children. Not much is known about him.
David I of Scotland
David I of Scotland (1084 – May 24, 1153) was the son of Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret of Scotland.
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 - 16 November 1093) was married to Malcolm III of Scotland. She was the mother of David I of Scotland, Alexander I of Scotland and Edgar. She was the daughter of Edward the Exile, and the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside. She was probably born in Hungary.
Margaret died four days after her husband.
Alexander I of Scotland
Alexander I of Scotland (c. 1078 - 23 April 1124) was the son of Malcolm Canmore and Saint Margaret of Scotland. He became the King of Scotland in 1107. In the same year, he married Sybilla, who was an illegitimate daughter of Henry I of England.
Henry I of England
Henry I of England (c. 1068 C.E. - 1 December 1135 C.E.), also called Henry Beauclerc (meaning good scholar), was the King of England. He ruled from, 1100 until his death in 1135. Henry was born in Selby, Yorkshire. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and Queen Matilda of Flanders. Henry was the only child born in England. His mother had come to England for her coronation in 1068.
Henry was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. His parents probably raised him to go into the Church when he was old enough. On William's death in 1087, Henry's two older brothers were each left half of their father's kingdom. Robert Curthose became Duke of Normandy. William Rufus became king of England. But Henry, still a minor, was left with no inheritance. Henry purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert. But Robert and William Rufus forced him out in 1091. Henry gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin. He then allied himself with William against Robert. Henry was present when William died in a hunting accident in 1100. Robert was away on Crusade. Henry, who was present when William was killed, rushed to seize the English throne for himself.
As King, Henry tried to make social reforms. He issued the Charter of Liberties which is considered a predecessor of the Magna Carta. He put back in place some of the laws of Edward the Confessor.
Henry and his wife had two children, Matilda and William Adelin. William died in the White Ship sinking on November 25, 1120. Henry also fathered more illegitimate children than any other English King. Estimates by various historians place the number between 20 and 25.
Henry died in 1135. He was visiting his daughter and grandchildren in Normandy. After his death, his daughter Mathilda and his nephew, Stephen, argued over who would become the ruler of England, and started a civil war called The Anarchy.
William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I of England, was the first Norman King of England (1066–1087). He was also the Duke of Normandy from 1035 until his death.
At the Battle of Hastings, William defeated Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. That event is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry. He changed the course of both Norman and English history. He and Harold fought to see who would have the English throne. Harold was killed at the battle of Hastings in 1066.
William was the son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy by his concubine Herleva. He was born in Falaise, Normandy in 1027 or 1028. William became the Duke of Normandy when his father died in 1035. In 1034 or 1035 Duke Robert wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He made his noblemen swear to make his young son William their duke if he was killed.
But William's minority rule of Normandy did not start well. Some Normans did not want a boy as their duke. Robert II Archbishop of Rouen was a powerful man in Normandy. He protected William. King Henry I of France also approved of William. In 1037, Archbishop Robert died. Without his support Norman nobles began fighting among themselves. Some wanted William out of the way and tried to kill him. One of William's servants was killed in the very room where William slept. Two more of William's protectors died during this time. Normandy was in complete disorder.
In 1042 William held a church council in Normandy. At that council the church made a new law called the Truce of God. It was to help stop all the private wars. There could be no fighting on feast days or fast days. No fighting was allowed from Thursday night until Monday morning. The punishment for breaking the truce was excommunication. William probably reached the age of majority in about 1044. He no longer needed tutors. He could now rule on his own.
The private wars continued into 1046. William's rule depended on the loyalty of his viscounts. By the fall of 1046 many of the families in lower Normandy began plotting to replace William as duke. Guy of Burgundy, William's cousin, was sent to William's court in hopes he would do well there. William gave Guy castles at Brionne and Vernon. But Guy wasn't happy with this and decided he should rule Normandy himself. He became the leader of what was by now an open revolt. Two of William's viscounts joined Guy. William realized this was a serious threat and he asked King Henry for help. The French king came right away and brought a large army. The combined armies of Duke William and King Henry met the rebels at Val-es-Dunes. The rebels were defeated and Guy fled to his castle at Brionne. William kept the castle cut off from food or supplies until Guy gave up in 1049. The duke forgave his cousin, but Guy soon returned to Burgundy. William's victory at Val-es-Dunes gave him some control of Normandy.
A church council met in October 1047 near the battlefield to consider a new Truce of God. No private wars would be allowed from Wednesday evening through Monday morning. Also no such fighting was allowed during Advent, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. This followed other such truces in place elsewhere in France. But the king and duke were both excluded from this truce. They were allowed to wage war during these times to keep the peace. William's peace in Normandy was now supported by the church.
The battle of Val-es-Dunes was the start of William's rise to power. As the king had stepped in it was more his victory than William's. But William's nobles now began to see him as a leader. He could now think about taking a wife. Shortly before 1049 William decided to marry Matilda of Flanders. She was the daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders and Adela of France, who was the daughter of King Robert II of France. Before it could take place Pope Leo IX refused to allow the marriage. He did not give a reason but the two were cousins. Some time between 1050 and 1052 the two married anyway. But it wasn't until 1059 that another pope, Nicholas II, lifted the ban on their marriage.
While William was building his power in Normandy things were changing around him. King Henry had supported him and William had helped the king against the count of Anjou. About 1052 Count Geoffrey of Anjou and the king suddenly made peace. Just as suddenly the king turned on William. At the same time two of William's uncles, Archbishop Mauger and Count William of Arques rebelled against their nephew. William fought his uncle at the castle at Arques. King Henry now led a large force (army) into Normandy to help Count William of Arques. But Duke William met him in battle and won. Without the king's army to help, the castle had to give up. Duke William sent his two uncles away from Normandy.
In 1054 the king again entered Normandy with a large hostile force. He split his army in two and led the southern forces himself. His brother Odo led the second force east of the Seine river. This time William had all of Normandy supporting him. He had everything that could be used as food removed ahead of the French armies. This would cause them difficulty in keeping their soldiers fed. William also split his soldiers into two armies. William's forces watched the king's armies looking for any chance to attack. When Odo's forces reached the town of Mortimer they found plenty of food and drink. This caused his forces to relax and enjoy themselves. The commanders of William's second army caught them by surprise and killed most of Odo's soldiers. Those who did survive were taken prisoner and held for ransom. When the king got the news that his brother's army had been destroyed his army was struck with panic. The king and his men left Normandy as fast as they could. King Henry I agreed to a peace that lasted three years. But in 1058 the king broke the peace and invaded Normandy again. Just as before William kept the king's army close but waited for the best time to strike. This came as the French army was crossing the Dives river at Varaville. The king had already crossed the river and watched as his army was destroyed as they entered the water. He took what remained of his army and left Normandy for good. The king died a short time later. The new king, his young son Phillip, was under the care of William's father-in-law, Baldwin V. France was no longer hostile to Normandy and this allowed William the freedom to expand.
In 1002 Ethelred King of England married Emma, sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy. The alliance formed by this marriage had far reaching effects. When Canute came to the throne of England in 1016, he took Emma of Normandy as his wife. Her two sons by her former marriage fled to Normandy for their own safety. Edward, the older son, stayed in Normandy for many years at the court of the dukes. The last duke who protected him there was his cousin William. Edward became King of England in 1042. in 1052 Edward made William his heir. In 1065 Harold Godwinson was in Normandy. While he was there he promised Duke William he would support him as successor to the English throne. On 5 January 1066 Edward the king died. But Harold did not respect his oaths. The next day, the day of the funeral, Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England. The story was that on his deathbed, the king had changed his mind, and promised Harold the throne. Harold was not royalty himself and had no legal claim on the throne. For weeks William must have known Edward was dying. But the news of the king's death and Harold's taking the throne must have been a surprise to others.
William began his plans for invasion almost as soon as he received news of the events in England. He called a meeting of his greatest men. William made plans to gather a large army from all over France. His influence and wealth meant he could mount a large campaign. His first task was to build a fleet of ships to carry his army across the English Channel. Then he started gathering an army. His friendship with Brittany, France, and Flanders meant he did not have to rely only on his own army. He hired and paid soldiers from many parts of Europe. William asked for and got the support of the pope who gave him a banner to carry into battle. At the same time Duke William was planning his invasion, so too was Harold Hardrada. The king of England knew both would be coming but he kept his ships and forces in the south of England where William might land.
William may have had as many as 1,000 ships in his invasion fleet. They had favorable winds to leave Normandy on the night of 27 September 1066. William's ship, the Mora, was a gift of his wife, Matilda. It led the fleet to the landing at Pevensey the next morning. As soon as he landed William got news of King Harold's victory over the Norwegian king at Stamford Bridge in the north of England. Harold also received news that William had landed at Pevensey and came south as quickly as he could. The king rested at London for a few days before taking his army to meet William and his French forces.