Category Zoology

What are the fun facts about Tamanduas?

Tamanduas, also called lesser anteaters, are smaller than their giant anteater relatives. They live in a variety of habitats – including tropical forests, scrub grasslands and wetlands – and are often found near streams and rivers.

A tamandua’s sticky tongue is the perfect bug catcher. At nearly 16 inches long, it can easily scour the narrow tunnels of termite mounds and ant colonies. All anteaters, including tamanduas, belong to the suborder Vermilingua, meaning “worm-tongue.”

They can eat about 9,000 insects a day. Tamanduas tear into logs with their strong claws and use their tongues to slurp up insects. Though they are anteaters, they also chow down on termites, mealworms, bees (and their honey), and even the occasional fruit. Tamanduas’ mouths only open to about the width of a pencil eraser and they have no teeth, so a muscular gizzard in their stomach helps them digest their meals. Tamanduas are arboreal, meaning they spend most of their time in trees. Their prehensile tails can grasp onto branches, helping them maintain balance as they climb high above the ground. The underside of a tamandua’s tail has no fur, which helps it grip branches more securely.

Tamanduas are amazing animals, but they require specialized care and should never be kept as pets. It is against the law to keep a tamandua without a license in some areas, and tamanduas often die while being illegally transported for the pet trade.

Tamanduas are hunted by harpy eagles and big cats, such as ocelots and jaguars, but they won’t go down without a fight. How do tamanduas protect themselves? Big claws and muscular forearms help them fend off attacks. They also deter predators by hissing and releasing a stinky odor from their anal glands.

Tamanduas have huge claws that prevent them from walking flat-footed on the ground, so they walk on the sides of their paws instead. Though tamanduas tend to stick to dry land, they have occasionally been known to swim.

Credit : Smithsonian voices 

Picture Credit : Google 

What are tawny crazy ants?

One of the most incredible things about Nature must be how everything is so balanced. The interdependence and co-existence of species, for one. Of course, it’s a different story altogether that humans have singularly ruined that balance. But, now and then, comes a story to remind us that Nature will win eventually.

So, these crazy ants (really. that’s their name!), spreading in the southeastern parts of the U.S., have been living up to their name very well for the last 20 years. These ants, whose full name is tawny crazy ant, are an invasive species in Texas, and unimaginably destructive. According to a news report, when these crazy ants invade any new region in Texas, they “wipe out local insects and lizards, drive away birds, and even blind baby rabbits by spewing acid in their eyes”. Native to South America, they moved up north through ships. Ants are known for their “orderly marches”, but this one got its name because there are no orderly marches here, only “erratic, jarring movements”. In addition to ecosystems, they take over electrical systems, “causing shorts in breaker boxes, AC units and sewage pumps”.

And, looks like their days may be numbered. In a recent study, scientists discovered a naturally occurring fungus-like pathogen that can be used to reverse the rampant spread of these ants. The “fungus had already driven pockets of the invaders to extinction, and would soon be tested at environmentally-sensitive sites to protect endangered species”.

Though the pathogen’s origins aren’t clear, the study has shown that over the last eight years, “every population harboring the pathogen declined, and 60 percent of the populations went completely extinct”.

This is good news in two ways because “first, a pathogen of natural origin was selectively targeting the invasive species, limiting their ability to steamroll local ecosystems. Second, scientists can accelerate the spread of the pathogen to kill the crazy ants quicker”. But the reality is also that the process is “labor intensive, not something that could eradicate the species overnight”.

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11-year-old boy finds 30,000-year-old woolly mammoth?

YEVGENY Salinde, an 11-year-old Russian boy, has found a 30,000-year old perfectly preserved mammoth carcass near his home in Russia’s far north. Experts believe this is the second most well preserved mammoth specimen ever discovered. A similar find like this hasn’t been encountered in a century.

Paleontologists did not only find a skeleton, like initially expected, but a complete carcass – skin, meat, fat hump, organs and a tusk. Scientists estimate the mammoth was 15 to 16 years old when it succumbed in the summer because it lacked an undercoat and had a large.

The total weight of the remains is more than 500 kg, and that includes the right half of the body with soft tissue, skin and hair, skull with one ear, a tusk, various bones and even reproductive organs, the Dolgano-Nentsky administration website announced.

It is believed to be the second best preserved mammoth discovery and the best mammoth find since 1901, when another mammoth was discovered near Beryozovka River in Yakutia, the paper reported.

Zhenya discovered the body 3 kilometres from Sopkarga polar meteorological station, where he lives with his family.

His parents informed scientific experts about the discovery after which the mammoth was taken to Dudinka in a helicopter and put in an ice chamber there. After the remains are studied, Zhenya the mammoth will move to Taymyr natural history museum as a showpiece.

Credit : NDTV

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body?

The stapes is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body at 3mm x 2.5 mm in size. The shape of a stirrup, it is one of three tiny bones in the middle ear, collectively known as the ossicles, that convey sound waves from the outer ear to the inner ear. The other two are the malleus (hammer) and the incus (anvil).

The stapes develops from the second pharyngeal arch during the sixth to eighth week of embryological life. The central cavity of the stapes, the obturator foramen, is due to the presence embryologically of the stapedial artery, which usually regresses in humans during normal development.

The stapes is one of three ossicles in mammals. In non-mammalian four-legged animals, the bone homologous to the stapes is usually called the columella; however, in reptiles, either term may be used. In fish, the homologous bone is called the hyomandibular, and is part of the gill arch supporting either the spiracle or the jaw, depending on the species. The equivalent term in amphibians is the pars media plectra.

The stapes appears to be relatively constant in size in different ethnic groups. In 0.01–0.02% of people, the stapedial artery does not regress, and persists in the central foramen. In this case, a pulsatile sound may be heard in the affected ear, or there may be no symptoms at all. Rarely, the stapes may be completely absent.

 

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How do people work with Animals?

People Who Work with Animals

Do you love animals? There are many kinds of jobs for people who do. A few of those jobs are listed here.

Veterinary surgeons, or vets, keep animals healthy. City vets deal mostly with pets, giving them injections to keep them well. Country vets take care of farm animals, such as cows and horses.

Zoologists study animals to find out where and how they live, how they get along with people and other animals, and how they change over time. Zoologists work in laboratories, zoos, or museums. Or they work at wildlife refuges in the jungle, at sea, or wherever animals live.

Naturalists study nature by watching it carefully. They hike in the country to watch birds, or they visit museums, parks, and zoos. Many naturalists keep notes, sketches, and photographs of everything they see. You don’t have to wait to be a grown-up to be a naturalist! Many areas have nature-study programmes for children.

Game wardens and rangers help protect wild animals in National parks and game preserves. They rescue animals stranded by floods or fire and make sure people obey fishing, hunting, and camping laws.

Farmers and ranchers raise livestock that provide food for people all over the world. Farmers raise such livestock as chickens, pigs, and dairy and beef cattle. Ranchers raise sheep and cattle on huge farms.

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How do people rescue animals?

People to the Rescue

Many people around the world are doing all they can to help save animals from becoming extinct. Zoos used to be just a collection of animals kept in cages to amuse people. Today, zoos try to keep the animals happy, too. Many animals are given large areas to live in that feel just like their homes in the wild. Zoos also breed and take care of endangered animals to save them from extinction.

Wildlife reserves and national parks are areas of land where animals and plants can live safely. There are reserves and national parks all around the world.

People help animals in other ways, too. In many countries, laws ban the hunting or catching of certain animals. Often, when animals are put in danger by a crisis, such as an oil spill, people work around the clock to save them.

Picture Credit : Google