My Science School

Lions are social animals that hunt and live in groups called prides. The males have little parental investment toward the cubs, and males may even commit infanticide against suckling cubs that are not their own. There is usually fierce competition for food because successful hunts are rare and members of the pride tend to gorge themselves when food is available. The ruling male lion will eat his fill, and then the other males, females, and finally the cubs. The competition for food contributes to the high mortality rate of the cubs.

The lion (Panthera leo) is the largest wild cat in Africa, yet populations of the 'king of the jungle' have dramatically declined by nearly half in just two decades. Historically lions occurred in sub-Saharan Africa as well as from northern Africa into southwest Asia and Europe. However only a remnant population remains in India and the present day populations only occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

Unique among all wild cats, lions have a social structure as opposed to a solitary lifestyle; and males differ from females with large manes, whereas males and females of other wild cats look very similar.

The scientific name for lion is Panthera leo which is also known as the lion binomial name, lion species name, lion latin name, lion biological name and lion zoological name. Some call it the lion botanical name however that term is applicable to the plant kingdom (botany) and not the animal kingdom (zoology).

Lions belong to the big cat genus Panthera and the full taxonomy or scientific classification of the lion species (Panthera leo) is as follows:

Lions belong to the:

Animal (Animalia) kingdom

Chordate (Chordata) phylum

Mammal (Mammalia) class

Carnivore (Carnivora) order

Cat (Felidae) family

Big cat (Panthera) genus

Lion (leo) species

The scientific name for lions is Panthera leo, the last two divisions.

Members of the monerans and protist families are the simplest organisms. Individuals are much too small to be seen without a microscope.

Monera is a unicellular organism, they have a prokaryotic cellular organization, which means they lack well-defined, membrane-bounded organelles and nucleus. On the other hand, Protista is also unicellular organisms, but consist of eukaryotic cellular organization and well defined, membrane-bounded organelles and nucleus.

All forms of life on earth are divided into five categories on the support of the nutrition and energy they obtain, kind of cell (single cell or multi-celled), structural complexity, etc. These five kingdoms are Monera, Protists, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. Monera is the most primitive types of organisms which include blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), eubacteria and archaebacteria. While Protista represents the early evolution of eukaryotic cells.

Living things are classified in groups that have certain characteristics in common. The largest groups are called kingdoms. All living things can be classified as belonging to one of the five kingdoms: animals, plants, fungi, protists and monerans. Kingdoms can be divided into phyla (singular: phylum) or divisions and subphyla, which in turn can be separated into classes. Classes are divided into orders and suborders. These are separated into families and then into genera (singular: genus). Finally, each genus contains a number of species.

All living organisms are classified into groups based on very basic, shared characteristics. Organisms within each group are then further divided into smaller groups. These smaller groups are based on more detailed similarities within each larger group. This grouping system makes it easier for scientists to study certain groups of organisms. Characteristics such as appearance, reproduction, mobility, and functionality are just a few ways in which living organisms are grouped together. These specialized groups are collectively called the classification of living things. The classification of living things includes 7.

levels: Kingdom, phylum, classes, order, families, genus, and species.

Kingdoms

The most basic classification of living things is kingdoms. Currently there are Five kingdoms. Living things are placed into certain kingdoms based on how they obtain their food, the types of cells that make up their body, and the number of cells they contain.

Phylum

The phylum is the next level following kingdom in the classification of living things. It is an attempt to find some kind of physical similarities among organisms within a kingdom. These physical similarities suggest that there is a common ancestry among those organisms in a particular phylum.

Classes

Classes are way to further divide organisms of a phylum. As you could probably guess, organisms of a class have even more in common than those in an entire phylum. Humans belong to the Mammal Class because we drink milk as a baby.

Order

Organisms in each class are further broken down into orders. A taxonomy key is used to determine to which order an organism belongs. A taxonomy key is nothing more than a checklist of characteristics that determines how organisms are grouped together.

Families

Orders are divided into families. Organisms within a family have more in common than with organisms in any classification level above it. Because they share so much in common, organisms of a family are said to be related to each other. Humans are in the Hominidae Family.

Genus

Genus is a way to describe the generic name for an organism. The genus classification is very specific so there are fewer organisms within each one. For this reason there are a lot of different genera among both animals and plants. When using taxonomy to name an organism, the genus is used to determine the first part of its two-part name.

Species

Species are as specific as you can get. It is the lowest and most strict level of classification of living things. The main criterion for an organism to be placed in a particular species is the ability to breed with other organisms of that same species. The species of an organism determines the second part of its two-part name.

Scientists believe that humans and apes had a common ancestor. About five million years ago in Africa, some hominids (early humans) began to walk on two legs. Over millions of years, they developed bigger brains and began to spread out to other parts of the world. Later hominids began to make tools, develop language, use fire and wear clothes. The scientific name for modem people is sapiens Homo sapiens. They invented farming about 9000 years ago. Their early settlements led to the first civilizations.

Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years.

One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism -- the ability to walk on two legs -- evolved over 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics -- such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language -- developed more recently. Many advanced traits -- including complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity -- emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years.

Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa -- chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas -- share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.

Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early humans. Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out. Many early human species -- certainly the majority of them – left no living descendants. Scientists also debate over how to identify and classify particular species of early humans, and about what factors influenced the evolution and extinction of each species.

Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years. Species of modern humans populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably within the past 60,000 years and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years or so. The beginnings of agriculture and the rise of the first civilizations occurred within the past 12,000 years.

One theory is that climate changes gradually led to a drop in dinosaur numbers. Another is that a huge meteorite hit the Earth, throwing up a massive dust cloud. Mammals managed to survive the climate change, but dinosaurs did not.

It was at this time when something happened that caused dinosaurs to become extinct. While there are several ideas, one that many scientists believe is that a huge comet or asteroid 6 to 12 miles wide slammed into the region that is now part of the eastern coast of Mexico, but at that time was under water.

The impact of this object is believed to have caused darkness over the entire earth for many months, due to the huge amounts of dust that were thrown into the atmosphere. A global wildfire would have destroyed over half of all living things. Water would have been poisoned in most places, and the earth would have sunk into a deep freeze while the dust was in the air.

Even through all this, some plants and animals survived, including some insects, fishes, frogs, crocodiles, turtles, birds, and mammoths.

This may have just been part of a series of changes that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Before the asteroid/comet hit the earth, massive eruptions of volcanoes had caused earth's climate to be changed. At about the same time, sea levels dropped dramatically, opening new land bridges, changing ocean currents, and affecting the climate. These changes in climate likely reduced the ability of the dinosaurs to adapt, and the impact from the asteroid/comet was the last straw. The creatures that were able to survive all these changes came to dominate the landscape. Mammals grew larger, and moved into new areas, taking over locations that had previously been the habitat of dinosaurs.

Changes in sea levels, ocean currents, and other events were also bringing in a new climatic cycle to the earth. Huge ice sheets would begin to cover large areas of the earth on a periodic basis. These swings in climate would have a major effect on animal habitats.

Over time, the remains of plants and animals decay. Fossilization is one way in which their forms have survived to give us information about prehistoric times. Since the time of the dinosaurs, however, the climate of parts of the Earth has cooled. In recent years, frozen remains of mammoths and even humans have been found, preserved in the ice of polar or mountainous regions.

Paleoanthropology to hear the preceding term pronounced is the study of early forms of humans and their primate ancestors.  It is similar to paleontology to hear the preceding term pronounced except its focus is documenting and understanding human biological and cultural evolution.  Paleoanthropologists do not look for dinosaurs and other early creatures.  However, like paleontology, the data for paleoanthropology is found mainly in the fossil record.  Before examining this evidence, it is necessary to first learn what fossils are and how they are formed.  In addition, it is important to know how paleoanthropologists date fossils and other evidence of the prehistoric past.

Taphonomy to hear the preceding term pronounced is the study of the conditions under which plants, animals, and other organisms become altered after death and sometimes preserved as fossils.  Research into these matters has shown that fossilization is a rare phenomenon.  In order for a fossil to form, the body must not be eaten or destroyed by erosion and other natural forces.  Preservation would most likely occur if the organism were buried quickly and deeply.  In most environments, soft body parts, such as skin, muscle, fat, and internal organs, deteriorate rapidly and leave no trace.  Only very rarely do we find the casts of such tissues.  Similarly, the totally soft-bodied creatures, like jellyfish, are very uncommon fossils.  Hard body parts, such as dense bones, teeth, and shells, are what most often are preserved.  It is likely that the vast majority of fossils will never be found before they are destroyed by erosion.  That coupled with the fact that extremely few living things are preserved long enough after death to become fossils makes the large collections of fossils in the museums of the world quite remarkable.  It is a testament to the tenacious searching by fossil hunters over the last two centuries.

People often think of fossils as being mineralized bones or shells stored in museums.  However, they can be any remains or traces of ancient organisms.  They even can be footprints, burrows, or casts of bodies with nothing else surviving.  Some of the best preserved fossils were rapidly frozen in permafrost soil or ice, dehydrated in dry desert caves, or encased in tree resin that hardened into amber.  In any of these three environmental conditions, even soft body parts can be remarkably well preserved indefinitely. 

Several wooly mammoths that lived during the last ice age have been excavated from frozen tundra soil in Siberia.  Some were still in such good condition, that parts of their bodies were fed to the dogs of the Russian scientists who found them.  One small mammoth was even transported intact to Moscow where it is kept in a specially made large freezer that allows it to be displayed for the general public.  The oldest frozen human remains were discovered on the edge of a glacier in the Alps of northern Italy in 1991.  It was a well preserved body of a man, along with his clothes and tools, who died about 5,300 years ago.  Even tattoos on his skin were preserved by the extreme cold. 

Dinosaur fossils, even when they show the skin of the animal, cannot show us what colour it was. Dinosaurs may have been green and brown in colour, camouflaging them amongst the leaves and rocks. It is also possible that some of them were very brightly coloured, just as some tropical lizards are today.

While skin impressions have been found — suggesting a pebbly or scaly texture — no real dinosaur skin remains. That means paleontologists don't know for certain what color any of the dinosaurs were. They do have several theories, though. For example, many believe that dinosaur skin was probably drab shades of gray or green, allowing them to blend into their surrounding environments. This dull coloration would help them escape the detection of predators, enabling some to survive longer. Because large modern-day warm-blooded animals, such as elephants and rhinoceroses, tend to be dully colored, many scientists think that dinosaurs were, too.

But other paleontologists say the opposite is true — that dinosaurs' skin could have been shades of purple, orange, red, even yellow with pink and blue spots! Rich and varied colors, they argue, might have helped dinosaurs to recognize one another and attract mates. Because research has shown that dinosaurs'closest living relatives — birds — can see in color, it is theorized that dinosaurs could, too. Scientists in this camp believe that color may well have been as important to these ancient creatures as it is to us.

Jack Horner, Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, Denver, Colorado, explains, "Some male dinosaurs may have had brightly colored crests to help them attract mates, but females probably did not. This color differentiation is also found in many modern-day birds."

During the 150 million years that they lived on Earth, dinosaurs certainly included the largest creatures to live on land and the fiercest hunters. But they were not the only animals to live successfully on Earth by any means. There were many species of insect and the earliest winged animals could be seen in the skies. The seas were teeming with fish and other sea-life. The first mammals were also thriving, ready to become the dominant creatures when the dinosaurs became extinct.

It is often said that dinosaurs ruled the earth. Movies such as Jurassic Park, the media, and educational books constantly promote the evolutionary claim that dinosaurs dominated planet earth for well over 100 million years. In the evolutionary paradigm, mankind had not yet evolved, and before the 65-million-year-old extinction mark, mammals were small rodents who steered clear of the ruling dinosaurs.

The prevailing evolutionary model argues that the coexistence of dinosaurs, large mammals, and humans is not supported for four reasons. First, dinosaur and human fossils have never been discovered together in the fossil record. Second, large mammals have never been discovered in ‘dinosaur’ rock. Third, dinosaurs could not have existed with larger mammals due to intense competition in similar environments. Fourth, dinosaurs would have overrun human civilization due to their monolithic size and belligerence. However, these arguments do not stand up to closer scrutiny and the weight of the evidence provides far greater support to biblical creation.

The historical narrative of Genesis plainly records that God created all land animals and human beings on the sixth day of creation about 6,000 years ago. According to the Bible, dinosaurs, mammals, and humans have coexisted from the beginning of creation. This is in direct contradiction to the evolutionary model of earth history. And although the idea of dinosaurs and human beings living at the same time is ridiculed as illogical and unscientific, a more open-minded approach reveals a different story. Circumstantial evidence in the fossil record, literary and artistic accounts in human civilization, and observational examples in present-day ecological habitats lend a high degree of credibility to the biblical account.

Agni-V

On April 19, 2012, India successfully test-fired 5000 km range Agni-V Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, developed by DRDO. Part of the Agni series of missiles, Agni V has been developed as a nuclear deterrent against China. The missile is expected to be inducted into service soon.

Dhanush

On Feb. 23, 2018, the nuclear-capable ‘Dhanush’ ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km was successfully test-fired from a naval ship off Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface missile is a naval variant of the indigenously-developed ‘Prithvi 3’ missile.

Mission Shakti

On March 27, 2019, India conducted Mission Shakti, a high precision anti-satellite missile test, from the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island launch complex. The significance of the test carried out by the DRDO is that India has successfully demonstrated its capability to intercept a satellite in outer space. With this test, the country joins an exclusive group of space-faring nations comprising the U.S., Russia and China.

 

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Triple Talaq: 2017

On Aug.22, 2017, the SC ruled that the traditional method of Muslim men instantly divorcing their wives by uttering “talaq” thrice was “unconstitutional” and “arbitrary”. Under the court’s instruction, the Lok Sabha on Dec. 27, 2018, passed the Muslim Women Bill (Triple Talaq) 2018, criminalizing the practice. The offence now attracts a fine and a jail term up to three years for the husband.

Section 377: 2018

In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court on September 6 decriminalized homosexuality with a prayer to the LGBTQ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community to forgive history for their “brutal” suppression. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, further stated that sexual orientation is natural and choice of partner is part of the fundamental right to privacy.

Sabarimala: 2018

On September 28, 2018, the SC lifted the ban that prevented women and girls in the 10-50 age group from entering the famous Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala. It held that this centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and unconstitutional. Subsequently on Nov 14, 2019, the SC referred the Sabarimala issues to a larger, seven-member bench after hearing pleas seeking a review of its decision to allow women of all ages into the temple.

Ayodhya: 2019

On Nov. 9, 2019, the decades-old sensitive Ayodhya land title case came to an end with the SC handling over possession of the disputed 2.77 acre site to the deity Ram Lalla, one of the three litigants in the case, and directed that a Ram temple be built on the site which many Hindus believe was the birth place of Ram. It directed that a trust be formed by the Central government within three months to manage the property and oversee the temple construction. The apex court also directed that 5 acres of land on an alternative site in Ayodhya be provided to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque. It dismissed the plea of Nirmohi Akara seeking control of the entire disputed land. The court also ruled that the demolition of the Babri Masjid which stood at the disputed site in 1992 by kar sevaks was in violation of law.

 

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Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, along with his French-American wife Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michael Kremer of Harvard University “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” The three were recognized for their ability to divide the issue of tackling global poverty into smaller subjects. They were awarded medals and the prize money of nine million Swedish krona (approximately Rs 6.7 crore) in Sweden on Dec. 11, 2019. According to the Nobel citation, their extensive research will help in improving the ability to combat global poverty.

Banerjee and his co-workers try to measure the effectiveness of actions (such as government programmes) in improving people's lives. For this, they use randomized controlled trials, similar to clinical trials in medical research. For example, although polio vaccination is freely available in India, many mothers were not bringing their children for the vaccination drives. Banerjee and Prof. Esther Duflo, also from MIT, tried an experiment in Rajasthan, where they gifted a bag of pulses to mothers who vaccinated their children. Soon, the immunization rate went up in the region. In another experiment, they found that learning outcomes improved in schools that were provided with teaching assistants to help students with special needs.

 

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The Government of India on August5, 2019, revoked Article 370 which accorded special status to then state of Jammu and Kashmir. Included in the Indian Constitution on October 17, 1949, Article 370 permitted the state to draft its own Constitution and enjoy special rights. J&K citizens lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property and fundamental rights. The Central government further bifurcated the state into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. The Union territory of J&K has a legislature where key subjects such as law and order are with the Centre, while that of Ladakh has no legislature. Following the scrapping of Article 370, an uneasy calm prevailed in the Valley with restrictions on public movement and communication network.

In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the representatives to the Constituent Assembly requested that only those provisions of the Indian Constitution that corresponded to the original Instrument of Accession should be applied to the State and that the state's constituent assembly, when formed, would decide on the other matters. Government of India agreed to the demands shortly before the above meeting with the other states. Accordingly, the Article 370 was incorporated into the Indian Constitution, which stipulated that the other articles of the Constitution that gave powers to the Central Government would be applied to Jammu and Kashmir only with the concurrence of the State's constituent assembly. This was a "temporary provision" in that its applicability was intended to last till the formulation and adoption of the State's constitution. However, the State's constituent assembly dissolved itself on 25 January 1957 without recommending either abrogation or amendment of the Article 370. Thus, the Article was considered to have become a permanent feature of the Indian constitution, as confirmed by various rulings of the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, the latest of which was in April 2018.

 

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The National Register for Citizens (NRC) is a register which contains the names of genuine Indian citizenship in the country. NRC was aimed at identifying illegal immigrants who entered and settled in Assam, primarily from Bangladesh, after March 25, 1971 and deporting them to their native country. It was a state-specific exercise to retain the ethnic uniqueness of Assam. The final list of NRC was published on Aug. 31, 2019. A total of 3.29 crore people had applied for the NRC, of which 3.11 crore made it to the final list. Those excluded had to approach the Foreigners’ Tribunals set up across the state for the purpose. The Assam experience has been bad with reports suggesting the exclusion of a large number of genuine residents from the list.

In the meanwhile, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed in Parliament on Dec 12, 2019, leading to widespread protests across the country. It was during a discussion on the Bill that Home Minister Amit Shah had proposed that the NRC be implemented pan-India. According to the CAA, member of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. The law, however, excludes Muslims. The protesters feel the CAA discriminates against Muslims and violates the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution of India.

 

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The Balakot airstrike took place following days of rising tension between India and Pakistan. The strike was launched on February 26; two weeks after a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist rammed an explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy in J&K’s Pulwama. Forty CRPF jawans were killed in the attack. In response, the Indian Air Force bombed Jaish-e-Mohammad’s largest terror camp located in Balakot in Pakistan’s Kyber Pakhtunkhwa. The following day, Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target India’s military installations. In the aerial combat that followed, a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft was downed and an Indian MiG-21 Bison piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down. The injured pilot was taken prisoner by Pakistan and was released as a “gesture of peace” two days later, de-escalating tension between the two countries. Subsequently, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was awarded the Vir Chakra, India’s third-highest war time gallantry medal.

 

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The Union Cabinet on Dec 28, 2018 approved amendments to strengthen the POSCO Act and included death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children, besides providing stringent punishments for other crimes against those aged below 18. The Protection of Children from sexual offences (Amendment) Bill, POSCO, 2019 was passed by Parliament on Aug 1, 2019. It seeks to enhance punishment for sexual offences against children, with a provision of death penalty.

Sections 14 and 15 of the POCSO Act, 2012 are also proposed to be amended to address the menace of the child pornography. It is proposed to levy fine for not destroying or deleting or reporting the pornographic material involving a child, the statement said. The offender can be further penalized with jail term or fine or both for transmitting propagating administrating such material in any manner except for the purpose of reporting as may be prescribed and for use as evidence in court. “Penal provisions have been made more stringent for storing/possessing any pornographic material in any form involving a child for commercial purpose," the official statement said.

 

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