NATURE

How to Properly Raise an Aloe Vera Plant

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:06:00 +0000

It is very easy to grow aloe vera since you can even cultivate it indoors. By growing it inside of your home, you can enjoy its medicinal gel for the whole year since its growth will not be affected by the changing weather outside. It can also bounce back from neglect that would kill any other plant. It also makes an excellent contrast to other house plants like spider plants and ferns.

Materials Needed In Growing An Aloe Vera Plant

The materials needed are pot with a drain hole, cactus potting mix, a sunny area and marbles or pot pieces.

Steps In Cultivating Aloe Vera

Remember to pick aloe vera that possesses firm and healthy leaves. Repot each plant during spring. They can also develop rapidly during months that have warm weather. Use a loose soil for the plants. A cactus plant potting mixture (which is made of two parts sand and one part potting soil) will do wonders. Do not forget to choose a plant pot with an excellent drainage. Fill it one-third full of pebbles or shards. Fill the pot plant with two-thirds full of potting and place the plant.

You can now cover the aloe vera with soil. Carefully remove any bumps in the soil. Water the plan and place it in a sunny area of your home. Windows in the southern part of your residence receives a lot of sunlight and can provide the warmth that your plant needs. Remember to water your plant during summer only when it gets really dry.

Keep an eye on the soil and wait until the soil begins to draw away from the plant pot's side before you water it. Aloe vera does not need a lot of water during cold months. You can water it once every 2-3 weeks. You can use the leaves of the plant for burns by cutting a portion of the plant to lengthwise. Carefully remove the leaf to reveal the medicinal gel.

Additional Tips

For optimum results, place the plant outdoors for a few times during late summer and spring each year. Carefully introduce it to the environment outside of your home by putting in a shaded spot for a few hours during a good day.

You can increase the plant's time outdoor seven to ten days a week. Remember that if you place the plant during summer outside of your residence, bring it inside before the onset of winter. Do not place the plant in too much water since its roots can easily rot.

Should the plant be unfortunately exposed to cold weather, do not immediately discard it without giving it an opportunity to live. The leaves of the aloe vera may begin to wilt and then die off but if the affected portion is not too big, new leaves will begin to grow from its base. It will be unsightly for quite some time but there is a big chance that it will survive and flourish again.

Global Warming effects

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:19:00 +0000

Green house gases stay can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. Here are the 5 deadliest effects of global warming.

5. Spread of disease As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them. Indeed some scientists believe that in some countries thanks to global warming, malaria has not been fully eradicated.

4. Warmer waters and more hurricanes As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes. We saw in this in 2004 and 2005.

3. Increased probability and intensity of droughts and heat waves Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe. Water is already a dangerously rare commodity in Africa, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.

2. Economic consequences Most of the effects of anthropogenic global warming won’t be good. And these effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hurricanes cause do billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.

1. Polar ice caps melting The ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.

First, it will raise sea levels. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet. Luckily, that’s not going to happen all in one go! But sea levels will rise.

Second, melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt they will desalinate the ocean, or in plain English - make it less salty. The desalinization of the gulf current will "screw up" ocean currents, which regulate temperatures. The stream shutdown or irregularity would cool the area around north-east America and Western Europe. Luckily, that will slow some of the other effects of global warming in that area!

Third, temperature rises and changing landscapes in the artic circle will endanger several species of animals. Only the most adaptable will survive.

Fourth, global warming could snowball with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight, much of which is relected back into space, further cooling Earth. If the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.

So what is the solution? Are we just being negative? Are there any positive effects of global warming? What about all the stupid global warming solutions. We welcome your thoughts.

Nature's Miracle

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:26:00 +0000

Greater Adjutants

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:05:00 +0000

The Greater Adjutant, Leptoptilos dubius is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It formerly bred in southern Asia from Pakistan and India, Sri Lanka east to Borneo, but is now restricted to two separate small breeding populations; in Assam and Cambodia. In winter, this species migrates south to Vietnam, Thailand and Burma.

Zoo Atlanta partnering with NJ company to bring back popular online panda cam

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:44:00 +0000

After three months of darkness, Zoo Atlanta's online panda cam is back.

The zoo announced Tuesday that it is resurrecting its popular online video feed that drew millions of hits from panda fans across the globe. The zoo is partnering with the New Jersey-based Earth Cam after getting rid of its panda cam Dec. 31 because of budget cuts.

Earth Cam has agreed to stream the online video for free in exchange for promotion by the zoo.

The zoo has two panda cubs —
Mei Lan (MAY LAHN) and Xi Lan (SHE LAHN) — born since 2006. Xi Lan, which means "Atlanta's Joy," was born Aug. 31.

The video will air from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday starting Friday.

Humming Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:02:00 +0000

Rabbit

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Beauty of Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:28:00 +0000

Lonely gibbon goes to forest to live with partner

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:49:00 +0000

She learnt to watch TV, reacted to pictures of food in magazines and even ate with a spoon -- but in the end she went to live in the woods with her partner.

Her name is Siloni, a female captive-reared Hoolock Gibbon, who in a first-ever success story of rehabilitation of the rare ape in India was released in the wild after being reared in a temporary enclosure till her sexual maturity and subsequent matrimony with a male in the Kaziranga National Park.

"The animal has conceived and we are expecting the baby within a few months. Foresters are monitoring the movement of the couple and everything is normal," the park's director, Suren Buragohain, said.

Siloni was rescued from a temple in Assam's Golaghat district by Buragohain when he was the Divisional Forest Officer there in 2003.

"She was in an injured condition when I brought it from a priest. I took her to my home and nurtured it. She had developed acquaintance with humans as she had learnt to watch TV, react to pictures in books and even eat with a spoon," the director said.

World's smallest snake in Barbados

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:45:00 +0000

A US scientist has discovered the globe's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically stretching less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.

S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University whose research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in Cuba, said the snake was found slithering beneath a rock near a patch of Barbadian forest.

Hedges said the tiny-title-holding snake, which is so diminutive it can curl up on a US quarter, is the smallest of the roughly 3,100 known snake species. It will be introduced to the scientific world in the journal ' Zootaxa " on Monday.

"New and interesting species are still being discovered on Caribbean islands, despite the very small amount of natural forests remaining," said Hedges, who christened the miniature brown snake "Leptotyphlops carlae" after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.

The Barbadian snake apparently eats termites and insect larvae, but nothing is yet known of its ecology and behaviour. Genetic tests identified the snake as a new species, according to Hedges. It is not venomous.

Zoologist Roy McDiarmid, curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, said he has seen a specimen of the diminutive creature. He saw no reason to argue with the assertion that it is the world's smallest snake.

McDiarmid said the Barbados creature is a type of thread snake, also called worm snake, which are mostly found in the tropics. "We really know very little about these things," he said in a Sunday telephone interview from his Virginia home.

Finding the globe's tiniest snake demonstrates the remarkable diversity of the ecologically delicate Caribbean. It also illustrates a fundamental ecological principle: Since Darwin's days, scientists have noticed that islands often are home to both oversized and miniaturised beasts.

Hedges said the world's smallest bird species, the bee hummingbird, can be found in Cuba. The globe's second-smallest snake lives in Martinique. At the other end of the scale, one of the largest swallowtail butterflies lives in Jamaica.

Scientists say islands often host odd-sized creatures because they're usually inhabited by a less diverse set of species than continents. So island beasts and insects often grow or shrink to fill ecological roles that otherwise would be filled by entirely different species.

Thai farmers beat costly fuel with water buffalo

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:42:00 +0000

Struggling to cope with soaring food and fuel prices, Thai rice farmers are swapping diesel-fuelled tractors for water buffalo, the beasts used for ploughing the paddy fields for centuries.

Despite benefiting from rising rice prices this year, farmers in northeastern parts of Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, say the soaring costs of fertiliser have also prompted them to rely more on manure to nourish their soil.

"Farmers can never keep up with skyrocketing prices of fuel and fertiliser, so they are now depending on buffalo again," said Thongbai Gaewwan, who has been working with the government to promote buffalo raising in the region.

With support from Bangkok, farmers in Hinkone village, 450 km (280 miles) northeast of the capital, have started to turn back the clock to the old days when buffalo were widely used for labour, fertiliser and meat.

The number of buffalo in the village now stands at 250, from a mere 50 in 2003, thanks to a project by the Livestock Development Department to lend farmers a buffalo and take a calf back as a rental fee, Thongbai said.

Thai farmers abandoned buffalo in the quest for better returns, as machinery was considered a more efficient way of ploughing. Now some believe buffaloes are more cost-effective.

"When people saw tractors working all day and buffalo stopping when the sun gets strong, they switched to iron buffalo," said farmer Arn Saigrasoon, who recently switched back to buffalo from two-wheeled diesel tractors. "But when buffalo leak in the field, their waste becomes fertiliser. When tractors leak, we lose money in fuel waste," Arn said.

Buffalo maintenance costs are very low as their "fuel" is grass and medicine comes from livestock officials. Unlike tractors, they are also not prone to getting stuck in the muddy rice paddy, Arn said.

Owners of the diesel-powered, hand-steered tractors who contract plough for farmers say they can only charge 10 percent more than they did last year despite a rise of as much as 50 percent in diesel prices since the start of the year.

"My business is in a critical condition," 51-year-old tractor contractor Chanthong Seeon said, blaming the switch to buffalo power for his woes. Six more buffalo in the village are being trained this year for ploughing, and the number of people learning to work with them is rising, Thongbai said. He also disputed the popular perception that buffalo lack intelligence, although conceded they could be very disobedient.

"Most people will call someone 'dumb as a buffalo', but buffalo trainers call disobedient animals 'stubborn as people,'" he said.

First commercially cloned pet dog

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:50:00 +0000

An America woman blinked back tears of joy on Tuesday as she cuddled puppies cloned in South Korea from her beloved former pit bull terrier.

"This is a miracle," said Bernann McKinney from Hollywood in California, hugging five clones of Booger at Seoul National University’s veterinary school.

RNL Bio, the company which arranged the re-creation of Booger through his refrigerated ear tissue, hailed the event as the world's first commercial cloning of a pet dog. "This is my first birthday present. These guys gave me the best present," said McKinney, a movie scriptwriter who turns 58 on Wednesday.

The five clones were born from two surrogate mothers on July 28, said Ra Jeong-Chan, CEO of RNL Bio which has launched a commercial dog cloning service in cooperation with the Seoul National University (SNU) scientists.

"They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person," McKinney said, recalling her years with Booger who saved her life by chasing off a ferocious mastiff which bit her severely.

She said she would consider training some of the pups as service dogs for the handicapped or elderly when they arrive at her home in September. McKinney said she had contacted South Korean experts after a US company failed to re-create Booger.

Global warming threatens indigenous people

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:32:00 +0000

Global warming and limited access to land and other resources threaten many indigenous peoples, the UN food agency warned Friday.

"Indigenous peoples are among the first to suffer from increasingly harsh and erratic weather conditions, and a generalised lack of empowerment to claim goods and services," said indigenous people’s expert Regina Laub of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Many indigenous groups live in vulnerable environments such as mountainous areas, the Arctic, jungles or dry lands, added the FAO statement released on the eve of the International Day for the World's Indigenous Peoples.

The FAO noted that native populations also played a critical role in adapting to climate change.

Indigenous communities are often the custodians of unique knowledge and skills, the Rome-based agency noted, adding that some 80 percent of the world's remaining biodiversity "that may be vital in adapting to climate change" is found within their territories.

The world's indigenous people’s population is estimated at 370 million, representing at least 5,000 different groups in more than 70 countries.

"Defending the recovery of ancestral lands, the self-determination of indigenous peoples and their human rights is at the core of their claims," the statement added.

Are Disposable Beverage Coasters Hurting The Environment?

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:47:00 +0000

Disposable beverage coasters are generally used in bars and restaurants as a cheap and effective way of keeping condensation off of the tables. They can consist of any inexpensive material, although usually it is something that absorbs water. The most common disposable coaster is a cocktail napkin slipped under a beverage.

The good news is that most of the materials that would make a good disposable coaster are biodegradable, such as paper or cork. That means even though they create a lot of unnecessary trash, it won't take much for nature to re-incorporate them back into the environment.

The real problem with these coasters is that they are a symptom of a philosophical error in our society's way of thinking. Standing at the threshold of mechanization, we are a society that produces, and consumes. It's a matter of simple convenience, disposable items don't have to be washed, they don't have to be taken care of, and they can simply be tossed away.

In this way, our culture has become a mass producer of garbage, albeit temporarily useful garbage. And instead of developing new thoughts and innovations, we instead waste our time with the mindless production of consumables.

As mechanization continues, disposables will become easier, cheaper, and more readily available. Instead of looking for the next great drink coaster, we are going to search endlessly for the cheapest, ugliest, and most disposable coaster. In this way we will make our world ugly, and pathetic. In effect, we will be developing a disposable world.

If you are looking for a set of elegant, natural drink coasters, that will soak up moisture and still last the rest of your life, then you might want to visit http://Coasters.PebbleZ.com

There you will find a wide variety of natural stone drink coasters made from slate, limestone, and highly absorbent sandstone. The pores in these coasters will soak up the liquid from a glass, and hold it dry within their bellies, until it can evaporate away into the air.

Are Disposable Beverage Coasters Hurting The Environment?

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:47:00 +0000

If you are looking for a set of elegant, natural drink coasters, that will soak up moisture and still last the rest of your life, then you might want to visit http://Coasters.PebbleZ.com

Wildlife: A luxury we can live without?

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Despite our ever-increasing knowledge of the natural world, too many people still see it as just another means to make money, says Jean-Christophe Vie. In this week's Green Room, he sets out his argument why the planet's rich diversity of life needs to be preserved in its entirety.

We spend enormous energy and lose precious time by trying to demonstrate the obvious: wildlife in its integrity is vital for us

In the world of economics, what nature provides for us is often seen in terms of immediate returns. Forests, for example, are valued for their timber. When a country needs money, the forests can be cut down and the capital immediately released.
This may contribute to the nation's Gross Domestic Product, but in reality, the country has lost resources and becomes poorer.
The rationale for preserving wildlife is based on a variety of societal values including aesthetic, moral and spiritual ones, as well as more practical ones, such as contributing to the economy and human livelihoods.
It is also based on a precautionary approach and, in my view, common sense. If a species is there, I am firmly convinced that it has a good reason to be.
Nature has developed over millions of years to produce the most favourable environment for us to live in. Before attempting to disturb the subtle balance on which we all depend, with unknown consequences, we should look carefully at what we have and know.
In fact, we still know very little of the diversity of life on our planet, but we know enough to get a global view of what is happening.
Almost a century ago, some "visionaries" sounded the first alarm bells. They have long been called "alarmists" but their predictions have slowly become reality.
Even today, when you tell the truth about the environment, many will deny the facts and try to block action; this will inevitably result in a bigger problem in the future.
Out of focus
We spend enormous energy and lose precious time by trying to demonstrate the obvious: wildlife in its integrity is vital for us.

Considering the competition between wild species and humans on a very crowded planet, one can ask if there is there room for both of us?

Instead, those who do not believe that, or think human ingenuity will solve all our problems, should be asked to demonstrate that they can live without nature. For a very long time, conservationists have been portrayed as misanthropists, caring more for animals than other human beings. But human rights and preservation of the environment are complementary.
The environment should always be a key pillar of development aid. Humans and nature go hand in hand.
Nowadays, when the spectrum of an economic recession is looming in various part of the world, the fact that nature can sustain humankind freely is not the least of its benefits, especially for the world's poor.
There is increasing recognition of the services nature provides to us, such as clean water and healthy soils for growing crops. But considering the competition between wild species and humans on a very crowded planet, one can ask if there is there room for both of us?
There is no doubt that nature can survive without humans - and has done so, for the most part, since time began.
Humans surviving without nature is certainly not true so we have no choice but to find enough space for nature.
Despite the very limited knowledge of life on Earth, some people do not hesitate to claim that some species have no interest to humans, that we should sort them out and get rid of "redundant" species and eliminate "pests".
So should nature be preserved in its entirety, meaning all species? I say yes, without any hesitation.
Not a luxury
Almost all countries agreed at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, or through the Convention on Biological Diversity, that we should significantly reduce biodiversity loss as a means to fight poverty.

Farmers in Africa need healthy ecosystems to survive climatic shifts

Every day there is a stronger consensus that, without preserving nature, the Millennium Development Goals to eradicate hunger and poverty, provide education, or combat diseases, cannot be achieved. This is, for me, a clear response. Nature is not a luxury; it should be preserved at all costs. However, we are still losing species, as shown by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
While many are not extinct yet, the Red List shows that many are slipping slowly towards extinction. We are witnessing a collective failure to meet these agreed goals.
In parallel, the good news is that we are documenting more and more conservation successes. It shows that a clear understanding of the problems and taking appropriate collective actions, nature can be preserved.
Increasingly, human overpopulation is recognised as the biggest challenge. The need to feed this growing population is increasing the pressure on nature.
Decisions will continue to be taken in a context of emergency and without appropriate thinking or incorporation of environmental considerations, as has been the case with the uncontrolled development of biofuels.
Our ability to live with nature can also be questioned. We hear that there are too many whales depleting fish stocks, too many elephants destroying farmers' plantations, too many tigers or sharks killing people, too many wolves eating sheep, too many mosquitoes transmitting diseases, too many frogs making noises, too many trees spreading leaves in our gardens; the list could go on forever.
Quantity and quality

The positive side of this is that we still have species to fight against. Once gone, will there be anyone else other than our neighbours to fight with?

In 2050 the human population will stand at more than nine billion, with an increased demand for goods, so what does sustainable development really mean?

Species abundance is also important. We need large quantities of fish if we want to feed the world. We need enough pollinators and soil invertebrates to maintain food production.
We need a healthy population of prey to maintain predator populations. We need a large numbers of wildebeests in the Serengeti to attract tourists and ensure the fertilisation of the savannah.
The same applies to salmon, whose spawning migration is the basis of an entire food chain. Massive animal migrations or congregations of spectacular animals are the guarantee that tourists will see what they have paid to come and watch.
We need enough predators to control herbivore populations; Olive Ridley turtles ensure reproductive success by swarming beaches in mass to lay their eggs.
Wildlife is not just a question of diversity but also of quantity. The collapse of cod stocks in the northern Atlantic is the perfect illustration; cod can still be found but, for unknown reasons, the stock was never able to recover and can no longer sustain an economy.
In 2050 the human population will stand at more than nine billion, with an increased demand for goods, so what does sustainable development really mean?
Can it be achieved without drastic changes? Do we want nature to be confined in zoos and botanic gardens or isolated pockets where rich tourists could go and watch what once covered most of our planet?
Global changes and new emerging threats will not allow us to maintain this static model. Climate change, invasive species and diseases do not stop at the borders of national parks. The risk cannot continue to be evaluated by our decision-makers in terms of success at the next election.
Fortunately, it seems that showing a real commitment to the preservation of our planet is starting to pay off in political terms.
A return to more spiritual values and the findings of a study on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity might bring the key additional elements needed for a real push in favour of the preservation of the diversity of life and, more broadly, all forms of diversity on our generous planet.

Article Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk

Your Chance to Do Your Part in Saving the Environment Just by Switching Your Laundry Soap

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Did you know that petrochemicals in laundry soap are not necessary to get your clothes clean?
Not only are they unnecessary, but they are harmful to your family as well the environment. Residual petroleum remains in the clothing and ultimately will come in contact with your skin and the skin of your loved ones. This petroleum residue can cause rashes and skin irritations and even eczema. Chemical sensitivities may also trigger allergies and asthma like symptoms.
Just by switching to vegetable based laundry soap we can save the environment and the health of our family. Vegetable based soaps are not full of useless fillers, phosphates and excess water that the giant companies are charging you for. They leave no petroleum residue, therefore reducing skin irritations.
They usually come in concentrated formulas which reduce the impact on the environment creating less waste. In turn, meaning less material, less packaging, less energy and less waste. This also means that you save money as well. Everybody wins.
The use of phosphates is declining as the government is realizing the impact to our environment. They have been added to laundry and dish soaps to soften the water and tie up minerals like lime. They also provide alkalinity for effective cleaning. These are extremely harsh chemicals. They also are detrimental to our waters ways. They promote an over growth of plant life in turn robbing the oxygen from waters ways and eventually causing all living organisms to die off.
Look for soaps that are biodegradable and are made with organic surfactants, citrus oils and other natural cleaning agents. They should be non alkaline, ph balanced formulas without chlorine bleach and caustic chemicals. The chemicals are not only toxic to your family but damage, fade and weaken fabrics.
If every household switched their laundry soap to a vegetable based concentrate in recyclable plastic bottles, in one year we could save enough plastic to make 600,000 plastic laundry baskets.*
One last thought, if every household in the US replaced one bottle of 25oz. petroleum based dishwashing liquid with 28 oz of a vegetable based product-we could save 81,000 barrels of oil. Enough to heat and cool 4,600 US homes for one year **

The Monarch Butterfly's Life Stages

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:09:00 +0000

The Monarch Butterfly cycle from egg, to caterpillar, to an adult winged creature is truly amazing.

People of all ages are fascinated by watching the aging of the gangly caterpillar, and observing a green chrysalis (pupa state) transforming into a butterfly that quickly grows into an adult. You may have seen experiments in school watching the Monarch progress through its stages. The caterpillar feeds on milkweed to pupate, so placing a few caterpillars in glass jars with fresh milkweed leaves provides the perfect nursery to witness the transformation into butterflies.

Under normal summer temperatures the egg turns into a caterpillar in about four to five days. The monarch caterpillar searches for an appropriate spot to advance to its next stage. It produces a small cocoon for itself and affixes it under a leaf or small branch. Normally the entire process, from egg to butterfly, is completed in about two weeks. During late spring to mid summer a pair of adult mating Monarch Butterflies may only live from two to five weeks, but several generations will be produced.

However, as the longer and warmer days of summer evolve into the shorter and cooler days of late summer and early fall the Monarch's evolution stages change. Butterflies that emerge from the pupal state now are different. The process from egg to adult stage will take longer, about a month now. And this last generation of the summer season is identified to partake in the miraculous winter migration. This generation is the longest lived, about eight to nine months, and able to survive the arduous migration to parts of Florida, the coastal regions of Texas, Mexico, and California, and retain enough strength for the return trip in the spring.

The Monarch Butterflies return to their same homes in the spring. The breeding process resumes during this trip. Following the rebirth of their food source, the milkweed plant, the youngest Monarch generation continues northward. Many insect species can only mate once in their lifetimes, but Monarchs can mate several times in their short lifespan, deposit their eggs on milkweed plants, die, and be replaced with another generation.

Rainforest Birds- Mulga Parrot

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Bird Name:

Mulga Parrot

Latin Name:

Psephotus varius

Status:

Least concern, Appendix II of CITIES

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Psittaciformes

Family: Psittacidae

>Genus: Psephotus

Species: P. varius

General Information:

The Mulga Parrot is commonly called the Many-colored Parrot or Parakeet and the Varied Parrot. Its name is derived from the mulga plant, which is a common food source. The Mulga Parrot is not commonly seen in flocks as other species are. Instead often appear individually or in pairs. They are known for their soft calls that they repeated three to four times in a row.

Physical Description:

The Mulga Parrot is about 28 cm in length and weighs 50 to 70 gm. Males and females can be distinguished by differences in their coloring. Males are a brilliant green overall with paler green coloring on their lower breast. Females are more olive green color overall with a brownish-green breast. The males have a distinct red patch on their crown and yellow foreheads. The females have a dull red patch on their crown and their foreheads are also a duller color, which is somewhat of an orange-yellow. The males' thighs and abdomens are yellow; with patchy orangey-red markings. Females have entirely green under-parts. Males have a dark grey bill, compared with the brownish-grey bill of the female. Both males and females have brown eyes at maturity. Immature Mulgas can be distinguished from adults by their muted colors.

Diet:

The Mulga Parrot feeds on seeds from grasses and herbaceous plants. They eat seasonally available fruits and blossoms. They will also feed on insects. Mulgas feed on ground beneath trees and amidst foliage.

Habitat:

The Mulga Parrot is native to the interior of southern Australia. It occurs in dry open woodlands and plains with varying vegetation including mallee, mulga, and saltbush. Mulgas can also be found in nearby croplands and in dry parts of riverine woodland. They will rest during hottest part of the day.

Reproduction:

Breeding season is from July to December, but they have been known to nest after any good rain. Nests are built in the hollows of trees, stumps, or fallen logs. Clutch is 4 to 7 eggs. Incubation takes approximately 19 days. The young will fledge after four weeks, but will stay with the parents considerably longer.

Rainforest Birds- Red-vented Bulbul

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:28:00 +0000

Bird Name:

Red-vented Bulbul

Latin Name:

Pycnonotus cafer

Status:

Least Concern

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Pycnonotidae

Genus: Pycnonotus

Species: P. cafer

General information:

The Red-vented Bulbul is a song bird with a widespread range. While they are small in size, they do have an invasive, quarrelsome and sometimes aggressive posture. They can be damaging to crops and orchards. The genus is the largest of the Pycnonotidae family with 47 species.

Physical Description:

This species averages 20cm in length and has a long tail. Adults have black or brown upperparts with a white rump. The breast is also black or brown and the other underparts are white with red around the vent. The head and crest are black as well as their beaks. Sexes are similar in plumage and young birds are duller in color than the adults. The plumage does vary slightly by region. The outstanding characteristic of bulbuls is the hair-like, vaneless feathers at the nape. The flight of the Red-vented Bulbul is bouncy, similar to a woodpecker.

Diet:

The Red-vented Bulbul feeds primarily on fruit, nectar and insects. It is incapable of synthesizing Vitamin C .

Habitat:

Red-vented Bulbuls inhabit tropical areas in southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Myanmar and Southwest China. They can be found in scrub, open forest, plains and cultivated lands. The species often prefers human settlements to the heavy jungle, and is common in urban parts of Dubai. They have also been introduced to Fiji and Hawaii. Nests are formed in bushes with deep cup shaped nests.

Reproduction:

Red-vented Bulbuls breed year round. The average clutch size is two to three eggs.

Rainforest Birds- Red-vented Cockatoo

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:24:00 +0000

Bird Name:

Red-vented Cockatoo

Latin Name:

Cacatua haematuropygia

Status:

Critically Endangered

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Psittaciformes

Family: Cacatuinae

Genus: Cacuta

Species: C. haematuropygia

General information:

The common name is the Philippine Cockatoo. This species is critically endangered. Populations have decreased dramatically due to illegal trapping for the cage-bird trade since the 1950s. The high price fetched per bird means that chicks are taken from virtually every accessible nest. Loss of habitat may also have contributed to its decline. The current population is estimated at less than 4,000 birds.

The Red-vented Cockatoo makes a characteristic bleating call, as well as screeching or whistling.

Physical Description:

Red-vented Cockatoos are small and white with a short white recumbent crest. They are easily distinguished by the red feathers around the vent. The undersides of the flight feathers are yellow. The beak is nearly white.

Diet:

The Red-vented Cockatoo feeds on seed and fruits. Food sources fluctuate seasonally.

Habitat:

The Red-vented Cockatoo is endemic to the Philippines where small populations exist on the islands of Palawan, Tawitawi, Mindanao and Masbate. It is restricted to lowland primary forest and secondary forest in or adjacent to waterways with mangroves. Typically they live in groups during non-mating seasons. They are partially nomadic due to seasonally fluctuating food sources. Will even frequent nearby corn and rice fields.

Reproduction:

Red-vented Cockatoos will pair during mating season. Often multiple pairs will use the same tree for breeding. Breeding season is typically March to June. Pairs will fly to offshore islands to roost and perhaps breed.

Zebra

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:01:00 +0000

Beauty of Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:58:00 +0000

Lion

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:57:00 +0000

Beautifull Flawers

noreply@blogger.com (Science Lover) — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:52:00 +0000