Do camels store water in their humps?



Every part of a camel’s body is suitable for life in the desert – from padded feet to blood cells to the hump.



Myth



The idea of the hump as a reservoir of water is not true. It’s rather a mound of fat which gives the camel energy to sustain itself when it has to go for days or weeks without food. The fact that the fat converts into water during metabolism may have given rise to this myth. But it does not help in ‘supplying’ water to the camel. So, where do camels store water? In the bloodstream.



Reality



An adult camel can drink up to 135 litres of water at one go. Much of it is stored in its blood. The corpuscles serve as a water tank from which the camel draws water every day. A bellyful of water can help a camel live for 17 days without a refill. The red blood cells of a camel are football-shaped and much smaller than the circular red blood cells of most animals. These cells aid in continued circulation even when the camel is dehydrated and also allow gulping of such a vast quantity of water at one go. Their anatomical and physiological features are such that they can survive in extreme conditions. Their urine and faeces contain very little water. While most animals lose water while breathing, camels have an efficient respiratory system. Their nostrils trap moisture in their breath before it is exhaled. This moisture is then returned to their body fluids. Camels do not sweat and thereby conserve water. When they need water, their body will first get it from all fluid parts, before going for the water reserves in the bloodstream. This allows their blood to continue to flow normally, even when they are relatively dehydrated.



So, what is the purpose of the hump? Having a hump of fat, instead of fat evenly distributed throughout their bodies, allows for better heat dissipation. It helps keep their body temperature down. If the camel goes for long without food, the hump will collapse and droop. It will take the camel a maximum of four months of proper eating for the hump to get back to normal. Did you know Bactrian camels that inhabit Central Asia have two humps?



 



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Are bats really blind?



People with poor eyesight may often be told they are ‘as blind as a bat’. It’s unfair. We know that bats use echolocation to make their way in the dark, but that dies not mean their vision is bad.



Myth



There are about 1300 species of bat and they largely differ in their hunting and eating habits. More than 450 species use echolocation while foraging for food. While some produce sound by contracting their voice box, others use their tongue and nostrils. The sound bouncing off objects in their way, producing an echo, helps the mammals navigate their way through the night. They can vocalize a low-pitch (10 kHz) to high-pitch call (upto 200 kHz), which is often outside the human range of hearing. Bats also use their sense of sight to hunt, depending on the circumstances.



Visual acuity may vary among bats, but they are not at all blind. Hence, the belief that bats are blind is a myth. In their book on bats, authors Barbara Schmidt-French and Carol Butler presume that the idea would have originated from the fact that bats have rapid, erratic fight patterns that look like a blind person moving unsteadily.



Reality



 In reality, bats can see three times better than humans. Since our understanding of their sense of hearing for navigation is too well documented, their power of sight is often taken for granted. Most fruit bats, which feed on nectar, don’t echolocate at all. They have sharp vision that exceeds the visual spectrum of humans. They can distinguish colours, some Egyptian fruit bats use both echolocation and vision to gauge distance.



 



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What is a sun spider?



In 2004, an email with a picture of a giant spider generated a lot of interest among netizens. Originating from an American soldier stationed in Iraq, it said that the spider, called a sun spider, could inject a sleeping soldier with anaesthetic and make off with a chunk of his flesh!



Spider experts laughed it off as a hoax, putting it down to a general fear of spiders that most people have. Some other popular myths about sun spiders: they can jump 2 metres in the air, run at 40 km per hour and lay their eggs in a camel’s belly. In Mexico they are even known as ‘deer killers’.



Sun spiders are also known as camel spiders and wind scorpions and are usually found in arid regions. They measure 12-15 cm with legs stretched out. Camel spiders are tricky creatures. These desert arachnids look like they have ten legs, but two of these limbs are really pedipalps, sensors that help them locate prey. They’re called spiders, but they’re not part of the same order of species as a tarantula or a wolf spider. Instead of fangs, they have powerful jaws. Apologies for the nightmare fodder – despite their fearsome appearance, they’re not actually very dangerous, unless you’re the size of a grasshopper.



They are aggressive and with their bready eyes, hairy bodies and bulging jaws, they do look nightmarish. Though their bite can be painful, they don’t have venom glands. They prey on insects, rodents, lizards, snakes and small birds, seizing them in jaws that are among the largest in the animal kingdom relative to size.



The Latin name ‘solifugae’, given to these spiders means ‘those that flee from the sun’, probably because most of the 1100 species hunt at night, racing over the sand like speeding dune buggies.



 



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What is special about koalas?



They may look like soft, cuddly teddy bears with their big ears and black button eyes, but koalas are not even remotely related to bears and they are certainly not soft! Their silver-grey fur is similar to the coarse wool of sheep.



Koalas are marsupials, animals that carry their young in a pouch. Marsupials are native to both Australia and the Americas, but the largest number of species is found in Australia, New Guinea and nearly islands.



Found in southeastern and eastern Australia, mainly in Victoria and Queensland, koalas live in eucalyptus forests. Their sole diet consists of leaves from a handful of eucalyptus species. They also live high in the branches of eucalyptus trees, safe from predators who would otherwise find them easy prey because they move so slowly and sleep so much.



Koalas need time to digest their meal. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to most animals but koalas have special bacteria in their gut that break down the toxic compounds. They have cheek teeth to help grind the tough leaves. Digestion takes along time since all the nutrients and water have to be extracted from leaves which hardly contain any! This is why koalas sleep almost 20 hours a day and move only if they have to.



Even their bodies are adapted to living in the crooks of branches. They have a barely-there tail, a cushiony, rounded rear end and and a curved spine. Their hands and feet are ideal for clinging to branches, with two opposing thumbs that make for a tight grip. The hands are tipped with sharp claws to dig into the bark. The feet have a long grooming toe and a clawless toe as well that behaves like a thumb!



When a koala baby (called a joey) is born, it is the size of a jelly bean and can’t see or hear. It crawls into the mother’s backward-facing puch and drinks milk from one of two teats. There it remains, warm and safe for six months. The mother also feeds it with her own faeces to give it more immunity.



The joey rides on its mother’s belly and when full-grown, on her back. It becomes independent when a year old.



The male koala’s scent glands are located in a bare patch on his chest. He rubs it on a tree trunk to leave his smell. The scent is made up of 35 different chemicals. The male is smelliest in spring, the mating season!



Today, the koals is listed as vulnerable. It is threatened not only by dogs and being run over by cars, but by habitat loss and disease. There are an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 of these cute animals left in the wild.



 



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Which bird is named after its call?



Ranjit Lal is one of my favourite nature writers. His essays on birds are like stories with lots of interesting anecdotes. His photographs that accompany the stories help us visualise his information. Read this paragraph about the hoo-poe.



“At first glane, most people tend to identify this bird as s woodpecker: like many woodies, it has a crest, a long bill and a zebra-striped plumage. But woodpeckers are normally seen travelling vertically up a tree bark, drumming, pausing and picking up insects. This one, dressed in raw silk colours – with a black-and-white-tripped crest, zebra-striped back and wings, waddles around on the ground, industriously inserting its long down-curving forces-like bill into the earth.... Welcome to the onomatopoeic Hoopoe: a bird whose deep, hollow- sounding “Hoo-po, hoo-po-po” call echoes repeatedly like a ventriloquist.”



Here is the information from his essay.



Where are hoopoes found?



Hoopoes are found in Africa, Europe and central Asia, and, in India. They migrate, but they also stay put in one place. The first Everest expedition reported seeing them at an altitude of 21,000 feet.



How long have we known them?



King Solomon was a wise king. According to legend, birds flew all the way to Africa, telling everyone, “King Solomon is the wisest man in the world!” Queen of Sheba, in Africa, heard it. She decided to visit King Solomon and test his wisdom. She challenged him to build a palace made of bird beaks. Solomon accepted it and ordered the birds to donate their beaks. All the birds did, except the hoopo. “Why not?” asked Solomon. The bird wanted the king to answer three riddles. He answered them correctly, but while doing so, he realised that Queen Sheba’s demand was unreasonable. Why didn’t he consult the birds before giving his command? He explained this to Sheba, who too appreciated the bird’s argument. Together they rewarded the hoopo with a golden crown, which it wears even today. There was also story of the bird being tardy in bringing news of enemy activity. To the angry king the hoopo said it was delayed by what he saw in Sheba. The king sent a message to Sheba and the story had a happy ending.



Do people eat it?



Some do, because they believe its body parts can cure ailments. But a lot of people don’t because of the bird’s association with King Solomon. Egyptians are believed to have worshipped them.



What does the bird eat?



Hoopoes are mainly insectivorous, says Ranjit Lal. They dig the soil with their bills, and look for grasshoppers, worms and beetle-larvae. That means they are farmers’ friends since they eat up harmful insects. They also add berries to their diet. We should not spray the fields and gardens with chemicals since this poisons the hoopoe chicks.



Their behaviour



Hoopoes have a crazy side to their nature, says Lal. Salim Ali has pointed out how groups of hoopoes – maybe three or four birds – suddenly fly up and around in the air as if they have gone mad. They flit and flutter from branch to branch like butterflies, with their crests and tail wide open. No one has been able to explain this “wild side” of the birds!



Hoopoes are also big fighters. During the breeding season (between March and June), fights erupt when they try to guard their ground areas. The birds face each other, “crests flared, bills first pointing downwards and then directly” and begin jabbing. Sometimes the birds blind one another in their fights. The fight is generally over a hollow or slit in a tree trunk or a hole in a stone wall – this is where the birds breed. Hoopoes line the chosen one with grass, leaves, feathers and rubbish and the female settles in to lay eggs, which are bluish-green and speckled. The entrance is kept very small to protect the female sitting on the eggs hatch. Once the chicks come out, both parents feed them.



Hoopoes are not clean birds. The female hoopoe leaves her poop and food bits rot in the nesting area. She also lets out a thick, brown, foul-smelling body liquid, which she smears all over herself and the eggs. This “guck” keeps predators (Larger birds) away, the sebum in it helps to make the feathers flexible and water-proof, and the good bacteria present in it fights harmful germs. The goo else percolates the egg-shell and provides a shield for the babies inside. The hoopoe mom will squirt this stinking liquid with full force at anymore (or anything) trying to take her eggs away.



 



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Why are there so few biorocks then?



Biorocks need electric current to function. So they have to be installed close to the seashore. And more electricity means more coal and oil. These are not environment-friendly. The team has experimented with powering biorocks with solar energy from a solar panel on a barge above the structure. Ha, but the panels are quickly stolen.



The latest method to get power is to harness the energy from the waves. A marine turbine installed underwater will act like a wind turbine. It will have three blades rotating in a cylinder. The spinning of the blades will generate electricity and this will be connected to a generator on the top. Biorocks need only small amounts of electricity so the power provided by the tidal waves is enough to run them.



The country’s first biorocks have been set up in the coastal area of Gujarat in Kutch, under the aegis of the Zoological Survey of India. Scientists reported that calcium carbonate flakes started appearing on the structure the very next day. This is proof of the success of the project.



The ZSI is taking the help of Thomas Goreau, who with Wolf Hilbert, developed and patented the Biorock method. The coral reefs in the Kutch area are endangered, with only 30% of the coral still alive. The plan is to first conserve some 50 species of the total 600 species with the help of Biorocks.



 



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Why doesn’t coral get well naturally?



Once a natural coral reef is disturbed due to human activity like shipping, whaling, diving and warming of water, it lies in rubble at the bottom of the sea. Locals and tourists use heavy nets, dive and walk on the seabed, and fishermen use dynamite to bring out the fish. Indonesia has banned all these activities but people do not bother about the ban. The seabed is disturbed by strong storms and waves, and the coral rubble is shifted about, making regeneration impossible.



Biorocks help fishermen



And it’s not just coral that improves: the biorocks have helped the fish populations as well, particularly lobster and juvenile fish which take shelter in the structures.



Scientists have noted better biodiversity and improvement in water quality in places where biorocks have been installed. They have also helped turn the tide when it comes to severe erosion of beaches. Biorocks act as barriers to the fast incoming waves, and stop the waves from taking away the sand (erosion). The sand is deposited on the seashore because of the biorock barrier. Some parts of the beach in Indonesian islands have expanded by 15 metres in a few years. And biorocks have resisted damage by natural disasters such as the Asian Tsunami of 2004. This is because their open frameworks allow large waves to pass through.



 



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Why are biorocks special?



They speed up the natural process of coral formation. Corals on the biorocks survive better. When divers see injured coral, they bring it to these structures. The coral heals some 20 times faster, and has up to 50 times more chance of survival. What is even more surprising is that the newly-made coral is often more brilliant in colour and density. Once the coral is well enough, it is released into the open sea. The biorock “hospital” is ready for the next batch of coral patients.



Biorock accelerates growth on coral reefs by as much as fivefold and restoration of physical damage by as much as 20 times. The rate of growth can be varied by altering the amount of current flowing into the structure. Biorock can enable coral growth and regrowth even in the presence of environmental stress such as rising ocean temperatures, diseases, and nutrient, sediment, and other types of pollution. When mixed with construction aggregates, it can build components on the sea floor or on land. Biorock represents the only known method that can sustain and grow natural coral species using only basic conducting elements, typically of a common metal such as steel.



Electrolysis of biorock reefs enhances coral growth, reproduction and ability to resist environmental stress.[citation needed] Coral species typically found on healthy reefs gain a major advantage over the weedy organisms that often overgrow them on stressed reefs.



Biorock reefs grow rapidly and strengthen as they age. They thus have great potential for many applications, such as making breakwaters. If waves or colliding ships cause damage, renewed accretion makes them, to an extent, self-repairing.



Biorock is cost-effective, requiring only metal bars or equivalent and electricity. While electricity provided from fossil fuels generates CO2, biorock projects often use renewable solar power, wind power, tidal power, or wave power. The resulting material is cheaper than concrete blocks in many places, depending on electricity and cement transport costs.



Biorock structures can be built in any size or shape depending only on the physical makeup of the sea bottom, wave, current energies and construction materials. They are well suited for remote, third world sites where exotic building materials, construction equipment and appropriately skilled labor are not available.



 



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What is Biorock technology?



Once the biorock is well-installed, reef gardeners and biorock volunteers attach live coral to the steel structure. Now the low-voltage current starts an electrolytic rection, which in turn helps form a substance made of calcium carbonate around the metal. This provides a sturdy surface for corals to stick to. This low voltage also promotes the corals grow faster and stronger than on natural reefs.



In a successful application of this technique, Gili Eco Trust restored the beautiful coral reefs of Gili Trawangan in Indonesia in a short period. Biologists carrying out this experiment say that these man-made reefs resist bleaching of corals better than natural reefs. They give data from severe bleaching events of 2009, 2010 and 2016 as proof. More than 120 structures have been placed in the waters around the Gili Islands, promoting the growth of new corals and a vast array of fish life.



According to reports, the biorock looks like a speed-breaker. A big motorbike was left on top of one such biorock. This was soon covered in coral, with tropical fish moving in and out of the steel bars and in between the spokes of its wheels. The steel frame has a mild current passing through it and slowly leaves a coating of thin rock. This coating is the “nursery” for coral reefs “which have been damaged by human activity.”



All these electrically-charged biorock structures are in Gili Trawangan, one of three small islands northwest of Lombok in the Indonesian archipelago. Tourists found out about this unique experiment and in no time, this place has become a big tourist attraction. Tourists learn how smart technology may help safeguard some of the world’s natural wonders.



 



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What are the Biorocks?



Biorocks are man-made rocks. The “rock” here is a steel structure that is installed in the seabed. It is connected to a power source – usually a solar panel that floats on the surface of the water.



Installing biorocks in the seabed is a novel technique to create artificial coral reefs. In this, biologists build a steel structure, sink it in the ocean and pass low voltage direct electricity through it. Biorock technology was originally developed by marine scientists Thomas Goreau and Wolf Hilbertz. The low-voltage direct current interacts with the minerals in the seawater and causes solid limestone to grow on a steel structure. It draws on a steel structure. It draws on the principles of electrolysis, where the electric current causes a chemical reaction to happen. Eventually, the limestone becomes solid, much in the same way that marine skeletons are formed. It is perfect breeding ground for aquatic life.



 



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