THE LIVING DINOSAURS

Amongst all the different types of creatures around us, crocodiles are considered to be surviving from the Jurassic -era and so their experience on earth makes them the most deadly creatures. With time, where many of the tallest, biggest, strongest and fastest creatures have been destroyed and been left in nothing more than fossils on earth, this specie has survived  every phase of destruction in all these eras, due to their extraordinary adaptability to their surroundings.

Crocodiles belong to the CROCODYLIDAE family, the Alligators and the Caimans belong to the  ALLIGATORIDAE family while the Gharials belong to the  GAVIALIDAE family. The creatures from the CROCODYLIDAE are considered to be the true crocodiles.

Member species of the family Crocodylidae are aquatic reptiles that live in the tropics in Africa, Asia, America and Australia. Crocodiles are found in freshwater habitats like rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water. They feed mostly on vertebrates like fish, reptiles, and mammals and sometimes on invertebrates like molluscs and crustaceans, depending on their species. The crocodiles of that time were lot different than what we see today. They were bipedal and survived on vegetarian diets.

SCTOMATOSUCHUS INERMIS: they were one of the oldest crocodile species surviving on earth. The skeletal structure of the creature was a bit similar to that of the modern crocodiles. Stomatosuchus inermis ("Weaponless mouth crocodile") was an enormous 10 metre long eusuchian crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Egypt. Unlike most other crocodyliforms, it is difficult to determine exactly what S. inermis ate. Its flattened skull had a long, flat, lid-like snout, which was lined with small, conical teeth. The mandible may have been toothless and may have supported a pelican-like throat pouch.

Unfortunately the only known specimen, a large skull, which was collected in German paleontologist Ernst Stromer's Egyptian expedition, was obliterated when the Munich Museum was destroyed during an Allied bombing raid in 1944.

ARCHOSAURS: they came up later in the Jurassic era. They resembled our modern crocodiles much more than any of the dinosaurs before. Archosaurs were a group of diapsid amniotes whose living representatives consist of modern birds and crocodilians. This group also includes all extinct non-avian dinosaurs, many extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosauria, the archosaur clade, is a crown group that includes the most recent common ancestors of living birds and crocodilians. It includes two main clades: Crurotarsi, which includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives, and Avemetatarsalia, which includes pterosaurs and dinosaurs (of which birds are the only living clade).

MORDERN CROCODILES: The one first appeared during the Eocene epoch, about 55 million years ago. They are among the most complex biological creatures surviving on earth. They can survive both on land and in water. The creature is a very good hunter in both kind of ecosystems. Crocodiles are ambush hunters and they normally hunt in water, waiting for fishes or other land animals to come close and then rushing out to attack. Crocodiles are cold blooded creatures and can survive without food.T hey have a very slow metabolism but despite all these flaws they are the top predators on earth. Crocodilians can produce sounds during distress and in aggressive displays. They can also hear well and the tympanic membranes are concealed by flat flaps that may be raised or lowered by muscles.

They feed upon fishes, birds, mammals and sometimes even feed upon small crocodiles.

Size greatly varies between species, from the dwarf crocodile to the saltwater crocodile. Species of Palaeosuchus and Osteolaemus grow to an adult size of just 1 metre (3.3 ft) to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft). Larger species can reach over 4.85 metres (15.9 ft) long and weigh well over 1,200 kilograms (2,600 lb). Crocodilians show pronounced sexual dimorphism with males growing much larger and more rapidly than females. Despite their large adult size, crocodiles start their life at around 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long. The largest species of crocodile is the saltwater crocodile, found in eastern India, northern Australia, south-east Asia, and in the surrounding waters.

Two larger certifiable records are both of 6.2 metres (20 ft) crocodiles. The first crocodile was shot in the Mary River in the Northern Territory of Australia in 1974 by poachers and measured by wildlife rangers. The second crocodile was killed in 1983 in the Fly River, Papua New Guinea. In case of the second crocodile it was actually the skin that was measured by zoologist Jerome Montague, and as skins are known to underestimate the size of the actual animal, it is possible this crocodile was at least another 10 cm longer.

The largest crocodile ever held in captivity is an Estuarine–Siamese hybrid named Yai , at the famous Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo, Thailand. This animal measures 6 m (19.69 ft) (19 ft 8 in) in length and weighs 1114.27 kg.

Meanwhile, the longest crocodile captured alive is Lolong which was measured 6.096 metres (20 ft 3 in) by a National Geographic team in Agusan del Sur Province, Philippines.

Wildlife experts, however, argue that the largest crocodile so far found in the Bhitarkanika was almost 23 feet (7.0 m) long, which could be traced from the skull preserved by the Kanika Royal Family. The crocodile was shot near Dhamara in 1926 and later its skull was preserved by the then Kanika King. Crocodile experts estimate the animal was between 20 feet (6.1 m) and 23 feet (7.0 m) long, as the size of the skull was measured one ninth of the total length of the body.

There is no such recorded age of crocodiles, but the oldest crocodile that survived in the Australia zoo was recorded to be 130 years of age. This crocodile was rescued by Bob Irwin and Steve Irwin after being shot twice by hunters.

Crocodiles have smooth skin on their belly and side, while their dorsal surface is armoured with large osteoderms. The armoured skin has scales and is thick and rugged, providing some protection. They are still able to absorb heat through this thick, rugged armour as a network of small capillaries push blood through the scales to absorb heat.

Humans are the biggest danger to crocodiles. The crocodiles are hunted by humans for their skin. Their skin is used for making leather products like wallets, briefcases, purses, handbags, belts, hats, and shoes.

THE CHANGE WE LIVE IN

Our urban world grows every day like a menacing, authoritative monster that engulfs all green patches that come in its path and evolves into a more grey concrete jungle that drains out the biodiversity of our once pristine surroundings. Our team saw so many instances where the state of our city’s biodiversity was nothing but deplorable that we felt we had to do something and not just sit idle at our desks. Firstly we wanted support for our hypothesis of the degradation of the natural elements and we decided to observe our environment for clues that gave us solid proofs for the same. Honestly, we were clueless and didn’t know where to begin this daunting task, however with sheer determination and with passion for our surroundings we were able to delve deeper into the concept of local biodiversity and climate change.

The Clouds 180˚ Project-

                                 

                DAY 49                  DAY 97                     DAY 171




(Photographs above were taken by us)

As a simple experiment, we took photographs of clouds everyday for a time span of 180 days and made careful observations by recording the type of clouds seen, made predictions of weather based on it and then checked if these held true with the real weather our place experienced. The photographs were of the sky at a particular time of the day by three of us who lived in distanced regions of the city. When we finally tallied all our observations and recordings we found out that for a majority of cases the weather that the cloud cover promised did not hold true. Also, the piece of sky above Hussainabad, a busy market place lacked cloud coverage as compared to the sky over the Aliganj area which also provided great discrepancies in the amount of rain each of the areas received even though they were situated within the same city. It was disappointing to us as we also did not experience as much rain as we had the year before especially in September.

Shocking yet true, climate change is not something we read in books. It is certainly not that is just happening at the polar ice caps, it’s happening around us, all the time. The next step to combat this sad yet inevitable consequence of our deplorable actions is to determine the carbon footprint of individuals in a community. This would thus help us set a goal for our self so that we could meet the basic well-being of our environment.  

The Climate Watch Program-

As part of the climate watch program, we observed the Asian house Gecko; the common lizard. This included keeping a track of mating calls (a distinct scratching sound against the wall), a rough idea of population density in various environments around the household.

(Places chosen as observation points)

Scientific classification

  Kingdom-Animalia

  Phylum-Chordata

  Class-Reptilia

  Order Squamata

  Genus-Hemidactylus

  Species-H.frenatusHemi

Several national geographic channel episodes and various news channels have already reported instances of animals that have changed their migratory patterns, have reacted to familiar situations in a very unusual manner and have changed their habitats. We went out looking for such proofs in our own homes.

The following inferences were derived-

1.     They love to live in warm, humid conditions especially behind electrical appliances like air-conditioner.

2.     They are active at night and wander close to the light-bulbs where insects smaller than it’s size thrive in abundance and thus feed on them, including moths.

3.     They emit a distinct and periodic scratching noise against the surface to which they cling as part of their mating ritual. However, mating was not observed.

4.     The pestilence caused due to these creatures has increased over the years, summer after summer. The number of the house geckos that are fond of tropical climates has increases significantly.

5.     They mated early in the summer season which is an expected phenomenon due to the effect of increasing temperatures because of climate change.

6.     Also, these lizards have grown more aggressive over the course of time and are not afraid of humans even when they’re standing close, especially in air-conditioned rooms. This can be a result of the effect of climate change that has driven them so cold. If such tiny creatures get so affected by climate change, we can only expect the bigger ones to become more unruly and act weirdly in the days to come.

Understanding our Homes-

We’ve divided Indian households into three classes i.e. Class I, Class II and Class III and then analysed the facilities and basic amenities that are present in their homes and proposed changes and suitable additions to help them mitigate climate change.

Class I- The people who live in mansions, bungalows or cottages that have a garden or too!

Class II- Persons who live in apartments and have community gardens or an array of potted plants.

Class III- People who do not own either a garden or potted plants and live in congested areas.

	CLASS I	CLASS II	CLASS III
Type	Mansions Bungalows Cottages	Flats Penthouses	Individual houses in flea market areas that usually are given out for rent
Free Space	Ample(Gardens, Terraces)	Medium(Balcony, Terraces, Community Gardens)	Limited(Courtyard, Verandah)
Ecological Economics	Can afford eco-friendly devices and systems	Can afford eco-friendly systems	Cannot afford sophisticated eco-friendly systems
Carbon Footprint	Generally, such homes have the most impact on environment(use more resources as they can meet expenses)	Have a somewhat smaller carbon footprint	Have high or low carbon footprints(due to lack of awareness)
Awareness of Environment	Well aware, educated masses.	Aware of consequences of daily actions on the environment	Unaware, least bothered as they are self-engrossed in trying to earn themselves a meal for the day.
Changes that can be made to achieve an eco-friendly goal in the name of the community	Installation of solar systems like solar water heater(Initial costs will be high but will be mitigated in the long run and will reduce expenditure on energy usage) Can install devices such as a stopper in pipes while watering plants so that water is not wasted. A simple rainwater harvesting system that collects water in the terraces and will travel through pipes and into a deep trench or tank in the corner of a garden will be most apt.	Can setup bird feeder mobiles in balconies to feed birds, Potted plants that bear seasonal flowers will do more good than harm. Sophisticated chimneys will go a long way in combating climate change. Rain water harvesting systems that are linked to the houses on each floor can be used to later to wash cars. A pool-in for a solar system might also be beneficial to reducing down energy needs.	Can water trees planted by the local government or NGO with waste water.  Drains can have a net at one end to collect rubbish and the liquid can be used to water roadside plants. Bird feeder mobiles will prove good! Kerosene fuelled stoves can be replaced with stoves that use gobar gas.

We all know that people lead extremely busy lifestyles these days. No body has got the time to do something for the environment. The children are expected to spread awareness but no one pays heed to their pleas. There is no point in actually suggesting changes in a person’s lifestyle. The point is to cleverly make them ‘adapt as we go by’ so that they don’t feel they’re doing any extra work and still render a little help to the environment.

Keeping in mind that everybody knows polythene is harmful and kills our cows by chocking them to death. People continued to buy stuff in them and did not care at all. The initiative of charging money for polythene opened the eyes of the local masses and has proved successful as now no one wants to actually pay more form their pockets for something that can be replaced with free cloth bags available in their own homes.
We propose something similar as the trick is to inculcate a law or policy into the lives of the average man that would bind him to remain committed in good ways that help the environment. Spreading news about how their actions will affect biodiversity and will bring about climate change does nothing. We feel that the more authoritative, educated and responsible governments and NGOs must bring about such projects.

To promote local biodiversity, we would like to propose a project that would benefit birds, butterflies and bees.

The Beautiful Biodiversity Project

         Helping our Bees, Butterflies and Birds

            Why save them? According to the Operation Bee campaign, there are primarily three reasons behind this- 

                  Food Shortage because pollination or seed dispersal does not occur

                  Lack of Biodiversity

                  Economic Crisis

        

Who it involves? The local cleaning body, local government and NGOs, Schools

            What is to be done? A collection of seeds of the plant species that attract bees, birds and butterflies can be done which can be distributed freely to homes who will plant them. An inspection during the course of the season can be done to ensure that this is being followed. Also, in the city, the home with the most eco-friendly adaptations can be handsomely rewarded. This would result in a healthy competition for the greater good.  NGOs can assist the poorer families with this project as something needs to be done until its too late and our future generations no more get to see the sparrows perched on our window sills. 

We suggest planting seasonal plants and trees that would give rise to blooms that would benefit local biodiversity, keeping in my plants that are available with ease in India.

Observations have it that bees are attracted to blue, yellow and purple flowers. They prefer single whorled flowers to multiple whorled flowers. Moreover, a lawn that is excellently manicured will not be as inviting for them as one which has wild shrubbery and the like growing in abundance

Also, butterflies like flowers that have petals that are slightly bigger and in a variety of vibrant colours. Sweet smelling flowers are a favourite source of nectar for them.

          Small birds like sparrows and humming-birds whose populations have had to bear the consequences of climate change and green belt removal within our cities will benefit from trees that have dense foliage for protection of nest. One should try planting these trees where they won’t be subjected to periodic trimming.

REPORT BY OUR MEMBER- NIKITA NAYAK
WITH- ASREEN ABDULLAH, SRISHTI BHATT, ANANYA MATHUR, OSHIN DEEPAK AND SHUBHANGI SAXENA.

THE REPORT WAS DONE FOR THE EARTHIAN PROGRAM BY WIPRO THE REPORT WAS RECOGNIZED AS THE TOP 20 RESEARCH PAPERS AMONG 569 SCHOOLS IN INDIA.. :)

RHINOCEROS

There are five different species of rhinoceros found in different parts of the world, Black rhino, White rhino, Sumatran Rhino, Javan rhino and Indian rhino. The creature is surviving on this earth from the Jurassic era. Fossils are found in many places of the world. The creature is included in the native species of Africa (2) and Southern Asia (3).

SUMATRAN RHINO

                       

The creature has a well built body, and is included in the mammalian class i.e. the female gives birth to the new ones and the baby rhino feeds on the milk of the mother for a certain period of time.

JAVAN RHINO

                                      

The female gives birth to only one child at a time, it is seen that the baby remains with the mother for the first 3 years of his life and after that the mother is ready for a new child. The mother rhino takes good care of the child in all conditions. Looking at the pattern that the mother and the young rhino use while on the move, its easy to determine the difference between the White and the Black rhino. One must not confuse the color of a rhino by the title of their specie; black rhino and white rhino; rhinos are more or less of the same color. As the color of the rhino has no difference as such, this technique can help find the difference. A white rhino mother walks behind its baby to protect its young one, while a black rhino mother walks in front of the young one. Besides this, black rhinos are considered more aggressive than the white rhinos.

WHITE RHINO (CALF WALKING IN THE FRONT)

                  

BLACK RHINO (MOTHER WITH HER CALF)

                 

An average healthy rhino has a protective layer of 1.5-5 centimeter and  weighs about 600 kilograms.

Rhinos have very small legs as compared to their large and heavy bodies. The creature can run at a maximum speed of 50kmph, which is indeed a good speed considering its size and weight . It only feeds on grass in the winter and the rainy season  with which it also fulfills its need for water, while in summers the animal can travel up to 25km a day in search of water.

The creature loves to live alone and lives a really boring life. They hardly come in contact with other rhinos.

A mother with her child can live in an area of 25 km for years. Considering their large size they are able to  survive  in very small areas.

The rhinos don’t have much hair traces on the body like other mammals, except of some on their ears and some on their tail. The horn of the rhino is made of a collection of hairs and it grows really big and strong in white rhinos, while in Black rhinos the front horn is not that big. They are illegally killed all over the world for their horns. The rhinos usually don’t  face any danger except from humans and microorganisms.

WHITE RHINO

BLACK RHINO

The rhinos have an average life span of 35-40 years. They don’t have a good eyesight and because of this anyone can easily approach the rhino from its rear end, but usually creatures don’t attack rhinos. The creature due to its low eyesight charges easily on anyone who comes in its way, but the best part of the rhino is that it retreats as quickly as it charges.

The white rhinos have square shaped mouth which helps them to easily chew grass and thorny leaves, while the black rhinos have round shaped mouth and they lose their teeth very fast.

RHINO KILLED FOR ITS HORN

Black rhinos have a curved back as compared to the straight back of white rhinos.

The male rhinos frequently fight with each other in friendly games and also for mating needs. Male rhinos are often seen killing the young ones in order to insist the female to mate with the male rhino.

The calf is born after a period of 14-18 months and are able to feed on grass after a week of birth.

Rhinos once used to roam around all the continents and were found in abundance, but now there are just a few thousands left and are now officially declared as ENDANGERED species.

 [IMAGE SOURCE :- INTERNET]