Category Plants & Animals

The dodo was rather a stupid bird. Indeed, it was so stupid that it was named dodo by the Portuguese when they discovered Mauritius-its home-in 1507. The Portuguese word doudo means stupid.

    Mauritius is an island, 720 square miles in area and lying 500 miles to the east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Until the arrival of man, with his attendant creatures such as the cat and dog, the dodo had been able to live in peace. It had no enemies, which was fortunate because it was big and clumsy and was completely unsuited to fleeing from danger. Its short legs were almost incapable of supporting the weight of the fat, round bocy (about the size of a swan’s) and the ridiculously inadequate, stubby wings were of no use for flying.

    Within 180 years of its discovery by the Portuguese, the dodo was extinct. Over the intervening years several were brought to Europe alive, and one was to be seen in London in 1638. By 1680 the dodo had succumbed.

   With the help of drawings and by the collection of bones gathered in Mauritius has been made of the poor bird. It can be seen at the Natural History Museum in London.

    Mauritius is the only place in the world where the bird is known to have existed. A similar Island of Rodriguez, but this also has become extinct.

    The phrase “as dead as the dodo” is used to mean that something is very dead indeed.

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Birds of prey are those that feed wholly or mainly on meat taken by hunting. They catch other birds, and small animals, for their food.

    There are two chief families, the hawks and the falcons. The hawks include eagles, such as the bald eagle (symbol of the United States) and the golden eagle. The falcons are smaller but share the same general characteristics-hooked beaks, keen vision and outstanding powers of flight. Owls, also. Feed on flesh.

    Besides being fast flyers, many birds of prey are expert at gliding and hovering. Their principal strategy of attack is the “stoop”, when from a great height they sight their prey, close their wings and swoop upon the victim. This manoeuvre calls for a combination of speed and last second breaking unique to this type of bird.

    In advanced countries birds of prey have suffered severely from the effects of poisonous agriculture sprays which have polluted their food sources. This has threatened their survival. But the danger has now been recognized, and in many areas their numbers are slowly recovering.

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A bee keeps its sting at the end of its abdomen. At the tip of a bee’s abdomen is a shaft where is stinging thorn is to be found. It can sting several times, but once it leaves the thorn in its victim’s flesh it will not be able to sting again.

    It is not true to say that a bee will automatically die once it loses its thorn. Only female bees can sting. Male bees, or drones, lack this means of protecting themselves.

     There is a species of which even the female cannot sting. But these bees which live mainly in Africa and South America are not defenseless. If disturbed, they will fly at he intruder in great numbers, crawl into his eyes, ears and hair and smear him with a sticky substance, causing him to retreat in great discomfort.

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Fish have scales as a protective coating for the skin. In fact, not all fish have them. But we usually think of a fish as a cold-blooded, aquatic animal that swims by means of fins, breathes by means of gills, and is covered with scales. Scales may be of four different kinds-placoid, ganoid, cycloid and ctenoid.

Placoid scales are long, spiny and tooth like, and are made of enamel and dentine. These are found on fishes which have a back-bone made of gristle, such as sharks and rays.

   Ganoid scales are rather like placoid scales but are mainly bony and covered with a kind of enamel called ganoin. These thick scales are found especially in garfish.

    Cycloid scales are thin, large round or oval scales arranged in an overlapping pattern. They are found in carps and similar fishes.

Ctenoid scales are similar to the cycloid ones, but have spines or comb like teeth along their free edges. These are found in the higher bony fishes, such as perches and sunfishes.

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