Category Animal World

WHAT IS A GHARIAL?

Gharials are also reptiles in the Crocodylidae family. They live in fresh water, and are only found in parts of India and Nepal. A long, sleek snout that displays rows of very sharp, flesh-tearing teeth, and a bulbous lump on the male’s snout make them different from their cousins. Gharials can grow up to six metres in length.

Physical Description

The gharial is one of only two species in the Gavialidae family. It  has a characteristic elongated, narrow snout, similar only to the tomistoma (previously called the false gharial). Many sharp, interlocking teeth line the gharial’s elongated jaws.

Gharials exhibit sexual dimorphism — or differences in characteristics between males and females of the same species — in both size and appearance. Adult males develop a bulbous growth at the tip of their snout, called a “ghara” after the Indian pot it resembles. The ghara has several functions. It partially covers the crocodiles nostrils and acts as a vocal resonator, creating a loud, buzzing sound when the gharial vocalizes. It is also a visual signal for females, helping males attract a mate.

Because of their weak leg muscles, gharialsare poorly equipped for locomotion on land. Most of their movement takes place in the water. When they do move across land, gharials push their bodies forward across the ground, a motion known as belly-sliding.

Size

The gharial is one of the largest of all crocodilian species, with males reaching 16 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) in length. Females typically grow to lengths of 11.5 to 15 feet (3.5 to 4.5 meters).

Native Habitat

Historically, the gharial’s range spanned rivers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. Today, only fragmented populations remain in Nepan and northern India.

Gharials are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle in large rivers, and individuals typically only leave the water to bask and nest on sandbanks.

Food/Eating Habits

Adult gharials primarily eat fish, while juveniles also feed on insects, crustaceans and frogs. The crocodile’s unique snout, along with its sharp, interlocking teeth help it capture prey, quickly striking at fish in the water. At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, gharials eat a variety of fish.

Reproduction and Development

Like other crocodilians, gharials are polygamous, with one male defending a territory where he and several females live. Territorial and courting display behaviors include head slapping the water and buzzing vocalizations. Females reach sexual maturity when they are approximately 9.8 feet (3 meters) in length, and males at about 13 feet (4 meters). Mating typically occurs in December and January.

Females dig a nest during the dry season, between March and April, and deposit an average of 40 eggs, which hatch from 60 to 80 days later. As with all crocodilians, the sex of the hatchlings is determined during incubation.  Females, who are protective of their nest and hatchlings, provide the sole parental care.

Credit : Smithsonian’s national zoo & conservation biology institute 

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT IS HARMFUL TO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM?

Although natural disasters and sudden changes on Earth’s surface, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and wildfires, can hurt the animal kingdom, human-led changes, such as the cutting down of forests, deliberate forest fires, water and air pollution, have also severely affected wild animal habitats across the world.

Earthquakes and tsunamis

According to United States Geological Survey (USGS), each year there are 15-20 major earthquakes worldwide with a magnitude of over 7.0 and over a thousand that measure above 5.0.5 Unlike hurricanes and volcanoes, earthquakes hit without warning.6 In addition to shaking land, they can shake and displace the seabed. Islands and beaches can disappear from subsiding land or double in size because the land surrounding it is uplifted.7 When the ocean floor is displaced, it can create a tsunami, which is a series of high, fast waves that begin quickly, can cross oceans, and can last for days.8 They may be followed by landslides that bury animals alive and destroy their homes9 or floods that can sweep them away.

Volcanoes

There are at least 20 volcanoes erupting around the world at any time, not including volcanoes erupting underwater, which are much greater in number.13 Eruptions can last for months or years, spewing abrasive and toxic lava and ash, causing explosions, and heating nearby water that can boil marine animals alive.

Storms

The wind, rain, and debris from storms injure and kill animals and cause a lot of damage to their habitats, including destroying shelters and contaminating food and water sources. During Hurricane Dorian in 2019, winds reached 295 km per hour. Strong winds and rain can cause broken limbs, head trauma, as well as breathing problems and infections from getting water in the lungs. Animals are displaced and orphaned. Most of these problems would not be fatal if the animals were able to receive care, but in most cases they do not. A few lucky mammals and birds get care if they are blown into urban areas and are found disoriented on someone’s lawn.

Floods

Smaller animals are more vulnerable to drowning or dying in resulting floods and mudslides. Burrowing animals may be safe from smaller disturbances, but torrential rains can collapse their burrows or block the entrances, trapping them or leaving them without shelter. Burrow entrances can be blocked by branches, leaves, stones and other debris moved around by water or wind.

Fires

A single wildfire can kill millions of animals. The flames and smoke of forest fires kill most animals in their path, including many burrowing animals who are too near the surface, and animals who live in rivers and streams as the flames pass over. Even if they survive the fires, the aftermath can leave animals with burns, blindness, and respiratory problems that can be fatal or permanently debilitating. Hurricane force winds can carry embers and ash from a fire up to a mile away, which can trigger new fires. Strong fires generate so much energy that they change the local weather by modifying wind and temperature. The moisture coming off a fire can generate clouds that cause rain.

Credit : Animal ethics

Picture Credit : Google 

WHY ARE ANIMALS KNOWN AS FAUNA?

‘Fauna’ is a word for all the animal life within a region or period of time. The word comes from Greek mythology and roughly means ‘creatures of the wild’. The naturalist Carl Linnaeus was the first to use this term in 1974 in the title of his book Fauna Svecica, which means the ‘wildlife of Sweden’.

History of Fauna

Fauna was first used as a biological term by naturalist Carl Linnaeus, as a term which described the animals of a region, as opposed to the plants. Plant life was dubbed flora. Thus, the flora and fauna of a region or time describe all of the life within. Linnaeus seems to have borrowed the term from Greek and Roman mythology.

In Greek mythology, the god Pan is the goat-legged offspring of a more powerful god and a wood nymph. This leads him to become the representative god of the wild. Roman mythology adopted this persona in the gods Faunus and Fauna, which gave rise to a number of man-creatures which populated the mythology. Linnaeus adopted the word for his formal work on the animals of Sweden Fauna Suecica, in 1745. Roughly translated, this means the “wildlife of Sweden”.

Following his lead, naturalists began to use the terms flora and fauna to identify the various living organisms in a taxonomic hierarchy. Flora included everything in the kingdom Plantae, while fauna included the kingdom Animalia. The definition of fauna has expanded and changed over the years. For instance, when genotyping became a reality and it was understood that there are actually 3 domains of life, the Archaea, Bacteria, and the Eukarya.

With this change came the formal phasing out of the word fauna, scientifically. While the word flora had maintained its definition as “any organism within the kingdom Plantae”, fauna had changed drastically. Fauna, as used currently, typically describes any organisms in the domains Archaea and Bacteria, plus the kingdom Animalia. This is not a monophyletic grouping, and as such does not accurately describe anything for scientists trying to organize the forms of life in a place or time. Further, flora and fauna tend to exclude the kingdom Fungi, which was once recognized as a plant but is now recognized as its own kingdom.

Examples of Fauna

Fauna of the Great Plains, 2018

If you were to conduct a survey, today, of all the fauna in the Great Plains of the United States, you would find a great many species. You would find many species of birds, from pheasants to eagles. You would find mammals, from the tiny field mouse to the mighty bison. Most other groups, from the reptiles to the worms, would also be represented. You would surely find an abundance of insects. On the microscopic level, the soil and waters are teeming with fauna. Even waters too acidic or hot for the normal fauna can host thermophilic or acidophilic bacteria and other organisms, evolved to deal with the harsh conditions. In essence, if you take the entirety of life on the Great Plains today, subtract all the plants, you have a representation of the fauna. This is obviously a large and intangible collection of many different inter-related species.

Fauna of the Great Plains, 100 Million Years Ago

If we could take ourselves back in time, the fauna of the Great Plains would look much different. Although we would remain in the same place, the environment would be very different. At that time, glaciers had melted to a low, and a vast inland sea had spread across the continental United States.

In this inland sea would have existed a variety of monsters, from the first modern sharks, to giant marine reptiles like Ichthyosaur and Plesiosaur. Modern bony fishes were evolving, as well as a variety of other marine organism. In this vast sea, you could have found everything from early starfish, to horseshoe crabs, to all sorts of evolving arthropods. Other fauna of the historical Great Plains would include the microscopic diatoms and zooplankton and algae, which would have been the base of the food-chain at the time. As the glaciers reformed, the land was colonized by the terrestrial organisms we know today. You can see how the fauna of a region can easily change over time.

Gut Fauna

A popular term these days is “gut fauna”, or in other words, the creatures living inside of your digestive tract. Humans, like almost all other animals, have a complex symbiotic relationship with the organism harbored within them. While there are barriers in place to keep these organisms from infecting the body, they are essential to digesting many types of food. Technically speaking, the fauna in the gut is referred to as the microbiome, because it is its own unique ecosystem. There are many species of bacteria and eukaryotes which take part in digestion, and each fills a unique niche in the ecosystem. While scientists have yet to fully understand the microbiome of the digestive system, there are many diets and probiotics on the market which claim to positively affect the fauna of the microbiome. These claims have yet to be confirmed by mainstream science.

Credit : Biology dictionary 

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT IS CRYPTOZOOLOGY?

It is the study of animals whose existence has not been proved or documented by mainstream Zoology. Such animals include creatures from myths and legends such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti, among many others. Cryptozoology also involves searching for living members of extinct species such as dinosaurs. All these animals are collectively called ‘cryptids’.

The search for cryptids is largely based on alleged sightings and stories; the lack of concrete evidence has kept cryptozoology from being recognised as a true branch of science. However, cryptozoologists argue that several animals like the okapi, giant squid, the mountain gorilla, and so on, were deemed cryptids before their existence was brought to light. Although examples of such successes are few and far, the prospect of unravelling more mysteries of nature continues to give cryptozoology a huge following.

Picture Credit : Google 

WHY DO ANIMALS MIGRATE?

Every year at a particular time, a wide variety of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and even insects undertake migration – they move in large numbers from one place to another in search of food and water or suitable breeding ground.

Some habitats may have unfavourable climate such as extreme heat, or cold or wet conditions, which the animals may want to escape from. On the other hand, some habitats may offer easy access to food and water or better shelter, beckoning animals to move there so that they could flourish. But migration is temporary; it always includes a return journey.

Why is animal migration important?

Migration of animals plays a very important role in the Earth’s ecosystem. Migratory animals help in pollination and seed dispersal. They provide food for other animals and also control the population of species in various ecosystems. For example, migratory birds reproduce and their young ones eat insects that may destroy crops. Locust attack is a major disaster that arises from the absence of birds.

Climate change

Several animal species have changed their migration routes in response to the changing climate. The rising temperatures on land and sea are forcing more and more animals to migrate to cooler climates. The moose, found in the northern U.S. and Canada, is a cold-weather animal. But milder winters have led to an increase in the population of winter ticks. These blood-sucking parasites are killing dozens of moose every year, forcing them to move farther north.

Habitat destruction

Habitat destruction is mostly a result of human activities. These include farming, cutting down trees for construction activities. filling wetlands, building dams, digging for oil and gas exploration, amongst others.

Habitat destruction makes it difficult for migrating animals to find places to rest and get food on their migratory paths. Several fish species migrate from open waters to headwaters to breed or spawn. But dams, which are constructed for water retention or hydroelectric power generation, can completely disrupt migratory pathways for fish.

In China, thousands of Siberian cranes spend the winter at the Poyang Lake. However, drought and water management in the region have destroyed the cranes habitat, forcing them to travel to suboptimal areas. Now, a proposed dam at the outlet of the lake is a new threat that will reduce the quality of the restricted area these birds rely on.

Human behaviour

Migratory animals also face a unique threat of obstruction along their migratory routes. Roads, fences, dams, wind farms, and buildings extending into forests can create huge obstacles. Here are a few examples.

Every year, thousands of wildebeest and zebras in the savannah grasslands of Africa undertake an arduous migration over the vast expanse of land in search of food and water. In the last decade, however, several small enclosed plots have disrupted free movement of animals on their migratory path.

Tens of millions of red crabs cover roads on Christmas Island and Cuba as they undertake their annual migration, travelling from the forest to the coast to spawn. Millions die each season on the road as they get crushed by passing vehicles.

Poorly located windmills too can result in the death of migratory birds. The Wolfe Island Wind Farm, located in North America, is one of the deadliest barriers to migratory birds.

Picture Credit : Google 

DO ANIMALS GET BORED TOO?

Boredom is not unique to humans. Animals get bored too. If you look at pets, even if they are healthy and cared for, they could still feel bored if left alone. Being confined in the same space can lead to a lack of stimulation and boredom. Pet owners can help their pets by giving them extra time, attention, more inventive toys or food puzzles.

One reason determining if animals get bored or not is difficult is the tendency of human observers to assign human emotions and expressions to their non-human test subjects. Some animals may display a glassy-eyed stare or apparent disinterest in their outside environment, but this does not necessarily translate to the human concept of boredom. Some animals spend hours at a time simply waiting for a promising food source to arrive. While these animals may appear to be listless or disinterested, it might be more accurate to describe their state of mind as dormant or semi-conscious.

Other animals, especially those with higher functioning brains, can indeed become bored following an extended lack of mental stimulation. When higher functioning animals get bored, they may invent stimulating games or visit unexplored sections of their habitats. This behavior is remarkably similar to the pointless but mind-stimulating projects humans often engage in when faced with hours of inactivity.

Some may argue that an animal’s attention span can be extremely short in general, which means what humans might consider signs of boredom may simply be a temporary lack of mental stimulation. While some animals may display signs of boredom, they may not actually have the capacity to form such a complex emotion. It is possible that many animals live more in a more delineated “excited/not excited” state of mind, which would still allow for a sense of boredom, but not the same sense of frustration humans associated with true boredom. When many animals get bored, they simply live in a disconnected emotional state until something new arrives to break the monotony. Animals living in zoos, for example, may sit quietly for hours until visitors arrive.

Credit : All thing nature 

Picture Credit : Google