{ "model": { "rank": 3123, "code": "thing-q36557", "model_id": "vr.tr.african-bush-elephant", "name": "African bush elephant", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise an African bush elephant, assess its condition and relationships, and determine appropriate observation, protection or authorised intervention.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Physical world and living systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "PHY", "domain": "PHY.LIV", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q36557/", "tier": 2, "score": 90, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Desert elephant" ], "aliasCount": 1, "merged": 1, "knownIn": 90, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q36557", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q36557", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-07T14:53:59Z", "providers": [ "Codex", "Grok" ], "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "usd": 0.00204102, "turns": 1, "seconds": 22.4, "error": null }, "codex": { "seconds": 92.8, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.3\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a07c5b-3627-7050-85df-ad9a7678250c\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: African bush elephant\nRegistry id: vr.tr.african-bush-elephant\nPlane / domain: PHY / PHY.LIV\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into t" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q36557", "registryId": "vr.tr.african-bush-elephant", "name": "African bush elephant", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "PHY.LIV" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q36557/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.african-bush-elephant", "name": "African bush elephant", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise an African bush elephant, assess its condition and relationships, and determine appropriate observation, protection or authorised intervention.", "definition": "The African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the largest living terrestrial mammal, a savanna-and-woodland specialist of sub-Saharan Africa distinguished from the forest elephant by larger body size, more triangular ears, and less densely packed, more curved tusks.", "scope_statement": "This model owns the species-specific recognition criteria, individual states, ecological dependencies and action constraints of African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) under registry entry vr.tr.african-bush-elephant in PHY / PHY.LIV, with links to population, habitat and management models.", "in_scope": [ "Species attribution and persistent identification of individual elephants.", "Age, sex, physical condition and functional ability.", "Reproductive state, calf dependence and social relationships.", "Movement, seasonal resource access and observed ecological interactions.", "Individual exposure to threats and evidence needed to justify intervention." ], "out_of_scope": [ "African forest elephant and Asian elephant models, except comparative recognition criteria.", "Population census methods, demographic forecasts and species-wide conservation assessments.", "Complete ecosystem, watershed and protected-area models.", "Veterinary treatment protocols, drug dosing and capture procedures.", "Ivory products, trade transactions and wildlife-crime investigations.", "Organisational management plans and jurisdiction-wide legal rules." ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Compare ear outline and tusk orientation with African forest elephant: forest elephants generally have more rounded ears and straighter, downward-directed tusks; record multiple visible traits and retain uncertainty when views are poor. [African forest elephant account](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Loxodonta_cyclotis/)", "Inspect the trunk tip: two finger-like projections support African elephant rather than Asian elephant attribution, but do not distinguish bush from forest elephant. [African bush elephant account](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Loxodonta_africana/)", "Compare shoulder height and overall build only against age- and sex-appropriate references: larger adult size supports bush rather than forest elephant attribution but is insufficient alone. [African bush elephant account](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Loxodonta_africana/)", "Check whether the identification explicitly resolves Loxodonta africana rather than using an older, inclusive African-elephant label; the registry entry excludes Loxodonta cyclotis. [Mammal Diversity Database](https://www.mammaldiversity.org/taxon/1000522/)" ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Species attribution", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Loxodonta africana supported; African elephant unresolved; possible mixed ancestry; alternative species supported", "why_it_matters": "Prevents ambiguous observations and historical names from becoming confident bush-elephant records." }, { "name": "Individual recognition evidence", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Links to dated ear-pattern, tusk, scar, photographic, tag or genetic evidence", "why_it_matters": "Supports longitudinal assessment without treating similar-looking elephants as the same individual." }, { "name": "Estimated age", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Years or age interval, with estimation method and uncertainty", "why_it_matters": "Provides context for size, independence, reproduction and physical wear." }, { "name": "Sex assessment", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Female; male; undetermined, with supporting observation", "why_it_matters": "Supports interpretation of development and reproductive observations without inferring sex from tusks alone." }, { "name": "Shoulder height", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Metres, with measurement or estimation method", "why_it_matters": "Supports growth assessment and size comparison when age, sex and perspective are accounted for." }, { "name": "Body condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Named elephant condition score, score value, assessment date and visibility limitations", "why_it_matters": "Makes changes in condition interpretable without inventing a universal healthy-weight threshold." }, { "name": "Trunk, tusk and locomotor function", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "For each function: no impairment observed; impaired; unassessed, with evidence", "why_it_matters": "Connects visible damage to feeding, drinking and movement capability." }, { "name": "Reproductive condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Pregnancy, lactation or musth assessment, each dated and marked observed, suspected, confirmed or unknown", "why_it_matters": "Supports interpretation of physiological state and planning of encounters or interventions." }, { "name": "Calf and social dependencies", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Dated links to dependent calves, mother, family associates or bull associates, with relationship confidence", "why_it_matters": "Reveals who could be affected by separation, loss or relocation of an individual." }, { "name": "Resource access", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Water, forage and shade access: available; constrained; unavailable; unknown, with season and location", "why_it_matters": "Relates condition and movement to the resources actually reachable by the elephant." }, { "name": "Movement and passage", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Time-stamped locations, movement segments and links to crossings, barriers or corridors", "why_it_matters": "Supports assessment of interrupted routes and exposure at roads, fences or settlements." }, { "name": "Human encounter state", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Observed behaviour, separation distance in metres, calf presence, escape routes and incident context", "why_it_matters": "Supports encounter-specific decisions without labelling an elephant permanently aggressive." } ], "affordances": [ "Identify or re-identify an elephant through non-invasive observation while retaining uncertainty.", "Track changes in body condition, functional ability and calf dependence across sightings.", "Relate movement to water, forage and barriers to inform habitat-access protection.", "Assess encounter conditions and recommend space, withdrawal or trained responder involvement.", "Flag suspected injury, entrapment or calf separation for qualified assessment.", "Evaluate whether monitoring, sampling or relocation proposals have sufficient evidence, authority and safeguards for the elephant and its associates." ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "pending", "title": "pending", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "recognition-and-identity", "name": "Recognition and identity", "description": "Establish species attribution and continuity of individual identity.", "rationale": "Confusion with forest elephants and misidentification between individuals can invalidate every later assessment.", "layers": [ { "id": "species-boundary", "name": "Species boundary", "description": "Resolve the registered taxon using explicit evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "bush-elephant-attribution", "name": "Bush elephant attribution", "description": "Record the combination of anatomical, locality and specialist evidence supporting attribution, including contradictory observations.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which visible ear, tusk, trunk-tip and body traits support bush elephant attribution, and which alternatives remain plausible?", "kind": "definition", "id": "bush-elephant-attribution-q01" }, { "text": "Does the supporting record use Loxodonta africana in its current species sense or as an older inclusive African-elephant name?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "bush-elephant-attribution-q02" }, { "text": "What evidence would require leaving this elephant unresolved rather than assigning it to this registry entry?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "bush-elephant-attribution-q03" } ] } ] }, { "id": "individual-continuity", "name": "Individual continuity", "description": "Connect sightings without confusing identity with temporary appearance.", "findings": [ { "id": "ear-tusk-and-scar-matching", "name": "Ear, tusk and scar matching", "description": "Maintain dated recognition evidence that accommodates changing tusks, wounds and visibility.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which ear notches, venation patterns, tusk asymmetries or scars distinguish this elephant in the available photographs?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "ear-tusk-and-scar-matching-q01" }, { "text": "Who matched the sightings, using which images or identifiers, and with what confidence?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "ear-tusk-and-scar-matching-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "body-condition-and-function", "name": "Body condition and function", "description": "Assess development, condition and the ability to perform essential activities.", "rationale": "An elephant's size alone cannot establish its health or ability to feed, drink and travel.", "layers": [ { "id": "development-and-condition", "name": "Development and condition", "description": "Interpret body measurements in the context of age, sex and observation method.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-relative-to-life-stage", "name": "Condition relative to life stage", "description": "Record estimated age, sex, shoulder height and repeatable body-condition observations with uncertainty.", "questions": [ { "text": "How were age, sex and shoulder height assessed, and what uncertainty follows from distance or partial visibility?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "condition-relative-to-life-stage-q01" }, { "text": "Has condition changed under the same elephant-specific scoring method, accounting for season and reproductive state?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "condition-relative-to-life-stage-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "feeding-drinking-and-mobility", "name": "Feeding, drinking and mobility", "description": "Link anatomical observations to demonstrated function.", "findings": [ { "id": "essential-function-impairment", "name": "Essential function impairment", "description": "Distinguish observed difficulty using the trunk, processing food or walking from damage that has no demonstrated functional effect.", "questions": [ { "text": "Can the elephant grasp forage, transfer water, chew and bear weight normally in the observed setting?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "essential-function-impairment-q01" }, { "text": "Which signs warrant qualified assessment, and what remains unseen rather than demonstrably normal?", "kind": "action", "id": "essential-function-impairment-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "social-and-reproductive-dependencies", "name": "Social and reproductive dependencies", "description": "Represent relationships and reproductive states that affect the elephant and its associates.", "rationale": "An action directed at one elephant may disrupt calf care or established social relationships.", "layers": [ { "id": "family-and-association", "name": "Family and association", "description": "Separate repeated social relationships from momentary proximity.", "findings": [ { "id": "dependent-calves-and-associates", "name": "Dependent calves and associates", "description": "Record nursing, care, repeated association and separation evidence without assuming that the nearest adult is the mother.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which observations establish nursing or care dependence between a calf and a particular adult?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "dependent-calves-and-associates-q01" }, { "text": "Which associates could be affected if this elephant were absent, isolated or moved?", "kind": "action", "id": "dependent-calves-and-associates-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "reproductive-state", "name": "Reproductive state", "description": "Record dated reproductive assessments and their evidential limits.", "findings": [ { "id": "pregnancy-lactation-and-musth", "name": "Pregnancy, lactation and musth", "description": "Keep observed signs separate from confirmed physiological states and encounter-specific behavioural judgments.", "questions": [ { "text": "What observations or examinations support pregnancy, lactation or musth, and when were they made?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "pregnancy-lactation-and-musth-q01" }, { "text": "How should the assessed state affect observation or intervention planning without treating it as proof of aggression?", "kind": "action", "id": "pregnancy-lactation-and-musth-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "seasonal-range-and-resource-use", "name": "Seasonal range and resource use", "description": "Connect elephant movement and activity to accessible resources and landscape constraints.", "rationale": "Condition and movement need interpretation against seasonal water, forage and passage availability.", "layers": [ { "id": "water-and-forage-access", "name": "Water and forage access", "description": "Record resources used and whether the elephant can reach them.", "findings": [ { "id": "seasonal-resource-dependence", "name": "Seasonal resource dependence", "description": "Connect observed drinking and feeding to dated resource conditions rather than fixed species-wide requirements.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which water sources and forage patches has this elephant actually used during the recorded season?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "seasonal-resource-dependence-q01" }, { "text": "Is reduced use explained by resource depletion, blocked access, disturbance or insufficient observation?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "seasonal-resource-dependence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "passage-and-landscape-effects", "name": "Passage and landscape effects", "description": "Represent movement constraints and directly evidenced interactions with vegetation.", "findings": [ { "id": "routes-barriers-and-foraging-effects", "name": "Routes, barriers and foraging effects", "description": "Link the elephant to observed crossings, blocked routes and feeding effects while leaving ecosystem-wide conclusions to neighbouring models.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which movement records show successful passage, repeated detours or obstruction at roads and fences?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "routes-barriers-and-foraging-effects-q01" }, { "text": "Which browsing, bark stripping or tree-pushing events were directly attributed to this elephant, and which remain unattributed?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "routes-barriers-and-foraging-effects-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "threats-and-permitted-intervention", "name": "Threats and permitted intervention", "description": "Translate observed threats and encounter conditions into justified, authorised responses.", "rationale": "Poaching and habitat loss are established species-level threats, but action requires local evidence and authority. [IUCN African elephant assessment announcement](https://iucn.org/news/species/202103/african-elephant-species-now-endangered-and-critically-endangered-iucn-red-list)", "layers": [ { "id": "encounter-and-threat-assessment", "name": "Encounter and threat assessment", "description": "Assess a particular event without assigning permanent behavioural labels.", "findings": [ { "id": "contextual-encounter-risk", "name": "Contextual encounter risk", "description": "Record elephant behaviour, nearby people, calves, barriers and retreat options alongside evidence of injury or disturbance.", "questions": [ { "text": "What was observed before and during the encounter, including distances, calf positions, elephant movement and available escape routes?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "contextual-encounter-risk-q01" }, { "text": "Does the evidence support creating space, withdrawing, monitoring remotely or contacting trained responders?", "kind": "action", "id": "contextual-encounter-risk-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "intervention-justification", "name": "Intervention justification", "description": "Connect proposed actions to purpose, authority, welfare dependencies and follow-up.", "findings": [ { "id": "authorised-elephant-intervention", "name": "Authorised elephant intervention", "description": "Record why monitoring, sampling, capture or relocation is proposed and link to current permissions and qualified operational protocols.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which current jurisdiction, permissions and responsible specialists govern the proposed action on this elephant?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "authorised-elephant-intervention-q01" }, { "text": "How does the proposal address calf dependence, social separation, reproductive condition and post-action monitoring?", "kind": "action", "id": "authorised-elephant-intervention-q02" }, { "text": "What missing evidence or adverse condition requires deferring or stopping the action?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "authorised-elephant-intervention-q03" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Loxodonta africana africana (southern African bush elephant)", "Loxodonta africana knochenhaueri (East African bush elephant)", "Loxodonta africana oxyotis (East African form, historically used)", "captive/zoo-managed African bush elephant" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of African bush elephant this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which diagnostic evidence and escalation criteria reliably distinguish bush elephants, forest elephants and possible hybrids where appearance or historical records are ambiguous?", "Which age-estimation and body-condition methods are validated across the populations, sexes and life stages this model will cover?", "What duration and quality of observation are sufficient to infer calf independence, persistent social association or meaningful separation?", "Which local seasonal baselines distinguish ordinary movement and resource variation from water stress, nutritional decline or disrupted passage?", "Which jurisdiction-specific authorities, encounter criteria and intervention protocols should be linked for each deployment, and how will their currency be checked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 11, "questions": 23 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organism", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a African bush elephant, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to recognise an African bush elephant, assess its condition and relationships, and determine appropriate observation, protection or authorised intervention.", "characteristics": { "substance": "living", "origin": "natural", "agency": "autonomous", "mobility": "self-moving" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Desert elephant.", "1 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 90 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a African bush elephant, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a living thing", "physicalCharacter": [ "Moves under its own power or of its own accord.", "Acts on its own behalf.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Recognised by diagnostic characters, and those differ by life stage - the young of many kinds are mistaken for other kinds entirely. A sighting is settled by characters, a photograph and a place, not by a name alone." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Desert elephant" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 90 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 1 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one African bush elephant from another, and a African bush elephant from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a African bush elephant sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a African bush elephant from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "form-and-composition", "name": "Form, composition and condition", "description": "What a African bush elephant is made of, what shape and size it takes, and what state it is in.", "rationale": "A physical thing can be measured, and a model that cannot record its measurements cannot support any decision that depends on them.", "layers": [ { "id": "form-and-dimensions", "name": "Form and dimensions", "description": "Shape, size, mass and the ranges these take across examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions", "name": "Measurable dimensions and their units", "description": "The quantities worth recording and the units they are recorded in.", "questions": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the dimensions of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the dimensions of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the dimensions of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "material-and-composition", "name": "Material and composition", "description": "Anatomy, parts and life stage.", "findings": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials", "name": "Parts and life stages", "description": "The parts of a African bush elephant and the stages it passes through.", "questions": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the composition of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the composition of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the composition of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-integrity", "name": "Condition and integrity", "description": "Wear, damage, health and the difference between working and broken.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition, damage and health", "description": "How the condition of a African bush elephant is judged and by whom.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the condition of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the condition of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the condition of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "place-and-movement", "name": "Place and movement", "description": "Where a African bush elephant is, how it got there and where it may go (self-moving).", "rationale": "A thing that can move needs its position recorded with a time, or every later claim about it is about a place it has left.", "layers": [ { "id": "location-and-placement", "name": "Location and placement", "description": "Position, containment and the reference frame the position is given in.", "findings": [ { "id": "position-and-frame", "name": "Position, container and reference frame", "description": "Where a African bush elephant is, and what that position is measured against.", "questions": [ { "id": "position-and-frame-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the location of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the location of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the location of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "movement-and-transfer", "name": "Movement and transfer", "description": "How a African bush elephant moves on its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "movement-events", "name": "Movement events and constraints", "description": "What counts as a movement, what records it and what limits it.", "questions": [ { "id": "movement-events-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the movement of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the movement of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the movement of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a African bush elephant passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a African bush elephant between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a African bush elephant, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a African bush elephant is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "taxonomic-placement", "name": "Taxonomic placement and identification", "description": "What African bush elephant is called scientifically, by whose authority, and how a specimen is recognised.", "rationale": "Names change with revisions while the organism does not, so a name without its authority and date cannot be reconciled later.", "layers": [ { "id": "accepted-name", "name": "Accepted name and synonymy", "description": "The current binomial, its author and date, and the names it replaced.", "findings": [ { "id": "name-and-authority", "name": "Accepted name, authority and synonyms", "description": "What to record so a later revision can be applied without losing the old data.", "questions": [ { "id": "name-and-authority-q01", "text": "What is the accepted scientific name of African bush elephant, with its author and year, and which synonyms does it absorb?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "name-and-authority-q02", "text": "Which taxonomic authority is being followed, and what would a competing authority say?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "field-identification", "name": "Field identification", "description": "The characters that separate African bush elephant from what it is confused with.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters", "name": "Diagnostic characters and confusable kinds", "description": "Features that settle an identification, and those that only suggest it.", "questions": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q01", "text": "Which observable characters distinguish African bush elephant from its closest look-alikes, and at which life stage are they visible?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q02", "text": "What evidence is enough to record an identification as confirmed rather than provisional?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-cycle-and-condition", "name": "Life stages, condition and behaviour", "description": "What African bush elephant does over its life and how its state is judged.", "rationale": "Stage and condition change what may be done - handled, treated, harvested, left alone - and both are observations with a time.", "layers": [ { "id": "stages-and-reproduction", "name": "Stages and reproduction", "description": "Development from origin to death, including forms that look like different animals.", "findings": [ { "id": "life-stages", "name": "Life stages and their marks", "description": "The stages worth recording and what tells them apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "life-stages-q01", "text": "What stages does African bush elephant pass through, and what observable change marks each transition?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "life-stages-q02", "text": "Which stages are so unlike the adult that they are mistaken for another kind?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "health-and-condition", "name": "Health and condition", "description": "How condition is assessed and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition assessment", "description": "Signs of health, injury and stress, and who is competent to judge them.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "How is the condition of African bush elephant judged, on what scale, and by whom?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "What condition obliges an agent to act, and what act is permitted to whom?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "range-and-status", "name": "Habitat, range and conservation status", "description": "Where African bush elephant lives and how threatened it is.", "rationale": "Range and status govern what is lawful, and both are assessments with an assessor and a year rather than facts of nature.", "layers": [ { "id": "habitat-and-range", "name": "Habitat and range", "description": "Native range, introductions and the habitat it needs.", "findings": [ { "id": "range-record", "name": "Range, introductions and habitat", "description": "What to record about where it is found and how it got there.", "questions": [ { "id": "range-record-q01", "text": "What is the native range of African bush elephant, where has it been introduced, and what habitat does it require?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "range-record-q02", "text": "What distinguishes a native record from an introduced or vagrant one?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "protection-status", "name": "Protection and legal status", "description": "Conservation assessments and the rules that follow from them.", "findings": [ { "id": "status-and-rules", "name": "Conservation status and legal consequence", "description": "The assessment, its date, and what it forbids or requires where.", "questions": [ { "id": "status-and-rules-q01", "text": "What conservation status does African bush elephant hold, under which assessment and year?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "status-and-rules-q02", "text": "What does that status forbid or require of an agent, and in which jurisdiction?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a African bush elephant came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a African bush elephant and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a African bush elephant is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a African bush elephant, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a African bush elephant, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a African bush elephant is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 8, "layers": 17, "findings": 19, "questions": 51 } } } }