Informative Paragraphs by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (best classic books to read .txt) 📕

This week, when we went for our usual morning walk at the nearby beach, we were surprised to spot some dolphins. We felt happy to watch the friendly dolphins, which leaped four feet and turned around three times in the air. One of my friends, a marine biologist, told me that they are spinner dolphins. The mammals looked slender with long thin-beak and a distinct stripe connected the long and pointed flippers to the eyes.

Spinner dolphins are commonly found in the tropical and sub-tropical oceans. He also told me that only spinner dolphins can spin several times in the air. They frequently jump high out of the water and spin around like a spinning top. Some scientists believe that the spinning behavior is a way of communicating with the other spinners. It may also show the alertness and communicate the school where they are. This acrobatic jump may also help the spinner dolphins to free their food that can be attached to other large fish.

According to some resources from the net, I found out that the morning times are the celebration time for the spinner dolphins as they play together. The spinners touch and rub each other and engage in playful games. They swim underneath one another and move their pectoral fins back and forth. Some spinners hold hands with their flippers and caress each other with their tail flukes.

Spinner dolphins may differ in body size, shape and color patterns. But, in general they have common characters, namely, slender bodies, long and thin beak, small flippers pointed at the tips, and appeared in dark gray, light gray and white colors. Most of these spinner dolphins have white bellies.

Spinner dolphins have 45 to 65 teeth, which are pointed in each side of the upper and lower jaws. The spinner dolphin feed on small fishes and squids. The female spinners reach sexual maturity at the age of 4 to 7 years and the male spinners reach maturity at the age of 7 to 10 years. The newborn calves measure 80cm in length. The female spinner dolphins nurse their calves from one to two years.

Resources:
http://wilddolphin.org/spinner.html
http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/SpinnerDolphin.htm

To start with, I remember an incident that happened when my daughter loved to walk and move around non-stop. I remember, as a two year old toddler, the most fearful thing that made her scream is the antennae or the feelers of a cockroach.

One day when we were both watching an animated cartoon story in the television, a small cockroach somehow made its way from the kitchen to the drawing room. It walked and stopped near me. The cockroach was just standing there, but the feelers touched her tiny little left leg.

Tickled by the sensation of the feeler, she screamed and jumped into my lap and hugged me tightly. I can fear her little heart beating loudly with fear, and it took me sometime to pacify her. But, for me, the feelers of the insects always fascinate me.

The most interesting feature in an insect that attracts me is antennae or feelers. Most of the insects have feelers. I don’t remember seeing an insect without feelers. The antennae are a pair of sense organs found at the front side of the head of an insect. These feelers have olfactory receivers that can detect smell in the air. It is surprising to note that many insects use their feelers to sense the level of moisture.There are many types of antennae or feelers.

Bristle like feelers (dragonflies), thread likeFeelers (cockroaches), bead like feelers (termites), comb like feelers (male glowworms),brush like feelers (mosquitoes), saw-toothed feelers (beetles), gradually clubbed feelers (carrion beetles), abruptly clubbed feelers (butterflies), nested plate like feelers (scarab beetles), elbowed feelers (ants and weevils), and pouch like feelers with lateral bristle (houseflies).

Mosquitoes find out sounds with the helps of their feelers. Many flies use their feelers to measure the speed of the air when they are flying. Isn’t it surprising to find out that antennae helped monarch butterflies to find out the exact direction of their migration?

Resources:http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/tutorial/antenna.html

 The first thing that comes to my mind while thinking about pumpkins is their flowers. Every year during the month of Markazhi, the Tamil month, which comes in between November and December, every house in the villages and towns decorate the traditional kolams with pumpkin flowers. The whole month of Markazhi has religious significance in Hinduism.

Celebrations will be going on in all the temples of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The whole town or village wakes up around 4 a.m. in the morning. Pumpkins are creepers that run along the ground. In villages, these creepers can be seen in and around all homes. The big yellow flowers of pumpkins are a treat to eyes. Young women and girls will clean the front yard of their homes, sprinkle water and draw beautiful kolams with the white stone powder. Then to ward off evil, they will take small amount of cow dung and roll it into a little mount to place at the middle of the kolam.

Pumpkin flowers from the male pumpkin creepers are then plucked and placed on the top of the little dung mount. For the past ten years, it has become a routine practice, even in cities like Chennai, to smash pumpkins at 12 noon on a New Moon day. The top portion of the pumpkin is carved and a small opening is made. Turmeric kumkum powder is sprinkled inside the pumpkin through the opening. One rupee coin is dropped inside the pumpkin and the opening is once again closed and sealed.

Exactly at 12 noon, especially people who own shops and agencies will take the pumpkin and lit a piece of camphor at the top of the pumpkin. The pumpkin is then taken around the shop and smashed in front of the shop. This is done on every New Moon day to ward of evil and to invoke gods to bring good business and prosperity. In Tamil Nadu cuisine, pumpkin is used in making sambar on a Friday. It is believed that sambar made with pumpkin on a Friday or on a New Moon day will bring prosperity to homes.

Sambar is a curry done with dhoor dhal. Slices of pumpkins are added to the sambar to bring the real flavor of sambar. Pumpkin acts as a coolant and helps the body to remain cool. Pumpkin sambar is prepared on the day of Pongal and it perfectly suits the Pongal recipe prepared with moong dhal without adding jaggery.  

The world will not be a beautiful place if it is without flowers. Flowers with their varied colors and perfume tell the human beings that the life is here to live and enjoy life as it is. Flowers have the power to make even a shabby place look as a place worth living. A flower can bring along with it cleanliness, beauty and peace of mind to the place.

According to wikipedia, a flower is a reproductive structure found in flowering plants. The four main parts of a flower are the calyx, corolla, stamen and pistil. The parts of a flower are arranged in a circular pattern called a whorl. Calyx is the outer whorl of sepals. Calyx is green in color and in some plants it looks like a petal. As a collective unit the sepals form a calyx, and the petals form the Corolla.

The Corolla is the inner whorl of petals. The petals are thin, soft and colorful to attract insects for pollination. A whorl of stamens consists of a bunch of filaments. Each filament is topped by an anther, in which pollen is produced. The pollen contains the male gametes. The pistil is the female part of the flower. The pistil has the carpel, which is the female reproductive organ of a flower. The sticky tip of the pistil is called stigma and it receives the pollen grains.

The floral structure of every plant is different from the other. The main parts of a flower are described by their position and not by their function. It is surprising to note that all the flowers do not have all the four main parts of a flower. Some flowers lack some parts or some times they are modified for some specific function.

The floral formula is used by the botanists to represent the structure of a flower. Specific letters, symbols and numerals are used to describe the structure of a flower.

Ca – calyx

Co – corolla

A – androecium

G – gynoecium

Many flowers are used as symbols with specific meanings. Red roses are considered as symbols for love, beauty and passion. Daisies are considered as symbols for innocence. Lilies are considered as symbols for resurrection and life. Jasmine is also considered as a symbol for love. Orchids are symbols for perfection, and sunflowers are considered as a symbol for infatuation. In Hindu mythology, Lotus is considered as a symbol for fertility, purity and creation.