Hello, Sparky here.
Ø The rains are picking up again signaling the retreat of
the monsoon and the imminent end of the rainy season. As the earth ‘topped up’
the water stock, we ‘quietened down’. Amidst heavy downpour in the evenings
this week, gatherings of any kind became impossible, for that matter any kind
of activity other than perhaps ‘thinking’ became difficult. We have all been
finishing our routine earlier than usual and retiring to our homes early.
Ø These breaks that nature forces us to endure are really a
blessing in disguise. It lets us ‘catch up with ourselves’. Else with all the
hustle and bustle of meeting others, being part of a crowd, our own individual
self doesn’t get the attention that it needs. In solitude, a great many things
are achieved. First and foremost is a sense of gratitude which comes of not
having people and things around that we take for granted. Second, is listening
to one’s mind’s voice which is otherwise stifled by the ‘collective thought’. Solitude
also makes one rather philosophical. That’s the reason for this soliloquy.
Ø This week the ‘Animal and plant species discovered in
India in 2019’ was published by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and
the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) respectively. Guess how many species were
discovered in India in 2019 alone – a whopping 544, of which 364 are animals
(including 4 fossil species) and 180 plants. Imagine the pristine habitat these
animals and plants live in, that their very presence had gone undiscovered in all
this time that humans have been exploring their world. Funny creature these humans
are, one half is on a voyage of discovery and the other half on a rampage of
destruction.
Ø Of course, before you
run away with your imagination, let me mention that most of the newly
discovered animal species are insects. There are also reptiles, fishes and
amphibians but not a yeti or a kraken.
Ø A little about the
background of the publications by ZSI and BSI. They have been publishing
‘Animal Discoveries’ and ‘Plant Discoveries’ since 2007 and this week’s
publication was the 13th in the series. In the past decade a total of 2,444 new
animal species and 3,500 plant species have been discovered and these are the
numbers just from India. Now, think of how many are yet to be discovered – not
that these species are ‘waiting’ to be discovered. If anything, they have done
a brilliant job staying ‘undiscovered’.
Ø A news like this would be incomplete without at least
naming a few of these species
– here’s a short list.
o
Cnemaspis
anandani – A rock-dwelling gecko that lives in the
Western Ghats.
o
Sphaerotheca
magadha – A burrowing frog discovered in farm
lands in Jharkhand.
o
Enoplotrupes
tawangensis – A dung beetle from Tawang, Arunachal
Pradesh
o
Amomum
nagamiense – A wild ginger variety discovered
from the forest right behind Kohina Zoo in Nagaland.
o
Pteris
subiriana – A wild fern, found in Kerala, Tamil
Nadu and Maharashtra.
If
you want to 'see' the ‘discoveries’, then here’s the link to the publications.
The BSI is as of today, yet to upload the 2019 ‘discoveries’, this is where you
can find it when they do upload it.
https://zsi.gov.in/App/importantlinks.aspx?link=170®=170
https://bsi.gov.in/page/en/national-wild-life-action-plan
Ø So, what’s the use of all these discoveries, one might
ask.
o
It could be an alternative food source feeding a multitude of people
and in turn providing employment to many.
o
It could lead to
development of new products – someday perhaps a plant might just be our saviour
by providing an alternate to plastic and petroleum – the 2 things that needs to
be stop being used but humans just cannot do without. (More on ‘Biodiesel from
Microalgae’ next week)
o
Learning of how they
survive, how they fight viruses and diseases could help in creation of new
vaccines.
Ø A couple of facts before I end this topic:
o
With the new animal discoveries, India now
has 102,161 species of animals - from one-celled protozoans to large animals
such as elephants and tigers. This is about 6.52% of the global share.
o
India ranks 8th in the world with its 102,161
species of animals.
o
It is estimated that about 30 to 50 million
species (of all kinds) exist in the world.
o
So far, 1.8 million species (of all kinds)
have been identified which is a fraction of how many are thought to exist.
Ø A ‘discovery’ related to this topic. Udra and Gumphu
monkey, needless to say were excited about the publication of these new
discoveries and with the help of Ms. Keetaki, the otter entomologist actually
went through the entire list of ‘discoveries’ and around the island checking if
any of these new discoveries were ‘already of old’ on the island. They did find
a moth, Parasa neoherbifera from the
list of discoveries here. They were ecstatic and tried to even enumerate this
‘new species’, lost a couple of night’s sleep, caught a cold for tramping around
in the rains and finally gave it up when Gumphu nearly came to be bitten by a
snake. They did catch one (the moth, not the snake) and bring it to me for doing an interview but fortunately
for the moth we don’t speak the same language. Really, it’s not so difficult to
imagine what the moth’s reaction to ‘being discovered’ would be – ‘Whoever discovered
these humans?' 'Why can’t they just be and let us be?’ or something on those
lines.
Ø In news from Banyan Island, a strange thing happened this
week to Kiwi, a little monkey. You will remember him as Civvy’s friend who had
a ride on the Woolly-necks. With so many of us obsessed with the 120-year-old
turtle last week, Kiwi began to ‘see’ the turtle. One day, he had gone to the
Woolly-necks’ nest to chat with the little Woollies and he started shouting
when he saw some dried leaves piled up together, then again he got all excited
when he spotted a wilted coconut shell floating in the water and then for
a third time when he saw a visiting glossy ibis. Now, even if he were to spot
that turtle no one would believe him, probably not even himself.
Ø I thought the election business was firmly behind us but
someone on the island doesn’t think so. Mr. SBK, the stork billed kingfisher
who had tried to compete in the elections and was disqualified when he tried to
run for the post of ‘leader of storks’ has been going around talking to the
newly arrived birds on the island trying to instigate them to voice their
displeasure that a leader was chosen in their absence. We will have to wait and
see how this develops.
Here are a few activities for this week. A
lot of photos used this week making it colourful to make up for the lack of
colours in my world, at the moment.
- Here’s a photo of a ‘staircase’. Look at this photo and identify ‘words’ that begin with the letter ‘W’. Don’t limit yourself to just what you see, widen your imagination and look for intangible things as well.
- Identify these plants
Little Readers’ Section
·
Identify
these animals and also identify who eats what amongst these animals.
See you all next week with more news, activities and answers to this week’s puzzles.
In the meanwhile, if you would like to write to me, email me at Sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com
Answers to last week’s puzzles:
- Here’s a photo of a ‘grooming-session’. Look at this photo and identify ‘words’ that begin with the letter ‘M’. Don’t limit yourself to just what you see, widen your imagination and look for intangible things as well.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of answers. What is exhausted is my ‘imagination’ and ‘inclination’.
o
Mothers
o
Monkeys
o
Macaques
o
Mortar (of the wall)
o
Mischief (I see mischief in the eyes of the
baby monkey on the left)
o
Musing (The baby monkey on the right is lost
in thought)
o
Mango tree (the huge tree behind, is perhaps
a mango tree)
·
Here are some
similar looking, similar sounding words that can be a little confusing, also a
few choices to be made between ‘not-so-similar’ words. See, if you can get it
right.
When I told
the otters of my meeting with the 120-year-old turtle last week, they
were quite envious of me. Udra wondered aloud if the turtle would
visit the island again. The otters were
very eager to meet someone who had seen 120 years go by. They marveled
at the possibility of how well-read the turtle could be with so many years’
worth of reading under her shell. Samudra asked me if he would be allowed
to greet the turtle were he to bump into her in the waters or would she
take exception to that and snap at him. The otters met the Woolly-necks
and requested them to keep an eye out for the turtle while they flew around.
After the other residents
of the island read about the turtle in the magazine, many were amazed by
her visit and her age. Everyone expected the turtle to turn up again on
the island. Not just the Woolly-necks but all the birds started scouting
for the turtle. Monkeys in their free time would head to the top ‘storey’
of the trees to look for the turtle. When the turtle remained elusive,
there were murmurs of disappointment. Some even wondered if the turtle
was real or a ‘story’. Just a figment of my imagination. That’s when I
thanked my stars that it was Mrs Ulukah, the leader of birds who had seen the
turtle first and informed me of it. Credibility is everything to a
reporter. It is also the foundation
on which a publication stands.
Little Readers’ Section
·
Identify
these animals:
- Before a flower there is a bud, something like a ‘flower baby’, sometimes looks like the flower, sometimes is different. Can you match the buds in these photos on the left to their flowers on the right:
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