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The Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve - spanning more than 3,500 sq.km. and the two States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu - comprises tropical forests, and houses more than 2,000 species of vascular plants, including about 400 that are endemic. It also hosts a variety of spices, including cardamom, nutmeg, and pepper. The Reserve nurtures more than 300 species of birds, 70 species of mammals, over 80 species of reptiles, 45 species of amphibians, and more than 45 species of fishes. Importantly, many these species are endemic to the region. The Reserve also includes three wildlife sanctuaries - Shendurney, Peppara and Nayar, in addition to the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. It is also an important biogeographical hotspot within the Western Ghats, where it is located.

Wildlife

Francolins, ducks, piculets, barbets, trogons, malkohas, coucals, swiftlets, needletails, frogmouths, nightjars, crakes, waterhens, swamphens, coots, snipes, sandpipers, thickknees, plovers, stilts, lapwings, terns, buzzards, kestrels, grebes, darters, cormorants, bitterns, ibises, spoonbills, pelicans, leafbirds, shrikes, treepies, minivets, flycatchers, woodshrikes, thrushes, robins, starlings, bushchats, nuthatches, tits, martins, prinias, munias, robins, warblers, larks, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters, wagtails and weavers can be spotted here. Among the animals found here are the Bengal tiger, leopard, sloth bear, the Asian elephant gaur, sambar, Nilgiri tahr, spotted deer, mouse deer, Nilgiri langur, slender loris, bonnet macaque, lion-tailed macaque, brown mongoose, Malabar giant squirrel, Nilgiri marten, Indian pangolin, king cobra, python, monitor lizard, and pit viper.

A treasure trove of new species

• In 2014, as many as six species of golden backed frogs found in the Western Ghats were declared new - till then they were wrongly grouped as Hylarana temporalis, usually found in Sri Lanka. One of them - the large golden-backed frog (Hylarana magna) - was found in Agasthyamala Meanwhile, it seems Hylarana temporalis never really existed in India and it was a case of mistaken identity!


• In 2017, another new frog species would be found in Agasthyamala Vijayan's night frog (Nyctibatrachus pulivijayani) is extremely tiny - only 13.6 mm that it barely covers a thumbnail and sits effortlessly on a coin, with lots of space to spare. This was one of the four thumbnail-sized frog species discovered in the Western Ghats back then.


• In 2018, a new plant species got its name from the place it was discovered in - Fimbristylis agasthyamalai is. This grass-like plant is said to have a range of only "about two square km with less than 50 known individuals", and "highly threatened by grazing".

 

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The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, also known as Zafar, died in a British prison in Burma in 1862. As the last of the dynastic line that extended back to the sixteenth century, he had in his earlier years presided over a culturally sophisticated court, but as the British East India Company extended its control over more of India, his rule was clearly coming to an end. Then the mutiny of the sepoys against their British officers led to the siege of Delhi, the establishment of direct British colonial rule, and the end of any pretensions of Zafar as emperor. Dalrymple has mined the Persian and Urdu archives to capture the culture of Zafar's court life -- a culture of artists and intellectuals, of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Dalrymple has little to say about what triggered the mutiny, but he does add greatly to the standard picture of the horrors of the fighting that destroyed a great deal of the city of Delhi.

Zafar's father, Akbar II, had been imprisoned by the British and he was not his father's preferred choice as his successor. One of Akbar Shah's queens, Mumtaz Begum, pressured him to declare her son, Mirza Jahangir, as his successor. However, The East India Company exiled Jahangir after he attacked their resident, in the Red Fort, paving the way for Zafar to assume the throne.

Bahadur Shah Zafar was a noted Urdu poet, having written a number of Urdu ghazals. While some part of his opus was lost or destroyed during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a large collection did survive, and was compiled into the Kulliyyat-i-Zafar. The court that he maintained was home to several prolific Urdu writers, including Mirza Ghalib, Dagh, Mumin, and Zauq.

 

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Babar is the great grandson of Tamerlane and Genghis Khan, was the first Mughal emperor in India. He confronted and defeated Lodhi in 1526 at the first battle of Panipat, and so came to establish the Mughal Empire in India. Babar ruled until 1530, and was succeeded by his son Humayun.

The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar. This imperial structure lasted until 1720, until shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb, during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently, especially during the East India Company rule in India, to the region in and around Old Delhi, the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Although the Mughal Empire was created and sustained by military warfare, it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and people it came to rule; rather, it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule. The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.

 

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Birbal, or Raja Birbal, was a Hindu advisor and main commander of army in the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. He is mostly known in the Indian subcontinent for the folk tales which focus on his wit. Birbal was appointed by Akbar as a Minister and used to be a Poet and Singer in around 1556–1562. He had a close association with Emperor Akbar and was one of his most important courtiers, part of a group called the navaratnas. In 1586, Birbal led an army to crush unrest in the north-west Indian subcontinent where he was killed along with many troops in an ambush by the rebel tribe. He was the only Hindu to adopt Din-i Ilahi, the religion founded by Akbar.

By the end of Akbar's reign, local folk tales emerged involving his interactions with Akbar, portraying him as being extremely clever and witty. As the tales gained popularity in India, he became even more of a legendary figure across the Indian subcontinent. These tales involve him outsmarting rival courtiers and sometimes even Akbar, using only his intelligence and cunning, often with giving witty and humorous responses and impressing Akbar.

Birbal was born as Mahesh Das Brahmbhatt in 1528, to a Hindu Brahmin family in Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh, India; in a village called Ghoghra. His father was Ganga Das and mother, Anabha Davito. He was the third son of the family which had a previous association with poetry and literature.

Educated in Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian, Birbal wrote prose, specialised in music and poetry in the Braj language, thus gaining fame. He served at the Rajput court of Raja Ram Chandra of Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), under the name "Brahma Kavi". Birbal's economic and social status improved when he married the daughter of a respected and rich family, contrary to the notion that he was on poor economic terms before his appointment at Mughal Emperor Akbar's imperial court.

 

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Vishnu Sharma is said to be an Indian scholar and author who is believed to have written the Panchatantra collection of fables. The exact period of the composition of the Panchatantra is uncertain, and estimates vary from 1200 BCE to 300 CE scholars place him in the 3rd century BCE.

Various locations where the text was composed have been proposed but this has been controversial. Some of the proposed locations include Kashmir, Southwestern or South India. The text's original language was likely Sanskrit. Though the text is now known as Panchatantra, the title found in old manuscript versions varies regionally, and includes names such as Tantrakhyayika, Panchakhyanaka, Panchakhyana and Tantropakhyana. The suffix akhyayika and akhyanaka mean "little story" or "little story book" in Sanskrit.

The text was translated into Pahlavi in 550 CE, which forms the latest limit of the text's existence. The earliest limit is uncertain. It quotes identical verses from Arthasastra, which is broadly accepted to have been completed by the early centuries of the Common Era. According to Olivelle, "the current scholarly consensus places the Panchatantra around 300 CE, although we should remind ourselves that this is only an educated guess". The text quotes from older genre of Indian literature, and legends with anthropomorphic animals are found in more ancient texts dated to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE such as the chapter 4.1 of the Chandogya Upanishad. According to Gillian Adams, Panchatantra may be a product of the Vedic period, but its age cannot be ascertained with confidence because "the original Sanskrit version has been lost".

 

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Patañjali was a sage in India, thought to be the author of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these are the Yoga Sutras, a classical yoga text.

The truth is that nobody really knows much about Patanjali. We don't even know exactly when the sage lived. Some practitioners believe he lived around the second century BCE and also wrote significant works on Ayurveda (the ancient Indian system of medicine) and Sanskrit grammar, making him something of a Renaissance man. 

But based on their analyses of the language and the teaching of the sutras, modern scholars place Patanjali in the second or third century CE and ascribe the medical essays and grammar to various other "Patanjalis."

Like many tales about the world's spiritual heroes, the story of Patanjali's birth has assumed mythic dimensions. One version relates that in order to teach yoga on earth, he fell from heaven in the form of a little snake, into the upturned plans (a gesture known as anjali) of his virgin mother, Gonika, herself a powerful yogini. He's regarded as an incarnation of the thousand-headed serpent-king named Remainder (Shesha) or Endless (Ananta), whose coils are said to support the god Vishnu.

 

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Eagle Is The National Animal of Germany‘s and has been featured on the Coat of Arms for over 800 years. Eagles are known as the rulers of the skies. They symbolize strength, immortality, farsightedness, and courage.

It was chosen because of the Germanic tribes regarded the eagle as a bird of the God, Odin. There are many different kinds of eagles mostly 60 species of eagles are from Eurasia, Nigeria, and Africa. The Germany National Animal Eagle is extremely rapid and It can dive upon their target at speeds of more than 150 miles Per hour.

Eagle is the most popular Bird in Germany. Similarly, it can run in average 150 miles. Ancient people love the Eagle very much and they reflect this in their art. On the other hand, this mighty eagle is considered as National Bird of Germany. The symbolic meaning of eagle is Protection, Freedom, and Action. A German Eagle can go 0.5kg to 7kg (1.1lbs – 15.4lbs). Without Germany, you will find eagle Eurasia, Nigeria, and Africa, Australia, south and North America. Depending on species an eagle can Black, Grey, Brown, White, Yellow in color. Important to realize, that’s why the German’s national animal is the Black Eagle. In other words, it’s the German’s National Bird.

 

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Although the maple leaf is closely associated with Canada, the maple tree was not officially recognized as Canada's arboreal emblem until 1996.

Of the 150 known species of maple (genus Acer), only 13 are native to North America. Ten of these grow in Canada: the sugar, black, silver, bigleaf, red, mountain, striped, Douglas, vine and Manitoba maples. At least one of the 10 species grows naturally in every province. Canada’s arboreal emblem is the generic maple species.

Trees have played a meaningful role in the historical development of Canada and continue to be of commercial, environmental and aesthetic importance. Maples contribute valuable wood products and sustain the maple sugar industry; they are ideal for promoting Canada as a world leader in the sustainable management of forests.

Maple Leaf’s use as the national flower of Canada has a nice history behind it. This goes back to the rule of French Canadians in the 19th century. These French Canadians used to have this symbol and they carried it everywhere. However, there were many other symbols as well and among those symbols, only the Maple Leaf was prominent enough to deserve the title. It was called as the King of the Forest by one of the representatives. However, it was in 1996 when the use of this symbol as the national flower was made official.

 

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The national bird of Australia is Emu. In Australia, the emu is the largest bird. And they are the second largest after ostrich. Australia’s national bird, the flightless emu is the second living large bird.

They are very common everywhere in Australia. But they like Woody area. The Emu is so respected in Australia and they use the emu symbol in their coat of arms.

The Australian Government declared emu as the national bird of Australia at the 1960s but many say that was not officially. While you’ve got the answer to the question: “What is the national bird of Australia?” definitely you’ve more questions about these large birds. Before answering those common questions, we’ll represent some basic facts of Emu.

They take a wide of plants depending on the season along with beetles, grasshoppers, fruit, crickets, ladybirds, lizards, ants, flowers, berries and grubs. Emus takes stones and pebbles that helps with their digestion of the plant material that they eat.

Emus sometimes are not able to drink for a day or two because of the arid environment that they live in but when they do find water they drink large amounts. To protect that amazing species Australia’s governing council declared the Prikichi parakeets as a National bird symbol of Australia.

 

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In New Zealand, however, the national bird and animal is one and the same: the humble kiwi. The kiwi is flightless bird that’s quite different to other species. It is nocturnal, its feathers are quite furry, and it is the only bird with nostrils right at the tip of its beak. Kiwi birds may not be the best equipped for fighting predation, but they’re very smart; they also have powerful legs and are able to lay massive eggs that are quite impressive for a bird of its stature.

The closest relatives to the kiwi nowadays are the elephant birds in Madagascar, though they are also related to Australian emus and cassowaries as well as the extinct New Zealand moa. This iconic bird has five unique species – the brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi, little spotted kiwi, rowi and tokoeka – and can live between 25 to 50 years. Interestingly, kiwi chicks already have all their feathers upon hatching, start feeding on their own when they’re about five days old and take three to five years to reach full adult size.

New Zealand’s love for their national bird also means that the welfare of the kiwi bird is often used as a measure of the state of the natural environment at large. Different types of kiwi are considered to be critically endangered, vulnerable or in decline, though pest control campaigns have successfully placed the little spotted kiwi in the ‘recovering’ species list. Nowadays, there are more than 90 community-based and iwi-led groups dedicated solely to the protection of the kiwi. October is also the national Save Kiwi Month, a time when the country comes together to do their part in protecting their much-adored icon. Needless to say, New Zealanders have a great deal of pride of their gentle national symbol, and will try to protect them from extinction until the very end.

 

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The emblem of Bangladesh was adopted in 1971. It is composed of a water lily in the center which is bordered with sheaves of rice/paddy on either side. Above the water lily are three connected jute leaves with two stars on each side. The water lily stands for the country’s national flower and represents many rivers that run throughout the country. The sheaves of rice symbolize the staple food of Bangladesh and the agricultural wealth of the nation. The four stars represent the four founding principles that are enshrined in the Constitution of Bangladesh: nationalism, secularism, socialism, and democracy.

White water lily is the national flower symbol of the Bangladeshi people. They believe that the white water lily purifies their soul and unites them all as the petals of water lily. The water lily is rooted in the soil under water of natural big ponds, lakes and canals.

The leaves of water lily are about 12 to 30 cm diameter and their color is dark green. It blooms round the year mostly in rainy season. The stalk of both the flowers and leaves are as long as the level of water where they grow. The people of Bangladesh used the stalk of the water lily in their food menu. It is very useful health. The leaves of water lily provide shade to the aquatic creatures as a shelter from Sun. To sum up, white water lily is the national flower of Bangladesh. It marvelously represents the people’s unity and also purity of soul.

 

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The dolphin, a friendly marine creature, is the symbol used to represent Greece. Etymologically speaking, the word ‘dolphin’ comes from the ancient Greek delphis, itself related to the Greek delphus, or womb, so the animal’s name more or less means ‘a ‘fish’ with a womb.’ As such, the dolphin’s role in human culture can be traced back to ancient times, where they appear in many myths.

Although dolphins are widespread, most species prefer the warmer waters of the tropic zones, but some, like the right whale dolphin, prefer colder climates. Dolphins feed largely on fish and squid, but a few, like the killer whale, feed on large mammals, like seals. Male dolphins typically mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a relatively long period of time. Dolphins produce a variety of vocalizations, usually in the form of clicks and whistles.

Dolphins are sometimes hunted in places such as Japan, in an activity known as dolphin drive hunting. Besides drive hunting, they also face threats from bycatch, habitat loss, and marine pollution. Dolphins have been depicted in various cultures worldwide. Dolphins occasionally feature in literature and film, as in the film series Free Willy. Dolphins are sometimes kept in captivity and trained to perform tricks. The most common dolphin species in captivity is the bottlenose dolphin, while there are around 60 captive killer whales.

 

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Like the Bald Eagle in the United States, the Garuda is often used to represent Indonesia.

A great deal of symbolism runs through the Garuda. The eagle is a symbol of creative energy. Its principal color, gold, symbolizes the greatness of the nation. The black color represents nature. There are 17 feathers on each wing, 8 on the tail and 45 on the neck. These numbers stand for the date Indonesia proclaimed its independence: 17 August 1945. 

In Hinduism’s Mahabharata epic, Garuda is a half-human, half-bird creature, with red wings, white face, and a figure so big that it covered the sun whenever he flew by. Garuda was born as the child of a priest, Resi Kasyapa, and was given special powers by the gods from the moment he ‘hatched’.

Soon after he was born, Garuda was faced with a task to deliver his mother, Winata, from the fraudulence of his father’s other wife, Kadru. He redeemed his mother with a sacred water he worked so hard to acquire, making Garuda an epitome of sacrifice and loyalty.

Garuda’s pervasive presence in many cultures makes him a celebrated figure adapted in many countries. Thailand’s national emblem is also Garuda, but with a depiction much closer to mythology than the one used in Indonesia, with a human torso and red feathers. For Indonesians, the emblem of Garuda is more like an integration between ancient history and contemporary values and symbols that make the country unique.

 

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The answer is Africa. Yes, the correct answer for Which Is The Hottest Continent In The World is Africa.

Africa is the world's second-biggest and second-most crowded continent, after Asia in both cases. About 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles), including contiguous islands, covers 6% of Earth's absolute surface zone and 20% of its territory zone. With 1.3 billion people in 2018, it represents about 16% of the world's human populace. Africa's population is the most youthful among all the continents; the middle age in 2012 was 19.7, when the overall middle age was 30.4. Notwithstanding a broad scope of regular assets, the continent has been declared one of the world's poorest countries.

The heat and humidity are portrayed by exchanging dry and stormy season. The contrast between the seasons turns out to be more denoted as it is closer to the jungles; comparatively, there is more variation in temperatures, resulting in low rainfall. Because of the continent's size, the impact of latitude prevalent in the northern half of the globe; there is a progression of tropical belts corresponding to the equator.

 

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In the centre of the North Atlantic Ocean, amidst the vast blue expanse, is a huge floating mat of brown seaweed called sargassum. These mats are quite common in the Sargasso Sea, a region around Bermuda. The region has been named after the seaweed. These floating mats of seaweed were first reported by Christopher Columbus in the 15th Century. But since 2011, the Atlantic Ocean has been witnessing massive sargassum blooms every year. It stretches nearly 9000 km from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists call this the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. The seaweed band has been getting bigger every year, posing a serious threat to marine life, coastal ecosystem and the fishing communities dependent on it.

Sargassum is a genus of large brown seaweed (a type of algae) that floats in island-like masses. The seaweed species found in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt include Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans. They have many leafy appendages, branches, and round, berry-like structures called pneumatocysts, which keep them buoyant and close to the surface. The seaweed band attracts fish, shrimp, crabs, birds, and turtles, providing essential habitats. The seaweed is in turn nourished by the excrement of these organisms. Even larger creatures find plenty to eat amid the sargassum.

While the seaweed can be a boon for marine wildlife under normal circumstances, too much of it can pose a huge problem. As sargassum decays it consumes the oxygen, creating low oxygen conditions that affect marine life. Coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems can suffer when high levels of sargassum change water chemistry and block organisms from moving freely. Thick mats can also block sunlight from reaching the ocean depths. The seaweeds often wash up ashore en masse and choke coastal ecosystems. As the seaweed rots, it releases foul-smelling hydrogen sulphide gas, causing respiratory illness in local populations. They also affect coastal tourism.

Recurrent blooms

Scientists are concerned over the recurrent blooms having become the new normal. They attribute it to various factors such as warming of the ocean due to climate change, discharge of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from agricultural run-off and wastewater originating from major river basins such as the Congo and the Amazon and the deposition of iron and nutrient-rich Saharan dust on the ocean. Scientists say that multidisciplinary research and international efforts are required to address this issue.

 

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