My Science School

More than beautiful, monarch butterflies contribute to the health of our planet. While feeding on nectar, they pollinate many types of wildflowers. The flowers they chose are varieties that are brightly colored, grow in clusters, stay open during the day, and have flat surfaces that serve as landing pads for their tiny guests. Monarch butterflies are also an important food source for birds, small animals, and other insects.

The vivid markings of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) serves as a “skull and crossbones” warning, signaling “Poison!” to the butterfly’s predators. Female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of poisonous milkweed leaves. As the caterpillar hatches, it eats its own egg; then switches to a diet of milkweed leaves. The milkweeds’ toxins remain permanently in the monarch’s system, even after the caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly. Animals that eat a monarch become very sick and, thereafter, will avoid this distinctively patterned butterfly.

Monarch butterflies live mainly in prairies, meadows, grasslands and along roadsides, across most of North America. The adult butterfly drinks nectar from a variety of flowers, uncoiling and extending its long proboscis to sip food. When not in use, this flexible “tongue” coils back into a spiral.

Most monarchs will live only a few weeks, but the generation that emerges in late summer and early fall is different. These butterflies are born to travel and may live for eight or nine months to accomplish their lengthy migration. Scientists think the monarchs use the position of the sun and the changing weather to know when it’s time for their long journey.

Credit : National Park Service

Picture Credit : Google

Dragonfly, (suborder Anisoptera), also called darner, devil’s arrow, or devil’s darning needle, any of a group of roughly 3,000 species of aerial predatory insects most commonly found near freshwater habitats throughout most of the world. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are sometimes also called dragonflies in that both are odonates (order Odonata).

Young dragonflies, called larvae or sometimes nymphs or naiads, are aquatic and are as dedicated predators under water as the adults are in the air. The functionally wingless larvae are usually mottled or dull in colour, matching the sediments or water plants among which they live. They have bulging eyes somewhat similar to the adults, but possess a formidable anatomical structure not present in the adult. Called the “mask,” it is a fusion of the larva’s third pair of mouthparts. Disproportionately large, the mask folds beneath both the head and thorax when it is not in use. At the end of the mask is a set of fanglike pincers used to seize prey such as worms, crustaceans, tadpoles, and small fish. Different species of dragonfly larvae can be described as sprawlers, burrowers, hiders, or claspers. Their shape, metabolism, and respiration differ concordantly with the microhabitat they occupy.

Larvae crawl from eggs laid in or near water. Some species lay their eggs inside plant tissue, others attach their eggs to substrates at or above the water’s surface, and some may drop or wash their eggs from their abdomen onto water. Larvae absorb oxygen from the water using gills inside the rectum. The abdomen draws water in and pumps it out again through the anus. Water can be forcibly expelled in this way, resulting in jet propulsion as a means of escape. Solid waste is also expelled in this manner. As the larva grows, it molts, its future wings first becoming apparent about halfway through the larva’s development. These wing sheaths then enlarge rapidly with each successive molt. Eventually, the larva crawls out of the water (often at night) and molts one last time, emerging as an adult and leaving behind a cast skin (exuvia).

Many dragonfly families have descriptive common names associated with their scientific names. Examples include the hawkers (Aeshnidae), petaltails (Petaluridae), and clubtails (Gomphidae). Numerous other names related to neither taxonomy nor fact have traditionally been applied to dragonflies, such as horse stinger. Dragonflies have also been known as “snake doctors” in the American South, owing to the superstition that they nurse ill snakes back to health. The term devil’s darning needle is derived from a superstition that dragonflies may sew up the eyes, ears, or mouth of a sleeping child, especially one who has misbehaved. In reality, dragonflies present no danger to humans.

Credit : Britannica 

Picture Credit : Google

Seven different species of sea (or marine) turtles grace our ocean waters, from the shallow seagrass beds of the Indian Ocean, to the colorful reefs of the Coral Triangle and the sandy beaches of the Eastern Pacific. While these highly migratory species periodically come ashore to either bask or nest, sea turtles spend the bulk of their lives in the ocean. WWF's work on sea turtles focuses on five of those species: green, hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, and olive ridley.

Over the last 200 years, human activities have tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient mariners. Slaughtered for their eggs, meat, skin, and shells, sea turtles suffer from poaching and over-exploitation. They also face habitat destruction and accidental capture—known as bycatch—in fishing gear. Climate change has an impact on turtle nesting sites; it alters sand temperatures, which then affects the sex of hatchlings. Nearly all species of sea turtle are now classified as endangered, with three of the seven existing species being critically endangered.

WWF is committed to stopping the decline of sea turtles and works for the recovery of the species. We work to secure environments in which both turtles and the people that depend upon them can survive.

Credit : World Wildlife Fund

Picture Credit : Google

The red rock crab (aka red crab, rock crab) is similar to -- but smaller than -- the Dungeness. This species usually measures less than 6 inches across the back and is characterized by large claws. Despite being less meaty than the Dungeness, red rock crab meat is also very tasty. It can be distinguished from the Dungeness by the presence of black on the tips of its claws and by its red coloration. The red rock crab also prefers rocky substrates, as the name implies.

The red crab has been described as the “other big crab.” The red crab is one of several related species of crustaceans that live in various deep stretches of the Atlantic. Red crabs flank the edge of the continental shelf from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf of Mexico. Blue crabs are called swimming crabs because they can use their paddle-like rear legs to propel themselves through the water. Red crabs have no choice but to walk along the sea floor. Most live at greater depths than do the king crabs.

At the depths where red crabs live, there is little or no light to navigate, and water temperatures hover around 38 degrees. The red crabs scuttle across the ocean floor at depths from 600 feet to a mile deep. Often the red crabs must rely on food that sinks down from the surface. The carcasses of dead whales sometimes provide a kind of nutrition bonanza that the crabs can sniff out from long distances away.

Picture Credit : Google

Also known as the gnu, the wildebeest is a member of the antelope family. They have a large, box-like head with curving horns. The front end of their body is heavily built, while the hindquarters are slender with spindly legs. They have a gray coat and a black mane as well as a beard that can be black or white. There are several races of wildebeest. The species forming the large herds of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem of Kenya and Tanzania is known as the western white-bearded wildebeest, while the eastern white-bearded races inhabit Kenya and Tanzania east of the Gregory Rift. The brindled, or blue, race occurs south of the Zambezi River.

Their habitat is threatened by fragmentation, which is caused when land is fenced off for agriculture. While they are widespread and abundant in certain areas, the spread of civilization and agriculture, the reduction of water sources, and poaching are threatening this iconic species’ survival.

These large mammals are continually on the move, as they seek favorable supplies of grass and water. The famous Serengeti population of wildebeest is a very large nomadic group. This group makes a migratory circle of 800 to 1,610 kilometers (500 to 1,000 miles) each year, beginning right after the calving season at the start of the year. They are relentless in their advance and many are injured, lost (especially calves), or killed. By the end of the dry season, the wildebeest have almost exhausted the grazing lands and return to the Serengeti plains as the rains begin.

Credit : African Wildlife Foundation

Picture Credit : Google

Porcupine is a large rodent that lives in Africa Europe, Americas and Asia. It is known for the sharp quills that cover its body. There are over two dozen porcupine species and all of them have these quills. Some porcupines have up to 30,000 quills on their body.

It uses the quills as a defence. These quills typically lie flat until it is threatened. They rise up and deter predators. The quills are easily released when predators get in touch with it. Lost quills are replaced with new quills.

 It is a nocturnal animal, eating leaves, stem, bark and fruit. It lives in tree branches or tangles of roots, and rock crevices. Its home is called a den.

The largest porcupine is the North African crested porcupine. It grows up to 36 inches (90 centimeters) long. The smallest is the Bahia hairy dwarf porcupine. It grows up to 15 inches (38 cm) long. Porcupines weigh 2.5 to 77 lbs. (1.2 to 35 kilograms), depending on species, and their tails can grow up to 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm), according to the San Diego Zoo. The length of quills varies by type. New World porcupines have small quills that are around 4 inches (10 cm) long, while Old World porcupines have quills that can grow up to 20 inches (51 cm) long, though there are some exceptions.

A typical mating ritual consists of two males fighting over a single female. The males are careful not to injure themselves during the fight, and the winner territorially urinates on the female so that she knows to move her tail aside for safe, quill-free mating.

Picture Credit : Google

As we already know, on average, primates are more intelligent than other mammals, thanks to their larger brains among other aspects. Primates include humans too, considered the smartest of the lot. However, more and more studies are emerging to show just how intelligent non-human primates too are. Come, let's find out more about this through a recent experiment.

Baboons are very intelligent creatures and through various experiments it has been ascertained that they can "decipher elements of language, understanding words in a sequence. This is in addition to having "highly complicated social grouping structures, deep empathy for one another and adaptability to the developing world around them". So it makes sense they were used for a recent experiment on non-human primates.

French researchers worked with nearly 20 baboons raised at a primatology centre. In pairs, the primates were given the task of making the same choice when each was presented with a set of two images on touch screens. If both s in animals made the same choice, they were given a treat. The researchers discovered that in just three days, the baboons had come up with a system to and choose the same image even when they were not aware of what the other baboon had chosen, ruling out one imitating the other. Also, it was not a matter of colour-based choice because the baboons chose the same image even when they were presented with black-and-white ones.

This proved that baboons manage to develop social conventions to work together to Dice obtain a reward. Though earlier they had showed evidence of social conventions such as grooming, "this is the first to show a new behaviour appearing spontaneously in a group, without human intervention". According to the study, "for a behaviour to be considered a social convention its benefit must apply to the whole group, it must work consistently, and it must be one among several solutions". However, it remains a mystery how they do this.

Picture Credit : Google

A newly discovered species of millipede has set a new world record for the greatest number of legs, with 1,306. Previously no millipede had been found with more than 750 legs.

The discovery of the millipede, 60m underground in a drill hole created for mineral exploration in Western Australia, is reported by Nature magazine.

The name of the new species - Eumillipes persephone - derives from the Greek word eu- (true), the Latin words mille (thousand) and pes (foot), and references the Greek goddess of the underworld, Persephone.

E. persephone has a long, thread-like body consisting of up to 330 flexible segments and is up to 0.95mm wide and 95.7mm long. It is eyeless, and has a cone-shaped head with antennae and a beak, and short legs.

Analysis suggests that E. persephone is distantly related to the previous record holder for the greatest number of legs - the Californian millipede species, Ill acme pennies.

The authors suggest that the large number of segments and legs may allow the millipede to generate pushing forces that enable it to move through narrow openings in the soil habitats in which they live.

Picture Credit : Google

Bongo is the largest and the heaviest African forest antelope. It has a chestnut coat with distinctive vertical whitish-yellow stripes running down its sides. Both males and females have spiral, lyre-shaped horns.

It is herbivorous and nocturnal. Its predators are lions, hyenas, leopards and pythons. It wallows in the mud to decrease its body temperature during the warmer periods of the year.

Bongos produce snorts, grunts and bleating noise when they are distressed. Females produce mooing calls for communication with their offspring. Mating season of bongos takes place between October and January.

Pregnancy in females lasts 9 months and ends with one baby. Female leaves the herd to give birth in secluded area. Baby remains hidden in dense vegetation during the first week of its life, before it becomes ready to join the herd with its mother. Young bongos grow quickly. Their horns start to develop at the age of 3 to 4 months. Bongos reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 2.5 years. Bongo can survive 10 to 18 years in the wild and up to 19 years in the captivity.

Picture Credit : Google

Elephant shrew is a small insectivorous mammal native to Africa. It belongs to the group of animals called sengis.

It has an elongated, pointed head and a long, trunk-like nose (hence the name "elephant shrew"), large ears and eyes, long hind legs and a long, scaly tail. Though it resembles a shrew, it is not one. It can jump like a rabbit. Hence, it is also called a jumping shrew.

It is active during the day, but it is rarely spotted. It is good at camouflaging and dashing away from threats. It creates a series of pathways underground, which it uses to hunt its prey and also to escapes from predators. Its diet includes ants, termites, worms, grubs and spiders.

Elephant shrews live in pairs (that mate for a lifetime). They occupy territory of few acres, but spend most of the time alone (they gather only to mate).

Elephant shrews use scent glands under the tail to mark their trails and point out toward direction of food. They aggressively defend their territory against other elephant shrews (both males and females scream and fight with intruders).

Picture Credit : Google

A snake's fangs last for just 10 weeks. But new ones start growing right away. These long, sharp teeth are connected to poison sacs located behind a snake's eyes. It is these sacs that produce venom.

Snakes replace all their teeth -- including their fangs -- often. Teeth regularly break, wear out or become stuck in prey. Some snakes, for example puff adders (Bitis arietans), have up to 6 replacement fangs, in various states of development, embedded in the gum tissue behind each of the active fangs. Occasionally a replacement fang pops into place before the old fang falls out, so a snake can temporarily have three fangs -- one on one side and two on the other. This is no problem for the snake; they can still bite and inject venom very efficiently.

Herpetologists classify snakes in four primary groups according to the type of fangs they possess. Snakes without venom-injecting teeth of any kind are called aglyphous; they have varying amounts of teeth, but none modified for envenomation. Opisthoglyphous snakes are often colloquially called “rear-fanged” snakes, as their fangs reside at the rear of the maxilla, right below the eyes. Most opisthoglyphous snake fangs have a groove or channel down which venom flows into a wound. Proteroglyphous snakes have relatively small, hollow fangs at the very front of their mouths, which transmit venom directly into the body of their prey. Finally, solenoglyphous snakes have hollow fangs that are so large they must fold flat against the roof of the snakes’ mouths to allow the snakes to close their mouths properly.

Sometimes keepers find shed teeth or fangs in their snake’s waste. This happens because teeth and fangs can become stuck in their prey. While the prey is largely digested, the teeth pass through the digestive system relatively unharmed. Because small snakes have very small teeth, you are more likely to find teeth in the feces of large snakes.

Credit : Pets On Mom.com

Both frogs and toads are amphibians, come in different sizes and colours, and are similar in many ways. They usually do not have tails, scales, or claws on their feet. And technically speaking, toads are a type of frog, meaning all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. Frogs and toads are also different in a few aspects. What are they?

One of the easy-to-spot differences between the two is the skin. Frogs normally have smooth or slimy skin that is moist, while toads have uneven, thicker, drier skin, sometimes with warts. Further, frogs are said to have big, bulging eyes, whereas toads eyes are not as prominent. Also, frogs normally seem to come in brighter colours as against the duller colours of toads. Frogs have long and slim bodies with a pointed nose, and toads have a broader body and nose. Frog legs are longer (sometimes longer than the frog's body) than the toad's, and help the former jump and swim well.

Where you spot them is a good clue too-frogs live in or near water, but toads "live on land and return to water to breed". Speaking of breeding, both frogs and toads lay their eggs in water, but "the egg arrangement is different. Frog eggs are laid in clumps or clusters, while toad eggs are laid like a chain or a ribbon. Even the tadpoles (the larva) are different-"frog tadpoles are longer and skinnier than toad tadpoles, which tend to be short and fat".

But always do remember that there are exceptions, meaning there are bright-coloured toads, dry-skinned frogs, etc.

Picture Credit : Google

Cobra, any of various species of highly venomous snakes, most of which expand the neck ribs to form a hood. While the hood is characteristic of cobras, not all of them are closely related. Cobras are found from southern Africa through southern Asia to islands of Southeast Asia. Throughout their range, different species are favourites of snake charmers, who frighten them into assuming the upreared defense posture. The snake sways in response to the movement and perhaps also to the music of the charmer, who knows how to avoid the relatively slow strike and who may have removed the snake’s fangs. The short fangs at the front of the mouth have an enclosed groove, which delivers the venom. Cobra venom generally contains neurotoxins active against the nervous system of prey—primarily small vertebrates and other snakes. Bites, particularly from larger species, can be fatal depending on the amount of venom injected. Neurotoxins affect breathing, and although antivenin is effective, it must be administered soon after the bite. Thousands of deaths occur each year in South and Southeast Asia.

The world’s largest venomous snake is the king cobra, or hamadryad (Ophiophagus hannah). Found predominantly in forests from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines and Indonesia, it preys chiefly on other snakes. Maximum confirmed length is 5.6 metres (18 feet), but most do not exceed 3.6 metres (12 feet). King cobras guard a nest of 20 to 40 eggs, which are laid in a mound of leaves gathered by the female. The guarding parent will strike if a predator or a person approaches too closely. Not all cobras are egg layers.

The Indian cobra (or Indian spectacled cobra, Naja naja) was formerly considered a single species with much the same distribution as the king cobra. Recently, however, biologists have discovered that nearly a dozen species exist in Asia, some being venom spitters and others not. They vary both in size (most ranging between 1.25 and 1.75 metres) and in the toxicity of their venom. Spitters propel venom through the fangs by muscular contraction of the venom ducts and by forcing air out of the single lung.

Credit : Britannica

Picture Credit : Google

Pythons are nonvenomous snakes found in Asia, Africa and Australia. Because they are not native to North or South America, they are considered Old World snakes. The word python can refer to both the family Pythonidae or the genus Python, found within Pythonidae.

There are 41 species of python found within the family Pythonidae, according to the Reptile Database. Though both pythons and boas are large constrictors, they are separate families.

The family Pythonidae contains some of the largest snakes snakes in the world, according to Sara Viernum, Wisconsin-based founder of The Wandering Herpetologist. “Most pythons are large snakes … such as the reticulated python (Python reticulatus), which can grow over 30 feet [9 meters] in length,” she said. “There are also small species of pythons such as the anthill python (Antaresia perthensis), which only grows up to 24 inches [61 centimeters] in length and is considered the smallest python species in the world.”

The coloration and size of different species of python vary widely. Depending on their local habitats and need for camouflage, coloring can range from elaborately patterned scales (such as those on the Burmese python, the ball python and many other species) to solid brown (leiopythons) to bright green (the green tree python), but scientists note some more subtle physical commonalities.

Within Asia, Africa, Oceania and Australia, pythons stay in relatively warm, wet climates. Many species thrive in rain forests, though pythons also live in grasslands, woodlands, swamps, rocky outcrops, dunes and shrubs, according to the San Diego Zoo. Pythons shelter in hollows, under rocks, in abandoned mammal burrows and tree branches, depending on the species. As humans have developed python habitats, pythons have become accustomed to sheltering in urban debris and farms.

Though native to the Old World, one species of python has made its home in the Western Hemisphere. “The Burmese python is an invasive species that has been discovered living and successfully breeding in the Florida Everglades,” Viernum said. The climate of the Everglades allows it to live much as it would in a Southeast Asian swamp.

Credit : Live Science 

Picture Credit : Google

Anacondas are semiaquatic snakes found in tropical South America. They are some of the largest snakes in the world and are known for their swimming ability. “Anaconda” is the common name for the genus Eunectes, a genus of boa. Eunectes means “good swimmer” in Greek.

There are four recognized species of anaconda, according to Bill Heyborne, a herpetologist and professor of biology at Southern Utah University. They are the green anaconda, the yellow or Paraguayan anaconda, the dark-spotted anaconda and the Beni or Bolivian anaconda. “They can be differentiated from one another genetically, but also based on their size and geographic range,” Heyborne said. 

Heyborne said that when most people say “anaconda,” they are actually referring to the green anaconda, the largest of the four species. The green anaconda is the heaviest snake in the world and one of the longest. 

Anacondas are stocky, muscular snakes that are thicker than other boas. They have thick necks and narrow but large heads. All anacondas have nostrils and eyes on the tops of their heads, which allow them to see above the water while remaining mostly submerged. They have a thick black stripe that runs from the eye to the jaw.

Anacondas have small, smooth scales that grow larger toward the posterior of their bodies. They have loose, soft skin that can handle a great deal of water absorption, according to the University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web (ADW). 

Near their cloacal region, anacondas have spurs on their scales. Males have larger spurs than females, though females are overall larger and longer snakes. In fact, anacondas exhibit the largest sexual dimorphism (with the female being larger) of any tetrapod species, according to Jesus Rivas, a herpetologist and founder of the Anaconda Project.

Anacondas’ coloring and size depends on the species. Their spotted, green, yellow and brown color palettes allow them to blend in with tropical rivers and rainforests. 

Credit : Live Science             

Picture Credit : Google