Giant Panda Facts

High in dense bamboo forests in the misty, rainy mountains of southwestern China lives one of the world's rarest mammals: the giant panda, also called the panda. Only about 1,000 of these black-and-white relatives of bears survive in the wild. Pandas eat almost nothing but bamboo shoots and leaves. Occasionally they eat other vegetation, fish, or small animals, but bamboo accounts for 99 percent of their diets. Pandas eat fast, they eat a lot, and they spend about 12 hours a day doing it. The reason: They digest only about a fifth of what they eat. Overall, bamboo is not very nutritious. The shoots and leaves are the most valuable parts of the plants, so that's what a well-fed panda concentrates on eating. To stay healthy, they have to eat a lot—up to 15 percent of their body weight in 12 hours—so they eat fast. Pandas are shy; they don't venture into areas where people live. This restricts pandas to very limited areas. As people continue to farm, log, and develop land higher and higher up the mountain slopes, the pandas' habitat continues to shrink.

Cheetahs Facts

            The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal with acceleration that would leave most automobiles in the dust, a cheetah can go from 0 to 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour in only three seconds. These big cats are quite nimble at high speed and can make quick and sudden turns in pursuit of prey, before unleashing their speed, cheetahs use exceptionally keen eyesight to scan their grassland environment for signs of prey—especially antelope and hares. This big cat is a daylight hunter that benefits from stealthy movement and a distinctive spotted coat that allows it to blend easily into high, dry grasses. When the moment is right a cheetah will sprint after its quarry and attempt to knock it down. Such chases cost the hunter a tremendous amount of energy and are usually over in less than a minute. If successful, the cheetah will often drag its kill to a shady hiding place to protect it from opportunistic animals that sometimes steal a kill before the cheetah can eat. Cheetahs need only drink once every three to four days. Female cheetahs typically have a litter of three cubs and live with them for one and a half to two years. Young cubs spend their first year learning from their mother and practicing hunting techniques with playful games. Male cheetahs live alone or in small groups, often with their littermates.

Elephants Facts

The elephant is the largest land animal on Earth. The African species stands about 8.2 to 13 feet (2.5 to 4 meters) tall and weighs 5,000 to 14,000 pounds (2,268 – 6,350 kilograms). Slightly smaller, the Asian elephant stands about 6.6 to 9.8 feet (2 to 3 m) tall and weighs 4,960 – 12,125 pounds (2,041 to 4,990 kg).

Elephants don't start out small like some mammals. Instead, a baby elephant typically stands about 3 feet (1 m) tall and weighs about 200 pounds (91 kg).

The most distinguishing features of the elephant are its long nose (or trunk) and large, floppy ears. The elephant's trunk does more than smelling and breathing like a normal nose — it's also used for drinking, snagging food and sending out loud trumpeting noises.

Elephants' floppy ears also do more than hear. With loads of tiny veins transecting their surfaces, carrying blood to the rest of the body, elephant ears act like a cooling system. As they flap their wet ears the blood in these veins is cooled, and the cooled blood is circulated around the elephant's body.

The average lifespan of an elephant in the wild is 60 to 70 years.

As herbivores, elephants eat bark, grasses, fruits and roots. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds (136 kg) of food in one day.

http://www.livescience.com/27320-elephants.html

Quote for the day

Never Bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.

                                                                                                                               -Helen Keller

Women in History

Helen Keller

She was a lecturer and writer, also she was an advocate for the deaf and blind. She spent much of her life working to improve the quality of life for the disabled. A childhood illness left her deaf, blind and mute, but her devoted tutor Anne Sullivan taught her to communicate. The first blind and deaf person to graduate from college, she mastered many languages and became a renowned author and lecturer. In 1964, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Australia Day

On January 26, 1788, the First Fleet of 11 ships from Great Britain arrived at Port Jackson, which now forms Sydney Harbour. The First Fleet was led by Captain Arthur Philip. He established the Colony of New South Wales, the first penal colony in Australia. By 1808, January 26 was being celebrated as “First Landing Day” or “Foundation Day” with drinking and merriment.

Thirty years after the arrival of the First Fleet, in 1818, the Governor of Australia ordered a 30-gun salute, hosted a dinner ball at Government House and gave government employees a holiday. In the following years, employees of banks and other organizations were also given holidays. In the following decades, horse racing and regattas were popular activities on January 26.

In 1838, Foundation Day was Australia's first public holiday. It was also the occasion of the first public celebrations of the founding of Australia. The shores of Sydney Harbour were crowded and there was a firework display. By 1888, January 26 had become known as 'Anniversary Day' was celebrated in all colonies except Adelaide. In 1888, the centenary of the arrival of the First Fleet was celebrated with ceremonies, exhibitions, banquets, regattas, fireworks and the unveiling of a statue of Queen Victoria.

By 1935, January 26 was known as Australia Day in all states except New South Wales, where it was still called Anniversary Day. In 1938, large scale celebrations were held. These included a re-enactment of the landing of the First Fleet, which did not mention the convict status of many of the passengers on these ships. The re-enactment is included the removal of a group of Aborigines. Shortly before the celebrations, a group of Aboriginal activists arranged a “Day of Mourning”. They used this to campaign for citizenship and equal rights for Aborigines.

From 1946, January 26 was known as Australia Day in all states. However, the public holiday was moved to the Monday nearest to January 26 to create a long weekend.  Since 1994, the Australia Day public holiday has been on January 26 in all states and territories.

The anniversary of the first permanent European settlement in Australia is not a cause for celebration for all citizens. Indigenous Australians often feel that the celebrations on Australia Day exclude them and their culture, which was thriving for thousands of years before the arrival of the First Fleet.

Life In The Ghetto

With gunshots the fun stops, clock tick tocks, tears dip drop. Who brought the cops? Betrayed the plot? Now we sit locked in handcuffs. We busted, can't be trusted, lost pride and not loved well..These drugs man trigger crime and brother shines yet morals die and..These hell gates make one tame, this no game, men fourplay. Now I dwell in rage life takes change, heart takes shape, it don't look the same. Life's illusions cause confusion: Apostle rumours, appointed tutors. Youth the future? Brains donned by humour. Population fewer, average humans dying sooner. Birth rates still rising, literacy skills declining, solemn promises petrifying, propaganda techniques the art of lying. Which way will you reside in? Has your confined mind decided? Here is a compass hope you will find it, but deep inside your heart is where the truth is hiding. Liberate yourself from all treason, reason? Evil spirits enable killings, you bleeding? I warned you people don't value living, SCREAMING! while your barren bones begin sinking. You dreaming? Pinch your skin anticipate the feeling, it's beating how vissions infuence what we're seeing, but believing embraces one's sacred teachings, through reading wisdom welcomes knowlege never leaving. So be it! Reap what you sow and now preech it, reach to the top before the race is now finished, win it! Embrace victory influence the weakest, alter them into achievers, life's serving dreamers...dreamers...dreamers.

                                                                                                                            -Siyabonga Njica

Quote for the day

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.


                                                                                                                                      -Maya Angelou

A moment in history

Robert C. Weaver ~ becomes first Black presidential cabinet member when sworn in as Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Johnson Administration

Did you know?

The world’s largest bat is the giant golden-crowned flying fox, a rare fruit bat. It has a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m).^e The only home of the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying-Fox is in the Philippines. The specific locations include Maitum and Mindanao. They live in deep caves as well as in the rainforests. They typically follow the routes of the river, and experts believe it is because they can easily find food sources along those areas.

Did you know?

Bats‘see’ in the dark using a special skill called echolocation. Bats make noises and wait for the sound waves to bounce back off objects (an echo), if it doesn’t bounce back then they can safely fly forward. They can tell the distance of various objects by how quickly the sound waves bounce back to them.

Dolphins Facts

• There are dolphins with 8 teeth and there are some with 250. Bottlenose dolphins have 88-100 teeth. They only get one set of teeth for life. Dolphins do not use their teeth to chew their food, but they use their teeth to catch their food and then they swallow it whole. 
• A curved dorsal fin in the middle of their back, along with powerful, broad flukes on their tail and a pointed flipper on each side allow bottlenose dolphins to swim speeds up to 35 km/h (22 mph) and dive as deep as 915 m (3000 ft.). They have a thick layer of blubber which helps them maintain their body heat and protects them from predators such as killer whales and large sharks. They have sensitive, smooth skin that flakes off and gets replaced every few hours.

Did you know?

 To prevent drowning while sleeping only half of the dolphin’s brain goes to sleep while the other half remains awake so they can continue to breathe.

Did you know?

Like bats, dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt, bouncing high-pitched sounds off of objects, and listening for the echoes.

Did you know?

Bottlenose dolphins send messages to one another in different ways. They squeak and whistle and use body language—leaping as high as 20 feet (6 meters) in the air, snapping their jaws, slapping their tails on the surface of the water, and even butting heads.

Did you know?

Dolphins often display a playful attitude which makes them popular in human culture. They can be seen jumping out of the water, riding waves, play fighting and occasionally interacting with humans swimming in the water.