My Science School

The shell of a tortoise is heavier and more dome-shaped than the terrapin's. Neither reptiles have teeth, but their jaws are razor sharp.

A terrapin has a more streamlined shape than a tortoise. It can live in fresh water as well as on land. Some of them have slightly webbed feet.

Tortoises live exclusively on dry land and are usually found in hot, dry environments. Their shells are not streamlined like marine turtles but are instead shaped like a dome, and they have column-shaped feet with claws.

They are not good swimmers, but will occasionally enter bodies of water (such as at a waterhole or even a puddle) to clean themselves or drink water.

Even though they are known to eat a small amount of meat, tortoises are mainly herbivorous, primarily eating low-lying shrubs, cacti, grasses, weeds, fruit, and other forms of vegetation.

Like marine turtles, tortoises can grow quite big and can live for a very long time. The giant tortoises of the Galapagos and the Indian Ocean, along with the Aldabra tortoise from Seychelles, are the largest. They can weigh as much as 417 kg and can grow to be 1.3 metres in length.

Terrapins are the semi-aquatic, freshwater-living versions of turtles. They live in either fresh or slightly salty (brackish) water, and you will find them by waterholes, ponds or lakes. They tend to swim quite often, but also spend their time on land, basking in the sun and occasionally burrowing in the mud. Their name comes from ‘torope’, a Native American Algonquian word meaning ‘a little turtle’.

Their hard shell is slightly streamlined yet also slightly domed (like tortoises). Even though they can swim, they don’t have flippers like a turtle, but rather legs similar to tortoises. You could say that they are like a mix between a turtle and tortoise.

Terrapins are omnivorous, and their diet can consist of molluscs, small fish, crustaceans, insects, algae and other aquatic plants.

Unlike turtles and tortoises, terrapins remain relatively small. However, there are some giant species of terrapin out there, such as the snapping turtle (found in America, hence the use of the term ‘turtle’) which is capable of growing to over 60cm and weigh up to 80 kg.

Credit : Africa Geographic 

Picture Credit : Google

The hare is often mistaken for its cousin, the rabbit, yet it is very different. Hares are larger with longer legs, they do not live underground like the rabbit and are immune to the disease myxomatosis that kills many rabbits.

Separating the two can be done by looking at the differences in size, life history, and preferred habitat. In general, rabbits are smaller and have shorter ears than hares. They are born without fur and with closed eyes after a gestation period of 30–31 days. Rabbits prefer to hide, rather than run, from their enemies. They prefer habitats composed of trees and shrubs, where they live in burrows dug into the soil. Hares, in contrast, are larger, and they are born fully developed with fur and open eyes after a gestation period lasting about 42 days. They are runners, preferring open-area habitats such as prairies, where they make their nests in small open depressions.

Credit : Britannica

Picture Credit : Google

Only female bees can sting. A bee's sting is like a sharp thorn at the end of its abdomen. If the thorn is left in your flesh, the bee cannot sting again!

When a honey bee stings you, its sharp, barbed stinger pierces the skin. This stinger injects a venom called apitoxin. In most cases, the stinger gets stuck in the victim’s skin and tears loose from the bee. In most cases, this is a massive injury to the honey bee. Other parts of its body rip off with the stinger, killing the bee. The stinger then continues to pump venom into the victim for up to 10 minutes or until it is removed.

Honey bees are the only bee species that die after stinging. However, honey bees sometimes survive after stinging if the victim’s skin is thin and doesn’t hold the barbed end of the stinger. This doesn’t happen often, though, because honey bee stingers are designed to stick in the skin of the victim to release as much venom as possible.

Bee stings can be quite painful. For some people, though, they can actually be deadly. Some people are allergic to the venom in bee stings. For these people, a sting can trigger a dangerous allergic reaction. If you‘re outside with a person who’s allergic to bees, make sure you know where to find help if they are stung.

Picture Credit : Google

Many pond insects seem to walk on water. They do so because of the surface tension. The pond skater's legs press into a kind of elastic skin on the surface of the water but don't go through!

Water acts different at the surface. Water molecules are attracted to each other and like to stay together, especially on the surface where there is only air above. The attraction between water molecules creates tension and a very delicate membrane. Water striders walk on this membrane.

Water striders are about a half-inch long with a thin body and three sets of legs. The water strider's secret is its legs. The legs have tiny hairs that repel water and capture air. By repelling water, the tiny water striders stand on the water’s surface and the captured airs allows them to float and move easily.

The water strider's shorter front legs are used for catching and holding onto food. Water striders eat insects and larvae on the surface of water, such as mosquitoes and fallen dragonflies.

Credit : National Wildlife Federation 

Picture Credit : Google

It is fossilised resin from conifer trees that seeped out millions of years ago. Often insects were trapped inside. It lies buried until it is washed up on the seashore.

Amber occurs as irregular nodules, rods, or droplike shapes in all shades of yellow with nuances of orange, brown, and, rarely, red. Milky-white opaque varieties are called bone amber. The turbidity of some amber is caused by inclusions of many minute air bubbles. Many hundreds of species of fossil insects and plants are found as inclusions. Deeply coloured translucent to transparent amber is prized as gem material.

Modern investigative techniques are directed toward isolating and identifying as many as possible of the individual resin components and, ultimately, to establishing a genetic relationship between fossil resins and modern resin-producing trees. By means of infrared spectroscopy, Mexican (Chiapas) amber has been shown to be related to a modern leguminous tree, Hymenaea. Though in the past amber was believed to be completely amorphous, subsequent X-ray diffraction studies have revealed crystalline components in some fossil resins.

Ornamental carved objects, beads, rosaries, cigarette holders, and pipe mouthpieces are made from amber. Amberoid, or “pressed amber,” is produced by fusing together small pieces of amber under pressure. Parallel bands, or flow structure, in amberoid help to distinguish it from natural amber. Despite the introduction of numerous synthetic substitutes, the beauty of the real material has remained unexcelled.

Picture Credit : Google

No, when danger threatens, an ostrich may run away, often at 80.5km (50 miles) an hour. But it can also inflict terrible wounds by kicking out with its powerful legs and sharp toes.

Ostriches are the largest and heaviest living birds in the world. Despite standing seven to nine feet tall and weighing as much as 350 pounds, these birds have relatively small heads. When nesting, they dig shallow holes in the ground to use as nests for their eggs. They use their beaks to turn their eggs several times each day. From a distance, an ostrich leaning into a hole to turn an egg could easily look like it's burying its head in the sand!

This myth could also have arisen from a couple of other ostrich behaviors. For example, when ostriches eat plants along the ground, they could easily look like they've buried their heads in the sand, especially from a distance. Likewise, ostriches often lie down flat on the ground when they feel threatened. From a distance, all that's visible is their large body, leading some to think that the rest may be buried.

Even though they get a bad rap, ostriches are very interesting birds. Native to Africa, they tend to roam savanna and desert areas, grazing on plants alongside giraffes and zebras. The ostrich was once known as the “camel bird," because of its long neck, large eyes, long eyelashes, and unique walk. Like camels, ostriches can also tolerate high temperatures and go without water for days.

Even though they're birds, ostriches cannot fly. Their bodies are simply too large to permit flight. They can, however, run like the wind! Their long, powerful legs can maintain a steady speed of over 30 miles per hour, with short bursts of up to 43 miles per hour. Their wings, while useless for flight, do help them to keep their balance when they run.

Credit : Wonderopolis

Picture Credit : Google

When a species dies out it disappears forever. Humans are often responsible for hunting and killing some animals to extinction, like the passenger pigeon, the last of which died in a zoo.

Fossils show that there have been five previous periods of history when an unusually high number of extinctions occurred in what are known as mass extinctions. Most of the Earth’s species went extinct roughly 266 million to 252 million years ago in the Permian extinction.

Those losses, however, also paved the way for dinosaurs to evolve into existence, as mass extinctions create a chance for new species to emerge. Dinosaurs met their end about 65 million years ago in another mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period. A large crater off of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula suggests that an asteroid most likely struck there. Scientists believe that volcanic eruptions in India caused global warming that also may have contributed to the mass extinction.

Scientists are debating whether Earth is now in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. If so, it may be the fastest one ever with a rate of 1,000 to 10,000 times the baseline extinction rate of one to five species per year. Humans are largely responsible for the striking trend. Scientists believe that pollution, land clearing, and overfishing might drive half of the planet’s existing land and marine species to extinction by 2100.

Slowly increasing surface temperatures caused by heightened levels of greenhouse gases likely will cause many species to move toward the Earth’s poles and higher up into the mountains to stay in habitats with the same climates. But not all species will be able to adapt quickly enough to stave off extinction and many are expected to perish.

Credit : National Geographic 

Picture Credit : Google

This African bird gets its name from the long feathers on its head, which resemble old fashioned quill pens. It runs swiftly after snakes, and kills them with its powerful legs.

Secretary birds and caracaras are the only two birds of prey that hunt on the ground instead of from the air. Secretary birds’ diets consist of small rodents, amphibians, and reptiles.

Working in small groups or with a partner, secretary birds hunt from just after dawn through to the evening, resting only during the peak heat of the afternoon. They sometimes capture prey by striking at it with their short, hooked beaks, but more famously, secretary birds use their large feet and sharp claws to stomp it to death.

Snakes are a favorite meal, and in fact, the bird’s scientific name, Sagittarius serpentarius, means “the archer of snakes.” If a snake tries striking a secretary bird, it usually ends up with a mouthful of feathers from the bird’s almost seven-foot wingspan, which it uses as a distraction. The scales on their lower legs provide additional protection from snakebites.

Credit : National Geographic 

Picture Credit : Google