Nothing is beautiful than nature. Animals, birds or flowers they don’t need any thing to enhance their beauty. They don’t need any costume designer, nor any cosmetics this is called natural beauty. Such is their beauty that they can’t be ignored. No matter, whatever your state of mind is, you are bound to appreciate the beauty provided to us by nature in form of birds, animals, insects and plants. Nature stimulated the creativity of artist and fashion industry.
I don’t have any words to say about the beauty of butterfly. But one thing I feel very sad about them is their short life span, many live just for a month.
One thing which surprises me about birds is that they don’t have hands, still are wonderful architects. Some birds are very good singers.
The best gift God has given, colours and fragrance can energize everyone.
Nature is amazing, the world which is hidden i.e, under water world is also so beautiful, wish to stay there……..
Nature has given a wonderful gift to animals, their beautiful exterior…..Fashion industry is also inspired by these creatures which we can see that they are always is trend. Its sad that these animals have to lose their life because of the beauty.
I am back with another wonder of nature, this is camouflage or colour changing ability of some species of invertebrates and vertebrates. This is a unique characteristic or rather a weapon which is some time used as a defense and sometime to catch prey. These creatures so perfectly blend with the surrounding that its very hard to spot them.
So, please have a look and enjoy!
1. Mollusca
a. Mimic Octopus
Camouflage by Octopus – Seven wonders of Nature
Mimic octopus
As the name suggest this is an expert to mimic other creatures. Normally it has brown and white stripes or spots. This octopus can contour its body and change its colour and also mimic the likeness and movements of more than fifteen different species including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crab, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones, and martis shrimps. Depending upon the predator it can decide which animal to impersonate, for example if it is attacked by a damselfish then octopus impersonate as a sea snake, (damselfish’s predator) by burying six of its arms and waving other two arms in opposite direction, and changing colour to black and yellow. Really a champion of disguise.
Cuttlefishes are also known as chameleon of sea because of rapid changing ability.
Arthropoda
a. Golden Tortoise Beetle
Beetle camouflage
These beetles can change colour from golden to red. Instead of using pigment cells it changes its colour by altering the reflectivity of their shell, which is a remarkable feature of this tiny creature.
Depending on the flower on which it is hunting it can change its colour, but as it can change only in white and yellow so normally it hunts on white and yellow flowers like daisy and sunflower. Colour changing is induced by visual feedback.
3.Flounder fish
This is an ocean dwelling flat fish. They manage to blend so well with surroundings that it’s hard to locate them. A peculiar characteristic of this fish is that it has both the eyes on same side, which is an aid for the act of camouflage. A larval flounder has one eye on each side of the body, but as it grows one eye migrate to other side.
4. Amphibians
Peron’s tree frog can change its colour in less than an hour from grey, brown or even white. Due to its high pitched cackle it is also known as laughing tree frog.
5. Reptiles
Some Chameleons are expert in changing colour varying from pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, yellow and turquoise.
6. Birds
Ptarmigan
Ptarmigan, also known as rock ptarmigan exhibits seasonal camouflage, it changes it’s colour from brown to white. In winter it’s white with black tail , and brown in spring and summer. It is a gamebird in grouse family. These birds prefer to live in barren and higher elevation areas.
7. Mammals
Some mammals like Arctic fox, Arctic hare, Ermine exhibit seasonal camouflage, with the onset of winter their colour changes to white which remain for whole winter, after winter i.e. in spring and summer they have a different colour. This change help them in both ways, catching prey as well as protecting from predators.
Chesterfield’s crooked spire is a parish church of St. Mary and All Saints. This famous six hundred year old crooked spire is visible from many miles around. This is a largest parish church in Derby shire, having several chapels, alabaster tomb, and a full range of historic treasure. It was built around 1350.
Since 1994, this is a member of the Association of Twisted Spires of Europe. There are altogether 72, France has 32, Germany 19, Austria 8, Belgium 7, Denmark 3, and Switzerland 2, with Chesterfield being the UK’s only representative. Chesterfield’s Crooked Spire is the most unusual, with a greater lean & twist than any other.
There are plenty of legend, about the All saints crooked spire.
Some say that a local blacksmith was asked to shoe the devil and was so nervous, he drove a nail into his foot. The devil flew off and kicked out at the spire as he passed by.
In the second tale, the devil landed on the spire and sneezed violently when the smell of incense from the midnight mass reached his nose.
And in the third, the spire turned around in amazement when a virgin was married in the church
so it leaned over to have a closer look, and if this ever happen again the spire will straighten thinking that it’s common.
The most likely explanation, though, is the lack of skilled craftsmen and the use of green timber, a lack of cross-bracing and 32 tons of lead cladding.
The octagonal spire of All Saints is timber-framed and constructed of oak, with platelets of lead-cladding rising in herringbone rows from the flat-roofed and crenellated battlements of the clock-towered belfry, up to the golden cockerel atop the weather-vane, 228 feet above the ground.
The spire currently leans 9ft 6ins to the south-west and leans more every year.
The spire also has a spiral twist of 45% from west to east at its base which is thought to be attributable to the use of green, unseasoned timber, and the weight of the lead cladding.
The spire at the All Saints was added to the existing tower around 1362, but is not attached and is only held in place by the weight (32 tons) and perfect balance.
During the 19th century an official architectural survey declared the spire unsafe and dangerous; the Town Council were ordered to either take it down, or repair it and make it safe – they repaired it.
Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world selling for between $100 and $600 USD per pound or about $50 a cup. Its also known as Civet coffee or Weasel coffee. Kopi Luwak is an Indonesian word, Kopi which means coffee, and luwak is a common name of a cat size mammal Asian Palm Civet. Kopi Luwak has an exceptional aroma and most pleasing taste.
But I’m sure many of us don’t know how this delicious coffee is obtained. Civets consumes red coffee cherries, containing fruits and seeds. But, its not able to digest the coffee beans so they are passed out. The beans and collected washed and dried. Though Civets are not able to digest the beans but their digestive juices penetrate the beans break down the proteins and enhance its flavour.
We may worry about the safety, but rigourous washing, sun drying and roasting at high temperature help to eliminate bacteria making it a safe coffee.
Really, an unusual way to get an unusual flavour…….
Hundertwasser’s House is an apartment house in Vienna, Austria . This was designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and was built between 1983 and 1986. Its an unususal house with complete asymmetry, undulating floor, with grasses on roof and many large trees inside the room and branches coming out of windows. Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. This is the most popular tourist spot of the city.
2. The Upside-Down House
The Upside-Down House was created by Daniel Czapiewski in the village of Szymbark, northern Poland, on July 31, 2007. It represents not merely a bizarre tourist attraction, but is also meant to be a profound statement about the Communist era. It took 114 days to build the house, because the workers were disorientated by the strange angles of the walls.
3. Toilet-Shaped House
This Toilet-Shaped House south was built by the founding member of the World Toilet Association. The house features four deluxe toilets and is dedicated to providing clean sanitation to the more than 2 billion people who live without toilets. The home has a showcase bathroom placed in its centre. Other toilets have features that range from elegant fittings to the latest in water conservation devices. The house bears the named Haewoojae, which stands for Korean “a place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries”.
4. House on Stick
The design of the House on the Stick was inspired by highway billboards . The house is rather small. It is only 27 square meters (290 square feet) and as such it is not intended to be a family residence. It is designed as an object suitable for almost every place on earth, for instance, forests, seas, lakes, mountains, meadows as well as on the main city street.
5. The Bubble House
Bubble House was constructed on Pierre Cardin’s demand. The project was being built by an architect named Antti Lovag for an industrialist with whom Lovag had become friends while building a previous house. The house was intended to demonstrate the possibility of short-circuiting traditional architecture in the name of original, contemporary design.
6. The Broken Column House
The Broken Column House is so named because it takes the form of a ruined classical column. The house was created by the aristocrat François Nicolas Henri Racine de Monville who made it his main residence during the years immediately before the French Revolution.
7. The Glass House
The Glass House is one of the world’s most beautiful and yet least functional homes. The house is symmetrical and sits solidly on the ground. The quarter-inch thick glass walls are supported by black steel pillars. The interior space is divided by low walnut cabinets and a brick cylinder that contains the bathroom. The cylinder and the brick floors are a polished purple hue. Philip Johnson says that when people come into his house they just shut up and look around. The Glass House is now open to the public, with tours booked many months in advance.
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