ANIMAL WORLD

FASCINATING WORLD OF ANIMALS AND INSECTS

Terror of the Forest

Can you believe that even lions and elephants are afraid of a tiny ant? Well, there is an ant in Africa which is the terror for even these animals. The Driver Ants (Dorylus spp) of Africa are so called because all animals—will flee when they approach. These ants live in huge crowds of ten thousand or more. They lead a nomadic life wandering about looking for food, marching in columns of six. Because of this, they are sometimes called Army Ants. They will attack even the mighty elephant. Since his skin is too thick for them, they swarm up him in thousands and attack his eyes. Through them they enter the body and soon leave only a skeleton. When a column crosses a python resting after his dinner they eat up not only the python but also the dinner he has just had. And it is more amazing that these terrible creatures can do all this though completely blind.

He Packs a Pistol

Many of us must have had lots of fun with a ‘water pistols’. There is a kind of fish in Malaya which has one. His activities are not as playful as yours. He uses his gun to get his food. The “Archer Fish” or “Shooting fish,” as he is called spurts a jet of water from his spout-like lips and shoots down insects resting on plants on the bank or those that come near the water surface. He is an excellent shooter and seldom misses.

The Sheep-Killing Parrot

Wild creatures do not usually change their food habits easily. The Kea Parrot, a native of New Zealand is an interesting exception. It is a hawk like green parrot which used to live on fruits like all other parrots. When the people, who went to settle in New Zealand, brought sheep to the Island, the Kea gave up its fruit-eating habits and started feeding on sheep. It kills sheep by attacking them with its powerful beak and feeds on the fat that surrounds the kidneys. It has become a serious danger to sheep farms. Its cry resembles that of a cat.

Shocking Fellow

Here is a real livewire! Such a shocker is he that he is known as the Electric “Eel”. No doubt he is electric, but he is not an eel. He only looks like one. He belongs to the cat-fish family. Fortunately for us he is found only in the rivers of South America. A four-foot moving generator capable of giving shocks that can stun or even kill a horse, he is a formidable adversary. He can produce enough electricity from a row of special glands all along the sides of his body, to light a flat—and would do well for an electric supply! He keeps his enemies away with the electric fence and when hungry he just stuns other fishes around him for his meal.

Partners in ‘Gastronomy’

A positive death-trap for insects is the carnivorous Pitcher Plant. It has odd pitcher or jar shaped leaves brightly coloured. Sweet-smelling and with nectar glands to act as bait, they prove irresistible to insects. The bottom of the “pitcher” contains a pool of digestive juice. This soon kills off the victims, digests their soft parts and absorbs them.

An added danger for insects is the plant’s partnership with the crab spider. This crafty-creature makes the “pitcher” his permanent abode—though it keeps well away from the digestive juice, as you may note from the sketch— there to live in a sort of peaceful coexistence. 

Inside the pitcher the table is set for the spider, who feeds on the insects attracted by the plant. He is, however, considerate to his ‘landlord’—it would not do if the latter died of starvation—and sees to it that enough goes into the digestive juice for the plant’s maintenance. Though he keeps well away from the dangerous stuff beneath him, he really has no great fear, since he has developed a hard protective coat to neutralize the effects of the juice. In fact, when danger threatens, he actually submerges himself in it until the threat is past, when he comes out once again unscathed.