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Saturday, July 18, 2020

Locust: 12 Important Facts

Locust, the name applied rather loosely to several insects related to the grasshoppers. In the United States, the cicada, harvest fly, is called a locust, while the real locust of that country is known as the red-legged grasshopper.

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The hind legs of the locusts are large and powerful, so that they have great power of leaping, but their antennae are shorter than those of true grasshoppers.
They make their peculiar "notes" by drawing their hind legs across their wing covers.
When flying they produce sounds by rubbing their front and hind wings together.
The Rocky Mountain locust breeds west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, selecting places along river bottoms or in grassy places of the mountains in the northern part of the region mentioned.
The female lays twenty-five or more eggs, cementing them carefully together and covering them with a case, or cocoon, which she buries in the sand.
From the first, the young resemble their parent, and after frequent molting they reach their full size in about seven weeks.
On reaching maturity locusts gather in flocks and begin incredibly long migrations, with an apparent definiteness of purpose and regularity of movement that no other insect ever shows.
Sometimes they appear in such vast numbers as almost to obscure the light of the sun; toward night or on cloudy days they settle down on the earth and devour everything green they can find. Sometimes within a few hours whole acres of flourishing vegetation have been destroyed.
In 1874 the locusts overran the whole territory west of the Mississippi, and it is estimated that $50,000,000 would not cover the damage they did.
The next year 750,000 people were made destitute or suffered severely in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. Since that time, though there have been numerous flights of locusts, they have not appeared in such destructive numbers, and it is thought that the cultivation of the land and the destruction of their breeding places have made impossible anything of the kind in the future.
Migratory locusts are found also in Asia and Africa, where their flights have been as destructive as those of the locusts in America.
Arabs and other people of the East frequently use the dried insects as food.

The Great North American Locust Plague by MinuteEarth

Arthropoda: spiders, insects, crabs etc...

Elephant: 33 Facts

Both male and female African elephants have tusks.
However, only some male Indian elephants
have tusks today.

The elephant is the largest living land animal, comprising two species, the African and the Asiatic.

33 Facts About Elephants:

The African elephant is the larger, stronger and more ferocious of the two, its hide is tougher and its ears larger, its head is less elevated.
Its back slopes downward from shoulders to rump.
Its trunk is longer and drags on the ground, even when the end of it is curled.
Both sexes have tusks.
The Asiatic, or Indian, elephant, as it is often called, is smaller.
The Asiatic elephant's back is decidedly rounding, and only the males bear tusks.
It is this elephant which is seen at circuses, for unlike the African elephant, it is tame in captivity.
Sometimes elephants attain the height of fifteen feet, but usually a mature animal is from nine to ten feet high and weighs from 4,000 to 10,000 pounds.
The body is very bulky, the legs are enormously large and almost straight and the short toes are covered by hoof-like nails.
The skin of the elephant is very thick and coarse, and it bears only here and there a few scattered hairs.
The most remarkable feature of the elephant is its long trunk, an extension of the nose. It has two tubes extending to the tip.
This tip is exceedingly sensitive, and in one species it is furnished with two small projections; one, which somewhat resembles a finger, extends from the upper surface, the other projects from the lower side.
By means of its trunk, the animal can pick up very small objects.
The trunk is provided with very strong muscles and is useful in procuring food and for defense.
With his trunk the elephant picks up and puts into his mouth all his food and water.
With its trunk, the elephant makes a loud trumpeting noise, his signal of alarm or anger.
The cutting teeth on each side of the upper jaw develop into long tusks, useful to the animal in a natural state both for grubbing food and for defending itself against attack.
In some well-grown males each tusk weighs as much as 200 pounds.
Although the head of the elephant is enormously large, and its forehead broad, yet its brain is small.
However, this does not show any lack of intelligence, for no animal, with the possible exception of the horse and dog, can be taught to do more things requiring intelligence than the elephant.
Elephants live in herds of considerable size, but the old males sometimes leave the herds or are driven from them, and thereafter live solitary lives.
They usually become vicious and exceedingly destructive sometimes demolishing native crops. Such elephants are commonly called rogues.
The wild elephants are caught in various ways. Sometimes pits are dug, into which the animals fall; or, a strong enclosure is built, into which the elephants are driven by fires, gun shots or other loud noises.
In some localities trained elephants are sent out into the forests to make the acquaintance of wild ones and lead them into captivity.
Two tame elephants can keep a single wild one so interested that the hunters are able to come up and put heavy chains about its legs and tie it to a tree, where it is held during the furious anger which follows its capture.
After a long and tedious struggle, the captured elephant is subdued and then becomes tame and submissive.
Elephants have been known since very early times. The earliest records in history tell us that they were trained by man to do various things even to take part in war.
Hannibal had with him an army of elephants when he invaded Italy, and much of his success was due to the terror they inspired.
The animals have been used to a greater extent in India than in any other country.
There they have been for centuries a chief means of conveyance, carrying passengers in commodious canopied seats on their backs.
Two or more persons may occupy this seat; the driver sits on the animal's neck.
Elephants can be taught to do numerous kinds of work, to Lift great weights and to carry heavy loads.
Many elephants were once held in captivity, altogether for show purposes. There was hardly a zoological garden in existence that did not have one or more of these animals.

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Wild Cat

Wild Cat or Catamount, a wild animal belonging to the same family as the domestic cat, but of larger size than the latter. The European wild cat once common, but now seen only in the most isolated regions, has a very long body and legs and a short, thick tail. Its fur is yellowish-gray, with a dark marking down the back and other dark stripes on the sides and rings on the tail. In the United States the name is often applied to the lynx.

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Friday, July 17, 2020

Whip-poor-will

Whip-poor-will, a North American bird of the goatsucker family. The name is an imitation of the bird's peculiar call of three shrill notes ending in a rising inflection. This weird cry is repeated many times in close succession. The whippoorwill makes its home in the midst of thick woods, rarely visiting the haunts of men. It is active at night, feeding on night insects, which it catches on the wing. During the day it sits lengthwise on a limb, where, owing to its mottled plumage, it is not easily seen.

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Vulture

Vultures are characterized by their
featherless necks.

Vulture, the common name for a class of carrion-eating birds, characterized by necks destitute of feathers and by elongated beaks, with curved upper mandibles. Their talons are not relatively strong, and in tearing prey apart, they make more use of their beaks than of their claws. Vultures are usually of a cowardly disposition and will not attack live animals, unless the latter are seriously wounded or dying, as they feed almost entirely on decaying animal flesh. They fly high in the air and detect their prey from great distances. They are valuable scavengers in all warm and tropical countries.

Two More Vulture Types:

The California vulture has a long, flat, orange-colored head and dull black plumage, with a grayish wing band. It builds a loose nest of sticks, in a hollow in a tree or cliff, and lays one round, greenish-white egg.

The Egyptian species, called "Pharaoh's hen," is found in the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

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Wagtail

Courtship of wagtails caught on

video by Shirishkumar Patil.

The wagtail are a group of birds so called from their habit of jerking their long tails when running or perching. Though several species are common in Europe, rarely is the bird seen in the United States. The wagtails frequent muddy lands and pastures, running rapidly along the edge of water and catching the insects they find there. A species of wagtail breeds on the coasts of Alaska in summer, making its nest of woven roots and grasses on or near the ground. The eggs are white with brown spots.

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Whales: 12 Facts About Whales

Whales come in two classifications:
those with teeth and those without.

The whale, a large marine animal, some species of which are the largest animals in existence. Though often classed as a fish, the whale bears only a superficial resemblance to the fishes. The tapering body terminating in a finlike tail and the fin-shaped paddle on each side of the body are the only points of similarity, while the dissimilarities are numerous and fundamental.

12 Facts About Whales:

The whale first of all, is a mammal, bearing its young alive, and suckling it in infancy.
It has well-developed brain and lungs, and warm blood, which circulates through veins and arteries.
Its bones, joints and muscles are like those of the higher land mammals.
The forelimbs contain the same bones as do those of other mammals. These are proportionately short, and, instead of toes, there is a paddle, about seven feet long, formed by a continuous skin; while in the rear part of the body are rudimentary bones which indicate the existence of hind legs in remote ancestors.
The organ of locomotion is the fin-shaped tail, which is also used for purposes of defense.
The whale is a shy creature and becomes combative only when attacked.
When aroused it can capsize a large vessel with its tail, which is from five to six feet long and twenty to twenty-five feet broad, and destroy smaller craft by ramming it with its blunt nose.
Two distinguishing characteristics of whales are the proportionately large head, which is usually a third of the entire length of the body, and the thick layer of fat beneath the skin, which protects the animal from the cold.
This fat, called blubber, was cut from the captured animal and reduced to oil many years ago. Before mineral oils came into general use, whale oil was burned in lamps in every part of the world.
The eyes of whales are small and there is usually only one nostril, frequently S-shaped, situated on top of the head. It is closed by a plug-like valve, opened only by pressure from inside.
When the whale comes to the surface it expels the air from its lungs with great force through this nostril; and the hot, moisture-laden breath condensing in the cold air produces a column of vapor several yards high.
The notion that a whale takes water into its mouth and blows it out through this hole is erroneous. The whale's mouth is large, but the throat is very small; however, a species known as the Greenland whale has a throat large enough to admit a man's body.

Two Classes of Whales:

Whales usually are divided into two classes - the whalebone whales and those having teeth. The toothless whales were commercially the more important, and are hunted for both oil and whalebone, which latter is taken from the animal's mouth. The roof of the mouth is provided with vertical horny plates, called baleen, about 500 in number. These plates hang from the roof of the mouth in a fringe ten or twelve feet long. This equipment serves as a sieve for straining out the minute animals on which these whales feed. The surface waters of the ocean teem with animal life, and whales in feeding swim with open mouth at high speed near the surface, traveling in this way until hunger is satisfied. The manufacture of cheap substitutes for whalebone greatly decreased the commercial importance of whalebone whales.

The toothed whales are the larger, attaining a length of ninety feet and a weight of seventy tons. The young when born are from ten to fourteen feet long. Of these the sperm whale was the most valuable to hunters. The blubber produced sperm oil, while the oil of the head yielded spermaceti, used in making candles and cosmetics. Other valuable products made from this whale long ago were ambergris, found in the intestines and used in making perfumes.

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Before the middle of the eighteenth century whaling was an important industry, but since the discovery of petroleum it has rapidly declined. Modern whaling operations are conducted with swift vessels, and the whales are killed by harpoons shot from guns. On every coast where whale fishing is conducted there are stations along the shore to which the carcasses are towed and cut up and prepared for market. Since 1986, IWC, has banned the fishing for whales except by aboriginal peoples.

Save The Whales From Extinction:

See People Work Hard To Save These Endangered Giants:

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Bat: 11 Facts

A bat is a furry mammal having the fore limbs peculiarly modified so as to serve as wings. Bats are animals of the twilight and darkness and are common in temperate and warm regions, but they are most numerous and largest in the tropics.

11 Facts About Bats:

All European bats are small and have a mouselike skin.
The body of the largest British species is smaller than that of a mouse, but its wings stretch about fifteen inches.
During the day it remains in caverns, in the crevices of ruins, hollow trees and other lurking places, and flits out at evening in search of food, which consists of insects.
Several species of the same genus are common in North America.
Many bats are remarkable for having a curious growth on the nose shaped something like a horseshoe. In some bats these growths resemble leaves, and in one species the entire nose looks like a flower.
The eyes in most bats are very small, but they are keen.
Bats may be conveniently classified in two sections: the flesh-eating, comprising all European and most African and American species, and the fruit-eating, belonging to tropical Asia and Australia, with several African forms.
At least two species of South American bats are known to suck the blood of other mammals, and hence they are called vampire bats, though the name has also been given to a species not guilty of this habit.
As winter approaches, in cold climates bats seek shelter in caverns, vaults, ruined and deserted buildings and similar retreats, where they cling together in large clusters, hanging head downward, and sleep until the returning spring recalls them to life.
The brown bat of the United States, the heavy bat of the Eastern states, the big-eared bat of the Mississippi valley, the leaf-nosed bat and the lyre bat are common species.
Bats belong to the order Chiroptera

More Bat Facts From The Web:

The types of bats pictured above with corresponding numbers.

1-2: Brown Long-eared Bat

3: Lesser Long-eared Bat

4: Lesser False Vampire Bat

5: Big-eared Woolly Bat

6-7: Tomes's Sword-nosed Bat

8: Mexican Funnel-eared Bat

9: Antillean Ghost-faced Bat

10: Flower-faced Bat

11: Greater Spear-nosed Bat

12: Thumbless Bat

13: Greater Horseshoe Bat

14: Wrinkle-faced Bat

15: Spectral Bat

Scotch Terrier

The Scotch Terrier is a small dog weighing from fourteen to twenty pounds, with a long head, dark eyes and upright ears. The hair is rough and coarse, and may be black, reddish, brindled or sandy. The tail is carried erect. The dogs are intelligent, gentle and active and were favored pets seventy years ago.

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Ground Squirrel

A ground squirrel is a squirrel in that they possess cheek pouches and retreat into burrows. They are well known in America, but species are also found in Asia and Africa.

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Babirussa

Indian wild hogs have teeth that grow outside of their mouths.

The babirussa or babyrussa is a wild hog which inhabits Celebes and other East Indian islands. It is an active animal, with a nearly naked skin, and does not root in the ground as do other members of its family. The upper canine teeth do not grow downward, but upward, through openings in the skin of each side of the snout, and they curve backward nearly to the eyes. The natives still hunt the babirussa for its delicately flavored flesh.

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Waxwing

Waxwings survive primarily on fruits.

A waxwing is a handsome singing bird, distinguished by its high, pointed crest, yellow band across the end of the tail and red spots on the wings, which have the appearance of sealing wax. The body plumage is reddish-brown above, yellowish underneath.

The cedar waxwing is found in nearly every part of North America, and may be seen in summer as far north as Southern Alaska. It feeds on insects and fruits, and nests in trees. The eggs are putty-colored, with black specks.

The Bohemian waxwing, a familiar bird in both eastern and western hemispheres, also migrates to high latitudes in the nesting season, traveling, like the cedars, in small flocks.

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Saturday, July 18, 2020

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