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The Importance of the Mangrove Forest
Tropical coastlines and marshy areas around the world have one thing in common: mangrove forests. These consist of trees and shrubs that throw out many prop roots and sustain a large variety of aquatic animals, birds and plants. These mangroves form a complete ecosystem. That is, they provide a complete base for all the organisms within that environment to live and thrive. That keeps the balance in the larger environment of which humans are a vital part....
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....
Scales for Safety
When you go swimming in the river, you are told to be careful about the rocks, as you may bruise yourself if you hit against them. But, fish swim in the water all the time. Through cracks and crevices in rocks inside the water, and between the branches of thorny water plants. They do not get bruised so easily. And its not because their parents had given them sound advice. They don’t have to. They know the little fish are safe....
Pelican Trouble
Many people living in Andhra Pradesh may have escaped the wrath of the cyclone that ravaged the state last month, but the migratory pelicans, in a small costal village in northern Andhra, weren’t quite as fortunate. Pelican Trouble [Illustration by Shiju George] The storms’ heavy winds and rains didn’t cause as much material damage as was expected, however it proved disastrous for the pelicans as small chicks were blown out of their nests....
Birds Sing in their Sleep
Just like humans, birds too rely on sound to communicate. However, they do not have a ‘language’ in the true sense of the word and instead emit a variety of squawks and chirps to convey different emotions. Often, birds recognise their mates (or young) by sound rather than sight. Hungry fledglings use begging calls to let their mothers know it is feeding time. Alarm calls, flight calls for flight coordination, and warning calls are other sounds emitted frequently by the adults....
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....
Jellyfish: Fragile Creature of the Sea
A sudden influx of jellyfish, in the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean is worrying both scientists and fisher folk alike. The Gulf of Mexico is bordered on the north by the United States, on the east by Cuba, and on the south and west by Mexico. Fragile Creature of the Sea [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Jellyfishes are invertebrates (animals without a spinal column). Some are also venomous and their sting can cause paralysis....
The Gardener Bird
Look at this nest. Doesn’t it remind you of a hut? It is built by a bird with an appropriate name. It is called the gardener bird. It works hard at building its house and decorating it. The Gardener Bird [Illustration by Shridevi R.] And, after building the house, it makes a garden around it. The gardener bird likes colourful objects. So, its house is always surrounded with colourful flowers and shells....
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....
Why is a Hippopotamus called a River Horse?
Among Africa’s unusual creatures is a barrel-shaped gigantic animal, the hippopotamus (plural hippopotami). The hippo is the third largest land animal after the elephant and the rhino. Slightly smaller but heavier than a white rhino, a hippo can weigh nearly 1,800 kg. The animal is huge and barrel shaped nearly 12 feet long and five feet at its shoulder, with a short thick neck and small ears. River Horses [Illustration by Anup Singh] Hippos, or to use their biological name, hippopotamus amphibious literally means ‘river horse’....