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Fish That Live in the Desert
We all know that fish live in water. But, there is a kind of fish which lives in the desert. Difficult to believe? Well, there is a variety of fish called the lungfish, which are found in Africa. When the rivers overflow, their water spreads to the dry regions around. It forms small lakes or ponds. The fish lives in these ponds. And, when the lakes dry up, the lung fish don’t die. They bury themselves in the wet mud where they can live for months....
Do Bananas Grow on Trees?
You think bananas grow on trees? Wrong. They don’t, because the banana tree is actually a plant. It is probably the largest plant in the world. To know more, look at the banana trunk. Is it wood? No. There are layers of skin placed in circles. These layers are actually the lower ends of banana leaves. In other words, the banana tree is a clump of leaves! A banana plant At the top of the plant is a chunk of leaves looking like a palm tree....
How do they Make an Igloo?
To many of us, building a house of ice doesn’t sound too good. One might wake up from a good night’s sleep to see it melted. All these things don’t matter to Eskimos, who live in north Canada, Greenland and Alaska. They build igloos or houses of ice knowing that they will not melt. At least, not till winter passes by. The reason is that the walls are made in a special way so that they become rock hard....
The Ungrateful Friend
This happened a long long time ago. In a small village in southern Orissa, there lived an old woodcutter. One day, when he was going to the forest to cut wood, he met the tiger. The woodcutter stopped in his tracks on seeing the king of the jungle. But, strangely enough, the tiger did not roar on seeing the woodcutter. He remained silent. The woodcutter was baffled. How was he to know that the tiger was blind?...
Is Bamboo a Grass!
If you look at a blade of grass and a bamboo tree they remind you of a mouse and an elephant. But unlike those animals, the grass and the bamboo belong to the same family. They are brothers! The bamboo is the largest member of the grass family. It grows in Asia, South America and Africa. It has about 500 different varieties. They all have smooth, hollow jointed stems with a strong watertight partition at each joint....
Can Fish Lay Eggs in the Mouth?
There is a kind of fish which does not use its mouth for just eating. It keeps eggs in its mouth instead of its stomach. And, it is the male fish which does it, not the female. Jawfish (Opistognathidae) are paternal mouthbrooders. Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation, is the care given a parent by holding its offspring in its own mouth for extended periods of time. A Nest in the Mouth [Illustration by Shridevi] After the eggs are fertilised, the male puts them in his mouth, and carries them around for a month....
Why are Some Plants Non-vegetarian?
Are you scared of going to the forest because you think there are man-eating tigers in the forest? What would you do if there were man-eating plants too? Don’t worry. Man-eating plants do not exist. But insect and animal-eating plants do. They are what you would call non-vegetarian plants. In fact, there are 500 varieties of plant species that trap prey and eat it. The most famous among these carnivorous plants are sundews, pitcher plants, bladderworts and the Venus flytrap....
Can Frog Fly?
You must have seen frogs that jump, but have you seen frogs that can fly? Actually not fly, but glide. One member of the treefrog family which is found in Malaya can fly. It flies not for adventure, but to catch its prey. It is called Wallace’s Treefrog and is more equipped to chase flying insects than other frogs. Flying or gliding tree frog (Agalychnis spurrelli) is an endangered amphibian. IT lives in Amazon rain forest of Ecuador Colombia Panama and Costa Rica....
Deception and Mimicry Among Animals to Fool Enemies!
All living beings have enemies. And they all have developed interesting ways to keep them at bay. Some animals hide, others run, or just fly away when faced with danger. These are their defence mechanisms. Some animals can hide without moving. They have the unique ability to change their colour to merge with the surroundings. They become invisible to the predator. This method of defence is called “camouflage”. Some rabbits change colour with the change of season....
Antlers: A Deer Story
Trees shed leaves in autumn and snakes shed their skin once a year. In the same way, deer shed their antlers every year. Yes, those huge branches on antlers grow fresh every year. At any given point of time, a deer’s antlers will not be more than a year old. It is always the male deer which has antlers, except in the case of the caribou and the reindeer whose females also have antlers. It takes about two to three months for the antlers to grow to their full size....
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