Buenos Aires, Argentina
According to ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG, Buenos Aires is located on the Rio de la Plata and is the capital, political and intellectual center of Argentina. It is one of the largest urban agglomerations in South America and the country’s most important economic area.
Buenos Aires (Spanish: “good air”) is the capital of Argentina. 2.74 million people live in it. If you add the more than 20 communities belonging to Greater Buenos Aires, one in three Argentines lives in this metropolitan agglomeration of more than 11.5 million people.
Together with the suburbs, the industrial zones and the slums on the outskirts, Buenos Aires now covers an area four times the size of the island of Rügen, the largest German island at 926 km².
Buenos Aires is located just under 300 km from the open Atlantic on the southwestern bank of the 45 km wide estuary of the Rio de la Plata.
As the state capital, Buenos Aires is the seat of the highest state organs. It also has several universities, academies, many museums, libraries and theaters.
Buenos Aires is not only the political and intellectual, but also the economic center of Argentina.
This is where the major import and export companies are based. And this is where the products of agriculture in the pampas (including grain, oilseeds, meat and hides) are traditionally processed. In addition, machine and vehicle construction, chemical and textile and clothing industries have developed in the last few decades.
As the most important industrial location and transport hub in the country, the city continues to grow out into the pampas.
Buenos Aires also has the largest port in the country, and there is a large international airport at its gates.
The actual upswing of the city into one of the largest cities in the southern hemisphere only began at the end of the 19th century. It was also related to the increased immigration of Europeans.
Buenos Aires therefore has few buildings from the Spanish colonial era. The appearance of the city with the regular floor plan of a chessboard is mainly determined by representative buildings of the 19th century and by today’s high-rise buildings.
Most of the historic buildings worth seeing, such as the former town hall (1711), the cathedral (1791) or the old congress hall (1863), surround the Plaza de Mayo in the old center of the city center.
In the city center, as in many immigration cities of the New World, typical nationality quarters can still be recognized, e.g. B. the Boca district of the Italians.
Buenos Aires was first founded by the Spanish in 1536. A few years later, however, it had to be abandoned because of ongoing Indian attacks. After its re-establishment in 1580, Buenos Aires was a smuggler’s base and an agricultural regional center for about two hundred years. Buenos Aires began its real ascent to a metropolis as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, founded in 1776, and after independence from the Spanish colonial power as the capital of Argentina since 1810.
Mammals in Galapagos
Today only 6 species of mammals exist in the Galapagos, the Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos fur seals (Galapagos fur seals), two species of bats and two species of rice rats.
The Galapagos sea lions (pictures 2 and 3) are descended from the California sea lions. They have small ears, so they belong to the ear seal family. Characteristic features are the dog-like head with a long snout, small eyes and the loud, barking voice. With their spindle-shaped body, the limbs transformed into pinnacles, they can reach an hourly speed of 15 km and a diving depth of up to 200 m when hunting fish in the water.
Galapagos sea lions live together on sandy beaches or flat lava coasts in colonies of up to 30 sea lions, mostly females (50–80 kg). The females are dominated, protected and defended against intruders by a full-grown sea lion bull of impressive size and heavy weight (up to 300 kg). He is characterized by his massive, thick neck, his bulging skull and his aggressiveness.
The Galapagos fur seals (Galapagos fur seals) are descended from the South American fur seals (Fig. 4). These ear seals are smaller than the Galapagos sea lions. Their weight is only 30–50 kg. They have a thick, dark brown fur (therefore fur seals), large eyes (because they are nocturnal), strong, fin-like limbs and a bear-like, rounded head with a short snout. They also live in colonies, but the animals keep a greater distance from one another. Preferred habitats are the caves, crevices and cliffs of the lava beaches, which provide shade as these animals are sensitive to heat. They are excellent climbers and skillfully move from their lava crevices and caves over steep cliffs into the water near the coast.
The wildlife of the Galapagos
The volcanic Galapagos Islands (Fig. 1), located about 1000 km from the Ecuadorian coast in the Pacific Ocean, are a paradise for animals. Animal species live on the islands that cannot be found anywhere else, i.e. are endemic, or have developed completely differently into new species over the course of millions of years.
It is believed that the first land animals came from the mainland on tree trunks and other floating surfaces and that the first marine animals were brought to the islands by the ocean currents. This is probably also the reason that the wildlife of the Galapagos is species-poor and only a few species from individual groups of animals can be found here. Reptiles and birds dominate strongly. Their “ancestors” were able to survive the arduous “journey” from the mainland with heat, drought and storms. Other groups are only represented with a few species, e.g. B. Mammals. Some groups of animals are not found on the Galapagos, e.g. B. Amphibians. This phenomenon, which can be observed on many islands, is described by scientists as “faunal disharmony”.
