Some of the most amazing Meerkat facts

Right here in this article, you can learn about all your favourite animals, and even some you may have never heard of some of the most amazing Meerkat facts

1. THEY RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER’S VOICES

Just as humans can identify our friends’ and family’s voices over the phone, a 2011 study showed that meerkats can distinguish between the calls of different members of their clan. Scientists played a recording of the same meerkat from hidden speakers on opposite sides of test animals. According to WIRED, "The situation was similar to hearing a friend shout from the kitchen, then from the second-floor bathroom just a second later." Indicating that they recognized this as an impossible situation, the test meerkats showed “a prolonged vigilance, paying much closer attention than they did to other recorded calls. The situation didn’t compute.”

2. THEY WORK TOGETHER ...

Meerkat clans, also known as mobs and gangs, hunt together in a collaborative effort that involves designated lookouts who rotate regularly and rely on a series of distinct calls to communicate to their compatriots. If a predator like a snake is detected, the gang will gather to harass the snake, biting and clawing at it until it retreats or is killed—a bold move one meerkat could never attempt alone.

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3. ... AND EVEN BABYSIT EACH OTHER’S PUPS.

While most of the gang is out foraging and hunting for food—or standing guard—one male or female, adolescent or young adult stays behind in the burrow to “babysit” any pups. This is not an official job—whichever adult is least hungry is put on pup-sitting duty—but the other meerkats do reward their sitter with food at the end of the day.

4. THEY TEACH THEIR YOUNG.

Adult meerkats are immune to scorpion poison—a good thing when you regularly make treats out of the stinging arthropods. But it takes talent to tuck into that sort of prey—even with their poison nullified, a scorpion can still do damage with his pinchers—and pups aren’t born prepared for such a vicious meal. Research done in 2006 showed that “helper” meerkats actively teach the younger generation how to hunt through a series of increasingly difficult tasks. "So when pups are very little they get brought dead prey, like scorpions, lizards, and spiders; as they start to get older, helpers will bring them prey that's been disabled, so if it's a scorpion the helper might bite the sting off before giving it to the pup,” scientist Alex Thornton told the BBC.

5. GANGS ARE MATRIARCHAL.

Meerkat gangs, which can reach up to 40 or 50 animals, are structured around an alpha couple to whom most of the other members are somehow related. Within the dominant pair, ultimately it is the female who rules the burrow, and she isn’t always a benevolent boss. Only the alpha female is allowed to reproduce; if subordinate females get pregnant, the alpha female will banish them from the burrow or even kill their pups. Research conducted in 2013found that some subordinate females will serve as wet nurses to alpha female pups in order to re-ingratiate themselves after getting banished. Anyway, this may be one of the most fascinating animal facts until now

6. MATRIARCHS ARE REALLY REALLY SELFISH

As if infanticide and exile weren’t bad enough, alpha females only have their own interests at heart. A 2013 study showed that when a gang of meerkats approaches a road—which represents an unknown and potential danger—alpha females tend to suddenly fall back, letting lower ranking females brave the pavement first.

7. THEY USE THEIR BELLIES TO KEEP WARM.

Meerkats' fuzzy tan coats give way to a sparsely covered patch on their underbellies [PDF]. The hair is thin enough there that you can see their black skin underneath—which is precisely the point. After a restful night in the chilly burrow, meerkats climb back out into the desert sun and stand up to expose to their bare bellies to the rays, which absorb heat and warm the animals up.

8. THE FORKED-TAIL DRONGO MIMICS MEERKAT CALLS.

The African drongo scavenges for food by tricking other animals into abandoning their hard-earned meals with carefully crafted calls that imitate the warning sounds of other species. So after a gang of meerkats has made their kill or foraged sufficient food, the drongo will descend among them and mimic the same warning call a meerkat sentry might make in the event of a predator. The gang scatters, and the drongo gets a free meal.

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7 interesting facts about light and shadow for kids

Check out amazing facts about shadow below:

• A shadow happens when an object blocks the sun’s rays. Shadows are longer in the winter because of the angle of the sun.
• Your shadow is longest in the early morning and in the late afternoon. In the afternoon, when the sun is directly above you, your shadow leaves your side for a little while. The sun makes the longest shadows at the beginning and at the end of the day because at that time, the sun is lowest in the sky and aimed at the sides of the various things on the earth. When the sun is directly above you, there is little or no shadow because the light from the sun is falling upon you from all the sides and there is hardly any dark region.
• A long time ago, people observed the way shadows were formed by the sun and utilized this principle in making the world’s most primitive clocks, the sundials.
• The first person to calculate the size of the planet Earth with a high degree of accuracy used simple geometric equations and measurements of shadows. Eratosthenes, the head librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria, performed this feat over 2,000 years ago, around 250 BCE.
• Does everything has a shadow? Take a look around and see what all things form shadows. You will notice that swings, trees, cars, tables and almost everything else has a shadow. Any object – living or non living that can block light can cast shadows.
• Is there anything that doesn't have a shadow? Some objects, such as glass, are transparent. Light can shine through them. Some light shines through translucent objects, such as a balloon or sheet of wax paper. Light cannot shine through opaque objects and you can’t see through them. Opaque objects, including a desk, bath towel or blanket, are solid.
• The smaller the angle between an elongated object and the direction of the light is, the shorter the shadow is. On the other hand, the smaller the angle between the direction of the light and the surface on which the shadow occurs is, the longer the shadow is.
• If the object is close to the light source, the shadow is large. 
• If the surface is curved there are further distortions.
• For non-point sources of light, the shadow is divided into the umbra and penumbra. The wider the light source, the more blurred the shadow.
• If there are multiple light sources there are multiple shadows, with overlapping parts darker. For a person or object touching the surface, like a person standing on the ground, or a pole in the ground, these converge at the point of touch.

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Information about Bengal tigers

Would you like to know more about tigers for kids? Keep reading  to find out Bengal tigers.

From head to tail, males can measure from two to three meters. The height of his withers (neck) is of 91 cm. The males weights about 250 kg. He can live up to 25 years. He lives in the south of the Sundarbans delta, the largest mangrove forest in the world, which lies in India, and spreads across areas of Bangladesh.

Bengal tigers can also be found in north and central India, as well as in Birmania and in Nepal.

In 1900, they were about 40.000 – 50.000. Around 1972, there remained 1.850. In 1984, thanks to a program of protection, they were numbered approximately 4.000.

Tigers hunt at night. They assault their preys on the side or at the back. They bit to death at the nape of the neck small preys; they bit at the throat bigger preys and let them suffocate to death. The Bengal tiger hunts the “yaur” (kind of wild bull), the buffalo, the (wild) boar, monkeys and lizards. When hungry, a tiger can kill up to 30 buffaloes per annum. He can also eat 31 kg of meat within a night. It takes between 2 or 3 days for a tiger to eat its prey. Between two meals, he covers its prey with leaves.

The Bengal tiger usually breeds in the springtime. A male from a neighbouring field comes on the female's field. About 15 weeks later, the tigress brings between 2 and “babies” into the world, sightless during the first ten weeks. After eight weeks, the latter will be able to start eating the little preys brought by their mother. The tiger is a night hunter and lonesome. He does not like sharing his territory with other tigers. Tigers mark their territory by urinating and secreting which smell strongly and indicate their presence. They can also savage to pieces the bark of a tree. He can run up to 45 km per hour.
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A tiger print can measure 13 cm of diameter that is to say the equivalent to your two hands placed side by side. A forefoot has five fingers, and a hind foot has four fingers. Thanks to the cushions under his feet, the tiger can approach a prey without making any noise and absorb the choc of his gigantic leaps.

During the warm hours of the day, the tiger stays in one of his cool hiding places. His strong smell is so dread that not one single animal dares to disturb him while he's resting. He tiger has a fur striped with black, white and reddish-brown. He becomes invisible when he hides away in the long grass of the jungle. Thanks to his camouflage, he can approach his preys without been noticed. A tiger inspects is territory everyday. It takes him three days to go round and visit all his hiding-places. Intruders: beware! The anger of the master of this place can be violent!
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Awesome world of animal facts

A lot of amazing animal facts that people can share with others, which raises a broader and more interesting about them as below
1. Dogs will sneeze to tell other dogs that they’re playing, so when they’re playing rough it doesn’t turn into a fight.

2. Gray squirrels bury nuts all over the place, and often forget them, growing new trees. This makes them more ecologically friendly than red squirrels, who store nuts in piles on the ground which don’t take root.

3. Infant Pygmy Marmosets babble to develop their language skills, similarly to the way human babies babble.

4. Two-toed sloths cannot shiver to stay warm like other mammals due to their low metabolic rates and little muscle tissue.

5. Yawning is infectious because it supplies a method for the most sleepy to forcefully communicate their need for rest and thus ensures that the group rests/sleeps together.

6. Crows are actually super smart. They even play pranks on each other just for fun.

7. Rare white tiger facts carry a gene that is only present in around 1 in every 10000 tigers.

8. The red panda uses its long bushy tail not only for balance, but also as a blanket during chilly winter nights.

9. The blue whale weighs as much as thirty elephants and is as long as three Greyhound buses.

10. A herd of sixty cows is capable of producing a ton of milk in less than a day.

11. A grasshopper can leap 20 times the length of its own body.

12. Baby Japanese Macaques make snowballs. They do not use them for any survival purposes, they just like to have fun.

13. Slow loris may be cute, but it’s the only venomous primate in the world. When it raises its arms, it’s performing a defensive stance, and preparing a venom.

14. At birth, baby kangaroos are only about an inch long – no bigger than a large water bug or a queen bee.

15. The smell of a skunk can be detected by a human a mile away.

16. There is a butterfly in Africa with enough poison in its body to kill six cats!

For more: elephants facts for kids

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