Squirrel
Order : RODENTIAFamily : Sciuridae
Species : Ratufa bicolor
Head-Body Length : Up to 40 cm
Tail Length : Up to 50 cm
Weight : Up to 1.6 kg ?
The beautiful Black Giant Squirrel is one of the largest squirrels in the world. It inhabits tall primary forest and generally remains high in the canopy, but at times may be found at lower levels when feeding. It is largely solitary in habits and extremely shy, rarely coming to ground. It can confidently make huge leaps from branch to branch in the high canopy.
Its upperparts and tail are jet black, but the cheeks, chest, front of the forelimbs and underparts are cream or orange. The tail is long and dorso-ventrally flattened.
The species once ranged extensively from Nepal and Assam through Burma, Indochina and Thailand to Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Its numbers have declined with the large-scale clearance of primary forest. It is absent from Singapore.
snake
Big snake
An afternoon snorkel off Catalina Island brought a local instructor face-to-face with the half-dollar-sized eyes of an 18-foot sea creature on Sunday.
Marine science instructor Jasmine Santana was shocked to confront the rare oarfish in the waters of the island’s Toyon Bay, about 2 miles from Avalon and 22 miles off the Port of Los Angeles.
It was the “discovery of a lifetime,” according to a news release issued by the Catalina Island Marine Institute, for which Santana is an instructor.
snake-like fish was found late Sunday afternoon dead but nearly completely intact and appeared to have died from natural causes, according to the release.
“It took 15 or 20 of us to pick it up,” said Jeff Chace, a program director with CIMI, which runs a camp out of Toyon Bay that teaches children to snorkel, kayak and hike.
Instructors from CIMI were unloading gear from a trip to Santa Barbara Island when they spotted Santa pulling the oarfish ashore.
“The craziest thing we saw during our two day-journey at sea happened when we got home. These islands never cease to amaze,” instructor Connor Gallagher said, according to the news release.
The oarfish, which can grow to more than 50 feet, is a deep-water pelagic fish — the longest bony fish in the world, Chace said. It’s very rare to see so close to shore, he said.
“It’s one of these rare weird things you see in Southern California,” Chace said.
The fish is believed to dive more than 3,000 feet, and in part because of the deepwater habits, little is known about them, Chace said.
Children at the camp and the self-professed “science nerd” employees were able to get a good look at the fish, which had been pulled up onto the beach at Toyon Bay, Chace said.
Now CIMI is trying to figure out what to do with the silverly fish’s body. The program has been in touch with a “fish guru” at UC Santa Barbara and with the Museum of Natural History in LA, Chace said.
“We can’t even really fit it into our freezer,” he said.
The scientists may decide to bury the carcass and let it decompose under the sand. In the end, they’d have an 18-foot long skeleton to show for their unexpected discovery.
Marine science instructor Jasmine Santana was shocked to confront the rare oarfish in the waters of the island’s Toyon Bay, about 2 miles from Avalon and 22 miles off the Port of Los Angeles.
It was the “discovery of a lifetime,” according to a news release issued by the Catalina Island Marine Institute, for which Santana is an instructor.
snake-like fish was found late Sunday afternoon dead but nearly completely intact and appeared to have died from natural causes, according to the release.
“It took 15 or 20 of us to pick it up,” said Jeff Chace, a program director with CIMI, which runs a camp out of Toyon Bay that teaches children to snorkel, kayak and hike.
Instructors from CIMI were unloading gear from a trip to Santa Barbara Island when they spotted Santa pulling the oarfish ashore.
The oarfish, which can grow to more than 50 feet, is a deep-water pelagic fish — the longest bony fish in the world, Chace said. It’s very rare to see so close to shore, he said.
“It’s one of these rare weird things you see in Southern California,” Chace said.
The fish is believed to dive more than 3,000 feet, and in part because of the deepwater habits, little is known about them, Chace said.
Children at the camp and the self-professed “science nerd” employees were able to get a good look at the fish, which had been pulled up onto the beach at Toyon Bay, Chace said.
“We can’t even really fit it into our freezer,” he said.
The scientists may decide to bury the carcass and let it decompose under the sand. In the end, they’d have an 18-foot long skeleton to show for their unexpected discovery.
The World's Biggest Planes
The World's Biggest Planes
When Orville and Wilber Wright took to the skies in North Carolina, they made it 120 feet. They could have taken off and landed on the wings of the world’s biggest cargo plane.
The An-225 Cossack aircraft (wingspan 291 feet, 2 inches) was built to transport the Soviet Union’s Buran orbiter, their equivalent of the U.S. Space Shuttle. Only two were ever made, and just one is still flying.
The Buran is the kind of load the world’s biggest aircraft are called on to haul. They’re not normally, well, normal. They aren’t mass produced, and they often have limited lives (think Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose–the largest plane ever made, which flew just once).
But that’s changing. New technologies, including composite airframes, lighter engines and advanced avionics and design systems, are bringing a huge new generation of giants to life.
When the Airbus A380 enters service it will become the second-largest plane in the world and largest passenger aircraft. Built by EADS, it weighs in at 652.5 tons, is 239 feet long and has a fuselage 23 feet, 5 inches in diameter. Its four engines deliver about 300,000 horsepower. It has a maximum capacity of 840 people but may be configured for less. All this for $275 million.
The A380 has been plagued by delays and problems in production–another thing these monsters have in common. The first commercial flights are expected to begin in October, 2007 after Singapore Airlines takes delivery.
Boeing has continued to upgrade its 747 in response to the Airbus challenge and with a slight twist brought out its smaller 787 Dreamliner aircraft with an increased fuel-saving design. It has been designed and built in various load capacities ranging from 210 passengers up to 330–small by Airbus standards.
Next up could be the Boeing Pelican, an experimental concept aircraft from Boeing Phantom Works that makes everything else seem small. It has a proposed wingspan of 500 feet and a wing area that is more than an acre. It would, if built, be able to lift 1,400 tons of goods. It is referred to as the Ultra Large Transport Aircraft.
Also in design: the Fozzie, a concept plane by Boeing Phantom Works. It explores the idea of a low-fuel-use plane that uses open-rotor engines mounted on what is called a Pi-tail in the stern of the ship. The wings, being free of engines, have advantages aerodynamically. Despite a fuel-saving concept the plane is designed to go at a speed of 450 mph.
Both would dwarf the previous generation of giants. Driven by the Cold War, the last century saw the U.S. and Soviet Union playing a continual game of oneupmanship with airborne titans.
Beyond the An-225 Cossack, the results for the Russians included the KM Caspian Sea Monster or Ekranoplan. It flew only a few feet above the water and was a familiar Cold War sight flying over the Caspian Sea. It was very long at 348 feet and with a short wingspan of 131 feet, which suited its function. It weighed a hefty 1,080,000 pounds.
The U.S. had, and still has, the C-5 Galaxy. This giant was the world’s largest operating airplane when it was rolled out in 1968, and is still in use by the U.S. Air Force today. It weighs 840,000 pounds and is 247 feet, 10 inches long, with a wingspan of 222 feet, 9 inches. Its purpose: to haul military hardware, including tanks, anywhere in the world.
But nothing outdid the Hughes H-4 Hercules, or Spruce Goose. Made primarily of birch plywood (despite the nickname) it remains the largest plane ever flown. The plane weighed 400,000 pounds, plus the weight of Hughes’ ego. It still has the longest wingspan of any plane ever built, 320 feet. It only flew once and was piloted by Hughes for a mile–44 times farther than the Wright Brothers got.
The An-225 Cossack aircraft (wingspan 291 feet, 2 inches) was built to transport the Soviet Union’s Buran orbiter, their equivalent of the U.S. Space Shuttle. Only two were ever made, and just one is still flying.
The Buran is the kind of load the world’s biggest aircraft are called on to haul. They’re not normally, well, normal. They aren’t mass produced, and they often have limited lives (think Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose–the largest plane ever made, which flew just once).
But that’s changing. New technologies, including composite airframes, lighter engines and advanced avionics and design systems, are bringing a huge new generation of giants to life.
When the Airbus A380 enters service it will become the second-largest plane in the world and largest passenger aircraft. Built by EADS, it weighs in at 652.5 tons, is 239 feet long and has a fuselage 23 feet, 5 inches in diameter. Its four engines deliver about 300,000 horsepower. It has a maximum capacity of 840 people but may be configured for less. All this for $275 million.
The A380 has been plagued by delays and problems in production–another thing these monsters have in common. The first commercial flights are expected to begin in October, 2007 after Singapore Airlines takes delivery.
Boeing has continued to upgrade its 747 in response to the Airbus challenge and with a slight twist brought out its smaller 787 Dreamliner aircraft with an increased fuel-saving design. It has been designed and built in various load capacities ranging from 210 passengers up to 330–small by Airbus standards.
Next up could be the Boeing Pelican, an experimental concept aircraft from Boeing Phantom Works that makes everything else seem small. It has a proposed wingspan of 500 feet and a wing area that is more than an acre. It would, if built, be able to lift 1,400 tons of goods. It is referred to as the Ultra Large Transport Aircraft.
Both would dwarf the previous generation of giants. Driven by the Cold War, the last century saw the U.S. and Soviet Union playing a continual game of oneupmanship with airborne titans.
Beyond the An-225 Cossack, the results for the Russians included the KM Caspian Sea Monster or Ekranoplan. It flew only a few feet above the water and was a familiar Cold War sight flying over the Caspian Sea. It was very long at 348 feet and with a short wingspan of 131 feet, which suited its function. It weighed a hefty 1,080,000 pounds.
The U.S. had, and still has, the C-5 Galaxy. This giant was the world’s largest operating airplane when it was rolled out in 1968, and is still in use by the U.S. Air Force today. It weighs 840,000 pounds and is 247 feet, 10 inches long, with a wingspan of 222 feet, 9 inches. Its purpose: to haul military hardware, including tanks, anywhere in the world.
But nothing outdid the Hughes H-4 Hercules, or Spruce Goose. Made primarily of birch plywood (despite the nickname) it remains the largest plane ever flown. The plane weighed 400,000 pounds, plus the weight of Hughes’ ego. It still has the longest wingspan of any plane ever built, 320 feet. It only flew once and was piloted by Hughes for a mile–44 times farther than the Wright Brothers got.
Mi-26
Mi-26
Mi-26, as well as its its foregoer Mi-6, was intended for transportation of military equipment, armory, food, troops with their equipment and armament, for medical evacuations and, in special case, for tactical landings.
It was the first Soviet helicopter of the third generation. In the end of the 60s-70s many foreign companies were designing innovative helicopters, but Mi-26 was significantly superior to both domestic and foreign rates of helicopters with a cargo compartment.
Almost at the same geometrical dimensions as that of the Mi-6, the new vehicle had twice bigger payload and significantly better performance characteristics. But it didn’t affect the take-off weight of the helicopter.
They had been working much with the project trying to find reasonable solutions, constructions of some parts were repeatedly redesigned.
In 1974 they already knew what Mi-26 is going to be. Almost all systems of the power unit were located over the cargo compartment. In the nose part of the fuselage there was a cabin with seats for a left pilot, right pilot, navigator and a mechanic and a cabin for four persons who accompanied a cargo and one more mechanic.
Do Dolphins Sleep Talk in Whale?
Do Dolphins Sleep Talk in Whale?
The study estimated the body size of hundreds of species in 28 different orders of animals in 20 time periods over the past 70 million years.
The researchers used teeth, skulls and limb bones to work out the size of the animal, based on comparisons with current day species.
The researchers found it took whales 5 million generations, or 30 million years, to go from 25 kilograms to 190 tons -- the weight of a blue whale.
By contrast land mammals got bigger half as quickly as marine mammals.
For example, it took 10,000 million generations for a mammal to get 5000 times bigger, and over twice as long to evolve form the size of a mouse to the size of elephant.
Elephants have been the largest land animal for the past 10 million years, and before that the record was held by a now-extinct rhino-like animal, says Evans.
The researchers believe one reason for this faster evolution in size among marine animals is that it's easier to grow bigger in the sea.
With the water holding you up, fewer body modifications are required to handle the increase in weight.
Interestingly the new study found that almost all mammals are smaller today than they were in the last major ice ages -- a million or so years ago.
Evans says this may be because the biggest animals have been hunted to extinction, or because the weather is warmer and there is less advantage to being big.
But the blue whales are an exception, he says. "It's continued to get bigger," says Evans.
NEWS: Will 2012 Be the Year of the Whale?
He says ocean currents boosting the amount of krill around the Antarctica are likely to be responsible for this growth.
Co-author zoologist Dr Erich Fitzgerald of Museum Victoria says whales in general have continued to get larger and could theoretically continue to grow assuming they could get the food they require.
But he says the future is uncertain given such things as overfishing, which threatens whales' food source.
"Their maximum size may be peaking during our lifetime," says Fitzgerald.
Evans says there are certain advantages to increasing in size.
For example, your relative metabolic rate decreases with size which means you don't have to eat as much food per gram of your own tissue. "It's more efficient to be big," he says.
This means you can eat more abundant low energy-dense foods, like trees, leaves and grass.
And you can avoid being eaten by other animals, can store more energy and can travel further distances.
Small animals by contrast have a high metabolic rate and need to eat insects, seeds and fruit, which are less available.
But not all mammals got larger after the demise of the dinosaurs. Some, especially those isolated on islands, got smaller -- including now extinct dwarf mammoths off the coast of California and dwarf elephants in the Mediterranean.
Getting smaller can have advantages too, adds Evans, including helping animals to adapt to a smaller food resource.
Interestingly, these animals evolved smaller size much faster than those evolving larger size, the researchers found.
The study estimated the body size of hundreds of species in 28 different orders of animals in 20 time periods over the past 70 million years.
The researchers used teeth, skulls and limb bones to work out the size of the animal, based on comparisons with current day species.
The researchers found it took whales 5 million generations, or 30 million years, to go from 25 kilograms to 190 tons -- the weight of a blue whale.
By contrast land mammals got bigger half as quickly as marine mammals.
For example, it took 10,000 million generations for a mammal to get 5000 times bigger, and over twice as long to evolve form the size of a mouse to the size of elephant.
Elephants have been the largest land animal for the past 10 million years, and before that the record was held by a now-extinct rhino-like animal, says Evans.
The researchers believe one reason for this faster evolution in size among marine animals is that it's easier to grow bigger in the sea.
With the water holding you up, fewer body modifications are required to handle the increase in weight.
Interestingly the new study found that almost all mammals are smaller today than they were in the last major ice ages -- a million or so years ago.
Evans says this may be because the biggest animals have been hunted to extinction, or because the weather is warmer and there is less advantage to being big.
But the blue whales are an exception, he says. "It's continued to get bigger," says Evans.
NEWS: Will 2012 Be the Year of the Whale?
He says ocean currents boosting the amount of krill around the Antarctica are likely to be responsible for this growth.
Co-author zoologist Dr Erich Fitzgerald of Museum Victoria says whales in general have continued to get larger and could theoretically continue to grow assuming they could get the food they require.
But he says the future is uncertain given such things as overfishing, which threatens whales' food source.
"Their maximum size may be peaking during our lifetime," says Fitzgerald.
Evans says there are certain advantages to increasing in size.
For example, your relative metabolic rate decreases with size which means you don't have to eat as much food per gram of your own tissue. "It's more efficient to be big," he says.
This means you can eat more abundant low energy-dense foods, like trees, leaves and grass.
And you can avoid being eaten by other animals, can store more energy and can travel further distances.
Small animals by contrast have a high metabolic rate and need to eat insects, seeds and fruit, which are less available.
But not all mammals got larger after the demise of the dinosaurs. Some, especially those isolated on islands, got smaller -- including now extinct dwarf mammoths off the coast of California and dwarf elephants in the Mediterranean.
Getting smaller can have advantages too, adds Evans, including helping animals to adapt to a smaller food resource.
Interestingly, these animals evolved smaller size much faster than those evolving larger size, the researchers found.
Blue Whales
Blue Whales
LOUDNESS
Blue whales are the loudest animals on Earth! Their call reaches levels up to 188 decibels. This low-frequency whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles. The blue whale is louder than a jet, which reaches only 140 decibels! Human shouting is 70 decibels; sounds over 120 decibels are painful to human ears.
SKIN, SHAPE AND FINS
The blue whale's skin is usually blue-gray with white-gray spots. The underbelly has brown, yellow, or gray specks. During the winter in cold waters, diatoms stick to the underbelly, giving it a yellow to silver- to sulfur-colored sheen; they are sometimes called "sulfur bottom."
They have a very small, falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin that is located near the flukes (tail). Blue whales have long, thin flippers 8 feet long (2.4 m) and flukes that are 25 feet (7.6 m) wide.
DIET AND BALEEN
Blue whales (like all baleen whales) are seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed tiny crustaceans (krill, copepods, etc.), plankton, and small fish from the water. They are gulpers, filter feeders that alternatively swim then gulp a mouthful of plankton or fish - they lunge into dense groups of small sea organisms (krill or tiny fish) with an open mouth. 50 to 70 throat pleats allow the throat to expand a great deal, forming a gular pouch. The water is then forced through the baleen plates hanging from the upper jaw. The baleen catches the food, acting like a sieve.
The blue whale has about 320 pairs of black baleen plates with dark gray bristles in the blue whale's jaws. They are about 39 inches long (1 m), 21 inches wide (53 cm), and weigh 200 pounds (90 kg). The tongue weighs 4 tons (3.8 tonnes).
An average-sized blue whale will eat 2,000-9,000 pounds (900-4100 kg) of plankton each day during the summer feeding season in cold, arctic waters ( about 120 days).
SOCIAL GROUPS
Blue whales live individually or in very small pods (groups). They frequently swim in pairs.
DIVING
Blue whales can dive for up to an hour, going to a depth of 350 feet (105 m).
SPOUTING - BREATHING
Blue whales breathe air at the surface of the water through 2 blowholes located near the top of the head. They spout (breathe) about 1-4 times per minute at rest, and 5-12 times per minutes after a deep dive. Their blow is a single stream that rises 40-50 feet (12-15 m) above the surface of the water.
SPEED
Blue whales are very fast swimmers; they normally swim 3-20 mph (4.8-32 kph), but can go up to 24-30 mph (38-48 kph) in bursts when in danger. Feeding speeds are slower, about 1-4 mph (1.6-6.2 kph).
VOCALIZATION
Blue whales emit very loud, highly structured, repetitive low-frequency sounds that can travel for many miles underwater. They are probably the loudest animals alive, louder than a jet engine. These songs may be used for locating large masses of krill (tiny crustaceans that they eat) and for communicating with other blue whales, especially in order to attract and find mates
HABITAT AND RANGE
Blue whales live at the surface of the ocean and are found in all the oceans of the world.
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