Green World

Hello, Today, we're looking at the fascinating lives of emperor penguins. These incredible creatures have adapted to survive in the extreme conditions of Antarctica, and in this post, we'll explore their incredible lives. In late May to early June just before the Antarctic winter sets in, female emperor penguins lay a single egg. They then leave the colony and go on a two month hunt. The male rests the egg on his feet and covers it with warm, feathered skin called the brood pouch. He will eat nothing for these two months. The chick hatches in August and the female returned to take over. She has spent two months feeding and now regurgitates some food for the newly-hatched chick. The male leaves to feed himself as he has been living off his fat reserves for the past two months. The female keeps the chick in her brood pouch until the sea ice close to the breeding site breaks up as the temperatures warm. The chick is now strong eno...

Welcome back to Green World, In the last few months, wildfires have been raging across the globe. Hawaii, Canada, the USA, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Tunisia and countless more have been affected. But what are the environmental impacts of such a blaze? The USA has had an average of over 70 000 wildfires a year since 2000. In 2020, Californian wildfires emitted more than 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is more than the state's power industry emits per year. It is estimated that humans start 87% of wildfires. Around the world, 4 million squ. km are hit by wildfires every single year. This emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which fuels climate change . The smoke causes air pollution in the entire surrounding area and can lead to respiratory problems in humans. The air pollution also kills birds, including those migrating through the area. Studies also show that socially vulnerable populations are more at risk of harm...

Hi everyone! We know that at the time this post is being published it will still be August, and the height of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, but within the next two months or so, autumn will well and truly be upon us. So, today, we thought we could talk a bit about the science behind this beautiful season. Thinking of autumn automatically brings to mind images of crisp mornings, cosy evenings, and of the picturesque falling leaves with their hues of red, orange, yellow and gold. The change of colour of these leaves marks a change of seasons, and the decreasing temperature and light levels that goes along with that. But why do these leaves lose their greenness and fall from the trees? Trees' leaves contain a chemical called chlorophyll which allows them to convert water and carbon dioxide into glucose, or sugars, through a process called photosynthesis . This is how they gain energy from sunlight. Chlorophyll is green in colour, ...

Hello everyone, We've got another quiz for you and this time it's about migrating birds. As most of you probably know, there are loads of birds that fly to a different country or even continent to avoid harsh weather and to find better feeding and breading areas. Questions True or False? Birds use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate while migrating? How many miles does an arctic term migrate? a) between 10 000 and 20 000 km b) between 20 000 and 30 000 km c) more than 40 000 km True or False? Arctic terns can fly 600km in a day. What percentage of birds migrate? a) about 40% b) about 60% c) about 80% True or False? Great snipes travel 5 000 miles at 70mph. How long can the bar-tailed godwit fly non stop for? a) nearly 5000 miles b) nearly 7000 miles c) nearly 9000 miles True or False? Bar-headed geese can fly up to 5.5 miles above sea level. ...

Hi everyone, Welcome back to another post. Today we’ll be talking about deforestation and its impacts on our earth. Deforestation, the widespread clearance of natural forests, has been happening for thousands of years. One example is Western Europe, where, two millennia ago, 80% of the land was cloaked in dense forest cover. However, over time, a significant portion of this green expanse was sacrificed to create room for crops, livestock grazing, and as a source of fuel and building materials. Presently, a mere 34% of Western Europe retains its woodland. Today, the tropics deal with the brunt of deforestation. Activities such as mining, agriculture, road construction, and the establishment of vast cattle ranches drive the mass clearance of tropical rainforests. This results in the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, exacerbating the global climate crisis. The consequences come in two waves: first, the reduced number of...

Hi everyone, So today we're talking about communication in the natural world. As humans, we tend to think that we are superior to the rest of the organisms on this planet. We also think that we are the only ones who can communicate. While it's true that we probably have the most complexe form of communication, not one but thousands of languages, we are by far not the only ones that communicate on a daily basis. First of all, we need to define communication. Most people only think of speaking and writing (emails, texts, letters, and so on). But communication is much more than that. The word 'communication' describes the transfer of information from one organism (sender) to another organism (receiver) or multiple organisms (receivers). Different species go about doing this in many different ways. Animals communicate through sounds, visuals, chemicals, movements, touch, scents, electrical signals or a combination of the above. Sound...

Hi everyone So today we are talking about echolocation. This is the skill that over one thousand species depend upon to navigate, hunt and avoid obstacles in pitch blankness. In dolphins and whales, they push air through nasal passages to create the sound which is then concentrated in the melon, which is a blob of fat in the forehead. The sound is made clearer. When the sound hits something, it gets reflected and the echo is then sensed by the dolphin or whale’s lower jaw. It passes through the jaw to the ear and the brain determines size, density, distance, direction and speed. By doing this some species could detect a golfball a football pitch away. They can also tell different fish species apart. In most bat species, the sound is made in the larynx and is so high-pitched that it is above the human hearing range. It can be up to 140 decibels loud, meaning that the bats have to temporarily ‘turn off’ their hearing before quickly turning it b...