Category Zoology

Life at ground level in rainforest

 

The forest floor is the darkest and warmest part of the rainforest. Very little sunlight reaches the ground so few plants grow here. The forest floor is home to many insects and the animals that like to eat them, such as lizards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This huge rainforest spider is as big as a dinner plate.

The Goliath bird-eating spider is the largest spider in the world. It lives on the rainforest floor and hides in burrows or under logs during the day. At night, it comes out to hunt for lizards, frogs, insects and small birds, which it bites with its poisonous fangs.

 

 

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Understory gloom

 

Leafy bushes and small trees make up the understory. It is dark, hot and very still here. The canopy roof blocks out most of the sunlight and wind from above. Many insects, frogs and snakes live in this layer.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a chameleon. It can change its skin colour.

Chameleons camouflage themselves by changing colour to match their surroundings. They use their long, sticky tongue to catch insects. They can also swivel their eyes so that each eye looks in a different direction at the same time.

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High flyers Birds in tropical rainforests

 

 

 

One-fifth of all the birds in the world live in tropical rainforests. They can be found, along with many other flying creatures, throughout the rainforest. They feed on insects, seeds, fruit, nectar or other animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This bird lives in the treetops as part of a noisy group.

Brightly coloured macaws have short wings to help them fly through the crowded canopy. They have a powerful beak which they use as a tool to crack open nuts and fruits. Macaws also use their beak to hold on to the canopy branches as they move around.

 

 

 

 

This rainforest butterfly is the biggest in the world.

Bird wing butterflies are poisonous and their brightly coloured wings warn other animals not to eat them. The poison in their bodies comes from a plant that they eat when they are caterpillars.

 

 

 

 

 

This bat feeds on fruit and nectar from flowers.

During the day, bats gather in large groups to sleep. They hang upside down from trees and sleep with their wings folded across their body. At night, they fly through the forest in search of fruit, insects and nectar to eat. Bats are important to rainforest plants and trees because they pollinate flowers. They also help to spread seeds in their droppings.

Treetop life

 

 

 

Plants and animals crowd the treetops. Some plants don’t need soil for their roots and many animals never touch the forest floor. The canopy provides all the sunlight, water, food and shelter they need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This three-toed sloth lives high up in the trees.

Sloths are one of the slowest-moving creatures on Earth. They hang on to trees with hooked claws and spend most of their time asleep. Small plants called algae grow in their fur, turning it a greenish colour. This helps to camouflage sloths from their predators.

 

 

 

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Who’s brighter: Girls or Boys?

               There is a difference of opinion on this question. People have various explanations; some say that girls are brighter than boys while others have an opposite view. Scientists have yet to establish a logical scale by which it can be established that one sex is smarter than the other. Here are some facts which provide some sort of answer to this question.

               The average brain weight of males is slightly more than the average brain weight of females but the average body weight of men is more, therefore in both sexes the brain weight makes up about the same percentage of total weight. Difference in brain size is not of much importance. All human beings, male and female, have such a large number of nerve cells in their brains that a few more or less do not make any significant difference.

               Various tests have been conducted on a group of girls and boys and results have come almost the same. In tests, dealing with skills, the average score for girls is higher. In tests of technical and mechanical ability, boys have a higher average. But these figures are not very important because these may not be a good measure of people’s abilities. Also this is only an average data on certain tests, one sex may score more than the other but the results are almost same in other tests.

               Girls and boys are treated differently right from their childhood. Girls are usually given dolls to play with while boys get electrical and mechanical toys. Therefore, girls are expected to be less technical than boys. But now time is changing. More and more girls are competitively working with boys in similar fields. That is why their capabilities are becoming equal. This implies that it is the kind of upbringing and training that decides the ability rather than gender considerations.

               At present we have no scientific evidence by which it can be proved that which sex is brighter. Neither sex has a monopoly on any special mental ability. Individuals of both sexes deserve every possible chance to develop their abilities and to become whatever they want to be. It would be incorrect to judge brightness on gender grounds.

 

Which fish spits at insects?

               Fishes are the most numerous among vertebrates and their species number more than 30,000 which is more than all the other backboned animals put together. Each group has its own way of gathering food. The archer fish is such a fish which can shoot down insects from overhanging vegetation with water pellets. Its aim is quite accurate and it can easily dislodge a fly or a beetle about four feet away, so that it falls into water. The archer fish then dashes on the insect and eats it up.

               It is interesting to find out how the fish is able to project drops of water accurately over such a distance. The roof of its mouth forms a long groove. If the fish suddenly closes its gill covers, water is forced from the gill chamber into the mouth. At the same time the tongue is raised so the grooves become a long tube from which water squirts in a line of drops.

               Archer fish is a fresh water fish and belongs to the family Toxobidae. It is found in India and Indonesia. It got its name from the way it captures its food. Archer fish can also live in sea water. Toxotese jaculator is the most commonly known fish of this family. Its length can be upto 18 cm. Five groups of this fish have been studied. These fishes generally feed on insects.