Tag Archives: Asia

Banana

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Banana

Don’t go bananas!

  • Bananas grow on what some people call ‘trees’, up to 15 metres (49 feet) high, that are actually flowering herbs, or plants, generally from the Musa genus, which belong to the family Musaceae, which also includes the genus of ensetes, similar to common bananas, some of which are also a valuable food source.
  • Bananas can be different sizes or firmness, but are usually a curved shape and have soft flesh, and when ripe, the skin can be yellow, red, purple, green or brown in colour.
  • Bananas are native to South to Southeast Asia, which includes the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, and they are believed to have been cultivated since at least 5000 BC in Papua New Guinea.
  • Bananas can also be known as plantains, although there are some small differences, like plantains are generally cooked, have less sugar than the common fruit, and more starch, and common green fruit can also be used for cooking purposes.
  • Commercial bananas are generally seedless, unlike the wild varieties, and are often eaten raw but can be eaten baked, steamed or deep-fried, dehydrated, made into jam, used as a flavouring addition or added to desserts, salads and main dishes like curry, and also made into flour for baking purposes.

Banana, Yellow, Peeled, Unpeeled, Ripe, Bunches, Hands, Long, Flesh, Ten Random Facts, Australia, Aldi

  • Bananas are the most sold edible fruit and one of the most important food crops in the world, ranking number four after rice, wheat and maize, and in 2011, India produce 29.7 million tonnes (32.7 million tons) of the fruit, which was one fifth of the total world production.
  • The term ‘banana’ is derived from the Arabic word ‘banan’ or the West African Wolof word ‘banaana’, and they are grown in tiers known as ‘hands’, with up to 20 pieces of fruit per hand, and each banana is called a ‘finger’.
  • Commercial bananas are often picked unripe and stored in a refrigerated room at 13 to 15°C (56 to 59 °F) to slow down the ripening process, but if the ripening process needs to be sped up, they can be stored with an apple or tomato for 12 hours or so in a paper bag.
  • Bananas are high in Vitamin B6, and have significant amounts of vitamin C, potassium, manganese and magnesium, and are the most radioactive fruit due to the potassium content, but do little or no damage to the human body.
  • There are between 500 and 1000 varieties of bananas, and the yellow Cavendish variety are the most commonly exported bananas, mainly due to easier transportation.

 

Bibliography:
All About Bananas, n.d, Bananalink, <http://www.bananalink.org.uk/all-about-bananas>
Banana, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana>

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Saltwater Crocodile

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Saltwater Crocodile

It is Saltie the Saltwater Crocodile!

  • Saltwater crocodiles are the world’s largest reptiles, growing an average of 3 to 5 meters (10 to 17 feet) in length, depending on the gender, and can grow up to 7 meters (23 feet) long.
  • ‘Saltwater crocodiles’ are also known as ‘salties’, ‘estuarine’ and ‘Indo-Pacific crocodiles’, and their scientific name is crocodylus porosus.
  • Saltwater crocodiles generally weigh between 400 to 1000 kilograms (880 to 2200 pounds) but they can be as heavy as 2000 kilograms (4400 pounds).
  • Saltwater crocodiles are typically found in mangrove swamps, deltas, lagoons, rivers, and estuaries, and can also be found swimming in the ocean, which they sometimes use to travel long distances during different seasons.
  • Saltwater crocodiles are native to South-east Asia, including India, and Australia.

Saltwater, Croc, Saltie, Two Third Body, Swamp, Sun Basking, Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Jason Edwards

 

Saltwater Crocodile
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Saltwater crocodiles have vibration-sensing teeth, and their diet generally consists of fish, sharks, reptiles, birds, crustaceans and mammals although they cannot swallow their prey underwater.
  • A saltwater crocodile’s bite is the strongest of all non-extinct animals, as its teeth are designed to hold its prey and prevent it from escaping.
  • Saltwater crocodiles are the most dangerous crocodile, although attacks are not frequent, however there are usually a couple of human fatalities each year.
  • Saltwater crocodiles can lay up to 60 eggs at a time and baby salties are pale yellow in colour with black patterns, while the adults are generally murky green or greenish-black in colour with a pale yellow underbelly.
  • In 1971, 95% of the original Australian saltwater crocodile population had been hunted, commonly for its skin, however the species is now protected in Australia, and the population has recovered.
Bibliography:
Saltwater Crocodile, 2012, Northern Territory Tourism Central, <http://www.nttc.com.au/saltwater-crocodile>
Saltwater Crocodile, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile>

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Pacific Black Duck

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Pacific Black Duck

Have you seen a pacific black duck’s speculum?

  • Pacific black ducks are dabbling ducks, which are ducks that generally feed on the surface of the water, and poke their head into the water for food, while the back half of the duck remains out of the water.
  • Pacific black ducks are native to most of Australasia and the Pacific islands and parts of Southeast Asia.
  • ‘Pacific black ducks’ are also known as ‘grey ducks’, ‘black ducks’, ‘brown ducks’, ‘wild ducks’, ‘blackies’, ‘Australian wild ducks’ and ‘Parera’, a New Zealand Maori term.
  • Pacific black ducks live in or near ponds, wetlands, lakes or marshes and nest in woven grass, leaves and other foliage, laying 7-13 white eggs.
  • Pacific black ducks are typically dark brown in colour, with a paler head and neck, with distinctive stripes on their face.

Pacific black ducks, Brown, lake, swimming, group, adult, water, lake, Ten Random Facts

  • Pacific black ducks are generally between 50 to 60 centimetres (1.6 to 2 feet) in length, with males generally larger than females.
  • The scientific name of pacific black ducks is Anas superciliosa and they are from the family Anatidae, which is the family of ducks, swans and geese.
  • Pacific black ducks are similar to their introduced cousins, mallards, that the ducks can and do breed with.
  • Pacific black ducks are covered with waterproof oil that the ducks produce, and have a magnificent green speculum (patch on their feathers), which is best seen when the ducks are in flight.
  • Pacific black ducks feed on seeds of aquatic vegetation, shrimps, yabbies, crustaceans and insects, and they will sometimes forage for food on the ground.
Bibliography:
Davis D, Pacific Black Duck, 2013, Wires Northern Rivers, <http://www.wiresnr.org/pacificblackduck.html>
Pacific Black Duck, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Black_Duck>

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Tokyo

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Tokyo

Not a city, but a metropolis.  Do you want to see a real metropolis? Go to Tokyo!

  • Tokyo means ‘Eastern Capital’ in Japanese, but has been officially known as ‘Tokyo Metropolis’ or ‘Tokyo-to’ in Japanese since 1943, although it was originally known as Edo, a small fishing community, being renamed as ‘Tokyo’ in 1868.
  • Tokyo is the capital of Japan, located on Honshu, in the south-eastern part the largest and main island of Japan, and has been the home of the Japanese emperor, his family and his Imperial Palace since the 1800s.
  • In 2011, Tokyo had a population of over 13.1 million residents in the metropolis with the 23 special wards or ‘cities’ containing 9 million of the total population.
  • In 2008, Tokyo had a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$1,479 trillion, making it the wealthiest city in the world.
  • Tokyo was the host of the 1964 Summer Olympic Games, and will be hosting the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, while sumo, judo, karate, baseball and tennis are among the popular sports in the metropolis.

Tokyo, Panorama, Japan, City, Bird, Overveiw, Tower, Flickr, Ten Random Facts

Tokyo
Image courtesy of Sebastien Batardy/Flickr
  • Tokyo was the victim of a major earthquake, the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923, and the bombing of Tokyo in World War II (1944-45) destroying half the city, with 140,000 and 75,000 to 200,000 fatalities respectively.
  • In 2011, Tokyo’s Skytree became the second tallest structure and the tallest tower in the world, and the city has numerous high rise buildings and apartments to cater for the densely populated area.
  • Tokyo is said to be the cleanest city in the world, and the metropolis covers an area of 2,187 square kilometres (844 square miles) and contains 26 cities, 8 villages and 23 wards.
  • Tokyo has a comprehensive train and subway system which is the major form of public transport there, with monorails and buses being second.
  • Tokyo is an urban heat island, explaining increases of temperature over the years, which the government is helping to reduce by planting thousands of trees during its ten year project which will be complete in 2016.
Bibliography:
TOKYO – 9 FACTS ABOUT THE MOST FASCINATING AND BIZARRE CITY IN THE WORLD, 2013, Just One Way Ticket, <http://www.justonewayticket.com/2013/02/19/tokyo-9-facts/>
Tokyo, 2013, Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo>
Tokyo Outline, 2012, Go Tokyo, <http://www.gotokyo.org/en/tourists/info/info_basic.html#01>

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Forbidden City

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Forbidden City

The city is not forbidden but entered by many.

  • The Forbidden City is found in the centre of China’s capital city, Beijing, and is now a museum as well as a major tourist destination in China, attracting almost 10 million visitors annually.
  • The Forbidden City is a 720,000 square meter (7.8 million square feet) rectangular complex, surrounded by a 10 metre (32 ft) high wall and a 52 metre (71 ft) wide moat.
  • The Forbidden city was built to accommodate emperor Zhu Di, and has housed 24 emperors from 1420 until 1912, although the last emperor, Puyi stayed on in the Inner Court until his eviction in 1924.
  • The Forbidden City is a complex of over 800 buildings, including palaces, temples and halls as well as rivers, parks, lakes and other outdoor beauties.
  • The Forbidden City is also known as the ‘Palace Museum’, the ‘Imperial Palace’ and the ‘Forbidden Palace’.

 Forbidden City, dark, Red, Sunlight, people, front, red, Beijing, 2011, flickr, Ten Random Facts

Forbidden City
Image courtesy of Daniel Thornton/Flickr
  • Until 1912 no one was allowed to enter the Forbidden City unless they gained the Emperor’s permission, however, due to the Chinese emperor’s abdication in 1912, the outer court became open to the public.
  • It is said that over a million people worked on the Forbidden City from 1400 to 1420 AD, including 100,000 artisans.
  • The Forbidden City was originally decorated with dragons, stone animals, arches, rails, beams and staircases lined with yellows and reds, and a process of major repair and restoration began in 2005 on the ‘city’, which was said to take more than 15 years.
  • The Forbidden City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and is sited as the largest group of  historic wooden structures.
  • The Forbidden City has over 1 million artifacts, and to preserve these during the Japanese invasion of China, they were packed and moved to three different locations in 1933, where they stayed for approximately 12 years.
Bibliography:
Bonavia D, Peking, 1978, TIME-LIFE International, Amsterdam
Forbidden City, 2013, Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City>

Williams B, Ancient China, 1996, Heinemann Children’s Reference, Great Britain

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King Cobra

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King Cobra

Standing tall, flaring its hood… watch out for the king cobra.

  • The longest snake on earth is the king cobra, and its scientific name is ‘Ophiophagus hannah’, being the only snake in the Ophiophagus genus, with most other cobras belonging to the Naja genus.
  • King cobras range from black to dark brown to olive green in colour, grow up to and over five meters (16 feet) in length and can be as heavy as 9kg (20 pounds), although they typically weigh about 6 kg (13lb).
  • King cobras are native to India and southeastern Asia and are a protected species in India, as their numbers have become dangerously low, and it is illegal to kill them.
  • King cobras make a low hissing sound that sounds like a growl.
  • One bite, or 7ml (0.2 ounces) of king cobra venom can kill 20 humans or 1 elephant.

King Cobra, Snake, Up, Alert, Slither, Black, long, reptile, Ten Random Facts, Flickr

King Cobra
Image courtesy of Michael Allen Smith/Flickr
  • If threatened or cornered, king cobras will attack humans although they are more likely to escape and shy away from people where possible.
  • A king cobra’s diet consists mostly of other snakes, although they will sometimes eat lizards, birds, eggs and rodents, and they usually hunt their prey during the day.

  • King cobras are often the choice of snake charmers even though the snakes are deaf, they move instead to the vibrations in the ground.

  • King cobras have good vision and can see things that move from up to 100 meters (330 feet) away.
  • Female king cobras are believed to be the only snakes that construct nests, which they make from leaves and other vegetation on the ground, on which to lay their 20-40 eggs.
Bibliography:
King Cobra, 2013, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/reptiles/king-cobra/
King Cobra, 2010, Reptile Park, http://www.reptilepark.com.au/animalprofile.asp?id=114
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