Did You Ever Know 002

Frogs on all continents except Antarctica

There are close to 4,000 known species of frogs, including toads. They range in size from less than half an inch to nearly a foot long and come in a rainbow of colors and patterns.

Adult frogs are carnivorous and will eat just about anything smaller than themselves, including insects, worms and even other frogs.

A frog's long, sticky tongue is attached in the front of its mouth, and, as a signature move, a frog can flick its tongue out to capture its prey with remarkable speed.

The earliest known frog (Vieraella herbsti) appeared during the late Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago. The specimens that have been found in Arizona   shows that the skeletal shape and body plan of the frog has remained almost unchanged.

The biggest frog is the appropriately named Goliath frog (Conraua goliath) of Cameroon. They reach nearly 30cm (a foot) and weigh as much as 3,3 kilograms. The smallest frog is the Gold frog (Psyllophryne Didactyla) of Brazil. They grow to only 9,8 mm (3/8 inch).

Equally small is the Eleutherodactylus iberia discovered only in 1996 in Monte Iberia, Cuba. (It doesn't even have a common name yet.)  Other small frogs are poison frogs. They measure less than 1cm (1/2 inch).

Recently scientists have noticed a marked decline in the numbers of frogs and other amphibians around the world. Some species are believed to have become extinct within the past fifty years. Causes for the decline include ozone depletion, pollution, habitat loss, introduction of new predators, disease and even a fungus.

Source: Did you know?

Mr karamudini who is translator of some science books has added more information about my post : Frogs are not only interesting animals, but also used in evolutionary biology. They are mostly defendless and teach us much about the past life forms on the earth. Their ancestors appeared and lived millions of years ago 

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Bees may be used to detect landmines

Tiny radio plates the size of a rice grain will be attached to honey bees to detect antipersonnel landmines, of which there are about 100 million in 70 war-torn countries.

The tiny radio plates are engraved with serial numbers to keep track of the bees, which are being conditioned to develop a preference in addition to nectar, in this case TNT, or any other material that releases metamphenamine. Special spectrometers that can "smell" TNT are placed in movable beehives to indicate landmines in specific areas. Bees that "smell" of explosives can then be tracked to the landmine. The bees won't detonate the landmines.

This is just one of many reasons why bees are important to us. Without bees, there will be no flowers or crops. Although birds, other insects and the wind also pollinate plants, bees do most of it.

Busy bees

Between 20 000 and 60 000 bees live in a single hive. The queen bee lays 1 500 eggs a day and lives for up to 2 years. The drone, whose only job it is to mate with the queen bee, has a lifespan of around 24 days - they have no stinger. Worker bees - all sterile females - usually work themselves to death within 40 days in summer, collecting pollen and nectar. Worker bees fly up to 14km (9 miles) to find pollen and nectar, flying at 24km/h (15 mph).

Pollen is the main supply of protein and vitamins for bees, with the 10 amino acids they require. Nectar is up to 80% sugar but less than 0.2% in protein, so nectar is the carbohydrate supply for the hive. Bees place the nectar in honeycomb cells and then evaporate the water from the nectar by rapid wing movement. When the amount of water is less than 18%, the mixture is called honey and the bees cap off the cells. Thus honey is 80% sugars and 20% water. A mixture of honey and pollen is called "bee bread" and is the food for larvae and bees.

A worker bee communicates her floral findings by performing a dance on the honeycomb. The orientation of her movements and the frequency of her vibrations indicate the direction and distance of the flowers.

The sting

The worker bees defend the hive. The muscular barbed stinger quickly saw into the skin of the invader and the venom pouch begins to contract rhythmically to pump venom into the intruder.

But the bee species itself is under severe attack: in recent years thousands of colonies were destroyed by two parasitic mites, acarapis woodi and varroa jacobsoni. Scientist have not discovered a remedy yet, but have noticed a disturbing trend: the highest numbers of infested bees and the highest infestation rates were seen at high stress sites, ie. polluted areas. The challenge to individuals like us is to protect these amazing animals by making our gardens bee-friendly.

The bee is a remarkable animal - flowers are pollinated mostly by bees. Bees do not have ears, but they have an excellent sense of smell with chemoreceptors in their antennae.
Bees see colours differently than we do. They are insensitive to red but detects ultraviolet light which is invisible to us.

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Landmine: a bomb hidden in the ground that explodes when someone walks or drives over it Plate: to be covered in sheets of a hard material such as metal war-torn :a war-torn country, city etc is being destroyed by war(war zone) engrave:to cut words, pictures or patterns into the surface of metal, stone, etc nectar :the sweet liquid that bees collect from flowers spectrometer: طیف سنج detonate: to explode or to make something explode set off pollinate: o give a flower or plant pollen so that it can produce seeds: hive: a structure where bees are kept for producing honey beehive: a small box where bees are kept, or the bees that live in this box drone :a male bee that does no work. stinger :the sharp needle-shaped part of an insect's or animal's body, with which it stings you [= sting British English] sterile :person or animal that is sterile cannot produce babies [= infertile; ≠ fertile] Pollen :a fine powder produced by flowers, which is carried by the wind or by insects to other flowers of the same type, making them produce seeds evaporate: if a liquid evaporates, or if heat evaporates it, it changes into a gas: barbed :a barbed hook or arrow has one or more sharp curved points on it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Source: Did you know? 

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Science facts

Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).

Fuse: to join together physically, or to make things join together, and become a single thing.

The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal.

Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.

Carnivorous: some one who eats meat.گوشتخوار

The world's largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length.

amphibian :animals such as frogs that can live both on land and in water. دوزیست

salamander: a small animal similar to a   lizard, which lives on land and in the water سمندر

The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long.

Stapes / Stirrup bone: استخوان رکابی

The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.

Blink: to shut and open your eyes quickly. چشمک زدن

100 years ago: The first virus was found in both plants and animals.

90 years ago: The Grand Canyon became a national monument & Cellophane is invented.

Monument: a very old building or place that is important historically.اثر تاریخی

80 years ago: The food mixer and the domestic refrigerator were invented.

domestic refrigerator: یخچال خانگی

70 years ago: The teletype and PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) were invented.

Teletype: تلگراف

60 years ago: Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium, Teflon was invented.

nuclear fission: شکافت هسته ای

50 years ago: Velcro was invented.

40 years ago: An all-female population of lizards was discovered in Armenia.

30 years ago: The computer mouse was invented.

20 years ago: First test-tube baby born in England, Pluto’s moon, Charon, discovered.

Test-tube:لوله آزمایش

5 years ago: The first successful cloning of human embryo.

embryo : an animal or human that has not yet been born, and has just begun to develop.جنین

For the largest list of science facts, visitThe Online Encyclopedia of Trivia  

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Did You Know?

• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• The Statue of Liberty's tablet is two feet thick.
• There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
• The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is 'Live Free or Die'. These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.
• Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
• The dollar symbol ($) is a U combined with an S (U.S.)
• The straw was probably invented by Egyptian brewers to taste in-process beer without removing the fermenting ingredients which floated on the top of the container.
• David Prowse, was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.
• The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY
• There are only thirteen blimps in the world.
• Nine of the thirteen blimps are in the United States.
• The existing biggest blimp is the Fuji Film blimp.
• Naugahyde, plastic "leather" was created in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
• The Swiss flag is square.
• The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation.
• Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).
• The three largest land-owners in England are the Queen, the Church of England and Trinity College, Cambridge.
• The monastic hours are matins, lauds, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers and compline.
• If you come from Manchester, you are a Mancunian.
• No animal, once frozen solid (i.e., water solidifies and turns to ice) survives when thawed, because the ice crystals formed inside cells would break open the cell membranes. However there are certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. These frogs make special proteins which prevent the formation of ice (or at least keep the crystals from becoming very large), so that they actually never freeze even though their body temperature is below zero Celsius. The water in them remains liquid: a phenomenon known as 'supercooling.' If you disturb one of these frogs (just touching them even), the water in them quickly freezes solid and they die.
• The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula.
• Madrid is the only European capital city not situated on a river.
• The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite.

Source:

http://www.kellys.com/know.html 

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