Friday, December 9, 2016

Top 10 beautiful Animals in the world

Top 10 Most Beautiful Animals in the World

The natural world is resplendent with beautiful animals that reveal the wonders of evolution. This article will present ten creatures that are likely to captivate your imagination.

Do not expect to recognize many of the animals on this list. While some might be familiar, nature provides us with almost 9 million distinct species. Beauty is not limited to the hundreds of animals that we can readily identify.

Some fun facts will be provided about each of the ten animals. Whether for survival or mating, natural selection has endowed these creatures with unusual anatomical adaptations and spectacular panoplies of color!

10. Mandarin Fish

The regal profile of the mandarin fish. | Source

The mandarin fish (Synchiropus splendidus) swims in the south-west Pacific Ocean close to Australia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Its array of color is similar to that of the robes worn by an Imperial Chinese mandarin or bureaucrat. The blue color comes from a cellular pigment that is unique to the species. The mandarin fish is only 6 cm long. It dwells in secluded lagoons and reefs, eating small crustaceans.

9. Fennec Fox

Two young fennec foxes. | Source

The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) lives in North Africa and the Sahara. Its huge ears can grow up to 15 cm long. They radiate heat away from the animal and allow it to locate subterranean prey. The fennec fox is a predominantly nocturnal animal, hunting small mammals, birds, and insects at night. It can live up to 14 years and reach a size of 40 cm, not including its 30 cm tail. They can bark, purr, and snarl, and their natural predator is the eagle owl. 'Fennec' is the Arabic word for fox, and it is the national animal of Algeria.

8. Black Backed Kingfisher

The colorful black backed kingfisher. | Source

The black backed kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca) is approximately 13 cm in length. It lives in southeast Asia and India close to streams and rivers in well-shaded, wooded areas. These kingfishers eat insects and snails as well as small lizards, frogs, and crabs by the riverside. They build tunnel-like nests in the riverbanks that can be up to a meter long. These nests can take more than a week to dig.

7. Zanzibar Red Colobus

The Zanzibar red colobus. | Source

The Zanzibar red colobus (Procolobus kirkii) is a monkey that lives only on Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. They are an endangered species with no more than 3000 left in the wild. The people of Zanzibar hold negative views of the animal and call them `poison monkey' because of their unusual smell. They live in groups of up to 50 individuals, with a 1:2 ratio of males to females. The red colobus eats leaves, seeds, and flowers that it finds in forests, coastal areas, and swamps. They also eat unripe fruit because they cannot break down the sugars in ripe fruit. They are known to eat charcoal to aid digestion.

6. Caracal

A caracal on the prowl. | Source

The caracal (Felis caracal) gets its name from the Turkish words kara kulak, meaning `black ear'. It has a number of adaptations that allow it to live in a diverse range of habitats. These include its long, tufted, and highly flexible ears that help it hear the smallest of sounds, and powerful hind legs that allow it to leap several meters into the air to catch birds. They also eat small mammals, gazelles, and reptiles. The caracal lives in Africa and the Middle East and can grow up to a meter long, plus a 30 cm tail.

5. Candy Crab

The well camouflaged candy crab. | Source

The candy crab (Hoplophrys) belongs to a monotypic genus, meaning it has no closely related species. It grows to 2 cm long and can camouflage itself in bright colors to match the coral that forms its habitat. As well as red, the crab can turn white, yellow, and pink. It lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

4. Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird

The swallow-tailed hummingbird in flight. | Source

The swallow-tailed hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura) lives in east and central South America. It prefers semi-open areas, sparse woodland, coastal regions, and gardens, but will avoid dense rainforest. It has a long forked tail that comprises half of the bird's 16 cm length. Its plumage is a mixture of green, blue, and purple, and its wings flap at approximately 20 beats per second, allowing it to hover while feeding on flower nectar. They are aggressive towards other birds and will `dive-bomb' or pester birds as large as hawks!

3. Poison Dart Frog

One of the most striking varieties of the poison dart frog. | Source

The poison dart frog (pictured: Dendrobates azureus) lives in Central and South American rainforests, growing to between 1.5 and 6 cm in length. Indigenous people used the frog's toxic secretions to poison the tips of blow-darts, giving the frog its name. The secretions, which are being studied in medical trials, might also be used as muscle relaxants, appetite suppressants, and heart stimulants. Their bright colors form `aposematic patterns', which serve to ward off predators by suggesting an unpalatable toxicity. There are around 175 closely related species of poison dart frog which vary in size and coloration. The most colorful are the 5 within the dendrobates genus.

2. Tiger

The striking beauty of the tiger. | Source

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest and most eye-catching of the big cats. They can grow up to 3.3 meters in length and weigh over 300 kg. Tigers have a lifespan up to 26 years, though all 6 subspecies (Bengal, Siberian, Sumatran, Malayan, Indochinese and South China tigers) are endangered, with a total population of less than 4,000. The Bengal tiger is the most common and the Siberian is the largest. They live in India, southeast Asia, and the far east of Russia (Siberia). Their striped fur serves as camouflage in their natural habitat of long grasses and wooded areas. Underneath the fur, their skin is striped in the same pattern.

1. Sunset Moth

The immensely colorful Madagascan sunset moth. | Source

The Madagascan sunset moth (Chrysiridia rhipheus) is a uniquely colorful lepidopteran that is sought after by collectors. Its often asymmetrical pattern of colors is caused by the optical interference and scattering of light by curved, partially reflective scales on the moth's wings. Sunset moths have a wingspan up to 11 cm and are often mistaken for butterflies due to their color, tails, and habit of resting with their wings vertical. Their bright aposematic colors warn predators of their toxicity. In contrast, the moth's chrysalis looks like a covered corpse and the Malagasy people believe the emergent moth represents the risen soul of their dead ancestors.

There are many beautiful animals that didn't make the list. These include the snow leopard, peacock, polar bear, ladybird, sea turtle, giant tortoise, penguin, emperor tamarin, fiery billed aracari, and the harpy eagle.

Of course, there are many other stunning creatures that I have neglected to mention. Please post any suggestions in the comments section below. Thanks for visiting this list of the ten most beautiful animals in the world. I hope you enjoyed it!

Top 10 Most Colourful Animals in the World

Top 10 Most Colorful Animals In The World

10 Blue Dart Frog

Blue dart frog is a member of poisonous dart frog family. They live in the tropical forests of Costa Rica and Brazil. It is one of the most brillianlyt colorful animals on Earth. The dart frog’s color can be varied as blue, yellow, gold, copper, red, green and black.

In fact, all types of dart frogs are very poisonous. Their bright color is actually an indication of how toxic they are. Golden dart frog is the most dangerous member of this family. They have enough venom to kill up to 10 grown men.

9 Lilac Breasted Roller

Lilac breasted rollers are one brilliantly colored bird native to East-southern Africa. It is also the national bird of Kenya and Botswana. Their feathers come in a variety of colors. They have a greenish head, lilac colored throat and chest, blue belly, greenish yellow legs and light blue wings. Lilac breasted rollers have a maximum body length of 14 inches. This colorful species is an average migratory bird.

8 Panther Chameleon

Panther chameleon is the most colorful reptile in the world. They live in tropical forests of Madagascar. Chameleons have the power to turn into different colors that blend perfectly with their surrounding. Panther chameleons are also one of finest examples of camouflaging in animals.

Panther chameleons can vary their color in a time span of 20 seconds. They have special cells underneath the outer body layer. These cells can change color of the body in accordance with the surroundings. Scientists also believed that chameleons change their colors due to temperature and mood variations.

7 Clown Fish

Clown fishes are one of most colorful fishes in the world. They found in great barrier reef, red sea and the Indian and Pacific ocean. There are 28 different groups of clown fishes in total. They commonly found in bright orange colors with distinctive white bars on the body.

Clown Fish can perform the dance like movement in the water. It makes this fish more attractive. All clown fishes are born as males. Between the growing stage they can switch their sex.

6 Love Birds

Lovebirds are one of the popular pets in the world. The mixed bright colored feathers are the main attraction of love birds. They are also very adorable and social.

Lovebirds can be a long term companion for you. Because they live more than 20 years. There are seven different species of lovebirds in the world that varies in color. Even though a member of parrot family love birds can’t talk, but can be one of most adorable social bird ever.

5 Toucan

There are forty different species of toucans are in the world. Toucans are native to the forests of South America. The long eight inch sized colored bill is the main attraction of toucans. Their attractive bill comes in black, blue, brown, green, red, yellow colors. The mixed colored bills are also found in toucans.

The large bills of toucans are very light in weight, can’t use for drilling woods. The large bill helped toucans to maintain the body temperature in all weather conditions.

4 Mandarin Fish

The mandarin fish is a saltwater fish native to the Pacific ocean. They can be termed as most brilliantly colored fish in the world. The attractive mandarin fish display brilliant hue of blue, green, orange and yellow. The striking blue coloration in wave pattern makes mandarin fish a very unique species in the Pacific ocean. The attractive coloration of mandarin fish is due to the cellular pigment.

The board unusual head shape is the other distinguishing feature of mandarin fish. They also make attractive movement in the water, just like hovering of hummingbird.

3 Scarlet Macaw

Scarlet macaws are a large, brilliantly colored parrot native to South America. Their feathers have a mixed color of red, yellow and blue. Scarlet macaws are very popular for their striking coloration. They are also very social and intelligent bird. They also have very strong and beautiful bill.

2 Mandarin Duck

Mandarin ducks are bright colored medium sized duck native to Asia. The male mandarin ducks are more attractive than females. They have a golden appearance with purple chest, light green head, orange-gold feathers and green-copper crest.

The male mandarin ducks use their striking coloration to attract females. Mandarin ducks live in large flocks. Unlike other species of bird, the mandarin ducks keep maintaining the same bond in their whole life.

1 Pheasant

Pheasants are one of most beautiful and colorful birds in the world. There are 35 different species of pheasants in the world. The male bird of all species of pheasant has brilliantly colored feathers and attractive long tail. Their color varies as golden, brown, purple, green and white. The head of pheasants comes in red and also has a beautiful crest. Female pheasants are paler in color than males.

Amazing Science Facts

1. Babies have around 100 more bones than adults

Baby — Many of a baby’s bones fuse together as they grow

Babies have about 300 bones at birth, with cartilage between many of them. This extra flexibility helps them pass through the birth canal and also allows for rapid growth. With age, many of the bones fuse, leaving 206 bones that make up an average adult skeleton.

2. The Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller during the summer

When a substance is heated up, its particles move more and it takes up a larger volume – this is known as thermal expansion. Conversely, a drop in temperature causes it to contract again. The mercury level inside a thermometer, for example, rises and falls as the mercury’s volume changes with the ambient temperature. This effect is most dramatic in gases but occurs in liquids and solids such as iron too. For this reason large structures such as bridges are built with expansion joints which allow them some leeway to expand and contract without causing any damage.

3. 20% of Earth’s oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest

Our atmosphere is made up of roughly 78 per cent nitrogen and 21 per cent oxygen, with various other gases present in small amounts. The vast majority of living organisms on Earth need oxygen to survive, converting it into carbon dioxide as they breathe. Thankfully, plants continually replenish our planet’s oxygen levels through photosynthesis. During this process, carbon dioxide and water are converted into energy, releasing oxygen as a by-product. Covering 5.5 million square kilometres (2.1 million square miles), the Amazon rainforest cycles a significant proportion of the Earth’s oxygen, absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide at the same time.

4. Some metals are so reactive that they explode on contact with water

Sodium exploding in water — This is what happens when sodium reacts with water

There are certain metals – including potassium, sodium, lithium, rubidium and caesium – that are so reactive that they oxidise (or tarnish) instantly when exposed to air. They can even produce explosions when dropped in water! All elements strive to be chemically stable – in other words, to have a full outer electron shell. To achieve this, metals tend to shed electrons. The alkali metals have only one electron on their outer shell, making them ultra-keen to pass on this unwanted passenger to another element via bonding. As a result they form compounds with other elements so readily that they don’t exist independently in nature.

5. A teaspoonful of neutron star would weigh 6 billion tons

A neutron star is the remnants of a massive star that has run out of fuel. The dying star explodes in a supernova while its core collapses in on itself due to gravity, forming a super-dense neutron star. Astronomers measure the mind-bogglingly large masses of stars or galaxies in solar masses, with one solar mass equal to the Sun’s mass (that is, 2 x 1030 kilograms/4.4 x 1030 pounds). Typical neutron stars have a mass of up to three solar masses, which is crammed into a sphere with a radius of approximately ten kilometres (6.2 miles) – resulting in some of the densest matter in the known universe.

6. Hawaii moves 7.5cm closer to Alaska every year

The Earth’s crust is split into gigantic pieces called tectonic plates. These plates are in constant motion, propelled by currents in the Earth’s upper mantle. Hot, less-dense rock rises before cooling and sinking, giving rise to circular convection currents which act like giant conveyor belts, slowly shifting the tectonic plates above them. Hawaii sits in the middle of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting north-west towards the North American Plate, back to Alaska. The plates’ pace is comparable to the speed at which our fingernails grow.

7. Chalk is made from trillions of microscopic plankton fossils

Tiny single-celled algae called coccolithophores have lived in Earth’s oceans for 200 million years. Unlike any other marine plant, they surround themselves with minuscule plates of calcite (coccoliths). Just under 100 million years ago, conditions were just right for coccolithophores to accumulate in a thick layer coating ocean floors in a white ooze. As further sediment built up on top, the pressure compressed the coccoliths to form rock, creating chalk deposits such as the white cliffs of Dover. Coccolithophores are just one of many prehistoric species that have been immortalised in fossil form, but how do we know how old they are? Over time, rock forms in horizontal layers, leaving older rocks at the bottom and younger rocks near the top. By studying the type of rock in which a fossil is found palaeontologists can roughly guess its age. Carbon dating estimates a fossil’s age more precisely, based on the rate of decay of radioactive elements such as carbon-14.

8. In 2.3 billion years it will be too hot for life to exist on Earth

Temperature — Our planet will eventually become a vast desert similar to Mars today.

Over the coming hundreds of millions of years, the Sun will continue to get progressively brighter and hotter. In just over 2 billion years, temperatures will be high enough to evaporate our oceans, making life on Earth impossible. Our planet will become a vast desert similar to Mars today. As it expands into a red giant in the following few billion years, scientists predict that the Sun will finally engulf Earth altogether, spelling the definite end for our planet.

9. Polar bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras

Thermal cameras detect the heat lost by a subject as infrared, but polar bears are experts at conserving heat. The bears keep warm due to a thick layer of blubber under the skin. Add to this a dense fur coat and they can endure the chilliest Arctic day.

10. It takes 8 minutes, 19 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth

It takes five and a half hours for the Sun’s light to reach Pluto.

In space, light travels at 300,000 kilometres (186,000 miles) per second. Even at this breakneck speed, covering the 150 million odd kilometres (93 million miles) between us and the Sun takes a considerable time. And eight minutes is still very little compared to the five and a half hours it takes for the Sun’s light to reach Pluto.

11. If you took out all the empty space in our atoms, the human race could fit in the volume of a sugar cube

The atoms that make up the world around us seem solid, but are in fact over 99.99999 per cent empty space. An atom consists of a tiny, dense nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons, spread over a proportionately vast area. This is because as well as being particles, electrons act like waves. Electrons can only exist where the crests and troughs of these waves add up correctly. And instead of existing in one point, each electron’s location is spread over a range of probabilities – an orbital. They thus occupy a huge amount of space.

12. Stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve razor blades

Your stomach digests food thanks to highly corrosive hydrochloric acid with a pH of 2 to 3. This acid also attacks your stomach lining, which protects itself by secreting an alkali bicarbonate solution. The lining still needs to be replaced continually, and it entirely renews itself every four days.

13. The Earth is a giant magnet

Earth's magnetic field — The Earth’s magnetic field is used by compass needles worldwide.

Earth’s inner core is a sphere of solid iron, surrounded by liquid iron. Variations in temperature and density create currents in this iron, which in turn produce electrical currents. Lined up by the Earth’s spin, these currents combine to create a magnetic field, used by compass needles worldwide.

14. Venus is the only planet to spin clockwise

Our Solar System started off as a swirling cloud of dust and gas which eventually collapsed into a spinning disc with the Sun at its centre. Because of this common origin, all the planets move around the Sun in the same direction and on roughly the same plane. They also all spin in the same direction (counterclockwise if observed from ‘above’) – except Uranus and Venus. Uranus spins on its side, while Venus defiantly spins in the complete opposite direction. The most likely cause of these planetary oddballs are gigantic asteroids which knocked them off course in the distant past.

15. A flea can accelerate faster than the Space Shuttle

A jumping flea reaches dizzying heights of about eight centimetres (three inches) in a millisecond. Acceleration is the change in speed of an object over time, often measured in ‘g’s, with one g equal to the acceleration caused by gravity on Earth (9.8 metres/32.2 feet per square second). Fleas experience 100 g, while the Space Shuttle peaked at around 5 g. The flea’s secret is a stretchy rubber-like protein which allows it to store and release energy like a spring

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