Category Science

How Roscoe stray dog and Suryia an orangutan form close bond?

Doc Antle is the founder of a sanctuary in South Carolina, USA. A stray dog Roscoe, followed Antle and Suryia, an orangutan in the Centre, through the park’s gate in 2006. Suryia immediately began playing with the dog. The two animals would frolic in the enclosure for a few hours every day, swimming in the pool and rolling on the grass. The orangutan would even take Roscoe for a walk on a leash!

Suryia will take Roscoe for walks around the enclosure and even feeds him some of his monkey biscuits. When they are both feeling a little lazy they will go for a ride on the back of Bubbles, our 27-year-old African elephant.’  That was two years ago and they’ve been fast friends since.  Their story has been featured in many articles and TV shows including National Geographic’s Unlike Animal Friends.

 

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How Wister donkey and Safi a German shepherd form a close bond?

Wister, a donkey and Safi, a German shepherd forged a friendship on a ranch in Wyoming, USA, in the 1990s. the two would romp about, with the dog even teaching Wister to fetch a stick! If Safi did not appear, Wister would stand at the door and bray. If he accidentally kicked Safi during play, he would stand still as if to say sorry. Safi would jump up and nip his neck gently in acceptance!

They love to chase and nip each other. They share the same food bowl and take naps together.  Safi taught Wister to fetch a stick and carry it around. When Safi and her owner go on hikes, Wister follows them.  In the morning, Wister stands outside the house and brays until Safi comes out to play.

 

Picture Credit : Google

How Bella dog and Tara an Asian elephant form a close bond?

At the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, USA, Bella, a dog and Tarra, an Asian elephant, were best buddies. Bella played, slept and ate with her. Elephants are very careful around their young ones, so Tarra was equally careful with Bella. When the dog was injured in an accident, Tarra maintained a vigil outside the room and called to her constantly. Only when Bella was brought outside did she cease her crying!

When Bella was killed by coyotes, sanctuary workers believe Tarra picked her up and carried her body to the spot where they usually spent time together.

 

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How moray eel and grouper form a close bond?

Though a few animals of different species cooperate while hunting in the wild, it is rare. A fish known as a grouper will recruit a moray eel to help it extract prey that is hiding in a crevice. The honey guide, an African bird, will lead a honey badger, or even a person, to a beehive it wants to plunder of wax and grubs.

Another kind of bonding behavior is ‘imprinting’, in which newborn animals or birds will follow the first moving thing they set eyes upon, whether it is their own mother, a machine, another animal or a human.

 

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HOW MUCH OF THE EARTH IS COVERED BY WATER?

Though the hulk of our planet is made of rock, around 70% of its surface is covered with water. The Earth’s seas and oceans account for most of this coverage — the Pacific Ocean (done covers more than a third of the Earth.

            The Earth is a watery place. But just how much water exists on, in, and above our planet? The oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water. Water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers, and even in you and your dog.

Water is never sitting still. Thanks to the water cycle, our planet’s water supply is constantly moving from one place to another and from one form to another. Things would get pretty stale without the water cycle!

The vast majority of water on the Earth’s surface, over 96 percent, is saline water in the oceans. The freshwater resources, such as water falling from the skies and moving into streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater, provide people with the water they need every day to live. Water sitting on the surface of the Earth is easy to visualize, and your view of the water cycle might be that rainfall fills up the rivers and lakes. But, the unseen water below our feet is critically important to life, also. How do you account for the flow in rivers after weeks without rain? In fact, how do you account for the water flowing down a driveway on a day when it didn’t rain? The answer is that there is more to our water supply than just surface water, there is also plenty of water beneath our feet.

Even though you may only notice water on the Earth’s surface, there is much more freshwater stored in the ground than there is in liquid form on the surface. In fact, some of the water you see flowing in rivers comes from seepage of groundwater into river beds. Water from precipitation continually seeps into the ground to recharge aquifers, while at the same time water in the ground continually recharges rivers through seepage.

Humans are happy this happens because we make use of both kinds of water. In the United States in 2010, we used about 275 billion gallons (1,041 billion liters) of surface water per day, and about 79.3 billion gallons (300.2 billion liters) of groundwater per day. Although surface water is used more to supply drinking water and to irrigate crops, groundwater is vital in that it not only helps to keep rivers and lakes full, it also provides water for people in places where visible water is scarce, such as in desert towns of the western United States. Without groundwater, people would be sand-surfing in Palm Springs, California instead of playing golf.

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WHY DO SOME CAVES HAVE STALACTITES AND STALAGMITES?

Stalactites and stalagmites can be found in limestone caves. As water drips down through limestone, it dissolves it and leaves behind deposits of a mineral called calcite. This produces distinctive stalactites that hang from the roof of the cave. When the calcite forms in pools of water on the cave floor, deposits grow upwards, forming stalagmites. Where the two features meet, they form columns.

Stalactite and stalagmite, elongated forms of various minerals deposited from solution by slowly dripping water. A stalactite hangs like an icicle from the ceiling or sides of a cavern. A stalagmite appears like an inverted stalactite, rising from the floor of a cavern.

Stalactites hanging from the ceilings of caverns commonly exhibit a central tube or the trace of a former tube whose diameter is that of a drop of water hanging by surface tension. A drop on the tip of a growing stalactite leaves a deposit only around its rim. Downward growth of the rim makes the tube. The simplest stalactite form, therefore, is a thin-walled stone straw, and these fragile forms may reach lengths of 0.5 m (20 inches) or more where air currents have not seriously disturbed the growth. The more common form is a downward-tapering cone and is simply a thickening of the straw type by mineral deposition from a film of water descending the exterior of the pendant.

Stalagmites have thicker proportions and grow up on the bottom of a cavern from the same drip-water source, the mineral from which is deposited after the water droplet falls across the open space in the rock. Not every stalactite has a complementary stalagmite, and many of the latter may have no stalactite above them. Where the paired relation exists, however, continual elongation of one or both may eventually result in a junction and the formation of a column.

The dominant mineral in such deposits is calcite (calcium carbonate), and the largest displays are formed in caves of limestone and dolomite. Other minerals that may be deposited include other carbonates, opal, chalcedony, limonite, and some sulfides.

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