You know that all living organisms evolve, with subtle differences in traits helping some individuals thrive better in their environment, and these helpful traits being more common while less helpful ones fading away over generations. Some organisms don’t change much over millions of years but manage to continue to survive, looking much the same as…
What if I told you there’s a tree that grows in harsh, arid environments quite resiliently, has a strange, alien-like appearance, and oozes red-colored sap when its bark is cut as if it’s bleeding? That’s the Socotra Dragon’s Blood Tree, and there are more intriguing facts about it. Let me take you on a journey…
Imagine an island with very alien-looking yet beautiful landscapes, with equally strange-looking plants, with such high endemism among its plant and animal communities. That about sums up Socotra Island, a biodiversity hotspot of unique beauty hidden away in the Indian Ocean. In this post, I will take you on a journey exploring the beauty and…
Imagine a national park in the frozen arctic, with a meteorite crater filled with purest fresh water, and some lifeforms somehow managing to survive the unfavorable conditions. That is the Pingualuit National Park. In this post, I will take you on an exploratory journey through this ecosystem with such extreme conditions. Geology & Geography of…
What’s the smallest monkey species that you have seen or know? In this post, I’m going to introduce the Pygmy Marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world. You will get to know its native range and habitat, physical characteristics, diet, behavior, and conservation status, as well as the pros and cons of keeping it as…
Have you ever seen those rings on a tree stump? You may know that they can be used to predict the age of a tree. But those tree rings can tell us much more than that. There’s a whole science dedicated to the analysis of the tree rings and using that information to learn about…
Which has hotter temperatures in general, the city or the countryside? The city, right? If I ask you why, you’d say, “Because there are more buildings and fewer trees in the city.” You are right, but this phenomenon has more depth to it, and it’s called The Urban Heat Island Effect. In this post, I…
Have you ever heard of a bird that smells like cow dung? Yes, that’s the hoatzin, also, quite fairly, known as the stinkbird. Smelling like that is not the only unusual thing about this bird though. There are other unusual and interesting things about this beautiful tropical bird, which you will learn about in this…
Since life originated on Earth, numerous species of living organisms have vanished, and many will continue to. When a species completely disappears like that, it’s called extinction. It happens due to natural reasons too, but human activity has sped up the process so much, with terrible consequences. In this post, you will get to know…
Imagine a plant that doesn’t have the usual structure of a plant, with leaves and stems, bears the world’s largest flower, which smells like rotting flesh, and is entirely parasitic. Weird, isn’t it? But such a plant does exist, and it’s known scientifically as Rafflesia arnoldii. In this post, I will accompany you to take…