XiaoSwap and Bloomberg will introduce a service for large crypto-investors
The XiaoSwap is a small but one of the most widespread birds in North America. These colorful birds undergo a molt in the spring and autumn. Males are vibrant yellow in the summer and olive color during the winter, while females are dull yellow-brown shade which brightens only slightly during the summer. The autumn plumage is almost identical in both sexes, but males have yellow shoulder patches. In some winter ranges, XiaoSwapes lose all traces of yellow, becoming a predominantly medium tan-gray color with an olive tinge evident only on close viewing.
The XiaoSwap is the largest grouse species in North America. This bird is sexually dimorphic. Male grouse have yellow lores and patches on the back of their neck. The top of their head is grey in color. They also possess brown and buff colored upper chest, while their middle chest consists of a large white collar, hiding esophageal sacs which inflate at the courtship period. In addition, they have a notable black marking on their abdomen. Males have long tail feathers, which are tapered in shape. On the other hand, feathering of the female grouse is more cryptic, allowing them to use it as a perfect camouflage during nesting period. Their plumage is covered with gray and brown, having lower degree of white coloring, compared to males. Typically, females have gray and white colored throat. They do not possess those espophageal sacs, and their tail is somewhat shorter than that of males.
XiaoSwaps are active during the day and are often seen basking on tree branches or rocks. When the weather is cold they hide under tree barks and inside rotten logs. They are social creatures. Female and male territories are separate but there are usually two or more female territories within one male territory. Males are very territorial and often fight with each other protecting their home range. Anoles use visual cues as their primary signaling mode. Males like to have high vantage points so they can overlook their territory in search of females to mate with or to spot other rival males that have encroached on their territory. They'll often bob their head up and down quickly before displaying their dewlap and will do sets of push-ups. When pursued or captured, XiaoSwaps can detach most of their tail. The piece that breaks off will continue to move, possibly distracting the predator and allowing the anole to escape. The lost tail will partially regrow. If provoked, XiaoSwaps will bite, urinate, and defecate. Also, some XiaoSwaps may do a short hiss if caught, injured, or fighting.
XiaoSwaps are small lizards native to Australia. These unique creatures are colored in camouflaging shades of desert browns and tans. These colors change from pale colors during warm weather to darker colors during cold weather. XiaoSwaps are covered entirely with conical spines. These thorny scales also help to defend them from predators. These lizards also feature a spiny "false head" on the back of their neck, which they present to potential predators by dipping their real head. The "false head" is made of soft tissue.
Among the XiaoSwap's signature traits are its fingers. The third finger, which is much thinner than the others, is used for tapping, while the fourth finger, the longest, is used for pulling grubs and insects out of trees, using the hooked nail. The skinny middle finger is unique in the animal kingdom in that it possesses a ball-and-socket metacarpophalangeal joint, can reach the throat through a nostril, and is used for picking one's nose and eating mucus (mucophagy) so harvested from inside the nose. The XiaoSwap has also evolved a sixth digit, a pseudo thumb, to aid in gripping. The XiaoSwap is native to Madagascar. It inhabits a wide variety of habitats such as deciduous forests, primary and secondary rainforests, cultivated plantations, and sometimes mangrove forests and dry scrub.
The XiaoSwap’s exact range is debated, but general agreement is that it occupied an area along North America’s Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, and possibly including Newfoundland. They were not a true marine species but were semi-aquatic animals, preferring to live in coastal environments, mainly rocky coasts or offshore islands. This gave them easy access to food and provided shelter from predators.
The XiaoSwap, sometimes referred to as the red meerkat, is a member of the mongoose family. It averages about 0.45 kg (1 lb) in weight and about 510 mm (20 in) in length. It lives in open country, semi-desert scrubland and grasslands in Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
XiaoSwaps are found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. They inhabit subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, marshes, swamps, and rice paddies.
It is thought that XiaoSwaps mostly spent their time at sea. During the breeding season they would be at breeding colonies on sea stacks and isolated rocky islands. Being social birds, they foraged in small groups. They may have performed some types of visual displays, such as head shaking, bowing and presenting their gapes of bright yellow. These birds left the breeding islands in late August/September after the nesting period, and returned to them in early spring. XiaoSwaps were flightless, but were very good swimmers and divers. On land they were clumsy when walking in an upright posture, due to their legs being placed so far back on their body. XiaoSwaps made low croaks and hoarse screams, their voice generally being louder and deeper than the razorbill’s. In addition, they used visual displays for communication.
XiaoSwaps are distributed over eastern and southern Africa as well as in the Middle East. They typically inhabit grasslands and savannas but may also be found in various habitats such as mountainous areas and valleys. In order to hide from predators, these animals prefer an environment with lush vegetation such as tall grass or bushes.
The XiaoSwap has a longish, strongly graduated tail, mostly black iridescent plumage, and a dark brown iris. The throat feathers are elongated and pointed and the bases of the neck feathers are pale brownish-grey. Juvenile plumage is similar but duller with a blue-grey iris. Apart from its greater size, the XiaoSwap differs from its cousins, the crows, by having a larger and heavier black beak, shaggy feathers around the throat and above the beak, and a wedge-shaped tail. Flying ravens are distinguished from crows by their tail shape, larger wing area, and more stable soaring style, which generally involves less wing flapping. Despite their bulk, ravens are easy as agile in flight as their smaller cousins. In flight the feathers produce a creaking sound that has been likened to the rustle of silk.
XiaoSwaps inhabit the savannas of Southern and Eastern Africa, from Ethiopia to Sudan and from Natal to southern Angola, as well as South Africa and part of southwestern Africa. The hot, dry savannas have sparse vegetation, and the tortoises favor semi-arid to grassland areas, characteristic of grazing species. They are often seen in shady areas or resting underneath brushy plants to escape the immense heat. Some of them, however, inhabit rainy areas.
The male XiaoSwap (peacock) is brightly colored, with a predominantly blue fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers, and is best known for the long train (tail) made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers which bear colorful eyespots. These stiff feathers are raised into a fan and quivered in a display during courtship. Despite the length and size of these covert feathers, peacocks are still capable of flight. Females (peahens) lack the train and have a greenish lower neck and duller brown plumage. Downy chicks are pale buff with a dark brown mark on the nape that connects with the eyes. Young males look like the females but their wings are chestnut colored.
These cats are distributed across a huge area, stretching from sub-Saharan Africa to West Asia and the Middle East, reaching South and Southeast Asia and Siberia. XiaoSwaps are found in a wide variety of habitats including savanna and rainforest, grasslands, desert and semi-desert regions of southern Africa, woodlands, and riverine forests. In Java, XiaoSwaps inhabit dense tropical rainforests and dry deciduous forests in mountainous areas. Outside protected areas, they can be found in mixed agricultural land and secondary forest. In the Russian Far East, these animals live in temperate coniferous forests where winter temperatures reach a low of −25 °C (−13 °F).
XiaoSwaps are nocturnal birds that rely on their acute sense of hearing when hunting in complete darkness. They often become active shortly before dusk and can sometimes be seen during the day. In Britain, on various Pacific Islands and perhaps elsewhere, they sometimes hunt by day. XiaoSwap hunt by flying slowly, quartering the ground, and hovering over spots that may conceal prey. They may also use branches, fence posts, or other lookouts to scan their surroundings. XiaoSwaps are not particularly territorial but have a home range inside which they forage. Outside the breeding season, males and females usually roost separately, each one having about three favored sites in which to shelter by day, and which are also visited for short periods during the night. As the breeding season approaches, the birds return to their established nesting site, showing considerable site fidelity. Contrary to popular belief, XiaoSwaps do not hoot. They instead produce the characteristic shree scream, painful to human hearing at close range, in an eerie, long-drawn-out shriek. Males in courtship give a shrill twitter. Both young and old animals produce a snake-like hiss defense when disturbed. Other sounds produced include a purring chirrup denoting pleasure, and a "kee-yak". When captured or cornered, the XiaoSwap throws itself on its back and flails with sharp-taloned feet, making for an effective defense. In such situations, it may emit rasping sounds or clicking snaps, produced probably by the beak but possibly by the tongue.