ABC; All biological concerns: Life

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Wednesday, 13 February 2019

Major differences between 10 sets of look alike animals

Elijah Rona February 13, 2019 0 Comments

Do you know how to identify a crocodile when it's placed with an alligator? Do you know the difference between a panther and a jaguar? What about toads and frogs? Read this article to learn the differences between 10 sets of look alike animals.

Differences between 10 sets of look alike animals

Differences between Butterflies and Moths

Butterflies and Moths are very similar insects and belong to the order Lepidoptera under the class Insecta under the phylum Arthropoda. Many actually think that moths are butterflies. Well, here are their differences:

You're most likely to find butterflies during the day because butterflies are diurnal which means they're more active in the day. Moths however are nocturnal meaning they're more active at night so you're most likely to find moths at night.
Butterflies are colorful and have beautiful patterns in their wings but Moths mostly have faded patterns and are mostly white, black and grey.
When at rest, butterflies stretch their wings horizontally or vertically but moths fold their wings so their abdomen is fully covered.
The antennae of butterfly is club-shaped, meaning that it's straight from the bottom but swelled at the top but for moth, the antennae is feathery.

Butterflies and moths

Differences between Crocodiles and Alligators

How do you know that you saw an Alligator yesterday? What makes you feel it was not a Crocodile? Well, here are the differences between Alligators and Crocodiles:

The snout (mouth part) of a crocodile is pointed from the body, it is v-shaped. The snout of an alligator is wide, it is u-shaped.
Alligators in the world can only be found in some parts of USA and China however, crocodiles can be found worldwide so if you aren't in the US or China, you're most likely to see crocodiles.
When their mouth is closed, the teeth of Alligators are hidden but the teeth of Crocodile are not fully covered
Crocodiles are generally larger in size and longer than Alligators
Crocodiles are more aggressive than alligators
Crocodiles prefer to live in saline water while Alligators prefer fresh water like swamps

Crocodiles and alligators

Differences between Toads and Frogs

Toads and frogs are both amphibians. They both start their life-cycles as tadpoles and they look alike in almost every way. How can you differentiate both?

Habitat: Although they both hatched and started their life in water, toads (when matured) live in land but frogs continue to live in/around water
Skin: The skin of frogs is wet, smooth and slimy but that of toads is bumpy, dry and rough.
Limbs: They both hop but the limbs of Frogs are structured better for hopping because it is stronger and looks thicker
Eyes: The eyes of frogs bulge out more than the eyes of toads
Eggs: Toads lay their eggs connected to each other like they're in long chain but frogs lay their eggs connected to each other in a cluster-form

Frogs and Toads

Differences between Tigers, Jaguars, Panthers, Leopards, Cheetahs, etc

They're all cats and we love them. Although, lion is also a cat, it is unique can easily be identified. Let's learn the differences between the big cats:

Panthers: Just so you know, there isn't an animal species called panther. "Panther" as a term refers to the melanin (fully black) version of big cats like jaguars, leopards, etc. That's how we got "Black Panther"
Tigers: They're the largest of the cats. They don't have spots in their body, they have stripes instead. They can be found in Asia. They're solitary. Tigers love swimming and even have webbed paws.
Cheetahs: They can be found in the plains of Africa. Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world, they're good climbers as well. The best way to identify cheetahs is the tear-mark in their face. The tear-mark is like a black line (like tears) connecting their eyes to mouth.
Jaguars: They can be found in central and southern America and they're the biggest cats in their habitats. They're good swimmers and love water. Jaguars, unlike Tigers, have spots on their fur. These spots called rosettes have holes in their middle.
Leopards: They're the smallest of the big cats in their habitat. They can be found in Africa and Asia. They also have rosettes both theirs is smaller and sometimes have no space in the middle. They're excellent swimmers but don't like water.

Clockwise from top left: tiger, jaguar, cheetah and leopard

Do you know that is unfair to call lions the kings of the jungle? Here's the reason why: 5 wrong animal stereotypes that will make you rethink nature

Differences between Sponges and Corals

They can mostly be found in the same places, they're both animals and both look like plants. Here are some differences between sponges and corals:

They aren't in the same phylum. Sponges are in Phylum Porifera while corals are in phylum Cnideria.
Sponges are more primitive than corals. Corals are related to more complex animals like sea anemones, jellyfishes, etc.
Sponges feed and excrete through cells in their wall that aid in diffusion. Corals however, gain nutrition through a relationship with plants like algae
Sponges are generally soft in texture but corals can be soft or hard
Sponges have pores and large openings which help in diffusion.

Corals

Sponges

Differences between Ants and Termites

Both ants and termites are mistaken for the same insects. Very few people care to know their differences because they're both feared and hated for causing harm. Is that really true? Here's their differences:

Although they're both in phylum Arthropoda and class Insecta, ants are in order Hymenoptera and family Formicidae while termites are in order Isoptera and can be found in several families
Ants are scavengers (meaning they search for food). They may live in decaying wood or other materials but they don't eat them. They send their workers to go search for food. Termites however, eats plant tissues, wood and almost anything so termites are actually the destructive species.
Wings: Not all of their species have wings. You can identify winged termites through their long and uniform wings (all their wings are the same in size). Winged ants can be identified through their wings almost the size of their body while some are smaller than the others.
Antennae: The antennae of ants is elbowed while that of termites is blunt (almost straight).
The waist of ants is thin so it creates a visible segmentation between the thorax and abdomen but Termites have an almost uniform body.

Ants and termites

Differences between Bees, Wasps and Hornets

They're all stringing insects and we don't want to get close to any of them. How can you differentiate a bee from a wasp or from a hornet? Keep reading:

Bees: They appear fuzzy because of the many hairs in their body. Their nest which is usually big is called a beehive and it is made from wax. Bees produce honey and store it in their honeycomb. If they sting an animal, their stinger remains in the body of that animal so they may likely die. They will only sting when they feel threatened. Bees pollinate flowers.
Wasps: They can easily be identified by their sharp yellow and black rings coloration. They have a thin and long waist so their abdomen is distanced from their thorax. They make their nest through chewing wood to make it soft and building it in a corner. They can sting more than once and even lay eggs on their preys (humans aren't their preys). Only the females sting.
Hornets: They're not so different from wasps. They're generally larger, are white with black rings. Hornets and wasps are carnivorous and can sting multiple times.

Differences between Goats, Sheep and Rams

People love calling themselves sheep and hate it when they're called goats. Not all sheep have wool so how can they differentiate goats from sheep? What about rams?

Rams: They're simply male sheep, identified by their testicles.
Fur: Sheep can have wool or hair but goats have just hairs.
Tail: They can easily be identified by their tails, Sheep tail bends downward but goats tail bends upwards.
Beards: Sheep don't have beards but goats do.
Horns: Most sheep lack horns but goats have horns.
Odor: When male goats mature, they emit a very sharp and distinctive smell.

Differences between Monkeys, Chimpanzees, Gorillas, etc

Just like humans, they're all primates. Excluding monkeys they're all apes. Wait what? Monkeys aren't apes? Why? How? here are the ways to identify these animals

Monkeys: Monkeys have tails but apes don't. Monkeys are usually small and very active. Baboons are monkeys. Monkeys can be found worldwide except Antarctica
Apes: Apes don't have tails, they are more developed, have larger brains and closer to humans than monkeys. Apes includes chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, etc. How do we identify them?
Gorillas: They look strong and heavy. They're actually the largest primates. They are covered with hair ranging from black to reddish black. The older the males get, the more grey the hair color on their back becomes. Adult males are known as silver backs. They can be found in Africa
Chimpanzees: They're the most social apes so whenever you see one, there are great chances of others being around. They're mostly on ground an move by knuckle walking. Their arms are usually longer than their legs.
Orangutans: They can mostly be found in trees. They have large cheeks. They are mostly solitary. They have a dark reddish hair.

Differences between Turtles and Tortoises

They're both reptiles and have a shell. Both animals are shy in nature. People often use their names interchangeably. Well, they're different animals and here are their differences:

Habitat: Tortoises dwell on land but turtles live in water most of the times.
Tortoises are mostly found in Africa and Asia but turtles are mostly found in Africa and America
Shell: The shell of tortoises bulges out and looks like a dome but that of turtles is streamlined for easy movement in water
Feeding: Tortoises are mostly herbivorous but turtles are omnivorous.
Limbs: The forelimbs of turtles are straight and almost flat (streamlined) for easy swimming but the limbs of tortoises are generally thick and bent.

Tortoises and turtles

Bonus

Differences between venomous and non-venomous snakes

Do you know the differences between venomous and non-venomous snakes? Learn these differences by reading an older article here in this blog. Read the article here: Know the differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

Did you like the article or learnt something new? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Do well to share the article with friends as well.

References:

Monday, 4 February 2019

5 wrong animal stereotypes that will make you rethink nature

Elijah Rona February 04, 2019 2 Comments

No one knows it all. What you thought was true today may just become false tomorrow. There are a few things we know about a few animals but we don't really know if they're true or not. Read this article to learn 5 wrong animal stereotypes we've been using to judge animals

5 wrong animal stereotypes

Lions are the king of the jungle

Lions to many people, represent pride. Pride literally a group of lions. Here are some facts about lions:

Male lions, when in a pride, mostly relies on the females for food. The females mostly do the hunting
When male lions become the alpha male of a pride, they kill and (sometimes) eat the cubs of the females impregnated by other males
Lions don't come first in anything; not in size, strength, speed, niche, etc.
Most lions aren't found in the jungle or forest. They can be found in grasslands, wildernesses, savannas, etc.
Other animals fear lions because lions are social animals (strength in numbers), predators and scary

How can lions be the kings of the king of the jungle if they mostly aren't found in the jungle? How can lions represent pride when all they do is sleep, hunt for food and eat? Why don't lions come first in anything? Such kings they are.

Let's talk a little about tigers:

Tigers are mostly solitary. They only meet each other accidentally or when it's mating time. Although they're solitary, they still hunt successfully and dominate
They're mostly found in the jungle/forest. In other words, they dominate the forest
Tigers are the biggest cats
Their limbs are so strong that if they die standing, they still won't fall

Now, who should be the king of the jungle?

The majestic Tiger

Owls represent wisdom

This has been known for ages. Even since the time of the Greeks, Athena the goddess of wisdom was commonly associated with Owls. Well, owls are nice birds and have cool features like their neck's ability to rotate up to 270°. Owls have large eyes which make them look as if they're very cautious. Well, i can't argue that Owls can represent wisdom but i can argue that they are not the best animal to represent wisdom. For instance, can an owl match the Octopus?

Here are a few octopus' facts:

They're invertebrates, in the same phylum with snails, slugs, clams, etc.
Octopuses have neurons in all their eight arms. This makes them great at multitasking because all eight arms can function differently at the same time. More like a creature with nine brains (one central).
Although related to slow and immobile organisms, octopuses (as well as squids) can be very fast in water.
Octopus; Octo -eight, pus/podus -foot literally means eight foot while its class Cephalopods literally means head foot.
Looking at the octopus its head is just that small part where the eyes can be found just above the arms. The mantle cavity (which houses its stomach, anus and other vital organs) makes a cephalopod look like an organism with a very large brain.

Well, I think the Octopus should be the real representative of wisdom

Pigs are very dirty

You'd definitely feel insulted if someone calls you a pig. We all know pigs to be very dirty. Let's study the pigs:

If given the chance, pigs don't poop close to where they sleep or eat.
Pigs don't have sweat pores so they rely on the coolness of the ground to keep their body from over heating. This means that they love the mud, not because they just want to play or become dirty but because it's their natural instinct of survival.
Pigs are smarter than our household pets so they're more easily trained than cats and dogs

Well, pigs need the dirt to survive. Why does your dog like to roll in the dirt?

Vultures are evil

Yes they eat the flesh of dead animals but does that mean they're evil? Let's exam the vultures:

They're detrivores. This means that they eat decomposing animals. Is that really bad? With this niche of vultures, they're able to speed up the time nutrients would be taken back to the ground. For instance, it may take more than 3 months for the soft parts (flesh) of a carcass to decompose and even longer for its bones. When vultures eat the carcass, it would digest and excrete it in not more than 2 days.
Vultures are social. Meaning they're mostly around each other. Talking of co-operation

Don't call vultures evil. They're only acting their role in nature.

Read Microorganisms; the good, the bad and the ugly

Owls and Cats are evil

This stereotype is popular in Nigeria. It is widely accepted and more Nigerians would kill any Owl or unknown Cat they find wandering in the street early in the morning. Just like Nigerians many people believe that Cats and Owls are used by or transformed into by witches and wizards.

Owls and Cats (especially owls) are nocturnal meaning they're mostly active at night. They move at night, hunt/search for food at night, poop at night and return back to their hiding place early in the morning. There's nothing witchy about them. This is among the 5 wrong animal stereotypes we should put to rest.

What the average Nigerian thinks about witches

Read Cool nature facts you may not have known

References:

Monday, 7 January 2019

Cool nature facts you may not have known

Elijah Rona January 07, 2019 0 Comments

Nature of is beautiful, wonderful and cool. Learning more about nature is very satisfying. Some people though, may be unable to learn more about nature because of tight schedule and other reasons. Read this article to learn some random cool nature facts. The more you know, the happier you become.

Random facts about nature. Cool nature facts to blow your mind

Prepare for your mind to get blown away. There may have been some things you thought you knew in Biology. When you realize that you've been living a lie, you'll question your own existence😂

Plants breathe in Oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide

I remember when i was a child. Our teacher told us that animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. She told us that for plants, the process of respiration is the exact opposite of that in animals. We had to believe her because that's what everyone would say. I kept holding on to this belief until we were taught plant respiration in my 200lv. We were all surprised and didn't want to believe our lecturer when he told us that every aerobic organisms breathe the same way -oxygen inhaled and carbon dioxide exhaled.
The thing is that plants also undergo photosynthesis.This means that for plants, they respire and photosynthesize. For photosynthesis to take place, there must be sunlight (or light which the plants can photosynthesize with). Photosynthesis also requires carbon dioxide to function. As the end result, photosynthesis produces nutrient (carbohydrate, energy, ATP, whatever you call it) and also produces oxygen as a bi-product. The amount of carbon dioxide taken into the plant by photosynthesis exceeds the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the plant by respiration so during the day, we can say that more carbon dioxide is taken into the plant and more oxygen is taken out. When there's no light (at night) however, photosynthesis cannot occur so plants inhale only oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This means that we should not go too close to big trees at night because we'll be inhaling carbon dioxide from the plant.

Plants Inhale oxygen (O2) and exhale Carbon dioxide (CO2) like every other organisms

Euglena is the only animal-like and plant-like organism

Euglena is under the kingdom Protista. The kingdom Protista is a kingdom characterized by unicellular eukaryotic organisms (solitary organisms with nucleus and more complex cell organelles) like Amoeba, Paramecium, etc. All the Protists organisms can be classified as animal-like or plant-like. This classification is based on how they gain nutrient. The animal-like ones gain nutrient by feeding on organic components of their environment and/or feeding on smaller organisms while the plant-like ones gain nutrient through photosynthesis (This means they have Chlorophyll). Euglena as an organism is both animal-like and plant-like. It switches to the best method of gaining nutrient with the availability of sunlight.

Euglena are both animal-like and plant-like

Viruses aren't living

Viruses are in the thin line between organisms and objects. For something to be classified as living, it has to have the characteristics of living things; movement, respiration, nutrition, irritability, growth, excretion, reproduction, death, etc. Viruses cannot do most of these on their own. For viruses to function, they need to be in a host cell. When outside a host, Viruses are as useful as useless. Without the organelles of its host, a virus cannot reproduce. Asides the characteristics of living organisms, viruses are very simple in structure; they're just composed of a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA, never both) inside a protein case, also having slight differences in their outside structure with regards the type. What the viruses do is that when they're inside their host, they insert their nucleic acid into the nucleic acid of their host. With this modification, the host will start producing more viruses with identical nucleic acid as the one inserted in it. When the host has expanded and cannot hold more viruses, it bursts and releases the already made new viruses into the environment. These new ones will then drift to new hosts.

Trees communicate with and help each other

Yes, they do communicate and with and help each other. The question now is 'how?'. Trees on their own cannot help each other but for a forest to be complete, it has to have a range of organisms from trees to other organisms like animals, protists, fungi, etc. Trees can achieve this social network with the help of fungi. Organisms in kingdom Fungi aren't photosynthetic so they gain nutrient from the environment. Saprophytes grow on dead decaying organisms. Others grow on the roots of different plants. These fungi which grow on the roots of plants may grow on thee root of one or more plants at once. They can now receive excess nutrients from the plants they're anchored on. A recent study has shown that they can also transfer nutrients from one plant to another. That is a plant with more nutrients can help a plant with less nutrients with the help of fungi. This network of the roots of different plants connected with each other though the help of fungi is called Mycorrhizal network. It is very important because taller plants get more sunlight than shorter plants. Through the help of the fungi, taller plants can help shorter plants.

Trees communicate with and help each other

Viruses are very selective

You may know different types of viruses and you may even be scared of all. The fear is normal because 'virus' is now a bad term. For a virus to function, it has to enter its host. What most people don't know is that each type of viruses have their own preferred host. 'Preferred' isn't even the right word to use. For a virus to be able to enter its host, it has to be recognized as friendly. It can be recognized by he host when its surface matches the receptor molecules of the cell. The identical nature of receptor molecules on the surface of cells is the only way organisms can be multi-cellular. If the outside structure of the virus does not match the receptor molecules of the cell, the virus won't be able to enter. This is why HIV cannot infect other cells in the body except the immune cells. Its structure matches only the receptors of human immune cells.

See the outside structure of the virus

Cyanobacteria are Photosynthetic

And so what? Right? Well, it may surprise you that for an organism to be a bacteria, it must be prokaryotic. A prokaryotic organism is an organism without a nucleus and one which has lesser amount of cell organelles as opposed to eukaryotic organisms. Only eukaryotic organisms have chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a special pigment that aid in photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria however, have chlorophyll. This means it is the only bacteria, the only prokaryotic organism that can undergo photosynthesis. As a matter of fact, scientists are suggesting (with the theory of endosymbiosis) that eukaryotic organisms evolved from other prokaryotic organisms that devoured on cyanobacteria. That however will be a discussion for another day.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic

Read Microorganisms; the good, the bad and the ugly

Did you learn something new today? Please do well to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Also help me by sharing the article with your friends if you loved it. Thanks very much.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglena

Monday, 3 December 2018

Microorganisms; the good, the bad and the ugly

Elijah Rona December 03, 2018 2 Comments

Microorganisms are very small organism that are not visible to the naked eyes. They, although very tiny, are everywhere and have large effects on their environment and other organisms. Are all microbes bad? What are some popular microbes and their importance? Read this article to know some good microbes, bad microbes and other notable microbes.

Microbes 101. Introduction to the tiny world

Microorganisms aren't aliens or so different from we humans or other organisms we can see. Here are a few notes about microbes:

They're just simpler and tiny organisms.
Most of them are unicellular (meaning they have just 1 cell) but some are multicellular (meaning they're made up of two or more cells)
They can be found in all kingdoms: Monera (Bacteria), Protista (Unicellular animal-like and plant-like organisms), Fungi, Plantae and Animalia.
Some can live individually while others form colonies (making them visible)
Some are free living while others depend on other organisms for survival

Of course the list is endless but let's focus on classifying microbes based on their benefits or harms.

The good; microbes we benefit from

Diatoms

These microbes are plant-like protists. They're Unicellular and like plants, they're able to manufacture their food through photosynthesis. They can be found everywhere especially in water bodies. Here are a few ways we benefit from them:

They're responsible for the production of about 20% of the Earth's oxygen each year (they release oxygen through photosynthesis)
Since they're very small, they're in the bottom of the aquatic food chain. Other organisms like juvenile (young) shrimps, octopuses and fishes eat them, larger aquatic organisms eat these juveniles, subsequently, it gets to the top of the food chain (man).
Since they number in trillions and float in water bodies, they form a blockage for sunlight (one reason why the ocean waters aren't clear) so that heat (which travels with sunlight) cannot penetrate deep into the ocean. Since water is around 70% of the Earth's surface, the role of diatoms in maintaining the temperature of the oceans affects us on land as well.

The niche (role) of diatoms in the environment cannot be overemphasized.

Read Everything to know about Phytoplankton

Penicillium

There are different Penicillium species. These organisms under kingdom Fungi have been a breakthrough for man. They can be found in temperate regions and can also be found in damp parts of buildings. They produce a substance that stops the growth and reproduction of some bacteria like Staphylococcus. This substance which they produce, is what we call penicillin today. The discovery of penicillin started the study and production of antibiotics. If not for these organisms, who knows, a lot of people would have died because of incurable bacteria infections. You see? Microbes have medical importance as well

Rhizobia

These are under the kingdom Eubacteria (Monera). They can be found in the soil as either free living or in association with plants. They (when in the root of legumes) can collect nitrogen gas (N2) from the atmosphere, convert it into a simpler form of nitrogen then send it to the plant (which the plant needs for growth). Legumes like beans, peas, clover, etc. Rhizobia are especially important in the mass cultivation of such plants in places where fertilizers (to supply nitrogen to the plant) aren't available or affordable. This relationship with legumes have proven the agricultural importance of microbes.

Rhizobia in the root of a legume

Microbes that are beneficial to man and the environment are so much and we're grateful. Some like the Lactobacillus aid in the fermentation of milk and also breaking down of food particles during digestion. Their benefits cannot be overemphasized.

The bad; microbes that harm us

Clostridium tetani

It is a bacteria. It is found mostly in soils worldwide. It can be free living and is very deadly when it is parasitic. It is responsible for Tetanus. Tetanus is a severe disease that children worldwide are being vaccinated against it. Its spores (reproductive part) enter our body through wounds and release toxins that cause the diseases. This bacteria is the reason why children are still vaccinated till today. It is advised that you get vaccinated if you have an injury around the lower region of your body to prevent tetanus.

Plasmodium

Plasmodium is a protozoa (animal-like Protista) that infects the blood of different vertebrate animals (including man) to form the malaria disease. There are different plasmodium species like P. malariae, P. ovale and P. falciparum. There is also a zoonotic species (able to infect different species) called the P. knowlesi. Plasmodium can be found in places with high humidity, temperature and rainfall. Its disease Malaria is responsible for the death over 1 million people per year especially children (according to UNICEF). Plasmodium enters into our bloodstream through infected mosquitoes. Mosquitoes breed and the young grows in stagnant water, plasmodium infects some mosquitoes through that medium and enters into our bloodstream when the mosquitoes penetrate into our skin.

Molds

Molds or moulds (under Fungi) are filamentous fungi (i.e they grow in filamentous colonies therefore appearing as multicellular as opposed to Unicellular yeast that grows independently). Mold is a diverse term used to refer to different species of fungi. They are decomposers (meaning they breakdown food into simpler nutrients). They are responsible for most food spoilage. They produce little spores that the wind carries so whenever you expose your food for long, the spores germinate and begin to form molds. Fungi, unlike plants, don't produce their food through sunlight so they rely on your food and other sources for nutrient. When molds are available in large quantity, they may cause serious health problems like allergies and other respiratory problems.

Mold decomposing an orange

Other notable microbes

Euglena

This is kingdom Protista. It exhibits both plant-like and animal-like features. Like plants, it is able to produce it's own food through photosynthesis (in the presence of sunlight). When there is no sunlight, it feeds on green algae and other protists. Euglena can be found anywhere there is green algae (ponds, water puddle, stagnant water, etc). The ability of Euglena to generate energy like plants (autotrophic) and animals (heterotrophic) makes it notable and special.

Cyanobacteria

This is a plant-like bacteria. The difference between Protista and Bacteria is that protists are eukaryotes (having nucleus) while Bacteria are prokaryotes (having no nucleus). Cyanobacteria, although being a bacteria, is the only prokaryote that is able to carry out photosynthesis. Cool right? Some Cyanobacteria also fixes nitrogen from there atmosphere to become available to plants (just like Rhizobia). They're indeed notable for been the only prokaryotic autotrophs.

Tardigrades

Tardigrades or water bears are under kingdom Animalia. They're Unicellular and can be found literally everywhere on the Earth. What makes them notable is their nature of endurance. These organisms can exist in the hottest, coldest and most actively radioactive places on Earth, they can also survive in space. They can survive after being dehydrated and they can reduce their metabolism to below 0.01% of how it should work. Although, they don't prefer to live in such extreme conditions, their ability to endure makes them notable.

A tardigrade (water bear) under an electron microscope

Reading this article, you must've realized that microbes are everywhere. Some benefit you, some harm you and you're unaffected by others. What's your favorite microbe?

Read What engineers have copied from nature so far

References:
S.O. Nzeako, F.O. Nduka, C.N. Eze (2018). Biology of lower Invertebrates. (1):14-17
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillium_chrysogenum

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_tetani https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade https://sciencing.com/differences-between-protozoa-protists-8472038.html http://www.sciencesblog.org/normal-flora-benefits-to-humans/

https://amienvironmental.com/mold-vs-mildew/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizobia

Sunday, 30 September 2018

Meaning, importance and practices of conservation

Elijah Rona September 30, 2018 5 Comments

Human needs are limitless. We don't give back to the earth an equal amount of what we take from it. Is this a problem? If then, how can this problem be solved? Are there vital lessons we need to learn to boost our practices of conservation for natural resources? Read this article

Natural resources

Natural resources are substances not created by man but are needed by man for economic gain and development. They include Crude oil, coal, wide life, water, air, minerals etc.

Classification of natural resources

Natural resources can be classified by different methods.

Classification based on origin

Biotic resources: Obtained from living and/or organic substances like trees, animals and their products, coal, etc.
Abiotic resources: These are obtained from non-living, non-organic substances like gold, iron, water, etc.

Classification as renewable and non-renewable

Renewable resources: These are resources that their rate of replenishment is greater than their rate of usage. Examples are sunlight, air, water, etc
Non-renewable resources: These are resources that have a slower rate of replenishment/formation with regards to the rate of usage. Examples are fossil fuels

There are more methods of classification but these are enough for now. The main point is non-renewable. The term 'non-renewable' may be used to refer to a number of resources today and a greater number tomorrow. For instance if elephants' gestation period (period of pregnancy) is about 22 months and they're killed 1/day for their tusks, it wouldn't take long before their population will reduce to zero. Well, the actual figure as at 2017 is 1 for every 25 minutes. If only the killings would reduce, the status of wide life may be taken back to a renewable resource. Other examples of natural resources that need our urgent attention are forests, oil, atmosphere, etc.

Introduction to conservation

In a plain definition, conservation means maintaining, protecting and retaining anything so it would last longer. The biological term 'conservation' is an ethical term used to refer to management of the earths natural resources in order to protect nature's biodiversity and ecosystem stability. For instance, if we over use bamboo trees and their growth rate can't keep up with our consumption rate, our actions are directly affecting the tree and indirectly affecting organisms like Pandas that depend on the tree for survival. Pandas which were classified under endangered species are now recovering because of the conservation of the species and their habitat.

A Panda's primary diet is the Bamboo tree

Importance of conservation

Practices of conservation have countless numbers of importance. Their importance can never be over-emphasized.

Stability of ecosystems

Every organisms and substances have roles to play wherever they're found. For example, if we overuse the trees in the earth for buildings, making papers and other reasons, the oxygen in our air will become scarce, herbivorous animals (animals that depend on plants for food) would get lesser amount of food therefore leading to competition and reduction of their population, carnivorous animals (animals which feed on other animals) wouldn't get enough food to eat, humans in turn would not get enough food to it (no vegetable, no fruit, no meat and no animal product) and our population would reduce drastically because of starvation and lack of oxygen. See the impact of not conserving our trees. Would we want this to happen?

Availability of natural resources to future generations

There's no doubt that if we don't conserve our resources, today, our children may only see these resources in museums, zoos, schools, etc. The resources may not be available in commercial quantity. If crude oil takes between hundreds of thousands to millions of years to form and we use an average of around 90 million barrels daily, how long would we wait for a refill?

Continuity of our development

If natural resources are needed by humans for creation of materials used to make buildings, roads, appliances and other important sources of our civilization, it means that an aspect of our civilization and development would cease the moment a specific resource becomes too low in quantity.

Continuity of the earth's biodiversity

It's no longer news that the lovely bird 'Hyacinth (or blue) macaw' that inspired the movie 'Rio' is now extinct in the wild. More organisms (plants and animals) are on their way to extinction if nothing is done. Do we really want this to happen?

The Blue macaw now extinct

Solution to pollution

Pollution is the presence of wastes in the environment. Wastes are materials that are not needed. Even though some wastes can be recycled, not all are recycled. If only we can reduce our use of natural resources, we would have less wastes therefore possibly recycle all our recyclable wastes. If petroleum used to make plastics gets exhausted, we'll have no choice than to recycle our plastic wastes. Why not recycle more wastes now so we conserve petroleum?

As you can see, conservation has a to large role to play for the sake of our tomorrow. Let's move on to how we can conserve

Practices of Conservation

Conservation is not general meaning the application varies from a resource to another though all practices' mission is availability of the resource for future use. For we to conserve, we need to:

Know the amount of the specific resource left
Know our use for it
Check is it's renewable or non-renewable
Look for alternative renewable sources that would give us similar or the same product like the resource we're conserving
If the products of a particular resource is recyclable, let us recycle them instead of discarding them as wastes
Create awareness so others would get involved with the practices of conservation. Read Environmental awareness/Plastic pollution campaign

Let us now look at some natural resources that need conservation

Forest

The forest is very important. It provides wood for construction, plants for consumption of some animals and canopy for various organisms. Wiping out the forest would have very bad impacts on the Earth, Well, how would we conserve our forests? Using the list above, we need to know how much forest is left. Forests which are supposed to cover 31% of the earth's land surface which is around 4 billion hectares (was around 6 billion during the pre-industrial era) are reducing by about 7 million hectares yearly. Forests really need our help. Our industries' major uses of forests are construction of buildings and making of paper. Rural places cut down trees to get fuel for heat and fire.

We can conserve our forests by replacing wood as a source of fuel with alternative sources like heater, stoves, coal or even solar panels. Schools can use more phones and tablets instead of books, construction companies should re-use woods used as temporal materials in buildings and there should be laws governing these companies to be conscious of the amount of trees they cut down and we should also plant and monitor the growth of trees.

Wildlife

Wildlife retains the biodiversity of nature. We feel wonderful when we see wild animals in zoos and other places. To some people, they've got other uses to these wild animals. For example:

Elephants are killed because of the value of their tusks
Helmeted hornbills are killed because of the value of their beaks
Tigers are killed for protection from their attacks and illegal wildlife trade
The population of most species is reducing because of loss of habitat. For example Koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves (gum leaves). Reducing the population of the eucalyptus trees is reducing the population of koalas

The beautiful helmeted hornbill on the brink of extinction

We should know animals on the brink of extinction and stop the killings and any other of our actions that have negative impacts on their population. We should encourage our leaders to support our practices of conservation of wildlife, we should open game reserves and other conservation units to protect the animals and should check the population constantly for increase or decrease to know the results of our actions

Oil and natural gas

These are non-renewable natural resources. We have countless uses for them. We use them for production of fuel, plastics, etc. As earlier stated, oil takes so many years to be formed. If we continue using these resources without conservation, they won't take up to 50 years to completely run off. Overusing these resources is one of the reasons why our atmosphere is polluted with poisonous gases and our lands and seas are filled with plastics. Some of our conservation practices for oil and natural gas includes:

Finding alternative sources of power like biofuel, solar panels, etc
Buying vehicles that don't require products of oil and gas therefore reducing the demand
Reduce, reuse and recycle plastics. Read Everything to know about plastics
Government should provide capitals to people who have ideas about making cars, generators, etc that don't rely on oil

Natural resources in the earth are like money in our bank accounts. The more we withdraw, the emptier the account becomes. Even if we deposit money into our bank account, the account will get empty if we deposit lower than we withdraw. Let's remain hopeful that our conservation practices would have great impacts on the resource we're conserving and thus help nature so that the coming generations would view nature as it is.

References:

Tuesday, 19 June 2018

We learn from nature everyday. What engineers have learnt from nature so far

Elijah Rona June 19, 2018 0 Comments

In recent years, we humans have been learning from nature. Scientists and engineers don't just learn but also apply what they learn. What are a few out of thousands of lessons we've gotten so far from nature? What are proofs that engineers have learnt from nature to build/modify items and structures? Read this article

How the scorpion inspired NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration got inspired from the legs and movement of a scorpion to develop a multilegged robot. A scorpion walks freely on rocky and rough terrains. Most often, sites that NASA is interested to study are on rough terrains or even on the sides of a cliff. A car or any machine which has big wheels can pass through a rocky terrain but can't pass through small spots. If smaller wheels are used, the machine can get stuck in sand. The best solution is to design a machine with legs so that all legs will support each other. That's where the scorpion came in handy

Scorpion robot prototype manuevering down an incline

Imagine a fabric material that adjusts to suit its wearer's temperature

Imagine if one part of your body is hot and sweaty then the dress you're wearing opens up a bit (just at the sweaty part) to cool down your body temperature. Won't it be cool? Well stop imagining because such fabric is real and its production was inspired by the opening and closing of the pine cone's flaps. The reason behind the opening and closing of the pine cone's flaps is change in humidity. When warm and dry, the flaps open up to release seeds. When damp or cold, the flaps close up. Now, this material was designed using the reverse mechanism so that when it's wet in the inside (because of sweat), it'll open up and close as the sweat reduces. Each flaps in the material is just 1/200 of a millimetre. The material also features a water proof layer so that rain from thee outside won't pass through. This cool fabric was inspired by nature.

Ultra-thin, high-speed motion detecting lenses

You may know that insects have compound eyes (i.e eyes filled with lenses that view different directions) but you may not know that an insect like a dragon like could have around 30,000 lenses in just one eye. That's about 60,000 lenses in both eyes. Each of these lenses combine to produce images like a wide mosaic view. Because of such compound eyes, the dragon fly are superb at detecting movements. Now, engineers have developed an artificial compound eye that fits 8,500 lenses into a space the size of a pinhead. This compound eye however, would be attached to image sensors like cameras. This will modify high speed motion detecting sensors.

Image result for 8500 lenses fit into the size of a pinhead

8,500 lenses fit into a space the size of a pinhead

Autopilot systems and navigation of our aircrafts inspired from the Monarch butterfly

Monarch butterflies are able to migrate from Canada to Mexico yearly without losing their way. These butterflies have a brain with the size of the tip of a pen. How do they navigate with such a tiny brain? They do this with the aid of the sun. Since the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, they know that the sun travels from east to west. Traveling from Canada to Mexico is more like travelling from the north east to the south west so these butterflies rely on the sun for their Migration. Planes using a device the size of a debit card also mimics the butterflies. This device not only guides the plane from country to country, but also aids to land the plane. Engineers have learnt from nature how to produce such devices

Monarch butterfly

Mimicking the wings of a seagull

Well, it's already certain that the wings of aircrafts were inspired by the wings of birds. This time around, engineers have taken this mimicry to new heights. How? When seagulls are maneuvering in the air, they flex their wings at the elbow and shoulder joints. This allows them to maneuver freely in the air. Engineers have made drones with movable wings so that they can easy dive between tall buildings by just maneuvering.

Image result for Mimicking the seagull's wings

Notice how the wings are flexed

Learning from the beak of a squid

You may know that squids have no bones. You may also know that their skins are all soft and appear like jelly. What you don't know is that their beaks are among the hardest materials on Earth. The beaks are so hard that they can slice through fishes like a very sharp knife. How does such a hard material fit into a soft material? Observing the beak of the squid, scientists discovered that the tip is hard while the base is soft. The beak is made up of chitin, water, and protein which changes in density from position to position so gradually from soft to hard. This knowledge can be applied into various aspects. Engineers can use this knowledge to attach different materials together. One application is the making of prosthetic limbs that would match the elasticity of cartilage on one side and be stiff in the other side. This is one of what engineers have learnt from nature.

Notice the hardness of the beak of a squid

Now that we know a few of what scientists and engineers have learnt from nature

Let us give the natural world and Biology their credits. Biology isn't just the study of life but also the application to the modification of our lives. Let us always study nature. Please share this article with friends
Read What about the Earth? Why save it?

References:

Sunday, 17 June 2018

Know the differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

Elijah Rona June 17, 2018 2 Comments

Snakes are scary. The thought of a snake nearby is enough to drive some people crazy. We all run from snakes because we fear their venomous bites. What if not all snake bites are venomous? If so, how can we identify a snake based on the differences between venomous and non venomous snakes? Read this article to satisfy your curiosity.

Differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

Head

Heads of Venomous snakes are mostly triangular (because their necks are broad) while the heads of non venomous snakes are more flattened than that of venomous ones.

Colour

Venomous snakes have bright colours. We could say pretty hurts. Non venomous snakes aren't as brightly coloured.

Heat-sensitive pit

Venomous snakes have a heat-sensitive pit between their eyes and nostrils. This pit is used to locate warm blooded animals like mammals. Non venomous snakes lack such pits. This is one of the major differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

Rattle

All rattlesnakes are venomous therefore, if you see a rattle or hear its sound, know that it's a venomous snake.

See the rattle at the end of its tail

Head scales

In venomous snakes, the scales on top of their heads are usually small. Non venomous snakes however have larger scales on top of their heads

Visibility while swimming

When venomous snakes swim, they're fully visible because they swim at the surface of the water. On the other hand, non venomous snakes swim partly or fully invisible because they swim deep.

Teeth

Venomous snakes have Fangs (Large Maxillary teeth with groves). you can identify fangs by seeing two long teeth in the front. Non venomous snakes lack fangs, their teeth are even and uniform. This is one of the major differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

Notice the two fangs

Bite marks

I just hope you've not been bitten by a snake. You could examine snake bitten animals though. The bite mark of venomous snakes look like twin punctures because of the fangs. Non venomous snakes' bite marks don't appear as two punctures.

Examples of venomous snakes

Black Mamba
King cobra
Eastern brown snake
Coastal taipan
Inland taipan
Many-branded krait
Tiger snake
Boomslang
Mamushi
E.t.c

Rattlesnake, Copper head, Cotton mouth and Coral snake

Examples of non venomous snakes

Northern water snake
Four-lined snake
Eastern garter snake
Emerald tree boa
Rough green snake
Bull snake
black rat snake
Milk snake
Python
Anaconda
E.t.c

Rough green snake

Now that you know some differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

So long as you aren't a zoologist, please stay clear from snakes. Don't go experimenting. Stay safe. View and share the photo below. It is a summarised list of differences.

Summarised list of differences between venomous and non venomous snakes.

Please read

References:

Saturday, 12 May 2018

Everything to know about plastics (Facts, Reusing, Recycling, etc)

Elijah Rona May 12, 2018 1 Comments

Plastics are found wherever humans are found. They're everywhere and they're the most common form of pollutants in land and water pollution. Plastic wastes affects both man and animals through various ways. Read this article to learn how theses wastes affects us, why and how to recycle plastics.

What are plastics

Plastics are both simple and complex. From house hold items like water bottles, plates, toys, chairs and so on to more complex items like bullet proof glass, DVDs and so on. Plastics can defined as solids which can be moulded and are flexible by heat depending on the thickness and type. Plastics are non-biodegradable so they can be found so many years later in same shape unless they're removed. This means that plastics must be recycled or reused else they stay as pollutants and are going no where.

A few facts about plastics

The word ‘plastic’ comes from 'plastikos', a Greek word meaning ‘capable of being shaped and moulded
Credit and Debit cards were first called plastic money in 1969
Plastics make up a large percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is a very large floating landfill of garbage in the Pacific
Around 5 trillion plastic bags are produced yearly. That's about 160,000 plastic bags made every second
Plastics aren't biodegradable instead they're photo-degradable (meaning they're degraded by light) which is why we see some plastics changing their colour after a long time
It'll take around 700 years for plastics to start degrading and around 1000 years to be fully degraded
After breaking down, plastics remain toxic. They break down into smaller toxic bits which are harmful to the environment
Plastic bags are produced using petroleum, natural gas and other chemicals meaning that they're toxic from production
Most marine animal mistake plastics for food. This causes their death
A sperm whale was found beached in California in 2008. It died due to more than 22 kilos of plastic in its stomach

The facts above makes you sad. Right? Does this mean that all hopes are lost and there may not be any solution to our plastic problems? Well, there are solutions for us but we all have to work together as one to solve this problem. The solutions are Reducing, Reusing and Recycling.

Reusing

Plastic bags can be used as drop cloths

When painters are working, you'll notice that some of the paints drop on the floor. Spreading plastic bags across the work area can save the painters the stress of washing the ground after work

Lids and covers of plastic bottles have lots of uses

Counters so children can learn quick maths
Building blocks for children
Decorations. You could paint the top with your desired colour or artwork and use the lids as decorations to your walls or wherever applicable

Funnels

Use old plastic bottles as funnels. Most Nigerians use plastic bottles when they put petrol into their generators

Poop scoop

Plastic bags can be used to scoop pet poops instead of rolls.

Toys

Plastics have different ways they can used as toys. Here are a few photos

Aeroplanes

Jet packs

Toy car

Sprinklers

Plastic bottles can be used as sprinklers by poking holes into them and fixing them at the end of water hoses.

Sprinkler

Plant Nursery

Plant Nursery is a place where seeds are germinated and grown into appropriate sizes before transported and planted in a more preferred location. You can use plastic bottles as grow cubes.

Grow cubes

Fuel containers

Instead of going to the market to buy containers to store fuel, use those containers from Oils (red, vegetable) you bought earlier.

Recycling and Down-cycling

Some countries are building recycling industries. Both governmental and private firms take recycling seriously. Plastic recycling means producing materials from old plastics (e.g a plastic chair can be recycled into other chairs, tables, etc) while down-cycling means producing materials of less quality from old plastic materials with greater qualities (e.g a plastic chair can be down-cycled into plastic bags or bottles). There are different processes of recycling. They include

Thermal depolymerization

Since plastics are produced from petroleum, the 'de' in depolymerization implies that petroleum can be manufactured from plastics

Heat compression

This implies gathering plastics of different types, heating and stirring them inside large rotating drums known as tumblers.

Other processes

There are other processes to recycle plastics like compatibilization which requires use of special chemical bridging agents compatibilizers to use plastics as carbon source to recycle scrap steels.

Reduce

The best solution to the plastic problem facing the world today is reducing. Plastic reducing can be defined as the actions we take to reduce the use (demand) of plastics therefore reducing the production (supply). Here are a few ways we can reduce

Reusing

Reusing plastics around us can reduce our demands for them. We could take our own bags to the market instead of requesting for new bags

Co-operation with shops that are going Eco friendly

Some shops may not give you plastic bags or may give you substitutes. Instead of complaining, let's know their reason and support it

Other ways

Instead of just throwing that plastic bag away, we could use it to carry other wastes. This will even reduce the amount of money we spend in buying waste bags

Conclusion

Plastic problem is worldwide issue we all need to solve. Applying the three Rs which are Reuse, Reduce and Recycle can help solve the plastic problem. Saving the world, apart from being a general issue, should also be a personal issue. Read What about the Earth? Why save it? What can we do? for the general Earth problem.

References:

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/top10facts/556136/Top-10-facts-about-plastic
http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/interesting-facts-about-plastic-bags
http://www.scjohnson.com/en/green-choices/Reduce-and-Recycle/Articles/Article-Details.aspx?date=12-08-15&title=Ten-Uses-for-Plastic-Lids
http://www.scjohnson.com/en/blog/blog/post.aspx?date=16-01-04&title=10-Creative-Ways-to-Reuse-Plastics
https://www.budgetdumpster.com/blog/diy-plastic-bottles-recycling/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_recycling

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Wednesday, 13 February 2019

Differences between 10 sets of look alike animals

Differences between Butterflies and Moths

Differences between Crocodiles and Alligators

Differences between Toads and Frogs

Differences between Tigers, Jaguars, Panthers, Leopards, Cheetahs, etc

Differences between Sponges and Corals

Differences between Ants and Termites

Differences between Bees, Wasps and Hornets

Differences between Goats, Sheep and Rams

Differences between Monkeys, Chimpanzees, Gorillas, etc

Differences between Turtles and Tortoises

Bonus

Differences between venomous and non-venomous snakes

Monday, 4 February 2019

5 wrong animal stereotypes

Lions are the king of the jungle

Let's talk a little about tigers:

Owls represent wisdom

Here are a few octopus' facts:

Pigs are very dirty

Vultures are evil

Owls and Cats are evil

Monday, 7 January 2019

Random facts about nature. Cool nature facts to blow your mind

Plants breathe in Oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide

Euglena is the only animal-like and plant-like organism

Viruses aren't living

Trees communicate with and help each other

Viruses are very selective

Cyanobacteria are Photosynthetic

Monday, 3 December 2018

Microbes 101. Introduction to the tiny world

The good; microbes we benefit from

Diatoms

Penicillium

Rhizobia

The bad; microbes that harm us

Clostridium tetani

Plasmodium

Molds

Other notable microbes

Euglena

Cyanobacteria

Tardigrades

Sunday, 30 September 2018

Natural resources

Classification of natural resources

Classification based on origin

Classification as renewable and non-renewable

Introduction to conservation

Importance of conservation

Stability of ecosystems

Availability of natural resources to future generations

Continuity of our development

Continuity of the earth's biodiversity

Solution to pollution

Practices of Conservation

Forest

Wildlife

Oil and natural gas

Tuesday, 19 June 2018

How the scorpion inspired NASA

Imagine a fabric material that adjusts to suit its wearer's temperature

Ultra-thin, high-speed motion detecting lenses

Autopilot systems and navigation of our aircrafts inspired from the Monarch butterfly

Mimicking the wings of a seagull

Learning from the beak of a squid

Now that we know a few of what scientists and engineers have learnt from nature

Sunday, 17 June 2018

Differences between venomous and non venomous snakes

Head

Colour

Heat-sensitive pit

Rattle

Head scales

Visibility while swimming

Teeth

Bite marks