Interesting Facts about Jelly Fish

We are all aware about Jelly fish they are very common through out the world. Here is a list of some interesting facts about Jelly Fish:

Though they refer to as jelly FISH; technically they are not a fish as they do not have any fish like features such as gills. They breathe through their skin.

Jelly fish is carnivorous. They feed on crustaceans, fish eggs, planktons, small fish and even other jelly fish.

They are the oldest multi-organ animal. They are living in earth for more than 500 million years. The size of a jelly fish can vary from 1 mm to a few meters in diameter.

They are common in every ocean. Very few of them also live in fresh water.

Jelly fish is famous for their toxicity. Upon touching a jelly fish nematocyst cells pierce the skin of the victim and release toxin inside the body. There toxin levels vary species to species. The venom from a sea wasp (a species of box jelly fish) can kill a man within minutes.

They can reproduce both sexually and asexually. A single jelly fish can release more than 45000 eggs per day. The larva of a jelly fish is called planula larva.

Though it seems odd but more people killed by jelly fish than sharks through out the year.

They lack any skeleton i.e. no skeleton is present externally or internally. Depending upon species jelly fish contains 95-98% water in the body composition. They do not possess any circulatory, digestive, respiratory systems.

Jelly fish do not have any locomotary organ; they move through the water by contracting and expanding their umbrella shaped bodies. 

The life span of a jelly fish can vary from few hours to few months.

Some of them possess light emitting organs (bioluminescent organ) and can glow in the dark.

There are two phases of a jelly fish’s life viz. polyp and medusa. It is the medusa phase (umbrella shaped) that we generally refer to as jelly fish.

Jelly fish is harvested for its collagen. This is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Some jelly fish such as blubber jelly fish are edible too. In some Asian countries like Japan and Korea jelly fish is taken as food.

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Interesting Facts about Rhinoceros

Today’s article is about Interesting facts of Rhinoceros. Whenever we think about a Rhinoceros a first thing comes to our mind is their horn/horns. But there are many other interesting facts which we generally don’t know about them. We hope this article will give you some insights about that.

The word Rhinoceros comes from two words: rhino which means nose and ceros meaning horn.

Various types of rhinoceros are found viz. white, black, greater one horned, Javan and Sumatran. Black, white and Sumatran Rhinos have two horns where as Javan and one horned rhinos have only one horn.
Among Rhinos White rhinoceros is the largest. They can weight up to 2500 kgs. They are the largest terrestrial animal after Elephants. Javan Rhinos are the smallest among Rhinos. They can reach a maximum of 900 kgs.

They are herbivorous animal. Black rhinos have prehensile upper lip which helps them to grasp grass. A rhino consumes a lot of plant matter like leaves, grass, bushes etc. and in a normal condition produce close to 50 kgs of dung per day. The unique feature of their dung is that the smell of the dung is different for male female and juvenile.

They have a very thick layer (In an average about 1.5 cm) of skin. Despite this huge thickness their skin is relatively very sensitive towards sunburn or insect bites. Sumatran Rhino has long hair through their body whereas all the rest of the rhinos are hairless.

They are not known for their eye sight which is usually very poor. But they compensate that with excellent sense of smell and hearing.

The famous horn of the rhinoceros is made up of hairs and not bones. Rhino calves are born without horns. These horns continue to grow through out their lifetime.

Rhinoceros is a perissodactyle animal i.e. only one toe of their feet has modified to became the hoof. So they are much more closely related to horse and Zebra than many others. To know more about animal classification click here.

Though they appear to be a slow moving animal they can reach a top speed of 60 km per hour. If you want to know about all the animals which have amazing speed check out this article.

Male rhinos are solitary animal whereas the female rhinos are much more social and stay in groups. A group of Rhino is called a Crash. Rhinos have a very long (close to 2 years) gestation period. Only elephants in the animal kingdom have a greater gestation period than rhinos.
They can live for a period of 35 to 40 years.

Due to their large size and aggressive nature not many animals hunt Rhinos. However Lions, Tigers, crocodiles and wild dogs have sometimes preyed on baby or sick rhinoceros but humans are by far the biggest threat to Rhinos. It is believed particularly in Asia that Rhino’s horns have medicinal properties. But there are no evidence of this has been found. Among all the species 3 (black, Sumatran, and Javan) have been registered under critically endangered in IUCN Red list.

As for you all rhino lovers to know September 22 has been celebrated as world rhino day.

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Horses: some interesting facts

Horses are very interesting animals; they are a part of human civilization from a very early period. Here in this article we will discuss some interesting facts about them.

Horses are the member of the order perisodactyla in class mammalia. The details of classification can be found here.

The horse has evolved from a small multi-toed creature to a large single toed animal over 55 million years.

They have been domesticated at around 3500 BC.

The male horse is called stallion, the female horse is called mare and the newborn is called a foal.

Foals are born with larger legs (90% of their adult length). Most of them are born at nights. After 1 hour from their birth, they can stand.

Though horses are famous for their galloping movements, there are 3 other types of movement: walk, trot, and canter. They are known for their speed and can reach up to a speed of 70 km/h. they are one of the fastest animals on this planet.

They have a very good sense of balance.

There are 150 different breeds and types of horses found in the world.

Horses sleep only two to three hours in a day. Most of the time, they sleep standing. Though they lay down but it is for short time.

Unlike ruminants, their digestive system is a one way traffic. They don’t re-chew the food particles one it reached the stomach. They can’t burp, vomit or even take breathe with their mouth.

Arabian horses have 17 ribs (one less than other horse breeds), 5 lumber vertebrae (one less than other horse breeds) and 16 tail vertebrae (others have 18).

Horses have 64 chromosomes. They have 205 bones in average. They don’t posses the collar bone like a human.

They have the largest eye of any land animal. The eyes are laterally place and have a 350 degree span. The external ear can rotate 180 degree.

The hoof of a horse is like finger nail and it constantly grows. For a domestic horse it needs to be clipped after 5 to 6 weeks. They have 4 toes in front and 3 toes in the back foot.

Horses are measured in ‘Hands’. Their size varies from breed to breed. Their average size ranges from 14 to 18 hands.

The gestation period of a horse is approximately 340 days.

Horse can breed with donkey. The result of their breeding is Mule (male donkey and female horse) or Hinny (male horse and female donkey).

Horses have an average life span of 30 to 35 years. The age of a horse can be estimated by its teeth.

Horses are herd animals. In the wild they live in herds. The herd is usually dominated by a mare. They are very social animal and are more comfortable living in company than alone. It can be very stressful for a horse to live alone. They can form companionship along with their own species, and other animals including humans.

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Speedsters in Animal Kingdom

You must have heard the line “Speed thrills but it kills”. But in animal kingdom the phrase is not applicable. It is this speed that makes these animals unique and also acts as a survival tool. In this article we will discuss some of the animals with amazing speed. Some of them runs, some swim and some fly. Some even hop. But what ever is their locomotion, they are best at it. 

These data has been taken from Wikipedia. Just to realize how fast they are, consider this: the top speed of human is considered to be 44.72 km/h (as per the world record).

Peregrine Falcon: they are the fastest of all the living animals. Top speed can reach up to 370 km/h or above.

Horse-fly: Male species of horse fly are known to be the fastest insect in the world. They can fly at a speed of 140 km/h.

Cheetah: They are the fastest animal on land. They can reach up to a speed of 90 km/h from 0 within 3 seconds. The cheetah can run best at short burst. The endurance of this animal is very poor. The top speed can reach up to 120 km/h. More on cheetah in this article.

Hummingbird: They are the smallest bird in the world. They can reach up to a speed of 98 km/h.

Ostrich: They are very good runner and can reach a top speed of 95 km/h. the endurance of a ostrich is very good it can run at a speed of 50 km/h for half an hour. They are the tallest and heaviest species among the birds. 

American Antelope: They are the fastest animal if you consider long distance running. They can run at 56 km/h for a distance of 6 km. whereas the top speed of this animal can reach up to 89 km/h and they can continue it for 800 meters.

Greyhound Dogs: They are the fastest among all the dogs. Their top speed can reach up to 75 km/h.

Horse: The top speed of a horse has been recorded as 70.76 km/h. find more interesting facts about Horses here.

Kangaroo: The normal speed of a hopping kangaroo is around 25 km/h. But their top speed can reach up to 70 km/h. More interesting facts about kangaroo in this article.

Zebra: Top speed of a Zebra is about 60 km/h. More on Zebra can be found here.

Leatherback sea turtle: Among the various sea turtles their bodies are the most hydrodynamic. They can swim at a top speed of 35 km/h. you can find more interesting facts on turtles in this article.

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Funny Facts About The Kangaroos

Today’s animal is a very interesting and funny in many senses. They are a part of marsupials. In ancient days this animal was described as an animal whose head is like a dear, who can stand like human and which can leap like a frog. Today’s animal is The KANGAROO.  Let’s discuss some Kangaroo facts here:

Kangaroos naturally can be found only in Australia.

There are 4 types of Kangaroos which can be found:

The Red Kangaroos (Macropus rufus): They are the largest Kangaroo species. Found in arid and semi-arid area of the country.

The Western Grey Kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus): they are slightly smaller than their other cousins and found only in the southern part of Western Australia.

The Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus): they are most often seen in the eastern part of Australia and have the largest population amoung the 4 species.

The Antilopine Kangaroos (Macropus antilopinus): their far is some what similar to that of an antelope.

Kangaroos are herbivorous. Tree leaves, shrubs, grasses are their usual food. They don’t drink much water and get most of their water from their food.

Like cow and other ruminating animals, kangaroos have chambered stomach which helps them in digestion.

The average height of a kangaroo can reach up to 8 ft and can weight up to 100 kg.

Their hind leg is much larger and stronger than their fore limb.

The tail of a kangaroo is muscular at the base and it helps keeping balance while hopping.

The primary means of locomotion for a Kangaroo is hopping. This is the only large animal which uses this type of locomotion in their adult stage. The jump can be up to 30 ft in distance. The speed of this type of locomotion can reach up to 60 kmph. They are good swimmers but can not walk backwards.

They are social animal and lives in groups. Usually 10 to 100 kangaroos live in a group. In case of danger, they inform others by thumping their feet into the ground.

Kangaroos give birth to immature babies. A newborn baby can be the size of a rice grain to maximum of a honeybee, which then nursed in their mother’s brood pouch. The newborns stay in their mother’s pouch for 120 to 400 days.

The adult male Kangaroo is called buck and adult female is called doe. The newborns of a Kangaroo are called joeys.

The Kangaroos like all other marsupials have a pouch to rear their young ones.

The gestation period of a female kangaroo is very short 30 to 35 days. As the kangaroo can get pregnant immediately after giving birth, there can be more than one joey in the brood pouch. The milk meant for the newborn are of two types; one for the older one and another for the younger one.

The western grey kangaroos smell like curry.

The Kangaroo is often used as a symbol of Australia.

As per the IUCN Red List Kangaroos are in the list concerned category. They are hunted for their meat and skin.

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Some interesting facts about Zebras

Today we will discuss some interesting features of ZEBRA.

According to mammalian classification, they are the members of the order Perissodactyla in class mammalia. Zebras are found only in wild Africa.

 

There are 3 species of zebras

Plain Zebra: Equus quagga

Mountain Zebra: Equus zebra

Grevy’s Zebra: Equus grevyi

A Zebra can be of 4-5 feet till shoulder and can weighs up to 350 kgs. Males are slightly taller and heavier than the female. Zebras are social animal and they live in herds.

They are herbivorous, and mainly graze on tough grasses.

The most interesting and unique feature of a zebra is the stripes. They are vertical on head, neck, and main body and horizontal on rear ends and legs. Like human fingerprints, each Zebra has unique stripes. Different species have different stripes. Some species have wider stripes than the other. These stripes make it harder for the predators to separate a single zebra and catch. It has also been proved that these stripes help the Zebra to deter insects which tend to such their blood.

Zebras have black with white stripes and not white with black stripes as it was popularly believed.

Zebras can be very unpredictable in their nature and due to this they are not trained like horses.

They are single-toed hoofed (perissodactyle) animal.

Grevy’s Zebra has been named after French President Jules Grevy.  

Zebras are generally slower than horses in terms of top speed but they possess a greater stamina and that helps zebras outpacing predators.

Zebras have rounded (compared to horses), larger ears and excellent hearing. They have excellent eye sight and also have night vision.

They have acute sense of smell and taste.

Like horses zebras sleep standing up.

The life expectancy of a Zebra is 20-30 years in the wild.

It is a matter of shame that Zebras are still hunted for their skin and meat and still are in endangered category.

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Some Interesting Facts About Snakes

Today we will discuss some important facts about SNAKES!!! Though they are classified as a reptile; it is very difficult resemble them with other reptiles as they have gone through so many structural changes in their life. There is so much misconception about this animal which is a wonderful example of adaptation to the habitat. We hope to clear some misconception about them through this article.

There are more than 3000 species of snakes found in the world. Among them only a few have venom and among those venomous snakes only a few are deadly to men.

Snakes can be found in almost all the continents except Antarctica. A few islands such as New Zealand, Ireland Iceland are devoid of snakes.

The largest size which has been reported is of reticulated python (30 ft), whereas the smallest size is of 4 inches in length (Leptotyphlops carlae).

All snakes are carnivorous. They prey on birds, reptiles, fish, rats etc.

Snakes use smell to track their prey. Their forked tongue and Jacobson’s organ play very important role in this. They can not bite their food so they swallow the whole prey. They have a very flexible lower jaw for this.

Their tongue is very efficient in sampling particles from air, water or ground.

Some snakes like pit vipers, boas, pythons etc have infra red sensitive organs. This allows them to detect warm blooded animals.

Snakes are not slimy like worms. Their skin is covered with dry scales. They use their belly scales for movement.

Snakes keep their eyes open while sleeping. That is because they don’t have movable eyelids.

We all know that snakes shed their scales, this process is called moulting. It serves dual purpose. It gets rid of mites, ticks and other parasites and also get a fresh skin replacing their worn off one.

Unlike humans, the teeth of a snake are constantly replaced with a new one through out his whole life.

The venom of a snake is actually their saliva. Once injected in its prey it causes damage to the cells. Snakes use this to immobilize or kill their prey.

Though there are many type of toxin present in the venom of a snake, the toxin are generally classified in two categories:  Hemotoxin(this attacks the circulatory system of the prey) and Neurotoxin (this attacks the nervous system of the prey).

Most of the snakes lay eggs but contrary to the belief, some species of snakes have found to be viviparous i.e, they nurse their young ones.

For ages snakes have been portrayed as evil. But these wonderful creatures are rather reactive in nature and try to avoid human interactions as far as possible.



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Elephants: Some interesting Facts

Today in this article we will discuss some interesting facts about Elephants, the largest terrestrial (which lives on land) animal. These mammals are the members of order Proboscidea. You can find the main article on Mammalian classification here. They are very important species when we consider their impact on environments. Due to this they are considered as keystone species.

There are 2 types of elephants which are found in the world:

African Elephants (Loxodonta africana): They are much bigger than their Asian counterpart. They are found in countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

 And

Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus): smaller in comparison to the African Elephants. They are found mostly in India, Nepal, and south-east Asian countries.

The trunk of an elephant contains more than 50000 muscles. The trunk in an elephant is the most important part of their body. It helps them in breathing, smelling, grasping, and also in sound production. They can carry up to 2 gallons of water in their trunk.

Though the trunk is very powerful and can lift up to 300 kg with ease, it can also perform delicate tasks such as breaking a peanut shell without damaging the seeds.

The tusk in an elephant’s life performs many works. It helps in digging, fighting, or moving tree-branches. Unlike other mammals their teeth (not the tusk only the chewing teeth) got replaces many a times in their life cycle.

Beside their trunk and tusk one of the characteristic features of an Elephant is two huge fans like ears. Besides hearing, their huge ears help them in body heat controlling. The ears of an elephant contain huge numbers of blood capillaries. It helps them to release the excess heat from their body. Elephants can increase the rate of heat release by increasing the flapping the ears.

The skin of an elephant is relatively thick (up to 2.5 cm) when compared with other animals. The skin of an elephant is so sensitive that it can even sense a fly in their skin. Though in most of the part the skin is thick, back of their ear (also called knuckle) is covered with very thin layer of skin and is also one of the softest part of their body. Elephant trainers control elephants by using this soft part of their body.

Elephants cannot rotate their forearms. It is a fact that their forearms carry 60% of their huge body weight.

They are very slow movers. But can swim for a long distance despite their huge built up.

The brain size of an elephant is largest in the animal kingdom.

Height of a fully grown Elephant can reach up to 13 ft (African elephant) and can weight over 6000kg.

They can live up to 70 to 80 years.

Elephants have been reported to be killed for their tusk. They have also suffered loss of habitat due to human encroachment. The African elephants are listed as vulnerable and Indian elephants referred as endangered species in the list of IUCN red list. Find the detailed list of categories here.

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