Animal Intelligence

Rakhi greetings to all of you .Let's start my new blog. In the new issue of the''Time'' magazine the cover article is ''What Animals Think''.There are some interesting facts about some animals.The human brain weighs up to 1,400g(3lb),the dolphin's  brain up to 1,700g(3.75lb) and the Killer whale's brain weighs up to 5,600g(12.3lb).
Higher thinking is done in the Cerebral cortex. Humans are magicians with tools, so are apes.Otters are masters in smashing mollusks in to get meat inside it. Crows indeed are better tool users than anybody. They can bend a wire to create a hook so they can fish a basket of food from the bottom of a plastic tube. Rooks, another member of the crow family, have shown us that if stones are thrown in a pitcher with shallow water that water can be drunk easily. This reminds us of that story by Aesop. Dogs understand what pointing means.Blue Jays,  another member of the crow family, treasure their food until the other animals are gone. If you tie a bracelet around an Orang-utan's hand  and put him in front of the mirror it puts the bracelet on it's face. It can make out it's own reflection. Elephants can understand if another elephant is dead or alive by touching their skull. If they are dead they mourn the death. When rats are in pain and wriggle, the other rats that watch the scene also wriggle like them. So in simple words animals also have brain, intelligence and feelings.

Painter of the ''Sunflowers''

Recently I was reading an article in''Reader's Digest'' called ''The Last Days Of Vincent Van Gogh''.Van Gogh was a Dutch painter . His friend Henri Toulouse Lautrec had recommended Van Gogh to go to the south of the ancient city of Arles.Arles was the city of hot and bright colours and a mellow sun.Vincent had turned out paintings ''full of Sulphur''.It was the time when Vincent was at his best.He used to work as well as live with his friend and painter Paul Gauguin whom he admired most . Later he had a small fight with Gauguin.Those years many painters such as Edward Degas,Lautrec,Georges Seurat,Camille Pissaro were offering friendship and encouragement to Van Gogh. In Arles Vincent had been showing signs of madness,but the doctors said that he was not mad at all but diagnosed him with ''Meniere's Disease''.A disease that affects the ear.Vincent was sent to an asylum in Auvers.The most remarkable thing is that Van Gogh had completed 36 paintings in71 days.In Auvers ,Vincent had met a man just like him 'Dr.Gachet'.Vincent had painted a portrait of Dr.Gachet .He even painted Dr.Gachet's 19 year old daughter.He painted the famous paintings ''Crows Over The Wheat Field'' and ''Sunflowers''. Van Gogh thought himself to be a burden on his brother Theo so one day he shot himself in his chest and died.Thus the world lost a genius.

Prince Of Mathematics

Today let's talk about Mathematics. I will tell you a little about the famous Mathematician Karl Gauss. He has been called ''The Prince Of Mathematics'' by Mr E.T.Bell in his book ''Men Of Mathematics''.One day Karl's teacher asked them to add from one to hundred, he thought that the students would take time and he would rest.
But there was one such divine child who did it in seconds .It was Kar.He simply added
1+ 2+ 3+ ................+100
100+99+ 98+............+1 .It struck him that if he writes the numbers in reverse order he would get 50 pairs each that add up to 101,so he simply multiplied 50 and 101=5050. If you are also to do something like this here's the formula: n(n+1/2), where n is the number of characters in the number. Gauss also gave another important idea which we will learn now.
For instance, if today is Sunday, what day it will be forty days from today. Lets name Sunday, day 0, Monday 1 and so on. Since there are 07 days in a week, we can divide 40 by7 which gives us a remainder of 5. So the answer is Friday, which is day 5. We can say that 40 is Congruent to 5 Modulo 7. That is 40 and 5 both give the same remainder when divided by 7. This idea of Congruence and Modulus is very important in Number Theory.

Jatinga Mystery

As I was reading the book called ''Wildlife Of India''by Mr E.P.Gee, I came across a very rare or I must say an interesting fact about the birds of Halflong a village near Assam more specifically Jatinga.It said that during October-November, on cloudy nights, when the weather is very cold , people light lamps electric bulbs fire etc. They see birds coming from the North-South direction towards them. Feeling the warmth of the lights birds jump into the fire.
It is a kind of suicide done by birds. It is said that the villagers who saw these birds jumping into the fire did nothing but waited for the birds to die so that they could eat the birds.
After reading this, I grew more interested and started to read the book called"Dance of the Sarus" by S.Theodre Baskaran. He also read Mr E.P Gee's book and went to Assam to see this phenomenon.In his he mentions how he had seen a ''Red Headed Tronga 's suicide.I have grown so interested in birds that I also wan to go to Assam to see this phenomenon and I promise that if I ever go I'll surely tell whatever I saw.I'm signing off Bye-bye.

Birdwatching

When you think of birdwatching which is the first name that comes  to your mind? Salim Ali of course! The famous Ornithologist.Ornithology is the subject that studies birds and bird behaviour. Salim shot a little known sparrow when he was young called'Yellowthroated Sparrow'.this is was how he started birdwatching.Salim came to know that just as we humans have name and surname birds have genus(surname) and specie name(first name).young Salim did a bit of research work on the shabby bird crow.He found that the domestic crow is called (Corvus Splendens) whereas the jungle crow is called (Corvus Macrorhynchos). Years later Salim Ali wrote a book called 'The Book Of Indian Birds' which is a classic book for amateur birdwatchers.Years passedand made Salim Ali the best amateur birdwatcher.
One day Salim received an invitation sent by German ornithologist Erwin Stressman. He invited Salim to teach him bird taxonomy which is the science of classifying birds.Dr Salim Ali is famous for his work on Baya(Weaver Bird). He discovered that the male Baya is a wonderful builder. Each and every male baya builds a beautiful  bottle shaped nest . Salim Ali had written in his autobiography the "fall of a sparrow" his love for birds of Kerala. to which he had dedicated his book called "birds of kerala". he undertook bird surveys  to Princely states such as Travancore-Cochin, Bhopal, Indore,  Gwalior and many more including Gujrat where he studied the  Greater Flamingo in Rann of Kutch. He noticed a peculiar as well as interesting fact about the Malabar Hornbill. The male hornbill locks up his wife and babies in the nest in the tree and covers it with mud and supplies food at right time . He does it so to protect them from lizard and snakes.There are some birds discovered by other Ornithologists but named after Salim Ali,' Oriental White eye' (Zosterops Palpebrasa Salimalii) Rock bush Quail(Perdicula Argoondah Slimali) and many more. So in simple words I would call Salim Ali the god of Ornithology.                                       

Lets get going!

Hi! I'm back! here are some interesting nuggets I came across which I would like to share.
1)What are the ingredients of "Paanch Phoron"in Bengali cooking?
2) In Mumbai, if a restaurant serves you " Bombil", what will it be?
3) What is Horse Raddish in Japanese cuisine called?
4)Which delectable sweet of Goa is made in layers of Coconut milk, Honey and Egg Yolk?
5) In a restaurant if the menu refers to a dish called "florentine", what does it mean?
Ans: 1.Aniseed(saunf), Cumin(Jeera),Fenugreek(methi),Mustard(sorshe),Nigella (kalo Jeera/kalaunji)
        2. Bombay Duck, Lote in Bangla
        3.Wasabi
        4. Bebinca
        5. Spinach
Here are some amazing facts I bet you also don't know!
1.What is "filtrum"?
2. What is an aglet?
3.What is a "tittle" ?
4.What is "Purlicue"?
5.What is a "Brannock Device"?
6. What is a 'Lore' ?
7. What is a"lifer"
Ans: 1.The space berween the nose and the upper lip.
        2. It is the metallic part of the shoe lace.
        3.It a dot over the "I".
        4.It is the space between the thumb and the forefinger.
        5. It is the device which measures foot size in a shoe store.
        6. Birdwatchers call the space between the Bird's eye and bill.
        7. A bird you have seen for the first time.
So you see, every inch of space matters! That's all for today. Bye!




           

My Favourite Things

Hi, I am Ranjini Ghosh. I am a class V student in G.D. Birla, Kolkata. In this blog I will tell you from time to time my interests and whatever interesting things I come across. I like to eat and also read about various cuisines. I also like to play piano. I have a telescope. I like to read Ruskin Bond, Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew. I will not tell you more now since I am very excited about this blog. I will tell you more in the days to come. I will post quiz questions on astronomy, mathematics, bird watching, cinema, food, music. I am signing off now. I shall be back soon. Bye.