POND ECOSYSTEM

Pond  ecosystem is the typical example of the aquatic ecosystem. It is seen that where ever there is pond there is the pond ecosystem existing.
What is ecosystem?
Ecosystem is the ecological system which is formed by the interaction between the living organisms and nonliving components of the particular area and formation of the stable type of system in that particular area. There are different types of ecosystems like the aquatic ecosystem, terrestrial ecosystem etc. aquatic ecosystem is further classified as the pond ecosystem, lake ecosystem, river ecosystem, ecosystem of the aquarium etc. Anyway the pond ecosystem is the ecosystem which is formed in a pond by the living organisms of the pond and the non-living components of the pond like light, heat, temperature, soil water etc. The living organisms of the pond are also known as the biotic factors which are the plants and animals of the pond. Plants are green in color and known as producers. Animals are known as consumers.There are small and microscopic organisms in the pond which are bacteria, viruses and fungi. They are known as decomposers.

PTERODACTYLE

What is pterodactyle? It is also known as flying fox. It is more or less like the fox in appearance but it is unlike the fox because a fox can no more fly but what it amazing with the Pterodactyle is that it is the flying mammal which can fly but not with its true wing but with its patagia or wing like structures. Pterodactyles are the fruit -eating bats. They are seen hanging over the branches of the trees with head in downward position. Due to their capacity to fly in the air although the flight is of not so long distance, they are known as flying fox. They show the general characters of mammals like hair covered body, a pair of pinnae for collecting sound waves, pentadactyle limbs, four-chambered heart, viviparity i.e. giving birth to young ones and warmbloodedness. There are two different types of bats, one type are the insectivorous bats which are of small size in comparison to the pterodactyle. But the large sized bats are frugivorous in nature.

Rabbit

Rabbit is the common representative animal which belongs to the phylum chordata, class mammalia and order lagomorpha. This is the graceful animal in the animal kingdom. It is herbivorous in food habit.

Structure: Body of rabbit can be divided into four  different parts. They are anterior head, neck trunk and the tail.Head is the anteriormost region of the body. It is a little bit conical in shape and consists of snout, a pair of nostrils,a pair of eyes and at the top of the head there are two enlarged external ears called pinnae. They collect the sound waves from the environment and pass the sound waves towards the middle ear and then to the internal ear. Inside the mouth there are teeth and tongue. Teeth are adapted to eat the vegetable food materials. Rabbit is totally herbivorous in food habit. So, it has no canine teeth for tearing the flesh materials.Neck is the second part of the body which lies just after head region. Then comes the trunk region in the ventral side of the trunk are found the mammary glands which produce milk for suckling the young ones. There are two pairs of limbs which arise from the trunk, one pair of forelimbs and the second pair of hind limbs. There is the single small bushy tail.

HORSES

Horse is the common chordate animal which comes under the class mammalia. Its order is primate. Horse is famous for running. It has been used as the vehicle for traveling both for the long distance and the short distance. It has been found to be used by the royal family and in the procession which is organized during royal celebration and in the several welcome programs of the foreign guests. Horses are of different colors and size. Some are black and some are grey and even white  or greish white. White and grey colored horse is  liked by all. Horse is the animal which can run very fast. The horse rider usually trains the horse to go for the different directions and the different distance short and long distance. Body of horse is also divided into four parts, anterior head, second neck, trunk and the posterior tail It has reduced digits in the hind limbs which helps it to run fast.

Jackal in the forest.
Jackal is the common wild animal but it is found to be inhabiting in the adjoining areas near the forest in the villages where there is plenty of food for it. Jackal has different names in the different languages. In Nepalese language it is known as shyal. It is famous for its cunning nature. Its body is more or less similar to the cat and a little bit similar to the cat. It has the bilaterally symmetrical body with two pairs of limbs one pair of forelimbs and the another pair of hind limbs It has a distinct tail. Body is covered with hairs and has got a pair of external ears which help to collect sound waves from the atmosphere. The color of the fur is brown and black on the dorsal side and light brown on the ventral side. It is omnivorous in food habit. It often comes near the village at night and preys upon the very small and defenseless domestic and herbivorous animals of the village. Then when the morning approaches it goes back to its natural habitat, the jungle or in the bush area.

CROCODILE

 

Introduction:Crocodile :  is the chordate animal which is included under the class reptilia and the order lacertilia in which all the lizards are also included. Almost all of us have heard and seen the crocodile in its natural habitat or in the zoo. It is fearful to look at. It is like a big lizard. It is considered to be the rude animal of nature and there are provers and sayings regarding it that if some one sheds tears for others then if he or she is rude in nature then it is said that the tears are the crocodile tears. Any way crocodile is the frightening animal.
Where is crocodile found? Crocodile is found to be distributed in the riverside but specially in those areas where the river is situated near the big jungle or in the area of natural park and wildlife reserve. Crocodiles live in the deep water river where there is the sustainable source of water.
Structure : Crocodiles have the common reptilian feature. Its body is bilaterally symmetrical and dorsoventrally  flattened a little bit. The whole body is covered by horny and dry scales.which gives protection to its body. There are two pairs of limbs, one pair of forelimbs and another pair of hind limbs.Each limb has five digits with well developed claws which help them to grasp the animals firmly.It has the well developed tail which is also covered with scales.
Food habit: Crocodiles are generally carnivorous in food habit. They use to eat the whole animal which it finds on its way in its natural habitat. It attacks the animals which comes near the front part of its body. But it remains silent until the animal comes just in front of it. It swallows the animal as a whole.
Importance: Crocodile, although is the fearful animal, it is important from the ecological point of view. It is helping to balance the ecosystem of the particular habitat by playing the role of one of the trophic level of aquatic ecosystem. So it should be preserved in its natural habitat for the balance of nature.

KALLIMA BUTTERFLY

Kallima                     
   Introduction:  Kallima butterfly is the well known and famous Indian butterfly which is distributed in all types of habitat, especially the forests and gardens where there is the threat of the preying insects and carnivorous types of animals.
What is special about this Kallima butterfly?
It is very curious to know the particulars about the animals of nature. Regarding this, the particular character of the Kallima butterfly is that it is the leaf-shaped arthropod which comes under the class insecta. Like other insects, it has got the body which is divided into three parts, head thorax and abdomen. The special thing about it is that it has the capacity to hide itself among the leaves of the plants where it is perfectly concealing itself in such a way that it is thought to be the leaf but not the animal by its predators. So, it is harmonized in such a way with its natural habitat that it is not identified by its predators as the animal and so its protected in natural although it is the defenseless animal of nature. Its body color and shape is totally similar to lead like and so this butterfly is an example which inspires the animals how to adapt themselves in the natural habitat and conceal themselves from the sight of predators. We all human beings also get inspiration that how the defenseless animals of nature are adapting themselves in nature without the fear of survival.

FLYING FISH

What is flying fish? is it really a fish or some other objects? It is a very interesting thing to know what actually is a flying fish. Of course, there are fishes which although seems impossible to fly, can fly  to some distance above the surface of water.
Flying fish is a fish which is perfectly aquatic in habitat and perfectly adapted to live in aquatic habitat. They have stream-lined body, scale-covered body surface, gills for respiration and fins for locomotion in the aquatic habitat. But what about their flight ? They have a pair of enlarged pectoral fins which are parachute like and help the fish to glide in air for some time just after they lift the body from the surface of water. What helps to lift  their body from the surface of water? They have hypobatic type of tail fin which help to lift the body forward and propel them so that they can glide easily in the air above the surface of water. Due to these properties flying fish which actually is the bony fish is called the flying gish. But their flight is not as efficient as the flight of the birds. As their flight is not based on the muscular pectoral fins but just supported by cutaneous structures called patagia.

Whales and dolphins are the aquatic animals. They are distributed in the aquatic habitat. Whale is the perfectly marine in habitat where as the dolphin is also found in fresh water as well as in marine habitat.  Both whales and dolphins have got stream-lined body with the paddles and flippers as the locomotary organs. They are excellent divers in the aquatic habitat. Whale is the largest animal of nature. But Dolphin is considered to be the intelligent mammal.They show the secondary aquatic adaptation i.e. they were primarily adapted in the terrestrial habitat but in the course of evolution they migrated from the terrestrial habitat to the aquatic habitat and started tom live permanently in the aquatic habitat.

Animals of spiritual value

Animals are valuable from the different point of view. Some animals of nature are of high spiritual value. There are many animals which are considered to be spiritually valuable  and even worshipped from time to time in the special occasion. Some of such animals are elephants, tiger, lion, Garuda, fish, snake, mouse etc.
 Elephant which is the very big animal which is spiritually valuable. It is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Ganesh. Its trunk is comparable to the trunk of Lord Ganesh. It has been the belief that if the soil inside the feet of elephant is touche dor kept in home it will do good harmony in the home. It is the good sign which helps to eliminate evils around the home.
Another important animal of spiritual value is the tiger which is considered to be the bahan of Goddess Durga. She had won the victory over Demon Madhukaitab by riding over the tiger and fighting with the fearful monster. Similarly, snake has its own value in spiritual world. Although snakes are fearful animals of natureand have frighetening appearance, snakes are considered to be the incarnation of God and worshipped as Nagraj, i.e. the king of snakes They are worshipped on the occassion of Nagpanchami.

Octopus, the well known predicting animal of nature.

Octopus, is the common marine animal which comes under the phylum mollusca and class cephalopoda. It is the very popular animal in forecasting and predicting the future events. The general characters of this animals are the following:
It has the soft body which consists of the skeleton which is made up of calcium carbonate. Its locomotary organs are situated in the head region, It has the sucking organs in its body. What is particular about octopus? One of the peculiar of octopus is the capacity of this animal to predict the future events. For example, Octopus paul was the very popular octopus which was born in England and brought to Germany. It was kept in the tank and given the mussel as the food. Then the flags of the concerning countries were placed in the tank. Then, the observation was done by looking the choice of octopus Paul to choose the box with flag of the concerning country. The Octopus Paul's prediction became correct as its choice for Spain's flag as the future winner was materialized. Then it was found to be dead in the month of October in the same year.

Hippocampus, a peculiar bony fish of sea

Hippocampus  is the peculiar bony fish of marine habitat. It is quite different from the other remaining bony fishes. Being a bony fish it exhibits all the general characters of the other bony fishes such as presence of body covering with smooth cycloid and ctenoid scales, having a gill covering called operculum, and the skeleton whichnis made up of true bone instead of cartilage. The particular characters which make it quite different from the remaining other bony fishes are that it is the fish which is more or less similar to the horse. Its snout is very much similar  to the appearance of a horse. and it always lives in the sea. So it is known as sea horse. The other peculiar character of this fish is the swimming method of this fish. It has the capacity to swim vertically. i.e. up and down. Other bony fishes use to swim horizontally but this fish  swims vertically , up and downward movement. Another important character of sea horse is that it is adapted to hold the twigs  and so it is adapted to resemble with the twigs of the branches of the tree. Its tail is prehensile. So, it has become the peculiar fish of marine habitat.

Butterfly, the beautiful animal of nature

Butterfly is the well-known invertebrate of animal kingdom. It belongs to the class insecta of the phylum arthropoda. Being the representative animal of phylum arthropoda, it exhibits all the general characters of phylum arthropoda like body covering with the exoskeleton of chitin, jointed appendages in the body, distribution in the air and other terrestrial habitat but wide capacity of tolerance to survive even in the cold climate of the peak of the mountains. Butterflies are of different colors and they use to live in the gardens especially during the day times.
  Their body can be divided into the three parts: they are anterior head, middle thorax and the posterior abdomen. Head consists of a pair of compund eyes, a pair of clavate antennae and mouth parts. They have the siphoning type of mouth parts which is adapted for sucking up the nectars of flowers. This type of mouth part consists of a well-developed proboscis which is used to form a sucking tube for collecting nectar of flowers. They have one pair of wings which lie vertical in position when they are at the resting stage.They remain active during the day time. Such animals are called diurnal animals.

Amphibians of Nepal

Amphibians of Nepal are of various types. There are 43 species of amphibians reported from Nepal according to (Shaha,1995) and Tiwari (2004).Shaha and Tiwari reported 53 species of amphibians from Nepal in "Herpeto fauna of Nepal: A conservation companion". They are of considerable aesthetic and economic importance. Some of them are found in great abundance in the remote hills and plains of Nepal. Some formerly common have become increasingly rare due to habitat destruction, pollution of the streams, lakes etc where they live. In the villages , the frogs are extensively hunted for commercial purposes. Some tree frogs are caught and kept in earthen  pots and marketed in the living form.The killed frogs are dried or smoked and are sold in the off season.
 Purplw Caecilian (Ichthyophis glutinosa) is a burrowing amphibian reported from the locality of Butwal  area. It is the only representative genus and species from the order Apoda.
 Himalayan newt or salamander (Tylototrion verrucosus)  commonly called pani kukur is the only urodel found in Arun valley of Nepal.

Giardia, the endoparasite

Giardia is one of the endoparasite which lives inside the alimentary canal of men and other vertebrates. This is the unicellular protozoan which comes under the class ciliata. Giardia lambla or Giardia intestinalis is a parasite in the small intestine and colon of men. It remains attached in masses to the mucus membrane from where it absorbs food consisting mainly of mucus.Occasionally the parsite invades the bile ducts and gall bladder.Other species of Giardia are parasites in the intestine of vertebrates.
Giardia has an elliptical body which is bilaterally symmetrical. The dorsal side is convex, but the ventral side is flat or may be convex.. The anterior end is rounded and the posterior end is tapering.In the anterior half of the ventral surface is a concave sucking disc for attachment to the host.There are two vesicular nuclei and four pairs of long flagella.Passing through teh cytoplasm from the anterior to the posterior end are two parallel ,flexible, needle like axostyleswhich support the body. The nuclei are attached by fibrils to the axostyles. Just behind he sucking discs is a deep staining parabasal body.
   Giardia prevents absorption of fats by the host inside the body of which it lives. The unabsorbed fat causes diarrhoea.It also forms oval thick-walled cysts. Cyst undergoes the division of nuclei inside it as a result of which four nuclei  are formed. The cysts pass out with the faeces and remain infective for about ten daysor more. The parasites can be removed by the treatment of the disease by the help of antimalarial drugs like chloroquin ans antrebrin.

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are the giant reptiles of prehistoric times. The geological survey of India has brought to light fossil remains of dinosaurs at Siranatham at Kallamedu in Tiruchirapalli district of Tamilnadu. These great dinosaurs which ruled earth for about 150 million years ago. came extinct 65 million years ago.There extinction was probably due to their great size and small brains which prevented them  from effectively competing with mammals.
 As the dinosaurs were the huge bodied dominant animals as frightening as any animals with their fearful appearance every body especially children  are afraid of their name. They always use to ask the different questions regarding dinosaurs how they are,  what they do, what they eat, where they live , How often they us etc appear in the different forms , how to see them without fear etc etc. Any way dinosaurs are the fearful reptiles like the huge lizards which were flourishing in the mesozoic era of the earth's history. They were dominating all the animals of nature including the human beings

Spiritual value of buffalo

Buffalo is one of the animal which has also the spiritual value. It is the huge bodied animal with black colour. Body is covered with hairs. It is herbivorous in food habit. It has one pair of horns which are used as its defensive organ. Buffalo sometimes uses butting its head with other elephants. Although elephant is domesticated mainly for milk and milk products but it is also used for ploughing the land before cultivating crops. Buffalo is also used to run the vehicles like bailgada It is also used for running the vehicles.
So far as the spiritual value is concerned, buffalo is also considered as the vehicle of Yamraj, the God of death. According to Hindu mythology, Yama, the God of death, goes to his sister Yamuna and stays with her as a guest for five days. In Nepal, Deepawali or Yama panchak festival is celebrated as Tihar festival. During this festival due respect is paid to Yama by the people. During this festival buffalo is also paid due respect as the ehicle of God Yamaraj.

More about elephant

Elephant has got different names from the religious point of view. These names are naga, dvipa, padmin , Hastin etc. So, the different epithets have been given to the elephant. It is so called naga because it freely moves in water as well as on mountains and jungles. The name Dvipa which means the twice drinking i.e. drinking both from the mouth and the trunk. It has the habit of eating lotus. Due to this habit its name is given as Padmin that means lotus.It is associated with lotus in several representations. It is also given the name of 'Hastin' as it is born from teh hands of God rahma.
          According to legend, thefirst elephant was produced from the cosmic golden egg or Hiranyagarbha. Brahma took two halves of the broken shell in his hands and breathed life into them. Out of the shell came Airabata and seven other male elephants and from tehsecond shell sprang eight female elephants. These male and the female elephants started reproducing. Attached to this legend, an elephant is also called Hathi in Hindi and Hatti in Nepali. The eight male elephants became the bahana of Astha dikpalas or guardians of eight directions.

lElephant is also one of the majestic animal which is also important from the spiritual point of view along with its lots of other importance.These majestic animals are greatly associated witht he myths, mythologies and symbolisms of Hinduism and Buddhism in the countries like Nepal and India.
Its habitat: Its habitat is the jungle of herbs,where it goes cautiously moving breaking through all obstacles, protecting its calves from dangers, roaming over hills ,swimming across rivers and lakes in spite of its huge body. It possesses enormous strength and size. It imparts decorative grandeur to the pomp and pageantry of Indian and Nepalese life It has multifarious characteristics which has led to their representation in arts and literature. Its a fact that among the large animls of nature only the elephant survived in the struggle for existence. Its survival is not only due to its intelligence but due to its qualities of being associated and domesticated with men. It means it has the power of adaptation which has made it successful in the different types of adverse natural condition.The elephant enjoyed great prestige and it finds mention in various contexts in the epics i.e. in arthashastra of Kautilyawhere its force has been referred to the fabulous strength of kings.

Monkey ,the familiar animal of nature

Monkey is the familiar animal of nature. It is found almost all over the world. Monkeys are distributed in the forest areas. But sometimes they come near the human dwellings. They live in groups.The zoological name of monkey is Macaca mulatta. That is its genus is Macaca and species is mulatta. Monkeys have the general characters like that of human beings in many of the points which are as follows:
- They have the body which is covered with hairs.
- They have one pair of external ears known as pinna.
- They have two pairs of limbs, one pair of forelimbs and one pair of hind limbs.
- They have the four - chambered heart.
- They are also viviparous animals i.e.they do not lay eggs but give birth to the young ones.
-They are warm-blooded animals. i.e. they keep the body temperature constant all the year round.
  Monkeys are well known as the naughty animals of nature. They have the herbivorous food habit. They show the very good example of group behavior.