STRANGE RAINFOREST ANIMALS

Axolotl

Axolotls are aquatic salamanders. They owe their cartoon-like look to the fact that their metamorphosis from the larval to adult stage doesn’t complete. Instead, they maintain traits from both stages. What results, is a creature that looks half fish / half lizard. Axolotls have external gills and finned tails. They can swim and walk, but they spend their entire lives in water. On rare occasions, an axolotl will metamorphose into a land salamander, dropping its gills and growing lungs to survive.

Jesus Lizard

The Jesus lizard’s real name is the common basilisk. It earned the nickname “Jesus lizard” by walking (or running really) on top of the water. This lizard will run across the water to catch a meal or to get away from a predator. Although, it can only run on top of the water for 30 to 40 feet before sinking, but don’t worry these little lizards can swim too.

The Jesus lizard lives by water and spends most of its days basking in the sun and hunting for food, and its nights sleeping up on perches. These lizards can be found running across the lakes, ponds, streams and rivers in Central and Northern America.

 

Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko

The satanic leaf tailed gecko, whose real name is uroplatus phantasticus, gets its nickname because it looks like it has horns, but it doesn’t really; it just has an unusual head shape. This gecko lives in Madagascar and is a master of disguise. Its tail looks like a leaf, which is useful, since this lizard lives up in trees. It can also change colors to match its surroundings.

Glass Frog

The glass frog is the number one strange animal on our list because it has a see-through abdomen. Yes, you read that right. While, the rest of its body is a lime green, the abdomen is a translucent white, so you can actually see it’s organs. No need to X-Ray a glass frog to see what’s going on inside; just look with your eyes. You can find glass frogs in the rainforests of Central and South America, however, their numbers are declining due to deforestation.

UNIQUE DESERT PLANTS

Parachute Flower (Ceropegia woodii)

It looks like an artist’s rendering of extraterrestrial flora come to life: a bizarre flower with fused petals and what looks like a hairy lollipop coming out of it. The flower forms a tube lined with small hairs that point downward, so that insects attracted to the plant’s foul smell get trapped inside. The flower doesn’t consume the flies, though – it holds onto them until its hairs wither, and when the insects escape, they’re covered in the flower’s pollen.

Stinkhorn Mushroom (Mutinus Caninus)

Could these be the ugliest fungi ever? Stinkhorn mushrooms pop up out of the ground in all their creepy, stinking glory, distributing their spores through the malodorous, muddy-looking slime found at their tips. This particular variety, mutinus caninus, is so named because it resembles a certain unmentionable body part of dogs.

Pelican Flower (Aristolochia grandiflora)

These flowers are almost beautiful in their strangeness, with big inflated chambers instead of petals and intricate, colorful patterns of veins. But don’t get too close, or you won’t be able to get the dead mouse smell out of your nose for hours. No, this plant isn’t a carnivorous rat-eater like the Nepenthes attenboroughii – it just uses a decaying rodent smell to attract pollinators.

Plants that eat rats, slimy alien-looking fungi, leaves that dance all by themselves and flowers that smell like the rotting corpse of a horse: all of these wonders of nature are among the most rare, exotic and unusual plant species in the world. Some are astonishingly beautiful despite the foul odors they emit, while others look like they emerged from the mind of a horror writer, but they’re all fascinating examples of the diversity of Earth’s flora. Rat-Eating Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes attenboroughii) (images via: The Guardian, Wikipedia) Even the most benign of pitcher plants is strange and amazing, but the species discovered in August 2009 may just be the weirdest carnivorous plant yet. It’s believed to be the largest meat-eating plant in the world, and is capable of digesting rats. Scientists found it on Mount Victoria in the Philippines and named it after famed nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. Parachute Flower (Ceropegia woodii) (image via: Wikipedia) It looks like an artist’s rendering of extraterrestrial flora come to life: a bizarre flower with fused petals and what looks like a hairy lollipop coming out of it. The flower forms a tube lined with small hairs that point downward, so that insects attracted to the plant’s foul smell get trapped inside. The flower doesn’t consume the flies, though – it holds onto them until its hairs wither, and when the insects escape, they’re covered in the flower’s pollen. Stinkhorn Mushroom (Mutinus Caninus) Could these be the ugliest fungi ever? Stinkhorn mushrooms pop up out of the ground in all their creepy, stinking glory, distributing their spores through the malodorous, muddy-looking slime found at their tips. This particular variety, mutinus caninus, is so named because it resembles a certain unmentionable body part of dogs. Dancing Plant (Desmodium Gyrans) (image via: onekell) [youtube=sgQ5CucGz2M] Have you ever watched a plant move all by itself? The “dancing plant”, also known as the telegraph plant, actually moves its leaves in jerky motions when exposed to direct sunlight, warmth or vibration – hence their reaction to music. Its leaflets, each of which is equipped with a hinge at the base that allows it to move, rotate along an elliptical path. This plant is famous for being a favorite of Charles Darwin, and is featured in depth in his book The Power of Movement in Plants. Pelican Flower (Aristolochia grandiflora) (images via: UC Botanical Garden & Wikimedia Commons) These flowers are almost beautiful in their strangeness, with big inflated chambers instead of petals and intricate, colorful patterns of veins. But don’t get too close, or you won’t be able to get the dead mouse smell out of your nose for hours. No, this plant isn’t a carnivorous rat-eater like the Nepenthes attenboroughii – it just uses a decaying rodent smell to attract pollinators.    Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) You might say this pretty little plant with its starry pink blossoms and fern-like leaves is shy. Reach out and touch it, or even just blow on it, and its leaves will close up as if startled or protecting themselves. When it’s disturbed, the stems release chemicals that force water out of the cells, which makes the leaves appear collapsed. It’s not known exactly why the plant has evolved to possess this trait, but scientists think it may be to scare off predators.

Amazing Longest Rivers of Asia

THE GANGA(India)

The Ganges is the Primary River which merges in Ganges Delta at Bay of Bengal, the Hooghly and Padma are the small rivers which join to Ganges. Originates in Gangotri Glaciet and many cities have been located on its banks.

The Ganga
 
Length: 2,620 km
Outflow: Bay of Bengal
Countries: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China

Ganga is a river where the soul of India thrived for eons and still lives! It is river that gives life to millions of Indians and it is a river where devotees prefer to take their last breath hoping to wash off all sins they committed.

SOME FACTS ABOUT GANGA

• Ganga is the home for 140 different species of fish and 90 different species of amphibians, many of which are near extinction today.
•  Ganga is also the home for fresh water dolphins and Ganges sharks, both of which are endangered species with Ganges shark being critically endangered.
• River Ganga supports many bird species that are uniquely found in India. They don’t live anywhere else in world.
• New Delhi-based Malaria Research Center found that water taken from Ganga’s upper ambits prevent mosquito breeding and also prevented mosquito breeding when the water was added to any other water from other sources!

(more about ganga)

WORLD'S SMALLEST PLANT

WOLFFIA

A recent article by J. Travis in Science News Vol. 155 (April 17, 1999) discusses a remarkable new species of sulfur bacteria from the greenish ooze of ocean sediment off the coast of Namibia in southwestern Africa. Sulfur bacteria oxidize sulfur compounds to produce their energy-rich ATP molecules. The spherical bacteria have diameters ranging from 0.1 to 0.75 mm, definitely within the size range of some species of Wolffia. In fact, some multicellular orchid seeds are less than 0.2 mm in diameter, smaller than this bacterium. Considering that a unaided human eye with 20-20 vision has resolving power of 0.1 mm, this bacterium is visible to the naked eye. Because of their size and light-reflecting properties, the bacteria appear to be roughly the size of a printed period or the size of an average grain of table salt (NaCl). The bacteria were discovered in sediment samples by Heide Schulz of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany (see the April 16, 1999 issue of Science). The new species is named Thiomargarita namibiensis, or sulfur pearl of Namibia. When light shines on the bacterial cells, they glisten white from light reflecting off sulfur inside them (see the image above). But who would ever believe that a multicellular flowering plant could be as small as one prokaryotic bacterial cell. This is certainly the case with Wolffia globosa, especially if you consider the size of a single daughter plant that has broken away from the parent plant by budding (see the images above). And although it is the ultimate in reduction of a flowering plant, it actually has minute guard cells and stomata on its upper (dorsal) surface. Any way you look at these amazing records; a giant bacterial cell or a microscopic flowering plant, they are truly wonders of the world.

TERRIFYING DEEP SEA CREATURES

 VAMPIRE SQUID

With the largest eyes (proportionally speaking) of any animal in the world, this deep sea creature is born to live in the depths. And no, it doesn’t suck blood, in fact its tentacles barely have suckers at all. The name actually comes from its intensely red eyes and cloak like webbing.

BIG RED JELLYFISH

This startlingly large jellyfish can grow to be over 1 meter in length and as you may have deduced from the fairly straightforward name, it carries a slight red coloration. Rather than tentacles this deep sea jellyfish uses a series of fleshy “feeding arms” to capture its prey.

GIANT SQUID

Seldom seen by human eyes, the giant squid has for centuries been a thing of legend. Dwelling deep beneath the waves its only real predator is the sperm whale. In fact, the two are famous for their deep sea battles and their carcasses are often times found bearing the marks of mortal combat on their bodies.

AMPHIPOD

Although these tiny crustaceans are usually no longer than an inch, deep down on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, about 6 km beneath the waves, they can grow up to 1 foot in length.

GULPER EEL

Also known as the pelican eel, this is probably one of strangest looking creatures lurking in the deep. With an enormous mouth it is capable of swallowing things much, much larger than itself.

Amazing Falls in Asia

NOHKALIKAI FALLS (Meghalaya ,India)

Tucked away in the forgotten northeast corner of India (near its border with Bangladesh) sat this towering freefalling waterfall. It's not often that you get a waterfall this tall with pretty reliable flow, which says something about the fact that it was still flowing when we visited in November 2009 following a particularly weak monsoon season so a lot of falls in this area were really suffering from lower-than-usual flows. The climatic anomaly was despite its location in the Cherrapunji Hills which was said to have been one of the wettest places on earth thereby boosting its reputation. However, even despite its lower flow upon our visit, you can't deny its dramatic cliffside location while the color of the cliffs contrasting the bright blue pool at its base further added to both the mystery and allure of this falls.

NAMASTE FACTS

A non-contact form of salutation is traditionally preferred in India and Nepal. Namaste is the most common form of such a salutation. When spoken to another person, it is commonly accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of the chest. This gesture, called Anjali Mudra or Pranamasana, can also be performed wordlessly and carries the same meaning.(taken from)

Etymology Namaste is derived from Sanskrit and is a combination of two words, "Nama?" and "te". Nama? means 'bow', 'obeisance', 'reverential salutation' or 'adoration' and te means 'to you' (dative case of 'you').
Therefore, Namaste literally means "salutations to you"

. 'Namaskar' is derived from Sanskrit and is a combination of the two words, "Nama?" and "kaar". As noted above, "Nama?" is a salutation. "Kaar" means 'form' or 'shape' and refers to the phenomenon that the other entity (person) presents.

Thus, the older salutation essentially means "I salute [your] form", which implies an understanding that all beings in this existence are part of the surface phenomenology of Maya and that beyond the surface, so to say, all beings are part of Brahman, or the One ultimate essence that underlies, and is, all.
In the same light, 'Namah' originates from a benevolent unselfishness or admission ("salutation") of unity in One essence, and, therefore, 'Namaste' can also be interpreted (roughly) as a way of saying "Not-myself to you" (a benevolent expression of both respect and impersonality).
Another variation "Not for me,.. but for thee" gives the sense of doing 'in service' or 'in honor' of the person spoken to, removing any personal agenda of the speaker.
In India and Nepal, Namaste is a friendly greeting in written communication, or generally between people when they meet.
When used at funerals to greet the guests, the verbal part is usually omitted. When the hand position is higher, it usually means reverence for worship.
Thus, the expression with hands placed on top of one's head is usually the sign of utmost reverence or respect.
Meanings and interpretation Pressing hands together with a smile to greet Namaste – a common cultural practice in India As it is most commonly used, namaste is roughly equivalent to "greetings" or "good day", in English, implicitly with the connotation "to be well".
As opposed to shaking hands, kissing or embracing each other in other cultures, Namaste is a non-contact form of respectful greeting and can be used universally while meeting a person of different gender, age or social status.