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Kangaroo

2008-01-18T00:13:29Z

WillyWee:

[[Image:Kangaroo-bree.png|right|Eastern Grey Kangaroo (''Macropus giganteus'')]]

'''Kangaroos''' are the largest [[marsupial]]s alive today. Excluding specimens sent overseas, they are only found on the continent of [[Australia]] apart from some species in some areas of [[Papua New Guinea]]<ref>[http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/kangaroos.html Australia's kangaroos], Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.</ref>. There are at least sixty-nine [[species]] of kangaroo <ref name="kangbio">[http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/biology.html "Kangaroo Biology"], Australian Government</ref>, which include [[wallabies]] and tree-kangaroos.

==Description==

Kangaroos have large ears on top of their small heads, a long snout, and short arms with clawed fingers. Their legs are strong, powerful, and are made for leaping. Their feet have four toes at the end of elongated metatarsi that they rest on when standing. They also have a powerful, thick tail that is used as support when standing, a third-leg when walking slowly, and for counterbalance while leaping. Like all Marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch on their stomachs in which they carry their young.
The name 'Kangaroo' comes from the Australian Aboriginal word of the same word. 170 years after Australia's discovery, in 1778, British lieutenant James Cook recorded in his diary, that when asked what a specimen was called, he replied 'Kangaroo', which means 'I don't know' in Aborigine.

===Diet===

Kangaroos are [[herbivore]]s, eating grass, roots, and shrubs. They have a chambered stomach similar to [[sheep]] and [[cattle]]. They are able to regurgitate their food, chew it again as [[cud]], and then swallow it for digestion.

===Social Order===

Kangaroos travel in [[mob | mobs]] of about ten or more males and females. The leader of the mob, called a "boomer", is a male determined by age and size. The boomer has access to females in his mob for mating and will wander around the mob intimidating any other males who try to mate with his harem.

===Reproduction===

Female kangaroos usually only have one baby kangaroo (called a "joey") at a time. The newborn joey weighs as little as .03 ounces when first born, after which it crawls into its mothers pouch where it will nurse, grow, and develop. Red Kangaroo joeys will stay in their mothers pouch for about eight months and Grey Kangaroo joeys stay in there for about one year.

===Development of the Young in the Pouch===

Kangaroos have adapted to the varied conditions across Australia in many ways. One of the most unusual, is the way females of some species can delay the progress of pregnancy. In this way the female is ready to give birth to a replacement for the young in her pouch if it dies early, or within a week of when it permanently leaves the pouch. This ability to delay births means that there can be up to 12 months between a mating and the birth of the young one resulting from that mating (when the normal gestation period is less than 35 days). It also means that the species can best respond to periods of drought and plenty.

Species which have this unusual ability normally mate again soon after the female gives birth. The tiny newly born kangaroo (less than 25 mm long) moves unaided into its mother's pouch and attaches itself to one of four teats. During the early stages of pouch life the young is permanently attached to the teat, but as it matures and begins to grow hair it also develops the ability to release and reattach itself to the teat.

In the late stages of pouch life, once it has a thin covering of fur, the young one begins to explore the outside world for increasing lengths of time until eventually it is old enough to be excluded permanently from the pouch. Complete weaning may take a number of months more after the young has permanently left the pouch. If the mother gives birth during this time, the newborn young will attach itself to a different teat to that being used by the older young. It is remarkable that when this happens the mother produces two different kinds of milk for the two different-aged young<ref name="kangbio"/>.

==Origins==

Consistent with their view that the fossil record as a whole does not support the evolutionary position<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp "Fossils Questions and Answers"], Answers In Genesis</ref><ref>[http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/fsslrcrd.html Creation/Evolution Quotes: Fossil Record]</ref>, creationists state that there is a lack of transitional fossils showing an evolutionary origin of kangaroos:

{{QuoteBox|The Macropod family is alleged to have evolved from either the Phalangeridae (possums) or Burramyidae (pygmy-possums)...<br />However, there are no fossils of animals which appear to be intermediate between possums and kangaroos. ''Wabularoo naughtoni'', supposed ancestor of all the macropods, was clearly a kangaroo (it greatly resembles the potoroos which dwell in Victoria’s forests). If modern kangaroos really did come from it, all this shows is the same as we see happening today, namely that kangaroos come from kangaroos, "after their kind." <ref>Driver, Rebecca, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/755/ Kangaroos: God's amazing craftsmanship], ''Creation'' 20(3):28–31, June 1998.</ref>}}

According to the [[origins theory]] model used by young earth [[creation science | creation scientists]], modern kangaroos are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard [[Noah's Ark]] prior to the [[Great Flood]]. It has not yet been determined by [[baraminology | baraminologists]] whether kangaroos form a [[holobaramin]] with the [[wallaby]], [[tree-kangaroo]], [[wallaroo]], [[pademelon]] and [[quokka]], or if all these species are in fact [[Baraminology|apobaramin]]ic or [[Baraminology|polybaramin]]ic.

After the Flood, these kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land<ref name="cab17">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter17.pdf "How did animals get from the Ark to places such as Australia"], Chapter 17 of ''The Creation Answers Book'', by Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> with lower sea levels during the post-flood [[ice age]], or before the supercontinent of [[Pangea]] broke apart<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2808 "Pangea and the Flood"], Apologetics Press</ref>
The idea that God simply generated kangaroos into existence there is considered by most creation researchers to be contra-Biblical.

Other views on kangaroo origins include the belief of some [[Australian Aborigines]] that kangaroos were sung into existence by their ancestors during the "[[Dreamtime]]" <ref>[http://www.painsley.org.uk/RE/signposts/y8/1-1creationandenvironment/c-abor.htm "An Aborigine Creation Story"]</ref> and the evolutionary view that kangaroos and the other marsupials evolved from a common marsupial ancestor which lived hundreds of millions of years ago.<ref>[http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/1995/australia.html "Australian Mammals: Evolutionary Development as a Result of Geographic Isolation"]</ref>

In accordance with their worldviews, a majority of biologists regard [[Theory of evolution|evolution]] as the most likely explanation for the origin of species including the kangaroo.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20zoo/they%20walk/kangaroo/kangaroo.htm Kangaroo facts]
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/kangaroos.html Answers About Kangaroos]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/migration.asp How did animals get from the Ark to places such as Australia?]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Marsupials]]
[[Category:Australia]]

Johann Sebastian Bach

2008-01-17T23:50:57Z

WillyWee: /* Music */

'''Johann Sebastian Bach''' (March 21, 1685 - July 28, 1750) was a [[German]] [[composer]] and organist active in the late [[Baroque]] era who has been recognized as one of greatest composers of the Western classical music tradition.

==Biography==

Bach came from an extremely musical family, which had been supported by local governments and churches throughout Germany for many years. After graduating from the St. Michael's School in Luneburg, he became a court musician in Weimar, where his fame as a keyboardist began to spread. Later in the year, Bach became the organist at St. Boniface's Church in Arnstadt with help from some family connections, where he often clashed with authorities over the quality of the choir and a long, unauthorized leave of absence where he visited the great composer [[Buxtehude]], who became an important musical influence. After leaving the church and serving as the Kapellmeister and court organist in various cities, Bach ended up in [[Leipzig]] in 1723, where he spent the rest of his life.

Although Bach was always famous as an organist and his works have constantly been viewed as pedagogically important, his reputation among the general public was fairly low until several of his works were revived by the composer [[Felix Mendelssohn]], most importantly an 1829 performance of the [[St. Matthew Passion]].

Bach had several children who became famous composers in their own right, such as [[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach]], [[Carl Phillipp Emmanuel Bach]], and [[Johann Christian Bach]].

==Music==

Bach was a devout [[Lutheran]], and much of his music was religious in nature. Bach attributed the beauty of his music to [[God]], by writing the letters "S.D.G." or "Soli Deo Gloria" in many of his scores. He is well-known for his complete mastery of [[counterpoint]], as well as his use of styles from many different regions of Europe. He also used the cruciform [[B-A-C-H]] motif in his work as a sign of devotion to [[Christ]], although future composers used it to pay homage to their great predecessor.

Important works include:
* The Mass in B Minor
* The St. Matthew Passion
* The Brandenburg Concerti
* The Musical Offering
* The Art of Fugue
* The Well-Tempered Clavier
* The English and French Orchestral Suites
* The Goldberg Variations

And numerous church cantatas and organ works, notably:
* The Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor
* The Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Some of his most famous pieces are drawn from the cantatas, including:
* ''Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring''
* ''Sheep may Safely Graze''

Bach also had a great influence on composers who followed him. Composers such as [[Mozart]], [[Beethoven]], [[Schumann]], and [[Mendelssohn]] began using more contrapuntal elements in their works as a result of his influence. In addition, Chopin's [[Preludes Op. 28]] and Shostakovich's [[Preludes and Fugues Op. 87]] are based explicitly on the [[Well-Tempered Clavier]]. Other works that play explicit homage to Bach include Beethoven's [[Diabelli Variations]] and Liszt's [[Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H]].

Important interpreters of Bach's works include:
* [[Glenn Gould]]
* [[Wanda Landowska]]
* [[Rosalyn Tureck]]
* [[Angela Hewitt]]
* [[Pablo Casals]]
* [[Mark Steinbach]]
* [[Kieron Bassi]]

There have also been many "modernizations" of Bach's music by artists as varied as [[Wendy Carlos]] and [[Jethro Tull]].







Bach is considered to have been the "master of masters." He summed up his view of music as follows:<ref>http://www.americanminute.com/ (Entry for March 21, 2007)</ref>

:The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging.

== References ==

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bach, Johann Sebastian}}

[[Category:Composers]]
[[Category:German People]]