While I drive my two wheeler at night time, I often see two bright spots move away across the roads. Now I know what it is; but in the ancient times people interpreted it to be a devil out of their ignorance. It is the Eyeshine found whenever animals such as cats and dogs run across the road.
I had wondered in my childhood about the straight lines found on the muddy soil: it was raining the previous evening; who would have drawn them overnight! As I grew up, I understood who it is: the lines were drawn by worms, the Earthworms! (term and names: Lumbricus terrestris, Rain worm, Night-crawler, Angleworm, 'Munpulu' in Tamil). Though these brownish worms are found in rainy season, their presence in summer can also be inferred by the mud-disrupted lines on the irrigated farm grounds.
In my school days, I have heard my elders tell stories about mongoose apart from that popular story, 'Riki-Tikki-Tavi.' One of such stories is here: the mongoose stole daily a hen from the hen house and left out the hen's body after eating its brain! It simply entered into the hen house burrowing down the earth next to the fence!
In school days, I found often shells of snails stuck to the stems of bushy plants. I thought they are the shells of dead snails. Then, I tried hardly to remove one of them from the plant's stem till it give in. On inspection of its mouth I found a white paper-like structure closing it. I pierced it with a stick to strip it off. To my surprise there was the snail still alive, retracting itself further into the shell! This snail is the Vineyard Snail (Cernuella virgata or Hellicella virgata , 'Natthai' in Tamil).
Yes, snake's venom can save a person from diseases such as Diabetes mellitus! After venom is secreted in venom glands and it remained unused, where does it go then? Or what happens to it?
In childhood, we used to talk about the exciting stories that we heard - like that of snakes and ghosts. Out of the snake stories there was one that of a green snake that strikes at eyes when one approaches it! It is the Green Vine Snake (Ahaetulla nasuta, Green whip snake, 'Patcha paamboo' or 'Kankotthi paamboo' in Tamil).
As school kids, we wondered about an animal that lives in water. We imagined it then as a buffalo lying in tank and taking bath. It is the Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius, 'Neer Yaanai' in Tamil meaning 'water elephant'). When we saw it in a zoo then, it resembled a large sized pig, that is lying in mud avoiding sun's heat! Submerged in water, it was also like a frog or a crocodile, showing only its nostrils, eyes and ears above the water surface.
In my childhood days I was warned about a slithering lizard inhabiting wastelands. It is still believed that its presence means that there is also its 'consort' nearby - snake! That lizard has also a warning red line line on its sides extending to its tail end. It is the Common Sun Skink (Mabuya multifasciata, 'Paambu Rani' or 'Paambaranai' in Tamil).
We see ants, termites and bees live a social life sharing tasks among themselves. But a mammal too leads such a eusocial life! It is the Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glabra, Desert mole rat, Sand puppy). It is a burrowing rodent that lives underground in East African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia). Its adaptation to desert life is surprising.
In boyhood days I wondered how the Slender Loris lives with its slow movements. Later on, I viewed an animal that was more sluggish than Slender Loris and is having different and unusual body unlike that of other mammals. Luckily it lives on the tree tops escaping its predators like jaguar and eagles. I refer here only to this animal: Sloth (Bradypus variegatus, Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth).
We usually see that from egg caterpillar comes out, butterfly grows out of it and fly away. But in a type of Salamander (an Amphibian) its growth into an adult is hindered and it is stopped in its larval stage itself. This larva starts also to reproduce! This animal is Axolotl (Ambystroma mexicana, Mole Salamander, 'Mexican walking fish,' 'Waterdog').
In books of comics, mermaids were shown as heroines/princesses of the tales. Mermaids have a female human body and a fish tail instead of the legs. Though their existence is fictitious only, they are compared with the mammals, Sea cows (Dugong) here. I too find an another animal resembling a mermaid.
I had wondered in my childhood how an elephant could digest the contents of a fruit without breaking its hard shell. My sisters had informed me about this that elephant swallows the entire fruit, and after digestion we could see the whole fruit intact in its dung - but without its contents! It explains well about the great digestive power of the animal but it may be an exaggeration. OK. What is that fruit?
One day I was walking barefooted on the cellar of the house. I felt a pinching pain on one of my toes. I found a vermin move away from my foot. It is the Common Centipede (Scutigera forceps, 'Pooraan' in Tamil)! Though its name implies that it has hundred legs, it has only fifteen pairs of legs.
The word, camouflage was introduced to me when I joined N.C.C. (National Cadet Corps) at school. Then the ways of camouflaging practiced in battlefield were taught. Later I learned that animals also practice this camouflaging to evade a predator attack. Animals change their colors similar to that of their surrounding environment to become invisible!
We, the human beings, are the medium-sized member in the Mammal group of this world. We bear in our body the smallest bone that measures only 3mm in length and 3mg in weight! It is the Stapes bone (Stirrup bone). It is one of the three auditory ossicles (bones) found in the Middle ear of us, one on each side. It is the innermost bone. The other bones are the Incus present in the middle and the Malleus in the outer side.
We call turncoats as 'Chameleons' ('Pacshondhi' in Tamil), comparing their changing character! Though this Common Chameleon (Chameleo chameleon) is popular for its changing its color, it is not easily seen here. But this animal has many other special modifications also, like mobile eyes, long extrudable tongue, prehensile tail. Its toes are found fused in into two groups - an adaptation for climbing up the tree with good grip.
In Nature everything is happening with an inner meaning or intention. It may look absurd and dirty. But in animals it is done for goodness - the health. I refer here to Coprophagy, the act of taking one's own faeces. For example, Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus, 'Muyal' in Tamil) does this!
For any living animal Oxygen is the basic requirement. Without Oxygen there will be no life in it. Recently there was a news about the discovery of creatures living about 3.5 kilometers under the Mediterranean Sea where there is no Oxygen at all!
We have seen about parental care towards young ones in earlier blog posts. Now a frog shows it here. It is the Marsupial Frog (Gastrotheca riobambae, Andean Marsupial Treefrog). Both the male and female frogs take much care both in fertilization and bringing up the young ones. Unlike other frogs, this female marsupial frog has a brood pouch on its back.
