Category Science

What are the features that help a cheetah hunt?

The cheetahs are the smallest of the African big cats. A fully grown cheetah weighs around 58 kilograms. Cheetahs are known for their unbeatable speed. Long legs, a slender body and a long tail help the cheetah to run fast. It is its speed that aids a cheetah in hunting.

A cheetah hunts during the day. In a burst of speed, it tries to get as close to the prey as possible, outruns the prey and knocks it down. Because of their speed, their body overheats in about twenty seconds! If the prey can stay ahead for longer than 20 seconds, it stands a good chance of escaping. If the kill is successful, the cheetah drags the prey to a safe hiding place, protecting the kill from being stolen.

Cheetahs are native to Central Iran and Africa. Earlier, they were tamed and were used for hunting. It is said that Emperor Akbar kept a thousand trained cheetahs for hunting!

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What makes the lion an unparalleled predator?

Perhaps, our first knowledge of lions comes from bedtime stories that feature the lion as the king of the forest. Let us however, now talk about lions outside these stories.

Lions hunt at night or early in the morning. Out of the forty species of cats around the world, only lions hunt in groups. They either stalk the prey like tigers do, or find a spot close to places like a waterhole. A lion fights the prey and brings it down before killing it. An adult lion eats around 18 kilograms of meat at a time. After a sumptuous meal, a lion can sleep up to 24 hours!

Lions generally live in grasslands and savannahs. Almost 90 per cent of the hunt is carried out by female lions. The male lions have the duty of patrolling their territory and protecting the group, known as a pride. A mature lion weighs up to 250 kilograms.

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Why is the tiger a dominant predator?

Humans view the golden and black stripes of a tiger with awe and terror. This ferocious animal is admired for its beauty, swift-yet-silent movements and the grace with which it catches its prey. The tiger is the biggest of all cats. It is a territorial hunter; a tiger marks its territory either by clawing on trees or with its faecal matter.

Tigers need plenty of space to thrive. They prey on many species of deer, antelope, wild pigs and porcupine. They are also known to kill animals as large as wild bulls and buffaloes. Tigers follow a strategy to hunt. They stalk their prey, sometimes for hours, and try to get as close as possible. At the right moment, they pounce on the prey from behind, biting the neck or throat. When the prey is dead, it is dragged to a safe place to be eaten. Tigers are brilliant swimmers; they catch fish and turtles as well.

There are six different species of tigers that live in a variety of habitats ranging from the forests of Southern Asia to mangrove swamps and snowy mountains.

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What are Algae?

Seaweeds look like plants. They even make their own food from sunlight, like plants do. But seaweeds are not plants. They do not have true roots, stems, leaves, or flowers. They are special types of living things called algae.

Seaweeds are built well for a life in the sea. They are soft and flexible and can sway in the water without being torn apart. Some seaweeds use a root-like anchor to cling to rocks, shells, or the sea floor. Some have gas-filled swellings to keep afloat. Sargassum weed floats in large masses in the ocean. Eel grass grows in thick beds at the muddy bottom of shallow waters. It looks like a field of waving grass along the shore. There are also underwater forests of kelp that grow up from the shallow sea floor.

Some kinds of algae are so small that you need a microscope to see them. And some of them can move around. They do this by beating little hairs that grow from their surface. Sometimes these tiny algae cling together in chains or gather into jellylike balls.

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What are fungi?

Fungi are living things that are a lot like plants. They grow almost everywhere in nature, including the air. They don’t move around, but they do reproduce. Scientists once called fungi “plants,” but fungi cannot make their own food. They get their food from dead plants and animals. So today, experts put these living things in a group of their own. Mushrooms, mould, and yeast are types of fungi.

Mushrooms and moulds grow from tiny cells called spores. Spores float on the air like dust. When a spore lands on bread or something else it can use as food, it begins to grow. It sends out many tiny threads. Some of these threads grow down, like roots. Others grow upwards, like stems. Bunches of these threads form the spots you see on mouldy fruit or cheese.

Yeast cells look like drops of jelly. They’re so tiny you can’t see them without a microscope. When a yeast cell takes in food, such as sugar, it swells up and splits into two new cells. Then, each new cell takes in food, swells up, and splits in two. Soon, there are millions of new yeast cells. People put yeast in bread dough to help make the bread fluffy.

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Why do plants eat insects?

You probably know that many insects eat plants. But did you know that some plants eat insects? These plants include the sundew and the Venus’s-flytrap. They need to eat insects because their soil does not have enough food to help them grow.

The leaves of sundew plants are covered with little hairs. On each hair there is a drop of sticky liquid. These drops glitter like dew in the sunshine and attract insects. When an insect touches one of the drops, it is stuck! Then all the hairs slowly fold in around the insect. They push the insect down against the leaf. A juice oozes out of the leaf and digests the insect.

The leaves of the Venus’s-flytrap work just like traps. They can open and close like clam shells. Little “claws” surround the edge of each leaf, and tiny hairs grow on the inside. When a fly or other insect lands on a leaf and touches one of the hairs, the leaves quickly close like a trap. Then the plant digests its meal.

Picture Credit : Google