Malaysian Orchid Mantis
Leaf Fish
Stick Insect
Dead leaf butterfly
Leaf Moth
Leaf Frog
Uroplatus
Violen mantis
Leafy Sea horse
Leaf insect
Another photo of orchid mantis
Leaf Moth
wonder of nature – some photos
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Category Archives: Nature
Rainbow
Rainbow, a seven coloured arch, which is formed when sunlight passes through the droplets of moisture. A very natural phenomenon, but is a favourite component in mythology.
According to Greek mythology, rainbow is considered as a path made by messenger (iris) between earth and heaven. According to Hindu mythology, its called Indradhanush i.e. bow of God Indra (Indra is considered as a God of rain, thunder and lightning). Another mythology says it’s bow of God of love. Whereas according to Chinese mythology, a slit in sky which is sealed by a Goddess with different colours of stones. In Norse mythology it’s a bridge between home of God and humans.
Rainbows can be formed by other forms of water than rain, including dew, mist and spray. We confuse them with rainbow.
A Circumhorizontal arc, or fire rainbow, is ice-halo formed on cirrus clouds at higher altitude by ice crystals.
Circumhorizontal arc or fire rainbow
A Circumzenithal arc this is formed due to refraction of sunlight through horizontally-oriented ice crystals, generally in cirrus clouds.
Circumzenithal arc, high above the horizon
Fog bow often known as white rainbows or cloud bows because it is white in colour. This is similar to rainbow, but the small size of water droplet causes fog.
A Fog bow
Glory is much smaller than rainbow. Its a combine effect of reflection, refraction and diffraction, by the cloud of refracting water droplets towards its source. It can be seen only when the observer is in between sun and cloud of refracting water droplet.
Glory with aircraft shadow in center
Sun dog, is a kind of ice halo, a coloured patch of light on both right and left side of sun.
A bright Sun dog
Moonbow is also known as lunarbow or lunar rainbow , this is formed when the light is reflect from the surface of moon, These are faint as compared to rainbows.
Moonbow or Lunar rainbow
Seven Amazing Trees
Seven amazing trees from all over the world.
Oak chapel
Oak chapel or Chêne chapelle is an oak tree, is a religious monument and object of pilgrimage.This is situated in Allouville–Bellefosse, France. The tree is between 800 to 1,200 years old. The hollow trunk has two chapel inside which were build in 1669. This religious monument is surrounded with spiral staircase for access.
Oak Chappel at allouville bellefosse
source : Old Trees in The Netherlands and Western Europe
Circus Tree
Axel Erlandson, an American farmer has a hobby of giving unique shapes to trees. He opened a horticulture attraction in 1947, which was named The Tree Circus.
Circus tree
Basket Tree
Different shapes of Circus Tree
Chandelier Tree
Chandelier Tree is a 315 foot (96 metre) tall coast redwood tree in Leggett, California with a 6 foot (1.83m) wide by 9 foot (2.74m) high hole cut through its base to allow a car to drive through. The hole was carved in the 1930s.
Chandelier Tree in California – One of seven amazing trees
Baobab
Also known as bottle tree, upside-down tree, and monkey bread tree, can grow up to grow up to nearly 100 feet (30 m) tall and 35 feet (11 m) wide. Baobabs store water inside the swollen trunk (up to 120,000 litres (32,000 US gal)) to endure the harsh drought conditions.
Baobab Tree at Limpopo Province, South Africa
One species, Limpopo Province, South Africa, often considered the largest example alive, has a circumference of 47 metres (150 ft) and an average diameter of 15 metres (49 ft). Carbon dating has been used to estimate the age of the specimens at approximately 6000 years.
Tea pot Baobob
Bristlecone pine
Bristlecone pine are considered as the oldest tree in the world, some living up to 5,000 years.
Methuselah, named tree is considered as the oldest tree and non-clonal organism still alive in the white mountains of eastern California, at the age of about 4,841 years, its exact location is currently undisclosed to the public as a protection against vandalism.
Bristlecone pine
Banyan tree
Banyan tree has a big canopy with ariel prop roots running from its branches to ground and covers several hectors of land, with age these roots become thick and woody and become
indistinguishable from main trunk. Buddha is believed to have achieved enlightenment under banyan tree (bodhi tree) in Bodhgaya in India.
This large banyan tree was planted in 1873,in Hawaii and now it has coveredtwo-third of an acre
Due to the complex structure of the roots and extensive branching, the banyan is extensively used for creating Bonsai.
Bonsai of Banyan Tree
Tule tree
In Spanish this tree is known as El Árbol del Tule, is located in Oaxaca a Mexican city.
This tree has the stoutest trunk in the world.This tree has the stoutest trunk in the world measuring trunk girth at 190 feet (58 m) and trunk diameter at 37 feet (11.3 m). Initially it was thought to be multiple trees, but DNA tests have proven that it is only one tree.
Arbor Del tule tree in Mexico
Closer view of tree
The tree is also known as “Tree of Life” from all the images of animals that are reputedly visible in the tree’s gnarled trunk.
Honeybees sterilise their hives
Scientists have discovered, honeybees sterilise their hives with antimicrobial resin. In doing so, they give the whole colony a form of “social immunity”.
Although honeybee resin is known to kill a range of pathogens, this is the first time that bees themselves have been shown to utilise its properties.
The team published details of their discovery in the journal Evolution.
Honeybees in the wild nest in tree cavities. When founding a new colony, they line the entire nest interior with a thin layer of resins that they mix with wax. This mixture is known as propolis. They also use propolis to smooth surfaces in the hive, close holes or cracks in the nest, reduce the size of the entrances to keep out intruders, and to embalm intruders that they’ve killed in the hive that are too big to remove.
Honeybees store propolis, which is a mixture of wax and resin, inside their hives. A number of studies have shown that propolis has a range of antimicrobial properties, but mostly in relation to human health.
Mike Simone, a PhD student from the University of Minnesota in St Paul, US, and his supervisor Professor Marla Spivak are doing research on propolis, they have already tested the effectiveness of honeybee propolis against the HIV-1 virus. Now they want to know what propolis is doing to the bees. for this experiment they took two hives, in one the walls were lined with the resin and other was without it. they created colonies of honeybees and housed them in each hive. After one week they collected the bees born in both the hives.
Genetic tests on these 7-day-old bees showed that those growing in the resin-rich colonies had less active immune systems. The resins likely inhibited bacterial growth. Therefore the bees did not have to activate their immune systems as much.
There is also some evidence that some mammals and birds coat themselves in naturally-occurring plant resin in a bid to reduce infestations with parasites.
Beauty of nature
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.
Seven Wonders of Camouflage
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
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
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.
a. Arctic fox
Arctic fox during spring/summer and winter
b.Arctic hare
Arctic Hare during spring/summer and winter
c.Ermine
Ermine in spring/summer and winter
d. Barren Ground Caribou
Barren Ground Caribou in spring/summer and winter
Seven architectural wonders of nature
Nature is full of wonders but these architects of natural world are amazing. These creatures have not taken any training and still are masters. In true sense, their creations are the seven wonders of architecture of natural world.
1. SOCIABLE WEAVER BIRD
The sociable weaver build their nests on trees, which are largest in the world, A huge apartment is build when many pairs of birds work together. The dimension of largest sociable weaver nests is over 20 feet to over 10 feet with more than 100 individual nesting chambers. Some weigh several thousand kilograms and can get so heavy they knock down the supporting tree.
For building the nest, sociable weavers use different materials for different purposes. Large twigs form the roof of the nest, dry grasses create the separate chambers, and sharp straws protect the entry of tunnels from their enemies. Inner chambers are lined from top to bottom with soft fur, cotton, plant material and fluff.
2. TERMITES
Termites are amazing creatures, these .4 inch blind creatures can construct huge towers of several feet and weighing several tons. Termites uses soil, mud, chewed wood/cellulose, saliva, and feces to build homes for their colonies, and this can be of 6 meters.
3. SPIDER
Spider produces silken threads using their spinneret glands located at the tip of their abdomen. Each gland produces threads for special purpose like, a trailed safety line, sticky silk for catching prey and soft silk for packing it. Sometimes a group of spiders may build web together in the same area. It is common for a web to be 20 times the size of the spider building it. But world’s largest web was found in 2007, in park Lake Tawakoni in Texas, a huge web was found covering 180 meters of trees and bushes. Initially the web was white, but turned dark due to mosquitoes caught in it.
4. BEAVER
Beavers are nocturnal, semi aquatic rodents. Beavers are known for building dams, canals and lodges. They use their strong front teeth to cut trees and plants. In absence of a pond beaver construct a dam before building a lodge. First they place vertical poles and then fill between the vertical poles with a crisscross of horizontally placed branches. They fill in the gaps between the branches with a combination of weeds and mud until the dam holds back sufficient water to surround the lodge. In Canada the longest recorded beaver dam in the world spans 2800 feet, and has existed for over a decade.
5. ANTS
Ants are incredible builders that can carry many times their own weight. A species of Argentine ant introduced into Europe about 80 years ago has developed the largest super colony ever recorded. It stretches 6,000 kilometres – from northern Italy, through the south of France to the Atlantic coast of Spain – with billions of related ants occupying millions of nests. While ants from rival nests normally fight each other to the death, ants from the super colony have the ability to recognise each other and co-operate – even if they come from nests at opposite ends of the colony’s range. The Argentine species (Linepithema humile) probably came into Europe on imported plants. Another is in the US, known as the “Californian large”, extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California and third, huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.
6. CLADDISFLY
Claddisfly is a under water architect. It doesn’t construct something huge but, something very unique. The larval form of this fly construct a portable case or sac with silk threads and any other material available like sand, twigs, stones, shells to protect them and to provide natural camouflage. After the pupal stage they cut the sac with their mandibles and fly.
7. NAKED MOLE RAT
Naked mole rat are pinkish-gray, wrinkly skin, scant hair, and long buck teeth. This is the only known social mammal. Virtually they spend their entire life in the total darkness of underground burrows. They are truly social and live in large colonies, with 80 to 300 individuals. Working as a team they are extremely efficient excavators, a colony of 80 can dig an area of 20 football field in less than three months Their shape incisors are the best digging tools. Their teeth 2 upper one and two lower one are located outside the mouth, so that they don’t swallow unwanted dirt and the hairy lips are behind the teeth.
