My Science School

Several species of agricultural crops depend on bats for pollination. In addition, fruits bats help in the dispersion of seeds, keeping several species of fruit-bearing trees alive. Some species of bats consume insects, considered agricultural pests. This not only prevents the use of billions of dollars worth of pesticides annually but also allows the soil to remain free from harmful chemicals.

The fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans causes white-nose syndrome in bats, and "is responsible for the deaths of over six million bats in North America". This is one of the reasons for the decline in the population of bats globally. And, scientists say that this decline is of concern. What causes the plunge in their numbers, and why should we be worried? Come, let's find out. Often labelled blood suckers and disease carriers, bats seem to get short shrift. Pop culture portayals of vampires and the endless speculation over the origins (often pointing to bats, albeit scientifically unproven) of the ongoing pandemic make it even worse for the world's only flying mammals. Add to the fact that these nocturnal creatures usually do their work under the cover of darkness, their role in healthy ecosystems may not be appreciated by laypeople. Several species of agricultural crops such as banana, mangoes, avocadoes, and figs are said to depend on bats for pollination. In addition, fruit bats help in the dispersion of seeds, keeping several species of fruit-bearing trees alive. Some species of bats consume insects, considered agricultural pests. This not only prevents the use of billions of dollars worth of pesticides annually but also allows the soil to remain free from harmful chemicals. In fact, guano - the excrement of bats - makes for excellent manure. Found in all continents except Antarctica, bats are a part of different types of ecosystems - from rainforests to deserts. Irrespective of the region they inhabit, they play crucial ecological roles, keeping alive the biodiversity and the health of their ecosystems.

While the population of bats in North America has taken a huge hit due to the white-nose syndrome, there's a general decline in their population in other parts of the world too. The reasons for this include climate change, invasive species, loss of habitat due to urbanisation and agriculture, lack of food, especially when pesticide is used to kill the insects they feed on, etc. There's still a lot to be studied about bats. But an aspect of concem in studying bats is that they "roost in lots of different places, from caves to barns to attics, and scientists can't monitor bats in all places at all times".

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Articles on animal numbers dwindling may often include hunting as one of the reasons. Over the last few centuries, several creatures - large and small, and marine and land dwelling have been pushed to the brink of extinction due to mindless hunting. But here's a species whose killing has been actively taken up and encouraged. Why? Come, let's find out.

Among the largest of snakes, Burmese pythons are native to Asia. However, in the 1990s, thanks to the pet trade, thousands of them found homes in the U.S. It is said that over the years, many either escaped into the wild or were released there by the pet owners themselves who found it difficult to keep the snakes. When Hurricane Andrew stuck Florida in 1992, it is believed that several snakes escaped a python-breeding facility and found refuge in Everglades, a massive wetland in southern Florida. And, today they've turned into an invasive species. Large as they are - growing up to 20-odd feet, they feed on large mammals such as pigs and goats. Famously, or rather infamously, way back in 2005, a python tried "to swallow an alligator and exploded in the park, leaving both the predators dead". In the last few decades, the snakes have decimated native wildlife populations of foxes, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, deer, etc., and are irrevocably altering Everglade's ecosystem.

Considering how vast Everglades is - about 20,000 sq km, and that there are thousands of pythons out there, the authorities are constantly looking for ways to capture the snakes or control their population. In fact, cash is rewarded to those who hunt them. Even a month-long competitive hunt has been organised in the hope that the wetlands would be rid of these non-venomous reptiles.

Though Burmese pythons continue to wreak havoc in another continent, back in their native range, the story is different. They face several threats, and their numbers are declining due to habitat loss, pet trade, and use in traditional medicine. Sadly, they are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Did you know?

A few years ago, two Indians - Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal - belonging to Tamil Nadu and from the Irula tribe known for its exceptional snake-catching skills, were flown to Everglades. Within a month, the duo had caught 27 pythons. This is an impressive number considering a month-long python hunting competition in 2016 comprising 1,000 hunters managed a haul of only 106!

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Researchers are working to bring back Tasmanian tiger, the marsupial that went extinct about a century ago.

After almost 100 years since its extinction, the world may get to see the Tasmanian tiger once again. Researchers in Australia and the U.S. have embarked on a multi-million dollar project to revive the striped carnivorous marsupial, officially known as a thylacine, which used to roam the Australian bush.

Genetic blueprint

The scientists will be using advances in genetics, ancient DNA retrieval, and artificial reproduction to bring the marsupial back from extinction. The marsupial raises its young in a pouch.

The project will involve several measures incorporating cutting-edge science and technology such as gene editing and building artificial wombs. The scientists plan to take stem cells from fat-tailed dunnart, a living marsupial species with similar DNA. They will then use gene-editing technology to "bring back the extinct species- or an extremely close approximation of it.

Funding

The ambitious project is a joint venture with Colossal Biosciences founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church. The company is also working on a $15-million project to bring back the woolly mammoth which vanished 4.000 years ago, in an altered form.

Last of the species

About the size of a coyote, the thylacine vanished about 2.000 years ago from everywhere except the Australian island of Tasmania. The last thylacine living in captivity named Benjamin died in 1936 at Tasmania's Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart. This was shortly after the tiger was granted protected status.

It was the only marsupial apex predator that lived in modern times. It also played a key role in its ecosystem.

 The European settlers on the Australian island in the 1800s had accused thylacines for the loss of their livestock. This resulted in the shy semi-nocturnal Tasmanian tigers being hunted down to the point of extinction.

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An ampersand (&) is a symbol that represents the conjunction 'and'. An alteration of 'and per se and', this sign is simply the product of combining the letters e and t, Latin (et) for the conjunction. It was first used in Roman cursive writing dating back to the first century A.D.

First historical record

Author Keith Houston in his book Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks claims that this symbol made its first appearance in historical records after being found on an unearthed graffiti from the ruins of Pompeii - a city in ancient Rome which was buried in volcanic ash following the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius in 79 A. D.

Repetitive recitation

In 19th Century Britain, school children reciting the alphabet would include the ampersand as the 27th letter.

At the time, it was customary to recite the Latin phrase 'per se' (which means by itself) before any letter that could also be used as a word in itself (like A, I and &). So their daily alphabet rendering would end with: X, Y, Z and per se and. Over time this phrase was slurred to ampersand and it entered the common vocabulary around 1837.

National Ampersand Day

This day was established by American author, designer and typographer Chaz Desimone in 2015, due to his preception of the ampersand sign as an art form. He introduced this day to pay homage to the illustrious history of this symbol, which is also a central motif in his fun art projects and initiatives. Therefore, September 8 is annually celebrated as National Ampersand Day in the U. S.

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Peacocks can fly, despite their long trains (tail feathers) which make up 60% of their body. The average peacock spends only 2% of its time in flight. Flight serves primarily as a defence mechanism; peacocks launch themselves vertically into the air to escape into the canopies of trees to evade predators and to nest safely during the evenings. If a predator grabs the train, the long feathers pull out easily, so that the peacock can fly away. This national bird of India is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

When you look at the long tail flowing behind a flying peacock, you might be perplexed as to how they manage to lift themselves off the ground. Technically, their actual tail has only about 20 feathers. However the “train” that is made up of the elongated feathers that drape over the tail can have more than 200 feathers and is about 5-6 feet long!

Surely this mass of 200 extra long feathers trailing behind them must hinder their flight ability. However, scientists believe it actually has no significant effects. In a study carried out by Dr. Askew of the University of Leads, peacock tails were clipped to confirm its effect on their flight.

Surprisingly, peacocks with clipped tails still struggled to take off from the ground, and their flight was similar to when they had full tails. This has lead researchers to believe that the gigantic plumage has little effect on a peacocks ability to fly.

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A fifth of reptile species is threatened with extinction, with those living in forest habitats (27%) in greater danger than those inhabiting arid areas (14%).

Out of 10,196 reptile species examined, around 2,000 species are critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Australia's saltwater crocodile, the world's largest reptile, is listed in the category 'least concern', but its cousin, India's gharial, is 'critically endangered'. Indonesia's Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, is 'endangered'; the King Cobra, the world's longest venomous snake; the leatherback, the largest sea turtle, and the Galapagos marine iguana, are all 'vulnerable'; and the various Galapagos tortoise species range from vulnerable to extinct.

Many reptiles are being pushed towards extinction by deforestation for agriculture, logging and development, urban encroachment and hunting by people, while climate change is a looming threat.

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature says these wildlife species found in India are facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

FEW LEFT: The Gundia frog (Indirana gundia) is a resident of a patch of forest in the Western Ghats. As forests are cut down to make way for construction, this frog is slowly losing its home.

DOWNWARD SPIRAL: The population of red-headed vultures has decreased by over 90% in just 10 years. Most of the birds died after feeding on the carcasses of livestock treated with diclofenac, a non-steroid painkiller used by farmers and veterinarians.

POSITIVE NOTE: The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) was once found across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. It currently survives in several severely fragmented populations in India and Nepal. Conservation programmes in India are slowly improving numbers.

DEEP TROUBLE: The Indian swellshark (Cephaloscyllium silasi) is found in the western Indian Ocean. Their numbers are falling due to overfishing.

LOST RODENT: Sightings of the Large Rock Rat, also known as the Elvira Rat, are so rare that there are few photographs of them. This is an illustration of the species (Cremnomys elvira) by the Zoological Survey of India.

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Cheetahs to prowl India for the first time in 70 years! The country will be home to the world's fastest land animal for the first time since 1952, when the indigenous population was declared extinct.

Eight cheetahs are set to arrive in August from Namibia, home to one of the world's largest populations of the wild cat. The first arrivals will make their home in the State of Madhya Pradesh at Kuno-Palpur National Park, selected for its cheetah-friendly terrain.

Separately, India is also expected to get 12 cheetahs from South Africa, for which a draft agreement has already been signed, with a final one expected soon, officials familiar with the matter said.

 The Asiatic cheetah could once be found in areas stretching from the Arabian Peninsula to Afghanistan. It is now known only to survive in Iran, where in 2022 only 12 were reportedly still alive.

 Only about 7,000 cheetahs remain in the wild globally, with most of them in African savannahs. The animal is classified as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list of threatened species. The arrival of the cheetahs is expected to coincide with India's 75th Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

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Brown bears! They are found in Europe, Asia and North America - where they are called grizzlies. Mostly solitary animals, brown bears are good hunters, able to run at speeds of up to 48 km per hour; they also swim well.

One way to identify a brown bear is by the hump at the top of its shoulder. The hump is made of muscle and helps the bear dig a den. No other extant species of bear has this hump. Adult bears have short tails and sharp teeth with curved lower canines. Their skulls are heavy and concave.

Brown bears claws are large, curved, and blunt. Their claws are straighter and longer than those of black bears. Unlike the black bear, which readily climbs trees, the brown bear climbs less frequently due to its weight and claw structure.

You might guess from their name that brown bears are brown. However, these bears can be brown, red, tan, cream, bicolored, or nearly black. Sometimes the tips of their fur are colored. Fur length varies according to the season. In the summer, their fur is shorter. In the winter, some brown bears' fur can reach 4 to 5 inches in length.

Brown bear size is highly variable, depending both on subspecies and food availability. Males are about 30% larger than females. An average-sized bear might range from 5 to 8 feet in length and weigh 700 pounds, however, much smaller and much larger specimens occur. On average, polar bears are larger than brown bears, but a large grizzly and a polar bear are comparable.

Habitat and Distribution

The brown bear's range includes northern North America and Eurasia, including the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Central Asia, Scandinavia, Romania, Caucasus, and Anatolia. At one time, it was also found throughout Europe, in northern Africa, and as far south as Mexico in North America.

Diet

Although brown bears have a reputation as fierce carnivores, they actually obtain as much as 90% of their calories from vegetation. Bears are omnivorous and naturally curious about eating nearly any creature. Their preferred food is anything abundant and easy to obtain, which varies according to the season. Their diet includes grass, berries, roots, carrion, meat, fish, insects, nuts, flowers, fungi, moss, and even pine cones.

Bears that live near people may prey on pets and livestock and scavenge for human food. Brown bears eat up to 90 pounds of food per day in autumn and weigh twice as much as when they emerge from their dens in the spring.

Adult brown bears face few predators. Depending where they live, they may be attacked by tigers or other bears. Brown bears dominate gray wolves, cougars, black bears, and even polar bears. Large herbivores rarely threaten the bears, but may fatally wound one in self-defense or protecting calves.

Behavior

Most adult brown bears are crepuscular, with peak activity in the early morning and evening. Young bears may be active during the day, while bears living near humans tend to be nocturnal.

Adult bears tend to be solitary, except for females with cubs or gatherings at fishing spots. While a bear may roam over a huge range, it tends not to be territorial.

Bears double their weight from the spring going into winter. Each bear selects a protected spot as a den for the winter months. Sometimes bears will dig out a den, but they will use a cave, hollow log, or tree roots. While brown bears become lethargic in the winter, they do not truly hibernate and can be easily woken if disturbed.

Reproduction and Offspring

Female bears become sexually mature between 4 and 8 years of age and come into heat once every three or four years. Males typically begin mating a year older than females, when they are large enough to compete with other males. Both males and females take multiple mates during the mating season, which runs from mid-May to June. Fertilized eggs remain in the female's uterus for six months, implanting in her uterus while she is dormant during the winter.

Cubs are born eight weeks after implantation, while the female is sleeping. The average litter is 1 to 3 cubs, although as many as 6 cubs may be born. Cubs nurse on their mother's milk until she emerges from her den in spring. They remain with her for about two and a half years. Males do not aid in rearing. They will engage in infanticide of another bear's cubs, presumably to bring females into heat. Females often successfully defend cubs from males, but may be killed in the conflict. In the wild, the average brown bear life expectancy is around 25 years.

Credit : Thoughtco.com 

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How did your journey start?

When we were hit by the pandemic and under lockdown, my dad started working from home, and I could hear him speak and attend meetings over the phone every day. One day, I heard him in need of HR services for his company. It made me want to help not only him but everyone in such a need.

Is that what your Company V-Thred Tech does?

I founded V-Thred Tech in 2020, and it is a marketplace for HR services. Based on the requirements of the companies that register, we look for and offer the companies seven best matches to choose from. We also let them turn down the offers if they don't require them. Around 40 companies register themselves every month. which has been a great progress.

Tell us about your new GIGG Club and what it aims for.

It is fundamentally a learn-and-earn community. Individuals register on the website,-and post details about their achievements. This helps them connect with those who are in need of a particular specialist.

What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

I did face a lot of challenges as a 16-year-old girl managing school work and all my clubs; it was not easy for me. But at the end of the day, what is important is being confident and believing in ourselves. The best way to overcome our problems is to give it time and be mentally peaceful. Over a period of time, say 20 years from now, these may not even be 1% of the problem compared to the other issues we may face. We sometimes feel it is the end of everything when we have too many problems to face at once. The best way to come out of it is to breathe and calm our mind to help us think better to resolve the situation.

Should the youth consider entrepreneurship as a career or is it only for the experienced ones?

Everyone is bom a leader, but we just need to sense that leadership in us to take things forward to create success. Entrepreneurship is for everybody, and anybody can do it. Our knowledge of entrepreneurship is also impacted by who our mentor is.

Entrepreneurship is a give-and-take process, where we learn, put theories into practice, and gain knowledge and experience from it. A successful entrepreneur is made by that mentor who guides them in each and every step of their journey. to make the best decisions and let them know about their mistakes to get them corrected.

What are your hobbies?

In my free time, I mostly swim, listen to music or may talk to my friends. Usually when I get exhausted, I most likely go for a swim to relax and calm myself.

What is the one thing you would like to change in society?

I would like to change how society thinks due to which we are unable to talk about taboo topics, especially in India. We are afraid to open up about our issues to anyone, which affects our mental health a lot. People are unable to accept the fact that a person with stress would like to overcome it with the help of a counsellor. The problem of mental health and the taboo around it is the one thing I want to change in India.

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When a baby bear is born, it’s called a cub. Cubs are born to sows, their adult mothers, and boars, their adult fathers. A group of baby bear cubs it’s called a litter, but a group of adult bears is called a sleuth or sloth.

Although adult bears can be very large, cubs are tiny when they are born. A huge polar bear, weighing more than 500 kg, will give birth to cubs weighing about one kilogram - far smaller even than human babies! Baby pandas weigh as little as 85 g. Bear cubs do, however, gain weight and grow very rapidly.

 Baby Black Bears are Not Always Black. Some black bear cubs are born with fur that doesn’t exactly match their name. Did you know a black bear’s fur can range from light blonde to blue-gray? 

The Kermode, a subspecies of black bear, is also known as the split bear due to its white fur, despite being a black bear. The spirit bear is located in Alaska and is nicknamed the spirit bear because it has ghostly white fur. Bear cubs are on average one pound at birth and can easily fit in the palm of your hand. By the time they’re 6 months old, they weigh about 6 pounds. 

As adults, though, they are extremely large. An adult male black bear weighs an average of 400 pounds and an adult female weighs around 200 pounds. In comparison to how large they get to be, bear cubs are tiny!

What do baby bears eat?

Bears are mammals, therefore their young nurses from their mother. While the mother bear is napping away in hibernation, her cubs will nurse until content. Once they’ve made their way out of the den, the cubs will begin weaning from their mom’s milk in the summer and will start tasting their mom’s food once they leave the den. Bears like to eat fish, leaves, bugs, fruit, berries, and much more! 

Where do baby bears live?

Cubs are born in dens that their mothers choose for birth and hibernation. They’re born between November and February and stay in the den until Springtime when they will all come out together to see the world for the first time. Once out of the birthing den, the family will move on to find shelter that would better suit their growing family.

Credit : A-Z Animals 

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For years experts argued about whether the giant panda should be grouped with bears, or raccoons, or classed in a family of its own. Scientific study now suggests that the panda is definitely a member of the bear family. The giant panda is a rare animal that is found only in the mountainous forests of Central China, where it feeds on a certain kind of bamboo tree. As the bamboo is not very nutritious, the panda spends 10-12 hours a day eating.

If we go by common names, there are two types of pandas: the giant panda and the red panda. However, only of them is considered a bear species.

There has been a long drawn debate among scientists as to whether the giant panda is a bear, a raccoon, or has a separate family of its own. Why? The giant pandas and red pandas have characteristics common with both a bear and a raccoon. However, with evidence from recent genetic studies indicating that the giant panda is more closely related to a bear, it is categorized in the bear family Ursidae.

Why are they called pandas?

The giant panda is a bear of the bear family Ursidae. Even though it shares a common name with the red panda, the latter is not a bear and belongs to a distinct family of its own called Ailuridae.

The term panda is believed to have its roots in the Nepalese word 'nigalya ponya', which translates to 'bamboo eater' in English. Thus, the name panda essentially refers to the bamboo-based diet of both giant and red pandas even though the two animals are classified separately. In fact, the red panda was described way before the giant panda, and the latter was named 'panda' due to the similarities the two species share, like feeding on bamboo shoots. The giant panda is also known as the bamboo bear, panda bear, or in Chinese as 'Daxiongmao,' which means 'the large bear cat.'

Credit : kidadl.com

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Bears are found all over the world except in Antarctica and Australia. Generally speaking, all bears have a large body, a short tail, small, rounded ears, a long, pointed snout, stocky legs with large paws and very sharp claws. Bears are hunters and eat meat, but they also eat leaves, fruits and nuts, which is why they are considered omnivores.

With some minor exceptions, all eight bear species have roughly the same appearance: large torsos, stocky legs, narrow snouts, long hair, and short tails. With their plantigrade postures—walking upright on two feet—bears walk flat-footed on the ground like humans but unlike most other mammals.

Bears range in color with species: Black, brown and Andean bears are typically red-brown to black; polar bears are generally white to yellow; Asiatic bears are black to brown with a white patch and sun bears are brown with a yellow crescent on their chest. They range in size from the sun bear (47 inches tall and weighing 37 pounds) to the polar bear, (nearly 10 feet tall and weighing 1,500 pounds). 

Most bears are omnivorous, feasting opportunistically on animals, fruits, and vegetables, with two important outliers: The polar bear is almost exclusively carnivorous, preying on seals and walruses, and the panda bear subsists entirely on bamboo shoots. Oddly enough, though, pandas' digestive systems are relatively well adapted to eating meat.

Because the vast majority of bears live in high northern latitudes, they need a way to survive the winter months when food is dangerously scarce. Evolution's solution is hibernation: Bears go into a deep sleep, lasting for months, during which their heart rates and metabolic processes slow drastically. Being in hibernation isn't like being in a coma. If sufficiently roused, a bear can wake up in the middle of its hibernation, and females have even been known to give birth in the deep of winter. Fossil evidence also supports cave lions preying on hibernating cave bears during the last Ice Age, though some of these bears woke up and killed the unwelcome intruders.

Bears may be the most antisocial mammals on the face of the earth. Full-grown bears are almost entirely solitary. This is good news for campers who accidentally encounter lone grizzlies in the wild, but quite unusual when compared with other carnivorous and omnivorous mammals, ranging from wolves to pigs, that tend to congregate in at least small groups.

Depending on species, a bear's basic communication needs can be expressed with about seven or eight different "words"—huffs, chomps, groans, roars, woofs, growls, hums, or barks. The most dangerous sounds for humans are roars and growls, which denote a frightened or agitated bear defending its territory.

Huffs are generally produced during mating and courtship rituals; hums—a bit like the purrs of cats, but much louder—are deployed by cubs to demand attention from their mothers, and moans express anxiety or a sense of danger. Giant pandas have a slightly different vocabulary than their ursine brethren: In addition to the sounds described above, they can also chirp, honk, and bleat.

Considering that early humans used to worship bears as gods, our relationship with ursines hasn't exactly been stellar over the last few hundred years. Bears are especially susceptible to habitat destruction, are often hunted for sport, and tend to become the scapegoats whenever campers are attacked in the wild or garbage cans are overturned in suburbs.

Today, the largest threats to bears are deforestation and human encroachment, and, for polar bears, climate change which is reducing the environment in which they live. On the whole, black and brown bears are holding their own, even though adverse interactions with humans have increased as their habitats become more constricted.

Credit : Thoughtco.com 

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The jaguar - the third largest of the big cats, after the tiger and lion. They look quite like leopards but have bulkier bodies and the rosettes on their coats are larger, with a spot at the centre. Unlike most cats, jaguars do not avoid water and will catch fish, turtles and caimans, as well as deer, capybara and other land animals.

The name “jaguar” is a corruption of the Brazilian Tupi-Guarani people’s name for this big cat. In their language, “yaguara” means “beast”. The largest cat in the Americas, the jaguar is the third largest feline in the world, after the tiger and lion.

The jaguar is an essentially solitary animal. It hunts alone, wandering through the forest across its territory and ambushing prey opportunistically. The bite of the jaguar is unusually powerful even among large felines, and it is capable of perforating the hides of large reptiles and the shells of turtles. Unusually among big cats, it often attacks the head of its prey directly, relying upon its powerful jaws to penetrate the skull and bite into the brain.

Jaguars are adept swimmers and will readily take to the water in pursuit of their prey. They have been spotted crossing the Tambopata River, and will occasionally take down small caiman.

In the wild, jaguars tend to live for between 11 and 15 years, and can live up for to 25 years in captivity. Jaguars are almost always sighted alone. As solitary hunters, they only come together to breed. When seeking a mate, jaguars tend to roam over vast areas of forest, far beyond their normal hunting range. It is believed that jaguars will breed throughout the year, in wet season or dry. Receptive females mark their territory, in addition to becoming increasingly vocal, when seeking a mate. After breeding, the male and female separate, leaving the female to raise her cubs alone. In common with the tiger, female jaguars will not tolerate the presence of any male after the birth of their cubs, given the high risk of infant cannibalism prevalent among these two species.

Tambopata National Reserve is an ideal place to spot the jaguar (Panthera onca) because its forest and wetland systems are home to many of the species that this big cat preys upon, including capybaras, peccaries and tapirs.

Credit : Tambopatalodge.com 

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