My Science School

Butterflies and moths are both part of a big group of insects that have wings covered in tiny dust-like scales. Butterflies are usually brightly coloured and they fly during the day. They have a thin, hairless body and a pair of antennae each with a small bulb at the end. Moths tend to be duller in colour so they are camouflaged when they rest during the day on trees and leaves. They have antennae and plump, hairy bodies. Butterflies tend to fold their wings vertically up over their backs. Moths tend to hold their wings in a tent-like fashion that hides the abdomen. Butterflies are typically larger and have more colorful patterns on their wings. Moths are typically smaller with drab-colored wings.  Reason we dislike moths is that they normally come out at night, whereas butterflies are active in the day. While we sleep, dozens of species of moths fly around, attracted to light and looking for mates.

1. Butterflies and moths are part of the same group of insects, known as ‘Lepidoptera’. To tell them apart, butterflies fly in bright sunshine, while moths are most active at night.

2. The lifecycle of a butterfly is in four stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult butterfly.

3. Most butterflies don’t live very long. The Priam’s birdwing butterfly only lives for 10 days!

4. Butterflies have four wings, not two as you may think.

5. The wings of butterflies and moths, with their vibrant colours and patterns, are actually made up of tiny scales.

6. The largest butterfly in the world is the female Queen Alexandra’s birdwing, with a wingspan of over 25cm!

7. The smallest butterfly is the Western Blue Pigmy, which is only 2cm across.

8. Butterflies need heat to be able to move. When you see them resting in the sunshine, they are warming up their wings so they can fly.

9. Moths have a stronger sense of smell than butterflies.

10. Butterflies can see colours that humans can’t.

11. Moths navigate using the moon. This means they also are attracted to man-made lights, which cause them to get lost.

12. Butterflies taste with their feet!

Credit : Penguin.com 

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Dragonflies are large, fast-flying insects that can dart at speeds up to 60 km per hour. Their four wings move independently of one another and make a rattling sound. Dragonflies can also fly backwards.

1. Dragonflies Are Ancient Insects

Long before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, dragonflies took to the air. Griffenflies (Meganisoptera), the gigantic precursors to modern dragonflies had wingspans of over two feet and dotted the skies during the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago.

2. Dragonfly Nymphs Live In the Water

There's a good reason why you see dragonflies and damselflies around ponds and lakes: They're aquatic! Female dragonflies deposit their eggs on the water's surface, or in some cases, insert them into aquatic plants or moss. Once hatched, the nymph dragonfly spends its time hunting other aquatic invertebrates. Larger species even dine on the occasional small fish or tadpole. After molting somewhere between six and 15 times, a dragonfly nymph is finally ready for adulthood and crawls out of the water to shed its final immature skin.

3. Nymphs Breath Through Their Anus

The damselfly nymph actually breathes through gills inside its rectum. Likewise, the dragonfly nymph pulls water into its anus to facilitate gas exchange. When the nymph expels water, it propels itself forward, providing the added benefit of locomotion to its breathing.

4. Most New Dragonfly Adults Are Eaten

When a nymph is finally ready for adulthood, it crawls out of the water onto a rock or plant stem and molts one final time. This process takes several hours or days as the dragonfly expands to its full body capacity. These newly emerged dragonflies, known at this stage as teneral adults, are soft-bodied, pale, and highly vulnerable to predators. Until their bodies fully harden they are weak flyers, making them ripe for the picking. Birds and other predators consume a significant number of young dragonflies in the first few days after their emergence.

5. Dragonflies Have Excellent Vision

Relative to other insects, dragonflies have extraordinarily keen vision that helps them detect the movement of other flying critters and avoid in-flight collisions. Thanks to two huge compound eyes, the dragonfly has nearly 360° vision and can see a wider spectrum of colors than humans. Each compound eye contains 28,000 lenses or ommatidia and a dragonfly uses about 80% of its brain to process all of the visual information it receives.

6. Dragonflies Are Masters of Flight

Dragonflies are able to move each of their four wings independently. They can flap each wing up and down, and rotate their wings forward and back on an axis. Dragonflies can move straight up or down, fly backward, stop and hover, and make hairpin turns—at full speed or in slow motion. A dragonfly can fly forward at a speed of 100 body lengths per second (up to 30 miles per hour).

7. Male Dragonflies Fight for Territory

Competition for females is fierce, leading male dragonflies to aggressively fend off other suitors. In some species, males claim and defend a territory against intrusion from other males. Skimmers, clubtails, and petaltails scout out prime egg-laying locations around ponds. Should a challenger fly into his chosen habitat, the defending male will do all he can to chase away the competition. Other kinds of dragonflies don't defend specific territories but still behave aggressively toward other males that cross their flight paths or dare to approach their perches.

8. Male Dragonflies Have Multiple Sex Organs

In nearly all insects, the male sex organs are located at the tip of the abdomen. Not so in male dragonflies. Their copulatory organs are on the underside of the abdomen, up around the second and third segments. Dragonfly sperm, however, is stored in an opening of the ninth abdominal segment. Before mating, the dragonfly has to fold his abdomen in order to transfer his sperm to his penis.

9. Some Dragonflies Migrate

A number of dragonfly species are known to migrate, either singly or en masse. As with other migratory species, dragonflies relocate to follow or find needed resources or in response to environmental changes such as impending cold weather. Green darners, for example, fly south each fall in sizeable swarms and then migrate north again in the spring. Forced to follow the rains that replenish their breeding sites, the globe skimmer—one of several species that's known to spawn in temporary freshwater pools—set a new insect world record when a biologist documented its 11,000 mile trip between India and Africa.

10. Dragonflies Thermoregulate Their Bodies

Like all insects, dragonflies are technically ectotherms ("cold-blooded"), but that doesn't mean they're at the mercy of Mother Nature to keep them warm or cool. Dragonflies that patrol (those that habitually fly back and forth) employ a rapid whirring movement of their wings to raise their body temperatures. Perching dragonflies, on the other hand, who rely on solar energy for warmth, skillfully position their bodies to maximize the surface area exposed to sunlight. Some species even use their wings as reflectors, tilting them to direct the solar radiation toward their bodies. Conversely, during hot spells, some dragonflies strategically position themselves to minimize sun exposure, using their wings to deflect sunlight.

Credit : Thought co ?

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Eyes are the most delicate of the sensory organs. They need constant lubrication. They must also be kept crystal clear for good vision. Blinking serves the dual purpose of cleaning and lubricating our eyes. It helps keep the eyes moist by coating them with tears released by the tear glands and lubricating oil released by sebaceous glands present near the eyelashes. These fluids rinse away all the dust particles.

Blinking also helps guard our eyes against a sudden blow. We blink automatically when there is a loud noise or when something moves too quickly.

Most people blink about 15 times a minute. Scientists have found that people blink less when they are alert. For example, car drivers blink less in city traffic when they need to be extremely alert than while driving on the open road.

Nervous people tend to blink more frequently. Lawyers say witnesses under cross-examination blink more often than those facing friendly questioning.

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Most of us are right-handed, a few are left-handed, and a small number is ambidextrous - that is, they can use both hands with equal ease.

What causes left-handedness? There are many theories. Some say it is inherited; others, that it is a result of habit, education, and environment. Most scientists, however, believe that left-handedness has a biological basis. It is known that the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right half of the body and the right hemisphere, the left. Most of us are right-handed because in most of us, it is the left hemisphere that is dominant. In those who are left-handed, it is the right hemisphere of the brain that is dominant. If there is no dominance of either hemisphere over the other, then the person might become ambidextrous.

American psychiatrist Camilla Benbow has found that many students who are exceptionally good at mathematics are left-handed. She says this is due to the dominance of the right hemisphere of the brain, which is the seat of mathematical reasoning ability.

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Kilroy was the loved mascot of the American GIs and one of the first viral memes in modern history. For nearly a decade wherever the American troops went the simple doodle of a big-nosed, bald man, peering over a wall, accompanied by the inscription "Kilroy was here" followed.

In the latter half of the Second World War, Kilroy was everywhere. Chalked or drawn into every surface imaginable. He became the universal symbol of the American GI tracing the movement of the American armed forces from North Africa to Italy, from France to Germany, and across the vast Pacific ocean to the heart of the Japanese Empire.

Kilroy was so ubiquitous on the allied artillery shells and bombs that Adolf Hitler actually believed him to be an actual secret agent and ordered his security forces to track him down and eliminate him.

A symbol of Rebellion

World War II veterans described Kilroy as an integral symbol for maintaining troop morale. To them, this simple doodle was comfort and a little bit of rebellion, because the soldiers were strictly told to stop drawing the military graffito nonetheless, the cartoon spread all across the world.

Soldiers recalled that no matter how bad it got crawling out of the foxhole every day when they found a Kilroy sketch they would know someone had been there before and survived.

Kilroy survived the war

Kilroy survived well past the end of the war continuously popping up in the most unexpected places. Throughout the 1940s and the 1950s, it was an indispensable part of American culture. It was even incorporated in a classic 1948 loony toons film titled Haredevil Hare, where bugs bunny who believes himself to be the first creature to land on the moon is utterly shocked when he stumbles across a boulder with the iconic doodle and the words 'Kilroy was here.

Where did Kilroy come from?

The true origin story behind the meme has been a topic of discussion ever since Kilroy became a cultural symbol. However, there is no singular story behind the icon or its creator.

One of the most widely accepted accounts on the subject leads us to the narrative of James J. Kilroy, a shipyard inspector who tracked his inspected work by marking it with the words 'Kilroy was here. According to the legend, as the parts travelled the world, Gls paired it with a funny cartoon and the military graffito was born.

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At a time when we constantly speak about the threat of extinction that several species faces across the globe, one bird species has beaten all odds to return from extinction in the wild. Let's find out more about this remarkable conservation story.

When Kin-Japanese for gold died in 2003 aged 36, not a single wild-born Japanese crested ibis was left in the country. Known as toki, there was little hope for a species that was synonymous with Japan.

Wild toki once lived across Japan, as well as in Russia, Taiwan, and South Korea. Toki meat was presumed to have health benefits, and the bird's feathers were used in everything from dusters to hats. Which meant, the bird was hunted mindlessly. Inevitably, by the early 20th Century, only a few dozen birds remained in Japan most of them on Sado island and the nearby Noto peninsula. At this juncture, the species won protected status. Just when things appeared to get better for the species came chemical fertilizers and For birds that fed primarily on paddy, this spelled disaster, and "by 1981 just five wild toki remained in Japan, all on Sado, where officials took them into protective captivity". In a case of strange coincidence, the same year, as many as seven of these birds were discovered in the wild in China. While Japan's captive breeding programme wasn't exactly successful, China's was. In fact the latter gifted two of its birds to the former in 1998. The following year, the couple reached Japan, within months had their first chick, and made national headlines.

Gradually over two decades, their population grew enough for Sado to consider releasing them into the wild. Today, there are about 500 wild birds, drawing tourists to their delicate pink plumage and distinctive curved beak. Meanwhile, "China's wild population now numbers over 4,450, and a South Korean project released 40 toki for the first time in 2019".

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Did you know there is a species of butterfly, Maculinea alcon, that can trick the Myrmica ants into taking care of their young? The butterfly's caterpillar feeding off plants drop to the ground and wait to be picked up by the passing ant. Its waxy coat secretes chemicals that mimic those found on the ants. Mistaking it for one of its own, the ant takes it to its nest where it's taken care of by other ants.

Studying  Maculinea alcon, a beautiful blue butterfly, in the marshes of Denmark, David R. Nash and colleagues found that Alcon butterflies fool Myrmica ants into raising their young, by having larvae with an outer coating that mimics that of the ants. The ants care for the Alcon blue butterfly caterpillars — an ant colony parasite — to the detriment of their own offspring.

The researchers say the observed differences in patterns of surface chemistry of caterpillars between locations “indicate an ongoing coevolutionary arms race between the butterflies and Myrmica” ants.

“The more closely the butterfly mimics the ant cuticle’s hydrocarbon chemistry, the more successful the butterfly is in attracting the ants, but this varies from location to location,” explained a statement from Science Express.

Nash and colleagues say the findings should be considered when reintroducing the threatened Alcon blue butterfly into the wild.

Credit : Mongabay

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Among bird-like dinosaurs such as the Troodon, Oviraptor and the Citipati, it was the male which guarded the nest and brood. This came to light when scientists who studied the fossil remains of these dinos found the males with large clutches of eggs.

For the new research, paleontologist David Varricchio of Montana State University in Bozeman compared three species of birdlike dinosaurs--Oviraptor, Citipati, and Troodon--with birds and crocodiles. All three types of dinosaurs were found on nests, and those nests contain large clutches of eggs, as many as 30 each. Varricchio and his colleagues investigated whether they could discern the nesting behavior from the relationship of the clutch size and the animal's body size. Measurements in 433 living birds and crocodiles revealed that, for a given body size, species in which males took care of the nest tended to have the largest clutches. The next-largest clutches were cared for by mothers. Mom-dad partnerships had the smallest clutches. Extrapolated to dinosaurs, the data revealed a pattern of paternal care in the ancient beasts.

Another line of evidence in the paper comes from Gregory Erickson, a biologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee. His studies of dinosaur bone tissue showed that none of the seven specimens associated with nests showed signs of changes associated with egg laying, such as medullary tissue . That's not sure-fire proof the nest-caretakers were male, he notes, but it's consistent with the hypothesis. The findings are reported in tomorrow's issue of Science.

Richard Prum, an ornithologist at Yale University, says he never expected paternal care in dinosaurs. But with their dinosaur ancestors showing more and more traits once thought to be exclusive to birds, such as feathers, he says the finding makes sense. It also points to a question on the reproductive frontier: Did dinosaurs practice polygamy?

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Researchers have found out the intricate physics and neural controls that enable dragonflies to right themselves when falling

Their stretched bodies, huge wingspan and colouring, make dragonflies a unique sight. The fact that they are one of the oldest insect species on Earth also makes them one of the earliest to discover aerial flight.

A group of researchers led by a professor of Mechanical engineering and Physics in Comell University's College of Art and Sciences have determined the physics and neural controls that allow dragonflies to correct themselves while they are falling. This paper that speaks about a dragonfly's recovery mechanism was published in May in Science.

3D-tracking

In order to study this subject, a controlled-behavioural experiment was designed wherein a dragonfly would be dropped upside down from a magnetic tether. The researchers found that the insect's manoeuvres followed the same pattern. After capturing these using high-speed cameras, the motions were reconstructed using 3D-tracking software.

 Once they had successfully completed the challenging part of creating a computational model that simulated the dragonfly's aerobics, what remained was finding out how the dragonflies knew they were falling. Unlike human beings who have an inertial sense, dragonflies rely on all five of their eyes to gauge their uprightness.

Less than 200 milliseconds Dragonflies visual cues thus trigger reflexes that send neural signals to their four wings. As a set of direct muscles modulate the left wing and right wing pitch asymmetry accordingly, all that a dragonfly requires is three or four wing strokes. In less than 200 milliseconds, a dragonfly that is tumbling downwards can thus roll 180 degrees and resume flying the correct way.

By combining kinematic analysis, physical modelling and 3D simulations, researchers have come with crucial inferences of an insects behaviour in a non-invasive manner. Engineers might be able to employ these insights in order to improve the workings of small flying machines and drones.

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People are just discovering what the tiny pockets inside their jeans are used for and it turns out, it isn't just for fashion.

The tiny pocket in jeans dates back more than two centuries and was first invented by a popular denim brand which is still well-known today.

Apparently, the tiny pockets within a jeans pocket (is the word ‘pocket’ starting to sound weird to you too?) were originally used to store pocket watches in. Of course, everybody has a smartphone or a wrist watch now, so why do some designers still include them?

It turns out the whole tiny pocket concept has an interesting history, which dates back two centuries to 1890. The tiny pocket was first used in Levi’s waist overalls (their original name for jeans) according to Insider, which sat down with Levi & Strauss Co.’s in-house historian Tracy Paneck.

"The oldest pair of waist overalls in the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives (from 1879) includes the watch pocket," she told the publication.

Suit trousers didn’t require a watch pocket because a watch would be stored in the matching jacket or waistcoat.

Nowadays, Levi jeans and other brands still stitch the pocket in as a way of preserving that piece of history. 

"The watch pocket was an original element of our blue jeans, like the rivets on our pockets, button fly, arched back pocket stitching and leather patch," Panek explained. "To preserve the integrity of the early design, Levi Strauss & Co. maintains the watch pocket."

Interestingly though, jeans made during the Second World War didn’t include metal studs in the tiny pockets because metal needed to be preserved for the war efforts.

So there you have it, next time somebody asks why their jeans have that tiny pocket or you want to impress someone with a piece of useless knowledge, you can tell them.

Credit : TYLA .com

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Rats may dream of where they plan to go tomorrow, suggests new research from University College London. The rats were shown a food treat that they could see but not get to, and then were encouraged to sleep in a cosy nest while their brain activity was monitored. The neurons representing the route to the food in their brains fired as they sleep, suggesting that they were dreaming about running down the path to the treat.

"It's like looking at a holiday brochure for Greece the day before you go – that night you might dream about the pictures," says Hugo Spiers of University College London.

Does a bigger brain automatically equal greater intelligence? In guppies, females with larger brains appear to be better survivors and have greater cognitive abilities than counterparts with smaller brains. Researchers from UCL, Stockholm University and Helsinki University have identified one single gene that directly influenced brain size, much to their surprise.

Judith Mank from UCL Biosciences, said, “We were surprised to see that only a single gene was up-regulated in the large-brained guppies. Given the complexity of the brain, we expected that the genetics would be very intricate, but this suggests that changes in brain size are underpinned by relatively simple genetic mechanisms.”

Blood pressure drugs that also create plasticity in the brain could be used to treat addiction, according to new studies in rats.

Researchers from the University of Texas found that isradipine, a drug which is currently on the market for the treatment of high blood pressure, erased all memory of addiction-triggering cues in rats previously addicted to cocaine and alcohol.

Male and female mice process pain differently which could have implications for how chronic pain is treated in humans. The study looked at immune cells called microglia which help kick the feeling of pain into gear and regulate how severe the pain is, depending on the type of injury. It showed that microglia play a more important role in the processing of pain for male mice than for female mice. Some drugs that aim at relieving pain, target the microglia, but the study shows that this relief is only visible in male mice. This study suggests that a crucial biological process is being governed in an entirely different way in males and females and more often than not, medications and treatments are being tested on male mice, not female mice. 

Credit : Google 

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A Dugong (family: Dugongidae) is the only herbivorous marine mammal found in deep waters. Dugong is a mammal that is closely related to elephants. It is a huge bulbous animal who is usually grey brown in color. Like whales, they have flattened fluked tail, a distinctive head shape, paddle like flippers but do not have any dorsal fin. The dugong is a marine mammal that is the only herbivore found in the deep waters that eats seagrass. Dugongs, even though they resemble a manatee, do not belong to the family of manatees. They weigh less than manatees and have different physical characteristics. Their rarity and the decreasing population are a great threat to their extinction. Issues like degradation of sea beds and illegal fishing traps are a major threat to the Dugong population.

There are very few dugongs that live in shallow waters of Australia, the Indian, and Pacific Ocean. Dugongs are listed as creatures that are vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Red List. The numbers of these beautiful sea creatures are decreasing day by day due to the loss of seagrass beds and pollution of water which disrupts their habitation. Illegal fishing and fishing of dugongs for consumption and trade also is causing their population to decrease. They cannot live in freshwater and can tolerate marine water. Dugongs communicate by emitting sounds which are similar to chirps, whistles, barks that travel through water. They also communicate through sounds that echo underwater. They are also found in oceans around United States.

A dugong is a marine mammal that is native to the Great Barrier reef, world’s largest coral reef in the continent of Australia. The coastal shallow water around Australia were home to more than 85,000 animals but dugong populations are constantly decreasing across the world and they are highly endangered. The dugong species is hunted to extinction as well as traded to different countries illegally. Dugongs mostly live a sedentary lifestyle and migrate for miles in search of seagrass. Some dugongs prefer living in pairs, while sometimes, a herd of 7-10 Dugongs can be seen habituated. The herd or a group of dugong is called a nutcluster.

Dugongs have a lifespan of 70 years and give birth to only one calf during reproduction. They spend most of their time nursing and tending to their offspring. Low litter count and elongated weaning periods are also the reason why the gugong population is depleting. Young dugong calves are easy prey for crocodiles and sharks, which again contributes to population decrease.

Credit :  Kidadl

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The bongo is also known as the lowland bongo or mountain bongo. It is a species of antelope. These animals are native to Africa. These are the heaviest and the biggest forest antelopes found only in Africa. The antelope species is easily recognizable among other wildlife of their kind for the vertical white stripes on their bodies. Both the male and female animals have a chestnut-orange coat and long horns. These bongo antelopes are the only horned species in the world where both sexes have long, wavy, horns. These colorful animals with big eyes, large ears, almost three feet high horns, and several vertical stripes on their body are the third largest among all species of antelopes. All bongo animals are nocturnal, shy, and mysterious wildlife that are rarely seen in the open. The number of bongos in the wild is decreasing rapidly and conservation efforts are underway. . Bongos can live up to 19 years in the wild. Bongos can run at the speed of 43 mph (69 kph). Bongos are the biggest forest antelopes and are quite heavy. The males weigh from 485 – 893 lb (220–405 kg) and the females weigh from 331 –518 lb (150-234 kg). Bongos are herbivorous animals and only include plant matter in their diet like leaves, bark, grass, roots, fruits, grains. These night-browsing animals get their nutrition from what they eat. Moreover, their nocturnal grazing habit keeps them safe from many predators sharing the same habitat.

Bongos are mammals. Female gives birth to only one calf at a time .There are fewer than a hundred mountain bongos left in the highland forests of Kenya, Africa. These animals are protected in Kenya to save them from extinction. The population of the lowland bongo are also decreasing in Western African countries. These animals have steady populations in their range in Central Africa. It is estimated that 28,000 bongos are left on earth. Loss of habitat and hunting are the two biggest threats to these antelopes.

Like most antelopes, bongos are rarely seen in bigger groups. Males are called bulls and roam around solitarily. Females live with the young in small groups of six to ten. A bongo herd usually never crosses more than twenty members. It is believed that the large ears of these animals aid in hearing the slightest noises. These animals recognize each other with their coloration in the dark forest habitat. These forest antelopes do not have any special secretion glands. They depend less on scents to find others of their kind in the forests.

Credit : Kidadl

Picture Credit :Google 

The bongo is also known as the lowland bongo or mountain bongo. It is a species of antelope. These animals are native to Africa. These are the heaviest and the biggest forest antelopes found only in Africa. The antelope species is easily recognizable among other wildlife of their kind for the vertical white stripes on their bodies. Both the male and female animals have a chestnut-orange coat and long horns. These bongo antelopes are the only horned species in the world where both sexes have long, wavy, horns. These colorful animals with big eyes, large ears, almost three feet high horns, and several vertical stripes on their body are the third largest among all species of antelopes. All bongo animals are nocturnal, shy, and mysterious wildlife that are rarely seen in the open. The number of bongos in the wild is decreasing rapidly and conservation efforts are underway. . Bongos can live up to 19 years in the wild. Bongos can run at the speed of 43 mph (69 kph). Bongos are the biggest forest antelopes and are quite heavy. The males weigh from 485 – 893 lb (220–405 kg) and the females weigh from 331 –518 lb (150-234 kg). Bongos are herbivorous animals and only include plant matter in their diet like leaves, bark, grass, roots, fruits, grains. These night-browsing animals get their nutrition from what they eat. Moreover, their nocturnal grazing habit keeps them safe from many predators sharing the same habitat.

Bongos are mammals. Female gives birth to only one calf at a time .There are fewer than a hundred mountain bongos left in the highland forests of Kenya, Africa. These animals are protected in Kenya to save them from extinction. The population of the lowland bongo are also decreasing in Western African countries. These animals have steady populations in their range in Central Africa. It is estimated that 28,000 bongos are left on earth. Loss of habitat and hunting are the two biggest threats to these antelopes.

Like most antelopes, bongos are rarely seen in bigger groups. Males are called bulls and roam around solitarily. Females live with the young in small groups of six to ten. A bongo herd usually never crosses more than twenty members. It is believed that the large ears of these animals aid in hearing the slightest noises. These animals recognize each other with their coloration in the dark forest habitat. These forest antelopes do not have any special secretion glands. They depend less on scents to find others of their kind in the forests.

Credit : Kidadl

Picture Credit :Google 

The human foot is designed to walk on grassy or muddy surfaces not on hard concrete or marble. Walking barefoot on such hard artificial surfaces jolts our body and jars the spine. Heels on shoes provide cushioning to the body. The heel requires more cushioning than the rest of the foot because it bears the brunt of the impact with the ground.

In addition to cushioning the foot, the heel also ensures durability of the shoe. A shoe without a heel would soon wear out in the heel region. You can do it because your shoes cushion your feet from injury.

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