Category: Eco Tonics

In the bird’s world, males are attractive looking with beautiful bright colored plumage, wings, beaks and some perform dance, makes a beautiful nest and so on, to seek attention and impress females looking for a potential mate. But exactly which features are liked by the females to choose the most eligible male for mating, is not yet understood. 

Humans, unless aided with oxygen mask find difficulty in going to higher altitudes. Even a slight increase in altitude causes breathing related problem in humans. But unlike humans, birds are very well adapted to fly high without any problem. And recently it has been found that apart from birds, even bumblebees are capable of flying at great high. Wondering how high- higher than Mount Everest, which measure 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) above sea level.

Humans use their eyes apart from speaking for communication. Even a toddler can understand what his parents’ intent to signal him (anger, love, happiness) through their eyes. But how far animals are capable of conveying their feeling to other members of the clan through eyes, is not deeply studied. 

There is a lot of work going around the planet to protect the ecosystem and animals occupying them from getting extinct. Today, many species of animals and other creatures have already got extinct or are at the verge of getting extinct due to change in climate, habitat loss and poaching. Now the question that looms before us is, what will exactly happen if the bigger mammals gets eventually extinct. Scientists are of the view that with the extinction of the bigger mammals from the ecosystem, giant rats as big as…

Pigeons are known for their ability to navigate through known locations by recalling of the memorized visual milestones. These birds can learn and follow frequent routes home this depends upon the complexity of the terrain below them which should neither be too pronounced nor to little. Hedges and boundaries provide ultimate landmarks for navigation, demarcating the urban from that of rural area. The research conducted by Dr Richard Mann at the Department of Mathematics, Uppsala University, in alliance with researchers at Oxford University and the Zoological Society of London. 

Vanderbilt University biologists have unraveled an interesting behavior of mosquito sperm. The mosquito sperm can acknowledge smell and certain kind of chemical smell drives sperm to move forward and harder for reproduction. 

For many living forms (including humans) eyes have a vital role to play like locating food or prey, keeping an eye on enemies, selecting an ideal place for nesting and so on. But for the blue crabs, eyes have other distinguished role to play. The eyestalks of the blue crab were known to produce hormone, which is responsible for transforming the adolescent crabs to into a healthy and fully-grown adults. Scientists at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Maryland have revealed the importance of hormone in the crab…

Showing love and affection is important in a relationship, whether it is for humans or animals. Unlike humans, lemurs have their own unique way of displaying love and affection. In one such study, scientists found that the resemblance in the scent displays the intensity of a lemur couple’s relationship. 

Recently we saw how changes in the climate are forcing the Arctic polar bears to change their diet and are on the verge of extinction. Another such study reveals that such drastic change in the climate is taking a heavy toll on the penguin chick population in Argentina. According to the study conducted by the University of Washington, these young ones, due to extreme weather conditions are dying directly due to lack of food and indirectly as a consequence of heat and drenching rainstorm. 

Polar Bears population is facing the danger of extinction due to change in climate and continuous melting of ice. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and the U.S. Endangered Species Act lists them as endangered species. As per the latest study, with this change in climate, polar bears who usually used to feed on seal pubs and other marine mammals, have actually started hunting animals that are available on land. This shows when it comes to adapting as per the changing climate, polar bears are far more flexible than…

Whenever a piece of ripe fruit is left unattended, fruit flies come attracted by its smell. The group of fruit flies seems to competing with each other for a larger portion however, it may not be the case. On observing closely, researchers found male flies knock around fighting, especially if there are females or sweet ripe fruit around. 

Chimpanzees are our closest relatives and are known for their intelligence. They are fast learner and similar to humans employ different tools to solve any problem. Recently chimpanzees have been found using hand gestures in a pursuit to reach a solution while finding hidden food. 

Black widow spiders, as the name suggest are famous for their sexual cannibalism, a practice where the female eats its partner soon after mating process ends. The venom of the female spiders is three times stronger, making the poor male defenseless. These facts have made scientists curious to know, how does the male approaches female for the mating without being confused for prey. 

Many species of birds have been flying in a V shaped formation. Reason behind this formation was not known and was thought to be helping birds save energy during their journeys. This V formation was typical for certain species of migratory birds such as cranes, pelicans, ibises and geese flying for thousands of kilometers, saving energy while flying would make huge difference for these birds.