It is the largest living bird, standing over 7 feet (2 meters) high and weighing as much as 300 pounds (136 kilograms) and capable of running at full speed its pace reach 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour.
Once abundant in Palestine and Arabia, the ostrich is now extinct in those lands, being found today in Africa. Now most ostriches are born in captivity and are farmed for their meat, feathers and hide. They can be domesticated and some even trained for pulling carts.
The ostrich is one of nature's oddities. It has a bladder collecting uric acid, an organ characteristic of mammals but not possessed by any other family of birds.
It also possessed eyelashes that protect its very large eyes from the blowing sand.
The largest of all birds, it cannot fly. Its wings are not capable of sustaining the bird's weight and its flat breastbone lacking the "keel" that supports the flying muscles of birds of flight. The plumes, though lovely, lack the tiny hook like filaments that cling together and give the feathers of flying birds the resistance to air that makes flight possible. Nevertheless the wings useless for flight help to give lift to the bird's heavy body as it runs.
The ostrich is also unique among all birds in having two toes on each foot, one of them equipped with a claw like hoof that becomes a dangerous weapon when the bird is forced to defend itself.
Its height and keen vision enable the bird to spot its enemies from afar and warily moves away.
While mostly the bird feeds mainly on vegetation, it is also carnivorous, including snakes, lizards, and even small birds in its indiscriminate diet. Ostriches are able to endure for long periods without water and hence thrives in solitary wastelands.
The males are black and white, the females and young have a brown head and neck. The female lays the eggs (weighing three pounds = 1.4 kilograms) on the ground surrounded by a low embankment. Since the bird is polygamous, the eggs are left abandoned during daytime in hot days. The male ostrich warms the nest eggs during night.
It is a bad tempered and aggressive bird. A single kick from one of his powerful legs can break a human leg or put a right angle bend in an iron bar half an inch thick. Farmers approach an ostrich with caution, but they have found that putting a paper bag over its head has a calming effect.
The ostrich is said to "forget wisdom" and "not share in understanding." Its greatest weakness is a lack of good sense. The ostrich tends to run in a large curve, which permits its pursuers, if sufficient in number, to surround it. But on a straight course the ostrich's powerful legs enable it to laugh at the horse and at his rider.
Monday, March 10, 2014
EGG, a natural life-support system by A. Bernales
From the very beginning of times EGGS have symbolized BIRTH and RENEWAL. It goes far back before the Romans and Greeks. EGGS then were incorporated as a sacred sign on the cosmogony of every culture on the Earth.
From shape to content every component of the EGG is an example of perfect construction. Its shape is its STRENGTH. The thinness of the EGG'S SHELL do not interfere with the toughness of its material. If it is broken with one hand you need to squeeze very hard the two ends.
Eggs that never receive the sun rays and just do the cycle of life caged in the dark do not produce such tough shell, instead the whole production of life become weak and breakable.
The EGG's five principal parts provide the entire life-support system for the developing bird's life. SHELL is made entirely of calcium carbonate. It is porous. There are about 7,000 pores in a chicken eggshell. This porous material allows the transfer of gases through the shell. Just as an animal needs to breath, so does an egg.
Immediately beneath the shell are TWO MEMBRANES, the outer and the inner. These membranes PROTECT the contents of the egg from BACTERIA and PREVENT moisture from leaving the egg too quickly. For example, the temperature of a hen is 106*F, eggs are very warm at the time they are laid. The air's temperature is usually much lower than 106*F, and the egg cools to the temperature of its surroundings. As cooling takes place, the egg's contents contract more than does the shell itself, this creates a vacuum and air is drawn through the shell's pores.
An AIR CELL forms at the large end of the EGG. While the embryo is growing, the shell membranes surround and contain the WHITE or albumen of the egg.
The WHITE provides the LIQUID MEDIUM in which the EMBRYO develops. Then white CORDS
attach to the YOLK SAC. They are called CHALAZAE, made of a special form of protein, HOLD the yolk in the CENTER of the egg. The YOLK as a source of food for the embryo contains all the FAT in the egg. The small WHITE SPOT on the yolk is the GERMINAL DISK. This germinal disk is where the female's genetic material is found.
The gradual development of the imperceptible GERM within the closed shell; the inward working; without any apparent outward interference of force, which from nothing produced an active something gradually evolved into a concrete,living creature, must have been a miracle from the beginning.
From shape to content every component of the EGG is an example of perfect construction. Its shape is its STRENGTH. The thinness of the EGG'S SHELL do not interfere with the toughness of its material. If it is broken with one hand you need to squeeze very hard the two ends.
Eggs that never receive the sun rays and just do the cycle of life caged in the dark do not produce such tough shell, instead the whole production of life become weak and breakable.
The EGG's five principal parts provide the entire life-support system for the developing bird's life. SHELL is made entirely of calcium carbonate. It is porous. There are about 7,000 pores in a chicken eggshell. This porous material allows the transfer of gases through the shell. Just as an animal needs to breath, so does an egg.
Immediately beneath the shell are TWO MEMBRANES, the outer and the inner. These membranes PROTECT the contents of the egg from BACTERIA and PREVENT moisture from leaving the egg too quickly. For example, the temperature of a hen is 106*F, eggs are very warm at the time they are laid. The air's temperature is usually much lower than 106*F, and the egg cools to the temperature of its surroundings. As cooling takes place, the egg's contents contract more than does the shell itself, this creates a vacuum and air is drawn through the shell's pores.
An AIR CELL forms at the large end of the EGG. While the embryo is growing, the shell membranes surround and contain the WHITE or albumen of the egg.
The WHITE provides the LIQUID MEDIUM in which the EMBRYO develops. Then white CORDS
attach to the YOLK SAC. They are called CHALAZAE, made of a special form of protein, HOLD the yolk in the CENTER of the egg. The YOLK as a source of food for the embryo contains all the FAT in the egg. The small WHITE SPOT on the yolk is the GERMINAL DISK. This germinal disk is where the female's genetic material is found.
The gradual development of the imperceptible GERM within the closed shell; the inward working; without any apparent outward interference of force, which from nothing produced an active something gradually evolved into a concrete,living creature, must have been a miracle from the beginning.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
THE AMAZING BEE. By Angela Bernales
For people who live in the city, unaware of how the natural world survive in today environment, maybe "the world of the honeybee" is only a confusing mass of insects that manage to work in the production of honey. Well, BEES are an amazing example of work ethic and have abilities far out of proportion in comparison to their size.
A typical colony have three types of bees : queen, drones, and workers. The queen is the only fertile female, and her only task is to produce offsprings.
All the drones are males; their main task is to fertilize the queen.
Workers, the remaining females (not able to produce offsprings) are the majority and much more complex in their organization. Each has several definite, specialized duties to perform.
Cleaning bees, brood nurses that care for the growing larvae, building bees, guard bees, and bees that collect pollen and nectar , are a good example. All these tasks are performed by all of them in a sequence that is determining by age.
The young bee's first job is to clean the hive's cells for about three days. As the bee gets older, she progresses in turn to nursing, building, storing, guarding, and foraging. Each worker's responsibility is to patrol and inspect the hive at regular intervals to see what has to be done. If, for example, there is more need for nursing or foraging, the worker will take it upon herself and will adapt accordingly.
It is an essential factor in their efficiency the ability to communicate with one another. They, like many other insects, accomplish this by transmitting their own chemical messages through odors secreted from various glands in their bodies. Each odor tells its own story forming together a powerful language.
Another way of communication is "dancing." When a forager bee wants to let her fellow workers know the location of a food source, she performs an energetic round dance, involving a series of rapid circles. If the source is further away the dance takes the form of the number eight.
The more we observe them the more we learn from this extraordinary and intelligent insect, capable of maintain an efficient and orderly community with the purpose of producing honey to the world.
A typical colony have three types of bees : queen, drones, and workers. The queen is the only fertile female, and her only task is to produce offsprings.
All the drones are males; their main task is to fertilize the queen.
Workers, the remaining females (not able to produce offsprings) are the majority and much more complex in their organization. Each has several definite, specialized duties to perform.
Cleaning bees, brood nurses that care for the growing larvae, building bees, guard bees, and bees that collect pollen and nectar , are a good example. All these tasks are performed by all of them in a sequence that is determining by age.
The young bee's first job is to clean the hive's cells for about three days. As the bee gets older, she progresses in turn to nursing, building, storing, guarding, and foraging. Each worker's responsibility is to patrol and inspect the hive at regular intervals to see what has to be done. If, for example, there is more need for nursing or foraging, the worker will take it upon herself and will adapt accordingly.
It is an essential factor in their efficiency the ability to communicate with one another. They, like many other insects, accomplish this by transmitting their own chemical messages through odors secreted from various glands in their bodies. Each odor tells its own story forming together a powerful language.
Another way of communication is "dancing." When a forager bee wants to let her fellow workers know the location of a food source, she performs an energetic round dance, involving a series of rapid circles. If the source is further away the dance takes the form of the number eight.
The more we observe them the more we learn from this extraordinary and intelligent insect, capable of maintain an efficient and orderly community with the purpose of producing honey to the world.
Can the FORCE OF GRAVITY change? by Angela Bernales
In 1665, Newton's apple took exactly one second to fall. Today the apple takes longer. Why?
In the 1930's when astronomers checked back in time over observations made over several centuries, they were overly surprised when they discovered that Earth's Day had been growing steadily longer at about a fifth of a second every century.
Confirmation came through the branch of geology concerned with the study of the fossil remains of animal and plants life of past geological periods (paleontology). Paleontologists found that patterns of coral growth about 400 million years ago pointed out that a year in that distant "time" was some 400 days long. The Earth used to spin faster, making each day slightly shorter.
Corals occur as polyps only and usually are colonial, living in shallow ocean waters. They emit a secretion colored in a hard red or white. The reason they do that is to protect and support the polyps. Coral reefs and those in the shape of a ring or horseshoe enclosing a shallow stretch of water separated from the sea, are formed from broken "coral skeletons."
In 1938, Paul Dirac, a physicist, pointed out that "the laws of the universe" led to some odd predictions concerning "the behavior of gravity" specifically, "gravity would grow weaker as the universe aged."
The prediction was given as a result of the observation of the Earth's gravity 400 millions years ago, when the whole universe was settling or begin to cool off.
Dirac's observation remained as no more than a interesting footnote, given the fact that many theories related to the formation of the world were dormant in those years.
In the 1970s, mounting geological evidence suggested that the Earth was originally only about 80 per cent of its present size, scientists were force to accept an inescapable conclusion :
"Since it is GRAVITY that HOLDS the Earth TOGETHER, WEAKENING GRAVITY must be the reason that the globe expanded. This expansion slowed down the ROTATION of the Earth."
In the 1930's when astronomers checked back in time over observations made over several centuries, they were overly surprised when they discovered that Earth's Day had been growing steadily longer at about a fifth of a second every century.
Confirmation came through the branch of geology concerned with the study of the fossil remains of animal and plants life of past geological periods (paleontology). Paleontologists found that patterns of coral growth about 400 million years ago pointed out that a year in that distant "time" was some 400 days long. The Earth used to spin faster, making each day slightly shorter.
Corals occur as polyps only and usually are colonial, living in shallow ocean waters. They emit a secretion colored in a hard red or white. The reason they do that is to protect and support the polyps. Coral reefs and those in the shape of a ring or horseshoe enclosing a shallow stretch of water separated from the sea, are formed from broken "coral skeletons."
In 1938, Paul Dirac, a physicist, pointed out that "the laws of the universe" led to some odd predictions concerning "the behavior of gravity" specifically, "gravity would grow weaker as the universe aged."
The prediction was given as a result of the observation of the Earth's gravity 400 millions years ago, when the whole universe was settling or begin to cool off.
Dirac's observation remained as no more than a interesting footnote, given the fact that many theories related to the formation of the world were dormant in those years.
In the 1970s, mounting geological evidence suggested that the Earth was originally only about 80 per cent of its present size, scientists were force to accept an inescapable conclusion :
"Since it is GRAVITY that HOLDS the Earth TOGETHER, WEAKENING GRAVITY must be the reason that the globe expanded. This expansion slowed down the ROTATION of the Earth."
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