There was also a Transformers cartoon on TV. The TV show told a different story than the comic book. In the cartoon, the Autobots were looking for energy and the Decepticons chased them to Earth. In the comic book, the Autobots had to stop an asteroid (a big rock in space) from crashing into Cybertron. Another difference is that the story behind each character is different in the cartoon for a lot of robots, like the Dinobots, Jetfire (who is called Skyfire on TV), the Constructicons, and Omega Supreme. Even the way new robots were created was different. In the comic book, Optimus Prime uses the Creation Matrix to make new Transformers. In the cartoon, there is a computer called Vector Sigma that can make new robots.
In 1986, a Transformers movie was made. It was called The Transformers: the Movie and was a story about the future. In the story, it is the year 2005. Optimus Prime is killed by Megatron, and a new Autobot called Ultra Magnus becomes the new Autobot leader. The Autobots have to stop a planet-eating monster called Unicron, who can also transform into a giant robot. Unicron also meets Megatron and gives him a new body and a new name, and he becomes Galvatron. At the end of the movie, Unicron is destroyed.
The TV show also told the story of the year 2005. We learn that the Transformers were once robot slaves who had to work for aliens called Quintessons. The Autobots did not like being slaves, so they chased the Quintessons away from Cybertron. Kids liked Optimus Prime and were sad that he died, so the writers made a story in which he came back to life. In Japan, the TV show continued with new cartoons that were not seen in America.
The comic book was still being made after the TV show ended. Many robots who were not seen in the cartoon were in the comic book, like Darkwing and Skids. There was even a story about how the Transformers met G.I. Joe, another Hasbro toy line.
Beast Wars was about Transformers who could turn into animals. They looked like real animals, but they were robots in disguise. The good guys were called Maximals, and their leader was Optimus Primal. The bad guys were called Predacons, and their leader's name was Megatron. (He was a different Megatron from the Decepticon leader.) In the story, the Maximals and Predacons crashed on Earth a very long time ago, but they did not know where they were. Also, there was too much energy on the planet and it hurt their bodies. They turned into animals to protect themselves from the energy. They could only turn into robots for a short time before the energy started to hurt them.
Later in the story, many of the robots turn into Transmetals, which means they looked like robot animals instead of real animals. The Predacons find out they are on Earth, and Megatron tries to find the Autobots and Decepticons, who are on a space ship called the Ark. Megatron tries to kill Optimus Prime, who is still sleeping, so that he can change the future.
There was another show called Beast Machines that continues the story that started in Beast Wars. At the end of Beast Wars, the Maximals tried to catch Megatron. At the beginning of Beast Machines, he escapes and takes control over Cybertron. There are only four Maximals left and Megatron tries to stop them. Megatron creates new robots called Vehicons, who try to catch the Maximals. Later, we learn that the Vehicons are really Maximals or Predacons that Megatron caught and tried to control. In the story, we also learn that even though Cybertron is a dead, metal planet, it used to be a living planet like Earth.
Hoatzin
The hoatzin ("Opisthocomus hoazin") is a tropical bird found in swamps, river forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America.
They are the only bird which eats leaves as a main part of their diet. Their gut has special adaptations which help their digestion.
The hoatzin is also notable for having young with claws on two of their wing digits. They are the only living member of the family Opisthocomidae. Its close relatives probably died out long ago. There has been much debate about the hoatzin's relationships with other birds.
Hoatzin chicks are born with hooks on their wings. They use the hooks to climb around in the trees before they are large enough to fly. Hoatzins can fly only short distances even when they are fully grown, so they usually climb.
They build their nests over water. If danger threatens, the birds dive into the water. They climb back up the tree after the danger has passed.
Hoatzins communicate through unusual sounds that resemble wheezing, grunting, growls, and hisses.
The hoatzin is the only bird that digests leaves. Their odor has been compared to fresh cow dung. The odor is caused by their digestive system.
The hoatzin eats the leaves and some fruits and flowers of plants which grow in the wet habitats where it lives. It clambers around clumsily among the branches. Once it was thought that the species only could eat the leaves of arums and mangroves, but the species does eat the leaves of more than fifty species. One study undertaken in Venezuela found that the hoatzin diet was 82% leaves, 10% flowers, and 8% fruit.
One of this species' many peculiarities is that it has a digestive system unique amongst birds. Hoatzins use bacterial fermentation in the front part of the gut to break down the vegetable material, much as cattle and other ruminants do. Unlike ruminants, however, which have the rumen (a specialized stomach for bacterial fermentation), the hoatzin has an unusually large crop, folded in two chambers, and a large, multi-chambered lower oesophagus. Its stomach chamber and gizzard are much smaller than in other birds.
The crop of the hoatzin is so large that it displaces the flight muscles and keel of the sternum. This is why they fly so poorly. Because of aromatic compounds in the leaves they eat, and the bacterial fermentation, the bird has a disagreeable, manure-like odor. It is only hunted by humans for food in times of great need. If the bird feeds on insects or other animal matter, that is purely accidental.
So far (2015) very few birds have had their total genome analysed. More recently, a start was made to sequence the entire genome of the hoatzin. As of 2011, it was reported that more than 1.4 billion base pairs of hoatzin DNA had been sequenced, roughly equal to its entire haploid genome, but that only about 2.4% of its genome had yet been assembled. Of birds, the genomes of only four species have been sequenced. Much might be learned by coordinating these efforts with analysing the hoatzin foregut ruminant bacterial microflora. At present, the nearest relatives of the hoatzin are not known. There is a fossil record which suggests its lineage is fairly ancient.
Tasman Peninsula
Tasman Peninsula is 75 km by road south-east of Hobart, at the south east corner of Tasmania, Australia.
Tasman Peninsula is south and west of Forestier Peninsula. It is connected by a very narrow piece of land (isthmus) called Eaglehawk Neck. The Forestier Peninsula is joined to the rest of Tasmania by an isthmus called East Bay Neck, near the town of Dunalley about 60 km from Hobart.
There are a lot of things for visitors to see including the Conservation Park, on the main highway at Taranna, the Port Arthur Historic Site and a number of beaches.
The first people to live here were the Australian aborigines. They were part of a group known as the Ostyer Bay tribe. This large group lived on the east coast of Tasmania. The Tasman Peninsula is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.