My Science School

The cheetah can reach a speed of 115 kph (70 mph) in just 3 seconds. The fastest a human has ever run is 45 kph (28 mph). The cheetah's excellent eyesight helps it find prey during the day. The cheetah is hard to see because its spotted coat blends with the tall, dry grass of the plains. Suddenly, the cheetah makes a lightning dash. It knocks its prey to the ground and then bites its throat. Once found throughout Asia and Africa, cheetahs today are racing toward extinction. Loss of habitat and declining numbers of their prey combine to threaten the future of these cats. Cheetahs live and hunt mainly in open grasslands and bushy areas in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Approach this lot at your peril! Not all animals are furry and friendly. Some specialize in producing poisons or venom. Poison is deadly if touched, but venom must be injected to have its toxic effect. Poisons can put off potential predators, but venomous fangs can be used to kill prey.

Box jellyfish

Box jellies, also called sea wasps and marine stingers, live primarily in coastal waters off Northern Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific. They are pale blue and transparent in color and get their name from the cube-like shape of their bell. This scary stinger of the seas can kill in an instant. Each long venomous tentacle contains 5,000 stinging cells with the power to kill fish and other marine life, and even people, so doesn’t swim too close to one! Box jellies are highly advanced among jellyfish. They have developed the ability to move rather than just drift, jetting at up to four knots through the water. They also have eyes grouped in clusters of six on the four sides of their bell. Each cluster includes a pair of eyes with a sophisticated lens, retina, iris and cornea, although without a central nervous system, scientists aren’t sure how they process what they see.

Inland taipan

Nicknamed “the fierce snake”, Australia’s inland taipan has the most toxic venom of any snake in the world. Rats are its main prey and they are bitten several times before the snake swallows them whole. Inland Taipans are associated with the deep cracking-clays and cracking-loams of the floodplains, however they also venture onto nearby gibber plains, dunes and rocky outcrops if cover is available. The vegetation in these areas is usually sparse, consisting of chenopod shrubs, lignum and the occasional eucalypt near the water channels.

Golden poison dart frog

This frog has poisonous skin, and is the most poisonous animal in the world. A single golden poison dart frog could kill 10 people, but it is only found in the Colombian rainforest. Their coloring, which can be yellow, orange, or pale green, depending on their particular range, is deliberately ostentatious to ward off potential predators, a tactic called aposematic coloration. Their diet includes flies, crickets, ants, termites, and beetles.

Deathstalker scorpion

Taking the title of most deadly animal is the Deathstalker scorpion. Although its venom is less toxic than others, this desert scorpion kills the most people because it is aggressive, striking at night, and stinging on sight. It is not a common poison. It composed of neurotoxins and a significant amount of cardio toxins, which cause cardiovascular and respiratory dysfunction which can severely damage the body of sick or allergic persons or children.

Its sting is very painful, but far from its alarming reputation, does not usually kill a healthy adult human. Nevertheless, the medical attention is necessary.

In medicine, the Deathstalker venom has shown much potential for the treatment of human cancer tumors, thanks to a component called chlorotoxin. Similarly, other elements of the venom are useful against the effects of diabetes.

Brazilian wandering spider

The Brazilian wandering spider is a fast mover. In towns and cities, it hides during the day in dark places, such as a log pile or an old box, and will give a potentially fatal bite if it is accidentally disturbed. After a human is bitten by one of these spiders, he or she may experience initial symptoms such as severe burning pain at the site of the bite, sweating and goose bumps. Within 30 minutes, symptoms become systemic and include high or low blood pressure, fast or a slow heartbeat, nausea, abdominal cramping, hypothermia, vertigo, blurred vision, convulsions and excessive sweating associated with shock. People who are bitten by a Brazilian wandering spider should seek medical attention immediately.

 

Picture Credit : Google

In the animal kingdom, there is not always a family resemblance between babies and their parents. Newborns may have different colours, textures, and patterns, or even take another shape before they mature into adulthood.

Dragonfly

Newborn animals may live in different habitats to their parents. Dragonfly nymphs, live underwater, but fly in the open air as adults. Usually, a dragonfly nymph lives in marshes or still water. They can also live in water with high salinity. (High salt levels)But they cannot live in polluted water; they usually require very clean water. They require shelter, sunlight, unpolluted water, emergent plants and hunting areas. The nymph can live in select areas; it prefers still, fresh water. They move around by squirting jets of water and pumping water in and out of the bottom of its abdomen. It also has gills so it stays under water for its nymph life. Nymphs have "lips" hinged in two places with grasping 

pincers on the end for catching prey. Brown and green bodies tend to provide

camouflage and allow the nymph to blend in with the habitat of plants and

pond bottoms. Gills inside the abdomen get the oxygen from the surrounding water. Water drawn into the

abdomen and through the gills is expelled to push the nymph through the water.

Brush-tailed possum

This Australian marsupial has a big, bushy tail and is covered in thick fur. Females carry one called a joey, inside a protective pouch. Brush-tailed possums are marsupials, and their young are usually born in May and June after a gestation period of 17 days (humans have a gestation period of nine months). The newborn possum finds its way to the mother's pouch and attaches itself to a teat.

After feeding and growing for about 5 months in the pouch, the young possum spends another two months clinging to its mother's back as she moves about. Usually only 1 young is born at a time, and males do not take part in looking after the young.

By the time they are 7 months old, the young possums are independent of their mothers. They are fully grown by about 10 months, and the females will usually start to breed for the first time when they reach 12 months of age.

Leaf monkey

Leaf monkeys live in Asia’s rainforests. The adults have dark grey fur, but the babies are brightly coloured so their mothers can find them. Breeding occurs periodically during the year. Gestation period is about 145 days, yielding a single young. Females produce offspring at intervals of 2 years, typically in January-March, although some may give birth in the summer months. During the first 20 days after birth, the infant is almost constantly with its mother. At around 1 year old, the baby begins climbing, venturing away from its mother and taking solid food. Individuals of both sexes reach sexual maturity at 3 - 4 years old.

Budgerigar

These colourful birds are the smallest members of the parrot family. Baby birds are born covered in fluffy down before growing full feathers. Budgies are physically able to breed after six months, but should not be allowed to do so until they are at least 10 months old. A younger bird will often fail to be a good parent. There’s no hurry - once they’ve matured, females will be able to breed for four years, and males for six.

First-time mothers sometimes lay eggs outside the nesting box. This is fine, as long as you put the egg in the box as a signal that this is where the others should be laid. Once she’s settled on an egg in the cosy box, she won’t repeat the mistake.

Tapir

Related to rhinoceroses and horses, tapirs begin life with protective camouflage. Adults lose their pattern as predators are less of a threat. Tapirs have no fixed breeding season. After a gestation period of about 390 days, a single baby is born (twins are rare). The baby can follow its mother within minutes of being born and all new-born tapirs have a reddish-brown coat dappled with white spots and stripes. This pattern helps to provide the young one with excellent camouflage. Whenever there is danger lurking nearby, the baby 'freezes' and becomes part of its background. These coat markings last until the baby is about six months old, and then fade as the young tapir grows its adult coat. The youngster will remain with its mother for up to twelve months and then goes off on its own.

Butterfly

Some insects, like butterflies, change into adults through an amazing process called metamorphosis. Their body changes shape completely. Butterflies reproduce the way other animals do -- sperm from a male fertilizes eggs from a female. Males and females of the same species recognize one another by the size, color, shape and vein structure of the wings, all of which are species specific. Butterflies also recognize each other through pheromones, or scents. During mating, males use clasping organs on their abdomens to grasp females.

 

Picture Credit : Google

The change to an animal’s body from the beginning of its life until its death is called the life cycle. Most amphibians, such as frogs, start life looking very different to their parents. The incredible process by which a tiny tadpole changes shape as it grows older and finally reaches its adult form is called metamorphosis.

An adult male common frog sits near a pond and calls out loudly to attract the attention of a female frog.

The male frog and the female frog meet in the water and he holds onto her. When the female lays her eggs and the male fertilizes them.

The female frog lays hundreds of eggs, called frogspawn, in the water. Each egg is protected by a thick layer of jelly.

Between one and three weeks later, the eggs hatch into tiny legless tadpoles. They have gills for breathing in the water.

Each tadpole feeds on algae and other tiny plants. It grows bigger, and its back legs start to form after five weeks or so.

After 14 weeks, the tadpole has changed into a miniature frog. Instead of gills, the froglet now has lungs so it can breathe air. The froglet can swim in water, hop on land, and catch insects, such as small flies.

The front legs develop next, and the body changes to look more like that of a frog. The tadpole is now big enough to eat small animals, such as water fleas.

In spring, the adult frog returns to the pond where it was born. It is ready to find a mate, and the life cycle begins for a new generation.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Animals use colours, patterns, or even shape to blend in with their surroundings. This is called camouflage, and some animals are masters of deception. Danger is part of life in animal kingdom, but camouflage is a great survival technique to avoid hungry predators or to sneak up on prey.

Hide and seek

There are many ways in which animals hide from each other. Some copy an object, such as a flower, or change colours completely, while other animals group together to have safety in numbers.

Leaf-tailed gecko

Lookalike

The leaf-tailed gecko is a carnivorous animal and the bulk of this lizard's diet is primarily comprised of insects. Leaf-tailed geckos also hunt a number of other invertebrates along with the odd small rodents or reptile should it get the chance. Leaf-tailed geckos are nocturnal hunters, most actively searching the forest for food under the cover of night.



The excellent camouflage of the leaf-tailed gecko can make this animal pretty tricky for predators to spot. Birds of prey such as owls and eagles, along with rats and snakes are the most common predators of the leaf-tailed gecko in its native environment. It’s a leaf – tailed gecko from Madagascar! Some animals mimic an object in their surroundings, such as a dead leaf, so a predator won’t recognize them.

Herd of zebras

Double vision

The first is as simple pattern-camouflage, much like the type the military uses in its fatigue design. The wavy lines of a zebra blend in with the wavy lines of the tall grass around it. It doesn't matter that the zebra's stripes are black and white and the lines of the grass are yellow, brown or green, because the zebra's main predator, the lion, is colorblind. The pattern of the camouflage is much more important than its color, when hiding from these predators. If a zebra is standing still in matching surroundings, a lion may overlook it completely. Stripes offer camouflage in the grasslands as patterns blend in with foliage. Faced with a herd of zebras, a predator will struggle to choose a single target in the sea of stripes.

Crab spiders

Colour change

Crab spider is a type of spider that belongs to the family Thomisidae. There are more than 2.000 species of crab spiders that can be found around the world. Crab spiders inhabit gardens, meadows, woodlands, tropical rainforests, grasslands, marshes and scrublands. They can be found in all kind of habitats except in the extremely dry deserts and very cold mountains. All species of crab spiders are numerous in the wild. Some crab spiders can change colour from white to yellow to match the flowers they live on. Then they can creep up on their insect prey, such as this hoverfly.

Disguised moth

Moths and their caterpillars have many predators and so have evolved a variety of tricks to avoid being eaten. Many use camouflage, with subtle colours and patterns which blend in with their surroundings. The results are not just astonishingly clever, but often very beautiful. Moths are particularly at risk of being spotted in daylight, so many have colours and patterns to match the places they rest in. This is why so many moths are patterned in greys and browns, which are hard to see in shadows and blend with the bark of branches. It is easy to miss a peppered moth, but look again. When this moth rests flat against a tree, its patterned wings merge perfectly with the bark.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Survival in the animal kingdom is not easy. With predators a constant threat, animals have adopted all kinds of different defences to protect themselves. For some, the best form of defence is attack. These animals bite or kick, or rely on poison. Others choose to lie low, hiding from danger or playing dead.

Spikes

Postman caterpillar

Heliconius Melpomene, the postman butterfly, common postman or simply postman, is a brightly colored butterfly found throughout Mexico and Central America. H. Melpomene was one of the first butterfly species observed to forage for pollen, a behavior that is common in other groups but rare in butterflies. H. Melpomene possesses ultraviolet vision which enhances its ability to distinguish subtle differences between markings on the wings of other butterflies. Small animals may try to look fierce to avoid being eaten. Some caterpillars grow large spikes to make them difficult to eat. Postman caterpillars also keep the poison from the plants they eat to make themselves poisonous as well.

Startle

Praying mantis

The praying mantis is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer. By any name, these fascinating insects are formidable predators. They have triangular heads poised on a long "neck," or elongated thorax. Mantis can turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them. This praying mantis uses a combination of defences. Usually, it is hard to spot because it looks like a dried-up leaf. However, if a predator gets too close, the dead leaf mantis opens up its arms and wings, flashing bright colours that surprise the attacker and scare it away.

Play dead

Opossum

Opossums are scavengers, and they often visit human homes or settlements to raid garbage cans, dumpsters, and other containers. They are attracted to carrion and can often be spotted near roadkill. Opossums also eat grass, nuts, and fruit. They will hunt mice, birds, insects, worms, snakes, and even chickens. Some animals fake their own deaths to avoid being eaten. If a Virginia opossum sees a predator, it curls up and stops moving. This state can last for hours, making it look like it is dead. It even releases a rotting smell, so predator leave it alone and search for fresh prey instead.

Armour

Armadillo

Armadillos live in temperate and warm habitats, including rain forests, grasslands, and semi-deserts. Because of their low metabolic rate and lack of fat stores, cold is their enemy and spates of intemperate weather can wipe out whole populations. For slow-moving animals, body armour can be a life-saver. A hard shell or tough skin can be a real challenge for a predator. The three-banded armadillo is covered in overlapping bony plates. When it rolls into a ball there is no way for a hungry hunter to get to its head or soft belly.

Smell

Skunk

Skunks are nocturnal, which means they search for food at night and sleep in dens lined with leaves during the day. Their favorite foods include fruit and plants, plus insects, bird eggs, small rodents, and birds. Birds like the great horned owl prey on skunks. Scientists believe it’s because the birds don’t have a very good sense of smell, which makes the skunk’s spray useless in an attack. Bad smells can keep predators away, especially when the whiff is like rotten eggs! Skunks are too slow to escape at speed, so they spray a foul-smiling liquid from their rear end. This eye-watering scent is so powerful it can be detected 1.6 km (1 mile) away.

Shoal

Snappers

Snappers are found, often in abundance, throughout the tropics. Active, schooling fishes with elongated bodies, large mouths, sharp canine teeth, and blunt or forked tails, snappers are usually rather large, many attaining a length of 60–90 centimetres (2–3 feet). They are carnivores and prey on crustaceans and other fishes. A small fish travelling alone is an easy target for predators. Many fish species, such as these black spot snappers, stick together in shoals of hundreds. Each individual fish gets lost in the crowd, so it is much harder for a victim to be singled out by a predator.

 

Picture Credit : Google

No living thing can survive without food. A food chain shows how a specific set of plants and animals are linked together by who eats what. Each arrow in a food chain means “is eaten by”. The chain ends when it reaches an animal that has no natural predators. If one link is removed, the chain will break.

Producer

Plants are the first level in the food chain or food webs and are known as primary producers. They make all the food and energy that is found in an ecosystem. Without plants people or other animals could not survive because we would not have the food or energy that we need. Plants and vegetable make their own food and energy through a process called photosynthesis.

Plants make their own food by using sunlight, carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the soil and converting it in the form of glucose/sugar. 

In photosynthesis plants also produce oxygen which is left in the air for us to use. 

In order to undergo photosynthesis plants need some helpers. One of the helpers they need is a green substance in their leaves called chlorophyll. Plants use this green substance to catch the energy they need from the sunlight.

Primary consumer

Primary consumers are herbivores, feeding on plants. Caterpillars, insects, grasshoppers, termites and hummingbirds are all examples of primary consumers because they only eat autotrophs (plants). There are certain primary consumers that are called specialists because they only eat one type of producers an example of this would be the koala because it feeds only on eucalyptus leaves. Primary consumers who feed on many kinds of plants are called generalists.

Secondary consumer

Animals that eat herbivores are secondary consumers. They can be carnivores, which eat other animals, or omnivores, which eat animals and plants. A robin is a secondary consumer.

Secondary consumers come in all shapes, sizes, and exist in practically every habitat on earth. Icy tundra’s, arid savannahs, and artic waters are just some of the extreme environments secondary consumers live in. Whether on land or in water, the one thing they have in common is the type of food they eat—primary consumers.

Tertiary consumer

Tertiary consumers eat primary and secondary consumers as their main source of food. These organisms are sometimes referred to as apex predators as they are normally at the top of food chains, feeding on both primary and secondary consumers.

Tertiary consumers can be carnivores or omnivores. Their diet can comprise only meat or include plants as well. A hawk, for example, can feed on primary consumers such as birds, as well as secondary consumers such as snakes.

 

Picture Credit : Google

If an animal is well-suited to its habitat we say it has an adaptation. The better-adapted it is, the more likely it is to survive. For example, a penguin’s thick feathers are a perfect adaptation for keeping it warm in the snow, but would make it far too in a desert.

In the desert

Sandy deserts are hot places without much water. Some animals, like camels, have become well-matched for this environment. They can survive without water for days, have a store of fat in their hump for energy, and long eyelashes to keep out the sand.

Fennec Foxes

Fennec foxes inhabit the Saharan desert in Africa, where temperatures average around 104 degrees Fahrenheit.  Like many desert creatures, they have developed nocturnal habits, so they are most active after the scorching desert sun goes down. While out and about at night, fennec foxes feast on smaller desert animals, such as beetles and lizards.

Dung Beetles

There are several species of dung beetles, but most of them live in the deserts of Australia and Africa. In the hot, dry desert, moisture of any kind is hard to find. Dung contains moisture from the gut of the animal that expelled it. Instead of searching for rare watering holes the way wildebeest and antelope do, dung beetles wait for these larger animals to do the work of finding water for them. 

Bactrian Camels

Camels are some of the most famous desert animals. While some species have only one hump, Bactrian camels have two. These humps serve the same function as those of single-humped camels: They store energy-rich fat, which sustains the camels during long treks across the desert. Many people used to believe that camel humps contained water, which isn't true. It's easy to understand why someone might believe this since camels can go up to seven months without drinking water. In contrast, a human can only survive for three to five days without water in temperate conditions.

Mexican Coyotes

Mexican coyotes are one of several coyote subspecies. As their name implies, they live in the deserts of Mexico, as well as in California and Arizona, mostly in the Sonoran Desert. Although coyotes are sometimes confused with wolves, these desert canines are much smaller, usually weighing only about 30 pounds at full adulthood.

Like fennec foxes, coyotes use their large ears to cool their bodies. However, their most useful desert adaptation may well be their diet. 

Sidewinder Snakes

Sidewinders are one of many snake species native to deserts of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. These legless reptiles get their name from their unique way of moving. This movement allows them to move quickly and with good traction even over loose, shifting desert sand. Like all snakes, sidewinders are predators. They prey on smaller desert creatures including rodents and small reptiles.

Thorny Devil Lizard

The thorny devil, also known as the thorny dragon, is a lizard specially equipped for life in the deserts of Australia. They are named for the protruding, thornlike growths that cover their skin. These sharp growths are effective at keeping predators such as birds and larger lizards away. Amazingly, their thorns also help them collect water. Like plant stalks, the thorns become covered with dew each morning. The thorny devil drinks this dew, which keeps it from having to hunt for water in the desert.

The thorny devil has a unique way of hunting, which conserves energy. Instead of going after prey to hunt, thorny devils position themselves by ant hills, bury them partially in the sand, and wait for prey to come to them. As ants wander by, thorny devils snatch them up one by one

Under the sea

Many types of animal are adapted to living in the salty sea. The blacktip reef shark has a streamlined body t help it glide through the water and, like all sharks, it has gills that allow it to breather underwater.

Blacktip Reef shark

The Blacktip Reef shark is named for the characteristic black tips on its dorsal and caudal fins. It has a short, round snout and angled, saw-like teeth. Its white belly and dark back allow it to camouflage with the dim seafloor and the brighter ocean surface.

Blacktip Reef sharks swim in shallow waters just a few meters deep near reefs and drop-off zones. They have also occasionally been sighted in freshwater.

Blacktip Reef sharks primarily feed on reef fish but sometimes eat crustaceans, cephalopods and mollusks. These sharks can grow up to 6 feet long. Blacktip Reef sharks are commonly found along the coastlines of Pacific regions, such as Thailand, Japan, Philippines, New Caledonia and northern Australia. They are also found in the Indian Ocean from South Africa to the Red Sea. These sharks are not currently endangered, but the species is experiencing population loss due to overfishing. Blacktip Reef sharks are often caught by commercial fisheries for their meat, liver oil and fins.

Green treefrog

Green Tree Frogs possess its green colour to make it easier to camouflage in bushes and leaves from their predators. The suction-pads on the toes provide stability on the rocks and also in the water. Its large mouth and sticky tongue aid with catching insects so whilst they are flying around it's a lot easier to stick its tongue out and eat them. The large, powerful legs at the back allow the green tree frog to jump a further distance which would be a lot quicker for this amphibian.

These Green Tree Frogs adapt to their environment easily by having the colour of their skin. All of those features that these frogs have really help them to adapt to the environment they all live in currently. Without those features who knows what would happen.

In the snow

It’s a challenge to stay warm in snowy places. The Arctic fox has a thick coat of hair to keep it cosy. Its fur is grey in the summer, but in winter its fur is white to blend in with the snow. This helps it to sneak up on prey.

Arctic Fox

Arctic foxes form monogamous pairs through a breeding season (April to May) though often several females will live together in a large and complex den that can be many years old, even centuries. Typically they have litters of 5 to 8 but may be as many as 25, the most of any carnivore. Sometimes young non-breeding foxes will live in the den also and help to raise the pups from the following year.

A wide range of foods, the main prey is lemmings, they will hunt and catch other small animals and will also scavenge food from beneath sea-bird colonies on cliffs and leftovers from predators such as polar bears. They will take eggs where possible from tundra nesting birds, though are not entirely carnivorous also eating berries and seaweed when available.



A family of foxes can get through several dozen lemmings in a day. They will eat young ringed seals when they are vulnerable in the snow den shortly after they are born in the same manner that they attack lemmings beneath the snow, detecting them by sound and then jumping on and punching through the covering snow layer.

he Arctic Fox lives its whole life above the northern tree line in the Arctic tundra, it has found its way to most Arctic islands and is the only mammal native to Iceland. It may be found on the sea-ice in winter as it extends its foraging range. The southern limit of the arctic fox is partially dictated by the presence of red foxes which out-compete arctic foxes in areas where tundra turns to shrubs and trees.

 

Picture Credit : Google