The love for wildlife

 FLAMINGO  "only the gentle are ever really strong" - James Dean When you think about a flamingo the first thing that comes to your mind is the color pink, but flamingos are born white (so they get that pink color as they grow up?). No, they get that pink color because they eat a lot of brine shrimp and algae (huh?), Carotenoids give carrots their orange color or turn ripe tomatoes red. They are also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimp eat. As a flamingo dines on algae and brine shrimp, this makes their feathers pink. There are so many things about this animal that are weird. Flamingos are filter feeders. It is a form of food procurement in which food particles or small organisms are randomly strained from water. You would usually see this in whales and marine animals. A flamingo will place its head upside down in the water with its bill pointed at its feet. It then sweeps its head side-to-side, using its tongue to pump water in and out of its bill. Comb-like pla...

                                                             Panda I think Panda is my spirit animal.  Because I am as lazy as Panda A Panda cub is pink, blind, helpless, and adorable. The first month of their life they are very well protected, the mother keeps in contact with the cub almost the whole time. At five month's old, pandas learn to climb trees (brave cubs!!). In the wild if Panda twins are born the mother has to choose one of them as they don't have the energy to provide two of them with milk, she chooses the stronger one which has more chances of survival.  They are found in the mountains of central china. Bamboos make 99% of their diet but since they are omnivores they eat small animals, eggs, etc. They weigh between 75kg and 135kg. They poop 40 times a day because their intake of bamboo is quite high...

Tigers   “There is nothing like the thrill of walking Through a jungle looking for a tiger and Knowing that they could already be watching you” - Ashlan Gorse Cousteau Let's start with their birth, they are born blind and helpless. The mother takes care of the cubs for about 24 months. But sadly, only a few survive to adulthood. Tigers grow up to be the largest cats in the jungle. Unlike the other cats, tigers are excellent swimmers and can swim for hours, they can even kill in the water (ain’t that fascinating?).  Tigers are nocturnal animals (What?)It means that they are mostly active at night and less during the day (and why is that?)because their night vision is six times greater than that of humans. We have seen a lot of videos of tigers killing their prey or you might have even seen it in real life but the hunt is not always successful, a tiger's hunt is only successful once in 10-15 attempts. Let's come to their appearance, the stripes, you probably would have hear...

Dodo And that is what Mauritius is most famous for: the extinction of the dodo . -Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See Dodos are very famous for their dumbness and we on ly know them for their extinction. Infact, the word dodo had become a slang for dumb (why write about something that was dumb and doesn’t exist anymore?).  Let’s get to know some history about them first (who doesn’t find history boring, but this might just be interesting), back in 1663 dodos became extinct (Wait, a little earlier...). Dodos were found on the island of Mauritius. They lived there happily until sailors discovered the island, these dodos had never seen humans before and they did not have any natural predators on the island so they feared nothing. The sailors started using them as fresh meat, these dodos were not afraid and would just board the ships without causing the sailors any trouble. People thought that they were just dumb, so they boarded the ships. Hence the name ‘dodo’.  Now that the islan...

       Tasmanian Devil “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”  -Ronald Reagan  This is a tasmanian devil, sometimes misunderstood, a cheeky little creature. They are the largest carnivorous marsupial (what is a marsupial?). A marsupial is the one who carries the little one in their pouch, (but isn’t that only kangaroos and koalas?) no, there are 330 species of marsupials (wow! 330!?).  They were found in the mainland of Australia but about 3000 years ago they went extinct in mainland Australia because they were hunted by dingoes.  As there are no dingoes in Tasmania, the devils are the island's state top predator. They have one of the most powerful bite.  The mom gives birth to around 20-30 joeys which are the size of a rice grain and they all try to climb up to the mother’s pouch but only a few make it till the pouch, they stay in the pouch for around 3 months and then they a...

 Lion  “A simple act of kindness and compassion towards a single animal may not mean anything to all creatures, but will mean everything to one.”  ― Paul Oxton “Lions”- the word that comes to my mind when I see them is WOW! They are truly beautiful and proud creatures. Oh wait, now I get why a group of lions is called  a pride, huh! You know that most of the lions are found in Africa but there are a few beyond the African savannas, like the Asiatic lions which are found only in India, mainly in the Gir National Park of Gujarat. Have you ever heard a lion roar? Well, you can hear them roar even if you are 8kms away from them. Have you ever wondered why a lion is called the king of the jungle? It's because of their unconditioned power and fearlessness, they fear no other animal and that's why they are called the king of the jungle. Although the lion is known as “the king of the jungle,” lions do not live in jungles. They live only in grasslands and plains. Lions...

                                                                Dolphins “Dolphins are sophisticated, self-aware, highly intelligent beings with individual personalities, autonomy and an inner life. They are vulnerable to tremendous suffering and psychological trauma.”  – Dr. Lori Marino Most of us think that a dolphin is a very common aquatic animal we know of, but that is indeed not true. Dolphins are one of the most unique creatures with some unknown qualities. On an average, a dolphin can live upto fifty years, depending upon the type of species. There are more than 40 species of dolphins, and each one stands out in one way or the other. The bottlenose dolphin is the most common species. The young ones are called calves/cow and the mother dolphin takes care of her loved one for upto 6 years. Here's a scenario, imagi...