Green Sea Turtles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Green Sea Turtles - Essay Example Last section is regarding their predators and threats. The report is summarized in a concluding paragraph and APA referencing style has been used properly both for in-text citation and referencing. Introduction Green sea turtles, or honu (pronounced hoe'-new), are those reptiles whose ancestors, around 150 million years ago, were known to have evolved on land and then moved to sea. These turtles are one of the oldest species which has seen the evolution and extinction of dinosaurs. It is important to describe here the biological classification of green sea turtles. Kingdom Anamalia Phylum Chordata (vertebrates) Class Reptilia (reptiles) Order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) Family Cheloniidae (true sea turtles) Genus Chelonia Species mydas sub-species aggazizi (Hawaiian population) Structural Traits Green sea turtles possess all the traits of reptiles and the other species of sea turtles. They are cold blooded animals, meaning that they change their body temperature according to the environment or, in other words, take body heat from the environment. They breathe air and have scales on their bodies like many other reptiles. They have got their name because of the color of their body fat which is green. This green color is because of the algae or limu that they eat. An adult green sea turtle weighs over 500 pounds. Like all other turtle species, green sea turtles possess a hard and bony outer structure called shell whose function is to provide protection to the turtle from predators. This hard shell covers both the dorsal and the ventral part of the turtle’s body and is known to be the hardest and an exceedingly developed weapon that any vertebrate can ever possess.

Plant and People Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Plant and People - Term Paper Example Opium poppy has both negative and positive effects of opium poppy upon human society (Chouvy, 2010). The negative effects of opium poppy include terrorism, wars, international politics, crime, addiction and dependence, health problems, and negative economic issues, and the positive effects include the manufacture of drugs and for homeopathy. Negative effects of opium poppy Terrorism Opium poppy is the source of opium, which is a narcotic drug. Narcotic drugs are illegal in most countries across the world (United Nations, 2009). Therefore, many countries consider the trading of narcotics as illegal and take actions against those individuals who take part in drug trafficking. However, violence, corruption, and subversion have increasingly impeded the international narcotics control efforts. Violence increases when efforts begin to have an effect on the trafficking operations (Davids, 2002). Various countries have put more effort towards identifying those groups and individuals who atte mpt to undermine the struggle against trafficking of narcotics. Such groups can include those groups, which finance their terrorist actions through profits they acquire from the narcotics trade; groups that actively engage themselves in narcotics trafficking and use terrorist activities to sustain or enhance their positions; and groups that the narcotics traffickers organize randomly to resort to terrorist activities and violence to enhance and protect their criminal enterprise. Most of the countries that produce narcotics have political insurgents, who quite often use terrorist techniques and have become involved indirectly or directly with production and trafficking of narcotics (Davids, 2002). There are close relationships between narcotics trafficking, terrorist groups, and arms smuggling, especially in the Middle East. According to Davids (2002), there is some evidence of state-sponsored trafficking of narcotics. In a few cases, the further evidence is that some of the communis t nations have engaged to some extent in facilitating the trafficking of narcotics. Terrorism refers to the use of violence or threats to apply violence as a political weapon to attain control, to influence government policy, or to destabilize and overthrow governments (Davids, 2002). The legal definition of terrorism may not be precise in describing narcotics traffickers and their organizations. However, the tactics they employ at times are equal to, or exceed those tactics that terrorist organizations use. Most of the groups involved with narcotics production or trafficking do not meet the traditional or legal definitions of "terrorists" or "insurgents," the fact is that the use of planned, high-threat, sophisticated violence to accomplish their goals, even without a political agenda, is terrorism (Davids, 2002). Furthermore, the increasing use of violence against international narcotics control efforts, irrespective of the source as well as the dealing in narcotics for firearms a nd the financing of political insurgencies and terrorists through illegal narcotics activities, pose grievous threats to the national security of the narcotics producing countries and to the prospects for effective international narcotics control. Prostitution, Robbery, and Thievery The incidents of