Category Animal World

Why is the cheetah known as the fastest mammal on land?

Cheetahs are the fastest mammals that live upon the planet and can run at speeds as high as 113 km per hour in short distances.

Their bodies are designed with a lot of agility. They can make quick turns while running at high speeds. Their spines are extremely flexible, giving them the ability to have long strides. Their slender limbs and hard footpads are also excellent tools that aid their agility and speed.

Cheetahs are covered in bold black stripes all over their body and each cheetah has a unique pattern over its skin. They have a tear-like pattern that runs from the inner corners of their eyes down to both sides of their mouths. The ends of their tails have black rings as well. These cats have great eye sight, making them dangerous predators.

Their unique coat is also a great way to blend with the tall, dry grass of the plains and helps them remain hidden during the hunt. The cheetahs live in a range of habitats across eastern and southern Africa, but they are usually found in open grasslands. At one point, they were found throughout Asia and Africa, but they are currently facing extinction due to loss of habitat. Their lives are threatened by the declining number of prey due to the destruction of the natural environments.

Although cheetahs are considered to be among the big cats, they are unable to roar- they can only purr. Like the other big cats of the family, they also usually prey on small- to medium-size animals such as hares, impalas, wildebeest calves, and gazelles.

The cheetah chases its prey at only about half of its maximum speed and often has to rest for at least half an hour before it can eat so as to catch breath. The pronghorn, also called the American antelope, is the fastest long-distance runner in the animal kingdom.

Picture Credit : Google 

What animals are the masters of camouflage?

Scorpionfish

Scorpionfish, one of the most venomous fish in the world, are found across the world in warm waters. They are most common in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are also known as rockfish and stonefish as they commonly live among rocks. They are perch-like fish with large, spiny heads and strong, sometimes venomous. fin spines. While their spines protect them from predators, it is their colouring that helps them in hiding. They are carnivorous and generally sedentary. The fin spines, even ones without venom, can inflict deep, painful wounds. While some are dull in colour, others are brighter, often some shade of red. The largest members of the family grow about 39 inches long.

Walkingstick

Suddenly seeing a twig crawling down a tree trunk? It isn’t a twig but a walkingstick, also called stick insect. The stick-like trickster uses its appearance to save itself from enemies. They are commonly found in tropical and temperate (or mild) forests across the world. Though related to grasshoppers, crickets, and mantises, these crawlies are either brown, green, or black. They’re also the world’s longest insects. The largest one found was 22 inches long with its legs extended. They spend most of their time on trees, munching on leaves. When predators like birds approach, the bug tries to remain still to blend with the branches. However, if the predator manages to catch the bug by its legs, the insect can detach the leg and scuttle away. The leg will later regenerate, or grow back.

Camouflage

Also known as cryptic colouration, is a defence mechanism used by organisms to disguise their appearence, usually to blend/ in with their surroundings. This tactic is used to mask their location, identity and even movement. This helps the prey to protect themselves from predators.

Chameleon

Chameleons have the ability to change their colour and pattern. They are found in warm climates and in parts of the Middle East, southwestern Asia, and southern Europe, Madagascar nearly all of Africa, and parts of India and Sri Lanka. There are more than 200 species of chameleons, of which 76 are found on the island of Madagascar. Their diet consists of insects and plants, though some may eat rodents or small birds. They live in a range of habitats, including deserts, rainforests, and savannahs. The word chameleon comes from the Greek ‘khamai’ meaning on the ground, earth and leon’ meaning ‘lion’. probably because the head of some species resembles a lion’s mane. The distinctive features of these lizards are their telescopic eyes, grasping tail, colour-changing skin, and projectile tongue.

Great Potoo

The Great Potoo is a nocturnal bird of the American tropics. Its name is similar to its wailing cry, “po-TOO,” made by some species. Their patterns of grey, black, and brown plumage resemble tree bark. Their camouflage helps them to even sleep while perched out in the open during daylight During the day, the birds sleep, vertically perched and virtually indistinguishable from the dead branches they roost on They wake up at dusk with their huge, wide-open eyes capable of spotting moths and other flying insects in the dark. They are mainly solitary creatures and highly restricted nesters. Instead of building a nest, they choose a branch or stub with a crevice just enough to accommodate the single egg they lay.

Nightjar

Nightjar is a medium-sized bird that are mostly active at night feeding on flying insects. They have a protective colouring of grey, brown, or reddish brown. There are about 60 to 70 species of nightjars. They are found almost worldwide in temperate to tropical regions, except for New Zealand and some islands of Oceania. They do not make nests, instead deposit their eggs on the ground or on the leaf-covered floor of the woodland. Some of the species, mainly the North American nighthawks, have adapted to urban life and nest on flat gravel-covered rooftops. The nightjar’s soft plumage and variegated colouring help it blend in with its surroundings. Despite their skill at camouflage, some nightjar species are endangered.

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What are some of the animals that go into hibernation?

Every year, certain animals stay in a comatose state, sending themselves into a sleepy stupor. They hibernate to conserve energy. They cool their bodies by 5° to 10°C and slow down their metabolism. For instance, the Arctic ground squirrels cool themselves to subfreezing temperatures! They do wake up and warm up intermittently. Some animals even hibernate as a response to the shortage of food. Here we take a look at some of the animals that go into hibernation.

SNAKES

In the case of snakes, they experience brumation, where they remain dormant. is technically different from hibernation, but they prepare for the winter by going into a state of partial sleep. This helps them conserve energy for breeding. The length of the dormancy varies according to the location of the snakes. While some may go into brumation for weeks, others might for months. There are also occasions when they venture out of their resting spot for hydration. While some snakes brumate alone, some such as the garter snakes brumate together, more like a communal brumation.

BEARS

Think hibernation and the first animal that comes to your mind is the bear. Of course, when the winter sets in, they go into hibernation and survive the winter thus. But with climate change and changes in the temperature, bears have been seen to come out of their hibernation a bit earlier than usual. According to wildlife experts, this early emergence from hibernation isn’t good for the animal.

COMMON POORWILLL

You wouldn’t have heard about birds going into hibernation. Yet there is one bird that does the unthinkable. The Common poorwill is the only bind that hibernates, the sole reason being that the bird’s insect food isn’t available during the winter season! So instead of migrating, like other birds do, they pull through the winter by huddling inside a hollow log, lowering their metabolism and hibernating.

MARMOTS

With the onset of fall, marmots use dirt and plants to cover their tunnel entrances. They are preparing for the annual ritual of hibernation to hide from predators. For about 8 months of a year, the marmots go into hibernation. During this inactive state, they burn the fat that they stored and slow down their vitals. They even reduce their heart rate. And once spring sets in, they emerge from the hibernation.

SNAILS

Did you know that snails also hibernate? Well, some snails hibernate during the colder months. They cover their bodies in a layer of mucus. They crawl into their shell and seal the entrance with mucus. This thin mucus layer prevents them from drying out. The same  activity is carried out by some snails during the summer and this is called aestivation, a prolonged period of inactivity to survive the dry periods.

BUMBLEBEES

While not all bees go into hibernation, bumblebees do. In fact, they hibernate for a longer period of their lives. Some queen bees even hibernate for nine months. That is like three-fourths of their entire life span!

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the largest animal on Earth?

Blue whales are the biggest animals that have ever inhabited our planet. These marine mammals grow up to 22 metres in length and to a weight of 150,000 kilograms. Their tongues alone weigh as much as an elephant in some cases and their hearts can be as big as an automobile.

The most interesting detail about these huge creatures is the fact that they reach these immense body sizes by consuming tiny shrimp-like animals called krills alone. In some seasons, a single adult blue whale eats about 4000 kilograms of krill a day.

Blue whales belong to the family of baleen whales. Baleen is a fringed plate made of fingernail-like material that is attached to their upper jaws. These giant animals feed by first gulping a great amount of water through their mouth and then they expand the pleated skin on their throat and belly to take it in. After this, the whales use their massive tongue and force the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. This process leaves behind a large volume of krill, which gets consumed by the whales. Blue whales are found in all the oceans, except the Arctic. They occasionally swim in small groups but they move about in pairs or stay alone.

They now face a severe threat due to whaling and are considered endangered according to the IUCN Red List.

Picture Credit : Google

Are Tasmanian Tigers coming back from extinction?

Researchers are working to bring back Tasmanian tiger, the marsupial that went extinct about a century ago.

After almost 100 years since its extinction, the world may get to see the Tasmanian tiger once again. Researchers in Australia and the U.S. have embarked on a multi-million dollar project to revive the striped carnivorous marsupial, officially known as a thylacine, which used to roam the Australian bush.

Genetic blueprint

The scientists will be using advances in genetics, ancient DNA retrieval, and artificial reproduction to bring the marsupial back from extinction. The marsupial raises its young in a pouch.

The project will involve several measures incorporating cutting-edge science and technology such as gene editing and building artificial wombs. The scientists plan to take stem cells from fat-tailed dunnart, a living marsupial species with similar DNA. They will then use gene-editing technology to “bring back the extinct species- or an extremely close approximation of it.

Funding

The ambitious project is a joint venture with Colossal Biosciences founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church. The company is also working on a $15-million project to bring back the woolly mammoth which vanished 4.000 years ago, in an altered form.

Last of the species

About the size of a coyote, the thylacine vanished about 2.000 years ago from everywhere except the Australian island of Tasmania. The last thylacine living in captivity named Benjamin died in 1936 at Tasmania’s Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart. This was shortly after the tiger was granted protected status.

It was the only marsupial apex predator that lived in modern times. It also played a key role in its ecosystem.

 The European settlers on the Australian island in the 1800s had accused thylacines for the loss of their livestock. This resulted in the shy semi-nocturnal Tasmanian tigers being hunted down to the point of extinction.

Picture Credit : Google 

What role do ants play in the ecosystem?

Just like other insects and invertebrates, ants are a crucial part of nature. The large role played by these tiny creatures in keeping an ecosystem going is the kind of stuff wonders are made of.

A recent research published conservatively estimates that our planet harbours about 20 quadrillion ants – that’s 20 thousand million millions, or in numerical form, 20,000,000,000,000,000 (20 with 15 zeroes!). It is further estimated that the world’s ants collectively constitute about 12 million tonnes of dry carbon. This exceeds the mass of all the world’s wild birds and wild mammals combined. It’s also equal to about one-fifth of the total weight of humans.

Counting the world’s ants

The astounding ubiquity of ants has prompted many naturalists to contemplate their exact number on Earth. But these were basically educated guesses. Systematic, evidence-based estimates have been lacking.

The latest research involved an analysis of 489 studies of ant populations conducted by ant scientists from around the world. This included non-English literature, in languages such as Spanish, French. German, Russian, Mandarin, and Portuguese.

The research spanned all continents and major habitats, including forests, deserts, grasslands, and cities. They used standardised methods for collecting and counting ants such as pitfall traps and leaf litter samples. As you can imagine, this is often tedious work.

The previous figures employed a top-down” approach by assuming ants comprise about 1 % of the world’s estimated insect population. In contrast, the “bottom-up” estimate in the recent research is said to be more reliable because it uses data on ants observed directly in the field and makes fewer assumptions.

The next step was to work out how much all these ants weigh. The mass of organisms is typically measured in terms of their carbon makeup. It was estimated that 20 quadrillion average-sized ants corresponds to a dry weight or “biomass” of approximately 12 million tonnes of carbon. This is more than the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals – and about 20% of total human biomass. Carbon makes up about half the dry weight of an ant. If the weight of other bodily elements was included, the total mass of the world’s ants would be higher still.

A few caveats, but…

The findings come with a few caveats. For example, the sampling locations in the dataset are unevenly distributed across geographic regions. And the vast majority of samples were collected from the ground layer, meaning they have very little information about ant numbers in trees or underground. So, the findings are somewhat incomplete.

But what is clear is while global insect numbers are declining due to threats such as habitat destruction and fragmentation, chemical use, invasive species and climate change, data on insect biodiversity is alarmingly scarce. It is hoped that the recent study provides a baseline for further research to help fill this gap because it is in humanity’s interest to monitor ant populations. Counting ants is not difficult, and citizen scientists from all over the world could help investigate how these important animals are faring at a time of great environmental change.

WE ALL NEED ANTS

  • Ants provide vital “ecosystem services” for humans. For instance, a recent study found ants can be more effective than pesticides at helping farmers produce food.
  • Ants have also developed tight interactions with other organisms – and some species cannot survive without them. For example, some birds rely on ants to flush out their prey. And thousands of plant species either feed or house ants in exchange for protection, or dispersal of their seeds.
  • Many ants are predators, helping to keep populations of other insects in check.

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Eminent biologist Edward O Wilson once said insects and other invertebrates are the little things that run the world- and he was right Ants, in particular, are a crucial part of nature.
  • Among other roles, ants aerate the soil, disperse seeds, break down organic material, create habitat for other animals, and form an important part of the food chain.
  • Estimating ant numbers and mass provides an important baseline from which to monitor ant populations amid worrying environmental changes.
  • There are more than 15,700 named species and subspecies of ants, and many others not yet named by science. Ants high degree of social organisation has enabled them to colonise nearly all ecosystems and regions around the globe.
  • Ants are distributed unevenly on Earth’s surface. They vary sixfold between habitats and generally peak in the tropics. This underscores the importance of tropical regions in maintaining healthy ant populations.
  • Ants are also particularly abundant in forests, and surprisingly, in arid regions. But they become less common in human-made habitats.

Picture Credit : Google