Category Fun Facts

What are some interesting facts about jaguars?

Did you know that the jaguar is the third-largest cat species in the world after the tiger and the lion? Read on to know fascinating facts about the big cat species.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

*A jaguar has an attractive, tawny coat with black rosettes. The jaguar rosettes have a spot in the middle and they are irregularly shaped.

* A jaguar is stockier and more heavily muscled, with a larger head and wider shoulders.

*It has the shortest tail among the big cats from 45 to 75 cm in length.

 *From tip to tail, it measures 1.5 m to 2.5 m and weighs between 68 and 136 kg.

*The legs are short, but thick and powerful with broad paws.

Found in the Amazon basin

The only big cat species in the New World, jaguars are today found mostly in the Amazon basin of South and Central America and southern Mexico, though they once ranged as far north as southern USA. They are the third-largest cat species in the world after the tiger and the lion.

To the indigenous Americans, particularly the Maya, the Aztec and the Olmec, the jaguar was a god of both night and light, and was revered and feared in equal measure for his strength, fertility, agility and beauty. The native chiefs sat on jaguar thrones and wore jaguar pelts. A Mayan tribe named itself Jaguar’s Paw.

Jaguars vs. leopards

Like leopards, which belong to the Old World and whom they most resemble, jaguars have an attractive tawny or orange coat with black rosettes. However, jaguar rosettes have a spot in the middle and they are irregularly shaped. Leopard rosettes are complete and the spots are absent.

Though both live in similar habitats and have similar habits, the physical resemblance ends there. A jaguar is stockier and more heavily muscled, with a larger head and wider shoulders. It has the shortest tail among the big cats from 45 to 75 cm in length. From tip to tail, it measures 1.5 m to 2.5 m and weighs between 68 and 136 kilos. The legs are short, but thick and powerful with broad paws.

Lethal bite

Jaguars are most at home in the tropical rainforest, though they are adaptable to grasslands, woodlands and even deserts. Their build and coloration are ideal for stalking prey stealthily on the ground or ambushing them from the top of trees, and for swimming. The jaguar is the only big cat that grasps the prey's head in its powerful jaws and kills with a lethal bite by piercing the prey's skull with its sharp teeth, rather than by breaking its neck. It is very comfortable eating the spectacled caiman (a kind of small alligator) and hard-shelled turtles and tortoises. It also devours capybaras, the world's biggest rodents. It goes fishing too, slapping the water with its tail, and spearing the fish thus lured with its sharp claws!

Solitary and nocturnal

These elusive cats are nocturnal, solitary and extremely territorial, coming together only to mate. A male jaguar’s roar is more like a loud bark that ends in a deep growl. The female makes a coughing sound.

The female raises her one to four cubs alone, and is so protective she will bristle with rage even if the father approaches! The cubs stay with the mother till they are two years old.

Picture Credit : Google 

 

Did you know how the Singer Sewing Machine became the premier sewing machine in the world?

Isaac Singer made the first commercially successful sewing machine in the 1850s. While developing his famous sewing machine, Singer, at one point was faced with a problem that seemed insurmountable: how to get the thread to run through the needle smoothly and continuously without breaking or getting stuck.

One night he dreamt that he was being chased by tribals carrying large spears. As they drew closer he noticed that every spear had a hole just below the point of the blade. He awoke with a start.

The next morning he made a needle with its eye near the point instead of at the top. That solved his problem. The thread could now run consistently through the needle. His invention was complete and the Singer Sewing Machine soon became the premier sewing machine in the world.

Charles Richard Drew’s method for storing of blood plasma revolutionised the medical profession by helping save countless lives across the world.

Picture Credit : Google 

CAN YOU PUT A BIG BLOWN BALLOON INSIDE A NARROW JAR WITHOUT DEFLATING IT?

What you need:

A glass jar, a balloon, a bowl of ice water, a piece of string

What you do:

  • Blow up the balloon so that it is just a little too big to go into the jar.
  • Tie the end of the balloon with a piece of string so that the air cannot get out.
  • Now place the balloon in a bowl of ice water.
  • After some time take the balloon out and try to put it into the glass jar.

What you find:

The balloon goes inside the jar.

Why does this happen?

When you put the balloon in the cold water. the air in it gets cooled. The cooled air contracts and so the balloon diminishes in size and is able to go into the jar.

Picture Credit : Google 

Where the chalk comes from?

Have you ever wondered where the chalk comes from? Well, it originates from fossils. Chalk comes from the calcareous remains (fossils) of single-celled algae called coccolithophores and from the shells of single-celled marine animals known as foraminifera!

When foraminifera, coccolithophores and other die, their remains sink to the organisms bottom and accumulate as a fine-grained marine sediment known as ooze. These deposits, built up over many, many years, eventually consolidate into chalk rocks and give rise to chalk cliffs above sea level due to the movement of Earth. Such cliffs are found in many parts of the world. So, chalk is nothing but the white or light grey, porous limestone composed mainly of calcium carbonate quarried from chalk cliffs. Chalk is used for making lime and portland cement and for drawing on blackboard in schools. Finely ground and purified chalk is used as a filler in a wide variety of materials, including ceramics, putty, cosmetics, crayons, plastics, rubber, paper, and paints.

Chalk did not become standard in schools until the 19th century, when class sizes began to increase. Not only did instructors use large blackboards, but students also had individual chalkboards with chalk sticks and a sponge or cloth to use as an eraser. Pens and ink were the preferred tool for writing a final copy, but these were reserved for older students. At this time paper was expensive and rarely used.  Chalk and blackboards are still the standard in classrooms today. Some alternate ways are available, but are patterned after the chalk and blackboard principle. For example – dry erase boards. They can be seen as a substitute for chalk and a blackboard.

Credit :History of Pencils

Picture Credit : Google

Which school students write with both hands?

Veena Vadini School in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, is India’s only ‘ambidextrous’ school whose 300 students write using both hands together at the same time. These students have a high speed of writing with both hands and can finish a three-hour long exam in one or one and half hours! When a new student joins the school, he/she holds the pen with one hand, and is taught to use the other hand after a month. After that, they are taught to use both hands together. B. P. Sharma, founder and principal of the school, was inspired to start the school after reading about the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was ambidextrous.

Only 1 in 100 people can write with both hands but at the Veena Vadini School in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, all 300 students are ambidextrous.
Their training starts from class 1 and by class 3, they become comfortable enough to write with both hands.
The students are taught 6 different languages including Roman and Arabic and students of class 8 can easily write 2 different scripts at the same time. BP Sharma, the founder, states that Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president, who was Ambidextrous, was the inspiration behind the initiative. He also claims that his students take at only 1.5 hours to complete a 3 hour exam.

Credit : Our Time 

Picture Credit : Google 

Where is the highest post office is located in the world?

The world’s highest post office is located in Hikkim in Himachal Pradesh at 14,567 feet above sea level. India has the largest postal network in the world with 1,55,618 post offices.

There are myriad interesting facts about India that the world is not yet aware of and one of among those is that India is the place, where world’s highest post office is located. Yes, there is a beautiful village called Hikkim in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh; it is set at an elevation of 4440 m (14,567 ft above sea level). The location is credited for being the World’s Highest Post Office with the pin code 172114.

Located about 15 km from the town of Kaza in Spiti Valley, Hikkim has a population that is majorly Buddhist. For most of the months, this place remains cut off from rest of the world due to heavy snowfall over the passes.

In existence from November 5, 1983, the post office too gets shut down for six months due to extreme climatic conditions. Considering the rugged terrains and remoteness of the village, the journey uphill to this post office is quite a tough one. We can just imagine how difficult it must be for the post master, Rinchen Chhering, to send out mails from here.

Rinchen Chhering has been serving at the post office as a Post Master for more than 30 years now. He has been here since the inception of this post office and joined at the young age of 22, just because he was a fast runner and owned a bicycle. For all these years, the man has been doing all work single handedly and loyally, which is simply commendable.

Well, it is quite a long journey from here for the mails. All the posts and letters are firstly sent on foot to Kaza every day. These are then taken to Reckong Peo by bus and then to Shimla. Later, mails are loaded on a train and sent to Kalka; from here, a bus takes the cargo to Delhi. The mails’ journey to its real destination begins from Delhi. So, there is a lot sweat and hard work involved in this entire mail trail!

Is it all not fascinating? The journey, the job, and everything related to this post office that makes it a must-visit in India. If ever you get a chance, do not miss out on exploring this amazing place.

Credit : Times of india 

Picture Credit : Google