178-557: Ursus ornatus Cuvier , 1825 The spectacled bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ), also known as the South American bear , Andean bear , Andean short-faced bear or mountain bear and locally as jukumari ( Aymara and Quechua ), ukumari ( Quechua ) or ukuku , is a species of bear native to the Andes Mountains in northern and western South America . It is the only living species of bear native to South America, and
356-473: A 2008 referendum , a new constitution implemented leftist reforms. In December 2008, Correa declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate, based on the argument that it was odious debt contracted by prior corrupt and despotic regimes. He announced that the country would default on over $ 3 billion worth of bonds, and he succeeded in reducing the price of outstanding bonds by more than 60% by fighting creditors in international courts . He brought Ecuador into
534-507: A Plan to return to the constitutional system through universal elections. This plan enabled the new democratically elected president to assume the duties of the executive office. Elections were held on 29 April 1979, under a new constitution. Jaime Roldós Aguilera was elected president, garnering over one million votes, the most in Ecuadorian history. He took office on 10 August as the first constitutionally elected president, after nearly
712-678: A brief war erupted between Colombia and Peru, over Peru's claims to the Caquetá region, which ended with Peru reluctantly signing the Salomon-Lozano Treaty on 24 March 1922. Ecuador protested this secret treaty, since Colombia gave away Ecuadorian claimed land to Peru that Ecuador had given to Colombia in 1916. On 21 July 1924, the Ponce-Castro Oyanguren Protocol was signed between Ecuador and Peru where both agreed to hold direct negotiations and to resolve
890-538: A decade of civilian and military dictatorships. In 1980, he founded the Partido Pueblo, Cambio y Democracia (People, Change, and Democracy Party) after withdrawing from the Concentración de Fuerzas Populares (Popular Forces Concentration). He governed until 24 May 1981, when he died, along with his wife and the minister of defense Marco Subia Martinez , when his Air Force plane crashed in heavy rain near
1068-591: A division of the former territory of the Royal Audience of Quito . Quito, which remained the capital of the department and republic, is located only about 40 kilometers (25 mi), 1 ⁄ 4 of a degree , south of the equator. Various peoples had settled in the area of future Ecuador before the arrival of the Incas . The archeological evidence suggests that the Paleo-Indians ' first dispersal into
1246-548: A famous debate , which is said to exemplify the two major deviations in biological thinking at the time – whether animal structure was due to function or (evolutionary) morphology. Cuvier supported function and rejected Lamarck's thinking. Cuvier also conducted racial studies which provided part of the foundation for scientific racism , and published work on the supposed differences between racial groups' physical properties and mental abilities. Cuvier subjected Sarah Baartman to examinations alongside other French naturalists during
1424-728: A foreign member of the Royal Society , and in 1812, a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . In 1812, he became a correspondent for the Royal Institute of the Netherlands , and became a member in 1827. Cuvier was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822. Cuvier then devoted himself more especially to three lines of inquiry: (i)
1602-475: A fossil skeleton known at that time as the "Ohio animal". In his second paper in 1796, he described and analyzed a large skeleton found in Paraguay , which he would name Megatherium . He concluded this skeleton represented yet another extinct animal and, by comparing its skull with living species of tree-dwelling sloths, that it was a kind of ground-dwelling giant sloth . Together, these two 1796 papers were
1780-547: A job at Fiquainville chateau in Normandy as tutor to the only son of the Comte d'Héricy , a Protestant noble. There, during the early 1790s, he began his comparisons of fossils with extant forms. Cuvier regularly attended meetings held at the nearby town of Valmont for the discussion of agricultural topics. There, he became acquainted with Henri Alexandre Tessier (1741–1837), who had assumed a false identity. Previously, he had been
1958-418: A long time would produce only by multiplying what a lesser time produces. Since a lesser time produced no organic changes, neither, he argued, would a much longer time. Moreover, his commitment to the principle of the correlation of parts caused him to doubt that any mechanism could ever gradually modify any part of an animal in isolation from all the other parts (in the way Lamarck proposed), without rendering
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#17327938115892136-418: A moment bear the examination of anyone who has dissected a hand, a viscus, or even a feather. Instead, he said, the typical form makes an abrupt appearance in the fossil record, and persists unchanged to the time of its extinction. Cuvier attempted to explain this paleontological phenomenon he envisioned (which would be readdressed more than a century later by " punctuated equilibrium ") and to harmonize it with
2314-581: A pearl in the dunghill of Normandy", he wrote his friend Antoine-Augustin Parmentier . As a result, Cuvier entered into correspondence with several leading naturalists of the day and was invited to Paris. Arriving in the spring of 1795, at the age of 26, he soon became the assistant of Jean-Claude Mertrud (1728–1802), who had been appointed to the chair of Animal Anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes . When Mertrud died in 1802, Cuvier replaced him in office and
2492-422: A period in which she was held captive in a state of neglect. Cuvier examined Baartman shortly before her death, and conducted a dissection following her death that disparagingly compared her physical features to those of monkeys. Cuvier's most famous work is Le Règne Animal (1817; English: The Animal Kingdom ). In 1819, he was created a peer for life in honour of his scientific contributions. Thereafter, he
2670-707: A physician and well-known agronomist, who had fled the Terror in Paris. After hearing Tessier speak on agricultural matters, Cuvier recognized him as the author of certain articles on agriculture in the Encyclopédie Méthodique and addressed him as M. Tessier. Tessier replied in dismay, "I am known, then, and consequently lost."—"Lost!" replied M. Cuvier, "no; you are henceforth the object of our most anxious care." They soon became intimate and Tessier introduced Cuvier to his colleagues in Paris"I have just found
2848-457: A popular legend that Cuvier could reconstruct the entire bodily structures of extinct animals given only a few fragments of bone. At the time Cuvier presented his 1796 paper on living and fossil elephants, it was still widely believed that no species of animal had ever become extinct. Authorities such as Buffon had claimed that fossils found in Europe of animals such as the woolly rhinoceros and
3026-603: A rule, gradually change into a succeeding, distinct fossil form. A deep-rooted source of his opposition to the gradual transformation of species was his goal of creating an accurate taxonomy based on principles of comparative anatomy. Such a project would become impossible if species were mutable, with no clear boundaries between them. According to the University of California Museum of Paleontology, "Cuvier did not believe in organic evolution, for any change in an organism's anatomy would have rendered it unable to survive. He studied
3204-490: A seminal or landmark event, becoming a turning point in the history of paleontology , and in the development of comparative anatomy , as well. They also greatly enhanced Cuvier's personal reputation and they essentially ended what had been a long-running debate about the reality of extinction . In 1799, he succeeded Daubenton as professor of natural history in the Collège de France . In 1802, he became titular professor at
3382-545: A series of peaceful treaties, and Peru after a short war in which the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro was signed in 1942. During the struggle for independence , before Peru or Ecuador became independent, areas of the former Vice Royalty of New Granada declared themselves independent from Spain. A few months later, a part of the Peruvian liberation army of San Martín decided to occupy the independent cities of Tumbez and Jaén, with
3560-487: A single vicinity. Animal prey is usually quite small, but these bears can prey on adult deer , llama ( Lama glama ) and domestic cattle ( Bos taurus ) and horses ( Equus caballus ). A spectacled bear was captured on a remote video-monitor predaceously attacking an adult mountain tapir perhaps nearly twice its own body mass, and adult horse and cattle killed by spectacled bears have been even heavier. Animal prey has included rabbits , mice , other rodents , birds at
3738-522: A small band of Spaniards headed by Francisco Pizarro reached Cajamarca and lured Atahualpa into a trap ( battle of Cajamarca ). Pizarro promised to release Atahualpa if he made good his promise of filling a room full of gold. But, after a mock trial, the Spaniards executed Atahualpa by strangulation. New infectious diseases such as smallpox , endemic to the Europeans, caused high fatalities among
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#17327938115893916-524: A species. This differed widely from Cuvier's theory, which seemed to propose that animal extinction was catastrophic. However, Cuvier's theory of extinction is still justified in the case of mass extinctions that occurred in the last 600 million years, when approximately half of all living species went completely extinct within a short geological span of two million years, due in part by volcanic eruptions, asteroids, and rapid fluctuations in sea level. At this time, new species rose and others fell, precipitating
4094-472: A third larger than females in dimensions and sometimes twice their weight. Males can weigh from 100 to 200 kg (220 to 440 lb), and females can weigh from 35 to 82 kg (77 to 181 lb). Head-and-body length can range from 120 to 200 cm (47 to 78.5 in), though mature males do not measure less than 150 cm (59 in). On average males weigh about 115 kg (254 lb) and females average about 65 kg (143 lb), thus it rivals
4272-661: A variety of indigenous peoples that were gradually incorporated into the Inca Empire during the 15th century. The territory was colonized by Spanish Empire during the 16th century, achieving independence in 1820 as part of Gran Colombia , from which it emerged as a sovereign state in 1830. The legacy of both empires is reflected in Ecuador's ethnically diverse population, with most of its 17.8 million people being mestizos , followed by large minorities of Europeans , Native American , African , and Asian descendants. Spanish
4450-603: A way, his chronological dating of Earth's history somewhat reflected Lamarck's transformationist theories. Cuvier also worked alongside Alexandre Brongniart in analyzing the Parisian rock cycle. Using stratigraphical methods, they were both able to extrapolate key information regarding Earth history from studying these rocks. These rocks contained remnants of molluscs, bones of mammals, and shells. From these findings, Cuvier and Brongniart concluded that many environmental changes occurred in quick catastrophes, though Earth itself
4628-405: Is also remembered for strongly opposing theories of evolution, which at the time (before Darwin 's theory) were mainly proposed by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire . Cuvier believed there was no evidence for evolution , but rather evidence for cyclical creations and destructions of life forms by global extinction events such as deluges . In 1830, Cuvier and Geoffroy engaged in
4806-541: Is based on its leading role in trying to secure an independent, local government. Although the new government lasted no more than two months, it had important repercussions and was an inspiration for the independence movement of the rest of Spanish America. Today, 10 August is celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday . On 9 October 1820, the Department of Guayaquil became the first territory in Ecuador to gain its independence from Spain, and it spawned most of
4984-410: Is blackish in colour, though bears may vary from jet black to dark brown and to even a reddish hue. The species typically has distinctive beige or ginger-coloured markings across its face and upper chest, though not all spectacled bears have "spectacle" markings. The pattern and extent of pale markings are slightly different on each individual bear, and bears can be readily distinguished by this. Males are
5162-461: Is compromised if they are small, isolated populations, even without facing habitat lost or hunting. Second, the transformation of the landscape represents loss of availability of the type of habitats spectacled bears need. Third, fragmentation exposes bears to hunting and killing due to its accessibility. Tremarctos ornatus is commonly referred to in English as the "spectacled bear", a reference to
5340-423: Is immediately attributed to them, becoming persecuted and hunted. The IUCN has recommended the following courses for spectacled bear conservation: expansion and implementation of conservation land to prevent further development, greater species level research and monitoring of trends and threats, more concerted management of current conservation areas, stewardship programs for bears which engage local residents and
5518-533: Is in favor of the subsistence of the bear population is their longevity, since they are able to raise at least two cubs to adulthood, contributing to population replacement. Wild bears can live for an average of 20 years. The Andean bear is threatened due to poaching and habitat loss, attributable to agricultural expansion and illegal mining . Poaching might have several reasons: trophy hunting , pet trade , religious or magical beliefs, natural products trade and conflicts with humans. Trophy hunting of Andean bear
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5696-454: Is known as the principle of the correlation of parts. He writes: This idea is referred to as Cuvier's principle of correlation of parts, which states that all organs in an animal's body are deeply interdependent. Species' existence relies on the way in which these organs interact. For example, a species whose digestive tract is best suited to digesting flesh but whose body is best suited to foraging for plants cannot survive. Thus in all species,
5874-446: Is meat. The most common foods for these bears include cactus , bromeliads (especially Puya ssp. , Tillandsia ssp. and Guzmania ssp.) palm nuts , bamboo hearts, frailejon ( Espeletia spp.), orchid bulbs, fallen fruit on the forest floor, unopened palm leaves, and moss . They will also peel back tree bark to eat the nutritious second layer. Much of this vegetation is very tough to open or digest for most animals, and
6052-583: Is only 200 to 650 km (120 to 400 mi) wide but with a length of more than 4,600 km (2,900 mi). The species is found almost entirely in the Andes Mountains . Before spectacled bear populations became fragmented during the last 500 years, the species had a reputation for being adaptable, as it is found in a wide variety of habitats and altitudes throughout its range, including cloud forests , high-altitude grasslands , dry forests and scrub deserts . A single spectacled bear population on
6230-462: Is only a single reported human death due to a spectacled bear, which occurred while it was being hunted and was already shot. The only predators of cubs include cougars ( Puma concolor ) and possibly male spectacled bears. The bears "appear to avoid" jaguars , but the jaguar has considerably different habitat preferences, does not overlap with the spectacled bear in altitude on any specific mountain slope, and only overlaps slightly (900m) in altitude if
6408-511: Is part of the National System of Protected Areas and the remaining 67% is located on unprotected, undeveloped areas that have suffered a substantial reduction of approximately 40% from its original distribution. Due to this land-use conversion to agricultural uses, important amounts of the spectacled bear habitat have been lost. This has fragmented their territory and isolated populations to small areas that might result in extirpations in
6586-425: Is related to the time mothers breastfeed (1 year), but keep providing maternal care for an additional year. Breeding maturity is estimated to be reached at between four and seven years of age for both sexes, based solely on captive bears. Females usually give birth for the first time when they are 5 years old and their fecundity is shorter than that of the males, who keep fertility almost all their lives. Something that
6764-595: Is subject to debate and needs to be further evaluated. Legislation against bear hunting exists, but is rarely enforced. This leads to persistence of the poaching problem, even inside protected areas. In 2006, the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society was established in Peru to study and protect the spectacled bear. To evaluate the protected status of the Andean bears researchers evaluated
6942-532: Is the official language spoken by a majority of the population, although 13 native languages are also recognized, including Quechua and Shuar . Ecuador is a representative democratic presidential republic and a developing country whose economy is highly dependent on exports of commodities, primarily petroleum and agricultural products. The country is a founding member of the United Nations , Organization of American States , Mercosur , PROSUR , and
7120-533: The Jardin des Plantes ; and in the same year, he was appointed commissary of the institute to accompany the inspectors general of public instruction. In this latter capacity, he visited the south of France, but in the early part of 1803, he was chosen permanent secretary of the department of physical sciences of the Academy, and he consequently abandoned the earlier appointment and returned to Paris. In 1806, he became
7298-586: The 20 km walk . Ecuador adopted the United States dollar on 13 April 2000 as its national currency and on 11 September, the country eliminated the Ecuadorian sucre , in order to stabilize the country's economy . The US Dollar has been the only official currency of Ecuador since then. The emergence of the Amerindian population as an active constituency has added to the democratic volatility of
Spectacled bear - Misplaced Pages Continue
7476-469: The American black bear ( Ursus americanus ) and Asian black bear ( U. thibetanus ), and the sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ). In Andean cloud forests, spectacled bears may be active both during the day and night, but specimens in the Peruvian desert are reported to bed down under vegetative cover during the day. Their continued survival alongside humans has depended mostly on their ability to climb even
7654-571: The Axis Powers in World War II favoring Peru with the territory they occupied at the time the war came to an end. The 1944 Glorious May Revolution followed a military-civilian rebellion and a subsequent civic strike which successfully removed Carlos Arroyo del Río as a dictator from Ecuador's government. However, a post-Second World War recession and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic military interventions in
7832-679: The Bible . He attributed the different time periods he was aware of as intervals between major catastrophes, the last of which is found in Genesis . Cuvier's claim that new fossil forms appear abruptly in the geological record and then continue without alteration in overlying strata was used by later critics of evolution to support creationism, to whom the abruptness seemed consistent with special divine creation (although Cuvier's finding that different types made their paleontological debuts in different geological strata clearly did not). The lack of change
8010-659: The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. Correa's administration reduced the high levels of poverty and unemployment in Ecuador. Correa's three consecutive terms (from 2007 to 2017) were followed by his former Vice President Lenín Moreno 's four years as president (2017–21). After being elected in 2017, President Moreno's government adopted economically liberal policies, such as reduction of public spending , trade liberalization , and flexibility of
8188-648: The Galapagos Islands . The 19th century was marked by instability for Ecuador with a rapid succession of rulers. The first president of Ecuador was the Venezuelan-born Juan José Flores , who was ultimately deposed. Leaders who followed him included Vicente Rocafuerte ; José Joaquín de Olmedo ; José María Urbina ; Diego Noboa ; Pedro José de Arteta ; Manuel de Ascásubi ; and Flores's own son, Antonio Flores Jijón , among others. The conservative Gabriel García Moreno unified
8366-602: The Galápagos Islands . In recognition of its unique ecological heritage, the new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable rights of nature . The country's name means " Equator " in Spanish, truncated from the Spanish official name, República del Ecuador ( lit. "Republic of the Equator"), derived from the former Ecuador Department of Gran Colombia established in 1824 as
8544-539: The IUCN because of habitat loss. The spectacled bear is the only bear native to South America and is the largest land carnivore in that part of the world, although as little as 5% of its diet is composed of meat. Among South America's extant, native land animals, only the Baird's tapir , South American tapir and mountain tapir are heavier than the bear. The spectacled bear is a mid-sized species of bear. Overall, its fur
8722-531: The Inca Empire in 1463 sharing the same language. In contrast, when the Incas made incursions into coastal Ecuador and the eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador, they found both the environment and indigenous people more hostile. Moreover, when the Incas tried to subdue them, these indigenous people withdrew to the interior and resorted to guerrilla tactics. As a result, Inca expansion into the Amazon Basin and
8900-592: The Non-Aligned Movement . According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research , between 2006 and 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5 percent (as compared to 0.6 percent over the prior two decades). At the same time, the country's Gini index of economic inequality improved from 0.55 to 0.47. One of 17 megadiverse countries in the world, Ecuador hosts many endemic plants and animals, such as those of
9078-467: The Paris Basin named Palaeotherium and Anoplotherium based on fragmentary remains alone, although more complete remains were later uncovered. He named the pterosaur Pterodactylus , described (but did not discover or name) the aquatic reptile Mosasaurus , and was one of the first people to suggest the earth had been dominated by reptiles, rather than mammals, in prehistoric times. Cuvier
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#17327938115899256-530: The Ptero-Dactyle in 1809, (later Latinized as Pterodactylus antiquus )—the first known member of the diverse order of pterosaurs . In 1808 Cuvier identified a fossil found in Maastricht as a giant marine lizard, the first known mosasaur . Cuvier speculated correctly that there had been a time when reptiles rather than mammals had been the dominant fauna. This speculation was confirmed over
9434-596: The Republic of Ecuador , is a country in northwestern South America , bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometers (621 mi) west of the mainland. The country's capital is Quito and its largest city is Guayaquil . The territories of modern-day Ecuador were once home to
9612-744: The Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire . Moreover, to add legitimacy to his claims, on 16 February 1840, Flores signed a treaty with Spain, whereby Flores convinced Spain to officially recognize Ecuadorian independence and its sole rights to colonial titles over Spain's former colonial territory known anciently to Spain as the Kingdom and Presidency of Quito. Ecuador during its long and turbulent history has lost most of its contested territories to each of its more powerful neighbors, such as Colombia in 1832 and 1916, Brazil in 1904 through
9790-711: The Treaty of Guayaquil (1829) which Peru reluctantly signed, after the overwhelmingly outnumbered Gran Colombian force led by Antonio José de Sucre defeated President and General La Mar's Peruvian invasion force in the Battle of Tarqui . In addition, Ecuador's eastern border with the Portuguese colony of Brazil in the Amazon Basin was modified before the Wars of Independence by the First Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777) between
9968-470: The "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and was instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology through his work in comparing living animals with fossils. Cuvier's work is considered the foundation of vertebrate paleontology , and he expanded Linnaean taxonomy by grouping classes into phyla and incorporating both fossils and living species into
10146-538: The 1960s, while foreign companies developed oil resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, construction of the Andean pipeline was completed. The pipeline brought oil from the east side of the Andes to the coast, making Ecuador South America's second largest oil exporter. In 1978, the city of Quito and the Galápagos Islands were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites , making the first two properties in
10324-521: The Americas occurred near the end of the last glacial period , around 16,500–13,000 years ago. The first people who reached Ecuador may have journeyed by land from North and Central America or by boat down the Pacific Ocean coastline. Even though their languages were unrelated, these groups developed similar groups of cultures, each based in different environments. The people of the coast combined agriculture with fishing, hunting, and gathering;
10502-493: The Amerindian population during the first decades of Spanish rule, as they had no immunity . At the same time, the natives were forced into the encomienda labor system for the Spanish. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a real audiencia (administrative district) of Spain and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and later the Viceroyalty of New Granada . The 1797 Riobamba earthquake , which caused up to 40,000 casualties,
10680-494: The Andean Bears. One is ex-situ, people that live far from where the bears inhabit; for them, the spectacled bears are usually charismatic symbols of the wilderness, animals that are not aggressive and that are mainly vegetarians. The other view is in-situ, people that live in areas where the bears inhabit; for them, bears are cattle predators, pests that should be killed as a preventative measure and where any cattle loss
10858-629: The Caqueta river and the Marañon-Amazon river. Peru ignored these protests and created the Department of Loreto in 1853 with its capital in Iquitos. Peru briefly occupied Guayaquil again in 1860, since Peru thought that Ecuador was selling some of the disputed land for development to British bond holders, but returned Guayaquil after a few months. The border dispute was then submitted to Spain for arbitration from 1880 to 1910, but to no avail. In
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#173279381158911036-638: The Caquetá river. Later, Ecuador contended that the Republic of Colombia, while reorganizing its government, unlawfully made its eastern border provisional and that Colombia extended its claims south to the Napo River because it said that the Government of Popayán extended its control all the way to the Napo River. When Ecuador seceded from the Gran Colombia, Peru contested Ecuador's claims with
11214-545: The Cedula of 1802 an ecclesiastical instrument, which had nothing to do with political borders. Peru began its de facto occupation of disputed Amazonian territories, after it signed a secret 1851 peace treaty in favor of Brazil. This treaty disregarded Spanish rights that were confirmed during colonial times by a Spanish-Portuguese treaty over the Amazon regarding territories held by illegal Portuguese settlers. Peru began occupying
11392-752: The Chair changed its name to Chair of Comparative Anatomy . The Institut de France was founded in the same year, and he was elected a member of its Academy of Sciences . On 4 April 1796 he began to lecture at the École Centrale du Pantheon and, at the opening of the National Institute in April, he read his first paleontological paper, which subsequently was published in 1800 under the title Mémoires sur les espèces d'éléphants vivants et fossiles . In this paper, he analyzed skeletal remains of Indian and African elephants , as well as mammoth fossils , and
11570-851: The Colombian government's representatives an agreement was reached and the Muñoz Vernaza-Suarez Treaty was signed 15 July 1916, in which Colombian rights to the Putumayo river were recognized as well as Ecuador's rights to the Napo river and the new border was a line that ran midpoint between those two rivers. In this way, Ecuador gave up the claims it had to the Amazonian territories between the Caquetá River and Napo River to Colombia, thus cutting itself off from Brazil. Later,
11748-428: The District of the South as far back as April 1830. Moreover, the Cauca region, throughout its long history, had very strong economic and cultural ties with the people of Ecuador. Also, the Cauca region, which included such cities as Pasto , Popayán , and Buenaventura , had always been dependent on the Presidencia or Audiencia of Quito. Fruitless negotiations continued between the governments of Bogotá and Quito, where
11926-399: The Ecuadorian border troops. Finally, on 23 July 1941, the Peruvians launched a major invasion, crossing the Zarumilla river in force and advancing into the Ecuadorian province of El Oro . During the course of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War , Peru gained control over part of the disputed territory and some parts of the province of El Oro, and some parts of the province of Loja , demanding that
12104-583: The Ecuadorian coastal provinces, establishing itself as an independent state. Its inhabitants celebrated what is now Ecuador's official Independence Day on 24 May 1822. The rest of Ecuador gained its independence after Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spanish Royalist forces at the Battle of Pichincha , near Quito . Following the battle, Ecuador joined Simón Bolívar 's Republic of Gran Colombia , also including modern-day Colombia , Venezuela , and Panama . In 1830, Ecuador separated from Gran Colombia and became an independent republic. Two years later, it annexed
12282-426: The Ecuadorian government give up its territorial claims. The Peruvian Navy blocked the port of Guayaquil , almost cutting all supplies to the Ecuadorian troops. After a few weeks of war and under pressure by the United States and several Latin American nations, all fighting came to a stop. Ecuador and Peru came to an accord formalized in the Rio Protocol , signed on 29 January 1942, in favor of hemispheric unity against
12460-432: The Ecuadorian military shot down Peruvian aircraft and helicopters and Peruvian infantry marched into southern Ecuador. Each country blamed the other for the onset of hostilities, known as the Cenepa War . Sixto Durán Ballén , the Ecuadorian president, famously declared that he would not give up a single centimeter of Ecuador. Popular sentiment in Ecuador became strongly nationalistic against Peru: graffiti could be seen on
12638-432: The Gran Colombian federation on 13 May 1830. After Ecuador's separation, the Department of Cauca voluntarily decided to unite itself with Ecuador due to instability in the central government of Bogota. The Venezuelan born President of Ecuador, the general Juan José Flores , with the approval of the Ecuadorian congress annexed the Department of Cauca on 20 December 1830, since the government of Cauca had called for union with
12816-419: The Incas two generations of rulers— Topa Inca Yupanqui and Huayna Capac —to absorb them into the Inca Empire . People belonging to the confederations that gave them the most problems were deported to distant areas of Peru, Bolivia, and north Argentina. Similarly, a number of loyal Inca subjects from Peru and Bolivia were brought to Ecuador to prevent rebellion. Thus, the region of highland Ecuador became part of
12994-682: The Pacific Ocean known as Tumbes . In Ecuador's southern Andes Mountain region where the Marañon cuts across, Ecuador had claims to an area it called Jaén de Bracamoros . These areas were included as part of the territory of Gran Colombia by Bolivar on 17 December 1819, during the Congress of Angostura when the Republic of Gran Colombia was created. Tumbes declared itself independent from Spain on 17 January 1821, and Jaén de Bracamoros on 17 June 1821, without any outside help from revolutionary armies. However, that same year, Peruvian forces participating in
13172-454: The Pacific coast of Ecuador was hampered. The indigenous people of the Amazon jungle and coastal Ecuador remained relatively autonomous until the Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived in force. The Amazonian people and the Cayapas of Coastal Ecuador were the only groups to resist both Inca and Spanish domination, maintaining their languages and cultures well into the 21st century. Before
13350-476: The Peruvian border. Many people believe that he was assassinated by the CIA, given the multiple death threats against him because of his reformist agenda, the deaths in automobile crashes of two key witnesses before they could testify during the investigation, and the sometimes contradictory accounts of the incident. Roldos was immediately succeeded by Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado. In 1984, León Febres Cordero from
13528-516: The Putomayo and Marañon Rivers. In July 1941, troops were mobilized in both countries. Peru had an army of 11,681 troops who faced a poorly supplied and inadequately armed Ecuadorian force of 2,300, of which only 1,300 were deployed in the southern provinces. Hostilities erupted on 5 July 1941, when Peruvian forces crossed the Zarumilla river at several locations, testing the strength and resolve of
13706-581: The Reformation. His mother was Anne Clémence Chatel; his father, Jean-Georges Cuvier, was a lieutenant in the Swiss Guards and a bourgeois of the town of Montbéliard. At the time, the town, which would be annexed to France on 10 October 1793, belonged to the Duchy of Württemberg . His mother, who was much younger than his father, tutored him diligently throughout his early years, so he easily surpassed
13884-693: The Social Christian Party was elected president. Rodrigo Borja Cevallos of the Democratic Left (Izquierda Democrática, or ID) party won the presidency in 1988, winning the runoff election against Abdalá Bucaram (brother in law of Jaime Roldos and founder of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party). His government was committed to improving human rights protection and carried out some reforms, notably an opening of Ecuador to foreign trade. The Borja government negotiated
14062-767: The Tremarctinae subfamily, this facial structure has been thought to be an adaptation to a largely carnivorous diet, despite the modern spectacled bears' herbivorous dietary preferences. The spectacled bear's sense of smell is extremely sensitive. They can perceive from the ground when a tree is loaded with ripe fruit. On the other hand, their hearing is moderate and their vision is short. Despite some rare spilling-over into eastern Panama , spectacled bears are mostly restricted to certain areas of northern and western South America. They can range in western Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru , western Bolivia , and northwestern Argentina . Its elongated geographical distribution
14240-617: The Trujillo revolution occupied both Jaén and Tumbes. Peruvian generals, without any legal titles backing them up and with Ecuador still federated with the Gran Colombia, had the desire to annex Ecuador to the Republic of Peru at the expense of the Gran Colombia, feeling that Ecuador was once part of the Inca Empire. On 28 July 1821, Peruvian independence was proclaimed in Lima by San Martín, and Tumbes and Jaén, which were included as part of
14418-617: The United States of America) ruled that the border of the undelineated zone was to be set at the line of the Cordillera del Cóndor . While Ecuador had to give up its decades-old territorial claims to the eastern slopes of the Cordillera, as well as to the entire western area of Cenepa headwaters, Peru was compelled to give to Ecuador, in perpetual lease but without sovereignty, 1 km (0.39 sq mi) of its territory, in
14596-596: The Zarumilla River, war broke out with Peru. Peru claimed that Ecuador's military presence in Peruvian-claimed territory was an invasion; Ecuador, for its part, claimed that Peru had recently invaded Ecuador around the Zarumilla River and that Peru since Ecuador's independence from Spain has systematically occupied Tumbez, Jaén, and most of the disputed territories in the Amazonian Basin between
14774-458: The age of 10, soon after entering the gymnasium , he encountered a copy of Conrad Gessner 's Historiae Animalium , the work that first sparked his interest in natural history . He then began frequent visits to the home of a relative, where he could borrow volumes of the Comte de Buffon 's massive Histoire Naturelle . All of these he read and reread, retaining so much of the information, that by
14952-553: The age of 12, "he was as familiar with quadrupeds and birds as a first-rate naturalist." He remained at the gymnasium for four years. Cuvier spent an additional four years at the Caroline Academy in Stuttgart , where he excelled in all of his coursework. Although he knew no German on his arrival, after only nine months of study, he managed to win the school prize for that language. Cuvier's German education exposed him to
15130-472: The animal unable to survive. In his Éloge de M. de Lamarck ( Praise for M. de Lamarck ), Cuvier wrote that Lamarck's theory of evolution rested on two arbitrary suppositions; the one, that it is the seminal vapour which organizes the embryo; the other, that efforts and desires may engender organs. A system established on such foundations may amuse the imagination of a poet; a metaphysician may derive from it an entirely new series of systems; but it cannot for
15308-487: The area where the Ecuadorian base of Tiwinza – focal point of the war – had been located within Peruvian soil and which the Ecuadorian Army held during the conflict. The final border demarcation came into effect on 13 May 1999, and the multi-national MOMEP (Military Observer Mission for Ecuador and Peru) troop deployment withdrew on 17 June 1999. In 1972, a "revolutionary and nationalist" military junta overthrew
15486-544: The arrival of human beings. Cuvier's early work demonstrated conclusively that extinction was indeed a credible natural global process. Cuvier's thinking on extinctions was influenced by his extensive readings in Greek and Latin literature; he gathered every ancient report known in his day relating to discoveries of petrified bones of remarkable size in the Mediterranean region. Influence on Cuvier's theory of extinction
15664-488: The arrival of the Spaniards, the Inca Empire was involved in a civil war . The untimely death of both the heir Ninan Cuyochi and the Emperor Huayna Capac, from a European disease that spread into Ecuador, created a power vacuum between two factions and led to a civil war. The army stationed north headed by Atahualpa marched south to Cuzco and massacred the royal family associated with his brother. In 1532,
15842-419: The bear is one of the few species in its range to exploit these food sources. The spectacled bear has the largest zygomatic mandibular muscles relative to its body size and the shortest muzzle of any living bear, slightly surpassing the relative size of the giant panda 's ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) morphology here. Not coincidentally, both species are known for extensively consuming tough, fibrous plants. Unlike
16020-502: The bear its common English name. A 2007 investigation into the mitochondrial DNA of bear species indicates that the subfamily Tremarctinae, which includes the extant spectacled bear, diverged from the Ursinae subfamily approximately 5.7 million years ago. Tremarctinae includes the extinct American giant short-faced and Florida short-faced bears. Spectacled bears are one of four extant bear species that are habitually arboreal , alongside
16198-408: The border of Peru and Ecuador inhabited as great a range of habitat types as the world's brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) now occupy. The best habitats for spectacled bears are humid to very humid montane forests. These cloud forests typically occupy a 500 to 1,000 m (1,600 to 3,300 ft) elevational band between 1,000 and 2,700 m (3,300 and 8,900 ft) depending on latitude. Generally,
16376-544: The classification. Cuvier is also known for establishing extinction as a fact—at the time, extinction was considered by many of Cuvier's contemporaries to be merely controversial speculation. In his Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813) Cuvier proposed that now-extinct species had been wiped out by periodic catastrophic flooding events. In this way, Cuvier became the most influential proponent of catastrophism in geology in
16554-499: The continents existing ten millennia ago collapsed, allowing the ocean floors to rise higher than the continental plates and become the continents that now exist today. The latter proposed that a massive tsunami hit the globe, leading to mass extinction. Whatever the case was, he believed that the deluge happened quite recently in human history. In fact, he believed that Earth's existence was limited and not as extended as many natural scientists, like Lamarck , believed it to be. Much of
16732-410: The country in recent years. The population has been motivated by government failures to deliver on promises of land reform, lower unemployment and provision of social services, and the historical exploitation by the land-holding elite. Their movement, along with the continuing destabilizing efforts by both the elite and leftist movements, has led to a deterioration of the executive office. The populace and
16910-508: The country in the 1860s with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 19th century, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast. Ecuador abolished slavery in 1851. The descendants of enslaved Ecuadorians are among today's Afro-Ecuadorian population. The Liberal Revolution of 1895 under Eloy Alfaro reduced
17088-445: The cubs can see and walk before she leaves with them, this occurs in between three and four months after birth. Females grow more slowly than males. The size of the litter has been positively correlated with both the weight of the female and the abundance and variety of food sources, particularly the degree to which fruiting is temporally predictable. The cubs often stay with the female for one year before striking out on their own. This
17266-478: The deep past that had been destroyed by catastrophe. Cuvier came to believe that most, if not all, the animal fossils he examined were remains of species that had become extinct. Near the end of his 1796 paper on living and fossil elephants, he said: Contrary to many natural scientists' beliefs at the time, Cuvier believed that animal extinction was not a product of anthropogenic causes. Instead, he proposed that humans were around long enough to indirectly maintain
17444-619: The disbanding of the small terrorist group, " ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo! " ("Alfaro Lives, Dammit!"), named after Eloy Alfaro . However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID party, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1999. A notable event was the Cenepa War fought between Ecuador and Peru in 1995. Ecuador won its first Olympic medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta when Jefferson Pérez won gold in
17622-528: The dispute in an equitable manner and to submit the differing points of the dispute to the United States for arbitration. Negotiations between the Ecuadorian and Peruvian representatives began in Washington on 30 September 1935. The negotiations turned into arguments during the next 7 months and finally on 29 September 1937, the Peruvian representatives decided to break off the negotiations. In 1941, amid fast-growing tensions within disputed territories around
17800-622: The early 19th century. His study of the strata of the Paris basin with Alexandre Brongniart established the basic principles of biostratigraphy . Among his other accomplishments, Cuvier established that elephant-like bones found in North America belonged to an extinct animal he later would name as a " mastodon ", and that a large skeleton dug up in present-day Argentina was of a giant, prehistoric ground sloth , which he named Megatherium . He also established two ungulate genera from
17978-488: The early part of the 20th century, Ecuador made an effort to peacefully define its eastern Amazonian borders with its neighbours through negotiation. On 6 May 1904, Ecuador signed the Tobar-Rio Branco Treaty recognizing Brazil's claims to the Amazon in recognition of Ecuador's claim to be an Amazonian country to counter Peru's earlier Treaty with Brazil back on 23 October 1851. Then after a few meetings with
18156-482: The education of the public regarding spectacled bears, especially the benefits of conserving the species due to its effect on natural resources. National governments, NGOs and rural communities have made different commitments to conservation of this species along its distribution. Conservation actions in Venezuela date back to the early 1990s, and have been based mostly on environmental education at several levels and
18334-607: The entire Cordillera Oriental is considered based upon unpublished data. Generally, the only threat against adult bears is humans. The longest-lived captive bear, at the National Zoo in Washington, DC , in the US, attained a lifespan of 36 years and 8 months. Lifespan in the wild has not been studied, but bears are believed to commonly live to 20 years or more unless they run foul of humans. Spectacled bears are more herbivorous than most other bears; normally about 5 to 7% of their diets
18512-496: The establishment of protected areas. The effort of several organisations has led to a widespread recognition of the Andean bear in Venezuelan society, raising it as an emblematic species of conservation efforts in the country, and to the establishment of a 10-year action plan. Evidence regarding the objective effectiveness of these programs (like reducing poaching risk, maintaining population viability, and reducing extinction risk)
18690-430: The evidence he used to support his catastrophist theories has been taken from his fossil records. He strongly suggested that the fossils he found were evidence of the world's first reptiles, followed chronologically by mammals and humans. Cuvier didn't wish to delve much into the causation of all the extinction and introduction of new animal species but rather focused on the sequential aspects of animal history on Earth. In
18868-432: The fossilized records of ancient Earth. He also attempted to verify the water catastrophe by analyzing records of various cultural backgrounds. Though he found many accounts of the water catastrophe unclear, he did believe that such an event occurred at the brink of human history nonetheless. This led Cuvier to become an active proponent of the geological school of thought called catastrophism , which maintained that many of
19046-407: The fossilized remains of several species of animals mixed together. Anatomists reassembling these skeletons ran the risk of combining remains of different species, producing imaginary composite species. However, by examining the functional purpose of each bone and applying the principle of correlation of parts, Cuvier believed that this problem could be avoided. Ecuador Ecuador , officially
19224-455: The functional significance of each body part must be correlated to the others, or else the species cannot sustain itself. Cuvier believed that the power of his principle came in part from its ability to aid in the reconstruction of fossils. In most cases, fossils of quadrupeds were not found as complete, assembled skeletons, but rather as scattered pieces that needed to be put together by anatomists. To make matters worse, deposits often contained
19402-444: The geological column, the ordered layers of sedimentary rock, of the Paris basin. They concluded that the layers had been laid down over an extended period during which there clearly had been faunal succession and that the area had been submerged under sea water at times and at other times under fresh water. Along with William Smith 's work during the same period on a geological map of England, which also used characteristic fossils and
19580-407: The geological features of the earth and the history of life could be explained by catastrophic events that had caused the extinction of many species of animals. Over the course of his career, Cuvier came to believe there had not been a single catastrophe, but several, resulting in a succession of different faunas. He wrote about these ideas many times, in particular, he discussed them in great detail in
19758-442: The giant panda, the spectacled bear is perhaps the most herbivorous living bear species. These bears also eat agricultural products, such as sugarcane ( Saccharum ssp.), honey (made by Apis ssp.), and maize ( Zea mays ), and have been known to travel above the tree line for berries and more ground-based bromeliads . When food is abundant, such as large corn fields, up to nine individual bears have fed close by each other in
19936-693: The government of Bogotá did not recognize the separation of Ecuador or that of Cauca from the Gran Colombia until war broke out in May 1832. In five months, New Granada defeated Ecuador due to the fact that the majority of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces were composed of rebellious angry unpaid veterans from Venezuela and Colombia that did not want to fight against their fellow countrymen. Seeing that his officers were rebelling, mutinying, and changing sides, President Flores had no option but to reluctantly make peace with New Granada. The Treaty of Pasto of 1832
20114-717: The government of Velasco Ibarra. The coup d'état was led by General Guillermo Rodríguez and executed by navy commander Jorge Queirolo G. The new president exiled José María Velasco to Argentina. He remained in power until 1976, when he was removed by another military government. That military junta was led by Admiral Alfredo Poveda , who was declared chairman of the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council included two other members: General Guillermo Durán Arcentales and General Luis Pintado. The civil society more and more insistently called for democratic elections. Colonel Richelieu Levoyer , Government Minister, proposed and implemented
20292-425: The government restored fuel subsidies and withdrew an austerity package, which ended nearly two weeks of protests. In the 11 April 2021 election , conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso took 52.4% of the vote, compared to 47.6% for left-wing economist Andrés Aráuz , who was supported by exiled former president Correa. Lasso had finished second in the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections. On 24 May 2021, Lasso
20470-576: The government waived the right to tax increases in raw material prices and foreign exchange repatriations. In October 2018, Moreno cut diplomatic relations with the Maduro administration of Venezuela, a close ally of Correa. The relations with the United States improved significantly under Moreno. In June 2019, Ecuador agreed to allow US military planes to operate from an airport on the Galapagos Islands. In February 2020, his visit to Washington
20648-410: The highland Andes mountains, where life was more sedentary, groups of tribes cooperated and formed villages; thus the first nations based on agricultural resources and the domestication of animals formed. Eventually, through wars and marriage alliances of their leaders , groups of nations formed confederations. When the Incas arrived, they found that these confederations were so developed that it took
20826-406: The human mummies and the skeletons of present-day men." Lamarck dismissed this conclusion, arguing that evolution happened much too slowly to be observed over just a few thousand years. Cuvier, however, in turn criticized how Lamarck and other naturalists conveniently introduced hundreds of thousands of years "with a stroke of a pen" to uphold their theory. Instead, he argued that one may judge what
21004-524: The idea that fossils came from those that are currently living. The idea that these bones belonged to elephants living – but hiding – somewhere on Earth seemed ridiculous to Cuvier, because it would be nearly impossible to miss them due to their enormous size. The Megatherium provided another compelling data point for this argument. Ultimately, his repeated identification of fossils as belonging to species unknown to man, combined with mineralogical evidence from his stratigraphical studies in Paris, drove Cuvier to
21182-405: The information available about the reproduction of this species has been through observation of captive animals. In captivity, mating is concentrated in between February and September, according to the latitude, and, in the wild, it has been seen how mating may occur at almost any time of the year, but activity normally peaks in April and June, at the beginning of the wet season and corresponding with
21360-506: The intention of using them as springboards to occupy the independent city of Guayaquil and then liberate the rest of the Audiencia de Quito (Ecuador). It was common knowledge among officers of the liberation army from the south that their leader San Martín wished to liberate present-day Ecuador and add it to the future republic of Peru, since it had been part of the Inca Empire before the Spaniards conquered it. However, Bolívar 's intention
21538-484: The labour code. Ecuador also left the left-wing Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alba) in August 2018. The Productive Development Act introduced an austerity policy, and reduced the previous development and redistribution policies. Regarding taxes, the authorities aimed to "encourage the return of investors" by granting amnesty to fraudsters and proposing measures to reduce tax rates for large companies . In addition,
21716-467: The last remaining short-faced bear (subfamily Tremarctinae ). Its closest relatives are the extinct Tremarctos floridanus , and the giant short-faced bears ( Arctodus and Arctotherium ), which became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago. Unlike other omnivorous bears, the diet of the spectacled bear is mostly herbivorous. The species is classified as Vulnerable by
21894-531: The late twentieth century, however, has led to a resurgence of interest among historians of science and other scholars in this aspect of Cuvier's work. Cuvier collaborated for several years with Alexandre Brongniart , an instructor at the Paris mining school, to produce a monograph on the geology of the region around Paris. They published a preliminary version in 1808 and the final version was published in 1811. In this monograph, they identified characteristic fossils of different rock layers that they used to analyze
22072-409: The light colouring on its chest, neck and face, which may resemble spectacles in some individuals, or the "Andean bear" for its distribution along the Andes. The root trem - comes from a Greek word meaning "hole"; arctos is the Greek word for "bear". Tremarctos is a reference to an unusual hole on the animal's humerus . Ornatus , Latin for "decorated", is a reference to the markings that give
22250-411: The long term. Therefore, the distribution of the species in the country is set in numerous habitat patches, from which many are small. Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier ( / ˈ k j uː v i eɪ / ; French: [ʒɔʁʒ(ə) kyvje] ), was a French naturalist and zoologist , sometimes referred to as
22428-492: The mammoth were remains of animals still living in the tropics (i.e. rhinoceros and elephants ), which had shifted out of Europe and Asia as the earth became cooler. Thereafter, Cuvier performed a pioneering research study on some elephant fossils excavated around Paris. The bones he studied, however, were remarkably different from the bones of elephants currently thriving in India and Africa. This discovery led Cuvier to denounce
22606-588: The missionary villages in the Mainas or Maynas region, which it began calling Loreto, with its capital in Iquitos . During its negotiations with Brazil, Peru claimed Amazonian Basin territories up to Caqueta River in the north and toward the Andes Mountain range. Colombia protested stating that its claims extended south toward the Napo and Amazon Rivers. Ecuador protested that it claimed the Amazon Basin between
22784-429: The most epidemic problem for the species is extensive logging and farming, which has led to habitat loss for the largely tree-dependent bears. Shortage of natural food sources might push bears to feed on crops or livestock, increasing the conflict that usually results in poaching of individuals. Impacts of climate changes on bear habitat and food sources are not fully understood, but might have potential negative impact in
22962-543: The mummified cats and ibises that Geoffroy had brought back from Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, and showed they were no different from their living counterparts; Cuvier used this to support his claim that life forms did not evolve over time." He also observed that Napoleon's expedition to Egypt had retrieved animals mummified thousands of years previously that seemed no different from their modern counterparts. "Certainly", Cuvier wrote, "one cannot detect any greater difference between these creatures and those we see, than between
23140-570: The near future. As stated, one of the major limitations to the viability of bear populations is human-caused mortality, mainly poaching and habitat loss; but the other big limitation is population size. Therefore, the most effective actions for their viability will be to increase population size and decrease poaching. For these actions to be effective, it is needed to understand where they are carried out, identifying areas where habitat protection and landscape management are realistically capable of maintaining large bear populations. There are two views of
23318-483: The nest (especially ground-nesting birds like tinamous or lapwings ( Vanellus ssp.), arthropods , and carrion . They are occasionally accused of killing livestock, especially cattle , and raiding corn fields. Allegedly, some bears become habituated to eating cattle, but the bears are actually more likely to eat cattle as carrion and some farmers may accidentally assume the spectacled bear killed them. Due to fear of loss of stock, bears may be killed on sight. Most of
23496-541: The newly discovered Real Cedula of 1802, by which Peru claims the King of Spain had transferred these lands from the Viceroyalty of New Granada to the Viceroyalty of Peru. During colonial times this was to halt the ever-expanding Portuguese settlements into Spanish domains, which were left vacant and in disorder after the expulsion of Jesuit missionaries from their bases along the Amazon Basin. Ecuador countered by labeling
23674-506: The other branches of government give the president very little political capital, as illustrated by the most recent removal of President Lucio Gutiérrez from office by Congress in April 2005. Vice President Alfredo Palacio took his place In the election of 2006 , Rafael Correa gained the presidency. In January 2007, several left-wing political leaders of Latin America, his future allies, attended his swearing-in ceremony. Endorsed in
23852-457: The other children at school. During his gymnasium years, he had little trouble acquiring Latin and Greek, and was always at the head of his class in mathematics, history, and geography. According to Lee, "The history of mankind was, from the earliest period of his life, a subject of the most indefatigable application; and long lists of sovereigns, princes, and the driest chronological facts, once arranged in his memory, were never forgotten." At
24030-411: The peak of fruit-ripening. The mating pair are together for one to two weeks, during which they will copulate multiple times for 12–45 minutes at a time. The courtship is based on games and non-aggressive fights while intercourse can be accompanied by loud sounds from both animals. In the wild, births usually occur in the dry season, between December and February but in captivity it occurs all year within
24208-589: The people of the highland Andes developed a sedentary agricultural way of life; and peoples of the Amazon basin relied on hunting and gathering; in some cases, this is combined with agriculture and arboriculture . Many civilizations arose in Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture and Machalilla Culture on the coast, the Quitus (near present-day Quito), and the Cañari (near present-day Cuenca ). In
24386-402: The percentage of their habitats included in national and protected areas in 1998. This evaluation showed that only 18.5% of the bear range was located in 58 protected areas, highlighting that many of them were small, especially those in the northern Andes. The largest park had an area of 2,050 km (790 sq mi) while the median size of 43 parks from Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador
24564-406: The polar bear for the most sexually dimorphic modern bear. A male in captivity that was considered obese weighed 222.5 kg (491 lb). The tail is a mere 7 cm (2.8 in) in length, and the shoulder height is from 60 to 90 cm (23.5 to 35.5 in). Compared to other living bears, this species has a more rounded face with a relatively short and broad snout. In some extinct species of
24742-433: The power of the clergy and the conservative land owners. This liberal wing retained power until the military "Julian Revolution" of 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by instability and emergence of populist politicians, such as five-time President José María Velasco Ibarra . Brasilia Presidential Act After Ecuador's separation from Colombia on 13 May 1830, its first President, General Juan José Flores , laid claim to
24920-400: The preliminary discourse (an introduction) to a collection of his papers, Recherches sur les ossements fossiles de quadrupèdes ( Researches on quadruped fossil bones ), on quadruped fossils published in 1812. Cuvier's own explanation for such a catastrophic event is derived from two different sources, including those from Jean-André Deluc and Déodat de Dolomieu . The former proposed that
25098-462: The principle of faunal succession to correlate layers of sedimentary rock, the monograph helped establish the scientific discipline of stratigraphy . It was a major development in the history of paleontology and the history of geology . In 1800 and working only from a drawing, Cuvier was the first to correctly identify in print, a fossil found in Bavaria as a small flying reptile, which he named
25276-399: The proposition that the abrupt changes the Earth underwent over a long period of time caused some species to go extinct. Cuvier's theory on extinction has met opposition from other notable natural scientists like Darwin and Charles Lyell . Unlike Cuvier, they didn't believe that extinction was a sudden process; they believed that like the Earth, animals collectively undergo gradual change as
25454-417: The revolution of Trujillo by the Peruvian occupying force, had the whole region swear allegiance to the new Peruvian flag and incorporated itself into Peru. Gran Colombia had always protested Peru for the return of Jaén and Tumbes for almost a decade, then finally Bolivar after long and futile discussion over the return of Jaén, Tumbes, and part of Mainas, declared war. President and General José de La Mar , who
25632-532: The seasonal patterns of these movements are still unknown. Nowadays, the distribution area of the Tremarctos ornatus is influenced by the human presence, mainly due to habitat destruction and degradation, hunting and fragmentation of populations. This fragmentation is mainly found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina. It represents several problems to this population because, first, their persistence
25810-717: The signing of the Treaty of Guayaquil in September 1829, whereby Peru and its Congress recognized Gran Colombian rights over Tumbes, Jaén, and Maynas. Through meetings between Peru and Gran Colombia, the border was set as Tumbes river in the west, and in the east, the Maranon and Amazon rivers were to be followed toward Brazil as the most natural borders between them. According to the peace negotiations Peru agreed to return Guayaquil, Tumbez, and Jaén; despite this, Peru returned Guayaquil, but failed to return Tumbes and Jaén, alleging that it
25988-416: The species' distribution. The gestation period is 5.5 to 8.5 months. From one to three cubs may be born, with four being rare and two being the average. The cubs are born with their eyes closed and weigh about 300 to 330 g (11 to 12 oz) each. Although this species does not give birth during the hibernation cycle as do northern bear species, births usually occur in a small den and the female waits until
26166-675: The strength of his reputation, however, continued to discourage naturalists from speculating about the gradual transmutation of species, until Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species more than two decades after Cuvier's death. Early in his tenure at the National Museum in Paris, Cuvier published studies of fossil bones in which he argued that they belonged to large, extinct quadrupeds. His first two such publications were those identifying mammoth and mastodon fossils as belonging to extinct species rather than modern elephants and
26344-493: The structure and classification of the Mollusca ; (ii) the comparative anatomy and systematic arrangement of the fishes; (iii) fossil mammals and reptiles and, secondarily, the osteology of living forms belonging to the same groups. In 1812, Cuvier made what the cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans called his "Rash dictum": he remarked that it was unlikely that any large animal remained undiscovered. Ten years after his death,
26522-513: The study in which he identified the Megatherium as a giant, extinct species of sloth. His primary evidence for his identifications of mammoths and mastodons as separate, extinct species was the structure of their jaws and teeth. His primary evidence that the Megatherium fossil had belonged to a massive sloth came from his comparison of its skull with those of extant sloth species. Cuvier wrote of his paleontological method that "the form of
26700-438: The surface of the globe ). After Cuvier's death, the catastrophic school of geological thought lost ground to uniformitarianism , as championed by Charles Lyell and others, which claimed that the geological features of the earth were best explained by currently observable forces, such as erosion and volcanism, acting gradually over an extended period of time. The increasing interest in the topic of mass extinction starting in
26878-583: The tallest trees of the Andes . They usually retreat from the presence of humans, often by climbing trees. Once up a tree, they may often build a platform, perhaps to aid in concealment, as well as to rest and store food on. Although spectacled bears are solitary and tend to isolate themselves from one another to avoid competition, they are not territorial. They have even been recorded to feed in small groups at abundant food sources. Males are reported to have an average home range of 23 km (8.9 sq mi) during
27056-630: The territory that had belonged to the Real Audiencia of Quito , also referred to as the Presidencia of Quito. He supported his claims with Spanish Royal decrees, or real cedulas , that delineated the borders of Spain's former overseas colonies. In the case of Ecuador, Flores based Ecuador's de jure claims on the Real Cedulas of 1563, 1739, and 1740; with modifications in the Amazon Basin and Andes Mountains that were introduced through
27234-404: The thoughtful professor of the laws of organic economy can reconstruct the entire animal." However, Cuvier's actual method was heavily dependent on the comparison of fossil specimens with the anatomy of extant species in the necessary context of his vast knowledge of animal anatomy and access to unparalleled natural history collections in Paris. This reality, however, did not prevent the rise of
27412-456: The tooth leads to the form of the condyle , that of the scapula to that of the nails, just as an equation of a curve implies all of its properties; and, just as in taking each property separately as the basis of a special equation we are able to return to the original equation and other associated properties, similarly, the nails, the scapula, the condyle, the femur, each separately reveal the tooth or each other; and by beginning from each of them
27590-917: The trade of bear parts might have commercial value. Their gall bladders appear to be valued in traditional Chinese medicine and can fetch a high price on the international market. Conflicts with humans, however, appear to be the most common cause of poaching in large portions of its distribution. Andean Bears are often suspected of attacking cattle and raiding crops, and are killed for retaliation or in order to avoid further damages. It has been argued that attacks to cattle attributed to Andean bear are partly due to other predators. Raiding of crops can be frequent in areas with diminishing natural resources and extensive crops in former bear habitat, or when problematic individuals get used to human environments. The intensity of poaching can create ecological traps for Andean bears. That is, if bears are attracted to areas of high habitat quality that are also high in poaching risk. Perhaps
27768-403: The two decades following his death by a series of spectacular finds, mostly by English geologists and fossil collectors such as Mary Anning , William Conybeare , William Buckland , and Gideon Mantell , who found and described the first ichthyosaurs , plesiosaurs , and dinosaurs . In a 1798 paper on the fossil remains of an animal found in some plaster quarries near Paris, Cuvier states what
27946-405: The ursid bears whose fourth premolar has a more well-developed protoconid, an adaptation for shearing flesh, the fourth premolar of spectacled bears has blunt lophs with three pulp cavities instead of two, and can have three roots instead of the two that characterize ursid bears. The musculature and tooth characteristics are designed to support the stresses of grinding and crushing vegetation. Besides
28124-692: The walls of Quito referring to Peru as the " Cain de Latinoamérica ", a reference to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain in the Book of Genesis . Ecuador and Peru signed the Brasilia Presidential Act peace agreement on 26 October 1998, which ended hostilities, and effectively put an end to the Western Hemisphere's longest running territorial dispute. The Guarantors of the Rio Protocol (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and
28302-507: The wet season and 27 km (10 sq mi) during the dry season. Females are reported to have an average home range of 10 km (3.9 sq mi) in the wet season and 7 km (2.7 sq mi) in the dry season . When encountered by humans or other spectacled bears, they will react in a docile but cautious manner, unless the intruder is seen as a threat or a mother's cubs are endangered. Like other bears, mothers are protective of their young and have attacked poachers. There
28480-448: The wetter these forests are the more food species there are that can support bears. Occasionally, they may reach altitudes as low as 250 m (820 ft), but are not typically found below 1,900 m (6,200 ft) in the foothills . They can even range up to the mountain snow line at over 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in elevation. Therefore, it is well known that bears use all these types of habitats in regional movements; however,
28658-566: The word "dinosaur" would be coined by Richard Owen in 1842. During his lifetime, Cuvier served as an imperial councillor under Napoleon , president of the Council of Public Instruction and chancellor of the university under the restored Bourbons , Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, a Peer of France, Minister of the Interior, and president of the Council of State under Louis Philippe . He
28836-481: The work of the geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750–1817), whose Neptunism and emphasis on the importance of rigorous, direct observation of three-dimensional, structural relationships of rock formations to geological understanding provided models for Cuvier's scientific theories and methods. Upon graduation, he had no money on which to live as he awaited an appointment to an academic office. So in July 1788, he took
29014-623: The world to become listed sites. The Rio Protocol failed to precisely resolve the border along a little river in the remote Cordillera del Cóndor region in southern Ecuador. This caused a long-simmering dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which ultimately led to fighting between the two countries; first a border skirmish in January–February 1981 known as the Paquisha Incident , and ultimately full-scale warfare in January 1995 where
29192-536: Was 1,250 km (480 sq mi), which may result too small to maintain a sustainable bear population. Therefore, these researchers stated the importance of the creation of habitat blocks outside protected areas since they might provide opportunities for the protection of these animals. Researchers suggest the following spectacled bear conservation strategies: Spectacled bears in Ecuador live in approximately 50,000 km (19,000 sq mi) of paramo and cloud forest habitats. About one-third of this area
29370-891: Was apparently popular during the 19th century in some rural areas of Latin-America. In the costumbrist novel María by Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs , it was portrayed as an activity for privileged young men in Colombia. Tales regarding pet bears are also known from documents about the Ecuadorian aristocracy of that time. These threats might have diminished in recent years, but there are still isolated reports of captive bears confiscated in rural areas, which usually are unable to adapt again to their natural habitat and must be kept in zoological facilities. Religious or magical beliefs might be motivations for killing Andean bears, especially in places where bears are related to myths of disappearing women or children, or where bear parts are related to traditional medicine or superstitions. In this context,
29548-568: Was born in Ecuador, believing his opportunity had come to annex the District of Ecuador to Peru, personally, with a Peruvian force, invaded and occupied Guayaquil and a few cities in the Loja region of southern Ecuador on 28 November 1828. The war ended when an outnumbered southern Gran Colombian army at Battle of Tarqui on 27 February 1829, led by Antonio José de Sucre , defeated the Peruvian invasion force led by President La Mar. This defeat led to
29726-747: Was consistent with the supposed sacred immutability of "species", but, again, the idea of extinction, of which Cuvier was the great proponent, obviously was not. Many writers have unjustly accused Cuvier of obstinately maintaining that fossil human beings could never be found. In his Essay on the Theory of the Earth , he did say, "no human bones have yet been found among fossil remains", but he made it clear exactly what he meant: "When I assert that human bones have not been hitherto found among extraneous fossils, I must be understood to speak of fossils, or petrifactions, properly so called". Petrified bones, which have had time to mineralize and turn to stone, are typically far older than bones found to that date. Cuvier's point
29904-538: Was eminent in all these capacities, and yet the dignity given by such high administrative positions was as nothing compared to his leadership in natural science. Cuvier was by birth, education, and conviction a devout Lutheran , and remained Protestant throughout his life while regularly attending church services . Despite this, he regarded his personal faith as a private matter; he evidently identified himself with his confessional minority group when he supervised governmental educational programs for Protestants . He also
30082-526: Was his collection of specimens from the New World, many of them obtained from Native Americans. He also maintained an archive of Native American observations, legends, and interpretations of immense fossilized skeletal remains, sent to him by informants and friends in the Americas. He was impressed that most of the Native American accounts identified the enormous bones, teeth, and tusks as animals of
30260-582: Was known as Baron Cuvier. He died in Paris during an epidemic of cholera . Some of Cuvier's most influential followers were Louis Agassiz on the continent and in the United States, and Richard Owen in Britain. His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower . Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier was born in Montbéliard , where his Protestant ancestors had lived since the time of
30438-584: Was not obligated to follow the agreements, since the Gran Colombia ceased to exist when it divided itself into three different nations – Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. The Central District of the Gran Colombia, known as Cundinamarca or New Granada (modern Colombia) with its capital in Bogota, did not recognize the separation of the Southern District of the Gran Colombia, with its capital in Quito, from
30616-415: Was often placid for extended periods of time in between sudden disturbances. The 'Preliminary Discourse' became very well known and, unauthorized translations were made into English, German, and Italian (and in the case of those in English, not entirely accurately). In 1826, Cuvier published a revised version under the name, Discours sur les révolutions de la surface du globe ( Discourse on the upheavals of
30794-595: Was signed by which the Department of Cauca was turned over to New Granada (modern Colombia), the government of Bogotá recognized Ecuador as an independent country and the border was to follow the Ley de División Territorial de la República de Colombia (Law of the Division of Territory of the Gran Colombia) passed on 25 June 1824. This law set the border at the river Carchi and the eastern border that stretched to Brazil at
30972-450: Was studied by Alexander von Humboldt , when he visited the area in 1801–1802. After nearly 300 years of Spanish rule, Quito still remained small with a population of 10,000 people. On 10 August 1809, the city's criollos called for independence from Spain (first among the peoples of Latin America). They were led by Juan Pío Montúfar, Quiroga, Salinas, and Bishop Cuero y Caicedo. Quito's nickname, " Luz de América " ("Light of America"),
31150-415: Was that all human bones found that he knew of, were of relatively recent age because they had not been petrified and had been found only in superficial strata. He was not dogmatic in this claim, however; when new evidence came to light, he included in a later edition an appendix describing a skeleton that he freely admitted was an "instance of a fossil human petrifaction". The harshness of his criticism and
31328-408: Was the first meeting between an Ecuadorian and U.S. president in 17 years. A series of protests began on 3 October 2019 against the end of fuel subsidies and austerity measures adopted by Moreno. On 10 October, protesters overran Quito, the capital, causing the Government of Ecuador to relocate temporarily to Guayaquil . The government eventually returned to Quito in 2019. On 14 October 2019,
31506-427: Was to form a new republic known as the Gran Colombia , out of the liberated Spanish territory of New Granada which consisted of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. San Martín's plans were thwarted when Bolívar, descended from the Andes mountains and occupied Guayaquil; they also annexed the newly liberated Audiencia de Quito to the Republic of Gran Colombia. In the south, Ecuador had claims to a small piece of land beside
31684-555: Was very active in founding the Parisian Biblical Society in 1818, where he later served as a vice president. From 1822 until his death in 1832, Cuvier was Grand Master of the Protestant Faculties of Theology of the French University. Cuvier was critical of theories of evolution, in particular those proposed by his contemporaries Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, which involved the gradual transmutation of one form into another. He repeatedly emphasized that his extensive experience with fossil material indicated one fossil form does not, as
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