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Archive for the ‘Conservation Facts’ Category

Tiger sharks are often the focus of shark conservation work, with populations of the species being found around the world in tropical and temperate climates. For budding marine biologists, exciting tiger shark marine conservation volunteering opportunities are available, where participants get to interact with these creatures face to face.

Tiger sharks are one of the most fascinating species of shark, with a distinctive appearance and characteristics, and alarming threat to humans. These magnificent water creatures live primarily in tropical, temperate climates, and are considered sacred in Hawaii. To protect the species, shark conservation projects focusing specifically on tiger sharks are in operation, and these beasts of the ocean are often the focus of marine conservation volunteers.

Tiger sharks are a particularly large shark species, growing to a terrifying length of about 4 metres and weighing up to 635kg. With such size, it’s no wonder they pose a threat to humans, particularly since they love shallow, murky tropical waters. For the brave, however, those interested in marine biology conservation ca experience these creatures up close, free from cages or glass divides.

Hunting for Prey

Aside from their appreciation of a tasty human, tiger sharks will eat just about anything, and shark conservation workers don’t need to focus on a lack of food for these mammals. Being predators, their staple diet consists of smaller sharks, turtles, seals and other fish, and since they’re excellent hunters, they have the choice of the ocean. They are also excellent hunters, and their ability to find and capture prey is impeccable. Their heightened sensory perceptions mean that they can catch their prey with relative ease. With their excellent eyesight, they can spot their prey a mile away, even in murky water. And their acute sense of smell means that they can smell even a small amount of blood from quite some distance away, and are able to trace it back to the unsuspecting victim. They also have the remarkable ability to pick up on low-frequency pressure waves, so they know when something is alive and moving in nearby waters.

But they are also known for their inability to differentiate between what is nutritional, and what is rubbish, and a number of human rubbish items have been found in their stomachs. From car license plates to bicycle wheels, these animals will eat just about anything. So while a lack of food may not concern tiger shark conservationists, pollution of the sea with rubbish is more worrying.

Attacks on Humans

Since tiger sharks have superb hunting abilities, they pose a certain amount of risk to humans. In fact, they are responsible for a large percentage of fatal attacks on humans, second only to the great white shark. While marine biology conservationists and Hawaiians who believe the tiger shark to be sacred may strive to keep the animal safe, swimmers and holidaymakers may have a different opinion! But it is important to keep in mind that tourist activities such as shark cage diving may also be responsible for attracting sharks into more shallow, populated waters, which poses yet another problem for shark conservationists to address.

Thinking of wildlife safari? Africa has got it all. Nearly a hundred percent of its reserves and wildlife sanctuaries feature wildlife of some sort. However, the coverage of wildlife species and the varieties that you may see differ as the region changes.

Wildlife aside, safari would only be composed of a number of plant species, of terrain and of strange creatures like insects, bugs and the likes. Without the animals, African safaris would be reduced into a haven of sedentary and rarely moving species. Without the animal of the safaris, ecosystems would not exist. In a sense, animals add to the beauty that life in Africa may present. They give meaning. They add excitement. And they encourage tourism.

It is thought that African safaris started to become famous when the hunt for animals boomed sometime in the nineteenth century. This is because men then were perceived bold enough if they can kill wild animals right in their habitats and in action. This activity provides them a bag full of hunting trophies that adorned the walls of their libraries.

These days, a great thanks to movements for wildlife, hunting is restricted to many areas of African safaris. Nonetheless, there are still areas where slaughtering of wild animals are allowed. Because of the banning, travelers are now limited to only watch the animals hunt each other, predators to prey, and experience the exchange of life and death among them. Some of us still see hunting as a sport though.

The most famous of the animals in safari are known to be the big five which includes rhinoceros, lion, buffalo, leopard and the elephant. Why they became to be, no body is sure. Why other equally wonderful animals are not included in the list remains to be a mystery. It’s safe to presume that that’s simply the way hunters prefer it.

Adding to the big five are plain animals and mammals that coexist with each other. Some being the prey. Some being the predators. Nonetheless, they all take their parts in the circle of life. They give life.

Though not really considered animals, it is still worth saying that there are thousands of insect species, bugs, butterflies, and other moving creatures found in the African safaris. However large or big they can get won’t really matter. They still balance wildlife and they aid in continuing the existence of ecosystems in African safaris.

Some people say, once human intervene with this natural process, even only for once, he may intervene with the succeeding years and life of the species that live in the safaris. And this seem to be true. Sudden and gradual fluctuations of population in the safaris are very much affected by the minute actions of the animals and other living things that exist in it.

We have created brief descriptions of the top five Tanzanians wildlife safaris that rank near the top of the list in all Africa. Please read on.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The worse you can call Ngorongoro is amazing. That would be more than that, there is definitely not a word that can describe this conservation area.

Ngorongoro is the home of the largest caldera on earth. With walls reaching to 2200 meters high, this is fairly equal to Mount Kilimanjaro before the eruption. Thus the consideration for it being one of the world’s natural wonders.

The caldera itself is not a plain heap of land that stood on its place and make people amazed. No. In fact, once the caldera settled, it began to create pools of water that attract some 30,000 wildlife species at any given time. More like a Garden of Eden, Ngorongoro harbors the largest congregation of games in the entire earth.

Tarangire National Park

When you want to see large herds of elephants with accompanying buffaloes, your best bet would be the Tarangire. The number of elephants concentrating here is almost 600 individuals during the peak season.

However, less tourists visit here since they are attracted to neighboring national parks such as the magnificent Serengeti and the mighty Ngorongoro. The dry season harbors the largest population of elephants along with other enormous animals and plain beasts, which benefit from the vast water resources of the Tarangire River. They disperse during winter though.

Lake Manyara National Park

Ask anything about Lake Manyara and collect them all in one heap, tree climbing lions will emerge as the top answer. It is true. Climbing lions that prefer sleeping the day up on the tree branches than lying comfortably in the grasslands as all other lions do.

While it gather its fame from the strangely dispositioned lions, it is also popular for its large congregation of lake birds such as the pelicans, Egyptian geese, storks, quelea, flamingos and cormorants.

You may also find the usual wildlife species here complemented by the rare animals such as the lord of the forest- Sykes monkey and the Olive baboon.

Metamorphosis of butterflies and moths is one of the mysteries of Nature. The ability of these insects to change from the crawling caterpillar to the flying adult is almost magical. Many people are so awe inspired by the metamorphosis that they believe that butterflies and moths could never have evolved over millions of years without a God behind it.

The butterfly exists in four distinct forms. Some consider that so do we: The fertilized egg is planted in our mother’s womb. From our day of birth we are like the caterpillar which can only eat and creep along. At death we are like the dormant pupa in its chrysalis. After that, our consciousness emerges from the cast off body, and some see in this the emergence of the butterfly. Therefore, the butterfly is symbolic of rebirth after death. 

For Christians, the butterfly’s three steps of metamorphosis — as caterpillar, pupa and then winged insect — are reminiscent of spiritual transformation.

The caterpillar’s incessant crawling and chewing reminds us of normal earthly life where people are often wholly preoccupied with physical needs. The chrysalis (cocoon) resembles a tomb and empty, can suggest the empty shroud left behind by Jesus. Therefore, a butterfly represents the resurrection into a new condition of life that is free of any material concerns.

In images of the Garden of Eden, Adam’s soul is symbolized by a butterfly, or drawn with butterfly wings. In paintings of Mary and her Child, the presence of butterflies stands for their care for human souls. The Gnostics depicted the Angel of Death by showing a winged foot stepping on a butterfly. Since the insect is so fragile it can be torn apart by a hard rain, the butterfly stands for human frailty, both moral and physical. Also, as its life is not a long one, it is also a symbol of the ephemeral nature of physical existence. A butterfly with a torn wing is the icon for a North American charity that benefits disabled children.

When first hatched the larva or caterpillar is very small indeed, just a few millimeters long. These first larvae look similar regardless of which species they belong to. Usually the caterpillar immediately searches out food and starts to eat, although some species over winter at this stage. Due to the nature of the skeleton of insects they cannot grow in the same way that we do. Every so often the caterpillar sheds its skin so that it can expand and grow to a larger size. This process is known as ecdysis and each time it happens, the caterpillar moves on to a new instar. Most European species molt four times and so their final stage is usually the fifth instar.

Caterpillars feed for a large part of their time, consuming an ever increasing amount of food plant as they get rapidly larger. Some species prefer the cover of night to avoid unwanted attention, the Comma, Polygonia c-album, spends most of its time underneath leaves for the same reason. Their excrement, usually called frass, is dropped all over the place in small lumps.

Caterpillars produce a silken thread from organs beside their jaws. This is used for a variety of purposes. It gives the caterpillars a good hold on their food plant and some use it to rest between bouts of feeding. When a caterpillar is fully grown it takes time to wander in search of a suitable pupation site. This stage is sometimes known as the pre-pupa. The larva will let all frass clear its system before pupation.

Different families pupate in different ways. A Nymphalid (left) spins a silken pad and hangs head down using its anal claspers to grip on. A Pierid (right) however spins a pad then attaches itself with head upwards, spinning a silken girdle for support. A short while after the larva has attached itself the change to a pupa begins. It is thought a hormone is introduced into the system to begin this process. The word chrysalis is derived from a Greek word meaning gold, referring to the color of some Nymphalid pupae, whereas pupa is the scientific word describing this stage of a butterflies life.