My Science School

               All of us have seen snake charmers playing their pipes before a snake. When a snake charmer plays his pipe, swinging it backwards and forwards or jerking up and down, the cobra raises its head and moves in rhythm with the music. There are many folklore about snake’s love of music. Some snake charmers even claim that they can summon snakes by playing on the pipe. Do snakes really love music?

               The snakes do not have an auditory structure. They have a bony rod called columella auris. This bone extends from the fenestra oxalis to the quadrate bone. This bone has a special structure which helps it to detect the ground vibrations. But it cannot detect vibrations in the air. Due to this a snake detects an approaching ball.

               In order to verify whether snakes can detect the vibrations produced in the air or on the ground, a number of experiments have been conducted with different species of snakes by P.J. Deoras at the Haffkins Institute, Bombay. He put a snake inside a tin box and studied the effect of soft music near the tin box. He found that any sound that caused the tin to vibrate made the cobra to raise its head. He took a snake charmer inside his snake farm and found no response for air borne music. However, it responded to ground music.

               Experiments on five other species were also conducted. And again the findings were that the snakes did not respond air-borne music. However, they responded to the music of drum which creates vibrations in the box or earth.

               In short, it can be said that snakes are very sensitive to sounds that create vibration on the ground. Because of this fact, the snake charmer hits his pipe with the ground to make the vibrations reach the snake. A snake charmer also hits the snake with the pipe and tries to excite him. Actually it moves its body only to keep an eye on the moving pipe.

 

               On the basis of autumn defoliation (shedding of leaves) trees and plants can be divided into two groups. The first includes those plants and trees which undergo defoliation every year and are called deciduous trees, while the other includes the evergreen plants or trees which defoliate very slowly and remain green throughout the year. Evergreen plants also undergo defoliation but at one time only a small portion of their leaves fall off.

               Every year with the approach of autumn the trees begin to have their period of rest. In autumn the leaves fall and eventually rot down to give the leaf-mould and humus, which are essential to support rich vegetation. During this period gradually their leaves turn yellow and then curl up and fall on the ground. The tree then remains almost completely inactive until the arrival of spring. The denuded or defoliated trees or plants are a sad sight but at the same time very useful to plants because after it plants get a new life and look. Before defoliation the leaves take yellowish, brownish and reddish hues.

               But why do the trees shed leaves? We know that plants are living organisms which need food to survive. This food is obtained by utilizing the organic substances provided by the leaves. Just like animals, plants also produce waste materials and have to get rid of them, but they do it in a different way. They have to retain waste materials in their tissues until autumn. When the time comes for trees to shed their leaves, the plants extract all the useful products from them, and shake off the waste materials behind. Due to the presence of these waste materials the leaves turn yellow, brown and red. When the leaves are shed a layer of dry needles is left on the tree and it is visible in winter.

               Autumn is thus the period in which the trees get rid of their waste materials.

 

            All vertebrates except man have a tail. According to scientists, there was a time when man also had a tail. But when he stopped using it, it fell into disuse and became extinct. We still have a mark of a tail on our body. Do you know what the usefulness of a tail in different animals is?

            The tail is found in the post-anal part of the body. It has different uses in different animals. In fishes it is surrounded by a tail fin and plays an important part in providing forward thrust. They have different types of tails. These help them in swimming and providing the upward movement.

            In crocodiles and whales the tail acts as a powerful organ for locomotion. In frogs and toads the tail and tail-fin are present only in the larval states and absent in the adult. Crocodiles use their tails for defence and also to attack their enemies. 

               All reptiles possess a well-developed tail. The length of these tails is different in different reptiles. Tortoises and turtles have short tails while lizards have long ones. If somebody attacks a lizard, it can break a part of its tail. It is a defence mechanism. Reptiles perform wriggling movements with the help of their tails. Lizards after sometime regenerate a new tail. In chameleon the tail is quite long. It can be rolled downwards to coil round the branches for extra grip. The tail of snake is small in size. It acts as a storehouse of fat. The tail of the sea snake is small in size and oar-shaped, and helps it in swimming.

               Real tail in birds is extremely short and stumpy. It gives a support for the feathers. Feathers help birds in flying.

               Most mammals have well developed tails. With these they can get rid of flies. Men and apes do not have such tails. Whales have two lobes of tail fin of which one is at right and one, at left. It helps it in swimming. The tails of kangaroos and squirrels act as a balancing organ during walk and leap. During winter season when squirrels hibernate, the hairy tail acts as a blanket. Rabbits use their tails for providing warning signals. Peacocks display their tails to attract the opposite sex. In this way we see that different vertebrates make use of their tails for some purpose or the other.