My Science School

Gharial is a type of Asian crocodile living in clear freshwater river systems. Its long, thin snout helps in sensing the presence of my prey, usually fish, by detecting vibrations in the water. It regulates its body temperature by basking in the sun or resting in shade or water. It has about 106 to 110 razor-sharp teeth. The male of its species sports a large spot on the snout called ‘ghara’.

Gharials are perhaps the most dedicated parents of all reptiles. Females lay eggs in lots of nests close together and guard them from the river. When the eggs hatch, all of the hatchlings join together to form a large ‘creche’.

The females and the males then guard these creches from predators in the water and on the banks of the river. At the first sign of danger the hatchlings will rush to the safety of the nearest adult, often clambering onto their heads for protection.

The damming and diversion of the rivers on which they depend threatens their habitats. The illegal extraction of sand from the riverbanks is destroying their nesting habitats.

The depletion of fish numbers due to overfishing by humans is a major threat, and gharials often died after being caught in fishing nets.

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A blue whale is the largest known animal, found in oceans around the world, except the Arctic.

It grows up to 110 feet in length and 150 tonnes in weight. Did you know its tongue alone can weigh as much as an elephant?

Its diet consists exclusively of krill, which are tiny shrimp-like creatures. It eats tonnes of them at times.

They spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake long migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives.

It makes a range of sounds to communicate and navigate. It is among the loudest animals on the planet.

These marine marvels are a species of ‘baleen’ whale. Instead of teeth, they have baleen, a fibrous material used to filter their food. When eating, the whale lets a huge volume of water and krill into its mouth. It then pushes the water through its 300-400 baleen plates, which trap the tasty grub to be swallowed. Gulp!

Sadly, in the late 19th early 20th century, blue whales were heavily hunted. And despite a global hunting ban in 1966, their population has declined by 70-90 percent in the past 150 years. With only 10,000-25,000 left in the wild, these magnificence marine mammals are today classified as an endangered species.

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Praying mantis, a large group of insects found in tropical and temperate habitats.

Most of them are ambush predators. It uses its spiked forelegs to grasp its prey. Moths, crickets, grasshoppers and flies are its favourite food. But larger species in its family (mantidae) even prey on lizards.

It earned its common name – praying mantis, because of the way its front legs are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer.

It has triangular heads on along thorax. Did you know it can turn its head 180 degrees to scan its surroundings?

Try to sneak up on a praying mantis, and you may be startled when it looks over its shoulder at you. No other insect can do so. Praying mantids have a flexible joint between the head and prothorax that enables them to swivel their heads. This ability, along with their rather humanoid faces and long, grasping forelegs, endears them to even the most entomophobic people among us.

The female praying mantis deposits her eggs on a twig or stem in the fall ?and then protects them with a Styrofoam-like substance she secretes from her body. This forms a protective egg case, or ootheca, in which her offspring will develop over the winter. Mantid egg cases are easy to spot in the winter when leaves have fallen from shrubs and trees. But be forewarned! If you bring an overwintering ootheca into your warm home, you may find your house teeming with tiny mantids.

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The sound waves come from the animals’ huge vocal cords, and distant elephants “hear” the signals with their highly sensitive feet.

Elephants perceive vibrations through the soles of their feet. Vibrations travel up through their bones to their head. They are then amplified by the skull’s bones and transmitted to the ossicles of the ear. The elephant pounds the earth to alert others of danger. Such messages can be perceived at a distance of up to 18.5 mi. (30 km).

To test the theory that elephants transmit and receive underground messages, O'Connell-Rodwell and her colleagues previously conducted several novel experiments with pachyderms in Africa, India and at a captive elephant facility in Texas.

"We went to Etosha National Park in Namibia and recorded three acoustic calls commonly made by wild African elephants," she says. "One is a warning call, another is a greeting and the third is the elephant equivalent of 'Let's go!'"

The researchers wanted to find out if elephants would respond to recordings played through the ground, so they installed seismic transmitters at a tourist facility in Zimbabwe where eight trained, young elephants were housed.

The idea was to convert audible "Greetings," "Warning!" and "Let's go!" calls into underground seismic waves that an elephant could feel but not hear directly through the air.

"We used a mix of elephant calls, synthesized low-frequency tones, rock music and silence for comparison," says O'Connell-Rodwell.

"When the 'Warning!' calls were played, one female got so agitated she bent down and bit the ground," she notes. "That's very unusual behavior for an elephant, but it has been observed in the wild under conditions of extreme agitation."

The young female had the same agitated response each time the experiment was repeated. Researchers also played recorded calls to seven captive males.

"The bulls reacted, too, but their response was much more subtle," notes O'Connell-Rodwell.

"We think they're sensing these underground vibrations through their feet," she adds. "Seismic waves could travel from their toenails to the ear via bone conduction, or through somatosensory receptors in the foot similar to ones found in the trunk. We think it may be a combination of both."

 

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The literal translation of rhinoceros is ‘nose-horned’. It comes from the Greek word 'rhinokeros' from ‘rhinos’ meaning ‘nose’ and 'keras' meaning 'horn of an animal’. 

Rhinoceros are killed by some poachers for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and used by some cultures for ornaments or traditional medicine. East Asia, specifically Vietnam, is the largest market for rhino horns. By weight, rhino horns cost as much as gold on the black market. Some cultures believe the horns to have therapeutic properties and they are ground up and the dust consumed. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn. The IUCN Red List identifies the black, Javan, and Sumatran rhinoceros as critically endangered.

The family Rhinocerotidae consists of only four extant genera: Ceratotherium (white rhinoceros), Diceros (black rhinoceros), Dicerorhinus (Sumatran rhinoceros), and Rhinoceros (Indian and Javan rhinoceros). The living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros, belong to the tribe Dicerotini, which originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The species diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago). The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths – white rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing, whereas black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The Sumatran rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago).

 

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Santa Claus, Indiana

The biggest and probably the best-known Santa Claus of all, this happy burg sits in the state’s southern tip near the Ohio River.  Most residents live in Christmas Lake Village, a 2,500-acre development centered around three lakes: Christmas Lake, Lake Holly, and Lake Noel.  You’ll also want to check out Holiday Village, a subdivision on the north side of town.  And if that weren’t enough, US Highway 231 is now under construction, promising to spur new economic development and improve access to Splashin’ Safari and Holiday World, where you can get free soft drinks all day, every day.

Santa Claus, Georgia

Officially dubbed the “City That Loves Children”, this rural hideaway is located just minutes outside Vidalia—home of the Sweet Vidalia Onion.  Housing inventory is limited to just 67 homes and some apartments, with most located on Candy Cane Road, Rudolph Way, Dancer Street, Prancer Street, and Sleigh Street.  Local attractions include the Santa Claus Minit Mart (“Drinks as Cold as the North Pole!”) and the Santa Claus City Hall, where the decorations never come down.

Santa Claus, Arizona

If you really want to get away from it all, this is your Santa Claus—an uninhabited desert town just south of Grasshopper Junction.  There aren’t any houses, no infrastructure, and the last business shut down in 1995. There are, however, still plenty of vandalized buildings, a wishing well, and the "Old 1225", a derailed, pink children's train tagged with graffiti.  As we like to say in the real estate biz, this place is a real “fixer upper”.

Even if you don’t decide to pack up and move to Santa Claus, we want to wish you and yours a very safe, happy holiday season, and extend our best wishes for a peaceful, prosperous New Year.

 

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Henry Cole sent the first Christmas card in 1843. Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy British businessman, wanted a card he could proudly send to friends and professional acquaintances to wish them a "Merry Christmas."

The card depicted a typical English family enjoying the holiday, and people performing acts of charity. An important part of Victorian Christmas spirit. A thousand copies of the card were printed and sold for one shilling. This is reportedly the first Christmas card to be produced and sold to the public.

Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s, but were very expensive and most people couldn't afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer who was originally from German but who had also worked on early cards in the UK, started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. Mr Prang's first cards featured flowers, plants, and children. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today!

The first known 'personalised' Christmas Card was sent in 1891 by Annie Oakley, the famous sharpshooter and star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. She was in Glasgow, Scotland at Christmas 1891 and sent cards back to her friends and family in the USA featuring a photo of her on it. As she was in Scotland, she's wearing tartan in the photo! Annie reportedly designed the cards herself and they were printed by a local printer.

In the 1910s and 1920s, home made cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and had things such as foil and ribbon on them. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.

Nowadays, cards have all sorts of pictures on them: jokes, winter pictures, Santa Claus or romantic scenes of life in past times. Charities often sell their own Christmas Cards as a way raising money at Christmas.

 

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In traditional festive legend, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. The commonly cited names of the eight fictional reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, although Donner is sometimes called Donder. They are based on those used in the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (commonly called "The Night Before Christmas") by Clement Clarke Moore, arguably the basis of the reindeers' popularity.

In traditional lore, Santa Claus's sleigh is led by eight reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (variously spelled Dunder and Donner) and Blitzen (variously spelled Blixen and Blixem). The enduring popularity of the 1949 Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has led to Rudolph often joining the list, bringing the number of Santa Claus's reindeer up to nine.

 

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An artificial Christmas tree is an artificial pine or fir tree manufactured for the specific purpose of use as a Christmas tree. The earliest artificial Christmas trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids or feather trees, both developed by Germans. 

The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century, though earlier examples exist. These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green. The German feather trees were one response by Germans to continued deforestation in Germany. Developed in the 1880s, the feather trees became increasingly popular during the early part of the 20th century. The German feather trees eventually made their way to the United States where they became rather popular as well. In fact, the use of natural Christmas trees in the United States was pre-dated by a type of artificial tree. These first trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids lit by candles, they were developed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by the German Moravian Church in 1747.

Feather Christmas trees, originally of German origin, became popular in the United States as well. Feather trees were initially made of green-dyed goose feathers which were attached to wire branches. These wire branches were then wrapped around a central dowel which acted as the trunk Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small 2 inch tree to a large 98 inch tree sold in department stores during the 1920s. Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders. The branches were widely spaced to keep the candles from starting a fire, which allowed ample space for ornamentation. Other benefits touted for feather trees included the elimination of a trip to the tree lot and the lack of shed needles.

 

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1. During pregnancy, the baby in womb can help repair a mother’s organ damage by giving its stem cells. In Biology, it’s a form of chimerism called the Fetomaternal microchimerism (FMc). Alternatively, this is a survival mechanism by which the fetus ensures maternal fitness in order to enhance its own chances of survival.

2. Some humans have a total of 207 bones instead of 206. The Fabella is a tiny sesamoid bone in the knee that has been making a come back in recent years. At present, around 39% of the population have the extra fabella bone, which is three times more in 100 years, compared to only 11% of world population having it in 1918. Scientists theorize, this emergence is due to increased nutrition and humans getting taller and heavier.

3. A newborn baby has only one cup (0.2 liters) of blood in the whole body, whereas, the healthy adult has about 1.3 to 1.6 gallons or 4.0 to 5.0 litres of blood circulating inside their body.

4. Lungs are the only organ in the human body that can float on water. In fact, medical examiners use the “lung float test” during autopsies to determine if a baby was stillborn (died in the womb). If the lungs float, the baby was born alive; if the lungs don’t float, the baby was stillborn.

5. Speaking about lungs, did you know that you can live with just one lung? Patients with lung cancer, can still live healthily even after a lung is removed, retaining at least 70% of their previous respiratory function. Surprisingly, the remaining lung will expand to fill the empty space of the other lung in the chest.

6. If you pulled out the blood vessels from an an average child and laid out in one single line, it would stretch to over 60,000 miles. The entire circumference of the earth at it’s largest is 24,900 miles.

7. Your eyes blink over ten million times a year!

8. The entire surface of your skin is replaced every month, which put another way means you have about 1,000 different skins in your life.

9. Next time you’re wounded, and can’t find a bandage, just ask the friendly spider next wall. Spiderwebs/cobwebs have natural antiseptic and anti-fungal properties, and were used in ancient Greece and Rome by physicians to make bandages. They’re also thought to be rich in Vitamin K. 

10. While you’re sleeping, your ears continue to function. They will pick up sounds, but your brain acts as a filter and blocks out the unimportant ones.

11. More humans are evolving to have three arteries in their arms. The Median artery which is present during the early human embryonic stage is later replaced by the ulnar and radial artery during developmental changes. However new research shows that median artery is now prevalent in about 35% of the population and researchers predict that people born 80 years from now might all carry a median artery. This is an example of Micro-evolutionary changes that are occurring in the human body.

 

Credit : Quora

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White chocolate is not chocolate

Don't be fooled by the name of white chocolate. It doesn't contain any chocolate. It's actually just a mixture of sugar, milk, vanilla, lecithin and cocoa butter.

Nutmeg is a hallucinogen

If you take a lot of nutmeg, it works like a psychedelic because it contains a natural compound called "myxorubicin.". If taken in large doses, it can have a mind altering effect. It is also poisonous in large doses.

There is no difference between the wax on the surface of fruit candy and that on the car

The luster of fruit fudge comes from the palm wax of Brazil, which is actually the same type of wax used in cars. I don't know what you think about this!

Ketchup was once used as medicine

As early as 1800, people believed that tomatoes had medicinal value. Doctors at the time claimed that ketchup could treat diarrhea and indigestion, so it was once used as a pill.

Biscuits are more harmful to your teeth than sugar

Acid is the biggest cause of tooth decay, not sugar! Biscuits tend to stick to your teeth and eventually become a hotbed of bacteria.

Drink more wine in the bar, not because it is good, but because the music is loud

Studies have shown that the volume of music can change people's drinking habits. Loud music seems to make people drink more and faster.

The validity period of bottled water has nothing to do with water

Water doesn't expire, but bottles do. Plastic bottles will leak chemical particles into the water over time. Although it will not make the water harmful, it will reduce the freshness of the water.

 Honey is actually the vomit of bees

When bees collect nectar, they take nectar and keep it in their stomachs. Once back in the hive, the nectar is expelled back into the hive.

Sweet drinks can cause dementia

Studies have shown that people who drink one or more artificial sweetened drink a day are three times more likely to develop dementia than others.

 

Credit : Quora

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1. North Korea is the only country that do not sell Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola cannot be bought or sold in Cuba due to the long-term US trade embargo since 1962. Cuba was actually one of the first 3 countries outside the US to bottle Coke in 1906 but the company moved out as Fidel Castro's government began seizing private assets in the 1960s & has never returned

2. The entire world’s population could fit inside Los Angeles standing shoulder to shoulder.

3. The world’s hottest pepper could kill you.

4. The Canary Islands are named after Dogs.

5. The longest place name in the world is 85 letters long.

6. Four babies are born every second.

7. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -144°F(-98°C).

8. The current amount of people who are alive represents only 7% of those who have ever lived.

9. California is home to the Artichoke Capital in the world.

10. The world’s largest man-made oyster reef was created in Maryland.

 

Credit : Quora

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A baby turtle is called a hatchling, while hatchling is most often used for a young bird, tadpoles, newts and new born baby turtles.

Baby turtles are cute little creatures that require totally different care than adult turtles, needing a lot of special care to keep them alive and healthy. They're prone to many diseases and carry many disease-carrying germs. You have to feed a baby turtle food that is available in the pet store, while supplementing their diets with vegetables, meat and fruit. Land turtles tend to eat more vegetables than those living in water.

The building block of your baby turtle's diet is the pellet or gel capsule supplement, which is a snap to find in any pet store that sells turtle supplies. There are two caveats, however: you should examine each label to make sure your newborn turtle is getting the best diet possible, and you should select a formula that's been approved for your particular shelled pet. For example, what a baby box turtle eats is more of a true omnivorous diet than a water turtle eats, which includes more raw meat as a baby but a more omnivorous diet as an adult.

 

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Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines. They are characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield. "Turtle" may refer to the order as a whole (American English) or to fresh-water and sea-dwelling Testudines (British English). Testudines includes both extant (living) and extinct species. Its earliest known members date from the Middle Jurassic. Turtles are one of the oldest reptile groups, more ancient than snakes or crocodilians. Of the 356 known extant species, some are highly endangered.

A turtle's diet varies greatly depending on the environment in which it lives. Adult turtles typically eat aquatic plants,[citation needed] invertebrates such as insects, snails, and worms, and have been reported to occasionally eat dead marine animals. Several small freshwater species are carnivorous, eating small fish and a wide range of aquatic life. However, protein is essential to turtle growth and juvenile turtles are purely carnivorous.

Sea turtles typically feed on jellyfish, sponges, and other soft-bodied organisms. Some species with stronger jaws have been observed to eat shellfish, while others, such as the green sea turtle, do not eat meat at all and, instead, have a diet largely made up of algae.

 

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Yes, sea turtles can feel it when you touch their shell. Sea turtle shells consist of bones, which are covered by a layer of so-called scutes (plates). These scutes are made of keratin, the same material that human fingernails are made of. There are nerve endings enervating even the bones of the shell. These nerve endings are sensitive to pressure, for example from a touch on the back.

A tortoise’s shell obviously isn’t as sensitive as its skin, but the animals are able to feel the tactile sensations that occur when someone pats, rubs, scratches, or taps it. This has to do with how the shell is physically attached to the tortoise’s body.

One thing that tortoises and turtles have in common is their tendency to recede into their shells when they feel threatened. In the proper care, however, most tortoises appear to enjoy being touched by their caretakers. In some cases, they extend their necks out while being touched or massaged – a sign that the animal wants to be rubbed some more.

 

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