5 Peculiar bahaviors of plants and animals

 How and why do animals hibernate?

Many woodland mammals find winter months very difficult. They live on fruits and plants during the summer season. When winter comes, these plants are covered with snow and the animals have nothing to eat.

To overcome this difficulty, nature has given them a unique quality this is called ‘hibernation’. The word has been derived from a Latin word meaning ‘winter’.

All animals do not hibernate. Those who do eat much more than their actual requirement and the excess food is stored in their fat. When the season becomes extremely cold, they hide in a hole and go to sleep.

Their heart beat their breathing slows down, and their body temperature drops. Their body due to lack of activity and little food. This nourishment is supplied by the fat stored in their bodies. And they can survive without eating a single thing through the entire winter.

Can fish see in the dark?

The deeper parts of the sea are dark because sunlight cannot reach them. How do fish living there swim without bumping into each other?

Fish can actually “sea” with the use of special sensory organs. When you see a fish next time, look for a line running along its skin, from the gills to the tail. All fish have this mark, called the “lateral line”.

 All along this line, there are openings in the skin. These openings allow water vibrations to reach sensory organs which are located under the lateral line.

These sensory organs, in turn, are connected to the fish’s nervous system and are very sensitive to even the slightest vibrations in the water.

These vibrations help the fish to know if another fish is approaching, what direction it is coming from, and how far it is.

So a fish can navigate expertly in total darkness by “seeing” with its sensory organs.

What does a koala eat?

The koala is a small cuddly-looking animal and looks like a cute little teddy bear. This mammal lives only in Australia. If taken to other countries, these animals could not live very long.

The koala can eat only the leaves of the eucalyptus tree. The koala spends most of its life in one of these trees, nibbling on the leaves and buds of the eucalyptus.

And even if a koala is hungry, it won’t eat anything but eucalyptus. These leaves provide the koala with not only its food but its water as well. And the koala never takes a drink of water in its entire life!

How fast can a kangaroo run?

The kangaroo doesn’t walk like other walking creatures. It hops and jumps to go from one place to another. This Australian mammal can leap a distance of 15 to 20 feet in one bound, and can race along in these leaps at speeds up to 40 miles per hour! It can show great stamina and can leap along like this for 20 miles without stopping to rest.

The shape of its body and legs help it in its long jumps, while the thick tail serves to keep the balance while the animal is in the air. A standing kangaroo can easily jump over a car without any running start.

Can plants be poisonous?

Plants have always been very useful to humankind. They give us food, and wood and purify air. The plants we see around us are usually harmless but some of the members of the plant kingdom are dangerous because they are poisonous.

A plant called Hemlock which grows in humid places is poisonous. A poison coniine is prepared from its roots and seeds. The flowers that grow on this plant are white in colour and produce a foul smell. The poison obtained from this plant causes paralysis in all parts of the body right from the feet to the brain and heart and causes death.

Another plant called ‘nux Vomica’ is found in the Asian region and is also very poisonous. The orange-shaped fruits of this plant have five seeds each. A poison called strychnine is prepared from these seeds.

This poison affects the pulse and results in death. The poison of some harmful plants is less harmful. It may not cause death but affects the nerves and brain or other parts of the body very slowly.

Toxic matter is often located in a particular part of the plant. Opium-related drugs are found in the milky latex of the opium poppy but are absent from the edible seeds.

Some plants have poisonous leaves but harmless otherwise. Some are harmless when eaten green and fresh but poisonous when wilted or dried. Some plants cause skin irritation or painful inflammation with blisters if their juice comes into contact with the skin.

May-apple, fox, glove, nightshade, monkshood, sneezeweed, tiger lily, and chinaberry are some of the plants containing poisonous matter in one or more of their parts.