Dolphin- The Most Human Friendly Marine Mammal

There are many species of dolphins like killer whale, Common bottlenose, Amazon river dolphin, stripped dolphin, spinner dolphin and Baiji that belong to phylum chordata. Dolphins are very intelligent and friendly mammals. They communicate with each other by clicking, whistling and other sounds. They usually live in schools or pods up to 12 members. It is found that like humans they engage in playful activities such as jumping out of the water, riding waves, play fighting. They are carnivores mammals. Female dolphins are called cows, male are called bulls and young dolphins are called calves.

There are number of occasions where dolphins helped humans. It’s been reported that dolphins rescue distressed human from the depth of oceans. Otherwise they reach to humans when they need help. Once an isolated dolphin approached to group of divers in Hawaii, was discovered to be trapped in fishing line. There are some instances where dolphins detect cancer in human body. Sometimes dolphins help fisherman to catch fish by showing where to use nets. As they are intelligent mammals they can be trained to be super helpful to humans. Navy has been training dolphins for guarding military bases .They also rescue humans from shark attacks. Humans and dolphins are much similar in physically and mentally as both are mammals. But there are some differences. Dolphins cannot show facial expressions and communication through body languages and sounds.

Nowadays there is a trend of dolphin assisted births.  Few years ago there was news of American couple Adam and Heather Barrington travelling to Hawaii to plan such a birth. These births are done with the assistance of dolphins within their natural habitats. Heather said, “It is about reconnecting as humans with the dolphins so we can coexist in this world together and learn from one another”, when she was questioned why they choose this type of child birth. Dolphins swim around while relaxing the mother. Then mother give birth to the child effortlessly, painlessly and without fear. Though dolphins are so friendly to human, they were hunted by humans for meat and used in dolphinariums.

Do Kangaroos Flex Their Muscles To Impress Opposite Sex?

The kangaroo that belong to family Macropodidae which give the meaning of “large foot” are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of locomotion.

Kangaroos also flex their biceps to impress the opposite sex just like the human male. 

Researchers found that forearm size of male kangaroo could be a sexually selected trait. It will help to find a suitable mate for them.  Male kangaroos strike poses that show off their arms according to researches published in Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. According to Ellen Adamcewicz, a kangaroo expert, “additional advantage from either females finding big forelimbs sexy or alternatively the males which win the right to access the females are then strong enough to overpower any unwilling female".

According to Dr Natalie Warburton and collaborators Dr Trish Fleming and Dr Bill Bateman “Forelimb measurements showed that whereas female musculature growth was proportional to body gsize, male musculature was exaggerated,” also she said “This could be linked to the fact that male kangaroos establish their dominance hierarchy through sparring contests. Males at the top of the hierarchy have higher mating success.”

What Would Happen if All the Bees Went Extinct?

Bees are flying insects belong to phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, known for their role in pollination and producing honey and beeswax. Pollination is very important both ecologically and commercially. Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from male anther of a flower to the female stigma. It is estimated that 1/3 of human food supply depends on pollination by insects, birds and bats, most of which accomplished by bees, whether wild or domesticated.

What is Colony Collapse Disorder?(CCD)

Phenomenon which occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for remaining immature bees. It cause significant economic losses. Most of agricultural crops worldwide are pollinated by Western honey bees and it is estimated approximately 200 billion dollar in 2005.

Causes for Colony Collapse Disorder?

Parasitic attacks

Varroa parasites carry harmful viruses like acute bee paralysis virus and deformed wing virus which are deadly to bees. These viruses weaken the immunity of host bees making them susceptible to numerous ailments. Varroa parasites fed on the bee larvae.

Use of pesticides

Pesticides consist of thiamethoxam and clothianidin directly influence the change in development in bees, though some pesticides rarely lead to deaths in bees. The pesticides like neonicotinoids which affects the central nervous system of bees lose their memory of path to their home.

Climatic changes

Changing weather patterns, washing  away pollen due to rain and dry season lead to the lack of nutrition and strained buildup of honey.

Fungal infections and Invasions of hive beetles.

Effect of Bee Extinction on Human Life

Extinction of bees vastly affects the life on earth as insects are the primary pollinators on earth. The process of photosynthesis stored the energy of sun and the process of pollination helps to give that energy in consumable way. If bees went extinct, it leads to massive loss of production of crops. This low production of harvest leads to worldwide famine. Though rice and wheat do not need insect pollination, we cannot depend entirely on those kinds of crops. The crops like Blueberries, cherries are insect pollinated crops and cannot grow in large-scale without bees. Biodiversity is very important for survival of living beings, if one species get extinct it leads to imbalance and vastly cause for food webs.

Without bees, it is very difficult to maintain the diversity fresh production and good human nutrition level. That is why Einstein said “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live”. Japan invented tiny robotic pollinators but it is not affordable for small scale plantations and traditional farmers.

Bhutan-The Only Carbon Negative Country in the World.

Carbon dioxide is a naturally existing element which is very important in the process of photosynthesis. But when it pass the adequate level it cause for global warming, Acid rains etc. The most immediate reasons for increasing carbon dioxide is man-made reasons like burning fossil fuel, deforestation, automobile industry. So increasing the level of carbon dioxide is vast problem arising today.

The kingdom of Bhutan is a small, land-locked nation in Asia which has a multiethnic population of 760,000 inhabitants (2015).It occupies an area of 38,394 Km² .Bhutan is a country with a strong ancient Buddhist culture. The word Bhutan gave the meaning of “land of the Dragon”.

“Gross Happiness is more than important than Gross National Product”

-His Majesty, the fourth king of Bhutan

Bhutan is the only carbon negative country in the world. Even though they generates 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, their forest coverage sequester 3 times the amount. So they acquire net carbon sink for more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

They effort to safeguard the environment is to provide only controlled, low impact tourism. Bhutan government is working to make its country free of greenhouse gases and waste by 2030.They use resources like wind, bio gases and solar power to generate electricity and mostly use flowing water. The electricity produced even exported to India. By 2020 they expect to export electricity to offset 17 million tons of carbon dioxide and recently they export clean energy to offsets about 6 million tons of carbon dioxide. Bhutan is the only country where selling tobacco is banned. Bhutan has a GDP value less than two billion dollars but they provide free education, medical and health facilities. They also provide free electricity to farmers in order to reduce use of firewood and in return reduce carbon emission. According to Bhutan’s constitution demands ,minimum of 60% of land must be under forest cover. Currently 72% of the country is under forest cover. If we can implement the policies and procedures followed by Bhutan towards a carbon negative country, we can have better world to live.