Friday, January 6, 2017

Land Monitor/Bengal Monitor

Land Monitor/Bengal Monitor (Varanus bengalensis)

You tube Video about Land Monitors

Land monitor is widely distributed throughout the country from sea level to mid hills up to about 500m a.s.l. It is diurnal and usually active after having got it body temperature up by basking in the morning. It spends the night in tree holes, crevices and even in the ceilings of the houses. Juveniles mainly feed on insects while adults prey on frogs, small mammals (rats, squirrels), snails, insects, grubs, crabs, eggs, etc. Its flesh is a delicacy among indigenous Vedda people. Also other jungle villagers hunt these lizards for its flesh which is believed to be easy to digest and hence good for pregnant women and invalids. Fighting among males during breeding season take place in ‘bipedal fashion’ can be occurred and it is believed that they probably breed all the year round and lays 10-30 eggs in a burrow in the ground, in termite mounds or inside decaying logs.
Land Monitor/Bengal Monitor


Butterflies in Sri Lanka

Butterflies in Sri Lanka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB6-BPlfWMY&t=2s

Butterflies are insects in the clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, along with two smaller groups, the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). Butterfly fossils date to the Palaeocene, about 56 million years ago.

Butterflies have the typical four-stage insect life cycle. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed. The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed, pupate in a chrysalis. When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off. Some butterflies, especially in the tropics, have several generations in a year, while others have a single generation, and a few in cold locations may take several years to pass through their whole life cycle.

Butterflies are often polymorphic, and many species make use of camouflage, mimicry and aposematism to evade their predators. Some, like the monarch and the painted lady, migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have parasitoidal relationships with organisms including protozoans, flies, ants, and other invertebrates, and are predated by vertebrates. Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; other species are agents of pollination of some plants, and caterpillars of a few butterflies (e.g., harvesters) eat harmful insects. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.Photography For Fun