Punta Cana, named after a local cape, is a region in the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic. Covering about 4,200,000 m (about 1,100 acres), the region is home to a coastline of sandy white beaches and to a town of the same name. A region once named "Punta de Borrachón" was merged with Punta Cana by the founding investors in 1969.
Bayernliga
The Bayernliga (English: 'Bavaria League') is a German football league. It is the one of the German 5th divisions, and is the 2nd division of football in Bavaria. It was founded in 1945, as the Landesliga Bayern, which was an amatuer league in Bavaria. In 1963, it became the 3rd division of German football. It remained the 3rd division until 1994, when it became the 4th division, after being replaced by the Regionalliga Süd. It remained the 4th division until 2008, when it became the 5th division.
FC Augsburg is the most successful team. It has won the league seven times. Before 1969, it was called BC Augsburg. The next best teams are SpVgg Bayreuth with six titles and 1860 München with five titles, although two were won by the second team, TSV 1860 München Amateure.
Gavialidae
Gavialidae is a family of reptiles within the order Crocodilia. There are only two surviving species, the Gharial ("Gavialis gangeticus") and the False Gharial ("Tomistoma schlegelii"), which are each the sole living representatives of the two Gavialidae genera.
Gharial
The gharial ("Gavialis gangeticus"), sometimes called the Indian gharial, common gharial or gavial, is one of two surviving members of the family Gavialidae. They are a group of crocodile-like reptiles with long, narrow jaws.
The gharial is the second-longest of all living crocodilians: a large male can be nearly six meters in length. Only saltwater crocodiles and the Nile crocodile can grow larger.
The fossil history of the Gavialoidea is quite well known. The earliest examples split from the other crocodilians in the late Cretaceous. The feature of the group that is easiest to recognise is the very long, narrow snout. This is an adaptation to a diet of small fish. Gharials have sacrificed the great mechanical strength of the robust skull and jaw that most crocodiles and alligators have. For this reason, and they cannot prey on large creatures. But they also have reduced weight and water resistance of their lighter skull and very narrow jaw. This gives gharials the ability to catch rapidly moving fish. They catch them with a side-to-side snapping motion.
The earliest Gavialoidea may or may not have been related to the modern types: some died out at the same time as the dinosaurs (at the end of the Cretaceous), others survived until the early Eocene (about 35 million years ago). The modern forms appeared at much the same time. They evolved in the estuaries and coastal waters of Africa. They crossed the Atlantic to reach South America as well. At their peak, the Gavialoidea were numerous and diverse, they occupied much of Asia and America up until the Pliocene. One species, "Rhamphosuchus crassidens" of India, is believed to have grown to an enormous 15 metres or more.
Northern Indian subcontinent: Bhutan (almost extinct), Bangladesh (close to extinction), India (present in small numbers and increasing), Myanmar (possibly extinct), Nepal, Pakistan (close to extinction). Usually found in the river systems of Indus (Pakistan) and the Brahmaputra (Bangladesh, Bhutan & North eastern India), the Ganges (Bangladesh, India & Nepal), and the Mahanadi River (in the rainforest biome) (India). Small numbers are in Kaladan and the Ayeyarwady in Myanmar. It is sympatric, in respective areas, with the mugger crocodile ("Crocodylus palustris") and the saltwater crocodile ("Crocodylus porosus").
Gharials live in rivers. They are best adapted to the calmer areas in deep fast moving rivers. Their physical attributes do not make the animals very suited to walk on land. In fact the only reasons the gharial leaves the water is to either bask in the sun or to nest on the sandbanks of the rivers.
The Gharial has a long, narrow snout. This is the feature that is most different from most other Crocodilia. The only other species who has such a snout is the False gharial ("Tomistoma schlegelii"), which is closely related. The shape of this snout changes when the animal grows older. The snout becomes progressively thinner the older the gharial gets. There is a bulbous growth on the tip of the male's snout. This is called a 'ghara' (after the Indian word meaning 'pot'). It is only present in mature animals. It is used for different activities, such as making a resonant hum during vocalization. It is also used for attracting females. The mating ritual includes a section where the male uses this ghara to make bubbles.
The long jaws are lined with many interlocking, razor-sharp teeth. This is an adaptation to the diet (predominantly fish in adults). This species is one of the largest of all crocodilian species, approaching the saltwater crocodile ("Crocodylus porosus") and the Nile crocodile in maximum size - males reach at least 5 metres in length, and often approach 6 metres. Reports of 7 metre animals exist, but are unconfirmed. The leg musculature of the gharial is not suited to enable the animal to raise the body off the ground (on land) in order to achieve the high-walk gait - being able only to push its body forward across the ground ('belly-sliding'), although it can do this with some speed when required. However, when in water, the gharial is the most nimble and quick of all the crocodiles in the world. The tail seems overdeveloped and is flattened on the side, more so than other crocodiles. This enables it to achieve the excellent swimming abilities.
The gharial has 27 to 29 upper and 25 or 26 lower teeth on each side. These teeth are not received into interdental pits; the first, second, and third mandibular teeth fit into notches in the upper jaw. The front teeth are the largest. The gharial's snout is narrow and long, with a dilation at the end and its nasal bones are comparatively short and are widely separated from the pre-maxillaries. The nasal opening of a gharial is smaller than the supra-temporal fossae. The gharial's lower anterior margin of orbit (jugal) is raised and its mandibular symphysis is extremely long, extending to the 23rd or 24th tooth. A dorsal shield is formed from four longitudinal series of juxtaposed, keeled and bony scutes.
The length of the snout is 3.5 (in adults) to 5.5 times (in young) the breadth of the snout's base. Nuchal and dorsal scutes form a single continuous shield composed of 21 or 22 transverse series. Gharials have an outer row of soft, smooth or feebly-keeled scutes in addition to the bony dorsal scutes. They also have two small post-occipital scutes.
The outer toes of a gharial are two-thirds webbed, while the middle toe is one-third webbed. Gharials have a strong crest on the outer edge of the forearm, leg and foot. Typically, adult gharials are of a dark olive hue while young ones are pale olive, with dark brown spots or cross-bands.
Young gharials eat insects, larvae, and small frogs. Adults feed almost only on fish, although some individuals have been known to eat dead animals. Their snout morphology is ideally suited for piscivory; their long, narrow snouts afford very little resistance to water in swiping motions to snap up fish in the water. Their numerous needle-like teeth are perfect for holding on to struggling, slippery fish.
The Gharial is not a man-eater. Despite its immense size, its thin, fragile jaws make it physically incapable of devouring any large animal, including a human being. The myth that gharials eat humans may come partly from their similar appearance to crocodiles and because jewelry has been found in the digestive system. However, the gharial may have swallowed this jewelry while scavenging corpses or because used to aid digestion or buoyancy management.