SEO Keywords: us and them

Crows

Crows are found in large numbers across India. According to researchers, Crows can recognise individual human faces, especially those who have treated them badly. And they can hold a grudge for years against such people!

Crows carefully monitor the humans with whom they share living spaces. When they are treated badly, they inform their mates of their grudge against a particular person. Together, the crows then plan an attack by usually dive-bombing (flying together in speed) at the said person.

However, according to researchers, such attacks are a rare sight in cities or towns. This usually happens to crows that are kept in captivity.

Giant African Snails

Humans grow hair, nails due to the presence of keratin in our body. But one thing that we can’t grow is a pair of eyes! However, land snails unlike us, re-grow their eyes, if damaged. 

Most land snails have eyes on the ends of their two upper long tentacles. The head has one to two pairs of tentacles which have the eyes at the tips. These tentacles can regrow if severely damaged and if a snail’s eye is cut off, the antennae can regrow a new eye when the antennae grows. 

Snails don’t have a clear vision, but can detect changes in big and light objects. If you place a finger in front of the snail’s eyes, it can sense it and will instantly retract or draw back its eye into the tentacle to protect itself. 

The Giant African land snail is known to eat more than 500 different types of plants.

Blob Fish

When we humans stay underwater for too long, our skin changes its appearance. It begins to look pale and wrinkly. This is because water is not our natural habitat. This is exactly what happens to blobfish.

This is how blobfish look when they are deep in the ocean.

These creatures live off the coast of Australia, somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 feet beneath the waves. Here, the pressure is up to 120 times higher than the surface.

Fish that swim in this high-pressure area have a swim bladder, which are sacs of air in their body that help them swim without cracking their bones. However, blob fish don’t have a swim bladder. Their bones and body are soft like jelly so
they don’t crack under pressure. Hence, they are able to swim deep in the ocean. The water pressure keeps their muscles tight, making them look like ordinary fish.

But when they are taken out of their natural habitat and bought up to the surface, the pressure drops, making them look saggy and droopy. This is why they are also known as one of the ugliest fish in the ocean.

Blobfish don’t have teeth. They don’t hunt and keep their mouth open to swallow crabs, sea urchins and shellfish.

Giant Pandas

Giant pandas are large cuddly-looking animals. They have a heavy body, rounded ears, a big head and a short tail. Found in China, these pandas eat while sitting in an upright position holding food in their hands, just like humans.

Giant pandas survive almost entirely on bamboo, which is low in nutrition. Hence, they eat 12 to 38kgs of bamboo per day to get enough nourishment. But bamboo does not digest properly in their stomachs and passes undigested. To digest as much as possible, pandas sit upright and eat for more than 12 hours a day. Sitting upright helps them use their front paws to hold their food comfortably.

Their front paws have five clawed fingers and an extra bone that works like a thumb. Pandas use this bone and their fingers to grasp their food.

As they spend most of their time eating, sitting upright leaves their front paws free to pick and trim leaves.

Giant pandas begin climbing trees when they are 7 months old.

Snails & Slugs

Our days run in cycles of 24 hours. We sleep for about 8-10 hours and work and play for the remaining 14. So, we tend to group animals into a 24-hour cycle when we think about their sleeping pattern.

But the sleeping pattern of snails is quite different compared to that of humans. These gastropods (animals that have no spine and has a soft body with a flat base for moving and often has a shell) do not follow the same cycle as that of humans. Their sleep cycle lasts for 2-3 days.

Their sleeping pattern coincides with the weather conditions. Snails go into a deep sleep to avoid the harsh weather because they are dependent on moisture to survive. They hibernate during the cold winters and estivate during the summer.

During hibernation and estivation, they curl up inside their shell and secrete
a layer of mucous that keeps them protected from external conditions.

So unlike humans, they do not care about the sun’s schedule and don’t need to make up for lost sleep.

Both, snails and slugs are gastropods. However, one thing that sets them apart from each other is that snails have shells and slugs don’t.

Animal Mothers of the Wild

However, there are some animals that are not known for their nurturing instincts, and make a very different kind of animal mother.

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Orangutan- Even though Orangutans are known to be very solitary and independent apes, they build strong bonds with their mothers. Orangutan mothers carry their offspring for the first two years of their lives. During this period the young ones learn what kind of food is good to eat, where they can find it, what material can be used to build a nest and how to do so. This training period lasts from six to seven years. Then mothers and offspring part ways, but not for good. They pay regular visits to their mothers until they are 16. Typically, orangutans live up to 45 years or more in both the wild and captivity.

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African Elephant mothers are the largest land mammal mothers on Earth. When new in the role, mothers are never left alone in caring for their little ones. Due to the matriarchal organization of the group they live in, the other female elephants support all new moms during their 22-month pregnancy. By doing so, the new mothers learn how to raise their babies, what food to give them, dangers to watch out for and places to go. The babies suckle on mother’s milk for 4 to 6 years.

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Lion- Even though lions do not inhabit jungles, they are recognized as the kings of the jungle. Generally, a mother lioness is protective, attentive and caring with her little ones, especially when they are very young. Unfortunately, when a new male takes over a pride, lion mothers allow the new lion king to kill all cubs younger than two years old and start a new dynasty from scratch.

Giant Panda- Giant pandas get pregnant with great difficulty. When they do succeed, they deliver up to three cubs. Out of the three, giant panda реəцатар mothers choose only the strongest-seeming cub to raise, abandoning the others.

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The Cape Ground Squirrel

Summer is here. As the sun beats down on us, we need caps and umbrellas to shield us from the harsh sunlight. So we carry them whenever we step out.

The cape ground squirrel of South Africa too carries its umbrella everywhere. It can never leave it behind even if it wants to. Do you know why? Because it uses its tail as an umbrella!

Friendship is Necessary

The cape ground squirrel lives in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. It lives in burrows and not on trees, unlike others we usually see in our gardens and parks. This is because there are no trees in the desert where it can live on or use its shade. This squirrel spends its day foraging for plants and seeds around its burrow. So it cannot avoid going out in the sun. That’s when its bushy tail comes to the rescue. It uses its bushy tail to cover its head while it is searching for food. While foraging, the squirrel positions itself with its back facing the sun and its tail erect and above its head.

The squirrels spend the hottest part of the day in their burrows, which are much cooler because they are about 60 cms below the ground.

The shovel-snouted lizard

Summer is almost here. When the temperature goes up, we turn to cold drinks and ice creams to cool ourselves down. But the shovel-snouted lizard has an innovative way to cool off. When the weather becomes too hot-it starts to dance!

The shovel-snouted lizard is found in the world’s third largest desert-Sahara, in Northern Africa. When the sand becomes too hot to stand on, the lizard balances itself on its tail and raises two of its feet at a time— alternating between front left and the rear right, and vice-versa—for about 10 seconds each. It does so to cool its feet. When the shovel-snouted lizard does this, it looks as if it is dancing

The shovel-shouted lizard can remain buried deep in the sand for an entire day.

It also uses the sand to its advantage to hide and hunt. When the lizard spots a predator, it dives and buries itself in the sand. It stays hidden under a layer of sand and pops only its head out. It does the same while hunting too. The lizard surprises its prey by quickly emerging from under the sand and grabbing it. It usually feeds on small insects like beetles, moths and spiders.

Us and Them

Parrots are commonly known to imitate sounds such as the barking of a dog and security alarms. Sometimes, they also repeat words. Unlike humans, parrots do not have vocal chords or lips. Parrots use a vocal organ called syrinx that controls the movement of air within the throat to produce different sounds. The syrinx can also produce two sounds at the same time. The parrot’s thick tongue aids in speech. When air passes through the syrinx, the parrot moves its tongue to produce sounds.

tongue to produce sounds. Among all species of parrots, the African grey parrot is considered to be the most intelligent and has a greater memory. Hence, it is able to learn a greater vocabulary.

The African grey parrot does not only speak human language, but it is also the only bird known to understand what it speaks. It understands what each word stands for. Cosmo, an African grey parrot, would use different phrases depending on whether the owner was in the room or not. When the owner was away, it would use phrases that established location like “I’m here”, “Where are you?”. When the owner was in the room, it would use phrases to establish interaction like “Do you want to play?”

Alex, an African grey þarrot, was trained by researchers to speak 100 words, identify 50 objects, 7 colours and 6 shapes!

Us and Them

Giant river otters are found in the rivers and creeks of north-central South America. They are the largest sub-species of otters and can grow as long as six feet. Otters are social animals and live in groups. Each group is called a family or bevy, and has about 3-20 members. The giant river otters are the chattiest species of otters and scientists believe that they have developed a large vocabulary because of the large families that they live in.

Giant river otters whistle to warn to other otter families in case of danger, hum or coo to reassure their group’s members or their young ones and also make ‘hah’ sounds to show interest.

Families of otters have a unique group song or chorus that they shout at other otter families in order to share their identity.

Young giant river otters are also capable of making 11 unique sounds, including some that are seen only in younger otters. For example, they squeak to attract attention. They also whine and wail while participating in group activities.