My Science School

Dodos were flightless birds, related to pigeons. They evolved on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

The dodo, bigger than a turkey, weighed about 23 kg (about 50 pounds). It had blue-gray plumage, a big head, a 23-cm (9-inch) blackish bill with reddish sheath forming the hooked tip, small useless wings, stout yellow legs, and a tuft of curly feathers high on its rear end. 

The dodo’s prominent role in bringing attention to the extinction of species, coupled with advances in genetics that could allow for its resurrection (de-extinction), have led scientists to consider the possibility of bringing the dodo back. The sequencing of the dodo genome by geneticists in 2016 reinvigorated this discussion as well as the ethical debate of using de-extinction techniques to alter natural history.

 

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The name derives from the kiwi, a native flightless bird, which is a national symbol of New Zealand. Until the First World War, the kiwi represented the country and not the people; however, by 1917, New Zealanders were also being called "Kiwis", supplanting other nicknames.

The kiwi has long had a special significance for the indigenous M?ori people, who used its skin to make feather cloaks for chiefs. The bird first came to European attention in 1811 when a skin ended up in the hands of a British Museum zoologist, George Shaw, who classified it as a type of penguin and portrayed it as standing upright. After early sightings by Europeans the kiwi was regarded as a curiosity; in 1835 the missionary William Yate described it as "the most remarkable and curious bird in New Zealand".

In the early 1900s cartoonists began to use the kiwi as a representation of New Zealand. For example, in a 1904 New Zealand Free Lance cartoon a plucky kiwi is shown growing to a moa after a rugby victory of 9–3 over a British team. The next year, The Westminster Gazette printed a cartoon of a kiwi and a kangaroo (representing Australia) going off to a colonial conference. Trevor Lloyd, who worked for The New Zealand Herald, also used a kiwi to represent the All Blacks rugby team, but he more often drew a moa. Other symbols for New Zealand at this time included the silver fern, a small boy and a young lion cub. But until the First World War the kiwi was used as a symbol of the nation rather than the people of New Zealand.

 

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Migration can be a long and hard journey, and the bigger the bird, the harder it seems the journey would be as the bird has to keep its heavy body flying such a distance.

However, birds have a unique bone structure that makes flying and the rigors of migration easier for them — hollow bones!

A human bone is dense and filled with bone marrow. However, a bird bone is hollow and filled with air. It also has some cross-sections of bone, called struts, that make the bone strong and help birds withstand taking off, flying and landing.

According to Matt Wedel of the University of California Berkeley, as a baby bird grows, the air sacs that make up its lungs "invade" its bones, forming a bunch of tiny hollows. The air sacs stay attached to these hollows for a bird's life. This, along with a forward-and-backward arrangement of air sacs, helps give birds a little-known superpower: They can take in oxygen while both inhaling and exhaling.

 

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Ramya Krishnan who is best known for her character of Shivagami in the Baahubali franchise was recreated as ‘Damayanti’ who is intently listening to the swam recount tales of Nala. 

Title ‘Hamsa Damayanti’, Ravi Varma painted this in 1899, the portrait has been inspired from a sub-plot in the epic Mahabharata about Damayanti and the king of Nishada, Nala. 

It is said that smitten by her beauty, Nala sent over a swan who sings praises about the king in order to make Damayanti fall in love with him.

It’s also interesting that the mode of communication between between Damayanti and Nala is a swan, who mates for life. Damayanti and Nala are also known for their unwavering loyalty towards each other no matter what.

 

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The Birds is a 1963 American natural horror-thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Loosely based on the 1952 story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, it focuses on a series of sudden and unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California, over the course of a few days.

In 2016, The Birds was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.

The majority of the birds seen in the film are real, although it is estimated that more than $200,000 was spent on the creation of mechanical birds for the film. Ray Berwick was in charge of the live birds used in the production, training and catching many of them himself. The gulls were caught in the San Francisco garbage dump and the sparrows were caught by John "Bud" Cardos. However, the captured sparrows had to be used alongside birds from pet shops to achieve full effect in the scene where they invade the house.

 

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In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Jatayu is a divine bird and the younger son of Aruna. His brother, Sampati, is a demi-god who has the form of an eagle and was an old friend of Dasharatha (Rama's father).

The evil Ravana, King of the Demons, who had 10 heads and 20 arms, spied Rama's beautiful wife Sita in the forest. He fell in love with her instantly. Ravana arranged for his servant Maricha to disguise himself as a golden deer and tempt Rama and Lakshman away from Sita. Lakshman drew a circle in the dust around Sita to protect her and told her not to step out of the circle.

But Ravana cleverly disguised himself as an old beggar man, and begged Sita for food and drink. Sita took pity on him and stepped out of the circle. The beggar man turned back into Ravana, catching Sita in his arms and pulling her into his magic flying chariot. Sita cried for help and a fierce bird Jatayu attacked Ravana in an effort to stop him. But Ravana cut off the bird's wings with his sword. Sita threw her necklace to the ground, in the hope that Rama would save her. 

After narrating about the Sita's abduction to Sri Rama and Lakshmana,the wounded Jatayu dies.Sri Rama then performed the final funeral rites of Jatayu. At this place the Sri Rama is worshipped as the Vijayaraghava Perumal in the Vijayaraghava Perumal temple.The water body where Jatayu fell is called Jatayu Theertham. The same legend is also associated with Thirupullabhoothangudi Temple.

 

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A total of seven specimens of the bird are known at this time.

It has long been accepted that Archaeopteryx was a transitional form between birds and reptiles, and that it is the earliest known bird.

Archaeopteryx lived in the Late Jurassic around 150 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany, and also Portugal, during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size to a Eurasian magpie, with the largest individuals possibly attaining the size of a raven, the largest species of Archaeopteryx could grow to about 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) in length. Despite their small size, broad wings, and inferred ability to fly or glide, Archaeopteryx had more in common with other small Mesozoic dinosaurs than with modern birds. In particular, they shared the following features with the dromaeosaurids and troodontids: jaws with sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, hyperextensible second toes ("killing claw"), feathers (which also suggest warm-bloodedness), and various features of the skeleton.

 

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This phrase describes a view that is seen as a bird might see it, from an elevated perspective. For example, when flying in an airplane you get a bird’s-eye view of the towns and cities below you. Climbing up a tall tower affords you the same perspective.

The phrase can also be used in a more figurative sense; when someone steps back and looks at the entire situation from a more distant perspective, it can be said that they are seeing it from a bird’s-eye view.

This expression comes from the literal imagery of seeing things the way birds do: from up high.

The terms aerial view and aerial viewpoint are also sometimes used synonymous with bird's-eye view. The term aerial view can refer to any view from a great height, even at a wide angle, as for example when looking sideways from an airplane window or from a mountain top. Overhead view is fairly synonymous with bird's-eye view but tends to imply a less lofty vantage point than the latter term. For example, in computer and video games, an "overhead view" of a character or situation often places the vantage point only a few feet (a meter or two) above human height. 

 

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The term chicken-hearted refers to someone who is easily scared or cowardly in nature. It is typically used as an insult and generally has a negative connotation. This term derives from the idiomatic meaning of the word chicken in English, which also refers to someone who is cowardly.

Chicken-hearted was first used during the late 17th century, although there is little information regarding its first use in print. This idiom is similar to faint-hearted and faint of heart, both of which have the same meaning in English.

The idiomatic noun form of chicken was first used in this context in Shakespeare’s play, Kempe’s Nine Days’ Wonder, written in 1600. Chicken was first used in the same context in verb form around the early 20th century.

The English phrase chicken-hearted refers to someone who is cowardly in nature or easily scared. It is most commonly used as an insult, but it can also be used in playful banter.

 

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The Ostrich is the biggest bird in the world and can weigh as much as 180kg. They also lay the biggest egg in the world – one ostrich egg weighs about 1, 5 kg and is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.

The ostrich egg is also the strongest egg and this is to ensure that when the male and female ostriches sit on the eggs that they won’t break.  A full grown man can stand on the ostrich egg and it will easily carry the weight of the person.  One ostrich egg can take a pressure of up to 220 kg on the ends and 150kg on the side.

In 2020, studies of decorated ostrich eggs in the British Museum showed that the methods by which they had been sourced, produced and traded were more complicated than had previously been imagined. Isotope analysis showed that eggs from the same archaeological site had originated in different places. Microscopic analysis revealed details of the techniques by which they had been decorated. The studies suggested that, rather than the eggs having been laid by captive birds, almost all had most likely been collected in the wild; a potentially hazardous undertaking.

 

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India does not have Hummingbirds, those tiny creatures of the light and air that so delight those living or visiting abroad, especially the western coast of America. Our smallest birds are our Sunbirds and Flowerpeckers.

However, even in urban gardens, one may find oneself looking at something that seems remarkably like a Hummingbird, and yet seems different. In India, this probably means that one is looking at a Hummingbird Hawk Moth! The scientific name for this small creature is Macroglossum stellatarum. They belong to the family called “Sphingidae”.

In our country, these moths can be found in the northern parts of the country during summer, and in the south, too, in winter. The moth’s long proboscis and its hovering behaviour, accompanied by an audible humming noise, make it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers.

 

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The tiny arctic tern makes the longest migration of any animal in the world, flying about two times farther than previously thought, a new study says.

Until recently, only larger birds could be followed using tracking devices, because the gadgets were too big and heavy to attach to small birds.

But the team used a tiny tracker developed by the British Antarctic Survey, which weighs just a twentieth of an ounce (1.4 grams)—light enough for an Arctic tern to carry on a band around its leg.

Arctic terns also follow a zigzagging route on their spring trips back to Greenland. Rather than flying straight up the middle of the Atlantic, the birds hopscotch from Antarctica to Africa to South America to the Arctic.

 

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A crane is a machine that is capable of raising and lowering heavy objects and moving them horizontally. Cranes are distinguished from hoists, which can lift objects but that cannot move them sideways. Cranes are also distinguished from conveyors, which lift and move bulk materials, such as grain and coal, in a continuous process. The word crane is taken from the fact that these machines have a shape similar to that of the tall, long-necked bird of the same name.

As early as the first century, cranes were built that were powered by human beings or animals operating a treadmill or large wheel. These early cranes consisted of a long wooden beam, known as a boom, connected to a rotating base. The wheel or treadmill powered a drum, around which a rope was wound. The rope was connected to a pulley at the top of the boom and to a hook that lifted the weight.

 

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Penguins are flightless seabirds that live almost exclusively below the equator. Some island-dwellers can be found in warmer climates, but most—including emperor, adélie, chinstrap, and gentoo penguins—reside in and around icy Antarctica. A thick layer of blubber and tightly-packed, oily feathers are ideal for colder temperatures.

The 18 different species of penguins can widely in shape and size but all have black bodies and white bellies. This protective countershading allows them to hide from predators like leopard seals and orcas while they swim.

On land, penguins have an upright stance and tend to waddle, hop, or run with their bodies angled forward. Polar penguins can travel long distances quickly by “tobogganing,” or sliding across the ice on their bellies and pushing forward with their feet. If it’s especially cold, they huddle together in large colonies that protect them from predators and provide warmth. These colonies consist of thousands, and even millions, of penguins.

 

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"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. 

Poe wrote the poem as a narrative, without intentional allegory or didacticism. The main theme of the poem is one of undying devotion. The narrator experiences a perverse conflict between desire to forget and desire to remember. He seems to get some pleasure from focusing on loss. The narrator assumes that the word "Nevermore" is the raven's "only stock and store", and, yet, he continues to ask it questions, knowing what the answer will be. His questions, then, are purposely self-deprecating and further incite his feelings of loss. Poe leaves it unclear if the raven actually knows what it is saying or if it really intends to cause a reaction in the poem's narrator. The narrator begins as "weak and weary," becomes regretful and grief-stricken, before passing into a frenzy and, finally, madness. Christopher F. S. Maligec suggests the poem is a type of elegiac paraclausithyron, an ancient Greek and Roman poetic form consisting of the lament of an excluded, locked-out lover at the sealed door of his beloved.

 

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